Offwell

Offwell
St Mary's Church
Offwell Location within Devon
Civil parish	Offwell
District	East Devon
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HONITON
Postcode district	EX14
Dialling code	01404
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Honiton and Sidmouth
List of places UK England Devon 50°47′28″N 3°08′35″W / 50.791°N 3.143°W / 50.791; -3.143

Offwell is a village and civil parish in Devon, England, approximately 2 miles south-east from the nearest town, Honiton. Offwell can be accessed by the nearby A35 road.

Offwell has a primary school and a village hall. There are several business located along the A35 as it passes through the parish, including a fuel garage, a deli, and a garden centre.

The medieval church of St Mary has a chancel arch, one chancel window and a south doorway which date from c. 1200. There are a west tower, a north aisle and a north chapel. Features of interest include the early 18th-century pulpit and reader's desk, the Lord's prayer and creed mural painting, and some Jacobean carvings.^[1]

Offwell House, built in 1830, was the residence of Bishop Copleston.^[2] The Copleston family arrived in the parish in the late 18th Century and provided many of its Rectors from 1772 to 1954, with notable Rectors including The Reverend John Copleston. They transformed the village and parish with their generosity and influence.^[3]

Because of the complexities of its medieval past, Offwell had no lord of the manor and so the church was the focus of authority. This authority was wielded not only by its rectors, who varied greatly in their commitment to the parish, but also by its landowners who served as churchwardens, and sometimes as overseers of the poor, by rotation.^[3]

The village sits next to the Offwell woodland, which has its own wildlife trust.^[4]