Umberleigh

Umberleigh
Umberleigh Bridge over River Taw, looking downstream
Umberleigh is located in Devon
Umberleigh
Umberleigh
Location within Devon
OS grid referenceSS6023
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townUMBERLEIGH
Postcode districtEX37
Dialling code01769
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireDevon and Somerset
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Devon
50°59′43″N 3°59′02″W / 50.9953°N 3.9838°W / 50.9953; -3.9838
The Georgian Umberleigh House, a Grade I listed building, a remnant of the grand 16th-century mansion of the Basset family, on the west bank of the River Taw, 1 mile northwest of Umberleigh Bridge, now in the parish of Atherington. It was anciently the manor house of Umberleigh, site of the mediaeval Umberleigh Chapel, the ruins of which survive, and supposedly of the 10th-century royal palace of King Athelstan

Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton,[1] but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it became a part of that parish. It forms however a part of the civil parish of Chittlehampton, which is mostly located on the east side of the River Taw.

The manor of Umberleigh, which had its own entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, was entirely situated on the west side of the River Taw and was centred on the Nunnery which was given by William the Conqueror to the Holy Trinity Abbey in Caen, Normandy.

The site was later occupied by the manor house of Umberleigh, the present Georgian manifestation of which, a large and grand farmhouse, is known as "Umberleigh House". Next to the manor house in about 1275 was founded Umberleigh Chapel, now a ruin the single remaining wall of which forms the back wall of a farm implements shed.

  1. ^ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, Domesday Book, Vol. 9, Devon, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), chap. 13,1