Umberleigh
| Umberleigh | |
|---|---|
 Umberleigh Bridge over River Taw, looking downstream |
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 Umberleigh
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| Umberleigh shown within Devon | |
| OS grid reference | SS6023 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | UMBERLEIGH |
| Postcode district | EX37 |
| Dialling code | 01769 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to bed 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.
According to the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640), Umberleigh was a royal manor held in demesne by King Athelstan (circa 893/895-939), King of the West Saxons from 924 to 927, and King of the English from 927 to 939. He built at Umberleigh a palace and next to it a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Trinity which served the royal family and household. Within the manor of Umberleigh Athelstan later founded two churches, at Bickington, now High Bickington and at Atherington, each of which he endowed with two hides of land.
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Wikipedia