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Offwell

Villages in Devon
Offwell, St Mary's Church geograph.org.uk 1418802
Offwell, St Mary's Church geograph.org.uk 1418802

Offwell is a village and civil parish in East Devon in the English county of Devon, approximately 2 miles south-east from the nearest town, Honiton. Offwell can be accessed by the nearby A35 road. Offwell is a small village with a primary school and a post office. The village sits next to the Offwell woodland, which has its own wildlife trust.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.Offwell House, built in 1830, was the residence of Bishop Copleston. 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.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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Offwell (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Offwell
Fern Lane, East Devon Offwell

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Wikipedia: OffwellContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.791 ° E -3.143 °
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Address

Fern Lane

Fern Lane
EX14 9SE East Devon, Offwell
England, United Kingdom
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Offwell, St Mary's Church geograph.org.uk 1418802
Offwell, St Mary's Church geograph.org.uk 1418802
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Nearby Places

Wilmington, Devon
Wilmington, Devon

Wilmington is a village between Axminster and Honiton in East Devon on the A35 road. The village is now in the parish of Widworthy although this is a recent change. Prior to 1989 houses on the north side of the A35 were in Offwell Parish and only those on the south side were in Widworthy. St Cuthbert's Church dates from the 14th century and nearby Castle Hill is of historical interest. From the 15th century onwards Wilmington sat astride the main Exeter to London road. It became the Honiton to Axminster Turnpike in 1765 but the importance of this route diminished when the Upottery to Ilminster turnpike opened in 1807, which led to a steady improvement in coaching facilities in the early 19th century on what is now the A30/A303 route over the Blackdown Hills from Honiton to Ilminster. In 1805 the village street rang to the clatter of horses' hooves as messengers raced through with news of the Battle of Trafalgar. In 2005 this historic event was marked by the unveiling of this plaque on the White Hart Inn. The plaque records details of the messengers and remembers local men who fought at the Battle. The Trafalgar Way climbs out of Honiton onto the ridge by way of Springfield Lane before descending into Wilmington along the A35. It passes through Wilmington village before leaving the A35 again and climbing steeply up Moorcox Lane to Moorcox Cross. From there it descends the next ridge to Shute Pillars and then passes through Shute Woods along the line of an old Roman Road into Kilmington.