Coordinates: 50°21′58″N 3°43′16″W / 50.366°N 3.721°W / 50.366; -3.721

Halwell

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Halwell
The village of Halwell as seen from nearby Moreleigh
Halwell is located in Devon
Halwell
Halwell
Location within Devon
OS grid referenceSX776531
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTOTNES
Postcode districtTQ9 7
Dialling code01548
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireDevon and Somerset
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Devon
50°21′58″N 3°43′16″W / 50.366°N 3.721°W / 50.366; -3.721

Halwell is a village, former parish and former manor, now in the parish of Halwell and Moreleigh, in the South Hams district, in the county of Devon, England.

Geography

It is located 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Totnes, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Kingsbridge and 8 miles (13 km) west of Dartmouth, on the junction of the A381 and A3122 roads serving the three towns.

Civil parish

On 1 April 1986 the parish of Moreleigh was merged with Halwell. On 12 July 1990, the new parish was renamed to "Halwell & Moreleigh".[1] In 1961 the civil parish of Halwell (prior to the merge) had a population of 219.[2]

Toponymy

The name means "The holy well" and it derives from Old English halig: "holy" plus wylle: "well". It is first attested as halganþille in a 16th-century copy of an early 10th-century document. Other early forms include Halgewill(e) and Halgh(e)wille (14th century or earlier), Hallewell (c. 1400), and Holwell (1675).[3]

History

During the Saxon era Halwell was one of the four burhs, or fortified settlements, established in Devon by King Alfred the Great (d.899), King of Wessex from 871 to 899, to defend against invasion by Vikings.[4] At that time the other three were Exeter, Pilton (near Barnstaple) and Lydford.[5] According to the Burghal Hidage (an early 10th Century document describing all burhs then functioning), Halwell's town wall was 1,237 feet long and the garrison consisted of 300 men who could be drawn from the surrounding district in the event of an invasion. However, by the close of the 11th century[6] its status as a burh had been transferred to Totnes, 5 miles to the north and situated on the River Dart, probably because it was better placed for trade at a time when the Viking threat had diminished,[citation needed] after which the significance of Halwell greatly decreased.

Descent of the manor

left: Arms of Halwell of Halwell: Or, on a bend gules three goats passant argent;[7] right: monumental brass in Aldbury Church, Hertfordshire, of Lord Braye's daughter, Elizabeth Bray (d.1573), wife of Sir Ralph Verney. The inescutcheon of pretence of four quarters displays the arms of her heiress mother, Halwell, quartering Norbury, Boteler and Sudeley[8]

According to William Pole (died 1635), from the reign of King Edward I the manor was the seat of the de Halgawell family,[9] which resided there for several generations. Sir John Halgawell (or Halliwell) was Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall[10] under King Henry VII (1485-1509), and Admiral of the Fleet and a Knight of the Body.[11] His son was Richard Halgawell, the last in the male line, who married Joan Norbury, daughter and heiress of John Norbury[9] of Stoke in Surrey.[12] His daughter and heiress was Joan Halgawell, who married Edmund Braye, 1st Baron Braye (c.1484-1539) of Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire. Her eventual heiress and inheritor of the manor of Halwell was her second of six daughters, namely Elizabeth Bray (d.1573),[13] who married Sir Ralph Verney (1509-1546), of Pendley in Tring, Hertfordshire, and of Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire,[14] whose monumental brasses with heraldic shields survive in the Church of St. John the Baptist, Aldbury, Hertfordshire.[15] On Elizabeth Bray's robe are engraved the arms of Verney (quarterly of four) impaling Bray (quarterly of four: 1&4: Bray modern; 2&3: Bray ancient, all charged with an inescutcheon of pretence of four quarters: 1: Or, on a bend gules three goats argent (Hallighwell); 2: Sable, a chevron between three bull's heads cabossed argent (Norbury); 3: Gules, a fess chequy argent and sable between six crosslets formée fitchée argent (Boteler); 4: Or, two bends gules (Sudeley).[8]

References

  1. ^ "Newton Abbot Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Population Statistics Halwell AP/CP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  3. ^ Victor Watts, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names. Cambridge University Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7.
  4. ^ Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first publish1ed 1954), p.104
  5. ^ Hoskins, p.104
  6. ^ Hoskins, p.104 "within a century" of the 10th century
  7. ^ Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.486
  8. ^ a b For heraldry see: D'Elboux, Raymond H. (1949). "The Brooke Tomb, Cobham". Archaeologia Cantiana. 62: 48–56, esp. pp.50-1. Open access icon
  9. ^ a b Pole, p.292
  10. ^ Philip Payton, Cornwall: A History (Revised and Updated Edition)
  11. ^ Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd ed. p.266 [1]
  12. ^ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.166
  13. ^ Risdon, p.166
  14. ^ HoP biog of son
  15. ^ see images
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