Coffinswell

A typical view of the village of Coffinswell

Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon, England, just off the A380, the busy Newton Abbot to Torquay road. It lies within Teignbridge District Council.

Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman font. Near the church is Court Barton, a manor house of partly 16th century date; the southern part of which was used as a court house by Torre Abbey.[1] The village lies in a rural valley surrounded by farmland, and has many traditional Devon cob and thatch cottages. Lanes and tracks lead to the neighbouring hamlet of Daccombe and over the ridge towards Haccombe and the River Teign approximately 3 miles north over undulating land.

Surrounding places

Coffinswell is surrounded by several small villages and hamlets. Clockwise from the north-west these are:

Landscape

Most of the landscape around Coffinswell is hilly farmland. Traditional Devon hedgerows form field boundaries, and have existed at least since Norman times. Most of the flora is native, with the exception of cultivated or non-native flora in private gardens and horticultural sites, e.g. rhododendrons around Haccombe and gorse and pines near Milber.

Water courses, rivers and hydrology

Coffinswell sits in the Daccombe or Aller Brook drainage basin. The Aller Brook flows west toward Aller, Newton Abbot, before entering the River Teign which empties into Lyme Bay at Teignmouth. Water collection on the east side of the Daccombe drainage basin or the Watcombe drainage basin flows through Barton and Watcombe into Babbacombe bay at Watcombe beach. Likewise water collection on the north side of the drainage basin collects in Haccombe and flows toward the River Teign.

Notable residents

The Rev. W. Keble Martin was Rector here in the 1920s and studied the local flora.[3] During his time Michael Constantine de Courcy, 33rd Baron Kingsale (1855–1931) lived in Coffinswell.[4]

Sarah Buck, the first woman President of the Institution of Structural Engineers (2008) lives in the village.

References

  1. Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1989). The Buildings of England - Devon. Harmondsworth [Eng.]: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-071050-7.
  2. John Carnell. Will of Archpriest of Haccombe. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  3. Martin, W. Keble (1968) Over the Hills --- London: Michael Joseph; pp. 87-95
  4. Lord Kingsale was a director of the Moran Tea Company in Assam: Martin (1968); pp. 94-95
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Coordinates: 50°30′N 3°34′W / 50.500°N 3.567°W / 50.500; -3.567

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