Countisbury, Devon

Description
Countisbury or Countesbury, a parish in Devonshire, on the coast, at the boundary with Somerset, 15 1/4 miles E by N of Ilfracombe, and 20 NE of Barnstaple station on the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. Post town, Lynmouth, under Barnstaple ; money order and telegraph office, Lynmouth. Acreage, 2958 ; population of the civil parish, 233 ; of the ecclesiastical, 545. The manor belonged in the time of Edward the Confessor to Ailmar, a Saxon; was given at the Conquest to William Chieire, a follower of the Conqueror; passed through various hands, and belongs now to the Hallidays of Glenthorne. The land rises steeply from the sea, attains a height of 1146 feet at Barney-barrow, in the vicinity of the church, and is elsewhere hilly. Many remains of ancient camps are seen, and a great number of Roman coins have been found. The camps are believed to be early British, and are thought to have been made to facilitate the escape of Celtic marauders who had been engaged in cattle-lifting in the neighbouring county of Somerset. The living is a vicarage, with Lynmouth annexed, in the diocese of Exeter; joint value, £185. Patron, the Bishop of Exeter. The church consists of nave and chancel, with a belfry, and was rebuilt within the nineteenth century.