Alverdiscott

Alverdiscott (Pronounced Alscott,[2] /ˈɒlskɒt/ or /ˈɔːlskɒt/) is a village, civil parish, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the Torridge district of Devon, centred 5.5 miles (9 km) SSW of Barnstaple.

Alverdiscott

All Saints church is medieval with later additions and has been restored.
Alverdiscott
Location within Devon
Area9.57 km2 (3.69 sq mi)
Population286 (2011 Census)[1]
• Density30/km2 (78/sq mi)
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBarnstaple
Postcode districtEX31
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireDevon and Somerset
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

Demography

A rural population – having 105 homes – Alverdiscott's population grew by five in the ten years to 2011 according to the decennial census of that year.[1]

Transport

Roads

The B3232 skirts the nucleus of the village, the main road between Great Torrington and Barnstaple though not from the town to points east and west of Barnstaple being served by A-roads. Its access is a little further than as the crow files, particularly along roads leading through or around Barnstaple's western suburb and parks; it is close to the direct distance of 4 miles (6.4 km) in the opposite direction from Great Torrington, a town with a major Conservation Area relative to its size.

Railways

The low daily frequency community railway to North Devon passes in a valley 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the village serving the rural, request stop of Chapelton railway station which is slightly closer than Barnstaple and can be accessed via footpaths leading up from its steep valley.

Economy

Alverdiscott has settled low unemployment, agriculture, home-working, commuting to Barnstaple and other towns across west Devon. Seasonally the village generates recreational and tourism-derived income such as from holiday lodges, since the village is south of Barnstaple and east of a tall cliff-side part of the South West Coast Path, Westward Ho! beaches and within easy reach of visitor gardens and golf courses along the River Torridge. An adventure activities centre is to the south at Southdown in the neighbouring parish of Huntshaw.

Localities

The parish has three sublocalities, or more archaically, hamlets, Woodtown, Alverdiscott in the west, Alscott Barton describes part of the village nucleus and Stony Cross, Alverdiscott is in between these two places.

History

A Scheduled Ancient Monument is associated with the place, a Roman marching camp fort in the west of the area, on a former Iron Age enclosure.[3] The church is built of granite with sloped slate roofs over the main body (nave) and squatter extension to the nave. It has an archetypal Norman font, Norman doorway, tall tower and sixteenth-century pulpit and is a listed building architecturally in the middle category, grade II*.[4]

The village has long lost pronunciation of its middle letters yet refused in the Victorian era to adjust its older spelling in favour of a more phonetic modern form except when describing "Alscott Barton",[5] the former demesne of the manor.

Within the parish is the historic estate of Webbery, listed in the Domesday Book as WIBERIE.

Manor of Alverdiscott
Main article: Manor of Alverdiscott
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See also
  • List of places in England with counterintuitive pronunciations: A–L

References
  1. Key Statistics: Population. (2011 census Parish: Alverdiscott) Retrieved 2015-06-20.
  2. Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, Newton Abbot: David & Charles. New edition, 1972. p. 318. ISBN 0-7153-5577-5
  3. Scheduled Ancient Monument: Roman marching camp fort Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1004558)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. All Saint's Church, Grade II* listing. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1170720)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. Webbery Manor Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1333143)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
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