Alverdiscott Explained

Official Name:Alverdiscott
Static Image Name:All Saints church, Alverdiscott (geograph 3512777).jpg
Static Image Caption:All Saints Church is medieval with later additions and has been restored.
Coordinates:51.0073°N -4.1115°W
Area Total Km2:9.57
Population:286
Population Ref:(2011)[1]
Os Grid Reference:SS519252
Civil Parish:Alverdiscott
Shire District:Torridge
Shire County:Devon
Region:South West England
Country:England
Post Town:BARNSTAPLE
Postcode Area:EX
Postcode District:EX31
Dial Code:01271
Constituency Westminster:Torridge and West Devon

Alverdiscott (pronounced Alscott,[2] or) is a village, civil parish, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, centred 5.5miles south-south-west of Barnstaple.

The population of the parish grew by five in the ten years to 2011, according to that year's census.[1] The parish has three 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.

The former Manor of Alverdiscott was here and within the parish is the historic estate of Webbery, listed in the Domesday Book as WIBERIE.

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 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 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.

As of 2022, the connection of the proposed Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project with the National Grid is planned to be at Alverdiscott.[6]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics: Population.
  2. Book: Hoskins, W. G. . W. G. Hoskins . 1972 . A New Survey of England: Devon . Newton Abbot . David & Charles . 318 . 0-7153-5577-5.
  3. Scheduled Ancient Monument: Roman marching camp fort
  4. All Saint's Church, Grade II* listing.
  5. Webbery Manor
  6. Web site: The world’s longest subsea cable will send clean energy from Morocco to the UK. Lewis. Michelle. 21 April 2022. electrek. 5 January 2023.