Bigbury is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

South Hams South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...

district of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 582, compared to 260 in 1901, and decreasing to 500 in 2011. The southern side of the parish lies on the coast, and it is surrounded clockwise from the west by the parishes of Ringmore,

Modbury Modbury is a large village, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor situated in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England. Today due to its large size it is generally referred to as a "town" although the parish co ...

Aveton Gifford Aveton Gifford is a small rural village in the south of the English county of Devon. It lies at the head of the estuary of the River Avon or Aune, at the point where it is crossed by the A379 road. It receives its name from this river and also ...

, and on the opposite bank of the estuary of the River Avon, Thurlestone. Road access to the parish is via the

A379 The A379 is a road in the English county of Devon. It links points on the edges of that county's two principal cities, Exeter and Plymouth, by an indirect and largely coastal route. The A38 provides a faster and more direct inland route bet ...

and the B3392. The parish council meets on the second Wednesday of every month at 7.30pm in Bigbury Memorial Hall (excluding August & January). The village of Bigbury () has a pub called the Royal Oak (now closed), and a hair and beauty salon called Unwind. Bigbury Golf Club is an 18-hole course situated off the B3392 midway between Bigbury and the coastal village of

Bigbury-on-Sea Bigbury-on-Sea is a village in the South Hams district on the south coast of Devon, England. It is part of the civil parish of Bigbury which is centred on a small village of that name about a mile inland. Bigbury-on-Sea village is on the coast ...

, just offshore of which is

Burgh Island Burgh Island is a tidal island on the coast of South Devon in England near the small seaside village of Bigbury-on-Sea. There are several buildings on the island, the largest being the Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel. The other buildings are thr ...

. The parish also includes the eastern part of the small bay and beach at Challaborough.

History

In 1086 the parish was recorded as ''Bicheberie'' in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Alleriga. When Alleriga Hundred was partitioned, Bigbury parish became part of Ermington Hundred. Bigbury's church, dedicated to St Lawrence, is partly early 14th century and partly as rebuilt by J. D. Sedding in 1872. Apart from the western tower topped by a spire very little is obviously medieval. The two monumental brasses are early 15th century. The baptismal font,

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

and

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

are early 14th century, while the

lectern A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of support. ...

and pulpit date from the following century. Both the lectern and pulpit were moved here from Ashburton church: the lectern is attributed to Thomas Prideaux and thought to be a donation of the Bishop of Exeter ca. 1510-15.Pevsner, N. (1952) ''South Devon''. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 52

References

External links

Former Parish Council website
{{South Hams parishes Villages in South Hams Civil parishes in South Hams