Alverdiscott (pronounced ''Alscott'', or ) is a village,

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the

Torridge Torridge may refer to: * Torridge District Torridge is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in north-west Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Bideford. The district also includes the towns of Great Torringt ...

district of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, centred south-south-west of

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

. Besides the small village of Alverdiscott, other settlements in the parish include the hamlets of Stony Cross and Woodtown, both to the west. Part of the village nucleus is known as Alscott Barton. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 283.

History

A scheduled monument is associated with the place, a Roman marching camp fort in the west of the area, on a former

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

enclosure. 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 Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

, Norman doorway, tall tower and sixteenth-century

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, and is a Grade II* listed building. 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", the former

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

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 Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''WIBERIE''.

Governance

The first tier of local government is Alverdiscott and Huntshaw Parish Council, a joint council for the two adjacent parishes of Alverdiscott and Huntshaw. The parish is in

Torridge District Torridge is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in north-west Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Bideford. The district also includes the towns of Great Torrington, Holsworthy, Devon, Holsworthy and Northam, ...

, and is part of the Two Rivers & Three Moors ward which elects two members of Torridge District Council. It is also part of the Bideford East electoral division which elects one member of

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. The council is based at Devon County Hall in the city of Exeter. The area administered by the county council is termed the non-metropolitan county, which is ...

. For Westminster elections, Alverdiscott is within the Torridge and Tavistock constituency.

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 Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

, a town with a major

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

relative to its size.

Railways

The low daily frequency community railway to North Devon passes in a valley east of the village. It serves the rural request stop of Chapelton 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 The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

Westward Ho! Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford, and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Sau ...

beaches and within easy reach of visitor gardens and golf courses along the

River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristol ...

. 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 The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project is a proposal to create 11.5 GW of renewable generation, 22.5 GWh of battery storage and a 3.6GW high-voltage direct current interconnector to carry solar and wind-generated electricity from Morocco to the Unite ...

with the National Grid is planned to be at Alverdiscott.

References

External links

Devon Local Studies - Alverdiscott community page
archived in 2008 {{authority control Villages in Devon Roman fortifications in Devon Roman fortified camps in England Torridge District