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

in the

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Honiton, although Exmouth is the largest town. The district also contains the towns of Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook, Ottery St M ...

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, east of

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. According to the 2001 census, the parish, which includes the hamlet of Nutwalls, had a population of 527. Known for the

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

on Aylesbeare Common that is managed by the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

, Aylesbeare was in the news during 1978 as the scene of the unresolved disappearance of the schoolgirl Genette Tate. Aylesbeare is on the northern side of the East Devon Pebbled Heathlands. Locally known as Woodbury Common, the heathlands are made up of 8 parish commons, including Aylesbeare Common.

History

Aylesbeare has a long, but lightly recorded, history.

Tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

on Aylesbeare Common indicate that the area was inhabited in prehistoric times. By the time of 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 ...

in 1086, the village was known as Ailesbergon though, in common with many place names, it had many spellings over the years, including Aillesbir and Ailesberga. The oldest building in the parish is the church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It dates to the 13th century. Gregory was the first recorded incumbent, in 1261. The church has been rebuilt and restored many times – in the 14th century, a major refurbishment in 1899 and a new roof in 2004. Aylesbeare made national headlines in August 1978 after the disappearance of 13-year-old Genette Tate, who lived in the village. She has never been found. In 2016, the police announced that they believed serial killer Robert Black to be responsible, but could not charge him as he had since died.

Geography, geology and environment

From the highest point of the parish on the Common, the land gradually falls away to the northwest reaching its lowest point of near

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

. With an area of , Aylesbeare is slightly below the average for a

parish. The village gives its name to a sequence of mudstone and sandstone rocks of

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

age, the

Aylesbeare Mudstone Group The Aylesbeare Mudstone Group is an early Triassic lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic group (stratigraphy), group (a sequence of rock strata) in southwest England. The name is derived from the village of Aylesbeare in east Devon. The Group co ...

which occurs from the east Devon coast northwards into Somerset. Although the population is widely distributed around the parish, it clusters in Aylesbeare Village itself, the hamlets of Rosamundford and Withen, and small groups of houses on the site of former farm buildings.

Economy

Originally a farming parish, Aylesbeare still has two working farms within the village itself with many others spread throughout the parish. However, agriculture is no longer the main source of employment, with many people working in Exeter and surrounding towns.

References

External links

Devon Local Studies - Aylesbeare community page
* {{authority control Villages in Devon Civil parishes in Devon Deaneries of the Church of England