Holbeton is a

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 ...

and village located 9 miles south east of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

in the

South Hams South Hams is a non-metropolitan district, local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Totnes, although the largest town is Ivybridge. The district also contains the towns of Dartmouth, ...

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. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 579, down from 850 in 1901. By 2011 it had increased to 619. The southern boundary of the parish lies on the coast (at Bigbury Bay), and it is surrounded clockwise from the west by the parishes of Newton and Noss,

Yealmpton Yealmpton () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Devon. It is located in the South Hams on the A379 road, A379 Plymouth to Kingsbridge road and is about from Plymouth. Its name derives fr ...

, Ermington, Modbury, and on the opposite bank of the ria of the River Erme,

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. The village, set back from the wooded shores of the river, is accessed by minor roads south of the A379 road, between the villages of Modbury and Yealmpton. Within the parish, north of the village, is the hamlet of Ford.

History

To the east of the village is an

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 or

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

known as Holbury. Historically the parish formed part of

Ermington Hundred The Hundred (county subdivision), hundred of Ermington was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative units of Devon, England. It was active until the end of the 19th century when more specialized governmental units assumed its many role ...

and it contains several historic estates. Flete House is situated in a large park and was formerly the seat of Baron Mildmay of Flete. The house was remodelled in the Gothic style in 1835, and the front is all of this date, but the architect

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

extensively remodelled the building from 1878 onwards. During World War II it was used as a maternity home, and Dave Hill of pop group

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

was born there in 1946. As of 2004 it was being used as apartments for the elderly. The estate of Mothecombe was a seat of a junior branch of the Pollexfen family of Kitley,

. The mansion house was built by John Pollexfen ''circa'' 1710-20. In 1872 it was acquired by Henry Bingham Mildmay (of

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London. It was one of England's oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member ...

) who 4 years later in 1876 also acquired Flete, in the same parish of Holbeton, the ancestral home of his wife Georgiana Bulteel, which had been sold in 1863 by her brother to an Australian sheep farmer. Adeston was held by the ''de Adeston'' family. The last in the male line was Gilbert de Adeston, who died during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377) and left a daughter and sole heiress Jone de Adeston, who married John Prideaux, a younger son of Sir Roger Prideaux of Orcherton. Adeston remained in the Prideaux family of Theuborough in the parish of Sutcombe, Devon, until sold by "Richard Prideaux of Theuborough" (probably Richard Prideaux (d.1617) or his father Richard Prideaux (d.1603)) to Thomas Hele (d.1613) of Fleet, Sheriff of Devon 1600-1. An early novelist and poet Margaret Croker was baptised here in 1717.

Parish church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

(All Saints) was dedicated by Bishop

John Grandisson The '' British Museum">John Grandisson Triptych'', displaying on two small escutcheons the arms of Bishop Grandisson. British Museum John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison, was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, f ...

in 1336. Described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

as "unusually impressive", it has both north and south

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s and owes much of its interest to the

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive wikt:refurbish, refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England church (building), churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century Victorian era, re ...

undertaken by J. D. Sedding between 1885 and 1889 which was funded by Henry Mildmay of Flete. However, the tower and spire survive from the 14th century; there is a square Norman

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 ...

carved with lions, a tree and leaf decoration; and the

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

, 1535, restored by Sedding, is very finely carved. The east window contains

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

by Heywood Sumner (1866), and later windows in the north aisle are by Hugh Easton.Cherry & Pevsner, pp. 484–5 Monuments within the church include, in the north chapel, a large one to three generations of the Hele family which includes a semi-reclining figure of Sir Thomas Hele of Flete (died 1670). Also to the Bulteel family, 1801, in

Coade stone Coade stone or ''Lithodipyra'' or ''Lithodipra'' () is stoneware that was often described as an artificial stone in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was used for moulding neoclassical architecture, neoclassical statues, a ...

; and in the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

a separate one to Elizabeth Bulteel (died 1835).

Holbeton today

The local primary school takes the majority of the local children. The village hall and playing fields are host to many activities including school plays, festivals, and sports events.

References

;Sources ** {{Authority control Villages in South Hams Civil parishes in South Hams