Rousdon is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Combpyne Rousdon, 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, in the county 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. It is off the A3052 road between Colyford and

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis ( ) is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and ...

in Dorset. In 1931 the parish had a population of 41. On 1 April 1939 the parish was abolished to form "Combpyne Rousdon". The clifftop but well set back village developed as the main settlement, within its ecclesiastical parish Combpyne,map of this ecclesiastical parish
Church of England which otherwise has only a few houses by its church and scattered farms. It did so north of Sir

Henry Peek Sir Henry William Peek, 1st Baronet DL (26 February 1825 – 26 August 1898) was an importer of spices, tea and other groceries, philanthropist and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). Parents, marriage and residence Peek was born in 182 ...

's grand house, billiard house and separate stable courtyard chiefly in the early 19th century. A boarding school called Allhallows moved there from

Honiton Honiton () is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, Devon, River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 12,154 (based on 2021 census). History The ...

in 1937 and closed in 1998. Adjoining the small fields to the south are the coastal cliffs which lie above the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliff Nature Reserve that forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. It is a green wilderness littoral forest strip with many rugged parts and ruins of farmhouses formed largely from a landslip (major cliff erosion) in 1839. 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 ...

crosses it for some miles. No public right of way links Rousdon directly, nor any adjacent area, to the path below along Charton Bay which links the foot of the Axe estuary south of Axmouth (at the western edge of Seaton Seaton to

Ware WARE (1250 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Ware, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves the Springfield radio market. The station is currently owned by Success Signal Broadcasting ...

), immediately south-west of

, on the

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

border .

Layout

Rousdon is a small linear hamlet laid out to the north of the A3052. The village comprises a small number of dwellings arranged around the A3052 and a private lane, School Lane, a short distance further to the north of Peek Hall (now the Rousdon Village Hall and Social Club). The village also has a number of business within it such as the Rousdon Village Bakery and several car repair garages. Between these is a new build development on the site of a former water tower which forms holiday rental accommodation. Five fields at the heart of the village, south of the main street and around the touring park to the north are lined with mature trees, but surrounding land is intensively agricultural and has modest or narrow hedgerows around most fields. The Undercliff has most of the trees of the south of the parish, in the northern end, Pynecomb copses grow increasingly towards the north. Horton near

Uplyme Uplyme is an English village and civil parish in East Devon on the Devon-Dorset border and the River Lym, adjacent to the Dorset coastal town of Lyme Regis. It has a population of approximately 1700 recounted as 1663 at the United Kingdom Censu ...

to the far north-east is still well-forested.

History

The parish and manor were anciently known over time as: Dona (per 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 ...

of 1086, noting to orthodox Norman-schooled scribes a combination of 'un' may have been the sound denoted which was banned from writing as would appear the same as "m" see

Middle English orthography Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

) but later Dune, la Dune, Doune, Rawesdon, Doune Rauf, Doune Rafe, Downraff, Rowston in Axmouth, Rowston ''alias'' Downe Ralfe, Rowsedown, etc. The Devon historian Risdon called it Rowsedown, whilst his contemporary Pole called it Doune Raph. All of these suggest a person name (such as

Ralph Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ra ...

, which was seen among Norman and Norse-ancestry chieftains including

Ralph the Timid Ralph the Timid, also known as Ralf of Mantes (died 1057), was Earl of Hereford between 1051 and 1055 or 1057. His mother was Godgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready and his second wife Emma. His father was Drogo of Mantes, Coun ...

, Earl of Hereford before his 1057 death), with the later addition of a Saxon possessive "s" and down being as the word does mean in English for place name endings i.e. its celtic sense ''dūn'', hill.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Devon Former civil parishes in Devon East Devon District