Hatherleigh in 1836
Hatherleigh is in the hundred of Black Torrington, on the east or right bank of a stream which flows into the Torridge a short distance above the junction of the Okement : Hatherleigh is twenty-eight miles west-north-west of Exeter. The parish comprises 6,500 acres, and had in 1831, 290 inhabited houses and a population of 1,606. Of the adult males nearly two-thirds were engaged in agriculture, and a very few in the manufacture probably of woollens. The town is very irregularly laid out, and the houses, which are principally built of red clay, and are thatched, have a very mean appearance. The market is on Tuesday and Saturday, and there are four cattle fairs in the year and a large cattle market on the Fridav nearest the 21st of March. The town is governed by a portreeve, two constables, and other officers annually chosen at the court held by the lord of the manor. Petty sessions are held here. The living is a vicarage, of the annual value of £202 with a glebe-house. There were in the parish in 1833, five day-schools (one of them supported partly by endowment and subscription) containing 150 to 155 children, and one Sunday-school with 160 scholars : a lending-library is attached to the Sunday-school.
The manor of Hatherleigh formerly belonged to the abbey of Tavistock ; one of the abbots gave a large plot of common land for the advantage of the townsmen.
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