England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Milton Damerel Holy Trinity

The Parish

The parish of Milton Damerel lies in northwestern Devon not too far from its border with neighbouring Cornwall. Milton Damerel is a small and compact village situated about 5 miles northeast of the market town of Holsworthy. Most of the village is sited just a half mile south of the A388 road which connects Holsworthy with the port of Bideford. At the time of this transcript the area would have been dominated by pastoral farming and little has changed today, still a fairly remote rural area with small hedged and banked fields of pastureland dotted with the ubiquitous cattle of the area. Milton Damerel sits on a ridge of land overlooking the valley of the nearby River Waldon which drains the parish southeastwards, soon joining the Torridge the drainage performs a wide loop to return northwards and reach the outer Bristol Channel through the port of Bideford. Milton Damerel is sited at around 140 metres above the sea and some 30 metres above the Waldon's valley in deeply incised rolling countryside, land rises to the northwest to just over 200 metres at Silworthy Cross. Many of the parishes in this area are larger than is customary for Devon, a function of the low population density of this Cornish borderlands, Milton Damerel parish covered over 4,200 acres and would have supported a population of around 800 parishioners. In Domesday times Milton Damerel, held by Robert of Aumale, was a small place offering just 6 ploughs together with meadows, pastures and woodland.

The Church

Holy Trinity church sits at the centre of the village but is tucked away behind facing properties from most angles. The church's oldest features are late 13th century, the western tower would have constituted the oldest feature had it not been rebuilt in 1892, the builders did, however, reuse the original materials allowing Pevsner to note its likely origin in the early mediaeval. More confidently he dates the chancel to the turn of 13th into 14th century. Much else is as the result of rebuild in the Perpendicular style, and late in that period too hence a date of late 15th century seems likely. The church is accessed either from the south, along a footpath opposite the Methodist Chapel or more easily from the west through a square-arched gateway by the village sign. There are a few trees around but they do not interfere totally with photographic angles.