England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Musbury St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Musbury lies in the extreme east of Devon, not too far from its border with neighbouring Dorset. Musbury is located about 3 miles southwest of the market town (and carpet manufacturing centre) of Axminster. Musbury is a small and compact village sitting on the A358 road which connects Axminster with Seaton & Beer, it sits on the eastern side of the Axe valley at the foot of higher ground. Musbury's economy would have been underpinned largely by pastoral farming, cattle predominant on the watermeadows of the Axe flood plain whilst sheep would have grazed the nearby hills. Musbury has a long history, the hill rising steeply to the east being topped by an Iron Age hill fort, more recently the village & church are deeply associated with the Drake family. The Axe drains the parish southward to reach the nearby English Channel through Seaton. Musbury is sited at around 30 metres above the sea but land rises steeply to the east to reach 175 metres within a mile. Musbury parish was one of the smaller in this area, covering just over 1,000 acres it would have supported around 500 parishioners. In Domesday times Musbury was held by Baldwin the sheriff and was a small place of 9 ploughs, small meadows & pastures but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the eastern, higher, edge of the village at end of a short dead-end lane. Sadly the church has been much restored over the centuries and little remains of the mediaeval today. Of the 15th century and Perpendicular in style is the battlement-topped western tower, the southern arcade also shows perpendicular detail in its piers. Much else was rebuilt during a drastic restoration of the 1870s to result in what is clearly not an interesting building to Pevsner who's description is short covering barely 3 lines of text. Church Hill leads from the centre of the village towards the church with a large car park on the left. Wooden gates lead through to the churchyard which is open and with few obstructions to photography.