England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Netherexe St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Netherexe lies in the southeastern portion of central Devon about 5 miles north of the city of Exeter. Netherexe sits around a mile west of the A386 road which connects Exeter with Tiverton. There is very little to modern day Netherexe, a strip of properties along a narrow lane sitting on the eastern banks of the River Exe. Like many river valley settlements its position gave it access to the grazing marshes, often flooded in winter, which leads to pastoral farming of cattle being the predominant source of income for the parish. Modern developments came and went for Netherexe, a branch railway line from Exeter to Tiverton skirted the parish on the opposite banks of the river before being closed and dismantled. The Exe drains the parish southwards, passing through Exeter to the English Channel through the Exe's estuary. Netherexe is sited at around 20 metres above the sea in its valley setting, outside the valley land rises to around 70 metres in more gentle terrain than is typical of this county. Netherexe parish was one of the smaller in Devon, covering just 600 acres it could support fewer than 100 parishioners. It was not always so small, in Domesday times as a holding of Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances it could muster 7 ploughs together with the usual meadows and woodlands, a fairly normal sized holding of its day.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church is one for the more adventurous church seeker, accessed across field from the end of Kitts Lane and sitting almost on the banks of the river Exe. The dedication was not known to Pevsner but is St John the baptist on modern maps. Pevsner's description is short indicative of him spending little time on what is a small church for a small congregation. Nave & chancel are in one piece and the former is topped by a bellcote, all are in the Perpendicular style of the 14th century. Two restorations, both late in the vogue period, the first of 1896 being followed by a new roof in 1906. Given its isolated location it is welcome to see the grounds so well attended. Visitors are recommended to find parking in Kitts Lane and cross the fields to the church on foot, the churchyard whilst as small and compact as its church has no obstacles for the photographer.