Atherington, Devon Genealogy

England Devon Devon Parishes

Parish History
ATHERINGTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of North Tawton, South Molton and N. divisions of Devon, 7 miles (S. S. E.)from Barnstaple. A portion of the lands were granted by Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, to the convent of Caen, in Normandy, which she had founded. In the reign of Henry III nuns from that establishment settled here, and erected a chapel, in which was placed a statue of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who in the time of Edward III, was lord of the manor. During the protectorate of Cromwell, Charles II concealed himself in the parsonage house, and the chamber in which he slept is still preserved. The parish is situated on the river Taw, intersected by the direct road from Barnstaple to Exeter.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Devon Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.