In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Chagford like this:
CHAGFORD, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict in Okehampton district, Devon. The town stands on elevated ground, near the river Teign, on the skirts of Dartmoor, 4 miles WNW of Moreton-Hampstead r. station, and 12 SW of Crediton; and has a post office‡ under Exeter, and two inns. It is a picturesque old place, amid romantic environs, in a bracing climate, repulsive during winter, but attractive to tourists and to invalids in summer. ...
It was made a stannary town in 1328; and it sustained an attack by the royalists in the wars of Charles I. The Three Crowns inn at it was built as a mansion, by Judge Whyddon, in the time of James I.; and served afterwards as the dower-house of Whyddon Park. Markets are held on Saturdays; and fairs on the first Thursday of May, and the last Thursday of March, Sept., and Oct. The parish comprises 7,492 acres. Real property, £7,014. Pop., 1,379. Houses, 273. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Dodo the Saxon; was given by the Conqueror to the Bishop of Coutances; and passed, in the time of Henry III., to Sir Hugh de Chagford, and afterwards to Judge Whyddon. Several ancient British antiquities occur among the hills. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £539.* Patron, the Rev. H. G. Hames. The church is a good ancient structure, with a square embattled tower; and contains a grand monument of Judge Whyddon. There are chapels for Wesleyan Methodists and Bible Christians. Charities, £44. The subdistrict contains four parishes. Acres, 19,821. Pop., 2,907. Houses, 608.
Chagford through time
Chagford is now part of West Devon district. Click here for graphs and data of how West Devon has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Chagford itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Chagford in West Devon | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4050
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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