{{Short description|Village in Devon, England}} {{Use British English|date=July 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox UK place |country= England |official_name= Highweek |static_image= All Saints Church, Highweek - geograph.org.uk - 902390.jpg |static_image_width= 240px |static_image_caption= All Saints Church, Highweek |coordinates = {{coord|50.537|-3.629|display=inline,title|type:city_region:GB-DEV}} |label_position= left |civil_parish= Newton Abbot |population= |population_ref= |shire_district= Teignbridge |shire_county= Devon |region= South West England |constituency_westminster=Newton Abbot |post_town= NEWTON ABBOT |postcode_district= TQ12 |postcode_area= TQ |dial_code= 01626 |os_grid_reference= SX846720 }} '''Highweek''' (anciently called '''Teignwick''' (alias ''Teyngewike, Tingwike,<ref name="Pole, p.262">Pole, p.262</ref> Teyngewyk'', etc.)), less commonly called '''Highweek Village''' is an ecclesiastical parish,<ref name=POH>{{cite web |url=http://exeter.anglican.org/parishstaff.php?parid=421 |title=Parish of Highweek |publisher=Diocese of Exeter |accessdate=28 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629030046/http://exeter.anglican.org/parishstaff.php?parid=421 |archive-date=29 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> former manor and village, now a suburb of Newton Abbot, but still retaining its village identity,<ref name="TiSD">{{cite news |url=http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/Village-campaigners-fight-new-homes/article-1719940-detail/article.html |title=Village campaigners fight further new homes |last=Dale |first=Laura |publisher=This is South Devon |date=18 January 2010 |accessdate=22 February 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> in the civil parish of Newton Abbot, in the Teignbridge district, in the county of Devon, England. It is prominent and recognisable due to its high location on a ridge on the north western edge of the town. The area is the centre of the modern electoral ward of Bradley. That ward's population at the 2011 census was 5,043.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/bradley-e05003594#sthash.6quYCyuG.dpbs|title=Bradley ward 2011|accessdate= 18 February 2015}}</ref>
Following the Norman Conquest of 1066 the Normans built a motte-and-bailey castle here, of which only a dyke remains (giving it the local name of "Castle Dyke"), which probably remained occupied until the mid 13th century, when the chief residence of the locality became Bradley House.<ref>Pevsner, p.589</ref> The mediaeval parish church, dedicated to ''All Saints'', now a Grade I listed building, was consecrated in 1428. Until 1864 it served as a chapel of ease to the parish church of adjoining Kingsteignton<ref>Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.584</ref><ref>Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.262: ''"High Wike lieth in the parish of Kingstington, but hath a chappell of ease"''.</ref> having been built after the villagers petitioned the pope for their own graveyard.
== Geography == Highweek is on a ridge that overlooks the South Devon market town of Newton Abbot, the Teign Estuary and the Bovey Basin. To the north west, Haytor and surrounding parts of Dartmoor dominate the skyline, and to the north east the Haldon Hills some {{Convert | 9 | mi | 0}} away towards Exeter can be seen. Immediately north of the village there is the unusual cone shaped hill of Daracombe Beacon that overlooks the ball clay opencast pit of Ringslade Quarry, Howton Road and the 1st Highweek Village Scout Group building. The Beacon has a cluster of trees on its peak and is one of the highest points in Newton Abbot at 82 m.<ref>Google Earth 2011</ref> Another high point immediately north of the road of Gaze Hill contains a hidden covered municipal water tank.
The village gives its name to a geological unit (the Highweek Unit) that extends for at least 8 km westwards from the village. The geology underlying Highweek itself is Gurrington slate of Famennian age (a late subdivision of the Devonian period), with small outliers of resistant spilites forming both the ridge on which the church stands and the hills north of the village, such as the aforementioned Daracombe Beacon.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Selwood |first1=E. B. |last2=Edwards |first2=R.A.
|title=Geology of the country around Newton Abbot |pages=13, 38–40 |year=1984 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |isbn=0-11-884274-9|display-authors=etal}}</ref>
== All Saints Church == thumb|right|The church and its graveyard By 1427 the parishioners had built a chapel at Highweek, but they had to carry their dead about {{Convert | 3 | mi | 0 | spell = in}} to the parish church in Kingsteignton. They petitioned Pope Martin V for their own graveyard because "the tides and rivers, and the mud of winter and the intense heat of summer" made the journey "both troublesome and dangerous to accomplish".<ref name=L280>{{cite book |editor=Dunstan, G. R. |title=The Register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter, 1420–1455 |volume=IV |year=1971 |publisher=Devon & Cornwall Record Society |pages=280–1}}</ref> The pope granted permission in a bull dated 14 May 1427, and the church and its churchyard were consecrated by Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter on 19 April 1428.<ref name=L280/> Until 1864 it remained a chapel of ease to Kingsteignton.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pevsner, Nikolaus |authorlink=Nikolaus Pevsner |editor=Cherry, Bridget |title=The Buildings of England: Devon |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |year=1989 |orig-date=1952 |isbn=0-14-071050-7 |page=584}}</ref> All Saints has the Bradley aisle which was built by Richard Yarde of Bradley Manor in the 15th century, and it also had a rood screen that was said to be "beautiful" until it was mutilated in 1786 and later removed completely.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rowe |first=Chas. R. |title=South Devon |url=https://archive.org/details/southdevon00rowe |year=1907 |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/southdevon00rowe/page/136 136]}}</ref>
Today, the church is a Church of England place of worship in the Diocese of Exeter, known as Highweek Parish.<ref name=POH/> All Saints shares parishioners in rotating services with the other church in the parish, St Mary the Virgin, Abbotsbury, Church. It is a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-464123-parish-church-of-all-saints-newton-abbot |title=Parish Church of All Saints – Newton Abbot – Devon – England |publisher=British Listed Buildings |accessdate=22 February 2011}}</ref>
== History == ===Saxon=== Highweek stands in an area which experienced invasion and settlement in about 700 AD by the Saxons and then by the Danes in 1001 AD, when they sacked and pillaged the nearby village of Kingsteignton. The Anglo-Saxon suffix ''-wic'' means "a settlement", with the original Saxon place name ''Teignwic'' thus signifying "settlement by the River Teign.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology |last=Skeat |first=Walter W. |authorlink=Walter William Skeat |edition=Facsimile reprint of Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884 |year=1993 |publisher=Wordsworth Reference |location=Ware |page=[https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar0000skea/page/561 561] |isbn=1-85326-311-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar0000skea/page/561 }}</ref>
===Norman=== The manor, anciently called ''Teignwic'' (alias ''Teignwick, Teyngewike, Teyngewyk'', etc.) is not listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, as it was then a part of the large royal manor of ''Teintone'' (now Kingsteignton).<ref>Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 2 (Notes), 1:10</ref> In the village is a Norman motte-and-bailey earthwork now known as Castle Dyke,<ref>{{cite journal | author=Woolner, Diana & Alexander | title=Castle Dyke, Highweek, Newton Abbot, Devon | journal=Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association | year=1953 | volume=85 | pages=133–8}}</ref> a scheduled monument included in the "At Risk" register,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/2010.aspx?id=6636 |title=Scheduled Monuments at Risk – Castle Dyke, Newton Abbot, Teignbridge, Devon |publisher=English Heritage |accessdate=22 February 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but still standing tall today "...crowned by a single surviving pine."<ref>Smith, Paul C (December 2017) ''The Story of All Saints' Church Highweek'' (Parish Information leaflet)</ref>
===12th century=== The manor of Teignwick was given by King Henry II (1154-1189) to "John, the son of Lucas his butler".<ref name="Pole, p.262"/> Following the Norman revolt it was forfeited to the crown and was re-granted by King John (1199-1216) to Eustace de Courtenay,<ref name="Pole, p.262"/> apparently<ref>Not listed in the Courtenay pedigree in Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.243</ref> a relative of Renaud de Courtenay (d.1194), ancestor of the Earls of Devon.
===13th 14th centuries=== [[File:YardArms.png|thumb|Canting arms<ref>Bushel vaguely rhyming with Bouget</ref> of Bushel: ''Argent, a chevron gules between three water bougets sable''<ref>Pole, p.472</ref>]] The earliest surviving documentary reference to the manor is as ''Teyngewike'' in about 1200.<ref name="autogenerated472">Gover, J. E. B., Mawer, A. & Stenton, F. M. (1931). ''The Place-Names of Devon''. (English Place-Name Society. Vol viii.) Part I. Cambridge University Press; pp. 472–73.</ref> The part of the Hundred of Teignbridge, including Teignwick, which lay to the west of the River Teign were owned by the king, and in 1246<ref>Pole, p.262 regnal date "31 Henry III"</ref> King Henry III granted these lands, including Dipford,<ref>Tristram Risdon's Notebook [https://archive.org/stream/notebookoftristr00risdrich/notebookoftristr00risdrich_djvu.txt] Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.136</ref> to Sir Theobald de Englishville<ref>Thorn & Thorn, Part 2 (Notes), 1:10</ref><ref name=Carter>{{cite book |last=Carter |first=Philip |title=Newton Abbot |year=2004 |publisher=The Mint Press |location=Exeter |isbn=1-903356-40-7 |pages=8–10}}</ref> (d.1262). He appears not to have married and as he had no children, shortly before his death in 1262 and with royal licence<ref name="Risdon, p.136">Risdon, p.136</ref> dated 1261,<ref>Pole, p.262 regnal date "46 Henry III"</ref> he conveyed his lands to his "kinsman or foster child"<ref name="Pole, p.262"/><ref>"adopted son" per Risdon, p.136</ref> Robert Bushel (d.1269), whom he had brought up. His heir was his 4 year-old son Theobald Bushel, who became a ward of Henry de Bickleigh and his wife Matilda. It is likely that they abandoned Castle Dyke in favour of a new manor house they built in the nearby valley of the River Lemon.<!-- mention seizure in king's name and legal wrangling, ejection, etc. --><ref name=Bradley>{{cite book |last=Woolner |first=Diana |title=Bradley, Devon (guidebook) |year=1989 |publisher=The National Trust |pages=10–11, 21}}</ref> The manor of Teignwick/Highwick was held by the Bushel family for nine generations<ref name="Risdon, p.136"/> until the death of John Bushel, the last in the male line, during the reign of King Richard II<ref>Pole, pp.262-3</ref> (1377-1399). During the 13th century the settlement north of the River Lemon became known as Newton Bushel after the Bushel family. By 1301 it was being called ''Heghwyk'', the reference to the prominent (high) hill on which it stands having taken over<ref name="autogenerated472"/> though the name ''Teignweek'' was still in use as late as 1850.<ref name="Genuki">{{cite web |url=http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Highweek/index.html |title=Highweek – Genealogy |publisher=Genuki |date=7 September 2008 |accessdate=22 February 2011 |archive-date=6 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506000748/http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Highweek/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The estate of Ringslade in Highweek was first mentioned in the 13th century as ''Ryngeslad'' in 1238. The estate belonged the Segar family from at least the 16th century until the 20th century.<ref>Beavis, Derek. Newton Abbot: The Story of the Town's Past. United Kingdom: Barracuda, 1985. pg 65</ref> Ringslade House was constructed in the 16th century and is today a Grade II listed building.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101256801-ringslade-and-attached-walls-railings-gate-piers-and-outbuildings-newton-abbot|title=Ringslade and Attached Walls Railings Gate Piers and Outbuildings |work=British Listed Buildings |accessdate=10 January 2026}}</ref>
===15th century=== thumb|Arms of Yarde: ''Argent, a chevron gules between three water bougets sable'',<ref>Vivian, p.829; Pole, p.510</ref> arms inherited from the Bushel family<ref>The original arms of Yarde, also canting arms, were ''A yard measure'' (Tregaskes, Jean H., ''Churston Story: 1088-1998'', First Published 1990, Revised 2nd Edition 1998, p.14) of appearance unknown</ref> In 1402 the AtYard (later ''Yarde'') family acquired the manor of Highweek.<ref name="NATC">''Newton Abbot – Town Council Official Guide''. Newton Abbot 1990s edition, "K.L / H.P Ltd./ D.M.C / 9006 Printed in Great Britain" {{ISBN|0-7140-2705-7}}</ref> The first holder was Thomas Yarde,<ref name="Pole, p.263">Pole, p.263</ref> son of Roger AtYard by his wife Elizanta (''alias'' Elisote<ref name="Pole, p.263"/>) Bushel, heiress of Highweek. She was the aunt and heiress of John Bushel, the last in the male line.<ref name="Risdon, p.136"/> His son and heir was Richard Yarde, Sheriff of Devon in 1442/3, who married Joan Ferrers, the heiress of Churston Ferrers,<ref>Vivian, p.829; Risdon, p.160</ref> where a junior branch of the Yarde family was later seated. This Richard Yarde built most of the surviving manor house at Bradley,<ref>Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.442</ref> though a few remnants of the late 13th century Bushel building still survive.<ref name=Bradley/> <!--(this doesn't fit, try elsewhere, or omit) By 1332 Highweek had 22 taxpayers, compared to just 14 in Newton.<ref name=Carter/> -->
===Later history=== Newton Bushel combined with New Town of the Abbots (of Torre Abbey) from the south side of the River Lemon to form what became known as Newton Abbot. When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Highweek was initially given a parish council and included in the Newton Abbot Rural District. The parish council lasted for less than seven years; in 1901 Highweek was transferred into the urban district of Newton Abbot.<ref>{{cite web |title=Newton Abbot Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10106679 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref> After 1901 Highweek was therefore classed as an urban parish and so no longer had a parish council, instead being directly administered by Newton Abbot Urban District Council. The civil parish of Highweek was eventually abolished on 1 April 1974 when the three parishes within Newton Abbot Urban District (Highweek, Wolborough and Milber) were united as a single parish called Newton Abbot within the new Teignbridge district.<ref>{{cite web |title=Devonshire (South Part): Diagram showing administrative boundaries, 1972 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241242118 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) (No. 2) Order 1973|year=1973|number=1939|access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/newton%20abbot.html|title=Newton Abbot Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=15 August 2023}}</ref> In 1951 the parish had a population of 5626.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10053985/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Highweek Ch/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=15 August 2023}}</ref>
==Modern Highweek== Today Highweek has a public house called the Highweek Village Inn, a garage, village hall, and a late medieval church. Within the parish boundary there are two secondary schools with sixth forms, Coombeshead Academy and Newton Abbot College, and another church: St Mary the Virgin, Abbotsbury. At the meeting point of the road of Highweek Village and Coombeshead Road there are rustic cottages and terraced houses. There was a village post office into the 1990s, opposite the Highweek Inn at the top of Pitt Hill Road, but it is now residential.
==Notable residents== *Segar family, a Devonshire gentry family listed in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon, 1620 and who lived at Ringslade in Highweek.<ref>Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.433, pedigree of ''Segar of Highweek''</ref> *Cricketer and rugby player Dr Henry Banbury Mapleton MA, MD) grew up in Highweek. In 1894, he became medical officer for Newton Abbot which also included Highweek *Bruce Montgomery, film composer and mystery writer (as Edmund Crispin), lived here from 1964 until his death in 1978.
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal | author=S. G. Harris | title=Notes on the History of Highweek | journal=Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association | year=1884 | volume=16 | pages=435–43}} <small>(Note that much of the early history related in this article has been superseded by later research.)</small> *{{cite journal | author=S. G. Harris | title=Highweek: Gleanings from a Parish Chest | journal=Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association | year=1884 | volume=16 | pages=662–9}}
== External links == * [http://www.achurchnearyou.com/highweek-all-saints/ Church of England directory: All Saints Highweek]
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Category:Villages in Devon Category:Newton Abbot Category:Former civil parishes in Devon