LODDISWELL is a considerable village, pleasantly situated on rising ground on the western side of the vale of the Avon, 3 miles N.N.W. of Kingsbridge. Its parish contains 1013 souls, and 3568 acres of land, exclusive of the township of Buckland-Toutsaints, which is afterwards noticed. The manor of Loddiswell is in two moieties, belonging to Mrs. E. Wise and Mr. Thos. Harris; that of Webbiton belongs to Sir W. P. Carew, and that of Staunton to the Rev. C. Osmond; but several smaller owners have estates here. In 1463, Thos. Gyll had license to castellate his house of Hach Arundell, and enclose a park; but it has long been reduced to a farm-house. Hazelwood, a large and handsome mansion, with extensive grounds, is the seat of Rd. Peek, Esq., who erected it in 1830, after retiring from business as a merchant in London. Yellow Ochre is manufactured here, and in the parish is a copper mine, which was opened 25 years ago, and was taken by a numerous company of adventurers in 1836, but has lately been closed. Blackdown hill, at the north end of the parish, commands extensive views, and has evident traces of an entrenchment. The Church (St. Michael,) is an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells. It retains many of its old oak seats, and contains several tablets in memory of the Wise family of Woolston, whose heiress married the Rev. C. Osmond. Woolston House is a large mansion, with a well-wooded lawn of 30 acres. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £26. 0s. 2½d., and in 1831 at £286, with the curacy of Buckland-Toutsaints annexed to it, is in the patronage of the Executors of the Rev. C. I. Jones, and the incumbency of the Rev. H. Marriott, M.A., who has 111 acres of glebe and a good residence. The tithes were commuted in 1838, the vicarial for £261, and the rectorial for £281. Of the latter, £266 belongs to Mrs. Freke, and £15 to the patrons. Here is a small Independent Chapel, and schools are attached to it and the church. A Reading Room was established by Mr. Peek, in 1839. The Parish Lands, &c., given by Sir Matthew Arundell in 1591, and other donors, for the repairs of the church and other public uses, comprise about 50 acres and three houses, let for about £35 per annum, subject to fines on the renewal of the leases. A house at the east end of the church-yard is occupied rent-free by poor people. In 1728, RICHARD PHILLIPS gave for the relief of poor people of Loddiswell, not receiving parochial aid, a farm of 40A. 2R. 8P., called Luke’s Tenement, and now let for about £40 per ann.
