Meavyis a small village,civil parishand formermanorin the English county ofDevon.Meavy forms part of the district ofWest Devon.It lies a mile or so east ofYelverton.TheRiver Meavyruns near the village. For administrative purposes the parish is grouped with the parishes ofSheepstorandWalkhamptonto formBurrator Parish Council,[1]and for electoral purposes it is grouped with the same two parishes to form BurratorWard.[2]

The Meavy Oak in front of the church

In 2010, Meavy was one of the filming locations for theSteven SpielbergfilmWar Horse.

Buildings

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Parish church

Theparish churchof St Peter is at least partlyNormanwith additions of the 13th and 15th centuries. There is areredosof 1884 byJ.D. Seddingand a foliated churchyard cross. The oak tree on the village green in front of the churchyard wall is known as the Meavy Oak and was described byJohn Claudius Loudonin hisArboretumof 1838; the tree may be over 900 years old. Next to the church is an unremarkable manor house of the Drake family.[3]

Royal Oak Inn

The Royal Oak Inn dates to the late 15th century, and is owned by thecivil parishofBurrator,with the profits being used by the parish council to fund projects within the parish. Some of the seating consists ofpewsformerly located in the nearby church.

Manor

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Canting armsof Militon:Gules, a chevron or between threemilletshauriant argent[4]

The manor of Meavy (aliasMeavy Church, Mewy, etc.) was held in 1086 at the time ofDomesday Bookby Robert le Bastard.[5]Later it was held by thede Meavyfamily from the reign of Kings Henry III to Richard II. Their feudaloverlordwas the de Pomeray family,feudal barons of Berry Pomeroy.[6]It was later held by the Milliton family, whose armorials were:Gules, a chevron argent between three millets hauriant or,[7]where "millets" aremulletfish.[8]Richard IV Strode (d.1552) ofNewnham,about 6 miles south, married Agnes Milliton, daughter of John Milliton of Meavy.[9]Meavy was later one of the residences of SirWilliam IV Strode(1562–1637),[10]and later became the seat of the latter's 2nd sonWilliam Strode(1594-1645), MP.[11]A junior branch of the Crymes family of Crapstone,[12]Buckland Monachorum,was resident in the parish of Meavy.[13]Risdon:"The manor of Buckland was bought by one Grimes, of London, who built a house upon the same, which descends to his posterity, and is now inherited by that name".[14]Meavy was purchased bySir Francis Drake, 3rd Baronet(1642–1718), ofBuckland Abbeyin the parish ofBuckland Monachorum,who sometimes resided at themanor housewest of St Peter's Church, in which survives the "Drake Aisle" or manorial chapel. The external stonework is inscribed with the date "1705" and the "Drake star" from his coat of arms.[15]His mother was Susan Crimes, a daughter of William Crimes (or Grimes), of Buckland Crimes and a sister of Elizeus Crimes.[16]

References

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  1. ^"Burrator Parish Council".Retrieved5 July2010.
  2. ^"Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 2473".HMSO.Retrieved5 July2010.
  3. ^Pevsner, N. (1952)South Devon.Penguin Books
  4. ^Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.493
  5. ^Pole, p.337
  6. ^Pole, Sir William(d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.337
  7. ^Pole, Sir William(d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.493
  8. ^As depicted on heraldic quarterings ofWilliam IV Strode(1562–1637) on his monument in St Mary's Church, Plympton. Not apparently "Mullets" which in heraldic language are stars. Also shown sculpted on monument to Robert III Cary (d.1586) of Clovelly, Devon, who married Margaret Milliton, daughter of John Milliton and widow of John Giffard of Yeo in the parish of Alwington, North Devon. South wall of chancel, All Saints Church, Clovelly. Both images show two dorsal fins and two fins on the belly, characteristic of the mullet fishMugil cephalus(see imageFile:Mugil cephalus.jpg
  9. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.718
  10. ^Risdon, Tristram(d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, ( "Meavy Church" ) p.195;Pole, Sir William(d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, ( "Mewy" ) p.337
  11. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.719
  12. ^Pevsner, Nikolaus& Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, pp.233-4
  13. ^Vivian, p.258
  14. ^Risdon, Tristram(d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.211
  15. ^"A Brief History of St. Peter's, Meavy".
  16. ^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.,(Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising theHeralds' Visitationsof 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.301, pedigree of Drake
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50°29′08″N4°03′24″W/ 50.48552°N 4.05656°W/50.48552; -4.05656