Burlescombe

Brambles Bed and Breakfast is 3.7 miles from Burlescombe in Devon.

BURLESCOMBE has a 15th century church (St. Mary), which stands well and possesses a particularly charming interior. In the N. or Ayshford aile are the coloured monuments of that family: (1) Roger Ayshford (1610) and his wife Elizabeth; (2) Elizabeth, wife of Arthur Ayshford (1635). These beautiful monuments hang like pictures on the plastered wall. The aisle has a wagon-roof with figures of angels along the wall-plates. In the chancel is the alter-tomb of William Ayshford (d. 1508) and his two wives. The tomb is coloured and is ornamented on its sides with ten standing figures under canopies. The 15th century rood-screen has thin and poor detail and is crudely painted.

Ayshford, the seat of the Ayshfords from the time of Henry I to 1689, is now a diminished farmhouse, partly 16th century in date. The private chapel of the family still stands nearby, a 15th century building, thoroughly restored in 1860, with a poor screen and a mural monument to John Ayshford (1689), the last of the direct line. Ayshford was a domesday manor. So, too, were Cannonsleigh, Fenacre Farm and Appledore.

At Canonsleigh Farm is the sight of an Augustinian nunnery founded by Maud, Countess of Devon. A house of Austin Canons had been founded here by William de Claville between 1161 and 1173, but in 1284 the house and its property were made over to regular canonesses of the same order, the head of the nunnery ranking as an Abbess. (Oliver, Mon.,224; Stephan, 69.) A damaged gateway remains (the W. entrance to the priory) and part of a tower. There are also remains of the priory mill. At Westleigh, nearby, are extensive limestone quarries producing lime and roadstone.

Towns and Villages A to Z