Hello, my name is Michael Yabsley and welcome to my page dedicated to the parish of Brixton, Devon, England.  I have volunteered to be an online parish clerk (OPC) for this parish.  For more information on the OPC project that is ongoing for Devon, visit the Genuki OPC page.

My hope is that this page will bring together all the information available for research of families that live in or came from Brixton.  If you have any questions about Brixton families or have data that you would like to contribute (census records, tax records, church records, etc.), please contact me at [email protected]  This page is still being designed, but I wanted to go ahead and get it "out".

Information available:

1850 William White's Gazetteer for Brixton
Ancient manors of Brixton
Current maps of Brixton containing farms and villages
Records available for lookups
Wish list of items that would be useful
Links to web pages pertaining to Brixton

Elliot Hill in Brixton  (60 Kb) (courtesy of Terry Partridge)	Foxhound Inn  in Brixton  (46 Kb) (courtesy of Terry Partridge)	St. Marys Church  in Brixton (51 Kb) (courtesy of Terry Partridge)	General View of Brixton  (51 Kb) (courtesy of Terry Partridge)

BRIXTON, a pleasant village, 4½ miles E. of Plymouth, has in its parish 822 souls, and 2865 acres of fertile land, bounded on the south-east by the Yealm estuary, and including the small hamlets of Spriddleston, Hareston, Winston, and Coombe. The manor of Brixton, anciently called Briticheston, was long held by a family of its own name, but after passing to various other families, it was dismembered many years ago. T. W. Parrott, Esq.[1851 census], is lord of the manor of Hareston, which he derived from the Winters. This manor was successively held by the Reynald, Hareston, Silverlock, and Wood families; the latter of whom resided for many generations in the old mansion, which was built in the reign of Henry VII., and was partly destroyed by fire in the last century. The remains of this ancient building are still preserved. Mr. Elliott is lord of the manor of Spriddleston, which has been held succesively by the Spriddle, Fortescue, Lane, and other families. E. R. P. Bastard and Sir T. T. F. E. Drake own a great part of the parish, the former having Wollaton [occupied by John Cockrem in 1851], and the latter the Sherford estate [occupied by Joan Revell (west) and William Shillabeer (east) in 1851]. The Church has a lofty tower and five bells, and is an ancient structure in the decorated style. It was appropriated to Plympton Priory. The perpetual curacy, valued at £107, is in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor, and incumbency of the Rev. Richard Lane [1851 census], who has neither parsonage nor glebe. The tithes belong to Henry Collins-Splatt, Esq. [1851 census], and were commuted in 1839, for £640. They were sold by the patrons in 1800. The benefice is endowed with a farm of 37A. 3R. 5P., at Modbury, purchased with £400 left by Elize Hele, in 1658. The parish has three tenements, occupied rent free by poor people;and ten cottages with gardens, &c., purchased with the poor's money, in 1594 and 1596. Belonging to the same charity are £250 three per cent. consols, which arose from fines paid by the lessees. The clear yearly income, about £30, is distributed in clothing among the poor, about Christmas. Half an acre of play ground, called the Parish Park, was planted with elms by Edward Fortescue, Esq., in 1677.

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Maps of Brixton area

*maps not up at moment...

Map of East side of Brixton Parish including a list of villages, farms, and plantations.
Map of West side of Brixton Parish including a list of villages, farms, and plantations.
 

Records available:

        Complete Records

            Census
                - 1851 (email me for lookups)
                - 1881 (email me for lookups)
                - 1891 (RG12/1721, Enum. Dist. 12 and 13 transcribed as part of 1891 Devon Census Transcription Project.
           Land tax assessment for Brixton, 1781-1832 (no index yet, at local FHC)
           Directories
               - 1850 William White's Directory including information from the 1851 census for each individual
               - 1906-7 Post Office Directory

        Incomplete (mainly extractions of single names)

            Baptisms 1798-1944 (extracts of only Y(E)ABSLEY surname)
            Marriages 1754-1837 (extracts of only Y(E)ABSLEY surname)
            Baptisms 1783-1815 and Marriages1788-1789;1814-1815
                     (extracts of WEST, WILLS, SCOBLE, GIBBARD, WINSBORROW, CROCKER, SQUANCE)
            1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 census records for surname YABSLEY (see my database page for YABSLEYs)
            Family trees mainly including the following surnames:
                    Yabsley, West, Cane, Scoble
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Lane, Richard. A history of the parish of Brixton. MSS. (1880?) 274p.
Rowe, J.Brooking.  A history of the parish of Brixton  (1900?) similar to Richard Lane's book.
Rowe, J. Brooking. Brixton: extracts from deeds, parish registers, pedigrees etc. Manuscript (1875?) 1 vol.
Clamp, Arthur L. Some bygone scenes of Brixton & its people. Plymouth: P D S Printers (1990) 32p: ill,maps.

At the Plymouth Library: Chiswell, Ann. Brixton apprenticeship records. Plymouth: (1988) [1], 4, 4p.

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Links to pages that are England- or Devon-wide that may help with your Brixton research:
        Devon GENUKI web page
        BMD search page for births, marriages, and deaths in England
        LDS web site [many Brixton records have not been transcribed]
 

Return to my home page or my Y(E)ABSLEY family history web page.

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