Castle Close is a circular earthwork, close to Stoodleigh, that is most likely to be an Iron AgeHill fort or enclosure.[3]
Church of St Margaret's
The Church of St Margaret's was constructed in the 15th century and was extensively restored in 1782.[4] It contains a Norman font which is likely to have come from an earlier church in the parish where the first recorded incumbent was installed in 1264.[1]
Stoodleigh Beacon
Stoodleigh Beacon is situated about 2 miles west of Stoodleigh village. It was anciently known as Warbrighsleigh,[5]Warbrightley,[6]Warpsley,[7] etc., also the name of the high hill on which it stood. The beacon was ordered to be set up by King Edward II (1307-1327) "when he doubted of the landing of his queen Isabel and Sir John (sic) of Henold" (Risdon)[8] This refers to Isabel's Invasion of England in 1326, having betrothed her son Prince Edward to Philippa of Hainault, the daughter of
William I, Count of Hainaut, from whom she received a substantial dowry and several warships.[9]
In the 16th and 17th centuries the estate of Warbrighsleigh, etc., was the seat of the Broughton family.[10]
^R.R.Sellman; Aspects of Devon History, Devon Books 1985 – ISBN0-86114-756-1 – Chapter 2; The Iron Age in Devon. Map Page 11 of Iron Age hill forts in Devon includes Castle Close.
^Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p. 66
^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 111, pedigree of Broughton of Warbrightley
^Vivian, p. 400, re Elizabeth Giffard, wife of George Broughton (Vivian, p. 111) of Warpsley
