Woolfardisworthy, Torridge

For the smaller village in Mid Devon, see Woolfardisworthy, Mid Devon.

Woolfardisworthy (/ˈwʊlzəri/ WUUL-zər-ee), also spelled Woolsery,^[3] is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village is accessible via the A39 road, 2 miles (3 km) from the village.

Woolfardisworthy Woolsery
Village
All Hallows' Church
Woolfardisworthy Location within Devon
Population	1,123 [1]
Civil parish	Woolsery [2]
District	Torridge
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Bideford
Postcode district	EX39
Dialling code	01237
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Torridge and West Devon
List of places UK England Devon 50.96472°N 4.37694°W / 50.96472; -4.37694

Name

Woolfardisworthy, jointly with a few other places in Devon, has one of the longest place names in England, with 16 letters. As the modern pronunciation of the village, known to have been in use since the 17th century, is /ˈwʊlzəri/, its name is sometimes marked on local signs as Woolsery alongside the original spelling.^[4]

The original meaning of the name is probably "Wulfheard's homestead" – the element -worthy being from Old English worþig, one of several words used by the Anglo-Saxons to denote a homestead, farmstead or small settlement.^[5]

All Hallows Church

In the parish church dedicated to All Hallows is the large monument with effigy to Richard Cole (d.1614) of Buckish within the parish, also of Slade in the parish of Cornworthy, Devon. It is a Grade 1 British Listed Building.^[6]

Organisations

The Centre for Fortean Zoology is based here.

References

1. Census 2001; Parish Headcounts
2. "Woolsery Parish Council - Home". WPC.
3. Pointon, Graham, ed. (1990). BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 264. ISBN 0-19-282745-6.
4. Padel, O. J. (1999). "Place-names". In Kain, Roger; Ravenhill, William (eds.). Historical Atlas of South-West England. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. pp. 88–9. ISBN 0-85989-434-7.
5. Ekwall, Eilert, ed. (1960). Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19869-103-3.
6. "Church of All Hallows, Woolfardisworthy, Devon". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Listing NGR: SS3322121085. Retrieved 9 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

External links

• Media related to Woolfardisworthy at Wikimedia Commons