Thorncombe, with its quaint cottages, steep streets and stunning countryside, looks like many small, picturesque villages across East Devon. For hundreds of years, that is exactly what it was: a Devon village.
The Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded the findings of a national survey ordered by William the Conqueror, listed Thorncombe as being in Devonshire and belonging to Baldwin, the sheriff of Exeter at the time.
But in 1844, the village was transferred from Devon into Dorset. How and why did that happen?
The name Thorncombe even sounds Devon. In the Domesday Book it appears as Tomecone, which apparently derives from the Saxon "torn" and "cumb", meaning low ground where thorns grow. Thorncombe does indeed occupy low ground that was prone to flooding, and large amounts of thorns and other wild vegetation used to grow there.
The Domesday entry lists 16 villagers, eight smallholders and two slaves. It also records 18 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture and 15 acres of woodland, along with 66 sheep and 10 cattle. In total, only 91 of its 1,800 acres were cultivated; the rest was wild shrub land.
What stood out in the sleepy parish was Forde Abbey, a couple of miles to the north-west. Built as a Cistercian monastery between 1133 and 1136, the building later became a private residence with farmland and is now a popular tourist destination.
Despite its small size, Thorncombe has played a notable part in politics and history over the centuries. The English Civil Wars, which ran from 1642 to 1651, divided landowners across the region, with some siding with the Parliamentarians and others with the Royalists. After the war, some of Oliver Cromwell's key figures moved into Forde Abbey, while those who had fought on the losing side were heavily fined and had their lands seized.
Local legend has it that the reverend, a man named John Bragge, was exiled to Barbados for being involved in a Royalist plot against Cromwell. However, parish records suggest he died in Thorncombe in 1647.
Political unrest surfaced again in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the West Country Rebellion. The plot to overthrow James II was finally quelled at the Battle of Sedgemoor.
Thorncombe: Devon Village Transferred to Dorset in 1844