The church of this large and opulent parish is of size proportioned to
it, having three large aisles. The tower is low and surmounted by a
spire. In the church are some monuments, but not of much antiquity.
Archbishop Courtenay appears to have settled the right of presentation
to this parish, by giving it to the Chapter of Exeter, with the
limitation of their always bestowing it on some one who is at the
time, or has been, a Fellow of Exeter College. The vicarage is endowed
with the great tithes, on a payment of £20 a year to Exeter College,
and it is therefore considered as a rectory. Mr. Carew observes (p.
277, Lord de Dunstanville’s edition) that this parish has been
successively graced with three well born and well educated incumbents,
Doctor Tremayne, Master Billett, and Master Dennis; and it is believed
that William of Wykeham held this preferment for some time previously
to Archbishop Courtenay’s endowment.
The late incumbent, the Reverend William Holwell, may be noticed for
his taste and skill in the fine arts. He was the son of a medical
practitioner at Exeter, and nephew of William Holwell, student and
tutor of Christ Church soon after the middle of the last century, and
then Vicar of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, where he died in 1798,
having distinguished himself by the following, among other works:
The Beauties of Homer, selected from the Iliad, 8vo.
Extracts from Pope’s Translations of Homer compared with the Beauties
of the Original. 8vo.
A Mythological, Etymological, and Historical Dictionary. 8vo.
Mr. William Holwell, the nephew, was of course a Fellow of Exeter
College. He travelled through France and Italy about the year 1780,
where he began forming a collection of pictures, bequeathed on his
decease to the National Gallery. He is said to have taken Orders with
some reluctance, for the purpose of accepting this valuable living.
But the most important event in this gentleman’s life was his marrying
Charlotte, daughter and heiress of James Carr, Earl of Erroll. He in
consequence assumed the name of Carr. He died in the year 1830, having
survived his wife nearly twenty years, who has a monument to her
memory in Menheniot church.
In the valuation of Pope Nicholas, the name of this parish is written
Manyhinyhet, or Saihinet, proofs of the small reliance that can be
placed on mere phonic etymologies.
Cartuther, noticed by Mr. Hals, became the property and the residence
of the Morsheads, but having been sold, with all the other possessions
of that family, it was purchased by Mr. Kekewich.
Mr. Lysons gives a detail of other manors and bartons of little
interest.
This parish has the reputation of being the most fertile of corn,
especially of wheat, in the whole county. The aspect of the church
town gives a strong impression of monastic remains, but there is not
any tradition on record of a religious establishment in the place.
Menheniot measures 6047 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 10599 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1422 11 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 918 | 1024 | 1170 | 1253
giving an increase of 36½ per cent. in thirty years.