The parish of

BRIDGERULE

The village of Bridgerule lies adjacent to the Cornish border, near to Holsworthy in the County of Devon, and Bude in Cornwall. It lies on both sides of the Tamar Valley. The western side lies close to the Bude Canal and was in Cornwall until 1844 when the county boundary was adjusted to bring both Western and Eastern Bridgerule into Devon.
 
Most of the homes in the village, the Shop, Pub and Parish Hall are to the west of the Tamar while the Parish Church, Methodist Chapel and Primary School are across the Tamar in the eastern area. There are also hamlets of Borough and Merrifield. The two halves of the parish were finally combined into one in 1950.
 
The Parish Church, dedicated to St Bridget and restored in 1878, has a tower of Ashlar granite, wagon roof, modern screen and very early Norman font. The Norman manor of Tackbear has plaster overmantels and woodwork dated 1693. The name Bridgerule is thought to be derived from Ruald who held the manor in the Domesday Book.

PARISH INFORMATION

CENSUS:

Please visit COCP (Cornwall Online Census Project), which is complete for 1841 to 1891 and validated, FreeCens at Rootsweb - both are free, searchable databases - or check GenUKI for other alternatives.

REGISTERS:

For Parish Register information, please see our searchable database (C-PROP) which is updated frequently.

Parish Registers dating back to 1702 are held in the Devon Record Office. They cover:
Baptisms 1702 to 1977
Marriages 1702 to 1837
Burials 1702 to 1927
 
I have access to microfiche copies of these Registers and will provide look ups from them but not blanket searches.
 
Bishops Transcripts covering CMB 1608. 1614, 1618?, 1644, 1664, 1666, 1669-81, 1688, 1692, 1695, 1697, 1699 (1700-1812?): C 1813-15, 1818, 1820, 1822-26, 1828, 1836-34; M 1813-16, 1818, 1820, 1822-26, 1828, 1830, 1832-34; B 1813-14, 1816, 1818, 1820, 1822-26, 1828, 1830-34 are held at the Devon Record Office. I have no access to these records.
 
According to Peskett a register volume 1561-1701 was lost before 1888, but selected extracts from this are preserved in the Baring-Gould Collection at Plymouth Central Library

DIRECTORIES:

For information, see GenUKI (link below)  or visit the University of Leicester's Directories website, which has many directories online to view for free.

OTHER:

Information about, and photographs of, present day Bridgerule can be found on this website.

For a transcription of Hearth Tax Returns for Bridgerule, 1662 - 1674, click here.

For more information regarding history, population, etc., visit GenUKI.

MAPS:

For a Parish Locator map, please click here. Bridgerule can be located at coordinates J - 9.

For further map information, please visit GenUKI (Genealogy - United Kingdom & Ireland).

To see a current, zoomable Ordnance Survey map, visit MultiMap, or for maps and satellite images use Google Maps.

ADJACENT PARISHES:

Launcells, Marhamchurch, Whitstone and, in Devon, Pancrasweek and Pyworthy.

ONLINE BOOKS:

Bridgerule is included in The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume I by Davies Gilbert, William Hals, Thomas Tonkin, Henry Samuel Boase, originally published in 1838 (page n172). Also downloadable as a pdf.