Modbury
town and civil parish in Devon, United Kingdom
Modbury is a Town, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England."market town", as from at least 1199 the lord of the manor has held the right to hold a regular market. The town is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge. The current parish population is approximately 1,500.
Etymology
The name Modbury is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name, Moot burgh from 'Moot' meaning either 'Mud' or 'meeting' and 'bury' meaning 'fortified enclosure'.
History
Modbury is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It has had permission to hold a weekly fair since before 1199. The population of the town was greatly reduced as a consequence of the Black Death in the 14th century.
Civil war
Modbury was the site of two battles in the English Civil War. The first battle was a surprise attack by a mounted Parliamentarian force led by Sir William Ruthven that moved under cover of darkness from Plymouth via Ivybridge on 7 December 1642. In the early morning charge they routed a mostly untrained Royalist force that had gathered in the town, where Sir Ralph Hopton, the King's senior commander in the West Country, was holding council at the manor house of Champernowne Court.
The public source identifies “Modbury” as town and civil parish in Devon, United Kingdom. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Modbury, town and civil.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Modbury”, the useful work is to connect “town and civil parish in Devon, United Kingdom” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1242590. VIAF identifies the subject as 167970696. Authority coordinates are 50.349, -3.887. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1199, 1086 and 1642.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Modbury”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Modbury” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.