OTTERY (ST-MARY), a parish, market-town, and
hundred, in the county of DEVON, 12 miles (E. by N.)
from Exeter, and 156 (W. S. W.) from London, containing
3522 inhabitants. The town is agreeably situated on the
eastern bank of the river Otter, from which it receives
its name, the adjunct having originated either from the
foundation of a collegiate church, in honour of the Virgin
Mary, by John Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, in 1337;
or, from the manor having been given by Edward the
Confessor to the church of St. Mary at Rouen, in Normandy.
During the ci\ jl war between Charles I. and the
parliament, this town was alternately occupied by both
parties; and in 1645, a detachment of the parliamentary
army being quartered here, under Sir Thomas Fairfax,
on the refusal of the inhabitants.to furnish the contribu-
tions required by that commander, his troops are reported
to have defaced the church, and destroyed two
organs in it. The town is situated a little to the soufh
of the high road from Honiton to Exeter: it is irregularly
built on very uneven ground, and, exclusively
of a few respectable houses in the higher part of it
near the church, it is composed chiefly of cottages
There is a good supply of water from wells and
springs, and the surrounding country is pleasant and
fertile. The manufacture of serge, which once flourished
here, has been superseded by extensive silk-works
the machinery belonging to which is very ingeniously
constructed, and is put in motion by a water-wheel
of large dimensions. Handkerchiefs and ribands are
among the chief articles now made, and the factory
furnishes employment to between three and four hundred
persons. Here are also a tan-yard and a ropewalk,
and some lace is made in the town. The market
is on Thursday; and fairs are held on the Tuesday
before Palm-Sunday, Whit-Tuesday, and August 15th,
for cattle, and at the last a considerable quantity of
cheese also is sold: there is a great market on the
Thursday before the second Friday in every month.
Courts leet and baron are held annually for the manor,
at which two constables are appointed for the parish,
and two for the town, and there is likewise a constable
for the hundred, whose office is permanent.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books
at £20, endowed with £1400 parliamentary grant, and
in the patronage of the Crown. After the suppression
of the college founded by Bishop Grandisson, the church,
the cemetery, the school-house, and other collegiate
buildings and premises, were granted in trust to four
inhabitants of the town, who were incorporated as
" Governors of the Church of St. Mary Ottery," who
collect the small tithes, and have the exclusive possession
of the choir of the church; they also nominate a
chaplain, sexton, and church-keeper. The church,
dedicated to St. Mary, a large and curious edifice,
has been called " a cathedral in miniature," being constructed,
like that of Exeter, with towers in the transepts,
besides which it comprises a nave, choir, aisles, and
Lady chapel. The principal part of the body of the
church, exhibits the early English style of architecture,
having been erected about 1260. The groined roof of the
whole of the interior is of a later date than the structure
itself, and the north aisle of the nave, which is in the
latest style, has a very rich ceiling, with pendant ornaments.
The Lady chapel has, at the east end, some
fine tabernacled niches, of a more modern date than the
chapel itself. In the nave is a plain altar-tomb, with a
recumbent statue of an armed knight, under a monumental
arch, embellished with fine mouldings and pendant
tracery, having an ogee canopy, with crockets and
a handsome finial: the pulpit is decorated with carved
wood-work. There are places of worship for Independents
and Unitarians. A free grammar school was
founded by Henry VIII., and endowed with £10 per
annum from the church corporation trust, arid with
various subsequent benefactions, amounting in the whole
to about £ 60 per annum.but no boys have been instructed
on this foundation for many years; two or three tree
scholars only receive classical education, in considerate n
of a donation of land, in 1666, by Mr. Edward Saiter,
who also assigned from the proceeds an exhibition of £ 6
per annum to any one of the colleges or halls of Oxford,
for four years, for a scholar from this school; and in
default of which, the sum thus appropriated was to be
divided between two children of the school for their
maintenance and education. A charity school is supported
by subscription, also a Sunday school. Two
sets of almshouses have been founded here; and there
are considerable benefactions for distribution among the
poor, and for other purposes. Races are held occasionally
at Caddy Lawn, about half a mile from the town.
In the neighbourhood is a spring, called " Hawkins
Well," said to be efficacious as a remedy for diseases
of the eye.