COMBE-MARTIN, or Combmartin, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district in Barnstaple district, Devon. The town sits in a deep romantic glen, opening into a small cove on the Bristol channel, 4 miles E of Ilfracombe, and 10 N by E of Barnstaple r. station; extends irregularly to a length of about 1½ mile; consists largely of old and decaying houses; was made a market-town about the year 1264, but has long lost its market; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a post office under Ilfra-Combe, an inn, a parish church, three dissenting chapels, and an endowed school. The church is early and later English; presents features of much interest; and has a very handsome tower. A project has been entertained by the North Devon Extension railway company to convert the cove into a harbour. The parish Comprises 3, 815 acres. Real property, £4, 984. Pop., 1, 484. Houses, 342. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged, in the time of Henry II., to the Norman baron Martynde Tours. The scenery, in many parts, is highly picturesque. Silver-lead mines have been worked at intervals since the time of Edward I.; were last resumed in 1835; have shafts of from 20 to 120 fathoms deep; yield from 20 to 168 ounces of silver per ton of ore; and are notable for a cup, weighing 137 ounces, given by Queen Elizabeth to the Lord Mayor of London. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £387.* Patron, the Rev. H. W. Toms.—The sub-district contains seven parishes. Acres, 24, 042. Pop., 3, 875. Houses, 831.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))