PARRACOMBE, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Barnstaple district, Devon. The village stands 2¾ miles S W of the boundary with Somerset, 4¼ S W of Lynton, and 12 N E of Barnstaple r. station; was anciently called Percombe, or Pedercombe; and has a post-office under Barnstaple. The parish comprises 4, 338 acres. Real property, £2, 852. Pop., 410. Houses, 82. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged, in the time of the Confessor, to Bristwold; went, at the Norman conquest, to one of the Conqueror's captains; passed afterwards to the Traceys and the Fitz-Martyns; belonged to the St. Albyns from 1310 till 1862; was then sold to the Rev. John Pyke; and belongs now to J. N. Pyke, Esq. Middleton belonged, in the time of Henry III., to Sir H. Bernefield; passed to the Westons, and to the Earls of Devonshire; and belongs now to R. Dovell, Esq. Rowley belonged, for ages, to the Lock family; passed to the Roaches; and belongs now to the Notts. An ancient circular earthwork, called the Castle, is near the village. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £240. Patron, J. N. Pyke, Esq. The church is ancient, and has a tower.—The sub-district contains alsoseven other parishes and an uninhabited portion of Exmoor. Acres, 35, 537. Pop., 2, 839. Houses, 584.

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