Kelly's Directory of Devon, 1902

ST. GILES-IN-THE-WOOD is a parish and village, 3 miles east from Torrington station on the London and South Western railway, in the Northern division of the county, Fremington hundred, Torrington petty sessional division, union and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Torrington, archdeaconry of Barnstaple and diocese of Exeter. The church of St. Giles is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, transepts and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells ; the former tenor bell was given in 1697 by Sir John Rolle K.B. of Stevenstone, and was re-cast at the expense of John, 2nd and last Baron Rolle, in 1823, when the peal of 5 was re-cast into 6, by Messrs. W. and J. Taylor, of Oxford ; weight of tenor is 10 cwt. ; at the west end is a recumbent effigy and brass, dated 1648, to Thomas Chafe esq. of Doddiscott, brother-in-law of Tristram Risdon, the historian ; in the church is also a brass effigy with inscription to Alyanora (Copleston), wife of John Pollard, ob. 1430 ; another brass, with effigies of a lady and 10 children, and an inscription to Margaret (Forde) wife of John Rolle, of Stevenstone, ob. 1592 ; at the foot of the brass are the arms of Forde ; a third, with effigy of a lady and inscription to Joan (Pollard), wife of William Risdon, of Winscott, gent. ob. 1610; and one other to John Rolle above-named, ob. 1570 : the reredos and pulpit are of alabaster, with carved marble columns ; and there are several stained windows : the church was restored in 1863 at a cost of £2,000, by the Hon. Mark George Kerr Rolle, who also in part defrayed the expense of further alterations made in 1879, when an organ chamber and vestry were built, a new clock placed in the tower and the bells restored : the church affords about 500 sittings. The register dates from the year 1556. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £41, with residence and 2 1/2 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Hon. Mark G.K. Rolle, and held since 1878 by the Rev. Harry John Wilmot-Buxton M.A. of Brasenose College, Oxford. The great tithe is appropriated to Christ Church, Oxford. There is a Wesleyan chapel, and a service room for Baptists. A reading room and library, containing 300 volumes, was opened in 1867, and is supported by subscriptions. There are four almshouses for aged -women, with an endowment of £5 yearly, and charities of £8 yearly value, besides several other charities. Way was formerly the residence of the Way family: it is now the property of the trustees of the late Ven. Charles Wellington Furse M.A., J.P. archdeacon and canon residentiary of Westminster (d. 1900). Stevenstone, the family mansion of the Rolle family, standing in a deer park of 300 acres, was rebuilt of stone in 1872, and is the seat of the Hon. Mark George Kerr Rolle D.L., J.P. who is lord of the manor, and with H. F. Furse esq. is chief landowner. The soil is sandy ; subsoil, stone. The chief crops are cereal. The area is 4,990 acres of land and 24 of water ; rateable value, £3,349 ; the population in 1901 was 623.

DODSCOTT is a hamlet 1 mile north-east. The family of Clarke resided here for many generations; but the place is now owned by the Hon. Mark Rolle.

WINSCOTT, 1 south-east formerly belonged to the Risdons, and was subsequently sold by the Northcotes to the Hon. Mark Rolle; KINGSCOTT, three-quarters of a mile south; HIGH BULLEN, 1 north ; HEALAND, 1 1/2 south-west are also hamlets.

Sexton, William Oemens.

Post Office. Walter Trick, sub-postmaster. Letters through Torrington, arrive at 8.30 a.m. ; dispatched at 5.40 p.m. week days only. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. Torrington, 3 miles distant, is the nearest money order & telegraph office

Wall Letter Box, Kingscott, cleared at 5.25 p.m. week days only

Public Elementary School (mixed), built in 1860, for 230 children ; average attendance, 126 ; & supported in part by the Hon. Mark G. Kerr Rolle ; William Knott, master ; Miss B. A. Knott & Miss E. J. Derrick, assistnts