Parracombe

{{Short description|Village in Devon, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:Parracombe Old church of St Petrock - geograph.org.uk - 134092.jpg]]

Parracombe is a rural settlement {{convert|4|mi|km|0}} south-west of Lynton, in Devon, England.{{cite book |title=AA Book of British Villages |date=1980 |publisher=Drive Publications Limited |isbn=9780340254875 |page=309}} It is situated in the Heddon Valley, on Exmoor. The population at the 2011 census was 293.{{cite web|url=https://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11127411&c=Parracombe&d=16&e=62&g=6416208&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1428499997263&enc=1|title=Parish population 2011 |access-date=8 April 2015}}

A number of Bronze Age barrows exist nearby, along with several other small earthworks throughout the parish. Beacon Castle and Voley Castle, both Iron Age Hill forts, are situated nearby. Rowley Barton ("rough clearing") was a manor mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, along with East and West Middleton.

Holwell Castle at Parracombe was a Norman motte and bailey castle built to guard the junction of the east–west and north–south trade routes,{{cite web |url=http://www.exmoorselfcatering.co.uk/_H/Holwell_Castle.php |title=Holwell Castle |access-date=2008-01-03 |work=Everything Exmoor |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080308010719/http://www.exmoorselfcatering.co.uk/_H/Holwell_Castle.php |archive-date = 2008-03-08}} enabling movement of people and goods and the growth of the population.{{cite web |url=http://www.holidayexmoor.co.uk/exmoor-history.htm |title=Ancient Exmoor |access-date=2007-11-29 |work=Holiday Exmoor |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080306203422/http://www.holidayexmoor.co.uk/exmoor-history.htm |archive-date = 2008-03-06}} Alternative explanations for its construction suggest it may have been constructed to obtain taxes at the River Heddon bridging place, or to protect and supervise silver mining in the area around Combe Martin.{{cite web |url=http://www.ndas.org.uk/holwellcastel.htm |title=Holwell Castle |access-date=2008-01-03 |work=North Devon Archaeological Society |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080106130035/http://www.ndas.org.uk/holwellcastel.htm |archive-date = 2008-01-06}} It was {{convert|40|m}} in diameter and {{convert|6.2|m}} high above the bottom of a rock-cut ditch, which is {{convert|2.7|m}} deep.{{cite web |url=https://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/862.html |title=Holwell Castle, Parracombe |access-date=2008-01-03 |work=The Gatehouse }} It was built in the late 11th or early 12th century.

Parracombe's St Petrock's Church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.{{cite web|title=St Petrock, Parracombe|url=http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/findachurch/st-petrock-parracombe/|publisher=Churches Conservation Trust|access-date=16 October 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Until 1935 the village was served by a halt on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway which ran close to the centre of the settlement.