Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England, just off the A380

A380 road

The A380 is a road in South West England, connecting the Torbay area to the A38, and hence to the rest of Great Britain's main road network.-Route:...

, the busy Newton Abbot

Newton Abbot

Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....

 to Torquay

Torquay

Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...

 road. It lies within Teignbridge

Teignbridge

Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Newton Abbot.Other towns in the district include Ashburton, Dawlish and Teignmouth...

 District Council.

Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 font

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

. Near the church is Court Barton, a manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 of partly 16th century date; the southern part of which was used as a court house by Torre Abbey

Torre Abbey

Torre Abbey is a historic building and art gallery in Torquay, Devon, which lies in the South West of England. It was founded in 1196 as a monastery for Premonstratensian canons, and is now the best-preserved medieval monastery in Devon and Cornwall...

.
The village lies in a rural valley surrounded by farmland, and has many traditional Devon cob and thatch cottages. Lanes and tracks lead to the neighbouring hamlet of Daccombe and over the ridge towards Haccombe and the River Teign

River Teign

The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England.Like many Devon rivers, the Teign rises on Dartmoor, near Cranmere Pool. Its course on the moor is crossed by a clapper bridge near Teigncombe, just below the prehistoric Kestor Settlement. It leaves the moor at its eastern side, flowing...

 approximately 3 miles north over undulating land.

Surrounding places

Coffinswell is surrounded by several small villages and hamlets. Clockwise from the north-west these are:

• Milber
  Milber
  Milber is a housing estate at considered part of the town of Newton Abbot in south Devon. It is on the opposite side of the A380 road from the town centre. Milber contains mainly houses, but also a trading estate and some shops. Its unusual 20th-century church of St Luke was built as a result of a...
  
  . This suburb of Newton Abbot
  Newton Abbot
  Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....
  
   is mainly residential. On the hill above it is the Iron Age
  Iron Age
  The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
  
   hill fort of Milber Down
  Milber Down
  Milber Down is an Iron Age hill fort on the hill above the suburb of Milber, Newton Abbot in Devon, England. The fort is situated on the north-western slope of Milber Down at about 110 metres above sea level, and is bisected by the minor ridge road that leads to Barton, Torquay. One Iron Age...
  
  .
• Netherton. A small hamlet between Milber and Haccombe. A footpath leads to Coombe Cellars
  Coombe Cellars
  Coombe Cellars Inn is a public house on the south bank of the estuary of the River Teign in south Devon, England. It is near the village of Combeinteignhead. The pub, owned by Brewers Fayre until 2006, is now owned by Mitchells & Butlers....
  
   on the River Teign.
• Haccombe is a small hamlet below the St Marychurch road. Its small chapel is dedicated to Saint Blaise
  Saint Blaise
  Saint Blaise was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea . According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded...
  
  . Haccombe House is a "nondescript Georgian structure" (Pevsner): built ca. 1800: the chapel is in the grounds. The benefice is occupied by an incumbent with the rare title of Archpriest
  Archpriest
  An archpriest is a priest with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches, although it may be used in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church instead of dean or vicar forane.In the 16th and 17th centuries, during...
  
  . The archpresbytery was established in 1341 with six clergy: only the archpriest survived at the Reformation. The parish is combined with that of Stoke-in-Teignhead with Combe-in-Teignhead.
• Plant World. A garden centre and a large garden which is designed as a map of the world, with rare plants grown relevant to their location on the map. It is significant for the cultivation of giant Echium
  Echium
  Echium is a genus of 60 species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae.The type species is Echium vulgare, viper's bugloss. Species of Echium are native to North Africa, Europe, Madeira and the Canary Islands, but have also become invasive in southern Africa and Australia...
  
  s.
• Rocombe. A small hamlet at the bottom of the valley on the lane towards Stokeinteignhead.
• Maidencombe, about 2.5 miles distant, is the closest beach to Coffinswell. It is also a small hamlet on the coast of Lyme Bay
  Lyme Bay
  Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Torbay in the west and Portland in the east. The counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay,-Geology:...
  
  .
• Daccombe. A small hamlet of thatched cottages and a campsite. It is at the head of the valley of the Aller Brook.
• Barton. A suburb of Torquay
  Torquay
  Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
  
  . Barton Hall, a former manor house, is here. In recent years it has been a holiday camp and adventure centre with a dry ski slope.
• Kingskerswell
  Kingskerswell
  Kingskerswell is a village and civil parish in the south of the county of Devon, England. The village grew up where an ancient track took the narrowest point across a marshy valley and it is of ancient foundation, being mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a church dating back to the 14th century...
  
   is a large village separated from Coffinswell by a hill. Mainly residential, it is on the main Torquay to Newton Abbot road.

Landscape

Most of the landscape around Coffinswell is hilly farmland. Traditional Devon hedgerows form field boundaries, and have existed at least since Norman times. Most of the flora is native, with the exception of cultivated or non-native flora in private gardens and horticultural sites, e.g. rhododendrons around Haccombe and gorse

Gorse

Gorse, furze, furse or whin is a genus of about 20 plant species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green...

 and pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

s near Milber.

Water courses, rivers and hydrology

Coffinswell sits in the Daccombe or Aller Brook drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

. The Aller Brook flows west toward Aller, Newton Abbot, before entering the River Teign which empties into Lyme Bay at Teignmouth

Teignmouth

Teignmouth is a town and civil parish in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon, situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign about 14 miles south of Exeter. It has a population of 14,413. In 1690, it was the last place in England to be invaded by a foreign power...

. Water collection on the east side of the Daccombe drainage basin or the Watcombe drainage basin flows through Barton and Watcombe into Babbacombe

Babbacombe

"Babbacombe" may also refer to John 'Babbacombe' LeeBabbacombe is a district of Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable for Babbacombe Model Village, and its clifftop green, Babbacombe Downs, from which Oddicombe Beach is accessed via Babbacombe Cliff Railway.There is a miniature village in the area....

 bay at Watcombe beach. Likewise water collection on the north side of the drainage basin collects in Haccombe and flows toward the River Teign.

Notable residents

The Rev. W. Keble Martin was Rector here in the 1920s and studied the local flora.
Sarah Buck

Sarah Buck

Sarah Buck is an English structural and civil engineer and business woman with a successful career in engineering and construction...

, the first woman President of the Institution of Structural Engineers (2008) lives in the village.