Aylesbeare

Aylesbeare has a long, but lightly recorded, history. Tumuli on Aylesbeare Common indicate that the area was inhabited in prehistoric times. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, the village was known as Ailesbergon though, in common with many place names, it had many spellings over the years, including Aillesbir and Ailesberga. The oldest building in the parish is the church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It dates to the 13th century. Gregory was the first recorded incumbent, in 1261. The church has been rebuilt and restored many times – in the 14th century, a major refurbishment in 1899 and a new roof in 2004. Aylesbeare made national headlines in August 1978 after the disappearance of 13-year-old Genette Tate, who lived in the village. She has never been found. In 2016, the police announced that they believed serial killer Robert Black to be responsible, but could not charge him as he had since died. ==Geography, geology and environment==

From the highest point of the parish on the Common, the land gradually falls away to the northwest reaching its lowest point of near Exeter International Airport. With an area of , Aylesbeare is slightly below the average for a Devon parish. The village gives its name to a sequence of mudstone and sandstone rocks of Triassic age, the Aylesbeare Mudstone Group which occurs from the east Devon coast northwards into Somerset. Although the population is widely distributed around the parish, it clusters in Aylesbeare Village itself, the hamlets of Rosamundford and Withen, and small groups of houses on the site of former farm buildings. ==Economy==

Originally a farming parish, Aylesbeare still has two working farms within the village itself with many others spread throughout the parish. However, agriculture is no longer the main source of employment, with many people working in Exeter and surrounding towns. ==References==