Gulliford Burial Ground (situated by the border of Woodbury parish with Lympstone parish) belonged to the Meeting House, (which was one of the earliest in Devon), it was a Presbyterian and later Unitarian place of worship going back to the 17th century to a time of religious upheaval and risk of imprisonment to those not toeing the religious line.
The first chapel was built in 1687, for the religious dissenters who were locals of Lympstone, Woodbury, Ebford, Exmouth & the surrounding areas.
In 1774 a further plot of land was donated to extend the site for a second larger chapel to be built to replace the original chapel, which was now too small for the extra congregation. A ruling was made at that time that the new meeting house must not be used as a burial place for the dead, with all burials to be in the graveyard (hence the lack of headstones at the back of the site today).
Burials at Gulliford include Worthington Brice, a merchant whose business comprised the whaling industry based at his home at Parsonage Stile, Margaret & Charles Baring whose family were the banking dynasty from Courtlands, Brice Wakeford Lee of Ebford Barton, a Major-General in the Indian Army, and George Mason, aged just 25, and a talented artist whose work hung in the Royal Academy.
By the end of the 19th century, the laws of dissenters had relaxed, new chapels were built in Exmouth & Topsham reducing the need to travel so far.
The congregation was down to about ten with a minister who resigned without notice, the roof was unsafe, repairs neglected and finally in 1907 the chapel was demolished.
Today the burial ground is jointly looked after by Lympstone & Woodbury Parish Councils.
The perimeter walls and the Jervis, Lees and Stogdon tombs are Grade II Listed.