ILSHAM is an ecclesiastical parish formed March 5, 1880, as a distinct chapelry out of Torwood parish, and under the “Torquay Borough Extension Act of 1900” was incorporated with the Borough. It is about 1 mile east from Torquay, in the Torquay division of the county, Haytor hundred, Paignton petty sessional division, Newton Abbot union and county court district, rural deanery of Ipplepen, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter. The church of St. Matthias, erected in 1858, is an edifice of local stone with Bath stone dressings, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, aisles, north porch and a small tower on the north side containing a clock and one bell: the church was considerably enlarged and reseated in 1894 at a cost, including a new organ, of over £10,000, under the direction of the late Mr. John L. Pearson R.A., F.S.A.: the stalls, screens and seating being executed by Hems, of Exeter; it will seat 700 persons. The register dates from the year 1858. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £30, derived from Queen Anne’s Bounty, and an uncertain sum from pew rents, in the gift of and held since 1879 by the Rev. Thomas Nash Hicks M.A. of Brasenose College, Oxford, who resides at Ansty’s Lea, Babbacombe road, Ilsham. The population in 1891 was 1,817.