Cullompton
Encyclopedia
Cullompton is a civil parish
and town in Devon
, England
, locally known as Cully. It is 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm
. In 2010 it had a population of 8,639 and is growing rapidly.
The earliest evidence of occupation is from the Roman
period and it was mentioned in Alfred the Great
's will
. As well as local manufacturing, the town is home to a large number of commuters
. It is home to the grade I listed buildings of St Andrew's parish church and the Walronds.
" with Culm probably meaning knot or tie (referring to the river's twists and loops
). The other theory is that it is named after Saint Columba of Tir-de-Glas
, who is said to have preached in the area in 549 AD. There are 40 recorded spellings of Cullompton between the first recorded use of the name and present day, and even as late as the mid nineteenth century 3 spellings were in use: the post office spelt it Cullompton; in their 1809 first edition the Ordnance Survey
map used Cullumpton and the railway station sign said Collumpton. The railway station sign was changed to Cullompton in 1874 and the Ordnance Survey used Cullompton in the edition of their map published in 1889. It is affectionately known as Cully.
carried out for Devon County Council. The earlier, smaller fort (the boundary ditches of which showed up in cropmark
s) was later replaced by a second, larger fort. The ramparts of this second fort are preserved on two sides as modern field boundaries with substantial earthen banks with hedges on top. The banks on the other two sides were removed shortly before the site was recognised as Roman. The site was made a Scheduled Monument in 1986. The aerial photography also revealed two subsidiary military enclosures or annexes to each fort. In 1992 a geophysical
survey was made of the fort and areas to the east and west and this was followed by a trial excavation to the west of the site. These confirmed the existence of two forts, and the ditch of the second fort was excavated. Pottery from the site was dated from around 50-70 AD, which is consistent with a previous date of before 75 AD based on finds from fieldwalking. A Roman settlement near Shortlands Lane was excavated in 2009. A large quantity of Roman pottery, burial remains and fragments of hypocaust
tile from the second and third century was found.
bequeathed Columtune and its lands to his son Æthelweard. In 1087 William the Conqueror
gave the manor
to Baldwin, his wife's
favourite nephew. It was subsequently held by the Earl of Devon
for many years until in 1278 Amicia Countess of Devon willed it to the Abbot and Convent of Buckland Monachorum
. With the Dissolution of the Monasteries
it was sold to Sir John St Ledger. The five prebends
of Cullompton (Colebrook, Hineland, Wiever, Esse, Upton) were presented by William the Conqueror to Battle Abbey
in Sussex and were later held by St Nicholas Priory
, Exeter.
In 1278 the town was granted its first market
to be held on a Thursday. In 1356 the town gained its first water supply by a deed
of gift
of the Abbot of Buckland. The water (known as the Town Lake or watercourse) came from a stream rising at Coombe Farm and flowed into a pond near Shortlands. From there it flowed in several open channels to all parts of the town. Water bailiffs were employed to protect the interests of the town and a tradition of "possessioning" took place. This was a ceremony which took place every seven years where a group of townsfolk would inspect the channel and ensure that it was not being abused. The first recorded possessioning was in 1716. In the mid nineteenth century the water courses were used for boiling vegetables, surface drainage and emptying cesspools. A Board of Health Inspector in 1854 concluded that "typhus
and other epidemic diseases are so prevalent here more so than in any other parish in the Union". They were eventually only used to keep the streets clean and continued to flow until 1962 when the town council decided that they were not willing to pay for their upkeep. In 1678 a local innkeeper, John Barnes was hanged
after being found guilty of highway robbery
. He had waylaid, with the help of accomplices, a coach travelling from Exeter to London and made off with about £600 but he was recognised by the guards from Exeter, where he had been a taverner. A second highwayman, Tom Austin, was hanged in August 1693 after a series of robberies and murders including those of his aunt and her children.
The Cullompton Company of Volunteers was first raised in 1794 and continued until 1810. The first Nonconformist congregation began in 1662 when the vicar of Cullompton, Revd William Crompton, was ejected from the established church. He continued to preach and a Protestant Dissenters
meeting house was built in 1698 which became the Unitarian Chapel. In the eighteenth century there was a prevalence of Dissent with the local vicar recording in 1736 that of a population of 3358 there were 508 Presbyterians, 133 Anabaptist
s and 87 Quakers. By 1743 the first Baptist Chapel had been built. John Wesley
's journal records preaching near the town in 1748.
in the town took place. On 7 July 1839, a severe fire destroyed many houses in Cullompton. About two thirds of the town burnt with 145 houses and other buildings being destroyed.. A subscription for rebuilding was set and donations of £5 were made by Barne and Son, tanners of Tiverton, and Cullompton tanners Mortimore and Selwood. The town acquired its first steam driven fire engine in 1914 which cost £100 and was paid for by voluntary subscription. In 1847 a riot occurred in the town due to the high price of wheat
. Three houses were attacked, including the house of Mr Selwood, the owner of a local tannery and also a maltster. He was accused of speculatively
buying 2000 bushel
s of corn and his house (in Pound Square) was attacked, almost all the windows were broken and furniture was also damaged.
In 1857, the first Police Station was rented with 3 cells and a petty session courtroom
and in 1974 a new police station was built.. In 2011, the police station underwent a major refurbishment to act as a police force hub for Mid Devon with 72 staff members. In April 1903 a petition objecting to the renewal of alcohol licences
for local inns, signed by 450 people, was presented to the Brewsters sessions (Magistrates court meetings in England where pub licences are renewed or granted). A deputation sent to the session explained that the number of licensed houses was too large in proportion to the population. In 1917, the cattle market was moved from being held in the Higher Bullring to a field near the station. The first cinema
was opened in the Victoria Hall in 1918 by Bill Terry. Cullompton got its first permanent library in 1938 in a building on Exeter Hill, and in 1977 the town was twinned with Ploudalmézeau
in Brittany, France
.
In 1920, a public company
was formed to provide an electricity
supply for Cullompton. The company merged with the Bradninch Electricity Company in 1927 to form the Culm Valley Electricity Supply Co. Ltd. A gasworks
was set up in Cullompton in 1865 for the Cullompton Gas Light and Coke Co. This was taken over by the Devon Gas Association and nationalised in 1949. The gasworks was closed in 1956 and Cullompton was then supplied from Exeter. In 1998 the Cullompton website was set up and in 2000 CCTV was installed in the main street.
Another serious fire occurred on 17 October 1958, when Selwood's tannery
in Exeter Street was gutted by fire; the site was then used for a supermarket. It was run as a Gateway store and then as a Somerfield
. Following the takeover of Somerfield by The Co-operative Group
, it closed on 28 August 2010, with the loss of seven full time and 41 part time jobs. The closure was due to its poor trading performance.
The town had a major expansion in the 1970s as the construction of a bypass in 1969, and its conversion into part of the M5 in 1975, made it a popular commuter town
. It was expanded again during the closing years of the 20th century and the first few years of the 21st century. The Mid Devon Local Development Framework Proposals plans for 95 new dwellings a year, and 4000 sqm of new employment floorspace a year between now and 2026.
In March 2010, it was announced by Jack Straw
, the Justice Secretary, that the town's magistrates' court was to be closed due its poor facilities and lack of rooms. It had been suggested that the site might be developed as town hall or the site used as a car park. This plan ended when a group formed to oppose the proposal to purchase the site for a new town hall were elected to two thirds of the council seats in May 2011. In June 2011, it was announced that two local businesspeople had purchased the site. Their favoured plan is to demolish
the building and provide more car parking
. However, they are considering other options.
In June 2011 two men were arrested in Cullompton after being seen acting suspiciously. They were remanded in custody in connection with an alleged plot targeting soul singer Joss Stone
.
In September 2011, a new library opened. It replaced the previous library which was on Exeter Hill. The new library was four times the size of the old library and cost three million pounds.
and later serge
s was introduced to the area by weavers from the continent
. This was largely a cottage industry and merchants would have premises where the fleece
s would be combed and sorted. John Lane was one of the best known local cloth merchants (see Lane's Aisle in the section on St Andrew's church below). In the seventeenth century, Higher and Lower King's Mills were fulling
mills for the local industry. In 1816 Mr Upcott employed 60 weavers and 'many spinners'. The Wellington
based firm Fox Brothers
had a branch factory built in 1890 and made high quality wool
en and worsted
cloth until 1977. During World War I
, their entire output was of khaki
cloth, employing over 200 people. In 1910, hand weaving was revived, which evolved into machine knitted garments.
in Cullompton goes back to at least the sixteenth century and in the nineteenth century there were three tanneries: Crow Green, Lower King's Mill and Court Tannery. The Crow Green tannery was situated at the south-west end of the town and was already in existence in 1816. It had a water-powered bark mill and 47 tan pits at that date. It was owned by the Selwood family for much of the 19th and 20th centuries and was often referred to as Selwood's tannery. It suffered from fires in 1831, 1867 and 1958. In 1881 it employed 48 people and over 100 in 1958 (8% of the local workforce at the time). It finally finished operation in 1967 when the leather side of the business was sold to a Yorkshire firm. The building to the north-west of Exeter Hill, which formerly housed the water-powered bark mill, is now an antiques warehouse and the remains of the leet and tail race can still be seen. The other half of the site, to the south-east of Exeter Hill, was later used for a supermarket. The tannery at Higher King's Mill was active between about 1830 and 1875 and employed 12 labourers in 1851 and 9 a decade later. Court Tannery was established by 1871 and had closed by 1906. It was located at the north end of the town behind Court House, which was the residence of the owners of the tannery. In 1971 it employed 21 men and was probably steam-powered. A local tanner, James Whitby along with George Bodley and John Davis patent
ed an improved bark mill (used to grind bark for producing tanbark
used in the tanning process). In addition to tanning, the leather industry included a leather
dressing works (founded in 1921 and which closed in 1982) and a glove
maker, Drevon and Brown.
The Reed & Smith group (which acquired New Taplow Mill in 1950) became one of the biggest papermakers in the UK. A Fourdrinier machine
was installed in 1892 and continued to make paper at Higher Kings until about 1972. A new machine was built in 1956 to make blue sugar bags and other products, and has been modified over the years to make different grades of paper and card. St Regis acquired Higher Kings in the early 1980s and since then the mill has diversified into making a very wide range of recycled coloured papers and boards.
was founded in 1800 and grew until it employed 50 people, with workshops at Cockpit Hill and Duke Street. After World War I they opened a retail shop in Fore Street and it kept going doing retailing and repairs until the mid 1960s. William Broom started a business in 1920 and employed 7 or 8 workmen until the 1930s when the Great Depression
meant the firm was reduced to only William Broom by the start of the Second World War. After the war, the firm concentrated on repair work and antiques restoration
. It closed in 1990.
and after the war were nationalised to become part of British Road Services. The brothers who had owned the company moved back into haulage, setting up a new firm which went into receivership
in the 1970s and was then bought by Wild Transport of Exeter in 1973.
in Somerset
, to establish a bell foundry in Shortlands Lane. It continued until 1850 when the business was moved to Exeter.. St Michael's and All Angel's in Alphington
has a peal of 8 bells cast by Bilbie in Cullompton, at a cost of £108 12 shillings and 8 pence in 1749.
There was also a jam
factory, 'Devon Dale Jam' in the 1930s. There have also been flour mills, and a foundry
. Around 1900, the mill at the end of Middle Mill Lane was an axle works and had a boiler
delivered and is labelled as an axle works on the 1904 Second Edition Ordnance Survey map. The two other mills on the leet, Higher and Lower Mills, are marked as being corn mills on the same map.
: North (6 councillors), South (7 councillors) and Outer (2 councillors). and the parish council was first formed in 1894. Since 1995 the town has had a mayor elected by the councillors. It is part of Mid Devon District Council
and there are three Cullompton wards in the district council North (2 councillors), South (2 councillors) and Outer (1 councillor). It is also part of Devon County Council
and is represented through the Cullompton Rural ward.
From Saxon times it was part of the hundred of Hayridge
. From 1894 to 1935 it was part of Tiverton Rural District
and prior to that it was part of Tiverton Sanitary District
It is part of the Tiverton and Honiton constituency and its MP is Neil Parish
.
. It is at about 70 m above sea level, the parish covers nearly 8000 acres (32.4 km²) and stretches for 7 miles (11.3 km) along the Culm valley.
Cullompton had a population of 7,609,
but National Health Service FHSA
figures for 2010 estimate the parish population at 8,639. The population changed little from the start of the 19th century until the 1960s, remaining at around 3,00 (see chart). However it increased rapidly in the last part of the 20th century. Cullompton's population growth looks set to continue as Mid Devon's core strategy foresees 95 new dwellings being built per year in the period to 2026.
In 2001 there were 5,464 people aged 16 to 74 of whom 3,665 were economically active and employed, 1,556 were economically inactive and 131 economically inactive but unemployed. Figures in 2001 on ethnic composition for Mid Devon as a whole were: White British 97.57%, White other 1.24% and White Irish 0.4% and for religious composition 75.40% Christian, 15.98% no religion.
, which opened on 9 September 2008 despite opposition from Somerfield. The Somerfield supermarket later closed in August 2010. The local trade association closed in September 2008 after a relaunch in April. According to local businesswoman Ms Tyas-Peterson, this "reflects that Cullompton is a dying town" and the new Tesco will "make or break the town". Mole Valley Farmers
has a store in the town which sells a wide range of goods including farm requirements to garden supplies and hardware.
The Cullompton street market came to an end in the late 1950s but was revived for a trial period of seven weeks starting on Saturday 28 June 2008 but takings for traders were disappointing after an initial few weeks which were good. The town also has an indoor market in the town hall every Wednesday and a monthly farmers' market
held on the second Saturday of every month. The first market was held on 13 June 1998 after an idea and much work by Tracey Frankpitt, who was consulted by the producers of the long running radio soap opera The Archers
and it was mentioned in one of the episodes. It is the oldest event of its kind in the South West.
by a variety of businesses. Business based on the estate include Gregory Distribution, who have 27000 square foot of temperature controlled storage which they use for a contract to deliver chilled and frozen goods to Spar stores in the southwest. There is also a flour mill, milk depot,marketing and advertising agency as well as an industrial clothing shop. Higher Kings Mill is a paper mill
owned by St Regis. It manufactures recycled coloured papers and boards.
The town has a 'community hub' called 'The Hayridge' which opened in September 2011 and has a library, cafe, free Wi-Fi
, IT suites
and conference facilities and is open six days a week. The office space is used by Adult Community Learning which had previously been based at Cullompton Community College.
St Andrew's church is sponsoring the construction of the new 9,250 square foot Cullompton Community centre, which is being built on land next to the church, and is to open in 2011. The main meeting area will have a capacity for 180 people seated and there are to be five further meeting rooms, offices, kitchens and toilets.
A major recreational area for the town is the Cullompton Community Association's fields which cover 32 acre
s in the centre of the town. Many town events are held on the CCA Fields such as the circus
, whippet
racing and a firework
display. The Cullompton Community Association is a registered charity
and was formed in 1970 to help provide a recreation area for the town. It purchased the fields at a cost of £11,500. The site (next to the riverside walk along the leat) was chosen as the water meadows needed to be maintained to help prevent flooding and because it was close to the cricket and bowling clubs.
In February 2008 the Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health opened in Cullompton. The services provided at the site include: the College Surgery Partnership which is a large general practice
with ten doctors; complementary therapies
provided by Culm Valley
Natural Health; self care groups groups a health food café, physic garden and a pharmacy run by Alliance Boots
.
The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust
has a residential centre for the rehabilitation of 23 adults with acquired brain injury called 'The Woodmill' in Cullompton. It is the trust's most southern assessment and rehabilitation residential centre in the United Kingdom and was set up in May 1998.
The Cullompton United Charities manages nine local Almshouses and the town centre facility known as Community House and also provides financial grants for various purposes.
of the town. Most shops lie along Fore Street with courts behind them linked by alleyways. The length of the high street reflects the prosperity of the town from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century when it was a centre of the cloth trade
. There are two grade I listed buildings in Cullompton: the fifteenth century parish church
(St Andrew's) and the Walronds at 6 Fore Street. There are also seven grade II* listed buildings and ninety grade II listed buildings. The centre of the town is a conservation area
- the only one in the Mid Devon area. Hillersdon House
, a Victorian manor house
is near to the town centre and within the parish.
It is now owned by Cullompton Walronds Preservation Trust which was registered as a charity and as a private company limited by guarantee in the spring of 1997. It inherited half the building in 2005 from Miss June Severn and bought the other half. However, a survey has indicated that £948,000 will be need to restore the property. As well as restoring the building the aim is to retain the three rooms adjoining the path from Fore Street for public use. These comprise a meeting room, a kitchen and a lavatory. These rooms are already in use for meetings, coffee mornings, etc. Additionally it is hoped to convert the garden which stretches back to Shortlands Lane into a park for the people of the town. In 2008 the building became the only building in Mid Devon to be put on English Heritage
's Buildings at Risk Register and has received £250,000 from Devon County Council and £100,000 from Mid Devon District Council for restoration work. Emergency repairs costing £15,000 were carried out during 2008. In July 2010 the Heritage Lottery Fund
announced that it would provide a grant of £1.75 million to help complete the restoration. Work began with the erection of scaffolding
in August 2011 and it is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.
St Andrew's Church is set back from the main street but despite this its tower is a landmark which is highly visible from the surrounding area. The tower is 100 feet (30.5 m) tall with pinnacles on top which add a further 20 feet (6.1 m) to its height. On the west face are the badly damaged remains of a Crucifixion
scene with figures of Edward VI and St George to either side. The tower also has a large clock face by Norman of Ilfracombe dating from about 1874. Despite being the first part of the church to be seen when approaching from the main street, it is however the most recent part of the church, being built 1545-1549. The tower is built in the local red sandstone
with carved parts in Beer and Ham Hill stone.
The nave
and chancel
are carried on 5 pairs of piers and the interior has a boarded wagon roof coloured in blue, crimson and gold which stretches the whole length of the church. At the time of the construction of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
, William Froude
- the engineer given responsibility for this section of the line by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- inserted iron stringers to prevent the walls from spreading as a result of vibrations from the trains. A screen runs across the whole width of the church. At the end of the nave is a Jacobean
gallery
with 4 oak
pillars about 9 feet (2.7 m) tall. The central window of the North Aisle is a World War II
memorial
and a World War I
memorial is on the other side. Moores Chantry
(the last bay of the North Aisle) contains some original box pew
s and at the rear of the church are two large pieces of oak which make up a Golgotha which once rested on top of the Rood Screen. They are carved with rocks, skulls and bones. They were probably removed from the church in 1549 and cut into 2 pieces. For many years they remained in the graveyard.
On the south side of the church is the first major addition to the church: Lane's Aisle. This was built 1526-1529 by a local cloth merchant, John Lane. It is fan vault
ed in a style inspired by the Dorset aisle at Ottery St Mary and some of the carvings are similar to John Greenway's Chapel at Tiverton. John Lane and wife are buried at the east end of the aisle.
Cullompton Manor House is a grade 1 listed building with sections built in 1603 (dated panel and initials TT for Thomas Trock on the top corner of the front of the house) and 1718 (on a lead cistern head of a drainpipe, are the letters (L) S/WT (R) and the date 1718). It was originally a private residence and now forms part of the Manor House Hotel. It has a jettied half timbered
front with four gables and stone end walls with upper windows on carved brackets. It was probably built in the sixteenth century but was refurbished in 1603 for Thomas Trock, a clothier
. The original structure consisted only of the front part, in which there were three rooms and a passage on the ground floor, three rooms opening into each other on the floor above, and above again. The front room on the left was the former hall with large oak panels of the Queen Anne
period, and a moulded and beamed ceiling. Part of an earlier newel
stair which descended to the hall or kitchen survives above a back staircase. The house was remodelled in 1718 for William Sellock. At the front of the building is a hooded shell porch of the early 18th century supported on pilasters and the back of house is also early 18th century of red and blue brick, with windows with thick glazing bars beneath a hipped slate roof with coved eaves. It was given the name of The Manor House in 1850 by J. S. Upcott who owned the property at that time. During World War II it was requisitioned by the army and used to billet officers. The adjacent house, Veryards, was originally a separate residence but was bought by the owners of the Manor House Hotel and incorporated into the hotel in the 1980s.
with a public footpath running along it. The leat runs from Head Weir, north of Cullompton, and takes its water from the Spratford Stream. It flows past three former watermill
s (Upper, Middle and Lower Mill) and then empties into the Culm near First Bridge. It is uncertain when the leat was first made but the south end of the leat and Lower Mill are shown on an early seventeenth-century map. The leat is no longer in use for powering mills and the Environment Agency
is not interested in managing the leat nor keeping it flowing so the Cullompton Leat Conservancy Board was formed to restore and maintain the Leat in 2005.
and the former A38
to Exeter which runs through the town, and is now the B3181. As of 2001 61.6% of people living in Cullompton travelled to work by car or van and 83% of households had at least one car. In October 1969 a bypass
was completed but after only five years this was upgraded to form part of the M5. Since this time traffic coming from the south of Cullompton to the M5 junction has had to pass through the centre of the town. There are now problems with air quality in the town and Mid Devon District Council have made the whole of the built up area in Cullompton an Air Quality Management Area. In addition traffic on the exit slip road
leaving the M5 northbound often backs up onto the motorway. The Highways Agency
wants to improve traffic flow by widening roads, introduce traffic lights and reopen the left hand land of the slip road, which will cost £1.3m. This cost is to be covered by businesses moving to Cullompton. There are two routes for relief roads being considered by Mid Devon District Council - a western route and an Eastern route. If a lower growth option is chosen it is proposed that only the western route would be constructed. An alternative Outer Eastern Relief Road crossing the M5 at Old Hill was rejected as the existing bridges would need rebuilding, making the cost prohibitive. There is some opposition to both routes - a group called Cullompton Against Western Relief Road has been formed to oppose one route and there is opposition to the eastern route which passes through the Cullompton Community Fields. The town council's opinion is that the only way to solve Cullompton’s traffic problems is to build both roads and there is also a campaign for a new motorway junction south of Cullompton.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway
opened a station at Cullompton when the railway opened on 1 May 1844. It closed to passengers
on 5 October 1964, the site now being used for the M5 motorway
Cullompton services
. The nearest railway station is now Tiverton Parkway. Devon County Council’s Travel Transport Plan includes the re-opening of Cullompton Railway Station. The 1, 1A and 1B buses run by Stagecoach provide regular bus services to Tiverton and Exeter. There is also a town circular bus run by Dartline, and an express bus run by First Somerset & Avon
which runs from Exeter to Taunton
and stops at Cullompton.
s 1 & 2, and nine classes and Willowbank Primary School. The secondary school
is Cullompton Community College. It opened in 1968 on the present site and became fully comprehensive in 1979. It is now a co-educational comprehensive school for students aged between 11 and 16 with approximately 650 students on roll and in December 2003 it secured sponsorship of £50,000 from The Co-operative Group
to enable it to become a Business and Enterprise college
.
, was built in 1929 by Manuel de las Casas who was descended from the uncle of Bartolomé de las Casas
. The Methodist church in New Cut is the third chapel on the site. The first was started in 1764 and the current building was built following a fire in 1872 which did serious damage to the chapel built in 1806. The Unitarian
chapel on Pound Square dates from 1913 following the collapse of the previous building in 1911. It is the oldest nonconformist congregation in Cullompton. Hebron Evangelical Church was built in 1962. The Baptist
Church is the site of a meeting house erected in 1743 on High Street.
Club was formed in 1892 and played on thirteen different grounds in and around the town before their current ground - Stafford Park - was purchased in 1980. In 2008-9 the senior 1st XV team won the Western Counties West League
finishing the season unbeaten. On Saturday 9 May 2009 they won the EDF Energy Senior Vase by beating Tyldesley
8-7 at Twickenham
. Exeter Chiefs
prop Ben Moon
formerly played for Cullompton and has now played for the England unders 20s. Ladies Rugby started at Cullompton in 1997 and now the team has two qualified coaches. They currently play in the National Challenge 2 South West. Former Cullompton flanker
Izzy Noel Smith, currently playing for Bristol
has been capped for England.
The local football team is Cullompton Rangers
who were formed in 1945 and play in Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League
. Their ground is called Speeds Meadow. There was also a women's football team - Cullompton Rangers L.F.C. who were formed when Exeter City L.F.C. amalgamated with Cullompton Rangers AFC. In 2011 the club folded when the manager was forced to leave and a replacement could not be found.
Cullompton cricket club was established in 1891 and they play at Landspeed Meadow, by the Cullompton Community Association Fields.
There are also a variety of other clubs including several bowls clubs and badminton, running, squash, and Taekwondo
martial arts clubs.
and sporting and recreational centre which first opened in March 1992. The facilities include a Parkland Golf Course, a Golf School, a 40 bedroom hotel, conference suites, health & fitness centre, indoor bowls, fishing lake, beauty salon, restaurants and a sports bar
Charles Fowler
was born in Cullompton and the Puritan
clergyman Thomas Manton
was town lecturer here for a time. The engineer William Froude
lived in Cullompton and was churchwarden
from 1842-44. WG Hoskins died on 11 January 1992 in Cullompton. The singer Joss Stone
lives near Cullompton.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
and town in 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
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, locally known as Cully. It is 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm
River Culm
thumb|Old stone bridge with pedestrian refuges over River Culm at Culmstock The River Culm flows through Devon, England. It rises in the Blackdown Hills at a spring - - near Culmhead and flows west through Hemyock, then Culmstock to Uffculme...
. In 2010 it had a population of 8,639 and is growing rapidly.
The earliest evidence of occupation is from the Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
period and it was mentioned in Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
's will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
. As well as local manufacturing, the town is home to a large number of commuters
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
. It is home to the grade I listed buildings of St Andrew's parish church and the Walronds.
Toponymy and orthography
The derivation of the name Cullompton is disputed. One derivation is that the town's name means "Farmstead on the River CulmRiver Culm
thumb|Old stone bridge with pedestrian refuges over River Culm at Culmstock The River Culm flows through Devon, England. It rises in the Blackdown Hills at a spring - - near Culmhead and flows west through Hemyock, then Culmstock to Uffculme...
" with Culm probably meaning knot or tie (referring to the river's twists and loops
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
). The other theory is that it is named after Saint Columba of Tir-de-Glas
Columba of Terryglass
Columba of Terryglass was the son of Crinthainn and a disciple of St. Finnian of Clonard. He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland....
, who is said to have preached in the area in 549 AD. There are 40 recorded spellings of Cullompton between the first recorded use of the name and present day, and even as late as the mid nineteenth century 3 spellings were in use: the post office spelt it Cullompton; in their 1809 first edition the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
map used Cullumpton and the railway station sign said Collumpton. The railway station sign was changed to Cullompton in 1874 and the Ordnance Survey used Cullompton in the edition of their map published in 1889. It is affectionately known as Cully.
Roman period
On St Andrew's Hill, to the north-west of Cullompton town centre, two Roman forts were discovered in 1984 by aerial photographyAerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
carried out for Devon County Council. The earlier, smaller fort (the boundary ditches of which showed up in cropmark
Cropmark
Cropmarks or Crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform...
s) was later replaced by a second, larger fort. The ramparts of this second fort are preserved on two sides as modern field boundaries with substantial earthen banks with hedges on top. The banks on the other two sides were removed shortly before the site was recognised as Roman. The site was made a Scheduled Monument in 1986. The aerial photography also revealed two subsidiary military enclosures or annexes to each fort. In 1992 a geophysical
Archaeological geophysics
Geophysical survey in archaeology most often refers to ground-based physical sensing techniques used for archaeological imaging or mapping. Remote sensing and marine surveys are also used in archaeology, but are generally considered separate disciplines...
survey was made of the fort and areas to the east and west and this was followed by a trial excavation to the west of the site. These confirmed the existence of two forts, and the ditch of the second fort was excavated. Pottery from the site was dated from around 50-70 AD, which is consistent with a previous date of before 75 AD based on finds from fieldwalking. A Roman settlement near Shortlands Lane was excavated in 2009. A large quantity of Roman pottery, burial remains and fragments of hypocaust
Hypocaust
A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning "under" and caust-, meaning "burnt"...
tile from the second and third century was found.
Saxon period to the eighteenth century
In 872 Alfred the GreatAlfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
bequeathed Columtune and its lands to his son Æthelweard. In 1087 William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
gave the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
to Baldwin, his wife's
Matilda of Flanders
Matilda of Flanders was the wife of William the Conqueror and, as such, Queen consort of the Kingdom of England. She bore William nine/ten children, including two kings, William II and Henry I.-Marriage:...
favourite nephew. It was subsequently held by the Earl of Devon
Earl of Devon
The title of Earl of Devon was created several times in the Peerage of England, and was possessed first by the de Redvers family, and later by the Courtenays...
for many years until in 1278 Amicia Countess of Devon willed it to the Abbot and Convent of Buckland Monachorum
Buckland Abbey
Buckland Abbey is a 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, England, noted for its connection with Sir Francis Drake and presently in the ownership of the National Trust.-History:...
. With the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
it was sold to Sir John St Ledger. The five prebends
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Cullompton (Colebrook, Hineland, Wiever, Esse, Upton) were presented by William the Conqueror to Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
in Sussex and were later held by St Nicholas Priory
St Nicholas Priory
The Benedictine Priory of St Nicholas or just St Nicholas Priory was a Benedictine monastery founded in Exeter, England in 1087. At the dissolution of the monasteries the church and chapter house range were pulled down but the domestic buildings were left intact...
, Exeter.
In 1278 the town was granted its first market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
to be held on a Thursday. In 1356 the town gained its first water supply by a deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
of gift
Gift (law)
A gift, in the law of property, is the voluntary transfer of property from one person to another without full valuable consideration...
of the Abbot of Buckland. The water (known as the Town Lake or watercourse) came from a stream rising at Coombe Farm and flowed into a pond near Shortlands. From there it flowed in several open channels to all parts of the town. Water bailiffs were employed to protect the interests of the town and a tradition of "possessioning" took place. This was a ceremony which took place every seven years where a group of townsfolk would inspect the channel and ensure that it was not being abused. The first recorded possessioning was in 1716. In the mid nineteenth century the water courses were used for boiling vegetables, surface drainage and emptying cesspools. A Board of Health Inspector in 1854 concluded that "typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
and other epidemic diseases are so prevalent here more so than in any other parish in the Union". They were eventually only used to keep the streets clean and continued to flow until 1962 when the town council decided that they were not willing to pay for their upkeep. In 1678 a local innkeeper, John Barnes was hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
after being found guilty of highway robbery
Highwayman
A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
. He had waylaid, with the help of accomplices, a coach travelling from Exeter to London and made off with about £600 but he was recognised by the guards from Exeter, where he had been a taverner. A second highwayman, Tom Austin, was hanged in August 1693 after a series of robberies and murders including those of his aunt and her children.
The Cullompton Company of Volunteers was first raised in 1794 and continued until 1810. The first Nonconformist congregation began in 1662 when the vicar of Cullompton, Revd William Crompton, was ejected from the established church. He continued to preach and a Protestant Dissenters
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
meeting house was built in 1698 which became the Unitarian Chapel. In the eighteenth century there was a prevalence of Dissent with the local vicar recording in 1736 that of a population of 3358 there were 508 Presbyterians, 133 Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
s and 87 Quakers. By 1743 the first Baptist Chapel had been built. John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
's journal records preaching near the town in 1748.
Nineteenth century to present
In 1805 and 1806 the last bull-baitingBull-baiting
Bull-baiting is a blood sport involving the baiting of bulls.-History:In the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain, bull-baiting was practiced in London at Hockley-in-the-Hole, twice a week – and was reasonably common in the provincial towns...
in the town took place. On 7 July 1839, a severe fire destroyed many houses in Cullompton. About two thirds of the town burnt with 145 houses and other buildings being destroyed.. A subscription for rebuilding was set and donations of £5 were made by Barne and Son, tanners of Tiverton, and Cullompton tanners Mortimore and Selwood. The town acquired its first steam driven fire engine in 1914 which cost £100 and was paid for by voluntary subscription. In 1847 a riot occurred in the town due to the high price of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. Three houses were attacked, including the house of Mr Selwood, the owner of a local tannery and also a maltster. He was accused of speculatively
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
buying 2000 bushel
Bushel
A bushel is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent in each of these systems to 4 pecks or 8 gallons. It is used for volumes of dry commodities , most often in agriculture...
s of corn and his house (in Pound Square) was attacked, almost all the windows were broken and furniture was also damaged.
In 1857, the first Police Station was rented with 3 cells and a petty session courtroom
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
and in 1974 a new police station was built.. In 2011, the police station underwent a major refurbishment to act as a police force hub for Mid Devon with 72 staff members. In April 1903 a petition objecting to the renewal of alcohol licences
Licensing laws of the United Kingdom
Licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament respectively.Throughout the...
for local inns, signed by 450 people, was presented to the Brewsters sessions (Magistrates court meetings in England where pub licences are renewed or granted). A deputation sent to the session explained that the number of licensed houses was too large in proportion to the population. In 1917, the cattle market was moved from being held in the Higher Bullring to a field near the station. The first cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
was opened in the Victoria Hall in 1918 by Bill Terry. Cullompton got its first permanent library in 1938 in a building on Exeter Hill, and in 1977 the town was twinned with Ploudalmézeau
Ploudalmézeau
Ploudalmézeau is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France.The village and the small port of Portsall is part of the commune...
in Brittany, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
In 1920, a public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
was formed to provide an electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
supply for Cullompton. The company merged with the Bradninch Electricity Company in 1927 to form the Culm Valley Electricity Supply Co. Ltd. A gasworks
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
was set up in Cullompton in 1865 for the Cullompton Gas Light and Coke Co. This was taken over by the Devon Gas Association and nationalised in 1949. The gasworks was closed in 1956 and Cullompton was then supplied from Exeter. In 1998 the Cullompton website was set up and in 2000 CCTV was installed in the main street.
Another serious fire occurred on 17 October 1958, when Selwood's tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
in Exeter Street was gutted by fire; the site was then used for a supermarket. It was run as a Gateway store and then as a Somerfield
Somerfield
Somerfield was a chain of small to medium sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth largest food retailer. The name is currently being phased out and replaced by the...
. Following the takeover of Somerfield by The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
, it closed on 28 August 2010, with the loss of seven full time and 41 part time jobs. The closure was due to its poor trading performance.
The town had a major expansion in the 1970s as the construction of a bypass in 1969, and its conversion into part of the M5 in 1975, made it a popular commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
. It was expanded again during the closing years of the 20th century and the first few years of the 21st century. The Mid Devon Local Development Framework Proposals plans for 95 new dwellings a year, and 4000 sqm of new employment floorspace a year between now and 2026.
In March 2010, it was announced by Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
, the Justice Secretary, that the town's magistrates' court was to be closed due its poor facilities and lack of rooms. It had been suggested that the site might be developed as town hall or the site used as a car park. This plan ended when a group formed to oppose the proposal to purchase the site for a new town hall were elected to two thirds of the council seats in May 2011. In June 2011, it was announced that two local businesspeople had purchased the site. Their favoured plan is to demolish
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
the building and provide more car parking
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
. However, they are considering other options.
In June 2011 two men were arrested in Cullompton after being seen acting suspiciously. They were remanded in custody in connection with an alleged plot targeting soul singer Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
.
In September 2011, a new library opened. It replaced the previous library which was on Exeter Hill. The new library was four times the size of the old library and cost three million pounds.
Economic history
Cullompton has a long history of manufacturing, first with wool and cloth manufacture, then later leather working and light industry.Cloth trade
In the 15th century the weaving of fine kersiesKersey (cloth)
Kersey is a kind of coarse woollen cloth.It derives its name from the village of Kersey, Suffolk, having presumably originated in that region. However the cloth was made in many places. By 1475, the West Riding of Yorkshire including Calderdale was also a major producer. Kersey was a lighter...
and later serge
Serge
Serge is a type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave. The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms, suits, great coats and trench coats. Its counterpart, silk serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety...
s was introduced to the area by weavers from the continent
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
. This was largely a cottage industry and merchants would have premises where the fleece
Fleece
Fleece is a general term for a soft fabric , and may refer to:* A fleece, the woollen coat of a domestic sheep or long-haired goat, especially after having been sheared ....
s would be combed and sorted. John Lane was one of the best known local cloth merchants (see Lane's Aisle in the section on St Andrew's church below). In the seventeenth century, Higher and Lower King's Mills were fulling
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
mills for the local industry. In 1816 Mr Upcott employed 60 weavers and 'many spinners'. The Wellington
Wellington, Somerset
Wellington is a small industrial town in rural Somerset, England, situated south west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the town...
based firm Fox Brothers
Fox Brothers
Fox Brothers & Co is a clothmaker based in Wellington, Somerset, England. The company is one of the few working cloth mills still producing cloth entirely in England.-History:...
had a branch factory built in 1890 and made high quality wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
en and worsted
Worsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
cloth until 1977. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, their entire output was of khaki
Khaki
This article is about the fabric. For the color, see Khaki . Kaki, another name for the persimmon, is often misspelled "Khaki".Khaki is a type of fabric or the color of such fabric...
cloth, employing over 200 people. In 1910, hand weaving was revived, which evolved into machine knitted garments.
Tanning
TanningTanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
in Cullompton goes back to at least the sixteenth century and in the nineteenth century there were three tanneries: Crow Green, Lower King's Mill and Court Tannery. The Crow Green tannery was situated at the south-west end of the town and was already in existence in 1816. It had a water-powered bark mill and 47 tan pits at that date. It was owned by the Selwood family for much of the 19th and 20th centuries and was often referred to as Selwood's tannery. It suffered from fires in 1831, 1867 and 1958. In 1881 it employed 48 people and over 100 in 1958 (8% of the local workforce at the time). It finally finished operation in 1967 when the leather side of the business was sold to a Yorkshire firm. The building to the north-west of Exeter Hill, which formerly housed the water-powered bark mill, is now an antiques warehouse and the remains of the leet and tail race can still be seen. The other half of the site, to the south-east of Exeter Hill, was later used for a supermarket. The tannery at Higher King's Mill was active between about 1830 and 1875 and employed 12 labourers in 1851 and 9 a decade later. Court Tannery was established by 1871 and had closed by 1906. It was located at the north end of the town behind Court House, which was the residence of the owners of the tannery. In 1971 it employed 21 men and was probably steam-powered. A local tanner, James Whitby along with George Bodley and John Davis patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed an improved bark mill (used to grind bark for producing tanbark
Tanbark
Tanbark is the bark of certain species of tree. It is traditionally used for tanning hides.The words "tanning", "tan," and "tawny" are derived from the Medieval Latin tannare, "to convert into leather."...
used in the tanning process). In addition to tanning, the leather industry included a leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
dressing works (founded in 1921 and which closed in 1982) and a glove
Glove
A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb; if there is an opening but no covering sheath for each finger they are called "fingerless gloves". Fingerless gloves with one large opening rather than individual openings for each...
maker, Drevon and Brown.
Paper making
Paper was first made at Higher Kingsmill as early as 1750. Records show that the mill was owned by a Mr Simon Mills in 1757 and was taken over by a Mr Theodore Dart in 1799. There followed a number of different owners of whom one of the most significant was Albert Reed who purchased the mill in 1883. His brother, William Reed, established a partnership with a Mr C King Smith.The Reed & Smith group (which acquired New Taplow Mill in 1950) became one of the biggest papermakers in the UK. A Fourdrinier machine
Fourdrinier machine
This article contains a glossary section at the end.Most modern papermaking machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Machine. It has been used in some variation since its inception...
was installed in 1892 and continued to make paper at Higher Kings until about 1972. A new machine was built in 1956 to make blue sugar bags and other products, and has been modified over the years to make different grades of paper and card. St Regis acquired Higher Kings in the early 1980s and since then the mill has diversified into making a very wide range of recycled coloured papers and boards.
Cabinet making
Luxtons cabinet makersCabinet making
Cabinet making is the practice of using various woodworking skills to create cabinets, shelving and furniture.Cabinet making involves techniques such as creating appropriate joints, dados, bevels, chamfers and shelving systems, the use of finishing tools such as routers to create decorative...
was founded in 1800 and grew until it employed 50 people, with workshops at Cockpit Hill and Duke Street. After World War I they opened a retail shop in Fore Street and it kept going doing retailing and repairs until the mid 1960s. William Broom started a business in 1920 and employed 7 or 8 workmen until the 1930s when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
meant the firm was reduced to only William Broom by the start of the Second World War. After the war, the firm concentrated on repair work and antiques restoration
Antiques restoration
Antiques restoration refers to either the practice of "restoration"- restoring an antique or work of art to a like-new condition , or "conservation"- the practice of preserving an antique or work of art against further deterioration.-Restoration:Restoration can be as simple as light cleaning to...
. It closed in 1990.
Haulage
Mark Whitton founded Whitton's in the early 1900s carrying timber with a horse and cart. After the First World War the company carried coal to the gas works and local paper mills. In 1923 they bought their first Sentinel steam lorry and carried paper to Bristol and returned with animal feed. During the Second World War they were run by the Ministry of TransportDepartment for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
and after the war were nationalised to become part of British Road Services. The brothers who had owned the company moved back into haulage, setting up a new firm which went into receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
in the 1970s and was then bought by Wild Transport of Exeter in 1973.
Other industries
In 1746, Thomas Bilbie moved to the village, from Chew StokeChew Stoke
Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about south of Bristol. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the Bristol/Bath green belt...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, to establish a bell foundry in Shortlands Lane. It continued until 1850 when the business was moved to Exeter.. St Michael's and All Angel's in Alphington
Alphington, Devon
Alphington is a suburb of the City of Exeter in southwest England. The ward of Alphington has a population of 8250 according to the 2001 census, making it the third largest in Exeter, with the village itself accounting for about a quarter of this figure...
has a peal of 8 bells cast by Bilbie in Cullompton, at a cost of £108 12 shillings and 8 pence in 1749.
There was also a jam
Fruit preserves
Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits and sugar, often canned or sealed for long-term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves today often involves adding commercial or natural pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used, as well. Prior to World War II, fruit preserve...
factory, 'Devon Dale Jam' in the 1930s. There have also been flour mills, and a foundry
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
. Around 1900, the mill at the end of Middle Mill Lane was an axle works and had a boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
delivered and is labelled as an axle works on the 1904 Second Edition Ordnance Survey map. The two other mills on the leet, Higher and Lower Mills, are marked as being corn mills on the same map.
Government
The town and civil parish of Cullompton has three wardsWards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
: North (6 councillors), South (7 councillors) and Outer (2 councillors). and the parish council was first formed in 1894. Since 1995 the town has had a mayor elected by the councillors. It is part of Mid Devon District Council
Mid Devon
Mid Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tiverton.The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Tiverton and Crediton urban district together with Tiverton Rural District, and Crediton Rural...
and there are three Cullompton wards in the district council North (2 councillors), South (2 councillors) and Outer (1 councillor). It is also part of Devon County Council
Devon County Council
Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon...
and is represented through the Cullompton Rural ward.
From Saxon times it was part of the hundred of Hayridge
Hayridge (hundred)
The hundred of Hayridge was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative shires of Devon, England. It was originally known as Sulfretona and this name was still used in the Geldroll of 1084 but two hundred years later it was called Harigg in the hundred Role of Edward I after the place...
. From 1894 to 1935 it was part of Tiverton Rural District
Tiverton Rural District
Tiverton Rural District was a rural district within the county of Devon. It was abolished in 1974 and succeeded by Mid Devon District Council....
and prior to that it was part of Tiverton Sanitary District
Sanitary district
Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1875 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:*Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies...
It is part of the Tiverton and Honiton constituency and its MP is Neil Parish
Neil Parish
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Tiverton and Honiton, elected at the 2010 general election. He had been a Member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2009.-Career:Prior to beginning his career in...
.
Geography
Cullompton is 4 miles (6.4 km) miles south-east of Tiverton, 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-north-east of Exeter and 149 miles (239.8 km) miles west-south-west of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It is at about 70 m above sea level, the parish covers nearly 8000 acres (32.4 km²) and stretches for 7 miles (11.3 km) along the Culm valley.
Demography
At the 2001 CensusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
Cullompton had a population of 7,609,
but National Health Service FHSA
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
figures for 2010 estimate the parish population at 8,639. The population changed little from the start of the 19th century until the 1960s, remaining at around 3,00 (see chart). However it increased rapidly in the last part of the 20th century. Cullompton's population growth looks set to continue as Mid Devon's core strategy foresees 95 new dwellings being built per year in the period to 2026.
In 2001 there were 5,464 people aged 16 to 74 of whom 3,665 were economically active and employed, 1,556 were economically inactive and 131 economically inactive but unemployed. Figures in 2001 on ethnic composition for Mid Devon as a whole were: White British 97.57%, White other 1.24% and White Irish 0.4% and for religious composition 75.40% Christian, 15.98% no religion.
Economy
In 2001 the proportion of people living and working in Cullompton was 43% with 19% of the town's working population employed in Exeter.Retail
In 2001 the retail sector in Cullompton met fairly local needs only. The town currently has a single supermarket, a TescoTesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, which opened on 9 September 2008 despite opposition from Somerfield. The Somerfield supermarket later closed in August 2010. The local trade association closed in September 2008 after a relaunch in April. According to local businesswoman Ms Tyas-Peterson, this "reflects that Cullompton is a dying town" and the new Tesco will "make or break the town". Mole Valley Farmers
Mole Valley Farmers
Mole Valley Farmers was started in 1960 by a small group of farmers in Devon who were concerned by the discriminatory practices and the large margins being taken by many of their input suppliers. They decided to treat all members equally, subject only to quantity allowance and that the company...
has a store in the town which sells a wide range of goods including farm requirements to garden supplies and hardware.
The Cullompton street market came to an end in the late 1950s but was revived for a trial period of seven weeks starting on Saturday 28 June 2008 but takings for traders were disappointing after an initial few weeks which were good. The town also has an indoor market in the town hall every Wednesday and a monthly farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
held on the second Saturday of every month. The first market was held on 13 June 1998 after an idea and much work by Tracey Frankpitt, who was consulted by the producers of the long running radio soap opera The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
and it was mentioned in one of the episodes. It is the oldest event of its kind in the South West.
Kingsmill industrial estate
Mid Devon District Council owns 11 industrial units at the Kingsmill industrial estate which are letby a variety of businesses. Business based on the estate include Gregory Distribution, who have 27000 square foot of temperature controlled storage which they use for a contract to deliver chilled and frozen goods to Spar stores in the southwest. There is also a flour mill, milk depot,marketing and advertising agency as well as an industrial clothing shop. Higher Kings Mill is a paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
owned by St Regis. It manufactures recycled coloured papers and boards.
Culture and community
The town has an annual Christmas parade to celebrate the switching on of the town's Christmas lights and a festival week in the summer which includes the annual town fayre (formerly known as the Cullompton Town Picnic and Classic Car Show).The town has a 'community hub' called 'The Hayridge' which opened in September 2011 and has a library, cafe, free Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
, IT suites
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and conference facilities and is open six days a week. The office space is used by Adult Community Learning which had previously been based at Cullompton Community College.
St Andrew's church is sponsoring the construction of the new 9,250 square foot Cullompton Community centre, which is being built on land next to the church, and is to open in 2011. The main meeting area will have a capacity for 180 people seated and there are to be five further meeting rooms, offices, kitchens and toilets.
A major recreational area for the town is the Cullompton Community Association's fields which cover 32 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s in the centre of the town. Many town events are held on the CCA Fields such as the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
, whippet
Whippet
The Whippet is a breed of dog in the sighthound family. They are active and playful and are physically similar to a small Greyhound.- Description :...
racing and a firework
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
display. The Cullompton Community Association is a registered charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
and was formed in 1970 to help provide a recreation area for the town. It purchased the fields at a cost of £11,500. The site (next to the riverside walk along the leat) was chosen as the water meadows needed to be maintained to help prevent flooding and because it was close to the cricket and bowling clubs.
In February 2008 the Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health opened in Cullompton. The services provided at the site include: the College Surgery Partnership which is a large general practice
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
with ten doctors; complementary therapies
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
provided by Culm Valley
Natural Health; self care groups groups a health food café, physic garden and a pharmacy run by Alliance Boots
Alliance Boots
Alliance Boots GmbH is a leading international, pharmacy-led health and beauty group. It has two core business activities - pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing, and pharmaceutical wholesaling and distribution - and has a presence in more than 25 countries...
.
The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust
The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust is a provider of specialist brain injury rehabilitation in the UK. They support people to regain lost skills and independence and rebuild their lives following acquired brain injury, caused typically by road accident, assault, stroke or disease.They offer a...
has a residential centre for the rehabilitation of 23 adults with acquired brain injury called 'The Woodmill' in Cullompton. It is the trust's most southern assessment and rehabilitation residential centre in the United Kingdom and was set up in May 1998.
The Cullompton United Charities manages nine local Almshouses and the town centre facility known as Community House and also provides financial grants for various purposes.
Landmarks
The street plan of the town still reflects the medieval layoutBurgage
Burgage is a medieval land term used in England and Scotland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town rental property , owned by a king or lord. The property usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land, with the narrow end facing the street...
of the town. Most shops lie along Fore Street with courts behind them linked by alleyways. The length of the high street reflects the prosperity of the town from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century when it was a centre of the cloth trade
History of clothing and textiles
The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of most human societies. It is not known when humans began wearing clothes...
. There are two grade I listed buildings in Cullompton: the fifteenth century parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
(St Andrew's) and the Walronds at 6 Fore Street. There are also seven grade II* listed buildings and ninety grade II listed buildings. The centre of the town is a conservation area
Conservation Area (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the term Conservation Area nearly always applies to an area considered worthy of preservation or enhancement because of its special architectural or historic interest, "the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," as required by the Planning ...
- the only one in the Mid Devon area. Hillersdon House
Hillersdon House
Hillersdon House is a Victorian manor house overlooking Cullompton in Devon, England. It was designed by the notable theatre architect Samuel Beazley. Building work took place from 1848–1852, and it is a Grade II* listed building....
, a Victorian 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...
is near to the town centre and within the parish.
The Walronds
The Walronds was probably built in 1605 which is the date over the hall fireplace. John Peter, a lawyer, acquired the property by marriage into the Paris family and his initials are over the fireplace. The plan is a traditional one with the ground floor hall divided from the entrance passage by a screen. The main range has three storeys and there are two wings which are both two storeys high. In the upper south-east room is a barrel shaped ceiling and a second fireplace with the date 1605. The association with the Walrond family only dates from the eighteenth century.It is now owned by Cullompton Walronds Preservation Trust which was registered as a charity and as a private company limited by guarantee in the spring of 1997. It inherited half the building in 2005 from Miss June Severn and bought the other half. However, a survey has indicated that £948,000 will be need to restore the property. As well as restoring the building the aim is to retain the three rooms adjoining the path from Fore Street for public use. These comprise a meeting room, a kitchen and a lavatory. These rooms are already in use for meetings, coffee mornings, etc. Additionally it is hoped to convert the garden which stretches back to Shortlands Lane into a park for the people of the town. In 2008 the building became the only building in Mid Devon to be put on English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
's Buildings at Risk Register and has received £250,000 from Devon County Council and £100,000 from Mid Devon District Council for restoration work. Emergency repairs costing £15,000 were carried out during 2008. In July 2010 the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
announced that it would provide a grant of £1.75 million to help complete the restoration. Work began with the erection of scaffolding
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...
in August 2011 and it is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.
St Andrew's Church
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
scene with figures of Edward VI and St George to either side. The tower also has a large clock face by Norman of Ilfracombe dating from about 1874. Despite being the first part of the church to be seen when approaching from the main street, it is however the most recent part of the church, being built 1545-1549. The tower is built in the local red sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
with carved parts in Beer and Ham Hill stone.
The nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
are carried on 5 pairs of piers and the interior has a boarded wagon roof coloured in blue, crimson and gold which stretches the whole length of the church. At the time of the construction of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...
, William Froude
William Froude
William Froude was an English engineer, hydrodynamicist and naval architect. He was the first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships and for predicting their stability....
- the engineer given responsibility for this section of the line by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
- inserted iron stringers to prevent the walls from spreading as a result of vibrations from the trains. A screen runs across the whole width of the church. At the end of the nave is a Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
gallery
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
with 4 oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
pillars about 9 feet (2.7 m) tall. The central window of the North Aisle is a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
and a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
memorial is on the other side. Moores Chantry
Chantry
Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...
(the last bay of the North Aisle) contains some original box pew
Box pew
Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...
s and at the rear of the church are two large pieces of oak which make up a Golgotha which once rested on top of the Rood Screen. They are carved with rocks, skulls and bones. They were probably removed from the church in 1549 and cut into 2 pieces. For many years they remained in the graveyard.
On the south side of the church is the first major addition to the church: Lane's Aisle. This was built 1526-1529 by a local cloth merchant, John Lane. It is fan vault
Fan vault
thumb|right|250px|Fan vaulting over the nave at Bath Abbey, Bath, England. Made from local Bath stone, this is a [[Victorian restoration]] of the original roof of 1608....
ed in a style inspired by the Dorset aisle at Ottery St Mary and some of the carvings are similar to John Greenway's Chapel at Tiverton. John Lane and wife are buried at the east end of the aisle.
Cullompton Manor House
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
front with four gables and stone end walls with upper windows on carved brackets. It was probably built in the sixteenth century but was refurbished in 1603 for Thomas Trock, a clothier
Cloth merchant
Cloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...
. The original structure consisted only of the front part, in which there were three rooms and a passage on the ground floor, three rooms opening into each other on the floor above, and above again. The front room on the left was the former hall with large oak panels of the Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
period, and a moulded and beamed ceiling. Part of an earlier newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
stair which descended to the hall or kitchen survives above a back staircase. The house was remodelled in 1718 for William Sellock. At the front of the building is a hooded shell porch of the early 18th century supported on pilasters and the back of house is also early 18th century of red and blue brick, with windows with thick glazing bars beneath a hipped slate roof with coved eaves. It was given the name of The Manor House in 1850 by J. S. Upcott who owned the property at that time. During World War II it was requisitioned by the army and used to billet officers. The adjacent house, Veryards, was originally a separate residence but was bought by the owners of the Manor House Hotel and incorporated into the hotel in the 1980s.
Cullompton Leat
Running parallel to the main high street is a leatLeat
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
with a public footpath running along it. The leat runs from Head Weir, north of Cullompton, and takes its water from the Spratford Stream. It flows past three former watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
s (Upper, Middle and Lower Mill) and then empties into the Culm near First Bridge. It is uncertain when the leat was first made but the south end of the leat and Lower Mill are shown on an early seventeenth-century map. The leat is no longer in use for powering mills and the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
is not interested in managing the leat nor keeping it flowing so the Cullompton Leat Conservancy Board was formed to restore and maintain the Leat in 2005.
Transport
Junction 28 of the M5 lies within the parish of Cullompton and a short distance from the town centre. Other major road links are the A373 to HonitonHoniton
Honiton is a town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. The town's name is pronounced in two ways, and , each pronunciation having its adherents...
and the former A38
A38 road
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...
to Exeter which runs through the town, and is now the B3181. As of 2001 61.6% of people living in Cullompton travelled to work by car or van and 83% of households had at least one car. In October 1969 a bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
was completed but after only five years this was upgraded to form part of the M5. Since this time traffic coming from the south of Cullompton to the M5 junction has had to pass through the centre of the town. There are now problems with air quality in the town and Mid Devon District Council have made the whole of the built up area in Cullompton an Air Quality Management Area. In addition traffic on the exit slip road
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
leaving the M5 northbound often backs up onto the motorway. The Highways Agency
Highways Agency
The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England...
wants to improve traffic flow by widening roads, introduce traffic lights and reopen the left hand land of the slip road, which will cost £1.3m. This cost is to be covered by businesses moving to Cullompton. There are two routes for relief roads being considered by Mid Devon District Council - a western route and an Eastern route. If a lower growth option is chosen it is proposed that only the western route would be constructed. An alternative Outer Eastern Relief Road crossing the M5 at Old Hill was rejected as the existing bridges would need rebuilding, making the cost prohibitive. There is some opposition to both routes - a group called Cullompton Against Western Relief Road has been formed to oppose one route and there is opposition to the eastern route which passes through the Cullompton Community Fields. The town council's opinion is that the only way to solve Cullompton’s traffic problems is to build both roads and there is also a campaign for a new motorway junction south of Cullompton.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...
opened a station at Cullompton when the railway opened on 1 May 1844. It closed to passengers
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
on 5 October 1964, the site now being used for the M5 motorway
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
Cullompton services
Cullompton services
Cullompton services is a motorway service station on the M5 motorway near Exeter. It is owned by Extra MSA. It only has a McDonald's restaurant with a Shell petrol station near.- External links :*...
. The nearest railway station is now Tiverton Parkway. Devon County Council’s Travel Transport Plan includes the re-opening of Cullompton Railway Station. The 1, 1A and 1B buses run by Stagecoach provide regular bus services to Tiverton and Exeter. There is also a town circular bus run by Dartline, and an express bus run by First Somerset & Avon
First Somerset & Avon
First Somerset & Avon Ltd provides bus services in Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and West Wiltshire. It is part of First Group. First Somerset & Avon operates an extensive network of services in and around Bath, Bridgwater, Bristol, Taunton, Trowbridge, Wells, Weston-super-Mare and...
which runs from Exeter to Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
and stops at Cullompton.
Education
Cullompton has two primary schools: St Andrews Primary School which is a medium-sized primary school with approximately 230 pupils in Key StageKey Stage
A Key Stage is a stage of the state education system in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the British Territory of Gibraltar setting the educational knowledge expected of students at various ages...
s 1 & 2, and nine classes and Willowbank Primary School. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
is Cullompton Community College. It opened in 1968 on the present site and became fully comprehensive in 1979. It is now a co-educational comprehensive school for students aged between 11 and 16 with approximately 650 students on roll and in December 2003 it secured sponsorship of £50,000 from The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
to enable it to become a Business and Enterprise college
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields...
.
Religious sites
As well as the Parish church, St. Andrew (see Landmarks), there are several other religious sites. The Roman Catholic church, Saint BonifaceSaint Boniface
Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...
, was built in 1929 by Manuel de las Casas who was descended from the uncle of Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
. The Methodist church in New Cut is the third chapel on the site. The first was started in 1764 and the current building was built following a fire in 1872 which did serious damage to the chapel built in 1806. The Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
chapel on Pound Square dates from 1913 following the collapse of the previous building in 1911. It is the oldest nonconformist congregation in Cullompton. Hebron Evangelical Church was built in 1962. The Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church is the site of a meeting house erected in 1743 on High Street.
Sports and leisure
Local teams and clubs
Cullompton RugbyRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
Club was formed in 1892 and played on thirteen different grounds in and around the town before their current ground - Stafford Park - was purchased in 1980. In 2008-9 the senior 1st XV team won the Western Counties West League
Tribute Western Counties West
English Rugby Union South West Division - Tribute Western Counties West is an English Rugby Union League.- Teams 2009/10 :*Camborne*Tiverton*Devonport Services*Penryn*Bude*Kingsbridge*Minehead Barbarians*Newquay Hornets*North Petherton*Okehampton...
finishing the season unbeaten. On Saturday 9 May 2009 they won the EDF Energy Senior Vase by beating Tyldesley
Tyldesley
Tyldesley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies an area north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, east-southeast of Wigan and west-northwest of the city of Manchester...
8-7 at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
. Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs
Exeter Rugby Club are a rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon.The Exeter club was formed around 1871 and played its first match in 1873. The first team has been rebranded as the Exeter Chiefs and play in a strip of Black , White ....
prop Ben Moon
Ben Moon (rugby union)
Ben Moon is a Rugby Union player for Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva Premiership. He made his debut for Exeter on 4 October 2008 against Sedgley Park. His position of choice is Prop. He has represented England U16 and England U18.-External links:*...
formerly played for Cullompton and has now played for the England unders 20s. Ladies Rugby started at Cullompton in 1997 and now the team has two qualified coaches. They currently play in the National Challenge 2 South West. Former Cullompton flanker
Flanker (rugby union)
A flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Flankers play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside, or openside flankers; numbers six and seven respectively. The name comes from their position in a scrum in which they flank each set of forwards...
Izzy Noel Smith, currently playing for Bristol
Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
has been capped for England.
The local football team is Cullompton Rangers
Cullompton Rangers A.F.C.
Cullompton Rangers Football Club is a football club based in Cullompton, Devon, England. As of the 2011–12 season, the club plays in the South West Peninsula League Premier Division.-History:...
who were formed in 1945 and play in Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League
South West Peninsula League
The South West Peninsula League is a league of football clubs in England, which was formed in 2007 from the merger of the Devon County League and the South Western League...
. Their ground is called Speeds Meadow. There was also a women's football team - Cullompton Rangers L.F.C. who were formed when Exeter City L.F.C. amalgamated with Cullompton Rangers AFC. In 2011 the club folded when the manager was forced to leave and a replacement could not be found.
Cullompton cricket club was established in 1891 and they play at Landspeed Meadow, by the Cullompton Community Association Fields.
There are also a variety of other clubs including several bowls clubs and badminton, running, squash, and Taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
martial arts clubs.
Sports and leisure facilities
The town has a sports centre, Culm Valley Sports Centre, which is currently run by Mid Devon District Council. It was opened in 1985 and facilities include a fitness studio, an all weather pitch, a sports hall, squash courts and a sauna. The town is also home to Padbrook Park - a golf courseGolf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
and sporting and recreational centre which first opened in March 1992. The facilities include a Parkland Golf Course, a Golf School, a 40 bedroom hotel, conference suites, health & fitness centre, indoor bowls, fishing lake, beauty salon, restaurants and a sports bar
Notable people
The architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Charles Fowler
Charles Fowler
Charles Fowler , English architect, was born at Cullompton, Devon.After serving an apprenticeship of seven years with John Powning of Exeter, he went to London in 1814, and entered the office of David Laing, where he remained until he commenced practice for himself...
was born in Cullompton and the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
clergyman Thomas Manton
Thomas Manton
Thomas Manton was an English Puritan clergyman.-Life:Thomas Manton was baptized March 31, 1620 at Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset, a remote southwestern portion of England. His grammar school education was possibly at Blundell's School, in Tiverton, Devon...
was town lecturer here for a time. The engineer William Froude
William Froude
William Froude was an English engineer, hydrodynamicist and naval architect. He was the first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships and for predicting their stability....
lived in Cullompton and was churchwarden
Churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...
from 1842-44. WG Hoskins died on 11 January 1992 in Cullompton. The singer Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
lives near Cullompton.