Chittlehampton
| Chittlehampton | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Chittlehampton, viewed from south | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS636255 |
| Location: | 51°-0’47"N, 3°56’42"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 820 (2001) |
| Post town: | Umberleigh |
| Postcode: | EX37 |
| Dialling code: | 01769 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Devon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Devon |
Chittlehampton is a village in the north of Devon. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Swimbridge, Filleigh, South Molton, Satterleigh and Warkleigh, High Bickington, Atherington, and Bishop's Tawton.[1] The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 820.
The parish originally included two exclaves; Chittlehamholt to the south (now a parish in itself), and part of the modern parish of East and West Buckland. It now includes Chittlehampton, Umberleigh, Furze, Stowford and some other outlying hamlets.
The village was the site of limestone quarries which supplied many of the county's lime kilns.
Parish church and well
The parish church bears an unusual dedication, being the Church of St Hieritha. It is large for such a village, built in the style of the late Perpendicular period. Its tower is in the opinion of many, unsurpassed in design and proportion among English village churches.[2]
St Hieritha, a 7th-century saint, is said to have been buried under part of the church.[3]
At the east end of Chittlehampton, and associated with the church is a well, once reputed to be a holy well to the saint, and until the Reformation in the 16th century many people made pilgrimages to Chittlehampton to visit Saint Urith's well. It is now called by the corrupt name of Taddy Well or Saint Teara's Well.
The exact burial place of Urith was probably in the small chapel on the north side of the sanctuary of the parish church, which originally contained an image of the saint. This chapel now doubles as a passage leading to a vestry. There is reason to believe that a mediæval slab there may still cover Saint Urith's body. There was a regular pilgrimage to her shrine on her feast day, 8 July, until 1539. Offerings left there were sufficient to rebuild the church tower, reputedly the finest in Devon. Even in the last year of pilgrimages, the vicar received £50 from his share of the offerings. This was three times his income from tithes and glebe.
By 1540 the saint's statue had been removed from the church, leading to the further loss of £50 in offerings. The pulpit of the church, carved around 1500, survives and this depicts Urith holding a martyr's palm and the foundation stone of the church. A modern statue now stands in a niche high up on the exterior of the tower and she is also shown in a stained-glass window of the 16th century found at Nettlecombe in Somerset.
History
The manor of Chittlehampton was in the royal demesne in 1066. It was subsequently granted to the Earls of Gloucester, who in the time of King Henry III (1216–1272) sub-enfeoffed it to Herbert FitzMatthew for the service of one knight's fee.
The chief manor house, long ago demolished, was situated next to the church. From the Earls of Gloucester it descended to the Despencer family and then to the Earls of Warwick. In 1537 Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, 2nd Earl of Devon, was lord, as revealed by one of the two surviving rolls for the manorial court.[4] He was attainted and executed in 1539 and his land became forfeit to the Crown.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Chittlehampton) |
References
- ↑ "Map of Devon Parishes". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ↑ Per church leaflet
- ↑ Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 160
- ↑ Book of Chittlehampton, p.38
