Cullompton

Cullompton
Devon
Cullompton from the southwest
Location
Grid reference:	ST020071
Location:	50°51’18"N, 3°23’35"W
Data
Population:	7,609  (2001)
Post town:	Cullompton
Postcode:	EX15
Dialling code:	01884
Local Government
Council:	Mid Devon
Parliamentary constituency:	Tiverton and Honiton

Cullompton is a town in Devon, 13 miles miles north of Exeter. It is on the River Culm in the east of the county. In 2010 it had a population of 8,639 and is growing rapidly.

The earliest evidence of occupation is from the Roman period – there was a fort on the hill above the town and occupation in the current town centre. Columtune was mentioned in Alfred the Great's will. In the past the town's economy had a large component of wool and cloth manufacture, then later leather working and paper manufacture.

A large proportion of town's inhabitants are commuters but there is still some local manufacturing, including flour and paper mills. It has a monthly farmers' market held on the second Saturday of every month which is the oldest event of its kind in the South West. It is home to two Grade I listed buildings: the fifteenth century St Andrew's parish church and the seventeenth century house known as The Walronds. The centre of the town is the only conservation area in the district and there are seven grade II* listed buildings and ninety grade II listed buildings in the parish.

About the town

Cullompton High Street

The street plan of Cullopton still reflects its mediæval layout. Most shops stand 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. The street plan is still fundamentally the same as shown on a map of 1663, with a wider area at the North end where markets were held, roads to Tiverton and Ponsford and a small lane leading down to a mill (now known as Lower Mill).

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. Hillersdon House, a Victorian manor house is near to the town centre and within the parish.

Cullompton Leat

A leat runs parallel to the high street with a public footpath beside it. The leat runs from Head Weir, north of Cullompton, and takes its water from the Spratford Stream. It flows past three former watermills (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 Cullompton Leat Conservancy Board was formed to restore and maintain the Leat in 2005.

Name

The derivation of the name Cullompton is disputed. It may simply mean "Farmstead on the River Culm", whle "Culm" may mean knot or tie (referring to the river's twists and loops). Another theory is that the town is named after St Columba of Tir-de-Glas, who preached to West Saxons in 549 AD: the Revd Grubb clamied that the parish church may formerly have been dedicated to St Columba though for the last 500 years it has been dedicated to St Andrew, and says that tradition records an ancient figure or image of Columba in the church.

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.

Churches

Parish church

St Andrew's Church

St Andrew's church dates from the fifteenth century and is set back from the main street but its tower strikes against the horizon from many miles around. The tower is 100 feet tall with pinnacles on top which add a further 20 feet to its height. This is the most recent part of the church, built 1545–1549.

At the end of the nave is a Jacobean oak-pillared gallery built in 1637. There are sixteen figures carved on it. These figures are typical of the Stuart period and represent the twelve apostles and the Four Evangelists.

Others

• Church of England:
  • St Andrew
• Baptist Church: Cullopton Batpist Church; on the site of a meeting house erected in 1743 on High Street.
• Methodist: Cullompton Methodist Church, in New Cut; 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.
• Unitarian: chapel on Pound Square (1913)
• Roman Catholic: St Boniface, built in 1929

History

Early history

Excavactions on site near Shortlands lane

On St Andrew's Hill, to the north-west of Cullompton town centre, two Roman forts were discovered in 1984 by aerial photography. The site was made a scheduled monument in 1986. A large quantity of Roman pottery, burial remains and fragments of hypocaust tile from the second and third century was found by archaeologists.

In 872 Alfred the Great bequeathed Columtune and its lands to his son Æthelweard. At the time of the Norman Conquest, it was held by the Lady Gytha, the widow of Earl Godwin of Wessex. In 1067 William the Conqueror passed through the villa of Colitona on his way to besiege Exeter where Gytha was living. In 1087 King William 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.

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 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.

Modern period

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. Another local man called Tom Austin was hanged in August 1694. Although he had been wealthy, he spent all his money and turned to highway robbery. He killed Sir Zachary Wilmott during a robbery. Then, in a single day in 1694, he killed his aunt, her five children, his own wife and his two children.

In the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, Cullompton was the first inland town to offer to raise a volunteer company (on 16 May 1794) and on 24 June the volunteers were accepted. It is appropriate then that the first volunteer company raised in the mid-19th century was from nearby Exeter.

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 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 Anabaptists and 87 Quakers. By 1743 the first Baptist Chapel had been built. John Wesley's journal records preaching near the town in 1748.

Nineteenth century to present

The former health centre and magistrates court

The old library with the new one being built behind

In 1805 or 1806 the last bull-baiting 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.

In 1847 a riot occurred in the town due to the high price of wheat. Three houses were attacked, including one in Pound Square belonging to Mr Selwood who was accused of speculation raising the price; almost all the windows were broken and his furniture was also damaged.

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 where pub licences were 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 moved from the Higher Bullring to a field near the station.

A serious fire occurred on 17 October 1958, when Selwood's tannery in Exeter Street was gutted by fire; the site was subsequently used for a supermarket.

The town saw a major expansion in the 1970s as the construction of a bypass in 1969, and its conversion into part of the M5 motorway in 1974, made Cullompton a popular commuter town.

Economic history

Cullompton has a long history of manufacturing, first with wool and cloth manufacture, and then later with leather working and light industry.

In the 15th century the weaving of fine kersies and later serges was introduced to the area by weavers from Europe, which became a local cottage industry, though by 1816 Mr Upcott employed 60 weavers and 'many spinners'.

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 at the southwest end of the town was already in existence in 1816, 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.

Higher Kingsmill in 2010

Paper was first made at Higher Kingsmill as early as 1750. The Reed & Smith acquired New Taplow Mill in 1950 and became one of the biggest papermakers in the United Kingdom.

Luxtons cabinet makers was founded in 1800 and grew until it employed 50 people, with workshops at Cockpit Hill and Duke Street. After First World War a retail shop was opened by the firm in Fore Street and it kept going doing retailing and repairs until the mid 1960s. A former employee of Luxtons, William Broom, started his own cabinet making business in 1920 and employed 7 or 8 workmen until the 1930s when the Great Depression meant that by the start of the Second World War, William Broom was the only worker in the firm. After the war, the firm concentrated on repair work and antiques restoration. The firm closed in 1990 with the retirement of Sid Russ who had taken the firm over after William Broom retired.

Mark Whitton founded Whitton's in the early 1900s carrying timber with a horse and cart. After 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, returning with animal feed. During the Second World War they were run by the Ministry of Transport 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.

A Cullompton man called Chubb travelled widely to repair bells during the reign of James I. In 1745 a vestry meeting determined that in order to reduce the cost of having the church bells repaired, the bells should be cast in some part of the almshouses, and a bell founder be found to work there.

In 1754, Thomas Bilbie moved to Cullompton to manage the bell foundry his father had founded and over a period of 26 years he cast 239 bells, the majority for churches in Devon. The Bilbie family were also involved in clock making. In 1749 Thomas Biblie (senior) was asked to make a set of chimes for Cullompton church. Thomas II worked on clock mechanisms to play tunes on church bells at East Coker and also at Beaminster. Thomas Castleman is recorded as having made a clock for Cullompton Church in 1811 at a cost of £55.

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).

Cullompton Community Association's fields cover 32 acres in the centre of the town. A variety of community events are held here. The site was reserved as a water meadows be maintained to prevent flooding.

Sports and leisure

Padbrook Park golf course

• Cricket: Cullompton Cricket Club, established in 1892
• Football: Cullompton Rangers, formed in 1945
• Rugby: Cullompton Rugby Club, founded in 1892
• Others: A variety of clubs for games in Cullompton include bowls, badminton, running, squash and taekwondo.

Outside links

• Cullompton Town Council

References

Books

• The people of the parish (2001). The Book of Cullompton. Tiverton, Devon: Halsgrove. ISBN 1-84114-117-8. 
• Morris, Judy (2007). The Second Book of Cullompton. Wellington, Somerset: Halsgrove. ISBN 978-1-84114-625-6.