River Culm
The River Culm flows through eastern Devon, through the 'Devon Redlands'[1] and gives a name to Cullompton and serval villages along its course.
The river rises at Culm Head in the Blackdown Hills of Somerset and flows 17 miles down to the River Exe at Wood Mill. It is the Exe's longest tributary.[2]
The name of the river is thought to mean 'knot' or 'tie', in reference to the river's twists and loops.[3]
Course of the River
The River Culm begins in a marshy field in the Blackdown Hills near RAF Culmhead (50°56’16"N, 3°6’35"W), in Somerset, and thence flows westwards, the stream entering Devon after just four miles. At Gladhayes the river passes under a two-arched bridge and half a mile beyond this the Culm receives from the south the waters of the Madford River,[4] just above Hemyock. By now the river is already 5 feet wide.
The river continues to Culmstock, a village straddling both sides of the river in the lush Culm Valley, where the river is shallower. At Uffculme the river flows in a straight course and flows more slowly. The Spratford Steam, whose waters have flowed in a southerly direction, meets the Culm near Willand, and from here thereafter the river valley has been put to modern use as the route of the main railway line from Exeter to Taunton (built by the Great Western Railway) and the M5 motorway, which runs beside the railway. The Culm in the meantime continues its immemorial course to the market town of Cullompton.
The Culm flows through Cullompton, which takes its name from the river. Below the town the Culm turns south, where it meanders a great deal and is prone to flooding. Shortly before reaching Hele near Kensham House, the small River Weaver flows into the Culm from the east. It passes under a paper mill at Hele. North of Stoke Canon the river has many meanders.
South of Hele (free of the motorway, which has wandered off on another course) the river skirts the northern boundary of Killerton Park and finally joins the River Exe on the north-western outskirts of Exeter just below Stoke Canon (50°45’45"N, 3°30’54"W).[5]
The Culm in literature
The novel Perlycross by R.D. Blackmore is based on the Upper Culm Valley.[6] The fictional locations in the book have real counterparts: 'Perlycombe' is Hemyock, 'Perlycross' is Culmstock and ;Perliton' is Uffculme.[5]
| “ | Perlycombe, Perlycross and Perliton, are but as three pearls on one string, all in a line, and contiguous. The string is the stream; which arising at the eastern extremity of Perlycombe parish, passes through the village, then westward through Perlycross, and westward still through the much larger village of Perliton. At Perlycombe it is a noisy little brook, at Perlycross, a genial trout stream; while Perliton, by the time it gets there, entitles it "the River Perle" and keeps two boats upon it, which are not always more aground than landsmen should desire.[7] | ” |
Gallery
1. River source.
2. The first ford of the River Culm.
3. The bridge at Gladhayes.
4. The last bridge.
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Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Culm) |
References
- ↑ Devon Redlands, Natural England, http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/jca148_tcm6-5475.pdf, retrieved 8 Sep 2013
- ↑ Taylor, Anthony: 'Culm Valley Album' (Penwell Ltd, 1987) ISBN 0-951261002
- ↑ Hesketh, Robert: 'Devon Placenames' (Bossiney Books, 2008) ISBN 978-1-899383-98-6
- ↑ "Madford River". Explore Britain. http://www.explorebritain.info/water-devon-madford-river-st1411. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Taylor, Anthony: 'Culm Valley Album' (Penwell Ltd ,1987) ISBN 0-951261002
- ↑ Blackmore, David. "The Five Lives of R. D. Blackmore". The Victorian Web. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/blackmore/bio1.html. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ↑ Blackmore, R.D. (1894). Perlycross. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company. pp. 129.
