Feniton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). The district was formed ...

in the English county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. The village lies about west of

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

, north of

Ottery St Mary Ottery St Mary, known as "Ottery", is a town and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England, on the River Otter, about east of Exeter on the B3174. At the 2001 census, the parish, which includes the villages of Metcombe, F ...

, and east of Talaton. The parish of Feniton incorporates the hamlets of Colesworthy, Higher Cheriton and Curscombe. It covers an area of 644 hectares (1591 acres),Devon County Council : ''East Devon Parishes''
and is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Payhembury, Buckerell, Gittisham,

and Talaton. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,796, decreasing to 1,568 at the 2011 Census. The 2012 draft East Devon Local Plan recorded 716 houses within the Built Up Area Boundary. Feniton is a major part of the electoral ward called "Feniton and Buckerell". The total population of this ward at the 2011 census was 2,274.

The village

Bench on the triangular green at the centre of Feniton Court - geograph

The original village of Feniton contains the 13th-century Church of St Andrew, the post office, and a number of thatched cottages. The Wesley chapel which was built in 1850 is now disused and functions as an animal store. The Vine Water, a tributary of the River Otter, runs through this part of the village and is generally believed to have given the village its name. Feniton new village lies about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) west of the original village and is separated by open countryside. This area was formerly known as Sidmouth Junction and for many years consisted of just a few houses, a public house and a chapel, which were associated with the building and operation of the railway station of the same name. From the mid-1960s onwards, this area was transformed into Feniton new village by various medium-scale housing developments. These were accompanied by the building of Feniton Primary School, two village shops (one of which has since closed), and a playing field. In 1967, when the new village was taking shape, the original Sidmouth Junction railway station and its associated branch line were closed as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...

. The station was reopened by British Rail in 1971 with the new name of Feniton. South Western Railway operate services from it to Exeter and

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...

. In 1976, Feniton signed a twinning charter with the village of Louvigny in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

More recently, a sports and social club, private dental practice, hairdresser and fast food takeaway have opened in this part of the village.

Feniton today

In 2008 a number of residents were forced to move into the upper storeys of their houses to escape rising flood waters, and the village suffered again in November 2012: the village has its own Flood Warden scheme, and Devon County Council has estimated the cost of a flood defence scheme as in the region of £1.6 million. Under

District Council's draft Local Plan, the Council deemed that in the period up to 2026 it would be appropriate for Feniton to host another 35 houses. However, several developers have applied to build a large number of houses in and around the village.

References

*Devon County Council, https://web.archive.org/web/20140427231200/http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/councildemocracy/improving_our_services/facts_figures_and_statistics/factsandfigures/thepeople/peopleestandproj/peoplepopestimates/peoplefhsaeastpar.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20140703014659/http://eastdevon.gov.uk/drafteastdevonlocalplan.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20151102001255/http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_november_floods_2012_final.pdf

External links

Feniton Parish CouncilFeniton History Group
* {{authority control Villages in Devon