Kilkhampton ( kw, Kylgh) 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 ...

in northeast

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Penstowe Castle near Kilkhampton - geograph

Kilkhampton was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as "Chilchetone". The population of the parish was 1,193 in the 2001 census. This increased to 1,368 in the 2011 census The remains of a late Norman period

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

known as

Penstowe Castle Penstowe Castle, also called Kilkhampton Castle, was a medieval fortification built near Kilkhampton, Cornwall, England, possibly during the years of the civil war in the 12th century known as the Anarchy. History The precise date of Penstow ...

are located 500 metres west of the village. Further west, at Stowe is the site of

Stowe House Stowe House is a grade I listed country house in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of Stowe School, an independent school and is owned by the Stowe House Preservation Trust who have to date (March 2013) spent more than £25m on t ...

, the grand mansion of

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC, 29 August 1628 – 22 August 1701, was an English landowner who served in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War and was rewarded for his services after the 1660 Stuart Restoration with a titl ...

, built in 1680 but demolished in 1739: some of the stonework was reused at Penstowe, also in the parish. Kilkhampton has a post office, a primary school, and a community centre called the Grenville Rooms. There are three general stores, two pubs, and a selection of shops including an electrical goods store. There is also a

MOT test The MOT test (or simply MOT) is an annual test of vehicle safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required in the United Kingdom for most vehicles over three years old. In Northern Ireland the equivalent requirement applies aft ...

station and an agricultural supply depot. The village was surveyed for the

Survey of English Dialects The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before loc ...

. A crater on Mars has been named Kilkhampton.

History

The manor of "Chilchetone" was very valuable at the time of Domesday Book. It had paid tax on 7 hides in the previous reign and there was land for 40 ploughs. 26 villagers and 23 smallholders had 26 ploughs between them and there was also of meadow, 20 sq furlongs of pasture and a considerable woodland. The livestock were 50 cattle, 600 sheep, 20 pigs and 40 goats; the annual value was £18.

Kilkhampton Church

Kilkhampton Church, with its magnificent Norman south doorway and lofty buttressed Perpendicular tower of eight bells, is dedicated to St James the Great and is at least 450 years old. But some historians claim parts of it to be around 1000 years old. It is one of many churches dedicated to this saint on a pilgrims' route, which leads ultimately to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

in northern Spain. The church contains an impressive monument to the Cornish hero Sir Bevil Grenville. Other features of interest are the south porch (dated 1567), a fine series of benchends of the first half of the 16th century. (The benchends are from the same workshop as those of Launcells and Poughill.) The tenor bell was found to be cracked in 2006: after repairs, it was re-hung and the full peal of eight bells were first heard again on Sunday 23 September 2007. In medieval times there was a chapel at Stowe House, licensed in 1386, but dedicated to St Christina in 1519 by Bishop Thomas Vyvyan. At Alderscombe there was another chapel.

Notable residents

''See also'' People from Kilkhampton *The England rugby union captain Phil Vickery grew up in the village and his family still own a substantial amount of the surrounding farmland *

Thomas Greenway Thomas Greenway (March 25, 1838 – October 30, 1908) was a Canadian politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh premier of Manitoba from 1888 to 1900. A Liberal, his ministry formally ended Manitoba's non-partisan government, al ...

, Premier of the Canadian province of

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

until 1908, was born in the village. *Sir Bevil Grenville, Royalist commander in the Civil War * Henry Robinson was Rector in the 1850s

References

External links

Kilkhampton Parish website
* {{authority control Villages in Cornwall Civil parishes in Cornwall Manors in Cornwall