Sampford Peverell is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in Mid-

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. Devon is ...

, England. An old Saxon settlement, it was called Sanforda in the 1086 Doomsday Book. Its current name reflects its inclusion in the

Honour of Peverel The Honour of Peverel (also known as the Feudal Barony of the Peak) is a geographic area in the north of England comprising part of the historic feudal barony held by the Norman Peverel family. The honour was granted to William Peverel (c. 10 ...

, the lands of

William Peverel William Peverel († 28. January 1114), Latinised to Gulielmus Piperellus), was a Norman knight granted lands in England following the Norman Conquest. Origins Little is known of the origin of the William Peverel the Elder. Of his immediate ...

and his family. His great-grandson, Hugh Peverell (the name had changed spelling), is buried in the village church of St John the Baptist. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Hockworthy,

Holcombe Rogus Holcombe Rogus is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. In 2001 the population of the parish was 503. The northern boundary of the parish forms part of the county boundary with Somerset and clockwise from the east it is bor ...

, Burlescombe, Halberton and Uplowman. The New Rectory was built in 1836, at the expense of the Grand Western Canal Company, in compensation for cutting through the grounds and demolishing the south wing of the Old Rectory which had been built for the use of

Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

, mother of Henry VII. The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

opened a station at Sampford Peverell in 1932 but it closed on 5 October 1964; the site has since been reused as Tiverton Parkway railway station (opened in 1986).

Poltergeist hoax

In 1810 it was reported that the house of a John Chave in the village was experiencing dramatic

poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional desc ...

activity. The case was discussed in the national press of the time, and Chave's house gained such notoriety that in 1811 it was besieged by a mob of rowdy workmen known as navvies. In the scenes that followed, Chave was forced to open fire on the crowd in self-defence, killing one person, a George Helps, buried in the churchyard. The paranormal activity turned out to be noises made by smugglers behind a false wall. The house in question no longer stands, but its location can be pinpointed courtesy of a village information board that denominates it 'The Ghost House, Higher Town - now demolished'.Codd, Daniel. ''Paranormal Devon'' (2013). Amberley Publishing. p.30-34. .

References

* Stabb, John (1908–16
''Some Old Devon Churches''

External links

Paranormal hoaxes Villages in Devon Grand Western Canal {{Devon-geo-stub