South Molton is a town in

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 ...

, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distri ...

. According to the 2001 census the

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 ...

of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the 2011 Census. The town also has an electoral ward with the same name. The population of this ward at the same census was 4,875 We have therefore the unusual situation where the town is larger than the ward. The town was one of the boroughs reformed by the

Municipal Reform Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legisl ...

. It retained this status as a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

until 1967, when it became a rural borough in the South Molton Rural District. South Molton is a well-built

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

trading mostly in sheep and cattle. There are many geriatrics living here, 90% of them cannot drive to save their lives. There was a station on the Devon Railway until 1966, when the branch line was finally closed. The station was described in detail in the best selling railway publication ''the Country Railway''. It is situated on the southern side of

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

just off the North Devon link road, which in part follows the route of the railway line. South Molton The Square

History

The Hundred of South Molton was a pre-norman administrative centre overseeing the estates of: South Molton, Bishops Tawton, Bray, Bremeridge, Aller, Molland, Anstey, Swimbridge, Ringcombe, Newton, Whitstone, Knowstone, George Nympton, Honiton, North Aller, Hacche, Radworthy, Pulham, Satterleigh, Chittlehampton, Wadham and Swimbridge. "In South Molton hundred there are 22 hides." (roughly 2640 acres) References to South Molton as an estate in the 1086 Domesday Book (Exon), "The king has 1 estate which is called South Molton, which King Eadweard held on the day that he himself was alive and dead. In that estate is 1 virgate and a half of land. 40 ploughs can plough this. There the king has 1 plough and the villans have 20 ploughs. There the king 〈has〉 12 villans and 4 bordars and 2 slaves and 12 swineherds and 9 beasts and woodland 1 league in length and 3 furlongs in width, and 10 acres of meadow and 30 acres of grazing-land; and it pays 10 pounds a year by weight." To this estate has been added half a virgate of land, called ''Ringedona''; and it is worth 5 shillings a year." "In South Molton, the king’s estate, 4 clerks (priests) have 1 virgate of land, which they hold in alms from the king; and it is worth twenty shillings a year." Domesday Book "In the hundred of South Molton there is 1 ferding of land which 1 plough can plough and it is lying completely ruined. None of the men claims this." Domesday Book On 14 March 1655, Sir

John Penruddock Colonel John Penruddock (or Penruddocke, 1619–1655), of Compton Chamberlayne, was an English Cavalier during the English Civil War and the English Interregnum. He is remembered as the leader of the Penruddock uprising in 1655. The Sealed Kno ...

was captured after a three-hour street fight in South Molton by soldiers of the New Model Army under the command of Captain

Unton Croke Unton Croke (159328 January 1671) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons in 1628 and 1640. He supported the Roundheads, Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War. Croke was the so ...

. This ended the Penruddock uprising, a conspiracy to restore Charles II to the throne of England.

Education

There are good local educational facilities, South Molton Community College which is a state

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

rated as a specialist

technology college In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were ...

. South Molton Primary School was one of the schools studied in the 1950s by Iona and Peter Opie.

Notable buildings

The

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

, constructed between 1739 and 1741, contains many ornamental features and entire rooms from Stowe House in Cornwall, built by the

Earl of Bath Earl of Bath was a title that was created five times in British history, three times in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now extinct. Earls of Bath; First cre ...

in 1675 and dismantled in 1739. The building is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the Register of

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. Behind it is the town's Pannier Market.

Hugh Squier

Hugh Squier (1625–1710), a wealthy local merchant, was a great benefactor of South Molton. Son of William Squier of Townhouse, now a farmhouse about 1 mile west of the town, he made his fortune in London and returned home at the age of 29. He purchased the

lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of South Molton, which feudal position entitled him to the fees and tolls levied at the town's markets and fairs. His children all died young and having no heirs he thus decided to devote his wealth to philanthropical causes in his native town. In 1686 he built and endowed a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in East Street, South Molton, known as ''Hugh Squier's Free School''. The original Deed of Endowment and Appointment of Trustees is held at North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple. In 1877 it was amalgamated with the

Blue Coat School A bluecoat school is a type of charity school in England, the first of which was founded in the 16th century. Most of them have closed; some remain open as schools, often on different sites, and some of the original buildings have been adapted ...

, founded in 1711, and with the National Schools, founded in 1833. The combined school was known as ''South Molton United School''. At his death, he left £2,314 to the Corporation of South Molton for cleansing and repairing the streets, along with bequests from his estate in the parish of

Swimbridge Swimbridge (historical spelling: ''Swymbridge'') is a village, parish and former manor in Devon, England. It is situated south-east of Barnstaple and twinned with the town of St.Honorine Du Fay in Normandy, France. It was the home of the Rev. ...

and the rectory of

North Molton North Molton is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also exists. The ward population at the ce ...

which he had acquired. A contemporary portrait of him exists in the Mayor's Parlour in the Town Hall, and a stone bust of him made in 1910, apparently copied from the painting, is displayed on the facade of the same building. A medallion portrait of him hangs from the chain of office of the mayor.Information board in South Molton museum

References

External links