Willand - Willand Old Village (geograph 3590044)

Willand 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 authority ...

within the Local Government district of

Mid Devon Mid Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tiverton. The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Tiverton and Crediton urban district ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is about north of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and north of Cullompton. In 1991 the population was 3750 although recently this has grown considerably. The

National Grid reference National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

for the centre of the area is ST037110. ''Willand'' is a major part of Lower Culm

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

. The ward population at the 2011 Census was 5,808. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Halberton, Uffculme and Cullompton. Willand has probably had a settlement since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

but is first recorded in 1042 as having "belonged to Ethmar". It historically formed part of the Halberton Hundred. The church of St Mary the Virgin is medieval; it has a small tower and a chancel, nave and north aisle. The south porch has some decoration and there is a late medieval rood screen (probably c. 1400 in date and fairly simple in design). There is one pub, The Halfway House, and a country manor, situated next to

Diggerland Diggerland is the name of theme parks inspired by diggers and JCBs. There are four theme parks in England, and one in the United States. Diggerland is part of the H.E Services Group and Allsafety Limited. Locations There are four Diggerland ...

, called the Verbeer Manor. It has one primary school, Willand School, that has around 300 pupils. From Willand, pupils go to Cullompton Community College, Uffculme School, or to other secondary schools in the area. Willand has a football club,

Willand Rovers F.C. Willand Rovers Football Club is a football club based in Willand, near Exeter, in Devon. They are currently members of the and play at Silver Street. The club is affiliated to the Devon County Football Association. History Willand Rovers Foo ...

who play at The Stan Robinson Stadium on Silver Street. Willand also has a Village Hall where a number of social activities take place such as Short Mat Bowls and Coffee Mornings. Alongside the Village Hall is Willand Tennis Club. The Bristol to Exeter railway line was completed in 1844 and a station, called Tiverton Road, was opened in Willand to serve the nearby town of Tiverton; this was renamed Tiverton Junction railway station when a branch line reached the town, and also became the junction for the Culm Valley Light Railway in 1876. Both branch lines had closed by 1975, and the station closed in 1986 when Tiverton Parkway was opened. The M5 motorway bypasses the village; junctions are at Cullompton and Tiverton Parkway. Adjacent to the railway line there is a large poultry processing factory, part of the

2 Sisters Food Group 2 Sisters Food Group, a subsidiary of Boparan Holdings Ltd, is a privately owned food manufacturing company with head offices in Birmingham, England primarily focusing on private label manufacturing for retailer and food service markets. Establ ...

, which purchased it from

Lloyd Maunder Lloyd Maunder are an Exeter, Devon based group of West Country retail butchers, a major producer of locally reared beef, pork and chicken products. History FJP Maunder established a meat processing facility at Witheridge, Devon in 1879. He opene ...

in 2008. A survey carried out in 2015–17 found that the location was subject to an annual

uplift Uplift may refer to: Science * Geologic uplift, a geological process ** Tectonic uplift, a geological process * Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass * Uplift mountains * Llano Uplift * Nemaha Uplift Business * Uplif ...

of 2 cm, the cause of which is unknown.

References

External links

{{Mid Devon Villages in Mid Devon District