Chudleigh () is an ancient wool town located within the

Teignbridge District Council Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Newton Abbot. Other towns in the district include Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish and Teignmouth. It is named for the old Teignbridge hundred. The ...

area of Devon, England between

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...

and

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 ...

. The

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 ...

with the same name had a population of 6,125 at the 2011 census.

Geography

Chudleigh is very close to the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

and in the Teign Valley. Nearby Castle Dyke is an

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 ...

Hill Fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

which demonstrates far earlier settlement in the area. It is also near

Haldon Forest Haldon Forest is a forest located in the Haldon Hills, Devon, England. The forest consists of several different woods. Geographically, Haldon Forest is located between the towns of Chudleigh and Exminster and is south of Exeter. Management It ...

, a Forestry Commission property. The town has been bypassed by the A38 road since 1972.

Great Fire of Chudleigh

The weather conditions in Devon in the year 1807 have been described as a drought. Weeks without rain left many people short of water and had farmers worrying about their crops. At around noon on 22 May, a small fire broke out in a pile of furze stacked near the ovens at a bakery in Culver Street (now New Exeter Street). According to later reports, the staff in the bakery seemed unaware of the danger this posed, but the fire, fed by the exceptionally dry fuel, exploded. In the shortest time imaginable, the fire had spread to the roof of the bakery (thatched, as were 90% of the houses in Chudleigh at the time) and huge hunks of burning reed and straw were swept aloft by a rapidly growing north-easterly wind. After the fire, only 180 houses out of 300 house were left standing.

Parish church

The church of St Martin and St Mary was consecrated in 1259. The structure is medieval but was heavily restored in 1868. The

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

has paintings of saints and prophets and the

Courtenay family The House of Courtenay is a medieval noble house, with branches in France, England and the Holy Land. One branch of the Courtenays became a Royal House of the Capetian Dynasty, cousins of the Bourbons and the Valois, and achieved the title o ...

coat of arms. In 1887 St Bridget's Abbey of Syon built a monastery, known as

Chudleigh Abbey Chudleigh Abbey was an abbey in Chudleigh, 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 ...

, which they occupied until 1925.

Town hall

Chudleigh Town Hall Chudleigh Town Hall is a municipal building in Market Way, Chudleigh, Devon, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Chudleigh Town Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The first municipal building in the town was an ol ...

, which was designed in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

dates from 1865.

Historic estates

Various historic estates are situated in the parish of Chudleigh, including:

Whiteway

Whiteway House Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh in Devon is a Grade II* listed Georgian house set in parkland. It was built in the 1770s by John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735–1788) of Saltram House, Plympton, and has early 19th-century alteratio ...

is a

Grade II* listed 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 I ...

Georgian house set in parkland 2½ miles north of Chudleigh, at the foot of the

Haldon Hills The Haldon Hills, usually known simply as Haldon, is a ridge of high ground in Devon, England. It is situated between the River Exe and the River Teign and runs northwards from Teignmouth, on the coast, for about until it dwindles away nort ...

, built in the 1770s by

John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735 – 27 April 1788) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Origins Parker was the eldest son of John Parker (1703–1768) of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, and Saltram House, by his wife Catherine Poule ...

(1735–1788) of

Saltram House Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era mansion house located in the parish of Plympton, near Plymouth in Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The ...

, Plympton, Devon.

Hams

Hams Barton is a

grade II* listed 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 I ...

building, formerly the seat of the Hunt family, situated one-mile north-east of the town, near Kate Brook. The Hunt family was settled there before the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Thomas Hunt (d.1548) was thrice Mayor of Exeter, including in 1517 and 1537. A fine banqueting room survives, called by

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

"the sumptuous first-floor great chamber, one of the best of its date in the county". Several monuments to the Hunt family survive in the ''Hunt Aisle'' in Chudleigh church.

Chudleigh Carnival

The carnival takes place annually in the second week in July and lasts a week.

References

External links

*
Chudleigh Information web site, provided by The Chudleigh Business GuildThe Chudleigh History Group website
{{authority control Towns in Devon Teignbridge