CHULMLEIGH

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)]

"CHULMLEIGH, a parish and market town in the hundred of Witheridge, in the county of Devon, 2 miles N.E. of the Eggesford railway station on the North Devon line. It is situated on the river Dart, where it joins the Taw, and was anciently called Chimleighe. The manor formerly belonged to the Courtenays, earls of Devon, one of whom, John de Courtenay, in the reign of Henry III. obtained for it the grant of a weekly market. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was granted to the Earl of Bedford, and afterwards became the property of the widow of Lord Grey. In 1645 a skirmish took place here between a company of royalists, under Colonel Okey, and the parliamentary forces, in which the latter were routed. In 1803 a large part of the town was consumed by fire. The houses are low, with thatched roofs, except a few modern edifices, which are well built. This town had once a large trade in wool-combing, which has now declined. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter, value £415, in the patronage of the Rev. Robert Hole. The church (formerly collegiate) is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. It is a commodious building in the early perpendicular style of architecture. The Independents and Bible Christians have places of worship, and there are National schools for both sexes. Petty sessions are held in the town, which is a polling place for the northern division of the county. Friday is market day, and there is a fair on Easter Monday, and another on the last Wednesday in July. The Rev. Peter Johnson is lord of the manor."