The River Culm flows through the

Devon Redlands The Devon Redlands is a natural region in southwest Britain that has been designated as National Character Area (NCA) 148 by Natural England.

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 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 ...

and is the longest tributary of the

River Exe The River Exe ( ) in England rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It flows for 60 mile ...

. It rises in the

Blackdown Hills The Blackdown Hills are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England, which were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1991. The plateau is dominated by hard chert bands of Upper Greensand wit ...

at a spring near

RAF Culmhead Royal Air Force Culmhead or more simply RAF Culmhead is a former Royal Air Force station, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, England. It had three tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control tower ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, and flows west through

Hemyock Hemyock () is a village and civil parish in Devon, England. It is about 8 miles north-west of Honiton and south of the Somerset town of Wellington. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,519. Hemyock is part of the electoral ward ...

, then

Culmstock Culmstock is a village and civil parish in Mid Devon, England, centred 10 miles from Tiverton and 6 NE of Cullompton. It is laid out on both sides of the River Culm; the village is joined by a single old narrow stone bridge across the river. The ...

(in the Culm Valley) to

Uffculme Uffculme (, ) is a village and civil parish located in the Mid Devon district, of Devon, England. Situated in the Blackdown Hills on the B3440, close to the M5 motorway and the Bristol–Exeter railway line, near Cullompton, Uffculme is on the ...

. The river turns south, through

Cullompton Cullompton () is a town and civil parish in the district of Mid Devon and the county of Devon, England. It is north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm. In 2011 the parish as a whole had a population of 8,499 while the built-up area of ...

(and alongside the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

), skirting the northern boundary of

Killerton Killerton is an 18th-century house in Broadclyst, Exeter, Devon, England, which, with its hillside garden and estate, has been owned by the National Trust since 1944 and is open to the public. The National Trust displays the house as a comfortab ...

Park to join the River Exe on the north-western outskirts 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 ...

. The name of the river is thought to mean 'knot' or 'tie', in reference to the river's twists and loops.

Course of the river

The River Culm begins in a marshy field near Culmhead (picture 1). Four and a half miles from its source the river (OS ST17501455) it is 1.5m wide (picture 2). At Gladhayes the river passes under a two-arched bridge (picture 3). About half a mile further the river is joined by the waters of Madford River. From here the river continues to

, a village straddling both sides of the river where the river is shallower. At

the river flows in a straight course and flows more slowly. The Spratford Steam, whose waters have flowed in a southerly direction, meets the Culm near Willand, and thereafter the river shares its valley with the present main railway line (former

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

) from

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. The

runs beside the railway, and all three continue past the market town of

. The river

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

s a lot here and is prone to flooding. Shortly prior to reaching Hele - near Kensham House - the small River Weaver flows into the Culm from the east. It passes under a paper mill at Hele. North of

Stoke Canon Stoke Canon is a small village and civil parish near the confluence of the rivers Exe and Culm on the main A396 between Exeter and Tiverton in the English county of Devon, and the district of East Devon. At the 2001 census it had a populatio ...

the river has many meanders. Shedding the motorway to the south of Hele, the river and the railway continue together into Exeter, although by then the Culm has joined the

- just below

(picture 4).

The Culm in literature

The novel Perlycross by R.D. Blackmore is based on the Upper Culm Valley. Perlycombe is Hemyock, Perlycross is Culmstock and Perliton is Uffculme.

Gallery

File:Source of the River Culm.jpg, 1. River source. File:First ford of the River Culm.jpg, 2. The first ford of the River Culm. File:The bridge at Gladhayes.jpg, 3. The bridge at Gladhayes. File:The_last_bridge_over_the_River_Culm_(pic_9).jpg, 4. The last bridge.

References

{{authority control Culm 1Culm