Christow 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Teignbridge Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous vi ...

district of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is located south-west of Exeter, in the Teign Valley, just off the B3193 road that links

Chudleigh Chudleigh () is an ancient wool town located within the Teignbridge District Council area of Devon, England; it is sited between Newton Abbot and Exeter. The electoral ward with the same name had a population of 5,919 at the 2021 United Kingdo ...

and Dunsford. Christow is on the eastern edge of

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

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Manor

The parish includes the tything of Canonteign, where there are two notable historic houses. Canonteign Barton is a late Tudor stone house and a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Canonteign House is a neo-classical building completed for Captain Pownoll Pellew, who in the last year of his life succeeded his father as Viscount Exmouth.

Parish church

Christow's

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St James the Apostle has a 12th-century Norman

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, but otherwise seems to be largely a 15th-century building. The west tower is a Gothic Survival addition of 1630 and has a ring of eight bells. John III and Christopher IV Pennington of

Stoke Climsland Stoke Climsland is a village in the valley of the River Tamar, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom within the civil parish of Stokeclimsland. The population of the parish including Luckett at the 2011 census was 1,703. An electoral ward of the ...

, Cornwall cast a ring of six bells for the tower in 1785.

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell (instrument), bell foundry. It is locat ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

, Leicestershire added a new treble and second bell in 1973, increasing the ring to eight. Inside the church are monuments including two to Admiral

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, Order of the Bath, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary W ...

and his son the 2nd Viscount, both of whom died in 1833. The church was restored in 1862 to designs by the architect Edward Ashworth. It is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building.

Railway

The Teign Valley Railway was built from to Christow in 1882, but Christow railway station was not opened until 1903 when the line was extended to

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. The line was closed to passenger trains in 1958 and freight in 1961.

Notable former residents

As well as the Viscounts Exmouth, Christow was the home of Lady daughter of the 1st Viscount. She was the wife of Admiral Sir Lawrence Halsted, died in 1835 and is buried at Christow. Arthur Marshall (1910–89) lived in Christow in later life, and fictionalised the village as "Appleton". The adventurers The Turner Twins (born 1988) grew up in Christow parish.

Amenities

Christow has a pub, the Artichoke Inn, that was built in or before the 17th century. The village also a community primary school and a Community Hall with tennis courts and a skate park. There is also a GPs' practice and Gidley's Meadow, a small industrial estate. On the 5th of November 2024, a local shop, named the Christow Community Shop, was opened. It sells essential goods and local produce.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Christow Parish Council
* {{authority control Civil parishes in Devon Villages in Devon