Culmstock 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 ...

Mid Devon Mid Devon is a local government district in 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, t ...

, England, centred 10 miles from Tiverton and 6 NE of

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 2021, the parish as a whole had a population of 10,071, while the built-up area o ...

. It is laid out on both sides of the

River Culm The River Culm flows through the Devon Redlands in Devon, England and is the longest tributary of the River Exe. It rises in the Blackdown Hills at a spring near RAF Culmhead in Somerset, and flows west through Hemyock, then Culmstock (in th ...

; the village is joined by a single old narrow stone bridge across the river. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 554. The northern boundary of the parish forms part of the Devon – Somerset border and clockwise from there it is surrounded by the Devon parishes of

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 ...

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

Burlescombe Burlescombe (, ) is a village and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Holcombe Rogus, Culmstock, Uffculme, Halberton and Sampford Peverell. According to ...

and Holcombe Rogus. Historically, in minor matters of law and taxation, Culmstock contributed to Hemyock Hundred. It saw prosperity as a centre of weaving and the wool trade, but this prosperity, and the relative population to that nationally, declined considerably in the latter part of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. The population was around 1446 for the forty years before the 1841 census but fell in the next 40 years to 863. In 1961 after a non-linear descent, the population was 692, broadly similar to today's total. 1588 signal station above village at Culmstock Beacon, built to warn of the Spanish Armada.

Notable people connected with village

R.D. Blackmore, the author of ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

'', lived in Culmstock for six years while his father, John Blackmore, was curate-in-charge of the parish, and he based his novel ''

Perlycross ''Perlycross: a tale of the western hills'' is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1894. The story is set in eastern Devon around 1830.

'' on the Culm Valley.

Octavius Temple Octavius Temple (1784–1834), was Lieutenant Governor of Sierra Leone and Superintendent General of the Liberated Africans Department (1833), British soldier and colonial official. Family life Temple was the youngest son of Rev. William ...

, father of

Frederick Temple Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and Clergy, churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902). Early ...

and grandfather of William Temple (both

Archbishops of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop was Augustine ...

), purchased Axon Farm, near the settlement. Octavius went to be Governor of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, where he died in 1834. The family had, however, remained at Culmstock.

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

at Tiverton hosted the boarding years of the latter childhood of Frederick.

Harold Sumption Harold Sumption (26 November 1916 - 18 March 1998) was an English advertising executive and fundraiser. He was associated with charities including Oxfam, Help the Aged and ActionAid, as well as co-founding the International Fundraising Worksho ...

(1916-1998), an English advertising executive and fundraiser, was born in Culmstock.

Transport

The village was served by a station on the Culm Valley Light Railway, which connected to one of two main lines leaving the south-west peninsula, at Tiverton Junction. The Light Railway ran from 1876 to 1975, though the last passengers were carried in 1963.

References

{{authority control Villages in Devon