Sampford Peverell 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 Mid-

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. An old Saxon settlement, it was called Sanforda in the 1086

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. Its current name reflects its inclusion in the Honour of Peverel, the lands of

William Peverel William Peverel (died 28 January 1114), Latinised to Gulielmus Piperellus), was a Norman knight granted lands in England following the Norman Conquest. Origins Little is known of the origin of the William Peverel the Elder. Of his immediat ...

and his family. His great-grandson, Hugh Peverell (the name had changed spelling), is buried in the village church of

St John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. The

Grand Western Canal The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal ...

cuts through the village. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Hockworthy, Holcombe Rogus,

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 ...

Halberton Halberton is a village and civil parish in Devon, England. It is situated between the historic market towns of Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton and Cullompton. The Grand Western Canal runs around to the north and west of the village. The large parish ...

and Uplowman. The village itself has parts called Higher Town and Lower Town. The New Rectory was built in 1836, at the expense of the Grand Western Canal Company, in compensation for cutting through the grounds and demolishing the south wing of the Old Rectory which had been built for the use of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

opened a station at Sampford Peverell in 1932 but it closed on 5 October 1964; the site has since been reused as Tiverton Parkway railway station (opened in 1986). Today,

National Cycle Route 3 Route Bristol to Bridgwater West Harptree , Charterhouse, Somerset, Charterhouse , Wookey Hole , Glastonbury The route goes south from Bristol into Somerset and around Chew Valley Lake Bridgwater to Land's End Taunton , Bideford , Bu ...

passes through the village. The parish historically formed part of the hundred of Halberton.

Poltergeist hoax

In 1810 it was reported that the house of a John Chave in the village was experiencing dramatic

poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...

activity. The case was discussed in the national press of the time, and Chave's house gained such notoriety that in 1811 it was besieged by a mob of rowdy workmen known as navvies. In the scenes that followed, Chave was forced to open fire on the crowd in self-defence, killing one person, a George Helps, buried in the churchyard. The paranormal activity turned out to be noises made by smugglers behind a false wall. The house in question no longer stands, but its location can be pinpointed courtesy of a village information board that denominates it 'The Ghost House, Higher Town - now demolished'.Codd, Daniel. ''Paranormal Devon'' (2013). Amberley Publishing. p.30-34. .

References

* Stabb, John (1908–16
''Some Old Devon Churches''

External links

Sampford Peverell Parish Council
Villages in Devon Civil parishes in Devon Grand Western Canal Paranormal hoaxes {{Devon-geo-stub