Shute is a village, parish and former manor located west of

Axminster Axminster is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe, Devon, River Axe which ...

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Honiton, although Exmouth is the largest town. The district also contains the towns of Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook, Ottery St M ...

, off the A35 road. It is surrounded by farmland and woodland beneath Shute Hill. St Michael's Church dates from the 13th Century and contains many monuments to the Pole family, including a marble statue of Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet (1678–1741), Master of the Household to Queen Anne. A later 19th. century member of the family, Margaret Pole, is commemorated by an alabaster sculptured panel depicting her greeting her daughters at the gates of heaven. There exist within the parish the two former Pole Family

Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

s of

Old Shute House ::See also: New Shute House Old Shute House (known as Shute Barton between about 1789 and the 20th century), located at Shute, Devon, Shute, near Colyton, Devon, Colyton, Axminster, Devon, is the remnant of a mediaeval manor house with Tudor add ...

(or Shute Barton), a historic mediaeval house, now owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, and the Georgian New Shute House, privately owned. In 1981 the vicar of St Michael's and his wife founded the Shute Theatre and Arts Guild (STAG). The church was slightly altered to accommodate a permanent stage and extra power was bought in for stage lighting. STAG perform regular productions in the church and in nearby Kilmington Village Hall to this day. The village was the scene of the murder of 84-year-old Ivy Batten in 1987. The immediate village of Shute, with around only 150 residents, as opposed to the wider parish with a population of over 600, claims to be the smallest village in England to host a literary festival. Shute Festival was established in 2014, as an annual event, but was moved online with regular events following the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Previous guests have included the authors Phillipe Sands, Sophie Hannah, Tracy Chevalier, Christina Lamb, and Sir Anthony Selden. The West of England Main Line passes through Seaton Junction to the south of the village.

References

External links

Villages in Devon Former manors in Devon {{Devon-geo-stub