TOWN
An ancient market
town, Its Shopping area consists mainly of one long
street, with
narrow side streets of housing it is situated on the west
side of the river Culm,
some say that the town gets its name from this
river (Town on the
Culm) others that it stems from the name of some
Saint who visited
the town (St Columba) the town was also known as
Colehampton the
town on the Colebrook ?.
If one enters the
town from the motorway and travels down the main street
Almost out to the
town limits there will be found a modern shopping area
With large stores
an idea other historical towns should follow.
Too many old towns
have had the Heart
Torn out of them
in the name of progress.
There has been a
great deal of argument over how the town got its name
Books published on
the town deal with this.
We were most
fortunate when we first visited the town and church to meet
a person who was
enthusiastic over her town and church and along with an
Informative tour
of St Andrews gave us an insight into its history and that
of her town on
subsequent visits we gained a little more history.
The Exeter to
Bristol Railway was built within a few miles of the town this can be
seen as one drives
past on the Motorway
The town itself has a variety of shops and is a pleasant place to stroll through
it has open air
market stalls along Fore street on market day and some bargains can be had.
The Parish in the
1800.s had over 8300 acres of agricultural land, that sloped up from
The floor of the Culm
valley among the widespread villages that are within the area of the
town are,
Ponsford, Weaver,
and East
Butterleigh,
Colebrooke, Langford,
Mutterton .
Sharing it's
Parish boundaries
are the villages
of "
"Sheldon
" "Willand " "Kentisbear"
"Bradnich"
" Broadhembury"
"Uffcolm" "
Plymtree"
" Halburton" " Clyst Hadyn"
"Broadclyst"
" Clyst St Laurance"
There are others
but these were the villages that where home to many of the Sparks families.
There was a huge
fire in 1839 that destroyed over a hundred houses and cottages it has
Been described as
spreading rapidly due to the fact that most dwellings at that time
Had thatched roofs
and where built very close together.
Some of the old
style housing and shops still exist and one can see the buildings
With timber slats
and gabled roof of the architecture of that time.
The CHURCH,
(St. Andrew,) is a
large Gothic structure, built in the 15th century, and consisting of
a nave, three
aisles and a chancel, with a tower, that had contained eight musical bells,
At each corner of
the tower are tall and elaborately carved pinnacles.
Our interest in
this Devon town began because on the 1841 census it was given as the birth
Place of our grt grt
Grandfather Edmund Sparks in the records of the town we found no birth
Of Edmund in later
census and other records his birth place has been Sheldon a Small
Village four miles
from the town.
This is the more
likely place of his birth as Sheldon is in the
area taken up by Cullompton
it would be
reasonable for people of that time to say they had been born in Cullompton when
in fact they had
been born in the outlying villages.
Cullompton has a
very beautiful church named St Andrews and features in the history of
the Sparks
although not in a direct way although a number of Sparkes were buried there the
family history in
connection with the church is of the Moore and Blackmore line.
John Sparks
married a Sarah Moor this we have to research to see if Sarah is a family
member of the
Moore's /More's of Morehayes also there have been marriages between the
Sparks and
Blackmores hence our interest in the history of St Andrews church of
Cullompton.
The Church was
built in the fifteenth century it has a wonderful carved and richly
Decorated ceiling
above the nave matched by Rood screens at the eastern end of the nave
at the western end
is the old organ with its pipes reaching high towards the rich gilding
of the roof.
The nave has
pillars on both sides that support arches of the arcades and on both sides of
the church North
and South are two aisle.
Painted on the
walls of these aisle are reputed to be huge Mediaeval painted murals
of figures ( St
Christopher with a child on his shoulder said to be that of Jesus there is
also a mermaid and
fish in the painting St Christopher is holding a staff made of palm
tree branch
A picture can be
seen on the web site of .Roy Blackmore
Painted over is
also one of St Michael with scales weighing the souls of the departed?
they were covered
over at the time of the reformation they were uncovered some two
hundred years later
but covered up again at a later date as the then preacher claimed
that they
distracted the worshippers from his sermons.
There is a carved
head reputedly that of King Henry 1V on one of the pillar's near the Moor
chapel at the
North aisle.
At the western end
of the Lane aisle there is an oak carving depicting bones and a skull on
top of a pile of
rocks this is called the Golgotha.
The whole of the
church has a rich gilding in most parts and the ceilings are a tremendous
sight we where
told that the two families that had the chapels the Lane and Moor family
tried to outdo
each other in the building and decoration of their respective aisle and
chapels the Moors
lost most of their fortune whilst it was in the hands of Humphrey Moore
son of Sir John
Moore.
In the ceiling
there are nine bosses used to strengthen the ceiling each made up of four
Heads joined
together it is thought that they are carved in the likeness of members
Of this Moore of
Moorehayes family.
The Moore Family
owned Moorehayes a Manor and large estate seven miles from Cullompton
On the Bradfield
road twenty Generations of Moore's lived at Moorehayes until
George Moore died.
Having no male
heir the estate and Manor was left to his daughter she married John
Blackmore of
Sheldon thus the estate passed into the hands of the Blackmore family the
History of the
Moore and Blackmore families can be seen in more detail at the web site
Of Roy Blackmore my cousin of Somerset.
Sir John Moore was
a Recorder of Exeter and died on the 7th January 1510 he is buried
In the church his
stone can be seen near the organ also buried there and their tomb
Stones can be seen
are William More and Maurice More his brother
Also those of Dorothy of Trowbridge wife of William and their
children
William died 6th December 1518,
At the end of the
Moore's aisle there is a screen that has the coat of arms depicted on
It of some of the
families who married into the Moore family Dorothy of Trowbridge
has her arms on this
screen it shows a bridge with two arches this can also be seen on
The Website of Roy Blackmore .
Humphrey Moore is
buried near the screen of the Moore aisle on his tombstone reads he
Died 20th August
1837 a special benefactor of the church .
After Humphrey the
next Moore to be buried there was George Moore in 1669 his estates
Had been forfeit
by order of Cromwell because of his support for the Royalists and
Of course his son
the last of the Moore family who died in 1711.
Our Sparks
interest in the Blackmore families begins in the village of Sheldon
although a Harriet
Sparkes married to William Blackmore farmed at Dunkesewell
for a while where one of their
Children Francis
Sidney Blackmore was born in 1865.
But most of their
children were born in Sheldon our Sparks family farmed at Abby
farm Dunkeswell
amongst other places in the area this included Sheldon.
Harriet Sparkes
was born about 1831 in Honiton, Devon
she married
William Blackmore
They had the
following children:
William Denner
Blackmore was born
about 1863 in
Sheldon, Devon.
Francis Sidney
Blackmore was born
about 1865 in
Dunkeswell, Devon.
Ellen Blackmore
was born about 1867
in Sheldon, Devon.
Harriet Blackmore
was born about
1871 in Sheldon,
Devon.
The fact that
Frances was born at Dunkeswell
That his birth
date is between the dates of two of his Siblings
Suggests that
Harriet went to have her baby with family members
maybe her mother
One other wall
painting that was covered over was reputed to be paid for by
John Browke thought to be the husband of one
of the Moore daughters .
On a memorial to
the soldiers killed in the first world war 1914 -1918 on the wall of
the Lane aisle the
name of Private R.R Sparkes is displayed what his relationship
If any to us is
unknown.
The exterior of
the church is no less impressive with the tower over one hundred and twenty
feet from ground
to tip there have been a number of restoration works carried out on the
Fabric of the
church some carried out by an engineer William Froud working for Brunel on
The railway in
charge of building the railway from Exeter to the Somerset border in about
1843.
In about 1847 1850
a Mr W C Grant did major restoration on the church they and other men
with a pride in
their church brought it up to what it resembles today with its red
brick white stone
window arches and façade around the clock.
With Battlements
along the roof edging its high tower with extra high spires it is an
Imposing sight to
see.
The town of
Cullompton along Fore Street the main shopping area
Has changed very
little as can be seen from early photographs and one can
Imagine families
Like the Moore and Lane''s strolling along Fore Street on their way to
church.
Some pictures can
be seen on
Church Records
Parish Registers
going back to 1601 in fiche form are held in the Devon Record Office
These can be seen
at any time.
Bishops'
Transcripts going back to 1609 are in a collection in the West-country Studies
Library to see the
Transcripts it is best to book five days in advance.
.