CREDITON
FESTIVAL
2009
Tourism - History
History - Crediton Heritage: Redvers Buller, Boniface, Industrial history
Crediton lies on a tongue of fertile red land and therefore farming has been the dominant influence for most of its history. It probably achieved its identity as a place in the 8th. century A.D. when land was granted for founding a monastery for the encouragement of Roman Christianity from Canterbury. The problem was that Celtic Christianity from Ireland, Wales and Cornwall was influential in this part of Devon This was the state of things when Winfrith (later Boniface), Crediton's most famous son, was born here. No doubt the two forms lived uncomfortably together until the new Bishopric of Crediton was founded in 909 A.D. Crediton could therefore be considered as a monument to Christian unity.
Although the see moved to Exeter in 1050, the Church continued to dominate Crediton's administration and land ownership until the 16th. century. During all this time, the people were largely occupied in pastoral and arable farming. The original settlement was to the east of the Church (East Homage) but as the demand for tools, clothing and building materials grew, so further settlement developed in the West Town (Homage).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church of the Holy Cross at Crediton, had steadily grown larger. It was a Collegiate Church around which resided at its height 18 Canons and 18 Vicars whose influence was huge and largely beneficent. This College owned the tithes of large pieces of land known as prebends from which they received their income. The Bishop of Exeter also owned a huge park to the south of the Town. It can easily be appreciated how the Church continued to dominate local life.
The fifteenth century however saw the rise of an entrepreneurial class who saw an opening for wider markets for rural products, particularly wool, whether yarn or cloth. The Davie, Bodleigh and Northcott families, amongst others, gradually acquired influence and land and laid the foundations of family history and influence here.
In the 16th century, the Collegiate Church was dissolved. In 1547, the citizens of Crediton bought the Church and the right of tithes from the King for £200. Thereafter until today, the Church building has been administered by Twelve Governors who represent the inhabitants.
Apart from being a time of ecclesiastical upheaval, the 16th. century saw the enormous rise in the woollen cloth industry, with Crediton making fine serges which were being exported all over the known world. Most householders of the lower sort had a loom, owned or hired from a "clothier", and while their day jobs may be on the farm. their other waking hours were spent on the production of cloth, the children combing and carding, the mother spinning and the father weaving. The richer sort organised the collection of the finished product and its sale to Exeter exporters.
Crediton 1827
This pattern of work affected the appearance of the West Town. Those who could afford it, built houses fronting on the High Street and it became convenient to house the workers in dwellings behind the grander houses; thus grew up the continuous series of courts some of which exist today. The East Town remained largely a working area with few pretensions of grandeur. A disastrous fire in 1743 in the West Town destroyed 16th. century buildings and no doubt gave an opportunity to build in the newer Georgian style.
At the end of the 18th. century the New Draperies of East Anglia and Yorkshire caused a decline in prosperity for Crediton. The 19th. century saw a switch to the leather industry with as many as six tanneries working and as with a number of other mid-Devon towns the boot and shoe industry grew. A number of factories, notably those of the Elston's, were working at the end of the century but still there was much work to be done in the home, as the products were often finished there. Other notable firms were founded then e.g. Dart & Francis (Ecclesiastical Art Works), Berry's (Builders) and Jackson's (Medicinal Lozenges).
The Boer War impacted quite heavily upon the Town. General Sir Redvers Buller, of Downes House, Crediton led the relief of Mafeking, and although later in life his military career was deemed to be less successful, he was held in very high regard by his troops who nicknamed him the "People's General" and also the people of the Crediton, as is reflected in erection of his statue by the clock tower in Exeter, and the memorial in the parish Church.
General Sir Redvers Buller
Crediton has continued to change and move forward with the years. Throughout the 20th Century, industry has been strongly influenced by the wider rural economy, and as this also has declined somewhat in more recent years, we now have the expansion of enterprise into a special industrial site, with of varying types of business including high tech industries to match the current commercial needs.
Today, the many clubs, sports and others, the churches, the Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Schools all reflect the influence of history of this ancient Devon Town.
Most of the Information on this page has been provided Robin Langhorne of the Crediton Area History and Museum Society.
HERITAGE LINKS
General Redvers Buller Links
Hantsweb Hampshire County Council
General Heritage Links