Editing Cullompton (section)

===Saxon period and middle ages===
[[File:Will of Alfred the Great (New Minster Liber Vitae) - BL Stowe MS 944, f 30v.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Will of [[Alfred the Great]], AD 873–888, mentions ''Columtune'' (11th-century copy, [[British Library]] Stowe MS 944, ff. 29v–33r)<ref>{{cite web|title = S1507|url = http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/1507.html|website = Electronic Sawyer|access-date = 26 May 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201924/http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/1507.html|archive-date = 4 March 2016|url-status = dead}}</ref>]]
Saxon settlers moved into the Culm Valley in the seventh century and Cullompton was made the site of a [[Minster (church)|minster]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Sellman  | first = R.R. | pages = 16|year =1985| title = Aspects of Devon History | publisher = Devon Books| isbn=0-86114-756-1}}</ref> In 872 [[Alfred the Great]] bequeathed ''Columtune'' and its lands to his son [[Æthelweard (son of Alfred)|Æthelweard]]. At the time of the [[Norman Conquest]], it was held by the [[Gytha Thorkelsdóttir|Lady Gytha Thorkelsdóttir]], the widow of [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex]] and mother of [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold II]]. In 1067 [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]] passed through the villa of Colitona on his way to [[Exeter#Medieval times|besiege Exeter]] where Gytha was living.<ref name="grubb_conquest">{{Citation | last = Grubb  | first = Geoffrey W | chapter = William the Conqueror – Caen – Cullompton | pages = 22–23|year =1986| editor-last = Pugsley| editor-first = David | title = Old Cullompton | publisher = Maslands}}</ref> In 1087 William the Conqueror gave the [[Manorialism|manor]] to Baldwin, [[Matilda of Flanders|his wife's]] favourite nephew. It was subsequently held by the [[Earl of Devon]] for many years until in 1278 [[Amice de Clare|Amicia Countess of Devon]] willed it to the [[Buckland Abbey|Abbot and Convent of Buckland Monachorum]]. With the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] it was sold to Sir John St Ledger.<ref name="BoC 2001 9"/> The five [[Prebendary|prebends]] of Cullompton (Colebrook, Hineland, Wiever, Esse, Upton) were presented by William the Conqueror to [[Battle Abbey]] in Sussex and were later held by [[St Nicholas Priory]], Exeter.<ref name="chalk">{{cite journal  | last = Chalk  | first = Edwin S. | title = The Church of St. Andrew, Cullompton  | journal = Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association  | volume = XLII   | pages = 182–205  | publisher = W. Brendon and Sons  | location = Plymouth  | year = 1910 | url = https://archive.org/stream/reportandtransa17artgoog#page/n196/mode/2up}}</ref> In 1536 St Nicholas Priory was [[Dissolution of the monasteries|dissolved]] and the last [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]] gained appointment as the Vicar of Cullompton. Patronage then passed to the More family of Moorehays.<ref name="grubb_conquest" />

In 1278 the town was granted its first [[market (place)|market]] to be held on a Thursday.<ref>The Book of Cullompton, 2001, p. 59</ref> In 1356 the town gained its first water supply by a [[deed]] of [[Gift (law)|gift]] of the [[Buckland Abbey|Abbot of Buckland]].<ref>The Book of Cullompton, 2001, p. 85</ref> The water (known as the Town Lake or watercourse) came from a stream rising at Coombe Farm and flowed into a pond near Shortlands. From there it flowed in several open channels to all parts of the town. Water bailiffs were employed to protect the interests of the town and a tradition of "possessioning" took place.  This was a ceremony that took place every seven years where a group of townsfolk would inspect the channel and ensure that it was not being abused. The first recorded possessioning was in 1716.<ref name="BoC 2001 87">The Book of Cullompton, 2001, p. 87</ref> In the mid-nineteenth century the water courses were used for boiling vegetables, surface drainage and emptying [[cesspool]]s. A Board of Health Inspector in 1854 concluded that "[[typhus]] and other epidemic diseases are so prevalent here more so than in any other parish in the Union". They were eventually only used to keep the streets clean and continued to flow until 1962 when the town council decided that they were not willing to pay for their upkeep.<ref name="BoC 2001 87"/>