Crediton

Crediton is a town in Devon, England about 12 km north west of Exeter. It is served by Crediton railway station.

The town is situated in the narrow vale of the River Creedy near its junction with the River Exe, between two steep hills, and is divided into two parts, the east or old town and the west or new town. The church of Holy Cross, formerly collegiate, is a noble Perpendicular building with Early English and other early portions, and a fine central tower. The grammar school, founded by Edward VI and refounded by Elizabeth I, has exhibitions to Oxford and Cambridge universities. (That cannot be true, for exhibitions to Cambridge were abolished many years ago, as were many of those for Oxford.) Shoe-making, tanning, agricultural trade, tin-plating, and the manufacture of confectionery and cider have superseded the former large woollen and serge industries. In 1897 Crediton was made the seat of a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of Exeter.

The first indication of settlement at Crediton (Credington, Cryditon, Kirton) is the tradition that Winfrith or Boniface was born there in 680. Perhaps in his memory (for the great extent of the parish shows that it was thinly populated) it became in 909 the seat of the first bishopric in Devon. It was probably only a village in 1049, when Leofric, bishop of Crediton, requested Pope Leo IX to transfer the see to Exeter, as Crediton was an open town and much exposed to the incursions of pirates.

At the Domesday Survey much of the land was still uncultivated, but its prosperity increased, and in 1269 each of the twelve prebends of the collegiate church had a house and farmland within the parish. The bishops, to whom the manor belonged until the Reformation, had difficulty in enforcing their warren and other rights; in 1351 Bishop Grandison obtained an exemplification of judgments of 1282 declaring that he had pleas of withernam, view of frank pledge, the gallows and assize of bread and ale. Two years later there was a serious riot against the increase of copyhold. Perhaps it was at this time that the prescriptive borough of Crediton arose.

The jury of the borough are mentioned in 1275, and Crediton returned two members to parliament in 1306-1307, though never afterwards represented. A borough seal dated 1469 is extant, but the corporation is not mentioned in the grant made by Edward VI of the church to twelve principal inhabitants. The borough and manor were granted by Elizabeth I to William Killigrew in 1595, but there is no indication of town organization then or in 1630, and in the 18th century Crediton was governed by commissioners. The wool trade was established by 1249 and certainly continued until 1630, when the market for kerseys is mentioned in conjunction with a saying as fine as Kirton sninnine.

The Civil War saw visits from both Cromwell, (who attended the church), and Charles I ('on his way to chase the Earl of Essex'), as well as being a base for Fairfax. Both leaders reviewed their respective troops, at the Lords Meadow (now the Industrial estate).

On August 14th 1743 (a Sunday morning), a great fire started, completely destroying the High Street and buildings in the "West Town". At that period of time it was the second largest fire in the country, only to that of the fire of London. Sixteen people lost their lives, with over 2000 made homeless and 450 houses destroyed. A second fire, in May 1769, consumed many of the new houses that had been built on the sites of old ones.

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