| 
Crediton or Kirton, as it is called by many local people,
can trace its history back to Saxon times. In around 680 St. Boniface,
the first Apostle to Germany, was born here. In 739 Aethelhard,
the King of Wessex, granted land in ‘Creedy’ to found
a monastery. This religious  settlement
must have prospered because in 909 the first cathedral in Devon
was established at Crediton. No trace of this cathedral remains,
but the parish church, parts of which date back to Norman times,
is a magnificent building which dominates the east end of the town.
In 1050 Bishop Leofric removed his seat into Exeter where it has
remained ever since.
Two royal charters
The Church retained an important influence on Crediton
throughout the Middle Ages. A College of Canons was established
here. It was dissolved in the time of Henry VIII but the church
was preserved because the people of the town purchased it for £200.
Under a 1547 charter granted by Edward VI twelve governors were
appointed. The successors of these twelve are responsible to this
day for the fabric of the church and they assist in the appointment
of the rector. This system of governance exists in only two other
churches in the whole of England. Under Edward VI’s charter,
and a later one of Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar
School was established and the sum of £8 provided for the
education of four poor boys of the town.
A gift from afar In
1860 Hayward’s School was built on land near the church funded
by a bequest of Sir John Hayward, who had died at Rochester in Kent
over 200 years earlier. Hayward’s was the only primary school
in the town until Landscore School was built at the west end of
the town in 1975. Today, these two schools provide primary education
for the majority of Crediton’s children.
A centre of industry From
the Middle Ages until the start of the 19th century Crediton was
a prosperous wool town. Wealth came through the production of kersey,
a coarse woollen cloth, and later finely-woven serge and linen.
The town acquired a reputation for the quality of its  produce
both at home and overseas. The expression ‘as fine as Kirton
spinning’ was widely known. In the 18th century the industry
was at its peak and it employed the vast majority of the population.
Fine cloth was sent to the market at Exeter to be sold to merchants
and was often then exported to Holland or France. The wool trade
declined in the 19th century but was replaced by the manufacture
of boots and shoes. Towards the end of the century five factories
in the town produced footwear but by the outbreak of war in 1914
this industry too had died. Unfortunately, there is little trace
of either of these once important industries today.
The tanner, or currier, was a significant employer in Crediton for
many centuries and the last tannery only closed in the 1950s. Crediton
was the home of the internationally known building firm, Dart &
Francis, sadly no longer in business. This company gained a reputation
for the quality of its work, especially in the ecclesiastical field.
Among its most famous contracts was work on Liverpool Cathedral
and St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem.
The Civil War Both
Cavalier and Roundhead armies held the town during the Civil war.
King Charles I reviewed his troops at Lord’s Meadow on 27th
July 1644, but within three months the town was under the control
of Sir Robert Fairfax’s parliamentary army. Less than a year
after the king’s visit, Oliver Cromwell stood on the same
ground to review his own troops. He attended morning service in
the parish church but damage done by his troops to the building
was such that the governors had to pay for repairs.
Fire! Fire! The 18th
century was a time of great wealth and industry but also of tragedy.
Two great fires swept through the town. The first was the greater
and it broke out on 14th August 1743 at the end of a hot dry summer.
With many of the buildings being thatched, the fire spread rapidly
destroying virtually the whole of the western half of the town.
Sixteen people died and others  were
missing, presumed dead. At the time, the Reverend Miciah Towgood
described Crediton as “a flourishing town sunk in a few hours
into a ruinous heap”. It is said that not a building was left
standing between North Street and the Green, a distance of almost
half a mile. The town was rebuilt but was once again destroyed in
1769 in another devastating fire. These two disasters explain the
absence from the High Street of buildings predating the 18th century.
The battle of the gauges
On 1st May 1851 the railway arrived at Crediton amidst great celebration
- but five years after the line from Exeter had been completed.
It had lain unused for all of those five years because the line
to Exeter had been built to the broad gauge used by Brunel’s
Great Western Railway but the line constructed between Barnstaple
and Crediton was of standard gauge. After years of argument and
negotiation a compromise was reached and a third rail was laid which
allowed both broad and standard gauge trains to use the track from
Exeter as far as Crediton.
A famous soldier son
General Sir Redvers Buller VC was born at Downes, near Crediton,
in 1839. His long and distinguished military career included service
in South Africa. During the Zulu war he won the Victoria Cross after
saving the lives of at least four of his men in a battle where they
were heavily outnumbered. In 1899, aged sixty, he returned to South
Africa at the outbreak of the Boer War and later led the relief
of Ladysmith. He returned to England a hero to his own troops and
the people of the West Country. Sir Redvers saw out his final years
at Downes in his capacity of Lord of the Manor of Crediton and died
in 1908.
Kirton, a market town then and now
Agriculture has been central to Crediton for centuries. The first
market was established under a charter of Henry III in 1230. The
market buildings (the Shambles) stood in the middle of the High
Street for hundreds of years. A purpose-built area was constructed,
along with Market Street, under the
Crediton Improvement Act of 1836, which included a new road joining
the East and West Towns: Union Road. The April Great Market was
still held in the High Street every year until 1951. At its peak
a hundred years ago, the cattle pens stretched the length of the
High Street and beyond. The last cattle market was held in 1962
but Crediton is still a market town: the farmer’s market is
held every month in the Town Square on the very site where the 19th
century market once stood.
Kirton today The 20th
century saw much change in the town and the population grew significantly.
With Crediton’s proximity to Exeter and improved transport
systems many commuted to the city. Today there is a thriving industrial
estate on the eastern edge of the town where local people are employed.
The High Street has retained many long-established businesses which
attract visitors from near and far to the wide range of shops.
|
