| Tiverton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
  Tiverton Location withinDevon | |
| Population | 22,291 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SS955125 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TIVERTON |
| Postcode district | EX16 |
| Dialling code | 01884 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| 50°54′11″N3°29′17″W / 50.903°N 3.488°W /50.903; -3.488 | |
Tiverton (/ˈtɪvərtən/TIV-ər-tən) is a town andcivil parish inDevon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of theMid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587.[2][3]
The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-ford-ton" or "Twyverton", meaning "the town on two fords", and was historically referred to as "Twyford". The town stands at the confluence of the riversExe and Lowman. Human occupation in the area dates back to theStone Age, with many flint tools found in the area. AnIron Agehill fort,Cranmore Castle, stands at the top ofExeter Hill above the town, and aRoman fort or marching camp was discovered on the hillside belowKnightshayes Court nearBolham, just to the north of the town.[4]
Tiverton formed part of the inheritance ofAethelweard, youngest son ofKing Alfred.Countess Gytha of Wessex controlled the town in 1066 and the Domesday Book indicates thatWilliam the Conqueror was its tenant-in-chief in 1086. Tiverton was also the seat of the court of the hundred of Tiverton.[5] It was the strategic site chosen byHenry I for a Norman castle,Tiverton Castle, first built as aMotte and Bailey in 1106.[6]
Tiverton has a medieval townleat, built for it byCountess Isabella de Fortibus, who was the eldest daughter ofBaldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon and grew up at Tidcombe Hall, close to Tiverton. Isabella also controlled the Port ofTopsham, Devon, through which much of Tiverton's woollen exports were transported, mostly to theLow Countries. Every seven years there is aPerambulation of the Town Leat: a ceremony to clear the path of the leat and ensure it is kept running. The leat can be seen in Castle Street, where it runs down the centre of the road, and at Coggan's Well, in Fore Street.[7]
Tiverton owes its early growth and prosperity to the wool trade, which caused the town to grow rapidly in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many wealthy wool merchants added to the town's heritage. John Greenway (1460–1529), for example, built a chapel and porch ontoSt Peter's parish church in 1517, and a small chapel and almshouses in Gold Street, which still stand – the Almshouse Trust still houses people today.Peter Blundell, another wealthy merchant, who died in 1601, bequeathed the funds and land forBlundell's School to educate local children. It was founded in Tiverton in 1604 and relocated to its present location on the outskirts of town in 1882, where it functions as anindependent school.[8]John Waldron (died 1579) foundedWaldron's Almshouses, on Wellbrook Street, and his elaboratechest tomb survives in St Peter's Church.[9]
Around the turn of the 17th century, there were two major fires in the town. The first, allegedly started in a frying pan, was in 1596 and destroyed most of the town. The second, in 1612, was known as the "dog-fight fire" – a dog fight had distracted those meant to be looking after a furnace.[10] The parish registers ofBarnstaple reported of the second fire: "In the yere of or Lorde God 1612 in the 5th daye of the month of Auguste was the towne of Teverton burned the second tyme wth fyer to the nomber of 260 dwellynge howses."[11]
During the English Civil War in 1645Tiverton Castle, held by the Royalists, was the scene of a relatively brief siege byThomas Fairfax's Parliamentarian forces. The Parliamentarian forces entered Tiverton under Major General Massey on 15 October, the town's defenders fleeing before him towards Exeter. They left a defending force in the castle and church. Fairfax arrived from Cullompton on 17 October, set up his artillery and bombarded the castle for two days, ceasing fire for the sabbath in the afternoon of Saturday 18 October. On Sunday Fairfax had "several great pieces" of artillery brought up, ready for a renewed barrage on Monday, which commenced at 7 a.m. The siege was ended when a lucky shot broke one of the drawbridge chains and an alert squad of Roundheads gained swift entry.[12]
From the early 17th century until the mid-19th century, Tiverton was governed by theTiverton Corporation, a self-selecting body established by royal charter in 1615 underKing James I. The Corporation consisted of a mayor, aldermen, and councillors who exercised control over local justice, taxation, markets, education, and charitable endowments. It played a prominent role in regulating the town's wool trade and public infrastructure. In the late 18th century, the Corporation became closely associated with the political interests of theRyder family, later theEarls of Harrowby, who dominated parliamentary representation and civic appointments.
The Corporation was reformed and ultimately abolished under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, after which an elected borough council was established.
The town enjoyed prosperity from the wool trade in the early 18th century. However, a period of decline followed during the earlyIndustrial Revolution. There were occasional riots, and societies of woolcombers and weavers were formed in an effort to protect jobs and wages. By the end of the century, imports of cotton and the expansion of industrialization elsewhere, along with the effect of the Napoleonic Wars on exports, took the town's woollen industry into terminal decline.[13] In June 1731another fire destroyed 298 houses, causing £58,000 worth of damage. After this, the streets were widened.[14] In May 1738,riots broke out in the town.[15]
The industrialistJohn Heathcoat bought an old woollen mill on theriver Exe in 1815, and after the destruction of his machinery atLoughborough by formerLuddites thought to be in the pay ofNottingham lacemakers, he moved his whole lace-making operation to Tiverton.[16] Many of his workers walked from Loughborough to Tiverton, a distance of at least 200 miles.[17] The factory turned the fortunes of Tiverton again, making it an early industrial centre in the South West. Trade was aided when a branch of theGrand Western Canal from Tiverton to Lowdwells was opened in 1814, with an extension to Taunton in 1838. This was followed by a branch of the Great Western Railway in 1848.[18] The population at the time of the 1841 census was 7,769 inhabitants.[19]Tiverton Town Hall, elaborately designed by Henry Lloyd, was completed in 1864.[20]
Although small, Tiverton had two members of Parliament. As one of the "rotten boroughs" it was often targeted by those seeking electoral reform.Lord Palmerston, or "Pam" as he was known locally, was an MP for Tiverton for much of the 19th century. In 1847, theChartists, a radical group seeking to change the electoral system, stood one of their leaders,George Julian Harney, against Palmerston. He is widely reported as having gained no votes – but in fact he won the "popular vote" (a show of hands of the people of the town) and withdrew when Palmerston called a ballot, aware that he would lose in a vote by only 400 wealthy and propertied in the town out of a population of 7,000. Broadening the franchise was one of the Chartist objectives. After theReform Act 1867, Tiverton had a single MP, held for a long period by a member of the Heathcoat-Amory family, who own much of the land and property surrounding Tiverton, most recently byDerick Heathcoat-Amory who served from 1945 to 1960. Up until 2010David Heathcoat-Amory was the MP forWells in nearbySomerset.[21]
The town was the last in the Devon and Cornwall area to retain an independent police force, until 1945. In the second half of the 20th century, Tiverton again declined slowly, as the Heathcoat factory became ever more mechanised and the Starkey Knight & Ford brewery was taken over byWhitbread as its regional brewery, but later closed, becoming just a bottling plant located in Howden (now Aston Manor cider makers). The factory lay derelict for some years before being demolished to make way for a supermarket. The manufacture of agricultural machinery adjacent to the River Lowman dwindled, the railway closed in 1964 and the Globe Elastic plant in Kennedy Way closed in the 1980s. However, a few far-sighted individuals, notably William Authers, secured some important assets for the future. Tiverton Museum was opened, the track bed of the old railway was bought to provide footpaths and an adventure playground, and the Grand Western Canal was saved from dereliction as a country park.[22]
Retailing in the town declined further in the 1990s after the opening of the Southern Relief Road (now Great Western Way) led to the closure of Fore Street in the town centre to all but pedestrians.[23]
Tiverton's revival in recent years began with the construction of theA361 (the North Devon Link Road) in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, an industrial estate was built at Little Gornhay on the north-eastern edge of the town and a junction was added to the Link Road, with a distributor road (now theA396) into the town that has become its main gateway. Great Western Way, linking this road to the Exeter Road along the line of the old railway, was also constructed.[24]
Demand has driven up housing prices, particularly in the South-West. Many now look to towns on the periphery of employment centres. Tiverton has become adormitory town for commuters toExeter andTaunton, with its growth supported by large housing projects to the north of the town by most national house builders, includingWestbury Homes,Barrett Homes andBellway Homes. The resulting influx has brought further development of the town's services and shops. Tiverton's outmoded swimming pool was replaced by a new leisure centre near the main campus of theEast Devon College consisting of a swimming pool and gymnasium.Mid Devon District Council moved in December 2003 to new offices at Phoenix House, at the foot of Phoenix Lane, close to the site of a disused brewery.[25] The town has a newly builtTiverton and District Hospital funded by thePrivate Finance Initiative, which opened in May 2004.[26]
ThePannier Market in the town was redeveloped at a cost of over £3 million, alongside its car park and minor shopping precinct, increasing market capacity and allowing markets to be held more frequently:[27] the work was completed in April 2006.[28]
In 2007 the former cinema, the Electric, was bulldozed for redevelopment as housing, while the only operative cinema, the Tivoli, which had been mostly run by volunteers, closed its doors and the site was put up for sale. After a well-supported public campaign, the Tivoli reopened on 28 June 2008, bought by Merlin Cinemas.[29]
Tiverton as the venue for the annualMid Devon Show[30][31] won one of 15 positions in the Round 2 pilot scheme as aPortas Town in 2018.[32]
Tiverton has easy access to theM5 motorway. The town's revival in recent years began with the construction of theA361 North Devon Link Road in the late 1980s.
National Express operates coach services in and out of Tiverton bus station towards London and North Devon.
Up till 11 January 2023, Tiverton was served twice daily by the London Superfast Service ofBerry's Coaches.[33][34]
TheBristol and Exeter Railway opened a station known as Tiverton Road on 1 May 1844. It was renamedTiverton Junction on 12 June 1848, whenTiverton railway station was opened nearer the town at the end of a branch from the Junction station. A second branch, the Exe Valley line reached this station from the south, branching off theLondon to Penzance main line atStoke Canon and following the River Exe. Mainline trains were occasionally diverted via Tiverton if there was engineering work or damage on the section north of Stoke Canon. Another line headed north to join the Taunton–Barnstaple line atDulverton. None of these lines remain.
In 1986,Tiverton Parkway railway station opened on the main line on the site of the oldSampford Peverell station, to replace the junction station a few miles down the line atWilland. As aparkway station, it stands six miles east of the town, alongside Junction 27 of theM5 motorway. Its proximity to the motorway – and the relative inaccessibility ofExeter St Davids railway station – means that the station is often used as a coach exchange when the line between Exeter and Plymouth is closed.
TheGrand Western Canal from Taunton to Tiverton opened in 1838.
Most bus services are run byStagecoach South West. Stagecoach offers a half-hourly, Monday to Saturday services toExeter via theA396, with a two-hourly service on Sundays and Bank Holidays; and an hourly service to Exeter viaCullompton on Mondays to Saturdays. Stagecoach also runs a two-hourly service toSouth Molton, with connecting bus services toBarnstaple.
Other than Stagecoach,First Buses of Somerset operates a two-hourly service toTaunton andDartline operates a two-hourly service toDulverton.
The town has a main football club,Tiverton Town, and many amateur clubs, includingElmore and Amory Green Rovers. The town also has arugby club and several cricket clubs. Tiverton White Eagles is a local women's hockey club with three teams in various leagues.[35]
TheTiverton Gazette is a weekly tabloid newspaper for Tiverton and district, published on Tuesdays to coincide with market day. It first appeared as theTiverton Gazette and East Devon Herald in 1858, when the founder, Robert Were, was only 22 years old; he died just five years later. The newspaper split into three editions in 1872 – theTiverton Gazette,Crediton Gazette andSouth Molton Gazette – but recombined in the mid-1890s as theMid Devon Gazette. It then split into Town and Rural editions, before splitting three ways once more.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South West andITV West Country. Television signals are received from theStockland Hill and local relay TV transmitters.[36][37]
The town is served by the local radio stationsBBC Radio Devon,Heart West,Greatest Hits Radio South West,Radio Exe, and TCR Radio, a community-based station.[38]
Tiverton lies in north-eastDevon 13 miles (21 km) north of Exeter, 46 miles (74 km) north-east ofPlymouth and 18 miles (29 km) west ofTaunton. The villages of Ashley to the south andBolham to the north have become suburbs of Tiverton. TheRiver Exe flows through the town.
Tiverton has anoceanic climate (Köppen climate classificationCfb).
| Climate data for Tiverton | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8 (46) | 8 (46) | 10 (50) | 12 (54) | 16 (61) | 19 (66) | 21 (70) | 21 (70) | 18 (64) | 14 (57) | 11 (52) | 9 (48) | 14 (57) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3 (37) | 3 (37) | 3 (37) | 4 (39) | 7 (45) | 11 (52) | 12 (54) | 12 (54) | 10 (50) | 8 (46) | 5 (41) | 1 (34) | 7 (45) |
| Source: Weather Channel[39] | |||||||||||||
Tiverton is twinned with the German town ofHofheim am Taunus.[40] Tiverton is also twinned withChinon in France which in turn is also twinned withHofheim am Taunus. The three towns therefore form twinning triangle.
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