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Past historians have suggested that the village was originally known as Ceola's tun, 'tun' being Old English for a large enclosed farm whilst Ceola was the name of the owner, or of the elder of a group. Ceola's tun evolved through Coletona, Collaton, Collyton to Colaton, possibly with more than 15 variations. 'Raleigh' was probably added during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) when Robert de Chilton left part of the manor to his daughter, the wife of Sir Wymond de Raleghe of Nettlecombe, Somerset.

Colaton was part of the Royal Estate, held by Earl Harold, son of Gytha, widow of Earl Godwin, and from Domesday by William I.  In the Danegeld Account of 1083 the King was exempted from tax on Colaton's three hides of land (a hide was from 60 to 120 acres according to locality, or as much as could support one free family).  It was in the Hundred of Budlegh, one of six making the earliest jury returns.  Those of 1244 tell us that all woods belonged to the King, there were 16 meadows and 400 pastures: and ... "to this manor half a virgate of land has been added which a certain Thane held - worth 4/- a year".

This half virgate was Bystock which belonged to Colaton Raleigh until under the provisions of the Divided Parishes Act 1882 it was transferred to Withycombe Raleigh. In the 19th century it was described as a large and elegant mansion with gardens. Until 1906 its tithes were attached to Colaton Raleigh so the Vicars of Colaton Raleigh were also Rectors of Bystock.

There is a tradition that the tithe sheaf from this land at Bystock originally went to the Vicars of East Budleigh who at a time of plague failed to minister to the stricken residents of Bystock; the Vicar of Colaton attended to their needs and was suitably rewarded.

In 1124 Henry I gave the Manor of Colaton to the de Meriets (a Somerset family) in exchange for Topsham. An ancestor of the de Meriets, killed in 1068, was House Steward to Edward the Confessor.

After the murder of Thomas a' Becket, and in expiation, Henry II gave 100/- from land in Colaton to the Nunnery of Polsloe; a report in Devonshire Association papers suggests this land was Bystock. 

Between 1189 and 1199 the manor passed by marriage to William le Brewere, founder of Torre and Dunkeswell Abbeys. From the 13th century, when Sir Wymond de Raleghe's wife inherited the manor, until 1603 the Raleighs continued as occupiers or landowners. 

In 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh, arrested for alleged treason, was deprived of his property by James I. In 1604 Colaton Raleigh (with eight other of his manors) was granted by the Crown to Sir Alexander Brett and others - "for a term of 60 years, if Sir Walter shall live so long, in trust for Lady Raleigh and her children".  Eventually much of Colaton Raleigh passed to the Duke family of Otterton until about 1785 when it was acquired, with other lands, by Dennis Rolle, the father of Lord Rolle of Bicton, for £72,000.

From about 1100 onwards there was a Colaton Guild, subsidiary to Exeter and Woodbury Guilds. In Anglo-Saxon England Guilds existed as burial and benefit societies whose objects included 'obits' (registers of deaths) and payment of money in expiation of crimes (homicide). They consisted of men banded together with a religious foundation, often by trades, owning property jointly, and seeking to promote brotherly love and charity in their business and recording their transactions.

After the Norman Conquest the Guilds enjoyed secular rights and privileges, The Anglo-Saxon document translates: In Woodbury land there is also another gildship gathered to Christ and Saint Peter; and they pay at Martinmass, from every hearth, one penny to St. Peter's Monastery for the Canons, and also every soul-shot, for every hearth one penny. And these are the names of the men from Colaton Gildship: Ordric, priest; Almer; Ailwine, etc."

Place Court, reputed to be the Manor House, formerly belonged to the Abbots of Dunkeswell, but became Dean's House when the Parish and revenues were given to the first Dean of Exeter, Archdeacon Serlo, who lived there and was the first recorded Rector of Colaton, Subsequent Deans of Exeter used it as a country residence and in 1878 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners leased it to H.J.Cutler.

Over the years it has been referred to as a farm, as being occupied by cottagers and, in this century, has been used as a vicarage. It is now in private ownership. Although extended, there still remain parts of the small mediaeval house; the porch with two-light window, straight gables, the hall screen, and small oratory over the porch, dedicated to St. Michael, in which it is generally believed Sir Walter Raleigh was christened. The chapel, first mentioned as such in 1335, has a piscina and two-light window of Gothic tracery. In the grounds is a cob and thatch barn, and a high cob and thatched wall secludes the property from Church Road.

The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist was certainly built before 1226, and was originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. Theobald; the present Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the north aisle is believed to have been St. Theobald's Chapel, it was said that the shrine attracted so many pilgrims (by repute St. Theobald was the patron saint of charcoal burners) that their presence caused a quarrel between Dean Brayleigh and Sir Peter de Raleigh in 1347, the Dean accusing Raleigh and others of confederating together contrary to statutes of peace by demanding way, extorting toll and other unwonted customs from men coming to the Chapel on pilgrimage, and from others selling victuals to the pilgrims in the cemetery and sanctuary of the Chapel.

The Church was originally of stone, probably from Beer, and was rebuilt in 1875 with the exception of the 15th century tower. The Architect was R. Medley Fulford who used stone from Ladram Bay. The Vestry was rebuilt in 1896 at an estimated cost of £150, the old Vestry having been at the north-east corner of the building. The font is 13th century transitional, probably original, and the wooden pulpit is reputed to have been made from the wood of the rood screen. The wall paintings are by an unknown hand and are unusual in a Victorian church. The small interior wooden door to the tower is original. There was a stone wall around the Churchyard, thatched until 1854 when it was slated. In 1874 the dwarf wall of popplestones was built.

The Church has five bells, three of which were there in 1846, one bearing the initials R. N. which refer to Robert Norton, the Exeter founder in the reign of Henry VI. Two bells were added in 1397, given by parishioners and friends, and one of the older bells was recast, presented by the Rev. F. Bullock, Vicar.

In 1749 the Rev. Dr. Charles Lyttleton, Dean of Exeter, sent a silver paten to the Church which formerly belonged to St. Michael's Chapel within Deanery House (Place Court) for use in administering the Lord's Supper. The stem of the paten, or tazza, is said to be older than the bowl and bears the cross and initials of Gregory Dodds, Dean of Exeter from 1560 to 1570, who had the two pieces made into one. In 1944 a Church Court granted permission for its sale to a private collector.

The date of the first known Rector, Archdeacon Serlo, first Dean of Exeter, is given as 1206. He died in 1231 and was followed by three Deans of Exeter. The Vicarage was formed in 1269. At that time the village was administered by a Manor Court which dealt with all matters, including law and order, the Chief Magistrate being the Steward or Agent of the Lord of the Manor; no marriages could take place without the permission of the Lord of the Manor.

After 1363 when Colaton Raleigh pertained to the Royal Duchy of Lancaster, a Court Leet was held at Broadhembury (as a village with fair population and a large Church able to receive a large congregation). Court Rolls record that “the tithing of Collaton Rawleigh and it's tithing men come and presented everything well up to this day”.

The Parish Registers date from 1673. In the 19th century Vestry Minutes record that the Church was then administering village affairs. A Minute in 1872 mentions the appointment of a committee to keep the Parish pumps and wells in good repair. In 1883 the Vestry sought tenders for repair of roads - the Contractor was asked to state at what price per cubic yard he could supply, crack and spread stones; the stones had to be small enough to pass through a two-inch ring. The repair of highways was an annual event. The Vestry also appointed Surveyors of Highways, Collectors of Highway Rates and Assessors of Taxes. Ratepayers attended the Vestry Meetings: A Minute in 1914 records the gift of land by Lord Clinton for extension of the Churchyard; this was consecrated on 17th April 1916 by the Bishop of Crediton.

Lady Gertrude Rolle provided for the erection of a church at Hawkerland, an iron building to accommodate 80 persons, which was licensed for Divine Service in 1859, soon after she had built St. Mary's, Bicton. The population of Hawkerland was then 130. A second church, built of brick, replaced this on a new site where Hawkerland Road forks towards the A3052, in 1889. This was not consecrated, had no endowment and is now a private dwelling. Services were conducted there; Vestry Minutes from 1914 onwards refer to collections from this church being added to those from the parish church, but in 1918 only two services a month were held there, and it was proposed to reduce the caretaker's salary from 15/- to 10/- per quarter.

The Methodists, too, had a benefactor. Prayer meetings were held in a cottage until the Lord of the Manor heard of them and threatened to evict the tenant unless they ceased. When the Rev. Marmaduke Riggall, Methodist Minister at Budleigh Salterton, and a wealthy man, heard of this he bought three non-estate cottages and gave them to the Methodists who pulled one down and built the chapel on the site. The other two were let to tenants, of whom one was to be caretaker of the chapel. The chapel is down a turning off Hawkerland Road, between the Sawmills and Pophams Farm, with Pophams Cottages on the corner. The two cottages have now been converted to one house. The chapel opened in 1894.

In 1878 the Plymouth Brethren held meetings in a building next to Kitts Hayes in Hawkerland Road. A bungalow now stands on the site but the 1881 census mentions a spinster living in rooms under the Baptist Chapel next to Kitts Hayes. An elderly inhabitant of the village recalls a tall building with two or three rooms downstairs and a large room up a steep flight of stairs. There were iron railings around the outside with an iron gate and, just inside to the left, a toilet overgrown with ivy and elder. At the back there was a burial ground with some headstones standing in the 1920s (when the lady was housemaid at Kitts Hayes), and it is said that converts were baptized in the stream which runs nearby. She also remembers her father saying that his parents attended chapel there when he was a boy; that would have been around 1870. During the first World War the upper room was used for weekly dances to provide entertainment for men on leave, music being provided by a polyphone which required a penny in the slot to work it.

The parish is bounded by the river Otter from Anchoring Hill, Otterton, to a point opposite Northmostown whence it follows a somewhat erratic line westward via Dotton Warren and Stoneyford, then north-west across Hawkerland Valley to join the old Roman Road (A.3052 Exeter Road) and thence to White Cross. From there the boundary runs via Greendale Bridge and a zig-zag course to the Warren (B,3180) across Colaton Raleigh Common, and through Bicton Park to the river at Anchoring Hill. Some 850 acres between the Half Way inn and White Cross have been, since 1864, in the Ecclesiastical Parish of Woodbury Salterton.

This includes what were once the outlying hamlets - Hawkerland, Kingston, Stoneyford, Stowford and Dotton, most of which formerly boasted a higher population than at present.

Dotton had its own Chapel situated, it is thought, near the present farmhouse. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was held by Dode, a priest, and was granted to Mont St. Michael in Normandy by William I, It administered 'otrits' - smaller manors, or really plots of land on the banks of the river Otter. The chapel, dedicated to St. David, was appropriated to Dunkeswell Abbey in 1242. In 1259 when it was in ruins, Bishop Branscombe's Register reported a meeting of an Ecclesiastical Court which called to account the Dotton monks for selling the bells and casting out the font.

They admitted their fault and promised restitution.

In 1532 there was a fulling mill at Dotton. It is marked on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1809 and was working until 1939 as a flour mill; it had ceased to work by 1948 and there is now no trace of the building. The mill stream (no longer there) ran south from the weir north-east of Dotton to join the river at Wrinkly Cliff, with the mill shown on the south side of Mill Lane.

Hawkerland according to some historians, was a burial place of Danish origin where possibly Danes killed in raids on Pinhoe and Exeter could have been buried. Before Domesday it was held by a tenant named Sawin, possibly Danish. In 1305 Thomas de Hocheland paid £3 a year for the land. In 1754 there were 10 dwellings and in 1793 it was owned by Admiral Graves. The 1881 Census counts many small farms and cottages, an inn at White Cross and no less than two grocers’ shops. There was also, at some time, a smithy opposite the converted chapel.

Kingston derives its name from its early Saxon form, Kingstun. In 1344 Kings Manor belonged to Jacobus de Audelegh by Royal favour. By 1526 it had passed into the possession of Dunkeswell Abbey when Abbot John Whitmore granted a lease of Kingston. In 1878 Mr. Charming Harding farmed the land and today Kingston is still farmed by a member of the Harding family. Just beyond the farmhouse at the crossroads by Selwoods Farm the broad track to the right (once known as Goris Hill) leads up to Colaton Raleigh Common.

At the Common end, it is reputed, there was a Saxon homestead which was part of an ancient settlement. In 1965 the Vicar, the Rev. F. Kaye, wrote that there were three or four smooth rectangular stones embedded in a line, following the ground plan of such a homestead.

Stowford was mentioned in Domesday (Estaforda) as held by Earl Hugo. Blackberry Farm was held with Beckatona (Bicton); in 1185 Roger le Poer held Blackberry. In the 19th century there were many more cottages at Stowford,

Drupe Farm (now transformed into holiday cottages) was, in 1330, the home of William atte Thrope. In 1388 it was called Thorp and became Droope in 1679. The name is interesting as being the only example of the Old English 'Thorp' (roughly, a dependent or outlying dairyfarm belonging to a village or manor) which has been noted in Devon.

Sunnyhayes (Sanctuary Lane) was once known as Farrants Farm, where in 1524 Richard, William and John Farrant dwelt.

There are still old thatched cottages in Colaton Raleigh. Not far from the Post Office in Church Road there is a group of four, still occupied, with another one boarded up which, it is said, once housed a cider press. At the other end of the rood, opposite Eden Way (formerly Paradise Farm) cob and thatch cottages were demolished in this century to make way for bungalows. These were known as Hellfire Row on account of the quarrel-some nature of the inhabitants. Paradise Cottages, next to Eden Way, were built on the site of the farmhouse which was burnt down during the 1914-18 War. At this time, with few men around, women worked the pumps which brought water from Brook Lane (by the church). They were rewarded after many weeks with 2/6d:

Further down Church Road, Old Hall was once a farmhouse and the thatched cottage between the new Otter Farm and the disused railway track is still known as Railway Cottage. The train did not stop at Colaton Raleigh, the nearest station being East Budleigh.

Returning up Church Road, 'Brooklyn', down the lane beside the church, was once the home of the village shoemaker and there were cottages in the south-east corner of the churchyard where the toolshed now stands. The small triangular piece of ground at the top of the lane leading to the entrance to Place Court was known as Pillory Bench. On the opposite side of the road, the wall which screens Brockhill Studio was the back of cowsheds used by a farmer who lived at Place Court. At the beginning of this century there were fields from Place Court to the Exmouth Road.

Watercress was gathered from the brook where the first house of Meadow Way is situated. Here the water was deeper and some was piped to an hydraulic ram situated in what is now the back garden of one of the houses in Meadow Way; this pumped water up to the Vicarage (now Colaton House in Shepherds Lane). Village water came from springs on the Common relayed (after Queen Victoria's Jubilee) to eight water taps in various places in the village, and from wells.

At the top of the road, an area covering both sides of the A.376, and a part of Church Road, was known as Quoshbrook and was mentioned (as 'Coyssch') in a grant of glebe and tithes to the Vicar by Bishop Grandisson in 1347. At the turn of the century most of this area was occupied by a farm and outbuildings, including stabling, and cottages; all that remains is the cart shed near the corner of Hawkerland Road. There was a large dairy (The Blue Ball) opposite the Otter Inn, and a smithy behind Forge House in Hawkerland Road, the trough of which is preserved in Church Road outside the last bungalow of Eden Way.

In fact, at the beginning of this century, the village was almost self-sufficient; it had its carpenter (who was also undertaker), shoemaker, baker (at Brookdale, Church Road), butcher (behind Rossiters in Church Road); next to the smithy was a cob and thatch cottage where lived the cobbler, who also kept bees and sold honey.

The Post Office and general shop was kept by two sisters; mail was brought from Ottery St. Mary in the morning by a postman on a bicycle, and he stayed all day in a little hut up Institution Hill (the lane opposite the Otter Inn, on the corner of which once stood the Village Institute). He returned to Ottery St. Mary after collecting the mail from the Post Office and the wall box at Kitts Hayes.

Before the advent of the telephone telegrams came from Newton Poppleford, but when that Post Office was closed they came to Colaton Raleigh and had to be delivered by hand. Village children were paid 6d. for delivery to Harpford and Pinn. Deliveries to Hawkerland and Blackberry earned 4d. and others 3d. or even 2d. according to distance.

The National School was built near the Church in 1840 on land given by Lord Rolle. This was the site of an old rectory house which had been used as a Poorhouse for many years. The school was erected by public subscription under the superintendence of Rev. Robert Greenwood. It was closed without objection in 1957, there being only 14 children. It is now owned by the village and used for a variety of community functions.

Colaton Raleigh has always been a farming community, but now also has a sawmill to provide employment. Two cottages were pulled down when it was established and the yard also incorporated the village pound which was in Pound Lane.

In the years for which Census figures were studied (1841, 1851, 1881), the majority of males were employed in agriculture. It is interesting to note that during all those years the village was self-supporting; other occupations included carpenters, painters, thatchers, shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers, dressmakers, seamstresses, milliners and nurses. Innkeepers were one in 1841, two in 1851 and three in 1881. In 1841 there was one schoolmistress, in 1851 one master and mistress and in 1881 one schoolmaster and three teachers - probably a mistress and two pupil teachers, one of whom was a male aged 17 years.

There were three inns in the village. The Barley Mow was where two cottages (School House and Barley Mow) now stand in Church Road. Another was on a site opposite the present Otter Inn on the A.376 (formerly known as Pig Street); this was known as the Commercial Inn, or New Inn, and was burnt down. The other was the White Cross (now the White Horse) which stands at the boundary of three parishes known as White Cross. It is possible that an ancient cross of religious significance once stood here. Tithe maps show Quaker and other burial grounds in the vicinity.

In a field by the River Otter south-east of the new Otter Farm are the remains of a bridge over the river. The site was originally an ancient crossing known as Grimsford. On the Otterton side of the river a track leads to Pinn Lane Corner, and Pinn Lane leads to the site of the Seven Stones on Mutters Moor. Almost due east other tracks lead to High Peak. Past historians have referred to this lane as leading through Colaton Raleigh to the ancient road, or herepath, to Woodbury Castle. It seems a strong possibility; a farm track runs west from the railway track at a point almost due west from Grimsford. This is shown on the tithe map as a road, with houses in the field to the north. The track joins the Exmouth Road, and a lane opposite continues in the direction of Woodbury Castle.

Author: Dorothy Stammers. Extracted from Sketches on local History – The Lower Otter Valley © 1984 Otter Valley Association. See publications page of web site for full list of publications available for purchase.

References

Census (1841, 1851, 1881) England and Wales: Devon (H.M.S.O.)

 Lysons, D.& S. (1822) Magna Britannia: Volume 6, Devonshire. (Cadell)

White, W. (1850) History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devonshire. (Simkin, Marshall & Co.)

White, W. (1878-9) History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon-shire. (Simkin, Marshall & Co.)

Documents at the Fairlynch Museum, including Rev. F. Kaye's manuscript notes on Colaton Raleigh (1964/5).

Documents in the Exeter Central Library (Westcountry Studies), including Beatrix Cresswell's Notes on Devon Churches (1903-1913).

Documents in the Devon Record Office including G.D. Johnston's Notes on the History of the River Otter (1915); Tithe Map for Colaton Raleigh (1842/5); and Vestry Minutes of St. John the Baptist Church, Colaton Raleigh.

Manuscript notes on Colaton Raleigh between 1907 and 1982 by Mrs. D.M. Morrish and information provided by other local inhabitants are acknowledged with thanks.

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