Okehampton

Okehampton ( or ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west). Their joint population at the same census was 7,500.

Okehampton is 21 mi west of Exeter, 26 mi north of Plymouth and 24 mi south of Barnstaple.

Toponymy
The name means settlement or estate (tun) on the River Okement. This is shown by early forms of the name, such as Ochementone as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Okementon(a) in 1167 and 1275. The name was later associated with the common suffix -hampton, but as late as the 1930s the original name was remembered by the pronunciation "Okington" or "Okenton" still used by old people in the district.

History
Okehampton was founded by the Saxons. The earliest written record of the settlement is from 980 AD as Ocmundtune, meaning settlement by the Ockment, a river which runs through the town. It was recorded as a place for slaves to be freed at cross roads.

Like many towns in the West Country, Okehampton grew on the medieval wool trade. Notable buildings in the town include the 15th century chapel of St. James and Okehampton Castle, which was established by the Norman Sheriff of Devon, Baldwin FitzGilbert (d.1090), and the 17th century Okehampton Town Hall.

Feudal barony
Okehampton was the caput of a large feudal barony, which at the time of the Domesday Book was held by Baldwin FitzGilbert. The tenure of the barony is obscure for the twenty years following his death in 1090. After that it was held by the heiress Maud d'Avranches until her death in 1173, and then passed to her daughter, Hawise de Curci (died 1219), who married Reginald de Courtenay. His French possessions were confiscated by the French King Louis VII, but were given, together with the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth de Courtenay, to his youngest brother Peter I of Courtenay. The Courtenay family rebuilt Okehampton Castle, until King Henry VIII seized the lands and had Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter executed for treason in 1539. The castle is now owned by English Heritage and is open to the public during the summer season. The town is also home to the Museum of Dartmoor Life, which has received notable visitors such as the then-Prince Charles.

Political representation
Okehampton elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons. The Reform Act of 1832 abolished its representation as a rotten borough.

Military presence
There is a substantial army training camp on Dartmoor which can be reached via Okehampton, and is commonly referred to as "Okehampton Camp". It is managed by the Defence Training Estate, and used by a variety of military units, including the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM), Lympstone, Devon, and many cadet training units. The Ten Tors event is run by the Army each year in early May from Okehampton Camp.

Education
Schools in the town include Okehampton Primary School and Okehampton College. There are also a number of smaller primary schools in the surrounding areas for children within the catchment area of Okehampton that include South Tawton, Hatherleigh, Chagford, North Tawton and Bridestowe.

Religion


The Anglican parish church of All Saints is located on Church Path, on a slight hill to the west of the town centre. Its origins are Saxon, long predating the earliest recorded consecration by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter in 1261. The medieval building was reconstructed in 1447, but was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1842. Another reconstruction followed, overseen by John Hayward who incorporated an 80 ft granite ashlar tower which survived the fire into the new church.

Within the building, the remnants of a reredos can be seen in the south aisle. Its replacement was constructed in stone by Harry Hems in 1891. The choir stalls and altar rails date from this time, while the pulpit is slightly earlier. Stained glass in the church includes work by Morris & Co., the Kemp studios and Ward and Hughes. Some medieval glass is preserved in the Lady Chapel. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

Fairplace United Church is located on St James Street. The church has been a centre for both Methodism and the United Reformed Church. Fairplace Church was built in 1904 for the Wesleyan Methodists, who were joined by a congregation from the Bible Christian tradition in 1962. It then joined with the United Reform Church in 1974.

The Baptist Chapel on Fore Street was built in 1889 and enlarged in 1901. Other churches include the Okehampton New Life Church, a Pentecostal church, a Jehovah's Witnesses hall on East Street, and the Catholic church of St Boniface on Station Road.

Sport
The town's football team, Okehampton Argyle F.C., is a non-league club which was established in 1926 after the original side, Okehampton Town, disbanded. The club competes in the South West Peninsula League which sits at Steps 6 and 7 of the National League System; four leagues below the top division of non-league football, the Football Conference. The town also has a rugby club, Okehampton RFC, which is believed to have been founded in 1884. There is also a table tennis club in the town that was purpose-built for the sport beside the local post office off the town.

Media
Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Caradon Hill and local relay TV transmitters.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Devon, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West and Radio Exe.

The town is served by the local newspaper, Okehampton Times which publishes on Thursdays.

Transport
Okehampton's location at the edge of the moor means that it has always been a route centre.

Road
The A30 trunk road gives fast access to the east and west.

After years of uncertainty, this trunk road was finally re-routed in 1988 to bypass the town, which had previously been a holiday traffic bottleneck on summer weekends.

Rail
Okehampton railway station is on the former northerly rail route from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth via Tavistock. The line from Exeter was kept open for freight traffic to and from Meldon Quarry, 2 mi west of Okehampton. In 1997, Devon County Council revived a passenger rail service from Exeter, on summer weekends only, in an attempt to reduce motor traffic to the national park, which became a summer Sunday service, operated at its closure by Great Western Railway. In March 2010, the freight operator Devon & Cornwall Railways announced plans to reinstate a daily passenger service terminating in Exeter, though this never came to fruition. The station was also previously served by heritage trains, but closed to all services in 2019.

Okehampton station then reopened to a regular service on 20 November 2021 as part of refurbishment of the line. The Dartmoor Line, as it is now called, opened with a two hourly service to Exeter St Davids which increased to hourly in Spring 2022.

In the wake of widespread disruption caused by damage to the mainline track at Dawlish by coastal storms in February 2014, leaving Plymouth and Cornwall with no rail connection to the rest of the country, Network Rail considered reopening the Exeter-to-Plymouth route via Okehampton and Tavistock.

Bus services
Okehampton is served by various bus services from Exeter, Bude, Newquay and Tavistock. Stagecoach South West service 6 links from Exeter bus station via Exeter St Davids to Okehampton. Other services from Exeter bus station include the 6A service via Exeter St Davids, which continues to Launceston. Dartline run service 118 to Tavistock. There are also rural services operated by County Bus and MD Coaches. There was formerly a town service numbered 318, but it was withdrawn in 2015.

Coach excursions
Lomax Tours run coach trips from Okehampton to various places of interest.

Nearby settlements
Except for the open country of Dartmoor to the south, Okehampton is surrounded by many smaller villages and towns. Notable examples are the villages of South Zeal with its ancient burgage plots, granite thatched cottages and Dartmoor Folk Festival; Belstone on the outskirts of Dartmoor; and Sticklepath which has an annual fire show on Bonfire Night, 5 November. Other nearby villages and settlements include Hatherleigh, North Tawton, Whiddon Down, Chagford, Bratton Clovelly, Lydford, Folly Gate, Southcott, Northlew, Jacobstowe, Bridestowe and Sourton.