Each day started with an introduction to the history of Cullompton, starting with the Romans and working through King Alfred, the emergence of the town as a trading centre and the relative affluence of medieval Cullompton. We really wanted the children to think about their connection to the town, so we set them a craft task to design their own coat of arms. This was inspired by the coats of arms we had spotted in the Walronds:

Next it was story time, and we started with Kev’s Gory Story – the Tale of Tom Austin. This was sanitised for the audience somewhat, but you can hear an unabridged version of the story of this most murderous highwayman on our podcast. We then moved on to tell the entertaining tale of the Fire of Cullompton, which became a loud and lively performance including all the children who played the various roles with great enthusiasm. We shouted directions above the clamour and spent our weekends recovering with throat medicine.

Back in the classroom it was time for the children to retell the story themselves, often with their own individual twists involving aliens or Superman. We encouraged this: the best stories have a life of their own and grow with each telling. As the sessions went on we got more innovative with this ideas and we came up with the idea of the Peg Theatre. Children took on all the roles that you might have in a real performance – we had set designers, directors, scriptwriters and costume-makers – but the actual acting was done by decorated pegs. This facilitated more enthusiastic performances, as the audience was watching the peg characters and not the children!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the primary schools – thank you to all the staff and especially the children who greeted us with such enthusiasm.

The thatched roof was aflame but the conflagration was small and should have been no problem for the local fire brigade, with haste one of the children, the fleetest of foot, was dispatched to gather Cullompton’s brave firefighters. Unfortunately, today was a rather special day for the men of the brigade, it was one of their teams’ birthdays and they had, as was tradition, been drinking strong cider since late morning, by this point in the early afternoon they had reached a level of intoxication that precluded them from making a successful attempt at quashing the fire. 

As the townsfolk desperately tried to direct (and sober up) the crew, the fire spread, the gusts of wind carried sparks from the initial fire into the thatch of surrounding houses – which being dry from weeks without significant rain burst almost instantly into flame, soon all of New Street was ablaze and the fire was spreading in all directions, aided by the wind, falling debris and the panicked scrabbling of two unfortunate rabbits who, with fur alight, managed to set fire to several further buildings upwind. 

Soon more than 100 properties were burning, the situation had progressed far beyond the ability of the local firefighting team to quell it (Even on a day when they weren’t so impaired by alcohol it would have been too great an undertaking) so the decision was made to send a person on a fast horse to Tiverton and then onwards to Exeter to ask their fire services for aid.  

Racing across the parched countryside the hero of the hour flew through Tiverton, rousing their firemen as they went, then went on to Exeter to so the same. 

Now Tiverton is a great deal closer to Cully than Exeter is, so you would have expected the fire crew from there to arrive quite quickly wouldn’t you? Sadly this was not the case, on the way to the emergency a wheel fell off the fire wagon. Not once. Not twice. Three times! Yes, three times the Tiverton crew had to stop and repair the wagon. This slowed them down considerably, so much so in fact that the Exeter crew actually passed them on the road. In a quite inappropriate (but entirely understandable) display the Exeter Fireman did take the opportunity to ridicule the Tiverton crew on the way past. 

Eventually all three fire brigades along with the citizenry of Cullompton managed to extinguish the fires (including, according to legend, the flames on the rabbits) although it took several hard, hot, smoky hours and not before around 140 residences had been destroyed. 

News of the incident spread and much aid was offered in light of the tragedy, Cullompton was rebuilt (with a distinct lack of thatched roofs this time) and even though the fire had been incredibly destructive only one death was recorded (and even that is a contentious point) – that of a young chimney sweep who was hit by falling masonry.  

Walking these quiet streets now, it seems hard to believe that World War Two ever came to Chelston. According to a log kept at St Marychurch Fire Station, Torquay was raided by the Luftwaffe no less than 21 times, most horrifically in May 1943 when 40 people were killed, including 23 children at Sunday School in St Marychurch. It is hard to imagine the terror that must have accompanied every one of the 643 air raid warnings that rang out over Torquay.

Chelston’s worst attack was a few months earlier, on 4th September 1942 just before 7pm. A German plane flew over Torquay town centre, spraying people with machine gun fire on Tor Hill Road and a little further on targeting the railway with two high-explosive bombs. Neither hit its intended target. One overshot slightly and hit the houses on Rosery Road, the other landed another hundred or so metres on at Dornafield, just above the shops on Old Mill Road. A photo which has appeared in the ‘Bygones’ section of local newspaper the Herald Express shows how complete the destruction was.

The archive at the Devon Heritage website lists the civilian casualties of World War Two, and thanks to this list we have a record of those who died in the bombing:

• Adelaide Mabel Baxter, aged 63, died at Dornaford
• Beatrice Mabel Bickford, 49, at no 26 Rosery Road
• Midgley Booth, 59, at no 28
• Florence Catherine Gillard, 38, at no 27
• Minnie Gladys Martin, 50, a civilian air raid warden who lived on Sherwell Valley Road
• Frederick Webber, 64, who lived on nearly Mallock Road

Joan Brotherton (15), sisters Cecily and Mona Withers-Lancashire (56 and 57), Edith Fogwell (68), Annie Louise Harris (56), and Mabel Margaret Hogg (31) all died in the same raid on Tor Hill Road. Doris Beatrice Annie Coad, 36, was injured and later died, but I have not found a record of where she was injured.

Although no deaths are recorded on this date in the St Marychurch log, Joseph Herbert Large is recorded as having died aged 77 at 28 Rathmore Road in Chelston on 13th February 1943.

The story of Frederick Webber is a poignant one. Born in 1888, his parents moved into Mallock Road from Taunton some time after the street was built in the early 1900s and presumably he either moved with them or inherited the house. His elder brother, Private Edward Courtney Webber, served in the Guards Machine Gun Regiment in the First World War and died in August 1918 aged 35. Frederick and Edward’s parents lost one of their sons in each of the world wars.

We are particularly interested in the backgrounds of the above people, and would love to hear from anyone who can add anything to the story of this tragic day.

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