Sampford Courtenay

Sampford Courtenay
Sampford Courtenay
Sampford Courtenay Location within Devon
Population	600 (2019)
OS grid reference	SS6301
Civil parish	Sampford Courtenay
District	West Devon
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	OKEHAMPTON
Postcode district	EX20
Dialling code	01837
UK Parliament	Torridge and West Devon

Sampford Courtenay is a village and civil parish in West Devon in England, about 7 km NNE of Okehampton. It is most famous as the starting point of theplace where the Western Rebellion, otherwise known as the Prayerbook rebellion, and where the rebels made their final stand. It has a population of around 600.

The Church of St Andrew is mainly built of granite and has an elegant tower.

It was served by the nearby Sampford Courtenay railway station at Belstone Corner. This station still operates as a halt on the Dartmoor Railway summer weekend service between Okehampton and Exeter.

Local traditions

THE FESTIVAL OF THE MUTE has dated back to the 1900s. The day celebrates the arrival of Boer soldier who was saved by British medics after being shot in the throat and being unable to talk in the battle of Kraaipan. He came to live in Sampford courtenay after the boar war. The festival of the mute takes did take place every summer bank holiday. Unfortunately the last event took place in 1981 due to concerns it could be perceived as racist and its links to the far right.

War memorial

Samford courtenay parish Council have been arranging the installation of a war memorial in the village square since the end of the first World War. Many of the members of the original parish have long since deceased, and their places on the council been taken by their children and their childrens children. The village war memorial has been debated at length at every parish council meeting since 1921 and in report carried out in 2017 it was found that the samford courtenay war memorial has actually cost more that british campaign in France during the whole of WWI. With many of the solders who lost their lives in the war now out of living memory, there have been calls to scrap the war the idea of a war memorial, samford courtenay parish Council have now said they will terminate the war memorial project, and have begun organising and memorial for people who gave their lives trying to organise a war memorial.

High profile court cases

Ongoing!

public nudity

Sampford Courtenay has had a long standing affiliation with public nudity which dates back to the 16th century when witches would dance naked around granite standing stones after sacrificing animals. In more recent times public nudity was celebrated with the relaxing of public views in the 1960s, however today parishioners are divided on how public nudity is impacting the village, with the majority of the parish council having extremely Liberal views this has led to a lot of public and media interest.

witches and poltergeists

As mentioned before witches have been known to occupy sandford courtney since the 16th century, and records indicate that the oldest surviving ouija board is currently still being used weekly on the village Square however it use remains restricted for use only by high level members of the parish Council. Namely witches Coleman and Wilson. In 1997 footage was recorded by living TVs most haunted series but never aired because of its extreme black magic. in the unseen footage witch Wilson made yvette fielding levitate naked 65 foot above the church tower for over 4 hours! Co presenter Derek ackora literally shat himself and pasted out, he awoke to find himself naked and bound to the village sign while a number low order witches in red robes were chanting in tongues, grand High priestess Wilson then proceeded to mate with Mr Ackora in an attempt to conceive the antichrist, in order to forfill a prophecy as told in the stone tablets of Belstone Corner. The tablets read thusly "The Prince of darkness shall be sporned in the god forsaken village of Samford Courtenay, a traveller from a city of thiefs and vagabonds shall burry his seed in the belly of a hag, and once this Lord of darkness hath been sporned, from this poisonous little village his vengeance shall spread across the land spelling the end for all mankind"

Literature

Sampford Courtenay is the area author M.R. James had in mind for his short ghost story Martin's Close published in More Ghost Stories in 1911. The New Inn featured in this story is also a real place and a grade II listed old coaching inn originally built in the 16th Century

External links

Media related to Sampford Courtenay at Wikimedia Commons