THE VILLAGE NAME GALMPTON (PRONOUNCED GAMP-TON)

Since Saxon days, up to the last war, Galmpton had been predominantly a farming community, the name implies a Saxon origin, probably about 700 A.D. It derives from 'GAFOLSMAN', old English meaning a 'rent paying peasant'. 'A rare tenurial custom peculiar to Devon and Somerset'. It was a farm divided into small-holdings. the last Saxon to hold GALMETONA was GODA before RALF de FEUGERES was presented with the manor by William the Conqueror

Domesday recorded  GALMETONA as consisting of 2 hides of ploughable land, 4 acres of pasture, 1 acre of meadow. The total male population numbered 18!

By Victorian times the village had grown to consist of a nucleus of three farms, farm workers' cottages (many newly built c.1870), village shop and post office, smithy and inn(s); a near self sufficient community. Church attendance for the majority meant a walk to Church at Churston

For many generations the lives of ordinary folk were associated with the land and the seasons, with only minuscule changes taking place. However, rare moments of nationally important drama did touch their lives

July 1588 was such a time when all able-bodied men mustered on the Common to play their part in defending England from the dreaded Armada

One hundred years later, November 1688, a wet month by all accounts, villagers stood in awe and wonder as the army of William of Orange passed by on their way up country

As you walk the village and its surrounds, observe the last few examples of once common thatch and the remaining apple trees, especially in Springtime blossom or fruitful Autumn, trees that once provided cider galore for consumption in the harvest field

EARLY VERSIONS OF THE NAME

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