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AROUND & ABOUT GALMPTON

 

Galmpton Windmill

 

 At the seaward end of Galmpton, Warborough Common sits on a ridge, with one valley descending
to the coast at Broadsands, and the other valley gently sloping down to the River Dart at Galmpton
Creek: in 1588, Sir John Gilbert of Greenway House, mustered 1,000 men on the common in order
to prepare to repel a landing from the Spanish Armada; in 1688, villagers stood on the common
watching the army of William of Orange, having landed at Brixham, march towards London.

The junction of the roads adjacent to the Common is known as "Windy Corner" and it is therefore
no surprise that the ruins of the red sandstone village windmill can still be seen from the Common.

Galmpton (Galmentone in the Doomsday Book) Village has, despite developments, managed to
maintain it's old-world atomosphere. Starting from The Roundings a circular walk around
the village quickly brings you to The Chapel of the Good Shepherd.
The "Chapel" was only created in 1961, in order to save villagers having to walk to Churston,
but includes antiquities from other local churches: replica of the ancient altar at Lutterworth;
a reredos from St Peter the Fisherman at Brixham; the bell (dated 1739) from a Torquay tudor
house which was demolished in 1843 when the bell was transferred to St James Church in Torquay.

Opposite the chapel is "Pig Belly Gate" which gave livestock access to the pond.
Just past the village school (built 1870) stands the "Jubilee Oak" (planted to commemorate Queen
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897) which now acts as a traffic roundabout.

Following a clockwise route, you pass many old cottages before returning to The Manor Inn.
Galmpton Chapel
Galmpton Creek

 

 Outside the village, a menadering lane leads past a lime kiln and quarry, and on to Galmpton Creek.
The Creek has been a boatbuilding centre for centuries - over 300 sailing trawlers were built during
150 years. In World War II wooden MTBs were built here, but now the area is dominated by
pleasure craft.

It is difficult to park near the creek, but the foreshore offers an interesting walk past the dis-used
quarries. The stone from here was used as ballast on trading vessels and so the stone is found in
the construction of French and Spanish harbours. The foreshore walk ends at the Waddeton Estate
where you can still see the three ponds of the estate fish-trap which caught fish on the rising tide.
If you continue out of the village past the "Chapel" and school, the lane takes you to the River
Dart at Greenway with a passenger ferry service across to Dittisham. The original Greenway House
(the ruins can still be seen) was the birthplace of Humphrey Gilbert (a step-brother of Sir Walter
Raleigh), and the present property (built around 1760) later became the home of Agatha Christie.
"Greenway Gardens" are now open to the public.

Galmpton is part of the Parish of Churston (stretches from the coast to the "Dart"), and the village
of Churston lies on the coastal side of the Brixham Rd. The centre of the village is the Church of
St Mary and All Saints, and the adjacent Churston Court Inn.
Churston is the start/finish point of the walk through The Grove and via Broadsands.
Churston Village

 
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