Cheldon

Cheldon is a village and former civil parish, 17 miles (27 km) north-west of Exeter,[1] now in the parish of Chulmleigh, in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. In 1961, the parish had a population of 32.[2]

Cheldon
Cheldon
Location within Devon
OS grid referenceSS733134
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom

Features

Cheldon has a church called St Mary with a 12th century font and 16th century bells.[3]

History

The name "Cheldon" means "Ceadela's hill".[4] Cheldon was recorded in the Domesday Book as Cadeldone/Cheledone/Cha(d)eledona.[5] The parish was historically in the Witheridge hundred.[6] On 1 April 1986, the parish was abolished and merged with Chulmleigh.[7]

"Doing a Cheldon"

The village is thought to be the origin of the phrase "to do a Cheldon", meaning "to inadvertently cause a series of calamitous events", although alternative theories have been proposed. Longtime Cheldon resident Agnes P. Widdicombe attributes the phrase to an incident in 1918 in which a resident attempted to kill a marauding badger with a homemade flamethrower; the burning badger entered the village church and ignited a First World War munitions dump, causing an explosion that killed all 17 people inside at the time.[8]

References
  1. "Distance from Cheldon Barton [50.906127, -3.80337]". GENUKI. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  2. "Population Statistics Cheldon AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. "St Mary Cheldon". Little Dart Churches. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  4. "Cheldon Key to English Place-names". The University of Nottingham. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  5. "Devonshire C-D". The Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  6. "The Hundreds of Devon". GENUKI. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  7. "The North Devon (Parishes) Order 1986" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  8. "Origin and meaning of phrase do a Cheldon by Online Etymology Dictionary". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 1 August 2020.



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