In April 2009 I had a visit to Culver House, Chudleigh, Devon. There was an open door so I went for a wander.
Culver House, New Exeter Street (formerly Culver Street) Chudleigh Devon
A town houses with an indeterminate build date. The name Culverhouse Meadow appears in a will of 1679. A culverhouse being another name for a dovecote. Dove or pidgeon houses were a feature of the medieval landscape and were attached to all large manors. A culver was a keeper of pidgeons, a bird used to a large extent in cuisine.
The existing house, not currently occupied likely dates to the early 1850s when the Yarde family moved here and were recorded as 'making improvements'. The house likely existed at the time of the 1807 fire but is not mentioned specifically in fire accounts. The first recorded occupier we have is and ex-Naval man, John Milligan Seppings who died at the house in 1826 having lived there for five years.
The Yarde family occupied the house from 1851 to 1909. The house was converted to flats in the mid-1930s and the vicarage was also located here in the period 1948-1954.
By the 2000s all the flats were empty and now (2012) there is visible evidence that the house is to be restored.
The source of this information was the Chudleigh History Group but it appears that this website no longer exists.
Culver House Images 2009
