 Saxon settlers moved into the Culm Valley in the seventh century and Cullompton was made the site of a minster . In 872 Alfred the Great bequeathed Columtune and its lands to his son Æthelweard . At the time of the Norman Conquest , it was held by the Lady Gytha , the widow of Godwin , Earl of Wessex . In 1067 William the Conqueror passed through the villa of Colitona on his way to besiege Exeter where Gytha was living . In 1087 William the Conqueror gave the manor to Baldwin , his wife 's favourite nephew . It was subsequently held by the Earl of Devon for many years until in 1278 Amicia Countess of Devon willed it to the Abbot and Convent of Buckland Monachorum . With the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was sold to Sir John St Ledger . The five prebends of Cullompton ( Colebrook , Hineland , Wiever , Esse , Upton ) were presented by William the Conqueror to Battle Abbey in Sussex and were later held by St Nicholas Priory , Exeter . In 1536 St Nicholas Priory was dissolved and the last Prior gained appointment as the Vicar of Cullompton . Patronage then passed to the More family of Moorehays . 
