Step into Combe Martin History

 Silver Mines, Earl of Rone & Village Heritage

Set deep within a North Devon valley, Combe Martin is famous for its remarkably long main street and a rich heritage 

• Centuries of silver and polymetallic mining including copper and iron.

• Thriving cottage industries and artisans.

• Multiple industries, agriculture and celebrated strawberry harvests.

• Unique North Devon traditions and folklore.

• The annual May bank holiday Earl of Rone Festival.

Tucked inside the steep Umber Valley on the edge of Exmoor, our heritage blends centuries of heavy industry, maritime trade, and distinct Devon folklore. 

Overview: From Silver to Strawberries:

700 Years of Combe Martin Industry

Combe Martin's 700-year industrial evolution is rooted in its linear topography along the River Umber valley. The village had a diverse, overlapping network of extractive, metallurgical, maritime, and agricultural activities.

Key early foundations include 12th-century textile processing, 1198 water-powered corn mills, and 1292 silver-lead "Mines Royal", whose high-silver galena financed Crown military efforts and set a legal precedent in the 1568 Case of Mines.

Whilst small-scale lead smelting gave way to mid-19th-century processing on King Street, deep-level mining ultimately collapsed by 1881 due to flooding, high pumping costs, and foreign imports.

Beyond silver, the valley capitalised on secondary minerals like umber and imported coastal culm (anthracite) to fire local lime kilns for soil conditioning. Combe Martin had the highest concentration of lime kilns in North Devon.

The local economy further diversified into mid-19th-century shipbuilding, bay fishing, late 19th-to-mid-20th-century market gardening—famous for early-season strawberries—and local jam manufacturing.

Coastal cargo vessels like the Clyde Puffer SS Snowflake connected these terrestrial industries to wider Bristol Channel trade networks, illustrating the parish's continuous economic adaptation.

Combe Martin Museum Historic Photos | License for Use CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

About Combe Martin Museum

Combe Martin Famous People

Combe Martin’s story is a tapestry of industry, resilience, and coastal life, shaped over centuries by its mineral‑rich valley, maritime links, and distinctive cultural traditions. 

For a comprehensive overview, explore our chronological history↗ 

Rooted in our village heritage, Combe Martin Museum's collections tell stories that extend far beyond the village itself.

From six centuries of silver mining and maritime life to changing rural industries and community traditions, Combe Martin Museum preserves and shares heritage that reflects wider themes in England’s economic, social and cultural history.

In doing so, it helps future generations understand how local communities have contributed to the nation’s story.

Discover the extraordinary stories of people who helped transform Combe Martin into a popular maritime village and tourist destination.

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Experience History at Combe Martin Museum

Visit our museum and uncover the rich history of Combe Martin, through three floors of rich heritage with fascinating exhibitions and a busy events schedule.

Combe Martin’s story is one of a small North Devon village shaped by centuries of industry, resilience, and coastal life — from Saxon and Norman times to medieval silver mining and a thriving maritime and market‑gardening community.

Our award‑winning, Arts Council accredited museum captures that heritage with clarity and pride. Inside our fully accessible building on Cross Street, visitors experience our village’s extraordinary social history and heritage.

Seafaring traditions, a once‑remarkable strawberry‑growing industry, deep Exmoor ties, and the village’s unique carnival and festival traditions— expressed most vividly through the annual Hunting of the Earl of Rone festival— all come together here in a living record of Combe Martin’s past.

Discover interactive displays, archives, and community‑driven exhibitions that make Combe Martin Museum the gateway to our past and present.

Welcome to Combe Martin

Nestled in a wooded valley between Exmoor and the Bristol Channel, this former Saxon settlement rose to prominence following the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The area's resources and coastal location were invaluable to the local populace, and to long‑distance traders and monarchs.

Today, the village is known for its striking linear layout and tourism—boasting one of the longest main streets in Britain.

A World record: In 2002, Combe Martin earned a place in the Guinness World Records for hosting the longest street party, held in celebration of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Why Visit Combe Martin? 

Our history is steeped in medieval power and privilege, industry, and self-sufficiency. Over many decades, locals and visitors to Combe Martin have enjoyed our beaches, summer carnivals, street events and strawberry fayres.

"The Hunting of The Earl of Rone" happens during May, and the legendary North Devon Mini Cars Grand Tour (LGT) usually passes through the long village street in August.

Visitors can wander the trails where silver lead ore was mined for six centuries, smoke once filled the air, and where our remarkable strawberry trade flourished—tracing the footsteps of an extraordinary yet vanished community.

Combe Martin's Annual Earl of Rone Festival

Each Spring Bank Holiday weekend in late May, Combe Martin erupts in the raucous “Hunting of the Earl of Rone festival". Crowds gather to watch this spectacle every year. 

To view the costumes, photographs and a video of this celebrated folk custom: visit Combe Martin Museum on Cross Street near the Kiln Car Park and beach.

Once banned for excessive revelry in 1837, this historic tradition galloped back to life in the 1970s, capturing Combe Martin’s irrepressible spirit. It's now a widely reported folk festival.

Courtesy of Combe Martin's Earl of Rone Council, we have included the 2026 official schedule on this page.

Museum staff are available to explain the 'Hunting' and answer questions, Monday to Friday: 10:30 am till 4:00 pm. 

Over the four days, the fugitive Earl is hunted in the village. Finally captured on the Monday, he is paraded, 'shot', and heckled through the village to the delight of spectators. 

The 'Obby-Oss' cavorts down Combe Martin's famously long main street, flanked by Grenadiers, the Fool and dancers, and a band and drummers.

On the Monday evening, the festival finale is held on Combe Martin's harbour beach. We won't spoil it all by telling you what happens!

Visit the official website: The Hunting of the Earl of Rone

Combe Martin's Unique Geological Structures

Combe Martin’s dramatic landscape was forged over 400 million years ago during the Devonian period. Tectonic forces folded layers of local slate and sandstone, carving out our steep valley and creating the towering coastal cliffs of Exmoor.

These earth movements also trapped rich veins of silver-bearing lead ore in the rock, giving rise to the medieval silver mines that made Combe Martin famous throughout the realm from the late thirteenth-century onwards.

The Norman Conquest

Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the vast majority of Anglo-Saxon nobles were dispossessed of their estates, although a small number of lesser thegns retained limited holdings under the new Norman feudal order.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records that the North Devon coastal manor of Cumbe (now Combe Martin) was held directly from King William I by William de Falaise, a Norman tenant-in-chief from Falaise in Normandy.

This manor subsequently came under the ownership of the FitzMartin family following the marriage of Robert FitzMartin to Geva de Tracy. Geva’s holdings comprised inherited lands from the Devon estates of William de Falaise.

Although local tradition surrounding "Martin de Tours" is apocryphal, the FitzMartin family's enduring association with the manor ultimately determined the village's present-day name.

Their descendant Nicholas FitzMartin later obtained a royal charter from King Henry III in 1264 authorizing a weekly market and an annual fair in the town.

Medieval Mining and Milling (12th–19th centuries)

From the 12th century onward, Combe Martin’s Higher Mill was sited near the late 17th century landmark The Pack o' Cards Inn. Lower Mill, sited at the top of Cross Street, used man‑made water channels (leats) and small river dams (weirs) to power mill wheels.

These mills ground corn and supported a largely self‑sufficient rural community. In older British English terms, "corn" meant any cereal grain such as wheat, oats, and barley, not specifically maize. 

Combe Martin's Royal Silver Mines

By the late 13th century, Combe Martin had become one of England’s most important centres of royal silver mining.

Under King Edward I, miners tunnelled deep into Combe Martin's hillsides to extract argentiferous galena — silver- bearing lead sulphide mineral — raising and separating ores through manual labour and machinery.

By 1292 silver production was sufficiently important for the Crown to organise production directly, with skilled Derbyshire miners brought to Combe Martin in 1295 to manage the work.

Mining continued intermittently for six centuries. The Elizabethan revival of 1587–1593 saw Adrian Gilbert and Bevis Bulmer reopen deep workings and extract a rich new vein, with silver traditionally said to have been crafted into ceremonial plate for the City of London.

This joint enterprise appears to have been profitable for several years.

Further attempts followed in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was the Victorian era that transformed the landscape.

Between 1835 and 1848, new companies introduced Cornish deep‑shaft technology, steam‑powered beam engines, and substantial surface infrastructure.

Surviving remains include Harris’s Shaft, Williams’ Shaft, spoil heaps, retaining walls, and the foundations of a 19th‑century engine house.

“Surviving remains include the foundations of beam engine houses… spoil heaps… and associated structures.”

The silver extracted here helped support royal finances during periods of war. History records that Edward I’s campaigns “required substantial financial resources, and silver production helped support royal coinage and military expenditure.”

Later medieval monarchs, including Edward III and Henry V, also relied on silver from Devon and other royal mines to fund military campaigns.

Mining at Combe Martin finally declined in the late 19th century and ceased around 1902, leaving behind one of North Devon’s most important industrial archaeological landscapes.

Combe Martin in the Tudor Age

In Tudor times (c. 1485 to 1603) Combe Martin briefly touched national events through Sir Richard Pollard (MP), the Crown official who was granted Combe Martin manor by King Henry VIII.

Pollard helped carry out the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536 to 1541) - a process that reshaped land ownership across England. The changes were felt locally as Combe Martin’s medieval estates passed into new hands (Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, 2022)

Agricultural and Industrial Growth (15th century–Victorian era)

From the 15th century to Victorian times, Combe Martin supplied the region's ropemakers and sailmakers with high-grade hemp, and the finest shoemakers' thread for cordwainers.

Nestled along the River Umber, Combe Martin’s historic watermills were once vital to village life — powering grain milling, silver smelting, and even local cloth production.

As many as 19 lime-burning kilns, the highest number in North Devon, burned round-the-clock at Combe Martin, during the 19th century.

Local lime-workers supplied lime to Combe Martin farmers and builders.

Beneath the rolling hills on the western edge of scenic Exmoor, rich veins of silver and lead sustained Combe Martin for six centuries.

Every footstep retraces the courage of miners, and the hard work of local industries.

Decline and Legacy (Mid-1800s)

The mills had ceased to operate by the mid-1800s, yet their legacy lives on in place names, preserved millstones, and the village’s enduring connection to its industrious past.

Smuggling and Shipbuilding (18th–19th centuries)

During the 18th and 19th centuries and the "Golden Age of Smuggling" here, the fledgling Customs and Excise battled with 'bootleggers' and locals all trading in illicit goods.

On the River Umber’s banks, steam-powered sawmills, and a cutting-edge shipyard, launched schooners such as the Mary and Elizabeth, linking Combe Martin to wider maritime trade.

Smoggy and "a Shammick" in the 19th Century

Industrious and smoggy Combe Martin was criticised in the 19th century for being a Shammick, an old West Country term for a mess or a shambles.

Combe Martin locals with roots in the valley have long referred to themselves as Shammickites, an enduring local demonym likely connected to the village's Victorian reputation. It's also the title of the widely distributed village magazine.

Silver Mining Heritage

Queen Victoria purchased five items of Combe Martin silver in 1851.

Combe Martin silver is still held in the London Banqueting House collection.

After Combe Martin's silver mines closed in the late 19th century, the village quickly adapted to market gardening and cottage industries.

As industrial furnaces cooled, fertile slopes bloomed with market gardening: superior strawberries, flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Market Gardening

In the early 20th century, soft fruits and vegetables travelled by rail and ship to markets as far afield as London.

Up to two dozen carts per day carrying tons of produce, were loaded at Combe Martin harbour cove, for export around the Bristol Channel ports. 

Local jam-makers harnessed the local produce and strawberry beds, turning Combe Martin’s market gardening industry into a Devon staple.

Combe Martin in Art and Literature

Combe Martin and Exmoor feature in popular literature and poetry, and in famous artworks. 

Celebrated artist J.M.W. Turner produced seascapes, and topographical sketches of Combe Martin’s rugged coastline and Exmoor’s storm-lashed cliffs.

The Tate’s catalogue entry for Turner's sketch “Combe Martin Harbour” is explicitly dated 1811.

Novelist R.D. Blackmore and his family have connections with Combe Martin, and officiated at our St Peter ad Vincula Church. R.D. Blackmore set his classic novel Lorna Doone in the wild romance of Doone Valley.

The popular Victorian author Marie Corelli featured Combe Martin’s real-life sexton James Norman, in her fin de siècle novel The Mighty Atom (1896).

Guidebooks such as F.J. Snell’s The Blackmore Country (1911), and William White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Devon (1878–79), chronicle local folklore and topography.

St Peter ad Vincula Church

At the heart of Combe Martin stands the 13th-century Anglican Church of St Peter ad Vincula, a historic monument known for its unique monuments and remarkable craftsmanship.

Among its treasures is a 15th-century rood screen, carved from Perpendicular Gothic oak — a striking example of medieval artistry.

Shammickites, prominent personalities including actor Terry Thomas, also local gentry and colourful village characters, rest in St Peter's churchyard.

Visit Combe Martin Museum

Today, museum visitors trace these layered stories at the Combe Martin Museum & Information Point, on Cross Street EX34 0DH. The museum is also a South West Coast Path Passport Stamp Station.

Combe Martin’s history is more than dates and artefacts; it’s a living tapestry of innovation, industry, and adaptation.

Acknowledgements 

Combe Martin Museum acknowledges the local book "Out of The World and Into Combe Martin" (1989), by the Combe Martin Local History Group (now defunct). And the more recent research by the Combe Martin Village History Project.

The Historical Evolution of Combe Martin’s Watermills (12th–19th Centuries)

Page copyright: author for Combe Martin Museum and Information Point, 2025-2026 | All rights reserved.

Page last modified on August 15, 2026

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