Crediton

At the Domesday survey (1086) much of the land was still uncultivated, but its prosperity increased, and in 1269 each of the twelve Prebendary of the collegiate church had a house and farmland within the parish. The bishops to whom the manor belonged until the Reformation had difficulty in enforcing their warren and other rights; in 1351 John Grandisson obtained an exemplification of judgments of 1282, declaring that he had pleas of withername, a view of frankpledge, the gallows and assize of bread and ale. Two years later there was a serious riot against the increase of copyhold.

The jury of the borough are mentioned in 1275, and Crediton returned two members to parliament during the reign of Edward I, in 1306–07, though it was never afterwards represented again. A borough seal dated 1469 is extant, but the corporation is not mentioned in the grant made by Edward VI of the church to twelve principal inhabitants. The borough and manor were granted by Elizabeth I to William Killigrew in 1595, but there is no indication of town organization then or in 1630, and in the 18th century Crediton was governed by .

The wool trade was established by 1249, and the manufacture and trading of woollen cloth, especially serge, peaked in the 16th century when the town reached the height of its prosperity. In 1630 the market for kerseys was mentioned in conjunction with a saying as fine as Kirton spinning. The woollen textile trade declined after the mid 18th century.

The Western Rising, also called the Prayer Book Rebellion, gained its strength in Crediton in 1549.

During the English Civil War the Earl of Essex passed through the town on 20 July 1644 on his way to Cornwall,

In late 1645 and early 1646 the town was used as a base by Thomas Fairfax and the New Model Army from where they marched on the Royalist forces gathering in North Devon, and to where they returned on 29 March 1646 after success both at the Battle of Torrington and in overturning the siege of Plymouth.