Colebrook

Various theories have been put forward for the derivation of the name Colebrook; one suggests that the Saxon 'coln' meaning 'pebble' has given us the pebbly brook - Colebrook; another possibility is that the 'col' is the celtic ridge which appears in Coleland.

Then again Bill Best-Harris, in his Place Names of Plymouth, Dartmoor, etc., suggested that it is either Cola's Brook or Cool Brook. Certainly, until recently, the naturally arising water opposite the Colebrook Inn was used to keep the milk churns of the local dairy cool.

Whatever the explanation it is almost certain that it will equally apply to the two other Colebrooks to be found in Devon, the largest of the three being near Crediton, the other being a hamlet of Cullompton.

EH 25 September 1993