A waterwheel turning grain, engaging tales of smugglers and shipwrecks, a moonlit search for bats and the ruins of a moated medieval castle will all feature when Heritage Open Days returns to East Devon this month.
For ten days this September, historic places across East Devon will open their doors, share their stories and invite the public to discover more about the area’s past as part of Heritage Open Days 2026.
Running from Friday, September 11, to Sunday, September 20, the annual festival offers free access to thousands of heritage sites, walks, talks and activities across England. This year’s theme, Everyday Histories, looks at the working lives, skills, routines and community stories that have helped form the country.
In East Devon, that means a chance to explore watermills, old stables, hillforts, chapels, village streets and ruins that have witnessed centuries of change.
Water power and grand houses
Branscombe’s Manor Mill offers one of the most vivid links with East Devon’s rural working past. The rare, fully working Victorian watermill allows visitors to see water power in action as the wheel, cogs and millstones turn to produce freshly milled grain. In the nineteenth century, machinery of this kind was vital to village food production, using the force of water to perform work that would otherwise have required immense human labour.
On Sunday, September 20, a guided Branscombe walking tour will begin at the beach at 2pm and trace the history of the coastal village before reaching Manor Mill for a 20-minute tour and milling demonstration led by guides in Victorian costume. The route will explore Branscombe’s commercial heyday, recalling buildings that once housed general stores, carpenters and coffin makers, butchers and slaughter yards, as well as a munitions factory. There will also be stories of smuggling, hardship and the occasional ghost before the walk crosses pastureland and an orchard to finish at the Old Bakery.
Killerton will also offer a window into life from times gone by in Devon. Visitors can visit for free from September 11 to 13, between 10am and 5pm. This is a great chance to explore its eighteenth-century house, landscaped gardens, extensive parkland and fashion collection during Heritage Open Days. See the exhibition by the Devon History Society exploring the public service of Eleanor and Frances Acland during the 1920s, plus a small display examining the connection between Sir Thomas Dyke Acland and Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop.
Lost mansions and stable yard stories
A building intended to serve a grand country mansion, though the mansion was never completed, will open to the public for the first time during the festival.
Silverton Park Stables, near Silverton, will welcome visitors on Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20. The building is usually occupied by Landmark Trust holiday guests.
The stables are the surviving remnant of an ambitious project begun in 1837 by George Francis Wyndham, the fourth Earl of Egremont. He inherited the Silverton estate and planned a grand classical mansion with an impressive stable block for horses, carriages and staff.
Architect J. T. Knowles designed the stables to match the scale and style of the proposed house. But when Wyndham died in 1845, the larger project was abandoned, and the mansion was later demolished. The stable block survived, later serving agricultural purposes before being rescued by the Landmark Trust in 1987 and restored. It opened again in 2008.
During Heritage Open Days, visitors will be able to explore its portico and courtyard, with historical leaflets and children’s activity sheets available on site. Pre-booking is preferred.
Castles, hillforts and creatures of the night
Hemyock Castle opens for self-guided visits on Sunday, September 13. Its surviving ruins include the gatehouse archway, towers, curtain walls and moat of a medieval castle surrounding an older manor house. Visitors will also find an interpretation centre, cider press and farmyard displays.
Further east, history will meet wildlife after dark at Blackbury Camp Iron Age hillfort near Southleigh, Colyton. A moonlit bat-detecting walk takes place on Friday, September 11, at 7.30pm. English Heritage and East Devon National Landscape have teamed up with Devon Bat Group expert Sarah Butcher for the event, which lasts about 90 minutes.
The ancient hillfort’s old oak trees provide ideal roosting places for bats. Using bat detectors, participants will learn how to identify species by their calls and observe how they fly. The walk offers a different way to experience an Iron Age monument, where ancient ramparts and ditches have become part of a living habitat.
A few days later, at Hembury Hillfort near Broadhembury, Devon County Archaeologist Bill Horner will lead a guided walk on Wednesday, September 16, from 4pm to 5.30pm. Hembury is described as Devon’s most spectacular Iron Age hillfort. Its enormous earth ramparts and ditches date from the middle of the first millennium BC and stand on a prominent spur of the Blackdown Hills, offering commanding views across the countryside. The tour requires advance booking, and walkers should expect rough or muddy paths.
Plague, pillage and peril at sea
East Budleigh’s Salem Chapel will turn the spotlight on some of the area’s bleakest and most dramatic stories. The chapel, built in 1719 for dissenters, will host Plague, Pillage and Perils at Sea: Our Gruesome Heritage on Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20, from 2pm to 4pm.
The exhibition explores the Black Death’s devastating impact on East Budleigh in 1348, when bubonic plague decimated the local population but was followed by an era of economic prosperity. It will also revisit the village’s experience of pillage, after which residents successfully petitioned the King and received the rare concession of a reprieve from taxes. Accounts of local shipwrecks and daring rescues will complete an account that shows history at its harshest, most precarious and most resilient.
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