Hole

Parish of Cheriton Bishop, Manor of Lampford

by

Sophia Lambert (April 2006 and 2017)

    Hole is a very common place-name in Devon, and usually means a small hollow or combe opening out of some wider valley.

     The Hole in Cheriton Bishop is an ancient farm; at the time of the 1332 Lay Subsidy (a tax on the more prosperous members of society raised by Edward III), one of the 16 tax-payers in the area that is now Cheriton Bishop was “John atte Hole” (this was at a time when few people had surnames). So it was probably quite a large establishment at that time. It was part of the tything or Manor of Lamford. The present farmhouse is built of stone with brick extensions probably added in the 19th or early 20th century. It has inglenook fireplaces and a bread oven and the core may well date back to the 16th century. It has about 5 bedrooms. The farmland around is good.

   The Manor of Lamford or Lampford (now Lambert) came through a 13th century marriage into the hands of the Fulfords of Great Fulford in Dunsford. Hole would in the early years have been occupied by a farmer under some sort of feudal tenure, probably involving the provision of so many days’ labour to the Fulfords. Feudal tenure was later replaced by a system of 99-year leases “determinable” on the lives of up to three named people. Under this system, the leaseholder normally paid a largish up-front payment to the landlord for a lease technically for 99 years but which effectively ended after the last death of three people specified in the lease, often his wife and children. The leaseholder paid a smallish annual rent and a “herriot” of his “best beast” (or cash in lieu) on the deaths of each of the “lives”. Unlike some farms which remained in the same family for generations with constant renegotiations of the lease, Hole seems to have changed tenants fairly frequently.

•    1598: In the Devon Record Office, there is a list of rents paid to the Fulfords in 1598 which records that the then leaseholder was William Flowde (a variant of Flood). 

•    1727: the Cheriton Bishop church records give the occupant as Mrs Furs (probably a variant of Furse).

•    1729: Samuel Shilston (churchwarden in 1729/30) appears to have taken over as tenant, according to the church records.

•    1737: Robert Browning was the tenant and remained there at least until 1741.

•    1778: John Haydon was the tenant and, according to the church records was there until at least 1804. 

All these families were old yeoman families long established in Cheriton Bishop or neighbouring parishes. They may not all have lived at Hole; it was common for prosperous yeoman farmers to own or rent a number of farms so as to use the land. When they did so, they often housed agricultural labourers in the farmhouses that they were not living in themselves.

•    1785: in the second half of the 1700s, the Fulford family ran into debt and started selling off many of their farms in Cheriton Bishop. It seems that Hole was one of those sold, as by 1785 the land tax records list the owner of Hole as John Frost (although John Haydon remained as the tenant). 

•    Late 1700s or early 1800s: the Frost family seems to have sold the freehold of Hole to William Gorwyn, a member of another ancient yeoman family recorded in Cheriton Bishop since the early 1300s (they took their name from the farm Gorwyn, where they lived until the mid-17th century, and were also known as Lambert Gorwyn). William Gorwyn was recorded as taking an apprentice for Hole in 1809, so he must have acquired the farm before then. William Gorwyn owned a number of other farms, however, and it is not clear whether he actually lived at Hole.

•    1817: William Gorwyn died, leaving Hole and Hole Mills to his second son John Gorwyn (1783-1854). William Gorwyn’s will is in the Devon Record Office, as is that of his son John. The farm at that time consisted of some 186 acres, quite large for the period, when a reasonable living could be made from a 50-acre farm. The property appears to have included Holewell Cottage, and was valued at £1,987. John Gorwyn lived at Hole until his death. He was a bachelor and lived with his equally unmarried brother Joseph (c1787-1871). According to the census, in 1821, he was also giving lodging to his uncle Joseph Gorwyn and his son William, and employing four servants or apprentices. In 1841 there were 3 servants and 3 apprentices living there with the two brothers. By 1851, John had obviously become too old or infirm to manage, as Joseph has listed himself as the head of household. The brothers were then employing three labourers on the farm; two of these and two servants were living on the premises. 

•    1854: after John’s death, Joseph kept on the farm; in 1861 he was living there alone with only with a housekeeper to look after him. 

•    1864: Joseph Hole decided he was getting to old to continue looking after the farm and sold it to William Finch of the nearby farm of Hooperton. In the advertisement for the sale, the property was described as “a farmhouse and requisite farm buildings, labourer’s cottage, and about 180 acres of arable, meadow, pasture, superior orchard and other land “. William Finch did not wish to farm Hole himself, and let it to Joseph’s cousin William Gorwyn Haydon, who moved into Hole, allowing Joseph to continue to live there. 

•    1871: Death of Joseph. William Gorwyn Haydon remained there at least until 1881. There was a squabble over a codicil to Joseph’s will which led to a court case, extensively reported in the Western Times of 19 March 1872.

•    1891: a 71-year-old farmer called Henry Blanchford had taken over Hole and William Gorwyn Haydon had moved to the nearby farm of Forder. In 1891, Henry Blanchford was living at Hole with his wife Mary Ann, two sons in their 20s and a 16-year-old maidservant called Anna Bolt. The Blanchfords were still there in 1901, by this time with three unmarried sons, William, James and Henry, living at home, ranging in age from 31 to 44. There were also two servants: a 16-year-old maid-servant called Anna Bolt and a 13-year-old “cow boy”. One of the sons is also listed as a “cattleman”. “Hole Wells” was occupied by John Powlesland, a farm labourer from South Tawton, with his family.

•    1911: Henry Blanchford (the youngest son), aged 41, was the head of the household, which consisted of his wife Bessie, widowed mother Mary Ann, his brother William (described as working on the farm), a 16-year-old horseman and a 14-year-old cow boy.