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Lambert
Formerly parish of Cheriton Bishop, now Drewsteignton (modern parish). Manor of (Little) Lampford
by
Sophia Lambert (2006 and 2018)
Also spelt Lantford, Lanforda (in the Domesday Book), Lamford (1275), Lampford (1491), and Lamsford. Probably means “lambs’ ford”, i.e. a ford shallow enough for lambs to cross. One historian (H.P.R. Finberg) has however suggested that Lambert may be the Hana’s Ford mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 739 charter which had by 976 changed its name to Lamford. He suggests that it may mean land’s ford, ie the ford on the boundary.
The farrm is situated at the end of a long lane, the unmarked entrance to which is on the north side of the hamlet of Crockernwell (on the old A30 road from Exeter to Okehampton). It was once in the middle of unspoilt countryside. But the 20th century rerouting of the A30 means that the farmhouse and its outbuildings (converted into residences) are now near to a noisy dual carriageway.
Historically, the farm was in Cheriton Bishop, whose boundary with Drewsteignton ran along the old A30 through the middle of Crockernwell. However, after the A30 dual carriageway was built, the boundary was moved north to align with the new road and Lambert is now in Drewsteignton.
Lambert in the early 2000s
Early history
There were two neighbouring manors called variants of Lambert in the Domesday Book, probably because an earlier Anglo-Saxon estate had been divided into two parts. One was much larger than the other (almost 1,000 acres) and passed by inheritance to the Fulford family of Dunsford in the 1300s. The smaller, or “Little Lampford” was only 190 acres. Distinguishing who owned what and when is complicated by the fact that it is often not clear from the deeds which Lambert is meant, and also by the fact that there seem to have been a number of exchanges of land between the manors. It seems likely, however, that the farm now called Lambert is all that is left of the smaller of the two manors, with some land acquired from the larger manor.
According to the Domesday Book, Little Lampford belonged in 1066 to a Saxon called Leuegar and in 1086 to a Norman called Osbern de Salceid. In the 13th century the Manor (or part of it) appears to have passed to the Prior of Plympton. After the Reformation and the confiscation of monastery lands, ownership became increasingly confused, with different families probably owning different parts. However, sometime in the 1500s, the farm now known as Lambert was acquired (no doubt first by rental and then by purchase) by a family called Gorven or Gorwyn, from the farm of that name on the eastern side of Cheriton Bishop. They were rich yeomen who owned a number of farms, and the acquirer of Lambert was probably a younger son branching off on his own. He seems to have built up a substantial holding by gradually renting or purchasing parcels of land around, including from the Fulfords, so that he became a manorial tenant of the larger Manor of Lampford.
It seems likely that, because of its reputation as an ancient manor, it was a socially desirable purchase. Perhaps for this reason, that branch of the Gorwyn family added Lambert to their name and were subsequently known as Lambert Gorwyn or even plain Lambert. The Lambert Gorwyns remained the owners of the farm for more than 300 years.
References in the records include the following:
• 1567: half of a tenement called Lampford was held by John Gorven for his lifetime from John Fulford, knight and lord of Lampford. John Gorven applied to have the reversion passed to his sons William Gorvan and Richard Gorvan for the term of the longest living of them, subject to the customs of the manor. A fine of £10 was paid to have them admitted and to pass his holding to his sons. (Fulford manorial records in the Devon Archives.)
• 1590: William Gorwyne purchased the freehold from the Beaumont family (a big landowning family based at Gittisham) and also acquired what was described as a half-share of the property from the Fulfords at around the same time – so it is probable that the freehold was at that time jointly owned by those two families.
• 1635: an inquisition after the death of William Gorwyn (probably the son of the previous one) confirmed that he owned Lambert and his heir was John Gorwyn.
• 1644: John Gorwin alias Lampford was recorded as paying manorial rent in the Fulfords’ Manor of Lampford, and probably lived at Lambert.
• The property nearly passed out of Lambert Gorwyn hands in the early 18th century. George Gorwyn, the then occupant, died without male heirs in 1716, bequeathing a 21-year lease of the property to a friend called Robert Moalle. The freehold, according to the custom of the time, was inherited by his three married sisters in equal shares. However, the male Gorwyn line managed to re-acquire the property, although not without legal disputes. At the end of John Moalle’s lease, the farm passed into the hands of Richard Gorwyn of Drewsteignton (1693-1764), who appears to have put his son John Lambert Gorwyn (1719-1765) into the property. He and his wife Mary brought up nine children there. Mary was a woman of considerable spirit and there is a fascinating account in the National Archives of a row after her husband’s death when one of his cousins turned up at Lambert with two lawyers to inspect some deeds and she “flew into a passion”, telling one of the lawyers that he could “kiss her backside” before the Lambert Gorwyns released the deeds without a court order (ref: C12/1529/14 and C12/1319/18).
• 1765: after John’s death, Lambert went to his eldest son John Lambert Gorwyn (1746-1823). He lived there with his mother until her death in 1797. John, a bachelor, was a prosperous farmer who owned a lot of land round about. In 1821 he was recorded by the census as living at Lambert with no fewer than seven apprentices.
• 1823: John Lambert Gorwyn died, the last Lambert Gorwyn to live at Lambert. In his will, he directed that timber growing in the piece of land called Woody next to “Lampford Manor House” should not be coppiced, as his will was that the timber should stand and grow there forever (this was probably Woodhay, a 7-acre wood to the north-west of the house). He bequeathed Lambert, together with most of the rest of his substantial estate, to his nephew William Lambert Gorwyn of Wallon in Drewsteignton (1780-1853), also a wealthy farmer aspiring to be gentry. William stayed at Wallon but seems to have taken the farm in hand, possibly putting his bailiff or “hind” in the house (unfortunately the relevant page of the 1841 census is illegible, but in 1851 the occupants were John Phillips, hind, and family).
• 1853 William died, leaving his considerable property, including Lambert, to his son William Lambert (1810-1887). William junior had, however, by then deserted farming to become a solicitor in Exeter, and let Lambert to a farmer called James Wrayford, who lived and farmed there until at least 1891, according to the census. Later occupants include William Henderson (recorded as living there in the 1897 Kelly’s Directory); John Sanderson (1901 census); and Mrs Emma Keen and sons (1925)..
• 1890: the children of William junior sold the freehold of Lambert.
The house and farm
The early history of the farmhouse (sometimes referred to as the Manor House) called Lambert is not clear. The present building dates back to medieval times with substantial additions under the Tudors (possibly built by the Gorwyns when they acquired it in the 1500s). It may have been built originally for the bailiff who ran the manor on the Prior of Plympton’s behalf. It is described by Pevsner as “a large and important farmhouse showing Devon vernacular at its 15th to 17th century best”. It has a number of interesting ancient architectural features, including much oak panelling. But it has been substantially remodelled in recent times and it is not that easy now to imagine how it was originally.
When the estate was sold in 1890, the sale prospectus describes the farmhouse as ‘a cheerful capital dwelling of good appearance, standing high and commanding varied and extensive views, with garden and court in front’. It contains 5 Bedrooms, Drawing-room, Parlour, front and back Kitchens, Pantry, Dairy and two Cider Cellars. In the rear, there is a Walled and Paved Court with piggery, duck cots, Closets etc”.
The prospectus also describes the outbuildings, which indicate a large and complex working farm:
‘The Buildings, which are partly of slate and stone-built, consist of a large Manure and Implement House, with Loft, Cellar and Corn Store, and granary over, Pound House with Machine and Apple Loft, two 4-stall Stables, both with Loft over There was. The farm buildings, partly slate and stone built, included a large manure and implement house; a corn store with granary over; pound-house with machine room and apple loft; two 4-stall stables; a 6-stall Cowshed; Root-house with Loft, Yearling House, second ditto, used as bullock, Shippen and Root House, Waggon Shed, Cart Linhay, enclosed Fold-yard with Shippen for 10 bullocks; and a range of Bullock and Calf Houses with reed loft over.’
The acreage in 1890 was about 188 acres, ‘Of sound Arable, Pasture, Orchard, Meadow and Woodland, in a ring-fence, finely and abundantly stocked with large Oak, Elm, Ash, Beech, Fir and other Timber, and supplied with good water from wells, springs and brooks’.
So a very substantial farm with good quality land.
Plan of the farm and its buildings in 1890
Listing
The farmhouse was given a Grade II* heritage listing in 1965, as a particularly important building of more than special interest.
Historic England description of Lambert Farmhouse
Farmhouse, now house. Late 15th- early 16th century with major 16th and 17th century improvements and extensions, adjoining late C18- early C19 range of outbuildings, modernised 1982-4.
Plastered cob on rubble footings; granite ashlar and rubble and brick stacks; thatched roof. Two storeys facing south. Main block with three-room-and-through-passage plan with small inner room at east end (right of front). Parlour wing added behind inner room and stair-block with chambers built to rear of passage and hall.
Range of single storey outbuildings in front of service end were originally detached but connected in 19th century. Large axial hall stack backing onto passage and gable-end stacks to main and parlour blocks. Four-window front to right of outbuilding comprising 19th and 20th century wooden casements of various sizes all with glazing bars, the largest of three lights to hall. Thatched eyebrow over hall chamber window and another over blocked inner room chamber window, four-light, oak frame with square-sectioned mullions.
East front has gabled dormer to parlour chamber containing original early 17th century oak-framed four-light window with moulded mullions and surround. Original granite chimney shafts to hall and parlour with moulded caps, latter with triple mouldings. Mounting block under half-hipped end of outbuilding.
Well-preserved interior with complex structural history. Smoke-blackening of roof from earliest period only observed over hall and passage where two bays supported on side-pegged jointed cruck truss but stylistically earlier jointed cruck (side-pegged with slip tenon) survives over service end. Service and inner rooms floored in 16th century with chamfered and step-stopped beams. Oak, shoulder-headed doorframe to rear of service room probably reset from passage. Inner chamber jettied into hall over oak plank-and-muntin screen with upper large framing on moulded bressumer.
On lower side of passage, full height cob crosswall contains oak flat-arched doorframe and was blind at first floor level until imported oak shoulder-headed arch inserted in 1983. Hall fireplace, granite with broad-bead-moulded oak lintel, built with passage chamber which jetties into lower end of hall over oak plank-and-muntin passage screen and
has remains of upper oak-plank-and muntin screen on moulded bressumer.
Narrow stairs with thick oak treads rise to left of fireplace. Hall floored in late 16th-early 17th century with chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam and joists.
Early 17th century rear-stair block and adjoining dairy under continuous lean-to roof was rearranged 1983-4. Door from hall to stairs blocked, stair rebuilt in dairy behind passage, former stairwell floored, oak flat-arched doorframe containing original oak studded door moved from rear of passage and is reset in cob dividing wall between dairy and stairwell, and former dairy oak window has six of original eleven close-set diamond
mullions removed to produce larger lights. Contemporary parlour wing gained from hall, and has granite fireplace with ovolo-moulded and step-stopped oak lintel on ground floor and two-bay roof with side-pegged jointed cruck truss. Hall chamber has two early 17th century ovolo-moulded and elaborately stopped doorframes, one to stair block, one to parlour chamber.
Notable late 17th-early 18th century fittings include spit rack over hall fireplace, spice cupboard in hall, 2-panel doors, and an oak four-light flat- faced mullioned window to rear of service chamber. Both service and inner room stacks are brick and added in 19th century. Outbuilding has three-bay roof of A-frames with pegged lap-jointed collars.
A good example of a multi-phase Devon farmhouse. Domesday manor Lantford.
A number of the outbuildings are listed Grade II.
Outhouse and adjoining walls,
approximately 10m north of Lambert
Outhouse and adjoining walls enclosing courtyard rear of Lambert farmhouse. Probably mid-late 19th century. Plastered cob on rubble footings; slate roofs to outhouse and walls. Narrow, gable-ended two-storey outhouse facing south into courtyard. High wall extends south from left corner to farmhouse forming west side of courtyard. Another high wall from rear right (east) forms parlour block. Archways are provided on all three sides. Outhouse has door to WC at left end and two low wide openings and a first floor loading bay left of centre. To rear it is open sides at ground level and appears to have been used to water stock since troughs are provided and a large well exists in courtyard. Included for group value.
Cottage (formerly listed as Lambert Farm Cottage)
and adjoining outbuilding, about 10m west of Lambert Farmhouse
Cottage and adjoining outbuilding, former agricultural buildings, possibly granary and barn. Probably 18th century, converted to cottage and garage circa 1960, modernised circa 1982. Rendered cob on rubble footings; brick stacks; thatched roof. Two storeys, facing west. Two room cottage to right, store open to roof to left, both under continuous roof. Axial stack in party wall between cottage and store and rear lateral stack to right-end room. Roof hipped to right, half-hipped to left. Three-window front to cottage of circa 1960 wooden casements. Projecting barn entrance porch blocked with circa 1982 casement to store left. Unglazed mullion window to right of porch under timber lintel. 18th century external granite steps in centre to door blocked by 20th century window. Included for group value.
Piggery, about 15m south-west of Lambert Farmhouse
Stables, now piggery. Probably late 18th -early 19th century. Plastered cob on rubble footings; corrugated asbestos and iron roof. Two storeys facing east. Three stalls with hay loft over at southern end and earlier northern section (separated from stalls by cob wall to first floor level) open to roof. Roof hipped to left and gabled (formerly half-hipped) to right. Although lower parts of stable doors are blocked original arrangement is clear, comprising three doorways each with small window to left and hayloft loading bay above, and at northern end a fourth door with small window to left. Bullseye ventilator high in north end wall maybe an owl-hole. Continuous roof of oak A-frames with pegged lap-jointed collars; 6 bays over stalls and 4 over northern section. Included for group value.
Barn, about 100m south of Lambert Farmhouse
Barn. 19th century. Plastered cob on rubble footings with some brick patching. Hipped corrugated iron roof formerly two storeys, now open to roof. Large opposing double doors flanked by porch walls with monopitch hood on raking struts continuing pitch of main roof. Five-bay low pitch scissor-braced roof hipped both ends. Included for group value.
Linhay, about 20m east of Lambert Farmhouse
Probably late 18th-early 19th century. Plastered cob on rubble footings on three sides with originally open front now closed with 20th century blockwork and weatherboarding; thatched roof. Five bays. Heavy first floor oak crossbeams are set in rear cob wall and are supported by granite pillars at the front. Oak posts are set in the front ends of the beams and rise past the hayloft to carry the A-frame roof trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. Included for group value.