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Summary

Site of Fernworthy farmhouse which was demolished in the 1940s to make way for the reservoir. There are documentary references to Fernworthy in the 14th century suggesting there was a settlement here at this time. The farmhouse was apparently rebuilt in 1690 and again in 1858. All that survives today is a fragmentary outline on the ground.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Demolished, World War II to XX - 1940 AD to 1949 AD (Between))

Full description

Cocks, J. V. S., 1974-1977, Fernworthy, Dartmoor, 205-7 (Article in Serial). SDV258202.

In 1627 there were three tenements mentioned at Fernworthy. At the end of the 17th century the estate was owned by Lightfoot who rebuilt the farmhouse and set up a stone over the porch with the legend 'l 1690'. The survey of Dartmoor of 1786 shows that it was then held by Sir John Davey of Creedy. The house was rebuilt again in 1858 in granite with rough stucco. It was demolished after the end of the Second World War.

Swete, J. (ed. Gray T. + Rowe, M.), 2000, Travels in Georgian Devon. The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete. Vol. 4, 37 (Monograph). SDV339713.

Swete, in 1797, refers to Fernworthy as a moor farm worth about £50 per annum and which had recently been fitted out as a hunting seat by its owner, the late Sir John Davie.

Newman , P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 38, 56, Fig. 52 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Documentary references to Fernworthy in 1355, 1377, 1524, 1579 and 1609 suggesting there was a settlement here at this time. A map of 1796 shows the house with a range of buildings forming two rectangular yards on the north side. This plan had altered little by the time of the 1886 Ordnance Survey map. Photos dated to the earlier 1900s and 1934 show the house to have been two storey with chimney stacks at each end of a gabled slate roof. The 1934 photos shows the south elevation with two windows each side of a central door and five windows above and an outshut at the eastern end to which a range of outbuildings is attached. The house along with most of the buldings was demolished in the 1940s to make way for the reservoir and only the fragmentary outline of the building survives today.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992

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