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Summary

Fenacre Farmhouse, situated on land held by 'aggregates industries'.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST01NE/23/1

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Unknown date)

Full description

Child, P., 2002, Fenacre Farm, Burlescombe (Un-published). SDV55053.

Visited 11th Januray 2002. Appears to have no features earlier than the 19th century, although its one room deep plan may indicate earlier origins. Unoccupied and boarded up. Map object based on this Source.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Map object based on this Source.

Steinmetzer, M., 2015, Historic Building Appraisal at Fenacre, Farm, Burlescombe (Report - Assessment). SDV360057.

Oakford Archaeology were commissioned by Property Plans Southwest Ltd in August 2015 to undertake an archaeological buildings appraisal at the site of Fenacre Farm, Burlescombe, Devon (ST 0696 1784). The archive and documentary research indicates that the site has been in continuous occupation probably since the late 11th century and that the current house was probably laid out in the late-17th century.

Fenacre is a small, former farmstead lying a short distance to the north of the village of Burlescombe. The site of Fenacre, listed as Vennacre or Wennacre in Domesday, was probably owned by the Lamprey family. During the reign of Henry I (1100-1135) it belonged to Nicolas Lamprey and then passed through successive male heirs until by the mid- 12th century it became part of the manorial lands owned by the Clavil family, becoming part of Canonsleigh priory on its foundation by Walter Clavil, owner of the manor of Burlescombe. The place-name probably derives from the Old English words fenn - and æcer meaning cultivated land by the marsh. Fenacre is mentioned again in 1272.3.

Nothing is known of Fenacre Farm in the immediate post-dissolution period and the farm is not mentioned again until the late 18th century. The land tax assessment for 1780 shows that the estate was owned by John Lethbridge Esq., who became Sir John Lethbridge, 1st Baronet of Sandhill Park, Taunton in 1804 and MP for Minehead in 1806. The Lethbridge family were prominent land owners across Devon in the 18th Century and Fenacre was leased at the time to John Martin and John Corner. It was subsequently leased to John Pring from late 1780 to 1798. The output of the farm at the time was not solely agricultural with an advert in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette in 1780 describing the sale of timber. Unfortunately no details of the property were given.

Fenacre farm was purchased in 1799 by Thomas Browne Esq. The Browne family had lived at Canonsleigh for several generations. Thomas’s father died in 1794, leaving money in trust for Thomas to be inherited after his mother Margaret died. Margaret was buried in Burlescombe on 26th October 1797,7 which might have created the necessary funds for expanding the estate.

The farm was leased from 1799 to John Harwood and Fenacre and its attached chapel are mentioned for the first time in 1811 Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of England “attached to the [Canons Leigh] priory were the chapels of St Thomas and All Saints’ at Westleigh was a chapel … and the remains of an ancient chapel are discernable on the farm of Fenacre near the site of the abbey”… “…Three ancient mansions in this parish [Burlescombe] namely Ayshford Court… Pugham and Fenacre have all been converted into farm houses.”

The land tax assessments for the early 19th century show that John Harwood remained at Fenacre until at least 1815 and that the lease was subsequently acquired by Benjamin James in 1816. Benjamin is mentioned in the land tax assessments for Fenacre until 1832, although John Harwood is mentioned in a conveyancing document between Thomas Browne and the Grand Western Canal in 1822.

The 1822 conveyancing map (Fig. 2) shows Fenacre or Vinegar Farm for the first time. The large rectangular farmhouse with the chapel and linhay on the south side of the yard, while the threshing barn, with a projecting range of buildings to the east is to the south of these.

The tithe survey of Burlescombe parish in 1841 (Fig. 3) clearly shows the main house with its new rear extension, the chapel with a small outbuilding to the north, the linhay, the threshing barn and horse engine house, a building range to the east of the barn, as well as a smaller agricultural building further east. The property, along with the orchard to the north, and the gardens and fields to the south and east was occupied by James Benjamin. He was listed in the Burlescombe burial registers as living at Fenacre Farm when he was buried on 31st December 1859 aged 84.

By the 1860’s Fenacre had been acquired by William Carew Rayer Esq. of Holcombe Court, and although mortgaged in 1870 (Fig. 4) to Richard Clarke and Thomas Carew as security on a loan, the property was reacquired in 1903 by Mrs C Rayer.

The area was mapped by the Ordnance Survey in 1889, when the property was shown in the greatest detail thus far (Fig. 5). The east end of the Linhay had been extended southwards to presumably provide a covered cow house. The map also shows a now demolished range to the west and east of the threshing barn, as well as a small building immediately adjacent to the river but with no indication of the building’s function. The northern end of the site remained an orchard.

The property remained remarkably unaltered throughout the early 20th century, as is evidenced by the 1905 Ordnance Survey map (Fig. 6). Fenacre Farm started suffering from neglect and a severe fire in the 1930’s and by 1970 (Fig. 7) the horse engine house and range of buildings to the east of the threshing barn were either in a ruinous state or had been demolished.

The removal of internal and external render, partitions and stud walls during refurbishment of the house permitted closer inspection of the historic building fabric, while the outbuildings were recorded prior to any work commencing, allowing the identification of areas that contained original features and areas where these had been replaced. Although Fenacre Farm has been greatly altered it nevertheless retains features dating from the late 17th-19th centuries.

The house is set back from the access track behind a low wall constructed of coursed stone rubble. The wall does not appear on the 1822 plan but is shown on the tithe map of 1841. It was presumably constructed after a realignment of the access track in the 19th century. It is considered probable, given the presence of a chapel at the site and the known documentary history of the farm, that there was an important medieval house on the site. The location of this structure and the reasons for its replacement with the present building, are unknown. Buried remains of a medieval house may yet survive on or near the site of the present building.

The house is a two-storey structure, constructed of coursed stone rubble covered with painted render. The original core of the house is a rectangular range, aligned north east-south west, and crowned with chimney stacks on each of its gables (Figs. 8-9, pls. 1-2). A two-storey extension projects from the east end of the original building, along the yard, and represents an early extension to the house, possibly dating to the early 18th century. To the north of the main range a single storey extension in the form of a lean-to or outshut was added in the 19th century.

The south-west elevation of the house is its principal façade, presenting a two-storey elevation to the yard under a steeply-pitched slate roof. The ground floor is entered through a door to the left of the elevation which would originally have opened onto a small lobby, providing access on either hand to the hall and a further room on the ground floor and to the stair leading up to the first floor. Light is provided by a single window to the left of the doorway, and a single larger window to the right. The main part of the elevation is constructed of stone rubble, while a building break is visible from halfway up the first floor windows, suggesting that the roof line has at some period been raised above its original level. There are two windows on the first floor mirroring the arrangement below. The steeply pitched roof is gabled to the north-east and south-west.

The east elevation of the main building presents a simple two-storey elevation in line with the original building. The early 18th century extension is built of stone rubble and lit along the main elevation by a further ground-and first floor window providing light to the rooms on each floor. The north-eastern gable end was lit by a window on the first floor. The extension is entered from the east elevation through a doorway. The roof of the extension is steeply pitched and gabled, matching that of the earlier building.

At the rear of the main range was a single-storey extension built of stone rubble and brick reveals for the doorways and windows. The orchard elevation consisted of four windows and a single doorway. The roof was gently pitched and came off the main range below first floor window level. This range appears to date from the 19th century.

Fenacre Farm is an important historic farmstead, its size reflecting a large and prosperous farming establishment. The layout of the house perpetuates that of an earlier house which was probably first constructed as a two-room and lobby house in the late 17th century. Thebuilding was fully storeyed and had become a farm of some pretension as is attested by the presence of a painted plaster fireplace in the main range.

The most extensive alterations were carried out in the early 18th century when the house was extended by the addition of service rooms. Despite many later alterations, the building remains substantially as it was at this time. (See report for full details of the farmhouse).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7213 - Historic Building Appraisal at Fenacre Farm, Burlescombe (Ref: 15-10)

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