| Summary: | Historical and landscape evidence indicates that some form of activity was present on the site and in the locality from the medieval period. The Devonshire Domesday identifies Pin Court as the lordship of the manor of 'Pinnoc'. The earliest mention of Pin Court, however, is as 'Pynne' in 1370. The manor house was successively the seat of the Strech and Cheney families. It was described in Polwhele's 'History of Devonshire', c1793-1806, as a 'fayer mansion-house, but now utterly demolished or ruinated'. It had apparently been recently sold piecemeal and dispersed amongst the 'tenants and others'. The exact relationship between Pincourt and Pin Court Farm could not be identified within the remit of the desk-top study, although the latter may have been the home farm for the manor. The Surveyor's Draft of the First Edition Ordnance Survey map, 1801, indicates the presence of buildings on or near the site of Pin Court Farm. The Land Tax records (1780-1832) include Pincourt and Pincourt Ground and suggest fairly radical changes in ownership and occupation over the period. The Pidsley family occupied Pin Court Farm between 1841 (or 1821 if including Pincourt Ground) and 1891. It is marked as 'Pinn Court' on the First Edition Ordnanace Survey map of 1889. The present site consists of a range of farm buildings, positioned in a cross formation. They appear much the same as those shown on the Tithe Altered Apportionment of 1913. Ditches of probably medieval and post medieval date are recorded close to the M5 to the south, within the development area and cropmarks identified within and adjacent to the development area may indicate previous land use features. As the location of Pincourt Manor is not known, it is possible that it was sited within the development area. |
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