IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Morchard Bishop, CREDITON, EX17 6SH

This shows what can happen to historic buildings when they are renovated, with totally inappropriate windows and doors fitted, if comparison is made with the original 19th Century thresholds. Unsurprisingly the renovated building was not listed by English Heritage in 1985 when a survey was conducted in the district and a Grade II listing given to the farm cottages on the other side of the paddock.

The picture shows the way in which many cob and stone houses were constructed in the West Country; the wall at the bottom is nearly a metre thick, the upper cob sections being no more than a foot or so..... cement render completes the weather proofing. The principle was to keep water from getting into the cob; if this was achieved through regular maintenance, the wall would last for ages, as has been demonstrated in many of England's oldest buildings. The composition of cob goes back into pre-history; Clough Williams-Ellis wrote a fascinating book about it after he had built Portmeirion using similar methods.

I was recently contacted through Geograph by a descendant of the Pope family who reported that she had recorded evidence that her ancestors occupied the farm from 1605 until the end of the 19th Century. This was a remarkable piece of information to receive so I looked again for more images of the farm; and found this photo, taken c.1979, after I had moved out of the house, across the home paddock to one of the cottages opposite whilst renovations were undertaken. The photograph clearly shows the hands of the Pope's at work! An antique dealer who visited me once reckoned that it was probably built in the early 1800s. The little cottage next door, after inspecting the construction of the window frames, he dated as 17th Century. So it could be the Pope's built both houses; more research might date the brick built cider press, visible in one of the other pictures.

A track to Knathorne Farm.

I lived in this house during the 1970s for seven years whilst teaching at the art college in Exeter. It had five bedrooms and was occupied by between two and six of us sharing - the rent was 32 pounds a month! The small cottage next door was not occupied and together with the old red brick cider press, was used as a farm store by Bill Cann, my neighbour, employed as a farm manager by the owner.

The green lane shown in Image climbs a hill towards the dwelling at Gollands. The surface is fine here, but matters change once Gollands is past.

A grassy field with Middle Knathorne Cottages in view.