History of The Great House, Timberscombe
Title
History of The Great House, Timberscombe
Subject
Description
The Great House is situated on the bend of Great House Street, at the north-eastern end of the village of Timberscombe. The imposing and seemingly Georgian front, seen at a right angle (the top 2020 photograph) and at a slightly left angle (the centre 1960 photograph), is said to have been built c. 1740, with other suggestions having been made that it may date from the late 17th century, possibly with a Stuart origin (1). Regardless, The Great House was certainly rebuilt on the foundations of a variety of structures spanning different eras. The Historic Environment Record of the Exmoor National Park suggests The Great House has medieval origins (2). The bottom photograph is of the rear of The Great House, revealing what was an earlier three cell Tudor dwelling with roof heights altered in Victorian times, followed by the addition of Edwardian bay windows (3). It has been written that the only surviving bit of the house's original front facade that was Tudor, was a small remnant in the enclosed yard, at an area thought to have been utilised as a "Cock Pit" (4). There may have been a Cock Pit but by 2020, the owners of The Great House, Bruce and Sheila Harvey-Larmar believe that what was thought to be Tudor was some modern facing added to appear Tudor. By the late 17th century, the property had evolved into a farmhouse, believed to have been a retreat or secondary residence for the Luttrell family of Dunster (5).
If the front of The Great House was constructed c. 1740, most sources credit it to either William Withycombe, Esquire, later the owner of Bickham Manor or his tenant, William Baker (6), who was buried at the churchyard of Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church (7). Mr. Withycombe, who purchased Bickham Manor in 1757, is cited with redoing Bickham's front rooms with original oak and pine panelling, building an impressive staircase with mostly urned balusters (as well as some twisted balusters), plus a built-in dog gate (8). Almost the same description could be made of the front rooms at The Great House, possibly created at about the same time and possibly by the same man.
In 1999 Terry Cadman, then the owner of The Great House, removed part of the existing local sandstone paving on the forecourt at the front of The Great House, so as to repair the retaining wall and the front step leading from the forecourt to the front door. Afterwards the sandstone paving was relaid, with some newer concrete pavings being placed on the forecourt's northern end. At that point Mr. Cadman erected the balustrade around the forecourt (9) that is evident on the the upper photograph.
In 2019, likely because the house was being offered for sale, Terry Cadman applied for a retrospective consent from Planning and Listed Buildings for the alterations and the balustrade. Their decision was the forecourt renovations were appropriate to the house and its front, which they described as late 17th century. Perhaps it is and in the 18th century Mr. Withycombe and/ or Mr. Baker added their own modifications. A copy of the DESIGN, ACCESS AND HERITAGE STATEMENT, issued on the 15th of August 2019 by Planning and Listed Buildings is archived with the St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES.
Shortly before William Withycombe's death in 1776 (10), The Great House appears to have been part of the estate that was sold to James Merchant, born in 1734 at Luxborough. At Mr. Merchant's death in 1814, the house went to his son, Nathaniel Merchant, credited with naming it "The Great House". In 1991, Terry Cadman hired Colin and O-lan Style of Axminster, Devon to research the history of The Great House. On their report, returned on 18 April 1992, Mr. and Ms. Style suggest that some of the difficulty in pin-pointing the history of what was obviously one of the most important houses in the parish is that it was given this name relatively late and the title,"The Great House", was not used consistently until the 1830's. On earlier maps and tithe listings, there are properties. such as "Caises", "Thornes", "Home Living" and "Leighs"--all owned by the Merchant family-- that could have been the house that Nathaniel Merchant renamed "The Great House" (11). On the Day and Masters map of 1782, this house is the only building besides St. Petrock's Church to be prominently rendered. Unfortunately it was not labelled by name.
Nathaniel died in 1838 (12), and was buried in St Petrock's churchyard. He left the property to his daughter, Sarah Ann Merchant, born in 1805 (13). She married Henry Clark (as spelled on their marriage register), born in 1799 or 1800 at Marylebone, Middlesex, London. Their wedding was at St. Petrock's in 1823 (14). By the publication of the Poll Book of 1846, Mr Clark had become "Henry Clarke, Esquire" and listed his main abode as London but that he was the owner of "great House and lands" at Timberscombe (15)--which now included at least 13 other properties on the eastern edge of the village, including dwellings later known as (or on the earlier sites of) Duck Cottage, Pondside, Hillcrest, Paxholt, and Willow Cottage (16).
Before the first census of 1841, Henry Clarke, Esquire had leased The Great House to the Rev. William Bailey Whitehead. Born in 1786 at Bolton, Somerset, Whitehead was the vicar at St. Petrock's from 1826 to 1853 (17). He was also the vicar at Chard, Somerset, a more affluent parish where it appears he spent most of his time until 1840. It was not unusual for vicars to appoint a curate to minister one of their less comfortable parishes. In the case of Timberscombe, this curate was the Rev. Thomas Bealy, born at Timberscombe in 1766. The absence of Rev. Whitehead seems apparent as burial records reveal that Rev. Bealy administered every funeral at Timberscombe between May 1825 to October 1840 (18).
By the time of the 1841 Census (when Thomas Bealy was 75 years old), William Bailey Whitehead had come to live at The Great House. His choice of a home is pertinent as Timberscombe had a vicarage just northwest of the church, at least since 1536 (19). By all accounts the Old Vicarage (as it came to be known) was in terrible disrepair. Rev. Whitehead spending his time in Timberscombe at The Great House may have been a factor in 1856 when the Bishop of Bath and Wells issued a remonstrance accusing Timberscombe of neglect toward it's vicarage (20). Certainly between then and up to 1864, multiple restorations were launched at the Old Vicarage (21). From that time to 1962, when the vicarage was sold, soon to be converted to flats (22), most of St. Petrock's vicars lived there. No other Timberscombe clergy ever again resided at The Great House.
It has been written that The Great House has always been let or sublet, never occupied by its owner-although this is not actually true. On the 1861 Census, Henry Clarke, a Land Proprietor, age 62, and his wife Ann, age 42, are at The Great House. She is too young to be Sarah Ann (nee Merchant) Clarke, who in 1861 appears to be with her Henry Clarke, owner of The Great House, at residence on Goswell Street in the civil parish of Clerkenwell, Middlesex. They are still at Marylebone in 1871, when Henry Clarke, Esquire is 71 years old (23). Any relationship between the similarly named couples is not clear. The Henry Clarke living at The Great House died in May 1869 and was buried at St. Petrock's (24). His wife, Ann, continued living at The Great House on the 1871 Census, along with two servants. She proudly listed her occupation as "Farm wife, 85 acres".
By the 1881 Census, The Great House was occupied by Thomas Rousby Kendall, Esquire, born in 1812 at Driffield, Yorkshire to John and Martha Peckover Edwards (nee Rousby) Kendall (25). The family moved into Towton Hall in Towton, Yorkshire (26). Mrs. Kendall died in 1848 (27) and on the 1861 Census, Thomas Rousby, now 48 and listed as a Fundholder, remained at Towton Hall, living with his father, also a Fundholder. The senior Mr. Kendall died in 1866 (28). Thomas Rousby Kendall found his way to The Great House by 1881, where he lived alone, except for his groom, 21 year old Fred Roper and a servant, 19 year old Emily Scruton, both brought along by Mr. Kendall from Yorkshire. He died in 1889 and was buried at St. Petrock's, although a stone plaque is at the Towton cemetery, memorialising "Thomas Rousby, Esquire of Towton Hall, son of John Kendall, Esquire, Buried at Timberscombe, Somerset" (29).
Following Mr. Kendall at The Great House was Sarah Ann Merson, born Sarah Ann Hare at Taunton about 1845 and who married Frank Merson of Wiveliscombe, in 1865 at Old Church, St Pancras, London (30). By 1881, they were living at Bickham, recording on the census that they farmed 320 acres with 6 men and three boys. Mr. Merson died in 1886 (31) and by 1901, Mrs. Merson had moved to The Great House, with her 18 year old son, Clifford Merson. She served on the Board Of Governors of the Timberscombe School (32) and in 1907 was a donor of a new treble bell for the tower at St. Petrock's (33). By 1910, Sarah Merson had moved to Minehead (34) and Richard Samuel Norrich moved into The Great House with his wife, Julia, while still working as a silk merchant with a drapery warehouse in Ealing. Middlesex (35). He died at The Great House in 1914 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (36).
While none of St. Petrock's vicars lived at The Great House after Rev. Whitehead, by 1919 the Rev. William Murray Fairbairn retired here (37). Born in 1850, he was baptised at the Cathedral and Parish Church of Manchester (38) and was a graduate of Cambridge University (39). Rev. Fairbairn had a distinguished career as a clergy man, coming to The Great House after living at The Rectory of Loxbear, near Tiverton, Devon (40). He was at Great House until 1925, spent his final years in Exeter and passed away in 1929 at Torquay (41).
Likely from the later part of 1925, following the death of her husband, the Rev. Arundell Glastonbury St. John-Mildmay in June of that year, Mrs. Alys St. John -Mildmay moved into The Great House. She had been born 19 July 1859 as Alice Pleydell-Bouverie at St. George Hanover Square, London. She altered the spelling of her first name shortly after her marriage in 1898 to the Rev. St. John-Mildmay. Their son, Bouverie Walter St. John-Mildmay, died while serving with the Royal Air Force in World War I, killed in 1918 as the result of "an aeroplane crashing". Mrs. St. John- Mildmay came to Timberscombe, apparently on her own, travelling only with one servant, 17-year old Alice Mary Beckett (42). Alys St. John-Mildmay also served on Timberscombe's School's Board of Governors (43). She died in 1947 (44).
Another Anglican clergyman followed Mrs. St. John-Mildmay at The Great House. Alfred Samuel Woodhouse Smith, born in 1875, had previously served as a Freemason Clerk in Holy Orders at the Lodge of Peace and Unity at Preston, Lancashire (45). Married to Dorothy Wharton, while in Preston their sons Robert was born in 1916 and Anthony in 1919 (46). Robert Woodhouse Smith, an Oxford University graduate, died during World War II as part of an obstacle clearing crew in Normandy (47). Anthony Woodhouse Smith died aged 79 and was buried in Switzerland in 1998 (48). While their parents, Alfred and Dorothy were at The Great House, the venue seems to have changed, being divided into sitting room flats. In 1951 alone, three older women, Mary Louisa Cookman, aged 89, Winnie Mary Smith, age 70 and Maud Erena Sanders Smith, aged 77. passed away while living there (49). An infamous boarder at The Great House was Robert Robson, a founding member of the London District Communist Party and the main contact for Communists in the British armed forces. Ill with tuberculosis, he and his common-law wife, Eileen Potter moved into a one-bed sitting room at The Great House from March to October 1950 (50). Alfred Samuel Woodhouse Smith never seems to have exercised his training as a vicar, passing away in 1954. Dorothy Woodhouse Smith put The Great House up for sale in 1959, when it was suggested as becoming a possible vicarage. She did sell the premises on the 10th of August 1960 to L.H. Scott, Esq. of Uxbridge, Middlesex (51). Dorothy died in Minehead Hospital in 1988, aged 94 years and she and her husband are both buried at St. Petrock's (52).
The Great House, with surrounding lands that now included the areas across Great House Street that in modern times houses the enclave where the bungalows, Rowan Cottage, Pondside and Mill Leat were built and where the house known as Waterside would later be erected, had become owned by Timothy Charles Brandson and Elizabeth Angela Guy of Boughham Farm, south of Timberscombe (53). On the 10th of October 1979, Mr. and Mrs. Guy conveyed The Great House and the other lands to retired Army Major Owen Patrick Lanyon (1919-2001) and his wife, Kathleen Alice Rafela Lanyon, better known as Pippin. The terms of the conveyance included the right for the Lanyons to built another house on the northern end of the property that abutted Willow View Lane (54). Earlier stipulations by Alfred and Dorothy Woodhouse Smith had stated that "no building of any kind whatsover shall at any time hereafter be erected" on these lands (55). A masterful gardener, Pippin Lanyon planted a garden on the lands across Great House Street, remembered as having been very beautiful (56). By 1989, while still living at The Great House, Major and Mrs. Lanyon had completed the second home, facing the centre of Willow View Lane, called Popesfield -- a name quickly changed to The Rectory by 2001 when it was acquired by the church for the newly appointed Vicar Robin Mann and his wife, Rosemary (57). In 2007, the house became known as Waterside (58).
Major and Pippin Lanyon sold The Great House in 1990 to Terry and Jo Cadman of Timberscombe, who offered it for holiday lets. Mr. and Mrs. Cadman allowed a fund raising event at The Great House on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 to benefit St. Petrock's Church, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II becoming England's longest serving monarch. Having been crowned in 1952, a 1950's styled dinner was held at The Great House, certainly featuring Coronation Chicken. Many guests arrived wearing 1950's attire (59).
As seen in the upper two photographs, The Great House is roughcast, with three storeys and 5 bays. The shallow pitched slate roof has roughcast stacks at each gabled end. Perhaps most notable are the segmental headed sash windows, each below lintels. The second floor windows have 15 panes, with the ground level and first floor having 18. Even the central entrance to the house has a 12-pane light over a panelled door with an inset of 16 window panes. The 1960 photograph indicates a more dimensional stone porch over the door, since removed. This photograph indicates a former front garden, well remembered by older residents of Timberscombe. It also shows the house without the balustrade added to the forecourt in 1999 by Terry Cadman.
On the top photograph, additions are seen on each side of The Great House, with a hipped, single bay, two-storey extension on the right (with a red painted door to match the main door). Less visible on the left side of The Great House, is a 3-bay construction with a pyramid roof, added in the later 19th century as a service wing (60), eventually becoming known as Stable Cottage. It appears to be completed on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1844-1888.
The Great House was Grade II Listed on the 22nd of May 1969 (61). In January 2020, it was purchased by Bruce and Sheila Harvey-Larmar, who spent the next six months restoring it as a luxury Bed & Breakfast, reopening in July 2020 (62).
If the front of The Great House was constructed c. 1740, most sources credit it to either William Withycombe, Esquire, later the owner of Bickham Manor or his tenant, William Baker (6), who was buried at the churchyard of Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church (7). Mr. Withycombe, who purchased Bickham Manor in 1757, is cited with redoing Bickham's front rooms with original oak and pine panelling, building an impressive staircase with mostly urned balusters (as well as some twisted balusters), plus a built-in dog gate (8). Almost the same description could be made of the front rooms at The Great House, possibly created at about the same time and possibly by the same man.
In 1999 Terry Cadman, then the owner of The Great House, removed part of the existing local sandstone paving on the forecourt at the front of The Great House, so as to repair the retaining wall and the front step leading from the forecourt to the front door. Afterwards the sandstone paving was relaid, with some newer concrete pavings being placed on the forecourt's northern end. At that point Mr. Cadman erected the balustrade around the forecourt (9) that is evident on the the upper photograph.
In 2019, likely because the house was being offered for sale, Terry Cadman applied for a retrospective consent from Planning and Listed Buildings for the alterations and the balustrade. Their decision was the forecourt renovations were appropriate to the house and its front, which they described as late 17th century. Perhaps it is and in the 18th century Mr. Withycombe and/ or Mr. Baker added their own modifications. A copy of the DESIGN, ACCESS AND HERITAGE STATEMENT, issued on the 15th of August 2019 by Planning and Listed Buildings is archived with the St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES.
Shortly before William Withycombe's death in 1776 (10), The Great House appears to have been part of the estate that was sold to James Merchant, born in 1734 at Luxborough. At Mr. Merchant's death in 1814, the house went to his son, Nathaniel Merchant, credited with naming it "The Great House". In 1991, Terry Cadman hired Colin and O-lan Style of Axminster, Devon to research the history of The Great House. On their report, returned on 18 April 1992, Mr. and Ms. Style suggest that some of the difficulty in pin-pointing the history of what was obviously one of the most important houses in the parish is that it was given this name relatively late and the title,"The Great House", was not used consistently until the 1830's. On earlier maps and tithe listings, there are properties. such as "Caises", "Thornes", "Home Living" and "Leighs"--all owned by the Merchant family-- that could have been the house that Nathaniel Merchant renamed "The Great House" (11). On the Day and Masters map of 1782, this house is the only building besides St. Petrock's Church to be prominently rendered. Unfortunately it was not labelled by name.
Nathaniel died in 1838 (12), and was buried in St Petrock's churchyard. He left the property to his daughter, Sarah Ann Merchant, born in 1805 (13). She married Henry Clark (as spelled on their marriage register), born in 1799 or 1800 at Marylebone, Middlesex, London. Their wedding was at St. Petrock's in 1823 (14). By the publication of the Poll Book of 1846, Mr Clark had become "Henry Clarke, Esquire" and listed his main abode as London but that he was the owner of "great House and lands" at Timberscombe (15)--which now included at least 13 other properties on the eastern edge of the village, including dwellings later known as (or on the earlier sites of) Duck Cottage, Pondside, Hillcrest, Paxholt, and Willow Cottage (16).
Before the first census of 1841, Henry Clarke, Esquire had leased The Great House to the Rev. William Bailey Whitehead. Born in 1786 at Bolton, Somerset, Whitehead was the vicar at St. Petrock's from 1826 to 1853 (17). He was also the vicar at Chard, Somerset, a more affluent parish where it appears he spent most of his time until 1840. It was not unusual for vicars to appoint a curate to minister one of their less comfortable parishes. In the case of Timberscombe, this curate was the Rev. Thomas Bealy, born at Timberscombe in 1766. The absence of Rev. Whitehead seems apparent as burial records reveal that Rev. Bealy administered every funeral at Timberscombe between May 1825 to October 1840 (18).
By the time of the 1841 Census (when Thomas Bealy was 75 years old), William Bailey Whitehead had come to live at The Great House. His choice of a home is pertinent as Timberscombe had a vicarage just northwest of the church, at least since 1536 (19). By all accounts the Old Vicarage (as it came to be known) was in terrible disrepair. Rev. Whitehead spending his time in Timberscombe at The Great House may have been a factor in 1856 when the Bishop of Bath and Wells issued a remonstrance accusing Timberscombe of neglect toward it's vicarage (20). Certainly between then and up to 1864, multiple restorations were launched at the Old Vicarage (21). From that time to 1962, when the vicarage was sold, soon to be converted to flats (22), most of St. Petrock's vicars lived there. No other Timberscombe clergy ever again resided at The Great House.
It has been written that The Great House has always been let or sublet, never occupied by its owner-although this is not actually true. On the 1861 Census, Henry Clarke, a Land Proprietor, age 62, and his wife Ann, age 42, are at The Great House. She is too young to be Sarah Ann (nee Merchant) Clarke, who in 1861 appears to be with her Henry Clarke, owner of The Great House, at residence on Goswell Street in the civil parish of Clerkenwell, Middlesex. They are still at Marylebone in 1871, when Henry Clarke, Esquire is 71 years old (23). Any relationship between the similarly named couples is not clear. The Henry Clarke living at The Great House died in May 1869 and was buried at St. Petrock's (24). His wife, Ann, continued living at The Great House on the 1871 Census, along with two servants. She proudly listed her occupation as "Farm wife, 85 acres".
By the 1881 Census, The Great House was occupied by Thomas Rousby Kendall, Esquire, born in 1812 at Driffield, Yorkshire to John and Martha Peckover Edwards (nee Rousby) Kendall (25). The family moved into Towton Hall in Towton, Yorkshire (26). Mrs. Kendall died in 1848 (27) and on the 1861 Census, Thomas Rousby, now 48 and listed as a Fundholder, remained at Towton Hall, living with his father, also a Fundholder. The senior Mr. Kendall died in 1866 (28). Thomas Rousby Kendall found his way to The Great House by 1881, where he lived alone, except for his groom, 21 year old Fred Roper and a servant, 19 year old Emily Scruton, both brought along by Mr. Kendall from Yorkshire. He died in 1889 and was buried at St. Petrock's, although a stone plaque is at the Towton cemetery, memorialising "Thomas Rousby, Esquire of Towton Hall, son of John Kendall, Esquire, Buried at Timberscombe, Somerset" (29).
Following Mr. Kendall at The Great House was Sarah Ann Merson, born Sarah Ann Hare at Taunton about 1845 and who married Frank Merson of Wiveliscombe, in 1865 at Old Church, St Pancras, London (30). By 1881, they were living at Bickham, recording on the census that they farmed 320 acres with 6 men and three boys. Mr. Merson died in 1886 (31) and by 1901, Mrs. Merson had moved to The Great House, with her 18 year old son, Clifford Merson. She served on the Board Of Governors of the Timberscombe School (32) and in 1907 was a donor of a new treble bell for the tower at St. Petrock's (33). By 1910, Sarah Merson had moved to Minehead (34) and Richard Samuel Norrich moved into The Great House with his wife, Julia, while still working as a silk merchant with a drapery warehouse in Ealing. Middlesex (35). He died at The Great House in 1914 and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (36).
While none of St. Petrock's vicars lived at The Great House after Rev. Whitehead, by 1919 the Rev. William Murray Fairbairn retired here (37). Born in 1850, he was baptised at the Cathedral and Parish Church of Manchester (38) and was a graduate of Cambridge University (39). Rev. Fairbairn had a distinguished career as a clergy man, coming to The Great House after living at The Rectory of Loxbear, near Tiverton, Devon (40). He was at Great House until 1925, spent his final years in Exeter and passed away in 1929 at Torquay (41).
Likely from the later part of 1925, following the death of her husband, the Rev. Arundell Glastonbury St. John-Mildmay in June of that year, Mrs. Alys St. John -Mildmay moved into The Great House. She had been born 19 July 1859 as Alice Pleydell-Bouverie at St. George Hanover Square, London. She altered the spelling of her first name shortly after her marriage in 1898 to the Rev. St. John-Mildmay. Their son, Bouverie Walter St. John-Mildmay, died while serving with the Royal Air Force in World War I, killed in 1918 as the result of "an aeroplane crashing". Mrs. St. John- Mildmay came to Timberscombe, apparently on her own, travelling only with one servant, 17-year old Alice Mary Beckett (42). Alys St. John-Mildmay also served on Timberscombe's School's Board of Governors (43). She died in 1947 (44).
Another Anglican clergyman followed Mrs. St. John-Mildmay at The Great House. Alfred Samuel Woodhouse Smith, born in 1875, had previously served as a Freemason Clerk in Holy Orders at the Lodge of Peace and Unity at Preston, Lancashire (45). Married to Dorothy Wharton, while in Preston their sons Robert was born in 1916 and Anthony in 1919 (46). Robert Woodhouse Smith, an Oxford University graduate, died during World War II as part of an obstacle clearing crew in Normandy (47). Anthony Woodhouse Smith died aged 79 and was buried in Switzerland in 1998 (48). While their parents, Alfred and Dorothy were at The Great House, the venue seems to have changed, being divided into sitting room flats. In 1951 alone, three older women, Mary Louisa Cookman, aged 89, Winnie Mary Smith, age 70 and Maud Erena Sanders Smith, aged 77. passed away while living there (49). An infamous boarder at The Great House was Robert Robson, a founding member of the London District Communist Party and the main contact for Communists in the British armed forces. Ill with tuberculosis, he and his common-law wife, Eileen Potter moved into a one-bed sitting room at The Great House from March to October 1950 (50). Alfred Samuel Woodhouse Smith never seems to have exercised his training as a vicar, passing away in 1954. Dorothy Woodhouse Smith put The Great House up for sale in 1959, when it was suggested as becoming a possible vicarage. She did sell the premises on the 10th of August 1960 to L.H. Scott, Esq. of Uxbridge, Middlesex (51). Dorothy died in Minehead Hospital in 1988, aged 94 years and she and her husband are both buried at St. Petrock's (52).
The Great House, with surrounding lands that now included the areas across Great House Street that in modern times houses the enclave where the bungalows, Rowan Cottage, Pondside and Mill Leat were built and where the house known as Waterside would later be erected, had become owned by Timothy Charles Brandson and Elizabeth Angela Guy of Boughham Farm, south of Timberscombe (53). On the 10th of October 1979, Mr. and Mrs. Guy conveyed The Great House and the other lands to retired Army Major Owen Patrick Lanyon (1919-2001) and his wife, Kathleen Alice Rafela Lanyon, better known as Pippin. The terms of the conveyance included the right for the Lanyons to built another house on the northern end of the property that abutted Willow View Lane (54). Earlier stipulations by Alfred and Dorothy Woodhouse Smith had stated that "no building of any kind whatsover shall at any time hereafter be erected" on these lands (55). A masterful gardener, Pippin Lanyon planted a garden on the lands across Great House Street, remembered as having been very beautiful (56). By 1989, while still living at The Great House, Major and Mrs. Lanyon had completed the second home, facing the centre of Willow View Lane, called Popesfield -- a name quickly changed to The Rectory by 2001 when it was acquired by the church for the newly appointed Vicar Robin Mann and his wife, Rosemary (57). In 2007, the house became known as Waterside (58).
Major and Pippin Lanyon sold The Great House in 1990 to Terry and Jo Cadman of Timberscombe, who offered it for holiday lets. Mr. and Mrs. Cadman allowed a fund raising event at The Great House on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 to benefit St. Petrock's Church, celebrating Queen Elizabeth II becoming England's longest serving monarch. Having been crowned in 1952, a 1950's styled dinner was held at The Great House, certainly featuring Coronation Chicken. Many guests arrived wearing 1950's attire (59).
As seen in the upper two photographs, The Great House is roughcast, with three storeys and 5 bays. The shallow pitched slate roof has roughcast stacks at each gabled end. Perhaps most notable are the segmental headed sash windows, each below lintels. The second floor windows have 15 panes, with the ground level and first floor having 18. Even the central entrance to the house has a 12-pane light over a panelled door with an inset of 16 window panes. The 1960 photograph indicates a more dimensional stone porch over the door, since removed. This photograph indicates a former front garden, well remembered by older residents of Timberscombe. It also shows the house without the balustrade added to the forecourt in 1999 by Terry Cadman.
On the top photograph, additions are seen on each side of The Great House, with a hipped, single bay, two-storey extension on the right (with a red painted door to match the main door). Less visible on the left side of The Great House, is a 3-bay construction with a pyramid roof, added in the later 19th century as a service wing (60), eventually becoming known as Stable Cottage. It appears to be completed on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1844-1888.
The Great House was Grade II Listed on the 22nd of May 1969 (61). In January 2020, it was purchased by Bruce and Sheila Harvey-Larmar, who spent the next six months restoring it as a luxury Bed & Breakfast, reopening in July 2020 (62).
Creator
Sheila Harvey-Larmar (the top and bottom photographs) /
Anonymous (the centre photograph)
Anonymous (the centre photograph)
Source
Date
2020
1960
2020
1960
2020
Language
English
Identifier
The Great House / Timberscombe / northeastern edge of the village
Acquisition Date
2020
2018
2020
2018
2020
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Manor Houses / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
13 X 16.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
10 X 5 X 14.5 (PROPERTIES)
8.5 X 10.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
8.5 X 8.5 (PROPERTIES)
8.5 X 13 (PROPERTIES)
10 X 5 X 14.5 (PROPERTIES)
8.5 X 10.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
8.5 X 8.5 (PROPERTIES)
8.5 X 13 (PROPERTIES)
Institution Name
St. Petrock's Histrory Group
Notes
(1) Historic England.co.uk and Victoria County History. ac.uk are among those that date the front of The Great House as c, 1740 and Georgian, while in 2019, Planning and Listed Buildings defined the house's front as being late 17th century (2) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO10609 (3) VCH, Historic England.co.uk and the great house.co.uk (4) as entered by Terry Cadman, air b&b.co.uk, 2017 (5) HER, MS010609 and the "DESIGN, ACCESS AND HERITAGE STATEMENT" of 15th August 2019 from Planning and Listed Buildings (6) VCH (7) England & Wales, Perogative Court of Counterbury Wills, 1384-1858 (8) VCH (9) as described in the "DESIGN, ACCESS AND HERITAGE STATEMENT" of 15th August 2019 by Planning and Listed Buildings (archived with the St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES) (10) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (11) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current, Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and "RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT HOUSE" By Colin and O-lan Style, Jasmine Cottage, Membury Road, Axminster Devon, 18th April 1992, donated in January 2022 by Terry and Jo Cadman and archived with the St. Petrock's History Group" (12) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914, UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current and England & Wales, Perogative Court of Counterbury Wills, 1884-1858 (13) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (14) Somerset, England, Church of England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (15) UK Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893 (16) Timberscombe Tithe Map 1843, Source: Somerset Record Office, Taunton, researched and drawn by John Burns, Timberscombe School, February, 1989 (17) Manchester, England, Church of England, Deaths and Burials, 1858-1985 and St. Petrock's Church List of Vicars (18) VCH and Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1914 and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (19) VCH (20) Surveyors Report on Vicarage, July 1856, Taunton Records Office (21) VCH (22) VCH (23) 1871 England Census (24) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300's-Current. (25) Ive Dyckhoff Morris Family Tree, Tree Search, Thomas Rousby Kendall, 1812-1889, Ancestry.com (26) 1861 England Census (27) Ive Dyckhoff Morris Family Tree (28) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 (29) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (30) 1871 England Census. 1881 England Census and London, England, Church of England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1995 (31) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 (32) Timberscombe School MINUTE BOOK, 1903-1930 (33) "St. Petrock's Church. Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (34) National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 (35) 1911 England Census and Kelly's Directories of Somerset, 1910 and 1914 (36) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (37) Kelly's Directory of Somerset, 1919 (38) Manchester, England, Births and Baptisms, 1913-1901 (Cathedral) (39) Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 (40) 1911 England Census (41) Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 and England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 (42) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 (where Mrs. St.John-Mildmay's first name is registered as "Alice"), Find My Past.co.uk, forebears.io, Birth Index, 1837-2006, Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935, UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995, as recalled to Thomas Sperling in February 2024 by Mr. Chris Lyddon, the son of Alice Mary (nee Beckett) Lyddon and 1939 England and Wales Register (43) Timberscombe School MINUTE BOOK, 1931-1974 (44) Find My Past.co.uk, forebears.io, Death Index, 1837-2006 (45) Lodge of Peace and Unity at England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921 (46) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Indexes , 1916-2007 (47) unithistories.com/ officers/ Army_offices_502 (48) Burial Registers, as researched by Marion Jeffrey (49) Burial Registers, as researched by Marion Jeffrey and FindMyPast.com, National Burial Index for England & Wales Burial Registers (50) grahamstevenson.me.uk/ 2008/ 09/20/ robert-robson, National Archives and camdennewjournal.co.uk/ archive/n021003_7 (51) Conveyance of the 10th of August 1960, of The Great House, from Mrs. D. Woodhouse-Smith to L. H. Scott, Esq., shared in 2021 by Ian and Marion Moncrieff of Waterside (52) PCC Minutes Book, Church of England, Western Somerset and Burial Registers as researched by Marion Jeffrey (53) 27 September Conveyance by Executor, Margaret Bessie Brewer to Timothy Charles Brandson Guy & Elizabeth Angela Guy and as recalled in September 2020 by Terry and Jo Cadman (54) 10 October 1979 Conveyance and 10 October 1979 Consent by Mr. and Mrs. T.C.B. Guy to Owen Patrick Lanyon & Kathleen Alice Rafela Lanyon (56) as recalled in September 2020 by Jo Cadman and in February 2021 by Ian Moncrieff (57) The Diocese bought Popesfield, 30 March 2001 for $320,000, Land Registry, 19 July 2001 (58) as recalled in September 2020 by Ian Moncrieff of Waterside (59) West Somerset Free Press, "Right Royal Timberscombe", Thursday, 24 September 2015 (60) VCH (61) britishlistedbuildings.co.uk (62) the great house.co.uk
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES
St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES
Item Reference
SP-152
Technique
Copies
Citation
Sheila Harvey-Larmar (the top and bottom photographs) /
Anonymous (the centre photograph), “History of The Great House, Timberscombe,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 5, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3435.
Comments