A History of Totterdown Farm (and the abandoned Cuffs)
Title
A History of Totterdown Farm (and the abandoned Cuffs)
Subject
Description
A photograph of Totterdown, the farmhouse of Totterdown Farm, 3/4 a mile northeast of Timberscombe, situated off the A396 between Duddings and Kitswall Farm. The photograph was featured in a c. 2003 Sales Brochure created by the Property Specialists, Greenslade Taylor Hunt (1). The house was also on the market in 2020, represented by the West Country agency, Stags, which described it as an extended farmhouse with 15 acres of grazing paddocks, seven stables and direct access to woodland riding tracks (2).
It is a house with a long history. The Historic Environment Record for Exmoor National Park suggests both the farmstead and the house have post medieval origins. English Heritage has proposed that the Totterdown Farmhouse originated as a bank barn (3). On aerial photographs taken in September 1970 , earthworks seen on a field north of the farmhouse (just across the present A396) was a medieval or post-medieval field boundary, possibly for a former large holding field (4).
The Totterdown Farmhouse was represented at its current position on the 1840 Tithe Map of Carhampton, having a garden and an orchard. At that time, both Totterdown and Duddings, another historic farmhouse just to its west, were in the parish of Carhampton as part of the holdings of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (5). Totterdown was leased and occupied by Walter and Betty Davis, who had married in Timberscombe on the 7th of April 1800 (6). He was born, likely in Timberscombe, c. 1778 (7) and she was baptised on 23 April 1775 at Wootton Courtenay by her parents, John and Agness (as spelled) Lang (8).
The year after the Tithe Map, Walter and Betty Davis were listed on the first 1841 Census, along with their sons, 25-year-old Walter and 20-year-old Worthington. Their home was recorded as "Leys Cottage". It is not clear if they were still at Totterdown or if they might be living in an adjacent structure that will later become known as Bracken Mill. It is possible the properties are considered as one at this time. On the census, the home of the Davis family is the only property listed between Kitswall Farm and Duddings. On the 1851 Census, the Davis family is again listed at Totterdown (with "Leys" possibly erased under it) and in 1861 their home is again entered as "Leys Cottage".
On the 23rd of September 1841, the younger Walter Davis married Elizabeth Roberts in Wootton Courtenay at the same church where she had been baptised in 1807 (9). His father passed away on the 3rd of September 1849 and was buried at St. Petrocks Church in Timberscombe (10). By the 1851 Census, the junior Walter Davis had replaced his father as Head of the household at Totterdown and he and Elizabeth were the parents of a third Walter Davis, aged 8 and Mary Davis, aged 4. Betty Davis, now 77 years-old, lived with them . She passed away in November 1861. Her son, Walter died 4 March 1868 and was buried at St. Petrock's and on the 4th of June in the same year, Elizabeth was buried beside him. On the church burial register, their "Abode" was listed as "Totterdown-Carhampton" (11). It appears that their son, Walter, had gone to America and at some time from 1863 to 1865 registered to fight in the Civil War (12).
A young farm labourer, his new wife and two children occupied Totterdown by the 1871 Census. James and Betsy Wyburn had married at Winsford on 6 March 1870 (13) and at the time of the census, their son, George was only 11 months old, having been born in Cutcombe, so the Wyburns are likely newcomers at Totterdown. Mary Ann Wyburn, the 11-year-old sister of James was staying with them. James and Mary Ann were the children of William and Henrietta (nee Shattock) Wyburn and had grown up living at Stowey Mill on the Stowey Farm estate (14). Betsy was the daughter of John and Matilda (nee Chapman) Gamlyn and had lived at Dunkery Cottage in Cutcombe (15)
The Wyburn family does not stay long at Totterdown. The infant George had a sister, Elizabeth, born at Totterdown on 8 July 1871 (16) but the next six siblings, Mary Ann, James, William, Lucy, John and Sidney, were all born in Timberscombe, where they lived in the centre of the village and their father continued working as an Agricultural Labourer (17). By 1901, like so many others at this time, the entire family (with the exception of Lucy who was 3 weeks old on the 1881 Census and apparently died young) moved to Glamorgan, Wales, where 55-years-old James found work in the coal mines (18). He passed away ten years later at Pontypridd in Glamorganshire. Betsy, along with four of her children, Elizabeth, William, John and Sidney, emigrated to Canada. Betsy died 15 June 1932 and was buried in Vancouver at Mountain View Cemetery--as were all four of her children, the three sons with their respective spouses (19).
A 31-year-old Gamekeeper, John Armstrong and his 24-year-old wife, Sarah (nee Davey) Armstrong occupied Totterdown on the 1881 Census, but had been there at least since 8 September 1878, when their son, Frederick, was baptised at St. Petrock's (20). At the time of the census, a second son, William was 6 weeks old but Frederick was absent as he was visiting with his widowed grandmother, Caroline (nee Arnold) Armstrong at Norton Sub Hamdon, Somerset (21). John Armstrong was born in Kelham, Nottinghamshire but their family moved to Somerset, likely in the late 1850's and in 1861, at the age of 15, John worked as an Assistant Gamekeeper to his father, also named John Armstrong and also a Gamekeeper. By the 1871 Census, the younger John Armstrong was a lodger at Timberscombe with James and Ann Webber and in 1877 he married Sarah in her hometown of Cruwys Morchard, Devon (22). They also did not stay long at Totterdown as their daughter, Lillian was born at Mudford Somerset in 1884, where John Armstrong died in 1911 at Shock Farm, still working as a Gamekeeper and living with Sarah and their 4th child, 20-year-old John Davey Armstrong-- who was his father's Assistant Gamekeeper (23).
An older couple with children already grown were at Totterdown for the 1891 Census, being 47-year-old Thomas Poole, a Shepherd and 46-year-old Elizabeth (or Eliza) Poole, a Laundress. Thomas was born c .1844 in Timberscombe, the son of John Poole, a Labourer. He married Elizabeth Huxtable on 23 June 1866 at St. Petrock's. Her father was Robert Huxtable, a Shoemaker, who had married Elizabeth's mother, Mary Lovell, in the same church, 24 years earlier (24). Thomas and Elizabeth Poole resided in the centre of Timberscombe, raising three children, Robert, Rosina and William (25), before they relocated to Totterdown. By 1901, Thomas and Elizabeth had moved to another lodging at Cowbridge, with Mary, Elizabeth's now-widowed mother staying with them. On the 1911 Census, Thomas was alone at No. 2 Victoria Road in Alcombe, listed as "Retired Shepherd" and someone had written on the census, "(wife an inmate in asylum)". That may have been in the Somerset district of Chard, where Elizabeth died around April 1920. Thomas passed away around October of the same year (26). Their son, Robert, grew up to become the proprietor of R. Poole's, a Grocer, Tailor and Draper Shop, on Brook Street in Timberscombe, seen in a 1909 photograph at SP-084 and perhaps the most remembered shop of the village.
John and Ellen Hobbs were likely at Totterdown on the 25th of February 1894, when their first son, Sidney John Hobbs, was baptized at St. Petrock's. In the baptism record, their address was listed as being at "Carhampton". Around this time, probably in 1893, Totterdown had become part of the civil parish of Timberscombe but remained part of the Ecclesiastical parish of Carhampton (27). John Hobbs, a Gamekeeper born at Old Cleeve/Bilbrook, had married Ellen Lock in Minehead on 29 December 1892 (28). Their second son, Harold, was also baptised at Timberscombe on 2 February 1896. By the 1911 Census, Mr. Hobbs had changed his profession to "Gardener/ Labourer" but his family's address was still Totterdown. By the 1920 Census the family remained at Timberscombe but apparently were living in the village.
Perhaps since the time of Walter and Betty Davis, Totterdown had been part of the Knowle Estate. Since the later 18th century, the Hole family had been purchasing properties and by the mid 19th century, owned over a quarter of the land within the Timberscombe parish--and sections of the Carhampton parish as well (29). As stated, the Acland family still owned Totterdown Farm in 1840 but probably, not long afterwards, it was acquired by James Hole. As he lived at Knowle House, situated behind Duddings, Totterdown was practically in Mr. Hole's front garden.
On the 20th of July 1916 , the entire Knowle Estate, consisting of 2100 acres, was divided into 67 lots and offered for sale by a public auction held at the Luttrell Arms Hotel in Dunster. Knowle House was Lot 1, Duddings was Lot 2 and interestingly, Totterdown Farm was divided between the next two lots, Nos. 3 and 4.
Lot 3 was headlined as "The Very Desirable Accommodation Lands with Cottage known as "CUFFS", altogether containing an area of 33 acres, further describing it as having a "Small Farm adjoining the main Road to Dunster (the current A396) and close to the Village of Timberscombe". Lot 4 was labelled "The Valuable Freehold Plantations called "TOTTERDOWN", consisting of a little over seven acres of 'well-grown Land and Scots Pine". Lot 4 was set back from the main road but any purchaser had right-of-way across Lot 3 to it. And there was no building on Lot 4.
The creators of the Sales Particulars were using the name "CUFFS" to represent the land--not the cottage. In small type, the cottage being offered as part of Lot 3 was identified as "Totterdown Cottage and Garden" and as written, was built of stone, with a slate roof, a Front Room with a grate, a Kitchen with a range, Three Bedrooms and a Small Room. It was further described as having its water supplied from a well that was situated on Lot 4, near the road--just as it remains in modern times (30). The house being described was definitely the house pictured above.
Also seen above, on a detail of the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map, there had once been another house, actually called "Cuffs", possibly with medieval or post-medieval origins (31) on the land offered at Lot 3, adjacent to an orchard, a well and a gravel pit and situated closer to Kitswall Farm than it was to the Totterdown Farmhouse. Indeed, Cuffs was considered to be in the parish of Dunster. The last people to live here, listed on the 1881 Census, may have been Frederick and Charlotte (nee Harvey) Wilkins and their three daughters. A Local Government Board Order No. 19,062 described Cuffs as being on a "detached part of Carhampton" that was amalgamated with Timberscombe on 25 March 1886 (32). Cuffs is still pictured on the 1894-1903 Ordnance Survey Map but is drawn much reduced and does not seem to exist on the censuses from 1891 to 1911. Cuffs certainly is not mentioned as a house on Lot 3 in the Sales Particulars for the 1916 auction and is referred to as "Abandoned" on Exmoor's Historic Environment Record.
On the 3rd of March 1916, a farmer, William Henry Burge, had signed a rental agreement to farm the 33 acres of Cuffs, renting their use at a yearly rate of £40. On the same day, Mr. Burge leased the 142 acres of Duddings and had already been farming pastureland near Knowle House. Apparently Mr. Burge, looking for a place to live, also leased a cottage for £6 a year that was located at "Lot 1"-- indicating it was on the Knowle House property and was probably one of two cottages near the Knowle stables. The Hobbs family may have still been occupying Totterdown Farmhouse, thus making it unavailable for Mr. Burge (33).
William Henry Burge was born in 1879 (34) at High Bray, Devon, the second son of William and Elizabeth (nee Nott) Burge. The elder Mr. Burge was the successful farmer of 175 acres at Stoke Farm, Devon (35). By the 1901 census, the family relocated to Reddon Farm at Exton, Somerset, where the younger William Henry still lived on the 11th of October 1910 when he married Rosetta Wake Case in Carhampton (36). Before finding their own farm, the couple moved to Wilton in Wiltshire, where William Henry worked as a Prudential Agent (37).
It would be interesting to know if William Henry Burge knew the Knowle Estate was going to be broken up and sold on 20 July 1916 when he was renting Knowle Estate properties to farm during the previous March. He did not purchase any of them at the auction. Knowle House was bought by a Mr. W. (possibly an "L." for a middle initial) Mason (38) and Totterdown, Duddings and The Dell, a 17th century home adjacent to Duddings, were all purchased by the extravagantly named Robert Provo Wallis Wilson. Likely both men were a "Somerset Investor", as written by Sam Grabham, the then blacksmith at the Cowbridge Mill --which was included in the Knowle Estate sale. He attended the auction and noted the names of many of the buyers and and often how much they paid (39). Mr. Mason may have been representing a buyer. Mr. Wilson, in modern parlance, seems to have been a "flipper".
It is not clear when or to whom Mr. Wilson sold Totterdown. After the auction, when he had paid £700 for the 33 acres and house on Lot 3 and £245 for the smaller Lot 4, Wilson had given his personal address as being in Oxfordshire (40). On January 1919, R. P. Wallis Wilson (as his named was entered on the conveyance) had sold both Duddings and The Dell to Mrs. Mary Turner, when his personal address was given as "Woodside, Minehead" (41). By 1921, Mr. Wilson was living on Hanover Square in London and embarking on a career as the Director of a Rubber Company and a Tea and Rubber Planter (42). It seems likely he would have sold Totterdown before any of these moves but at the time of this writing, new owners are not identified until 1935. They are William Henry and Rosetta Wake Burge (43), now owning the land he had leased in 1916. Mr. Burge remained at Totterdown until his death on 15 November 1943 and burial at St. Petrock's --although his gravestone has "1942" engraved on it. Burge's heirs were Frederick James Burge and George Thomas Scott, his younger brother and a brother-in-law, both farmers (44). Rosetta Wake Burge was living in Withycombe when she died 5 July 1960 at the Minehead Hospital (45).
Before the death of Mr. Burge, a Farm Labourer, John Quartley was living and working at Totterdown, along with his wife, Essie Hunt (nee Dascombe) and their two daughters, Brenda Mary and Irene (also seen as "Reine") Ellen. In her memoir, "AWAY & HOME, WORLD WAR I, Somerset and Essex", Pat Herniman wrote about being evacuated from London in 1939 to live with her maternal grandparents, Harry and Annie Maria Prole at Kiln Farmhouse in the centre of Timberscombe. Often after school, Pat would walk to Totterdown with her new friend who lived there, Brenda Mary Quartley (46). It is not clear how long Mr. and Mrs. Quartley were at Totterdown. They would have been recent arrivals as on the 1939 England & Wales Register they were still working at East Harwood Farm where they had been since at least 1935, the year both of their daughters were registered at the Timberscombe School as residents of East Harwood. The Quartley family remained in the area for the rest of their lives and Brenda Mary Quartley married Cyril Copp of Timberscombe in 1954 and at her passing in 2012 was buried with him at St. Petrock's (47).
It appears that Irene Quartley continued living at Totterdown as Mrs. Alan F. Gregory (48). He was born in the Williton District (including Timberscombe) in 1932 and interestingly his mother's maiden name was "Burge" (49) but as of this writing no connection has been made to William Henry Burge and his more immediate family. Alan F. Gregory married Irene Quartley in Exmoor, early in 1955 (50). In 1975, Irene's father, John, died at Totterdown and likely her mother, Essie, was with them too, before dying in 1981 at the Boyd House Nursing Home on Periton Road in Minehead. By 2003, Alan and Irene Gregory has relocated to Three Gates Cottage in Luccombe, later moving to Slates Cottage, also in Luccombe (51). Irene Ellen Gregory died 10 October 2019 (52).
The 2003 Brochure, that included the photograph of Totterdown Farmhouse seen above, had been printed "Under the instructions of Mr BT & Mrs JJ Halse", the current owners and sellers. He was Bernard Thomas Halse, born in the district of Exeter in January 1930. She was born at Bristol in 1937 as Judith Joanna Pridie (53), who was registered as a nurse in November 1960, after qualifying at Southmead Hospital in Bristol (54). Known as "Judy", she and Bernard Thomas Halse married October 1964 in her hometown (55). It is not clear when they arrived at Totterdown but were established there enough by 1983, that the Somerset County Archery Association of the Grand Western Archery Society moved its Tuesday night Field Rounds "to Judy Hulse's (as spelled) Totterdown Farm at Timberscombe". The archery events became so popular at the farm, that by 1991 ,"Totterdown Farm was now completely full with 160 archers attending each year" (56). Advertising himself as "B.T. Halse", Mr. Halse was surely the first farmer at Totterdown to promote it as a centre of UK agricultural and animal husbandry on early social media (57). In 2003 he listed the farm as "Honeymead (Totterdown Farm)" in the telephone directory, perhaps adding honey to the fresh vegetables he offered. By 2005 Bernard Thomas and Judy Halse had moved to Morval, a house at Blue Anchor (58). At the time of his death on 14 August 2011, Mr. Halse was at Minehead (59).
Totterdown was purchased in 2004 by Perry Wood , born about 1960 (60). A year later he married Elaine Harrison in Taunton (61). With two stable blocks consisting of seven stables and with Totterdown located alongside a Bridleway, Mr. Wood was well situated as a horse trainer and for giving riding lessons . He also expanded the dairy aspects of the farm. When he purchased the property what is half of the current kitchen and hallway was an active dairy area.
In 2021, Totterdown was sold to Margaret and Edward Ruffell, coming from Hampshire. At the time of their purchase, Totterdown was advertised as having a spacious drawing room, a split level Rear Hall with flagstone flooring and exposed beamwork, a triple aspect Family Room, a Kitchen/ Dining Room with solid granite counters, a Belfast sink, an Aga and flagstone flooring, an ensuite Master Bedroom with a Juliet balcony, and three further bedrooms. Outside was a detached American style barn (62).
During their first year at Totterdown, Margaret and Edward Ruffell were approached by a friend of Judy Hulse, who had died. A final request were that her ashes might be scattered at Totterdown Farm. Margaret and Edward were happy to say yes.
It is a house with a long history. The Historic Environment Record for Exmoor National Park suggests both the farmstead and the house have post medieval origins. English Heritage has proposed that the Totterdown Farmhouse originated as a bank barn (3). On aerial photographs taken in September 1970 , earthworks seen on a field north of the farmhouse (just across the present A396) was a medieval or post-medieval field boundary, possibly for a former large holding field (4).
The Totterdown Farmhouse was represented at its current position on the 1840 Tithe Map of Carhampton, having a garden and an orchard. At that time, both Totterdown and Duddings, another historic farmhouse just to its west, were in the parish of Carhampton as part of the holdings of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland (5). Totterdown was leased and occupied by Walter and Betty Davis, who had married in Timberscombe on the 7th of April 1800 (6). He was born, likely in Timberscombe, c. 1778 (7) and she was baptised on 23 April 1775 at Wootton Courtenay by her parents, John and Agness (as spelled) Lang (8).
The year after the Tithe Map, Walter and Betty Davis were listed on the first 1841 Census, along with their sons, 25-year-old Walter and 20-year-old Worthington. Their home was recorded as "Leys Cottage". It is not clear if they were still at Totterdown or if they might be living in an adjacent structure that will later become known as Bracken Mill. It is possible the properties are considered as one at this time. On the census, the home of the Davis family is the only property listed between Kitswall Farm and Duddings. On the 1851 Census, the Davis family is again listed at Totterdown (with "Leys" possibly erased under it) and in 1861 their home is again entered as "Leys Cottage".
On the 23rd of September 1841, the younger Walter Davis married Elizabeth Roberts in Wootton Courtenay at the same church where she had been baptised in 1807 (9). His father passed away on the 3rd of September 1849 and was buried at St. Petrocks Church in Timberscombe (10). By the 1851 Census, the junior Walter Davis had replaced his father as Head of the household at Totterdown and he and Elizabeth were the parents of a third Walter Davis, aged 8 and Mary Davis, aged 4. Betty Davis, now 77 years-old, lived with them . She passed away in November 1861. Her son, Walter died 4 March 1868 and was buried at St. Petrock's and on the 4th of June in the same year, Elizabeth was buried beside him. On the church burial register, their "Abode" was listed as "Totterdown-Carhampton" (11). It appears that their son, Walter, had gone to America and at some time from 1863 to 1865 registered to fight in the Civil War (12).
A young farm labourer, his new wife and two children occupied Totterdown by the 1871 Census. James and Betsy Wyburn had married at Winsford on 6 March 1870 (13) and at the time of the census, their son, George was only 11 months old, having been born in Cutcombe, so the Wyburns are likely newcomers at Totterdown. Mary Ann Wyburn, the 11-year-old sister of James was staying with them. James and Mary Ann were the children of William and Henrietta (nee Shattock) Wyburn and had grown up living at Stowey Mill on the Stowey Farm estate (14). Betsy was the daughter of John and Matilda (nee Chapman) Gamlyn and had lived at Dunkery Cottage in Cutcombe (15)
The Wyburn family does not stay long at Totterdown. The infant George had a sister, Elizabeth, born at Totterdown on 8 July 1871 (16) but the next six siblings, Mary Ann, James, William, Lucy, John and Sidney, were all born in Timberscombe, where they lived in the centre of the village and their father continued working as an Agricultural Labourer (17). By 1901, like so many others at this time, the entire family (with the exception of Lucy who was 3 weeks old on the 1881 Census and apparently died young) moved to Glamorgan, Wales, where 55-years-old James found work in the coal mines (18). He passed away ten years later at Pontypridd in Glamorganshire. Betsy, along with four of her children, Elizabeth, William, John and Sidney, emigrated to Canada. Betsy died 15 June 1932 and was buried in Vancouver at Mountain View Cemetery--as were all four of her children, the three sons with their respective spouses (19).
A 31-year-old Gamekeeper, John Armstrong and his 24-year-old wife, Sarah (nee Davey) Armstrong occupied Totterdown on the 1881 Census, but had been there at least since 8 September 1878, when their son, Frederick, was baptised at St. Petrock's (20). At the time of the census, a second son, William was 6 weeks old but Frederick was absent as he was visiting with his widowed grandmother, Caroline (nee Arnold) Armstrong at Norton Sub Hamdon, Somerset (21). John Armstrong was born in Kelham, Nottinghamshire but their family moved to Somerset, likely in the late 1850's and in 1861, at the age of 15, John worked as an Assistant Gamekeeper to his father, also named John Armstrong and also a Gamekeeper. By the 1871 Census, the younger John Armstrong was a lodger at Timberscombe with James and Ann Webber and in 1877 he married Sarah in her hometown of Cruwys Morchard, Devon (22). They also did not stay long at Totterdown as their daughter, Lillian was born at Mudford Somerset in 1884, where John Armstrong died in 1911 at Shock Farm, still working as a Gamekeeper and living with Sarah and their 4th child, 20-year-old John Davey Armstrong-- who was his father's Assistant Gamekeeper (23).
An older couple with children already grown were at Totterdown for the 1891 Census, being 47-year-old Thomas Poole, a Shepherd and 46-year-old Elizabeth (or Eliza) Poole, a Laundress. Thomas was born c .1844 in Timberscombe, the son of John Poole, a Labourer. He married Elizabeth Huxtable on 23 June 1866 at St. Petrock's. Her father was Robert Huxtable, a Shoemaker, who had married Elizabeth's mother, Mary Lovell, in the same church, 24 years earlier (24). Thomas and Elizabeth Poole resided in the centre of Timberscombe, raising three children, Robert, Rosina and William (25), before they relocated to Totterdown. By 1901, Thomas and Elizabeth had moved to another lodging at Cowbridge, with Mary, Elizabeth's now-widowed mother staying with them. On the 1911 Census, Thomas was alone at No. 2 Victoria Road in Alcombe, listed as "Retired Shepherd" and someone had written on the census, "(wife an inmate in asylum)". That may have been in the Somerset district of Chard, where Elizabeth died around April 1920. Thomas passed away around October of the same year (26). Their son, Robert, grew up to become the proprietor of R. Poole's, a Grocer, Tailor and Draper Shop, on Brook Street in Timberscombe, seen in a 1909 photograph at SP-084 and perhaps the most remembered shop of the village.
John and Ellen Hobbs were likely at Totterdown on the 25th of February 1894, when their first son, Sidney John Hobbs, was baptized at St. Petrock's. In the baptism record, their address was listed as being at "Carhampton". Around this time, probably in 1893, Totterdown had become part of the civil parish of Timberscombe but remained part of the Ecclesiastical parish of Carhampton (27). John Hobbs, a Gamekeeper born at Old Cleeve/Bilbrook, had married Ellen Lock in Minehead on 29 December 1892 (28). Their second son, Harold, was also baptised at Timberscombe on 2 February 1896. By the 1911 Census, Mr. Hobbs had changed his profession to "Gardener/ Labourer" but his family's address was still Totterdown. By the 1920 Census the family remained at Timberscombe but apparently were living in the village.
Perhaps since the time of Walter and Betty Davis, Totterdown had been part of the Knowle Estate. Since the later 18th century, the Hole family had been purchasing properties and by the mid 19th century, owned over a quarter of the land within the Timberscombe parish--and sections of the Carhampton parish as well (29). As stated, the Acland family still owned Totterdown Farm in 1840 but probably, not long afterwards, it was acquired by James Hole. As he lived at Knowle House, situated behind Duddings, Totterdown was practically in Mr. Hole's front garden.
On the 20th of July 1916 , the entire Knowle Estate, consisting of 2100 acres, was divided into 67 lots and offered for sale by a public auction held at the Luttrell Arms Hotel in Dunster. Knowle House was Lot 1, Duddings was Lot 2 and interestingly, Totterdown Farm was divided between the next two lots, Nos. 3 and 4.
Lot 3 was headlined as "The Very Desirable Accommodation Lands with Cottage known as "CUFFS", altogether containing an area of 33 acres, further describing it as having a "Small Farm adjoining the main Road to Dunster (the current A396) and close to the Village of Timberscombe". Lot 4 was labelled "The Valuable Freehold Plantations called "TOTTERDOWN", consisting of a little over seven acres of 'well-grown Land and Scots Pine". Lot 4 was set back from the main road but any purchaser had right-of-way across Lot 3 to it. And there was no building on Lot 4.
The creators of the Sales Particulars were using the name "CUFFS" to represent the land--not the cottage. In small type, the cottage being offered as part of Lot 3 was identified as "Totterdown Cottage and Garden" and as written, was built of stone, with a slate roof, a Front Room with a grate, a Kitchen with a range, Three Bedrooms and a Small Room. It was further described as having its water supplied from a well that was situated on Lot 4, near the road--just as it remains in modern times (30). The house being described was definitely the house pictured above.
Also seen above, on a detail of the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map, there had once been another house, actually called "Cuffs", possibly with medieval or post-medieval origins (31) on the land offered at Lot 3, adjacent to an orchard, a well and a gravel pit and situated closer to Kitswall Farm than it was to the Totterdown Farmhouse. Indeed, Cuffs was considered to be in the parish of Dunster. The last people to live here, listed on the 1881 Census, may have been Frederick and Charlotte (nee Harvey) Wilkins and their three daughters. A Local Government Board Order No. 19,062 described Cuffs as being on a "detached part of Carhampton" that was amalgamated with Timberscombe on 25 March 1886 (32). Cuffs is still pictured on the 1894-1903 Ordnance Survey Map but is drawn much reduced and does not seem to exist on the censuses from 1891 to 1911. Cuffs certainly is not mentioned as a house on Lot 3 in the Sales Particulars for the 1916 auction and is referred to as "Abandoned" on Exmoor's Historic Environment Record.
On the 3rd of March 1916, a farmer, William Henry Burge, had signed a rental agreement to farm the 33 acres of Cuffs, renting their use at a yearly rate of £40. On the same day, Mr. Burge leased the 142 acres of Duddings and had already been farming pastureland near Knowle House. Apparently Mr. Burge, looking for a place to live, also leased a cottage for £6 a year that was located at "Lot 1"-- indicating it was on the Knowle House property and was probably one of two cottages near the Knowle stables. The Hobbs family may have still been occupying Totterdown Farmhouse, thus making it unavailable for Mr. Burge (33).
William Henry Burge was born in 1879 (34) at High Bray, Devon, the second son of William and Elizabeth (nee Nott) Burge. The elder Mr. Burge was the successful farmer of 175 acres at Stoke Farm, Devon (35). By the 1901 census, the family relocated to Reddon Farm at Exton, Somerset, where the younger William Henry still lived on the 11th of October 1910 when he married Rosetta Wake Case in Carhampton (36). Before finding their own farm, the couple moved to Wilton in Wiltshire, where William Henry worked as a Prudential Agent (37).
It would be interesting to know if William Henry Burge knew the Knowle Estate was going to be broken up and sold on 20 July 1916 when he was renting Knowle Estate properties to farm during the previous March. He did not purchase any of them at the auction. Knowle House was bought by a Mr. W. (possibly an "L." for a middle initial) Mason (38) and Totterdown, Duddings and The Dell, a 17th century home adjacent to Duddings, were all purchased by the extravagantly named Robert Provo Wallis Wilson. Likely both men were a "Somerset Investor", as written by Sam Grabham, the then blacksmith at the Cowbridge Mill --which was included in the Knowle Estate sale. He attended the auction and noted the names of many of the buyers and and often how much they paid (39). Mr. Mason may have been representing a buyer. Mr. Wilson, in modern parlance, seems to have been a "flipper".
It is not clear when or to whom Mr. Wilson sold Totterdown. After the auction, when he had paid £700 for the 33 acres and house on Lot 3 and £245 for the smaller Lot 4, Wilson had given his personal address as being in Oxfordshire (40). On January 1919, R. P. Wallis Wilson (as his named was entered on the conveyance) had sold both Duddings and The Dell to Mrs. Mary Turner, when his personal address was given as "Woodside, Minehead" (41). By 1921, Mr. Wilson was living on Hanover Square in London and embarking on a career as the Director of a Rubber Company and a Tea and Rubber Planter (42). It seems likely he would have sold Totterdown before any of these moves but at the time of this writing, new owners are not identified until 1935. They are William Henry and Rosetta Wake Burge (43), now owning the land he had leased in 1916. Mr. Burge remained at Totterdown until his death on 15 November 1943 and burial at St. Petrock's --although his gravestone has "1942" engraved on it. Burge's heirs were Frederick James Burge and George Thomas Scott, his younger brother and a brother-in-law, both farmers (44). Rosetta Wake Burge was living in Withycombe when she died 5 July 1960 at the Minehead Hospital (45).
Before the death of Mr. Burge, a Farm Labourer, John Quartley was living and working at Totterdown, along with his wife, Essie Hunt (nee Dascombe) and their two daughters, Brenda Mary and Irene (also seen as "Reine") Ellen. In her memoir, "AWAY & HOME, WORLD WAR I, Somerset and Essex", Pat Herniman wrote about being evacuated from London in 1939 to live with her maternal grandparents, Harry and Annie Maria Prole at Kiln Farmhouse in the centre of Timberscombe. Often after school, Pat would walk to Totterdown with her new friend who lived there, Brenda Mary Quartley (46). It is not clear how long Mr. and Mrs. Quartley were at Totterdown. They would have been recent arrivals as on the 1939 England & Wales Register they were still working at East Harwood Farm where they had been since at least 1935, the year both of their daughters were registered at the Timberscombe School as residents of East Harwood. The Quartley family remained in the area for the rest of their lives and Brenda Mary Quartley married Cyril Copp of Timberscombe in 1954 and at her passing in 2012 was buried with him at St. Petrock's (47).
It appears that Irene Quartley continued living at Totterdown as Mrs. Alan F. Gregory (48). He was born in the Williton District (including Timberscombe) in 1932 and interestingly his mother's maiden name was "Burge" (49) but as of this writing no connection has been made to William Henry Burge and his more immediate family. Alan F. Gregory married Irene Quartley in Exmoor, early in 1955 (50). In 1975, Irene's father, John, died at Totterdown and likely her mother, Essie, was with them too, before dying in 1981 at the Boyd House Nursing Home on Periton Road in Minehead. By 2003, Alan and Irene Gregory has relocated to Three Gates Cottage in Luccombe, later moving to Slates Cottage, also in Luccombe (51). Irene Ellen Gregory died 10 October 2019 (52).
The 2003 Brochure, that included the photograph of Totterdown Farmhouse seen above, had been printed "Under the instructions of Mr BT & Mrs JJ Halse", the current owners and sellers. He was Bernard Thomas Halse, born in the district of Exeter in January 1930. She was born at Bristol in 1937 as Judith Joanna Pridie (53), who was registered as a nurse in November 1960, after qualifying at Southmead Hospital in Bristol (54). Known as "Judy", she and Bernard Thomas Halse married October 1964 in her hometown (55). It is not clear when they arrived at Totterdown but were established there enough by 1983, that the Somerset County Archery Association of the Grand Western Archery Society moved its Tuesday night Field Rounds "to Judy Hulse's (as spelled) Totterdown Farm at Timberscombe". The archery events became so popular at the farm, that by 1991 ,"Totterdown Farm was now completely full with 160 archers attending each year" (56). Advertising himself as "B.T. Halse", Mr. Halse was surely the first farmer at Totterdown to promote it as a centre of UK agricultural and animal husbandry on early social media (57). In 2003 he listed the farm as "Honeymead (Totterdown Farm)" in the telephone directory, perhaps adding honey to the fresh vegetables he offered. By 2005 Bernard Thomas and Judy Halse had moved to Morval, a house at Blue Anchor (58). At the time of his death on 14 August 2011, Mr. Halse was at Minehead (59).
Totterdown was purchased in 2004 by Perry Wood , born about 1960 (60). A year later he married Elaine Harrison in Taunton (61). With two stable blocks consisting of seven stables and with Totterdown located alongside a Bridleway, Mr. Wood was well situated as a horse trainer and for giving riding lessons . He also expanded the dairy aspects of the farm. When he purchased the property what is half of the current kitchen and hallway was an active dairy area.
In 2021, Totterdown was sold to Margaret and Edward Ruffell, coming from Hampshire. At the time of their purchase, Totterdown was advertised as having a spacious drawing room, a split level Rear Hall with flagstone flooring and exposed beamwork, a triple aspect Family Room, a Kitchen/ Dining Room with solid granite counters, a Belfast sink, an Aga and flagstone flooring, an ensuite Master Bedroom with a Juliet balcony, and three further bedrooms. Outside was a detached American style barn (62).
During their first year at Totterdown, Margaret and Edward Ruffell were approached by a friend of Judy Hulse, who had died. A final request were that her ashes might be scattered at Totterdown Farm. Margaret and Edward were happy to say yes.
Creator
Greenslade Taylor Hunt, 13 Hammet Street, Taunton, Somerset /
Ordnance Survey Map, British Library & National Library of Scotland
Ordnance Survey Map, British Library & National Library of Scotland
Source
Date
c. 2003
1844-1888
1844-1888
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
Totterdown Farmhouse, c. 2003, northeast of Timberscombe / detail of Ordnance Survey Map, 1844-1888, depicting positions of Totterdown and Cuffs
Acquisition Date
2019
2022
2022
Acquisition Method
Gift
Research
Research
Category
PLACES: Farmhouses / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2022
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
8 X 16
7 X 17.5
7 X 17.5
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) Greenslade Taylor Hunt, Property Specialists, Sales Particulars of TOTTERDOWN FARM, MINEHEAD, SOMERSET, c. 2003 (2) Stags, "EXMOOR-the perfect place for your dream equestrian home", Friday 28 May 2021, stags,co,uk/articles /exmoor (3) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, SEM7987 Archive and MS08311 and English Heritage.org.uk (4) HER, MMO2614 (5) HER, MSO8311 and SEM7803 Archive (6) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (7) England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991 (8) England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 (9) Somerset England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms,Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (10) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (11) Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914 (12) US Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865 (13) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (14) 1851 England Census (15) 1861 England Census, Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (16) 1881 England Census (17) 1881 England Census and 1891 England Census (18) 1901 England Census (19) Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current (20) Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1914 (21) 1881 England Census (22) Devon, England, Church of England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1920 (23) 1911 England Census and FindMyPast.com, Results of England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2007 (24) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (25) 1871 England Census and 1881 England Census (26) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Indexes, 1916-2007 (27) Victoria County History.ac.uk, Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1914 and 1901 England Census (28) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (29) VCH (30) "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, SOMERSET", PARTICULARS, PLANS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE of THE KNOWLE ESTATE, presented by Messrs. W.R.J. Greenslade, Taunton and Wellington, for the 20 July 1916 Public Auction at the Luttrell Arms Hotel, Dunster (31) HER, MM02624 (32) UK, City and County Directories, 1600s-1900s and 1914 Kelly's Directory of Somerset (33) "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, SOMERSET", pages 14-17 (34) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (35) 1881 England Census (36) Somerset, England, Marriages, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (37) 1911 England Census (38) as written at the top of "Lot 1 " on original copy of "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, SOMERSET" (39) in 1916, Sam Grabham (1887-1971), the blacksmith at Cowbridge Mill (which was included in the 1916 Knowle Estate auction) wrote in his copy of "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, ENGLAND" most of the names of buyers and the amount of the winning bids and an unidentified newspaper clipping headlined "Important Sale of Property of Dunster, mounted on a KEY PLAN map of the auction lots, both of which were handed down by Mr. Grabham to his son, Kenneth Grabham (1920-2007), then to Derek Poole (1942-2011), then to his daughter, Angie Gummer who shared them with the St. Petrock's History Group in 2019) (40) as written on the 3rd of October 1916 Conveyance from Stuart E. Smyth and C. Worsley Battersby, Esq. to R.P. Wallis Wilson, Esq. (41) as written on the 21 January 1919 Conveyance from R.P. Wallis Wilson, Esq. to Mrs. Mary Turner and John H. Turner, Esq. and the 1919 Kelly's Directory of Somerset (42) 1939 England and Wales Register (43) 1935 Kelly's Directory of Somerset and 1939 England and Wales Register (44) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current and England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 (45) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (46) "AWAY & HOME, WORLD WAR II, Somerset and Essex", 1939-1945", by Pat Herniman, published by Paper Mill Books, Little Baddow, in association with The Little Baddow History Centre, 2016 (47) Timberscombe School ADMISSIONS REGISTER, 1897-1944, Nos. 542 and 543, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007, England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-200r and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (48) as remembered by former residents of Timberscombe, including Jennifer (nee Bond) Hansford on 25 March 2022 (49) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 (50) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (51) EU, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 (52) England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (53) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Indexes, 1916-2007 (54) UK and Ireland, Nursing Registers, 1898-1963 (55) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (56) The 1998 125th Anniversary Grand Western Archery Meeting Booklet, Somerset County Archery Association and the Grand Western Archery Society, gwas.com (57) gwas.com (58) UK Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 (59) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (60) UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 (61) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (62) thehouseshop.com
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2022
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES
St. Petrock's History Group PROPERTIES
Item Reference
SP-158
Technique
Copies
Citation
Greenslade Taylor Hunt, 13 Hammet Street, Taunton, Somerset /
Ordnance Survey Map, British Library & National Library of Scotland , “A History of Totterdown Farm (and the abandoned Cuffs),” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 15, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3439.
Comments