Tithe No. 1230
C/R 215
Cottage is not listed and I am only able
to research history from 1813. It appears to be
built of lathe and plaster, with a kitchen built
on of brick abutting the north end of the cottage.
However it is evident that the cellar
underneath the cottage is older and is of some
antiquity. Roz Hickman(Shipton) when living in
Otterton as a school child in 1950’s and again in
the 1980’s and myself in the 1990’s have descended
into the huge cellar that exists under the old
Manor House (now St. Michaels Close). It is known
that 3 passages led from this cellar, one of which
led to the cellar under Church Cottage. Today this
passage is bricked up at both ends. Archaeologists
examined the cellars in 1980’s and were of the
opinion that they date from 13th or 14th
centuries. They could not examine the passages to
see if they were of the same date. However, they
must have been built for some purpose. That from
Church Cottage may have been used by smugglers
.
Smuggling in this country probably dates from the
14th century when both imported and exported goods
were first taxed to pay for the 100 years war with
France. The first record seen implicating Otterton
people is in 1684 when 8 men were caught smuggling
tobacco into Ladram Bay and then brought to John
Rice’s House, split up between Richard Warry’s
house, Richard Dolling’s farm in Otterton and
Abrahams Yard in East Budleigh. One of these
houses may have been a building with the cellar at
Church Cottage which would have been an ideal
hiding place for contraband. (More research
required), Smuggling continued through to mid
19th.century.
The Church Cottage cellar had 4
entrances. Three are now blocked up on the east
side but one, on the west road side is still
probably usable.
The first named leaseholder was John Sanson
holding Conventionary Lease No.215 with lives from
1813 “House Rent 2/6d pa”. 215 was a new lease and
the cottage above the cellar may have been built
or rebuilt at that time. Sanson held it for
4 years when it was transferred to William Harding
of Stantyway Farm, his family holding the lease to
1850, it was then transferred to a Rack Rent in
favour of Robert Till who had been Harding’s
tenant at least since 1841 (Census). He was a
carpenter and he and his wife Sarah were both aged
25 at that time. The Tithe Award 1843/6
lists “House, garden 10 pole”. Whites Directory
1850, states he is a wheelwright.
The first known wheelwright business in
Otterton was opened by John Baker in 1847 in the
coopers shop of Joel Hayman, now Bramley Cottage,
and Robert Till had joined Baker as his assistant
wheelwright. He probably died shortly after as the
1851 Census for Church Cottage, names Thomas,
Roberts brother, living there with his wife
Caroline and family.
The Till family members had been living
in Otterton since early 18th century and were
holding two houses in Fore Street where Nos 7
& 5 are today. One was a small farm. There are
descendants living locally today.
Thomas Till and family lived in Church
Cottage for the next 25 or so years. He was a very
industrious person and during this time farmed 36
acres and ran a carrier service to Exeter on
Tuesdays and Fridays from before 1861. His wife
Caroline ran a shop from the Cottage. By
1881 Census he had moved to Clapps Farm, now
Basclose, presumably to house his expanding
family. His sons and families lived and worked on
the farm.
George Bolt, carpenter, wife Mary and
family of 3 sons and 4 daughters are living in the
cottage at the 1881 Census. By the following
Census Francis and Sarah Hitt are living there on
a Rent of £4.4/-pa, last mentioned there in 1917.
It is not known who the tenants were until
after the Second World War. Tenants known since
then are Mrs. Burt 1956/61; Leslie Carter 1970/74:
Stephen Counter 1974/82: June Hillier of Bicton
Restaurant 1982/83.
19th. October 1984 the Clinton Devon
Estates auctioned the cottage and was sold to Tom
Griffiths of Sidmouth and sold on to John and Vera
Budgen in 1985. They lived there for the next 20
years until Mr. Budgen died in 2005 and Vera
Budgen moved to Budleigh Salterton.
Prof. Robert (Bob) and Mair Miles bought
the cottage and moved in for the next four years,
then moving to Sidmouth. Then Chris, and Emma
Greenwood bought it using it as a Holiday Home,
followed by James and Janet Keliher in 2013.
Barn on The Green
BARN below Church Cottage, facing The
Green 1960
Tithe No. 1229
The Barn was listed in the 1946/51 Scheduled
Buildings Grade 11. It is described as “Small barn
on corner of Lane leading to the Church, opposite
Mill” “C17 or earlier. Old moulded stone
architrave to door with Tudor dripstone above.
Doorway unusually wide. Partly blocked, partly
filled with modern door. Stone coping to gable end
with mutilated finial. Building mainly brick”.
The earliest reference seen is the entry
in the Tithe Award, where it is included in the
Lease of Otterton Mill as 1229 Storehouse. 1875
the new tenant of No.1 The Green (now part of
No.17) George Baker, carpenter & joiner,
used the Barn as his workshop. He died at No.1 in
1936. During Edward V11’s reign a wall post box
was set in the wall of the Barn by the door. This
was transferred to a brick construction on The
Green when the Barn was demolished in early
1960’s.
Gerald Millington 2013
SOURCES
Clinton Devon Estates :-Leasehold & Rack
Rental Books, Tithe Award 1843/46
Census Returns, Otterton 1841/1911
Directories :-Whites, Kellys etc.
Auction Prospectus, Church Cottage, 1984
Otter Valley Assn. website – OVApedia:-
“Passages under Manor House, Otterton” by Roz
Hickman 2011
“Smuggling” by Gerald Millington 2008
Photograph (enlarged from photo. by the late Fred
Farrant)
