BROOK VILLAS, Nos. 66
and 68 FORE STREET,OTTERTON
Tithe No 1089 Believed C/R 101
Earliest record seen 1779 Auction
Prospectus when Sarah Pinn, widow, had a 99 year
lease on Dwelling House, barn and orchard in
Otterton, described as part Dillings and late Jno.
Rugg. Rent 1/- per annum. It was on a lease with
“lives”, ie. When Sarah Pinn died the lease would
pass to the oldest of the lives. On that persons
death it would pass to the next and so on until
the last life died when the lease ended regardless
if the 99 year period had been reached. The
property then returned to the Estate. In practice
when one life died the Estate could ask for a
further life to be added to keep the lease
running. The disadvantage for the Estate as with
modern leaseholds, was that the leaseholder had
complete control on the property and many were not
repaired when necessary leading to collapse and
demolition.
The nominated “lives” on Sarah Pinn’s house were
Mrs Eliza Potbury ne Pinn age 57, Hannah Pinn 48
and Mrs.Susanna Rugg ne Pinn age 33, widow of
William Rugg. The Pinn family had lived in
Otterton Parish at least since 1524 and farmed at
the hamlet which takes their name. The Rugg’s were
the main blacksmiths in the village having
originally come from East Budleigh (there in
1570’s) By 1779 they had their Smithy at
Crosstrees.
Mrs Sarah Pinn was living in Rosemary Cottage in
1734 and from 1753 to 1763 she with Mrs Elizabeth
Potbury, probably her daughter were holding a
license to sell ale there. By 1794 Mrs Potbury is
holding the freehold of Rosemary Cottage. Mrs
Sarah Pinn probably took the lease and had the
original “Brook Villas” built about the 1770’s. It
was probably as a typical 18th.century small
farmhouse. The 1/- pa rent suggests this. The
Pinns gave up the lease in 1813 and Isaac Skinner
took it on, now at 3/-pa . He was a leading farmer
in the village with his farm in Ottery Street, now
The Barn, then known as Elliotts. He held a number
of leases in Otterton on cottages. The 1843/6
Tithe shows Elizabeth Burrows as tenant in “Brook
Villas”. She was a daughter of Isaac Skinner and
had married James Burrows in 1836, who presumably
had died before 1843. The Skinner family held the
lease until the 1890’s.
At some time between the 1830’s and the 1890’s
“Brook Villas” was renovated to its present size
and converted to two houses. This could have been
during the 1830’s when the “Banks” were built in
Ottery Street to cope with the increase in
population.( It rose from 900 in 1790 to 1250 in
1851). The 1911 Survey lists No.66 tenant John
Larcombe, No.68 Mrs.E.Drake. John Larcombe had
been appointed Station Master of East Budleigh
Station on the newly opened London & South
Western Railway line from Tipton St. Johns to
Budleigh Salterton in 1897. By 1911 he had retired
with wife Matilda to No. 66.