The farm that time forgot! - Went for a trail ride on the R80GS with Trish on Bank Holiday Monday - Exeter to Lydford and back and did four easy green

[BrianS]

Went for a trail ride on the R80GS with Trish on Bank Holiday Monday - Exeter to Lydford and back and did four easy green lanes - not sure about the 18" front wheel on the GS and its reaction to the many fist-sized stones in the vey dry lanes - most hiding under leaves.

We passed some fantastic cottages etc between Throwleigh and Gidleigh but a farm at Wonson was the star. It's clearly still a working farm but it looks like its frozen in the 1950s - it even had a couple of milk churns (remember them before the bulk tank collections started?) in the yard. Make a nice "project"
Brian

 

[Der Kommissar]

frozen in the 50's, but curious as to just how old you think something like that is?

100?
200?

more?

 

[Rob Farmer]

Some of these old farms are listed in the Doomsday book and probably go back a lot further than that. We have farms in our county that have been built on Iron age foundations. The buildings just get added to over the generations.

 

[Rob Farmer]

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ and then enter Wonson. This gives an old map for the area (1887) if Brian can identify the farm on the map and get it's name it should be quite easy to trace it a fair way back.

 

[BrianS]

Yup - it was on the 1887 map as "Forder" - now shown as "Forder Farm" - layout of buildings nearly the same.

Difficult to date these places from outside the farm gate but my guess is its been there a century or two. I attach a not very good pic (Trish took it - tee hee) of the "granary".

 

[Rob Farmer]

I was having a grub around to see what I could find out about the farm and found this recent application (20/7/03)

West Devon Borough

Application No 0571/03

Parish : Chagford

Applicant Name : Mr ME Thorn

Application Listed Building Consent

Case Officer : Jeremy Ebdon

Grid Ref : SX72268886

Site Forder Farm, Chagford

Proposal Renovation/restoration of agricultural building


So it looks like the Farm is going to be done up.

 

[Rob Farmer]

It would appear that the Farm had a statutary order placed on it in 1990 for Contamination of Feeding Stuffs

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1990/Uksi_19900037_en_1.htm#end

and

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1990/Uksi_19900037_en_2.htm

A bit of a sad ending

I found this picture from 1983