|
Chawleigh
Village |
|
The Census of 1851 reveals a total of almost 850 people
living in or around this village. Could they return, they would never
recognise this view for on Wednesday 25 Aug 1869, at half past one in
the afternoon, a
cataclysmic fire broke out in the thatched premises used by the Tancock
family for their carpentry business.
Sparks soon ignited nearby houses, all of which were thatched, and
reached the roof of the Earl of Portsmouth Inn, then called the London Inn.
In all, 21 properties were destroyed that day and more than 80
people, many of them the poorest inhabitants of the village, were made
homeless and destitute. |
|
The
Earl of Portsmouth Inn was an important coaching inn, and the blacksmith and
his family lived there, looking after the post horses as well as serving
the needs of the village and travellers.
The fire swept off the the roof of the inn and, fanned by the wind,
leapt across the street to the houses opposite which rapidly burned
down.
|
The
Earl of Portsmouth Inn
|
The Royal Oak |
Richard Edworthy kept the Royal Oak further up the street, and lived in an adjoining house
from which he ran a wheelwright's business. According to the press
report in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, "the house was ignited several times but was put out".
His neighbour across the street, Samuel Mair, wasn't so lucky but the destruction
of his house
marked the end of the fire on that side of the street. |
|
All the property
on both sides of the street between the Royal Oak and the Earl of
Portsmouth Inn had eventually to be
rebuilt and the Devon Weekly Times describing the event some days
later, called the village "a scene of desolation".
|
|
Chawleigh and most of the land surrounding it formed part of
the vast estate of the Earl of Portsmouth who lived just close by at
Eggesford House. There was a tiny local Fire Brigade consisting of estate
workers under the direction a Mr. Lovell, and they did what little they could to help.
The ruin may have been complete but at least there was no loss of life.
It was Lord Portsmouth who organised the gradual reconstruction of
the street we see today. He ordered the use of traditional materials
so that now, a century and a half later, signs of the damage have
virtually disappeared. |
|
The Lord Portsmouth of the time seems to have been
something of a character and Thomas Hardy, the writer, counted him, and
Lady Portsmouth, among his closest friends. He describes a visit in 1885 to the
Earl's house at Eggesford where he spent most of his time driving around the surrounding villages with his host and walking in the Park
there. Of his Lordship, Hardy writes:
"He is a farmer-like man with a broad Devon accent. He showed me
a bridge over which bastards were thrown and drowned, even down to quite
recent times."
Lord and Lady Portsmouth wanted to Hardy to come
to live in the area so as to be
near them and offered to find him a house, but building had already
begun on Hardy's new home in Dorset and he declined.
|
Click here to
continue
|
