In
many ways the history of West Lynch Farm is somewhat of a
mystery. Although it is undoubtedly an ancient dwelling place,
there is no pre 19th C documentary evidence relating directly
to the Farm. This includes the Chapel, about which nothing
is known prior to its restoration in 1885. Previous to this
it had been used as a barn, possibly since the Reformation;
and even its dedication has been forgotten. However, due to
its various characteristics and studies of local field patterns,
it is generally agreed that West Lynch Farm was the manor
house of Bossington.
BOSSINGTON
MANOR
Around
900AD Bossington appears to have been given to Athelney Abbey
by King Alfred.
Bossington
Manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086); of particular
interest is that in the case of Bossington the Domesday Book
was in error! The Book states that in the time of Edward the
Confessor the Manor was still held by the Abbey “and
it was set aside for the monks food”, and that after
the Conquest it was given to a Ralph de Limesei. However,
contrary to this, ample evidence shows that either the Abbey
lost Bossington for only a short time, or more likely, never
lost it at all, and that Bossington was held by the Abbey
right up to the Reformation (1536).
At
some point the Abbey ceased to have direct involvement with
Bossington and ‘rented’ out the Manor and its
manorial rights and dues to private individuals, the first
recorded being a Talbot de Etfeld in 1146.
From
1452-1694 the Sydenham family held Bossington, after the Reformation
held “of the Crown” rather than “of the
Abbey”.
From
1745-1944 West Lynch Farm and most of Bossington (as part
of the Holnicote Estate) belonged to the Acland family; in
1944 it became National Trust property.
Luckily,
the buildings themselves can tell us something about their
past, and the lives of those who lived and worked there.
THE
HOUSE
Late
Medieval : the Open-Hall House The earliest identifiable
phase of the House is characteristic of the late 1400’s.
Whether there was a dwelling here previous to this is impossible
to say, although this is an area of extremely ancient settlement
patterns. The positions of smoke-blackened roof trusses show
that before the introduction of chimneys the central part
of the House was an open-hall. This was a ground floor room
open to the roof timbers, necessary to allow smoke from an
open-hearth fire to escape through openings in the roof.
On
either side of the open-hall were two floored ends; here the
roof trusses show no evidence of smoke. The first floors of
these 2 ends would not have been connected, and there is evidence
of 2 external stair-turrets on each end of the back of the
House. Neither of these stair-turrets is in existence now,
but a small wooden lancet window, with a diamond shaped head,
can be seen high up at the S end of the rear wall of the House.
This is the window of one of these stair-turrets, and if you
look closely you can see where the turret wall has been incorporated
into the present wall.
The
main front door probably dates from the late 15th C or early
16th C. This door was not designed to be opened from the outside,
and on the inside is a heavy sliding timber bar that acted
as an extremely large bolt; security was obviously an important
consideration when this door was installed! Typical of an
open-hall house of this time, this is the front door of a
cross-passage that went straight across the House to a back
door. The passage no longer exists, but the opposite back
door remains, the frame (though not the door) comparable to
that of the front; this doorway is now contained within a
later extension to the House. On the N side of this cross-passage
was the ‘lower’ or service end of the House. On
its S side was the open-hall, on the other side of which was
the ‘upper’ or private end of the House.
The
basic construction and external walls (about 70cms thick)
have remained unaltered since the House was built. Essentially
it is of a jointed cruck construction with 5 pairs of jointed
cruck-trusses. These are still present and visible in the
roof space and in places on the first floor. The roof was
thatched, with a slightly steeper pitch than it has now.
Other
early features include the chamfered trusses, beams and purlins,
the partial survival of a plank and muntin partition (or screen)
belonging to the cross-passage, and wattle and daub infill
between the roof trusses.
From
1452-1694 the Sydenham family held Bossington Manor,
and it is they who probably built the House. It does not seem
that the Sydenhams ever lived in their manor house; the House
was probably occupied by their Steward, but for its time and
place it was still a dwelling of high status and great comfort.
Mixed
farming would have been practised; sheep and cattle were very
important, and the main crops grown were wheat, barley, great
oats and grey peas. The people living here would have also
exploited their natural surroundings by hunting, fowling and
fishing.
The
17th Century During the late 16th C or early 17th
C the 3 chimneystacks were added, and the open-hall floored
over, using the chamfered beams still visible in the ceiling
of the main ground floor room. A stair-turret was added, situated
slightly to the N of the middle of the rear wall of the House,
containing a half spiral staircase (still in use today). It
is probably at this point that the stair-turret at the N end
of the House was abandoned; the one at the S end probably
remained in use. The House would have become warmer, drier
and less smoky, with the new first floor providing more space.
Life in the House would have become far more comfortable.
The next major upgrade of the heating system was the installation
of central heating in 1994!
The
window to the right of the main front door is probably early
16th C; for its time it is far too ornate for a service room,
and there is evidence that originally it consisted of 4 window-lights.
It is possible that this was once the window of the open-hall,
re-used when the chimneystack on the front of the house was
added.
The
19th Century The next major changes to the House
were made at the beginning of the 19th C, with a modernisation
and remodelling of the S or private end of the House. The
second front door was added, leading on to new straight-run
flight of stairs. The upstairs rooms were remodelled partly
to accommodate the new stairway, and the old stairway in the
N turret blocked up.
The
present windows at the front of the House (except the kitchen
window) date from this time; the attractively shaped downstairs
windows had interior shutters and panelling, some still in
place. Many of the existing interior panelled doors are also
part of this remodelling.
Recently,
during redecoration, it was discovered that the skirting boards
of the central ground floor were made of slate, concealed
under layers of paint. This was probably installed at this
time and is unusual; although slate skirting boards are a
feature of the 1800’s they are generally found in kitchen
or service rooms. The present occupiers find that they have
a problem with rising damp in this room; could this be a problem
as old as the House, and the use of slate a 19th C residents
attempt to stop his skirting boards rotting?
It
was later on in this century that changes were made to the
layout of the ground floor, bringing an end to the cross-passage.
For
most of the 19th C the Ridler family occupied the House as
tenant farmers to the Aclands. Sheep and cattle were still
very important, and their main crops were wheat, barley and
turnips; barley became of particular importance in the later
part of the century when the Porlock Vale area became famous
for its top quality barley. During the 19th C developments
in mechanisation, transportation and food processing were
transforming agricultural life at a pace never seen before,
and the Ridlers must have seen many changes.
It
was during this century that Sir Thomas Dyke Acland the Xth
Baronet was responsible for the creation of the woodland (including
evergreen oaks) on the hillsides opposite the front of the
House. This transformed a landscape previously devoid of trees
(fields and open moorland), a landscape that is now very hard
to imagine. His successor Sir Thomas Dyke Acland the XIth,
was responsible for the restoration of the Chapel in 1885.
The
20th end 21st Centuries The extension on the N gable
wall of the House was built at the beginning of the 20th century.
This was a purpose built dairy; sited here and overshadowed
by the House, this room remains cool in all but the hottest
weather. Other remaining features typical of a dairy are slate
shelving and double-paned windows. At the end of the 19th
C and the beginning of the 20th many farms invested in dairy
farming as a response to economic factors, in particular the
slump in arable farming and the lure of new milk markets.
At
some time during the early part of the 20th C the thatch was
replaced with tiles. If you look at the top of the N gable
wall, you can clearly see where the roof has been raised about
40cms to accommodate this new form of roofing material.
The
Robbins family were the main tenants during the first half
of the 20th C, and in 1944 Sir Richard Dyke Acland the XVth
Baronet gave the Holnicote Estate (including West Lynch Farm)
to the National Trust.
The
Rawles were the last farming tenants (1953-1980), and in 1980,
for the first time in its long history West Lynch Farm ceased
to be a working farm. With the Steeds as tenants it became
a Farmpark (now with only about 6-7 acres) and dependant on
the income of paying visitors.
In
1994 the Powells took over the tenancy, developing the House
for B&B and setting up Exmoor Falconry & Animal Farm.
The Falconry and its activities would have been
far more familiar to the original inhabitants of the House
than to the vast majority of today’s visitors.
When the present House was built falconry and hawking were
still a very important part of medieval life, not purely as
a sport but also an important means of obtaining fresh meat.
The Goshawk (known as the “Cook’s Bird”)
was of particular importance for providing table meat. The
hunting habits of the Goshawk are similar to those of the
Harris Hawks which today accompany guests on Hawking Experiences.
By
the time the chimneystacks were added to the House around
the start of the 17th C, hawking and falconry was on the decline,
mainly due to the increasing use of guns. During the 18th
C the sight of a trained bird of prey at work had become a
rarity, with few active falconers remaining in the British
Isles.
Today,
the future of falconry is largely dependant on the appreciation
of falconry as an art, and as a unique opportunity to experience
interaction with birds of prey. Please visit our History
of Falconry exhibition in Chapel Yard Mews - full of pictures
and information about the highs and lows of falconry pursuits
through the millenium.
THE
OUTBUILDINGS
The
majority of the farm buildings date from between 1876+1889,
built by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland the XIth who had succeeded
his father in 1871.
The
Stockhouse This is the building directly opposite
and running parallel to the rear of the House. This building
has been much altered over time, but elements of it probably
date back to the 16th C. It could have been originally built
as a detached kitchen for the House (at one time a common
practise); inside there is some evidence of an internal stack
on the rear wall. Its general appearance today is of a 19th
C stockhouse, used to house the more valuable livestock.
Of
particular interest are some of the windows. The 2 windows
at the front, one set directly above the other, are very early.
They have identical frameworks although the mullion and bars
are missing from the one above. If you look at the lower window
it can be seen that the frame has been packed with pieces
of slate, which suggests that these windows have probably
been reused from elsewhere. At the rear of the building is
another very early window, this one of a very heavy chamfered
construction with diagonal stops at the ends of each chamfer.
These 3 windows are somewhat out of character for an outbuilding
of their time, and have probably been reused, possibly from
the House itself.
The
Linhay This is the round-pillared building in the
yard by the Chapel, which joins onto the S end of House. The
Linhay was built as an open-fronted animal shelter with a
store for hay above. There are 7 large round stone pillars
at the front, the ends of the floor beams visible at the front
of these pillars. The pillars at the lower end of the Linhay
have been concealed by later infilling with rubblestone to
make a stable area. There are problems dating this building,
but it is probably 17th C
.The
Linhay and the yard attached to it would have provided a convenient
way to shelter and feed livestock, the nearby threshing barn
providing straw for litter. It would also have been of great
importance as an efficient means of accumulating manure, vital
for the fertility of the fields.
The
similar round pillared frontage of the smaller linhay at the
bottom of the yard is of a later date (probably late 19th
C).
The
Threshing Barn Instantly recognisable by its huge
pairs of opposing doors, it is difficult to date as the whole
roof structure has been renewed, but it is probably 17th C
or early18th C. This barn was specifically built for the process
of threshing (the separation of the ears of grain from their
stalks) by hand with flails, the sole means of threshing until
the 19th C.
The
threshing floor lay directly between the 2 pairs of doors,
sheaves of unthreshed corn were stored on one side of the
floor, and threshed straw for use as animal litter on the
other side. Day by day during the winter sheaves were opened
onto the threshing floor, beaten with the hand-flails, the
straw residue lifted to one side, and the separated ears winnowed
by the natural draught between the doors.
Early
attempts at pest control can be seen with the owl hole at
the top of the gable wall facing the House, and the cat holes
in the doors. If trained birds of prey were available they
were sometimes housed in barns during moulting; during this
time they were generally not flown, but housed untethered
in an “airy chamber” or barn and kept well fed
to encourage the rapid re-growth of their plumage. The birds
would have no doubt added to their diet any pests within the
barn.
The
right hand door of the W pair of doors has a decorative grille
covering a small opening. This would have once held a large
stoplock; the contents of a threshing barn were valuable and
were securely kept – in medieval records the most common
reason for the purchase of a lock was for a barn or granary.
The
Barn has been adapted over time, first to accommodate the
threshing machinery powered by the horse-engine (see later).
In 1960 the huge sliding doors were inserted at the S end
of the Barn to allow for the farm machinery of the time.
The
modern thatch is of combed wheat reed; the underside of the
thatch overhang above the E pair of doors has been finished
with bundles of wheat reed with the ears still attached –
an appropriate decoration for a threshing barn.
The
Horse-Engine Barn This is the thatched roundhouse
attached to the W side of the threshing barn. This was built
between 1876+1889 (evidence from maps) as part of major developments
carried out to the farm buildings by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland
the XIth Baronet.
From
the early years of the 19th C threshing machines had been
developed that carried out threshing, winnowing and grading
in one operation. These machines were most commonly powered
by horses (also by water-mill, and on the largest farms by
stationary steam engines). Although threshing by hand was
still common, especially on smaller farms, these developments
were of great concern to farm workers as it was hand threshing
that kept them employed during the winter months.
The
horse-engine housed in the well-ventilated roundhouse would
have consisted of a large overhead crown wheel in a horizontal
position, set on a revolving vertical post. Horses were harnessed
below this crown wheel and were walked round and round in
a circle, thus powering the threshing machine set in the threshing
barn (or other barn machinery) via a drive-shaft (or belt)
and gearing system.
To
build a horse-engine barn at this late stage of the 19th C
is somewhat unusual. By this time developments in steam engines
(in particular portable ones taken from farm to farm) had
largely replaced horse powered barn machinery. It was also
during this period that the acreage attached to West Lynch
Farm dropped from over 50 acres to under 40, somewhat small
to warrant the expense of such an installation. Perhaps the
idea was that income could be gained by renting out the use
of the machinery to the many other small farms in the area,
which might have found the use of steam power uneconomical.
At this time across the road from the Farm, at Upper West
Lynch, there was a thriving corn mill and malting business
owned by the Clarke family; possibly there was some link with
this.
During
the 20th C the internal combustion engine made both
horse and steam power obsolete, and the horse-engine machinery
was removed. The development of field machinery such as combine
harvesters saw the barn activities of threshing and winnowing
etc taken completely away from the barn, and out into the
fields as part of one harvesting process.
The
Granary This is the rectangular building standing
alone between the yard at the back of the House and the yard
containing the roundhouse. The present building is a granary,
rebuilt between 1876+1889 on an earlier building. This rebuild
was carried out using large irregular reddish sandstone blocks;
locally this was a type of stone used in construction during
the late 19th C. Some of the other buildings of this period,
such as the animal shelters that partially enclose the roundhouse,
can be identified by the presence of this stone.
Parts
of the lower sections of 3 of the walls are of small roughly
coursed stones with larger ones at the corners, the stone
very different in type to that used in the rebuild. These
are the remains of the walls of an earlier building on which
the granary was constructed; on a 1809-1812 Holnicote Estate
map a smaller building is shown on this site.
The
grain was kept on the upper floor, the ground floor probably
used to store farm implements. Today it is used to house birds
of prey at night and in bad weather.
THE
GROUNDS
The
grounds and gardens are currently undergoing careful restoration
to reflect the historical character of the property. The walled
garden has a new herb garden created within it, for herbs
and salads used within the house; the car park field has recently
been planted as an orchard in keeping with the old maps, and
the gardens are being lovingly restored to reflect the ancient
character of this beautiful Grade II Listed property.
We
do hope you enjoy your visit, and that you will return again
shortly to take advantage of the renovations and developments
that are constantly being undertaken.
‘THE HERB GARDEN’
Remember
to visit our organic herb shop where you can purchase dried
organic herbs, home-made herb mixes, jams and honeys, and
find Trevarno Organic hand-made soaps and aromatherapy products.
Written
by: Teresa Pratt January 2002
Produced by
Exmoor OWL & HAWK Centre © 2009
