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SPREYTONWOOD Manor and parish of Spreyton Spreytonwood (or Spreyton Wood) was probably part of the Manor of Spreyton that belonged to the Talbots in the Middle Ages and subsequently passed to the Kelly family of Kelly in West Devon. The woodlands on the farm are probably one of the few untouched parts of the ancient forest that covered this part of Devon from thousands of years ago until the medieval deforestation which created most of today’s farms. · 18th century: a freehold interest (or possibly a very long leasehold subsequently treated as a freehold) of Spreytonwood, along with the small properties of New Mill and Bargains, had come into the hands of the Hole family (New Mill and Spreyton Bargains are mentioned in the 1793 will of the Rev. Richard Hole). The Holes were rich clerics who owned a lot of land in Devon as well as the livings of a number of parishes. They never lived at Spreytonwood and probably always let the properties for income. · 1924: according to some contemporary legal proceedings, the property had passed into the hands of Richard Hole’s son the Rev. Robert Hole. He let it in that year on a 14-year lease at £120 a year to George Lambert Gorwyn of Falkedon, one of the biggest landowners in Spreyton who owned several neighbouring farms. · 1842: the property had been inherited by the Rev. George Hole, the Rector of Chulmleigh. It was at that time divided into two farms, one of 181 acres in the tenancy of Simon Martin, and one of 109 acres in the tenancy of William Newton. · 1859: the Rev. George Hole died, bequeathing Spreytonwood for life to his son Richard Arum Hole, and after Richard’s death to Richard’s brother Robert Hole, the Rector of North Tawton. Richard Arum Hole was apparently simple-minded, and his father presumably left him a life interest in Spreytonwood so that the rent from it could provide an income to pay for his care. The farm continued to be let. · 1885: the then tenant (whose name was Baker) seems to have died or disappeared, and the harvesting that year was done by the young farmer George Lambert of the neighbouring farm of Coffins (the future MP and 1st Viscount Lambert), presumably at the request of Robert Hole, who administered Spreytonwood on his brother’s behalf. · 1886: Robert Hole, who must have had difficulty finding a tenant, urged George Lambert to take a tenancy of the 313-acre property (it was described as two farms, of which the higher farm consisted of 129 acres of “very good land when in heart”). George was only 20 at the time and taking on Spreytonwood meant doubling the size of his land. It says a lot for George’s reputation as a farmer that Robert Hole pressed the property upon him at such a young age. George agreed to take over Spreytonwood (together with Bargains and New Mills), although not before driving a hard bargain over the rent on account of the bad state of the property – he ended up paying £120 rather than the £145 originally demanded. George let the house to Susan Battishill (of the Battishill family whose memorial inscriptions are in Spreyton church). For a time he farmed the whole of the two farms. · 1907: two separate surveys or valuations of the farm were done in 1907 (both are now in the Devon Record office). In a survey in February 1907, probably commissioned by George Lambert, it was valued at £2,500, a fair rental being assessed at £120 per annum, and the timber was valued at £1,010. The lands were described as being in a very fair state of cultivation, with meadows in an extremely healthy situation for sheep or cattle and the arable lands capable of bearing good average crops, although the surveyor found the then outbuildings quite insufficient for the acreage. The surveyor described the lands as ‘splendidly adapted for sporting, being intermixed with good game covers etc”. He noted that many of the fields adjoined the village or convenient roads, and could therefore always be let as smallholdings. In a second valuation in June 1907 for estate duty purposes, the property was described as freehold agricultural land of 313 acres, with a farmhouse, buildings and 2 cottages, valued at only £2,133.15s. The land was described as very poor, a large proportion being moor, furze and coarse pasture; the farmhouse was described as having been burnt down and the remains fitted up as a cottage with at least £500-600 needing to be spent on it. · 1908: George Lambert sublet Lower Spreytonwood (175 acres) and New Mill (9 acres) to Ernest Sanders of Huddishill, Bow on a yearly basis for £75 a year. · 1911: the legal owner of Spreytonwood, the simple-minded Richard Arum Hole lived on to 1910. However, it seems that the administrator of his affairs, his brother Robert, needed money before then, and he borrowed on his expectations as the heir of Spreytonwood. By the time of Richard’s death the property was heavily mortgaged and had to be sold to pay back the mortgages. George Lambert (by then an MP) purchased the freehold in 1911. · 1912: George Lambert gave a 7-year lease to Daniel and Charles Webber of Easthayes Farm, Ottery St Mary, of Spreytonwood and Croft Farms at an annual rent of £150, reserving for himself as was customary the mineral, timber and game rights. It remained for some time with the Webber family and after that was taken on by other tenants, notably Isaac Vile and his son. · 1921: George Lambert sold a field from the farm next to Spreyton Cross to Okehampton Rural District Council for £100, and Council houses were subsequently built there. · 1972: The Lamberts sold their estate in Spreyton, including the freehold of Spreytonwood. Sophia Lambert 2006
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