Genealogy Chat

Hi,
I am a descendant of William Luscombe of this farm in Devon. I would really love to get a photo of the original farm house that my family would have lived in during the 1800's, also of any other buildings and farmland. I have tried on Google earth and found it really confusing.

King regards
Sheryl

Related thread about the family , for interest:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1358331

Not the house as it was in the 1800's, which is what you're asking for, I think, but
is this perhaps it nowadays? Described as 19th century farmhouse. (Obviously modernised.)

https://bedandbreakfast.uk/property.asp?PropertyID=1158

Or maybe (as Higher Hendham Farm was clearly a large farm with lots of buildings, and therefore perhaps quite a posh farmhouse):

http://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbetrsexs140329#/r/detail/GBETRSEXS140329

Searching on Google Streetview specifically for Higher Hendham Farm only lets you see various converted & modernised barns and farm cottages.

On the 1841 the residence is just listed as Hendham:

Name: William Suscomde
[William Luscombe]
Age: 70
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1771
Gender: Male
Where born: Devon, England
Civil Parish: Woodleigh
Hundred: Stanborough
County/Island: Devon
Registration district: Kingsbridge
Sub-registration district: West Alvington
Neighbors: View others on page
Piece: 248 Book: 11 Folio: 8 Page Number: 9
Household Members:
Name Age
William Suscomde 70
Dorothy Suscomde 60
James Suscomde 30
John Suscomde 22
Dorothy Suscomde 20
Henry Suscomde 17
William Suscomde 2
William Egsheer 18
James Kemp 12
John Farley 12
David Den 12
William Pallidge 14
Jimima Steward 17
Elizabeth Anning 13

Higher Hendham Farm Woodleigh, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 4DP
£650,000 Detached, Freehol

Why not contact the current owners of the holiday-lets?
http://www.higherhendhamcottages.co.uk/

They may be willing to take some photos for you, or suggest organisations who may have a historical photo on file

Following on from DetEcTive's suggestion, perhaps someone on the Woodleigh website could help?

http://www.woodleighparish.org.uk/page15.htm

They also have a forum page - though not much used - three topics in 6 years!

I posted this link on the original thread ............. one reason for not starting a second thread on the same family :-)

------
I wonder if this listing for Hendham House, Farm House, might not be the Luscombe farm???? Just a suggestion!

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-99574-hendham-house-woodleigh-devon#.VtPJvkBKrTR
------

Sheryl ..............

I found lots of photos of the farm, under both Higher Hendham and Hendham by simply googling the name, not by using Google Earth.

look for the entries shown as 17th Century or Georgian house.farm


You do have to be careful becuase some of the censuses just show the Luscombes as living at "Hendham", with another family at "Hendham House", while another census had Hendham Farm and Higher Hendham as separate addresses.

Thanks for your suggestions all.

Yes, I have come across the two houses online. I have emailed the owners of the Higher Hendham House (B&B) and the barn conversions but haven't received replies from either as yet.

I was hoping by starting a new thread that local people (not just Luscombe researchers) might have some info/photos of Woodleigh/Hendham.

It's hard not knowing exactly what the area is like or what the boundaries of the old farm was - what buildings were part of it.

SylviainCanada I take your point about the census addresses.

Does anybody know how to look up or who to contact for historical property titles/boundaries?

Cheers!

Sheryl


the members who help on here are not "specialists" in particular fmailies or areas

We are all memebrs who have experience in researching, love the "hunt", and enjoy helping others.

So, we all look at almost all the Boards, and at all threads, and try to help where we can.

That's why GR recommends (in fact, says definitely "NO") that there should not be more than one thread on the same people.

It just leads to duplication of research

Sylvia,

Thanks for that information - I hadn't seen that recommendation. I guess I should have read up properly before plunging on in!?

I certaintly see how addictive family research can be and I appreciate all
the help that I have received.

I'm sure I'll become a lot more educated about how this all works as my research progresses.

Regards,
Sher

This link will take you to a site for the 1836 Tithe Maps for Devon.

http://www.devon.gov.uk/tithemaps.htm

Thank you Andysmum, that was very helpful. I see that the family was farming at Higher Hendham and one of William and Dorothy's sons was farming nearby at Woolcombe.

Here is another interesting link. Scroll down to the index, click on the relevant letters and then, on the new page that opens, read the instructions at the top first!!

There are lots of Luscombes, including a William, at Woodleigh, in 1847.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/DevonWillsProject/#Interim

Success!
I have managed to contact a woman who owned Hendham House for over 35 years and very recently sold it (the georgian house) I could see from the tithe maps that it was previously known as Lower Hendham and my ancestors lived at Higher Hendham (with all the converted barns). Jenny has kindly offered to take photos of the farm house next time she goes out there.

So thanks everyone for the invaluable help in resolving that little question of where exactly my ancestors lived and my desire to see the actual family home. The court case newspaper article on Dorothy Luscombe was fascinating because it gave a lot of background information on how they lived. Really brought them to life for me.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can research further back from our oldest known ancestor?

This is what we know:

William Luscombe; born 1770/1? and died Woodleigh 27/11/1847.
Married Dorothy Torring at Aveton Gifford on 30/12/1801.

The witnesses to their wedding were: Thomas Luscombe, Nathaniel Torring and Benjamin Searle (?) William and Dorothy signed with a cross but it looks like Thomas signed his own name (if that helps?)

They had their first children in Aveton Gifford but were living at Higher Hendham Woodleigh by 7/2/1821 when their daughter Dorothy was born.

The farm was owned by John Netherton Esquire.

Nobody has been able to trace any further back that I am aware of.

Any suggestions as to how I can trace the family back any further??

Cheers
Sher

????


Devon Baptisms Transcription
Print transcription View image
First name(s) Dorothy
Last name Torring
Birth year -
Baptism year 1780
Baptism date 30 Apr 1780
Denomination Anglican
Baptism place Aveton Gifford
Father's first name(s) Richard
Mother's first name(s) Dorothy
Mother's last name -
County Devon
Country England
Archive South West Heritage Trust
Archive reference 328A/PR/1/2
Record set Devon Baptisms
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Subcategory Births & baptisms
Collections from Great Britain

Devon Marriages Transcription
Print transcription
First name(s) Richard
Last name Torring
Marriage year 1767
Marriage date 14 Dec 1767
Parish Aveton Gifford
Place Aveton Gifford
Spouse's first name(s) Dorothy
Spouse's last name Evans
Denomination Anglican
County Devon
Archive South West Heritage Trust
Record set Devon Marriages
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Subcategory Marriages & divorces
Collections from Great Britain

As a new user, I'm struggling to get replies on without them vanishing. 3rd attempt:

An extract below should be helpful. It is from a history of Woodleigh put together a few years ago by Steve Aubrey who lived at Preston House in Woodleigh at the time. You might be able to obtain a copy if you can locate him, perhaps through the Woodleigh church. If you provide your email address, I can send you the text version without photos. My maternal grandmother was a Luscombe, descended from Phillip Henry Bond Luscombe who was born in Woodleigh and emigrated to New Zealand about the 1870s.

Grant Pearson, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Higher Hendham was home to this Luscombe family from 1829/30 until at least 1911. They arrived in Woodleigh in 1817/18, at Lowerdale. The origin of the head of the family, William Luscombe, is a mystery to me and all of the family history researchers whose work I have seen. William Luscombe, born about 1772, (he was “75” when he was buried/”70” in the 1841 Census) was “of this parish” when he married Dorothy Torring in Aveton Gifford on 31st December 1801. Both were illiterate, as they signed the register with crosses. This was not at all unusual but suggests that William did not come from one of the more eminent Luscombe households. The witnesses were Thomas Luscombe and Nathaniel Torring. With a witness of Thomas, he could have been the William born at Woolcombe in 1764? William was buried at Woodleigh in 1847, and Dorothy in 1856. This was to become a large family. It is often interesting to see how such a large farming family, in a rather small community, disperse to different areas and occupations, particularly in the mid- to late- 19th century with the attraction of industry, the railways, and dockyards in the case of Plymouth. The dispersal would be more likely when the parents were tenant farmers and not owners of their land. William and Dorothy had at least eight children:

Hi Grant,
Thanks for that information, I have been forwarded the same text that you must have from someone else on this site. It is interesting isn't it. Have you been researching our family history for very long? I'm sure you know that your Phillip Henry Bond Luscombe and my Roger Bond Luscombe were brothers. What was your grandmothers name?

Does your branch of the family have any old photos? Sadly we don't seem to have very many.

king regards
Sher