Description

HARTLAND
SS 22 NW

1/118 Courtyard wall immediately to west
20.2.58 of Blegberry Farmhouse and
extending approximately 50 metres
to the south

GV II*

Courtyard wall to farmhouse, incorporating ramparts and platform and extending to
the south parallel to the coastline. Dated 1606. Battered rubble walls with shaped
stone coping and dripcourse. The wall forms a defensive courtyard on the south-
western side of the house looking out to sea, curving around a corner at its south-
western extreme containing on the inside stone steps and a little rectangular
projection. At its northern end is a date-stone of 1606 with the initials "WA"
signifying William Atkyns who died in 1608. The pistol loops have wide internal
splays. At the south-eastern corner of the courtyard wall is a simple doorway with
rough stone lintel. At the northern end the wall incorporates a probably inserted
stone outbuilding of one storey with stone steps up to a central doorway and small
window to either side. To the south the wall continues beyond the house parallel to
a cart track for approximately 50 metres and then returns to the east with a
noticeable batter at the corner.
This is an extremely unusual and very well-preserved example of a C17 defensive wall
to a coastal farmstead of which no other such type is known in Devon. The north
coasts of Devon and Cornwall were a well-known haunt of maranding pirates in Tudor
and Elizabethan times. In 1608 a commission was issued to the Earl of Bath, who
took the deposition of 3 persons of Barnstaple to the effect that the merchants were
daily robbed at sea by pirates who took refuge at Lundy.
Sources: Studies in Building History: Cornish Houses 1400 - 1700 - E.M. Jope, The
Book of Hartland - R. Pearse Chope. The Pirates' Den - Notes of the Past: R Pearse
Chope - Hartland Chronicle June 1906

Listing NGR: SS2319226135

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536597

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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