the burgoins

The Burgoins

Many generations of Burgoins have been agriculturalists in east Devon.
 In the early 1800's they farmed in Sowton , near Exeter  and towards the end James Burgoin took his family to Elliott's farm, Venn Ottery , whilst his eldest son Henry stayed to farm in Sowton .  James bought the farm house including 165 acres, 200 sheep, 5 cart horses and 4 buildings. I believe James also ran Metcombe farm and was very involved in the local community, he was a shrewd businessman and was well respected. He died in 1909, his funeral was so well attended that mourners had to stand in the aisles and outside the church in the rain.
The deceased held many public offices including those of Guardian and Rural councillor and  was at the time of his death church warden, chairman of the local conservative committee and a school manager. The family advertised in the Devon and Exeter gazette to thank everyone for their condolences as there were so many they were unable to do this personally.
The farm was then left to his son Thomas and wife Rebecca to continue working.  Sadly after only a short time another tragedy affected the family.
 Just before Christmas in 1911 Thomas, 35, disappeared after he was thought to have gone rabbiting in the morning. After he had not returned, fearing an accident had occurred,  the farm hands were sent out to look. No trace of Thomas was found so as a last resort farm hand Henry Wheaton was sent to check the outbuildings. He found at 9.45 pm, Thomas partially hidden by straw in the hay loft over the stable with a gun beside him. Although he had no financial or love difficulties he had had an accident a few weeks before which had made him depressed and unable to sleep at night. The verdict was recorded as " suicide whilst of unsound mind."
What a sad end for Thomas, he is buried at Venn ottery along with his father.

In addition to this in 1926, his nephew Ernest James Burgoin died from a shooting accident in Sowton . He shot himself in the leg whilst out rabbiting and was admitted to hospital on the Thursday and by Sunday gangrene set in and death occurred. In a local paper I found a story referring to the burial of Ernest where the gravedigger,  whilst working on his grave had an adjoining memorial weighing several hundredweight fall on to him, trapping Mr Dunster down in the grave and breaking his leg! It required several men to set him free.

When the Burgoins left Elliott's farm it was sold on to Mr Burrows for £ 5,325 which included " a handsome old fashioned residence and outbuildings, five labourers cottages and 145 acres"

The Salter family

When you leave the church lane and walk up onto the road you will come to a large thatched cobb house called Minors. This building has been has been beautifully restored from the former dairy farm that it would have been 100 years ago to the impressive home it is today. The Salter family lived on and worked this farm for many generations. The Salters themselves can be traced back to the 1600's but I have found them to be  living in Venn Ottery as far back as 1700's.

 A Thomas Salter was baptised in the church in1788 and grew up to work the farm. The farm seems to have been a dairy farm with a milk herd and 30 acres. His son Henry continued with the farm, during the late 1800's, followed by Henry's two sons Thomas and Henry. The brothers run the farm together with Henry jnr not seeming to marry. Thomas marries Emma Westcott and continues to live at Minors with his brother.

Their sister Lucy marries into another local family, the Drakes from Hoppins Farm, just over the hill in Southerton.

Sadly in 1930 both the brothers die within two days of each other, Henry on the Sunday followed by Thomas on the Tuesday. Both died of pneumonia. They are laid to rest in Venn Ottery church

Venn ottery house/Elliott's farm

This photo is of the Venn Ottery house/Elliott's Farm.

Yelverton Graves

This photo is of the yelverton graves in Venn Ottery church yard under the yew trees.

Venn Ottery

Living in a idyllic village such as Venn Ottery you often wonder what the life was like in the past. Looking around the village there are a few clues to the past lives of villagers with the church, graveyard, houses and remains of cottages to search, and using the Internet opens a whole new world of information!
I thought others might be interested to hear about the lives of the people who lived here and some of the village goings on. My findings cover 18/ 19th century and are my interpretation of  archive information I have come across.

I started by looking at the census information that is available.
Venn Ottery in the 1800's consisted  mainly of agricultural housing, cottages that were linked to the farms of Elwill, Venn Ottery Barton, Minors and Venn Ottery House( Elliott's farm). Most of the villagers were labourers on these farms, herdsmen, waggoners, blacksmith, and a few women lace makers.
Many old names that you hear in the area are in the census. One that was very dominant was Yelverton. A long standing family in east Devon, that I have traced back to the 1700's. 

The Yelvertons

This family has a long standing run of farming in Venn Ottery, Tipton, Fluxton and metcombe. 

Thomas Yelverton was born in 1811 and lived in Venn Ottery House/ Elliotts farm. At 40 years old ( quite old to get married?), he marries Eliza Patch from West Hill. Together they live in the main Venn Ottery household with 2 house servants, a herdsman, stable boy,and a 12 year old ploughboy.

By 1861 thay have 6 children, including the heir,their eldest son, Thomas. The household is obviously busy with a nursemaid, housemaid, cook, governess, and farm servant. These people are just the ones keeping the house running, Thomas senior is still yeoman of 250 acres  and also employs 6 labourers to run the farming side of the business. I imagine that these labourers would have lived in the cottages running alongside the Venn Ottery road. Most of the original cottages have been demolished and rebuilt in roughly the same areas in the 1900's.  Unfortunately in the census the cottages are never named and just referred to as cottages 1, 2 etc. In 1861 the population in Venn Ottery was 101 with 19 houses.
In 1861, At the age of around 53 years Thomas senior dies and leaves effects of  £ 3.000. Obviously he was doing fairly well for himself. His eldest son Thomas junior takes over the household after having been training in Exminster on a farm owned by a family called  Burringtons. At 18, in the census he is described as a 'gentleman farmer/ farm pupil'. An 18 th century apprentice! Not long after he marries the Burringtons daughter Mary Ann and making their home at Venn Ottery Barton they go on to have 9 children, including yet another son called ,you guessed it, Thomas!

Thomas 's widowed mother, Eliza, continues to live in Venn Ottery house /Elliott's Farm with another of her sons James as the head of the household with 4 of her other children, a housekeeper, housemaid and a groom!

Thomas is very much the country sportsman ( as was his father) partaking in hunting and shooting. The east devon hunt was based in Venn Ottery in his fathers time. Thomas hunted regularly and bred horses for  showing,hunting, racing and polo. They showed  their horses in agricultural shows all over the south west. The family were held in very high regard within these circles.
Thomas continues to run the farm at Venn Ottery Barton after his wife dies in 1910. 
In 1911 the farm is being worked by Thomas and 4 of of his children, they all have assigned jobs and there appears to be no more house help. Times have changed, I guess with war looming and  less money , things have to be sacrificed and everyone has to pull together . 3 of his sons join the military to fight in the great war.
After losing his hearing he moves in with his daughter in Exeter.
He dies in 1919 and the family have a grave in  Venn Ottery church yard under the yew tree .