Gatcombe House – List Entry Number: 1108554. Grade II* listed.
The core of Gatcombe House (now called ‘Old Gatcombe’) is c16th century. In 1542 it was bought by William Bogan, a member of a prominent Totnes family. His son married Prothesy Bodley, sister of Sir Thomas Bodley of the Bodleian Library. Zachary Bogan (1625 -1659) published treatises on Homer and Hesiod. The Bogan family left some land to provide for the poor of the parish, and pensioners in the parish still benefit from the ‘Bogan Trust’, when they receive a small cheque every Christmas.
In 1801, Richard Palk was living in Old Gatcombe.
Gatcombe House was altered over the years, and in the early 19th century was acquired by the wealthy Cornish family, who had East India Company connections. They added the west front around 1830. Emily Cornish, who was born in India, outlived her husband by many years, but only appears in the Census Returns for Gatcombe House in 1841. Thereafter, different families appear on the Census Returns, but may have been tenants of the Cornishes. There is a memorial to the Cornishes on the inside south wall of Littlehempston church.
The last owner of Gatcombe House as one house was Montague Harding, who lived there from 1938 – 1952. His wife had previously been married to Montague’s brother, Edmund W. Harding, who was in the RNVR during WW1. They had two daughters, Anne and Diana. Edmund Harding contracted typhoid at Gallipoli, which left him with a weak heart, and he died in the late 1920s. His wife Kate subsequently married his brother Montague, and they came to live at Gatcombe. The light on the corner of Littlehempston church is in fact the binnacle light from Edmund Harding’s yacht ‘Senorita’. Montague, who was an enthusiastic woodcarver, made the altar for Littlehempston church. On his death, Gatcombe House was sold and divided into four parts, and remains so to the present.
Although there was already a track from the House up to the main road, Gatcombe Lodge was only built in 1889. It was originally thatched. Jackie Slee writes about living in Gatcombe Lodge in her reminiscenses.
Gatcombe Mill House (List Entry Number: 1324863 – Grade II listed) – still thatched – is 17th century. The mill itself no longer exists. It was in ruins when the Hutchings family arrived in 1918, and was then razed to the ground as it was considered to be a danger to the children. It is not clear if its condition was connected to the explosion which killed two of the Palk children in 1806. John Hawkins shares his memories of life at Gatcombe Mill House as a five year old in Hitler’s Secret Agent.
April Cottage (List Entry Number: 1146882 – Grade II listed), which stands at the bottom of the drive, is 17th century. It housed the Gatcombe House coachman at one time. The present owner has discovered that the attached barn was once the threshing-floor for Gatcombe Mill.
Gatcombe House / April Cottage have bee boles.
Gatcombe was cut off from Littlehempston village centre in the early 19th century when the viaduct was built to carry the new main road (A381) across the Gatcombe brook. A driveway from Gatcombe House passed under an arch of the viaduct and emerged half-way down Gatcombe Lane (which is what the stretch of road from the main road down towards the Triangle Bridge used to be called; it was also sometimes called Gatcombe Hill).
