Molland

Molland parish contains many hamlets and farmsteads. The village consists of a cluster of cottages and a public house around a road junction between the church on the east and Great Champson farm on the west. The London inn occupies an early 18th-century house which was greatly enlarged in the 19th century and provided with stables. Behind the inn a row of cottages lines the short street to the church.

St Mary's Church at Molland, between Dulverton and North Molton, is a beautiful medieval building with arches askew learning at frightening angles. To gain entrance you have to push hard ona heavy oak door. It is a moorland church with furnishings mainly of the early Georgian period and the pews which are high sided and 'horse box' like. These box pews the grand pulpit and panelling are unchanged from the 18th century. The church is peaceful and charming - an absolute gem. According to the little parish church guide, the last salaried parish clerk who held office between 1815-66, would sit on the hinged seat by the door,watching his flock. In these times the men and women would have been segregated, occupying opposite sides of the church. The clerk was equipped with a stave with a wooden ball at one end and feathers at the other. Any man who deigned to fall asleep during a service would receive the wooden ball on his head. Sleeping ladies similarly would be tickled with the feathered end.

A Heart Box is an intriguing addition to the church. Heart boxes are commonly associated with deaths abroad, particularly those of fallen crusaders. Where it was not viable to bring an entire body back from a hot and distant country, the heart was removed and shipped home for eventual entombment. The Heart Box in Molland church is reputed to hold the hearts of Courtenay family members, a name indelibly linked to the history of the village. On one of the church walls a poignant memorial reads: ’To the memory and to record the disastrous deaths of Thomas and Sarah Pincombe and their family of six, all of whom perished by shipwreck together with 187 of their fellow passengers. The calamitous event happened on the Manacle Rocks near the St. Keverne coast of Cornwall on the night of the 3rd May 1855, within six hours after the lamented victims had left the harbour of Plymouth, as emigrants on their voyage to Quebec’. It seems that the Pincombe family were never destined to leave Molland for a new life in Cananda.

Petty criminals were usually dealt with in the local community through the manor court or later by the justices of the peace, local magistrates. An ancient punishement for such offences, especially those involving anti-social behaviour, was several hours in the stocks at the mercy of the community. The stocks would normally be set up on the village green or other public space. The miscreant would be sat behind the stocks with his legs in the holes, locked in place by the upper bar. Most stocks have room for two offenders at a time. Several parishes, such as Molland, still preserve their ancient stocks. Molland's church of St. Mary is of real interest. It is a simple 15th to 16th century building, replacing an older structure of which the Norman font alone remains, together with two medieval bells. It contains a series of fine monuments to members of the Courtenay family of West Molland and a defaced medieval carving, probably of St Mary Magdalene. It is renowned for its unusually complete set of early 18th-century furnishings comprising altar with rails, pulpit, screen and box pews.

The London Inn, Molland

Molland is an irregularly built village with an Inn next to the church called 'The London Inn' and a mainly 15th century Church which is unusual because it escaped restoration by the Victorians. Once Molland had copper mine which was closed around 1870. The name Molland is derived from moel meaning in Celtic land of bare hills. Built in the 15th century as a coaching Inn, The London Inn still retains its rustic charm; open log fires, inglenooks and beamed ceilings.   There is a legend that in the time of John Knight a gang of his miners who were quite  happily drinking a weeks wages away were chased out of the London Inn by their angry wives who had marched all the way from Simonsbath The copper and iron mines closed in the late 1870’s, and farms were deserted in the agricultural depression of the 1930’s. Sometimes the farms were rebuilt, only to be deserted again. The ruins of many a man’s labour can still be found scattered around Molland village, in the shape of ancient farmsteads and mines.

In 1804 the infamous hunting Parson Froude became vicar of Molland and Knowstone.  He had a reputation as a tyrant and is said to have retained a private army of tenant farmers and labourers for terrorising his enemies. For centuries the greater part of this charming and uncluttered little village has remained in the tenure of the Throckmorton family who continue to run the estate of approximately 6,800 acres today. The Domesday survey of 1086 identifies two separate manors at Molland; Molland Bottreaux and Molland Champson, each under separate ownership. By 1700 the two manors had merged and shortly after the Throckmorton family began their long tenure of Molland. Between 1703 and 1890 the Quartly family carved out a name breeding Devon Red cattle in Molland, then considered some of the best draught oxen in the country.The Devon Red still grazes the Molland acres today

From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)

Sir Robert George Throckmorton, Bart., owns nearly all the parish, and is lord of the manor of Molland Bottreaux, anciently held by the Bottreaux family, and afterwards by the Hungerfords, whose heiress carried it in marriage to a younger branch of the Courtenays, who were seated here till 1732, when their heiress brought it to the Throckmortons. The Bottreaux family and succeeding owners had a mansion and park at West Molland. The manor house of Molland Champeaux, or Champion, was long the seat of the Columbs, and afterwards of the Courtenays. These fine old mansions are now occupied by Messrs. James and John Quartly, who are noted for their fine breed of North Devon cattle, for which they have obtained many prizes. The parish has much fine grass land, suitable for breeding, though the soil is generally thin, and rests upon rock. The Church (St. Mary,) is a handsome structure, in the perpendicular style, with a tower and four bells. It contains several neat monuments, belonging to the Courtenay and other families.

www.ndeva.co.uk/molland/

In 1881 there were 24 households in Molland. Apart from labourers there were 3 carpenters, 3 dressmakers, 2 washerwomen, 2 iron miners, 2 shoemakers, one with an apprentice, a wheelwright, a thatcher, a carrier, a gamekeeper and a tailor. There was a grocer’s shop kept by a widow. By 1901 there were 30 households in the village including those of the New and London inns, which were also farms. Elizabeth Cockram, who kept the New inn was also a farmer and the London inn was kept by Ann Kingdon whose son-in–law ran the farm. A husband and wife and their eldest daughter were schoolteachers. The wheelwright was also a baker and had an assistant baker living with his family. Other village residents included 3 charwomen, 3 tailors, 2 shoemaker, 2 blacksmiths, 2 stone masons, 2 road contractors, a dressmaker, a carpenter a manservant, and a sawyer.

In 1926 there was a post office kept by Lily Mary Cockram who also described herself as a stationer. No other shop was recorded. By 1935 Thomas Read and his son, boot repairers, ran the post office, which was also a confectioners, newsagents and tobacconists. There was also a baker, Thomas Lock, who kept a grocer’s shop. The wheelwright and blacksmith were at the hamlet of Botreaux Mill, 2 miles south-east of the village.

Contributed by: Lucy Pinknall