Polltimore Village | History

Poltimore in the 1920s

The 1920s was meant to be a time of the ‘land fit for heros’ after WW1 but in Poltimore it coincided with the attempted sale by the Bampflydes of the whole of their Poltimore Estate in 1921. The story of the 1920s that we want to discover is how the village then reshaped itself both economically and socially after it had lost its Patron.

Poltimore House became a girls College from 1923 (until 1939) and the Headmistress, a Miss Wontner, perhaps wanting the acquire the 'status' of lady of the manor, became a significant employer.  She also helped with charitable causes in the village but her bankruptcy in 1926 meant that though she remained headmistress she was unable to pursue this role.

The local school played its part, but with a declining enrolment, it was unable to retain its senior staff.  The Rector and his wife provided some continuity throughout the 1920s.  Many of the tenanted farms were bought by the incumbent tenants on favourable terms from Lord Poltimore and having by such means established long term security, became significant influences in the village.  

The 1920s were also a period of profound social change and the first council houses were built in 1927 into which local families moved.  Although agricultural employment of various kinds was still significant, there was an increasing trend towards residents living in but working outside the village.  Also, although there was some continuity of the same families living in the village throughout the 1920s, there was an increasing trend of incomers from elsewhere in and outside Devon.

Poltimore Estate Research Society

Background

The aim of the Poltimore Estate Research Society (PERS) is to research, record and publish information about the estates of Lord Poltimore, primarily in Poltimore and Huxham.

We’ve been meeting as a group since 2013, and we’ve now looked at the history of the grounds surrounding the house, the park and many of the village’s farms and buildings. We are grateful for the continuing support of Poltimore Parish Council and the Poltimore House Trust for our talks, exhibitions and publications.

Publications

To date, we have published two books, Poltimore, a Village in Transition, in 2018 and Poltimore in the 1920s, in 2024.

The first book outlines the gradual retreat of the Bampfyldes, who had acquired the parish in 1298, from village life, and from their position as the dominant landowners. The second book picks up this accelerating transition and describes how, from 1921, when Lord Poltimore decided to sell his estate, the village reshaped itself both economically and socially.

How to obtain copies of the books

Copies of both books can be obtained, price £10, from the village hall or from Branches Café at Poltimore House, or by writing to the PERS secretary, secpers@poltimore.org .

Current research

Our current project is to write the community history of the church and the graves, and then we are going to turn back to write about the way that Lord Poltimore developed the estate in the Victorian period. If you are interested in taking part to help in the research, contact our secretary or look out for notices of future meetings on the What’s On page of the Poltimore Village website.