Shirley Blaylock - Archaeologist

• Cornwall
• Devon

Cornwall - the Old Post Office, Tintagel

Many people will be familiar with the image of the Old Post Office, its uneven thick slate roof sinking onto the low irregular façade around a huge projecting chimney stack, seemingly a building unchanged by the passing of time.  

The village of Tintagel on the North Cornwall coast is a honey-pot for holiday-makers, many visiting the Castle, the early medieval site on ‘The Island’ and following Arthurian legend. The Old Post Office is an iconic building in the heart of the village.

In 2003, to celebrate the centenary of acquisition by the Trust, an analysis of the historic development of this Grade I Listed Building was commissioned, to increase our understanding and interpretation of this remarkable building.

The analysis was undertaken by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, now the Cornwall Historic Environment Service (Berry, Mattingly and Thomas 2003) who have traced the development of the building through at least 11 phases of alteration to leave the house we see presented to the public today.

The work followed a measured survey of the building by Richard Liddicoat and involved documentary research, a detailed study of the fabric and previous phases of repair, and comparative analysis with similar buildings in Cornwall.

The building is a rare survival of a medieval hall house in Cornwall, dating from the late 14th or 15th Century. In origin the house was of a single storey 3-room plan with a through passage. The hall and an inner room were on one side and unheated service room on the other, essentially on the same ground plan as today. Much of what survives now is of 16th-century or later date with the whole roof replaced in the 16th century and fireplaces and an upper chamber added in the 17th century. The story is confused by the re-use of medieval fragments in the 19th century. Sketches made in the 1890s by the Arts and Crafts architect Detmar Blow in advance of repair enhance the record of the building.

It is likely that the house was built for one of the 12 chief burgesses of the borough. By the 1830s it was an established farm and through much of the 19th century was owned by the Symons family who as well as farming ran a variety of businesses from the house including, at different times, a shoemakers’s, draper’s and grocer’s shop. It was a post office for only a few years in the 1870s, but the name of 'Old Post Office' has held.

Reference:
Berry, E., Mattingly, J. and Thomas, N., The Old Post Office, Tintagel, Cornwall, Historic Building Analysis, December 2003, Cornwall Archaeological Unit Report Number 2003R020

• Find out more about the Old Post, Tintagel

Devon - in search of the Mansion at Columbjohn, Broadclyst

The small hamlet of Columbjohn occupies gently sloping ground situated on a river terrace above the broad flood plain of the River Culm. This was also the site of a substantial mansion; the Acland family home before they moved to the adjoining Killerton manor in 1680.

Today the site is marked only by an isolated chapel, the remnants of the gatehouse and a small cottage.

In 2003 a research project was begun with English Heritage Archaeological Investigation team based in Exeter. The documentary material relating to the site was reviewed and collated and a survey plan of the earthworks was undertaken followed by a geophysical survey in spring 2004 (Substrata).

Columbjohn is a site of great historical importance to Devon; there are documentary references from 1086 and in 1486 it was owned by Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon. In 1580/1 the manor was acquired by Sir John Acland, who is said to have built a new mansion on the site of earlier foundations, with a chapel consecrated in 1608. By 1622 it was the main residence of the family with John’s widowed mother living in the adjoining manor of Killerton.

During the Civil War Columbjohn was a focal point for the Royalist war effort in Devon; in 1642 John Acland became High Sheriff of Devon and was awarded a baronetcy in 1644. But by 1645 Parliamentarian forces had taken control, it became a headquarters for Fairfax in 1646, and Oliver Cromwell stayed at the house.

An inventory prepared by the Sequestrator of the lands and estate of John Acland lists 22 rooms including hall, parlours, chambers, 2 butteries and a kitchen and gives the details of the furniture and chattels. Outside are listed a coach house, brew house, workers hall, little house and a gate chamber complete with bed and bedstead.

With the transferral of the main residence to Killerton in 1680 it appears that there was no desire to retain the earlier mansion and the building was effectively erased. Only a small group of buildings including presumably the chapel, ‘Pigeon Cottage’ and the gatehouse are shown on the estate map of 1756. The chapel remained in use via a route known as the ‘Processional Way’ across the park, shown lined with trees in 1756.

The measured survey provides an excellent framework of the site, showing the steep linear slope of the river terrace which appears artificially enhanced, the hollowed approach of the ‘Processional Way’, two ‘platforms’ to the east and earthworks around and to the south of the chapel.

The geophysical survey indicates an extensive spread of rubble in the area around the chapel and pigeon cottage running south to more prominent earthworks beside the river and up to the edge of the river terrace. Ditches and banks in the large terrace to the south east on the same orientation suggest an area of fields or garden, possibly within a perimeter boundary. Although few precise wall lines have been identified, the ground layout and orientation of the site are now much more completely understood.

Acknowledgements:
We are very grateful to English Heritage for part funding the measured survey and funding the geophysical survey and to Martin Fletcher who undertook much of the work.

The plan of the survey follows on the next page.

References:
Fletcher, M. The Mansion at Columbjohn, Broadclyst, Devon, English Heritage Archaeological Investigation Report Series A1/13/2003 (measured survey and documentary summary). Gradiometer and Resistance Surveys at Columbjohn, Broadclyst, Devon, A Geophysical survey by Substrata Limited

• Find out more about the National Trust at Killerton.