“On the 15th May 1595 Queen Elizabeth granted the Manor, Burrough and Parks of Crediton, along with her demesne lands of Knowle, to be held of the Manor of East Greenwich at the yearly rent of £146-8-3, to William Killigrew and his heirs.“ Killigrew, needing to assess his new fiefdom, was subsequently responsible for commissioning [...]
Archive for May, 2007
Good Queen Bess lets Knowle Farm
Posted in fields, history, house, map, orchard on May 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Decorated by a cunning woman
Posted in art, furniture, house on May 20, 2007 | 6 Comments »
Sarah – you’ll never blow your own trumpet – so permit me to express our admiration. Forty-three years together allows me to say authoritatively that Sarah has a remarkable talent for creative improvisation. In her hands cheese wax is transformed into demons, socks into hobby-horses, miscellaneous left-overs into wonderful meals. Camouflaged radiators & power-points appear [...]
Dracula’s knocker
Posted in dracula, furniture, house on May 15, 2007 | 6 Comments »
Who on earth would have been brave enough to knock off this knocker from the tradesman’s entrance to Castle Dracula? Why is it on our front door?
The Thunder-box
Posted in furniture, house, plumbing on May 15, 2007 | 1 Comment »
The former cross passage at Knowle Farm was converted into a splendid Victorian ‘gentlemen’s convenience’ comprising an Italianate marble washbasin and separate throne room, with blue floral pan again set in mahogany: all this & brass trimmings too. In the sale preceding ours, in 1923, the particulars dismissed this splendid apparatus as a “W.C. with [...]
Sophisticated pigsties?
Posted in buildings, geese, listed, pigsty on May 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
We were chuffed to learn that Peter Beacham, in his classic series of essays on the architectural heritage of Devon, included a mention & picture he took at Knowle Farm. However, before we could get too puffed up about our splendid fireplaces, oak screen & historic features, we discovered he’d used a picture of our [...]
Wildlife
Posted in animals, badger, birds, countryside, geese, landscape, orchard, snake, wildlife on May 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Knowle is a far better place for wildlife than for night-life. It is set amidst rolling, open countryside and surrounded by relatively small, non-intensive farms, so pollution and contamination by agri-poisons is minimal. The best impression of this bucolic scene can be obtained by walking the ridge between Coleford & Barnstaple Cross, a couple of [...]
Local materials for local houses – cob, stone, reed.
Posted in buildings, cob, countryside, house, landscape, reed, stone, thatch on May 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Knowle Farm is by no means a picture-book, pretty house. Our estate agent dubbed it ‘handsome’, but I prefer the A-words; authentic, atmospheric, ancient. Another description I like is ‘homely’, although in this case that isn’t a bad thing. Homely, in the sense of unadorned, familiar, a place where one receives kind treatment (OED) [...]
