Buried under the large porch flagstones at Venn Ottery church are the remains of William Taylor and his family. For years I have walked to and fro over these stones with little knowledge of the family listed on the inscription below. William Taylor was born in Sidbury but came to live at Elliott’s Farm in Venn Ottery, around 1790. At this time Elliott’s was described as arespectable, roomy thatched dwelling house, standing on a gentle elevation, with a succession of terraces at the front, walled gardens, large farmyard with stables, barns, linhays and 153 acres.
William married a local girl and started his family and he farmed at Elliott’s for around 40 years until his death in 1832. His first sons were twins who were born in 1809; John (Read) and Richard. When their father died the brothers took over the estate of Elliott’s Farm including Venn Ottery Common, from their father. They also seem to have been running Elwill Farm, in Tipton, which was then the dairy farm belonging to Elliott’s. They later acquired Brownings, a small farm, described as a gentlemen’s residence in Southerton and Heathlands, a smart property in Higher Metcombe. Together the young men owned a large acreage of land in and around Tipton. On the 1851 census both John and Richard are registered at Elliott’s but John is named as the farmer and Richard is named as a ‘landed proprietor’ which was a term not familiar to me, but means that he also hadownership of the farm and land even though he wasn’t farming there himself.
Their farm was stocked with mostly sheep, (wool was still a popular commodity at this time),breeding and fattening pigs, and riding and harness horses, including a cart horse. Also, cows and oxen, not just for the meat and milk but also to use at the plough. Two oxen could be yoked together and worked at the harrow or the plough, covering an acre a day, and were cheap to feed. The plough boy wasemployed to encourage them along with a song or a chant, Charles Channon was the 13-year-old plough boy working and boarding at Elliott’s, in 1850.
They sold timbers such as oak, ash, elm and fir and grew maiden trees, as well as growing arable crops – corn, oats, barley and meadow hay. There were also areas of land with coppiced willow, ash and hazel, used for building, fencing, and hurdles. Some areas of old coppice woodland can still be seen in Venn Ottery although now overgrown. There was a sawpit behind the farm, over which timber was positioned to be sawn with a long two-handled saw, by two people. One above the timber and one below in the pit, the top sawyer stood above and the bottom sawyer stood below in the dirt and dust. Bark was stripped from the trunks and stems of the oak, hazel and ash, which was then bagged and sold to the leather tanners to be used in the process to tan hides.
The Taylors produced their own cider, which was the traditional drink of Devon and it generated a regular source of revenue. Large apple orchard fields surrounded the house at Elliott’s, Elwill and Browning’s. Although the double screw cider press and oak apple press are now gone, the Apple Mill is still in situ today at Elliott’s, which would have been used by the Taylors to make their popular cider. Cider was also part of the farmer’s payment to his labourers, I’m not sure whether this inhibited orencouraged their labouring capacity! The family cider was then sold locally in hogshead barrels – this related to the measurement of the volume of cider within the barrels. The Taylors became known for their quality cider.
There are numerous interesting newspaper reports relating to the sales of their different stock over the years other than cider. There were packs of wool, nitches of reeds, planks of wood, maiden trees, bushels of corn, sacks of potatoes and, at one farm sale, even a pile of wood ash and eight dung heaps are listed – so there was even money in muck.
During the mid-1800s John farmed the land at Elliott’s whilst Richard oversaw the workings of the other estates and lived later at Heathlands. Their younger brother George moved to Ottery where he owned and ran the Tanners Yard, along with his sister Mary. This building would have stood opposite the mill/factory, on the turning for Mill Croft. Along with the yard was a cottage, drying loft, bark store and eight acres along with orchards. It is mentioned in the report of the great Ottery fire of 1866 where the flames “attacked Mr Taylors Tan-yard and destroyed all that was consumable”, water hosed from the river saved the back of the tan yard. They must have rebuilt the business as it is offered for sale in 1869. The building itself was knocked down in the 1960s.
I imagine that the tan yard would have used hides that came from their animals and also the bark from their trees which was used in the tanning process, so the yard was very much part of the family business. Mary, the sister, who lived and worked at the tan yard was also registered to sell alcohol. Maybe she sold some of the family cider – let’s hope it was to takeaway, though, as I’m not sure I’d want to stop and drink alongside the Tanners Yard. It must have been an interesting aroma.
The Taylors seem to have been hard-working land owners, who from my research, out of William’s five children, only Richard married. The others remained single, and one other brother, James, died from a riding accident in his twenties. As the siblings aged it appears there were no children to inherit the family estates. When John (Reed) Taylor died aged sixty he was described as “kind and liberal to the poor and his death will long and deeply be remembered by them”. He has his own grave in Venn Ottery on the north side of the church, a grand low stone tomb, surrounded by imposing metal railings. Richard died in 1873, after a long illness at Heathlands, Metcombe, the last Taylor sibling, leaving his estate to his wife Fanny Taylor. On the last census I find her occupation is described as a gentlewoman, so she was obviously of a high social status. After this, the remaining estates were sold and I lose track of where Fanny ended up. It’s always frustrating when you can’t continue the family line Maybe someone knows more than me and knows where Fanny went.
At least now when I walk into church, I feel I know a little more about the Taylors and the part they played during their time in Tipton, Metcombe , Venn Ottery and Ottery St Mary.… and even a littlemore about farming practices of over two hundred years ago in our villages. And don’t forget little Charlie Channon, the plough boy, singing to his oxen.
Judith Taylor
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