On This Day in Wembury

11 October 1861 — Manor of Wembury Advertised for Sale

On this day the Western Morning News carried notice of a major forthcoming sale: the Manor of Wembury, with its mansion house and some 536 acres of freehold land, was to be auctioned at the Royal Hotel, Plymouth, on 30 October. Then in the hands of the Bulteel family of Flete, the estate included substantial farms let to tenants, productive gardens, terraces, shrubberies, and a three-acre fish pond connected to the River Yealm. The mansion was described as having three reception rooms, eight bedrooms, servants’ quarters, stabling, and a coach house, set on an eminence above the estuary.

Reflection: The advertisement shows how even long-established estates like Wembury Manor were openly traded in Victorian times. For readers in 1861, the chance to acquire such a property reflected both opportunity and the shifting economics of landownership in South Devon.

Source: Western Morning News, 11 October 1861 (advertisement for auction on 30 October 1861).

Curated and written by Wembury Waves using material from the British Newspaper Archive.
Entries are summaries and interpretations of historical newspaper reports.