On This Day in Wembury — 21 October 1859
John Clarke of Wembury was brought before the Second Court at Exeter on a charge of stealing barley belonging to Mr Phelps Newberry. The case rested on the fact that Clarke had pulled a single whisp of barley from a rick. When the evidence was heard, the court quickly acquitted him.
That such a case reached the Assizes shows how jealously farm produce was protected in mid-Victorian Devon. A rick of barley represented both money and winter fodder, and even the smallest interference was often treated as theft. Landowners and tenant farmers like Phelps Newberry were the aggrieved parties, for they relied on the courts to defend their property against trespass or pilfering. The case also illustrates the gulf between strict interpretations of property law and the commonsense view of the court, which dismissed the charge once its trivial nature was clear.
Source Western Times, 3 December 1859
21 October — 1920: Thorn Estate farms advertised for sale
By direction of William Arkwright Esq portions of the Thorn Estate in Wembury parish were advertised for public auction at Plymouth on 11 November 1920. The sale comprised New Barton Farm 199 acres Old Barton Farm 116 acres and 38 acres of accommodation land a total of 353 acres. Mortgages could be arranged and particulars were available from London solicitors Traherne Higgins & Co the Sutton Estate Office land agent A O Walker and Plymouth auctioneer C B Holditch.
This marked the beginning of the break up of the Thorn Estate under William Arkwright who still held Wembury House and other properties until his death in 1923 after which further parts of the estate were sold including the eventual purchase by Mrs Sebag Montefiore.
Source: West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 21 Oct 1920