On This Day in Wembury
22 November 1892 — Game Trespass Case on Mr. Cory’s Land
On this day the Western Morning News reported a contested case of game trespass at Wembury. Thomas W. Fox of Hoegate House, Plymouth, and Thomas F. Upsher of Mutley were summoned for unlawfully trespassing in search of game on land belonging to Mr. Cory. The complaint was brought by Benjamin Sansom, Mr. Cory’s gamekeeper, who alleged the men had stood in Kessell’s field, in the occupation of Mr. Sacking, and shot four pheasants. Sansom said he heard Fox instruct beaters to “beat this fence,” and told him he had been watching him.
The defence countered that Fox had rented shooting rights over neighbouring Staddiscombe from Mr. Bastard for eighteen years, and that his pheasants had risen from his own ground. Witnesses, including keeper Edwin Gould, confirmed this had long been the practice. Counsel Mr. Trehane argued the matter was essentially a civil boundary dispute rather than a criminal offence.
After lengthy evidence, the Bench found that the defendants had indeed been on Mr. Cory’s land and had shot four pheasants, but ordered that each party pay their own costs, granting a case stated for appeal.
This case reflects the tensions between neighbouring landowners in late Victorian Devon, when the boundaries of shooting rights were jealously guarded and disputes could escalate into public litigation.
Source: Western Morning News, 22 November 1892.
