Addislade Farm History

As the Pilgrim Fathers prepared to leave Plymouth for their epic journey to the New World, Addislade was being built. Three miles away, Buckfast Abbey which had been set up by Cistercians in 1137 had already been demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries. Charles 1st was on the throne of England.

Local historians have unearthed references to an earlier house called Tadyeslade, in 1306,later to become Tadieslad in 1310 and in 1587 Addeslade. Tad suggested Toad Valley or Slaed. Source: Stanborough Hundred Place Names of Devon V.1.p299.

In a combe known as a slade protected from the prevailing south westerly winds stonemasons and carpenters laid foundations on the site of a farmstead, which had probably been there since the Dark Ages. Carts lugged stone and shale from local quarries and freshly cut oak from local forests . The house and land originally belonged to Alwin, a thane or servant to Edward the Confessor. In the Domesday Book it was listed as belonging to four knights under William De Falaise who was succeeded soon after by the FitzStephen family. During the reign of Henry ll the manor and church were given to the priory of Plympton and after the dissolution in 1539 it was bought by William Giles of Bowden near Totnes. Through Giles’ sister it passed to the Yarde family. In 1789 the heiress of the Yardes married Francis Buller who became a baronet. His ancestor Sir John Yarde Buller was promoted to the House of Lords in 1858 as Baron Churston and remained until the 60s the property of the same family.

David Norrish came here as a little boy , in 1958. His father was initially a tenant of Lord Churston, but in 1961 the estate was broken up and Reginald Norrish took the opportunity to purchase Addislade and adjoining land. He and David later bought additional land in the parish of Dean Prior and the village of Harbourneford.

Addislade is a typical farm on the southern slopes of Dartmoor. It holds ancient rights on Dean Moor and the Forest of Dartmoor - rights of grazing and rights of turbery.  These mean you can take stone, gravel, peat and wood for your own use and cut bracken which was used up until 1960 for animal bedding. It was a mixed farm. Now it runs a herd of suckler cows of the local South Devon breed for beef production.

In 1975 David’s father, Reginald Norrish painted the whole roof with a specially formulated bitumen and fibre glass membrane ( known as sludge) to stop slates slipping. It proved to be a life-saver for a very ancient roof, keeping it intact for a further 30 years. On 27th May 1986 the house was listed as Grade Two * which means it is of national importance.

The renovation is going to take two years. It is being done in two stages for very good reasons. First and most important is a very large breeding colony of bats. These are the rare lesser-horseshoe bat. The first stage must be completed with a new roof and new ceilings by 2004 to allow the bats to use the area, as they have done for many years, as their nursery, but for the time being they can reside as they always have done in the other side of the roof.

March 2003
photography by John R.L. Thorp