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).
Wembury On This Day — 11 October 1950
A power cut affecting Wembury and neighbouring villages made the local news on this day in 1950.
The interruption had begun at 11 o’clock the previous morning and lasted until after 12.30pm. In Wembury and Newton Ferrers, the immediate consequence was a cold lunch for many households. The cut also affected Staddiscombe, Down Thomas, Noss Mayo and Collaton Cross.
At a guest house in Newton Ferrers, visitors were given a choice: wait until 11.30 for lunch, in the hope the supply returned, or postpone it until 2pm. The RAF Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Collaton was less troubled, as its cooking could be done on coal ranges.
It is a small reminder that electricity supply was already central to everyday life seventy-six years ago. We may not often lose power for an hour and a half now, but Wembury still has the occasional brief “micro” power cut — enough to reset clocks, interrupt broadband and bring that familiar moment of wondering whether it is just our house or the whole village.
Entries are summaries and interpretations of historical newspaper reports.