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On This Day in Wembury — 17 November 1883

An evening of entertainment in the Wembury schoolroom

On 17 November 1883, the Western Daily Mercury reported on an entertainment held in the Wembury schoolroom, organised by Mrs Cory of Langdon Court to raise money towards church expenses.

The room was crowded, and the newspaper described a programme made up largely of familiar songs, readings and comic pieces.

Among those taking part were members of the Wembury Choir, together with local performers including Mr T. E. Yonge, Mr Collins, Mr Somers James, Miss Hatchard, Mrs E. J. Jones, Mrs Hughes, Mrs Brown, Mr P. Butler and others.

The programme ranged widely. There were songs such as “The Little Hero”, “Halfway Inn”, “Milly’s Faith”, “Won’t You Buy My Pretty Flowers?” and “God Save the Queen”, alongside readings and duets. One comic item, “Mrs Brown at the Old Bailey”, suggests that the evening was intended to provide plenty of amusement as well as music.

The event took place at a time when Wembury was still a very small rural parish. The population in the 1880s was only a little over 500, with most people living around farms and the scattered settlements of Knighton and Down Thomas. Wembury Local History Society

The schoolroom itself was relatively new. Wembury’s Board School had been built in 1876, at a cost of £734, to accommodate around 80 children. Outside school hours, such buildings frequently served as some of the few convenient indoor meeting places available to a rural community. Forebears

Mrs Cory was Bessie Frances Cory, wife of Richard Cory of Langdon Court. The Cory family had acquired the Langdon Estate in the 1870s and quickly became one of the most influential families in the parish. Richard Cory had made his fortune through the family’s coal-shipping business, while Langdon Court became noted for entertaining on a distinctly grand scale. The Corys of Langdon

Church affairs were to become an important part of the Cory family’s connection with Wembury. Only a few years after this concert, Richard Cory paid for the major 1886 restoration of St Werburgh’s Church, when the building had deteriorated so badly that parts of the roof were in danger of collapse. e-Voice

So this crowded evening in the schoolroom forms part of a much wider picture of Victorian village life: the landed family at Langdon, the parish church, the recently opened school and local residents all bound together through fundraising, music and entertainment.

There was no radio, television or cinema to compete for attention. A concert involving neighbours, schoolroom benches, favourite songs and perhaps a rather enthusiastic comic reading could fill the room.

For one November evening in 1883, it did exactly that.

Source: Western Daily Mercury, Saturday 17 November 1883.

On This Day in Wembury

17 November 1994 — Knighton Court Homes Advertised

On this day the Western Evening Herald carried a feature in its Homeseeker section on Knighton Court, a new Ideal Homes development in Wembury. Marketed as “a superb new development” in keeping with the village’s character, it offered 2-bedroom cottages from £49,950 and 3-bedroom detached homes from £74,950. The sales office was open daily, welcoming those attracted to a coastal village lifestyle.

The estate was built on the site of Knighton Farm, with the original farmhouse still standing, a reminder of the land’s agricultural past. Although launched as Knighton Court, the development was later renamed Cory Court, in honour of the Cory family, well-known in the region for their business and maritime ties.

This development shows how late 20th-century housing growth reshaped parts of Wembury, while older farm buildings and names preserved a thread of continuity with the parish’s rural history.

Source: Western Evening Herald, 17 November 1994.