Docton Court
History
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Docton House is a Grade II* listed property - the only building in Appledore with that status. 'Docton Court' is the front part of this larger building, and it is here that the Gallery and Gift Shop is located.
Why was the building originally constructed? And why was the coat-of-arms of the Docton Family included over the doorway? Was it there home, or did it serve some other purpose? There have been many stories associated with Docton Court over the years, but 20 years of research by the present owner has shown that many of these are inaccurate, or just plain wrong. The answer to these questions can be found in the details of construction, and the political situation at the end of the Tudor era - and the truth is just as fascinating as the myths. |
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History of the Building
After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, English coffers were in need of funds, so the new King James decreed that the collection of Customs Duties at ports should be out-sourced to a group of businessmen. This was known as the 'Customs Farm', whereby the role of collecting duties was ‘farmed out’ for a percentage of the revenue. This made money for the Crown but also money for the local collectors and businessmen who were awarded these lucrative contracts.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, English coffers were in need of funds, so the new King James decreed that the collection of Customs Duties at ports should be out-sourced to a group of businessmen. This was known as the 'Customs Farm', whereby the role of collecting duties was ‘farmed out’ for a percentage of the revenue. This made money for the Crown but also money for the local collectors and businessmen who were awarded these lucrative contracts.
It is now believed that this building was the Customs House for Appledore, but not just any old Customs House - it was a privately run business operating under a Royal license. It was managed by the Docton family, and the survival of such a building from this period probably makes it unique in this country.
Its purpose was to receive imported goods, store them until the tax was paid, and administer the process in offices above. We can see evidence of this from the following architectural features:
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- The building was solidly constructed with stone walls up to 3-feet thick, in order to deter anyone from breaking in and stealing valuable cargos.
- The doorways into the cellars are about 4-feet wide – sufficient width to roll barrels in and out. Doorways of 3-feet width would have been insufficient for this purpose.
- The sides of the openings have been protected with hard-wearing granite jambs; even so, it is still possible to see where damage has occurred at low level where barrels have hit the doorways.
- Inside, there would have been sub-divided cellars, so that each taxable cargo could be secured separately.
- The first floor had high-status rooms, constructed for the administrative use of customs officers and clerks keeping detailed accounts of the goods and the tax due on them.
- These rooms had windows facing the unloading creek, granite fireplaces, and a high ceiling with moulded plasterwork.
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No historic record of Thomas Docton's name has yet been found associated with this 'farming of customs', but this is not surprising. Jurisdiction of the Ports of Barnstaple, Bideford and Appledore came under the port of Exeter, who also managed all the 'creeks' within its region. Whilst the names of the main collectors at Exeter are recorded, there are no records of the people responsible for the collection of revenue in any of its subsidiary ports. Nevertheless, there is no other explanation for the existence of this building, and from this we can assume an accurate build-date of around 1604. The coat-of-arms belonging to Thomas Docton was erected over the entrance, to show that this was 'Thomas Docton's Custom House'. Thomas Docton died in 1618, and his lands in Appledore were then inherited by his cousin, also called Thomas Docton.
Signature of Thomas Docton
who constructed this building in 1604. |
Signature of his cousin Thomas Docton
who inherited the property in 1618. |
Ownership of this property passed down several generations of the Docton family, but the first Docton to actually live there was Peter Docton, son of Thomas junior. He and his wife Elizabeth had ten children baptised in the parish. His son Peter Docton junior married Dorothy French, but they had no children and the Docton family eventually died out in Appledore. In his will of 1715, Peter Docton junior was described as a Merchant who had previously lived at Coimbra in Portugal, also having trading links with a partner in London. His wealth in today's terms would have been around £3-million, and he undoubtedly used the storage cellars for imported goods.
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In 1737, Peter Docton's widow Dorothy set up a charity to enable six poor children under the age of 11 to be taught to read until they could understand the Bible in English. She died in 1744, but before her death had sold the Docton Court cellars to John Benson of Knapp House in Northam. Three generations of the Benson family then owned the property, including the notorious Thomas Benson, MP, ship-owner, merchant and Sheriff of Devon, but also a convicted smuggler and fraudster, whose entire lands were seized by the Crown in order to pay his fines. He fled to Portugal where he lived the rest of his life in exile – but that’s another story! Who knows what nefarious use he put these cellars to?
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In 1789 a sale notice for ‘Docton’s Mansion House’ refers to a dwelling house, malt-house, brew-house, brick-kiln, several cellars, stable, coach-house, enclosed yards, and a walled garden of about an acre. Since then, the building has been used for various purposes: making pulley-blocks for sailing ships, a photographer's studio, constructing canoes and wooden toys, and more recently, as a builder's store. The property has now been fully restored, with the ground floor forming a Gallery and Gift Shop, and the upper level containing living accommodation. |
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Much of the ornate plasterwork on the first floor had disappeared, but sufficient remained for the frieze to be fully reconstructed in its original form when the building was restored in 2005. A flattened barrel-vaulted ceiling also graced the first floor; reinstatement of this has not been possible, but research has enabled the recreation of this view of how these offices might have appeared in the early 17th century.
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Docton House does perhaps have some significant early history too. Although its property deeds only go back to the early 20th century, a document housed in the National Archives relates to this land. In 1334 permission was granted for a Barnstaple merchant called Geoffrey Fardel to build business premises near to the river in Appledore, and the described position exactly matches the location of this property. It also suggests that the land between here and the main river frontage was quite a lot closer than it is today. The rent for this was one silver penny per year. |
The Customs Port Books for the Taw and Torridge estuary exist from 1565 onwards, and contain a fascinating picture of the goods being imported and exported into Bideford, Barnstaple and Appledore in the late 16th and 17th centuries.
But let's briefly go back to those inaccurate stories associated with the building...
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Myth No.1
Docton House was said to have been a Cistercian Monastery, linked to Hartland Abbey, and travellers to the Abbey could moor their ships in the nearby creek, stay overnight and make an onward journey to Hartland the next day. This story has now been disproved. Dendro-chronology of the timbers has shown that the building was constructed just after 1600, and other architectural features support this date, therefore could not have been a 15th century monastery. Further investigation has shown that this story does not appear in print until the 1950s, although there are people who remember a verbal story in Appledore prior to this date. The story was almost certainly invented by James Green, who ran a ship's block-making business from these premises in the 1930s. Visitors to Appledore would be welcomed at its most historic building with a tour by Mr Green, who would often tell them stories that he thought they wanted to hear, particularly to American visitors. One of these stories appears to have been about a monastery - all invented by Mr Green. |
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Myth No.2
Prince Charles (the future Charles II) stayed at Docton House when he visited Appledore in 1645. This story originated from an entry in the Northam Parish registers which states that "Prince Charles was att Apledore in Northam the tenth day of July Anno Dommi 1645". There is no evidence of an overnight stay, and it is well documented the Charles and his entourage were staying in Barnstaple at the time, in the house of Grace Beaple. His visit to Appledore would have been to inspect the Civil War Fort and Royalist troops on Staddon Hill, and his journey was probably made down the River Taw from Barnstaple by boat, returning the same day. Much as Appledore would like to believe that Royalty stayed here - during the Civil War most of Appledore generally supported the Parliamentary cause, so Charles would be unlikely to have camped in enemy territory without good reason. |
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Myth No.3
A story recorded in a newspaper from 1896, is that Docton House was the residence of a Spanish Don or Ambassador at the time of the Armada (1588). He was supposed to be a merchant dealing in Spanish produce, so we can imagine his cellars filled with Mediterranean choice wines and other goods. However, as the current building on this site doesn't appear until c.1604, this reference cannot be true, but there is some truth in this account, because these storage cellars were used to house imported goods from France and Spain.
A story recorded in a newspaper from 1896, is that Docton House was the residence of a Spanish Don or Ambassador at the time of the Armada (1588). He was supposed to be a merchant dealing in Spanish produce, so we can imagine his cellars filled with Mediterranean choice wines and other goods. However, as the current building on this site doesn't appear until c.1604, this reference cannot be true, but there is some truth in this account, because these storage cellars were used to house imported goods from France and Spain.
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The Docton Family
The building can be conclusively linked to the Docton family through the crest which appears over the main doorway. This crest includes the coat-of-arms for Thomas Docton, and his family arms here are shown being linked that that of Chantrell; a marriage between his parents John Docton and heiress Agnes Chantrell took place c.1540. Out of 7 children, Thomas Docton was their eldest surviving son, and he would have been the only person able to have used these arms, because it showed his specific armorial heritage. |
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Thomas Docton was born in 1540 at Hartland, on a farm estate which gave the family their surname. The Docton origins in this location have been traced back to the 13th century. He became a respected person in the community; in 1584 Edward Arundell referred to him as being "an honest man". In 1585 Thomas Docton was named as one of the trustees in the Will of Sir Richard Grenville, to administer his estate in the event of his death, for Sir Richard’s wife Mary Grenville. There are many records of the lands owned or administered by Thomas Docton, mostly in the Hartland area but also some within Northam parish. In 1604 he was mentioned as being a churchwarden of Hartland church, and in 1610 he was appointed as Town Clerk of Bideford.
In 1612, Thomas Docton purchased all of West Appledore, or Irsha as it is also known, for the sum of £550. The purchase deeds show that this consisted of 12 acres of land and about 30 tenanted properties. The Customs Farm contracts were generally awarded for a 7 year period, so this was probably Thomas Docton’s profit for that period, being reinvested back into Appledore.
Docton Court, 2 Myrtle Street, Appledore, Bideford, Devon, EX39 1PH
Tel: 01237 424 949
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01237 424 949
Email: [email protected]
Last updated October 2024
