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Title:

Carter, Joel (1793-1879) - his parents, siblings and children. Part 01. Harpford
Century: 
C18
C19
Location: 
Newton Poppleford
Description: 

Part One

Harpford Village and Farmhouse

Joel was born in 1793 at Harpford in East Devon about four miles from the sea and about eleven miles east of Exeter.  He was the second child born to Elias and Anna Carter and a belated entry in the Harpford parish register notes "1794 - Joel Carter son of Elias and Anna Carter born 5th June 1793 baptized about 3 weeks after birth the register being by mistake omitted".  Elias and Anna Carter had 10 children in all.  They were born in regular succession; Thomas 1790, Joel 1793, Anna 1796, Mary 1798, John 1801, Martha 1803, Elizabeth 1806, Sarah 1808, Elias 1810 and Robert 1813.  All the children lived to adulthood and subsequently married.

In 1761 Joel's father, Elias Carter was baptized at the neighbouring parish of Venn Ottery.  Joel’s mother, Anna (née Vincent), according to the 1851 census was born at Stockland, although her baptism in 1768 was at Yarcombe, where her family had lived for generations.  About 16 miles from Harpford, Yarcombe is near the Somerset border. Both Elias and Anna were from yeoman families and were married at Yarcombe on 5th January 1789.  Elias Carter was able to sign his name in the register, and it is thought he was some kind of auctioneer / appraiser which would explain why he travelled away from his home parish.  Following the wedding the couple lived at Harpford where Elias was a farmer. He owned a few acres of land but also rented additional land.

Previous to her marriage Anna had given birth to Rachel Vincent, an illegitimate child, the identity of whose father is unknown.  The baby was baptised at Yarcombe on 25th December 1787.  After Anna married it would appear that the baby remained in the care of her grandparents, John and Anna Vincent, who farmed at Dinnington in Yarcombe parish.  (I believe Anna kept in touch with her Yarcombe relatives and would have known when Rachel was married, on 13th April 1810, at Yarcombe to Francis Wyatt, an agricultural labourer. Rachel and Francis Wyatt had a sizeable family and lived at Upottery.) 

Harpford parish has always been thinly populated by agriculturists living in scattered hamlets, such as Bowd, Stowford, Burrow and Southerton.  Harpford village itself, grew by the River Otter at the point of the first reliable crossing of the river above its mouth. From Bowd, an ancient track way, later a Roman road and turnpike, led through a gap in the hills down to a ford across the river.  This would have been in the vicinity of the present footbridge.  About half a mile to the south a road bridge has existed since the thirteenth century.  For many years this was a toll bridge and by the tollhouse was the Bridge End Inn.  The bridge was of some antiquity, five arches, massive outer walls and a ten-foot wide roadway. It was replaced by a new bridge c.1840. 

The parish extends on both sides of the River Otter and in Joel Carter's time Harpford village consisted of the Church of St Gregory The Great and the Vicarage, the Poor House(s), Court Place and about half a dozen smaller farms and a few cottages.  The population of the entire parish in 1801 was 190, but by 1851 had reached 253.  A small stream, called the Harp, meanders through the village.  Much of the land in the parish was fertile, used partly for arable, partly for cider-apple orchards; there were woodlands on the higher ground and also some common land for grazing.

From Harpford Land Tax Assessments it would appear that Joel’s father, Elias Carter inhabited a farmstead known as Podbury's.  He both owned and occupied the farmstead situated in the middle of the village, across the lane from the church.

  

 

Idealised sketch of Podbury’s and Harpford church situated in the Otter valley.
Artist – unknown.


Previously his widowed mother, Sarah Carter (nee Langsford) had owned the property but she died in 1788 aged 54 and that is probably the time that Elias Carter took possession.  The farmhouse was constructed of wattle and daub walls with a thatched roof.  It was built in a style typical of the area; the building materials were local.  The ground plan would probably have been shaped like the letter 'L' with a central hall adjoined by at least two smaller rooms, the parlour and kitchen.  Bedrooms would have been upstairs.  Such a house is possibly medieval but is more likely to be from 1600 to 1640.  

Podbury’s Cottage, Harpford c1960


When Hippolyte Taine, an eminent French historian and critic, visited England in 1862 his wide ranging tour included an inspection of a number of farmhouses of differing styles and character.   Perhaps typical of Podbury's he writes, "The farmers wife told me that every year the inside walls are whitewashed, that the stone flags on the floor are scrubbed once a week.  I felt quite ashamed to walk on them and to soil them. The principal room or hall was furnished with antique pieces.  The staircase was of solid wood and a sideboard both date from the 16th century. The hearth was immense, capable of burning an entire tree trunk, a real yule log: it is provided with a double screen which in summer closes the opening and in the winter is a protection from draughts.  There were some quite good prints on the walls and a fair number of books in addition to the family Bible".

In England during the 19th century only a little over a tenth of the land was in the hands of owner-occupiers.  Many small owners were in fact tradesmen or middle-class country residents who bought land as a convenience such as paddocks for the horses or private orchards. Where farmers owned some land, as was the case with Elias Carter, it frequently accounted for only a part of their holding, for they often rented several acres of additional land, it rarely paid to put spare resources into buying land, when money could be used more profitably in buying new equipment or stock.

This is one of a series of related articles. Click forward to jump to the next.

Researched by Anne Speight,  © 2009


SOURCE MATERIAL

Rural Life In Victorian England.  G E Mingay
‘Harpford’  Revd. H.R. Evans. The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art. Vol 101 (1969) pg 45-81.
‘Harpford Parochial Health Service 1730 – 1830’. Revd. H. R Evans.
Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 29, 7 (963) pg 201-205.
Parish Registers of Harpford, Venn Ottery, Yarcombe, and Upottery
Harpford Land Tax Assessments 1780 - 1790.
1839 Harpford Tithe Map and Schedule

NP-B-00001 Biography, Newton Poppleford any