A thousand years on the hill
History
Great Wadham has occupied this elevated corner of North Devon for centuries. Historical records trace the estate's origins through generations of landowners and working farmers to before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
These records make for a truly riveting read.
Before Domesday
Wadem, as it was recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086, has existed since as early as 931. Back then, the estate was held by Ulf, a Saxon then associated with Edward the Confessor. Remarkably, Ulf appears to have retained the land after the Norman invasion.
After more than a thousand years, records and anecdotes from those early centuries are scarce – but we’ll continue to search.
The Wadham legacy
Despite relocating to Somerset in the 1300s, the Wadham family held onto the estate. One of their descendants, Nicholas Wadham, eventually founded Wadham College at Oxford – one of the largest at the university.
In the early 17th century, the estate was passed on to the Wyndham family, later the Earls of Ilchester, before being gradually broken up and sold over the following centuries.
A working estate
For most of its life, Great Wadham has been a working farm. Old estate plans are filled with field and property names like Higher Orchard, Calves House Mead and Great Cleave, while a 1944 sale waxed lyrical about its ‘rich meadows, pasture and fertile arable'.
The Farmhouse itself continued to evolve, incorporating a former cider press and retaining layers of old stone, cob, timber, brick and irregular flooring that give the house its character today.
Turbulent times
Great Wadham has endured its share of upheaval. An 1850 newspaper clipping tells of an elderly tenant determined to remain on the family estate despite a bitter dispute over its ownership.
During the Second World War, part of Wadham Farm was requisitioned by the War Department for military use, with tents and huts erected and troops regularly crossing the land. By this time, much of the historic estate had already been divided and sold.
A new chapter
Great Wadham has never been frozen in time; buildings have been raised, adapted and lost over generations.
Today, the Farmhouse has been carefully restored around its original character while former agricultural buildings have been entirely reimagined into modern spaces such as the Cob Barn and glass-fronted Winged Barn.