Paul Rendell visits the ruins of this farm building beside the River Swincombe.
Near the River Swincombe is the lost hamlet of Swincombe with the dwellings including Swincombe Ford Cottage (now known as John Bishop’s House), Swincombe Farm, Lower Swincombe Farm and, across the river, Dolly Trebble’s Cottage, which is said to be where a beautiful lady called Dolly Trebble used to live.
The settlement of Swincombe lies on the ancient Tavistock to Ashburton packhorse track where the route crossed the river via a ford.
The bridge here, known as Fairy Bridge, was originally called Swincombe Ford Bridge; it was not shown on the 1885 OS map, but a footbridge was there by 1904.
Around 1808, as part of the Tor Royal Estate belonging to Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, a couple of lodge cottages and large gates were built near the Swincombe Ford beside the packhorse track. A fishing retreat was also built here.
All these buildings seem to have been removed in the very early 20th century with just two ruined cottages left today. Lower Swincombe Farm and Swincombe Farm were built in 1913 and last lived in around 1955.
From about 1960 until the early 1980s the Duchy of Cornwall let out Swincombe for school groups. In the mid 1980s a school group were staying in the building when one child caused a fire that burnt the place down – it was not worth rebuilding and was finally knocked down in 1987.
Today only the ruins of the farm building are left with a huge remaining gate pillar beside the track and some out-buildings belonging to the farm.
