ILLAND

Every day hundreds of people on the B3254 drive past the sign shown above. It is just north of Congdon's Shop and points to a small winding lane that would take the adventurer to the hamlet of Illand. Hardly anybody ever takes this route, but occasionally a farm vehicle turns into the lane and sometimes a car. As the occupants pass through Illand, perhaps on their way towards the hamlet of Newtown, they are rewarded by seeing a working farm, a long established and popular plant nursery and some residential houses.

It's all very bucolic and representative of this part of North Hill parish and the surrounding area, largely unchanged for many years. The buildings that make up Illand are largely built from local stone and have stood for centuries. The image to the right (click on it for a larger view) shows the ruin of a mediaeval building in Illand.

At the time of Domesday Illand fell under the control of Tavistock Abbey having been acquired by Abbot Sihtric before the Norman invasion. Robert, Count of Mortain and half brother to King William I, is reported to have "helped himself to Boyton, Trebeigh, Illand and Trewenta".

Back in the mists of time this small place was divided into two tenements named West Illand and East Illand and these titles were in use in the late 18th century. The farm and many surrounding fields formed West Illand. The nursery was part of East Illand. At one time Illand's tenements were owned by the Peter family.

The nurseries are currently run by Ken and Dave Roberts. They have been collecting information about the Peter family who lived at Illand and the following history and anecdotes have been largely derived from that source.

Illand was one of the centres of Methodism in the area and according to John Peter (probably the John born in 1696 and died in 1778), John Wesley himself preached at Illand. The part that the Peter family of Illand played in the development of Methodism is evidenced by the entry in "Truly Rural" by Herbert Bolitho on page 38 that cites Richard Peter and his son Samuel.

Illand was described by Richard Peter, the historian, in the early 1800s as follows; it may help the reader to refer to the tithe map extract below:

"First on the east my father's farmhouse (East Illand) with two dwelling houses for labourers inside his courtlage and another with its sawpit and small yard for a carpenter behind the farmhouse.
"The cider cellar, poundhouse, barn, stables and other outbuildings were near to the dwellings.
"Next came the farmhouse and outhouse of Mr Richard John [1758-1839] father of the deaf Mr John [1788-1849], and on the opposite side of the highway (i.e. the southern side) stood cottages occupied by Old Tom Mayne [1780-1838], Old Betty Searle [1738-1825], and two or three other persons.
"Further westward, on the same side as these cottages, was a house (now occupied with a farm by Mr Robert Peter [1803-1877], tenant of my eldest son) and the timber yard [by] Henry Maunder, the driller (turner) and chairmaker. Here Henry Maunder reared his numerous family".

The dates in square brackets have been added to help the reader gain a better grasp of the time context. Henry Maunder (1764-1844) had at least 14 children and one of them was strangely named Tabitha Tithe Thirza Maunder.Richard Peter continues:

"Almost adjoining the Maunders' house was Elizabeth Moylton's house. Here dwelt Old Mrs Molly Perkins the village schoolmistress of whom I learnt my letters and the Church catechism. Later it was occupied by Mr William Peter, another tenant of my eldest son. A little further west and across the road was the farmhouse of Mr John Peter, West Illand, with its surroundings of mowhay, yard and outbuildings. Between these and the outbuildings of Mr John, on the same northern side of the highway, was the open village playground. Need I say here, especially on summer evenings, I spent hundreds of joyous hours, and here, seated on a log of wood often made unmelodious noises on my fife, or keyed flute."

Richard Peter's description of an Accident in the Pound House

"There were nearly five acres of orchard on East Illand and my father had a machine erected in the Pound House for bringing apples. The machine consisted of an upright shaft supporting a horizontal cogged wheel. Into the shaft was thrust an arm of wood to which a horse, the motive power, was attached. As the cogged wheel circulated it set in rapid action two cylinders with sunk knives in them. These cylinders revolved in opposite directions & met each other, catching and lacerating and crushing the apples which fell on them. Sometimes a large apple would queer the works and someone had to remove it.

"On one occasion I was controlling the flow of apples and also in control of the horse. This time it was my pony. I unfortunately caught 2 fingers in the knives but was able to stop my pony at once so saved the residue of my right hand. The middle finger was crushed to the first joint and the fourth finger entirely severed except that the skin held the divided part dangling. My father came and released me and then put my hand in a plaster and bandaged the hand. Later I was taken to Dr. Hender of Callington (my mother's cousin) 7 miles away but he did not disturb the plaster or bandage which were left intact until the wounds healed. The scars and disfigurement never disappeared. I was 11 years of age at the time."

More of Richard Peter's remembrances can be seen on the Peter family page.

The Peter family retained ownership of the farm at Illand until the mid 1950s when Claude Peter sold it to Ernest Parsons. Ernest was the father of Alan Parsons who lives at the farm today. The farm, of almost 300 acres, is now run by Alan's son, Adrian. We are grateful to Alan for sharing is remembrances with us and who has some special memories. He recalls, for instance, that the farm had a well in the lower side of the yard that never ran dry even if there had been little rain and the surrounding lands were parched. Alan has told us that on the farm is a rare variety of apple tree known as "Hockin's Green Apple" named after the earlier occupiers of the farm.

ILLAND NURSERIES - up to 1939 - featuring the Peter, Hocking and Lea families

These two advertisements in the Cornish and Devon Post from February 1879 and September 1881 tell us of a rapid change of ownership of Illand Nursery and prompt questions regarding other owners, the age of the nursery and what it produced.

In Pigot’s Directory of Cornwall, 1830 (pages 146-148, Launceston & Newport) there are two entries for men named Spry and both live on Southgate. One is named Nathaniel and is a watch and clock maker; the other is Thomas Spry a nursery and seedsman and, as we shall see below, operating from Illand Nursery. It can't be coincidence but a family relationship between John & Richard and Nathaniel & Thomas has not been found - unless you can show us how they are connected. It is evident, though, that the nursery was Thomas' business.

The earliest document showing a plant nursery at Illand is the 1840 Tithe Apportionment Book for North Hill and its accompanying map. From this we can conclude that the nursery was well established by that date. In his will dated 1766 John Peter who was the then owner (albeit on a long lease as explained below) does not mention a nursery. The tenement of East Illand, of which the nursery was a part, passed down through Peter family.

Extracts from the North Hill Tithe Aportionment Book and Map have been reproduced with the kind permission of Kresen Kernow.

The extracts show that two plots (coloured green on the tithe map) were dedicated to the nursery, the one we know today (#156) and another smaller one (#251) on the south side of the lane. On his webpage "North Hill and a successful footman", Bernard Deacon suggests that this land may have been owned by the Rodd family and formed part of the Trebartha estate but John Peter's will (see above) and the Apportionment Book reveal the owners to be the Peter family.

In Kresen Kernow, Cornwall's Record Office, there is a lease held under reference GR/293. This lease is for 99 years and was granted to John Peter on 6 September 1745 on land in Illand. The land owner on the lease is Sir Francis Vyvyan of Trelowarren, baronet, and John paid him a consideration of £54 10s 0d, with an annual rent of 8 shillings. This is a significant sum and was for a considerable tract of land. It was customary for leases to be offered on three lives - Edward Peter aged 17 years, Thomas Peter aged 10 years and Richard Peter aged 6 years who were the sons of John. [Having a lease for three lives was beneficial because it was likely that the property would remain in the family for a substantial amount of time, since every time one of the 'lives' died, the lease could be surrendered and demised again to another three lives. This form of lease was popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.]

The extract from the Tithe Book shows this as "Pt Illand" meaning it was part of the Illand Tenement and that John Peter had let the two fields to Thomas Spry. The larger field's area was 3 acres 1 rod and 3 perches (about 1.3 hectares) and the annual tithe due to the rector on this land was £1 0s 2d. The smaller field was 1 acre 1 rod and 15 perches (about half an hectare) with a tithe of 8s 1d. Two cottages were occupied by John Spry and Richard Spry and their respective families. They were the sons of Nathaniel and Mary Spry of Christa in Linkinhorne and this harks back to the entry in Pigot's Directory mentioned above.

Below are extracts from the 1841 census showing the Spry brothers, shown as agricultural labourers, on the left and the Peter family on the right. Following the enumerator's route and matching this with the Tithe Map, it is possible that John Peter the younger lived in the residence on plot #172, his father in the residence on plot #248 and the Spry brothers on #162 or #161. There is no mention here of the nursery or nurserymen, nor is the Hocking family mentioned in Illand, as might be expected from the advertisements above. (Click for a larger image).

By the time of the 1851 census John Peter the elder had died. Two of his sons and one of his grandsons were farming at Illand and the nursery continued to be let to a seedsman, probably a member of the Hocking family. Robert Peter farmed 20 acres, his brother Samuel Peter farmed 40 acres and their nephew John Martin Peter was an agricultural labourer living in Illand.

The 1861 census reveals that the nursery was maintained by a Devon man, William Heggalton who was probably in the employ of Richard Hocking of nearby Halwell Farm in Linkinhorne parish. Richard's son, William, was baptised at St Torney's in 1827 and the recorded residence was Illand. It is possible to speculate from this, and the 1881 advertisement, that the nursery had changed hands from the Spry family to the Hocking family at some time in the 1830s. In the 1861 census another of Richard's sons, John, was described as a seedsman but living with his father at Halwell Farm.

The 1871 census for Illand shows three Peter family residences - Robert Peter, John Martin Peter and William Peter each with their own families. John Hocking, the seedsman of Halwell Farm, had married in 1862 to Jane West of Illand, a member of the Peter family as shown below. They set up home at the nursery and there are some points of interest in their census return:
      John Hocking, Head, Married, 33, Nursery Man & Farmer, born in North Hill Cornwall ¹
      Jane Hocking, Wife, Married, 31, born in Liskeard Cornwall ²
      John W Hocking, Son, 7, Scholar, born in North Hill Cornwall
      Mary P Hocking, Daughter, 6, Scholar, born in North Hill Cornwall
      Alice D Hocking, Daughter, 5, Scholar, born in North Hill Cornwall
      Caroline Hocking, Daughter, 2, born in North Hill Cornwall
      Samuel Peter, Uncle, Widower, 72, Hind, born in North Hill Cornwall ³
      Thomas Peter, Uncle, Widower, 77, Traveller Tramp, born in North Hill Cornwall ⁴
      Ellen Maunder, Servant, Unmarried, 23, Servant, born in North Hill Cornwall
¹ John continued as a nurseryman at Illand until at least 1875 when his last child, Beatrice was born. Her baptism in June 1875 at St Torney's shows his occupation as a "nurseryman of Illand". By 1879, however, he had given up the nursery to continue working the land at Illand as a farmer.
² Jane was born in 1839 as Jane West. Her mother, Mary Hender West née Peter, was the sister of Thomas and Samuel Peter who are shown on this census incorrectly as Jane's husband's uncles, when they are her own. Jane's mother died when she was less than a year old. Her elder sisters stayed with their father at Lamellion in Liskeard but Jane, as an infant, was given to her childless Uncle Samuel Peter and Aunt Susannah who brought her up.
³ Samuel mentioned above is recorded as a "hind". This is a little used description today and described an employed skilled farm or estate worker with responsibility for the stewardship of the farm or the estate.
⁴ Thomas had been a settled farm labourer in Coryton in Devon for a couple of decades until his wife died in 1865. From his description as a "Tramp" it appears he had an itinerant existence until his death in Liskeard in 1880.

At this time, 1871, William Heggalton, who had been the nurseryman in 1861, was living at Congdon's Shop and working as a farm labourer. He was set to return, as can be seen from the 1881 census below.

In February 1879 it was announced, as can be seen in the advertisement above, that John Hocking had given up the nursery in favour of these four family members:

• Richard Hocking, a farmer of Trefuge, North Hill - the brother of John Hocking, the outgoing nurseryman
• Peter Harris Curra of Liskeard - Jane's first cousin; her sister, Elizabeth, married Peter Harris Curra in 1862
• John Coad of Addicroft in Linkinhorne - brother in law of John Hocking, the outgoing nurseryman; John Coad had married in 1860 to Betsy Hocking, sister of John
• William Hocking of Halwell in Linkinhorne, a farmer - the eldest brother of John Hocking, the outgoing nurseryman.

The transfer of ownership of the lands at Illand continued as can be seen from this advertisement of an auction in the West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser of Thursday 23 September 1880. Whether this was planned as part of the transaction from the previous year, whether there had been some family friction or whether there was some other reason isn't known but by 1881 William Heggalton was back at Illand as the farmer at East Lawn, and a local man, William Pearn was the nurseryman.

The advertisement makes it clear that the lease would need to be renegotiated by any prospective lessee. This did not appear to have deterred the brothers William and James Lea who announced in September 1881 that the nursery was now under their control (see the advertisement at the beginning of this narrative).

In earlier times the properties at nearby Trefrize Mill and those at Illand were all under the control of the lessees at Illand. This was the Peter family who, as explained above, have close connections with the Hocking family, the nurserymen. William and James had a sister Mary Lea who married a Charles Hocking and it would seem that the Hocking family influence continued, but this is not so.

Charles Hocking was the son of James Hocking and the family lived at Trefrize Mill. When Charles was a teenager there was a girl named Louisa Pooley from Werrington who came to live there. She became pregnant and being unmarried her son was registered as Charles Henry but bearing her surname of Pooley. The given names of Charles Henry suggests that the identity of the child's father was Charles Hocking. Eventually Charles Hocking married Louisa Pooley when young Charles Henry Pooley was about three years old. Thereafter young Charles Henry Pooley was known as Charles Henry Hocking. Although Hocking is a common Cornish name and there are connections with Trefrize Mill, there has been no identified link between the Hocking family of Trefrize Mill and the Hocking family who were the nurserymen of Illand.

In the 1891 census William Lea is still at Illand with the aforesaid William Pearn as his labourer at the nursery but by 1894 the "Illand Nurseries at Northhill" were advertised to be let anew. It seems there were no willing applicants and in the 1901 census William Lea is still in place at Illand as the nurseryman.

Another attempt to let the nurseries was made, this time being successful. We learn from the 1911 census that the new nurseryman was James Deacon, a local man from nearby Newtown. This seemed to be reasonably shortlived as the nursery was once again advertised in the spring of 1911 but the 1939 register shows the Deacon family still in residence just before the start of World War Two and James Deacon is listed as a nurseryman.

Three advertisements for the sale of Illand Nurseries
click for a larger image

Cornish & Devon Post
23 Jun 1894

Cornish & Devon Post
7 July 1906

Cornish & Devon Post
29 April 1911