Just before Christmas WBR looked at a farmhouse in the hamlet of Southcott, within the parish of Pewsey. It was the usual story – an old farm which was worked by generations of farmers is no longer viable. The lands are sold off and the farmhouse is turned into a country hideaway for busy people. The transition from rural dwelling to sophisticated mansion necessitates a good lot of tweaking of the original fabric to bring it up to date, as well as extending the accommodation to provide services such as our rustic forbears would never have dreamed of (Southcott has a swimming pool and sauna!).

The hamlet of Southcott, c.1960
Ref: P48999

Part of our remit is to look into the history of those that lived there before, and take a peek at what they were doing, partly to inform us as to how the building might have been used at a particular time, and although not strictly necessary, what sort of people they were.

Southcott was a small estate granted to St Peter’s Abbey, Winchester in 940AD until the dissolution in 1538. In 1768 the manor of Southcott was sold to Sir John Astley, Bart, where it stayed until the later 19^th century when it was sold off in portions.

If we drop in on 1841 we come across two brothers, Robert and Michael Cooke, whose family have been farming land at Southcott since at least 1787. The brothers were both about 35 then, but single, and both farming at Southcott. With them was an extended family including their retired father Michael senior, and two typically young, unmarried girls who were servants. They both lived and farmed there until in 1862 at the age of nearly 60 and unmarried, he moved out of the family home to an almost exact replica he had built across the road – sentimental or simply unimaginative? When he died in 1873 his new house at Southcott was inherited by another Robert, said to be his son.  A Lodge at Southcott was also built by Robert Cooke soon after 1872. Another Cook, Alfred, purchased the lodge in 1913. Alfred was an eccentric whose schemes led him to die in debt. He was one of the main contributors to the cost of the King Alfred Statue in the Market Place.

He died in 1923 and his dying request was that he should be buried on the north side of Victory Clump on Southcott and Kepnal Down, and that no sign of mourning be employed. His strange funeral was remembered by older Pewsey residents, and how his daughter, Eliza Cowmeadow sang at his graveside.

Their family is remembered at the Old Manor House at Southcott by a spidery inscription in the glass of a window made by one of the last Cookes to live there: Charles Cooke, March 4^th 1949.

 

Charles Cooke's Inscription

If you have enjoyed this article, the following entries may also be of interest:

WBR Farm Project

John Aubrey's Connections with Broadchalke