Memories from war time Exeleigh House

IN its heyday Exeleigh House was a grand Georgian villa

built in the grounds of six acres, under the guidance of John Heathcoat for his

daughter beside the factory in1827.

Today it lies dormant on the wrong side of the flood

defences as Heathcoat’s, the English Heritage, and Mid Devon District Council

try to find a way forward though a difficult situation.

The last residents of the house moved out in 1952. Kit Crawford

(nee Hood) was one of those and has written about her 17 years growing up there.

During World War Two when she was not at boarding school, she

lived with her mother Nancy and the cook, Bridget. Her brothers John and Cliffe were

fighting with the RAF,  and her father had died in 1935.

Kit recalls how their spare bedroom was used by whichever

regiment was stationed in Tiverton to billet one of two of their officers: “I

remember first it was the Lincolnshires,

and then it was the Durham Light Infantry. Some officers had batmen who also

required accommodation. They slept in the attic.

“In the Christmas of 1941, the tree was ablaze with real

candles. There were masses of army lads of all ranks there to enjoy it. The

party was held in the room which was once the ping-pong room in the basement.

This had become the air raid shelter when war broke out.”

All of the coming and going, and problems were caused. After three years of

that, Sir John Amory suggested alternate use for the house when her mother saw

one of the batmen coming down the attic stairs with her brother’s stamp album

under his arm.

Kit's family moved up to the first floor which they shared with the Howell family who were seeking refuge from Kent while her aunt moved back to London. The ground floor and basement became a Devon County Day Nursery

serving the factory's working mothers.

Kit writes: “Nursery school children had little tables in

the old dining room, and a room across the passage was equipped with a row of

tiny toilets and a bath.

“The Royal Engineers were brought in to create a safer air

raid shelter by installing a series of tree trunks to prop up the ceiling.”

By the end of the war, Kit’s mother was suffering from the

strain of losing a brother after a test flight on a Halifax Bomber ended in tragedy when while testing the new auto-pilot, the engines failed to restart sending the plane into the Yorkshire hills below. Kit says: “My mother took on

the position of local secretary for Dr Barnardo’s Homes. In 1945 we had a fete

to raise month for the charity.

“We had an auction which included a lemon, and raffled a

large box of fireworks which my mother won and invited all the children to the

house for the first firework display we had seen since 1939.”

The nursery remained after the war until 1949, and when it

closed down the ground floor became a store for factory fabrics. The house

never became a full family home again.

When the Hood family left in August 1952, the factory had

built over the field, and the bridge across the leat had collapsed and in 1960,

the house was virtually cut off from the town when a flood destroyed a

footbridge.

The house remained as Heathcoat’s Personnel Office, and had

an experimental laboratory on the ground floor.

East

Devon College

had overflow classrooms there in the 1970s, running a public service course

there until the 1990s.

The building can still be seen in Tiverton, but only from the rear of Morrisons.

Kit who now lives in New Zealand ends on a poignant note:

“I am left with the memories of 17 years in an outstandingly beautiful home. I

am glad to hear that although the factory has expanded over much of the garden

and field, the house itself is now a listed building and I hope it will

continue to get the care it deserves.”

Information provided by the Tiverton Civic Society.