National Trust

100295

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Description:  With the growth of the quarry in the nineteenth century a new dwelling house was built for the quarry manager on a site above the quarry and the workmens cottages. Cann house is built on a slate waste heap from the earlier working of the quarry and a garden was laid out around the heap. The house is first mentioned in a deed of 1829.
George Pearce Manley was leasing Cann Quarry in 1828 until his death in 1829 and a reversion agreement between Lord Morley and Manleys widow mentions specifically, the Foremans House, Blacksmiths shop, garden, orchard, and also that newly erected dwelling house, outhouses, garden, orchard. In a map attached to an 1839 lease the Railway cottage site is clearly marked the Foremans House, while Cann House is labelled as The Cottage. This suggests that the Railway cottage site, known as the Foremans House was the earlier of the two buildings , and that Cann House, known then as The Cottage, was a newly erected building in 1829. If this is so, then Cann house, originally smaller than todays ruin, may have been built by Langford, Manley or Lord Morley, some time after 1821. Cann House is shown in an etching from 1831 along with Cann house stables. In an advertisement in May 1835 for the lease of Cann quarry, Cann house is described in as a picturesque and roomy dwelling house. The 1840 tithe map for Plympton St Mary shows Cann House and the stables. In the year of the first census, 1841, details for Cann give no mention of Cann House. The census records for 1851 show Thomas Pearson, the quarry tenant, living at Cann House with his wife, brother, two daughters, and three servants: a cook, a housemaid and a coachman. On the 1853 plan for the Tavistock railway line Cann Hose appears listed as a dwelling house. The 1864 lease of Cann quarry included , All that messuage with the outbuildings, yard and gardens thereto belonging commonly called Cann House, and it is shown on the accompanying Ordnance Survey first edition 25 inch map. The lease for Cann quarry in 1874 included the rental of Cann house at an extra 5 pounds per year. From the 1881 Census there are a total number of 20 people living at Cann but the records do not indicate if at Cann house or Railway Cottages. These are; William Gully, a railway labourer, his wife and two sons (agricultural workers), four other young children, a railway labourer, his wife and daughter. Also listed is James Soper, master of slate quarry employing four men, his wife and son (a carpenter), a dressmaker, a clayworks labourer, Robert Sorton, and three children. In 1877, according to the Morley paper accounts, the two cottages at Cann quarry (Railway Cottages) were rented to the Great Western Railway. It therefore seems likely that the people from the above list from James Soper onwards were living at Cann House. By 1940, Cann house was remembered to be a total ruin and it is not known if Edward Gullett ever lived there or if James Soper was the last occupier, and therefore the house was abandoned sometime between 1881 and 1901.
There are two vehicular approaches to Cann house. One is from the original lane/road coming in from the south which appears to have some ornamental trees (pine) on its west side. The other access comes up from the path by Railway Cottages (100290) and the bridge crossing the railway and is a large curve so that both tracks enter the house at the same point at its S-E edge. A road continues beyond here to the stables. Cann house is built on a level platform facing south with views across the valley. Behind the house there are steps leading up to the area of the stables and there are steps leading up from Railway Cottages (100290). There may be other garden walls around the house. Some garden plants remain, ie the two yew trees either side of the from door and laurel.
Cann House survives only to a maximum of top of ground floor level and several of the walls are only 0.30m high. The building has developed during its lifetime but it is difficult to make out a precise sequence. The front of the house faces south and there is an approximately central front door with a window to each side. There is plaster skirting board on the exterior face. The original layout of the front of the ground floor appears to have been a central passage with a room to each side. Room 1 (refer to plan for location of each room) has a window on the south face which may have had wainscotting panelling below the window forming an alcove or could have been a window seat. There is a door providing access outside on the west wall. This goes into an outhouse/porch which abuts the building. It has an exterior doorway. On the north face there is a fireplace and a blocked doorway to the east of the fireplace. There is no clear indication now where the division between this room and the passageway existed. Room 2 contains a window with a possible window seat and large sill facing south. There is either a full height window or door on the west side. This appears to have been narrowed due to a scar on the north side of the west face. There is an internal chimney stack and blocked fireplace on the northern wall. There is a wide dividing wall between this room and the passageway between which there is a door. It seems likely that these two rooms were the best rooms in the house.
Room 3 is formed by an extension abutting Room 2. The exterior east wall abuts the building to the south. It has a fireplace on the south wall which presumably joined the chimney-stack on the other side of this wall. There is a window on the west wall of full height. This may have been a window altered to a door. Room 4 there is a substantial wall separating this room from the passageway to the east. Probably at a later date a small room was built into the N-W wall. Room 5 from the visible remains this seems quite a large room and the sequence of its construction in relation to the rest of the building is not known. There was presumably a division between this room and the passageway to the west but there are very little signs of such. There is a doorway going into an outhouse/porch on the east side, and the window is in the east wall. The window forms an alcove at its base which is lined with slate. There appears to be a doorway going into Room 6, and there appears to be at least one , possibly two fire places against the north wall. There is also plaster on the east wall. An alcove has been formed in the south wall where a door to Room 1 has been blocked. Room 6 has a window in the north wall and no clear division between this room and the passageway. There is a curious projecting chunk of masonry coming out of the south wall of no known function. Room 7 appears to be abutted against Room 3 (exterior west wall). There are some thin partition walls forming small rooms within this area but there are no doorways, so it may have had a raised floor or floor supports. The rear wall of Room 7 is not quite aligned to Room 6. It is not clear why it is slightly bowed. The gap between the end wall north of Room 6 and north of Room 7 was presumably a rear door from the passageway leading into an area with poorly constructed a revetment wall holding up bank and steps leading up to the stables (100294). There are some upright slates between the porch of Room 1 on the east face of the west wall. It is possible that the building could have been slate tiled.

Country:  England

Grid Reference:   SX524594

Map Reference:  [EPSG:27700] 252400, 59480

Period/Subject:  1540 - 1900 - HOUSE

Identifiers: 
[ADS] Depositor Id: 100295
[ADS] Associated Id: HBSMR Id: MNA106138
[ADS] Import RCN: NTSMR-MNA106138

People Involved: 
[Publisher] National Trust