William and Martha's farm at North Tregeare

		View out from hall, showing stone floor.
	Both the above pictures date from around 2004.

Today the house is a grade II listed building. It appears to have been in existence, essentially in its present form, since the early 1600's.

William and his family occupied this house from shortly after his retirement in 1820 until his death in 1856. The house was substantial, as can be seen from the photographs, and had what may have been an unusual feature for the time in that the water could be drawn from a well inside the house in the kitchen/ scullery area. That was about as close as you could get at that time to having water laid on to the house. William also leased with the house about twenty acres of arable farm land and five acres of orchards.

Because William retired early with most of his children either in their teens or younger, he needed a family home, rather than a smaller retirement property. The younger members of the family probably welcomed his retirement there as it gave them at last a rest from the continual moves that they had had to make with William's various Excise Service postings and a chance to now make some more permanent childhood friends. Most of his children would probably, in later life, regard it as their family home although only son Daniel was actually born there.

The first reference to the farm is on son Daniel's baptismal record of the 24th November 1822 in which his father William is described as a farmer "of North Tregeare".

The next reference is in the Tithe Commutation Map and schedule of 18th September 1839. This describes the farm as having 28 acres of land of which 5 acres are orchard, 20 acres are arable fields with the rest consisting of marsh, land occupied by buildings, and garden. It also states that it is owned by John Henry Ball Esq. and occupied by William Trays.

In the census of 30th/31st March 1851, son Daniel, who had by then taken over the running of the farm from his father, who was almost 80 years old, is described as a "farmer of 25 acres". That acreage closely matches that given in the 1839 document and it seems reasonable to assume that no change had taken place in that 12 year period. It also seems probable that little or no change had taken place in the farm since William first leased it after his retirement from the Excise Service.

The description of land below is taken from the 1839 property document.