Exhibition uncovers secrets of Branscombe

saturday sees the start of a week long exhibition into the history of three Branscombe houses.

The Branscombe Project were given three trunks full of letters and photographs uncovered in an attic after a house clearance, and have used the material to piece together the stories of the village’s inhabitants in years gone by.

The ‘Three Houses Exhibition’ will show how at Edge Barton in 1609, Nicholas Wadham, on his death-bed instructed his wife Dorothy to found a new Oxford college, a wish she managed to fulfill. Copies of her portraits and the spirited letters she sent from Branscombe are on display at the Village Hall.

Three hundred years later, Sam Chick, a lace-trader and property developer from London returned with his daughters to Devon and rented Hazelwood. The Branscombe Project has recreated their world of family, friends, and villagers.

Also on display is the story of Tom Lethbridge, a maverick archaeologist, arrived at Hole House in 1957 and wrote about para-normal phenomena. For the first time, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum will bring his archaeological collection to Branscombe, where tomorrow Tom Cadbury, curator at the museum, will identify finds brought by members of the public.

The exhibition runs from Saturday, April 9, until Friday, April 15, from noon until 5pm at Branscombe Village Hall.