Showing posts with label Miss V M Bury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miss V M Bury. Show all posts

Saturday, 2 May 2015

The White House

Updated - 8 June 2019

 Thought I would do a quick Twitter search to see if anyone had posted pictures of the renovation. Wow!

 https://twitter.com/WoolacombeTIC/status/1095790388634365953

 https://twitter.com/WoolacombeVoice/status/1105515298998943745

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There is, what must have once been, a wonderful house called The White House which stands proudly overlooking Barricane Cove in Woolacombe.
It is, now, in a very sorry state. (pictures were taken 10 April 2015).


I had to Google it to try and find out who owned it and why it had been left in such a state.  There were a few pictures that had been posted to the internet by other people showing the house in a better state of repair and if the dates of the photos are correct the house has deteriorated considerably in the past 12 months.

I couldn't find any details on the internet of the house having been sold in 'recent' years.  I know if I Google my own postcode and go into Zoopla I can see house sales going back to 1996.  But looking on my phone I couldn't find any sales details for The White House.  I have just checked Zoopla again for The White House, The Esplanade, Woolacombe and it lists all the properties sold in The Esplanade, Woolacombe EX34 7DJ and the list goes back to 1995 but nothing for The White House.

I decide, at the time, to search the name in newspaper articles and since I have a current subscription to Find My Past I started there first.  This is what I found.

Situations Vacant



WORKING Housekeeper wanted by 2 ladies, labour-saving house on 'bus route. N. Devon coast; Aga cooker; comfortable home offered; good references required. Mother and child not objected to - Apply, Colville, White House, Woolacombe. 4618 






Situations Vacant



COMF. HOME, with salary, offered to run small lab.-svg. house, on 'bus route; 2 in family; would suit 2 friends or mother and child.—Write Miss Bury, The White House. Woolacombe, N. Devon






Situations Vacant



COMFORTABLE HOME with salary offered to run small labour-saving house, on 'bus route; 2 in family. Would suit two friends or mother and child. —Write, Bury The White House, Woolacombe, N Devon. 5623 






Situations Vacant



COMF. HOME, with salary, offered to run small lab.-svg. house, on 'bus route; 2 in family; would suit friends or mother and child.—Write Miss Bury. The White House. Woolacombe. N. Devon






Situations Vacant



COMF. HOME, with salary, offered to run small lab.-svg. house 'bus route; 2 in family; /would suit 2 friends or mother and child.—Write Miss Bury. The White House. Woolacombe. N. Devon






Woolacombe



The Merchant Navy Comforts Service has received a donation of £3 2s. 6d., sent by Miss V. M. Bury, The White House, Woolacombe. The money was realised by the sale of seaweed, which was gathered by a band of willing workers (W.V.S.) organised by Miss Bury to be used in the cultivation of penicillin.





Situations Vacant

COMF. HOME, with salary, offered to run lab.-svg. house on 'bus route; 2 , in family; would suit 2 friends or mother and child of school age.—Write Miss Bury. The White House. Woolacombe. N. Devon



N.F.S. Activities

The N.F.S. has been called to the following chimney fires:...

24th, White House, Woolacombe (Section- Leader Butler)



MOTOR-CARS, &c., FOR SALE

1937 ROVER, 14h.p.; 1 owner; immaculate condn.; 7 tyres (3 new). Nearest offer £450. Taking delivery post-war car.—Miss Bury, The White House, Woolacombe.


Assertion at Mortehoe Parish Council

Grass and Weeds


The council received a letter from Miss Berry, of The White House, Woolacombe, complaining that grass and weeds were growing along the front and on the council's property. It stated that this presented a danger to adjacent gardens, because the seeds might be blown over, and also to children, because glass might become concealed in the grass.



The chairman (Mr. C. G. Yeo) said he had received an offer from a local firm to cut the grass for £3. and it was decided that his should be accepted.



"Whoever accepted the gift of the recreation ground for the parish council accepted a liability." commented the Rev. G. A. Carter. The council were not allowed to build on their land, he said, nor could they be permitted to fence it. The land should have been handed back at the time, but he feared it was now too late.



Mr. P.A. Johnston replied that he would like to see the council own a lot more land on the front. He asked if information about the probability of other land becoming available for purchase could be obtained.

14 July 1949 - North Devon Journal - Barnstaple, Devon, England

If you search for Miss V. M. Bury on Find My Past it brings up 23 articles with various mentions of Woolacombe, Westerham, District Girl Guides Commissioner and plenty about bird migration. I can imagine her on the balcony of The White House looking for the birds. In fact one of the articles I have just found says:

TITS FROM LUNDY?

While on the subject of migration, I must mention a very interesting note sent to me by Miss V. M. Bury, of Woolacombe. Her garden is on the edge of the cliffs, and on October 12 a party of about a dozen long-tailed tits flew in from the sea and passed inland up the valley.  The previous day a westerly gale had been blowing.  Whence had these birds come?

I wondered whether they had arrived from Lundy Island, but on looking up the various published lists of birds which have occurred there I can find only one mention on this species.  On the two visits, each lasting some days, which I have paid to the island, I did not see it.  Or they may have come from Wales, using Lundy as a stepping stone.
Miss Bury also tells me that on October 26 she saw a party of tits tumbling about high up in the air as rooks do.  I do not remember seeing long-tailed behave in this way, and I think it is unusual.  But they must have had a tempestuous passage from Lundy - or Wales.

RARE VAGRANTS
Miss Bury also saw a cock snow-bunting at Mortehoe on November 6.  It flew along the road, settling several times twenty yards in front of her.  There had been a gale 24 hours earlier.  Snow-buntings are usually very tame.  I have in years past often watched them picking up grit on the road to the Cat and Fiddle Inn, near Buxton, and they seemed quite indifferent to my presence...



When Google searching for Miss V M Bury, The White House, Woolacombe it comes up with a few references to the List of Members for Lundy and in the 1947 list, she is shown as Miss Violet M. Bury, The White House, Woolacombe.  The same list mentions - Hon. Margaret Colville, J.P., The White House, Woolacombe.  Which I assume is the Colville mentioned in the first article.  And makes up the 2nd person mentioned in the situations vacant advertisements.

If you Google "Hon. Margaret Colville" it brings up numerous references.  According to a variety of websites the Hon. Margaret Colville was born in 1886. She died on 30 April 1975. Her brother was the Hon. John Gilbert Colville and he had a house around the corner from her in Woolacombe.



I did do loads more research but typically I went off researching on my phone and a month later I try and write it up...

 Updated - 29 November 2015

 Thanks to people's comments (see below) we now know the owner has died and the house is up for sale.  

 Savills - 14th December 2015 - Sales details - including a photo from behind. The house is a lot bigger than it looks from the front. It says withdrawn prior - does that mean it's no longer for sale?

 Updated - 27 January 2016

 If anyone has any Cole's in their family tree I suggest they check of the link.

 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2388170

UPDATED - 17 February 2016

See comment below from Jeannette McCrudden17 February 2016 at 19:04
We spotted the White House in January whilst on holiday. The agent informed us the guide price was £750k at auction which was yesterday. It sold one million, two hundred and eighty thousand, let's hope they don't demolish this once stunning property

UPDATED - 21 February 2016

Planning Applications for the same postcode as the White House


UPDATED - 9 August 2016

In reply to comments from Anonymous 26 June 2016 at 08:44 and Anonymous 29 July 2016 at 15:19
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving memories of the people that actually lived in the house. It's so brilliant. I am guessing the man would have been Jeremy Cole. I tried to google him but nothing concrete came up. And could the 'old girl' have been Miss Violet M Bury?  We need a local historian to gather the memories of the people of the town and get them published so they aren't lost forever.  Thank you again for sharing.

Having to post here as it keeps producing an error message when I try to post the reply next to the comments.

In reply to comments from kes1 August 2016 at 21:49 and Abi - 6 August 2016 at 20:05
Thank you both for stopping by and leaving comments. Yes, I am really hoping the community is keeping an eye on the property.  Thanks Abi for the most recent update regarding the condition of the house.  I must admit I am rather worried now.   Imagine in February (almost 6 months ago) you spend £1.2 million on a house that is in need of desperate repair and you haven't done anything about it in 6 months!!!!!  I hope I am wrong and they aren't leaving it until it is declared unsafe and their only 'option' is to pull it down.  I have seen it happen to a house by us.  The house was perfectly fine but had been left (although I think someone had taken some tiles off the roof at the back as it felt into disrepair so quickly) and now suddenly there are plans for a completely new house to be built.

In my opinion the white house a really unique house in an amazing location and it should be preserved.

 Looking at a similar story in the local newspaper even if we got an appreciation group together I bet we wouldn't stand much chance.  This planning application attracted 37 objections and was still approved. 

 UPDATED - 20 August 2016
Please see Iain's comments below.

Here is a picture taken in c1935 which shows The White House in the background.  Note how tall the chimney is!


The people in the picture are
Caroline Norman (nee Huxtable) - Iain's great grandmother
Reg Ridd - her son-in-law, husband of her daughter Winnifred Lilian, who was a younger sister of Iain's grandmother Frances Mabel Norman.

We have two copies of the photo where the colour has been added.

 If you want to quickly 'colorize' a black and white photo - see Dick Eastman's EOGN

UPDATED - 26 August 2016

 Looks like the slate wall at the White House is listed - see here

UPDATED - 26 September 2016

Thank you so much to the following people:

@SusieJay03 on Twitter (
and the following who have left comments recently on the blog-
Ant22 September 2016 at 17:15
Ant22 September 2016 at 18:22
jon scrase25 September 2016 at 18:30
Anonymous25 September 2016 at 19:51

We now know that the White House is back on the market http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56218624.html for £1.6 million!!! (It sold for £1.28m in February).

And it does look like it is for development rather than refurbishment given that most of the pictures seem to be selling the view rather than the house. :-(

 UPDATED - 5 October 2016

 Thanks to the heads up from Pat - 5 October 2016 at 07:16 - in the comments - Internal pictures have now been added to rightmove - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56218624.html
Finally we get to see inside. :-)

 UPDATED - 3 January 2017

 Latest update from Lisa and Iain (see comments below). A fire on New Year's Day and a health warning about Weils disease.  See the following reports.




Plymouth Herald

UPDATED - 8 February 2017
Missed a message from Pat on 9 January 2017 at 15:05
It appears the white house is under offer again. Does anyone have any details? Dare we still hope it won't be a developer. 

 UPDATED - 23 June 2017

 Why this dilapidated building just sold for £1.5m - the most expensive house sold in Devon in March - Devon Live article dated 10 May 2017

 UPDATED - 21 May 2018 

 Had a quick google to see if there was any news/photos on the progress with the refurbishment of the White House.  I found photos on Flickr taken by Worcestershire UK - see here 

UPDATED - 01 March 2018 - see comments posted by - Anonymous 19 February 2018 at 18:51 - Permission Granted for refurbishment and redevelopment.


See planning details here

UPDATED - 10 February 2019 - had a look to see if Google images have been updated. 

Here is the view in June 2018


UPDATED - 11 February 2020 - had a look to see if Google images have been updated. 

Here is the view in April 2019


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