Gill House in 1965. The door to the boneyard storeroom is on the left
Gill House, the History of a Dartmoor Longhouse in the Village of Brentor is research by Carol Butson, published on this website in 2020. Carol is an ex-resident of Brentor having lived lived in Gill House from 1965 when her mother and father Harry and Jean Rose ran it as a B&B and riding stable. She later moved to Westcott Farm and then Hammer Park. Her parents are buried in the Christchurch churchyard. Much of her research was done at the Devon Rural Archive at Shilstone Manor near Modbury.
The first guests at Jean Rose’s Gill House bed and breakfast. When the B&B was full Carol and her siblings had to sleep in the barn on camp beds while the guests had their bedrooms.
Gill House is situated adjacent to the war memorial and its origin goes back to the 1500s. Names connected with Gill House are Kinsman, Rice and Gill. Carol Butson’s research draws on a wide range of local documents ranging from Hearth Tax records to parish censuses and directories.
Harry Rose with his horses 1965. He took pony treks out on Blackdown.
The article poses the question: Was Kinsman the original occupant of Gill House, and was it originally called Undertown when it was built in the 1500s?