William Mitchell established a
farm called Whiteford in Australia. James Mitchel's 1901 census
entry
provides the origin of the name
Whiteford. They are living in Stoke Climsland Cornwall. Two
houses down
the road, the road name entered changes from Stoke Village to
Whitford. Various sites on the web have more information.
Picture is from Callington
Pictures from the Past
See below
Extracts from a document Stoke
Climsland Conservation Area Character Statement By NORTH CORNWALL DISTRICT COUNCIL
To the west of Stoke Climsland was Whiteford estate.
A large new mansion was built in 1775 by Sir John Call, and the
surrounding park laid out to include a boating lake and Palladian
bridges. The estate was acquired by the Duchy in 1879 and Whiteford
Mansion was demolished in 1912. The parkland and some garden structures
survive from that era. Whiteford Temple, then used for banquets, is a
landmark feature on the hillside, visible from the centre of Stoke
Climsland.
The Duchy Home Farm was built as a model farm in
1913, at the northern edge of the park, probably on the site of an
earlier structure. Much of the material for the building was reused
from the demolition of Whiteford Mansion. An old pathway runs from the
Home Farm to the village. To the north of the centre of the village the
Duchy later built a series of artisans
cottages around the green.
The principal approach into the village from the
south leads uphill past Whiteford Park and finally through a tree
canopied section of road past the old Rectory. A local footpath cuts
through t o b e
Lower Town along the southern boundary of the old Rectory garden. A
local footpath cuts through to the Lower Town along the southern
boundary of the old Rectory garden. Arriving in the centre, the initial
view is of the Sports Club with the War Memorial and the tall bellcote
gable of the Old School immediately beyond. Looking back, there is a
fine view of Whiteford Park.
Beside Hillside, a footpath leads away from the
village across farmland down to Duchy Home Farm. The avenue of mature
sweet chestnuts leading to the front of the farmstead is a feature
of vistas and glimpses from the footpath and several other
viewpoints on the west side of the village. The maintenance of the open
nature of this area has allowed the historic visual link between the
village and the old Whiteford estate to endure.
To the west of Lower Town is a new house, Foundry House, which
is faced with imitation stone blocks. The old bellfounders yard was in
this area. There are significant views from the lane fronting these
properties across to Whiteford, where the temple garden building is
clearly visible on the hillside. Folk Festival
"A stunning arched auditorium set within beautiful parkland provides
the venue for the Whiteford Music Festival" "Surrounded
by rolling hills, and with views across Stoke Climsland to the moors of
Dartmoor beyond, Whiteford provides a truly unique setting. The
festival has been short listed to the final twelve in a national
competition." Link
to site
Extracts from the Google site on Whiteford House
In 1775 John Call, High Sheriff of Cornwall, built
Whiteford House, and he built it on a grand scale both inside and
out: Inside it was lavishly designed and decorated with elegant
staircases and chimney pieces, a fine plaster work boudoir, delicately
painted shutters, and even a looking glass room in which, according to
local tale, an unfortunate post boy was briefly imprisoned by saucy
parlour maid!
Outside, the already magnificent views of Dartmoor
and Kit Hill were complemented by fountains, and a walled fruit garden
that must once have rivalled that at Heligan.
Whiteford stayed in the Call family until 1870 when
it went briefly to Andrew Montagu and finally into the Duchy of
Cornwall ownership 1879.
The turn of the century saw the house fall into
disrepair and, in 1913, the Duchy ordered its demolition, much of the
granite being used for buildings now occupied by nearby Duchy
College. However, the servant’s quarters of the original house
stayed in occupation by Duchy staff until 1968 when the buildings were
condemned by death watch beetle.
During the 20th century, children in the local
community also enjoyed the grounds as they provided the venue for the
annual Cub and Scout camp. In fact some standing stones that were
laid out as a Scout chapel can still be found within the grounds.
Link
to site
Extracts from Archeology Alive Site
Although the majority of Whiteford's parkland (89 hectares) lies within
the ownership of the Duchy College twoimportant areas are owned
privately: the site and remains of Whiteford
House and its surrounding complex of buildings; and the Temple, a late
18th-century ornamental building
originally used as a sort of summer house, which is owned by the
Landmark Trust. Both of these properties are being
carefully restored and maintained. Three sites beyond the parkland were
also studied as important peripheral landscape
elements related to Whiteford: two plantations and Sir John Call's
folly on the summit of Kit Hill. Sir John Call in the later 18th
century made Whiteford the most
significant landscape park in this part of Cornwall. It would have
stood out from a landscape that was otherwise devoted to
farming and mining as an elegantly designed park. The house and temple
were not only eye-catchers but also places
from which great vistas opening out down the Luckett valley were to be
seen. From these places the views were
carefully framed and enlivened by groves, plantations, and scattered
trees, that extended down beyond a long curving ha-ha to
serpentine lakes in the eastern valley. Long views took in the purple
hills of Dartmoor and more local ones were to
Stoke Climsland church and the hulking mass of Kit Hill. The park was
maintained and even extended in the 19th
century but the Call family fortunes turned in the
late Victorian period. By the early 20th the house was abandoned and
then demolished and the parkland became part of the Duchy's home farm
at Stoke (now the base for the ever-expanding
Duchy College). Not all was lost from the park - the temple survives,
as do many of the original scattered trees.
The ha-ha is a clear earthwork and the lakes have been recently cleared
and re-watered. The essence of Whiteford
Park survives but in a degraded condition Link to
Site
Callington
Pictures from the Past
Source of the Whiteford picture. Also has a picture of Stoke Climsland
and Venrerdon Link
to site
Sir John Call
Sir John Call (1732-1801), born to a Launcells
family, spent 20 yearsin India flourishing and making his fortune. He
gained considerable experience of military engineering and could have
advanced to Governor of Madras but for the death of his father
impelling a return to England in 1770. He had already acquired the
Whiteford estate in Stoke Climsland, and once in occupation, he soon
married, and rebuilt the house as a mansion. Link
to site
Research Notes
Interestingly, my Google search found nothing prior to the
arrival of Sir John Call. However the will of Tristram Bowhay 1605
mentions articles in the house at Whiteford.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Di Gibbs, OPC for Stoke Climsland, who prompted me to
check the internet for Whiteford House. If you have additions or
corrections to this page, please contact us
Bones in the Belfry home
page Page last updated - 29 Jun 2007
