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North Close sits on the northern edge of the village, and its history gives a tantalising glimpse of life as relatively lowly agricultural workers. On the tithe map of 1843 it is listed as being a dwelling belonging to Skibbows, and occupied (no doubt as a tenant) by William Chapple. In the census of 1939, it appears as two separate dwellings, with the Sings living in one, and the Shorts in the other. The document below (from 1946) is a submission to substantially change the layout of the building, and turn it into a single dwelling. What's interesting is that it shows (at the bottom of each page) the existing layout, in which you can clearly see how the building is divided in two. At that time, though, it was probably occupied by a single family, as the right hand side has bedrooms upstairs and kitchen/parlour downstairs, while the left hand side is devoted to storage. The single toilet is on the coal shed to the side! The old drawings (probably a throwback to it being two dwellings) has a pig sty attached to each side!
Further down on this page, you can find information about the Tapscott family, who were living at North Close in the early 1900s, before emigrating to Canada. Jessie Tapscott, who lived at North Close as a young girl, wrote a journal looking back at her time there, which you can read below.
1946 planning application
Tapscotts
The Tapscott family lived at North Close in the late 1800s/early 1900s, before several members of the family, led initially by Charlie Tapscott, and including his parents John and Eliza, and his sister Jessie, emigrated to Canada. In the summer of 2022, four of Charlie's descendants visited the village to see what information they could unearth about their family. They discovered that Charlie's sister Jessie had written a journal about growing up in Kingsnympton, and that children at the school regularly did a project on Jessie and life in the village in the early 1900s. That journal subsequently came to light in the archive of the History Society, and is reproduced here. There is more information further down, along with pictures of the visit.
The old cottage at North Close, before it was demolished to make way for the new house.
The old cottage can be seen top centre in this picture
The flip books below are two projects by pupils at Kingsnympton Primary School - Liam and Rachael Turner.
It's thought that Charlie Tapscott was a bell ringer, despite being a member of the Methodist congregation.
The grave of John and Eliza Tapscott, who left their home in Kingsnympton for a new life in Ontario, Canada. The road where the family farm once stood is now a suburban highway - called Tapscott Road.
kingsnympton
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