The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) is the regional film archive for the South West of England. Established in 1993, SWFTA's core collection comprises of the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and TSW (Television South West). The archive also cares for a significant number of donated film collections, both amateur and professional, dating back to the early 1900s.
This film is part of Free
Hexworthy and the House built in a Day
Jolly Lane Cottage on Dartmoor is the only example of a house built in a day
From the collection of:
Overview
TV reporter Clive Gunnell recounts the story of Jolly Lane Cott, a stone cottage by the hamlet of Huccaby on the West Dart River in Dartmoor National Park. In 1835 a farm labourer and ostler named Thomas Satterley marries a servant girl, Sarah (Sally) in secret. According to the unwritten laws of the moor, if a house could be built in one day then the builder of such a house could remain thereby obtaining grazing rights to the open land on the moor and the means of earning a living.
The house still stands and Sally lives there until her death in 1901. The Duchy of Cornwall charged nominal rent but the couple were freed from a life of servitude. Hidden in the dip, Tom and his friends would have started building at sun up laying the foundations and constructing the four walls, thatching the roof and making sure a steady stream of smoke was coming from the chimney by sundown. A landlord perhaps absent at a fair, was unable to challenge their right to stay in the cottage they had built. Jolly Lane Cott at Hexworthy is a well known Dartmoor story. The story is fictionalised by Vian Smith in his book Genesis Down (1962).
Related
Jolly Lane Cott Jolly Lane Cott
News 1980 3 mins Silent Location: Huccaby
The house that Thomas built in a day
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Blades Blades
Drama 2023 2 mins
A group of young Black boys run into a building. One of them is about to do the unimaginable.
We Collide We Collide
Romance 2023 2 mins
A queercore romance - a visceral and immersive exploration of the power of the mosh pit and finding love in the most unlikely of places.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.