The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
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
In partnership with:
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
Watch for free
Jolly Lane Cott Jolly Lane Cott
Current affairs 1980 3 mins Silent Location: Huccaby
The house that Thomas built in a day
Watch for free
Laura Mulvey in Conversation Laura Mulvey in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 76 mins
Laura Mulvey in conversation, following her BFI Fellowship Award.
Watch for free
George Clooney in Conversation George Clooney in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 74 mins
George Clooney visited BFI Southbank to look back on his life and career.
Watch for free
Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 65 mins
The Oscar®- winning director of Nomadland discusses her unique approach to filmmaking and the inspiration behind the adaptation of Hamnet.
Watch for free
Edgar Wright on The Running Man Edgar Wright on The Running Man
Inside Film 2025 28 mins
The director talks to Mark Kermode about putting Stephen King's dystopian life-or-death gameshow thriller through its paces.
Watch for free
Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 69 mins
Richard Linklater discusses his remarkable and wide-ranging body of work, including Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague.
Watch for free
Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 73 mins
Daniel Day-Lewis, the ultimate actor’s actor discusses his career in conversation with Mark Kermode.