We have a memorial garden in Harpford churchyard which was the earlier site of a church cottage which was burn down some time in the 1950’s. All records of this cottage have been lost and no one in the parish had any idea of what the cottage looked like. It was probably of traditional cob construction and very old as it was included in the 1845 Tithe Apportionment record for the parish. We surmised that it must have been there during the 1700’s as there are records of it being occupied by the Vergers and Sextons employed by the church.
We were talking to a member of Newton Poppleford’s History Society recently and asked if they had any knowledge of any etchings or paintings of the church interior prior to the 1850’s refurbishment. Coincidentally what was offered was a picture postcard of the exterior of the church taken in the 1905 which clearly shows the cottage (see the attached picture). This was total surprise and it lead to an Ebay search for historic postcards of Harpford. A copy of our picture was also there together with another taken in the 1920’s of the war memorial which also shows the cottage from a different view point.
It’s interesting to reflect on the fact that old picture postcards can be a valuable resource when for searching for archive information on old buildings.