Barnfield House was the home of my 4x great-grandparents, William Toms and his wife Susanna Darracott. William was a surgeon in Kingsbridge, Devon in England and based his practice out of Barnfield, where he and Susanna raised their family, including my 3x great-grandfather, Frank. Frank later named his home in Cathcart, near Bombala in Australia, the same: Barnfield.
The Plan of the Parish and Environs of Kingsbridge 1841 records William Toms’ name against the property at what is today 116 Fore Street. The 1841 and 1851 census both give the Toms family’s address as Fore Street, and William’s 1853 death notice says he died at Barnfield. Other information referring to family members also mentions Barnfield, including a photo sent to Frank Toms in the late 1850s or 1860s. It says on the back: Frank “Barnfield” With best love from your fond sister Dora.
When I visited Kingsbridge in 2018 I found Barnfield at 116 Fore Street, and it’s interesting to see the difference between Barnfield then and now, and consider how the building and its surrounds have changed over more than 150 years. I wondered if it had been re-built, or at least renovated, because the facade and height in the 1860s photo appear different to today. Perhaps the older photo was taken from the back of the house, and therefore had what seems to be additional height and floors. Or maybe over time the road outside the house, which is toward the top of a steep hill, was built up and changed level against the building. Whatever the reason, 116 Fore Street, Kingsbridge is still called Barnfield.
Selected references
John Wood, The Plan of the Parish and Environs of Kingsbridge, 1841, Kingsbridge Cookworthy Museum, Kingsbridge, Devon.
‘Deaths’, Woolmer’s Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 24 September 1853, p.5.
Census record for William Toms, aged 42, Fore Street, Kingsbridge, Somerset, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National
Archives, HO107/247/11, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com,
accessed 9 March 2025.
Census record for William Toms, aged 52, Fore Street, Kingsbridge, Somerset, 1851 England and Wales Census, The National
Archives, HO107/1876/6, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com,
accessed 9 March 2025.
Untangled Family History 
It is interesting to see that the building is still there. When I started my tree, I wrote to one family who had been in the same house for years. My letter came back though after a few weeks as the house had been demolished! They had been there in 3 Censuses but it was gone.
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[…] pounds so he could begin farming independently at Cathcart, near Bombala. He named his house there Barnfield after his childhood home. A letter from Philip Toms around that time captures how Frank had reclaimed his uncle’s pride […]
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