Water Babies' house saved

Dartmoor property was birthplace of author

The Devon birthplace of one of Britain’s best-loved authors is to be saved for posterity after Dartmoor planners gave the go-ahead for an ambitious repair project.

Glebe House at Holne was the birthplace in 1819 of Charles Kingsley, a priest and author who wrote the famous children’s book The Water Babies among hundreds of other novels, dramas and poems.

Members of the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s development management committee heard that the building had fallen into disrepair, but a proposal from its owners would give it a new lease of life.

Glebe House dates from the eighteenth century and is a Grade Two listed building with a thatched roof. The owners want to repair it, add a ground floor extension and make some alterations on the first floor to make it a family home.

The authority’s director of spatial planning Dean Kinsella told members the building had been empty for some years. “The latest applications are the continuing journey for the property,” he said. “It is in poor condition, and without further work we would see the slow deterioration and loss of a historic asset.”

Authority member James McInnes, who is also leader of Devon County Council added: “For someone to take on this site, and do what they are doing with it while maintaining the integrity of the building itself, is a wonderful thing to do.

“It is going to be there for a long time, considering it was at the point of falling down when they bought it.”