Amory House (formerly Hatherly House)
Researched and written for South Molton Archive by Shirley Bray
Amory House was up until the mid-
White’s Directory of 1878 shows Narcissus C. Hatherly living at 123 East Street (Hatherly House).
The 1881 census records Narcissus C. Hatherly aged 57, a retired naval surgeon, living there with his wife Prestwood Hatherly aged 51. Prestwood Hatherly was the daughter of John Gilberd Pearse.
John Gilberd Pearse had been a solicitor and when the 1851 census was taken he was living with his family at Broomhouse, Georgenympton. He gave the land and funded the building of the Soup Kitchen and Temperance Hall, which was built on New Road, South Molton. He died in 1871.
Prestwood Hatherly died in 1900 and Narcissus Collins Hatherly died on 9th February 1903. They are both buried in South Molton Cemetery with gravestones.
The Kelly’s Directory of 1910 records that Reginald Stawell Crosse, who was a nephew of Prestwood Hatherly was living at Hatherly House at this time. (He was a Solicitor with Crosse, Wyatt & Co).
Sometime between 1919 and 1923 up until c. 1939 – Dr. William Graddon Mortimer occupied the house and used part of the house as his surgery.
Dr. Reginald Nash was the next occupant; Dr. Nash (later joined by Dr. Richard Norris) used part of the house as a G.P surgery until the new Health Centre opened in the autumn of 1968 but continued to occupy the house until his death.
The Town Council purchased the house in the mid 1970s, when it became a centre for the elderly and disabled, with the local nursery school using some of the first floor rooms. It was at this time that the name was changed to Amory House. It continued as a community facility until September 2003 when the terms of the Council’s lease together with lack of income made it impossible for the Trustees of Amory House to continue renting the premises.
In 2004 it was rented out as offices for the Recycling Centre. During 2007-
