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Simla

THE COACH HOUSE ON THE HILL

The ruined 19th century coach house named Simla stands in three acres of land on a small wooded hill at the junction of Tanners Road and Dartmouth Road at Goodrington in Paignton.

It was probably built in the 1870′s as it is not shown on maps of 1864 and was sold by a J.Black Esq. in 1885 when it was bought by retired Surgeon Major Thomas Gray Skardon. I was a fine eight bedroomed house, overlooking the sea at Goodrington, with sitting rooms,domestic offices, a three stall stable with harness room, a coach house with rooms for the coachmen and a set of model farm buildings. The grounds were laid out to terrace walks, tennis lawn, croquet lawn, flower beds, fruit and kitchen gardens.

Just below the hill lies another large house called Brimhill Villa which was probably built somewhere around the same time as Simla. There do not appear to be any good photographs of Simla or Brimhill Villa so I am showing below the best ones that I have found, that have both come from postcards of about 1930.

Simla nestling in the trees, as seen from the front in around 1932.

Brimhill Villa on the right and the farm buildings at the rear of Simla can be seen on the left.

Retired Surgeon Major Thomas Gray Skardon who bought Simla in 1885 lived there with his wife Anne and their servants until his death in 1912. He was born in Millbrook in Cornwall in 1837 where his family had lived for many generations and he married Anne Heanly Chester in 1872. He started his service career in 1860 and retired from the Bengal Army in 1884. Part of his career was as a surgeon on assisted passage ships bringing British emigrants to populate the colonies. On one occasion when he was surgeon superintendent on the emigrant ship ‘Wellington’ sailing to the Cape of Good Hope he wrote in the log book that ‘On this passage nobody died.’

The 1891 census shows the residents of Simla as Thomas Skardon, his wife Anne, their niece Charlotte Prowse, a cook, a housemaid and a footman. In Simla cottage lived a gardener with his wife and three children.

Surgeon Major Thomas Gray Skardon in about 1880.

The 1891 census shows nearby Brimhill Villa as being occupied by Thomas Philp and his wife Isabel with a cook, a parlourmaid and a coachman. The 1901 census lists the property as uninhabited. Brimhill Villa originally stood on the corner of Tanners Road and Dartmouth Road when Tanners Road crossed the nearby railway line at ground level. The road was later moved a short distance South and crossed the railway by a bridge that was completed by 1956.

It appears that both properties were uninhabited by the late 1930′s with Brimhill Villa having been completely demolished and Simla becoming a ruin. About that time both properties were registered with the land registry by Francis Skardon-Douglas, a relative by marriage to Major Skardon.

Today you can walk up the woodland steps from the corner of the Quaywest Waterpark car park to view the ruins of Simla. Apart from the graffiti and beer cans you can see the remains of a stone arch large enough for a coach and horses to pass through, various walls and fireplaces, tops of fence posts and much more. There is also the top part of a spiral staircase, finished in small black tiles, that disappears into the ground. The ground is very uneven so it is difficult getting around but if you are as surefooted as a mountain goat it will be fine. Here are a few photographs of Simla as it is now.

I have been unable to find out everything I was looking for with these properties and their residents so would be pleased to hear from anyone who has any further knowledge. I can be contacted by email  jethrofarrow@yahoo.co.uk

Richard Farrow