Trebarbill was built in 1952 by Emily Lander for her daughter Sylvia and son-in-law Roy Dingle (1915-78). Their second child Barbara was actually born in the house, only weeks after it was completed.
So the new house was named after the couple’s two children, Bill and Barbara, but was at first simply referred to as ‘Sliggon bungalow’, being situated at the top of the odd-shaped field of that name. Barbara lives there still with her husband Malcolm Bosley, a true Cornishman from Rock.
Emily Lander herself came from Devon, returning home briefly in 1926 to give birth to her daughter Sylvia, as was customary at the time. She lived with her family at Fairview, almost next to where St Minver Primary School is now. Her husband, ‘Tailor’ Lander, had his workshop opposite the Pityme pub at the junction with Trewiston Lane – not much more than a wooden shed it has long since disappeared. She was evidently an enterprising lady, running the Trebetherick Post Office (then situated in Worthy House) for many years and continuing to work there part-time after it changed hands. She built Restharrow in the dip at the bottom of Worthy Hill, which now belongs to the Hore family.
Bill Dingle (1948-2005) went into the building trade, and among other new houses was responsible for the two bungalows alongside Trebarbill: Trewenna for himself and his family in 1974, and Treperran in 1988. He was very much the inspiration behind an innovative self-build housing development at Penmayne in Rock, intended to tackle the acute problem of affordable housing for young people priced out of the local market. This project involved the setting up of a Community Land Trust which bought a parcel of land from a local farmer, and was assisted by an interest-free loan by North Cornwall District Council to bridge the finance gap until the homeowners could draw down their own mortgage funds. All future sales must be through the Community Land Trust to ensure that the houses remain affordable and available only to local people. Twelve local families, all of whom had carried out construction work on their own houses as well as helping out their neighbours with their own particular skills, moved into their new homes at the end of 2008. Sadly, Bill did not live to see his brainchild successfully completed, but in his memory the development was named Dingle’s Way. The Community Land Trust idea, to which Bill was a major contributor, was enshrined in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. Further extensions to the Rock housing project are in the pipeline.
Sylvia and Roy Dingle’s friends Frank and Maureen Hart built Bolenowe, opposite Trebarbill, and lived there for many years. Frank and his brother Jack were partners in the building firm JA Hart. They also built Tamarynde next door, originally called Siesta.
