Jolly Lane Cot, Hexworthy

  © Copyright Derek Harper and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
I think this is an image of Jolly Lane Cot!

"Just above the bridge is Jolly Lane Cot, built in one day, and the last holding attempted to be taken from the Duchy, an old custom being that if a house could be built and inhabitted between sunrise and sunset the builder could claim it as his.  An account of this will be found in Dartmmor Idylls , and also in A Hundred Years on Dartmoor."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Jolly Lane Cot

[I have heard of a similler custom in Wales where they are called "Ty Un Nos", or overnight houses.  If you could build the chimney after sunset and get is smoking before sunrise, you could live in the house you built around it.  As far as you could throw an axe from the front door was the size of your garden...]