Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe

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Not to be confused with Heanton Satchville, Huish
Heanton Satchville depicted in 1739, then the home of Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton; detail from Vitruvius Britannicus
Heanton Hall and Park, an engraving by William Henry Toms, 1739
The facade in 1716, drawn by Sir Edmund Prideaux
The left wing in 1716, drawn by Sir Edmund Prideaux

Heanton Satchville was a mansion house in the parish of Petrockstowe, north Devon, England. With origins in the Domesday manor of Hantone, it was first recorded as belonging to the Yeo family in the mid 14th century and was then owned successively by the Rolle, Walpole and Trefusis families until it was destroyed by fire in 1795. In 1812 Lord Clinton purchased the manor and mansion of nearby Huish, renamed it Heanton Satchville, and made it his seat.

The nearly-forgotten house was featured in the 2005 edition of Rosemary Lauder's "Vanished Houses of North Devon".[4] A farmhouse now occupies the former stable block with a large tractor shed where the house once stood.

Description

The mansion was at one time "one of the most imposing houses ever to exist in Devon".[5] The Hearth Tax return of 1674 recorded 26 hearths for the house, making it the second largest house in Devon after Werrington.[6]

It was described by Rev. John Swete in 1789. Referring to it as a "vast pile built at different times", he noted a carved date of 1639 which he concluded was not the earliest date of the building but only served to date the portal above which it was located. The parapet walls, the mullions of the windows and the pavement were all made of moorstone. The south side of the house had a "most noble terrace" of 130 paces in width, with a bowling green and adjacent walks. The property afforded views of several churches and the house of Sir James Innes in Huish to the east of the property.[7]

Descent of the manor

Normans

The manor of "Hantone" is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086; In 1066 the lord of the manor was Edwin, and in 1086 Ralph of Byuyere was the lord and the tenant-in-chief was Baldwin the Sheriff. It was in the Hundred of Merton, Devon with 10 households.[8]

Sachville and Killigrew

According to Magna Britannia, published in 1822, between the reigns of Richard I and Henry III (1189-1272), the manor of Heanton Sachville belonged to members of the Sachville family.[1][9][nb 1] It was then owned by the Killigrews.[1][9][10]

Yeo

The manor came into the Yeo family in the beginning of Edward III's reign (about 1327) when Nicholas Yeo married Elizabeth Killigrew (Killigren), daughter and heiress of Henry Killigrew of Heanton Sachville. They had a son named John, whose wife Alice gave birth to William, who became the Sheriff of Devon in 1359. It passed through 9 generations of Yeo family members to sole heiress, Margaret Yeo.[9][2][11]

Rolle

Margaret Yeo, the sole heiress of Robert Yeo by his wife Mary Fortescue[nb 2] married Henry Rolle[2] who died about 1620,[12] the 3rd or 4th son of George Rolle[2][13] (d.1552) of Stevenstone manor[13][14] in the parish of St Giles in the Wood.[15]

The senior family line descended through five generations from Henry Rolle of Heanton Satchville and ended with the heiress Margaret Rolle, suo jure 15th Baroness Clinton (1709-1781), the daughter and sole heiress of Samuel Rolle (1646–1719),[16] who was elected to Parliament 18 times[17] and had land, tenement, herediments, manors and estates in Devon and Cornwall,[18][19] and estates in Dorset.[18] She was the heiress to her father's estate,[19] including the manor and the barony of Clinton and Say.[16]

Walpole

In 1724 Margaret Rolle married Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford,[9][20] eldest son of Robert Walpole the first prime minister.[21][22] She lived at Houghton Hall, which was built by Robert Walpoole beginning in 1722.[23] Her only son was George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (d. 5 December 1791) who died without progeny[24][25] and was said to have never visited his Devon seat.[26]

Trefusis

Stone pillar in cow barn at Heanton Barton

The manor was then inherited by the Trefusis family[26] together with the barony of Clinton and Say, in the person of George William Trefusis, according to Lysons.[9] Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797) successfully claimed the title 17th Baron Clinton in 1794.[27]

In 1795, the house was destroyed by fire[28] and Rev. John Swete reported in his journal of 1797, when he was visiting John Inglett Fortescue at nearby Buckland Filleigh, that he had seen a painting by Rubens that Baron Clinton had himself rescued from the fire and had sent to Fortescue to look after while he was still homeless. Swete also reported that in the same fire Mr Fortescue had lost a much-valued family portrait of an ancestor which he had sent to Heanton Satchville to be restored by Lord Clinton's picture restorer.[29]

In 1797, the 17th Baron died, leaving his son and heir Robert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton (1787–1832) a minor aged ten. Next, George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley (1749–1827), later 1st Marquess, who was heir to the Walpole estates, launched a legal suit against the young Robert Trefusis for possession of the former Rolle estates. Although the legal case took nine years to resolve, it was decided in favour of Baron Clinton.[28] The house at Petrockstowe was never rebuilt, but in 1812 the 18th Baron purchased the contiguous manor of Huish to the east together with its capital mansion Innes House,[citation needed] made it the new family seat, and renamed it Heanton Satchville.[26]

Samuel Lysons wrote in 1822: "Heanton Sachville, which was some time a seat of the Rolles, and afterwards of the Earls of Orford, was burnt down several years ago. A farm-house has been fitted up out of the ruins. The deer-park is still kept up".[9] The only remnant of the original mansion is the stable block, now the site of a modern farmhouse called Heanton Barton. A large modern tractor shed occupies the flat site of the former mansion house.[26][nb 3]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Sachvilles were originally from Sageuile, France.[1]
  2. ↑ Mary was the daughter of Bartholomew Fortescue of Filleigh.[2]
  3. ↑ Plans of Old Heanton Satchville, house, gardens and park exist within the Cholmondeley Archives at Houghton Hall, under ref. J/7-8 and J/9-10[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Powlett, p. 398.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Vivian, p. 834.
  3. ↑ National Archive, Cholmondeley family.
  4. ↑ Lauder (2005), pp. 3, 49–50.
  5. ↑ Lauder (2005), p. 49.
  6. ↑ Lauder (2005), pp. 49–50.
  7. ↑ Gray (1997), pp. 25-27.
  8. ↑ Open Domesday, Heanton [Satchville].
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Lysons, p. 387.
  10. ↑ Gomme, p. 298.
  11. ↑ Westcote, pp. 592-593.
  12. ↑ Lysons, p. ccxxv
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lysons, p. xciii.
  14. ↑ Worthy, p. 33.
  15. ↑ Lysons, p. 246
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lysons, pp. xc-xci, xciii, xcix-c.
  17. ↑ Alexander, p. 371.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Powell and Coventry, p. 1149.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Great Britain. Court of King's Bench, pp. 625-627.
  20. ↑ Broome, p. 8.
  21. ↑ Leadam, Biography of Robert Walpole.
  22. ↑ Broome, p. 9.
  23. ↑ Broome, p. 7-8.
  24. ↑ Vivian, p. 655.
  25. ↑ Lysons, p. xciii-xciv, xcix.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Lauder (2005), p. 53.
  27. ↑ P. W. Montague-Smith, Debrett's Peerage (1968), p.265 & see Baron Clinton
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lauder (2002), p. 69.
  29. ↑ Gray (1999), p. 113.

Sources

Coordinates: 50°52′36″N 4°07′54″W / 50.8766°N 4.1317°W / 50.8766; -4.1317

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