Beam House
Beam House is a country house about 2.4 km north-west and downstream of the market Great Torrington in the English county of Devon . The house and the surrounding property Beam are on the orographic right bank of the River Torridge near the former overpasses of the Rolle Canal and the railway. Its location is described by Lauder in 1986 as follows:
“For lovers of rivers and woodland, there can hardly be more beautiful locations for a house than this. Steep, wooded banks protect the valley and the house is on slightly higher ground above the lush meadows by the water, almost completely surrounded by the Torridge. "
The estate was the second family residence of the Rolle family , lords of the manor of Great Torrington, whose headquarters were at Stevenstone House on the other, south side of the market, upstream from Beam. Beam House was a royalist outpost during the English Civil War . Most of the property now belongs to Baron Clinton , heir to the Rolles, but over time it has served many purposes such as: B. also the military in both world wars or as a correctional institution . Tarka the Otter , a Henry Williamson character , was born on Beam, in what the author calls the "Canal Bridge", presumably the Beam Aqueduct . He especially liked the Torridge on Beam Weir . The bike path that crosses the river over a former railway bridge at Beam is called the Tarka Trail because of its connection with these and other hunting grounds for the fictional animal. Today Beam House serves as an adventure center for young people.
location
Beam House is about 1.5 miles northwest of Great Torrington Market on the right bank of the Torridge, almost entirely enclosed by the bend of the river. The Beam Quarry is located in the cliff-like hills across the river. When John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle , had the Rolle Canal built between the market and the navigable section of the river below the village of Weare Giffard , he chose Beam as the place to cross the river on an aqueduct . The aqueduct was later refilled and now serves as a road bridge for access from the A386 road to Beam House. The railway later crossed the river a little further downstream and continued to Great Torrington via the Beam estate.
Beam Weir
The weir in Beam, below the Rothern Bridge and above the Beam Aqueduct was one of Tarka the Otter's favorite hunting grounds in Williamson's novella , because the water there flows quickly and there is an elongated lake under the weir. In the novella it says:
“After the fish pass, the water flowed in a foaming parabola. It slid over it black and polished. "
It is still a good place for salmon fishing today.
history
Beam House was long the seat of the Rolle family from nearby Stevenstone House , who recently became the lords of the Great Torrington manor. During the English Civil War , Beam House served as an outpost of the royalist army, whose last stronghold in the western parts of the country was in Great Torrington. They lost it in 1646 to the Roundhead Sir Thomas Fairfax .
William Rolle (1720–1747) lived here in the 18th century . He was the third son of John Rolle (1679-1730) from Stevenstone House and the younger brother of Henry Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle , († 1759). In his will of 1747 he described himself as "von Beam".
In October 1792 the Devonian topographer Rev. John Swete (1752–1821) traveled through Beam on his way to Frithelstock and wrote the following in his journal :
"(...) I went in search of Frithelstock Priory, on the way we went down to the bridge at the southwest end of Torrington that spanned [the river]; we went up a steep hill again, which brought us to a parish that sloped down to the river, but gave us a delightful view of the north from Beam, the seat of Dennis Rolle Esq., a very lovely and secluded spots, protected on every side by the richest forests in the most beautiful amphitheatrical form, the roots of which reached as far as the river, which, as if in love with this spot, wound itself around it in many meanders and was reluctant to move away withdraw him. "
Another resident was the Very Rev. Joseph Palmer (1749-1829), chancellor of the diocese of Ferms and later dean of the archdiocese of Cashel and Emly . He was the author of A Four Month Tour Through France (1776) He was the son of John Palmer , the mayor of Great Torrington and his wife Mary , the sister of the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). He married Elizabeth Edwards , the daughter of Cadwallader Edwards Esq. from Wexford in Ireland . His monument is preserved to this day in Exeter Cathedral .
In the later 19th century, Alfred Robert Hole (1815-1898) lived in the manor, the Justice of the Peace of Devon and Major of the 13th Hussar Regiment, North Devon Yeomanry . He was in the district of Heavitree in Exeter , the son of Major William Hole and his wife Louisa, born Mallet born. He married Elizabeth Mercer (1816-1902), eldest daughter of J. Mercer from Maidstone and major of the 13th Hussar Regiment, North Devon Yeomanry . He attended the opening of the new St Giles in the Wood Church , donated by the Hon. Mark Rolle . He and his wife are buried in Weare Giffard's cemetery, where their inscribed gravestone can still be seen today.
20th century
Most of the property around Beam House belongs to Lord Clinton , whose family were the heirs of the Hon. Mark Rolle († 1907). Lord Clinton's family had long owned the manor of Frithelstock, which followed that of Beam on the other bank of the Torridge.
During the First World War , Beam House was used as a sanatorium for wounded soldiers. This was probably the hospital founded by William Pethebridge Martin (1859-1935), lord of the Chulmleigh manor . During the Second World War , the house was occupied by the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment and was used for training for secret operations. In the 1950s, Beam House was used as a correctional facility for ten years and then as an educational facility when an apartment block was built there.
In 1959, Beam House was the home of Philip Michael Pethebridge Martin , the High Sheriff of Devon that year. He was the third son of William Pethebridge Martin (1859–1935) (see above) from Colleton Manor House and New South Wales in Australia and his wife Maude, nee. Price , daughter of William Price from Sydney (New South Wales). William Price had founded the wool trade WP Martin & Co. in Sydney, but had later moved to Devon, where he bought the Colleton Manor House near Chulmleigh and lived there. He was Lord of the Chulmleigh Manor, High Sheriff of Devon and Master of the Eggesford Foxhounds in 1918 and 1919 . Together with his partner Harry Austin , William Price equipped a hospital for soldiers in the First World War, probably the one in Beam House, which he later donated to the market administration as a children's hospital. He died at Colleton Manor House in 1935.
In the 1970s, a Mr Osbourne from Barnstaple bought the property and opened a school for difficult-to-educate boys, which was then run by DR Leonard . It was later closed because the deputy director reported a number of child abuse cases to various authorities who referred boys there. The boys were housed elsewhere and the staff fired. Mr Osbourne, an unskilled contractor who was also responsible for a similar “special” school in another Swimbridge country house , apparently managed to prevent any repercussions from the failure of those schools and the damage caused. He then established the Kingsley Adventure Center at Beam House. The operation was taken over by Quest Adventure Centers , which went bankrupt and was taken over by PGL Travel Ltd. were bought up. This company continues to operate in the buildings rented by the Osbourne family and offers vacations for young people.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rosemary Lauder: A Tale of Two Rivers . Tiverton, 1986. p. 28
- ^ Henry Williamson: Tarka the Otter . Bodley Head, London 1978 (1927). P. 237.
- ^ Beam Weir, Tarka Country - The Presentation and the story of the picture . Artlees.com. ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
- ↑ Lt. Col. JL Vivian (Editor): The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620 . Exeter 1895. p. 656.
- ↑ Will of William Rolle . Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC). Mur 1, Vol. 28, 161 Potter.
- ^ A b Frederick Thomas Colby: Pedigrees of Five Devonshire Families, Colby, Coplestone, Reynolds, Palmer and Johnson . William Pollard. 1884. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
- ↑ Elizabeth Lee: Mary Palmer . Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. Volume 43.
- ↑ a b Inscription from tombstone No. N-140 in the cemetery of Weare Giffard. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
- ^ East Riding of Yorkshire Archives and Records Service DDTR / 24 17 Aug 1874 [1] : Draft conveyance relating to property in Balkholme DDTR / 24 17 Aug 1874, Parties: 1) Thomas Stephen Whitaker, Everthorpe Hall, barrister 2) Philip Saltmarshe, Saltmarshe, esquire Property: tithe commutation rent charges payable out of land at Balkholme Consideration: £ 730 Witnesses: George England, Edward England, Alfred R Hole, Justice of the Peace for Devon, Beam, Torrington . Retrieved November 5, 2015.
- ↑ a b Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes . 1886.
- ↑ Renovation work on the Clinton estate in Devon on a brass plaque on the railing of the access bridge to Beam House over the former railway line
- ^ A b The History of Beam House . Brochure from PGL Travel Ltd.
- ^ Family tree of Martin of Colleton in Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry . 15th edition. H. Pirie-Gordon, London 1937. pp. 1538-1539.
- ^ Obituary, Sydney Morning Herald (July 10, 1935). Retrieved November 5, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 57 '54 " N , 4 ° 10' 35" W.