Hartland Abbey

Hartland Abbey 2010

Hartland Abbey is a former abbey and today's country house in Hartland in the north-west of the English county of Devon . The current owner is Sir Hugh George Copplestone Bampfylde Stucley, 6th Baronet .

History of the abbey

Hartland Abbey was built in 1157 and consecrated in 1160 by Bartholomew , who was named Bishop of Exeter the following year . The Botreaux family from Boscastle in Cornwall were among the abbey's most generous donors. 1187 gave a William de Botreaux the church patronage in his manors of Molland and Knowstone in Devon as well as that in Forrabury in Cornwall to the abbey. The foundation was confirmed in a charter by King Richard the Lionheart and the property was converted into an Augustinian abbey in 1189 .

resolution

1539 was Hartland Abbey last monastery of King Henry VIII. Dissolved . The King gave the building to William Abbot , his cellar master at Hampton Court Palace, along with that of the Bodmin Priory , which Abbot soon sold to the city for use. William Abbot had the abbot's former home converted into a country house. In September 1544 the following lands of the "Hartland Priory" along with other lands were assigned by Henry VIII to Thomas Godwyne for a compensation of £ 1122 2s 6d: "(...) the abandonment etc. named Abbottes in the parish of Molland, alias Betters Molland (Molland Bottreaux), Devon, as a fiefdom of Anthony Deye and an arrangement etc. in Moore, alias Moore Town, in the parish of Bedyford ( Bideford ), Devon, as a fiefdom of Richard Penhorewod ”. In March 1547, James Gunter and Henry Wescott , who presumably Hartland Abbey was left with the dissolution, received royal permission to sell "the rectory and parochial parish of Knowstone and Molland, Devon," to Hugh Culme .

Today's building

Some Tudor-style components have been preserved on today's house , e.g. B. some nice wood paneling. The addition of two wings in 1705 is attributed to the architect John Meadows , who also worked on Eggesford House and in Arlington and died during the latter commission. There is a beautiful interior with examples of " Gothic " work by Batty Langley . The main wings of the house were demolished down to the level of the cloisters and rebuilt in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style popularized by Lord Walpole . Further conversions were commissioned by George Stucley in the mid-1800s. He hired George Gilbert Scott and the building was remodeled to include a new, formal entrance through a vestibule at the north end. Two bay windows were added to the east facade. Inside, the drawing room and dining room were presented in a style similar to that of the Palace of Westminster , with beautiful wood paneling in all of these rooms ( Elizabethan style in the dining room and entrance, and linen fold style in the drawing room). Both rooms have a series of frescoes along the walls painted by Alfred Beer of Exeter . They depict events in English and Irish history that Sir George Stucley believed his ancestors were involved in. Alfred Beer was also commissioned to make the beautiful stained glass wedding window in the stairwell. Sir George Stucley had the main course of the house decorated in the style and colors of the Alhambra he had recently visited. Gilbert Scott hired Richard Coad as the construction supervisor for these conversions; the work was carried out by the company Pulsman from Barnstaple . According to the author of Beauties of England and Wales , the remodeling work on the northwest corner was the work of a Mr Mathew . Further modifications were carried out around 1860. The gardens were laid out by Gertrude Jekyll .

Film set

The Blackpool farmhouse on the estate served as Mrs. Dashwood's house in the BBC's 2008 television series Sense and Sensibility . It also served as the backdrop for an edition of BBC One's Antiques Roadshow in 2012 .

Rosamunde Pilcher's 1987 novel The Shell Seekers was filmed on the property and the unsuccessful game show Hercules took place, which ended after just one season. Numerous other films have been shot here, including an episode of the BBC series Top Gear .

The Hartland Quay Hotel is also part of the property. Many film crews stayed there during the shoot, starting with one from the Disney studios while filming Treasure Island .