Stevenstone House

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Stevenstone House, built for the Hon. Mark Rolle between 1868 and 1872 according to plans by Charles Barry Jr. († 1900). Today the house is largely in ruins. The Palladian library building that can be seen on the left of the picture has been preserved to this day. It was built for Lord Rolles grandfather John Rolle († 1730). The contemporary orangery behind it has been preserved to this day. Both buildings are now owned by the Landmark Trust . Published in: Morris, Rev. FO Picturesque Views of Seats of Noblemen & Gentlemen of Great Britain & Ireland . London 1880.
The ivy-strewn ruins of Stevenstone House in 2012. Hoskins described it in 1954 as "a shamefully ugly house whose current dilapidation need not bring tears to your eyes" and "an ugly ruin in a bare and devastated park". On the left side of the picture is the Palladian library room and behind it the orangery, which was built around 1715-1730.

Steve Stone House is a former manor house in the village of St Giles in the Wood near the small town of Great Torrington in the northern English county of Devon . It was the headquarters of the Rolle family , one of the most powerful and influential families in Devon , from around 1524 to 1907 . The Rolles' lands, as shown in the Return of Owners of Lands, 1873 (corrected by Bateman, 1883), amounted to 22,237 hectares producing an annual gross profit of £ 47,170 and constituting the largest estate in Devon, followed by those of the Duke of Bedford with 9,043 acres and an annual gross yield of nearly £ 46,000.

From the Glorious Revolution of 1699 to the Reform Act of 1832 , parliamentary representatives were effectively only elected from among the ten large families, mostly territorial magnates. The three most dominant of these were Bampfyldes from Poltimore House and North Molton , the Courtenays from Powderham Castle, and the Rolles from Stevenson House and Bicton . The Rolles were not of medieval aristocracy like the Courtenays, but were descended from a capable lawyer and administrator from the Tudor period , as were the Russells, the later Dukes of Bedford . Both the Russells and the Rolles acquired much of the monastic land after the dissolution of the English monasteries . Indeed, in the opinion of Hoskins (1954) , the Rolles were "only behind the Russells in the expansion of their monastic and other lands, and in time they should overtake them".

In 1669 Sir John Rolle († 1706), KB from Stevenstone House had an annual income of £ 6000, which made him "one of the richest gentlemen in the country". He died in 1706 owned by more than 40 Devon manors. The family successively built different houses on the same property called Stevenson House; the last, Victorian version was built in 1868–1872, but then destroyed in two stages, first by downsizing after 1912 and then slowly after 1931 for the extraction of building materials.

Manorial rule

Crest of the Stefenstons , as mentioned by Tristram Risdon in his notebook (around 1630): black, an angle between three right hands, clenched into a fist and in each one a purse (supposed to be flint or stone) silver . Risdon was not sure and put a question mark after the word "stock exchange". These seem to be talking coats of arms ; the grasping hand means possession and when the hand is named "Steven" it means "Stevens Stone" (English: Stevenstone). If you follow the spirit of the picture puzzle , the more absurd the portrayed, the more acceptable it is. George Rolle († 1552), the buyer of the property from the 16th century, took over this motif as a helmet gem , extended to a cubit , as can be seen in the library room in Stevenson House by John Rolle Walter († 1779). John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle , († 1842) exchanged the stone for a speaking roll of parchment, as can be seen on the stained glass window in the main stairwell of Bicton House , and the monument to Samuel Rolle (1669-1735) from Hudscott in the Church of Chittlehampton shows a rod. The plaque of the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Stevenstone , named after the Rolles' foxhunt, shows a hunting horn in its hand .

John Prince describes the origins of the Stevenstones in his Worthies of Devon , based on the work of the topographer Tristram Risdon , who himself was born in the parish of St Giles, in Winscott House , as follows: The first documented owner of the manor was Michael de Stephans , who forgave them to Richard Basset , the father of Elias Basset , who in turn gave them to Walter de la Lay or Ley . His descendant, John de Lay , changed his name to John de Stevenstone . The Overlord , later Elias Basset , landlord of Beaupier in Wales, then transferred all of his Stevenstone interests to John de Stevenstone. This was followed by another John, a Walter, and again a John de Stephenston. The latter left a daughter, Elizabeth de Stephenston , as the only heir , who transferred the manor by marriage to her husband, Grant of Westlegh at Bideford . Grant of Westlegh himself had no male offspring and left his inheritance to his two daughters together. One of them married Monk of Potheridge , while the other married a member of the Moyle family , which Stevenstone inherited from his wife. Her husband made the property his main residence and, based on Tristram Risdon's assurances, the prince believes that his descendant, Sir Walter Moyle , a judge (Justice of the King's Bench), was born here in 1454.

role

Arms of Rolle: Gold, on a triple-jagged blue bar between three blue shields, each of them with a jumping lion of the first three gold pieces
Different forms of the scroll's helmet treasure, the standard form of which looks like this: An extremely long arm, vertical, clothed or covered with a double blue bordered bar, a flint in hand . Top left: in the library, Stevenstone (with flint); top right: in the stained glass window in Bicton House (with parchment scroll); bottom left: in Chittlehampton Church (with staff); lower right: in the Guildhall of Barnstaple (plaque of HMS Stevenstone, with inverted colors, double bordered and with a hunting horn). It was also used as a plaque for the Royal North Devon Hussars , the predecessor of the regiment largely built up by Lord Rolle, with either a scroll or a palm frond in hand.

George Rolle († 1552), Member of Parliament, the founder of this family in Devon, bought the property shortly before 1524. He was probably born in Dorset, achieved prominence as a lawyer in London and had various monastic houses as clients. One of his most prominent clients was Arthur Plantagenet , 1st Viscount Lisle († 1452), whom he served as legal advisor until his death. He was a Member of Parliament for Barnstaple constituency in 1542 and again in 1545.

Among the male descendants of George Rolle until 1842 were about 20 members of Parliament. In 1842 the last male line died out with John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750-1842), a descendant of George Rolles second son George Rolle († 1573). This was from the lordship of Marrais in the parish Week St Mary in Cornwall , which his father had obtained, who had received the guardianship of Margaret of Marrais and bequeathed this in his will to his son George, who married the woman.

The male line of the eldest son of the patriarch George Rolle, John Rolle († 1570), ended with the death of the young John Rolle (1638-1642). Stevenstone and various other manors, which the family had amassed by acquisition or inheritance, later fell to Sir John Rolle (1626-1706), the grandson of George Rolle († 1573) of Marrais. Some of the estates of the fourth son of the patriarch, Henry Rolle of Heanton Satchville in Petrockstowe , also fell to the line of George Rolle of Marrais, which Henry Rolles male line died out in 1747 with the death of Samuel Rolle of Hudscott in Chittlehampton .

Inheritance in the family role

  • George Rolle († 1552), Member of Parliament. Bought Stevenstone before 1524.
  • John I. Rolle (1522–1570), eldest son of George Rolle, husband of Margaret Ford († 1570); she is remembered by a bream in the church of St Giles.
  • Sir Henry Rolle (1545–1625), eldest son of John I. Rolle, married Elizabeth Watts, then a Fortescue, daughter of John Fortescue (1525–1595) from Fallapit (East Allington) through his wife Honor Speccot († 1606) whose bream can be seen in East Allington Church.
  • Denys I. Rolle (1614–1638), grandson of George Rolle. Sheriff of Devon 1636, one of the Princes Worthies of Devon , where he describes him as “the darling of his country at the time, adorned with all the desirable qualities that make him the perfect gentleman. Although he was young, he had a real wit, a generous disposition and a big heart. ”Monument and portrait in the Rolle mausoleum in the“ Old Bicton Church ”. Son of Sir Henry Rolle († 1617) (son of Elizabeth Watts, who died before his father), from his wife Anne Denys, heiress of Bicton.
  • John Rolle (1638–1642), only son of his wife Margaret Poulett. Died in childhood.
  • Henry Rolle (1605–1647) from Beam House (Great Torrington). Cousin of Sir Henry Rolle († 1617).
  • Sir John Rolle (1626–1706), KB , Member of Parliament. Grandson of George Rolle from Marrais (Cornwall), second son of the Patriarch George Rolle († 1552). Married his cousin Florence Rolle, sister of the youthful John Rolle († 1642). Died owned by 40 Devon manors, with an annual income (1669) of £ 6,000, described as "one of the richest gentlemen in the country".
  • Robert Rolle (1677–1710), member of parliament, grandson, son of John Rolle († 1689). He died before his father.
  • John Rolle (1679–1730), Member of Parliament, brother. Married Isabella Walter.
  • Henry Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1708–1750), eldest son.
  • John Rolle Walter (1712–1779), Member of Parliament, brother.
  • Denys Rolle (1725–1797), Member of Parliament, brother. Founded colonies in Palatka, Florida and Exuma (Bahamas) . Inherited Hudscott from a distant cousin Samuel role († 1747), descendant of Henry role of Heanton Satchville, fourth son of the patriarch George role († 1552).
  • John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750–1842), Member of Parliament, son. Last of the male line, died without offspring.
    • Mark Rolle (1835–1907), adopted heir, nephew of Lord Rolles' wife Louisa Trefusis.

Shapes from Stevenstone House

"Stevenstone, North Devon, the seat of the Right Honorable Lord Rolle ". Drawn by GB Campion, engraved by James Bingley, published by R.Jennings & W. Chaplin, 62 Cheapside, London, 1831. The library room can be seen on the left of the picture.
Orangery by Stevenstone House. Built for John Rolle (1679–1730), Member of Parliament, approx. 1715–1730. Also shows remains of the pinetum .

The first record of the manor's shape is that of John Leland († 1552), who wrote: “There is a settlement that is part of Tarington and is not a mile east of St Giles in the Wood, where George Rolles has a really fine house made of bricks. " According to Hoskins, it was the first brick house in Devon. A letter from George Rolle from 1539 to the wife of his illustrious customer, Lady Lisle “from my poor house” in Stevenstone has survived to this day.

Two Palladian outbuildings, which served as an orangery and "library room", left John Rolle (1679–1730) and the library room shows the coat of arms of the Rolles above the keystone of its central arch, which is the coat of arms of the baronets Walter from Sarsden in Oxfordshire , the family of his Wife Isabella Walter († 1734) contains. Hoskins notes that the mansion itself was rebuilt or rebuilt sometime in the 18th century, Pevsner says this happened around 1709, maybe at the same time the construction of the outbuildings again. An engraving of this Georgian house by James Bingley published in 1831 has survived to this day.

Victorian rebuilding

Stevenstone House 1872. The tall tower is clearly visible.
Corridor in Stevenstone House, ca.1907–1912. Photo from auction catalog published between 1907 (death of the Hon. Mark Rolle) and 1912 (purchase by Capt. Clemson). The arrangement is as Mark Rolle left it. In the right foreground is the portrait of John Rolle Walter (1712–1779) from Stevenstone, painted around 1753 by Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787) and purchased in 2008 from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter for £ 300,000. A copy hangs in the Great Torrington Town Hall.

The mansion had Hon. Mark Rolle († 1907) demolished in 1868 and instead a Victorian mansion from 1868–1872 based on plans by Charles Barry Jr. († 1900) in the style of a French castle (or “Franco-Italian style” as it was called in a contemporary edition of the Building News ), which is now widely regarded as a building of little architectural value. It was located in a deer park of 148 hectares that contained a large number of large and valuable trees. Hoskins said in 1954: “Mark Rolle had the house rebuilt in the worst style of its time. The richest man in Devon had the ugliest house built. "

Sale and demolition

Weather protection for deer, according to Pevsner from around 1700, in the former deer park of Stevenstone House. You can see it from the terrace of the house across a valley. In 2012 it was put up for sale by a local broker.
Stevenstone House stables, converted into a terraced house around 1950. The ivy-covered ruins of Stevenstone House can be seen in the background.

Trefusis, Baron Clinton

After Mark Rolle's death in 1907, the Rolles' lands, which comprised around 22,000 hectares and were held by him as a lifelong tenant according to the will of his uncle John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750–1842), passed to his nephew Charles Hepburn- Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863-1957) of Huish .

Clemson

Lord Clinton had Stevenstone House auctioned in 1912. The buyers were Captain John Oliver Clemson (1882–1915) and his wife Mary McKinnon , a wealthy heiress. Clemson was born on May 30, 1882 in Crumpsall in Manchester as the eldest son of John Henry Clemson (1856-1889) from Parkside , Altrinchan in Cheshire and his wife Sara Jane Oliver (* 1855). He had a brother and four sisters.

He was eight years old in 1891 and lived with his widowed mother at Brookfield House on Bury Old Road, Broughton , Salford . He attended Windermere College Preparatory School in the parish of St Mary in Applethwaite , Windsmere , where his name on a plaque "Boys of the Old College who fell in the Great War" appears. From 1897 to July 1900 he attended the Sedbergh School . According to a 1901 census, he lived in the Red House in Windermere as a boarding school student with three other students. In 1901 he enrolled at Exeter College , Oxford . He described himself as the "Gentleman Farmer of Peagham (Barton), Torrington" around 1909, one of the farms on the Stevenstone Estate, about 1.2 km from the manor. On July 10, 1909, he applied for admission to the Royal North Devon Hussars and was accepted there on July 17, 1909 as a Second Lieutenant .

In 1911 he lived as an unmarried 28-year-old in Bydown House in Swimbridge near Barnstaple as a guest of Robert Jameson and his wife Margaret (née McKinnon), the brother-in-law of Mary McKinnon, who was also 28 years old and lived in the house. She was born in Calcutta and was to become Clemson's future wife. In 1912 he married Mary McKinnon, 3rd daughter of the late John McKinnon from London, in Paddington , London. They had a daughter. The new owners had about half of the east facade of Stevenstone House demolished, including the main tower and corner tower, to make the house more habitable - presumably due to the lack of domestic staff due to the war. He was the master of the Stevenstone Foxhounds .

Captain Clemson was mobilized on August 4, 1914 and shipped to Gallipoli on September 24, 1914 with the South Western Mounted Brigade . He fell there on December 9, 1915. He is remembered by a memorial in St Giles Church that reads: “In fond memory of John Oliver Clemson of Stevenstone, captain of the Royal North Devon Hussars, who died in Gallipoli on September 9th December 1915 at the age of 33. It is great and honorable to die for your country. ”He is also on the Roll of Honor of Exeter College, Oxford, as well as the Roll of Honor of Altrincham District.

His widow Mary was a bronze plaque in the church building, which is called the twelve men of the parish, in the First World War fell. His grave is in the Lala Baba cemetery in Turkey . Mrs. Clemson later married Colonel BC James of the 8th Devon Regiment and stayed in Stevenstone.

Sold in pieces

On September 26, 1930, Stevenstone's property, including 266 acres, was up for auction. In May 1931 the property was up for auction again, but this time with only 6.8 hectares of land. The description indicated four reception rooms, 27 bedrooms and dressing rooms and eight bathrooms. The minimum price of £ 3000 was not reached. A 120 acre portion of the property was sold separately.

In the summer of 1931, Mr. George Millman , the tenant of Winscott Barton (the former home of Tristram Risdon ), bought part of the Stevenstone estate, the manor and part of the park. He immediately put the house up for sale piece by piece as building material before it was demolished, divided into 609 lots. Lot # 609 was the remaining shell of the house after all other parts were sold. Mr Millman then changed his mind, but the auction could not be stopped. He bought as many lots himself as he could. and so the house was preserved for a few years, but reduced by the wing for the servants, which connected the actual manor house with the stables.

During World War II the house was still habitable and troops were stationed there, particularly the Warwickshire Regiment and later American troops. After the war, Mr Millman finally sold the house to Mr Melville, who then had it demolished, contrary to his intention to buy it. He used a large part of the building blocks to convert the stables into a terraced house and had various smaller houses and bungalows built around it and in the formerly enclosed kitchen garden.

In 1970 the stunted ruins of Stevenstone House were bought by Mr Parnell , who had already bought the deer park in 1931 and had a bungalow built there near the ruins. On October 4, 1960, the separate library room and the orangery were converted into historical building II *. Grade listed. Much later, on February 16, 1989, the ruins of Stevenstone House were added to the List of Historic Buildings as Grade II, which protected them from further demolition. However, they continued to deteriorate due to the weather and in 2012 they were completely overgrown with ivy.

Stevenstone today

There is now a small settlement around the ruins of Stevenstone House, which consists of terraced houses from the former stables and various bungalows in the former enclosed kitchen garden and other new houses. This includes the Torrington Farmers Hunt Kennels , which were the Stevenstone Hunt in Mark Rolle's days . The Palladianist outbuildings of the library room and the orangery were bought by the Landmark Trust in July 1978 , restored and converted into a profitable rental property.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 278.
  2. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 296.
  3. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 88.
  4. ↑ In third place were the lands of the Lord of Devon with 8,236 hectares and £ 31,000 gross yield, in fourth place those of the Fortescue family of Castle Hill with 8,069 hectares and over £ 17,000 gross profit and in fifth place those of the county of Cornwall with 19,353 hectares, of but much of which was bog, with under £ 5,000 gross.
  5. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 183.
  6. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 84.
  7. ↑ Tour of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1669 , quoted in: WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 86.
  8. ↑ Lysons: Magna Britannia . S 82, b, quoted in: WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 87.
  9. ↑ As seen in a framed wall memorial in Exford Church, Somerset . The memorial commemorates Morland Greig (1864–1915) from Edgcott (Exford) , master of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds , who was killed while working in Gallipoli . The plaque is also cut into the memorial wall at St Giles in the Wood church in Devon, but with a palm frond in hand. It is reminiscent of Captain John Oliver Clemson (1882-1915) from Stevenstone, who was also killed while fighting in the same regiment in Gallipoli.
  10. ↑ a b c Lysons: Magna Britannia . S 82, b, quoted in: WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 469.
  11. ↑ ADK Hawkyard: ROLE, George (by 1486-1552), of Steve Stone, Devon and London. . In: History of Parliament Online . Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ Last will of Honor Speccot, wife of John Fortescue: She uses “my daughter, the Lady Rolle” as heir. See 98. John Fortescue . Fortescue.org. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ John Prince: The Worthies of Devon . 1810 edition. Biography of Denys Rolls (1614-1638). P. 706.
  14. ^ WG Hoskins: A New Survey of England . Devon and London 1959 (first edition 1954). P. 266.
  15. ↑ The term library room is used in the will of Baron Rolle († 1842) and refers to his legacy of his books.
  16. ↑ a b Nikolaus Pevsner, Bridget Cherry: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Devon . London 1991. p. 760.
  17. ↑ One could compare it - albeit in a simpler form - with the Rothschild family seat, Waddesdon Manor , built a little later, but which was designed by a French architect.
  18. ^ Debbie Kennett: White's Devonshire Directory of 1890 .
  19. ↑ Stags Estate Agents: “A rare opportunity to buy stand-alone weather protection for deer, including complete planning to convert it into a two-bedroom vacation home. Well-kept property with a beautiful view over the country and 2 hectares of land. "
  20. ^ Rosemary Lauder: Vanished Houses of North Devon . Tiverton 2005. Chapter: Stevenstone House . Pp. 10-11.
  21. ^ A b William Cooke: Memorial to the Fallen Heroes of St Giles in the Wood . In: GENUKI / Devon . 2007. Accessed November 2, 2015.
  22. ^ St Giles in the Wood Monumental Inscriptions . In: rootsweb . Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  23. ↑ a b Dedicated to remembering person surname of Clemson of Altrincham that fought in WW1 for our freedom. Entry Number 181 . In: Trafford War Dead . Retrieved November 2, 2015. Contains information about the 1911 census.
  24. ^ A b Robert Malpass: Exeter College Oxford - Roll of Honor 1914-1918 . 2010. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 2, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.exeter.ox.ac.uk
  25. ^ Western Times (May 29, 1931), quoted in Rosemary Lauder: Vanished Houses of North Devon . Tiverton 2005. Chapter: Stevenstone House . Pp. 12-13.
  26. ↑ The Millman family bought the Winscott estate when selling the Rolle estate piece by piece.

Web links

Commons : Stevenstone House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 57 '15.1 "  N , 4 ° 5' 53.9"  W.