Edge, (originally, ''Egge''), is an ancient and historic house in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Branscombe Branscombe is a village in the East Devon district of the English County of Devon. The parish covers . Its permanent population in 2009 was estimated at 513 by the Family Health Services Authority, reducing to 507 at the 2011 Census. It is ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England and is today known as Edge Barton Manor. The surviving house is

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and sits on the steep, south-facing side of a wooded valley, or

combe A combe (; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through wh ...

. The building was not in origin a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, but was one of the first stone-built houses in "Branescombe", on a

villein A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...

holding called La Regge. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in England, and is constructed from the local

Beer stone Beer Quarry Caves is a man-made limestone underground complex located about a mile west of the village of Beer, Devon, and the main source in England for beer stone. The tunnels resulted from 2,000 years of quarrying beer stone, which was part ...

Description

The existing building is U-shaped and may originally have been built around a courtyard. Only a short section of the original dry

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

survives. An early circular stone staircase tower is contained within the angle of the north wing to give access to a second floor that was created by the addition of a raised ceiling to the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

. The stone splay of an upstairs window shows ancient, graffiti-incised drawings of sailing ships that are thought to represent those of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

that was becalmed offshore near Branscombe in 1588.

Chapel

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

attached to the house dates from the end of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century. Much of the rest of the house's architecture is from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The chapel, thought to have been built by

Walter Branscombe Walter Branscombe (–1280) was Bishop of Exeter from 1258 to 1280. Origins Nothing for certain is known of Walter Branscombe's origins and education, but he is thought to have been born in Exeter in about 1220. In the opinion of William Geor ...

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

from 1258 to 1280, occupied the present south wing, where a large

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

containing four cusped trefoils originally set within the outer

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

of the west wall survives on what is now an internal wall, hidden behind a later chimney stack in the attic. In 1822, Samuel Lysons described the chapel as being in a poor state of repair and desecrated. An ancient stone

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

has also survived; this was reset into a wall in the hall.

Descent of the manor

Edge was the home of the Branscombe family from the 11th to the 13th centuries, before passing to the Wadham family, who held it until the late 16th century. From 1618 through the 20th century, it was occupied by tenant farmers. The majority of the manor house dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, with some parts as much as two centuries older. It has since passed through a series of owners.

Wadham

Historically, the manor of Branscombe belonged to the

See of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Provi ...

, but during the reign of King Edward III (1327–1377) the estate of Edge was acquired by the ''de Wadham'' family who took their name from the manor of

Wadham, Knowstone The manor of Wadham in the parish of Knowstone in north Devon and the nearby manors of Chenudestane and Chenuestan (more anciently known as Cnudstone and Cnuston with the possible meaning "Canutestone") are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 ...

in north Devon and held Edge for eight generations, eventually moving their principal residence to

Merryfield, Ilton Merryfield (''alias'' Merrifield, Murefeld, Merefeld, Muryfield, Merifield, Wadham's Castle, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster in Somerset, England. It was the principal seat of the Wadham family, and was called b ...

in Somerset around 1400, after which point Edge seems to have been used as the family’s

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish or Welsh estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family ...

. *John I Wadham * John II Wadham (c. 1344 – 1412) *

William Wadham (died 1452) Sir William Wadham (c.1386–1452) of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, Somerset and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon came from a West Country gentry family with a leaning towards the law, who originally took their name from the manor ...

(c. 1386 – 1452) *John III Wadham (1405–1476) *John IV Wadham (died 1502)Roger Virgoe, "WADHAM, Sir Nicholas (by 1472-1542), of Merrifield, nr. Ilton, Som.", ''History of Parliament Online''

/ref> * Nicholas Wadham (died 1542), Nicholas I Wadham (by 1472 – 1542) *John V Wadham (before 1510 – 1578) * Nicholas II Wadham (1531-1609) In 1618 on the death of Dorothy Petre (1534/5- 1618), widow of

Nicholas Wadham Nicholas Wadham may refer to: * Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) * Nicholas Wadham (1472–1542) {{hndis, Wadham, Nicholas ...

, Edge and his other possessions passed to the descendants of his three sisters: *Joan Wadham (1533-1603), who had married firstly Sir Giles Strangways (1528–1562) of

Melbury House Melbury House is an English country house in the parish of Melbury Sampford near Evershot, Dorset, This Grade I listed mansion is the home of the Honorable Mrs Charlotte Townshend, a major landowner in east Dorset, through her mother, Theresa ...

, in Dorset, and secondly Sir

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...

(died 1589) of The Great House, Bristol. *Margaret Wadham, who married Nicholas Martyn (c. 1550 – 1595) of Athelhampton Hall, Dorset. * Florence Wadham (1538-1596), who married Sir John Wyndham (died 1572) of

Orchard Wyndham Orchard Wyndham is a historic manor near Williton in Somerset, centred on the synonymous grade I listed manor house of Orchard Wyndham that was situated historically in the parish of Watchet and about two miles south of the parish church of ...

in Somerset.

Wyndham/Fox-Strangways

Following the death of Dorothy Wadham in 1618, Edge passed into the families of the sisters and co-heiresses (at least in their issue) of Nicholas Wadham; namely, the Martyns of Athelhampton, Dorset, the Wyndhams of Orchard Wyndham, Somerset, later

Earls of Egremont Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1749, along with the subsidiary title Baron of Cockermouth, in Cumberland, for Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, with remainder to his nephews Sir Charles W ...

Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...

in Sussex, and the Strangways of Melbury House, Dorset, later, as Fox-Strangways,

Earls of Ilchester Earl of Ilchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1756 for Stephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously represented Shaftesbury in Parliament. He had already been created Baron Ilchester, of Ilchester in ...

, who retained co-ownership until 1933 and in the interval let Edge to a series of tenant farmers.

Tenants

Edge was at one point occupied as tenants by the Langdons, of Chard in Somerset, and was described in the eighteenth century as "derelict in appearance". Early in the twentieth century it was tenanted by a Mr. Richards, of Sidmouth, who was born in Branscombe.

20th century

Edge was purchased in 1933 by Captain Frank Masters, an architect. The house was in a decayed state and with the former chapel being used as a dairy. He began extensive renovations in 1935, but did not live to complete the work. The renovations begun by Captain Masters were completed by Robert Blackburn, an aeronautical engineer.

Peter de Savary Peter John de Savary (11 July 1944 – 30 October 2022) was a British businessman. The bulk of his business career was spent in the shipping, oil and property sectors. He once owned or managed 13 shipyards around the globe and had global oil-tr ...

owned the property (via Slatecroft Properties) for a short time and sought to run it as an activity centre for "25-30 boys from overseas". Subsequent owner Leese did extensive modernisation and decorations. The Neuman family lived at Edge, and built the current conservatory for which there was placed a 15th century French gargoyle. The family did extensive landscape work to the gardens, restoration to the reception room on the ground floor and re-thatched the barn. In 1996, Edge was acquired by retired businessman Michael Silvanus Robinson ( Silvan Robinson) CBE and his wife June, (née Wood), a former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

mayor of the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

. The Robinsons established a link with Wadham College and in June 2010, to mark the 400th anniversary of the college's founding they entertained Sir

Neil Chalmers Sir Neil Robert Chalmers (born 19 June 1942) is a British zoologist and academic. He is a former Director of the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum in London, and former Warden of Wadham College, warden of Wadham College, Oxfor ...

Warden of Wadham College This is a list of Wadham College, Oxford people, including alumni, Fellows, Deans and Wardens of the College. An alphabetical list of alumni of Wadham college can be found here. Alumni Academics * Martin Aitken, archaeometrist * Amir Attara ...

and a number of the Fellows at Edge.

Gallery

File:EdgeBarton Branscombe Devon.JPG, Edge Barton, south front File:EdgeBarton Branscombe Devon ViewFrom SouthEast.JPG, Edge Barton, viewed from south-east File:EdgeBarton Branscombe Devon ViewFromEast.JPG, Edge Barton, viewed from east. The top of the circular staircase tower is visible in the corner of the north and west wings (right) File:Edge Branscombe Devon Panorama.JPG, Edge Barton, setting File:EdgeBarton Branscombe Devon SailingShipGraffitis.JPG, Ancient graffiti featuring sailing boats, inscribed on stone window splay in an upper floor room, Edge Barton File:RoseWindow EdgeBarton Branscombe Devon.JPG, Remains of late C13-early C14 rose window, Edge Barton, featuring a

trefoil arch A trefoil arch, or three-foiled cusped arch, is an arch incorporating the shape or outline of a trefoil – three overlapping circles. It has been widely used for its symbolic significance in Christian architecture. Trefoil arches are common in G ...

. The wall is thought to have formed the west wall of a late C13-early C14 chapelSee listed building text
/ref>

Sources

* Rogers, William Henry Hamilton
''Memorials of the West, Historical and Descriptive, Collected on the Borderland of Somerset, Dorset and Devon''
Exeter, 1888, pp. 147–173, ''The Founder and Foundress of Wadham''.

References

{{Devon Historic estates in Devon