Hareston (anciently Harestone, Harston, etc.) is an historic estate in the parish of

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, about three miles from

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

in Devon. The mansion house built during the reign of

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry ...

(1485-1509) burned down partially in an accidental fire at the beginning of the 18th century, and in 1822 the surviving part, the Hall and Chapel, was being used as a farmhouse. It was described by

Candida Lycett Green Candida Rose Lycett Green (''née'' Betjeman; 22 September 194219 August 2014) was a British author who wrote sixteen books including ''English Cottages'', ''Goodbye London'', ''The Perfect English House'', ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' and ' ...

in her 1991 book ''The Perfect English Country House'' as: ''"The most forgotten Manor House Farm In England, untouched for hundreds of years, sits safely, impossible to find, down miles of private sunken lanes which in the spring brim with Campion, Bluebells, Purple Orchids, Primroses, Violets, Speedwell and Stitchwort. Wooded hills rise behind this, the quintessence of an ancient English Manor House".''

Descent

Domesday Book

It is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as two separate holdings, both spelled ''Harestane'', the 29th and 51st of the 79 Devonshire holdings of

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, first Earl of Cornwall of 2nd creation (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at t ...

, half-brother and one of the

Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the we ...

of King

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. His tenant at the first mentioned holding was a certain "Reginald", namely Reginald I de Vautort, Feudal baron of Trematon in Cornwall, who held several estates from the Count of Mortain in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. Before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

of England in 1066 it had been held by an Anglo-Saxon named Edric. The Count's tenant at the second named holding (whose earlier Anglo-Saxon tenant had been Sweet) was also Reginald.

Later holders

The earliest holder recorded by the Devon historian Risdon (d.1640) was the Reignald (''sic'') family. It is next recorded as held by Walter de Coliford (''alias'' Walter Colaford) in 1242 One of his progeny, Hugh de Coliford, adopted the surname ''de Harston''. It later passed to the Silverlock family, Peter Silverlock being the holder in 1366. The estate was subsequently the seat of the Carslake family, whose daughter and heiress married John Wood (''alias'' Atwood), the son of William Wood by his wife the daughter and heiress of Walter Wibble of Venn in Devon. The Wood family remained seated at Hareston from before the time of Risdon (d.1640) until the male line expired on the death of John Wood (d.1743), who died without issue, leaving his two sisters as his co-heiresses. Elizabeth Wood died unmarried so the whole estate became the inheritance of the other sister Audrian Wood, the wife of John Winter, and mother of John Wood Winter, the possessor of the estate in 1810. In 1822 the family was represented by John Wood Winter who resided at Lower Harston. The noted chess-player Thomas Winter-Wood (1818-1905), educated at nearby

Plympton Grammar School Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Ply ...

, was a member of this family, and sold the Hareston estate in 1868/9, his father having in 1824 reversed the order of the surname. Another prominent descendant of a branch of the Wood family of Hareston was Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet (1768-1843), ancestor of the present Page-Wood baronets, who quarter the arms of Carslake of Hareston: ''Argent, a bull's head erased sable''. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895; quartering illustrated in: Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, quartered arms illustrated on p.875

References

Historic estates in Devon