![Dr Blackall's Drive - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Dr_Blackall%27s_Drive_-_geograph.org.uk_-_178203.jpg)
Spitchwick is an historic estate situated within the parish of
Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe in the Moor () is a village and large civil parish in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. Its church is known as the Cathedral of the Moors on account of its tall tower and its size, relative to the small population it serves. It ...
, Devon. The present 19th century mansion house known as Spitchwick Manor is situated four miles north-west of
Ashburton, the gardens of which are open to the paying public.
History
Domesday Book
As 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086, ''SPICEWITE'' was the 48th of the 72 manors held in
demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
by King
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
in the County of Devon.
Feudal barony of Stogursey
Spitchwick later became a possession of the
de Courcy family,
feudal barons of Stogursey (anciently "
Stoke Courcy") in Somerset.
de Spichewik
The manor is listed in the 13th century
Book of Fees
The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs'), being a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, but f ...
as held as one
knight's fee
In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. Of necessity, it would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish him ...
by Michael de Spichewik, whose family as was usual had taken their surname from their seat. His
overlord
An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or serje ...
was John Neville, then feudal baron of Stogursey. At some time a grant was made to
Troarn Abbey in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
of ''unum hospitem in Espicewic'', apparently "one guest lodging/chamber/inn".
Dunning
The large manor of
Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe in the Moor () is a village and large civil parish in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. Its church is known as the Cathedral of the Moors on account of its tall tower and its size, relative to the small population it serves. It ...
on
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...
was acquired by
John Dunning (1731–1783), from 1782
1st Baron Ashburton, and included a farm called "Park", to which shortly after his acquisition he had "added a room or two". This was the origin of the mansion house, later known as "Spitchwick Park", which he subsequently built.
Lord Ashburton was born at nearby
Ashburton, the son of a local attorney of modest yeoman family, and had an eminent career as a lawyer and
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, rising to the office of
Solicitor-General in 1768. As Solicitor-General he acquired the then unprecedented sum of £10,000 per annum and as a money-lender he had obtained estates that brought him in large sums.
But his main acquisition of lands had been to the detriment of the ancient Gould family of Devonshire, which traced its roots back to a certain "John Gold", a
crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
r present at the
Siege of Damietta in (1218–19). Edward Gould (1666-1736) of Pridhamsleigh in the parish of
Staverton, Devon, was the last male of the senior branch of the Gould family, and bequeathed all his lands in Staverton, Ashburton, Holne, Widdecombe-on-the-Moor and Chudleigh to his infant distant cousin William Drake Gould (1719-1766) of
Lew Trenchard
Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers h ...
, Devon, the representative of the next branch. The estates of William Drake Gould devolved on his only son Edward Gould (1740-1788), a spendthrift and a gambler. One evening after a game of cards in which he had lost "every guinea he had about him", he rode off, put a black mask over his face as a
highwayman
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...
, waylaid the winner of the game and shot him dead. That Edward Gould was a very distant relative of Dunning's, and Dunning defended him successfully at his ensuing murder trial in about 1768. (Dunning's great-aunt Margaret Dunning (d.1662), whose
monumental brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...
survives in Staverton Church, married (as his first wife) Edward Gould (1637-1675) of Pridhamsleigh, Staverton, who by his second wife was the father of Edward Gould (1666-1736)). Dunning lent Edward Gould increasingly large sums secured on mortgages, and he eventually foreclosed, securing for himself possession of most of the Gould estates around Ashburton, Widdecombe, Holne, and Staverton. Edward Gould ended his days in lodgings in Shaldon. Dunning then purchased for £4,700 the 88 year residue of a lease of ninety-nine years of the manors of Spitchwick and Widdecombe.
It had been Dunning's original intention to build a grand mansion elsewhere in Devon, on his estate of
Sandridge
Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England.
History
The original name was "Saundruage" meaning a place of sandy soil serviced by bond tenants.
The earliest recorded mention of Sandri ...
in the parish of
Stoke Gabriel
Stoke Gabriel is a village and parish in Devon, England, situated on a creek of the River Dart. The village is a popular tourist destination in the South Hams and is famous for its mill pond and crab fishing (known colloquially as ''crabbing'') ...
, as he informed Rev
John Swete
Rev. John Swete (born John Tripe) (baptised 13 August 1752 – 25 October 1821) of Oxton House, Kenton in Devon, was a clergyman, landowner, artist, antiquary, historian and topographer and author of the ''Picturesque Sketches of Devon'' consi ...
to whom he was showing that new purchase, also in the company of
Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet (December 1717 – 29 April 1798) of Haldon House in the parish of Kenn, in Devon, England, was an officer of the British East India Company who served as Governor of the Madras Presidency. In England he served as ...
(1717-1798), who also expanded a large mansion and planted vast expanses of woodland at
Haldon House
Haldon House (pronounced: "Hol-don") on the eastern side of the Haldon Hills in the parishes of Dunchideock and Kenn, near Exeter in Devon, England, was a large Georgian country house largely demolished in the 1920s. The surviving north wing ...
, having also had a change of mind as to location, in his case from
Tor Mohun
Tor Mohun (formerly Tor Brewer)Risdon, p.378 is a historic manor and parish on the south coast of Devon, now superseded by the Victorian sea-side resort of Torquay and known as Tormohun, an area within that town. In 1876 the Local Board of Health ...
to Haldon. He was at first "struck with the beauty and grandeur of the spot (i.e. of Sandridge) and...then express'd an intention of raising an house on it that should be more worthy than the present of the situation". This then existing house at Sandridge was the former seat of the Gilbert family formerly of
Compton Castle
Compton Castle in the parish of Marldon in Devon, is a fortified manor house in the village of Compton (formerly "Compton Pole"), about west of Torquay on the southern coast of Devon, England (). The estate was home to the families of Compton ...
in the parish of
Marldon
Marldon is a village in the South Hams in Devon, United Kingdom, to the north-west of Paignton. It is the most northeasterly Civil Parish in the South Hams and includes the village of Compton with Compton Castle. Beacon Hill transmitting station ...
. Although Dunning changed his mind and built at Spitchwick instead, after his death in 1783 his widow in 1805 finally built the envisioned mansion at Sandridge, now surviving as
Sandridge Park. As for Lord Ashburton's change of mind, Swete remarked: "He soon dropt all thoughts of proceding with the plans he had form'd at Sandridge; Park indeed was a situation more congenial to Lord Ashburton's mind; it was wild and romantic; he delighted its softening the harsh and rude features of the scene around him and in its meliorating the grounds, which lay almost in a state of nature, neglected and uncultur'd".
Lord Ashburton created at Spitchwick (on the site of a chapel dedicated to
St. Laurence) a mansion in which "he much delighted to reside" and where he "escap'd from the trammels of State and the bustle of the
Great Town, and enjoy'd the ''
otium cum dignitate''. This was his
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...
and here" (as he often told Swete) "(with) his rural amusements, with his books, his friends, his dearest ''Leisure''...he past his pleasantest hours". The Devon historian and author
Sabine Baring-Gould
Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 ...
(1834-1924), a distant relative of his great-uncle by marriage Edward Gould (d.1675), and who himself inherited the Gould manor of
Lew Trenchard
Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers h ...
, which otherwise would have been part of Dunning's estate, called Spitchwick an "ugly house" and in his largely unflattering biography suggested that Lord Ashburton had "like the
cuckoo
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...
, kick(ed the Gould family) out of their nest and gather(ed) all their property into his own hands.
![Lane at Bonehill - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Lane_at_Bonehill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1545073.jpg)
He made great improvements by planting woodland and enlarged the estate by further land purchases.
:"The
granate masses which thick-studded even his best meadows he blew to pieces and remov'd; the hills which rose behind the house he cover'd over with plantations" (assisted by the good judgement of his friend Swete, a
connoisseur
A connoisseur ( French traditional, pre-1835, spelling of , from Middle-French , then meaning 'to be acquainted with' or 'to know somebody/something') is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts; who is a keen appreciator ...
of landscaping) "and he raised a garden wall of such enormous blocks of
moorstone that it hath been consider'd as the wonder of the country, and which doubtless may bid defiance to all attacks but that of an earthquake".
The high garden wall survives today enclosing a "massive vegetable garden" of 2.6 acres. He built a "secret garden" within which survives "Lady Ashburton's Bath" a plunge-pool built in 1763, fed by a stream. Lord Ashburton also had a seat at
Bagtor
Bagtor is an historic estate in the parish of Ilsington in Devon, England. It was the birthplace of John Ford (1586-c.1639) the playwright and poet. The Elizabethan mansion of the Ford family survives today at Bagtor as the service wing of a la ...
in the parish of
Ilsington
Ilsington is a village and civil parish situated on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, Devon, England. It is one of the largest parishes in the county, and includes the villages of Ilsington, Haytor Vale, Liverton and South Knighton. The parish is s ...
, on his Dartmoor estate about 6 miles north-east of Spitchwick.
Lord Ashburton's house at Spitchwick has been superseded by the present surviving 19th century building, and of the earlier house only two gate lodges survive, Upper Lodge and Lower Lodge, survive at the end of their respective long entrance drives.
Lord Ashburton's estate at "Park", later called Spitchwick, should be distinguished from the estate of
Parke in the parish of
Bovey Tracey
Bovey Tracey () is a small town and civil parish in Devon, England, on the edge of Dartmoor, its proximity to which gives rise to the "slogan" used on the town's boundary signs, "The Gateway to the Moor". It is often known locally as "Bovey". It ...
situated 1/2 mile west of
Bovey Tracey
Bovey Tracey () is a small town and civil parish in Devon, England, on the edge of Dartmoor, its proximity to which gives rise to the "slogan" used on the town's boundary signs, "The Gateway to the Moor". It is often known locally as "Bovey". It ...
and about 7 miles north-east of Spitchwick, today (at Parke House) the headquarters of the
Dartmoor National Park
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...
Authority, a large white rendered house built by William Hole in 1826. The two estates appear to have been confused by Pevsner.
Blackall
Spitchwick was purchased in 1867 by Thomas Blackall (d.1899), MD, an eminent surgeon, and
Sheriff of Exeter
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
in 1862, also of Maryfield, Pennsylvania, Exeter, who died leaving a fortune of
personalty
property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...
sworn at £162,000. He constructed a 2 mile long carriage drive over Dartmoor for use in picturesque drives with his guests.
Struben
In 1901 Spitchwick was purchased by Frederick Struben (1851-1931) a South African geologist and goldminer, born in
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, of German descent.{{Circular reference, date=December 2016 With his brother Harry in 1884 he was the first to strike gold in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
and called their mine "Confidence Reef". Although the seam of gold was disappointingly small, nevertheless they both made fortunes. They owned parts of the adjoining farms
Sterkfontein
Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest to paleo-anthropologists located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of K ...
and Wilgespruit in what is now
Roodepoort
Roodepoort is a town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg and Sandton. Johannesburg's most famous botanical g ...
. Fred Struben recalled: "In January 1884 I started prospecting on the Sterkfontein farm at the west end of the range. The second day I found a reef showing gold, which assayed on the surface 6 penny weights, and at 50 feet had improved so that the sum had reached nearly 2 ounces."
His widow sold Spitchwick in 1934 to the Simpson family.
[Devon Gardens Trust Newsletter, Autumn, 2015]
Simpson
The Simpson family purchased Spitchwick in 1934. In 1937 Stephen Simpson of Spitchwick purchased further the Dartmoor estate of
Holne
Holne is a village and civil parish on the southeastern slopes of Dartmoor in Devon, England. A community has existed here since at least the 11th century, and today a population of around 250 people is served by a church and a public house, the ...
.
References
Historic estates in Devon