Inner courtyard, Cadhay House - geograph

Cadhay is an historic estate in the parish of

Ottery St Mary Ottery St Mary, known as "Ottery", is a town and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England, on the River Otter, about east of Exeter on the B3174. At the 2001 census, the parish, which includes the villages of Metcombe, F ...

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. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, east of Exeter and from the sea at

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town h ...

. The mansion house known as Cadhay House, north-west of Ottery St Mary village, is a grade I listed Elizabethan building.

History and description

The house stands around a central courtyard within extensive grounds. It was built in 1550 by John Haydon (d.1587), a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, the second son of Richard Haydon (d.1533) of Bowood, Ebford (in the parish of Woodbury),

Lympstone Lympstone is a village and civil parish in East Devon in the English county of Devon. It has a population of 1,754. There is a harbour on the estuary of the River Exe, lying at the outlet of Wotton Brook between cliffs of red breccia.

and Woodbury in Devon,

Mayor of Barnstaple The Mayor of Barnstaple together with the Corporation long governed the historic Borough of Barnstaple, in North Devon, England. The seat of government was the Barnstaple Guildhall. The mayor served a term of one year and was elected annually on t ...

and deputy steward of the Devon lands of the Duchy of Cornwall, whose armorials (''Argent, three bars gemeles azure on a chief gules a fess dansettée or'') survive on a capital in St Swithin's Church in Woodbury, Devon, where survives the canopy for his intended monument. John Haydon's brother was George Haydon (c.1517-1558), of Hornshayne in the parish of

Farway Farway is a small village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district of Devon, England. The village is situated about south-east of Honiton. The village lies on the River Coly, which rises in the north of the civil parish and w ...

, Devon, MP for Barnstaple, Devon, in 1545. John Haydon had married Joan Grenvill (d.1592), heiress of Cadhay, whose family had inherited it from the ''de Cadhay'' family some generations before. The couple's

Easter Sepulchre An Easter Sepulchre is a feature of British church interior architecture. Description The Easter Sepulchre is an arched recess generally in the north wall of the chancel, in which from Good Friday to Easter day were deposited the crucifix and s ...

monument survives in Ottery St Mary Church. John Haydon was the first Governor of the

Collegiate Church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...

of Ottery St Mary following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He died without progeny and bequeathed it to his great-nephew Robert Haydon (1560-1626), the eldest son of his nephew Thomas HaydonRisdon, p.47 of Bowood and Epforde, and the husband of Joan Paulet (d.1630), a daughter of Sir

Amias Paulet Sir Amias Paulet (1532 – 26 September 1588) of Hinton St. George, Somerset, was an English diplomat, Governor of Jersey, and the gaoler for a period of Mary, Queen of Scots. Origins He was the son of Sir Hugh Paulet of Hinton St Geo ...

(1532-1588),

Governor of Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and gaoler for a period of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

. It was built on the site of an earlier house, the great hall of which, dating back to 1420, was retained. His great-nephew Robert Haydon subsequently added a long gallery, a feature of late 16th century housebuilding, which closed in the south side of the house to form a courtyard. The residents of the Manor House have had a long association with the parish church of Ottery. By 1737 the house was in a poor state of repair and the new owner, Peere Williams, restored the house in the Georgian style. He blocked up most of the Tudor hearths and panelled a number of the rooms. He inserted a ceiling in the Great Hall under the magnificent oak-timbered roof to form the present dining room and roof chamber. During the 18th and 19th centuries the house was at times divided into two and again fell into a poor state of repair. It was bought by Dampier Whetham in 1910 who uncovered the old Tudor hearths and put the house into sound structural condition. In the 1920s he let the house to the William-Powlett family, descendants of Amias Paulet, who purchased the property in 1935, and occupied it until 2002. In 2002 the house was inherited by Rupert Thistlethwayte, a nephew of the last of the William-Powletts, and a furniture maker. He restored it to its previous splendour and introduced modern comforts such as heating and additional bathrooms, as well as contemporary furniture of his own designs to complement the antique furniture. Sir Simon Jenkins in his book ''England's Thousand Best Homes'' described the house thus: "The courtyard...with statues of Henry VIII and his three monarch offspring, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth...is one of the treasures of Devon."

Statues

Four statues dating from 1617 survive, standing over the doors in the courtyard, and represent Kings Henry VIII,

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

and Queens

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 50.7585, -3.2926, type:landmark_region:GB-DEV, display=title Country houses in Devon Historic house museums in Devon Gardens in Devon Ottery St Mary Grade I listed houses in Devon

History and description

Statues

Further reading

References

External links