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Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a
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 ...
country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled in the 19th century and again in the early 20th century when pilasters, portico, pediment and parapet were added to create a Queen Anne style building. In the mid 19th century the estate was inherited from the Clevland family by William Langham Christie of Glyndebourne in
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. His grandson was John Christie (born 1882), the founder of Glyndebourne Opera Festival, who bequeathed Tapeley to his daughter Rosamund Christie (1933–1988), who passed it onto her nephew Hector Christie (born 1963), who briefly turned it into a hippie commune. In 2011, Tapeley Park was the subject of an episode of the Channel 4 television programme '' Country House Rescue'', presented by the hotelier Ruth Watson, who advised on restoring the estate to a sound financial position. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are open to the public on a regular basis and feature Italianate terraces, a working kitchen garden and a permaculture garden. The estate, now mainly owned by the Christie Devon Estates Trust (trustees of the Christie family), comprises about 6,000 acres, and covers Saunton (including foreshore and beach), Braunton Burrows (sand dunes, partly a nature reserve and leased to the Ministry of Defence), Instow (including the foreshore purchased from the crown estate) and the village of Westleigh.


Descent


Baudrope

The first recorded holder of Tapeley according to Risdon (died 1640) was the family of Baudrope.


de Tapelegh

According to Pole (died 1635), Tapeley was held by the ''de Tapelegh'' family as follows: *Walter de Tapeley, who is recorded as holding it in 1295 *Walter de Tapeley, 1314 *Robert Tapeley, 1345


Grant

The heir general of the Tapeley family took Tapeley by marriage into the Grant family. A certain Mauger le Grant was lord of the manor of Westleigh (in which parish is situated Tapeley), which he held from "Lord Hugh Courtenay" (possibly therefore
Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon Hugh de Courtenay, 1st/9th Earl of Devon (14 September 1276 – 23 December 1340). of Tiverton Castle, Okehampton Castle, Plympton Castle and Colcombe Castle, all in Devon, feudal baron of Okehampton and feudal baron of Plympton, was an English ...
(1276–1340) or his son Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377) or Hugh de Courtenay, 12th Earl of Devon (1389–1422)), and was succeeded by William Grant and then the latter's son William Grant (of Steventon, Devon), whose daughter Elizabeth Grant in 1477 married John Monck of Potheridge in the parish of Merton, Devon, ancestor of
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cru ...
(died 1670).


Coblegh

From Grant the estate of Tapeley descended by unknown means to the family of Coblegh of
Brightley, Chittlehampton Brightley was historically the principal secondary estate within the parish and former manor of Chittlehampton in the county of Devon, England, situated about 2 1/4 miles south-west of the church and on a hillside above the River Taw. From the ea ...
, Devon. The Coblegh family of Brightley were the leading family resident within the manor and parish of Chittlehampton but were not
lords of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...
of Chittlehampton. Two
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 ...
es commemorating the Cobley family survive in St Hieritha's Church, Chittlehampton, one with an inscription to Henry Coblegh (died 1470) and his wife Alicia, parents of John Coblegh, whose brass lies adjacent to the north. John married twice, firstly to Isabella Cornu, secondly to Joan Pyne (possibly of the Pyne family of East Down), as his brass records. His son by his second marriage was John Coblegh (died 1542) who married Joan (or Jane) Fortescue, a daughter of William Fortescue (died 1520), 2nd son of John Fortescue, of Wimpstone, Modbury, which John Fortescue was 1st cousin of
Sir John Fortescue John Fortescue may refer to: * Sir John Fortescue (judge) (c. 1394–1479), English lawyer and judge, MP for Tavistock, Totnes, Plympton Erle and Wiltshire * Sir John Fortescue of Salden (1531/1533–1607), third Chancellor of the Exchequer of Engl ...
(c. 1394 – c. 1480),
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
. John Coblegh is recorded in the Lisle Letters as one of the Devonshire notables who were given a deer by Honor Plantagenet, Viscountess Lisle (died 1566) from the park of her nearby manor of Umberleigh. He also features further in the Letters. There exists in Chittlehampton church a slab monument of John Coblegh (died 1542) and his wife Joan Fortescue. Their only child and sole heiress was Margaret Coblegh who married Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547), thus Brightley, together with other estates including Tapeley passed to the Giffard family.


Giffard

The pedigree of Giffard (pronounced ''Jiffard'') is given as follows in the Heraldic visitations of Devon:


Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547)

Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547) was a younger son of the Giffard family of Halsbury in the parish of Parkham, 4 miles south-west of Bideford. He was the 3rd son of Thomas Giffard (1532/3) of Halsbury but the eldest by his second wife Anne Coryton, daughter of John Coryton of Newton Ferrers in the parish of St Mellion, in Cornwall. Several monuments exist to the Coryton family in the Church of St Melanus, St Mellion. Thomas's eldest son by his first marriage was heir to Halsbury and the senior line of the family remained seated there until the death of John Giffard of Halsbury (d.post 1666), the last in the male line, who bequeathed the estate on Roger Giffard (1646–1724) a younger son of the junior Brightley line. Sir Roger Giffard had 14 children by his wife Margaret Coblegh, heiress of Brightley and Tapeley.


John Giffard (died 1585)

John Giffard (died 1585), eldest son and heir of Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547), married Mary Grenville, daughter of Sir
Richard Grenville Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
(c. 1495–1550), lord of the manors of
Stowe, Kilkhampton Stowe House in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, England, UK, was a mansion built in 1679 by John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701) and demolished in 1739. The Grenville family were for many centuries lords of the manor of Kilkh ...
in Cornwall and of Bideford, Devon, MP for Cornwall in 1529. Mary was the sister of Roger Grenville, believed to have been the captain of the Mary Rose in the sinking of which at Portsmouth he drowned in 1545, and was thus aunt of his son the heroic sea captain Sir
Richard Grenville Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
(1542–1591) of the ''Revenge''. She survived her husband and remarried Arthur Tremayne of Collacombe. His eldest son and heir was John Giffard (died 1622).


John Giffard (died 1622)

John Giffard (died 1622), son and heir of John Giffard (died 1585), married Honor Earle (died 1638), daughter of Sir Walter Earle of
Charborough Charborough is an historic former parish and manor in Dorset, England. It survives today as a hamlet, situated on an affluent of the River Stour, 6 miles west of Wimborne Minster, but without any of its former administrative powers, and is today ...
, Dorset. His eldest son Arthur Giffard (1580–1616) predeceased his father having married Agnes Leigh (died 1625), daughter of Thomas Leigh Esq., of Burrough (anciently "Borow", "Borough", etc.) in the parish of Northam, near Bideford. Arthur left a son and heir to his grandfather, Col.
John Giffard John Giffard may refer to: *John Giffard, 1st Baron Giffard (1232–1299), English nobleman *John Giffard (died 1556) (c. 1465–1556), Tudor courtier, soldier, MP and landowner, of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire *John Giffard (died 1613) (1534–1 ...
(1602–1665), and eight other children including his 2nd son Rev. Arthur Giffard (1605–1666), appointed in 1643 Rector of Bideford by his cousin Sir John Granville (1628–1701) (created Earl of Bath in 1661).


Col. John Giffard (1602–1665)

Col.
John Giffard John Giffard may refer to: *John Giffard, 1st Baron Giffard (1232–1299), English nobleman *John Giffard (died 1556) (c. 1465–1556), Tudor courtier, soldier, MP and landowner, of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire *John Giffard (died 1613) (1534–1 ...
(1602–1665), grandson of John Giffard (died 1622), was a Colonel of Royalist forces in the Civil War, who married in 1621 Joan Wyndham, daughter of
Sir John Wyndham ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
(1558–1645) of Orchard Wyndham, near Williton, Somerset. He had a daughter Grace, whose effigy exists in Chittlehampton Church, and at least two sons, John Giffard (1639–1712), his heir, and Roger Giffard (1644–1724).


John Giffard (1639–1712)

John Giffard (1639–1712), of Brightley, eldest son and heir of Col. John Giffard (1602–1665). In 1704 he sold the estate of Tapeley to William Clevland (1664–1734). John married twice: *Firstly to Susannah Bampfylde, 4th daughter of
Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (c. 1610 – April 1650) of Poltimore and North Molton and Tamerton Foliot, all in Devon, was an English lawyer and politician. He was one of Devonshire's Parliamentarian leaders during the Civil War. Origins Bam ...
(c. 1610 – 1650), MP, of
Poltimore Poltimore is a village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It lies approximately northeast of Exeter. The parish consisted of 122 households and a population of 297 people during the 2 ...
and
North Molton North Molton is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also exists. The ward population at the ce ...
. Their son John Giffard (died 1704) married Margaret Clotworthy, daughter of Roger Clotworthy of Rashleigh, Wembworthy. This marriage failed to produce a male heir, only a daughter and heiress Margaret Giffard (died 1743), who married John Courtenay (died 1732), the last in the male line of Courtenay of Molland. *Secondly to Frances Fane, 2nd daughter of Hon. and Rev. William Fane, a son of
Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1 February 158023 March 1629), (styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624) of Mereworth in Kent and of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Comm ...
and brother of Lady Rachel Fane (1614–1681), wife of
Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1587 – 16 August 1654) of Tawstock in Devon, was an English peer who held the office of Lord Privy Seal and was a large landowner in Ireland in Limerick and Armagh counties, and in England in Devon, Som ...
of
Tawstock Court The historic manor of Tawstock was situated in North Devon, in the hundred of Fremington, 2 miles south of Barnstaple, England. According to PolePole, p.14 the feudal baron of Barnstaple Henry de Tracy (died 1274) made Tawstock his seat, appa ...
, 5 miles east of Tapeley. By Francis Fane he had at least two sons, Henry Giffard (1675–1709) an officer in the Royal Navy, who married Martha Hill, daughter of Edward Hill, Judge of the Admiralty and Treasurer of Virginia. His brother and John Giffard's 4th son was his heir Caesar Giffard (died 1715) who married Mary Melhuish. They had a daughter Rachel Giffard who married Thomas Colley (died 1762). The executors of the will of Caesar Giffard sold the manor of Chittlehampton in 1737 to Samuel Rolle of Hudscott, within the parish of Chittlehampton.


Clevland


William Clevland (1664–1734)

Commander William Clevland (1664–1734), (''alias'' Cleuland) was a Scottish-born Royal Navy commander who served as Controller of Storekeepers' Accounts (23 April 1718 – 24 May 1732). In 1702, having sailed into the North Devon port of Bideford, then one of the leading tobacco importation ports of Great Britain, he is said to have viewed from his ship the ancient mansion of Tapeley, in the parish of Westleigh, situated on an eminence overlooking the estuary of the River Torridge, and to have been so impressed by the beauty of its position that in 1704 he purchased the estate from the Giffard family of Brightley, which thenceforth he made his residence. He was the eldest son of Archibald Cleuland (''sic'') of Knowhoblehill, Lanarkshire, Scotland. The family claimed descent from the ancient Scottish clan of Cleland (''alias'' Cleuland) of Faskine, Lanarkshire, south-east of Glasgow, with which it shares similar armorials. In 1704 he married Ann Davie (1689–1726), a daughter of the prominent Bideford tobacco merchant
John Davie John Davie (1640–1710) of Orleigh Court in the parish of Buckland Brewer, Devon, England, was a prominent tobacco merchant from Bideford, Devon. His Bideford town house which he built in 1688, was ''Colonial House'', now the Royal Hotel, i ...
(died 1710), of Orleigh Court,
Buckland Brewer Buckland Brewer is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, 4.7 miles south of Bideford. Historically the parish formed part of Shebbear Hundred. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 777, increasin ...
and Colonial House (now the Royal Hotel), East-the-Water, Bideford. He is said by various sources (but not by Burke's Landed Gentry 1858, which states his two sons named William died young) to have had a younger son William Clevland, said to have become King of the
Banana Islands The Banana Islands are a group of islands that lie off the coast of Yawri Bay, south west of the Freetown Peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. Three islands make up the Banana Islands: Dublin, Banana Islands, Dublin and Ricketts ...
following a shipwreck.


John Clevland (1706–1763)

John Clevland (1706–1763), eldest son and heir, of Tapeley, was Secretary to the Admiralty 1751–1763 (First Secretary from 1759) and was twice MP for Saltash, Devon (1741–1747 and 1754–1761) and for Sandwich in Kent (1747–1754). In about 1750 he purchased the
lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Bideford, which thenceforward descended with the Tapeley estate. He married three times. His 6th son was
Augustus Clevland Augustus Clevland (1754–1784) was an East India Company administrator in the Province of Bengal, a Collector of the Revenues and a Judge of the Dewanny Adawlut of the Districts of Bhagalpur and various others. He was very hostile towards t ...
(1754–1784), youngest son by his 3rd wife, an officer of the East India Company who rose to the high position of Collector of Bhagalpur, Bengal.


John Clevland (1734–1817)

John Clevland (1734–1817), of Tapeley, eldest son and heir by his father's first wife, was MP for
Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...
in seven parliaments and was Director of Greenwich Hospital. He married Elizabeth Stevens (1727–1792), the daughter and heiress of Richard Stevens (1702–1776) of Winscott, in the parish of
Peters Marland Peters Marland is a small village and civil parish in the local government district of Torridge, Devon, England. The parish, which lies about four miles south of the town of Great Torrington, is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes ...
, Devon, Member of Parliament for
Callington Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had inc ...
in Cornwall (1761–1768). He left no children and was pre-deceased by all five of his younger brothers and half-brothers. A mural monument to his wife survives in Peters Marland Church inscribed as follows:
To the memory of Mrs Elizabeth Clevland wife of John Clevland Esq., Member of Parliament for the Borough of Barnstaple (where he has been chosen six successive parliaments) and daughter of Richard Stevens of Winscott. She died 16 September 1792 aged 65 years.
Below is a white marble relief sculpted escutcheon showing the following arms: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Clevland; 2nd & 3rd: ''Vert, two bars engrailed between three leopard's faces or'' ( Child baronets, of the City of London (1685) (Child of Surat, East Indies and Dervill, Essex, Baronet, created 1684, extinct 1753), the arms of William Clevland's mother Elizabeth Child). Overall is an inescutcheon of pretence of Stevens: ''Per chevron azure and gules, in chief two falcons rising belled or''.


Saltren Willett (Clevland)


Augustus Saltren-Willett (1781–1849)

Col. Augustus Saltren-Willett (1781–1849), JP and DL for Devon, who following his inheritance assumed in 1847 by royal licence the surname and arms of Clevland in lieu of Willett. He was the great-nephew of John Clevland (1734–1817), being the son of Augustus Saltren-Willett (1760–1813) (who died at Tapeley in 1813 as his mural monument in Westleigh Church attests), builder of Port Hill House in Northam (by his wife Frances Davie of Orleigh) the son of William Saltren (the second son of Thomas Saltren of Stone in the parish of Parkham) by his wife Hester Clevland, the eldest full-blood sister of John Clevland (1734–1817). A younger branch of the Saltrens, of Treludick, in Cornwall, settled at Petticombe in the parish of Monkleigh, Devon before the middle of the seventeenth century and the mansion at Petticombe was rebuilt by John Saltren in about 1796. A monument to John Saltren (died 1794) of Petticombe survives in Monkleigh Church. The arms of Saltren were: ''Azure, a lion rampant within an orle of mullets argent''. William Saltren was the heir of John Willett (died 1736) of Combe in the parish of Abbotsham, the last male representative of that family, whose mural monument survives in Abbotsham Church. John Willett was responsible for the plasterwork dated 1616 at Coombe House and amongst the ancient benchends in Abbotsham Church is one with initials J.W. and the woolstapler's mark. William Saltren's eldest son Augustus Saltren adopted the additional surname Willett. In 1814 Augustus Saltren-Willett sold Port Hill House to Admiral Sir
Richard Goodwin Keats Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (16 January 1757 – 5 April 1834) was a British naval officer who fought throughout the American Revolution, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War. He retired in 1812 due to ill health and was made Comm ...
(1757–1834), Governor of Greenwich Hospital 1821–1834. At his death he was Lt. Col. of the
North Devon Militia The North Devon Militia, later the Devon Artillery Militia, was a part-time military unit in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. The Militia had always been important in the county, which was vulnerable to invasion, and from ...
and had fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 as an officer in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons. He married Margaret Caroline Chichester, a daughter of John Palmer Chichester (1769–1823) of
Arlington Court Arlington Court is a neoclassical style country house built 1820–23, situated in the parish of Arlington, next to the parish church of St James, miles NE of Barnstaple, north Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The park and ...
, Devon, by his 2nd wife Agnes Hamilton. His daughter Caroline Chichester Clevland, in 1857 married
William Wither Bramston Beach William Wither Bramston Beach (25 December 1826 – 3 August 1901) was an English Conservative politician, who served in the House of Commons for 44 years between 1857 and 1901, becoming Father of the House of Commons in 1899. Birth and educati ...
(1826–1901), MP, for which event the whole village of Westleigh was decorated and "£20 was distributed amongst the poor whilst tea was served to the ancient women of the village". His two
funeral hatchment A funerary hatchment is a depiction within a black lozenge-shaped frame, generally on a black ('' sable'') background, of a deceased's heraldic achievement, that is to say the escutcheon showing the arms, together with the crest and supporte ...
s survive in Westleigh Church, one showing the arms of Clevland alone, the other the arms of Clevland impaling Chichester (''Chequy or and gules, a chief vair''). Two mural monuments survive in his memory, one in Instow Church, the other in Westleigh Church. The latter is inscribed as follows:
Sacred to the memory of Augustus Clevland of Tapley in this parish, Lieutenant Colonel of the North Devon Militia and Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Devon. Died July 5th 1849 aged 68. He married June 1830 Margaret Caroline, daughter of Colonel Chichester of Arlington Court in this county, by whom he left issue Archibald his heir and two daughters. He was a man of the highest probity and honor, a most affectionate husband, a fond and judicious father, a sincere friend and one whose loss will not easily be replaced in the hearts of those who knew his worth. The early period of his life was passed in India. Subsequently he joined the Inniskilling Dragoons and was present with that regiment at the Battle of Waterloo. He succeeded in 1817 to the estates of his great-uncle John Clevland Esq.re of Tapley and shortly afterwards retired from the service, employing the remainder of his valuable life in the active discharge of all the duties of his position. As a magistrate and chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Barnstaple Union he displayed impartiality that never wavered, integrity above suspicion, placidity of temper and unaffected modesty of demeanour, combined with a sound judgement which won him the esteem and concilliated the good opinion of all classes. To his beloved memory this monument is erected by his widow as a lasting tribute of devoted affection.


Archibald Clevland (1833–1854)

Archibald Clevland Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements '' erchan'' (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious") and '' bald'' meaning "bold". Medieval forms include Old High German and Anglo-Saxon . Erkanbald, bishop ...
(1833–1854), of Tapeley, only son, a cornet in the 17th Lancers, who died aged 21 at the Battle of Inkerman, having just one month before been one of the few officers who survived the
Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to se ...
. He died unmarried and without children, and was therefore the last of the Clevland (and Saltren-Willett) family. Several monuments exist to his memory, including an elaborate sculpted and inscribed marble mural monument and a large stained glass window in Westleigh Church, and two monuments in the grounds of Tapeley Park, namely a 50-foot high obelisk (destroyed by lightning in 1933, with only the base remaining), and a statue erected near the lake by his mother, in the form of a mourning lady, with base inscribed as follows: :''Forgive blest shade the tear'', :''That mourns they exit from a world like this''. :''Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here'', :''And stayed thy progress to the realms of Bliss.''


Christie

*
William Langham Christie William Langham Christie (31 May 1830 – 28 November 1913) of Glyndebourne, Sussex, and Tapeley, North Devon, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. He was the son of Langham Christie, who had inherited Glyndebou ...
(1830–1913), of Glyndebourne in Sussex, elected Conservative MP for
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
, Sussex in 1874 & 1880, who in 1855 married Agnes Hamilton Clevland, eldest sister and co-heiress (with her sister Caroline Chichester Cleveland) of Archibald Clevland (1833–1854) of Tapeley. He was the grandson of Daniel Beat ''Christin'' (died 1809) of Vaud in Switzerland, who Anglicised his surname to Christie on entering the service of the Bombay Engineers, of the East India Company. Daniel rose to major and fought in the war against hyder Ali in Mysore. It is said by Lauder (2002) that he saved the ruler's harem from being robbed of jewels by British soldiers and was rewarded by the harem with a gift of the jewels. The ruler awarded him a further £20,000. Daniel married twice, firstly in 1784 to Charlotte Bellasis (died 1785), a daughter of Rev. George Bellasis, rector of Yattendon, Berkshire, which was without surviving children. Secondly in 1786 Daniel married Elizabeth Langham (died 1833), a daughter and co-heiress of Captain Purbeck Langham, 10th Dragoon Guards, of Glyndebourne and of
Saunton Saunton is a village located approximately two miles from Braunton on the North Devon coast in the South West of England. Several kilometres long, the village borders Braunton Burrows, the heart of North Devon's Biosphere Reserve, the first ...
(near Tapeley, apparently as a tenant of the Clevland family), youngest son of Sir John Langham, Baronet of Cottesbrooke Park, Northamptonshire. Daniel's eldest son by his 2nd marriage was Langham Christie (1789–1861) of Preston Deanery, Northamptonshire, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1852. In 1829 Langham married Elizabeth Gosling (died 1866), daughter of William Gosling of Hassobury Park, Bishops Stortford, Essex. Their eldest son was William Langham Christie, of Glyndebourne, husband of Agnes Hamilton Clevland, heiress of Tapeley. Agnes Clevland and her husband William Langham Christie rebuilt Tapeley Park with a "severe Victorian brick facade". *Augustus Langham Christie (1857–1930), son and heir, of Glyndebourne and Tapeley, lord of the manor of Instow (near Tapeley), JP and High Sheriff of Devon in 1911. In 1882 he married Lady Rosamond Wallop (died 1935), 3rd daughter of
Isaac Newton Wallop, 5th Earl of Portsmouth Isaac Newton Wallop, 5th Earl of Portsmouth DL JP(11 January 1825 – 4 October 1891) was a British Peer and the son of Newton Fellowes, 4th Earl of Portsmouth and Lady Catharine Fortescue. Early life Portsmouth was born as Isaac Newton Fell ...
(1825–1891) of Eggesford House, Wembworthy, Devon. The marriage was not happy, but nevertheless Lady Rosmond had a profound effect on Tapeley, and was responsible for creating the present re-modelled house and the landscaped gardens. She first saw the house in the winter of 1881 before her marriage and in her journal she described the house as it then was as "A Georgian stucco house, very plain and rather dreary in appearance, for many of the front windows had been blocked...the terrace walk and garden did not exist and the drive approached between iron railings". She moved to Tapeley in about 1886, four years after her marriage, and employed the architect John Belcher (1841–1913) to remodel the house in Queen Anne style, which work was carried out over time as finances allowed, before during and after World War I. She affixed a plaque to a wall of the house in his memory. She had effectively separated from her husband, who had become "eccentric", and who moved to the nearby family mansion of Saunton Court, later remodelled in the 1930s by
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
. As an act of revenge against his wife he attempted to bequeath his estates to a distant cousin in Canada, thus cutting out their son John. She overturned his will in the courts on the grounds that he had been of unsound mind at the time of its making. * John Christie (born 1882), born at Eggesford. He was assistant head master of Eton College and fought in World War I winning the Military Cross. He married the opera singer Grace Audrey Louisa St John-Mildmay, daughter of Rev. Aubrey Neville St John-Mildmay, and opened an opera house at Glyndebourne, thus founding the Glyndebourne Opera Festival. During World War II Tapeley was used as a home for children evacuated from Plymouth. It later served as a home for the Invalid Children's Aid Association, then as a hotel. John's eldest son and heir to Glyndebourne was Sir George Christie (born 1934) but he bequeathed Tapeley to his daughter Rosamund Christie. *Rosamund Christie (1933–1988), daughter of John Christie. *Hector Christie (born 1961), was bequeathed Tapeley by his aunt Rosamund. He is the eldest son of Sir George Christie (1934 – May 2014) of Glyndebourne. Shortly after his father's death in 2014 he and the estate's long-serving agent Raymond Coldwell parted company and he remarked: ::Raymond has given me the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I've not made it very easy for him, looking after the estate which was what I should have been doing. But the one thing that's constant in life is change. Now I'm going to be turning my attention to the estate, making it more open and accessible. We've got a lot of work to do on the property and we're going to have to borrow a lot of money. I'm going to play a more active role.North Devon Journal, 10 June 2014
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References


Sources

*Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, pp. 41–5, Christie of Tapeley Park *Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p. 408, pedigree of Clevland, appended to pedigree of Christie of Tapeley Park and Glyndebourne, pp. 407–8
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, 1858, Volume 3, pedigree of Clevland of Tapeley


External links


Tapeley Park and GardensTapeley Park and Gardens: The Sustainable Stately Home in the MakingTyped transcripts of monuments in Westleigh Church
{{coord, 51.0407, N, 4.1728, W, source:wikidata, display=title Country houses in Devon Gardens in Devon Grade II* listed buildings in Devon Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Devon