Blachford Manor is a country house in Cornwood in Devon. It was the seat of the Rogers family. [1] It is owned by the financier Alexander Darwall. The house is at the centre of a 4,000 acre estate. [2]
It is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. [3] It was originally constructed in the 16th century, but extensively rebuilt in the 18th and early 19th centuries. [1] The landscaped grounds were originally a deer park and were laid out in the 19th century, with the lake being created in 1827 by James Green. [1]
The house has been noted by several antiquarians of Devon. In 1806 Richard Polwhele described Blachford as "well merits particular attention. Its situation is rather low and water too near the house but its extensive lawn and the groups of trees have a pleasing effect". [1] In 1850 William White describe the house as a "large substantial mansion, in a delightful situation, commanding fine views". [1] Frederick Stockdale wrote that it was "a spacious mansion-surrounded by an extensive demesne containing a variety of beautiful romantic scenes of an Alpine character". [1]
A dispute over access to the estate between the Dartmoor National Park Authority and Darwall reached the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in October 2024. [4]
Devon 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 west. The city of Plymouth is the largest settlement, and the city of Exeter is the county town.
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers 954 km2 (368 sq mi).
Princetown is a village located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the principal settlement of the civil parish of Dartmoor Forest.
Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. Exmoor is more precisely defined as the area of the former ancient royal hunting forest, also called Exmoor, which was officially surveyed 1815–1818 as 18,810 acres (7,610 ha) in extent. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and 55 km (34 mi) of the Bristol Channel coast. The total area of the Exmoor National Park is 692.8 km2 (267.5 sq mi), of which 71% is in Somerset and 29% in Devon.
South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Totnes, although the largest town is Ivybridge. The district also contains the towns of Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Salcombe and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.
Moretonhampstead is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Drewsteignton, Dunsford, Bridford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, North Bovey and Chagford.
Tavistock is an ancient stannary and market town in West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards had a population of 13,028. The town traces its recorded history back to at least 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.
Ivybridge is a town and civil parish in the South Hams, in Devon, England. It lies about thirteen miles east of Plymouth. It is at the southern extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England and Wales and lies along the A38 "Devon Expressway" road. There are two electoral wards in Ivybridge East and Ivybridge West with a total population of 11,851.
Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Teignbridge contains part of the south Devon coastline, including the Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve. Some of the inland western parts of the district lie within the Dartmoor National Park. It is named after the old Teignbridge hundred.
Bovey Tracey is a town and civil parish in Devon, England. It is located on the edge of Dartmoor, 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. About 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Exeter, it lies on the A382 road, about halfway between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead. The village is at the centre of the electoral ward of Bovey. At the 2011 census, the population of the ward was 7,721.
Devon has the 19th largest economy in England out of 46 ceremonial counties. Situated in the region of South West England, it is a maritime county. Like neighbouring Cornwall to the west, Devon is disadvantaged economically compared to other parts of southern England, owing to the decline of a number of core industries, notably fishing, mining and farming. Consequently, most of Devon has qualified for the European Community's Objective 2 status, particularly around Exmoor, Bideford Bay and the Hartland Point peninsula which is somewhat cut off from industrial Britain due to poor road and rail transport links. These areas of North Devon are, however, only around 50 miles (80 km) by boat from Swansea in Wales. A proposal which has the backing of both the Welsh Assembly Government and the South West Regional Assembly, as well as Devon County Council, is a year-round ferry service from either Ilfracombe or Bideford to Swansea, which it is hoped would stimulate economic growth in both south-west Wales and the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall.
Cornwood is a village and civil parish in the South Hams in Devon, England. The parish has a population of 988. The village is part of the electoral ward called Cornwood and Sparkwell. The ward population at the 2011 census was 2,321.
Ditsworthy Warren House is a Grade II listed building near Sheepstor in Devon, England. It is an isolated building on the south-western edge of Dartmoor, and was built for the keeper of the rabbit warren near the house. It was used in 2010 as a filming location for the Steven Spielberg film, War Horse.
Dendles Wood is an area of protected oak-beech woodland located on the southern edge of Dartmoor, in the English county of Devon. Forming part of the Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation, the wood is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and 30 hectares of it has been designated a national nature reserve. It is one of five woodlands within Dartmoor that have been protected as national nature reserves. Dendles Wood and the adjacent Hawns Wood are sometimes known collectively as Hawns and Dendles. The wood supports a variety of flora and fauna, representative of upland oakwoods. In particular, it has a rich variety of moss and lichen, and several breeding bird species.
Bovey Castle, formerly the Manor House Hotel, is a large early 20th-century mansion on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, near Moretonhampstead, Devon, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is now a hotel with 59 individually designed bedrooms in the hotel and 22 three-storey country lodges nearby.
Teigngrace is a civil parish centred on a hamlet that lies about two miles north of the town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. According to the 2001 census, its population was 235, compared to 190 a century earlier. The western boundary of the parish mostly runs along the A382 road; its short northern boundary along the A38; and its eastern partly along the rivers Bovey and Teign. It comes to a point at its southern extremity, near Newton Abbot Racecourse. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Bovey Tracey, Kingsteignton, Newton Abbot and a small part of Ilsington.
Great Bidlake Manor is a manor house in the parish of Bridestowe on the north western edge of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. It has been listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England since November 1951.
Spitchwick is an historic estate situated within the parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, 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.
Fardel is a historic manor in the parish of Cornwood, in the South Hams district of Devon. It was successively the seat of the Raleigh and Hele families. The surviving Grade I listed medieval manor house is situated about half-way between Cornwood and Ivybridge, just outside the Dartmoor National Park on its south-western border.
Alexander Frederick Clifford Darwall is a British landowner and hedge fund manager. He is notable for having roles in several large investment companies, his donations to UKIP, the Vote Leave campaign, and for legal action to limit public access to his land in Dartmoor.