Boringdon Hall [1] is a 16th-century Grade I listed [2] manor house in the parish of Colebrook, about two miles north of Plympton, Devon.
Boringdon Hall [1] is a 16th-century Grade I listed [2] manor house in the parish of Colebrook, about two miles north of Plympton, Devon.
The oldest parts of the present house were said by John Britton (1771–1857) to have been built about the middle of the 14th century. Britton believed the main entrance porch, consisting of a semicircular arch with Norman-style cable mouldings, to be of ancient date, brought from some neighbouring church, or even Plympton Castle. Due to subsequent alterations the building is difficult to date accurately, and Nikolaus Pevsner states it to be "irritating for the historian" as it incorporates a multitude of imported period features and materials, giving it "a superficially convincing instant patina".
The house was described by Polwhele in the 18th century as "ruinous". In about 1800 the whole range east of the entrance porch was demolished, and by 1980 only the walls were standing. In 1986 the restoration of the building began on completion of which it has been used as a hotel.
The double-height great hall survives largely intact, and is situated to the left from the now-lost screens passage on entering the porch. Two double-height windows are situated on the south side of the Hall, whilst on the north side is the large granite fireplace, on the lintel of which is carved the arms of Parker, and above which on the chimney breast is a very large ornamental plaster depiction of the royal coat of arms of King Charles I (1625–1649), dated to 1640. On either side of the arms are larger-than-lifesize female figures, to the viewer's left, Peace, and to the right the figure of Plenty, holding a cornucopia.
Many of the door-frames are of granite, yet are not in their original positions, for example that now forming the entrance to the great hall from the screens passage, which has been removed, was formerly in the south-east room, where it had been used as a fireplace. [3] The ornate plaster ceiling of the great hall is said by Pevsner to be a modern pastiche, albeit well-executed. At each end of the hall is a gallery.
Boringdon Arch, a Roman-style triumphal arch designed by Robert Adam, was built in 1783 on the way connecting Boringdon Hall to Saltram House owned by the same family. It is located about 1 mile west of Boringdon Hall at the entrance to Boringdon Park Golf Club in Plymbridge Road. It is grade II listed, and was offered for sale in 2014, but no buyers were found. It is in a state of disrepair, and is on the English Heritage at Risk Register. [4] [5]
In about 956 the Saxon King Edgar (959–75) granted the royal manors of Boringdon and Wembury to Plympton Priory of St Peter. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries King Henry VIII granted Boringdon to Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton. In 1549 Wriothesley sold the manor to Richard Mayhew (or "Mayhowe" etc.), gentleman, of Tavistock, Devon. In 1582 Richard Mayhew's granddaughter Frances Mayhew, daughter and heiress of Jeronemy Mayhew, became the wife of John Parker (1563–1610) of North Molton in North Devon. [6]
Boringdon remained in the ownership of the Parker family, later Barons Boringdon and Earls of Morley, until the 20th century. John Parker and his wife the Mayhew heiress completed their re-modelling of the house in 1587. The family expanded the nearby village of Colebrooke to house their estate workers. During the Civil War the Parkers remained loyal to the King, and Cromwell's soldiers demolished the whole part of the house to the east of the entrance porch and screens passage, rebuilt in the 20th century. It is possible that this is the house in which Charles I himself stayed on 11 November 1642, when he is recorded as 'being at Colebrook'. [7] In 1712 the Parkers acquired the nearby manor of Saltram on which they built Saltram House, described by Pevsner as "the most impressive house in Devon", which became their principal residence. Boringdon thus began its period of decline, and was serving as a farm-house in the 1920s, although still owned by the Parker family.
In 1951 the Parkers incurred a heavy liability to death duties following the death of Edmund Robert Parker, 4th Earl of Morley (1877–1951) and in 1957 gave Saltram, with all its contents and 291 acres, to the National Trust in lieu of tax.
Boringdon Hall was bought by Patrick Cotter, the 7th Baronet of Rockforest, who lived there in the 1960s. [8] [9] Boringdon was later sold to Paul Chapman who converted it into a hotel. It suffered a major fire in March 1989.
In January 2011 the property was offered for sale for £3 million. It consisted of a 41 bedroom hotel, with 4 banqueting suites and 7 acres of land. It was bought by the Nettleton Collection of hotels. As of 2016 it was the leading hotel in the area with a spa - Gaia spa due for completion in July 2016.
Earl of Morley, of Morley in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Parker, 2nd Baron Boringdon. At the same time he was created Viscount Boringdon, of North Molton in the County of Devon, which is used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to the earldom. It does not seem to have any connection with Baron Morley of Morley in Norfolk, held by another Parker family in the 16th century.
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 Plymouth and was the seat of Plympton Priory the most significant local landholder for many centuries.
Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era house in Plympton, Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The house was designed by the architect Robert Adam, who altered and greatly expanded the original Tudor house on two occasions. The Saloon is considered one of Adam's finest interiors. Saltram is one of Britain's best preserved examples of an early Georgian house, and retains much of its original décor, plasterwork and furnishings. It contains the Parker family's large collection of paintings, including several by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), who was born and educated at Plympton, and was a friend of the Parker family.
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Baron Morley was a title in the peerage of England. On 29 December 1299 William Morley, lord of the manor of Morley Saint Botolph in Norfolk, was summoned to Parliament, regarded as the creation of a hereditary barony. At the death of the sixth baron in 1443, the title was inherited by his daughter Eleanor Morley, the wife of Sir William Lovel, who was summoned to parliament as Baron Morley in right of his wife and died in 1476, shortly before her. It was then inherited by their son Henry Lovel, following whose death in 1489 it came to his sister Alice Lovel, who was married to Henry Parker. The title was then held by her descendants in the Parker family until 1697 when, on the death of the fifteenth baron without children, the title came to an end.
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John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon was a British peer and Member of Parliament.
John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley FRS, known as 2nd Baron Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician.
Haigh Hall is a historic country house in Haigh, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Built between 1827 and 1840 for James Lindsay, 7th Earl of Balcarres, it replaced an ancient manor house and was a Lindsay family home until 1947, when it was sold to Wigan Corporation. The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building and is owned by Wigan Council.
Sir John Fowell, 2nd Baronet of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, was thrice elected a Member of Parliament for Ashburton in Devon, between 1659 and 1677. He fought in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War and following the Restoration of the Monarchy was appointed in 1666 by King Charles II Vice-Admiral of Devon.
Sir John Fowell, 3rd Baronet of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1689 to 1692.
Sir John Davie, 2nd Baronet (1612–1678) of Creedy in the parish of Sandford, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Tavistock, Devon, in 1661 and was Sheriff of Devon from 1670 to 1671.
Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh in Devon is a Grade II* listed Georgian house set in parkland. It was built in the 1770s by John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735–1788) of Saltram House, Plympton, and has early 19th-century alterations. It is situated 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) north of Chudleigh, at the foot of the Haldon Hills. The house had formerly a 5-bay north-east wing, a service range and a separate 19th-century service block to the rear, all demolished since 1962.
Collaton St Mary is a village, parish and former manor in Devon, England, situated about 2 miles (3 km) west of the town of Paignton. The village is bisected by the A385 Paignton to Totnes road. The parish is now administered within the unitary authority of Torbay, Devon.
Blagdon historically in the parish of Paignton in Devon, England (today in the parish of Collaton St Mary), is a historic Manor, the seat of the Kirkham family from the 13th to 17th centuries. The manor house known as Blagdon Manor (House) (or Blagdon Barton) survives as a grade II* listed building about two miles west of the historic centre of the town of Paignton, situated behind the "Blagdon Inn" public house (former stables), and almost surrounded by the "Devon Hills Holiday Park" of caravans and mobile homes, set-back at the end of a short driveway off the A385 Paignton to Totnes road. The settlements or farms of Higher Blagdon, Middle Blagdon and Lower Blagdon are situated to the north of the manor house.
Montagu Edmund Parker (1737–1813) of Whiteway House, near Chudleigh and of Blagdon in the parish of Paignton, both in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1789. Portraits of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds and John Downman survive at Saltram House.
Whiteway is an historic estate in the parish of Kingsteignton, Devon. It should be distinguished from Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh, Devon, 4 3/4 miles (7.6 km) to the north, in the 18th century a seat of the Parker family of Saltram.
Henry Villiers Parker, Viscount Boringdon was a British nobleman.
Croker's Hele is an historic estate in the parish of Meeth in Devon, England.
