Columb John (today "Columbjohn") in the parish of Broadclyst in Devon, England, is a historic estate that was briefly the seat of the prominent Acland family which later moved to the adjacent estate of Killerton.
Nothing of the structure of the Acland mansion house survives except the arch to the gatehouse, dated about 1590, [1] and the private chapel, restored in 1851. The site of the former mansion house is one mile due west of Killerton House.
The Devon Domesday Book tenant-in-chief of Colum in 1068 was Fulchere, also known as "Fulchere the Bowman", one of the king's lesser tenants. He held it in demesne. [2] It passed to the Culme family and the estate was subsequently held by Reginald de Clifford. By the 13th century it was held by the Prideaux family until the Courtenay Earls of Devon acquired the estate from Sir John Prideaux. The estate was then granted to Richard Bampfield who died in 1430 with no male children, and thus the estate escheated to Thomas de Courtenay, 5th/13th Earl of Devon. It then passed through that family until Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, whose estates were forfeited to the Crown following his attainder and execution in 1538.
The estate was then granted by the Crown to George Basset (c.1524-c.1580), of Tehidy, and by the early 17th century it was held by the Acland family. Sir John Acland (c.1552-1620) built a new house there and next to it erected a private chapel which survives today as "St John's Chapel" having been restored or rebuilt in 1851. [3] It is a grade II listed building. [4] The estate was inherited by Hugh Acland (c.1543–1622) (elder brother and heir of John). He was predeceased by his eldest son and heir, Sir Arthur Acland, who therefore never inherited Acland, but who was granted by his father the estate of Columb John.
Arthur's son, Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet abandoned the ancient family seat of Acland in favour of Columb John, which he had inherited from his great-uncle Sir John Acland (d.1620). He also purchased the adjoining estate of Killerton. Before the start of the Civil War he was appointed by King Charles I as one of 28 Commissioners of Array for Devon, in which role he raised two regiments for the King. The mansion house served as a garrison for Royalist troops, and played a key role for that side as described by Clarendon in his History of the Rebellion : [5]
The Royalist position improved in 1643 and Columb John ceased to be an isolated Royalist outpost when Prince Maurice and his army reached the area in the summer of that year. [6] Acland was awarded a baronetcy, of Columb John in the County of Devonshire, and was appointed Sheriff of Devon by King Charles I in 1644. [7] In 1645 Sir John was one of those present in the City of Exeter during the siege by Parliamentarian forces commanded by Generals Cromwell and Fairfax, who made Columb John their headquarters during the siege. The Parliamentarian troops were " a civilised lot, who paid for what they took, and ... knew how to behave like gentlemen even to their enemies. Sir John Acland's wife wrote to Cromwell as follows: "I received such ample testimony of your love when you were pleased to quarter at my house as that I cannot sufficiently express my thankfulness for the same". [7] Whilst quartered at Columb John Cromwell and Fairfax offered very reasonable terms to the City that it surrendered on 13 April 1646 and all civilians and soldiers, including Sir John Acland, were permitted to march out honourably with colours flying, provided they laid down arms and took the national covenant of loyalty to Parliament. Acland was fined heavily for his delinquency, at £1,727 (later tripled), which was the fourth largest fine suffered in Devon. [8]
Upon his death in 1647, he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Francis Acland, 2nd Baronet, who survived his father only a short time. He died unmarried so the estate passed to his younger brother Sir John Acland, 3rd Baronet (d. 1655). In 1654, he married Margaret Rolle, daughter of Denys Rolle (1614–1638) of Stevenstone. His son and heir, Sir Arthur Acland, 4th Baronet died as a minor in 1672 and was succeeded by his uncle Sir Hugh Acland, 5th Baronet. He demolished the mansion house at Columb John and made adjacent Killerton his principal seat, which house he enlarged, possibly using some of the stonework from Columb John. [9] Columb John thus became merged into the estate of Killerton.
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet was a British politician and baronet.
Beaford is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village is about five miles south-east of Great Torrington, on the A3124 road towards Exeter. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 393, compared to 428 in 1901. The western boundary of the parish is formed by the River Torridge and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of St Giles in the Wood, Roborough, Ashreigney, Dolton, Merton and Little Torrington.
Trerice is an historic manor in the parish of Newlyn East, near Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The surviving Tudor manor house known as Trerice House is located at Kestle Mill, three miles east of Newquay. The house with its surrounding garden has been owned by the National Trust since 1953 and is open to the public. The house is a Grade I listed building. The two stone lions on the front lawn are separately listed, Grade II. The garden features an orchard with old varieties of fruit trees.
Colonel John Dyke Acland, of Tetton and Pixton in Somerset, was Tory Member of Parliament for Callington in Cornwall and fought in the American War of Independence in 1776.
Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet of Acland in the parish of Landkey and of Columb John in Devon, England, was a Royalist commander in the Civil War, during the early part of which he maintained a garrison for the king on his estate of Columb John. He was created a baronet in 1644 for his support, but the letters patent were lost or never finalised and the dignity was not confirmed until 1677/8, long after his death. He compounded with Parliament for his estate in 1646 and died the following year.
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet of Killerton in Devon and Petherton Park in Somerset, was Member of Parliament for Devon, 1746–1747, for Somerset, 1767–1768, and was High Sheriff of Somerset in 1751. He was a prominent member of the West Country gentry, and a famous staghunter who used as his hunting seats his wife's Exmoor estates of Pixton and Holnicote.
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet of Killerton in Devon and Holnicote in Somerset, was a prominent landowner and member of the West Country gentry. He was especially noted for his passion for staghunting, in which respect he took after his father. Like his father he was known locally in Devon and Somerset as "Sir Thomas his Honour".
Bicton House, or Bickton House, is a late 18th- or early 19th-century country house, which stands on the campus of Bicton College, Bicton, near Exmouth, East Devon. It is a Grade II* listed building. The park and gardens are Grade I listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Sir John Acland of Columb John in the parish of Broadclyst, Devon, was an English knight, landowner, philanthropist, Member of Parliament and Sheriff of Devon. He was one of John Prince's Worthies of Devon.
John Acland was described as "the first of the [Acland] family to emerge from the shadows of history as a visible human being". His great-grandson was the Royalist colonel Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet of Columb John. Little if anything is known of his life and career, he was possibly a minor Tudor official, but he is chiefly remembered for his surviving portrait which is displayed at Killerton House, the earliest surviving image of an Acland and one of the most cherished in that family's former collection, now owned by the National Trust.
Sir Arthur Acland (1573–1610) of Acland in the parish of Landkey, Devon, was a member of the Devonshire gentry, and was knighted in 1606. Little is known of his life and career, but his monumental inscription survives above his monument in Landkey Church. His son was Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet. He was ancestor to the prominent, wealthy and long-enduring Acland family of Killerton, which survives today in the direct male line.
The estate of Acland in the parish of Landkey, near Barnstaple in North Devon, England, was from 1155 the earliest known seat of the influential and wealthy family of Acland, to which it gave the surname de Acland. It is situated about 3/4 mile north-east of the village of Landkey, from which it is now cut off by the busy A361 North Devon Link Road.
Tetton is an historic estate in the parish of Kingston St Mary in the English county of Somerset. The present grade II* listed Tetton House dates from 1790 and was enlarged and mainly rebuilt in 1924–6 by Hon. Mervyn Herbert (1882–1929) to the design of the architect Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel.
Creedy is an historic estate in the parish of Sandford, near Crediton in Devon. It is named from its location on the west side of the River Creedy. It was the seat of the Davie family from about 1600 until the late 20th century. The mansion house on the estate has been called at various times New House, Creedy House, and as presently, Creedy Park. It was first built in about 1600, rebuilt in 1846, burnt down in 1915 and rebuilt 1916–21. It is surrounded by a large park, the boundary of which is enclosed by a stone and brick wall several miles long.
Sharpham is an historic estate in the parish of Ashprington, Devon. The Georgian mansion house, known as Sharpham House, overlooks the River Dart and is a Grade I listed building. The house was commenced in about 1770 by the Royal Navy captain Philemon Pownoll to the designs of the architect Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788). In the opinion of Nikolaus Pevsner it contains "one of the most spectacular and daring later 18th century staircase designs anywhere in England". The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Part of the descent of Sharpham is shown on the Palmes family heraldic pedigree roll.
Mount Radford is an historic estate in the parish of St Leonards, adjacent to the east side of the City of Exeter in Devon.
Hawkridge in the parish of Chittlehampton in North Devon, England, is an historic estate, anciently the seat of a junior branch of the Acland family which originated at nearby Acland, in the parish of Landkey and later achieved great wealth and prominence as the Acland Baronets of Killerton, near Exeter. The former mansion house is today a farmhouse known as Hawkridge Barton, a grade II* listed building. The Devon historian Hoskins (1959) stated of Hawkridge: "Externally there is nothing remarkable except a decaying avenue of ancient walnuts, so often the first indication of a 16th or 17th century mansion". The interior contains a fine plaster heraldic overmantel showing the arms of Acland impaling Tremayne, representing the 1615 marriage of Baldwin Acland (1593–1659) of Hawkridge and Elizabeth Tremayne.
Woolleigh is an historic estate in the parish of Beaford, Devon. The surviving mansion house known as Woolleigh Barton, situated 1 3/4 miles north-west of the parish church of Beaford, is a grade II* listed building, long used as a farmhouse. It incorporates remains of a "very fine example of a late Medieval manor house" and retains a "very rich" 15th century wagon roof, a garderobe with the original door, and an attached private chapel with a 17th-century roof.
The Drewe family of Broadhembury are generation owners and inhabitants of The Grange, Sharpham, Broadhembury, Wadhurst Park, Devon, in the west and east of England, from the 16th century to the current date.
The descent of the Holnicote estate in Somerset, England, is as follows: