Ugbrooke House is a stately home in the parish of Chudleigh, Devon, England, situated in a valley between Exeter and Newton Abbot. The home of the Clifford family, the house and grounds are available for guided tours in summer and as an event venue.
Ugbrooke House is a stately home in the parish of Chudleigh, Devon, England, situated in a valley between Exeter and Newton Abbot. The home of the Clifford family, the house and grounds are available for guided tours in summer and as an event venue.
It dates back over 900 years, having featured in the Domesday Book of 1086. Before the Reformation the land belonged to the Church and the house was occupied by Precentors to the Bishop of Exeter. The property came into the possession of the Courtenays of Powderham Castle. In 1604 it passed to Thomas Clifford, grandson of the widow of Piers Courtnay. [1] It has been the seat of the Clifford family for over four hundred years, and the owners have held the title Baron Clifford of Chudleigh since 1672.
The house, now a Grade I listed building, was remodelled by Robert Adam, while the grounds were redesigned by Capability Brown in 1761. [2] The grounds featured what were possibly the earliest plantings of the European White Elm, Ulmus laevis , in the UK. [3] The gardens are now Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [4]
On 14 June 1796 Thomas Weld of Lulworth Castle, a member of an old recusant family, married, at Ugbrooke, Lucy Bridget Clifford, granddaughter of the 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh. On the death of his wife (1815) and the marriage of his only daughter to the 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1818), with no further family responsibilities he became a priest (1821), and kept a poor orphanage in London. Asked for as Bishop of Upper Canada, he was consecrated in 1826 at St Edmund's College, Ware, but his daughter's failing health delayed his departure for Canada, and he resigned his vicariate. In 1830, while visiting Rome, he was raised to the cardinalate. [5]
Lewis Henry Hugh Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1851–1916), was an aide-de-camp to Edward VII and entertained royalty, both Edward VII and George V, at Ugbrooke Park. [6] During the Second World War, the house was requisitioned as a school. [7]
Originally an Anglican Chapel, it was rededicated in 1673 when Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, became a Catholic. Subsequent Barons added a Lady Chapel, Baptistry, and an organ loft. [7] The Dominican Father James Dominic Darbyshire came to Ugbrooke and remained there until his death in 1757. Catholics in the area came to St. Cyprian's for services. In 1813, there were about 100 in attendance, served by a French émigré priest Felix Vauquelin, who lived at Ugbrooke. Priests in residence at Ugbrooke were responsible for tutoring the Clifford children, and providing pastoral care to the surrounding communities. [8] The Synod which set out the organisation of the new Plymouth diocese took place there in 1854. [9] Eventually parishes were established in Bovey Tracey and Chudleigh. Ugbrooke retains close ties with Buckfast Abbey in Devon, founded in part through the generosity of the 9th Baron.
The house and gardens are open to the public for a limited number of days each summer for guided tours. Refreshments are available at the Orangery Tearoom, including a Devon cream tea.
As part of Holy Spirit Parish in Bovey Tracey, Mass continues to this day, every Sunday morning at 8.45am. [10]
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.
Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, of Chudleigh in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Thomas Clifford. The title was created as "Clifford of Chudleigh" rather than simply "Clifford" to differentiate it from several other Clifford Baronies previously created for members of this ancient family, including the Barony of de Clifford (1299), which is extant but now held by a branch line of the Russell family, having inherited through several female lines.
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh was an English statesman who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1672 when he was created Baron Clifford. He was one of five leading politicians who formed the Cabal ministry between 1668 and 1674 in the reign of Charles II.
Hugh Charles Clifford, 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh was a British peer. He inherited the title from his father on 29 April 1831.
Bovey Tracey is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, on the edge of Dartmoor, its proximity to 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". It is about 10 miles south-west of Exeter and 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 this ward was 7,721.
Hugh Clifford, 2nd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh was an English aristocrat.
Hugh Clifford, 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh of Ugbrooke House near Chudleigh in Devon, was a peer.
Chudleigh is an ancient wool town located within the Teignbridge District Council area of Devon, England between Newton Abbot and Exeter. The electoral ward with the same name had a population of 1,488 at the 2011 census.
Thomas Weld was an English landowner who renounced his assets to enter the priesthood. He was consecrated bishop and cardinal.
Elize Hele (1560–1635) of Fardel in the parish of Cornwood, Devon and of Parke in the parish of Bovey Tracey, Devon, was an English lawyer and philanthropist. In 1632 he transferred his lands into a trust intended for "pious uses", from which charitable action and in order to distinguish him from his many prominent relations, he became known to posterity as "Pious Uses Hele", which his biographer Prince looked upon "as a more honourable appellation than the greatest empty title". The trustees included his wife, together with John Hele and a number of friends. The trust was used to create a number of schools in Devon including Plympton Grammar School.
Mamhead is a rural village and civil parish near Dawlish and Kenton in Devon, South West England, in the Teignbridge local authority area. Current community venues include Mamhead Village Hall and The Church of England parish church, dedicated to St Thomas the Apostle,
George Oliver (1781–1861) was an English Roman Catholic priest and a historian of Exeter, Devon, England, and its environs.
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.
Parke is an historic estate in the parish of Bovey Tracey in Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Parke House, a grade II listed building situated 1/2 mile west of the centre of the town of Bovey Tracey and on the opposite side of the River Bovey, was rebuilt in 1826/8 by William Hole (1799-1859) and is today the headquarters of the Dartmoor National Park Authority.
Hams is an historic estate situated within the parish of Chudleigh in Devon. The surviving remnant of the former mansion house of the Hunt family, known as Hams Barton is a grade II* listed building, situated one mile north-east of the town of Chudleigh, near Kate Brook.
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.
Southcott is a surname of an ancient and prominent family from the English counties of Devon and Cornwall.
John Southcote of Bovey Tracey was an English landowner and Member of Parliament, of the prominent Southcott family of Devon and Cornwall.
Chudleigh Town Hall is a municipal building in Market Way, Chudleigh, Devon, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Chudleigh Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.
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