The Grange, Broadhembury
| The Grange | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 The Grange | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST09280421 |
| Location: | 50°49’49"N, 3°17’22"W |
| Village: | Broadhembury |
| History | |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Ben Andersen |
The Grange is a country house in the parish of Broadhembury in Devon, and the manor house of an estate also known as 'The Grange'.
The house is of the 16th century, and is Grade I listed.[1]
History
The estate served originally as the grange of nearby Dunkeswell Abbey, the lands of which were sold off by the Crown following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The manor of Broadhembury was amongst these possessions and was acquired from the Crown by Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton (1505-1550), whose grandson sold it to Edward Drew (c.1542–1598).[2]
Edward Drew purchased the manor of Broadhembury including the lands and buildings of the grange of Dunkeswell Abbey. His descendants held the estate until 1903, when Arthur Charles Edward Locke, of Northmoor, sold The Grange to the Drewe family.
At some time before 1927[3] the 17th-century carved and highly decorative oak panelling of the room in the south crosswing was purchased by the art dealer "Charles of London" and was shipped to its New York showroom where it was purchased by the tycoon William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), who placed the panelling in warehouse storage together with many other such purchases.[4] Reference to these warehouses is made in the famous 1941 film Citizen Kane:[5]
- "Contents of Kane's palace: paintings, pictures, statues, the very stones of many another palace, shipped to Florida from every corner of the earth, from other Kane houses, warehouses, where they mouldered for years. Enough for ten museums - the loot of the world."
(The panelling is still in America, now in the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.)[6][1]
In the late 1990s, The Grange was purchased by Ben Andersen, the husband of television personality and property consultant Kirstie Allsopp.[7]The gardens of The Grange were featured in the 2017 book The Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley and photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas.[8][9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Heritage List 1098064: The Grange
- ↑ Pole, p.182
- ↑ Listed in Charles of London catalogue, 1927
- ↑ 'The William Randolph Hearst Archive: An Emerging Opportunity for Digital Art Research and Scholarship': Catherine Larkin, Long Island University, pp.1-2
- ↑ Screenplay Citizen Kane, spoken by The Narrator
- ↑ Harris, John: 'Moving Rooms: the Trade in Architectural Salvages' (2007) p.24
- ↑ Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, whose members were invited to view the Grange by Kirstie Allsopp on 29 August 2009 [1]
- ↑ Summerley and Rittson Thomas, 2017 pg. 12
- ↑ Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, Vol.3, 1904-5, pp. 41–4, 73
- Summerley, Victoria, and Rittson Thomas, Hugo: 'The Secret Gardeners' (Francis Lincoln, 2017) ISBN 9780711237636
Further reading
- Country Life magazine, Vol.16, 1904, p. 162