Huntsham

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Huntsham
Devon

The war memorial, Huntsham
Location
Grid reference: ST005204
Location: 50°58’29"N, 3°25’8"W
Data
Population: 138  (2001)
Post town: Tiverton
Postcode: EX16
Dialling code: 01398
Local Government
Council: Mid Devon
Parliamentary
constituency:
Tiverton and Honiton

Huntsham is a small village in Devon, six miles north-east of its nearest town, Tiverton.

The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Bampton, Hockworthy, Uplowman and Tiverton;[1] it is bounded on the east by the River Lowman and by a minor road on Bampton Down to the north-west, where it reaches a maximum height of 914 feet. In 2001 the population of the parish was 138, down from 222 in 1901.[2]

Parish church

The parish church is All Saints Church.[3]

The church (which is a Grade II* listed building)[4] has a tower believed to be of the 14th century. The rest of the churh, and the upper part of its tower, was completely rebuilt in by Benjamin Ferrey in 1854-1856, in a thorough-going restoration.

History

On the southern border of the parish is an Iron Age fort, known as Huntsham Castle.

According to the Domesday Book, Huntsham was held by the priest Alric before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and afterwards it was held in demesne as one of the 24 holdings of Odo Son of Gamelin.[5]

According to the antiquarian William Pole, by 1242 the manor was held by the de Stanton family, and in 1307 by Peter de Dunsland.[6] Pole further states that in 1309 Robert Beare was the owner,[7] from whom the descent of the manor has been traced through that family[8][9] to Thomas Bere (1652–1725), who moved out to Morebath.

During the eighteenth century Huntsham was purchased firstly by the Lucas family, and then by the Troyte family, of which William Troyte was the owner in 1801,[10] and Thomas Troyte in 1810,[11] though his heir and successor, his younger brother Edward, largely abandoned the estate and left the Tudor manor house and the adjacent parish church in a poor state of repair.[12]

Edward left the estate to his kinsman Arthur Henry Dyke Acland (1811–1857) (who in accordance with the terms of the bequest assumed by royal licence the name and arms of Troyte). In 1854 he engaged Benjamin Ferrey to restore the All Saints Church, Huntsham|parish church.[13] After Arthur Acland Troyte’s death in 1857 his son demolished the old manor house and built the present country house, Huntsham Court, to Ferrey's design.[12] After Charles's death the manor passed to his second son Hugh Leonard Acland-Troyte (1870–1918), who was killed in the First World War, then to Charles's third son, Sir Gilbert Acland-Troyte (1876–1964) who dying childless left the estate to his nephew John Acland-Troyte (1914–1988) who died without heir and thus ended the families connection to Huntsham.[12]

About the village

Near to the church is the former manor house, Huntsham Court, which was built by Benjamin Ferrey, who also restored the church, in 1868–70. It is now a Grade II* listed building.[14]

Many of the buildings in Huntsham village were built to service the house at the turn of the 20th century.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Huntsham)

References

  1. "Map of Devon Parishes". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf. Retrieved 20 June 2013. 
  2. Harris, Helen (2004). A Handbook of Devon Parishes. Tiverton: Halsgrove. p. 89. ISBN 1-84114-314-6. 
  3. Diocese of Exeter - Hunstham
  4. Church of All Saints - British Listed Buildings
  5. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Part 1, section 42.23, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985.
  6. Pole, p.213 (regnal years 27 Henry III and 1 Edward II)
  7. Pole, p.213 (regnal year 3 Edward II)
  8. Pole, p.213
  9. Vivian, pp.59–61, pedigree of Bere
  10. Journals of the Reverend John Swete (published in Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, ed. Todd Gray & Margery Rowe, 1999)
  11. Risdon, Tristram: 'A Survey of Devon' (1632), 1810 edition, p 370
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Huntsham – History of Troyte Family". Troyte Ringing Centre. http://www.genuki.org.uk/files/eng/DEV/Huntsham/TroyteFamilyHistory.pdf. Retrieved 29 May 2016. (Hosted on GENUKI)
  13. Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8page 497
  14. National Heritage List 1169316: Huntsham Court
  • Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791
  • Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895