Oxton House
| Oxton House | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Oxton House | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX92878259 |
| Location: | 50°37’59"N, 3°30’58"W |
| History | |
| Built 1781 | |
| For: | Rev John Swete |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted into apartments |
Oxton in the parish of Kenton in southern Devon is a historic estate long held by the Martyn family, a junior branch of the Norman family of FitzMartin, feudal barons of Barnstaple.
Oxton House is a Grade II listed building. The park and gardens are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[1]
Features
- Hermitage: The Rev. Swete created a Gothic hermitage within a quarry on the estate, now a Grade II listed structure. It comprises a chamber with a small window with bench and pillow cut from the stone, reached by an arched entrance.
- A picturesque ruined Gothic arch was built by Rev. Swete to the north of the lodge in about 1790, but was demolished in the mid 20th century.
History
Nicholas II Tripe (1711-1790) of Ashburton, was a surgeon and inherited Oxton in 1767 from his mother's family. The Rev John Swete (1752-1821), clergyman, landowner, artist, antiquary, historian and topographer and author of the Picturesque Sketches of Devon was the eldest son and heir of Nicholas II Tripe, but changed his name to 'Swete' in accordance with the terms of a bequest. He moved to Oxton in 1775 and resided there for six years at which point as he reminisced in 1792:[2]
In the year 1781 I took down the old edifice...and on the self same spot I erected the present house - doing this not without due deliberation, for I then thought it was the most eligible situation on the estate, and after a lapse of ten years I think the same
In 1848 Oxton was purchased by Lt. General Edward Mortlock Studd[3] (1799 - 6 December 1877), of Oxton,[4] J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1862, whose large chest tomb survives in Kenton Church graveyard.[5] He was the eldest son of Edward Studd (d.1813), descended from the 14th century family of Studd (alias Stote) of Drinkstone in Suffolk, an officer of the East India Company. The Studd family owned Oxton until about 1915, when it was sold to Joshua John Neale.
Joshua John Neale, who purchased Oxton in about 1915.[6] was a fish merchant and ship owner who in 1885 together with Henry West founded a fishmongery business in Custom House Street, Cardiff and in 1888 established the Neale & West Trawler Co.[7] In 1899 he resided at Park Road, Penarth, Glamorgan. On 6 February 1899 a steamship he half-owned named "Ramsey", registered at Cardiff, was stranded and lost on the Wolves Rocks in the Bristol Channel.[8]
In about 1925 Oxton was purchased by Richard Granville Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel (1866–1931).[9]
From 1938 to 1966[10] Oxton was used as Bletchington House School,[11] a girls' boarding school.
The house was sold in 1966 and then divided into apartments for multiple occupancy.[12]
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1001269: Oxton House
- ↑ Journals of the Reverend John Swete (vol. 1) (published in Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, ed. Todd Gray & Margery Rowe, 1999) ISBN 978-0861149186
- ↑ Gray, Vol.IV, p.xiii
- ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/24565/page/2153/data.pdf
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120344268
- ↑ Gray, Vol.IV, p.xiii
- ↑ A CARDIFF & VALE OF GLAMORGAN CHRONOLOGY
- ↑ Board of Trade Wreck Report for 'Ramsey', 1899
- ↑ Gray, Vol.IV, p.xiii
- ↑ http://www.exeterlodge.co.uk
- ↑ Gray, Vol.IV, p.xiii
- ↑ http://www.exeterlodge.co.uk