Haldon House

Haldon House, east front, 1830 engraving. The "Lawrence Tower" or "Haldon Belvedere" is visible on the hilltop behind left (to south-west of house)
Haldon House, east front, 1780 painting by Francis Towne (1739–1816), Tate Gallery, London
Haldon House, built c.1735, demolished 1920s. Photograph circa 1900
North Pavillions, viewed from east, former stables block and a remnant of Haldon House.[1] The main house was set back to the left (south), with a matching pair of pavillions on the south side incorporating a chapel. All demolished in 1925, excepting ruined chapel now converted into a house. With later buildings set around a courtyard behind, it now serves as the "Lord Haldon Hotel" (Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th Baronet (1818–1883) was created Baron Haldon in 1880)

Haldon House (pronounced: "Halldon") on the eastern side of the Haldon Hills in the parishes of Dunchideock and Kenn,[2] near Exeter in Devon, England, was a large Georgian country house largely demolished in the 1920s.[3] The surviving north wing of the house, comprising the entrance front of the stable block, consists of two cuboid lodges linked by a screen pierced by a Triumphal Arch,[4] with later additions,[5] and serves today as the "Lord Haldon Hotel".[6] The house was originally flanked by two such paired pavillions, as is evident from 19th century engravings.

History

Chudleigh

It was built in about 1735 by Sir George Chudleigh, 4th Baronet (died 1738), and was influenced by Buckingham House in London, built in about 1715.[7] Chudleigh's ancestral seat was at nearby Ashton House, on the west side of Haldon Hill, the residence of his family since about 1320, and which he abandoned to build Haldon House on the east side of the hill. In 1798 Ashton House was in ruins.[8]

Palk

Arms of Palk: Sable, an eagle displayed argent beaked and legged or a bordure engrailed of the second

In about 1770 it was purchased by Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet (1717-1798), a former officer of the East India Company and Governor of Madras Province, who enlarged it. Palk had intended to build a mansion at Torwood[9] in his manor of Tor, which he had purchased from Lord Donegal in about 1759, but where he had been unable to purchase various surrounding fields which interfered with the estate.[10] The Torwood estate was later developed by his successors into half of the resort of Torquay. Major-General Stringer Lawrence (1697-1775), the first Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in India, spent his retirement at Haldon House as an honoured guest of his friend from Indian days Sir Robert Palk, to whom he bequeathed the huge sum of £50,000 and in whose memory in 1788 Palk erected the "Lawrence Tower" (alias "Haldon Belvedere") on his estate. In 1789 Haldon House was viewed by Rev. John Swete (d.1821) of nearby Oxton House, a connoisseur of the picturesque, and a former protegé of Palk's, who in his journal criticised its design in having two wings which swept forward in curves, which although effective in built-up London for Buckingham House, here resulted in much of the spectacular view of the surrounding countryside being blocked off from the front of the house.[11] Palk removed the formal gardens and replaced them with lawns and clumps of trees[12] in the then fashionable style. It was visited by several notable people, including King George III (1760-1820), whom Sir Robert Palk escorted to view the Lawrence Tower along a specially made carriage drive.

Bannatyne

Arms of Bannatyne: Gules, a chevron argent between three mullets or
Memorial tablets to Bannatyne family, Dunchideock Church

James[13] FitzGerald[14] Bannatyne (1 May 1833 - 18 October 1915)[15] of Summerville[16] and Fanningstown Castle, Co. Limerick, Ireland, purchased Haldon House from the Palks in 1892.[17] Mr Bannatyne was a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Devon. He was a substantial flour merchant with premises in Dock Road in Limerick, Ireland, and had considered standing as MP for Limerick City for the Unionist interest in 1895.[18] He was one of the nine original subscribers at the foundation in 1897 of the "Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company Ltd.", later "Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd." Guglielmo Marconi's mother was Irish, and he came to England to establish his radio business. He was advised by his cousin Col. Henry Jameson of Enniscorthy, Northern Ireland, a flour milling engineer, who sought financial backing from his contacts in the Irish corn-milling business, which resulted in the predominance of corn factors or merchants among the nine original subscribers at the foundation of the Company, one of whom was "James Fitzgerald Bannatyne of Limerick, Gentleman", also one of the first five directors of the company.[19] Marconi performed some of his early experiments in radio transmission from nearby Haldon Hills. Bannatyne married Emily Gertrude Wilson (15 October 1851 - 10 October 1928),[20] of Collipriest Cottage, Tiverton, a daughter of Richard Bassett Wilson (1806-1867) of Cliffe Hall, Piercebridge, Darlington, Yorkshire, by his wife Anne FitzGerald, a daughter and co-heiress (with her sister Mary FitzGerald, wife of Lucius O'Brien, 13th Baron Inchiquin (1800-1872)) of William FitzGerald of Adelphi, County Clare, Ireland.[21][22] His daughter Mary Stuart Bannatyne married Major Ludovic Heathcoat-Amory, son of Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet[23] of Knightshayes Court, near Tiverton. He died on October 18, 1915 and on 14 May 1916 his only son Major James Fitzgerald Bannatyne (1884-1916), 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars (attached to the 23rd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment)[24] was killed in action at the age of 32 during World War I[25] and was buried in the Merville Communal Cemetery in Northern France. Mrs Bannatyne moved away in 1919 immediately after the War and put the estate up for sale. She had acquired the Palk Manuscripts, an important four-volume collection of the correspondence of Sir Robert Palk relating to Indian affairs.[26] A single buyer was not forthcoming and the estate was split up and sold piecemeal.[27] At the time of its demolition in 1925 the house had six reception rooms (sizes 30 by 20 feet, 22 by 30, 50 by 17½, 28½ by 18½, 22 by 22½ and one other), 38 bedrooms, a ballroom, theatre and chapel to seat 100. No buyer could be found and with the gardens and a 5 acre field it was withdrawn at £1,350. The final sale of the last of the estate was in 1925. The furnishings of the chapel were purchased by Clifton College for its own chapel.[28] Two monumental stone tablets survive in Dunchideock Church to the Bannatyne family of Haldon House, inscribed as follows:

To the glory of God & in memory of James FitzGerald Bannatyne, JP, DL, of Haldon, Devon & Fanningstown Co. Limerick, May 1st 1833 - Oct. 18th 1915 & his son James FitzGerald Bannatyne, Major 11th Hussars, att'd 23rd Manchesters, served in France from August 1914 died of wounds May 14th 1916 aged 32; rests at Merville. Also his great-nephew Edgar James Bannatyne, DSO, Major 19th Hussars & RFC, served in France from August 1914 in Egypt, Darfur, Palestine, died from an aeroplane accident Sept. 11th 1917 aged 26; rests in Cerny".

The arms, much worn, display: Gules, a chevron... quartering ...(?), apparently the arms of the ancient Scottish family of Bannatyne of Kames Castle on the Isle of Bute: Gules, a chevron argent between three mullets or, with crest: A demi-griffin in the dexter claw a sword erect proper.[29] The lower tablet is inscribed:

"In memory of Emily Gertrude Bannatyne, wife of James FitzGerald Bannatyne, October 15th 1851 - October 10th 1928".

Haldon Belvedere

Haldon Belvedere, view from west, a triangular tower 26 metres high, probably modelled on Shrubs Hill Tower (now Fort Belvedere) in Windsor Great Park
Haldon Belvedere, north-west front, identical to the other two fronts. Restored 1994

Within the former Haldon estate on Pen Hill about a mile south-west of the house is situated Haldon Belvedere, in the parish of Dunchideock,[30] built in 1788[31] by Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet. It was originally called the "Tower on Pen Hill"[32] or "Lawrence Tower" in honour of his friend and patron General Stringer Lawrence (1697-1775), who spent much of his retirement at Haldon and was buried in Dunchideock Church,[33] in which Sir Robert erected a monument to his memory, having received a bequest of £50,000 in his will.[34] Stringer Lawrence's other monument is in Westminster Abbey, erected by the East India Company.[35] The tower is triangular with Gothic windows and full-height circular angle turrets, and was probably influenced by the triangular tower at nearby Powderham Castle, itself probably modelled on Shrubs Hill Tower (now Fort Belvedere) in Windsor Great Park, built 1750-1755 by Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721–1765), younger son of King George II.[36] Inside is a life-size coade stone statue of Stringer Lawrence dressed as a Roman general, a copy of the marble statue of him by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781) now in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, formerly the India Office. On the walls are three large framed tablets inscribed with details of his career.[37] It is a grade II* listed building. Following the Bannatyne sale it was purchased in about 1925 by a syndicate for £300 and in 1933 was acquired by the Dale family. During World War II it served as an observation post. After the War the building deteriorated and was struck by lightning in 1960. In 1990 the windows were blown out in a storm. Following the death of Cyril Dale in 1990, his successor Edward Dale[38] transferred in 1994 to the Stringer Lawrence Memorial Trust and in the same year it was restored by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust.[39]

1789 description by Swete

"Tower on Pen Hill", 1792 watercolour (from 1789 sketch) by Rev. John Swete (d.1821), of nearby Oxton House. View from south; one of the earliest surviving images of the Haldon Belvedere

Rev. John Swete (d.1821), of nearby Oxton House, visited the location in September 1789 and recorded in his Journal as follows:[40]

"As we were now on our departure from Haldown on the descent of its northern extremity, we had before us a triangular tower raised by Sir Robert Palk and devoted to the memory of his friend General Lawrence. It had a round tower at each angle and rose three stories high. From its own elevation and that of the conical hill on which it was placed it became an object to the most distant parts of the county; it is hardly possible to conceive a spot better adapted to an edifice of this nature than this of Pen Hill, denominated so by the Britons on account of its eminence. I took the opposite sketch from the road from whence the pine-clad hill and the tower were seen in great perfection".

The previously "wild and bare"[41] Haldon Hills had recently been planted with trees by Sir Robert Palk, which today surround the tower and cover the hill. Swete entered the tower and made transcripts of the three memorial tablets to Stringer Lawrence, "with whose nobleness of mind and social worth I was well acquainted and to whose obsequies I showed every personal respect", and also transcribed the epitaph to him by Hannah More on his monument in nearby Dunchideock Church.

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Pevsner, p.513
  2. ↑ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, Names of the Noblemen and Principal Gentlemen in the County of Devon, their Seats and Parishes, at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century, listed under "Palk"
  3. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.513
  4. ↑ See image at
  5. ↑ Pevsner, p.513
  6. ↑ Barber, Chips & Barber, Sally, Around & About the Haldon Hills - Revisited, Obelisk Publications, 1996, pp.34–36
  7. ↑ Pevsner, p.513
  8. ↑ Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, p.11; Watercolour by Swete, Vol.2, p.33
  9. ↑ See 1863 painting by John Wallace Tucker Torwood Manor, collection of Torre Abbey Historic House and Gallery
  10. ↑ Swete, Vol.1, p.165
  11. ↑ Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, p.8
  12. ↑ Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, p.8
  13. ↑ Pidsley, Rev. Christopher, The Tower on the Hill
  14. ↑ Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 29 Dec 1902, Mr. J. F. G. Bannatyne, of Haldon House, was among those present the funeral of the Rev. E. Ohatterton Orpen;
  15. ↑ Date of death
  16. ↑ Later the Sisters of Mercy Convent, Summerville Avenue, Limerick, Limerick City
  17. ↑ Gray; see Devon Record Office 3860M/E1, illustrated sale particulars 1892
  18. ↑ Moloney, Tadhy, Limerick Constitutional Nationalism 1898-1918, Newcastle-Upon_Tyne, 2010, p.9
  19. ↑ GUGLIELMO MARCONI AND THE “INVENTION” OF WIRELESS
  20. ↑ War memorial in Doddiscombsleigh Church; Memorial tablet in Dunchideock Church
  21. ↑ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp.2457-8, Wilson of Cliffe Hall; The Marquis of Ruvigny and Ranieval, The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Mortimer-Percy Volume, pp.171-2
  22. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p5392.htm
  23. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p5391.htm#i53910
  24. ↑ Obituary ; War memorial in Doddiscombsleigh Church
  25. ↑ http://www.everymanremembered.org ; Lauder, Rosemary, The Devon Gardens Guide, 2004, p.98
  26. ↑ Historical Manuscripts Commission: Report on the Palk manuscripts in the possession of Mrs Bannatyne of Haldon, Devon. (Historical Manuscripts Commission ; no. 74,1922)
  27. ↑ Winckworth, Archibald N. (1917-1997), (owner of Dunchideock House) Memories of Dunchideock
  28. ↑ Winckworth
  29. ↑ http://www.scotclans.com/scottish-clans/clan-bannatyne/bannatyne-crest/
  30. ↑ Pevsner, p.342
  31. ↑ Pevsner, p.342
  32. ↑ Name used by Swete in his 1789 Journal. Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, pp.8-9
  33. ↑ Fraser, Iain, Haldon's Hidden Heritage
  34. ↑ Pevsner, p.342
  35. ↑ Pevsner, p.342
  36. ↑ Pevsner, p.342
  37. ↑ Pevsner, p.342; For 1789 transcrips of tablets see: Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, pp.9-10
  38. ↑ Pidsley
  39. ↑ http://www.haldonbelvedere.co.uk/about-hb/
  40. ↑ Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, Vol.1, pp.8-9
  41. ↑ Swete, Vol.1, p.11

Coordinates: 50°40′16″N 3°35′00″W / 50.6710°N 3.5834°W / 50.6710; -3.5834

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