Manor of Holcombe Rogus

Holcombe Court, Holcombe Rogus, Devon. South front
Holcombe Court, view of south (right) and west (left) fronts
Holcombe Court, north (rear) facade, with formal walled kitchen garden created by present owner Nigel Charles Wiggins
Holcombe Court, west front

Holcombe Rogus is an historic manor in the parish of Holcombe Rogus in Devon. The present grade I listed Tudor manor house known as Holcombe Court was built by Sir Roger Bluett circa 1540[1] and was owned by the Bluett family until 1858 when Peter Frederick Bluett sold the estate to Rev. William Rayer, Rector of Tidcombe near Tiverton.[2] The house is situated immediately to the west of the parish church. The gardens and grounds are screened off from the public road at the south by a high wall in which is a tall and broad entrance archway which forms the start of the entrance drive. The manor of Holcombe Rogus had been acquired by the Bluett family in the early 15th century following the marriage of John Bluett lord of the manor of neighbouring Greenham, in Somerset, about 1 1/2 miles north-east of Holcombe Rogus, to Maude Chiseldon, daughter and co-heiress of John Chiseldon (d.1420) of Holcombe Rogus, whose other daughter and co-heiress married William Wadham, ancestor of Nicholas Wadham (1531/2–1609), founder of Wadham College, Oxford. The Bluett family also owned nearby Cothay Manor (2 1/2 miles to the north-east), rebuilt in 1481 by Richard Bluett.

Holcombe Court

Description

The south entrance front was described by Pevsner as "the most spectacular example of the Tudor style in Devon".[3] The front porch is entered through a four-centred arch above which is a three-storey bay-window protruding and supported by corbels. The porch is surmounted by a massive buttressed tower with a staircase turret on its west (left) side. The front door opens into the screens passage which in its west side has not only the usual three doorways leading originally to buttery kitchen and pantry but also a fourth leading to the stair turret. To the east (right) of the entrance is the great hall, which has two tall six-lighted windows with single transoms. The roof-space was subsequently ceiled to form a 65-foot long gallery above, said by Pevsner to be the best example from the 16th century in Devon. On its plaster ceiling survive the initials of the builder Sir Roger Bluett (d.1566), which makes it the earliest datable plaster ceiling in Devon.[4] The north and west ranges were added or rebuilt in the Victorian age, c. 1859-68 by Rev. W. Rayer to the design of John Hayward. A prominent feature of the south aspect of the house is the large circular dovecote on the east (right) side, further east of which is the stable court yard

Visit by Swete

View entitled "Holcombe Court, seat of Peter Bluett Esq.", undated, watercolour by Rev. John Swete (1752 – 1821) painted in 1801 from his sketch made on his visit in June 1800. The entire range to the west (left) foreground is today non-existent
Holcombe Court, Swete's view as it appears in 2012
The Dovecote at Holcombe Court, viewed from the west from within the stables courtyard
Dovecote interior, Holcombe Court
Holcombe Court and dovecote, entrance yard looking northwards

The Devon topographer Rev. John Swete (1752–1821) visited Holcombe Court as part of his travels in June 1800, and recorded the following in his journal:[5]

I had before me full in view a very picturesque scene formed by the village of Holcombe Rogus, its church and castellated mansion, long a seat and residence of the Bluets. This latter I found nearly at the head of the village street, contiguous to the church and to the vicarage house, a most magnificant antient edifice, of considerable extent and altogether such a pile (considering it the mansion of a private family) as is not to be parallel'd in the county...These, by alliances with other families of note and opulence and by producing from their own stock several scyons of worth and eminence, raised their name into high esteem among the gentlemen of the county during a long continued period of ten generations and if an inference may be allowed to be drawn from the great size of the hall, "la grande sale a manger", displayed often their hospitality to their tenantry and neighbours. The present hall, ornamented with carved work and painted glass, is not coaeval with the tower of entrance (which perhaps is the most antient part) but was erected about the middle of the sixteenth century by Sir Roger Bluet, Kt., as is supposed from his name being there visible! The proprietor of the mansion is Peter Bluett, I know not whether of this family of Holcombe Rogus, but adopted by the late proprietor, from Falmouth in Cornwall and invested with the major part of the landed property which he had possessed. Mr Polwhele passed an encomium on this Gentm., hypothetical it is true, but suppositions are not unfrequently raised on plausible tho' fallacious foundations, and the less a man commits himself on this score, fewer will be the impeachments levelled against his sagacity and judgement!!! I have no encomium to pass but from the information of Mr Drewe of Grange, that there were reports circulating that much of the fine wood behind the house was to be converted into cash and that the mansion itself was to be let ( since advertised) and from the apparent neglect of the fine old edifice "quaeque egomet ipse vidi" and the solitude by which it was encompast, I have to regret that not more of the estimable qualities and hereditary principles of the antient stock had, with the estates, been transmitted to this scyon of adoption. Within the gateway, which with surrounding walls inclosed a green area before the house, during the whole of the time in which I was taking the preceding view, I saw no living creature (tho' I understood it was inhabited by the family) but a flock of geese depasturing on the scanty herbage and a number of greyhounds basking themselves in the sun stretched out on the low wall. By the cackling of the one and the barking of the other as soon as I made my entre within the gate, I was at first a good deal annoyed...

Swete, as was often his habit, then diverted to the classical world and continued to muse for a couple of pages upon the geese which saved the capitol at Rome and the greyhound described by Ovid, and on the attitude of the ancient Romans towards both these species, finally recovering himself thus:

From this lusorium of the dogs and geese whom I left at their several occupations, I return to the mansion merely to observe that its walls are formed from the marble quarries with which this parish abounds and that in the front towards the west the same injudicious alteration in the form of the windows has taken place, 'tis may be remarked of the principal one in the sketch the Gothic style having been converted to the Grecian and the antient mullion modernised to the trim sash!! In the church as might be expected are to be found a number of monuments in honour of the family of Bluett, many of them of considerable beauty and magnificance and one in particular of white marble of John Bluett Esq. and his wife Elizth. daughter of Sir Jn. Portman Bart., whose effigies are in a recumbent posture surrounded by eight daughters kneeling. The road winding round the house ascended immediately a steepish hill giving me a view of the garden which it skirted and of the noble hanging wood that defended it from the northern blasts. Notwithstanding however the contiguity of this road to a gentleman's place of residence and to lime rocks, the chippings of whose stones must necessarily afford abundant materials for its repair, it was so rugged and full of ruts as to render it, in addition to the steepness of its acclivity, extremely incommodious to the traveller.

Swete then headed for Hockworthy.

Descent of the manor

Rogus

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the manor as having been a member of Baldwin FitzGilbert's huge feudal barony of Okehampton, which comprised about 167 manors.[6] Baldwin's tenant in 1086, and therefore one of his knights, was Rogo, who also held from him Hockworthy, Monkculm, Bernardsmoor, Tapps, Chevithorne and Colwell. The tenancy of the manor of Holcombe descended to his son who took as his family name the surname "FitzRogus" (Latinised form: Filius Rogonis,[7] French form: Fils de Rogus, "son of Rogus"). Risdon stated the manor in the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272) to have been held by Simon Filius Rogonis, who was succeeded by "Rogon Filius Simonis".[8] (Latinised form). The arms of Rogus of Holcombe, later quartered by the Bluett family, were: Azure, a chevron argent between three chess-rooks or[9]

Chiseldon

Arms of Chiseldon: Or, on a chevron gules three martlets of the first[10]

Bluett

Bluett origins

The Bluett family (alias Blewett, anciently Bloet), was of Norman origin, said to have originated at the Normandy manor of Briqueville-la-Blouette.[25] The first recorded ancestor of this family is commonly stated to have been William Bluett, Earl of Salisbury.[26][27] According to the 19th century historian the Duchess of Cleveland (Catherine Powlett), the myth derived from a statement made in the 16th century "(the epoch of mendacious genealogies)"[28] by the herald William Hervey (1510-1567), Clarenceux King of Arms, and "there is no record of any prior grant of the Earldom that was bestowed by the Empress Maud on Patrick D'Evreux early in the twelfth century".[29] The earliest recorded ancestors of the Bluett family of Holcombe Rogus were as follows:[30]

Arms of Monthermer: Or, an eagle displayed vert, as quartered by the Earls of Salisbury

Bluett of Holcombe Rogus

Arms of Bluett: Or, a chevron between three eagles displayed vert[42] Adopted at the start of the age of heraldry circa 1200-1215
Heraldic achievement of Bluett, sculpted above the front door of Holcombe Court, 17th century

The descent of Bluett of Holcombe Rogus is as follows:[43]

Left: Richard Bluett, Esq. (d.1614), and right his wife Mary Chichester (d.1613), detail from their effigies on their monument in All Saints Church, Holcombe Rogus
Arms of Chichester: Chequy or and gules, a chief vair. These arms are visible on the couple's monument and also on an overmantel in the room above the muniments room in Holcombe Court[58]
Sir John Bluett (1603-1634) and his wife Elizabeth Portman (1604-1636), of Holcombe Court, detail from their effigies in the Bluett Chapel, All Saints Church, Holcombe Rogus

Bluett monuments

Richard Bluett (d.1614)

Monument to Richard Bluett (d.1614) and his wife Mary Chichester (d.1613), north wall of the Bluett Chapel in All Saints' Church, Holcombe Rogus
Arms atop 1614 Bluett monument, Holcombe Rogus, show dexter: Bluett impaling sinister: Chequy or and gules, a chief vair (Chichester); above dexter is the crest of Bluett a squirrel holding in its paws and eating an acorn, sinister, a heron with an eel in its beak (crest of Chichester), (part missing); above all a crowned skull

The monument to Richard Bluett (d.1614) and his wife Mary Chichester (d.1613) contains their recumbent effigies and is situated against the north wall of the Bluett Chapel in All Saints' Church, Holcombe Rogus. It displays the following inscriptions contained on four tablets:

"Memoriae Sacrum[70] Mary ye only wife of Richard Bluet of Holcombe Rogus Esq., ye daughter of Sr. John Chichester of Rawleigh, knight, & sister to ye Right Ho.ble ye Lord Chichester, Lord Deputy of ye Kingdom of Irelande who had issue 6 sonnes v(i)z: Arthur, Roger, Walter, Charles, Francies and Charles ye younger, and five daughters, Gertrude, Amey, Joane, Anne and Dorothy. She departed this life ye eleventh day of Februarie 1613 being of ye age of 65 yeres".

"To the dear virtuos memorie of Richard Bluet late of Holcombe Esq., who deceased the 3rd of March 1614 and lieth here interred.
Nor goodnes nor desert must hope to have,
A priviledge of life against the grave,
For these lie here intomb'd death did his best,
He chaung'd but houres of toyle for houres of rest,
Which this good man hath found his faith made way,
To Heaven before his workes still day by day,
Now follow him such grace doth mercyi give,
As who lives well to die dyes well to live.
Nascendo (c?) mori(t)ur, morie(n)do renascimur".
(In being born he will die, in dying may we be reborn)

"Ye poore she often would releve,
Yet would not wastfull be,
Her death a paterne was to die,
Her life was good likewise,
Her life & death assuer her friends,
That she to joy shall ryse.
Vixi in freto, morior in portu".
(I lived in the straits, I die in harbour)

"A modest matron here doth lye,
A myrror of her kinde,
Her husband & her childrens good,
Her lyke is rare to finde,
Godly chast and hospitable,
A houswife rare was she".

References

  1. Brooke-Webb, p.6
  2. Brooke-Webb, p.8
  3. Pevsner, p.487
  4. Pevsner, p.489
  5. Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, vol.4, Tiverton, 1999, pp.196-9
  6. Morris, John, Domesday Book, Vol. 9, Devon, part I, Chichester, 1985, chapter 16, Land of Baldwin the Sheriff, 16,1-16,176
  7. Rogonis, genitive of Rogo
  8. Risdon, Tristram, Survey of Devon, c. 1630, 1810 edition, p.67
  9. Pole, p.500; see quarterings on monument to John Bluett (1603-1634) in Holcombe Rogus Church
  10. Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.478
  11. Victoria County History, Wiltshire, Vol.9, 1970, Parishes: Chiseldon, pp.6-23
  12. VCH Wilts, Vol.9, quoting Feet of Fines, Wilts, 1272-1327, p.52
  13. Pole, p.189, 229
  14. Vivian, p.92
  15. Pole, p.178
  16. Pevsner, p.271
  17. Risdon, p.57
  18. Pole, p.504
  19. Pole, pp.189, 229-30
  20. Pole, p.243
  21. Pole, p.208
  22. Pole, p.208
  23. Pole, pp.178,189,229-30,243
  24. Pole, p.478
  25. Cleveland, Duchess of (Catherine Powlett), The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages, 3 vols., London, 1889, vol.1, Bluat
  26. Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.68
  27. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.92
  28. Cleveland, Duchess of (Catherine Powlett), The Battle Abbey Roll
  29. Cleveland, Duchess of (Catherine Powlett), The Battle Abbey Roll
  30. Vivian, p.92
  31. Vivian, p.92
  32. Vivian, p.92
  33. Vivian, p.92
  34. Vivian, p.92
  35. Vivian, p.92
  36. Coplestone-Crow, Bruce, Strongbow's grant of Raglan to Walter Bluet, Gwent Local History Journal, Vol. 89, 2000
  37. Vivian, p.92
  38. Vivian, p.92
  39. Vivian, p.92
  40. Vivian, p.92
  41. Vivian, p.92
  42. Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.473; Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.92
  43. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.92-4, pedigree of Blewett of Holcombe Rogus
  44. Vivian, p.92
  45. Vivian, p.92
  46. Vivian, p.92: "Sir Thomas Brooke, Kt., Lord Cobham"
  47. Vivian, p.92
  48. Vivian, p.92
  49. http://www.celtic-casimir.com/webtree/16/28298.htm
  50. Vivian, p.93
  51. History of Parliament biography of Richard Grenville (died 1550) , quoting Letters & Papers of Henry VIII, x, xii, xiv, xvi, xxi
  52. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.758
  53. Vivian, p.93 & p.660, pedigree of Rowe of Kingston
  54. Vivian, p.93
  55. Vivian, 1895, p.280, pedigree of Denys
  56. Vivian, 1895, p.102, pedigree of Bonville
  57. Pevsner, p.490
  58. Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 http://www.rescript.org/article.aspx?p=1&a=1309
  59. Per ancestry of Wadham in Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.141, Wadham of Egge, Branscombe, Devon
  60. Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 http://www.rescript.org/article.aspx?p=1&a=1309
  61. Graveslab of John Bluet in the Bluett Chapel, Holcombe Rogus Church inscribed: "Here resteth ye body of John Bluet late of Holcombe Rogus, Esq., who departed this life on ye 30th day of September Anno Salutis Nostrae 1700 anno aetatis suae 62. Quaere lector an non sit lucrum mori cum moriens vitam accipit aeternam nempe eam quae nequit demi."("Enquire, O reader, whether it would not be of advantage to die when dying he receives eternal life, namely, that which is unable to be taken away").
  62. Per her grave-slab in the Bluett Chapel, Holcombe Rogus, inscribed: "Here resteth the body of Mrs Elizabeth Bluet wife of John Bluet of this parish, Esq., and daughter of John Buckland late of Westharptry in the countu of Som(er)set, Esq., who departed this life the 14th day of July An(n)o D(omi)ni 1692. To dye is gaine".
  63. Keren-Happuch was the 3rd daughter of Job (Job 42:14)
  64. Richard Hill's memorial in Broadhembury Church is inscribed as follows: "Here lies the body of Richard Hill of Priory, Esq. (second son of Edward Hill of Priory the ninth son of Thomas Hill of Hills Court in Shropshire, Esq.) whose many imenent virtues justly entitled him to the most lasting Remembrance. This age affording few such examples for Piety, Temperance, Humility, Justice, Humanity, Genoristy & Charity. He was a tender and diligent husband and Parent, a Sincere Friend and Kind Master. He married Mary the only daughter of John Seaward of Clist St George in this County, elder brother of Sr Edward Seaward of Exon Kt a Member of Parliament for that City, by whom he had one son Edward who died 17th July unmarried and four daughters. Mary who erected this Monument to his memory, Grace the wife of Humphrey Sydenham of Combe in the Parish of Dulverton Esq. Hannah the wife of Richard Nutcombe of Nutcombe in the Parish of Clehanger Esq. and Katherine who died an infant. He died 19th November 1737 Aged 82 Years"
  65. Lysons, Daniel and Samuel, Magna Britannia, Volume 6: Devonshire, 1822, pp. 132-160, General history: Gentry
  66. Per Lysons
  67. Per mural monument in Holcombe Rogus Church
  68. http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=003rQq
  69. Memoriae Sacrum, "sacred to the memory (of)"

Sources

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 50°57′46″N 3°20′46″W / 50.9629°N 3.3462°W / 50.9629; -3.3462

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