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Similar Orchard Wyndham, Church of St Mary - Stogumber, Church of All Saints - Monksilver, Cleeve Abbey, Nettlecombe Court |
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Combe Sydenham is an historic manor in Somerset, England. The 15th-century manor house, called Combe Sydenham House is in the parish of Stogumber, Somerset and is situated just within the boundary of Exmoor National Park. It is a grade I listed building.
Contents
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- Description of house
- Description of estate
- de MoyonMohun
- Sydenham
- Musgrave
- Notley
- Campbell Voullaire
- Theed
- References
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Description of house
The porch was added in 1580 to the south front of the building. The west front was re-fenestrated, and at least two stair turrets were added in about 1600. The south front has been re-fenestrated and buildings to the north and east were demolished.
Description of estate
The house is set in a 500 acres (200 ha) estate which contains a deer park and a variety of walks.
de Moyon/Mohun
Combe Sydenham is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the many manors held by William de Moyon, 1st feudal baron of Dunster, seated at nearby Dunster Castle, Somerset.
Sydenham
Combe Sydenham Hall was the home of a junior branch of the Sydenham family of Sydenham, Bridgwater, from the 15th century to 1693. In 1585 Admiral Sir Francis Drake (c.1540-1596) married Elizabeth Sydenham (born c.1562), the only child and sole heiress of Sir George Sydenham (d.1597), of Combe Sydenham, Sheriff of Somerset, whose monument with effigy survives in the Sydenham Chapel of Stogumber Church. Before the marriage however Drake left on a long voyage and her father arranged for her to be married instead to a son of the Wyndham family of nearby Orchard Wyndham. Tradition states that on the wedding day as the couple approached the Church of St Mary at Stogumber a loud clap of thunder was heard and a large meteorite crashed through the roof. This was seen as a bad omen and the wedding was cancelled. Drake had arrived back in Plymouth on that same day and they were later married at the Church of All Saints in Monksilver. The 14 inches (360 mm) diameteriron meteorite, known as "Drake's cannon ball", has remained at the house ever since and has become smooth from being rolled on the ground. After Drake's death in 1596, Elizabeth Sydenham remarried (as his 2nd wife) to Sir William V Courtenay (1553-1630) of Powderham, Devon.
Sir John Sydenham, 1st Baronet (c. 1620–1643) married a certain Alice, but died before the birth of his posthumous son and heir Sir John Posthumous Sydenham, 2nd Baronet (1643-1696). His widow remarried to Sir Francis Dodington, who resided at Combe Sydenham during the Civil War, as a Royalist, and in 1651 during his tenure Combe Sydenham was confiscated by the Parliamentarians. Parliament purported to sell Combe Sydenham to John Ware, but following the 1660 Restoration of the Monarchy, it was restored to the 2nd Baronet, who in 1693 sold the entire estate to George Musgrave (d. 1721).
Musgrave
Several monuments to the Musgrave family survive in the "Sydenham Chapel" (South Aisle Chapel) of Stogumber Church, which display the arms of Musgrave: Azure, six annulets three, two, one, or. The Musgrave family were previously seated during most of the 17th century at Huish Barton in the parish of Nettlecombe, Somerset, in which house is a plaster overmantel displaying the date 1698 and the monogram of the Musgraves. William Musgrave (1655-1721), of Exeter, a physician and antiquary, was the youngest son of Richard Musgrave of Nettlecombe. He attended the Trevelyan family of Nettlecombe Court, long time lords of the manor of Nettlecombe and wrote several treatises on arthritis and four volumes of Antiquitates Brittanno-Belgicae. The descent of Combe Sydenham in the Musgrave family was as follows:
Notley
The descent of Combe Sydenham in the Notley family between 1796 and 1958 was as follows:
Campbell-Voullaire
Group Captain E. G. Campbell-Voullaire, Royal Air Force, after a distinguished service during World War II in 1958 purchased Combe Sydenham from the Notley heiress. "It had been terribly run down, and he was putting it all together again". He employed as his farm manager the young John Edwards (b.1926), recently qualified in agriculture at Seale-Hayne College near Exeter, Devon. Edwards went on to farm for himself at Westermill Farm on Exmoor and to serve as a county councillor, an active member of the National Farmers Union, and as a member of the Exmoor National Park Committee since 1972. He stated of his time at Combe Sydenham:
"And that really was an experience, being farm manager for somebody like Voullaire. He was an extraordinary man, but (we) have remained very good friends ever since because he's such a remarkable man. But incredible difficult. It was very interesting, and very interesting...coping with a rather difficult employer. But he thinks they both respected each other, and he found that interesting. He saw the job written up and applied. Campbell-Voullaire had a succession of farm managers and (Edwards and his wife) were easily the longest inhabitants. He was only just over a year there. As farm manager at Combe Sydenham he worked bloody hard. Running the farm. Peter Batchelor from Exford used to work for them. He was the shepherd. They had a cowman and a tractor driver and one other chap, so he had to organise them. And there was corn, cows, sheep, beef. The estate was about 500 acres he thinks, but Campbell-Voullaire was taking in more and more land and putting the estate back together again, putting a lot of money into it. And woodland. Which they didn't actually have anything to do with. Campbell-Voullaire wasn't really interested. Whereas Theed, who has now bought it, has done the opposite. No, there wasn't a working mill there in those days, though there is now of course because Theed has put that in order. It was just an ordinary Williton area farm. Good land, steep land but a good bit of ground. And they did quite a bit of reclamation, on the steep ground. They had Sid Sherring doing a lot of the steep work. It was a very good experience. Very interesting.