Inner courtyard, Cadhay House - geograph

Cadhay is an historic estate in the parish of Ottery St Mary in Devon, England, east of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and from the sea at Sidmouth. The mansion house known as Cadhay House, north-west of Ottery St Mary village, is a

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

building.

History and description

The house stands around a central courtyard within extensive grounds. It was built in 1550 by John Haydon (d.1587), a bencher of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, the second son of Richard Haydon (d.1533) of Bowood, Ebford (in the parish of

Woodbury Woodbury may refer to: Geography Antarctica *Woodbury Glacier, a glacier on Graham Land, British Antarctic Territory Australia * Woodbury, Tasmania, a locality in Australia England * Woodbury, Bournemouth, an area in Dorset *Woodbury, East Devo ...

), Lympstone and

in Devon, Mayor of Barnstaple and deputy steward of the Devon lands of the

Duchy of Cornwall The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...

, whose armorials (''Argent, three bars gemeles azure on a chief gules a fess dansettée or'') survive on a capital in St Swithin's Church in Woodbury, Devon, where survives the canopy for his intended monument. John Haydon's brother was

George Haydon George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(c.1517-1558), of Hornshayne in the parish of Farway, Devon, MP for

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

, Devon, in 1545. John Haydon had married Joan Grenvill (d.1592), heiress of Cadhay, whose family had inherited it from the ''de Cadhay'' family some generations before. The couple's Easter Sepulchre monument survives in Ottery St Mary Church. John Haydon was the first Governor of the Collegiate Church of Ottery St Mary following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He died without progeny and bequeathed it to his great-nephew Robert Haydon (1560-1626), the eldest son of his nephew Thomas HaydonRisdon, p.47 of Bowood and Epforde, and the husband of Joan Paulet (d.1630), a daughter of Sir Amias Paulet (1532-1588), Governor of Jersey and gaoler for a period of Mary, Queen of Scots. It was built on the site of an earlier house, the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

of which, dating back to 1420, was retained. His great-nephew Robert Haydon subsequently added a long gallery, a feature of late 16th century housebuilding, which closed in the south side of the house to form a courtyard. The residents of the Manor House have had a long association with the parish church of Ottery. By 1737 the house was in a poor state of repair and the new owner, Peere Williams, restored the house in the Georgian style. He blocked up most of the Tudor hearths and panelled a number of the rooms. He inserted a ceiling in the Great Hall under the magnificent oak-timbered roof to form the present dining room and roof chamber. During the 18th and 19th centuries the house was at times divided into two and again fell into a poor state of repair. It was bought by

Dampier Whetham Dampier may refer to: * Dampier, Western Australia – a port in the Pilbara region * Division of Dampier, an electoral division in Western Australia from 1913 to 1922 * Dampier County, one of the 141 cadastral divisions of New South Wales in Austra ...

in 1910 who uncovered the old Tudor hearths and put the house into sound structural condition. In the 1920s he let the house to the William-Powlett family, descendants of Amias Paulet, who purchased the property in 1935, and occupied it until 2002. In 2002 the house was inherited by Rupert Thistlethwayte, a nephew of the last of the William-Powletts, and a furniture maker. He restored it to its previous splendour and introduced modern comforts such as heating and additional bathrooms, as well as contemporary furniture of his own designs to complement the antique furniture.

Sir Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

in his book ''England's Thousand Best Homes'' described the house thus: "The courtyard...with statues of Henry VIII and his three monarch offspring, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth...is one of the treasures of Devon."

Statues

Four statues dating from 1617 survive, standing over the doors in the courtyard, and represent Kings

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, Edward VI and Queens Mary and Elizabeth I.

References

External links

* {{coord, 50.7585, -3.2926, type:landmark_region:GB-DEV, display=title Country houses in Devon Historic house museums in Devon Gardens in Devon Ottery St Mary Grade I listed houses in Devon

History and description

Statues

Further reading

References

External links