Peamore, Exminster
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Peamore_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_130933.jpg/220px-Peamore_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_130933.jpg)
Peamore (anciently Pevmere, Peanmore, Peamont,[1] etc.) is a historic country estate in the parish of Exminster, Devon, which is near the city of Exeter. In 1810 Peamore House was described as "one of the most pleasant seats in the neighbourhood of Exeter".[2] The house was remodelled in the early 19th century and is now a grade II listed building.[3]
History
Early
The Domesday Book of 1086 records PEVMERE as one of the 58 holdings of Ralph de Pomeroy, the first feudal baron of Berry Pomeroy, Devon,[4] who was one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. De Pomeroy's tenant was Roger FitzPayne.[5] The estate later passed to the feudal barony of Lancaster.[6]
According to the antiquary
Tothill
Jeffrey Tothill purchased the estate from the crown. He was
Henry Tothill (1562–1640) was the eldest son by his father's first wife; he was
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/GraceTothill_StMartinsChurch_Exminster_Devon_ByJohnSwete.png/220px-GraceTothill_StMartinsChurch_Exminster_Devon_ByJohnSwete.png)
Johanna Tothill was Henry's eldest daughter; she became the wife of Robert Northleigh (1582–1638) of Matford, Alphington.[21] Northleigh's monument survives in Alphington Church. Henry's younger daughter Grace Tothill (1605–1623) married her second cousin William Tothill, grandson of John Tothill, a younger brother to her grandfather Geffery Tothill of Peamore. Grace died aged 18, having produced three children; a son Henry (living in 1640) and daughters Elizabeth and Ann. Grace Tothill's monument with her semi-recumbent effigy survives in St Martin's Church, Exminster.[22][23]
Northleigh
Robert Northleigh of Matford (born 1581), married Johanna Tothill, heiress of Peamore.[24] His family was seated at Matford, Alphington, near Exeter, and was a junior branch of the ancient Northleigh family of Northleigh in the parish of Inwardleigh, near Okehampton, Devon.[24][25] The Northleigh family made Peamore their seat and abandoned their previous residence of Matford. In 1799 the Devon topographer Rev. John Swete visited the area and noted in his journal the ancient mansion of "Matford Dinham" had been an ancient seat of the Dinhams and Northleighs, and "a century ago of respectability among the mansions in the neighbourhood, is now on the verge of ruin and desolation, by an anticlimax it has pass'd from the hands of the gentleman to those of the farmer and is now become the habitation of a family or two of labourers, dilapidated and overspred with huge volumes of ivy, it will perhaps soon become untenantable".[26]
Henry Northleigh (1612–1675)[27] (eldest son and heir), who in 1639 married Lettice Yarde, the second surviving daughter of Edward[28] Yarde (1583–1612) of Churston Ferrers, Devon.[24]
Henry Northleigh (1643–1694) was the second and eldest-surviving son and heir of Peamore House; he was thrice MP for Okehampton and married Susanna Sparke, daughter of John Sparke, a dyer of Exeter.[29] Susanna was the grand-daughter of Stephen Toller, haberdasher of Exeter, who in 1673 purchased Crediton Parks, the former park of the Bishops of Exeter, from Sir John Chichester of Hall, Bishop's Tawton. Susanna devised Crediton Parks to her daughter Susanna Northleigh, who devised it to her nephew John Tuckfield (c. 1719 – 1767) of Little Fulford, MP for Exeter, eldest son of her sister Elizabeth Northleigh by her husband Roger Tuckfield of London, Merchant.[30]
Henry's son Stephen Northleigh (c. 1692 – ?1731) of Peamore was MP for
Hippisley-Coxe
In 1738, John Hippisley Coxe (1715–1769) of
John's third son Henry Hippisley Coxe (1748–1795) of Ston Easton Park, Somerset, was MP for Somerset from 1792 to 1795 and died childless. The Devon topographer Rev. John Swete visited the area in 1789 and made a sketch of Peamore, from which he made a watercolour painting in 1794. In 1789 he noted in his journal it was then the residence of Sam Strode, Esquire,[35] (died 29 August 1795),[36] lord of the manor and hundred of Crediton in 1790,[37] who had purchased a life-interest lease from Henry Hippisley Coxe. In 1789 Swete noted concerning Peamore:
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Peamore_Exminster_Devon_ByRevJohnSwete_1794.jpg/220px-Peamore_Exminster_Devon_ByRevJohnSwete_1794.jpg)
The foregoing sketch was taken near the road leading into the house just within the gate of entrance in the front of a noble and magnificent grove of elms. The building is here seen in its east and south aspect and though low carries with it a venerable look. But the chief beauty of Peamore lies in the undulating form of its grounds, rising and falling in the regular alternation of hills and dales; in its woods, groves and trees and in a quarry which surrounded by a thicket of high towering oaks, beech, etc., is one of the grandest and most romantic objects in the country.[38]
Swete revisited the area in 1800 and noted in his journal that "Mr Coxe of Peamore" had planted a "crest of firs" on top of a local conical hill owned by him, a "conspicuous knoll of a conical shape", in the parish of Exminster or Alphington, which he compared to a similarly shaped hill at Killerton.[39] Shortly thereafter "H.H. Coxe" sold Peamore to Samuel Kekewich (died 1822), who was the owner in 1810.[2]
Kekewich
The family's unusual surname is thought to derive from
The Kekewich arms are: Argent, two lions passant guardant in bend sable between two bendlets gules.[41]
Samuel Kekewich (1767–1822) DCL was a barrister and
The second Samuel's son Trehawke Kekewich (1823–1909) was the eldest son of the Deputy Lieutenant. His son, also named
The last Kekewich to own Peamore was Sydney Kekewich (1893–1980), the fifth son of Lewis. The sole survivor of four brothers who served in the Great War, and with another who had died in infancy, Sydney had no interest in taking on the burdens of an estate late in life and promptly sold Peamore in 1948.
After World War II
After its sale in 1948, Peamore House was operating as a country hotel by 1952.[citation needed] In the 21st century, the house is residential once again but is now partitioned into four separate properties.[citation needed]
Footnotes
References
- ^ Risdon, p. 118
- ^ a b c Risdon, 1810 Additions, p. 374
- ^ Listed building text
- ^ Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086–1327, Oxford, 1960, p. 106
- ^ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 1, 34,12
- ^ Thorn & Thorn, Part 2 (notes), 34,12
- ^ a b Pole, p. 253
- ^ Pole, p. 195
- ^ Pole, pp. 253, 195
- ^ Vivian, p. 729, pedigree of Tothill of Peamore; Pole, p. 504, arms of Tothill of Peamore, but given with bend or cotised argent. The monument to Grace Tothill (died 1623) in St Martin's Church, Exminster (possibly restored/repainted) shows no bend at all, the lion being shown in bend on a field azure cotised or
- ^ a b Vivian, p. 729, pedigree of Tothill
- ^ Stucley, Sir Dennis, 5th Baronet, "A Devon Parish Lost, A new Home Discovered", Presidential Address published in Transactions of the Devonshire Association, no. 108, 1976, pp. 1–11
- ^ Vivian, p. 721
- ^ Risdon, p. 118
- ^ Risdon, p. 329
- ^ Vivian, p. 284, pedigree of Dillon
- ^ Vivian, p. 456, pedigree of Hatch
- ^ Risdon, list of Sheriffs; Inscription on monument to daughter Grace Tothill in Exminster Church
- ^ Vivian, p. 729; Risdon, p. 118
- ^ Stabb, John, Some Old Devon Churches, pp. 97–108
- ^ Monument in Alphington Church; Vivian, p. 584, pedigree of Northleigh of Northleigh
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p. 442. Image, Church Monuments Society [1]
- ^ Description and watercolour circa 1794 see: Swete, Vol. 2, pp. 74–75
- ^ a b c d Vivian, p. 584
- ^ Risdon, p. 256, Inwardleigh; Pole, p. 354, Inwardleigh
- ^ Swete, Vol. 4, pp. 160–161
- ^ Date of death per ledger stone in Alphington Church
- ^ "Edward" per Vivian, p. 831, pedigree of Yard of Churston Ferrers; "Henry" per Vivian, p. 584
- ^ "NORTHLEIGH, Henry (1643-94), of Peamore, Exminster, Devon. | History of Parliament Online".
- ^ Oliver, Rev. George, History of Exeter, Exeter, 1821, pp. 87–88, footnote [2]
- ^ "NORTHLEIGH, Stephen (C.1692-?1731), of Peamore, Exminster, Devon | History of Parliament Online".
- ^ Vivian, 1895, p. 270, pedigree of Davie
- ^ Swete, Vol. 1, p. 55
- ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p. 1119, pedigree of Hippisley of Ston Easton
- ^ Swete, Vol. 1, p. 56
- ^ Date of death per The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 78, London, 1795, p. 706 [3]
- ^ Lysons, Daniel & Lysons, Samuel, Magna Britannia, Vol. 6, Devonshire, London, 1822, p. 145
- ^ Swete, Vol. 1, p. 56
- ^ Swete, Vol. 4, p. 212
- ^ "KEKEWICH, George (1530-82), of Catchfrench, Cornw. | History of Parliament Online".
- ^ a b Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp. 1276–1277, pedigree of Kekewich of Peamore
- ^ Listed building text
- Sources
- Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791
- Risdon, Tristram (died 1640), Survey of Devon. With considerable additions. London, 1811.
- Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789–1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999
- Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895
Further reading
- Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, pp. 626–627, Peamore House