West Ogwell
West Ogwell | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
West Ogwell is a village and former
Church
The disused former parish church (
Manor House
West Ogwell House, the former manor house of West Ogwell, stands next to the church and is a Georgian structure built in 1790 by Pierce Joseph Taylor.[7] In the opinion of Pevsner it has an "overwhelmingly plain exterior (with) no decoration whatever".[8] It incorporates some remains from the former manor house of the Reynell family (whose earliest Devonshire seat was at adjoining East Ogwell),[9] including stables and outbuildings built in 1588 by Thomas Reynell,[10] as the surviving datestone in the wall of the lean-to building in the courtyard attests by its inscription Anno Domini 1588 T. R..[11] In 1943 it became the Convent of the Companions of Jesus the Good Shepherd (founded 1920), and a chapel was added in 1955.[12] In 1996 the Convent moved to Windsor and joined with the Community of St John Baptist,[13][14] and sold West Ogwell to the Gaia House Trust (the then Gaia House being situated at the Old Vicarage in nearby Denbury) whereupon it became the home of a Buddhist centre, which changed the name of the building to "Gaia House", and uses it as "a quiet retreat for meditation and contemplation".[15]
Descent of the manor
The manor was anciently called West Woggewill,[16] etc.
Peytevin
During the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189) West Ogwell was held by Hugh Peytevin (alias Peitevyn, etc) (
Courtenay
West Ogwell was subsequently a possession of the Courtenay Earls of Devon[21] of Tiverton Castle.
Reynell
West Ogwell was purchased from the Courtenays by the Reynell family,[22] then seated at the adjoining manor of East Ogwell, where they had settled in the 14th century, Walter Reynell (fl.1363/4) from Cambridgeshire having married Margaret Stighull, daughter and heiress of William Stighull[23] of Malston[24] in the parish of Sherford[25] and East Ogwell.[26]
Taylor
Joseph Taylor (c.1693-1746)
In 1726
Thomas Taylor (born 1727)
Thomas Taylor (born 1727), eldest son, who married Eliza Pierce (d.1776), daughter and heiress of Adam Pierce[31] of Yendacott in the parish of Shobrooke, Devon. As her surviving correspondence reveals she was "a cultured and intelligent woman, who had strong opinions of her own concerning not only the running of her life but also on the subjects of books and literature".[32] In about 1750 Thomas Taylor began to rebuild the manor house at West Ogwell,[33] as recorded by Polwhele (1793): "Three parts of this parish at present are the property of Mr Taylor who built a large house here about forty years ago but left it unfinished. It stands near the church and is occupied by Farmer Howard, who rents the estate and whose family are more than half the parisioners."[34]
Pierce Joseph Taylor (1754-1832)
Pierce Joseph Taylor (1754-1832)[35] of West Ogwell and of Denbury House, near Ashburton, son and heir, who in 1790 completed the rebuilding of West Ogwell House commenced by his father.[36] The manor house of East Ogwell was then abandoned,[37] and Polwhele (1793) wrote of East Ogwell Church: "Close adjoining to the church are the ivy-grown ruins of the mansion house of the Reynells, inhabited at present by large flocks of pigeons".[38] Pierce Joseph Taylor was educated at Eton College and his correspondence whilst a pupil there to his mother survives (See: The Letters of Eliza Pierce 1751-1775, with Letters from her son Pierce Joseph Taylor, a schoolboy at Eton, Edited by Violet M. Macdonald, London, 1927).[39] He was promoted to Lt-Captain to Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards in January 1779.[40] In 1781 when a Captain in the 21st Light Dragoons his portrait was painted by John Downman.[41] He married Charlotte Cooke (d.1837), 5th daughter of Rev. William Cooke, Dean of Ely and Provost of King's College, Cambridge.[42]
Maj-Gen Thomas William Taylor (1782-1854)
Maj-Gen
- Ann Frances Taylor (d.1861) wife of difference) where they are also shown in a stained glass window dedicated to Ann Frances Taylor.
- Georgiana Jane Taylor, wife of Robert Verney, 17th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1809-1862) of Compton Verney in Warwickshire.
Scratton
In 1869 West Ogwell was purchased by Daniel Robert Scratton (1819-1902)[46][47] of
- "He made the place famous in the agricultural world, devoting to the farm he established there such personal care as if he had to make his living out of the land. He recognized to the full the duties and claims attaching to the possession of property. He built schools, founded a cottage hospital, gave at considerable cost a water-supply to Ogwell, lighted his parish church with acetylene gas, and also provided it with an organ, and when someone was wanted to blow it he undertook the work, saying, as he could not sing, he wanted to do something. He was a busy, active man, fond of work for its own sake. He had tried every kind of sport, he used to say but had found nothing so satisfying as work. He was Chairman of the Newton Abbot Board of Guardians for some time, Secretary of the Hospital at Newton Abbot, Honorary Clerk to the School Boards of Denbury and Ogwell, and Clerk to the Parish Councils of the same places".
The couple's inscribed gravestone is situated in the graveyard of West Ogwell Church beside the south chancel wall. On his death in 1902 West Ogwell House passed to his cousin Edward Joshua Blackburn Scratton (1854-1916), a lawyer,
Further reading
- Adams, Maxwell, Some Notes on the Churches and Manors of East and West Ogwell, published in Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.32 (Vol.2, second series), Plymouth, 1900, pp. 228 et seq.[7][8]
References
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.901
- A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ "Newton Abbot Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ Pevsner, p.901
- ^ Pevsner, p.901
- ^ Polwhele, Richard, History of Devonshire, London, 1793, p.133
- ^ Pevsner, p.902
- ^ Pevsner, p.902
- ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.643-5, pedigree of Reynell
- ^ Pevsner, p.902, stating "1589"
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ Pevsner, p.902
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ In 2001 the Convent moved to Begbroke Priory in Oxfordshire
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ Pole, p.250
- ^ Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.250
- regnal date30 Edward I
- ^ Pole, p.251
- regnal date19 Edward III
- ^ Pole, p.251
- ^ Pole, p.251
- ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.643; Pole, p.287
- ^ Pole, p.287
- ^ Malston in parish of SDherford per Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, pp.172,382
- ^ Pole, p.251
- History of Parliament: House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002 [1]
- ^ Burke, p.445
- History of Parliament: House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970 [2]
- ^ Matthews
- ^ Burke, p.446
- ^ Sampson, Julie, Eliza's Letters; Eliza Pierce of Yendacott in mid C18 Devon, 2014 [3]
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ Polwhele, p.133
- ^ Burke, John, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain, Volume 4, London, 1838, p.446 [4]
- ^ Pevsner
- ^ Burke, 1838, p.448, note
- ^ Polwhele, Richard, History of Devonshire, London, 1793, p.133
- ^ with frontispiece portrait of Pierce Joseph Taylor
- ^ The Scots Magazine, Volume 41, p.55
- ^ Sampson, Julie; reproduced as frontispiece of his mother's correspondence
- ^ Burke,1838, p.446
- ^ See image
- ^ Burke,1838, p.446
- ^ Burke,1838, p.446
- ^ Per gravestobe, West Ogwell Church
- ^ Further reading: Scratton family archives, Essex Record Office
- ^ Per catalogue entry for his portrait by Stephen Pearce (1819–1904)
- ^ Burke, Bernard, Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, 1871, p.1345 [5]
- ^ Per gravestobe, West Ogwell Church
- ^ Burke, 1871, p.1345
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.
- ^ Obituary Notice - Daniel Robert Scratton: Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.34, 1902, p. 36 [6]
- ^ Alumni Cantabrigienses, Volume 2, ed. John Venn
- ^ "The history of the building". 25 August 2013.