Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and CoastsNorthcote, Rosalind
History
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts
Northcote, Rosalind
Devon (England)
On the southern side the buildings are larger and less imperfect. Here
is the chapel, 'evidently,' says Mr Worth, 'a portion of a larger
structure, which has, perhaps, for the most part disappeared....'
East of the chapel are the guard-rooms, in a two-storied block of two
rooms on each floor. A doorway in the north-eastern corner leads into
the porter's lodge, a small room in the gate-tower with 'a loop window
in the eastern wall commanding the approach. Above this chamber there is
one precisely similar in the upper story (the floor, of course, is
gone), and it is noteworthy that this is the only part of the fabric
that retains its roof, which is supported by three massive stone ribs.'
The barony of Okehampton was one of many grants made by the Conqueror to
Baldwin de Brionis, and some generations later it passed by marriage to
the Courtenays, in which family it remained until the Marquis of Exeter
was attainted and beheaded in 1538. The Castle was among the possessions
that Queen Mary restored to the Earl of Devon, and on his death in 1556
his lands were divided amongst his heirs. Okehampton Castle fell to the
share of the Mohuns, and in 1628 John Mohun was granted a peerage and
took the title of Lord Mohun of Okehampton. The last Lord Mohun died in
1712.
To the barony of Okehampton belonged Floyer's Hayes, in the parish of St
Thomas the Apostle, near Exeter, and it was held on this curious tenure:
'That if the Courtenays, Earls of Devon, came at any time into Exe Isle,
they [the Floyers] were to attend them, decently apparelled with a clean
towel on their shoulders, a flagon of wine in one hand and a silver bowl
in the other, and offer to serve them with drink.'
About thirteen miles south-west of Okehampton, Sydenham stands in a
beautiful valley, overshadowed by woods, in which the shining green of
the laurels, the darker masses of the rhododendrons' tapering leaves,
patches of russet bracken, and feathery light green moss make a feast of
colour, even when overhead there is only the bare tracery of twigs and
branches. The coverts lie on a hill-side that is steep and fairly high,
and at the foot is a rushing stream which is crossed by a bridge exactly
opposite the front of the house.
The following notes have been most kindly sent me by Mrs. Tremayne:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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