The manor of Silverton was an historic manor in the parish of Silverton in Devon. The last version of the manor house was Silverton Park (also called Egremont House), a large neoclassical mansion house built in 1839–45 by George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont (1786–1845) and demolished in 1901. It was according to Pevsner and Cherry (1991) "an extraordinary design, entirely clothed in colonnades",Pevsner, 1991 edition, p.744 but was "a monstrous Italian house" in the opinion of Bernard Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge (1851–1927). It comprised as its core the former early Georgian manor house of Combe Satchfield.
Combe Satchfield
The house was built on the site of the early Georgian manor house of Combe Satchfield, anciently Culme Sachville,Culm Sachvill per Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.194; Culme sachvile per Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.80 which formed the core of the new building.
Domesday Book The manor called by Pole (d.1635) Culm Sachvill and Culm Reigny was said by him to have been "neere the river of Culme",Pole, p.194 from which the nearby town of Collumpton is named, "the chiefest place on her stream that beareth her name" (Risdon).Risdon, p.86 In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as COLVN (i.e. "Colun"),Per Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 52:17 and was one of eleven manors held in Devon in-chief from King William the Conqueror by his Saxon thane Godwin. The latter was one of only twentyPer Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 52:1–53: Colwin, Godric, Godwin, Odo, Aldred, Alward, Ansgot, Dunn, Alnoth, Alwin, Edwin, Ulf, Algar, Alric, Aelfric, Leofric, Saewulf, Aelfeva, Alfhild, Godiva Saxon thanes in Devonshire who survived the Norman Conquest of 1066 and retained their antiquated high status as thanes and became tenants-in-chief under the new Norman king. There had however been various changes in the manors held by this select group of Saxon thanes after the Norman Conquest as of the eleven manors Godwin held under the Norman king in 1086, he had held only three in 1066 under King Edward the Confessor, namely Chittlehampton, Holbrook and Down Umfraville. The extra eight manors he held in 1086, including COLVN, had all previously been held by the Saxon Alstan, who held nothing in 1086.Per Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 52:1–53 Culme was in the ancient hundred of Hayridge.Thorne & Thorne, part 2 (notes), 52,17
Honour of Gloucester Most of the lands of the Saxon thanes of William the Conqueror eventually passed to the feudal barony of Gloucester, as was the case with Culme.
Tenants of Honour of Gloucester de Reigny Culme was held by John Reigny at the start of the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272), when it was known as Culme Reigny.Risdon, p.80 The de Reigny Anglo-Norman family held much land elsewhere in Devon, and other manors took their name, for example the surviving Ashreigney. Other Devon manors held at some time by the de Reigny family included Eggesford.See Battle Abbey Roll Rigny
de Humfraville Culm Rengy was later held by John de Humfravill,Thorn, part 2, 52:17 whose Anglo-Norman family (alias de Umfraville, etc.) was tenant of several other manors from the Honour of Gloucester, including Down UmfravilleThorn, part 2, 52:19 in the hundred of Axmouth, which had been held by Godwin the thane both before and after the Norman Conquest. Sir Gilbert Umfraville of Penmark was one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, the legendary followers of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107), the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan and first Norman feudal baron of Gloucester. Culme does not appear to have taken for suffix the name of this family.See Battle Abbey Roll Vmframuile
de Sachville In the Book of Fees Colm Reyngny was recorded as held from the Honour of Gloucester by Robert de Sicca Villa (literally "from the dry town", the Latinized form of the Norman-French de Sacheville). Thereafter the manor was known as Culme Sachville, later corrupted and Anglicised to Sackville, Sachfield, etc. The name of Culme even later became corrupted to Combe, a common form in Devon, such as Combe Martin, Branscombe, etc., which were however named from their locations in the steep sided valleys of Devonshire called in the local vernacular "combes". The landscape at Combe Satchfield is however comparatively flat and a steep-sided valley does not exist in the immediate vicinity. It was variously recorded as held by Robert and Phillip Sachville. Other manors held at some time by the Sachville family or branches thereof included Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe and Bicton. Their chief manor in Devonshire was Clist Sachville.See Battle Abbey Roll Sageuile
Others An heiress named Margaret, possibly of the Sachville family, brought it by marriage to her husband Sir Simon Meriet. It was later inherited by the Courtenay family of Powderham, apparently having been exchanged for other lands with the Bonville family of Shute, (the great rivals of their cousins the Courtenay Earls of Devon of Tiverton Castle) who sold it to Henry Skibbow, whose son was resident there in about 1630. The Courtenays sold part of the estate to the father of Mr Laund of Woodbeare, who held it in about 1630. The other part the Courtenays sold to Edward Drewe of Sharpham, Serjeant-at-Law, whose son Sir Thomas Drewe (d.1651) of The Grange of Dunkeswell Abbey,Pevsner, p.217 Broadhembury, Sheriff of Devon in 1612, sold it (together with Killerton, to which it adjoins, the later Acland seat) to Sir Arthur Acland (d.1610)Pole, p.194; Vivian, pp.306–7, pedigree of Drewe of Acland. In 1654 it was the property of Gilbert Mortimer, of the Mortimer family of Poundesland and Stockwell House.Parnell, Graham J.H. (ed.), Silverton Local History Society, The Book of Silverton, Halsgrove Publishers, Tiverton, 2000, p.63
Langford
The overlordship of the feudal barony of Gloucester can be assumed to have disappeared following the abolition of feudal land tenure in England by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. In 1720 the estate was purchased by the judge Sir Henry Langford, 3rd Baronet (c.1656–1725), of Gray's Inn, Sheriff of Devon in 1716, who also owned estates at Bradninch and who in 1710 had purchased the manor of Kingskerswell where his successor Henry II Langford Brown (1802-1857) built Barton Hall.
He was from a prominent Irish family, the second son of Sir Hercules Langford, 1st Baronet (c.1625-1683), of Kilmackedrett, County Antrim, by his wife Mary Upton, a daughter of Henry Upton of Castle Upton, County Antrim. The arms of Langford of Kilmackedrett were: Paly of six sable and or, on a chief vert a lion passant guardant of the secondBurke's General Armory, 1884, p.582 which were visible on the facade of the now demolished Antrim Castle.This photograph of Antrim Castle in 1932 shows in great detail the Jacobean cut-stone armorial bearings. The lady in the doorway is unknown, the vandals have not started yet as to your left the windows are still intact. As King Charles I gave land to the Clotworthy family so a carved head of Charles I with the Royal letters underneath; 'C' on one side of the crown and 'R' on the other. Below these are two shields, one shows the coat of arms of Sir Hugh Clotworthy and the other coat of arms is of his wife – Mary Langford, and the date is between them. On the dextor, 'Castrum hoc cond'; and in the centre, 'Decimo maii'; and under the initials 'H. C,' and M. C.' on the sinister we have 'Anno domino 1613'. Below this is the inscription, 'Reno c. comes Massereene, MDCCIII', this was put there on instructions from Chichester, we have 'Anno domino 1613'. Below this is the inscription, 'Reno c. comes Massereene, MDCCIII', this was put there on instructions from Chichester, 4th Earl of Massereene. Next we have the arms of Clotworthy, 4th Viscount Massereene, with the arms of Chichester impaled. Then on down on the circular slab is the following: 'HOC CASTELLUM AUSPICE JOANNE CLOTWORTHY UNDECIMO VICE COMITE MASSEREENE REFECTUM ET AMPLIFICATUM EST A.D. MDCCCLXXXIX' These arms are almost identical to those of the Langford gentry family of Bratton Clovelly in Devon, of whom the earliest recorded head was Richard Langsford (died 1583).Vivian, p.521, pedigree of Langford of Bratton Clovelly, arms: Paly of six argent and gules, on a chief of the first a lion passant sable Sir Henry Langford's portrait, now in the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, was painted in 1710 by William Gandy (1650–1729). He died in 1725 without male issue, when the baronetcy became extinct. He bequeathed all his Devonshire estates to his godson, Thomas Brown. The Irish estates appear to have gone to the descendants of his sister Mary Langford, the wife of Sir John Rowley. Mary Langford's grandson was Hercules Langford Rowley, husband of Elizabeth Upton, who was created Viscountess Langford in 1766. Hercules Rowley's daughter, Hon Jane Rowley, married Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective. Lord Bective's fourth son was created Baron Langford in 1800.
Langford-Brown
Thomas Brown In compliance with the terms of his inheritance Thomas Brown assumed the surname Langford-Brown. His sonPossibly grandson and heir was Henry I Langford-Brown (1721–1800).
Henry I Langford-Brown (1721–1800)
Henry I Langford-Brown (1721–1800), son (possibly grandson) of Thomas Brown. In his will he left a life interest in Combe Satchfield to his second wife Dorothy Taylor, with reversion after her death to his brother Thomas I Langford Brown.As was the case for his manor of Kingskerswell, Lysons (822), p.95[Henry Langford-Brown (1721–1800)] He married twice: Firstly to Frances Tucker (1724–1769), whose mural monument survives in Silverton Church. She was the third daughter of William Tucker, Esq., of Coryton Park,Per inscription of her mural monument in Silverton Church, "Corryton", per Pevsner, p.519: "Coryton Park...Italianate mansion built by the Tuckers in 1756" (partly demolished) Kilmington, Devon. By Frances he had eleven children, two of whom died as infants.Per inscription of her mural monument in Silverton Church Secondly to Dorothy Ayre Taylor (died 1831), (whose portrait was painted by John Keenan ), by whom he had no further progeny. She was one of the two daughters of Bernard Frederick Taylor, of Islington, Middlesex, a merchant of the City of London, by his wife Frances Duke, one of five sisters and co-heiresses of Robert Duke (d.1741), lord of the manor of Otterton in Devon.Coleridge, Bernard, 2nd Baron Coleridge, The Story of a Devonshire House, T. Fisher and Unwin; Paternoster Square, London, 1905, pp.67–9 Dorothy's sister was Frances Duke Taylor, the wife of Col. James Coleridge (1759–1836) of Ottery St Mary,Parnell, p.63 the brother of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), both sons of Reverend John Coleridge (1718–1781), Vicar of Ottery St Mary. James Coleridge's son, the judge Sir John Taylor Coleridge (1790–1876), remembered visiting his "Aunt Brown" at Combsatchfield (as it had become known), and details concerning his visits as a child to Combsatchfield were published in the 1905 work "The Story of a Devonshire House" (a history of the Coleridge family) by his grandson Bernard Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge (1851–1927):Coleridge, Bernard, 2nd Baron Coleridge, The Story of a Devonshire House, T. Fisher and Unwin; Paternoster Square, London, 1905, pp.67–9