Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe


Heanton Satchville was a historic manor in the parish of Petrockstowe, North Devon, England. With origins in the Domesday manor of Hantone, it was first recorded as belonging to the Yeo family in the mid-14th century and was then owned successively by the Rolle, Walpole and Trefusis families. The mansion house was destroyed by fire in 1795. In 1812 Lord Clinton purchased the manor and mansion of nearby Huish, renamed it Heanton Satchville, and made it his seat. The nearly-forgotten house was featured in the 2005 edition of Rosemary Lauder's "Vanished Houses of North Devon". A farmhouse now occupies the former stable block with a large tractor shed where the house once stood. The political power-base of the Rolle family of Heanton Satchville was the pocket borough seat of Callington in Cornwall, acquired in 1601 when Robert Rolle purchased the manor of Callington.

Description of mansion

The mansion was at one time "one of the most imposing houses ever to exist in Devon". The Hearth Tax return of 1674 recorded 26 hearths for the house, making it the second largest house in Devon after Werrington.
It was described by Rev. John Swete in 1789. Referring to it as a "vast pile built at different times", he noted a carved date of 1639 which he concluded was not the earliest date of the building but only served to date the portal above which it was located. The parapet walls, the mullions of the windows and the pavement were all made of moorstone. The south side of the house had a "most noble terrace" of 130 paces in width, with a bowling green and adjacent walks. The property afforded views of several churches and the house of Sir James Innes in Huish to the east of the property.

Descent of the manor

Normans

The manor of "Hantone" is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 35th of the 176 Devonshire holdings of Baldwin the Sheriff, feudal baron of Okehampton. His tenant was Ralph of Bruyère, from Bruyère in Calvados, Normandy, who also held from Baldwin the manors of Dunterton, Broad Nymett, Appledore,
Teignrace and Wolborough. Before 1066 the lord of the manor had been Edwin. It was in Shebbear hundred

Sachville

According to Magna Britannia, between the reigns of Kings Richard I and Henry III, the manor of Heanton Sachville was held by members of the Sachville family, originally from Sageuile, France. The Book of Fees lists Yauntone as held by John de Sicca Villa from the feudal barony of Okehampton, whose lord was the Courtenay family, later Earls of Devon.

Killigrew

It later passed to the Killigrew family, a prominent Cornish family.

Yeo

The manor came into the Yeo family at the beginning of the reign of King Edward III when Nicholas Yeo, son of William Yeo, married Elizabeth Killigrew, daughter and heiress of Henry Killigrew of Heanton Sachville. The descent was as follows:

Henry Rolle (died c. 1620)

Henry Rolle, 3rd son of George Rolle, Keeper of the Records of the Court of Common Pleas and MP for Barnstaple in 1542 and 1545, of Stevenstone near Great Torrington, Devon, situated about 5 1/2 miles north-east of Heanton Satchville. Henry married Margaret Yeo, daughter and heiress of Robert Yeo of Heanton Satchville. He also held much land on Exmoor including the Somerset manors of Exton, Hawkridge and Withypool.
Rolle and Yeo brasses
On the north wall of Petrockstowe parish church are affixed two monumental brasses of Henry Rolle and his wife Margaret Yeo, the heiress of Heanton Satchville. These are not in their original positions, but are likely originally to have been joined together. The two halves of the shields when joined would show the arms of Rolle impaling Yeo.
Brass of Henry Rolle
Inscribed in Roman capitals below is the following text: "Here lyeth the body of Henry Rolle Esquieer fourth sonne of George Rolle of Stevenston who maryed Margaret Yeo daughter and sole heire unto Robert Yeo Esquir decesed and had issue by hir sonnes & doughters nyneteene". On a speech scroll issuing from Henry Rolle's mouth the words MORS MIHI LUCRUM, from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, 1:21. The Rolle arms are shown each side of him.
Brass of Margaret Yeo
Affixed in modern times immediately to the right of the brass of Henry Rolle is that of his wife Margaret Yeo, heiress of Petrockstowe manor. Inscribed below is the following Gothic text: "Here lyeth the bodye of Margaret the wife of Henry Rolle Esquier, daughter and hayre of Robert Yeo Esquire who deceased the Vth day of January and in ye yeare of Our Lorde God 1591". From her mouth issues a speech scroll inscribed: "My children feare the lorde", referring to Psalms 34:11: "Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord" A human skull is shown directly in front of her face, symbolising death, and perhaps her contemplation of that event. Shown either side of Margaret is a shield bearing the arms of Yeo: Argent, a chevron sable between three drakes azure, which arms can be seen in stained glass reset in incomplete form in the vestry window.

Robert Rolle (died 1633)

Robert Rolle , who in 1601 purchased the manor of Callington in Cornwall, thereby gaining the pocket borough seat of Callington in Parliament, which in future served to promote the careers of many Rolles. He nominated to this seat his brother William Rolle in 1604 and 1614, his son Sir Henry Rolle, of Shapwick, in 1620 and 1624, his son-in-law Thomas Wise of Sydenham in Devon, in 1625, and another son John Rolle, in 1626 and 1628. He married Joane Hele, daughter of Thomas Hele of Fleete. He produced three distinguished sons, the younger two of whom were:
Sir Samuel Rolle of Heanton Satchville, Member of Parliament for Callington, Cornwall in 1640 and for Devon 1641-1647 and a supporter of the parliamentary side in the Civil War.

Robert Rolle (died 1660)

, MP, eldest son and heir. He married Lady Arabella Clinton, second daughter and co-heiress in her issue of Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln and 12th Baron Clinton.

Samuel Rolle (died 1717)

, elected to Parliament 18 times. He married as his second wife Margaret Tuckfield and had surviving issue a daughter and sole heiress Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton.
The scale of the wealth of Samuel Rolle of Heanton Satchville is indicated by the list of properties comprised in a peppercorn lease of one year dated 1704 to trustees of his second wife Margaret Tuckfield, namely William Davie of Creedy, Devon, Margaret Tuckfield of Raddon Court, Devon, Roger Tuckfield of Raddon Court, Devon and John Tuckfield of Exeter. Included is the Rotten Borough of Callington in Cornwall, the political power-base of the Rolle family:

"Manor, rectory and hundred of Puddletown, including Druce and Willoughbys farms; manors of West Anstey and Town, Irnall, Cotleigh, Culbeer in Offwell, Bradwell in West Down and Ilfracombe, Heanton Satchville with the Barton farm and Hall Moor, Hele Territt alias Flemings Hele, and a tenement called Cuddimors, manor and advowson of Petrockstow, manor of Broom Park Yeate , manor and advowson of West Putford, manor of Buckish, manor of Nuton , manor of Hartleigh , manor of Sheepwash, manor of Newcourt , manor of Gortleigh , manor of Merton, manor of Shebbear with property in Langtree, manor of Welcombe, and properties in Ashwater, Ringsash, Great Torrington, Sheepwash, Shebbear, Langtree, Buckland Filleigh, Petrockstow, Peters Marland, West Putford, East Putford, Hartland, Woolfardisworthy, Highhampton, Hatherleigh, Jacobstowe, West Down, Ilfracombe, West Anstey, Cotleigh, Culbeer , Monkton, Offwell, Combe Raleigh, Bere Alston, Damierton , and Merton, all in Devon; manors of Norton Rolle, Marhamchurch; manor and borough of Callington; manors of Fursden, Nethercott, Trethavie; manor and rectory of Moorewinstow; properties in Maker, Millbrook, St John, Anthony, Sheviock, Calstock, St Neot, Garrans, Liskeard, Menheniot, St Cleer, Callington, South Hill, St Dominick, Tintagel, Morwenstow, Week St Mary and St Stephen's, and the manor of Barton and Inswork in Millbrook, Maker, St John and Anthony, all in Cornwall".

Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton (1709-1781)

. She inherited the title Baroness Clinton from her childless cousin Hugh Fortescue, 14th Baron Clinton, 1st Baron Fortescue and 1st Earl Clinton, of Filleigh, Devon.

Walpole

The manor was then inherited by the Trefusis family together with the barony of Clinton and Say, in the person of George William Trefusis, according to Lysons. Robert George William Trefusis successfully claimed the title 17th Baron Clinton in 1794.
In 1795, the house was destroyed by fire and Rev. John Swete reported in his journal of 1797, when he was visiting John Inglett Fortescue at nearby Buckland Filleigh, that he had seen a painting by Rubens that Baron Clinton had himself rescued from the fire and had sent to Fortescue to look after while he was still homeless. Swete also reported that in the same fire Mr Fortescue had lost a much-valued family portrait of an ancestor which he had sent to Heanton Satchville to be restored by Lord Clinton's picture restorer.
In 1797, the 17th Baron died, leaving his son and heir Robert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton a minor aged ten. Next, George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley, later 1st Marquess, who was heir to the Walpole estates, launched a legal suit against the young Robert Trefusis for possession of the former Rolle estates. Although the legal case took nine years to resolve, it was decided in favour of Baron Clinton. The house at Petrockstowe was never rebuilt, but in 1812 the 18th Baron purchased the contiguous manor of Huish to the east together with its capital mansion Innes House, made it the new family seat, and renamed it Heanton Satchville.
Samuel Lysons wrote in 1822: "Heanton Sachville, which was some time a seat of the Rolles, and afterwards of the Earls of Orford, was burnt down several years ago. A farm-house has been fitted up out of the ruins. The deer-park is still kept up". The only remnant of the original mansion is the stable block, now the site of a modern farmhouse called Heanton Barton. A large modern tractor shed occupies the flat site of the former mansion house.