The Grange, Broadhembury


The Grange is a historic estate in the parish of Broadhembury in Devon, England. The surviving 16th-century mansion house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England.

Descent

Dunkeswell Abbey

The estate served originally as the grange of nearby Dunkeswell Abbey, the lands of which were sold off by the crown following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The manor of Broadhembury was amongst these possessions and was acquired from the crown by Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, whose grandson sold it to Edward Drew.

Drew

of Killerton in the parish of Broadclyst Devon, purchased the manor of Broadhembury including the lands and buildings of the grange of Dunkeswell Abbey.

Locke

In 1903 Grange was sold and passed from the ownership of the Drewe family. At some time before 1927 the 17th-century carved and highly decorative oak panelling of the room in the south crosswing was purchased by the art dealer "Charles of London" and was shipped to its New York showroom where it was purchased by the tycoon William Randolph Hearst who placed it in warehouse storage together with many other such purchases. Reference to these warehouses is made in the famous 1941 film Citizen Kane:
In 1943/4 it was purchased by Dr Preston Pope Satterwhite of Louisville, Kentucky who donated it to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. In 1943 it was reassembled in the museum as a slightly longer room, called "The English Renaissance Room", but reopened in March 2016 after substantial refurbishment in its original proportions.

Allsopp

In the late 1990s, The Grange was purchased by Ben Andersen. He is the husband of television personality and property consultant Kirstie Allsopp, the daughter of Charles Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip, a former chairman of Christie's auctioneers. The gardens of The Grange were featured in the 2017 book The Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley and photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas.