Winscott House, Peters Marland, built in 1865, demolished after 1931
Entrance gates and lodge of the demolished Winscott House

Winscott was a historic manor in the parish of Peters Marland, north Devon, England. Winscott House was built or re-built in 1865 and was demolished after 1931.

Winscott was a seat of the Stevens family also of Velstone, in the parish of Buckland Brewer and Cross, in the parish of Little Torrington, the latter existing today as a large Georgian mansion about 2 miles south of Great Torrington.

House

There must have been a house at Winscott for several centuries – it was the home of the Stevens family, long prominent in Torrington. The family also owned Cross, a large house on the outskirts of that town. The old Winscott property had vanished by October 1865 when plans for a large Victorian mansion for Mr J. C. Moore-Stevens were published in The Builder. The new house was built of local yellow brick from the Marland clay works nearby. Said to have cost over £7,000, the building incorporated a central hall almost 30 feet square. Left empty in 1920, it was finally demolished and all that remains today is a flat area in the middle of a field.[1]

History

Domesday Book

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the manor of "Winescote" as one of thirty-one manors, including "Mirland" (Peters Marland) and "Tuchbere" (Twigbeare), held by Roald Dubbed. Before 1066 it was held by Alwin.[2]

Stevens

Stevens mural monument in St Peter's Church, Peters Marland
Richard Stevens (1702-1776)

Richard Stevens (1702-1776) of Winscott, was MP for Callington in Cornwall. His mural monument exists in Peters Marland Church. He married Elizabeth (1707-1760), of unknown family, by whom he had three sons who pre-deceased him without children and two daughters who were also without children. His daughter Elizabeth Stevens (1727-1792) married twice, firstly to Robert Awse,[3] and secondly in 1782 to John Clevland (1734-1817) of Tapely, MP for Barnstaple 1766-1802.[4]

Thomas Moore-Stevens (1782-1832)

Thomas Moore-Stevens succeeded to Winscott under the will of Elizabeth Clevland,[5] He adopted the name and arms of Stevens, by royal licence dated 12 July 1817, on the death of John Clevland, as a condition of his wife's will. According to the death notices in the 1832 Annual Register, Thomas Moore-Stevens died by suicide.[6]

John Curzon Moore-Stevens (1818-1903), JP, DL.

He was the son and heir of Thomas Moore-Stevens and was MP for North Devon and High Sheriff of Devon in 1870.[7] He rebuilt Winscott in 1865, immediately following his inheritance, at a cost of over £7,000.[8] He served as a Justice of the Peace and Winscott House was built with its own "Justice Room" with a separate entrance and lobby.[1]

He also rebuilt the nave and chancel of St Peter's Church, Peters Marland, in 1865, also to the designs of William White.[1]

Richard Moore-Stevens (1854-1931)

Col. Richard Arthur Moore-Stevens (1854-1931), was the son and heir of John Curzon Moore-Stevens. In 1886 he married his third cousin May Clare Sophy Haworth. They had three children: John (born 1900), Ralph (born 1904) and Joyce.[9] A very religious man, he disinherited his son for marrying a Roman Catholic. He shut up Winscott House in around 1920 and moved to Exeter.[1]

Sale of estate

Some time after Richard Arthur Moore-Stevens died, the Winscott estate was sold. A timber merchant purchased the grounds and felled the trees, whilst the building firm of Chambers of Winkleigh purchased the house, which was eventually demolished without a trace surviving above ground. Some materials were used to construct a new village hall. A few specimen trees survive, but all traces of the orchard, terraces, tennis court and walled garden have vanished. The imposing entrance gates and lodge survive.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lauder, Rosemary, Vanished Houses of North Devon, Tiverton, 2005, pp. 54–5
  2. ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book Vol. 9: Devon, Parts 1 & 2. p. 35, 15. Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985.
  3. ↑ History of Parliament biog. of John Cleveland
  4. ↑ Biography of Richard Stevens by Drummond, Mary M., published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1754-1790, Namier, L. (Ed.), 1964
  5. ↑ Heralds Visitation of Devon, Moore; Lysons (Magna Britannia, Vol.6, 1822, Gentry) on the other hand states Thomas Stevens to have acquired Winscott "by the bequest of the late John Cleveland, Esq."
  6. ↑ Quoted in: http://stalkingdeadpeople.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/thomas-moore.html
  7. ↑ Fox-Davies, A.C., A Directory of Gentlemen of coat-armour, Volume 2, page 87
  8. ↑ The Builder Magazine, October 1865
  9. ↑ Fox-Davies

Further reading

Colby, Frederic Thomas, Pedigree of the family of Stevens of Vielstone, Cross, and Winscott. Published by W. Pollard, Exeter, 1891.

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