Tapeley

Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England.latitude = 51.040724; longitude = -4.172789

The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a grade II* listedListed building text, Tapeley Park country house, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled in the 19th century and again in the early 20th century when pilasters, portico, pediment and parapet were added to create a Queen Anne style building. In the mid 19th century the estate was inherited from the Clevland family by William Langham Christie of Glyndebourne in Sussex. His grandson was John Christie (born 1882), the founder of Glyndebourne Opera Festival, who bequeathed Tapeley to his daughter Rosamund Christie (1933–1988), who passed it onto her nephew Hector Christie (born 1963), who briefly turned it into a hippie commune. In 2011, Tapeley Park was the subject of an episode of the Channel 4 television programme Country House Rescue, presented by the hotelier Ruth Watson, who advised on restoring the estate to a sound financial position.

The gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are open to the public on a regular basis and feature Italianate terraces, a working kitchen garden and a permaculture garden. The estate, now mainly owned by the Christie Devon Estates Trust (trustees of the Christie family), comprises about 6,000 acres, and covers Saunton (including foreshore and beach), Braunton Burrows (sand dunes, partly a nature reserve and leased to the Ministry of Defence), Instow (including the foreshore purchased from the crown estate) and the village of Westleigh.Lauder, p.45

Descent

Baudrope The first recorded holder of Tapeley according to Risdon (died 1640) was the family of Baudrope.Risdon, p.284

de Tapelegh According to Pole (died 1635), Tapeley was held by the de Tapelegh family as follows:Pole, Sir William (died 1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.391 Walter de Tapeley, who is recorded as holding it in 1295Regnal date 24 Edward I Walter de Tapeley, 1314 Robert Tapeley, 1345

Grant The heir general of the Tapeley family took Tapeley by marriage into the Grant family.Pole, p.391 A certain Mauger le Grant was lord of the manor of Westleigh (in which parish is situated Tapeley), which he held from "Lord Hugh Courtenay" (possibly therefore Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (1276–1340) or his son Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377) or Hugh de Courtenay, 12th Earl of Devon (1389–1422)), and was succeeded by William Grant and then the latter's son William Grant (of Steventon, DevonVivian, p.568, pedigree of Monk of Potheridge), whose daughter Elizabeth Grant in 1477Regnal date 17 Edward IV (Vivian, p.568, pedigree of Monk of Potheridge) married John Monck of Potheridge in the parish of Merton, Devon,Pole, p.390 ancestor of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (died 1670).

Coblegh

From Grant the estate of Tapeley descended by unknown means to the family of Coblegh of Brightley, Chittlehampton, Devon.Risdon, p.284 The Coblegh family of Brightley were the leading family resident within the manor and parish of Chittlehampton but were not lords of the manor of Chittlehampton. Two monumental brasses commemorating the Cobley family survive in St Hieritha's Church, Chittlehampton, one with an inscription to Henry Coblegh (died 1470) and his wife Alicia, parents of John Coblegh, whose brass lies adjacent to the north. John married twice, firstly to Isabella Cornu, secondly to Joan Pyne (possibly of the Pyne family of East DownVivian, p.632, pedigree of Pyne), as his brass records. His son by his second marriage was John Coblegh (died 1542) who married Joan (or Jane) Fortescue, a daughter of William Fortescue (died 1520), 2nd son of John Fortescue,Stated in the Visitations of Devon to have been MP for Totnes, Tavistock and Plympton; However the History of Parliament biography of his 1st Cousin Sir John Fortescue, Lord Chief Justice, of Ebrington, states the latter to have been MP for those places, thus confusion exists between the 2 sources of Wimpstone, Modbury,Vivian, Visitations of Devon, p.357, pedigree of Fortescue; Joan's brother Henry Fortescue founded the Fortescue family of Preston, Devon which John Fortescue was 1st cousin of Sir John Fortescue (c. 1394 – c. 1480), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. John Coblegh is recorded in the Lisle Letters as one of the Devonshire notables who were given a deer by Honor Plantagenet, Viscountess Lisle (died 1566) from the park of her nearby manor of Umberleigh. He also features further in the Letters.Byrne, Muriel St. Clare, (ed.) The Lisle Letters, 6 vols, University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London, 1981, vol.1, pp.326–8 There exists in Chittlehampton church a slab monument of John Coblegh (died 1542) and his wife Joan Fortescue. Their only child and sole heiress was Margaret Coblegh who married Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547), thus Brightley, together with other estates including Tapeley passed to the Giffard family.Genealogy per information sheet in church

Giffard

The pedigree of Giffard (pronounced Jiffard) is given as follows in the Heraldic visitations of Devon:Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pedigree of Giffard pp.396–404, Giffard of Brightley pp.400–401

Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547) Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547) was a younger son of the Giffard family of Halsbury in the parish of Parkham, 4 miles south-west of Bideford. He was the 3rd son of Thomas Giffard (1532/3) of Halsbury but the eldest by his second wife Anne Coryton, daughter of John Coryton of Newton Ferrers in the parish of St Mellion, in Cornwall. Several monuments exist to the Coryton family in the Church of St Melanus, St Mellion. Thomas's eldest son by his first marriage was heir to Halsbury and the senior line of the family remained seated there until the death of John Giffard of Halsbury (d.post 1666), the last in the male line, who bequeathed the estate on Roger Giffard (1646–1724) a younger son of the junior Brightley line. Sir Roger Giffard had 14 children by his wife Margaret Coblegh, heiress of Brightley and Tapeley.

John Giffard (died 1585) John Giffard (died 1585), eldest son and heir of Sir Roger Giffard (died 1547), married Mary Grenville, daughter of Sir Richard Grenville (c. 1495–1550), lord of the manors of Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall and of Bideford, Devon, MP for Cornwall in 1529.History of Parliament biography Mary was the sister of Roger Grenville, believed to have been the captain of the Mary Rose in the sinking of which at Portsmouth he drowned in 1545, and was thus aunt of his son the heroic sea captain Sir Richard Grenville (1542–1591) of the Revenge. She survived her husband and remarried Arthur Tremayne of Collacombe.Vivian, p.400 His eldest son and heir was John Giffard (died 1622).

John Giffard (died 1622) John Giffard (died 1622), son and heir of John Giffard (died 1585), married Honor Earle (died 1638), daughter of Sir Walter Earle of Charborough, Dorset. His eldest son Arthur Giffard (1580–1616) predeceased his father having married Agnes Leigh (died 1625),Called Agnes by the biographer John Prince, who was a friend of one of her sons, but called Anne in the Heralds' Visitations, p.400 daughter of Thomas Leigh Esq., of Burrough (anciently "Borow", "Borough", etc.)Vivian, p.528, pedigree of Leigh of Borough in the parish of Northam, near Bideford. Arthur left a son and heir to his grandfather, Col. John Giffard (1602–1665), and eight other children including his 2nd son Rev. Arthur Giffard (1605–1666), appointed in 1643 Rector of Bideford by his cousin Sir John Granville (1628–1701) (created Earl of Bath in 1661).

Col. John Giffard (1602–1665)

Col. John Giffard (1602–1665), grandson of John Giffard (died 1622), was a Colonel of Royalist forces in the Civil War, who married in 1621 Joan Wyndham, daughter of Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645) of Orchard Wyndham, near Williton, Somerset. He had a daughter Grace, whose effigy exists in Chittlehampton Church, and at least two sons, John Giffard (1639–1712), his heir, and Roger Giffard (1644–1724).

John Giffard (1639–1712) John Giffard (1639–1712), of Brightley, eldest son and heir of Col. John Giffard (1602–1665). In 1704 he sold the estate of Tapeley to William Clevland (1664–1734). John married twice: Firstly to Susannah Bampfylde, 4th daughter of Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (c. 1610 – 1650), MP, of Poltimore and North Molton.Vivian, p.40, pedigree of Bampfield Their son John Giffard (died 1704) married Margaret Clotworthy, daughter of Roger Clotworthy of Rashleigh, Wembworthy. This marriage failed to produce a male heir, only a daughter and heiress Margaret Giffard (died 1743), who married John Courtenay (died 1732), the last in the male line of Courtenay of Molland. Secondly to Frances Fane, 2nd daughter of Hon. and Rev. William Fane, a son of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland and brother of Lady Rachel Fane (1614–1681), wife of Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath of Tawstock Court, 5 miles east of Tapeley. By Francis Fane he had at least two sons, Henry Giffard (1675–1709) an officer in the Royal Navy, who married Martha Hill, daughter of Edward Hill, Judge of the Admiralty and Treasurer of Virginia. His brother and John Giffard's 4th son was his heir Caesar Giffard (died 1715) who married Mary Melhuish. They had a daughter Rachel Giffard who married Thomas Colley (died 1762). The executors of the will of Caesar Giffard sold the manor of Chittlehampton in 1737 to Samuel Rolle of Hudscott, within the parish of Chittlehampton.

Clevland

William Clevland (1664–1734)