West Ogwell is a village and former civil parish and manor, now in the parish of Ogwell, in the Teignbridge district, in the county of Devon, England. It is located 2 miles south-west of the town of Newton Abbot and 1 mile west of the village of East Ogwell. The church and manor house "lie hidden away on their own".Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.901 In 1891 the parish had a population of 39. In 1894 the parish was abolished and merged with East Ogwell to form "Ogwell".
Church The disused former parish church (West Ogwell Church), which stands next to the manor house, was built in the 13th century and is a grade I listed building. Since 1982 it has been owned by the Redundant Churches Fund.Pevsner, p.901 In the opinion of Pevsner it is of exceptional interest "both for its early structure undisturbed by the usual Perp(endicular) remodelling and because its simple and charming late Georgian interior has escaped radical Victorian restoration".Pevsner, p.901 Polwhele (1793) wrote of West Ogwell Church: "West Ogwell is a very small parish containing no more than thirty-five inhabitants...West Ogwell Church is dark and damp".Polwhele, Richard, History of Devonshire, London, 1793, p.133
Manor House
West Ogwell House, the former manor house of West Ogwell, stands next to the church and is a Georgian structure built in 1790 by Pierce Joseph Taylor.Pevsner, p.902 In the opinion of Pevsner it has an "overwhelmingly plain exterior (with) no decoration whatever".Pevsner, p.902 It incorporates some remains from the former manor house of the Reynell family (whose earliest Devonshire seat was at adjoining East Ogwell),Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.643-5, pedigree of Reynell including stables and outbuildings built in 1588 by Thomas Reynell,Pevsner, p.902, stating "1589" as the surviving datestone in the wall of the lean-to building in the courtyard attests by its inscription Anno Domini 1588 T. R.. In 1943 it became the Convent of the Companions of Jesus the Good Shepherd (founded 1920), and a chapel was added in 1955.Pevsner, p.902 In 1996 the Convent moved to Windsor and joined with the Community of St John Baptist,In 2001 the Convent moved to Begbroke Priory in Oxfordshire and sold West Ogwell to the Gaia House Trust (the then Gaia House being situated at the Old Vicarage in nearby Denbury) whereupon it became the home of a Buddhist centre, which changed the name of the building to "Gaia House", and uses it as "a quiet retreat for meditation and contemplation".
Descent of the manor The manor was anciently called West Woggewill,Pole, p.250 etc.
Peytevin During the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189) West Ogwell was held by Hugh Peytevin (alias Peitevyn, etc) (Latinised to Pictavensis, who held it together with other lands by the feudal tenure of knight's service as two knight's fees.Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.250 He was succeeded by Robert Peytevin, and later by Thomas Peytevin who in 1301/2Pole, p.251, regnal date 30 Edward I held it as one knight's fee from the feudal barony of Berry Pomeroy.Pole, p.251 The same was later held by William Peytevin in 1345/6.Pole, p.251, regnal date 19 Edward III
Courtenay West Ogwell was subsequently a possession of the Courtenay Earls of DevonPole, p.251 of Tiverton Castle.
Reynell West Ogwell was purchased from the Courtenays by the Reynell family,Pole, p.251 then seated at the adjoining manor of East Ogwell, where they had settled in the 14th century, Walter Reynell (fl.1363/4) from Cambridgeshire having married Margaret Stighull, daughter and heiress of William StighullVivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.643; Pole, p.287 of MalstonPole, p.287 in the parish of SherfordMalston in parish of SDherford per Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, pp.172,382 and East Ogwell.Pole, p.251
Taylor
Joseph Taylor (c.1693-1746) In 1726 Joseph Taylor (c.1693-1746) married Rebecca Whitrow, daughter of John Whitrow of Dartmouth and niece and heiress of Richard Reynell (c.1681-1734/5) of East Ogwell, West Ogwell and of Denbury near Ashburton, twice elected a Member of Parliament for Ashburton 1702-8 and 1711-34.Eveline Cruickshanks / Andrew A. Hanham, biography of Reynell, Richard (c.1681-1734), of East Ogwell and Denbury, nr. Ashburton, Devon published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002 Joseph Taylor was the son of Capt. Joseph Taylor (died 1733), Royal Navy, of Plymouth, whose family was from Lyme Regis in Dorset, who was captain of the flag-ship stationed at Plymouth at the time of the death of Queen Anne in 1714, and whose monument is in Denbury Church.Burke, p.445 He was a Member of Parliament for Ashburton 1739-41 and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and as a law student at the Middle Temple.Matthews, Shirley, biography of Taylor, Joseph (?1693-1746), of East and West Ogwell, Denbury, Devon published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970 Richard Reynell had bequeathed his estates "to be sold for the benefit of" his niece Rebecca Whitrow, Taylor's wife, and Taylor duly purchased such estates as the "absolute estate of inheritance — in Devon or elsewhere" which, as required by his marriage settlement, he settled upon his wife and his eldest son.Matthews
Thomas Taylor (born 1727) Thomas Taylor (born 1727), eldest son, who married Eliza Pierce (d.1776), daughter and heiress of Adam PierceBurke, p.446 of Yendacott in the parish of Shobrooke, Devon. As her surviving correspondence reveals she was "a cultured and intelligent woman, who had strong opinions of her own concerning not only the running of her life but also on the subjects of books and literature".Sampson, Julie, Eliza's Letters; Eliza Pierce of Yendacott in mid C18 Devon, 2014 In about 1750 Thomas Taylor began to rebuild the manor house at West Ogwell, as recorded by Polwhele (1793): "Three parts of this parish at present are the property of Mr Taylor who built a large house here about forty years ago but left it unfinished. It stands near the church and is occupied by Farmer Howard, who rents the estate and whose family are more than half the parisioners."Polwhele, p.133
Pierce Joseph Taylor (1754-1832)
Pierce Joseph Taylor (1754-1832)Burke, John, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain, Volume 4, London, 1838, p.446 of West Ogwell and of Denbury House, near Ashburton, son and heir, who in 1790 completed the rebuilding of West Ogwell House commenced by his father.Pevsner The manor house of East Ogwell was then abandoned,Burke, 1838, p.448, note and Polwhele (1793) wrote of East Ogwell Church: "Close adjoining to the church are the ivy-grown ruins of the mansion house of the Reynells, inhabited at present by large flocks of pigeons".Polwhele, Richard, History of Devonshire, London, 1793, p.133 Pierce Joseph Taylor was educated at Eton College and his correspondence whilst a pupil there to his mother survives (See: The Letters of Eliza Pierce 1751-1775, with Letters from her son Pierce Joseph Taylor, a schoolboy at Eton, Edited by Violet M. Macdonald, London, 1927).with frontispiece portrait of Pierce Joseph Taylor He was promoted to Lt-Captain to Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards in January 1779.The Scots Magazine, Volume 41, p.55 In 1781 when a Captain in the 21st Light Dragoons his portrait was painted by John Downman.Sampson, Julie; reproduced as frontispiece of his mother's correspondence He married Charlotte Cooke (d.1837), 5th daughter of Rev. William Cooke, Dean of Ely and Provost of King's College, Cambridge.Burke,1838, p.446
Maj-Gen Thomas William Taylor (1782-1854) Maj-Gen Thomas William Taylor (1782-1854), CB, of Ogwell House, son, was an officer of the Honourable East India Company at Madras, and later Lt-Gov of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and a Groom of the Bedchamber to King William IV. His mural monument survives in Denbury Church.See image He married Anne Harney Petrie, a daughter of John Petrie of Gatton in Surrey.Burke,1838, p.446 His daughters included: Ann Frances Taylor (d.1861) wife of Sir Walter Palk Carew, 8th Baronet (1807–1874) of Haccombe, Devon, whose funerary hatchment survives in Haccombe Church showing the arms of Carew impaling Taylor (Sable, a lion passant argent langued gulesBurke,1838, p.446 with a label of three points azure for difference) where they are also shown in a stained glass window dedicated to Ann Frances Taylor. Georgiana Jane Taylor, wife of Robert Verney, 17th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1809-1862) of Compton Verney in Warwickshire.
Scratton
In 1869 West Ogwell was purchased by Daniel Robert Scratton (1819-1902)Per gravestobe, West Ogwell ChurchFurther reading: Scratton family archives, Essex Record Office of Prittlewell Priory, Southend-on-Sea, and of Milton Hall,Burke, Bernard, Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, 1871, p.1345 Prittlewell, both in Essex, a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Devon. He and his wife Maria Thornton (1817-1901),Per gravestobe, West Ogwell Church 2nd daughter of James Thornton,Burke, 1871, p.1345 were popular locally and supplied running water to the house and villages of West Ogwell and East Ogwell. He was a noted breeder of cattle and of pointer dogs. In 1890 the estate of West Ogwell comprised almost 700 acres with a deer park. His obituary stated as follows:Obituary Notice - Daniel Robert Scratton: Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.34, 1902, p. 36 "He made the place famous in the agricultural world, devoting to the farm he established there such personal care as if he had to make his living out of the land. He recognized to the full the duties and claims attaching to the possession of property. He built schools, founded a cottage hospital, gave at considerable cost a water-supply to Ogwell, lighted his parish church with acetylene gas, and also provided it with an organ, and when someone was wanted to blow it he undertook the work, saying, as he could not sing, he wanted to do something. He was a busy, active man, fond of work for its own sake. He had tried every kind of sport, he used to say but had found nothing so satisfying as work. He was Chairman of the Newton Abbot Board of Guardians for some time, Secretary of the Hospital at Newton Abbot, Honorary Clerk to the School Boards of Denbury and Ogwell, and Clerk to the Parish Councils of the same places". The couple's inscribed gravestone is situated in the graveyard of West Ogwell Church beside the south chancel wall. On his death in 1902 West Ogwell House passed to his cousin Edward Joshua Blackburn Scratton (1854-1916), a lawyer,Alumni Cantabrigienses, Volume 2, ed. John Venn who sold it to the farmer resident next door at West Ogwell Barton, who used the manor house as a store for his farm produce.
Further reading Adams, Maxwell, Some Notes on the Churches and Manors of East and West Ogwell, published in Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol.32 (Vol.2, second series), Plymouth, 1900, pp. 228 et seq.
References