Canonteign


Canonteign is an historic tything in the parish of Christow, near Chudleigh, in South Devon, England and situated in the valley of the River Teign. It belonged to Merton Priory in Surrey, founded in 1117 by King Henry I for the Black Canons. It is best known today for the Canonteign Falls waterfall. Canonteign today contains three significant houses: the original Grade I listed 16th-century manor house, the ancient barton house situated nearby behind a granite wall, and a new mansion house built by the Pellew family in the early 19th century nearby, to which that family moved their residence thereby abandoning the old manor house.

Nomenclature

Its name serves to distinguish it from several other ancient manors or estates situated in the valley of the River Teign such as Teigncombe, Drewsteignton, Teigngrace, Kingsteignton, Bishopsteignton and Teignharvey.

Descent

Montbray

In the Domesday Book of 1086 'Teigne' is listed as the 97th of the 99 manors or other landholdings held by Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, and was occupied by his tenant Geoffrey de Trelly, lord of the manor of Trelly in Normandy, today in the département of Manche, France. Teign passed to the Feudal barony of Gloucester.

de la Pomeroy

It later came into the possession of the de la Pomeroy family, feudal barons of Berry Pomeroy in Devon.

St Mary du Val, Bayeux

In about 1125 it was granted by Jocelyn de la Pomeray to the Canons of the Augustinian Abbey of St Mary du Val, Bayeux, Normandy, as is evidenced by the following charter of the Augustinian Abbey of St Mary du Val, Bayeux, published in 1899 by J. Horace Round in his Calendar of Documents Preserved in France: 918-1206

Charter of Goslin de Pomeria, giving, with consent of Emma his wife, and Henry, Roger, Philip, Goslin, and Ralph his sons, by the hand of Richard Bishop of Bayeux, to the church of St. Mary du Val to the canons there serving God, according to the rule of St. Augustine, in cloistered community, with all that follows: 60 acres in the parish of St. Omer, etc. … and half his swine and those of his heirs, when killed in Normandy, and the tithe of his mares in Normandy and England and 40 shillings sterling from the rents of Berry-Pomeroy every year on August 1, and the church and tithe of Berry, etc. and in England the tithe of his swine and of his mills of Berry etc. … and in England a manor called Teign, and his chaplainry in England, namely, the tithe of wool, and cheese, and porkers, and lambs at Ottery, and all belonging to his chaplainry in England etc. … Testibus istis: Goslino de Pomeria cum filiis suis, Henrico, Rogerio, Philippo, Goslino; et Willelmo filio Pagani, cum filiis suis; et Hugone de Rosello, et Christino de Olleyo; Willelmo filio Ricardi; Waltero de Petra ficta; Willelmo de Rosello; Willelmo de Braio; Goslino de Braio; Roberto Buzone; Roberto de Curcell.

Post-Dissolution

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries Canonteign was granted by the crown to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Devon, amongst the huge grants he received in Devon and elsewhere from King Henry VIII.

Berry

Russell sold it to John Berry , who having been engaged in the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, was taken prisoner, carried to London, and executed for treason. John Berry's role in the Rebellion is described as follows in a contemporary tract:
The Western Rebellion states:

The estate was then granted to William Gibbs, having presumably escheated to the crown.

Gibbon

In the 17th century Canonteign was owned by the Gibbon family, and a monument survives in Christow Church to Elizabeth Gibbon and Thomas Gibbon. An heiress of the Gibbon family is supposed to have brought it to the Davie family.

Davie

Gilbert Davie (16th c.)

The first member of the Davie family to have lived at the estate of Canonteign appears to have been Gilbert Davie, the second son of Robert Davie, a wealthy cloth merchant from Crediton, Devon. At sometime between 1559 and 1578 Gilbert Davie acquired the manor of Combe Lancey, near Ruxford and Creedy, which remained a possession of the Davies of Canonteign until the deaths in 1637 of Gilbert’s great-grand-daughter Anne Davie and her heir and uncle John Davie of Christow, at which time it passed to a their cousin Sir John Davie, 1st Baronet of Creedy.
Gilbert Davie married Mary Gere, daughter of John Gere of Hevitree near Exeter. By his wife he had 2 sons:
Robert Davie, eldest son and heir, baptised at Crediton in 1564. His seal survives on a lease granted by him of Combe Lancey dated 8 April 1614, which shows the Davie "Bardolph" arms supposedly granted in 1594 to his uncle John Davie of Exeter and Creedy. He married Anne Northcote, a daughter of John Northcote of Crediton by his wife Elizabeth Dowrish of Dowrish, near Crediton. Anne's brother was John Northcote, of Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton who married Susan Pollard, a daughter of Sir Hugh Pollard, lord of the manor of King's Nympton, and was the father of Sir John Northcote, 1st Baronet, ancestor of the Northcote Earls of Iddesleigh.

Gilbert Davie (1583–1627)

Gilbert Davie, eldest son and heir, who in 1616 married Gertrude Pollard, a daughter of Sir Hugh Pollard, lord of the manor of King's Nympton, and a sister of Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet. He left a daughter and sole heiress Anne Davie, who married a member of the Trelawny family but died without issue, when her heir to Canonteign became her uncle John Davie of Christow.

John Davie of Christow

John Davie of Christow, second son of Robert Davie.

Robert Davie (fl.1633)

Robert Davie, younger brother, third son of Robert Davie. He married a certain Rachell, and the couple emigrated to New England. He had two sons:
William Davie, eldest son and heir, a Counsellor at Law and a Justice of the Peace for Devon, whose daughter and sole heiress was Martha Davie who married Sir George Cary lord of the manor of Clovelly, but who left no children. The de Via arms of Davie of Canonteign are shown on the mural monument in All Saints Church, Clovelly, to Dr. George Cary, lord of the manor of Clovelly, representing his daughter-in-law Martha Davie.

Helyar

Due to the foreclosure of a mortgage, Canonteign passed to the Helyar family, which lived for some time there. The Helyar family of Canonteign traces its ancestry back to Rev. William Helyar Doctor of Divinity, Archdeacon of Barnstaple, Devon, and a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I, who purchased the manor of Coker and obtained a grant of arms from the herald William Camden in 1607: Azure, a cross flory argent between four mullets pierced or. An earlier member of this family was Richard Helyar, Archdeacon of Cornwall in 1442 and Archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1445, who was buried in the North Choir aisle of Exeter Cathedral.

William Helyar (1662–1742)

William Helyar of Coker Court in East Coker, Somerset, and of Canonteign, and owner of a plantation in Jamaica, was Sheriff of Somerset in 1701 and Member of Parliament for Ilchester, Somerset, 1688–90 and for Somerset 1714-22. He was the son and heir of Colonel William Helyar of Coker, Sheriff of Somerset in 1661, who as a Royalist during the Civil War had raised a troop of horse for King Charles I and was a colonel in the king's army. In 1643 he had surrendered to Fairfax and was in the City of Exeter at its surrender in 1646. His estates were sequestered and he compounded for £1,522. Col. Helyar married Rachel Wyndham, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Hugh Wyndham, 1st Baronet of Pilsden Court, Dorset.
In 1690 William Helyar married Joanna Hole, a daughter and co-heiress of Robert Hole of Blackhall in the parish of South Tawton, Devon.

William Helyar (1720–1783)

William Helyar , of Coker Court in East Coker, Somerset, and of Canonteign and of Blackhall, Devon. He was Sheriff of Somerset in 1764. He was the only son of William Helyar by his wife Mary Goddard, daughter of John Goddard of Gillingham, Dorset. In 1743 he married Betty Weston, a daughter and co-heiress of William Weston of Callew Weston in Dorset.

William Helyar (1745–1820)

William Helyar, eldest son and heir, of Coker Court and Sedghill, Wiltshire, Justice of the Peace. In 1777 he married Elizabeth Hawker, second daughter and co-heiress of William Hawker of Luppitt, Devon, by his wife Elizabeth Welman, daughter and heiress of Thomas Welman of Poundisford Lodge, Somerset, youngest son of Isaac Welman of Poundisford Park, Pitminster, near Taunton, Somerset. In 1812 he sold the manors of Canonteign and Christow to Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Baronet, later Viscount Exmouth "of Canonteign". The Helyar family continued to reside at Poundisford Lodge until after 1937.

Pellew

The old manor house was restored in the 1970s and in November 2015 the Grade I listed 16th century "Canonteign Manor House" with 10 acres of garden and parkland was sold to a Chinese investor Liqun Peng for £2 million by estate agents Savills, Exeter branch. In 2015, the manor had been listed as featuring four reception rooms, a long gallery, 7 bedroom suites, a 2nd floor office & staff flat and a sunken walled garden with swimming pool.
News reports in January 2020 indicated that the owner had attempted in 2019 to obtain consent from the Dartmoor National Park Authority to turn the property into a holiday let for up to 17 guests on a short term basis for no more than 90 days per year. Residents in the area objected to the plan. The application was denied and was modified by the property owner. The revised application was tentatively approved on 16 June 2020 on the basis that the property would not be used as a holiday let until the outdoor swimming pool was "decommissioned and fenced from the application site".
A Country Life article on 20 June 2020 indicated that the property was on the market through estate agents Fine & Country South Devon with a guide price of £3.5 million; the "heated swimming pool" was stated as one of the amenities. Other sources indicated that the manor had received "extensive and sympathetic renovation". It was listed as a 10-bedroom home over three floors, with a great hall, library, a huge gym and a self-contained flat.