Combe, Dulverton
Combe is a historic estate in Somerset, England, situated between the town of Dulverton and the village of Brushford.
Descent
Taunton Priory
Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the estate was one of the possessions of Taunton Priory, which also held the manor of Dulverton.Combe family
In the medieval period the Combe estate was probably held by the Combe family, although in 1254 the lord of Dulverton, Richard de Turberville, held land there. Alfred of Combe, the Bailiff of Dulverton in 1225, may have come from the estate – doubt arises because Combe, meaning steep-sided valley, is a common name in west Somerset. In 1425 John Combe was a free tenant of Taunton Priory, and Joan Combe, who has been assumed to be an heiress to the estate, married Edward Sydenham at some time before 1506, to whose Sydenham descendants Combe was home until 1874.Sydenham
It was the seat of a junior branch of the de Sydenham family, which took its surname from the manor of Sydenham, near Bridgwater in Somerset. The family split into many prominent branches, the senior branch seated at Sydenham and Kittisford died out in the male line in the 15th century when Sydenham passed via the heiress to the Cave family, then to the Percival family, later Earl of Egmont. The next senior line was seated in the early 15th century at Combe Sydenham in the parish of Stogumber, Somerset, of which family was Simon Sydenham, Bishop of Chichester, and which later inherited the Somerset manors of Orchard Sydenham and Brympton d'Evercy, which latter remained the seat of the Sydenham baronets, which title was created in 1641. In 1871 Rev. Charles St. Barbe Sydenham, whose son was born at Combe in 1861, was declared bankrupt, which may have necessitated the sale of Combe. The descent of Combe in the Sydenham family was as follows:Edward Sydenham (fl.1506)
Edward Sydenham, who at some time before 1506 married Joan de Combe, daughter and heiress of Walter de Combe of Combe. He was descended from John de Sydenham who married Mary de Pixton, daughter and heiress of John de Pixton of Pixton in the parish of Dulverton, situated across the River Barle from Combe. In 1506, together with John Doune of Exebridge, he obtained a lease of the manors of Brushford, Dulverton, Milverton, Halse and Stoke Pero and the advowson of Brushford with the next vacancy for £16 10s rent, from William Byrte, son and heir of William Byrte of Brushford.John Sydenham (died 1561)
John Sydenham, son, who married Elizabeth Frank, daughter and co-heiress of John Frank of Aller Butler, Somerset. The Victoria County History states that in 1549 he purchased Pixton from Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk.John Sydenham (died 1580)
John Sydenham, son, who married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Pollard, daughter of Sir Hugh Pollard of King's Nympton in Devon, and secondly to Mary Ayshford, daughter of Nicholas Ayshford of Ayshford in the parish of Burlescombe in Devon. In 1566 William Babington sold the manor of Dulverton, "with its appertenances, and divers lands, tenements, and hereditaments, in Dulverton and other places", to John Sydenham.Humphrey Sydenham (died 1625)
Humphrey Sydenham of Combe, was assessed at £40 in the 1581 subsidy, the highest level of any person in the locality and twice as much as Robert Courtenay of Molland. In 1582 he made a settlement:He married firstly Jane Champneys, eldest daughter of John Champneys of Uffculme, Devon, and widow of Martin Sandford of Harberton, Devon, whom she had married in 1569. Her brother William Champneys of Yarnscombe, Devon, married as his first wife Margaret Sydenham, Humphry Sydenham's sister. He had at least three sons by his first wife: John Sydenham, his eldest son and heir, Roger Sydenham and Rev. Humphry Sydenham, "Silver-Tongue Sydenham", Rector of Puckington and Oldcombe, Somerset, heir to his elder brother John.
John Sydenham
John Sydenham, eldest son and heir, who married Margery Poulet, daughter of Sir Anthony Poulett , of Hinton St George, Somerset, Governor of Jersey, and Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. Her brother was John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett. In 1627 he paid feudal relief to George Luttrell, feudal baron of Dunster for the manor of Bathealton held from the Barony of Dunster for a sixth of a knight's fee. In 1638 John Sydenham of Combe raised £2,000 for his son and daughters by way of mortgage on his manors including Combe and nearby Brushford and East Anstey. He died without male children, leaving only four daughters, whilst Combe passed to his younger brother Humphry, apparently under tail-male.Rev. Humphrey Sydenham (1591–1650)
Rev. Humphry Sydenham, "Silver-Tongue Sydenham", Rector of Puckington and Oldcombe, Somerset, heir to his elder brother John Sydenham, who died without male children. In 1613 he became a Fellow of the newly founded Wadham College, Oxford, founded posthumously by his fellow Somerset resident Nicholas Wadham and his wife. He was the first to graduate as Master of Arts from that foundation on 3 December 1613. He married Mary Cox, daughter of William Cox of Crookhern, Somerset.Humphrey Sydenham
Humphrey Sydenham, of Combe, who married Jane Pole, second daughter and eventual co-heiress of Sir William Pole, Knight, eldest son and heir apparent of Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet of Shute, Devon, by his second wife Katherine St Barbe, only daughter of Henry St Barbe of Broadlands, Hampshire. His sister-in-law Mary Pole married William Floyer of Berne, Dorset, descended from the ancient family of Floyer of Floyer Hayes near Exeter, whose daughter Katherine Floyer married her first cousin Humphry Sydenham of Combe. He had three sons:- *William Sydenham, eldest son and heir apparent, who predeceased his father and was unmarried.
- *Humphrey Sydenham, of Combe, eldest surviving son and heir.
- *John Sydenham "of Dulverton", younger son, who appears to have been the father of Rev. John Sydenham, who matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1743 and later became vicar of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, in which office he died in 1788. Rev. John Sydenham married Anne Pudsey, daughter and heiress of William Pudsey of Hampden, Kidlington, Oxfordshire and lived at Hampden House. His son Rev. John Pudsey Sydenham matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1766 and was vicar of Kidlington in 1788 and later rector of Ratley, Warwickshire, and was succeeded by his son John Pudsey Welchman Sydenham who was succeeded in 1854 by his sister Amy Sydenham, wife of Richard Burgoyne. Several Sydenhams of Hampden are buried in the Sydenham aisle of Kidlington Church.
Humphrey Sydenham (1672–1710)
Humphrydus Sydenham de Comba in comit Somset, Armiger, mortuus est vicesscimo et sexto die Junii Anno Dom 1710 magno amicorum detrimento aeta suae 38.
Above are shown the arms of Sydenham: Argent, three rams passant sable with crest above: A ram's head erased.
Humphrey Sydenham (1694–1757)
, "The Learned", of Combe and Nutcombe, Devon, eldest son and heir of Humphrey Sydenham, was MP for Exeter 1741-1754. His mural monument survives in All Saints' Church, Dulverton. He was a lawyer trained at the Inner Temple. He married Grace Hill, 2nd daughter and co-heiress of Richard Hill of Kerswell Priory in the parish of Broadhembury , by whom he had children 1 son and 3 daughters. He was ruined by the South Sea Bubble of 1720, in which he lost £20,000. His financial situation was restored by a large inheritance from his great-great-uncle Sir John St Barbe, 1st Baronet, MP, of Broadlands in Hampshire. In the chancel of Ashington Church, Somerset, is a monument of grey and white marble, inscribed:In 1736 Humphrey Sydenham sold Broadlands to Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston. His own mural monument in Dulverton church is inscribed as follows:
Underneath are displayed on an escutcheon quarterly of four: 1st: Argent, three rams passant guardant sable ; 2nd: Argent, a bend of fusils sable ; 3rd: Chequy argent and sable ; 4th: Gules, a bend between six cross crosslets or. Overall is an inescutcheon of pretence: Ermine, on a fesse sable a castle with three towers argent. These are the arms of the Hill family seated at Hawkstone Hall in the parish of Hodnet, Shropshire, since its purchase in 1556 by Sir Rowland Hill, MP.
St. Barbe Sydenham (died 1799)
St. Barbe Sydenham, the only son of Humphrey Sydenham, was the possessor of Combe in 1791. He married Ellery Williams, daughter of Sydenham Williams of Herrinston, Dorset. He died without male children, when Combe appears to have passed to his Sydenham cousin and heir male, apparently a descendant of his first cousin Floyer Sydenham, and left an only daughter Catherine Sydenham, who in 1781 married Lewis-Dimoke Grosvenor Tregonwell of Anderson in Dorset, by whom she had a son St Barbe Tregonwell of Anderson. Combe passed to a cousin:John Sydenham (1759–1834)
John Sydenham, "of Combe House", as is recorded on his mural monument in Dulverton Church. He married a certain Catherine.Rev. John Sydenham (1795–1858)
Rev. John Sydenham, of Combe House, only son. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1814, and gained BA in 1817. He was appointed by his family as Rector of Brushford in 1835 and was prominent in establishing Brushford school in 1836. The Sydenham family of Combe had been patrons of Brushford Church from the 16th century. A dispute arose between the Sydenham and Tregonwell families as is evidenced by the lawsuit of "St Barbe Tregonwell v. John Sydenham the Elder and John Sydenham the Younger" heard on appeal by the House of Lords in 1814/15, concerning the disputed will of Humphrey Sydenham. He had two sons:- * Rev. John William Sydenham, eldest son, who matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1839 and gained BA in 1844. He died at Combe on 18 January 1859.
- *Charles St Barbe Sydenham, second son, who matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford in 1841 and gained BA in 1845. He was appointed by his family curate of Brushford and rector of Brushford in 1858.
Rev. Charles St. Barbe Sydenham (1823–1904)
In the north aisle of All Saints Church in Dulverton are five memorials to the Sydenham family of Combe. The Sydenham family of Combe commenced the building of the hamlet of Battleton, situated between Combe House and the River Barle, and members of the family lived at Battleton House.
Marriott-Dodington
In 1872 Combe was purchased from the Sydenham family by Thomas Marriott-Dodington of Horsington House near Templecombe in Somerset, a barrister, High Sheriff of Somerset in 1887 and Lt.-Col. of the Somerset Light Infantry. The "ancient and distinguished" family of Dodington originated at the Somerset manor of Dodington. He married Lucy Elizabeth Downe, daughter of Rev. G.E. Downe of Rushden, Northamptonshire. He appears to have continued to reside at Horsington and to have let Combe to a series of tenants, including:Couper
In 1895 Combe was the residence of General James Kempt Couper, Indian Staff Corps, second son of Sir George Couper, 1st Baronet, KH, CB, and whose youngest daughter Mary Emiline Bertha Couper in 1895 married her father's landlord Roger Marriott-Dodington of Orchard Portman House and Horsington House, Somerset, High Sheriff of Somerset in 1922. Roger Marriott-Dodington was the owner of Combe, being the eldest son and heir of Thomas Marriott-Dodington who had purchased the estate in 1872. A photograph c. 1856-57 of "James Kempt Couper 2nd Native Indian Regiment", by Ahmad Ali exists in the records of the India Office, National Archives. The Marriott-Dodington family succeeded the Wills family at nearby Northmoor House, Dulverton, and in 1926 were themselves succeeded by the Clayton family. Thomas Marriott-Dodington, the eldest son of Roger Marriott-Dodington, was killed in action in World War I and his younger brother James Marriott-Dodington in 1937 was resident at "Northmoor Estate", Kyambu, Kenya.Clarke
In 1913 the British colonial administrator and Army officer George Sydenham Clarke, former Governor of the Presidency of Bombay from 1907 to 1913, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Sydenham of Combe of Dulverton in the County of Devon. His connection with Combe is unclear. He was born at Swinderby in Lincolnshire, the eldest son of Rev. Walter John Clarke by his wife Maria Frances Mayor. He was a grandson of Major-General Tredway Clarke by his wife Sarah Sydenham, a daughter of Humphrey Sydenham, a jeweller in Bond Street, Mayfair, London, apparently a member of the Sydenham family of Skilgate, Barnstaple and Collumpton in Devon.Harrison
In 1924 Combe House and its estate of 260 acres was purchased by Col. Eustace James Harrison, TD, Hon. Colonel 6th Battalion, King's Regiment, lord of the manor of Hawkridge in Somerset, who served in World War I. His ancestors were from Lancashire. He was the third son of Edward Hodgson Harrison of Plymyard, Eastham, Cheshire, by his wife Elizabeth Whitehead Harpin, daughter of John Harpin of Birks House, Holmfirth, Yorkshire. His uncles were Thomas Harrison and James Harrison , who in 1853 founded T&J Harrison Shipping of Liverpool, which started by importing French brandy from Charente and became one of the largest UK shipping companies, operational until 2002. In 1884 Col Harrison's father Edward Hodgson Harrison owned 12 1/2% of the share capital of the newly incorporated holding company Charente Steam-Ship Company. One of the company's most famous ships was the Politician, wrecked in 1941 on the coast of Scotland carrying a cargo of whiskey, which was the subject of the 1949 comedy film Whiskey Galore.Harrison purchased the adjoining manor of Hawkridge from the Earl of Carnarvon, of Pixton Park, directly eastwards across the River Barle from Combe. The Hawkridge estate comprised about six farms, and woods down to Castle Bridge and up towards Withypool. He built the village hall of Hawkridge in about 1941. In June 1842 Averill Mary Hill, the 11-year-old daughter of Col. Harrison's butler, was killed in a road accident when a lorry descending St Andrew's Hill, at the entrance to Combe Lane, got out of control and crashed through a fence.
Harrison was a keen follower of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and was buried in Hawkridge churchyard, north-east of the church, "at the feet of" the legendary huntsman Ernest Bawden, huntsman from 1917-1937 and his tenant at one of his farms at Hawkridge. He died unmarried and without children and bequeathed his estates, including the Hawkridge farms of Tarr Steps, Cloggs, Parsonage, Zeal, and Shircombe, to his nephews, one of whom was Michael Harrison, author of The Story of Tarr Steps.