Haccombe, Newton Abbot

THIS MANOR was formerly the property of the Carews, whom we meet elsewhere in this Catalogue, and Haccombe House was their principal residence until the 1940s. The representative of this ancient Devonshire family, Sir Rivers Carew, takes his Baronetcy title, 'Carew of Haccombe' (created by King Charles II in 1660) from this place, which lies about three miles south-east of Newton Abbot.

Sir John Carew, Baron Carew of Mullesford, was born at Mohuns Ottery, formerly Ottery Fleming from its early medieval Lords, family name still represented by Stoke and Bratton Fleming, in the county. The Mohun house lay in the hamlet of Luppit, later Low-pit, near Honiton, and was an ecclesiastical holding [belonging] to Newenham abbey, in Axminster.

The family came to prominence about 50 years after the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The first was Walter de Windsor so-called from his being Chastellain of Windsor Castle, a residence of King Henry I (1100-35). He was the son of Otto or Otho. Walter's two sons were William, from whom the later Lords Windsor were descended, and Gerald, from whom the Carews and the FitzGeralds, the latter furnishing the lines of Earls of Kildare and Desmond, in Ireland. Gerald was the King's representative in Pembroke and, on his marriage to Nesta, the daughter of Rees, Prince of South Wales, obtained as dowry the Castle of Carew in that county. Some historians suggest that the Carews were Norman, though there is no evidence of this; others that they were English or Anglo-Welsh, taking their name from Nesta's dowry. The second is by no means impossible since, by the reign of King Henry I, the English formed the greater part of the royal army in Henry's tussle over Normandy with his brother, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, a dispute finally settled with Robert's defeat at Tinchebrai, Normandy, in 1106. Henry was also to rely on Englishmen as the instruments of his effective government for the rest of his reign.

Gerald's grandson Raymond married Basilia, sister of Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, who led the English attack on Ireland in 1169. There was no issue from this marriage and the Carew estates passed to Raymond's cousin or nephew, William, to whom King John (1199-1216) confirmed his ancestor King Henry I's grant of Carew castle. William was the first of the family to use 'Carew' as his surname. William's grandson, Sir Nicholas was Baron of Carew and Mullesford (Berks) and was summoned to Parliament by King Edward I (1272-1307). Lord Nicholas married the unnamed sister and heir of Sir John Peverell, of Western Peverell, near Plymouth, when the family became finally seated in the West Country.

Their eldest son Sir John married twice: Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Mohun, of Mohuns Ottery and Baron of Dunster, Somerset; and Joan, daughter of Gilbert, Lord Talbot. The son and eventual heir, also Sir John, by Joan took part in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War and was at the great English victory over the French at Crécy in 1346. King Edward III later made him Lord Deputy (Governor) of Ireland and he died in 1363.

Sir John's grandson Edmund, by Alice, daughter of Sir Edmund FitzAlan, second son of Edmund, Earl of Arundel, was also a soldier, and placed in charge of the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, on that monarch's visit to England at the beginning of the reign of King Henry V (1413-22). He was at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 and was made Governor of Harfleur, the principal port for English supplies to France during the conquest of much of that kingdom. He died in 1431, just as the tide was turning against the English, leaving a son and heir, Sir Nicholas, Baron Carew of Mullesford, who married Joan, daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay, Lord of Haccombe. His son and namesake, Lord of Mohuns Ottery, married Joan, daughter of Thomas Carminow, a family still extant in Devonshire. Nicholas's son Edmund succeeded to the Barony, while his second son Thomas succeeded to the Lordship of Bickleigh, Devon, in the reign of King Henry VII (1485-1509).

The Carew link with the Courtenays, Earls of Devon today, was cemented around this time, Bickleigh having been a Courtenay possession. This seems to have occurred after the death of Sir Philip Courtenay, of Haccombe, toward the end of the 15th century, for he gave custody of his grand-daughter and heir Philippa to Sir William Carew. Thomas Carew, apparently, became very friendly with this lady and courted her, against the wishes of her late grandfather. One story has it that they eloped, another that Thomas spirited her off at night. Either way, they married and Thomas and his wife made themselves scarce in Devon for some years, he joining the royal force put together by Queen Katherine of Aragon and the Earl of Arundel, to face a Scottish invasion at Flodden in 1513, King Henry VIII being on campaign in northern France. James IV, King of Scots, was killed, and Carew saved the Earl of Arundel's life. Everyone forgives a hero, and Thomas eventually settled at Haccombe with his second wife. From this union sprang the Carew Baronets given in the pedigree chart.

There are numerous memorials in Haccombe and Bickleigh churches to the Lords and Ladies of the Manor, including one with the inscription: 'Carew's* daughter, Erize's Wife, her Name Elizabeth; By pleasure of Almighty God, in Child-bed found her Death. Which suddain, unexpected Chance, with Grief did kill the Joy Of gladded Parents, and her Mate, in bringing forth a Boy. To God she liv'd, to God she di'd, young year'd, in Virtues old: And left, until it rise again, this Tomb her Corps to hold.' (*Peter Carew)

There are memorial windows and effigies in the church of St Blaise, Haccombe, to the Courtenay and Carew families: Sir Stephen de Haccombe (1250-1332); effigies of two ladies in wimples and hoods, with flowing skirts of the 14th century; Sir Nicholas Carew (died 1469); an alabaster figure of a youth, and many others, some carved in plate armour. To the door of the porch are attached two horseshoes, the legend of which is that a Carew of Haccombe bet one of the Champernowns that he could swim his horse faster to Torbay than the other. Not only did he win, but the Champernown youth got into difficulties and was saved by the Carew boy. The bet, of some land, was paid promptly. Originally, the loser had nailed up all four shoes of his horse, but two have since disappeared.

This family also supplied the Carew Barons of Clopton and Earls of Totnes, and there is much more that could be written of this family and its Lordships in the county. The Auctioneers have copies of an early printed book (c.1650) which can be supplied to the new Lord or Lady. Haccombe, including Combe, covers about 2,000 acres. A map of the boundary of the Manor, for identification purposes, is included.

Source notes

Catalogue transcribed by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

Haccombe was associated with the Courtenay family before passing to the Carews. The supplied account places Thomas Carew at Haccombe in the early sixteenth century, after his marriage to Philippa, granddaughter and heir of Sir Philip Courtenay. Haccombe House remained the principal residence of the Carews until the 1940s.