Post by Dave on Jun 28, 2015 18:01:36 GMT
Forde House The Tour 28th June 2015
I may have lived in the Bay for more than half of my life now (I do love the Bay so much) but I’m a Newton boy and its where my heart really is. I grew up in Newton Abbot and have so many great childhood memories of the place. It’s a town full of so much history and most of it sadly I do not know.
As a child I remember so well being walked from Buckland into the town by my mother, the route went past Forde House, not that I was able to see that much of it. Back then it hid behind a wall and the only glimpse of the house I was able to get was through the gateway halfway along.
I think it was in the 70’s that the wall was removed so that the road could be widened but the good news is the Portland stone gate pillars survived and were moved further up at the entrance to the lane that runs down the left hand side of the house.
The house at that time had been bought by the Sellick family back in 1938 and used it as an antiques business, I’m sure I remember there were signs on the house “ Forde House Antiques” or maybe the signs were just in the grounds?
I learned a few weeks that Forde House was going to be open to the public on the last Sunday of the month of June, July and August. I had been in one part of the house once before, it was back in early 1980. I was one of the flood victims of the 27th December 1979 town floods. All flood victims were offered free new carpets and all we had to do was turn up with our measurements and pick the carpets we wanted.
As a young Newton teenager, the talk was that there was an underground tunnel linking Forde House to Bradley Manor. It was even claimed an entrance to the tunnel had been found in Prospect Hall in East Street. I have done a google search and can not find anything about such a tunnel, is there one? Or was that just a made up story?
I’m not sure who the man was who gave today’s tour, I know he played a big part in getting Teignbridge Council to allow the house to be open too the public. This man knows all there is too know about Forde House and who lived there and what they got up too. He rattled of date after date and fact after fact, what knowledge, only shame was he treated us to at least four poems.
It’s not that hard to imagine the times when the house was a country house, it was not until the railway came to town, that the town got closer to the house. To think King Charles 1st stayed at the house in 1625, what must have been the mood in the house in 1646 when both Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell stayed there before heading off to capture Dartmouth?
We must not forget that in 1688 William, Prince of Orange marched to St. Leonard's Tower in Wolborough Street and proclaimed himself the king of England. Prince William proceeded to Forde House where he found that Sir William Courtenay was 'not at home'. Sir William had left instructions to his staff to provide food and accommodation for the Prince; he had decided not to welcome him personally. He supported the Prince's mission but reasoned that if he should fail, he should not find himself in a compromising position. Prince William stayed overnight at Forde House in the first floor room known ever since as the Orange Room.
Sir William Courtenay lord of nearby Powderham Castle had married the young heiress of Forde, only daughter of Jane Reynell and Sir William Waller in 1648, meaning the Forde House Estate passed on to the Courtenays., they had nineteen children in the end.
Forde House continued to be owned and used as a residence by succeeding generations of the Courtenay family until 1762 when the place was let and the family moved back to Powderham Castle. Until it was finally sold in 1938 the house had many uses, it was once even used as a hotel and also a tearoom.
The council had wanted to buy the house back in 1938 but didn’t and sadly over the years the house slowly started to deteriorate, the roof was the worse. Thankfully the council bought the house in 1978 and spent a good deal of money fully repairing it.
Forde House is now used for council meetings, its no longer a house as such, the walls are all plainly painted, but the main fabric of the house has been preserved and that is the most important thing. It’s a shame Torbay Council do not value such gems as Oldway Mansions, now closed up and leaking like a sieve.
I’m really glad I went to Forde House today, I learned so much and it was not to hard to imagine how the house once looked inside when it was a real home. I have never been inside Bradley Manor either, something I will put right soon.
