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Dunsland is a historic manor and former house in the parish of Bradford near Holsworthy in Devon, England. The house was destroyed by fire in 1967, just after extensive restoration by the National Trust.

Descent of the manor

The 17th-century Devon historian Tristram Risdon stated that "Dunsland now Dunskind", in the parish of Bradford, was held by Richard Cadiho in 1242 or 1243, and remained held by the Cadiho family for eight generations. Risdon further stated that the last in the male line to live here was Robert Cadiho who left his lands to his daughter Thomazin. She was the wife of John Daubernon, described as "warden of the stannary, and of the fees of the duchy of Cornwall" and who was "chosen one of the knights for the shire" in 1356 or 1357.

Risdon states that the manor then passed to the Batten family and then via Philippa, the daughter and heir of Humphrey Batten, to the Arscot family of which, at the time he was writing, the owner was Arthur Arscot.

In his work The Visitations of the County of Devon of 1895, J. L. Vivian set out a pedigree chart for the Arscotts of Dunsland. It starts with a John de Dunsland, passes through the Cade and Dabarnon families to the Battyn family, of which Humphry Battyn (died 15 November 1522) was the last. Vivian states that Humphry Battyn left his lands to his daughter Philippa and her husband John Arscott (died 1 May 1563) who was a lawyer of the Inner Temple, the son and heir of John Arscott (died 1541) of Arscott by his wife Margerie Floyer.

Vivian's pedigree shows that the estate descended through the Arscott family via Humphrey (died 1580) and John (died 1623) until 1662 when the death of Arthur Arscott without male progeny resulted in it eventually passing to his second daughter Grace, the widow of William Bickford of Bickford Town, Plympton St Mary who had died in 1659.

Grace Bickford lived until 1686 and her son and heir was Arscott Bickford (died 1693), who enlarged and embellished the house which then mainly dated from about 1500 with additions made in the mid-16th century and in 1609. It then became one of the finest houses in North Devon, and survived almost unchanged until its destruction by fire in 1967. The Bickford family held the estate of Dunsland until 1817 when on the death of Arscott Bickford (1769–1817) without progeny, Dunsland descended to Rev William Holland Coham (died 1825), of Coham, Devon, the husband of Arscott Bickford's sister and sole heiress Mary Bickford (1769–1839).

Dickinson

Dunsland eventually passed to the Dickinson family on the marriage of the heiress Augusta Coham to Major Harvey Dickinson (died 1901) of the British Indian Madras Army. Her son Arscott Harvey Dickinson, said to have been the 29th owner in direct succession, sold the estate in 1947, having been unsuccesful in his struggle to keep the mansion house in good repair and the roof watertight. Thus ended the continued tenure by inheritance from the time of the Domesday Book of 1087.

Tilden

The house with only part of its estate was purchased from the London speculator Mr de Savoury by Philip Tilden (died 1954), an architect who attempted to restore the house, but which job remained incomplete on his death in 1954. His widow sold the property with 92 acres to the National Trust in 1954.

National Trust

The National Trust spent an enormous sum on restoring the house and let it to tenant guardians. During the night of 17th November 1967 the house was destroyed by fire, with the walls left standing in such a precarious state that the decision was taken to demolish the whole structure and to fill up the basement with the rubble and level the site.

References

1. Risdon, p.250 (regnal date 27 Henry III)
2. Risdon, p.251 (regnal date 30 Edward III)
3. Risdon, p.251
4. ^ Vivian, p.16
5. ^ Vivian, p.18
6. ^ Lauder, p.34
7. Hoskins, p.341–2
8. ^ Baring-Gould
9. Lauder, p.41
10. Lauder, p.41, quoting sales particulars dated 26 November 1947; Hoskins states date of sale as "some time before 1939"
11. ^ Lauder, p.36
12. Lauder, pp.43–44
13. ^ Lauder, p.33
14. Lauder, p.44

Sources

• Baring-Gould, Sabine, s:Devonshire Characters and Strange Events/John Arscott, of Tetcott, 1908 (wikisource)
• Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954)
• Lauder, Rosemary, Vanished Houses of North Devon, Tiverton, 1st edition, 1981, pp.33-44, Dunsland
• Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, London, 1810, p.250
• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon, Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620. 2 vols, Exeter, 1895.

• Places in Devon
• Country houses in Devon