page_title: Colcombe Castle
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Colcombe Castle / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient stone Tudor-arch from window with heraldic shields at each side, heraldry worn away, formerly part of Colcombe Castle, Colyton, Devon, now set into low parapet of footbridgr over leat of Colcombe Abbey Farm
context_page_description: Colcombe Castle was a now lost castle or fortified house situated about a half mile north of the village of Colyton in East Devon.
  It was a seat of the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon, whose principal seat was Tiverton Castle, about 22 miles to the NW. It was used as his seat by Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon while his widowed mother occupied Tiverton Castle as her dower house. Its position near to Shute, the seat of William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, the arch-enemy of the 5th Earl, led to some serious territorial battles between the two families, culminating in the Battle of Clyst Heath of 1455.
context_section_description: Tristram Risdon, writing c. 1630, described the descent of the manor of Colyford thus:
  The manor at the Norman Conquest was parcel of the king's demesne, which King William the Conqueror gave to Robert de Mount Chardon; but was released again by King Henry II of England, with the manor of Whitford, which was bestowed on Sir Alan Dunstanville, whose son Sir Walter Dunstanville gave it in marriage (by the consent of King John) unto Sir Thomas Bassett, his nephew, younger son of the Lord Bassett by Alice Dunstanville, sister of the said Walter. This land descended unto the two daughters of the said Sir Thomas Bassett: Joan Bassett, first married Sir Reginald Valletort, secondly married Sir William Courtenay, younger son of the Lord Courtenay. Alice Bassett, the other daughter, was married to Sir Thomas Sanford, and secondly to Sir John Bissett, whose part was afterwards sold unto Hugh de Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, so that the whole manors of Colyton and Whitford came to be the possessions of the Earls of Devon.  The Earl built a mansion house at Colcombe, near Colyton, which was later rebuilt in a more grand state by Henry Courtenay, but upon his death, the mansion was left in ruins for a time. It was later restored unto his son, Edward Courtenay, the last earl of this family, by Queen Mary I of England, and upon his death, was left to descend to the heirs general, who sold this manor and house. Now the manor was divided; the one moiety the lord Petre  possesseth, the other moiety, Sir John Pole and Sir John Drake, knights, acquired.
  Hoskins states that it was first built during the reign of King Edward I of England (1272–1307) by Hugh de Courtenay (1276–1340), and was rebuilt ("on a magnificent scale", according to Hoskins ) by Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, 2nd Earl of Devon (1498–1539), after whose attainder and execution, it became forfeit to the crown.  It was restored with other lands to his son, Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1527–1556), after whose death it passed, together with Tiverton Castle, to his heirs, the descendants of his four great-aunts, and eventually fell into a ruinous state.
  
  Part of the Colcombe estate was purchased by William Pole Esquire (d. 1588), who had purchased Shute House in 1560. His son Sir William Pole (1561–1635), the antiquary, purchased the remaining shares from the heirs of the Courtenays, and rebuilt the house, as he recorded after 1618 in his "Collections towards a History of Devon": 
  A goodly building was here intended by the last erles but altogether unfinished, and nowe the whole being reduced from all ye co-heires unto my possession, I have newe built the howse and made it the place of my residinge".
   Sir William resided most of his younger life at Shute, until 1618, during which time he let his son John, later the 1st Pole baronet, live in the former building at Colcombe, as is evidenced  by the record of the birth of John's second  son Courtenay Pole, which described his father as  "John Pole of Colcombe". In 1618 Sir William Pole exchanged residences with his son John, to whom he let Shute, and himself moved to Colcombe, which he then set about rebuilding and where he died in 1635.  During the Civil War it served in 1644 as the headquarters of Prince Maurice (d. 1652), who used it as a base for his attack on Stedcombe, then being used as a garrison for parliamentary troops by its owner Sir Walter Erle. It was almost completely destroyed, with only part of the kitchen and a large fireplace having survived. During the conflagration, many of the volumes of the manuscripts of the antiquary's great work on the history of Devon, with substantial additions made by his son the 1st baronet, were destroyed. After the Civil War part was rebuilt on the other side of a lane as  a farmhouse. Colcombe appears to have passed out of the Pole family after the time of the 1st baronet, but was repurchased by  Sir John de la Pole, 6th Baronet (1757–1799), the builder of New Shute House, possibly from Sir George Yonge of Colyton, from whom he had acquired several large propertie
caption: High quality sculpted stone Tudor-arch from window with heraldic shields at each side, heraldry worn away, formerly part of Colcombe Castle, Colyton, Devon, now set into low parapet of footbridge over leat of Colcombe Abbey Farm, opposite front door of farmhouse
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