Bicton House, Devon

[3] This manor was held in demesne by William Portitor, the king's door-keeper, at the time of the taking the Domesday Survey.

His descendants, the Alabasters, a corruption of Le Balister, held the manor for five generations.

It was purchased in the 16th century of the Coplestones by Sir Robert Denys (1525–1592) of nearby Holcombe Burnel, who built a new manor house and created one of the county's first enclosed deer parks.

She had married Sir Henry Rolle (d.1616) of Stevenstone, Devon[3] and the estate was conveyed to her husband.

[8] The site was described about 1820 to have a "commanding full view of the British Channel" and ancient beech and oak trees within the estate's park.

[citation needed] On his inheritance in 1852 he changed his surname to Rolle;[5] he died without issue in 1907, his heir being his nephew Charles John Robert Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863–1957).

The present Baron Clinton continues to own part of the grounds and Bicton Arena, used for equestrian events, and the headquarters of the Clinton Devon Estates Company, which owns 25,000 acres (100 km2) of agricultural land in Devon (1⁄67th of the county), is nearby.

During the Second World War it housed St Ronan's School, which is now based near Hawkhurst in Kent.