Forde House

It was substantially enlarged and remodelled around 1610 for Sir Richard Reynell (d.1633), Member of Parliament for Mitchell in Cornwall (1593) and his wife Lucy Brandon.

During the Civil War, Forde House gave shelter to Oliver Cromwell and Colonel Fairfax on 24 January 1646 before the second Siege of Exeter.

[6] In 1648 the estate passed to the Courtenay family via the marriage of Margaret Waller (d.1694), only daughter and heiress of Sir William Waller by his wife Jane Reynell, the heiress of Forde, to Sir William Courtenay, 1st Baronet (1628-1702), of Powderham Castle.

[7] William of Orange stayed at the house in 1688 on the way to his coronation in London, having landed in Brixham a few days earlier.

In 1817 the bank opened a new branch in Newton Abbot and in 1820 Ayshford Wise sold Wonwell and rented Forde House to be near his new premises.

[16] A modern office building was built in the grounds to serve as the council's headquarters, being formally opened on 27 April 1987.

[19] Today, the house lies to the east side of the town of Newton Abbot, near the Penn Inn roundabout at the junction of the A380 and the A381 roads.