Lee Abbey

[5] The first known ownership dates to 1199 when Henry de Tracey, a Norman knight, gifted the land to the community of Cistercian monks based at Forde Abbey in Somerset.

[6] By the 17th century, the land had passed into the possession of Hugh de Wichehalse, a member of a large Devon family originally based at Wych, near Chudleigh.

[5] The de Wichelsea family remained at Lee for around eighty years, Hugh being buried at the Lynton parish church on his death and his son John taking over the farmhouse.

[9] The hotel was not ultimately a success, as the Great Depression forced two separate owners into administration and it was eventually closed with the outbreak of World War II.

[9] During the war the Brambletye School in East Grinstead, Sussex, relocated its pupils and many of its staff to Lee Abbey,[8] after its own buildings were taken over by the British Army following the Dunkirk evacuation.

[10] During the school holidays in 1943 and 1944, Roger de Pemberton, a clergyman, rented Lee Abbey for one of several religious house parties which he had been running for young people since before the outbreak of war.