Stowe, Kilkhampton

Stowe House in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, England, UK, was a mansion built in 1679 by John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701) and demolished in 1739.

The Grenville family were for many centuries lords of the manor of Kilkhampton, which they held from the feudal barony of Gloucester, as they did their other principal seat of nearby Bideford in Devon.

As well as a real tennis court and chapel, there was an extensive deer park with carriage driveways and formal gardens including fountains, statues and fish ponds.

The inheritance was divided between the second earl's sisters and a cousin George Granville, Baron Lansdowne (died 1735), after whose death the family became extinct.

The most notable surviving fabric of Stowe House exists as follows: These articles, with many others, were taken to Bude, shipped to Barnstaple, and thence carted to South Molton.

[11] The sons of Francis Thynne included: A range of stone buildings around a large courtyard, including a seven bedroom barton house with the Grenville arms sculpted above the front door, survives, located between the site of the demolished mansion and a surviving overgrown sunken garden believed to have adjoined the Tudor mansion house.

Stowe House, Kilkhampton. Detail from drawing (see below) by John Chessell Buckler in 1827 copied from an unknown original depiction, possibly from the engraving in the collection of Peter Prideaux-Brune. British Library, Add. MS 36360, f.167
Arms of Grenville: Gules, three clarions or
Stowe House, Kilkhampton, copied by John Chessell Buckler in 1827 from an unknown original depiction, possibly from the engraving in the collection of Peter Prideaux-Brune. British Library, Add. MS 36360, f.167
Stowe House, Kilkhampton, drawn by Edmund Prideaux (1693–1745) of Prideaux Place , Cornwall. [ 1 ] Collection of Peter Prideaux-Brune of Prideaux Place , Cornwall. This picture in 1903 was in the possession of Mrs. Waddon Martyn, at Tonacombe Manor [ 2 ]
Grenville arms above front door of Stowe Barton
The Mayor's Parlour, The Guildhall, South Molton, Devon. The room was originally in Stowe House and was acquired for incorporation into the South Molton Guildhall designed 1739–41 [ 7 ]
Stowe Barton Farm, the site of the mansion house is about 200 yards to the right
A closer view of the farm, with carriage washing pool