Blagdon, Paignton

Kirkham

Arms of Kirkham: Argent, three lions rampant gules a bordure engrailed sable^[5]

Sir John Kirkham (1472-1529) of Blagdon was Sheriff of Devon in 1523/4.^[6] According to the Devonshire biographer Prince (d.1723), he was a "very free and liberal, ... prudent and discreet" benefactor of the town of Honiton in Devon.^[7]

The senior male line ended on the death of Richard Kirkham (d.1631),^[8] who married "the heiress of Oldham" near Tilbury in Essex,^[9] and left a daughter and sole heiress Mary Kirkham, who married Sir George Blount, 2nd Baronet (died 1667) of Sodington in the parish of Mamble in Worcestershire. The younger brother of Richard Kirkham (d.1631) was Francis Kirkham who married the heiress of the Roope family of Bidwell in the parish of Newton St Cyres, Devon, where the Kirkham family continued for several generations.^[10]

Blount

1708 heraldic overmantle in great hall of Blagdon House, showing arms of Blount impaling Guise

The eldest son of Mary Kirkham and Sir George Blount, 2nd Baronet (died 1667) was Sir Walter Kirkham Blount, 3rd Baronet (died 1717), who inherited his paternal estates, including Sodington. "The Blounts were notable for their faithful adherence to the Roman Catholic faith, and they gave the most zealous support to the Crown in the Civil War".^[11] Her 3rd son was Edward Blount (d.1726) of Blagdon, who inherited his maternal estates.

Edward Blount as a Roman Catholic was associated with the Howard family, Dukes of Norfolk, the leading Catholic family in England. On 6th June 1716, together with Lord George Howard, (d.1721), the eldest half-brother of Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk (1655-1701), he "successfully petitioned the House of Lords for counsel to argue against provisions in the Papists' Estates Bill, read 18th May 1716, which threatened to ruin their credit".^[12] Shortly thereafter Edward Blount went into exile with his family in Bruges, but had returned to England by 1721. In 1708 Edward Blount married Anne Guise, a daughter of Sir John Guise, 2nd Baronet (c. 1654–1695) of Elmore in Gloucestershire, which marriage was commemorated by the surviving heraldic overmantel above the fireplace of the great hall of Blagdon manor house. This shows the initials "EB" ^[13] and displays the arms of Blount (Barry nebuly of six or and sable) impaling Gules, seven mascles vair 3,3,1 (Guise) above a scroll inscribed with a Latin motto Lux Tua Via Mea ("Your light is my path") with the date "1708". In 1717 "Edward Blount of Blagdon", as a Roman Catholic, registered his landholdings under the Registration of Papists' Estates^[14] legislation passed following the Jacobite uprising of 1715. Edward Blount was a friend and patron of the poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744),^[15] and much correspondence between the two men during the years 1714-25 survives.^[16] Both were Roman Catholics.^[17]

Edward Blount left three daughters as his co-heiresses:

• Elizabeth Blount (d.1778), eldest daughter,^[18] wife of Hugh Clifford, 3rd Baron Clifford of Chudleigh (1700-1732), of Ugbrooke in Devon.
• Henrietta Blount (d.1782), 2nd daughter, who married twice: firstly to Peter Proli of Antwerp;^[19] secondly in 1739 to Philip Howard (d.1749/50), younger brother of Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1686-1777), by whom she had one daughter Anne Howard (1742-1787) (wife of Robert Petre, 9th Baron Petre (1742-1801)), who was excluded from inheriting the Dukedom of Norfolk (the premier dukedom of England) by a recent entail effected by the Act of Restoration 1664.
• Mary Blount (1701/2-1773),^[20] 3rd daughter, who in 1727 married Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1686-1777), the most prominent Roman Catholic in England, but produced no progeny and heirs to the dukedom.^[21] James Cook named Norfolk Island in honour of the Duchess of Norfolk in 1774, although he did not know at the time that she was already dead.

Parker

Arms of Parker: Sable, a stag's head cabossed between two flaunches argent

Funerary hatchment of Montagu Edmund Parker (1737–1831) of Whiteway and Blagdon, St John's Church, Paignton, showing the arms of Parker (Sable, a stag's head cabossed between two flaunches argent, with a crescent for the difference of a second son) impaling: Azure, a fox statant on grass proper in chief a sun in spendour or (Ourry, for his wife Charity Ourry (d.1786), a daughter of Admiral Paul Henry Ourry (1719–1783), of Plympton House in the parish of Plympton St Maurice, Devon, MP^[22])

Blagdon remained a seat of the Blount family until it was acquired as his residence^[23] by Francis Parker (born 1701-post 1757), the 4th son of George Parker (1651-1743) of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, and of North Molton, Devon, who purchased Saltram near Plymouth, later the principal seat of his descendants. Francis Parker of Blagdon left three daughters including:^[24]

• Anne Parker, who married the banker John Baring (1730–1816), MP, of Mount Radford near Exeter, eldest brother of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet. In 1757 her father (as "Francis Parker of Blagdon") entered into a marriage settlement on her behalf.^[25]
• Elizabeth Parker, who married firstly to Thomas Baring of Larkbear, near Exeter, a younger brother of her sister's husband John Baring (1730–1816); secondly to William Spicer of Wear, thirdly to John Fryer of Exeter.^[26]

Francis's heir was his elder brother John Parker (1703-1768) of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, and Saltram House, who in 1725^[27] married Catherine Poulett (1706–1758), a daughter of John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett, by his wife Bridget Bertie a granddaughter of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey. In 1763 John Parker leased Blagdon and other lands to his wife's relatives as is recorded on a deed in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office summarised as follows:^[28]

"Lease for a year: 1) John Parker of Boringdon, esquire, eldest son and heir of George Parker, deceased. 2) Vere Poulett of Twickenham, Middx, esquire, and Ann Poulett of Albemarle Street, Westminster, esquire. Barton lands of Blagdon, Newparks, Oldaways and the Downs. Also manor of Collaton. Also lands of Edward Blount, deceased, in Paignton, Marldon and Stoke Gabriel. Also barton of Polsloe and two closes of land called Higher Bowmore and Lower Bowmore, parcel of Martyns tenement, Heavitree. Also barton of Oakhay alias Okey Place, Stoke Canon. Also all other lands in Paignton, Marldon, Stoke Canon, Heavitree and Stoke Gabriel that passed to John Parker as heir of Francis Parker. Also 1/8th of Herdwick alias Hardwick".

As John Parker's eldest son John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735-1788) inherited his paternal estates (North Molton, Boringdon and Saltram, etc.), Blagdon and Collaton Kirkham descended to John Parker's second son Montagu Edmund Parker (1737–1831) of Whiteway House,^[29][30] near Chudleigh in Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1789. Montagu's nephew was John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley (1772-1840), the son of his brother John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon.

The public house in Collaton St Mary is called the "Parkers Arms" (sic) after the tenure of the Parker family.^[31] A Funerary hatchment survives in St John's Church, Paignton, showing the arms of Parker (Sable, a stag's head cabossed between two flaunches argent, with a crescent for the difference of a second son) impaling: Azure, a fox passant proper in chief a sun.^[32]

Hogg

St Mary's Church, Collaton St Mary, built in 1864 by Rev. Hogg of Blagdon

In 1864 Rev. John Roughton Hogg (1811-1867), of Blagdon, Vicar of Torwood,^[33] a Justice of the Peace for Devon,^[34] (second son of Rev. James Hogg, Vicar of Geddington, Northamptonshire,^[35] and master of Kettering grammar school),^[36] commenced building (at his sole expense) the "evocative Victorian group" (Pevsner) of church, school and vicarage at the adjoining manor of Collaton (thenceforth "Collaton St Mary"), to the design of J.W.Rowell, to commemorate his daughter^[37] Mary Maxwell Hogg (d.1864), who died aged 17 and was buried at Brixham and re-interred in his new church in 1867.^[38] His diary between 1859-62 survives in the Devon Archives.^[39] Hogg's wife was Anna Maria Maxwell Lyte (1822-1889), only daughter of Rev. Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) ,^[40] of nearby Berry Head, Brixham, who composed the well-known hymns "Abide with me", "Praise my soul the King of Heaven" and "Pleasant are thy courts above". The inscribed Hogg Memorial erected by him in 1867 and situated 6 metres south of the chancel wall, is a grade II listed structure made of white Italian marble on red breccia base with a marble cross on a 3-tier plinth with breccia base with red breccia kerbs.^[41]

Until that time the parish church of Blagdon had been St John's Church in Paignton, the mediaeval parish church in which is situated the Kirkham Chantry Chapel. Other new churches were built at that time in and around Paignton and Torquay to cater for the greatly expanded populations due to the development of the Torbay area as a seaside resort.