Coryton, Devonshire (1823)

NEALE, J. P. Views of the seats, mansions, castles etc of noblemen & gentlemen in the western counties of England. London: M. A. Nattali, 1847.Coryton, Devonshire;THE SEAT OF WILLIAM TUCKER, ESQ. CORYTON, in the parish and manor of Kilmington, within the hundred of Axminster, and Deanery of Honiton, in the county of Devon, is situated at a short distance from the great western road, about a mile and a half from the town of Axminster, and seven miles and a half from Honiton.Near the site of the old Mansion, a small part of which is still remaining, and occupied as a farm-house, was once a small village of the name of Coryton, situate on the river Corry, or Cory, which rises in Cory Moor, in the parish of Up-Ottery, and, taking an easterly course, passes through Stockland and Dalwood, in Dorsetshire, into Kilmington, and, having joined the Yarty river, near Yarty Bridge, soon after falls into the Axe.The village of Coryton, all traces of which are now lost, was for many years the property of the family of Warren, from whom it was purchased, in the year 1697, by William Tucker, of Westwater, Esq., one of the ancestors of the present family, who built in it a good house, in which his son William resided till his death, in 1748, having executed the office of sheriff for the county in the year 1726. His son, Benedictus Marwood Tucker, also sheriff for Devonshire in 1763, pulled down the greater part of this house in 1754, and erected the present Mansion, which was completed in 1756.The situation he chose is near the site of the old house, on a pleasant knoll, nearly in the centre of a small but picturesque park, containing some fine trees, particularly a stately avenue of the horse-chestnut, through which was the approach to the old Mansion. Some thriving plantations, formed about thirty years since, by the present possessor, supply a good back-ground and shelter to the house, which is built of brick, much ornamented with Portland-stone, and has three hand-some fronts. The entrance, in the centre of the southern front, is adorned with two pilasters of the Corinthian order, supporting a pediment. The door-way is flanked by two three-quarter Ionic columns, surmounted by an entablature. The eastern and western fronts project in a bay in the centre, rising to the height of the house, and terminated by a balustrade. The ornamental tower, seen on the right of our Plate, contains a forcing engine for supplying the house with water. The apartments are spacious, and conveniently arranged on either side of a long and lofty gallery, terminated by an elegant geometrical stone staircase. The Library is furnished with a valuable collection of books, and various philosophical instruments. Coryton is of that class of residences of the country gentleman, numerously scattered through this county, which, whilst they do not presume to vie, either in extent or grandeur, with the more stately mansions of the nobility, unite solidity and respectability with every domestic comfort.The view from the windows of the east front, in which are some of the best rooms, is rich and well diversified. The town of Axminster, rising above the river Axe, adds much to the beauty of the landscape. To the south-west, the flourishing plantations of Sir William T. Pole, Bart., on Shute Hill, bound the prospect.William Tucker, who is buried at Dalwood, the father of William of Westwater, came from Exeter, in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled at Axminster, to avoid, as is believed, the persecution to which he had subjected himself, by his attachment to Charles the First, and by the services he had rendered to that unfortunate monarch, when seeking refuge at Exeter. He appears to have been a nephew or grandson of William Tucker, D. D. dean of Lichfield, and prebend of Salisbury; "an excellent Grecian and Latinist, an able divine, a person of great gravity and piety, and well read in curious and critical authors." His literary works are enumerated by Prince, in his "Worthies of Devon," whence this eulogium is extracted. The dean was grandson of Robert Tucker, an alderman of Exeter, and mayor in the year 1543, when he is said to have "discharged the office with great honor, [sic] and entertained the Spanish ambassador and his whole retinue at his own house, with great cost, for the space of three days." The celebrated Richard Hooker, born at Heavytree [sic], near Exeter, in 1554, was descended from a daughter of this Robert Tucker.[Text may be taken from a different edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]

Copper l.engr

82x124mm

S52. NEALE, J. P.: VIEWS OF THE SEATS, MANSIONS, CASTLES,
ETC. OF NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN IN ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND (etc).