(620) Bidlake of Great Bidlake

Bidlake of Great Bidlake 

The manor of Bidlake in Bridestowe parish (Devon) was acquired by Ralph de Combe in 1268, and his grandson John took the name Bidlake as a surname. It then descended through several generations to Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531), with whom the genealogy below begins. Throughout the medieval period, the family seem to have been very minor gentry, kept above the status of yeomen largely by virtue of being tenants in chief of the Crown. Even as late as the 16th century, when they rebuilt or enlarged their house at Bidlake (the name Great Bidlake was not adopted until the late 18th century, but is used throughout this account for clarity), the heads of the family described themselves as 'gentleman' rather than 'esquire'. 

Thomas Bidlake (d. 1531) married twice and had children only by his second wife, who were all still very young when he died, aged about seventy. His elder son, Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604), was made a ward of Sir George Rolle, who brought him up with his own sons, but when he was a teenager, Rolle sold the wardship to Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), who married Henry to his daughter Anne in about 1546. Henry and Anne had one son and two daughters who reached adulthood and have been recorded, and Great Bidlake descended to their son, John Bidlake (c.1547-1625), whose short biographical notes about himself and his family formed the basis, with other family papers, for a short account of the family in Devon Notes and Queries, 1905. The article helps to compensate for the fact that the Bridestowe parish registers do not survive before 1696, so many genealogical details of the family have been lost. John's notes state that Henry undertook work to extend and improve the house in 1575 and there was evidently further work in 1594. John Bidlake married Elizabeth Langsford, and through his marriage acquired a property at Germansweek, where he lived in preference to Great Bidlake. In 1610 he settled Great Bidlake on his eldest son, William Bidlake (c.1585-1625) on the latter's marriage; William and his wife seem to have been prickly and litigious characters, and John had occasion to write to his son begging him to " seeke peace" and warning him that "suits of law . . . are as variable as the turnings of a woadercock [weathercock]." As it happened, William died a few weeks before his father, when the Great Bidlake estate descended to his eldest son, Henry Bidlake (1612-59).

Henry Bidlake was of the generation most closely involved in the Civil War, and although his wife belonged to a family which declared for Parliament, he became a zealous Royalist, who took an active part in the fighting in the south-west between 1642 and 1646, and was heavily fined by the victorious Parliamentarians. It took him some seven years to borrow enough from friends, relations and neighbours to pay off his sequestration fine and the accrued interest, and recover his estates, and he died just five years later, shortly before the Restoration of the Monarchy. His eldest son and heir, William Bidlake (1639-70), was also left in straightened circumstances, and attempted to repair the position by marrying an heiress, Elizabeth Furlong, who gave him two sons. Sadly William died after less than ten years of marriage and long before his wife came into her inheritance; moreover, when Elizabeth secured her own future by marrying again in 1677, her second husband became entitled to her eventual inheritance, cutting out the sons of her first marriage. To try and compensate for this, Elizabeth's father took William's two sons into his own household, and did his best to provide for their futures, including apprenticing the younger son, Thomas Bidlake (c.1669-88?), to a wine merchant kinsman. The young man was unlucky enough to be injured when the powder magazine of the ship he was on exploded while the vessel was in Plymouth harbour, and he died not long afterwards, presumably from the injuries he received.

The elder son, Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718), came of age in about 1685 but did not gain possession of Great Bidlake until 1697, when he reached an agreement with his grandmother for her to hand over most of the house. This Henry was married twice, and produced five daughters but only one son, who died aged two, a few months after his father. By Henry's will, the estate thus passed to his widow and her three daughters, and the two daughters of his first marriage were excluded from a share in the inheritance. They were married off by their stepmother within a year of Henry's death, but her own children were almost a generation younger, and lived with their mother at Great Bidlake for the next twenty years. Two of the three eventually married, leaving the youngest, Philippa Bidlake (1717-92) looking after Henry's widow until she died in 1755. She then stayed on in the house, eventually sharing it with a tenant farmer, who ran the estate, and a companion who had come to her as a pauper apprentice in the domestic arts. From the 1730s, the three sisters and later their husbands, had to fight off a series of challenges to their inheritance from an audacious fraudster calling himself 'Sir Richard Bidlake' and his relatives. 'Sir Richard', who was really a man of humble origins called Richard Becklake or Beckalake, had cleverly laid the groundwork for his claim by creating forged title deeds and altering entries in parish registers. He claimed to be a descendant of the Thomas Bidlake who had been blown up in Plymouth harbour, but although he garnered quite a lot of support for his claim, he was never able to make it stick. Moreover, he tried the same thing - with rather more success - on the heirs of Sir Richard Combe of Hemel Hempstead (Herts).

Of the three sisters, only Elizabeth Bidlake (1714-1802) produced any children. She married John Hiern (c.1720-90) of Great Torrington, a solicitor, and they had two sons and five daughters. The two sons both died in their father's lifetime, so on Elizabeth's death the estate came into the hands of her eldest daughter, Mary (1746-1835), who was the wife of Col. Thomas Stafford Woollocombe (1742-1814), whose descendants owned Great Bidlake until the mid 20th century. The Woollocombes will be the subject of a future post.

Great Bidlake (formerly Wester Bidlake), Bridestowe, Devon

The house appears to be a plain, two-storey Tudor E-plan manor house with a later wing to one side, but while it does have genuine Tudor origins, much of what exists today was created in the 19th and 20th centuries. The manor was acquired by Ralph de Combe, from whom the Bidlakes traced their descent, in 1268. Nothing is known of the medieval house on the site, but the core of the present building was a great hall, perhaps of early Tudor date, which was enlarged in 1575 by Henry Bidlake to create 'the newe parlour and chamber over it'. Further work may have taken place in 1594 and in the early 17th century, but the family were heavily fined for their support of the Royalist cause in the Civil War, and are unlikely to have made many changes after 1640. In 1674, Philippa Bidlake was taxed on eight hearths, and in 1693 a deed lists the accommodation as 'the kitchen, the dairy, the brewhouse, the new house or wash house, and chambers over the hall, the great parlour, the chamber over the said greate parlour, the chamber over the little parlour, the malthouse, the larder and the little house at the higher end of the sayd malthouse, and chambers over the same'. It is clear from this list that the house was little more than a large farmhouse, and some of the chambers were probably unheated.

Great Bidlake: entrance front.

In 1792 the house descended to Thomas Woollocombe (d. 1829), who let it as a farmhouse. He or his brother, the Rev. John Stafford Woollocombe (d. 1866), seems to have demolished 'the greater part of the old mansion', but in the 1840s there was a rebuilding in fairly convincing Tudor style to recreate the appearance of an E-plan manor house. The surviving original work lies to the left of the porch and is constructed of rubble stone, whereas Woollocombe's new building is in coursed rubble, and includes the porch and everything to its right, and the upper parts of the bays left of the porch. The lintels and sills on the new work have helpful dates and initials, but the old part of the house also has a reused lintel with the date 1594 and the initials AB. On the far left of the facade, and disturbing its symmetry, is an additional bay of the 1880s that also incorporates some reused stonework. This addition was designed to link the main block with the early 19th century south-east wing and the three-storey tower with a pyramid roof. 

Great Bidlake: rear elevation. Image: Historic England.

The rear of the house is also gabled, but is more irregular in form, and retains a few early windows, including a reused 15th century cinquefoil-headed one. The central two bays on this side may be an early 20th century addition, and the bay its left the remnant of a gabled stair turret. On this side, the approach to the house is framed by a fine pair of gatepiers, apparently those supplied in 1701 by John Doidge and Richard Gunn, stonemasons.

Great Bidlake: entrance hall, now used as a dining room.

Inside, the house has few surviving pre-19th century features, and those that do exist are mainly in the south-east wing and adjoining room. The latter room may have been the hall in the 16th century, and although it was later divided horizontally, the roof supported on five trusses is still visible in the upper room. The next room, which was perhaps originally the parlour, has a 17th century granite fireplace which was reconstructed in the 19th century and the massive lintel of which is now carved with the Woollocombe arms. The granite heraldic fireplace in the entrance hall, bearing the Bidlake and Woollocombe arms, and the carved granite fireplaces in the north wing are all 20th century. The house was used as a school during the Second World War but returned to private occupation in 1946. For twenty years after 1985 it was the home of Professor John Robinson, an aerospace engineer who composed musicals, some which were performed in a natural wooded amphitheatre in the grounds. The house was restored, re-roofed and given a new main staircase in 2007, and in 2015, in a remarkable twist of fate, was bought back by members of the Bidlake family. At the time of writing it is available for short-term lets.

Descent: Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531); to son, Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604); to son, John Bidlake (c.1547-1625); to son, William Bidlake (c.1570-1625); to son, Capt. Henry Bidlake (1612-59); to son, William Bidlake (1639-70); to son, Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718); to daughters, Anne (1712-38?), wife of John Herring, Philippa (1717-92) and Elizabeth (1714-1802), wife of John Hiern (c.1720-90), whose daughter Mary Hiern (1746-1835) was their heir and married Col. Thomas Stafford  Woollocombe (d. 1829); to brother, Rev. John Stafford Woollocombe (1776-1866); to son, Rev. John Bidlake Woollocombe (1823-1903); to son, Rev. John Henry Bidlake Woollocombe (1854-1930); to son, Cdr. Henry Bidlake Woollocombe (1894-1944); used as a school during the Second World War; sold 1946 and returned to private occupation; sold 1985 to Prof. John Robinson; sold 2005 to Moya and Richard Connell; sold 2015 to James & Alex Bidlake.

Bidlake family of Great Bidlake

Bidlake, Thomas (c.1461-1531). Son and heir of John Bidlake and his wife Joan Come, born about 1461. He married 1st, Elizabeth [surname unknown] and 2nd, 1523, Katherine, daughter of Thomas Hadde of Canterbury (Kent), and had issue:

(2.1) John Bidlake; died young;

(2.2) Edward or Edmund Bidlake; died young;

(2.3) Alice Bidlake; married William Smallacombe of Smallacombe, and had issue one son and two daughters;

(2.4) Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604) (q.v.);

(2.5) James Bidlake (d. by 1606); married [forename unknown], widow of [forename unknown] Denys, and had issue one daughter;

(2.6) Dorothy Bidlake (fl. 1605).

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father.

He died in 1531. His first wife died before 1523. His widow married 2nd, John Coke of Thorn in Ottery St Mary (Devon) and 3rd, William Trent of Ottery St Mary; she died after 1555 and was buried at Aylesbeare (Devon).

Bidlake, Henry (c.1527-1604). Elder surviving son of Thomas Bidlake (c.1461-1531) and his second wife Katherine, daughter of Thomas Hadde of Canterbury (Kent). After the death of his father when he was aged four, the Crown granted his wardship to Sir George Rolle, 'who most honestly brought him up among his sons at school and in his house fifteen years or thereabout' and then granted his wardship to Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), who married him to his daughter. He was churchwarden of Bridestow in 1596. He married 1st, c.1546, Anne, daughter of Roger Denys (d. 1550) of Lodsworth, and 2nd, Jane, widow of Richard Denys, and had issue including:

(1.1) John Bidlake (c.1547-1625) (q.v.);

(1.2) A daughter; married Robert Stokes (fl. 1604);

(1.3) Thomasine Bidlake (d. 1621); married William Langsford (d. 1603) of Bratton Clovelly (Devon), and had issue at least one son and one daughter; died 13 April 1621.

He lived at Broadwoodwidger (Devon) from the time of his marriage until his mother gave him possession of Great Bidlake in 1555. He altered and improved the house and reconstructed Bidlake Mill.

He died 20 April 1604 and was buried at Bridestowe; his will was proved at Totnes (Devon), 1 May 1604. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife's date of death is unknown.

Bidlake, John (c.1547-1625). Only recorded son of Henry Bidlake (c.1527-1604) and his wife Anne, daughter of Roger Denys of Lodsworth (Sussex), born about 1547. He left short autobiographical notes about himself and his family. He married, c.1566, Elizabeth, daughter of Roger Langsford of Germansweek, and had issue including:

(1) William Bidlake (c.1570-1625) (q.v.);

(2) John Bidlake (fl. 1627), of Germansweek; married Mary, daughter of Oliver Denham, and had issue one daughter;

(3) Grace Bidlake; married John Davy (b. 1585?), attorney, of Sanford by Crediton (Devon), and had issue at least three sons and five daughters.

He lived at Germansweek. He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1604 but never lived there, giving it to his elder son on his marriage in 1610.

He died after 27 May 1625 and his will was proved in 1626. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bidlake, William (c.1570-1625). Elder son of John Bidlake (c.1547-1625) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Roger Langsford of Germansweek, born about 1570. His wife was evidently quick to detect a slight and highly litigious, and she picked fights with the rector of Bridestowe and the neighbouring Ebsworthy family, who had been in disputes with the Bidlakes before. He married, 1610 (settlement 20 April), Agnes (d. 1651), daughter of Richard Sture of Morley (Devon), and had issue:

(1) Henry Bidlake (1612-59) (q.v.)

(2) Anna Bidlake (b. c.1614); married John Taverner; living in 1652;

(3) Thomas Bidlake (b. 1619); died young; living in 1625;

(4) William Bidlake, born after 1620; married, 27 July 1658 at Germansweek, Tabitha Rundle (d. 1671), and had issue five sons and four daughters.

His father settled Great Bidlake on him in 1610, and his widow retained it until 1641. She then moved to south Devon, where she is said to have indulged in more costly law suits.

He died in the lifetime of his father and was buried 2 May 1625; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 23 May 1625, and an inquisition post mortem was held on 24 August 1627. His widow died in 1651; administration of her goods was granted to her daughter, 22 January 1651/2.

Bidlake, Henry (1612-59). Eldest son of William Bidlake (c.1570-1625) and his wife Agnes, daughter of Richard Sture of Morley (Devon), born 1612. His wardship was first granted to Sir Thomas Wise of Sydenham House (Devon), but was bought back by his mother who was reluctant to lose control of her son and the estate. A zealous Royalist in the Civil War, in 1642 he joined Sir Ralph Hopton and Edmund Fortescue who were mustering men at Modbury (Devon), but the event was surprised by a party of Parliamentarian dragoons who arrested many men, including Henry Bidlake, who was taken to London and imprisoned for treason, although he seems to have merely been fined and released. He rejoined the Royalist army (Capt. of Horse, 1643 in Sir Thomas Hele's regiment), and was probably present at the Battle of Sourton Down in April that year, after which the defeated Royalists withdrew to Bridestowe. In 1645-46 he was one of the defenders of Pendennis Castle (Cornw.), where he was among the starving survivors who eventually accepted honourable terms of surrender. His estates were sequestrated and he was fined three times the annual value of the estate. Because he seems already to have been in debt before the start of the Civil War he was unable to pay, and he was obliged to borrow widely from friends and neighbours. His mother-in-law, Philippa Kelly, repaid some of these creditors, in return for which Bidlake signed over to her all his goods and chattels except his clothes. He later sold some land, raising enough to finally pay off the fines and accrued interest and recover his property in 1654. Churchwarden of Bridestowe, 1659, He married, 1633, Philippa (c.1614-1701), daughter of William Kelly of Kelly, and had issue:

(1) William Bidlake (1639-70) (q.v.);

(2) Henry Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663;

(3) Charles Bidlake (d. 1705); solicitor in Crediton (Devon); married and had issue two sons; buried at Crediton, 12 November 1705; will proved at Exeter, 1706;

(4) Margery Bidlake (d. 1663); died unmarried, 1663; will proved at Exeter, 19 January 1663/4;

(5) Philippa Bidlake (d. 1706); married, by 1660, Peter Manaton (1640-1708) of Manaton (Devon), son of Sampson Manaton (d. 1657), and had issue three sons and five daughters; buried at Stoke Climsland (Cornw.), 15 February 1705/6;

(6) Elizabeth Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663;

(7) Mary Bidlake (fl. 1663); living, unmarried, in 1663.

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1625 and came of age in 1633. After his death his widow remained in occupation of the house until 1697, when she ceded most of the property to her grandson, Henry Bidlake (c.1668-1718).

He died in 1659; his will was proved 31 December 1659. His widow was buried at Bridestowe, 7 March 1700/1.

Bidlake, William (1639-70). Eldest son of Henry Bidlake (1612-59) and his wife Philippa, daughter of William Kelly of Kelly, said to have been born 2 September and baptised 29 September 1639. He was in straightened circumstances because of the family's role in the Civil War, and in an attempt to repair the situation he married and heiress, but her father outlived him and so he never came into possession of her fortune, which passed instead to her second husband. He married, 1661 (settlement 20 July), Elizabeth (c.1637-82), only child of Anthony Furlong (d. 1690) of Carbeel, Antony (Cornw.), and had issue:

(1) Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718) (q.v.).

(2) Thomas Bidlake (c.1669-88?), born about 1670; apprenticed to a wine importer; was injured in 1688 when a ship he was aboard blew up and sank in Plymouth harbour; he died unmarried soon afterwards;

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1659, but his mother remained in occupation.

He was buried 22 November 1670. His widow married 2nd, 1677, Roger Collings, and had further issue one son; she was buried at Antony, 30 September 1682.

Bidlake, Henry (c.1664-1718). Elder son of William Bidlake (1639-70) and his wife Elizabeth, only child of Anthony Furlong of Carbeel, Antony (Cornw.), born about 1664. After his mother's remarriage, he and his brother were placed in the care of their grandfather, Anthony Furlong (d. 1690). He married 1st, 12 February 1693/4 at Shillingford (Devon), Mary (d. 1706), daughter of Edward Greenwood and widow of Edward Kneeboone, and 2nd, 8 February 1710 at Throwley (Devon), Anne (d. 1755), daughter of Rev. Edward Seddon, rector of Throwley, and had issue:

(1.1) Agnes Bidlake (c.1694-1747), said to have been born in 1694; married, 1 June 1719 at Launceston (Cornw.), Richard Beare of Sourton; died without issue and was buried at Bridestowe, 8 April 1747;

(1.2) Mary Anne Bidlake (b. 1698), baptised at Bradstone (Devon), 21 March 1697/8; married, 16 October 1719 at Stoke Climsland (Cornw.), William Warne of Bridestowe; died without issue;

(2.1) Anne Bidlake (1712-38?), baptised at Bridestowe, 18 December 1712; married, 1738, John Herring of Langstone; died without issue and was perhaps the woman of this name buried at Newton St Cyres (Devon), 8 December 1738;

(2.2) Elizabeth Bidlake (1714-1802) (q.v.);

(2.3) William Bidlake (1716-18), baptised at Bridestowe, 17 April 1716; died young and was buried at Bridestowe, 24 October 1718;

(2.4) Philippa Bidlake (1717-92), baptised at Bridestowe, 18 August 1717; lived at Great Bidlake with her widowed mother and later with a companion who had been her pauper apprentice; died unmarried and was buried at Bridestowe, 19 July 1792.

He inherited Great Bidlake from his father in 1670 and came of age about 1685, but his grandmother remained in occupation of the house until 1697.

He was buried at Bridestowe, 14 February 1717/8; his will was proved at Exeter in 1718. His first wife was buried at Bridestowe, 14 July 1706. His widow was buried at Bridestowe, 15 July 1755.

Bidlake, Elizabeth (1714-1802). Second daughter of Henry Bidlake (c.1664-1718) and his second wife, Ann, daughter of Rev. Edward Seddon, rector of Throwley, baptised 9 March 1713/4. She married, 14 July 1741 at Bridestowe, John Hiern (c.1720-90) of Great Torrington (Devon), attorney, and had issue:

(1) Mary Hiern (1746-1835), baptised at Great Torrington, 21 May 1746; married, 7 May 1774 at Great Torrington, Col. Thomas Stafford Wollocombe (1742-1814) of Lifton (Devon), and had issue three sons (from whom descended the later owners of Great Bidlake) and three daughters; died 8 April and was buried at Bridestowe, 15 April 1835; will proved at Exeter, 1835;

(2) Elizabeth Hiern (1747-85?), probably the person of this name baptised at Langtree, 10 September 1747; living in 1766 when she was named as an executor of her father's will, but perhaps died in his lifetime as three Elizabeth Hearns were buried at Langtree between 1779 and 1785;

(3) James Hiern (1753-79), baptised at Langtree, 15 March 1753; died unmarried and was buried at Langtree, 22 January 1779;

(4) Bidlake Hiern (1755-1810), baptised at Great Torrington, 17 September 1755; married, 13 August 1798 at Great Torrington, Rev. Richard Slade (1767-1823), curate of Gt Torrington, 1791-98 and vicar of Thornbury (Glos), 1798-1823, son of Rev. Richard Slade of Westwell (Oxon), but had no issue; died 14 August and was buried in the chancel at Thornbury, 18 August 1810;

(5) Anne Hiern (b. 1756; fl. 1790), baptised at Langtree (Devon), 4 March 1756; living in 1790, when she was an executor of her father's will;

(6) Frances Hiern (1759-64), baptised at Langtree, 17 April 1759; died young and was buried at Langtree, 7 March 1764;

(7) Thomas Hiern (b. & d. 1767), baptised at Langtree, 11 November 1767; died in infancy and was buried at Langtree, 1 December 1767.

She and her sisters inherited Great Bidlake jointly from her father in 1718, but she was the only one to leave issue, and the estate therefore passed to her daughter's husband, Col. Wollocombe, and his descendants.

She was buried at Great Torrington, 7 July 1802. Her husband was buried at Great Torrington, 4 August 1790; his will was proved in 1791.

Principal sources

Devon Notes and Queries, vol. 3, 1905, pp. 241-48; H. Meller, The country houses of Devon, 2015, pp. 451-52; E. Babbage, 'The Bidlakes of Bridestowe and the Young Pretender', The Devon Historian, vol. 87 (2018), pp. 37-48; E. Babbage, The Bidlakes of Bridestowe, 2018;

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ss4tz/stafford06.php#lk2; 

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/bb4fz/bidlake1.php#dau1.

Location of archives

Bidlake of Bridestowe: deeds and papers, 13th-18th cents. [Devon Archives & Local Studies Service 189M]; papers of Richard Bidlake, claimant of Bidlake estates, 18th cent. [The National Archives, E192/6]

Coat of arms

Gules, a fesse argent between martlets of the second (two and one).

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 12 December 2025.

(619) Bidgood of Rockbeare Court

Bidgood of Rockbeare Court 

The Bidgoods originated as a family of merchants in Exeter and Tiverton (Devon) in the early 17th century. One of them, Humphrey Bidgood (d. 1640) was an apothecary in Exeter who was poisoned by his apprentice, Peter Moore (who was executed for the crime, as although he maintained it was an accident, he admitted that he had intended to murder Bidgood's wife). Humphrey's son, John Bidgood (1624-91), with whom the genealogy below begins, was then a student at Exeter College, Oxford, where he became a Petreian Fellow in 1642. He was a Royalist in sympathies, and in 1648 he was turned out of his fellowship by the Parliamentary visitors, after which he went to Padua University (Italy), where he took a doctorate of medicine in 1650. He then returned to England, and after practising for a few years at Chard (Som.) he moved back to Exeter, where his skills earned him a large and profitable practice. With the proceeds of his work he bought the Rockbeare Court estate a few miles east of the city before 1680 and probably built a house on the property, to which he is said to have retired a few years before his death. 

Dr. Bidgood was unmarried and left his estate and most of his wealth to a kinsman, Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91), who was a merchant in Tiverton. Humphrey died just a few months after his benefactor, leaving a widow and young family, who were all still minors when his widow died in 1697. His son, John Bidgood (1681-1720), inherited his property, was sent to Exeter College, Oxford, and married in 1702. He was succeeded in turn by his sons John Bidgood (1705-70), Nicholas Bidgood (1709-72), who was an apothecary in London, and the Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97), who was rector of Stoodleigh near Tiverton (Devon) for more than half a century, and who was the only one of the three to marry and have children. After he inherited the estate he seems to have moved here and put a curate into Stoodleigh to perform the services there. In 1797 the estate came to his son, Charles Bidgood (1749-1813), who had been apprenticed to an Exeter grocer and no doubt expected to spend his life as a tradesman and merchant in the city, but who found himself at the head of a gentry family because of the childlessness of his uncles. It was probably he who remodelled Rockbeare Court to create the house that exists today.

In 1801, Charles married Ann Sloane (née Fisher), the widow of a Caribbean planter with estates in Demerera (now Guyana) and perhaps also on the island of Tobago, who had four children by her first marriage. She was only 36 when they married, but she and Charles Bidgood had no children, leaving Charles with no close male relative to inherit his estate. When the time came to make his will, therefore, he left his property to his widow for life, with remainder to the elder son of her first marriage, Henry Fisher Sloane (1788-1851), on condition that he took the name and arms of Bidgood, which he did shortly after his mother's death in 1822. Henry Fisher Bidgood also inherited from his mother the John plantation in Demerera, but he seems to have disposed of this before the Government began paying compensation for the emancipation of slaves in the 1830s. The dual inheritance, and the £30,000 that his wife inherited from her father, meant that Henry Fisher Bidgood was probably wealthier than any of his predecessors at Rockbeare Court, but for reasons which are obscure, this wealth seems not to have been transmitted to the later generations.

When Henry died in 1851, he left two sons and a daughter (two more daughters having died young). His heir was his elder son, Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84), who seems to have cut no figure in the county and who never married. In 1870 he sold the contents of Rockbeare Court, leased the house, put a manager in to run the estate, and moved to London to live with his widowed sister; the family never returned to live at Rockbeare again. When he died in 1884, C.H. Bidgood's personal estate was valued at less than a thousand pounds. His real estate passed to his younger brother, Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901), who had settled in the Isle of Wight. He continued to let the house at Rockbeare, and in about 1887 his eldest son, Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916), emigrated to the United States, where he acquired a farm in Minnesota and married. Harry was still in America when his father died and the Rockbeare property came into his possession, but soon afterwards he returned to England, where he made his home in Lincolnshire - first at Boothby Hall, Welton-le-Marsh, and later at Partney Grange - both of which he apparently rented, while continuing to lease out Rockbeare. During the First World War he joined the Territorial Army, and when his unit was mobilised in 1916 as part of the Lincolnshire Regiment he was given a commission as a temporary Captain. Later that year, however, he suffered an attack of influenza and when he was partially recovered, he made the mistake of going out shooting with his neighbour at Gunby Hall. He suffered a heart attack and died a few days later. His will made provision not only for his own wife and daughter, but also for the family of his brother, Maj. Thomas Edward Wingfield Bidgood (1866-1952), who appears to have suffered brain damage in a polo accident in India in 1908. To meet these demands on the estate the house and lands at Rockbeare were sold at auction in 1917-18.

Rockbeare Court, Devon

The house stands in its own grounds immediately north of the church, and has a seven-bay stuccoed brick front of about 1790, with sash windows, a broad Doric porch, and a panelled parapet. On the east end there is a shallow curved full-height bow with tripartite windows on both floors. The house has a loosely U-shaped plan, and from each end of the front block short wings project to the rear, each containing two rooms; that on the west containing the original kitchen. The front block contains two large rooms separated by an entrance hall that leads through a large round-headed archway to the staircase hall between the rear wings. The house is generally of two storeys with attics, but the older kitchen wing has only two storeys.

Rockbeare Court: entrance front

Rockbeare Court: east side elevation in 1977.

Inside, the house retains most of its Georgian detail. In the staircase hall is an  open well stair with open string, stick balusters, mahogany handrail, scrolled wreath and curtail steps. The right front room has a high ceiling with a good moulded plaster cornice and a marble chimneypiece with a carved panel in the centre depicting a vase of flowers. The front left room also has a Georgian marble chimneypiece, but is lined with late 17th century bolection-moulded panelling, which appears to be in situ. This suggests that the generally late 18th century appearance of the house is merely a superficial remodelling of an earlier house, perhaps built for Dr John Bidgood in the 1680s. Further evidence for this can be found in the roof space, where the top of the rear wall of the front block over the left room is exposed, and can be seen to be 17th century brickwork and to contain a blocked oak four-light window frame with ovolo-moulded mullions that is apparently in situ. The roof over the main block also appears to be late 17th century, with a series of plain A-frame trusses with pegged and nailed lap-jointed collars. On the first floor of the west wing a cupola marks the site of a former service stair that has been removed.

Descent: sold c.1678 to Dr John Bidgood (1624-91), who probably built the house; to kinsman, Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91); to son, John Bidgood (1681-1720); to son, John Bidgood (1705-70); to brother, Nicholas Bidgood (1708-72); to brother, Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97); to son, Charles Bidgood (1749-1813); to step-son, Henry Fisher Sloane (later Bidgood) (1788-1851); to son, Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84); to brother, Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901); to son, Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916); sold 1917-18 to Maj-Gen. Sir Edward Sinclair May (1856-1936), kt.; to widow, Lady May (d. 1956); sold 1953; sold 1977; sold 2002 to Colin Slater (d. 2019) and Elaine Slater, who converted the house into a retirement home.

Bidgood family of Rockbeare Court

Bidgood, Dr. John (1624-91). Son of Humphrey Bidgood of Exeter, apothecary, and his wife, born 13 March 1623/4. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated c.1640; MA 1644/5; MB 1647; admitted to practice medicine, 1647/8) and was a Fellow there, c.1642-48, when he was removed by the parliamentary visitors for refusing to submit and drinking healths to the confusion of the reformers. He then went to Italy and completed his education at the University of Padua (MD 1650). After taking his doctorate he returned to England and set up in practice at Chard (Som.) before removing a view years later to Exeter. At the Restoration he resumed his Fellowship at Oxford (finally resigning in 1662) and was incorporated MD there. In 1664 he was admitted an Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians. In Exeter, his skills earned him a large practice and enabled him to accumulate a fortune estimated at £25-30,000. He was a JP for Devon by 1662, and in the summer of 1685, following the duke of Monmouth’s invasion, he played a prominent role in marshalling the loyalist troops in Exeter and supplied the Devon militia with £1,000 ‘by which meanes they were soone ready’ to face the rebels. As a young man he seems to have had atheistic leanings, and in 1657 he was prosecuted by the godly magistrates of Exeter for swearing in public, but he is said to have become a regular churchgoer later. Despite his professional success, his good qualities were marred by a haughty and morose disposition, a satirical vein of humour and repulsive manners, so it is perhaps not surprising that he remained unmarried.

He had a house in the Cathedral close at Exeter, and purchased the Rockbeare Court estate, probably in the late 1670s, as in 1680 the bishop of Exeter confirmed his exclusive right to the north aisle of Rockbeare church as a burying place for him and his descendants. He may have rebuilt the house at Rockbeare Court, the earlier parts of which seem to date from the late 17th century, and is said to have retired there a few years before his death. At his death his estates passed to his kinsman (probably nephew), Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91).

He died at his house in Exeter, 13 January 1690/1, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral, where he is commemorated by a monument erected by his heir. His will was proved in the PCC, 27 March 1691, and left several charitable bequests, as well as making provision for Anne Somers, widow, who is thought to have been the mother of at least one disinherited illegitimate son.

Bidgood, Humphrey (1654-91). Son of Humphrey Bidgood of Fulford (Devon), baptised at St Peter, Tiverton, 3 September 1654. Merchant in Tiverton in partnership with his father-in-law, George Davey (d. 1690), and later his brother-in-law, Thomas Davey. He married, 21 June 1680 at Calverleigh (Devon), Elizabeth (d. 1697), daughter of George Davey of Tiverton, and had issue:

(1) John Bidgood (1681-1720) (q.v.);

(2) Mary Davey Bidgood (1683-1730), baptised at Tiverton, 16 August 1683; married, 7 January 1695/6* at Exeter Cathedral, Francis Drewe (c.1674-1734) of The Grange, Broadhembury (Devon), barrister-at-law and MP for Exeter, 1713-22, 1727-34, son of Canon Edward Drewe of Exeter, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 1729 and was buried at Broadhembury, 22 February 1729/30; 

(3) Elizabeth Bidgood (1687-1737), born 26 September and baptised at Tiverton, 13 October 1687; married, 4 August 1707 at Exeter Cathedral, the Rev. Dr. Peter Foulkes (1676-1747), canon and precentor of Exeter Cathedral and sub-dean of Christ Church, Oxford (who m2, 26 December 1738, Anne (d. 1783), daughter of Rt. Rev. Offspring Blackall (1655-1716), bishop of Exeter, and widow of William Holwell), and had issue at least two sons; died 1737 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his kinsman (probably uncle), Dr John Bidgood, in January 1690/1, but died later the same year.

He died in the lifetime of his father and was buried at Rockbeare, 19 May 1691; his will was proved in the PCC, 1 December 1691. His widow was buried at Tiverton, 24 April 1697.

* When she was evidently only twelve or thirteen.

Bidgood, John (1681-1720). Only son of Humphrey Bidgood (1654-91) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of George Davey of Tiverton (Devon), baptised at Tiverton, 29 June 1681. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated 1699). He married, 1 October 1702 at Exeter Cathedral, Anne Hall of Exeter, and had issue:

(1) John Bidgood (1705-70), baptised at Rockbeare, 21 April 1705; educated at Balliol College, Oxford (admitted 1724); died unmarried and without issue and was buried at Rockbeare, 7 June 1770; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 July 1770;

(2) Anne Bidgood (1706-07); baptised at Rockbeare, 25 December 1706; died in infancy and was buried at Rockbeare, 12 January 1706/7;

(3) Nicholas Bidgood (1709-72), baptised at Rockbeare, 16 March 1708/9; apothecary in London; probably died unmarried and was buried at Rockbeare, 28 December 1772;

(4) Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97) (q.v.);

(5) William Bidgood (1713-33?), baptised at Rockbeare, 17 September 1713; probably the man of this name buried at Rockbeare, 26 September 1733.

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1691 and came of age in about 1702.

He was buried at Rockbeare, 19 April 1720. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Bidgood, Rev. Charles (1710-97). Third son of John Bidgood (1681-1720) and his wife Anne Hall, baptised at Rockbeare, 1 October 1710. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1729; BA 1732; MA 1735). Ordained deacon, 1734 and priest, 1736. Rector of Stoodleigh (Devon), 1744-97. Chaplain to Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk & Berkshire, 1757.  He married, 1 October 1745 at Alphington (Devon), Dorothy (1721-81), daughter of John Pitman of Alphington, and had issue:

(1) Dorothy Bidgood (1747-1834), born at Stoodleigh, 25 April 1747; married, 24 January 1774 at Rockbeare, John Rose Drewe (1747-1830) of The Grange, Broadhembury (Devon), and had issue one son (who died young) and one daughter; died aged 88 and was buried at Broadhembury, 18 December 1834, where she and her husband are commemorated by a monument;

(2) Charles Bidgood (1749-1813) (q.v.).

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his elder brother in 1772.

He was buried at Rockbeare, 1 April 1797; his will was proved in the PCC, 26 April 1797. His wife was buried at Rockbeare, 8 March 1781.

Bidgood, Charles (1749-1813). Only son of Rev. Charles Bidgood (1710-97) and his wife Dorothy, daughter of John Pitman of Alphington (Devon), born at Stoodleigh, 1 July 1749. Apprenticed to Henry Hitson of Exeter, grocer, 1766. An officer in the Devonshire militia (Capt., 1790) and the Bicton Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1800). DL for Devon, 1791. He married, 3 February 1801 at Rockbeare, Ann Falkingham Burke (1765-1822), daughter of Henry Fisher and widow of William Sloane (d. 1797)*, but had no issue.

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1797, and was probably responsible for the extensive remodelling of the house. At his death he left his property to his widow for life and then to her eldest son by her first marriage, on condition that he took the name and arms of Bidgood.

He was buried at Rockbeare, 15 January 1813; his will was proved in the PCC, 24 November 1813. His widow died in 1822; her will was proved in the PCC, 23 October 1822.

* William Sloan and Ann Fisher were married, 30 July 1785 in St Michael's (Barbados), and had issue two sons and two daughters.

Sloane (later Bidgood), Henry Fisher (1788-1851). Elder son of William Sloane (d. 1797) and his wife Ann Falkingham Burke, daughter of Henry Fisher, born in Tobago, 1788. He took the name and arms of Bidgood under the terms of his stepfather's will on inheriting the Rockbeare Court estate from his mother in 1822. He married, 6 October 1821 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Sarah (1793-1890), eldest daughter of Thomas Porter of Rockbeare House, and had issue:

(1) Charles Henry Bidgood (1823-84), born 22 January and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 22 April 1823; inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1851, but sold the contents in 1870 and let the house, moving to live with his sister in London; died unmarried and without issue, at his sister's house in London, 14 July, and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 July 1884; his will was proved 16 October 1884 (effects £997);

(2) Sarah Ann Bidgood (1824-93), baptised at Rockbeare, 4 September 1824; married, 10 December 1844 at Rockbeare, Lt-Col. Francis Dermott Daly (c.1797-1857) of Gatcombe House (IoW), son of Francis Daly, and had issue one daughter; lived latterly at Queen's Gate, Kensington (Middx) and Winscott, Beer (Devon), where she died, 19 December, and was buried at Rockbeare, 22 December 1893; will proved 24 January 1894 (effects £1,974);

(3) Harriette Eliza Bidgood (1826-40), baptised at Rockbeare, 29 April 1826; died young, 12 April, and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 April 1840, where she is commemorated on her father's monument;

(4) Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901) (q.v.); 

(5) Christina Bidgood (1829-30), baptised at Rockbeare, 3 November 1829; died in infancy and was buried at Rockbeare, 28 January 1830.

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate and the John plantation in Demerara (Guyana) from his mother in 1822, but he evidently sold the latter in his lifetime. His wife inherited £30,000 from her father in 1815.

He died at Teignmouth (Devon), 3 July, and was buried at Rockbeare, 10 July 1851, where he is commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 18 August 1851. His widow died aged 97 and was buried at All Hallows on the Walls, Exeter, 19 March 1890.

Bidgood, Thomas Edward (1827-1901). Younger son of Henry Fisher Sloane (later Bidgood) (1788-1851), and his wife Sarah, eldest daughter of Thomas Porter of Rockbeare House (Devon), baptised at Rockbeare, 12 August 1827. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1844; Lt., 1847). He married, 4 August 1859 at Nether Wallop (Hants), Emily Anna Maria (1833-1915), daughter of Rev. Walter Blunt (d. 1868) of Wallop House, and had issue:

(1) Harry Walter Bidgood (1860-1916) (q.v.);

(2) Isabel Sarah Bidgood (1862-1946), born 21 July and baptised at Nether Wallop, 31 August 1862; died unmarried, 19 July 1946; will proved 10 October 1946 (estate £10,740);

(3) Marion Christina Bidgood (1864-1934), born 17 February and baptised at Nether Wallop, 3 April 1864; died unmarried, 14 December 1934; will proved 2 March 1935 (estate £12,026);

(4) Thomas Edward Wingfield Bidgood (1866-1952), born 5 March and baptised at Nether Wallop, 29 April 1866; educated at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; army officer (Lt., 1884; Capt., 1894; Maj., 1903; retired 1909 and did not return to service in First World War*); married 1st, about 1892, Jessie Eliot (c.1861-1919), daughter of William Ferguson of Forres (Morays), and had issue one son and four daughters; married 2nd, Jul-Sept. 1921, Glory Barrington Nash (1892-1949); died 28 February 1952; will proved 10 November 1952 (estate £176).

He lived at Gatcombe and later Shanklin (IoW). He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his elder brother in 1884, but continued to let it. 

He died 12 January and was buried at Rockbeare, 18 January 1901; his will was proved 8 March 1901 (estate £8,855). His widow died in Richmond (Surrey), 21 January 1915; her will was proved 1 April 1915 (estate £1,439).

* Official records give the reason for his retirement as 'insane', but his retirement appears to have been occasioned by a polo accident in 1908 in which he suffered severe concussion, and perhaps some brain damage; he was placed on sick leave for twelve months and subsequently retired. He may have separated from his first wife before her death as in 1919 she was living in Dover (Kent) and he was farming in Co. Sligo. His second wife was confined in the Kent County Mental Hospital at Chartham (Kent) by 1939, and the later references to him show him living in rented accommodation or as a boarder with agricultural labourers; a sad life.

Bidgood, Harry Walter (1860-1916). Elder son of Thomas Edward Bidgood (1827-1901) and his wife Emily Anna Maria, daughter of Rev. Walter Blunt of Wallop House (Hants), born 6 December 1860 and baptised at Nether Wallop, 27 January 1861. An officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1881; retired 1882). He emigrated to America in about 1887, where he became bookkeeper for a land fraudster called N.C. Fredericksen, with whom he was charged for conspiracy to defraud, although in the absence of Fredericksen (who disappeared) the matter seems never to have come to trial; he later settled as a farmer at Springfield, Minnesota. In about 1904 he returned to England. He volunteered for a territorial regiment at the outbreak of the First World War and was given a commission (Capt., 1916). 'A man of great energy and industry', he was a keen cricketer and tennis player. He married, 14 October 1891 at Windom, Minnesota (USA), Zoe (c.1862-1938), daughter of Richard Harrison of Scarthorpe (Yorks) and Hackthorpe (Cumbld.), and had issue:

(1) Beatrice T. Bidgood (b. 1893), born in Minnesota, 11 May 1893*; probably died young;

(2) Marjorie Emily Theodora Bidgood (1893-1982), born in Minnesota, 5 November 1893*; emigrated to Zimbabwe; married, 21 August 1919 at Partney (Lincs), Capt. Frank Frederick Shipster (1895-1964), only son of Harry Reginald Shipster, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died at Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), 8 August 1982.

He inherited the Rockbeare Court estate from his father in 1901, but continued to let the house. He lived about from about 1887 until about 1904, when he settled in Lincolnshire, first at Boothby Hall and later at Partney Grange (Lincs). The Rockbeare Court estate was broken up and sold after his death, in 1917-18.

He died of heart failure after an attack of influenza at Partney Grange (Lincs), 26 December 1916, and was buried at Gunby (Lincs), 2 January 1917; his will was proved 27 February 1917 (estate £33,011). His widow died in 1938.

* The dates of birth cannot both be correct. I can find only Beatrice in the Minnesota birth records and only Marjorie in subsequent ones, so I wonder if it is possible that there was only one child, and the parents informally changed her name, perhaps on their return to England? At the time of her marriage, Marjorie was the 'only daughter' of her parents.

Principal sources

ODNB article on Dr. John Bidgood (1624-91);

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1141391?section=official-list-entry;

https://practitioners.exeter.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Devon-medics.pdf

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Argent, on a chief engrailed azure, a tortoise proper.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide further information about the ownership of Rockbeare Court in the late 20th century?
• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 5 December 2025.