Hartland Abbey facts for kids
Hartland Abbey is a beautiful old building in Hartland, Devon. It used to be a monastery, which was a home for monks. Today, it is a family home where the Stucley family lives. Sir Hugh George Copplestone Bampfylde Stucley, 6th Baronet is the current owner.
History of Hartland Abbey
Hartland Abbey was built in 1157. It was officially opened in 1160 by Bartholomew Iscanus, who later became the Bishop of Exeter. The monks living here were part of the Augustinian order. This means they followed the rules of Saint Augustine.
A family called Botreaux, from Boscastle, Cornwall, gave a lot of money and land to the Abbey. For example, in 1187, a man named William de Botreaux gave the Abbey the rights to choose priests for churches in his areas of Molland, Knowstone, and Forrabury. These gifts were confirmed by King Richard I between 1189 and 1199. The Abbey officially became an Augustinian Abbey in 1189.
The Abbey is Closed Down
In 1539, King Henry VIII decided to close down many monasteries in England. This event is known as the Dissolution of the monasteries. Hartland Abbey was one of them.
The King gave the building to William Abbot, who worked for him at Hampton Court. William Abbot turned the part where the Abbot (the head monk) used to live into a large house. The King also sold off other lands that belonged to the Abbey.
The House Today
The house you see today still has some parts from the Tudor period. These include some lovely wooden wall panels. In 1705, two new sections were added to the house.
Later, in the mid-1800s, Sir George Stucley made more changes. He hired a famous architect named George Gilbert Scott. They added a new entrance porch on the north side. Two large bay windows were also put on the east side of the house.
Inside, the drawing room and dining rooms were decorated in a style similar to the Palace of Westminster. Both rooms have beautiful wall panels. They also feature painted pictures on the walls by Alfred Beer from Exeter. These pictures show important moments in English and Irish history. Sir George Stucley believed his ancestors were part of these events. Alfred Beer also created a beautiful painted glass window for the staircase. Sir George had the main hallway decorated to look like the Alhambra Palace, which he had recently visited.
The gardens at Hartland Abbey were designed by the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.
Filming Location
Hartland Abbey and its estate have been used as a setting for many TV shows and films!
- A cottage on the estate was used as Mrs Dashwood's home in the 2008 BBC mini-series Sense and Sensibility.
- The estate was also featured on BBC1's Antiques Roadshow in 2012.
- The cottage was used again for the 2016 BBC/AMC mini-series The Night Manager.
- It has been a location for films based on Rosamund Pilcher's novel The Shell Seekers.
- The estate was also used for the game show Hercules.
- Even the BBC Top Gear programme filmed a sequence here.
- The CBBC/Canadian children's TV series Malory Towers, broadcast in 2020, also filmed scenes at Hartland Abbey.
- The Hartland Quay Hotel, which is part of the Estate, has hosted many film crews too. One of the earliest was the Disney studio for Treasure Island.
