Holnicote Estate

The Domesday Book entry for Honecote, showing the manor held by two nuns

Alternative derivations of the name Holnicote, which was spelled variously as Honecote, Hunecote or Hunecota, have been suggested.[1] It may relate to holegn, the Anglo-Saxon word for holly.[2] Eilert Ekwall supports the claim that places which start Holne come from the Old English holegn meaning holly,[3] while Stephen Robinson, in his book on local place names prefers an explanation "The Honey Cottage" from the Old English honeg and cot.[4] In the 19th century, the Rector of Selworthy, the Rev. F. Hancock, who was said to have extensively studied the place-names of his parish, preferred the old English personal name Hùn for the first element.[5]

There are several references in the Domesday Book to Honecote, Hunnecota or Hunecota in the hundred of Carhampton. One records land held by one William of the tenant-in-chief, Roger de Corcelle; prior to the Norman Conquest, this land belonged to two theigns called Aluric and Bristeuin. Odo, son of Gamelin, held a detached portion of this land. The second record shows two nuns holding two and half virgates.[nb 1] The local historian and lawyer Charles Chadwyck-Healey identifies these manors with modern Holnicote,[1] the National Archives agrees with him in their catalogue,[nb 2] and the Open Domesday project lists them under Holnicote,[6] but the editors of the Victoria County History series only identify the land held by the nuns with Holnicote and state that de Corcelle's manor was actually Huntscott in Wootton Courtney.[7]

There is scarce evidence regarding the holders of Holnicote in the period immediately after Domesday. William de Holne held the manor in the reign of Edward I. Although Chadwyck-Healey described it is "very probable" that this William de Holne is the same man recorded elsewhere with a son, Richard, whose daughter Thomasia married John, son of Walter Gofreye, the evidence is not conclusive. [8] By the late 15th century, the Steynings family were claiming descent from the Huish and de Holne dynasties. Their origins are obscure and the earliest record of them is the will of William Steynings, which was proved in 1491. His son, Edward, died in 1524/5 and was succeeded by his son Walter; Edward Steynings's will refers to property at Holnicote. Eventually, his grandson Thomas became owner of the manor and house of Holnicote; he is listed in Crown account books as early as 1558. His younger brother, Philip (died 1588/9), succeeded him at Holnicote.[9]

Memorial tablet to Charles Staynings (died 1700) in All Saints Church, Selworthy

The Steynings family owned Holnicote until the direct male line became extinct with the death of Charles Staynings (1622–1700). His wife, Susanna (died 1685), was a daughter of Sir Nicholas Martyn of Oxton and Steynings's heir was their nephew, William Martyn.[10][11] According to records of the Heralds' Visitations of Devon and research by the Victorian historian J. L. Vivian, this William Martyn lived in Oxton in the parish of Kenton, Devon; he was Susanna Martyn's great-nephew and died in 1710, aged 30.[12][13] He sold the estate to William Blackford, a Master in Chancery.[14] Blackford then bought the manors of Bossington and Avill, the latter from Anthony Stocker and his wife, Sarah; this estate extended from the ridge of Grabbist nearly to the sea-shore and also included land in the parishes of Dunster, Carhampton, Crowcombe, Stogumber, Timberscombe and St. Decumans.[15] He married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Dyke of Pixton, and died in 1728.[14] His son, William, succeeded him and married Henrietta Collet (died 1727), a daughter and co-heiress of Joseph Collet of Hertford Castle in Hertfordshire.[16] However, he died only three years after his father. Their only daughter and heiress, Henrietta Blackford, inherited the estate as an infant, but died aged 7 in 1733.[14][15] The estates were divisible upon a great-aunt, Elizabeth Dyke (died 1737), and a second cousin, Elizabeth, a daughter of Thomas Dyke of Tetton and Mary, a daughter of Elizabeth Dyke (died 1737). Later in 1733, Elizabeth Dyke (died 1737) conveyed her share in the estate to her only surviving son, Edward Dyke (died 1746) who in turn conveyed his portion to his niece in 1744, making her the sole owner of the entire estate.[15][17]

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1723–1785). Portrait, 1767, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, on display at Killerton House.[18] A similar painting, which is also owned by the National Trust can be seen at Saltram House.[19]

Elizabeth Dyke married Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785) of Killerton in Devon and Petherton Park in Somerset in 1745.[15][20] A prominent member of the West Country gentry, Acland was a famous staghunter who used his wife's Exmoor estates of Holnicote and Pixton as his hunting seats.[21] He built kennels for the North Devon Staghounds[21] and kept his own pack of dogs.[22] He became forester or ranger of Exmoor under grant from the Crown, a title for the king's chief officer of the royal forest. According to the Victorian author, Charle Palk Collyns, he "hunted the country in almost princely style. Respected and beloved by all the countryside, he was solicited at the same time to allow himself to be returned as member of Parliament for the counties of Devon and Somerset. He preferred, however, the duties and pleasures of life in the country, where he bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman".[23] Although he had three of his own kennels, he had a further method of keeping hounds at Holnicote, Jury and Highercombe, whereby he made the keeping of one hound a term a stipulation of many of the tenancies he granted. In his manor of Bossington (near Holnicote) alone an estate survey of 1746–1747 lists twelve tenements let, either by Acland or Dyke, with the requirement to keep a hound.[24]

In 1775 he handed over the mastership to the then Major Basset, and in 1779 his beloved collection of stag heads and antlers at Holnicote was lost in a fire which also destroyed the house. He declared that "he minded the destruction of his valuables less bitterly than the loss of his fine collection of stags' heads".[25] He was known on his estates as "Sir Thomas his Honour"[26] (as later was his son the 9th Baronet) and was renowned for his generous hospitality at Holnicote or at Pixton, whichever was closest, to all riders "in at the death",[27] and it is said that by the architect Anne Acland that "open house was kept at Pixton and Holnicote throughout the hunting season".[28]

Acland's eldest son died as a result of wounds aged 34. His grandson died at the age of 7 a few weeks after inheriting the baronetcy and so his second son, Thomas Dyke Acland (1752–1794), became the ninth Baronet. Like his father, he was known locally in Devon and Somerset as "Sir Thomas his Honour"[26] and they shared a passion for staghunting. He followed him into the Mastership of the North Devon Staghounds and virtually abandoned the family's main seat of Killerton in mid-Devon to live at Holnicote and Highercombe, near Dulverton, on the north and south edges respectively of the ancient royal forest of Exmoor, renown for its herds of red deer. During the period 1785 to his death in 1794 he killed 101 stags, the heads and antlers of many of which are still displayed in the stables at Holnicote.[29] He was a stern employer of his hunt-staff, and on one occasion when his hounds had killed several sheep, possibly belonging to his farming tenants, he ordered his huntsman "to hang himself and the whole pack".[30]

The estate passed down through the Acland family[31] until February 1944, when Sir Richard Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet (1906–1990) donated the Holnicote and Killerton Estates to the National Trust, comprising 16,000 acres (6,500 ha), which was the largest ever donation received by the National Trust.[32]

Children of African American soldiers and white British women born during World War 2 who lived at Holnicote House until they were 5 years old.

In 1943, Holnicote House was requisitioned by Somerset County Council, initially for use as a nursery for children evacuated from cities during World War 2. However, the council increasingly took children born to white British mothers and Black American GI fathers, possibly as an intentional policy. American GIs, including Black American troops, were stationed all over Britain, with a heavy concentration in south-west England.[97][98]The children often arrived at Holnicote House as babies, some being only a few days or weeks old. This early placement is likely because at least two-thirds of the babies had married mothers. By 1948, there were 45 mixed race children of Black GIs in Somerset, of whom nearly half were placed in Holnicote House.[98][99]

Somerset appears to be the only County Council which provided homes explicitly for babies born to Black GIs. As Holnicote House was used as a nursery, children were only cared for there up to the age of five, after which they were fostered, adopted or sent to homes for older children. The children who were fostered at Holnicote House tended to be cared for by young nursery nurses. Professor Lucy Bland, who interviewed over sixty children born to white mothers and Black American GI fathers for her 2019 book Britain's 'Brown Babies, talked to five people who were raised at Holnicote House, as well as three nursery nurses who worked there. All spoke very fondly about their time there.[98][100]

On 23rd August 1948, Life magazine published a feature entitled ‘The Babies They Left Behind Them’. This article, which was accompanied by a photo of children from Holnicote House, attracted international public interest in the issue of Britain’s ‘brown babies’ as the estimated 2,000 children from the relationships between Black GIs and white British women were dubbed by the Black American press.[101][98][99]

The house is now operated as a hotel.[102]