More information : Court Farm - remains of EPISCOPAL PALACE [G.T.] (1) [SS 56593007] "Farmhouse N [?S] of the church said to have been a residence of the Bishops of Exeter. It incorporates late medieval parts, but was castillated and, it seems, generally tidied up c.1800. (2) The Manor of BISHOP'S TAWTON was the original Bishop's See which the second bishop removed to Crediton. The bishops had a palace here many centuries after the see was removed. Some ruins of it are still to be seen In the churchyard are the ruins of an ancient building, called the DEANERY, belonging to the Dean of Exeter. (3) "Rejecting the assertion of HOKER, that the Bishops of Devonshire had ever fixed their see at Bishop's Tawton as entirely void of historic authority"...the manor formed part of the endowment of the See first established at Crediton in 910. "Some small remains of their ancient palace are still visible on the south side of the parish cemetery". In it was a chapel mentioned 25 Nov 1321. (4) The farmhouse, which is in a good state of preservation and is still occupied, has roughly built walls of stone. Two square towers in the south and one in the NW with the upper approx 1.0m in brick appear otherwise to be original and show traces of sandstone quoining. The steeply pitched roof has modern slates and the majority of windows are of sash type. One window in the south wall is of ecclesiastical type in probably modern ashlar work. The masonry of the attached outbuildings is similar to that of the house. No trace of a ruined building was found in the churchyard. The parish has no resident rector. Now known as 'Court Farm' and owned and occupied by E. WALDRON. The majority of the building is believed to be the remains of the EPISCOPAL. PALACE. (5) Court Farm. The farmhouse is as described. (6)
|