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3 unusual facts about Powderham Castle


Axminster Carpets

The company produced Axminster carpets for: the music room of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton; Chatsworth House; Powderham Castle; Saltram House; and Warwick Castle.

Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay

He was distantly related to the Courtenay family who held the title Earls of Devon and were seated at Powderham Castle in Exeter, and was a distant cousin to the novelist Maria Edgeworth, but his own family was not well-to-do.

William Stumbels

A 14 foot high longcase clock made by him between 1743 and 1747, for which he charged £105 can be seen in the Marble Hall of Powderham Castle.


Anthony Kingston

After the death of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham in 1535, Kingston married his widow, Mary, daughter of Sir John Gainsford, and left Gloucestershire to reside at Chudleigh, Devon, which, with Honiton, belonged to his wife's jointure.

Kingston married firstly, before October 1524, Dorothy Harpur, the daughter of Robert Harpur, and secondly, by 1537, Mary Gainsford, widow of Sir William Courtenay (d.1535) of Powderham, and daughter of Sir John Gainsford of Crowhurst, Surrey.

William Kingston

Sir Anthony Kingston, who married firstly, before October 1524, Dorothy Harpur, the daughter of Robert Harpur, and secondly, by 1537, Mary Gainsford, widow of Sir William Courtenay (d.1535) of Powderham, and daughter of Sir John Gainsford of Crowhurst, Surrey.


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