Haldon House

Dunchideock ( DUN-chi-dək, dun-CHID-ee-ək) is a small civil parish on the north eastern slopes of the Haldon Hills in Teignbridge, Devon, England. It covers an area of 392 hectares (970 acres) and lies about 6 km (3.7 mi) south-west of Exeter and 11 km (6.8 mi) north-east of Bovey Tracey. The parish, with a population of 262 in 2001, lacks a compact village, but consists of scattered dwellings. It is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Holcombe Burnell, Ide, Shillingford St. George, Kenn, and Doddiscombsleigh.The name Dunchideock is of Celtic origin. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Donsedoc, the two parts of the name derive from dun (fort) and coediog (wooded), which, according to W. G. Hoskins, refer to the nearby Iron Age hill fort of Cotley Castle.The parish church is dedicated to St Michael and is Grade I listed. It originated in 1308 at the latest, but the present church building, built of red sandstone, was started in the late 14th century. It has been partially rebuilt and restored many times. There is a good font dated to around 1400, some notable carved bench-ends, roof-bosses and rood-screen; and several memorials, most notably to Aaron Baker, who rebuilt the chancel aisle in 1669, and Stringer Lawrence. The theological writer Bourchier Wrey Savile was rector of Dunchideock with Shillingford St. George from 1872 to his death in 1888.Within the parish was the former Haldon House which was the home of Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet. Mostly demolished in the 1920s, the remaining wing is now the Best Western "Lord Haldon Hotel". Also in the parish is Haldon Belvedere, a triangular tower on top of Haldon that was built by Palk in 1788 in memory of his friend General Stringer Lawrence.Archie Winckworth, the former owner of Dunchideock House, posted a memoir about the village and its history, including an account of its buried treasure. The cellars of Dunchideock House are fancifully supposed to contain a treacle mine.

Haldon Belvedere or Lawrence Tower is a triangular tower in the Haldon Hills in the county of Devon, England. Haldon Belvedere is in the parish of Dunchideock within the former Haldon estate, about a mile south-west of Haldon House. Its location on the ridge of the Haldon Hills gives it extensive views and means it is a prominent landmark for many miles around. It was built in 1788 by Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet and was originally called Lawrence Tower in honour of his friend and patron General Stringer Lawrence (1697–1775). Lawrence spent much of his retirement at Haldon and was buried in Dunchideock church, in which Palk erected a monument to his memory, having received a bequest of £50,000 in his will. Stringer Lawrence's other monument is in Westminster Abbey, erected by the East India Company.The tower, 26 metres high, is triangular with Gothic windows and full-height circular angle turrets, and was probably influenced by the triangular tower at nearby Powderham Castle, itself probably modelled on Shrubs Hill Tower (now Fort Belvedere) in Windsor Great Park, built 1750–1755. Inside is a larger-than-life-size coade stone statue of Stringer Lawrence dressed as a Roman general; a copy of the marble statue of him by Peter Scheemakers (1691–1781) now in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, formerly the India Office. On the walls are three large framed tablets inscribed with details of his career.In 1925 when the former Palk-owned Haldon estate was being broken up, the belvedere was sold for £300 at auction to J. Archibald Lucas and J. B. Orchard, both of Exeter. It was later owned by Mrs Bessie Smith who sold it in 1933 for £650 to Mrs Annie Dale from Wolverhampton. Mrs Dale and her three sons lived at the belvedere and opened it to the public, running a teahouse and gift shop and charging 2d. to climb to the top of the tower. During World War II the Dale sons were conscientious objectors and were jailed for a time, later being allowed to work locally for the war effort. With its far-reaching views, the belvedere served as a strategic observation post and after the war, Mrs Dale was awarded £405 for damage caused to the building's interior, with damage caused to the stairs by hobnail boots being specifically mentioned.After the war and the death of their parents, two of the sons, Cyril and Edward, continued to live in the building, but having few means they were unable to maintain it well and it deteriorated. It was struck by lightning in 1960 and in 1990 the windows were blown out in a storm. Cyril Dale died in 1990 and just before his own death in 1994 his brother Edward transferred the building to the Stringer Lawrence Memorial Trust which arranged for restoration work by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust. After extensive work funded by grants from a number of sources including English Heritage, the belvedere was officially reopened by Lucinda Lambton on 20 April 1996. Further restoration of the exterior took place in 2016. It has been a grade II* listed building, under the name of "Lawrence Castle", since 1987.

Haldon Forest is a forest located in the Haldon Hills, Devon, England. The forest consists of several different woods. Geographically, Haldon Forest is located between the towns of Chudleigh and Exminster and is south of Exeter.

Ide is a village in Devon, England, just under 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) southwest of Exeter. The village church is dedicated to the German Saint Ida of Herzfeld and was rebuilt in 1834. The majority of the village is separated from suburban Exeter by the A30 dual carriageway. Whilst it was controversial at the time of construction, the bypass has effectively enabled Ide to maintain an independent identity. The parish boundaries extend a short distance over the A30 and several notable buildings within the parish, including Ide House and the Twisted Oak pub, are located on the Exeter side. The village has two pubs: the Poacher's Inn and the Huntsman Inn. To the northwest of the village at College Lane, a ford crosses the Fordland Brook. Above Ide on a hilltop at SX8888 is the site of a Roman fortlet or signal station. Ide Halt railway station on the G.W.R. Teign Valley Line opened in 1903 and closed to passengers on 9 June 1958. The station site was re-developed as St Ida's Close and no trace of the railway now remains. Ide had a population of 526 in 2011 and decreased to 510 in 2014.

Shillingford St. George is a village on the outskirts of Exeter, East Devon, England. It is about 3 miles south of the City of Exeter.

Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh in Devon is a Grade II* listed Georgian house set in parkland. It was built in the 1770s by John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735–1788) of Saltram House, Plympton, and has early 19th-century alterations. It is situated 2½ miles (4 km) north of Chudleigh, at the foot of the Haldon Hills. The house had formerly a 5-bay north-east wing, a service range and a separate 19th-century service block to the rear, all demolished since 1962.It should be distinguished from Whiteway in the parish of Kingsteignton, Devon, 4 3/4 miles (7.6 km) to the south, a manor listed in the Domesday Book as the 157th Devonshire possession of Baldwin de Moels (died 1090), Sheriff of Devon, feudal baron of Okehampton, and in 1795 a grand mansion illustrated by Swete, formerly a seat of the Yard family of Bradley, Kingsteignton, and today a farmhouse known as Whiteway Barton.

Ide Halt was a railway station serving Ide, a small village in Devon, England located on the Teign Valley Line between Newton Abbot and Exeter.

Doddiscombsleigh (anciently Doddescombe Leigh) is a small settlement in Devon, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) southwest of the city of Exeter and one mile East of the River Teign and the Teign Valley. Along with a few other places in Devon, it is one of the longest place names in England with 16 letters.

Exeter Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located near the city of Exeter, Devon, England. Locally it is known as Haldon racecourse because of its location on top of the Haldon Hills. Until the early 1990s it was officially known as Devon and Exeter. On 1 November 2005 racehorse Best Mate died at the course of a suspected heart attack whilst competing in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup.

Cotley Castle is a large Iron Age Hill fort near Dunchideock in Devon and close to Exeter in England. It occupies a significant hilltop at 220 metres (720 ft) above sea level, just to the north of Great Haldon, part of the same ridge of the Haldon Hills.

Ashton is a civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 174, and it had a population of 203 according to the 2011 census. The parish consists of two villages, Higher Ashton and Lower Ashton, and is on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. The France Brook flows through most of Ashton just south of its main road, and along Ashton's eastern boundary flows the River Teign. The parish is located approximately 13 km north of Newton Abbot, and roughly 10 km to the south west of its nearest city, Exeter. Historically, Ashton has primarily been based inside the agricultural sector, but one of its most notifiable landmarks is the St John the Baptists church located in the Higher Ashton district. In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Ashton as: "Ashton, par. with ry. sta., E. Devon, 4 miles N. of Chudleigh, 1709 ac., pop. 195."

Higher Ashton is a village on the western slopes of Haldon in Teignbridge, Devon, England. Along with Lower Ashton it is part of the civil parish of Ashton, which in 2001 had a population of 174. It features remains of the Chudleigh family manor whose most complete surviving range has been converted into the house Place Barton, and a fifteenth-century church with an Elizabethan pulpit. The fifteenth-century font still has a bar to lock it against witchcraft. Other fifteenth-century features are the benches, some stained glass and the screen.