Fowlescombe Manor

Fowelscombe (anciently Vowelscombe) is an historic manor in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, England. The large ancient manor house known as Fowelscombe House survives only as an ivy-covered "romantic ruin" overgrown by trees and nettles, situated 1 mile south-east of the village of Ugborough. The ruins are a Grade II listed building. It is believed to be one of three possible houses on which Conan Doyle based his "Baskerville Hall" in his novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, (1901–02) the others being Hayford Hall (also owned by John King (died 1861) of Fowelscombe) and Brook Manor.

In the time of William Pole (died 1635), the manor of Fowelscombe comprised the estates of Bolterscombe, Smythescombe and Black Hall, situated in the parishes of Ugborough and North Huish.

The earliest member of the Fowell (alias Foghill, Foel, etc.) family identified by William Pole (who did not record his first name) was an attorney during the reign of King Henry IV (1399–1413). His eventual successor Sir Thomas Fowell (born 1453), a member of the King's court, is recorded as being born at Fowelscombe, implying that there was a house on this site before that date. His eventual successor William Fowell (died 1507) of Fowelscombe was a Member of Parliament for Totnes in Devon in 1455. His great-grandfather Thomas Fowell of Fowelscombe (who married the heiress of the Trevaige family of Cornwall) is the earliest member of the family recorded in the pedigree submitted by the family for the 1620 Heraldic visitation of Devon.

The grandson of William Fowell (died 1507) was Thomas Fowell (died 1544) (son of Thomas Fowell by his wife a member of the Bevil family of Cornwall) who in 1537 rebuilt the manor house at Fowelscombe, much of which survives today as a ruin. His great-grandson Richard Fowell (died 1594) of Fowelscombe, who married Grace Somester, a daughter of John Somester of Painsford, Devon, had four sons, the younger of whom included John Fowell (1557–1627), of Plymouth, Town Clerk of Plymouth, and William Fowell (1556–1636) who founded the junior branch of the family seated at Black Hall (within the manor of Fowelscombe) in the parish of North Huish. Elizabeth Fowell, a daughter of Richard Fowell (died 1594), married Sir Edward Harris (1575–1636) of Cornworthy in Devon, Chief Justice of Munster in Ireland, and a Member of Parliament for Clonakilty 1613–15 in the Irish House of Commons of the Parliament of Ireland. The grandson and eventual heir of Richard Fowell (died 1594) was Sir Edmund Fowell, 1st Baronet (1593–1674), of Fowelscombe, also lord of the manor of Ludbrooke in the parish of Ugborough, created a baronet in 1661. In 1640 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ashburton, Devon, was a Deputy Lieutenant of Devon and during the Civil War was president of the Committee for Sequestration. He married Margaret Poulett, a daughter of Sir Anthony Poulett (1562–1600) (alias Pawlett, etc.), of Hinton St George in Somerset, Governor of Jersey and Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth I and a sister of John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett (1585–1649). His eldest son and heir was Sir John Fowell, 2nd Baronet (1623–1677), of Fowelscombe, who married Elizabeth Chichester (died 1678), a daughter of Sir John Chichester (1598–1669) of Hall in the parish of Bishop's Tawton in Devon, Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel in Cornwall in 1624. The 2nd Baronet's son and heir was Sir John Fowell, 3rd Baronet (1665–1692), Member of Parliament for Totnes (1689–1692), who died unmarried aged 26, when the baronetcy became extinct, and was buried at Ugborough. His heirs were his two surviving sisters, who until 1711 held the Fowell estates of Fowelscombe and Ludbrooke in co-parcenary:

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