Great Bidlake

Great Bidlake is a Grade II* listed manor house in the parish of Bridestowe on the north western edge of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England.

It predominately dates from the 16th century though it has earlier origins, and despite extensive restoration in the 19th century and 21st century, its Elizabethan form can still be seen.

It has been the ancestral seat of the Bidlake family from the 13th century and, other than for a period of 68 years, has been owned by the family since then. The Bidlake family crest is described as a "a cock holding in the beak a trefoil, all proper" and the family motto is "Virtue non astutio" (By excellence, not by cunning).

A deed dated 1268 marks the purchase of the Bidlake lands by Ralph of Combe from Warren de Siccaville. After this his descendants took the name "Bidlake" which has been spelled many different ways over the centuries (Bydelacke, Bydlayke, Byddelake, Bidlocke, Bydlak, Bydelake, Bidlack and Bedlacke). A reference to Bydelak appears in a document of 1238 and the place-name derives either from a personal name, Bidda, with lacu meaning a small stream, or Byde may have been the name of the stream itself.

Bidlake Mill, once part of the Bidlake estate, is also mentioned in the original deed of 1268 and is scheduled as an Ancient Monument (of National importance) and is Grade II listed.

A description of the house in the time of Thomas Bidlake (1461-1531) mentions "the great parlour with its large chimneyplace, the Entry and Porch, and a room or 2 beyond that, and those with chambers over them, were already built and fully furnished". The fact that at this early date the house had chimneys and 1st floor rooms suggest its importance.

In the front wall of the house there is a reused mullion head with the date AD1594 and the initials "AB". In 2011 a total of 119 samples was taken from the timbers of the house and elsewhere and analysed in a report commissioned by English Heritage. Timbers from the breakfast room ceiling were dated to 1574 and from the adjacent hall to 1599.

Henry Bidlake (c.1612-1659), known to the family as "The Royalist", married Philippa Kelly, daughter of William Kelly of Kelly House, Devon, in 1633. On 2 July 1643 during the English Civil War he was made a Captain of Horse under Colonel Sir Thomas Hele and received orders to "seize horses, arms and furniture belonging to persons disaffected to this Majesty's Service".Charles I reputedly stayed at Great Bidlake on 30 July 1644.

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