I am delighted to host Rosemary Griggs today to tell us all about Dartington Hall – a place I know well, as I was a student there in the 1970’s!

Dartington Hall by Rosemary Griggs

Dartington Hall, known for its mellow grey stone walls, stunning gardens, and age-old trees, exudes an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. As I stroll through the grounds that surround the medieval buildings, I always feel a powerful connection to the people who have made this special place their home throughout the ages.

Dartington Hall

Since ancient times, people have settled in this favoured spot amongst rolling hills above a bend in the River Dart near Totnes in South Devon. As early as CE 833, a Royal Charter mentions the estate. After 1066, a long line of Norman lords held Dartington until King Richard II granted the property to his half-brother, John Holland. He built Dartington’s magnificent great hall and living quarters suitable for his lofty status, but did not have long to enjoy his country mansion. Holland met his end in 1400 after he supported Richard II in the Epiphany rising against Henry IV.

After that, the King restored the lands to the Hollands, who continued at Dartington until they backed the wrong side in the so called ‘Wars of the Roses’. A list of well-known figures then took the revenue from the estate, including Margaret Beaufort, Henry Courtenay, Katherine Howard, and Katherine Parr. However, none of them lived at Dartington.

Starting in 1559, a single family lived at Dartington for over four centuries. As time passed, their finances dwindled, and Dartington eventually fell into a state of disrepair. In 1925 Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst bought Dartington and made it the hub of a pioneering social, educational, and cultural initiative. It is now a historic visitor destination, an events venue, and a thriving community of businesses and colleges.

With such a rich history, Dartington holds a wealth of untold stories. Amongst all the remarkable people who have lived there, the Elizabethans have captured my imagination. They inspired me to write The Dartington Bride. Sir Arthur Champernowne, an intriguing character who deserves wider recognition, is a key figure in the narrative I have crafted to tell his daughter-in-law’s story.

Left: Sir Arthur Champernowne as he appears on monument in the lonely tower, all that remains of  Old St Mary’s church that once stood so close to the hall ‘one could lean from the window and touch the church wall with an umbrella’ according to a nineteenth century Champernowne lady.

Sir Arthur received a knighthood for his role in suppressing the Western Rebellion in 1549 and served as an MP and Sheriff of Devon. He married Mary Norreys, the widow of his cousin Sir George Carew, who perished on the Mary Rose. Mary was a lady-in-waiting for Anne of Cleves and likely also fulfilled that role for other queens of King Henry. Arthur and Mary had seven children — six sons and one daughter named Elizabeth. She later married Edward Seymour of Berry Pomeroy.

Sir Arthur was a staunch Protestant. Under Mary Tudor, he flirted with conspiracy and almost came to grief. Mary detained him in the Tower of London for a few weeks while investigating his alleged involvement in the Wyatt rebellion. Upon release, the queen gave him permission to visit France for a few months. Instead of remaining in exile alongside the other protestants who fled from Queen Mary’s catholic rule, he came back. In 1559, with his wife, Mary, he gained Dartington through a property exchange with Polsloe Priory. They embarked on works to upgrade the old-fashioned buildings.

Elizabeth Tudor’s childhood governess, Katherine Astley, was one of Sir Arthur’s sisters. When she became Queen, Elizabeth made Mrs Astley First Lady of the Privy Chamber. Having a relative in such an influential post put Sir Arthur in a powerful position. The queen appointed him Vice-Admiral of the Fleet of the West. The records also show Sir Arthur was a participant in the coronation joust.

Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, became famous for killing King Henri II of France in a tragic jousting accident in 1559. He fled France, travelling to the Channel Islands and Venice before making his way to England, There he met Sir Arthur as well as Robert Dudley and other prominent individuals. When he returned to France he converted to Protestantism, and became a Huguenot military leader.

Gawen, Sir Arthur’s eldest son, acted as an informant for Lord Burghley and Sir Francis Walsingham, making many trips to France. Following lengthy negotiations, in 1571, Gawen married Gabriel’s daughter, Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, known in the family as Roberda. Immediately after the wedding, Gawen left his new wife in Devon while he returned to France.

A few months later, Roberda’s father escaped the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris against all odds. Since Huguenots were still being persecuted in France, Sir Arthur offered the whole family refuge at Dartington. He became one of the first to welcome refugees to Elizabethan England. Amidst fears that Gabriel was being pursued by an assassin, records show that Sir Arthur placed an armed guard Dartington, ordering any Frenchman approaching the place to be apprehended. Gawen and Sir Arthur continued to support Gabriel when he returned to France to carry on the fight for freedom of worship for the Huguenots.

The Dartington Bride follows Roberda from her childhood in France, a country riven by war, to her new home in Devon. She arrives full of hope and determined to help others left destitute by war. But she will face resentment and suspicion.

Find out more : https://www.dartington.org/ and https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/.

The Dartington Bride

1571, and the beautiful, headstrong daughter of a French Count marries the son of the Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West in Queen Elizabeth’s chapel at Greenwich. It sounds like a marriage made in heaven…

Roberda’s father, the Count of Montgomery, is a prominent Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion. When her formidable mother follows him into battle, she takes all her children with her.

After a traumatic childhood in war-torn France, Roberda arrives in England full of hope for her wedding. But her ambitious bridegroom, Gawen, has little interest in taking a wife.

Received with suspicion by the servants at her new home, Dartington Hall in Devon, Roberda works hard to prove herself as mistress of the household and to be a good wife. But there are some who will never accept her as a true daughter of Devon.

After the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Gawen’s father welcomes Roberda’s family to Dartington as refugees. Compassionate Roberda is determined to help other French women left destitute by the wars. But her husband does not approve. Their differences will set them on an extraordinary path…

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