Sydenham House, Devon

of Tremayne of Sydenham: Gules, three dexter arms conjoined at the shoulders and flexed in triangle or the fists clenched proper]] According to the Domesday Book of 1086, immediately before the Norman Conquest of 1066 the manor of SIDREHA^~ was held by the Saxon magnate Brictric, a great landholder in Devon and more widely in England. Following the Norman Conquest, it was one of the 107 Devonshire landholdings of Juhel de Totnes (died 1123/30), the first Anglo-Norman feudal baron of Totnes and feudal baron of Barnstaple, both in Devon. On his banishment by King William Rufus, Juhel's property was confiscated, and Sydenham later became the seat of the de Sydenham family, which as…

Sydenham House has four separate entrances, each opening on to a court or garden. Access to the front-entrance, commonly called the Green Court, is through an iron gateway, and above the central door are sculpted the Wise arms. Most of the windows have eight rounded granite mullions and small leaded panes of glass, and in some the original glass survives. Two windows in the front date from the reign of Charles I (1625–1649) and have unusual fan-shaped lights. Over the large granite open fireplace in the great hall is engraved the date "1656", when the house underwent repair after damage, caused, it is said, in the Civil War. In making alterations to the kitchen chimney in about 1888, a…