History of Canonteign Estate

Canonteign is steeped in the most fascinating history spanning nine hundred years.  Domesday Book records show that the manor belonged to the canons of St Mary du Val in Normandy;  150 years later it was conveyed to the Priory of Merton in Surrey, founded by Henry 1st.  Canonteign derives its name from the Black Canons and its situation, close to the river Teign.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, a wealthy merchant from Crediton transformed Canonteign into the Tudor mansion that you see today.

 In the winter of 1811/12 Canonteign Estate was acquired by Lady Pellew whilst her husband, Sir Edward Pellew, was away at sea.

Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (1757 - 1833) was a British naval officer.  He fought during the American War of Independence, The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.  Pellew showed outstanding personal courage and along with tactical brilliance, earned himself the honour of Knighthood (1793).

 Sir Edward Pellew, never actually lived at Canonteign House, he preferred to stay by the sea with his fleet and resided at West Cliffe House (now Bitton House) at Teignmouth.  When he was made a Baron in 1814, he chose to take a title from a seaport locally, and as there was already a Lord Teignmouth, he took the title of Lord Exmouth of Canonteign.  After his brilliant acclaimed performance at the Battle of Algiers, securing the release of 1,083 Christian slaves and the British Consul for which was awarded the title of Viscount on the 8th October 1816, he finally decided to retire actively from the Navy although one year before his death, in 1833, he was made Vice Admiral of the United Kingdon.

Viscount Exmouth did not care for the Manor house.  A contemporary of the first lord writes:  "There was no house at Canonteign where a gentleman would care to live, there was a decrepit building of some size, and it was not considered anything but an eyesore".  So the manor house became the estate bailiff's home, and it was later divided into a farmhouse and two cottages for the families of the estate workers.

The new Georgian mansion was built to the west of the manor and it was Viscount Exmouth's son Pownoll who completed the house.  A century later it was gutted by fire.  Using the shell of the former house, London architects designed what is now Canonteign House.  There then followed ten generations of Viscounts during which the estate saw many changes.