Qualla: Stover, Teigngrace

Stover, Teigngrace: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 4.0. James Templer was born in Exeter in 1722, the son of a tradesman. He went to India, made a fortune in circumstances that have left almost no record, came home, married his business partner's sister, and in 1765 bought Stover - a Devon estate with a ruinous house called Stoford Lodge on it. By the time he died in 1782 he had rebuilt the place as a Georgian mansion on an elevated site, and his three sons would shape the next sixty years of South Devon as much as anyone outside Plymouth or Exeter. They built a canal. They built a tramway with granite rails. They funded a parish church as a memorial to their father. And then, in 1829, having overreached, they had to sell everything to a duke.

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 4.0

Stover, Teigngrace: Templer's Indian Fortune

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit StoverHouse Teigngrace Devon.PNG: Lobsterthermidor Derivative work: Hogweard, Public domain. What James Templer actually did in India is unclear. He was there for years. He married Mary Parlby, the sister of his business partner Thomas Parlby, in 1747. He returned to Devon with enough capital to buy a substantial estate outright in 1765 and rebuild it in the Georgian tas...

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: StoverHouse Teigngrace Devon.PNG: Lobsterthermidor Derivative work: Hogweard | Public domain

Stover, Teigngrace: The Canal-Builder Son

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit (Lobsterthermidor (talk) 15:15, 21 July 2015 (UTC)), Public domain. James Templer the second (1748-1813) inherited Stover and immediately put his money to work. In 1792 he built the Stover Canal, a short waterway from Ventiford to the Teign Navigation that linked his Devon estate to coastal shipping. The canal carried ball clay from the Bovey Bas...

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: (Lobsterthermidor (talk) 15:15, 21 July 2015 (UTC)) | Public domain

Stover, Teigngrace: George Templer's Tramway

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger A Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0. George Templer (1781-1843) inherited Stover in 1813 and immediately set about completing his father's transport network. The canal already linked Stover to the sea. What was missing was a way to bring his granite quarries at Haytor down to the canal. In 1820 he opened the Haytor ...

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: Roger A Smith | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stover, Teigngrace: The Duke and His Hamilton Pictures

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lobsterthermidor (talk) 05:04, 4 February 2017 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0. Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset (1775-1855), took over Stover in 1829. He added a porte-cochere of Portland stone to the south face of the house, a curved double flight of balustraded stairs under a classical portico of Doric columns. He consulted James Veitch about the gar...

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: Lobsterthermidor (talk) 05:04, 4 February 2017 (UTC) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stover, Teigngrace: Country Park and Templer Way

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Smalljim, CC BY-SA 3.0. At the start of the First World War, Stover House became a hospital for injured soldiers - Mrs St Maur, a former nurse, acted as Lady Superintendent - but it closed within a year. In 1932 Major Richard St Maur leased the house to Stover Girls' School, which moved from premises in...

Read more: Stover, Teigngrace on Qualla

Image: Smalljim | CC BY-SA 3.0