A brief history of Arlington Court

1738–1815

Mary MacDonald Chichester

Mary MacDonald was the second wife of John Chichester and married him in 1764 at the age of 26, 31 years younger than her husband. Although the age gap is wide by modern standards it was not at all unusual at the time and is perhaps best explained by the fact that the Catholic Chichesters were struggling to find partners as by this time they were already closely related to all of the suitable local families who shared their faith. 

A true faith

Mary’s Catholic credentials were impeccable: her family had never deserted Rome, supported King Charles I during the Civil Wars and, a century later, her own father, Donald, had fought alongside Charles Edward Stuart – sometimes known as Bonnie Prince Charlie – during the Jacobite rebellion, when the Catholic successor to the Stuart crown attempted to depose the Hanoverian King George II. 

A turbulent upbringing 

Her father was captured at the Battle of Falkirk and hanged at Carlisle in 1746. His house was burnt down by royal troops and his family, including the seven-year-old Mary, were forced to hide in the countryside, making beds and fires from heather. Her brother Ranald MacDonald recounted the tale in his 1749 memoir, The Story of Ranald, where he describes the young Mary announcing: ‘I wish I had a gun, I would fight those Redcoats’.  

Pursued by the troops of the Duke of Cumberland – known as the Butcher of Culloden because of the fearsome retribution he exacted upon the defeated Jacobites – she made her way back to the home of a relative, Lady Dundonald, and lived there as her daughter until marrying John Chichester. 

A loyal woman 

Mary MacDonald was universally praised for her kindness and pleasant manner, and it was suggested by all her biographers that her early experiences had formed her personality.  She spent much of her life attending to the needs of others but all the time maintained her father’s fighting spirit and stayed true to her Catholic Jacobite roots as can be seen in the portrait of her by Sir George Chalmers (another Jacobite sympathiser) in the Dining Room. She is seen defiantly wearing tartan, made illegal by George II in 1746 and not permitted again until 1782, two years after the portrait was made.   

In loving memory 

Mary died at the age of 77 in 1815, having retired to Bath after handing the estate over to her son John when he came of age, and was buried there in the Catholic Chapel. The lengthy inscription on the memorial finishes movingly: 

‘This monument is erected to the best of mothers by her two surviving daughters, Mary MacDonald Clifford, wife of Sir Thomas Hugh Clifford, Bart., and Elizabeth Courteney Blount, wife of George Blount, Esq., youngest son of Sir Walter Blount, Bart., as a tribute of their veneration, love and deep affliction for their irreparable loss.’ 

- From the memorial inscription of Mary McDonald

1769–1822

Colonel John Palmer Chichester

Born in 1769 to John Chichester and Mary MacDonald, Colonel John had a profound influence upon the history of Arlington Court, not least because he lived in three different houses on the estate and substantially remodelled the grounds into the form seen today. Although his legacy at Arlington is largely historic, he was a fascinating character who led a remarkable life. 

A challenge of faith 

John was the last Chichester to openly practise Catholicism until he recanted his faith at Exeter Cathedral in 1793, adopting Anglicanism and dismissing the elderly Catholic Chaplain, Henry Innes.  

That he did so is historically important because since the early 17th century, the Chichesters had suffered for their faith, losing land and being heavily fined by the Crown. His Catholic Scottish grandfather, Donald MacDonald of Terndreich, having been one of the Jacobite officers executed for marching with Charles Edward Stuart, and the only way that John could hold onto his land and power was to recant his faith in dramatic terms.  

A trio of wives 

He married three times, each time to daughters from prominent local families, increasing his political influence and social standing.  The first marriage, to Mary Cary, lasted only a year as she died in 1791 having borne him one child, followed by a second marriage to Agnes Hamilton in 1793. Agnes lived until 1814, giving him six children including his heir, John Palmer Bruce Chichester.   

After Agnes’s death he married again to Catherine Ford, but by this time he was much older and she gave him no children. 

Colonel Chichester 

It was customary for gentlemen of the time to hold office in the armed forces; often these ranks were only honorary and they rarely saw active service.  John Chichester was no exception and in July 1810 was appointed as Colonel to the Cardiganshire Militia, a regiment based around the Welsh estates that he had inherited from his grandmother.  

It was from these Welsh estates that he had to draw unexpectedly when in the early 1820s he began to build a new Arlington Court to replace the mansion built 30 years previous and already collapsing.  

Unfulfilled ambitions 

Colonel Chichester did not live to see his new home finished, sadly dying in 1822 just as work was progressing. Although he would never see his new home finished, Arlington Court is essentially the Colonel’s vision and it is his footsteps in which you walk and his eyes that you look through as you enjoy the house and grounds today. 

1794–1851

Sir John Palmer Bruce Chichester

John Palmer Bruce Chichester was born in 1794, the son of Colonel John Chichester and Agnes Hamilton. He led an active life as a sailor, MP and local landowner, but perhaps the greatest legacy he left at Arlington Court is his substantial remodelling of the gardens and estate. 

A naval career 

Inheriting upon his father’s death in 1822, John was the first of the Chichesters to live at the new Arlington Court, his father having not lived to see it completed. Despite this it seems that the new master did not move in straight away; he had been in the Royal Navy since the age of 16 and seen action in America, Spain and Ireland, suffering wounds and reaching the rank of Lieutenant before leaving the service on half-pay in 1822. 

Travel and politics 

Still a young man, John’s whereabouts for the next few years are something of a mystery, but he is thought to have spent some time with relatives in Malta and then at his mother’s family estate in Wales, before coming home to Arlington in the early 1830s.  

He was elected as Whig MP for Barnstaple in 1831 and became an active campaigner for reform of the Corn Laws, an unpopular piece of legislation which kept food prices artificially high for common people.  He was made a Baronet in September 1840 in part as a reward for his support for the cause and the Corn Laws were finally repealed in 1849 after rioting in the streets and civil unrest across the country. 

Great changes 

In 1838 he married Caroline Thistlethwayte and we believe that it was then that he had the house finished and decorated for the arrival of his new wife. Records exist of correspondence regarding the decoration of the Morning Room, and the Ante Room and Boudoir are thought to date from the same period. But it is in the estate that he was to really make his mark: the two bridge pillars at the lake, a long-overgrown carriage road from Woolley Lodge and considerable redesigning of the pleasure grounds are among the remnants of Sir John’s plans to transform Arlington Court into a much grander estate.   

A family legacy 

Sir John died in 1851, leaving a widow and two children, Alexander Palmer Bruce, who inherited his father’s title and became the second Baronet at the age of nine, and Caroline, later Lady Clay.  Although largely overlooked nowadays, he was well-regarded at the time and a popular local landowner, unusual in the troubled mid-19th century.  Known to his tenants as either ‘Arlington Jack’ or, a little confusingly, ‘Sir Bruce’, his passing was noted in a magazine of the time: 

‘He has left behind him the character of a kind landlord, a promoter of trade and employment, and the uncompromising friend of the poor.’ 

- The Gentleman’s Magazine 

1842–1881

Sir Alexander Palmer Bruce Chichester

Sir Alexander Palmer Bruce Chichester was born in Malta on 24 December 1842. The son of Sir John and Lady Caroline, he inherited Arlington Court just a few days before his ninth birthday upon his father’s death in 1851.  

An active life 

The years following his 21st birthday in 1863 have been described as Arlington’s golden era; Sir Bruce, as he preferred to be known, enjoyed an active social life and entertained on a grand scale. During his tenure Arlington hosted a whirl of dances and hunts as well as community events such as garden parties, flower shows and sports matches. A keen sportsman, he was fond of cricket and played often for the Estate team. 

Making his mark 

He was not, however, simply a man of leisure but served as a local magistrate and held the rank of Captain in the North Devon Yeomanry, from which his sword and two busbies are still within the collection at Arlington. He also invested heavily in the house itself, much of the building that you see today is Sir Bruce’s work. 

A family passion 

On 9 February 1865, he married Rosalie Chamberlayne of Cranbury Park in Hampshire. The new Lady Chichester’s brother, Tankerville, was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron; Sir Bruce shared his brother-in-law’s passion for the ocean and owned two yachts, firstly the Zoë, and later the Erminia, a model of which can be seen in the Portico Room.

An untimely end 

The Portico Room was where he spent many hours studying his large collection of books. He died there in 1881 at the age of 38, weakened after suffering from Brucellosis whilst on holiday in the Mediterranean in 1877. He left his wife and young daughter Rosalie, born in November 1865, burdened by debts not finally paid off until the twentieth century.  Miss Chichester held her father in great affection and for many years maintained the Portico Room as a memorial to ‘Papa’, as she called him. 

1843–1908

Lady Chichester

Rosalie Amelia Chamberlayne was born in 1843 at Cranbury Park in Otterbourne, Hampshire. The daughter of Sir Thomas Chamberlayne and Amelia Onslow, she was the sixth of seven children, and the third of four daughters. 

Plain sailing 

Her father, Thomas Chamberlayne was a well-known yachtsman and owned the famous cutter Arrow. He and his son Tankerville were keen members of the Royal Yacht Squadron and Thomas took part in the famous Cowes yacht race against the Americas in 1851.  

It is likely that the young Rosalie came to meet her future husband, Sir Bruce Chichester, through the Royal Yacht Squadron and his association with Cowes; he, too, was a keen yachtsman and owned two schooners. 

Blissful married life 

They married at Cranbury Park on 9 February 1865 and honeymooned aboard his schooner, Zoë, meeting her in Malta for a Mediterranean cruise before returning to Arlington where they were met by jubilant villagers and tenants. In November that year she gave birth to their only child, Rosalie Caroline Chichester. 

A wife's duty

Lady Chichester quickly gained the respect of the local community and as a dutiful wife she threw herself into her role as hostess and patron.  The local newspapers repeatedly commended her for her hospitality and local work, which included hosting the local cricket match for her husband, setting up a club to distribute clothing to the less fortunate, holding an annual bazaar at the Court and presiding over local events. 

A sudden end 

The family of three appear to have been very close, and together they enjoyed a comfortable living. Family holidays were often onboard Erminia and they took two cruises around the Mediterranean, the first in 1869 and the second in 1877. Sir Bruce died in 1881, aged only 38, after a long illness.   

This must have been a very difficult time for his wife; as well as the sorrow of losing her husband and having to console a young child, there was also the issue of her late husband’s huge debts which neither she nor her daughter had any means of paying off. 

Lady Chichester died in 1908 in Woolacombe, aged 65, and was laid to rest next to Sir Bruce in Brookwood cemetery, Woking, reunited with her first husband after 27 years apart. 

1865–1949

Miss Rosalie Chichester

Rosalie Caroline Chichester was born in 1865, the daughter of Sir Bruce Chichester and Rosalie Chamberlayne. Her father died in 1881 leaving the 16-year-old Rosalie and her widowed mother with substantial debts which took until 1928 to pay off. 

A range of hobbies 

Possibly because of the huge burden of debt and her geographical isolation, but also undoubtedly because of her deep and abiding love of her home, Miss Chichester never married but instead remained at Arlington Court.  

Hers was not the life of a lonely recluse, though: she had a lively interest in many fields including art, music, inventions, astronomy and politics. She won prizes for photographs that she developed and printed herself and, along with many unpublished romantic novels, wrote regularly for the Daily Sketch.  

She also personified the archetypal inquisitive Victorian, amassing huge collections of shells, model ships, pewter, stuffed animals, greeting cards and objets d’art in a private museum. 

Grand ambitions 

Miss Chichester loved to travel and as her debts decreased she began to venture further afield with her paid companion, Chrissie Peters. The National Parks she visited on her two world cruises and particularly a 1921 visit to Australia and New Zealand inspired her to start opening her own estate to the public. 

She was, unusually for her time, vehemently opposed to hunting and had a fence built around the estate to preserve the deer. She became a successful breeder of Jacob’s sheep and Exmoor ponies, but some of her interest in preserving the freedom of flora and fauna was perhaps less beneficial as trees were forbidden to be cut down. Polly – her late father’s parrot – flew freely about the house and peacocks were permitted to walk unhindered indoors.    

A legacy for the nation 

In 1908, following the death of her mother, Miss Chichester passed to the National Trust most of the land that she owned at Woolacombe and Mortehoe. As time went on, ill health and advancing years began to take their toll so she began to consider the future of the estate that had been the family home for many centuries. In 1948, the year before her death, she made arrangements in her will to hand over Arlington and all remaining land to the National Trust.  

A peaceful ending 

Rosalie Chichester died in 1949, aged 85. She had spent her final days at her other property, Parade House at Woolacombe, but her memorial urn stands overlooking the lake, one of her favourite places, in tribute to a remarkable woman and great friend of the National Trust.