Hayne in the parish of Stowford in Devon, is an historic manor, situated about 11 miles south-west of Okehampton. The surviving Manor House, a grade II* listed building known as Hayne House was rebuilt in about 1810 by Isaac Donnithorne, who later adopted the surname Harris having married the heiress of Harris of Hayne.
Descent
De Hayne
The manor was the seat of the Hayne family, which as was usual, had taken their surname from their seat. In the 16th century the family died out in the male line on the death of Walter Hayne, one of whose daughters and co-heiresses was Thomasine Hayne, whose share of her paternal inheritance was the manor of Hayne.
Harris
William Harris (died 1547)
Thomasine Hayne, heiress of Hayne, married William Harris of Stone in the parish of Lifton, Devon, son and heir of John Harris by his wife, the heiress of the Stone family of Stone in the parish of Lifton, Devon. The manor remained the seat of this junior branch of the Harris family.
John Harris (1507–1551)
John Harris of Hayne, son and heir, Serjeant-at-Law to King Edward VI and Recorder of Exeter, who married Elizabeth Kelle, daughter of Nicholas Kelle of Radcliffe and Southwick in Devon. He purchased the manor of Lifton.
Arthur Harris of Hayne and of Kenegie, Gulval, Cornwall, son and heir, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1603 and Captain of St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, married Margaret Davilles, daughter and sole heiress of John Davilles of Marland in the parish of Petrockstowe, Devon.
John Harris (c. 1586 – 1657)
, son and heir, of Hayne and of St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, was a Member of Parliament. His elaborate monument with three kneeling effigies is in Lifton Church. He married twice:
Firstly to Florence Wyndham, a daughter of Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham in the parish of Watchet, Somerset. She died childless, aged 35.
of Hayne, only son and heir, three times a Member of Parliament for Okehampton in Devon. he married Theophila Turner, a daughter of John Turner, Serjeant-at-Law, of St Bride's in the City of London, and of York, by his wife Jane Pepys, a remote cousin of the diarist Samuel Pepys. The marriage was without children.
Christopher Harris (died 1687)
Christopher Harris of Hayne, first cousin, son of William Harris by his wife Philippa Noye, daughter and heiress of John Noye of Burian. His monument is in Stowford Church. He married Elizabeth Trott, a daughter of Martin Trott of Langridge in Essex.
William Harris (died 1709)
of Hayne, eldest son and heir, MP for St Ives in Cornwall and Okehampton in Devon and Sheriff of Devon in 1703. He married Jane St Aubyn, a daughter of John St Aubyn of Clowance, but died without children.
Christopher Harris (fl.1718)
Christopher Harris of Hayne, younger brother, who succeeded to the estates under an entail. He married a certain Jane, of unrecorded family.
Christopher Harris (1687–1718)
of Hayne, eldest son and heir, MP for Okehampton. He married Mary Anne Buller, a daughter of John Buller of Morval in Cornwall, MP, but died childless.
William Harris of Hayne, younger brother. He married Jael Thomas, a daughter of John Thomas of Tregolls in Cornwall. His daughter Jane Harris married William Arundell of Trengwainton in Cornwall and her son William Arundell became the heir to the Harris estates of Lifton and Kenegie in Gulval, Cornwall.
Christopher Harris (1737–1775)
Christopher Harris of Hayne, son and heir, who married Penelope Elizabeth Donnithorne, a daughter of Rev Isaac Donnithorne of St Agnes, Cornwall. He died leaving no sons, only two daughters who became co-heiresses to Hayne: Penelope Harris who died unmarried and Elizabeth Harris, who married her relative Isaac Donnithorne, son of Nicholas Donnithorne of St Agnes, Cornwall. His other estates of Lifton and Kenegie in Gulval, Cornwall, were inherited by his nephew William Arundell . The latter's grandson William Arundell-Harris, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1817, built a grand new house at Lifton called Lifton Park, much in the same Gothic revival style as the new Hayne House. However, he got into debt and sold his new house to his son-in-law Henry Blagrove.
Donnithorne (Harris)
Isaac Donnithorne (Harris) (died 1848)
Isaac Donnithorne of Hayne, who married Elizabeth Harris, heiress of Hayne. He assumed the surname Harris in lieu of his patronymic, and rebuilt Hayne House in about 1810 in the Gothic revival style, which survives today.
Christopher Harris Mohun Harris (1801–1886)
Christopher Harris Mohun Harris of Hayne, son, born as "Christopher Harris Donnithorne", like his father in 1878 he adopted the surname Harris, placing before it the additional surname of Mohun. He married Louisa Eleanora Watkins, third daughter of Rev. Thomas Watkins of Penwyre in Breconshire, Wales. He sold Hayne in 1864 to the Blackburn family.
Blackburn
Edward Blackburn (1815–1887)
In 1867 the estate of Hayne was purchased by Edward Blackburn He was the second son of Rev. Robert Blackburn, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, Rector of Selham in Sussex, who inherited from his mother's uncle, Rev Lancelot Bellas, the old Manor House, Brampton Hall, near Appleby in Westmorland. Edward's grandfather was Robert Blackburn of the Island of Madeira, of Yorkshire ancestry, who married Mary Ballas, daughter of Rev. Thomas Bellas of Long Marton in Westmorland.
Arthur Blackburn (1849–1930)
Arthur Blackburn, second and eldest surviving son and heir, of Hayne. He sold Hayne and moved to Rock End, Torquay, Devon.
Later owners
Macmillan
Hayne was owned by Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton, grandson and heir of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, whose family wealth was derived from the publishing firm Macmillan Publishers. He had sold his grandfather's estate at Birch Grove in East Sussex. However, on becoming elected as a MEP he offered Hayne for sale in 2006 with its 300-acre estate for in excess of £5.5 million, through agents KVN Stockdale and Knight Frank, who called it "the most important West Country estate sale of 2006".In 2017 the estate is used as a commercial pheasant shoot, the spelling of the estate having been altered to "Haine Manor”.
