Person:Richard Dart (4)

From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)

KENN, or Kenne, is a long village, including Kenford, pleasantly situated in a picturesque valley on the banks of a rivulet, four miles S. by E. of Exeter. It gives its name to a deanery, and its parish contains 1078 inhabitants and 5316A. of land, rising in a bold range of hills on the south-west side of the valley, where there are the handsome seats of Haldon, Woodlands, and Trehill, commanding fine views over the vale of the Exe. . . . The manor of Kenn, formerly held by the Courtenay, Oxenham, Acland, and other families, was purchased about 30 years ago, by Sir L.V. Palk, Bart., of HALDON HOUSE . . . In the centre of Pen hill rises a castellated building of three stories, called the Belvidere, or Lawrence Castle, erected by the late Sir Robert Palk, in memory of his friend General Lawrence, whose statue, large as life, on a pedestal of black marble, ornaments the entrance. . . . The Church (St. Andrew,) is a large ancient structure, with a tower and six bells, and has several neat monuments. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £46. 13s. 4d., and in 1831 at £778, is in the patronage of J.H. Ley, Esq., and the incumbency of the Rev. Henry Ley, B.A., who has a good residence, and 197A. 2R. 23P. of glebe. . . .