Sir Francis Drake's former manor house on Dartmoor up for sale at £1.25m
A manor house once owned by Sir Francis Drake has gone on the market for £1.25 million.
The Manor at Sampford Spiney, which the Westcountry adventurer is thought to have won in a bet, was almost derelict when the current owner bought it 25 years ago.
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This Grade II-listed manor house at Sampford Spiney on Dartmoor was once owned by Sir Francis Drake. Included in the sale is the Lordship of Sampford Spiney and 202 acres of common land
Since then, Rosalind Pugh, 70, and her husband John, 80, have worked with English Heritage to rebuild and refurbish it as a popular Dartmoor B&B.
Set in about ten acres and with an acre of woodland, also included in the sale of the five-bedroom property is the right to use the title "Lord of the Manor", plus 202 acres of common land.
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"We don't believe Drake ever lived here permanently," said Mrs Pugh. "He owned a lot of property in the area and his main home was nearby at Buckland Abbey.
"Our research suggests he obtained it for £500 and that it was part-payment of a wager."
Records show that Drake – a seafaring hero to Englishmen but regarded as a pirate by the Spanish because of his privateer activities – bought Buckland Abbey in 1580. He obtained the Manor the following year around the time he became an MP and Mayor of Plymouth.
Despite marrying twice he died, childless, aged 56 while attacking the port of San Juan in Puerto Rico in 1596.
Drake's will became the subject of intense family litigation – not least because there were two versions and a codicil added on his death bed.
It is thought the original will was dictated to his secretary and second-in-command Jonas Bodenham, who he treated as his own son. Bodenham appears to have inherited the Sampford Spiney Manor – or at least occupied it – but later sold the house to Drake's brother Thomas. "The place is full of history," said Mrs Pugh. "We feel we have honoured that in the way we have looked after the house. But it is now time for us to give up the B&B business and move on."
The selling agent is Mansbridge and Balment on 01822 855055.
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