Rattery is a village and
civil parish in the
South Hams district, in the county of
Devon, England, a few miles from the villages
Buckfastleigh and neighbouring village
Ashburton . The name has been suggested as a variant of Red Tree but is mentioned in the
Domesday Book as Ratreu. In 2001 the parish had a population of 458.
Historic estates within the parish of Rattery include:
Marley House, a Georgian mansion built by
Walter Palk (1742-1819), MP, renamed "Syon Abbey" in 1925 when the formerly exiled community of nuns whose antecedents were from
Syon Monastery, Twickenham, Middlesex, dissolved by King Henry VIII, took up residence.
Luscombe, a
Domesday Book estate mentioned as held from the
manor of
Dartington[2] and later the seat of the Luscombe family from before the 16th century[3] to shortly before 1810.[4] Purchased from the Luscombe family by
Walter Palk (1742-1819).[5] Not to be confused with
Luscombe Castle, a 19th-century country house near
Dawlish, about 16 miles to the north-east.
^Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the
Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.535, pedigree of "Luscombe of Luscombe"
^Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.298