Note 12 — THE GRENVILLES OF STOW,
Reading edition
'Stow,' says Carew, 'is so singly called, per eminentiam, as a place of great and good mark and scope, and the ancient dwelling of the Grenvile's famous family.' An indifferent picture of the second Stow is preserved at Haynes, Middlesex; and another is said to be in the possession of Mrs. Martyn, of Harleston, Torquay. Fragments of it may be seen in the cottages and gardens of Coombe, under the hill on which Stow once stood, and it is said that the staircase is at Prideaux Place, Padstow; but it is believed that the greater portion of the materials were removed to South Molton, where the town-hall was erected with them; and, according to Polewhele, traces of them were also to be seen at Star Hill and other places in that neighbourhood.
In the MS. diary of Dr. Yonge, F.R.S., a distinguished physician of the latter part of the seventeenth century, the following entry occurs in the year 1685:
'I waited on my Lord of Bathe (then Governor of Plymouth) to his delicious house, Stowe. It lyeth on ye ledge of ye north sea of Devon, a most curious fabrick beyond all description.'
As regards the ruined mansion, well might Edward Moore exclaim:
'Ah! where is now its boasted beauty fled? Proud turrets that once glittered in the sky, And broken columns, in confusion spread, A rude misshapen heap of ruins lie. 'Where, too, is now the garden's beauty fled, Which every clime was ransacked to supply? O'er the drear spot see desolation spread, And the dismantled walls in ruins lie. 'Along the terrace-walks are straggling seen The prickly bramble and the noisome weed, Beneath whose covert crawls the toad obscene, And snakes and adders unmolested breed.