The Raleigh Estate


The Raleigh Estate is geographically prominent along the shores of the River Dart. It also enjoys important historical links to Dartmouth’s past. It is now a diverse and thriving business under the custodianship of the Green family.


Rob and Nik T


he Raleigh estate stands in 1,000 acres of stunning farm and woodland on the banks of the


River Dart between Dartmouth and Dittisham. sarah and Duncan Green are


the current custodians, with a direct maternal lineage to the great elizabethan explorer sir Walter Raleigh. By The Dart caught up with sarah and Duncan’s sons, Rob and Nik, who are increasingly involved in many of the estate’s activities. Rob said: “The Raleigh estate came into our family in 1873 and has gone through a few incarnations since then, although a lot of what was happening here in the 1870s – such as the farming and forestry – is still going on now. Although we are descended from sir Walter, and he lived at Greenway on the banks of the Dart as a young man, he never actually owned the land that constitutes the present day estate.” Although a favourite of Queen


the seale family who were wealthy Dartmouth merchants. “Frederick Raleigh bought this land,


which formed the Raleigh estate, and his son edward Raleigh lived at Mount Boone until it was reluctantly sold to build the Britannia Royal Naval College.”


Nik explained: “The Royal Navy


We aim to make it sustainable to live on the estate and generate employment for others so people can earn an income from its resources


approached edward to buy the land to build a college. edward refused and there then ensued a nine year legal battle, which ended badly for edward. In 1897 the government invoked the Defence Act of 1842 to compulsory purchase the land from him. It was forever a bone of contention for edward. He left Devon and moved to somerset, vowing never to return.


“The land – 250


acres of the 3,500 acre estate at the time - was sold for £25,000 and there is a theory that should the Ministry of Defence no longer need it they have to


elizabeth I, sir Walter spectacularly fell out with James I on his accession to the throne and was beheaded. His wife was left in poverty – and allegedly carried his head around with her in a casket! The family wealth ended there until further down the line another ancestor, edward Raleigh, made his fortune in India. He left instructions that on his death an estate was to be purchased. The seale estate was duly bought from


sell it back to the estate at the same price. This theory could stem from the fact that land which was compulsoy purchased during the wars, for airstrips etc, was given back to landowners at the same price, although it has been documented in history books that the BRNC would indeed be returned to the Raleigh estate. After edward’s departure, the estate was left for decades with tenant farmers under an estate manager. Nik said: “Our grandmother used to


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