House and Garden 
ST. AUDRIES FROM THE POOI 
late Sir Alexander Acland Hood rebuilt the 
Hall on the site and in the style of the old 
one. It is 52 feet long 26 wide and 40 high, 
with an open oak root and a minstrel’s gal¬ 
lery. I he walls are hung with family pictures, 
swords and medals, and heads of wild and 
Park red deer. 
For many years the property belonged to 
the Malet family, who sold it early in the 18th 
century, and after having passed through the 
hands of several owners it was bought in 
1836 by Sir Peregrine Ac¬ 
land of Fairfield and given 
by bim to his daughter and 
heiress on her marriage to 
the late Sir Alexander Hood 
of Wootton. With the Fair- 
held property it passed from 
them to their son, the present 
Sir Alexander Acland Hood, 
Chief Whip of the Conserv¬ 
ative Government. The old 
family place, Fairfield, about 
6 miles from St. Audries, de¬ 
scended through heiresses 
from the Vernais to the Pal¬ 
mers, and from them to a 
younger branch of the Ac- 
lands of Killerton, of whom 
Sir Peregrine Acland and his 
daughter, the late Lady Ac¬ 
land Hood, were the 
last representatives. 
As St. Audries is the 
more beautiful place 
of the two it has been 
made the family home, 
and all the pictures and 
furniture from Fair- 
field have been placed 
there. At one end of 
the Hall hang pictures 
of the Hood family, 
the sailors, Lord Hood, 
Lord Bridport and Sir 
Samuel Hood, who be¬ 
tween them took so 
many ships in the 
great war with France. 
Two flags hang over 
their portraits, one, a 
Russian naval flag, 
taken August 27, 1808, 
by Sir Samuel Hood, H. M. S. Centaur, 74 
guns, from the Russian ship Sewolod, 74 guns, 
in the Baltic; the other, a French naval flag, 
taken by Captain Alexander Hood, H. M. S. 
Mars, from the French ship L’Hercule, off 
Brest. L’Hercule was brought as a prize to 
Plymouth, but the English captain (great¬ 
grandfather of the present owner of St. Au¬ 
dries) lost his life in the fight. Pictures in 
the dining-room, represent these two battles. 
On the other walls hang portraits of the 
FAIRFIELD HOUSE 
140 
