On 28th June 1816 a drunken
mob destroyed John Heathcoat's lace factory in Loughborough.
Heathcoat subsequently moved
his machines and his workforce to Tiverton in Devon where he
set up what would become
the largest lace factory in the world. Heathcoat's grandson, Sir John
Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet,
purchased the Knightshayes estate and employed the eccentric
Gothic architect William
Burges to build a house for him. Work began in 1869 but Burges's plans
to create a 'medieval fairyland'
proved too exuberant for Heathcoat-Amory who replaced him
with the more conventional,
and less expensive, John Diblee Crace. The Heathcoat-Amorys
lived at Knighthayes Court
until 1972 when Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 3rd Baronet, died.
The estate is now in the
care of the National Trust.