The obelisk of Portland stone, on Mamhead point, about 100 feet high, was built by Thomas Balle, Esq., about the year 1742. Mamhead House, which commands one of the most beautiful views in the south of Devon, was, in great part, rebuilt by Wilmot, Earl of Lisburne, by whom the grounds were laid out, and the whole place greatly improved. Some of the fine trees were planted by Sir Peter Balle; others, by his son. The trees of the Quercus Ilex are uncommonly fine, and are remarkable as having been the first of the kind planted in England from acorns. The experiment was made by Mr. Balle, about the year 1696. Several of these trees are ten feet in circumference, at three feet from the ground; and one of them measures thirteen feet six inches in circumference.

It seems most probable that Mamhead House was the royal garrison spoken of by Whitelock as having been abandoned, on the approach of Sir Thomas Fairfax with his army, in the month of January, 1646. It appears to be called Sir Peter Byme's house, by mistake for Sir Peter Balle's for it is spoken of as near Powderham.

[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]