Mamhead  Mamhead is a rural village and civil parish near Dawlish and Kenton in Devon, South West England, in the Teignbridge local authority area. The village was home to a wild peacock named Marmite. Unfortunately Marmite was very loud and continually woke up the village residents. After some complaints, Marmite was abducted by the village folk and is now presumed dead. The village is now believed to be haunted by the spirit of Marmite. On high ground on the Haldon Hills, dense woodlands open out into views of the coast and the estuary of the River Exe. The village was part of Exminster hundred. According to Daniel and Samuel Lysons, in their "Magna Britannia":   John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales" (1870–1872) says of Mamhead:   The population was 230 in 1801, 178 in 1901. A parish history file is kept at Dawlish Library. The Mamhead estate is known from as early as the Domesday book, when it was held by Ralph de Pomeroy and later by Sir Hugh Peverell. In the early 14th century, Sir Nicholas Carew became lord of the manor through his marriage to Amicia de Peverell, and Mamhead remained with the Carews until 1547. The Mamhead estate was sold by the adventurer Sir Peter Carew (1514–1575) to Giles Ball, whose son Sir Peter Ball (1598–1680) was attorney-general to King Charles I's Queen, Henrietta Maria. He began to build a country house here, replacing an older house. His grandson Thomas Ball (1671–1749), a merchant, planted many exotic trees brought back from his continental travels. Britton & Brayley said of Mamhead's grounds "The Beauties of England and Wales" (1803):  Between 1742 and 1745, Ball built an obelisk on the hill above the house "out of a regard to the safety of such as might use to sail out of the Port of Exon or any others who might be driven on the coast". The obelisk has a height of one hundred feet. Mamhead then passed into the hands of the Earls of Lisburne, and 'Capability' Brown engaged through 1772–3 to redesign the grounds. In 1823, Mamhead was bought by Robert William Newman (1776–1848), who completely rebuilt the house on a new site in 1827–1833, to the designs of Anthony Salvin.