At one end of Peter’s Park Lane, stretching out between St Budeaux and King’s Tamerton, we have Chard Road, named after the local hero, John Chard who won the Victoria Cross for his part in the 1879 defence of Rorke’s Drift and at the other we have Byard Close, named in honour of Captain Sir Thomas Byard.
Byard’s family seat was Mount Tamarand he lived there with his wife Susanna and daughters Harriet and Mary Ann (and a third daughter Louisa who died, aged ten, in 1794). The property later passed into the hands of the Chard family. Later, sometime after the Chards had moved, Mount Tamar saw service as an Open Air School for delicate children – it opened on 1st Novmeber 1920.
In 1974 the impressive mansion house was pulled down and the site and its surroundings were developed for housing.
There is a memorial to Byard, the illustrious naval captain, in St Budeaux Churchyard. Baptised in Burton-on-Trent in 1743 Byard married Susanna (Tickell) at Stoke Damerel in 1773 and died on 31 October 1798 while in command of the 80-gun Foudroyant. Previously, Byard, who was knighted in 1789, had commanded the Victory, Impregnable, Windsor Castle, Alcide and the Bedford.
