This is the sixth item from Robert Dymond’s book: “Things New and Old Concerning the Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor and its Neighbourhood” (1876).
A list of the manors, using their modern spellings, and linking to their description, is given below.
THE MANORS OF WIDECOMBE AND THEIR LORDS.
THE wide area of the Parish of Widecombe comprises no less than six different manors; or, rather, ï¬ve manors, and areputed one, viz. :—Widecombe Town, Spitchwick, Deandon or Jordan, Blagdon Pipard, Dunstone, and Notsworthy, nowcalled Natsworthy; of these, Spitchwick includes an area of 4,780 acres, or nearly half the parish. Besides being the largestin extent, its later history is so closely linked with those of Widecombe Town and Blagdon Pipard, that it will properlytake precedence in our account of the manors.
THE MANOR OF SPITCHWICK occupies the whole of thewestern side of the parish, being close upon six miles long from north to south, and from three-quarters to two miles inwidth from east to west. From its northern extremity, near Pizwell Ford, the course of the Wallabrook defines its easternboundary, till that bright moorland stream joins the East Dart, which carries it on to the lovely scene of the meeting of theEast and West Darts. From thence the boundary passes on with these united rivers through the romantic vale by whichthe Dart winds its way to Newbridge, and so on to where the little Webburn comes down, ruddy from the Vitifer Mines;then up this tributary, to the junction of its east and west branches at Liswell Meet, under Leusden. The boundarynow ascends the red western Webburn, under Pondsworthy Bridge, by Jordan Mill, and West Shallowford to Grendon andBlackaton Bridge where it leaves the Webburn to pass west- ward, over Grendon and Cator Commons to the Wallabrook.
The manor contains the hamlets or villages of Poundsgate, Lower Town, (anciently Christianshays), and Pondsworthy, and also numerous estates belonging to free tenants of themanor, including, at the northern end, those of Grendon and Great Cator (owned respectively by Frederick West, Esq., andFrederick H. Firth, Esq.) the estate of Lower Cator, which the learned Serjeant_Cox lately purchased of A. Champernowne, Esq., besides several others held by yeomen—properlyso called as being farmers of their own land—and ending at the extreme south, with Hannaford, the property and sportingresidence of Sir Robert Torrens.
The earliest mention of the manor is found in the ExchequerDomesday Book, in which record it appears under the name of Spicewite, and is classed amongst the Terra Regis, or landswhich the Conqueror had not then (1080-6) bestowed on his followers. The King’s Commissioners found that in the timeof Edward the Confessor it yielded geld or tax for one hide of land, and that it included 8 carucates, or as much as 8 ploughscould cultivate, and there were 8 villeins or bondsmen tenants 4 bordarii, or cottagers, and 5 servi, slaves, who had 4 carucates.There were 100 acres of pasture and a. wood one league (1 1/2 mile) in length, and one furlong in breadth-—dimensionswhich apply very fairly to the Town Wood of the present day. These lands were of 60 shillings annual value. In the ExonDomesday, preserved in the Cathedral, and in which the particulars are generally given in greater detail than in theExchequer copy, we find the manor styled Espice wita, and the additional information that Harold the Earl held it on the daywhen King Edward was living and dead.
During the 120 years succeeding the date of Domesday, wemeet with no further mention of the manor or its lords. It occurs, however, in 1207, when Thomas de Spichwik appearsin the Rolls of Letters Patent, and again in the Hundred Rolls, in the Tower of London. These latter rolls contain accountsof inquisitions held under a commission dated 11th Edward I. (1283) on the return of that monarch from the Holy Land, andprevious to his conquest of Wales. The commission was issued by the king to correct the abuses that had crept induring the turbulent reign of his father, Henry III., by which the revenues of the crown had been diminished by tenants incapite alienating their lands without licence, and by ecclesiastics and laymen usurping various rights, such as free chace, freewarren and fishery, market tolls, &c. The Jurors for the Hundred of Heytor, were—Walter de Alaburne, John Paz,Robert Coffin, Eustachius le Barun, Oliver de Punchardon, Richard de Aure, Robert le Franceis, Henry de Vado, NicholasElys, William de Bocland, Henry Cosyn, and William de Stantorr. These found that several manors, including “ Spich-wick,” were free manors, having furcas (gallows) and assize of bread and ale, and the power of capital punishment from atime to which no memory extended, and none knew by what warrant. In the 13th century Spitchwick was in the possession of a family whose members, in accordance with thepractice of the age, derived their surname from the locality. The Placita de qua Warranto shew the results of enquiries byEdward I., in the 9th and 10th of his reign, into the rights by which various acts of ownership were exercised. These shewthat William de Spykwyt was called on to answer to the king by what title he claimed view of frankpledge and othermanorial privileges in Spykwyt. He answered that these privileges had been exercised without interruption, by himand his ancestors beyond living memory, and a day was given him to adduce proofs. In 1283, this William de Spitchwickwas one of the witnesses to the deed, already quoted, by which Roger le Rus had granted the advowson of Widecombe, andthe Chapel of Spitchwick to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. Again, we learn from the Rotulorum Originalium, in the courtof Exchequer, (temp. H. III.), which record all grants of the Crown enrolled on the patent or other Rolls whereon rents orservices are reserved, that William de Scryvynton had royal licence for the custody of two pieces of land in Spycheswykduring the minority of the heir of Michael de Spycheswyk, and from the Post Mortem Inquisitions, it appears that in 33Ed. I. (l305) this Michael was found to have been seized in fee on the day of his death of two parts of the Manor of Spichewich’,the other third part being the dowry of Mariota, wife of William de Spichewych’, son of the said Michael. Thesaid manor was held of the heir of Robert Waleraund, as of the manor of Stoke Curcy (Somerset) which manor of StokeCurcy, with other inheritance of the said heir, was in the hands of the king by reason of the idiotcy of the said heir. William,the son of Michael, was found to be his next heir, and on the next Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary he would beof the age of 18 years. (Vide Rot. Fin. 12 Ed. I. m. 9.) An entry in the Exchequer Rolls, in the reign of the third Edward,makes mention of a suit by Theobald le Gras, and Johanna his wife, at the assizes held at Exeter, against Michael deSpychewyk, and Master Laplod, parson of the church of Bradeford, to recover twenty shillings rents &c. in Spychewyk.Amongst the muniments of the Cary family, at Torre Abbey, we have met with a deed, dated 22nd November, 1485, bywhich Juliana, wife of John Reddon de Eggebury, granted to Thomas Ford, of Comb, and another, lands called Lowercatrow.[Cator] in the parish of Wydecombe, and within the “decenna [tithing] de Spychewyke.” The Abbey of Buckfast also appearsto have held some property at Spitchwick, as at the time of its dissolution by Henry VIII., the Valor Ecclesiasticus mentionsamong its possessions, two tenements at “ Spychwyke, in parochia de Wydecomb,” yielding in annual rents £1 14s. 8d.In the course of the fourteenth century, it would appear that the manor passed into the possession of the Fitzwarrens, forby an inquisition, held in 1418, after the death of John Fitzwarren, it was found that he had held Spychewike Manor, subject to that of Stoke Curcy, in Somerset. In 1422, asimilar inquisition shewed that it had been in the possession of Sir Richard Hankford, of Annery, in North Devon, andAnna, his wife, which pair also held the Manor of St. Mary-Church. This good knight was the son and heir of the famous Sir William Hankford, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench,whose bold commital of Henry V., when Prince of Wales, to the Fleet prison, is a well known incident of English history,honourable alike to prince and judge. In 1425, a like enquiry, held on the death of Elizabeth, one of the daughters andheiresses of Sir Richard Hankford, found that the Manors of Spitchwick and St. Mary-Church had been in her possession.There is some difficulty in reconciling with public records the genealogical accounts of the Hankford family, given by Princeand other county historians, but it would appear that they acquired Spitchwick through the marriage of Sir Richard Hankford with the daughter of Fulk Lord Fitzwarren. This pair left an only daughter, Thomazin, who, by her marriage with William Bourchier, brought to her husband the title of Lord Fitzwarren, which thenceforth descended to his posterity.William Bourchier was succeeded in his title and estates by his son Fulk, Lord Fitzwarren, who, by a post mortem inquisition held in 1434, was declared to have been seized of theManors of Spitchwick and St. Mary-Church, with Stoke Corsy Castle, &c. The son and heir of this Fulk was the John Bourchier, Lord Fitzwarren, on whom, and his posterity, Henry VIII. conferred the Earldom of Bath. Spitchwick must have belonged to three successive holders of this title; for Westcote, writing in 1630, brieï¬y mentions “ Spichwick, or more anciently Spicewyke,” as a tithing in Widecombe, “ which Brytic, the Saxon held at the Conquest; after, William deSpichwick ; and now, as I think, the Earl of Bath.”
The lapse of another century found the manor of Spitchwick,with those of Widecombe and Blagdon Pipard, in the possession of the Wottons of Inglebourne, in the parish of Harberton, where this family had been seated for several generationswhen the Heralds made their Visitation of Devon in 1620. “At Inglebourne,” writes Westcote, “is the mansion of agenerous and respected tribe of Wotton.” The three Widecombe manors above named finally vested in the Rev. John Wotton, who died 5th November, 1746, having by his will(Prob. P.C.C. 20th May, 1749) devised Inglebourne, with his other manors and lands in the parishes of Holne, Widecombe, Totnes, Staverton, Dartington, and Ashburton, to three trustees for a term of 99 years, for the purpose of raising£2,000 as a portion for his only child, Anna Maria, then an infant a few months old.
Pursuing, in the first place, the history of this 99 years term, we find the estates almost immediately became the subject of proceedings in Chancery, which lasted till, in 1769, they were sold by auction, under a decree of the Court. The residue of the term in Spitchwick, and the other Widecombe manors and lands, was purchased for £4,700 by John Dunning,“ a name,” says Sir William Jones, “to which no title could add lustre.” The ancestors of this gifted lawyer were originally of Gratham, a barton near Tavistock; but his father, Mr. John Dunning, carried on an extensive practice as an attorney at Ashburton. His second son, John, was born there on the 18th October, 1731, and distinguished himself asa scholar in the Grammar School of his native town. At the age of 13 he was articled to his father with a view to apartnership, but his legal abilities fortunately attracted the notice of Sir Thomas Clarke, the Master of the Rolls, who entrusted him with the stewardship of his extensive property near Ashburton. Under the auspices of this patron, youngDunning entered at the Middle Temple in his 21st year, and was called to the bar in 1756. Of short stature, awkward person, and unprepossessing countenance, his progress, slow at first, afterwards became brilliantly successful. On the 23rdDec., 1767, he was appointed Solicitor-General, and in the following year was returned member for Calne by the influence of Lord Shelburne. He held the office of Solicitor-General till, in May 1770, he resigned it on the withdrawal of his friend, Lord Shelburne (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne), from Lord North’s administration. In March, 1782, LordNorth’s government was broken up at the close of the American War, and Dunning, with the Earl of Shelburne, joined the administration formed by the Marquis of Rockingham and Charles J. Fox, when Dunning was created Baron Ashburton and appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His health, however, soon failed, and he died during a visit to Exmouth on the 18th of August, 1783, aged 51. John Dunning was married at St. Leonard, Exeter, on the 31st March,1780, to Elizabeth, only daughter of John Baring, Esq., of Larkbear in that parish, and this lady survived him till the23rd of February, 1809. The small neat handwriting in which he signed the marriage register, is displayed also in a letter to his only sister Mary, which we are enabled to quote from the original, and in which he refers to the purchase ofthe Widecombe manors.
Lincoln’s Inn, 16 March, 1769.
MY DEAR SISTER,
I have at length a few minutes leisure to write to you, and I employ themto acknowledge the favour of your several notes, which I only wish were
longer and more frequent. My cold, or, rather, the hoarseness which itoccasioned, is almost gone, the cold quite so ; and my professional attendances in Town, as well as my political ones, will, in a few days, have a
respite for a fortnight; but the circuit is too far advanced for me to thinkof joining it now, though I may possibly return to it in the summer. I
am not sure whether I shall not slip down to Bath again to fill up theinterval there, as 1 think I profited by it at Christmas, but this is yet
uncertain. Do you know that I have at length agreed for a Purchase atWithecombe, &c.? It is, however, an odd kind of Interest, a term of
years of which I think 63 are to come, but I hope I shall be able to getthe inheritance, and, in that case, we shall ï¬nd planting room enough, I
believe, if we can prevail with Trees to grow. I fancy, tho’ I don’t particularly know my Purchase, it must include large tracts of barren land,and I don’t like it the worse on that account, if it be capable of Improvement. Mr. F. and Mr. H., who (as well as Mrs. H.) are yet in Town, do
not yet talk to me about Ingsdon. I fear they have drop’d their schemeof parting with it, which I am sorry for, as I fear we shall ï¬nd nothing
like a House at Withecombe. As soon as my purchase is completed, Ishall desire you to survey and report to me what can be done with it, and,
somehow or other we must find some amusement about it or it won’tanswer. Pray let me know how you all do, and whether you have escaped
the colds which the changeable weather has made very general here.Yours ever, J. D.
Of the many anecdotes that have been related in illustration of Dunning’s rough and overbearing demeanor, we may cite one bearing on our present subject. On his return to London from the purchase of his Widecombe estates, he related the purport of his visit to his native county to the Solicitor-General Lee. “ You have got some manors in Devonshire, have you ?” said Lee, “It’s a pity you can’t bring them up to Westminster.”
Richard Barré Dunning, second Lord Ashburton, born on the 20th September, 1782, succeeded to his father’s title andestates, and married, on the 17th September, 1805, Anne, daughter of William Cunningham, of Lamshaw, in Argylshire, and died without issue, at Friar’s Hall, the seat ofHenry Cranstoun, Esq., near Melrose, on the 15th February, 1823. He was the author of Genealogical Memoirs of theRoyal House of France, published in 1825, after his death. His father-in-law, William Cunningham, married, in 1780, Margaret, one of the daughters of George, youngest son of William, 5th Baron Cranstoun, and it is believed that theManor of Bagtor, with the freehold estates adjoining SpitchWick, which belonged to the late James Edward, 10th and last Baron Cranstoun, were devised to him by the second Lord Ashburton, or rather by his widow, although she was not actually related to the 10th Baron. These estates are still held by the representatives of this nobleman.
With the above-named exception the Widecombe estates ofRichard, Lord Ashburton, passed, on his death, into the possession of Miss Margaret Baring, niece of the ï¬rst LadyAshburton. Miss Baring retained them till the expiration, in 1845, of the term of 99 years, created under the will of thethe Rev. John Wotton. The Barony of Ashburton has been revived in the Baring family.
Having followed this leasehold interest to its termination, we must now trace the succession of the Widecombe Manorsthrough the heirs of the reverend lessor, in whom the re- version was vested.
Subject to the above-mentioned term of 99 years, the estates were entailed on the Rev. John Wotton’s- brother and sole executor, Richard Wotton, of Doctors’ Commons, for life, then on Richard Wotton’s son Samuel, for life, and finally on this nephew’s male heirs. The clergyman’s attempt to control the disposition of his worldly goods till long after his dust should have mingled with that of his forefathers, led, as such attempts commonly lead, to inextricable legal complications, and to suits in Chancery, ending only, like the famous suit of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce, when the property involved should be finally swallowed up in costs.
The little infant daughter, for whose benefit the term of 99 years was created by her father’s will, bore, as already stated,the name of Anna Maria. She grew up to become, in 1771, the wife of Estcourt Cresswell, Esq., of Bibury, in Gloucester-shire, eldest son and heir-apparent of Thomas Estcourt Cresswell, Esq., of Pinkney, in Wilts. Mrs. Anna Maria Cresswell’s married life extended over the brief space of only fifteen months, for she died on the 30th September, 1772, having given birth to a daughter, who was named Anne. Thus a second time the lineal descent from the Rev. John Wotton depended on the life of a new-born female infant. Like her mother, however, Miss Anne Cresswell grew up to be married, for in September, 1802,[* * The Inglebourne Manor had then been sold to William Bastard, Esq.] she became the wife of the Rev. Thomas Fry, of Linc. Coll. Oxon., but dying childless, in December, 1811, left her husband to succeed her in title. Thus it came to pass that when the leasehold term of 99 years expired in November, 1845, this reverend gentleman appeared on the scene to claim a life interest in the long alienated estates of the Wottons of Inglebourne. But for the tenacity of life exhibited by the daughter and grand-daughter of the Rev. John Wotton, it has been shewn that these estates would have lapsed under his will to his brother Richard, and his heirs male. But Richard Wotton had died in 1753, andSamuel, his only son, followed him to the grave unmarried and intestate, on the 2nd of June, 1780. Both the direct and the fraternal line of the “generous tribe of Wotton” had died out, and hence the reversion to the estates vested in the heirs of Estcourt Cresswell, under a settlement by his wife, formerly Miss Anna Maria Wotton. Nevertheless a “claimant”appeared in the person of a Samuel Wotton to dispute the Rev. Thomas Fry’s succession. Recent events have provedthat such “claimants” will not lack supporters. A band of roughs laid siege to Spitchwick House, and the riot, still well remembered in the neighbourhood, was only quelled by the gallant interposition of the nearest magistrate, the worthy baronet of Holne Chase. The Rev. Thomas Fry at length obtained peaceable possession, though not until he had successfully brought actions of ejectment against tenants who refused to acknowledge his ownership. His life interest expired with him on the 27th March, 1860.
The Cresswells had now become a numerous and widely- spread race, and their title to the succession had become hopelessly complicated by intermarriages, debts, mortgages, lunacy, settlements, wills, intestacies, and every sort of legal element of change and uncertainty. The Chancery proceedings, which had set in after the death of the Rev. John Wotton, had now become a tangled maze which no lay pen could describe, nor legal subtlety unravel. At least ten suits in Chancery were being prosecuted at the same time, when the Gordian knot was finally cut by a. decree of the Court under which, in September, 1867, the extensive and scattered estates, so carefully tied up by the will of the Rev. John Wotton in 1746, and which had now been the subject of litigation for more than a century, were sold in lots by auction to various purchasers. That no estate in England could be held together under the circumstances will be manifest when it is stated that the various interests involved were represented by as many as sixteen legal ï¬rms, whose names were appended to the advertisements of the sale. The Manor of Spitchwick fell under the hammer to its present lord, Thomas Blackall, Esq., M.D., of Exeter, who occupies as a summer residence the mansion erected by the first Lord Ashburton.
MANOR OF WIDECOMBE.—The later history of the Manor ofWidecombe, alias Widecombe Town, is so closely identified with that of Spitchwick, that on this account, as well as forits local importance and extent, it properly claims attention next in order. It occupies a central position on the easternside of the parish, and extends to a length of about 2 1/2 miles from the hut circle called “ Seven Lords’ Lands,” near Hennesbury Gate, across the vale of Widecombe to its westernboundary on the ridge of Hameldon. Its area is about 1,575 acres, of which 706 are commons, and it comprises within thisarea the village or church-town, the globe, Northall, South- combe, Wooda (Wodehaye ?), Kingshead, Coombe, Northwayand Southway, &c., together with the detached farm of Scobetor,*[ * The little farm of Scobetor has the honour of being named in Domesday as Scabatore, amongst the lands held with Bovi (Bovey) by the Bishopof Constantine. It was granted, under the name of Scobetorr in le More, to Tor Abbey with Radclyue (Radecleave) by William de Bokeland (Mon.Dioec. Exon). Scobetor was purchased by its present owner, Mr. John Hern, at the auction for the sale of the Cresswell estates in 1867.] on the South of Dunstone Manor.
There is no single instance known in which a Devonshire estate mentioned in Domesday Book now belongs to the descendants of its original Norman Lord. The arrangement followed in that record of specifying these estates under the names of their owners without much regard to locality, occasions frequent difficulty in identification, and this difficulty is enhanced when, as in the case of Widecombe, there were several manors, or lands, bearing somewhat similar names. In the Exon Domesday, a “Widecoma ” is classed among the possessions of Walter de Clavilla, but Widecombe Clavill is known to have become Widecombe Raleigh (Exmouth)when it passed into the hands of a family bearing that dis- tinguished surname. Another Widecombe (Widecoba), belonged to the Bishop of Constantine, but this contained three hides of arable land, with more people and live stock than are likely to have been found at Widecombe-in-the-Moor. It seems more probable that the manor with which we have now to deal may be recognised among the possessions of Walscinus, who, as we learn from the Exon Domesday, hadan estate with a house called Wodiacoma, which Edric held on the day when King Edward was living and dead, and pays geld for half a hide, including two carucates, or as much as two ploughs can cultivate. This land Ailric holds under Walscinus. There Ailric has 1 1/2 carucates, and four bondsmen- tenants and four beasts, five pigs and forty-five sheep, and one pasture-field, and is worth 15s. per annum. Tristram Risdon appears by his Survey of Devon (1630) to have arrived at the same conclusion as to the identity of this “ Wodiacoma ” with Widecombe-in-the-Moor.
The earliest lords of Widecombe, of whom we have certain traces, were the Ralphs, or Fitz-Ralphs, of North Hall, one ofwhom, as stated in a former page, granted to Roger le Rus the advowson which the latter sold to the Dean and Chapterin 1283. Prince, on somewhat inconclusive authority, claims Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh in the 14th century, as a member of this family. The Fitz-Ralphs afterwards took the surname de Shillingford, from their connection with the little parish of Shillingford St. George, near Exeter. Sir William Pole, in his Collections, mentions “ Withecomb in the Moorelonge tyme in the famyly of Shillingford, which at first were styled Raph ye sonne of Raph and Richard ye sonne of Raph,and before Edward I tyme were not called Shillingford. This land discended, as Shillingford did, from Huddisfilde unto Carew, and soe unto John Southcot, and is now th’ enheritance of Thomas Southcot, Esq.” This account is followed by Westcote and Risdon, the former supplying also an elaborate pedigree of the family from the reign of Richard I. An Inquisition, held 4 Ed. II. (1311) on the death of Thomas de Schillyngford proved him to have held “ Wydecumb hamlet extent,” and by another, held 1st Ed. IV; (1461), John Shyllyngford, deceased, was found to have had lands, tenements, and rents, in “Wydecomb in the More.” This John was no doubt the base son (not named in Westcote’s pedigree),to whom his father, Baldwin de Shillingford, lord of the manor, and rector of the church of Shillingford, bequeathedthe family property. John Shillingford left a son, William, by whom this property, including Shillingford, Widecombe, and Farringdon, was sold, about 1470-80, to Sir William Huddesfield. Not the least distinguished of the members ofthe family was John Shillingford, Mayor of Exeter, 1447-50, whose letters, touching the great suit between the civic andcathedral authorities, are amongst the corporation archives in Exeter Guildhall, and form the subject of a recent volume ofthe Camden Society’s Publications. This able and energetic mayor was probably a brother of the William Shillingford who alienated the family property. Like many of the younger sons of our county families, he was a successful trader in the county metropolis. That he was a man of extraordinary learning and shrewdness, as well as physical vigour, is amply shewn in his prosecution of the suit, and in his frequent journeys on horseback, from Exeter to London, in three or four days. The learned John Hooker relates that “this John Shillingford, the Mayere, was a very wise man, and lerned in the Lawes of the Realme, bold and Sturdie, and yn his governement very just and upright; and so well he dyrected the same to the benefitte of the common welthe of this citie as few before him dyd it better.” North Hall, the ancient residence of the Fitz- Ralphs, or Shillingfords, at Widecombe, was situated on thenorth side of the Village Green, or Butts Park, and on its alienation by that family it probably began to fall into thestate of decay described in the following lines by Master Hill, schoolmaster of Widecombe, and author of the rhyming memorial in the church of the great storm of 1638. His “history,” drily observes Prince, “ may be good, tho’ his poetry be but indifferent.”
The messuage there, which anciently was chief or capital,
Tho’ much decayed. remaining still is called yet North-hall :
Whereas the houses, courtlages, with orchards, gardens, and
A stately grove of trees within that place did sometime stand,
Were all enclosed round about with moats of standing water,
So that no thieves or enemies could enter in to batter.
The houses, walls, roofs, windows, or what else besides was there ;
The moats or trenches being fed with streams of water clear
Wherein good store of fish was bred, as ancient men did say,
The ruin’d banks whereof remain unto this very day.
And when the family within would walk into the town,
Or else return, a draw-bridge ï¬rm they presently let down :
And at their pleasure drew it up to keep the household safe-
This house did anciently belong to Raph, the son of Raph,
So is he named in a deed of much antiquity,
Which bears no date for at that time was less iniquity.
Sir William Huddesfield, a native of Honiton, the successor of the Shillingfords in the ownership of North-hall, was Recorder of Exeter, 1479-82, Attorney-General under Edward IV., and was knighted and chosen a justice of Oyerand Terminer by Henry VII. Prince relates that “ he settled his habitation at Shillingford,” and we ï¬nd no trace of his presence at Widecombe. Sir William, at his death in 1499, left no male heirs. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter ofJohn Bozum, and relict of Sir Baldwin Fulford, he had issue Katherine, who was married to Edmond, Baron Carew. By his second wife, a daughter of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, he had Elizabeth, who married Sir AnthonyPointz, of Acton, in Gloucestershire, and who sold Shilling- ford and Widecombe to John Southcote, Esq., of Indio, inBovey Tracey, a member of an old Devonshire race, who derived their name from their ancient inheritance of Southcote, in the parish of Winkleigh. John Southcote had beenenriched by Crown Grants of the lands of suppressed monasteries, and built a substantial dwelling at Indio, which had previously belonged to St. John’s Hospital at Bridgwater.The family afterwards settled at Bliborough, in Lincolnshire, and joined the Roman Catholic Church. North Hall descended from John Southcote to his eldest son Thomas, who held it when Sir William Pole wrote. The warrener, who met his tragical death in the church during the great storm of 1638, as narrated in another page, was a servant of Sir Richard Reynell, of Ogwell, whose mother, Agnes, was a sister of the above Thomas Southcote. Sir Richard may have been a tenant of the manor, but we have met with no_ evidence of his connection with it as owner. It subsequently passed into the possession of the Wottons of Inglebourne, and became involved with Spitchwick in the long era of litigation, which terminated in the sale by auction, in 1867, to Mrs. Drake, the now resident lady of the manor.
A Perambulation of the Bounds of this manor is entered inthe Court Rolls as follows :—From Seven Lords’ Lands [a hut circle near Hennesbury Gate, on the eastern boundary of theparish] to Hawk’s Well, and from thence to Frenchanger Corner, thence to Halesbury, thence through Hedge Newtakealong a Reeve and across the wall between Hedge Newtake and Bonehill Common to Clove Stone Rock, otherwise SaddleClove Rock : from thence to Slade’s Well : from Slade’s Well to L. Corner: from thence to Pitt Park’s Bridge : from thenceto a broad rock in Bag Parks: from thence to Long Knave Stone on Hameldon : from thence to Old House on Hameldon;from thence to Grey Wether’s Stone : from thence to Hameldon Beacon: from thence to Stoneslade Tor: from thence to Herring’s Knock: from thence to a Blue Stone at the cornerof Kingshead : from thence to Two Crosses [these are cut on the turf] : from Two Crosses to Southcombe Well : fromthence, including Southcombe Estate, to Hennafoot [Hind’s foot ?] Stone in a hedge belonging to Southway Estate: fromHennafoot Stone to the north part of Rugglestone Rock [a logan stone] : from thence to Shovelstone Rock: from thenceto the north point of Top Tor and from thence to Seven Lords’ Lands.
THE MANOR OF BLACKATON, or Blagdon-Piper, situated to the West of Widecombe Town Manor, is divided from it by the lofty ridge of Hameldon, and is the smallest manor in the parish. It contains about 600 acres, of which one half are uncultivated down, and the remainder are now divided into two farms of enclosed lands. Although clear proof is wanting, there are some grounds for the assumption that the manor which has been variously called Blackdon, Blackaton, or Blagdon-Pipard formed, at the date of Domesday Book, part of the extensive possessions of Judhel de Totenais, for in theExon version we find that Judhel had one mansion or dwelling house called Bachedona, which Algar held on the day when King Edward was alive and dead, and paid geld for half a hide which two ploughs could cultivate. Osbert held thisunder Judhel. There had he one virgate and one carucate in demesne, and the villeins had one virgate and one carucate.There had Osbert 3 villeins, 3 bordarii, and 2 servi, and 8 beasts, and 15 pigs, and 80 sheep, and 2 plots of meadow, and 2 of pasture, of the value of 15s., and when Judhel received it as much was paid. A similar description is found in theExchequer Domesday. The name indicates a connection at some period with the wealthy family of Pipard, and as earlyas the 16th K. John (1214) we find by the Rolls of Letters Patent that the King granted to William Pippard the lands atNorth Bovey, Tetecot, Gary, Baketon, &c., which had previously been held by William de la Ferbe. In the 51st Henry III.(1267) William Pipard was found by a postmortem Inquisition to have held lands in Devon called “ Blakeden,” and again, by a similar enquiry, in 1286, Thomas Pipard was declared to have had “Baketon,” North Bovey and other lands. Inthe “ Deed of the Customs,” made in 1586 between Robert Hiche, the Vicar of Widecombe, with his parishioners, Blackadon pyper is mentioned as one of the six manors comprised within the parish, Among the churchwardens and overseers who rendered the earliest of the accounts now pre-served in the parish, Peter Willcock is entered as representing “ Mr. Wescombe’s estate in Blackdons piper,” and his appointment was renewed in several subsequent years. The manor,under the name of Blagdon Pipard, otherwise Blackdon Pipard, was devised, with those of Widecombe Town and Spitchwick,under the will of the Rev. John Wotton, and it shared with them the tangled history which has already been traced until,in 1867, it was sold with the other Widecombe estates of the Cresswell family. The purchaser at the auction, Mr. IsaacLang, of Exeter, soon afterwards resold it to Frederick West, Esq., of Croydon, who had previously become the owner ofthe adjoining Grendon Estate, within the manor of Spitchwick. In the hands of this gentleman it has been greatly im- proved by a spirited outlay in building, draining, fencing, &c.
THE MANOR OF DEANDON alias DUTTON.-—This reputed manor, sometimes called Jordan, is bounded by Spitchwick on the west, and by Dunstone and the parish of Buckland on the east. Sir William Pole refers to Deandon as a manor,and briefly mentions that it “ was in Kinge John’s tyme the land of William de Deandon, ”whose pedigree he supplies.Both Westcote and Risdon are silent respecting it, but Lysons (1820), following Pole’s account, mentions that “Deandon gave name to an ancient family, by whom it passed by female heirs to the Malets, in the reign of HenryIII. Sir John Malet, K.B., sold it about the year 1600.” The manor has since been held by the Mallocks of Cockington,but the manorial rights have fallen into desuetude, and no court has been held since the year 1793. The heiresses of thelate Sir Walter P. Carew, Bart., own a considerable estate here, including Lizwell, which, in the early part of the lastcentury, belonged to the Langworthys, a family of some local importance.
THE MANOR OF NOTSWORTHY, or NATSWORTHY.—The Manor of Notsworthy (or Natsworthy, as it has been recentlyspelt in compliance with local pronunciation) is situated at the northern end of the Widecombe Valley, or Coombe. Wehave already referred to the difficulty in identifying the manors and lands mentioned in Domesday Book where asimilarity of name is the only clue for our guidance. We may assume, however, with some degree of confidence, thatthe present Notsworthy is identical with the Noteswerde enumerated amongst the possessions of Richard, the son ofTurold, a vassal of the powerful Earl of Moretone. He paid geld, or tax, for one ferling This land two ploughs cancultivate, and there were one slave, two villeins or bondsmen tenants, and two labourers or cottagers. There were ï¬veacres of pasture and six of wood, of small growth, which were formerly of the value of five shillings. These particularsare taken from the Exchequer Domesday, for Notsworthy does not appear to have been entered in the Exeter copy.
We have not succeeded in tracing the history of this manor through the mediaeval centuries; but it is probable thatduring the 16th, and certain that during the 17th, it was in the possession of the Ford family, which, according to Prince,whose account is confirmed by the Heralds in their Visitation of 1620, were seated first at Chagford, then at Ashburton,and, finally, during the reign of Elizabeth, at Bagtor in Ilsington. Amongst the several manors held by the Fords ofBagtor, was that of St. Mary Church, which was sold by Thomas Ford, in 1595, to Sir George Cary, of Cockington.The Fords had acquired St. Mary Church in 1538 from Lord Fitzwarren, Whose stewards they were, and who, as stated ina previous page, held the Manor of Spitchwick, and, possibly, that of Notsworthy also, at the same period. The most distinguished member of the Ford family was Sir Henry, whopurchased the Nutwell Estate in Woodbury of Sir Thomas Prideaux, who became Irish Secretary of State to Charles II.Sir Henry Ford died in 1684, and by his will, dated in the same year, gave his manors of Bagtor, Ilsington, and Nots-Worthy, to the Rev. John Egerton, Rector of Lympestone, Devon, who had married Sarah, one of his daughters. Thesemanors were devised under the will of this clergyman to his son John, by whom they were bequeathed in 1730 to EgertonFilmore, of Lympestone, who, at his death, left two daughters co-heiresses. One of these, named Sarah, dying, her surviving sister, Elizabeth, succeeded to the entirety and subsequently married Mr. John Searle of Lympestone, whom shesurvived without issue, and died in 1808. The manors then passed by her will to Miss Emlin Filmore of Ilsington, who, in1817, sold them to the late George Templer, Esq., of Stover, whose estates were disposed of to the late Duke of Somerset.The Manor of Notsworthy was finally sold by the present Duke to W. J. Owen Tucker, Esq., who has erected thereon aloftily-placed and commodious mansion for his own residence.
THE MANOR OF DUNSTONE.-—Of the six manors within the parish of Widecombe that of Dunstone is the smallest in area save one. It lies to the south of Widecombe Town Manor, istwo miles and a quarter in length, from Seven Lords’ Land to Two Crosses on Hameldon, and comprises 933 acres, 400 beingcommon lands, over which the tenants of ancient messuages enjoy the customary rights of pasture and turbary. The namemay possibly be derived from a large block of granite in the little Green of the Hamlet of Dunstone. The manor courtswere formerly held here, and the chief rents and other dues are said to have been deposited in a small rock basin on thisblock. A granite cross that once stood close by is now in the Vicarage garden, having been conveyed there by Mr. Mason,late vicar of the parish. Besides the hamlet of Dunstone, the manor includes that of Venton and the farms called Higherand Lower Dunstone, Chittleford, Tunhill, Blackslade, &c. The name of Dunstone, under various spellings, occurs morethan once in the portion of Domesday Book devoted to Devon, but the Widecombe Manor may be clearly identified frombeing mentioned in connection with Blackslade, or Blaches- lach, as the Norman scribes wrote it. Dunstone was one ofthe many Devonshire manors bestowed by the Conqueror on Ralph. de Pomeraie, the progenitor of a race that for ï¬vecenturies held in their castle of Berry Pomeroy a high place amongst the landed proprietors of the county. The compilersof Domesday found that one Roger held of Ralph de Pomerai an estate, with a house called Dunestanetuna, which Edwinheld on the day when King Edward was alive and dead, and it paid tax or geld for half a virgate; this land one ploughcould cultivate. Here Roger had three villeins or bondsmen tenants, four bordarii or labouring cottagers holding half acarucate, or half as much land as a plough could cultivate, and five head of cattle, three sheep and three lambs, threeacres or plots of meadow, and thirty of pasture, valued at 7s. 6d. per annum, and when Edwin received it, it amountedto thirty pence. With this had Ralph one estate with a house called Blacheslach (Blackslade), which Edwin had also heldand paid geld for one virgate, which one plough could culti- vate. There were two villeins, and three bordarii, and twoplots of pasture, and its value per annum was three shillings.
The perambulation of the manor bounds is recorded in thecourt-rolls, and corresponds exactly with that of the adjoining manor of Widecombe Town so far as it abuts thereon.
It is a curious fact that the farm of Blackslade has remained (as it does now) in the possession of the lord of this manorduring the whole of the period over which records extend. It is remarkable also that until recently it was divided intotwo farms, as it was at the date of Domesday. Of its mediaeval history little can be collected; but that it remainedthe property of the Pomeroys for more than two centuries after the conquest is tolerably clear from an Inquisition held34 Edward I after the death of Henry de la Pomeray, who was found to have been seized of the manor of Donstontonbesides many others. For upwards of a century previous to 1784 the manor belonged, with Blackslade, to a family bearingthe locally common name of Hamlyn. In that year it was purchased by Mr. William Norrish, with whose posterity itremained till 1869. On Michaelmas Day, 1869, the manor of Dunstone, with the appendant estate of Blackslade, wasoffered for sale by public auction, and was purchased a few weeks later by the editor of this publication, to whom it nowbelongs. The name of Blackslade, though Normanized as many others were in Domesday, is apparently of Saxon origin.Black, or bleak, was doubtless significant of its former condition. Slade means a little dene, or valley, or, as some authorities state, a flat piece of ground lying low and moist.An illustration of the term occurs in Drayton’s description of the vale of the Red Horse in the 13th song of his Poly-olbion —
“ The thick and well grown fog doth matt my smoother slades,
And on the lower leas, as on the higher hades,
The daintie clover grows.”
In his work on Our English Surnames (p. 95) the Rev. C. W. Bardsley defines slade as “ a small strip of green plain within a woodland.” One of the numberless rhymes concerningRobin Hood says :—
“ It had been better of William a Trent
To have been abed with sorrowe,
Than to be that day in the greenwood slade
To meet with Little John’s arrowe.”