THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES oJt ^'^i<^. -t^^mf'Tg>». toRIDGV. DEVONSHIRE PAEISHES. VOLUME II. DEVONSHIRE PARISHES, OR THE ANTIQUITIKS, HERALDRY AND FAMILY HISTORY OF TWENTY-EIGHT PARISHES IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF TOTNES. BY CHARLES WORTHY, ESQ., LATE H.M. 82nd KEGIMBSIT, AUTHOR OF "aSHBURTON AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD," " HUNDBKD OF WINKLEIGH," " NOTES ON BIDEFOIiD AND THK HOUSE OK GRANVILLE," " PRACTICAL HERALDRY," KTC, ETC. In Two Volitmes. VOLUME II. EXETEK ; WILLIAM POLLARD & Co., PRINTERS, NORTH STREET. LONDON : GEORGE REDWAY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, 1889. ^ II. M ^10 \),A CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chapter XfV. Paut IV. PAGES. History of Dartmouth continued — Parish Churches — Description of Townstall Church — Boone Me- morials, &c. — Ancient Deeds — St. Saviour's Chapel of the Holy Trinity — The Rood Screen — Brasses of Hawley and Staplehill — Heraldry — St. Petrock's — Old Houses at Dartmouth — Fosse Street — The Butter Walk — The Britannia and Hindostan Train- ing Ships — The Prince of Wales and his Royal Sons — Charities of Dartmouth ... ... 1 — .30 Chapter XV. The Parish of Broad-Hempston — Its Early Owners — The Cantilupe,s — West, Lord Delawarr — English Colonization — Chesapeake Bay and James's Town Serjeant Rowe — More about the Rowe Family — The Parish Church, its Description — Ancient Alms- house — Patronage of the Vicarage — Gifts to the poor — The Petre Arms ... ... ... .31 — 54 Chapter XVI. Parts I, II. The Parish of Little-Hempston — Roger Arundell — The Duke of Norfolk — Stretch of Pinhoe and other owTiers of the Soil — The Lords Broke — The Knolles family — Bogan of Gatcombe — The Parish Church — Ancient Tomb and Glass therein — The old Rec- tory, a Priest's house of Chaucer's time ... -5.5 — 84 Chapter XVII. Part.s I, II, III. The Parish of Wolborough — Various spellings of the name— Folkland and Bocland — The descent of the Manor — Lord William Briwei-e — He bestowed 5^1808 vi DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. it on Tor Abbey, Newton Abbot — Its origin — Dis- solution of Abbej^s — Gaveroeke buys Wolborough — Sir Kicliard Reynell— Reynell of Ogwell — Ford House — Visit of Charles I. — Sir William Waller — The Courtenays of Powderhani— The Earls of Devon— Wolborough Church — Norman Font — An- cient Screen described — Ancient Tomb of Balcull in S. Aisle — Reynell Moniiment -Old Glass — Ar- morials — Curates of Wolborough — The Chapel of St. Leonard — William of Orange visits Newton . . . 85 — 143 Chapter XVIII. Parts I, II. The Parish of Hennock — Baldwin de Brion — The Lords of the Manoi- — Flode — The Chaplain of Beydon — Hennock Chinch — Armorials — Ancient Tiles and Glass — Perpendicular Screen — Inscrip- tions and Arms — Charities ... ... 144 — 161 Chapter XJX. Parts I, II. The Parish of North Bovey— Two Manors written " Bovi "—Will lain Pipard— The Lords L'Isle— The Stout Earl of Sluewsbury — The family of Basset — Sir Arthur Plantagenet — Sir George Smith of Maydeworthy— George Monk, Duke of Albemarle — His History — Origin of his name — Beauchamp of Elmley — Queen Catherine Parr and Lord Latimer —Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon — Slights Queen Mary— Loves the Princess Elizabeth — Dies at Padua — Note on the Courtenay Earldoms — North Bovey Church— Old Cros.ses in the Parish 162—182 Chapter XX. Parts I, II. The Parish of Lustleigh — Anciently written " Lege " — Lords of the Manor — Wadham of Edge — Nicholas Wadham of Lustleigh — He founds Wad- ham College, Oxford — Dorothy Wadham — Her Charter of Foundation — Barn House and Barnc Court — Lustleigh Cleave — Peck-Pits — Terrific Thunder storm — Lustleigh Church — Early English Windows — Ea.ster Sepulchre — Norman Font — Fine Screen — Ancient Tombs — Inscribed Stone — The BLshop'sStone— Rev. William Davy ... .. 183—194 CONTENTS. vii Chapter XXI. Parts I, II. The Parish of Denbury — The Danes— Archbishop Aldret — He Crowns William the Conqueror — The Reynells own the Manor — Their well known Arms — The family of Froude— The Parish Church- Circular Font— The Parish lands ... ... 19')— 20(! Chapter XXII. Parts I, II. The Parish of South Brent — Belonged to Buckfast Abbey — Passed to Petre at the dissolution — Philip Phrear — Boundaries between Dartmoor and Brent Moor — Why Crosses were used for bond marks — Sir William Petre's, Monument at Ingarston — The Hillions of Ashton— Brent Church— Norman Font — Dr. Candy's troubles — Parish Lands ... 207 — 210 Chapter XXIII. Parts I, II. The Parish of Harford — Ivy Bridge — Robei-t of Mortaine — Williams, Speaker of the House of Commons — The Manor of Hall— The Chudleighs — Sarah Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston — Her re- markable career — Harford Church — The Rectory House — John Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester 217 — 231 Chapter XXIV. Parts I, II, III. The Parish of Shaugh — Its picturesque situation — The Barony of Plympton — The Novants — The Slannings — Inscription to Mrs. Mabbot of Truelove — PecUgree of Martin, Barons of Barnstaple — Their relationship to St. Patrick — The Church of St. Edward of Shaugh — Its unique Font Cover de- scribed — Memorial to Carrington the Poet — The Parish Church ... ... ... 232—250 Chapter XXV. Parts I, 11. Parish of Kingsteignton — Ancient demesne of the Crown — The Burdons of Ware — Remarks on their Armorials — The Clifford family, "This made Roger," — Examination of the Vault at Skipton — Opening of the Clifford Coffins — Their contents described — Clifford of Chudleigh — Yarde of Kingsteignton — Robert Hurst — Kingsteignton Church — Chained books there — Annual Revel at Whitsuntide — Curious Custom observed then — Remarks thereupon 2 •') 1 — 27 viii DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Chapter XXVI. Parts I, II. The Parish of Highweek with Newtox Bushel — Recent efforts at Identification, probably incorrect — Lucas the Butler — The Bushels — Newton Bushel — The Yarde Family — Interesting Shield of Arms in ClistHoniton Church — BradleyHouse — ItsDomestic Chapel — Yarde of Traysbeare — Newton Bushel Chapel— Manor of Moore and Perry — Highweek Church — When erected — Recently separated from Kingsteignton, upon which it was a dependent Chapelry—Gilberd's Alms House ... ... 27(i— 306 Chapter XXVII. Parts I, II, III. The Parish of ToR-MoHUN, including the modern Town of Torquay — Anciently called Torre and Tor- Brewer — The Foundation of Tor Abbey — Lord William Briwere — The Mohun Family — l)eath of Reginald de Mohun at Tor — John de Mohun gives Tor Manor to the Abbot — The Abbot surrenders to the King — The Ridgwaya' — Earls of Londonderry — The rise and progress of the Family of Palk — Sir Robert Palk, Bart. — His Life and Adventures — Purchases the Manor of Tor — Sir Lawrence V. Palk — First Lord Haldon — His improvements of Torquay — Tor Abbey — The Car}'- Family — Their Pedigree— Queen Ann Boleyn — Sir Edward Cary — His misfortunes — Ancient votive Chapel of St. ilichael — Cockington — Manor and Church — The Cockington Family^Sir Henry Cary of Cocking- ton — Roger Mallock — Mayor of Exeter — His House there— The Mallocks of Cockington ... ... 307—346 Chapter XXVIIL Parts I, II, III. The Parish of St. Mary Church— Its Manors des- cribed — The Fords of Ashburton and Bagtor — Their Arms — The Manor of Ilsham — Note on the Bartlett Family — Shiphay — The Kitsons of Devon, not descended from Sir Thomas Kitson of Hen- grave Hall — Babliacombe Barton— The Parish of CoffinsweJl— The Coffins of Coffinswcll and Poit- ledge — Coffinswell Church and Glebe — The Parish of Kingskerswell— Avis de Dol — Recumbent effigies in the Parish Cluu-ch — Concluding note on the Courtenay label ... ... ... 35.5 — .37G CHAPTER XIV.— PART IV. History of Dartmouth. — The Parish Churches. There are four Churches in this town and of these Townstall, will take precedence as being the Parish Church of Dartmouth proper. The second, known as St. Saviour's was dedicated in the fourteenth century. St. Petrock's, near the castle was a daughter church to Stoke Fleming ; and the modern chapel of S. Barnabas is dependent upon the latter. Townstall Church is situated some little distance from the centre of Dartmouth and occupies a commanding position at the summit of a high hill from which it dominates both the town and harbour. On this account it was naturally utULzed, when the place was besieged, and its walls stiU bear evidence of the rough treatment they then experienced. The structure consists of Chancel, nave separated from a north aisle by an arcade of three bays of Early Fourteenth Century date, a deep south transept, and a shallow transeptal projection on the oppo- site side, a south porch and a western tower containing five bells. B 2 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. The priests' door remains in its proper position in the Chancel. There is a handsome trefoiled piscina with shelf, and an oval hagioscope from the aisle with the zigzag or chevron moulding round it, and also an ancient image bracket. I remarked some old stained glass, re- presenting the Annunciation, in the lights of the square Perpendicular window on the south side of the Chancel with the legend, " Ave gratia plena Domina," and there is also a fine third Pointed window of four lights in the north transept. The octagonal bowl of the font, has panels ornamented with the cross flory, which I found nearly obliterated with whitewash. It is supported upon a circular stem. In the south transept may be seen a sepulchral memorial without inscription, which is generally supposed to mark the grave of Simon Rede the last Abbot of Tor, who retired to this vicarage after the suppression of his abbey. The figure has the hands joined in prayer. Several windows have been blocked up from time to time probably to save the expense of renewing tliem, but the western oJie is a good example of Perpendicular work. The tower, which is built of red sand-stone has an octagonal stair turret on the south side ; it is but- tressed at the angles and terminates with crocketted pinnacles. The doorway has Early English characteristics. The jambs of the entrance from the poich are also of red sand-stone. It will be seen from this description that there are many remains of an earlier chm'ch than the present one. Extensive repairs must have been effected here from time to time as was the case generally with our Devon- PARISH OF DARTMOUTH. 3 shire Churches, which were most of them either rebuilt, or so much altered as to become unrecognizable clurmg the fifteenth century. I fancy that the tomb attributed to Abbot Rede was originally outside the church (it still protrudes in the churchyard), and that it became partially enclosed when the south transept was erected, which was manifestly at a later period than other existing portions of the structure. In the taxation of Pope Nicholas, anno 1288, Town- stall Church was valued at £lO per annum. In the '■ Valor Ecclesiasticus," we read : — " Townstall cum capella ibidem in decanatu et diocesi predictis. " Rectoria ibidem valet per annum cum vi/ xiiis iiicZ, pro decima garbarum, et xvis viiicZ pro lana et agnis, et £10 pro decmia personali ; et pro omnibus aliis decimis et oblacionibus dicte rectorie pertinentibus £12 10s. Inde solutum vicario ibidem et successoribus suis pro uno annuali pencione £l3 6s. 8d. " Et remanet clare £16 13s. 8d." It is shown by the Chantry Roll, that there was a " Stipendarye " in this church. Yearly value of the lands and possessions £3 6s. 8d. The high altar here was dedicated, May 15th, 1318, probably after exten- sive repairs and additions to the fabric generally, of which evidence remains. Dr. Oliver says that, prior to the suppression of Abbeys, " this church was usually served by one of the community from Tor," to whom the advowson belonged. The state- ment in the Valor, as to the provision of an annual pension of £ 1 3 6s. 8d. for the Vicar and his successors, 4 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. would almost tend to discredit this statement were it not explicable by the fact that Abbot Rede held the Vicarage, to which he was regularly instituted, July 7th, 1531, nine years subsequently to his election to the Abbey. After the dissolution of his fraternity he seems to have resided here entirely. Previously to the surrender he had wisely taken the precaution to lease the tithes great and small, to William Adams of Townstall for ten years, under the yearly rent to the Abbey of £ll 13s. 4d., and to the Vicar of £13 6s. 8d., which coincides with the sum mentioned in the Valor. He must have anticipated the evil times that were coming upon him for some years and thus secured a retreat for his old age. His mil dated September 23rd, 1554, was proved March 15th, 1556, and has been printed in the "Monasticon " of the Diocese. In it he describes himself as "Vicar of Townstall," and desires to he buried loithin the Ch^trch of Stoke Fleming, to which he bequeaths xxd. To Townstall Church he leaves 3s. 4d. He gives to John Predyaux and Sir Thomas Ffrynd, Priest, " the £33 6s. 8d." which Nicholas Adams of Dartmouth had received for him, on account of his pension, from Mr. Mylle worth ; and the residue to his servant John ffurseman, who is Executor. Sir Thomas Ffrynd was Eector of Stoke Fleming; his will dated September 8th, 1557, was proved September 4th, 1558. John Flavel, B.A., was ejected from this church for Nonconformity in 1662. It has been said of him that he was greatly beloved by members of his congregation, who flocked to hear him preach in the woods and fields after his ejectment. It has been also stated that he refused all offers of composition, and that when persecu- PARISH OF DARTMOUTH. 5 tion became very sevei-e he went to London, and that ten years later he took advantage of the Declaration of Indulgence and returned to Dartmouth, where he died in 1691, jet. 64. He is believed to have been the author of " A Prayer or Treatise of God's Mighty Power, and Protection of his Church and People:" London, 1642; of "Husbandry Spiritualized:" London, 1669 ; and pro- bably of an octavo tract entitled " A Saint Lideed : " London, 1670. Wood' says of him, that " he occurs Minister of Dartmouth in Devon, 1672, and several years after." Was he a son of Dr. John Flavell, Eector of Talaton, whose son Thomas was Vicar of Mullian, and collated to a Prebendal Stall in our Cathedral, 18th January, 1660-1, vice Timothy Shute?^ He was of Trinity Coll., Oxford and died 1682, set. 77. The church plate consists of a silver paten, two chalices and an alms dish, the last given by the Eev. J. Charter in 1821. One of the chalices with its cover is ancient ; the other with the paten is inscribed with the Holdsworth anns. There are memorials here, of Thomas Boone, 1679 with arms of Boone and Upton ; of Mr. Roope, who died at Bilboa, 1667; and of Miss M. Roope, 1739; and a curious figure inlaid in white marble with arms carved over the head and a quaint inscription : — " Hero lyeth buried the body of Eobert Holland, -who departed this life the 16th Nov, 1611. Beinge of the age of 54 years, 5 months & odd dayes. 1 Athense Oxon, i, 422. Fasti 202, lb. 2 Le Xeve. y 6 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Here lies a breathless body and doth show What man is when God claims what man doth owe His soul a guest, his bodye but a trouble His tyme an instant & his breath a bubble." " Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly — " When I visited this Church some years since, I was told that it was dedicated to St. Clement. It is also, so stated by Ecton, " Thesaurus rerum Ecclesias- ticai'um," and likeMose in the hsts of those ejected for Nonconformity in 1662, preserved at the Record Office where John Flavel is described as of " St. Clement's, Dartmouth." Dr. Oliver, however, says that " Ecton was mistaken," and that the church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene ; and thus it now appears in his list of Dedi- cations, in the Calendar- of the Diocese, and elsewhere. The Registers of Births, Marriages, and Burials com- mence in 1653 and are contained in one book. In the Tor Abbey Cartulary, now at the Record Office, are several deeds and instruments relating to Townstall Church. 1. Deed of Wm. Fitz-Stephen, concerning TownstaU Church in which there is mention of his wife Isabella. 2. Confirmation of Wm., Bishop of Exeter. (William Brewer, 1224). 3. Another Confirmation by the same Prelate. 4. Another, by Richard, Bishop of Exeter. (Richard Blondy, 1245). 5. Agreement between Abbot and Convent of Torre and Gilbert Fitz-Stephen of the Chantry of the Chapel of NortoUj dated 1251. PARISH OF DARTMOUTH. 7 6. Deed of Richard Fitz- Stephen, concerning certain small plots of land at Townstall, 13 Ed. I, 1284. 7. By the same, concerning two acres and a half of land lying in the Manor of Norton, 16 Ed. I, 1287. 8. Deed of Gilbert, son of Richard Fitz-Stephen, con- cerning the advowson of Townstall Church, anno 1294. 9. Agreement between Abbot and Convent of Torre and Parish of Townstall, anno 1372. 10. Agreement between the Mayor of Dartmouth and the Abbot of Torre. Recites the obligation of the Abbot, John de Berkedon, to find a Chaplain for the new Chapel of Clifton, Dartmouth. 11- Deed oT Edmund, Bishop of Exeter. Taxation at 20 marks of the Vicarage of Townstall. (Edmund StaflPord, 1395-141 daughter and co-heir of Zachary Irish of Chudleigh, and had issue William, Walter, and Zachary. William resided at Gatcombe. Walter, by his will, dated 26th August, 1676, gave £20 to the poor of Little Hempston, as his father had done before him ; and Zach- ary, the youngest, found a place amongst the " Worthies of Devon." He is said to have been an eminent Oriental scholar. His most elaborate work was a learned treatise on the phraseology of Homer compared with the Old Testament writers, and he was also the author of several devotional tracts. A detailed list of his writings -will be found in Wood's " Athense Oxonienses " (vol. ii, p. 237). He was born in 1625, and proceeded to the University of Oxford in 1640. At first admitted to St. Alban's Hall, he obtained a scholarship at Cor^jus on the 26th November, 1641 ; but his studies were soon so seriously interrupted by the progress of the Civil War, and liis sympathies (judging from the fact that his tutor was Ralph Button, a Puritanical Fellow of Merton) being probably with the Parliament, he retired to his father's house at Gatcombe and remained there until 1646, when he returned to col- lege. He graduated B.A., October 21st, 1646, and in the year following became Fellow of Corpus, and proceeded to M.A., November 19th, 1650, ten years subsequent to the date of his matriculation. He died on the 1st September, 1659, and was buried by his brother William in the north cloister of his College near the Chapel. In consequence of the distractions of the times in which he lived, he 72 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. feared to leave money to the foundation of which he was a member, and therefore bequeathed £500 to the poor of the city instead. His portrait, stated to have been an admirable likeness, was placed in the Council Chamber at Oxford. His brother Wilham left £20 to the poor of Little Hempston, and his will was dated April 12th, 1681. He appears to have had two sons — Zachariah and Walter. The will of the latter is dated 1 8th January, 1702, and his widow, Elizabeth, was alive in 1727. Zachary, by his will, dated 2nd November, 1693, also left £20 to the poor of his native parish ; and these sums, together with another £20, left by the last-mentioned Walter (or rather with £9, all that remained of it undistributed), and about £49 arrears of interest, in all £138, were invested in the purchase of a field, the property of John Taylor of Totnes, called Dreadon, and situated in the hamlet of Luciford, within the parish of Little Hempston. The total cost of this field of ten acres, which afterwards foi-med the parish lands, was £210, and the balance appears to have been procured from the " public moneys and stock of the parish," £40 of which however, was acquired by a legacy to the poor bequeathed by Christopher Blackball. William Began of Gatcombe, the last male of this family, seems to have died early in the eighteenth century. By his will, dated 25th July, 1723, and proved at Totnes, he left an annuity of £10 out of the great tithes of Berry Pomeroy to the poor of his native village. The heiress of Bogan brought Gatcombe to Nelson, and by the latter family it was sold to James Chaster, whose devisees again sold it to Mr. Charles Cornish, in whose famil}' it has continued ; and the present owner is Major Charles Orchard Cornish PARISH OF LIITLE-HEMPSTON. 73 of Ashridge, Noithtawton. Little Hempston is mentioned by Risdon as being free from tax and toll, commonly called " Custom free," by ancient demesne. Tbis privilege is extended to many other parishes in this county, some of which acquired it, similarly, from their land having been originally in the hands of the King as demesne ; others by charter, and a large proportion on account of pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster. 74 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XVL— PAET II. Little -Hempston Church. The parish church is situated in the valley of the rivulet known as the Herne, a tributary of the Dart, and at the western end of the village. It was very extensively altered during a fifteenth century restoration, and its characteris- tics, although generally of the Third Pointed style, present many remains of the earlier forms of Pointed architecture, more particularly of that known as Decorated work. It consists of a chancel, raised a step higher than the nave, which opens into the north and south aisles, beneath an arcade of five bays supported upon clustered pillars, the capitals of which are carved in fohage ; a south jDorch with parvise over it ; and a western tower containing five bells. The chancel is divided from the nave by a particularly handsome rood-screen. It is to be regi-etted that all traces of colour and gUding have disappeared from this, and that it has been painted a dark brown ; never- theless it retains much carved ornament of great delicacy and minuteness of detail — acanthus flower, vine leaves, clusters of grapes, and birds (^ among them the woodcock) adorn the cornice, and the projection of the rood loft, which still remains. The loWer part is panelled, and with- out doubt once contained the customary figures of Saints, PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMSPTOK 75 Apostles, and Martyrs, while the upper portion is pierced with the usual pointed openings all filled with good Per- pendicular tracery. The doors of entrance and exit to and from the rood stairs still remain : the latter are con- tained in an external octagonal turret. The east window has been restored, those on the north and south sides of the chancel are of Decorated date and their tracery is Early Third Pointed. The piscina, formed of the red sandstone lavishly employed throughout the building, has an acutely -pointed arch, a plain drain-hole, and is fitted with a shelf, a very usual arrangement, but the object of which is by no means certainly known. Some think that it was intended as a Table of Prothesis for the reception of the Elements previously to their oblation, but this from the small space afforded, seems almost impossible. Others fancy that it was provided for soap ; but the most plausi- ble conjecture is that it was intended for the reception of the Holy Oil Cruet, an opinion which is substantiated by the fact that such a shelf is never found in churches which have a Chrismatory, that is, a recess usually found near the original position of the Font. In this instance, the Cre- dence, or Table of Prothesis, was apparently in its proper position on the north side, since a square opening of the same stone as the piscina and with good mouldings still exists there. Recesses of similar form are constantly met with and are somewhat indiscriminately described as aum bryes or lockers, and it is somewhat difficult to distinguish the one from the other. In the latter case they were always fitted with doors, and traces of hinges should be looked for ; and they are also to be found in varioiis pai*ts of churches constructed in the thickness of the walls and 76 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. there seem to liave served the usual purposes of cup- boards ; but when placed on the north side and near the Altar they were always used to contain the sacred vessels and possibly the wine and oU required for the Service of the Sanctuary. The priest's door still remains on the south side. I was much impressed with the arcading ; the piers are not improbably relics of an earlier church, and may have been transformed into Perpendicular columns by the addition of the slender pOasters, which do not appear to have been included in the original design. The fifth bays, north and south, are lower, and the arches are more acutely pointed than the others, and they spring fi-om slender vaulting-shafts. There are many good bosses of foliage in the roof, and some nodi. I noticed among them leaves twined into the form of the letter l, something similar to a boss at Ashburton in the south aisle, which is considered to have commemorated the re-edification of that portion of the sacred structure during the episcopacy of Bishop Lacy, 1420-1458. The red sandstone font is octagonal, it has a circular plinth, and the bevelled base is square with plain mouldings. The organ (by Speechley and Ingram) is beneath the tower arch. In the north aisle there is the efiigy of a knight with crossed legs, clad in mail, with epauU^res and a barrel helmet. On the face of the table-tomb oh which the figure rests are five shields enclosed in quatrefoils, but the charges have quite vanished. It is generally supposed, however, to represent Sir John Arundell, Lord of the Manor in 1243. In the south aisle the door which leads to the parvise or priest's chamber is still to be seen, and here also are two interest- ing sepulchral memorials — a knight clothed in plate arm- PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTOJ. 77 our, with shield, and weai-ing an oval lielmet, his feet on a lion ; and a lady in a wimple and long gown. These figures appear to have belonged to the latter part of the fourteenth century. They may possibly represent Sir John Stretch, Lord of this Manor, High Sheriff of Devon, 1380 ; and his wife, Matilda Molton, the heiress of Pin- hoe. As illustrative of family history already referred to, I would also draw attention to a modern tablet conceal- ing an interior window, which anciently opened into the church from the parvise : — " In memory of Charles Cor- nish of Gatcombe, who died May 19th, 1818, tet. 40. And of Chai'les James Cornish, his eldest son. Lieutenant, 16th Lancers, who dfed at sea, 1833, a3t. 23. Also of Frederick William Cornish, second son, Captain h.e.i.c.S., Bengal Artillery, who died at sea off Cape Lagullas, May 20th, 1851, Eet. 40." The north chancel-window contains some very interest- ing fragments of stained glass. I will fust endeavour to describe them, and will then state what I have been able to discover as to their history. In the tracery — The Tudor rose, fragments of the upper portion of elaborate canopies, and two shields ; first, three crescents. Or (?) the lower charged with an annulet. Second, two wings, conjoined in lure (Barn- house of Staverton). In the lights — A figure with cii-cular nimbus, arrayed in a blue vestment bordered with gold, holding a book in his right hand, the left hand gone. Second, a figure in vesture of similar colour, and holding a reed or long wand. Third, a figure coming up out of the water with fish play- ing around him, a staflP blossoming in his hands. Two 78 DEVOXSHIRE PARISHES. kneeling figures witli hands clasped in prayer — the female has a rosary. There are also fragments of an inscription ; the words, " P. Aia Be * '" * Petre Suscipe Sancta," can still be identified. The late Rector of this parish wrote me, that he had " been assured by the widow of his predecessor, the Rev. W, Gower, that many years ago a certain Mr. Croydon, a glazier, of Totnes, was in the habit of saying that his father had been employed to repair some windows at Marldon Chui'ch and had not pro\'ided sufficient glass for the pur- pose. A bystander remarked that there was a rubbish- heap full of glass in the belfry. On investigation this proved to be the case, and ^vhen Mr. Croydon found on commencing to clean it that it was colom-ed, he obtained permission to appropriate it, merely on the condition that he at once ' cleared it out of the way of the ringers.' " Sometime ;ifter this the Rev. Stephen Weston became Rector of Little Hempston, to which living he was insti- tuted on the 17th January, 1784. He was the grandson of Dr. Weston, late Bishop of Exeter, and the son of Stephen Weston, Registrar of the Diocese. This accom- phshed scholar, Fellow of Exeter College, and afterwards a Fellow both of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, soon recognised the value of the glass which the good people of Marldon had so readily disposed of, and he became the fortunate purchaser of the whole of it for the sum of £10. He had two of the lights placed in their present position, but at the urgent request of Di-. Eveleigh, Provost of Oriel, who was then on a visit to Totnes, his native town, he gave the third light to him. At the general restoration of the church a few years ago PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON. 79 the oflass was cleaned and relieved of an accumulation of ■whitewash, deficiencies were made good, and the quarried light in the centre was inserted by Messrs. Beer of Exe- ter, at the cost of the late Rector. Mr. H. Palk, who was 91 years of age when I last visited Little Hempston in 1877, stated tliat his father was churchwarden at the time this Marldon glass was obtained by Mr. Weston. Some small portions of it possibly had nothing to do with Marldon ; e.g., the arms of Barnhouse belonged to a family intimately connected with Staverton, a neighbour- ing parish to Little Hempston. The church of Little Hempston has a very handsome appearance from the outside, as it is embattled and strongly buttressed ; the buttresses originally ran up into pinnacles, but these ornaments have disajapeared. The tower, which is squai'e, is plastered ; it is also crenellated, and has a curious porch entrance to an octagonal stair- turret on the south side, the arch of which, like most of the windows and doors throughout the building, is of red sandstone. The tower window is good, and the western dooi'way, although partly blocked up, still retains its pointed arch, surmounted by a moulded dripstone. The entrance into the north aisle is cut through a buttress. The south porch has a square-headed, Pei'pendicular door- way, with a worked weather-moulding, supported by corbels ; that on the eastern side is the head of a Bishop, and, judging from the form of the mitre, probably is in- tended to represent Bishop Lacy, in whose time, a.d. 1439, the Church was almost, if not entirely rebuilt. Particu- lars may be found in his Register, iii, 198. The square parvise window has two lights, the heads being six-foiled. 80 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. with handsome deep mouldings in the jambs. There are also two slender image recesses, or tabernacles, in wHch the pedestals remain, ornamented with crockets, and finialed. On the eastern side of this porch I noticed the remains of a rude Gargoyle. There is a large yew tree on the south-western side of the churchyard, and the adjacent house, known as the Church House has a Perpendicular doorway of oak. The church of Little HemjDston is dedi- cated to St. John the Baptist ; it is mentioned in the taxation of Pope Nicholas (1291), where it is valued at £2 16s. 8d. per anmun. In the Valor of King Henry VIII, Tliomas Wode is mentioned as the Rector, and his income appears to have been £19 14s. 4^d. The late Rector, the Rev. Fitz-Henry Hele, who was instituted in 1837, effected the restoration of his church in 1863, and may be congratulated upon the result of his labours, the inter- nal fittings being neat and appropriate. I have not for- gotton his kindness, courtesy, and hospitality when I visited his church and parish. The present Rector is the Rev. W. D. Rundle, who was instituted in 1886. The early register- books are very imperfect. The marriages commence in 1539 with that of William Kade — " Impnmis, William Kade was man-ied the 3rd day of May." The baptisms commence in July, 1645 ; and the burials in October, 1546. These registers have been neatly copied and, from 1730, they are in a carefully preserved book. I find that Mr. Weston, the Rector to whom I have alread}' referred, and who resigned his perferments after the death of his wife, bequeathed a sum of £5 per annum in trust for poor persons (not being in receipt of parochial relief) of the parishes of Little Hempston, Mamhead, and PARISH OF LHTLE-HEMPSTON. '81 Marylebone. WiU proved, P.C.C, 2nd April, 1830. The tithe rent-charge of this parish was commuted at £207 per annum, and there are fifty-eight acres of glebe, and a good modern residence, but the ancient rectory-house, which is almost unique of its kind, merits a particular description. It is situated in a hollow, beneath the present parson- age, and is still in good habitable repair. The architecture is certainly not later than the fourteenth century, and portions of it, at aU events, are probably considerably earlier ; it is a good example of the " priest's house " of Chaucer's time. The walls are still perfectly sound and vertical, and the roofs are excellent, It stands in a very secluded situation, is surrounded by ancient ash trees, and is approached by an avenue of Wych elms. It is built round an interior court-yard, and the buildings form a quadrangle. The principal entrance is on the south-east, beneath an arched doorway, and the original iron knocker stUl remains. On the left is a smaU room with a narrow splayed window ; on the right is the haU, which remains perfect. It is lighted by a large transom window, and contains the remains of an oaken panelled screen, on which I could faintly discern traces of chromatic decora- tion of a diagonal pattern. The square doorway retains its ancient hinges, the straps of which are terminated with a fleur-de-lis. The window is of two lights, divided by a transom, quirped and moulded, and the heads of the lights are cinqfoiled ; on the exterior there is a label weather-moulding, and over it I noticed vestiges of a pointed arch, but whether a relieving arch only, or the remains of an earlier window, I am unable to say. The M 82 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. roof is high pitched, and with plain oak timbering. In the corner of this hall there is a newel staircase, which ascends to an upper i-oom, or " Solar " — " Hastily than went thai all And soght him in the maydens hall In chambers high, es noght at hide And in Solars on ilka side." At the top of the stairs is a square opening, which enabled the occupants of the room to observe the proceedings in the hall, a very usual an-angement in mediseval domestic architecture. Two windows on the south-east side of the hall and a doorway opposite have been blocked up. This room is of a large size (24 by 18 feet) ; it has been by some called a chapel, but there is no evidence of any license having been granted for a domestic chapel here, and it was most probably mei-ely provided for household pm'poses. Returning to the entrance : on the left is a second door, affording access to the stairs which originally led to the chamber over the small room I have already mentioned, which was probably a lodge or servants' resi- dence. The frames of the arched doors on this side are of oak ; and with the exception of the small windows which light these two rooms all the openings were in- wards towards the court. All other external lights are modern, save those which once existed on the south-east side of the great hall. Passing the lodge and the great hall we now enter the courtyard or "quad;" on the right we have the main portion of the dwelling, which is entered by a modernised doorway. The room used by the tenants as a kitchen has a communication with an important room (situated underneath the " Solar," or PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMSPTON. 83 withdrawing-room already described), access to which was anciently obtained through the doorway (now blocked up) near the staircase on the north-east side of the hall. This room measiu-es 18 feet long by 12 broad ; it is now used as a best sitting-room, and is lighted by an oblong window filled with modern glass. One of the brackets of a high mantelpiece still remains here. The present back-kitchen, and the dairy beyond it, form the third side of the square ; and there is a bedroom over each living room except the great halL The fourth side is formed by the farm buildings, stable, shippen, bam, &c. ; the first of these is stiU entered by its original doorway. The house is built of limestone, but many of the arches, &c., are of Moorstone ; the oak woodwork is in good pre- servation ; the stairs which lead to the " Solar," at the end of the hall, are enclosed in an exterior projection in the corner of the courtyard. It is to be hoped that this ancient and interesting residence will be preserved for many years to come. The plan appears somewhat similar to the ancient Vicarage in the neighbouring parish of Ash- burton, which was taken down some years since. Like Little Hempston, it possessed, as shown by a Terrier dated 1679, " a gate-house with tivo chamber's, a kitchen and two little rooms, a parlour, six chambers and a study, a malt-house, cider-house, stable, shippen, and pound- house." During the Great Rebellion the Rev. John Strode, of the Newnham family, was Rector of Little Hempston, and also of Dittisham. His house was plun. dered, his books burnt, and he himself was placed in great peril, the Parliamentarians having declared that if thej could catch him they would kill him and hang up 84 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. his quarters before his gate. He managed to escape, however, but his preferments were sequestrated. His wife, a daughter of Ile3Tiell of Ogwell, and his six child- ren were turned out of doors, and one Edmund Tucker obtained possession of Dittisham and retained it for fifteen years, during which period the Rector was placed in great straits, as he could not procure payment of his " fifths." Tucker, too, worried him with several lawsuits in re- spect of land on lease ; and although the Rector obtained verdicts which show, says Walker,' that the complaints against him, " even according to the law of those times," must have been manifestly unjust, yet the plaintiff, "by the interest of his great friends," always seciu-ed himself against the payment of damages. Walker says, also, that at Little Hempston, William Strode had to make way for a certain Thomas Friend, who enjoyed the living through the usurpation, and at the expiration of it gave it up again to its rightful owner, " and was a very honest sober man." There may possibly be some mistake here, how- ever ; and it must be remembered that Walker confessedly went a great deal by hearsay. In the lists preserved at the Record Office of those Nonconformists who in 1672 applied for preaching licenses, in accordance with the De- claration of Indulgence, the name of John Knight, M.A., occurs as having been ejected from the Rectory of Little Hempston in 1662, Walker says, that Mr. Strode sur- vived, although in a sicldy condition, until about seven years after the Restoration. 1 " Sufferings of the Clergy, ' part ii, 356, PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON. 85 CHAPTER XVII. The Parish of Wolborough. — General Description AND History. The ancient parish of Wolborough is situated in the hundred of Haytor, and the Archdeaconry of Totnes ; at the re-distribution of Deaneries, already referred to In these pages, it was separated from Ipplepen to which it anciently belonged, and Is now attached to the Deanery of Moreton. The name is variously written in old documents, Ulg- burge, Woleburg, Wolleburge, and Wulveburge, The Saxons are shown to have held their land by two kinds of tenure. The first and oldest was by oral tradi- tion which they termed " Folkland," and the second called Bocland, signified that they had books, or manuscripts. In evidence of their right to their possessions, since after the introduction of writing, property was regularly conveyed by a deed or charter. Previously to this, a turf from a field, a piece of thatch from the roof of a dwelHng, or some equally trivial token, was all that was necessary to give a purchaser a legal title to the tenement or soil. There are Instances of conveyances of this kind even as late as the Conquest. We are told that when Duke William landed at Pevensey on a certain memorable Nov- 86 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. ember morning, he stumbled, and fell upon the beach as he reached the shore. In such an age of superstition an event of this nature would have been considered as an evil omen and would probably have dispirited his followers, had he not with ready wit, at once filled his hands with sand and cried out loudly and cheerfully " See Seigneurs, by the splendour of God I have seized England with my two hands, without challenge no prize can be made, and that which I have grasped I will, with your good help maintain." On hearing these words one of his knights ran forward, and snatched some turf from the roof of a hut and brought it to the Duke, exclaiming, " Sire, come forward and receive ' Seizin,' I give you * Seizin ' in token that this realm is yours." " I accept it," repHed William, " and may God be with us." " Bocland," was granted by our Saxon kings with the concurrence of the Witena-gem6t, or great national coun- cil. It could be held by freemen of all ranks, and was exempt from all pubhc burthens, except those called the " trinoda necessitas " or liabihty to military service, and from contributing to the repair of fortresses and bridges (burhbot and brigbot). It could be bequeathed to females, but only in " usufruct," and at the death of a female holder it reverted to the male Hne. I need scarcely say that from this tenure the various " Bucklands " in this and other counties derive their name. The manor of Wolboi'ough, was probably held as Folk- land, and I should imagine was at first called Ulwin, or Alwinburge, after Alwin its first recorded Lord, who was one of the seventeen, gi-eater, or King's Thanes in the reign of Edward the Confessor. PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON. 87 This Saxon noble appears to have been a large landed proprietor in this county, two of his estates were also called after him "Alwinestone," as recorded in the Exeter Domesday, in which, however, Wolborough is not men- tioned. After the Conquest we hear no more of these traditionary holdings, all those which then remained became " terrae regis " or crown lands, excepting a rem- nant, of which there are even now slight traces in the " common lands " of the present day. At the Conquest, Wolborough having fallen into the hands of the king, it was bestowed upon his trusty follower " Alured Brit, or Brito." The reference to it in the Exchequer Domesday may be thus translated — " The land of Alured Brito." " Alured himself held Ulgeburge, Alwin held it in the time of King Edward and it was taxed for three hides and one virgate of land. The land is for fifteen ploughs. In demesne there are two carrucates, and five serfs, and nine villeins, and nine cottagers, with six ploughs ; there are twelve acres of meadow, and fifty acres of pasture, and fifteen acres of underwood (" silvse minute ") valued at sixty shillings." The authors of the " Magna Britannia " rightly give "Wolborough" as the modern name of Ulgeburge, in their analysis of the Domesday Record, but they after- wards erroneously state that the manor of Ugborough (" Ulgeberge ") belonged at the time of the Survey, to Alured Brito. The manor of Uerborough was never writ- ten " Ulgeberge," and Alured Brito never owned it, since, under the name of "Olueberie," it passed firom Siward 88 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. the Saxon Earl of Northumberland, into the hands of Baldwin de Brion, the Norman SheriJS of Devonshire, under whom it was held by Ralph de Briwere, the ances- tor of a subsequent owner of Wolborough, whose daughter and co-heu' Alice, brought it to her husband Reginald de Mohun. Alured Brito, must have stood high in his master's favom', for he contrived to obtain from him twenty -two manors in this county, besides a half-hide of land in Whimple, and a house at Exeter, About the year 1222 (6th and 7th Hemy III), a certain Thomas Bi-ito, gave to the Church of St. Edburg of Barncester (Dio. Oxon), and to the Prior and Convent thereof, " for the souls of Gilbert Basset and his wife Egehne de Courtnai, and for the safety of his own soul, and those of his father and mother, and of the parents of ' his friends ' the Bassets, ten acres of land m the field of ' Magendune,' the metes and bounds being duly described in the deed." There was a family known as Britt, Britse, or Britiza, whose arms were — Sa. a fesse Arg. betw. 3 escallops Or, and who flourished for eight generations at Halwill, in the parish of Brixton, but there is no evidence that they were descendants of Brito, and more probably, when surnames became general, they took their name from their resid- ence at Britriceston, or Brixton. After Alured's time the manor of Wolborough, became the property of Ingel- ram, or Angram Fitz-Odo, under whom it was held by Anthony de Brueria, as sub-tenant. Its lords held this manor by knight's service, and as an acquittance they usually paid the Crown the sum of nine shillings at Michaelmas. Anthony de " Brueria," was succeeded by his PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON 89 son WiUIam, who sold his right in the property to a cer- tain WiUiam de " Biigwere," with hberty to aUenate it. This new owner, in consideration of his homage and service, and for the sum of forty marks of silver, became possessed of " totam villam de Wolveburga, cum advoca- tione ecclesiaj, et cum omnibus pertinentiis suis." If he should alienate it, his grantees would have the right of fishing at Wolborough "super Terram de Teynge." Dug- dale says that the first mention he had seen of this flimily was in the 26 Henry II, when William Briwere purchased lands in Devon ; this must have been the Lord William of whom I am speaking. We have seen that he acquired Wolborough from one of his own name, but it is uncertain whether they were otlierwise connected, but that the lat- ter had been settled here at this period for more than a century, is shown by the record of Domesday, where the name of Ealph de Brueria occurs as a sub-tenant under Baldwin the Sheriff. The names of " Briguerre" and "de Bruera " existed contemporaneously in Normandy, but, whether they were previously related or not, "William de Bruera" appears to have married the daughter of William, Lord Briewere, since the latter's son, William, granted the former four librates of land in the parish of Wood- bury, with Engelesia his sister, in free marriage, and this land the grantor had inherited from his uncle, William de Albemarle. If Engelesia died without heirs, then the said land was to revert to her brother. Wilham de Bruera with the consent of " Engelesia, his wife," conveyed to William Briewere, all his land in Grendle in recompense for the Manor of Holbeton which the latter had given them for their support during their joint lives. This deed N 90 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. was coufirmed by Engelesia and Reginald, son of Geoifry de Albemarle, and there was also a further confirmation by GeofFry de Albemarle himself. William Briewere, the elder, or as he is usually styled William, Lord Briewere, was, as is well known, the munificent founder of Tor Abbey, which he colonized from Welbeck in Nottingham- shire, on the 25th March, il9C, upon which day seven monks from that place arrived at Tor, and took possession of the building there which he had then completed. He had undoubtedly purchased Wolborough for the purpose of endowing his new foundation, since it is shown by the foundation deed that " he had given and yielded to God and the Church of the Holy Saviour of Torre, and to the Canons of the Premonstratensian Order serving God there, the whole of his Manor of Woleburg ivith the advowson of its Church in the same manner as William de Brueria gave it to him ' for his homage and service, and for forty marks of silver.'" This grant was duly confirmed by Beatrix de Valle liis wife. King John, as shown by the Charter Rolls, in the second year of his reign, not only confirmed to the Abbot and his brethren, the various gifts of the founder includ ing " villam de Wolleberge et ecclesiam ejusdem ville cum omnibus pertinentiis suis," but he also granted them sundry additional privileges ; and the Bishop of Exeter, Henry Marshall, by his deed dated Chudleigh, 17th June, 1206, approved of the appropriation of the church and its advowson, and until the dissolution of Tor Abbey, 23rd February, 1539, the manor and church of Wolborough formed part of its possessions. It was about the commencement of the thirteenth PARISH OF LIITLE-HEMPSTON. »1 century, and therefore, very soon after the monks had obtained possession of Wnlborough, that the Abbot of Torre began to grant building leases for the land in the valley which forms the northern extremity of the parish, and which was then known as the hamlet of Schireborne. Houses were soon erected and the little cluster of dwell- ings were at first described as the " Nova Villa," which name was soon translated into " Nyweton Abbatis," or Newton Abbot (The New Town of the Abbot). Here, by chai'ter of the 3 Henry HI, the Abbot was given license for a market on Wednesdays, and for a fair for three days on the Vigil, the Feast, and the day after the Feast of St. Leonard. Walter le Barber of Tavistock, granted to the " Church of the Holy Trinity of Thor," certain messuages and tene- ments with their appurtenances, situate in the " New Town." This land is called " terra Pictoris " in the deed in which it is particularly described. Ealph de Nova Villa, also released all his lands in " Cleye " to the Abbot of Thorre.' In the year 1411, William Norton, then Abbot of Torre, was compelled to undertake an action against the Bur- gesses of " NoAvton Abbot," which was tried at Exeter Assizes, on the 4th March m that year, by the King's Justices, Robert Frenshe and William Gybbe. The Abbot and Convent, as Lords of the Manor of Wolborough, and as impropriate Rectors of the Parish Church, complained of certain trespasses committed by the Burgesses in that portion of their manor aforesaid, called Newton Abbot, by having disseised them of a certain * Tor Abbey Cartulary. 92 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. messuage there together with half an acre of land, and by having prevented the Abbey bailiffs from levying the tolls, customs, and other profits of the market, and fairs, and by having introduced clerics into St. Leonard's Chapel to the prejudice of the rights of the Mother Chui'ch of Wolborough. The plaintiffs further alleged that the said Burgesses, had illegally broken down certain fences and a gate in Wolborough, and had turned cattle into the pastures there, and that they liad unjustifiably held Courts within the manor, in defiance of the orders of the Abbot. The defendants in reply, justified their proceeding as to St. Leonard's Chapel, " which had been used by the Burgesses and inhabitants from time immemorial," they alleged that the land, said to have been disseised was situate in High Street, Newton Abbot, at the east-end of the said Chapel, and that shambles and stands were fixed there for the convenience of tradesmen, on fans and mar- ket days, and that it was the established custom at other times for the inhabitants to similarly employ them. They also said that the Burgesses elected annually a head bailiff and other officers, that they had rented the tolls of the fairs vAid markets from the Abbot and Convent, and had duly paid the stipulated rent. With respect to the fences and gates in Wolborough, they stated that the Abbot's servants had blocked up an ancient church path, through a wood, between their town and Wolborough and they, therefore, considered that they had but exercised a just right in removing the obstruction ; and with regard to the pasturage, they maintained, that it had been enjoyed by the tenants of the abbey from time unmemorial. PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMSPTON. 93 The decision of the Judges was " that the free tenure of St. Leonard's Chapel, as well as the land occupied by the stalls and shamble, were clearly vested in the Abbot and Convent of Torre, who were entitled to all ofteruisrs, oblations, and profits of every kind. Saving these, the public were certainly entitled to the free use of the Chapel. That the Abbot and Convent were also abso- lutely entitled to all tolls, &c., in connection with the stalls and shambles, and the judgment was accompanied ■with a recommendation that these should be farmed to the head baUiff at a fixed annual rent. The right of the inhabitants to the ancient Church path referred to, is, I beheve, stUl maintained ; it leads out of Wolborough Street by the western end of the old Par- sonage house, and winds along the side of the hill until it unites with the modern road to Wolborough. The Manor Mill is still called the " Sherborne Mill," and is the only portion of Newton Abbot, which still preserves its original name. Newton Abbot is an ancient Borough by prescription. There is no evidence that it ever possessed a Charter of Incorporation, or that it enjoyed Municipal privileges. Its Portreeve is still annually elected at the Court's Leet and Baron.' In old records the "Prsepositus Villse" means no more than the bailiff of the Lord of the Manor, and it is shown by the answer of the Burgesses to the Abbot of Tor, that the latter as tenants of the Abbey, had been accustomed to elect such an ofiicer from amono-st their own body. By the laws of Henry I, the lord of the soil, answered for the town where he was resident, and whei-e he was not, his seneschal, or steward, but if neither of 94 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. these could be present, then the " Praepositus " i.e. the bailiflj or reeve, and four of the most substantial inhabi- tants were simunoned to appear before the Justices upon any necessary occasion instead. Henry, son of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, released the Abbot and all his dependents from all suit of the Hiui- dred of Haytor, and from the yearly payment of the sum of twelve pence, which the Manor of Wolborough had been accustomed to return to him i^s Lord of the said Hundred. It appears to have been anciently the custom to obtain an admission from the Sheriff, as to the legahty of instru- ments by which property had been conveyed, and this was effected by having the deeds read and acknowledged in the Countv Court, or else in that of the Hundred. William de Ralegh, High Sheriff of Devon, 10 and 11 Henry TIT, gave his " Literae testimoniales de cartis donationis terrsy de Wulveburg, in 'pleno comitatu, lectis et confirmatis." The acknowledgement as to the rights of the Abbot of Tor in Wolborough, was made on the day after the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in the year of the trans - fretation of William Briewere, Bishop of Exeter. This was in 1227, when the Bishop proceeded to the Holy Land, where he remained for nearly five years. The deeds of Wolborough were exhibited by the vendor, William de Bruera, and the certificate of the Sheriff states " quod ut nuUi processu temporis veniat in dubium, hiis Uteris testiraonialibus ad utri usque partis petitionem, sig- illum nostrum apposui, et ad niajorem securitatem." It Avill be seen that the Abbot of Ton-e neglected no precautions to establish the validity of his title to PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON. 95 these lands which had been conferred upon him and his fraternity by the pious generosity of a private individual. Such precautions were then invariably taken, where land had been acquired by the Cliurch, under similar conditions, nor were they neglected even when the donations ema- nated directly from the Crown. Grants, releases, and quit claims, were always sought from every one, however remotely connected with the land conveyed, or with its former owners, and as they could only have been obtained by the payment of heavy exactions, for the various con- cessions considered necessaiy, the frequent recuiTence of such collateral assurances would seem to imply either a very insecure tenure of property, or a very uncertain state of the law, and there can be no doubt that the " Amor nummi " frequently overcame the scruples of the more powerful amongst the Laity, when, during unsettled periods of our history, they found themselves in a position to assert claims to property held by the Church, even in the days of its greatest power and influence. In this instance, the concessions of Henry, son of Reg- inald, Earl of Cornwall, to which I have already referred, was followed by a release and further indemnity, in rela- tion to the said lands, suits, and services, from Robert de " Curtenay," " to the Abbot of the house of ' Holy Trinity ' at Thorre," and which exempted them especially from all relief, wardship, or scutage in respect of the lands of Ulleburg. This Robert de Courtenay, who was made Governor of Bridgnorth in Shi'opsliire in 1214, and became in the following year Sheriff" of Oxfordshire, had the coinage of tin in Devon and Cornwall committed to him by Kino" \ 96 DEVON&HIBE PARISHES. John. He was the son of Reginald, the Jirst of the name in England, and in right of his mother, was feudal Baron of Okehampton, Viscount of Devonshire and Governor of the Castle of Exeter. He was Sheriff of Devon, 1220-1. His release and indemnity to the Monks of Torre, was duly confii-med by his aunt Matilda Courtenay, who had been co-heir with his mother Ha wise, in the Barony of Okehampton, and she also conveyed to the " Church of * St. Saviour ' of Thorre, aU her rights in ' Ulleburg." ' Tor Abbey, is sometimes called in old documents, " The Church of St. Saviour," at others " The Church- of the Holy Trinity." It appears to have been dedicated to the honour of the Holy Saviour, the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin. The name of the place in which it is situated was always written " Thorre," or " Torre." These confirmations of the Courtenays show that Wol- borough was parcel of the great Barony of Okehampton, and thus it remained until the attainder of Thomas Courtenay, sixth Earl of Devon, who was beheaded after the battle of Towtou, March 4th, 1466. His youngest son, John, was afterwards slain at Tewkesbury, May 4 th, 1471. The arms of this famUy still remain in ancient stained glass in several of the windows of the Church, and their presence there may be thus easily accounted for. Edward Courtenay, third Earl of Devon, commonly called the "Blind Earl," by deed dated Tiverton, 28th June, anno, 12 Henry IV (1411), confirmed to the Abbey of Tor, the grant of " Wilham Briwerr," de tota vUla de Welleburgh. He was the son of Edward Courtenay of GtxJlington, third son of Hugh, second Earl of Devon of his name, and the arms of his l^rother, Sir Hugh Courtenay of Hac- PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 97 combe — Or, three torteaux, witli the usual blue label, duly differenced with three mullets on each point ; are preserved in a window on the north side of Wolborough Church. The following genealogical account of the donor of the Manor of Wolborough, to the Abbot and commvinity of Tor, is contained in the Cartulary of that Abbey pre- served in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and numbered E. 5, 15 : — " William de Brewer," the eldei', had one son called WUliam, who died without issue and was buried in the Abbey of Thorre. His inheritance descended to his five sisters as co-heirs, viz. : — Margerie, Grecie,' Isabel, Alicia, and Johane. Margerie, eldest sister, married " De Fernac," and had issue a daughter, Gondreda, who married Pagan de Cha- werth, and had a son of the same name, who died s.p. and his inheritance descended to Patrick, " liis bi-other," who married a daughter of Earl Warrenne. Grecie, the second sister, married "William de Brewes," and had four daughters, Agnes, who married son of Wallie, and died without issue ; Matilda, the v.-ife of WUliam de Mortuo Mari ; Eva, who married de CantUupo, whose son was " Gregory de Cantiluj)o," and Eleanor, who was the \vife of Uffrid de Borcey (Bovey). Isabel, the third sister, was styled " De Dovere," she became the wife of Baldwin Bath, and had a son Hugh, who married and had issue Baldwin. Alice, the fourth sister, married Keginald de Mohun, ^ In the deed of settlement to wLich 1 have previously referred, she is called " Engelesia." 98 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. who had a son John, who married and had issue, John de Mohun, tioiv Hving. Johanna, the fifth sister, was wife of William de Percy, and had issue by him four daughters, viz. : — Johanna de Ferlington, Agnes, wife of Eustace de Bayllol ; Alicia, wife of Ralph Bermingham (she had issue William Ber- mingham), and Anastasia. There are several discrepancies between this monkish chronicle, and other existing records of the families of which it treats ; it has one great advantage over these latter however, in that it must have been compiled at a very early period, since it mentions John, son of John de Mohun, as then living. His father died in 127f . He him- self lived untU 133y, and between these dates, therefore, the account must have been entered in the Cartulary. William Briwere, the younger, died in 1232, and was bmied in the Abbey Church. He confirmed his father's gifts to the Abbey, of Tlsham and Coleton, "pro salute anune mee et Johanne uxoris mee, et pro animabus domini Wilielmi Briwere patris mei, Beatricis, matris mee, et omnium antecessorum, et successorum meorum." His wife, mentioned in tliis deed, was Joan, daughter of William de Yernon, sixth Earl of Devon of the Red vers family, and sister of Mary, wife of that Robert de Courte- nay, whom I have previously mentioned as having granted a quit claim to the monks in respect of the Manor of Wol- borouojh. I have also referred to the settlement he made on his sister (Grecie), there called Engelesia, upon her marriage, with " William de Bruera," whose name as given iri this deed appears to be identical with that of the " William de Bruera," son of " Anthony de Bruera," who PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 99 had conveyed to his father the property at Wolborough, and if this is the case, WiUiam de Bruera of Wolborough, must have been the same person, as William de Braose, or Bruce, who is known to have been the grandson of Judhel of Totnes, and who divided that Barony with Henry de Novant, during the reign of King John. This is shown by the descent in the Cartulary, which tells us that "Grecie," or Engelesia — elsewhere I have found her called Grisald, — by her marriage with " WilHam de Brewes," called William de Bruera, in the settlement — had a third daughter Eva, who married De Cantilupo, and had issue, a son Gregory, and a daughter Eleanor, who married Uffred de Bovey, Of the latter, I have found no further mention and she probably died without issue. It is shown by other authori- ties that Eva, daughter of William Braose, was the tidrd wife of William de Cantilupe, and her children are stated to have been George, not Gregory, Milisent, and Joanna. George died childless in his father's lifetime, as also did Joanna, but her grandson John de Hastyngs, and her daughter Milisent de Monte Alto, are shown to have been the right heirs of her husband William de Cantelupe.' Alice, the fourth sister of William Briwere, the younger, married Keginald de Mohun. There ajipears, however, to be a mistake here in the account left by the monks, who state that her son was called John, and that he had a sou, Johnde Mohun, "now alive." Alice Briwere, married Reari- nald de Mohun, in the sixth year of King John, 1204, and survived her husband who died in 1213, leaving a son, Reginald, who married twice ; first, the sister of Humphiy de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, by whom he had a son John, ^ Plac de quo Warr. 100 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. who married Joan, daughter of Sir Reginald Fitz-Piers, and secondly Isabel, daughter and co-heir of William de Ferrers. (The arms of Ferrers in ancient glass are stiU in Wolborough Church). In the Plea Rolls, may be found one concerning the rights of John de Mohun, and of his wife, Johanna, in the Manors of Ulleburgh (Wolborough), and Braworthy in CO. Devon, and in other Manors in Berkshire, Dorset- shire, and Somersetshire, setting forth the several titles of the said John de Mohun and Johanna respectively. Reginald de Mohun, duly executed a deed of Confirmation of the several gifts to Tor Abbey, by Wilham, Lord Bri- were, and Beatrice de Valle, his wife, and also by William Briwere, the younger. On the 1st September, 1545, the Manor of Wolborough, with the demesne lands were purchased from the King by " John Gaverock, gentleman," and Jane, his wife, for the sum of £592 14s. 2d., but the advowson and patronage of the Rectory was retained by the Crown. He had been Steward of the Manor under the Abbot, at a yearly sti- pend of £3, and just previously to the dissolution, he had obtained from the latter, a lease for sixty years, at an annual rental of twenty shillings of " Rowseshill and Rowses garden, within the Borough of Newton Abbot, and another tenement and garden, bounded on the north by the High Road to Totnes." He had a son, Richard Gaverock, who died without issue, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Alice, and Susan, who were alive in 1567, and who married into the families of Drew, Marshall, and Heyman. He appears to have also acquired by purchase other property belonging to the Abbey of which I shall PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 101 speak hereafter, and to have obtained possession of the " Tor Abbey Cartidary, or Lieger Book," since a memoran- dum at the commencement of this manuscript states that it belonged " to the heirs of John Gaverock, gentleman," and we learn from another note that " it was delivei'ed into court for the Queen's use on the morrow of the Puri- fication, in the 21st year of Elizabeth. It is evidently a transcript of an earlier record, since it is m the same hand- writing throughout, the character of which is of the date of the fifteenth century. The entries relating to Wol- borough will be found on folios 13 to 20 inclusive, to most of which I have already referred in these pages. According to the "Valor Ecclesiasticus," the annual value of the Manor of Wolborougch at the dissolution, amounted to £49 18s. 3|d., derived from "Eedditus assisi de liberis tenentibus, convencionoriis tenentibus, terrarum, barton, cum firma molendini, et redditihus domtis marcati, infra hurgum de Nuton, per annum £38 Is. 8d." " De finibus terrarum vendicione bosci, cum perquisitis curie et aliis proficuis communibus annis £11 16s. 7^d." Out of this the bailiff of Wolborough, Thomas Barbor, received a salary of twenty shillings a year. The Manor of "Wolborough was soon afterwards sold to Sir Richard lleynell, a Cadet of the House of Ogwell. Upon August 2nd, 1537, Thomas Yard of Bi-adley, Esq., became the purchaser of the Manor and Borough of Newton Abbot, the annual value of which amounted to £10 17s. 7^d., derived from "Eedditus assisi de liberis burgensihus, ibidem per annum £7 2s. 9^d. De perquisitis curie et aliis proficuis ibidem communi- bus annis £3 14s. lOd. The Borough Charter for Newton 102 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Abbot, appears to have been granted by King Henry III, in the year 1270, the deed according to Stirling, was in 1830 in possession of the late Rev. R, Lane.' It has been recently suggested in two papers, read before the Members of the " Devonshire Association," "that Newton Bushel and Newton Abbot, were originally included in one Manor, and that that Manor was the ' Newentone ' of Domesday," The author of these papers admits, "that it is remarkable, that Newton Abbot,^ is known by a name which did not become appropriate to it until 1196, and Newton Bushel by a name which did not apply to it before 1261," and the circumstance "that Newton Bushel with Teignwick is in Teignbridge hun- dred, and Newton Abbot with Wolborough is in Haytor hundred," he considers points to a very early severance of the properties. I find nothing to support this suggestion. There are three ancient Manors written " Newentone," in Domesday, and these correspond with the three modern ones known as Newton St. Cyres, Newton Ferrers, and Newton Tracy, whilst the Manor written " Nietone " in Domesday, and which formerly belonged to the Monks of Bodmin, is that which is now called Newton St. Petrock. That portion of Wolborough Manor, now called Newton Abbot, was originally known as '' Scirburn," by its Saxon owners, and being intei-preted, signified the "clear brook," a name evidently given to it in allusion to its situation on the southern bank of the little Loman or Lemon. It may have been the " Siredone, or Sirebone," of the Exchequer Domesday, which at the Conquest, as in the 1 Stirling's " History of Newton," 1830. * Trans. Dev. Asson., vol. xvi, 435, vol. xviii, 219. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGU. 10$ Confessor's time, was held by Aluric, the King's Thane ; but in any case it must have been appendant to Wol- borough, because, although, not mentioned by name, it is included in the gift of the whole vill, or Manor of Wolborough, by William, Lord Briwere, to the Monks of Tor. It is shown also by the pleadings, in the suit of the " Abbot V. the Burgesses of Newton," that the latter was " parcel of the Manor of Wolborough." Newton Abbot is occasionally mentioned in early deeds connected with the Abbey, but is invariably described, not as Newton, but as " Nova Villa," or New Town, and there can be little doubt, but that it acquired this desig- nation during the first quarter of the thu'teenth century, when the enterprise of its clerical owners had enlarged it with more important dwellings, and had procured the ad- vantages of a weekly market and an annual fair, for this little hamlet which had hitherto consisted of a few scattei-ed cottages surrounding the Manor Mill upon the south bank of the " Scirburn," or " Limen stream." It then became the Neiv Town of the Abbot at " Scir- burn," and the market is actually described as being situated in his Lordship's Manor of " Schireborne Nywe- ton ; " similarly, that portion of the Manor of Bradley, situated upon the north bank of the same stream, when it came a few years later into the hands of Robert de Bussel, soon became covered with houses, and known as- Nova Villa de Bussel, or Newton Bushel. 104 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XX.— PART II. The Parish of Wolborough — The Lay Lords OF THE Manor, The co-heirs of John Gaverocke, sold the Manor of Wolborough, to Sir Richard Reynell, Kt., of the Middle Temple, and Autumn Reader there in the 12th year of the reign of James I. Sir Richard, who held an office in the Exchequer, is said to have amassed great wealth, and he probably purchased this property on account of its propinquity to his father's house, at Ogwell, where he had been born and reared. The Reynells were originally a Somersetshii-e family, but removed to Cambridgeshire at an early date, when they acquired much land in the latter county by marriage with Maud, daughter and heir of Everard de TruQipmgton. In the reign of Richard II, however, Walter Reynell (son of Walter of Battington, co. Cambridge, by his wife Joan, daughter and heu' of John Bassingbourne), married Margaret (daughter and heir of William Strighull, or Style, by his wife Elizabeth, or Constance, daughter and heir of Galfrid Malston of Malston, in the parish of Sherford), and in right of his wife, Walter Rejmell, at his death in 1384, was found seised of the Manors of East Ogwell, !Malston, and other property in this county. His son, Stephen, liy his wife Agnes Chichester, had three sons, and a daughter, Alice Trevylian. PARISH OF WOLBOROUOH. 105 Walter, the second son, his elder brother Robert dying without offspring, inherited the estates. He distinguished himself greatly in the French Wars, Avas present at the battle of Agincourt, October 25th, 1415, and was sub- sequently Governor of Calais. He represented Devonshire in Parliament in 1455, and died in 1475. He had mar- ried, about the year 1411, Joan, daughter of WilHam Walrond of Bradfield, and had two sons, Walter, who died without issue, and Robert, who succeeded to the property, also three daughters, Eleanor, Strechleigh (whose second husband was William Fowel of Fowelscombe), Mary Champernowne, and Joan, whose arms with those of her husband, Pyne of Uj^ton Pyne, are still to be seen on the capital of one of the pillars of the south aisle of the parish Church there. Robert Reyuell, married Thomasine Hache of Wolley, and their son Walter, by his wife Radegunde, third daughter of Philip Coplestone of Coplestone, had four sons, John, Thomas, Nicholas, and Edward ; and two daughters, Margaret, who married first, Richard Sake, a Yeoman of the Gviard, and afterwards John Champion, and Joan (Huckmore), whose second husband was Pry of Colebrook. Walter Reynell, bequeathed Ogwell to his eldest son John, but gave Malston to Thomas his second son, who married Cicely, daughter of Edmond Mathewe. His eldest' gi-andson, Edmund, had a second son also called Edmvmd, who married Mary, daughter of Hugh Fortes- cue, and went over to Ireland and was the ancestor of the Reynells of Castle Reynell, co. Westmeath. His fourth grandson, Richard, was of Greedy Wiger, p 106 DEVOID SHI RE PARISHES. in the parish of Upton Helhons, and married Mary, daughter and co-heir of John Periam of Exeter and Sho- brooke. John Reynell of Ogwell (eldest son of Walter, and Radegunde Coplestone), married Margaret, daughter of William Fortescue of Wood, and had issue, Walter, who died s.p. Richard of East Ogwell, Roger, and John ; and two daughters. Emma, %vife of WiUiam Wivell of Crediton, and Alice, who married her neighbour Wilham Soper of Woodland. John the fom-th son, born 1524, was the ancestor of the Reynells of Newton Abbot, who contmued to reside there until the death of the Rev. John Reynell in the year 1800. Richard, second but eldest surviving son, mar- ried Agnes, daughter of John Southcote of Indhio, in the parish of Bovey Tracy. Prince has included him amongst his Devonshire Worthies, and remarks "This Richard left beliind him five sons, whereof three are knights." (" Four," he says in a marginal note, "it should have been, unless one of them might be knighted after the writing hereof") — " All which sons, even from their infancy, he ever with godly care, and great charge maintained in the schools of vertue and learning, viz., at the Universities, Inns of Court, then- princes Court, travels into Germany, France, Italy, &c. AU which sons being vertuously dis- posed are at this day serviceable in some good degree or other to the Kings Majesty and their country." With reference to Prince's marginal note, I should explain that he had obtained his mformation, as he admits, " from a manuscript, in a sheet of paper I received from the very hopeful young gentleman, the present heir of the family, Richard Reynell, Esq., entituled " a particular, touch- PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 107 ing the name, inheritance and antient descents of the Reynells." The family consisted, as Prince says, of five sons : — 1, Sir Thomas Reynell, Knt. ; 2, Josias Reynell, who died s.p. ; 3, Sir Richard Reynell of Ford ; 4, Sir George Rey- nell, Marshal of the King's Bench, who married twice, and was the ancestor of the Reynells of Rivershill, co. Hants. (His eldest son, Carew Reynell, was of Exeter College, Oxford, b.a. 1617, and his third son, Richard, was of the same College, 1 627). 5, Sir Carew Reynell, who was Cupbearer to Queen Elizabeth, and married the daughter and heir of Sir Francis Hungerford. There was also a daughter Margaret, who was first the wife of Arthur Fowel of Fowelscombe, and afterwards married Sir Ed- mmid Prideaux, Bart. Sir Thomas Reynell the eldest son, received the honour of knighthood, at the Coronation of King James I. He built the present residence at West Ogwell, which has however been more than once altered and added to, in 1589. He was twice married. By his first wife, Francis, daughter of John Aylworth of Polsloe, near Exeter, he had three sons, Richard, Thomas, and Walter, and five daughters, Jane, Francis who married Vaughan, Agnes, Lucy who married Welch, and Mary. The marriage license of Valentine Pomeroy of Binley, with Jane, the eldest daughter, is dated 23rd January, 1615, and that of John Thimbell of the University of Oxford, with Agnes, the third daughter, 15th August, 1620/ Mary, the youngest daughter, was first the wife of Dean Goodwin 1 " Episcopal Kegisters." 108 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. of Christ Cbui'ch, Oxford, and afterwards of Dr. John Prideaux, Bishop of Worcester. Of the sons — Thomas, the second, was Sei-ver-in-Ordi- nary to King Charles I, and I shall have occasion to refer to him again. He married a daughter of Sir Henry Spillar, and had two sons, Thomas Reynell of Lalebam, and Henry Reynell of Shepperton, both in co. ]\liddlesex. The grand- daughter and heir of the latter, Hester Caroline, married the Rev. David Williams, who assumed the name and arms of his wife's family. Sir Thomas Reynell, by his second mamage with Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Killi- grew, and relict of Sir Jonathan Trelawney, had one son, Edward, who, Prince says, " was in the seventeenth year of his age or thereabout, sent to Oxford, and admitted Fellow Commoner of Exeter College, on the 30th May, 1629, where he continued some years under the care of a noted tutor — I suppose his brother-in-law, the famous Dr. Prideaux, the Rector, who had married that vertuous gentlewoman, his sister, Mrs. Mary Reynell." The caution book of Exeter College, transcribed in 1639, from an older book, begins with this entry — " 1629, Mali 30. (Tradita) Magistro Bodley bursario £6 pro Edvardo Reynell, ad mensam sociorum admisso per dominum Rectorem, J° Prideaux, Rector, Laur. Bodley burs." " Julii 21, 1632, (Reddita) Magistro Gulielmo Hodges £6 pro Edvardo Reynell socio commensali, Guil. Hodges, Edv. Reynell.'" Edward Reynell appears to have first followed the law as a profession, and was a member of the Middle Temple. 1 " Keg. CoU., Exon.," Boase, 63. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 109 He was afterwards ordained, and became Rector of Ogwell. He was the author of several works, including the life and death of his Aunt Lucy, Lady Reynell, published in small 8vo. A list of his writings may be found in Wood's "Athena? Oxonienses," and also in Prince. The latter author tells us that he was never married, and much ad- dicted to melancholy, and that he ultimately terminated his existence, by suffocating himself in a small bason of water, at the parsonage house of East OgweU, in the year 1063. Sir Richard Reynell, the eldest son, was knighted at Ford House, by King Charles I, 15th September, 1625. He married his kinswoman, Mary, daughter and even- tually co-heir of Richard Reynell of Greedy Wiger, and of his wife, Mary Periam, and their marriage license is dated 10th January, 1616. He died, 10th February, 1684, aged 64, and left issue, Thomas Reynell, eldest son, Sir Richard Reynell, second son, and two daughters, Mary (Huckmore) and Elizabeth. Sir Richard, the second son, was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and was created a Baronet of that King'dom in 1678, and represented Ashbui'ton, in Parliament in 1689-90. His son. Sir Richard, second Baronet, married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Reynell of Lale- ham, and grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Reynell, Server- in- Ordinary to Charles I. He was the ancestor of Major. General Sir Thomas Reynell, sixth Baronet, K.C.B., who commanded the 71st Regiment at the battle of Waterloo, and at whose death the baronetcy expired. I should have mentioned that Sir Richard Reynell, buUt the north aisle of East Ogwell Church, which communi- 110 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. cates with the nave of that structure by four obtuse arches, and to which vanous dates have been ascribed. The note of the license in Bishop Hall's Register, is as follows : — " 2nd May, 1632. Dominus Episcoi^us in Palatio suo Exon. concessit venerabili viro domino Ricardo Eeynell, de Ogewill militi, licenciam pro edificatione Insule adja- centis ecclesiae de East Ogwell." Sir Richard's eldest son, Thomas, succeeded him at Ogwell, in 1G48. He was born in 1624, and frequently represented the neighbouring Borough of Ashburton in Parliament from 1658 to 1688. He was High Sheriff of this county in 1G77, and appears to have been a very active Magistrate, and especially between the years 1653 and 1657, during which years marriages were required by ParUament to be performed before a Justice of the Peace ; his signature is then constantly to be met with in the Register books of Ashburton and the neighbouring parishes for many miles round. He was of Exeter College, Oxford in 1640. He was twice married, first, to Mary, daughter of John Bennet, by whom he had two daughters, EUzabeth, the wife of James Coplestone, and Mary, who married John Whitrow of Dartmouth. By his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Gould and relict of William Vincent, he had two sons, Richard, his successor, and Thomas, who is sup- posed to have died without issue, and another daughter, Anne, who married Sir "William Morice of Werrington. He died in March, 1698. His eldest son, Richard, who was M.P. for Ashburton, 1702-1710, never married, and died in 1735, when he left the Ogwell estates to his PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. Ill niece, Tlebecca Witrow, who brought them to her husband, Joseph Taylor of Denbiiry. To their son, Thomas Taylor, the Bishop of Exeter, 22nd January, 1734, confirmed an aisle in the church of Denbury, and also granted him a license to erect a monument in the same church to the memory of his father, Joseph Taylor, and to make a cave or vault there, and he had also permission to construct a gallery and four seats there for the use of the parishioners.^ He married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Adam Pierce, and had issue, Pierce Joseph Taylor of "West Og- well, who by his wife, Charlotte, fifth daughter of the Rev. Wilham Cooke, Dean of Ely, and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, had a son, Thomas William Taylor, born 13th July, 1782, He was a Major-General in the Army, Companion of the Bath, Colonel of the 17th Lancers, and Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military College, at Sandhurst. He married Anne Harvey, daughter of John Petrie of Gatton, Surrey, and left issue. Pierce Gil- bert Edward Taylor, late of West Ogwell House, Arthur Joseph Taylor, Fitz- William Taylor, the present respected Rector of East and West Ogwell, and Arch.-Priest of Hac- combe, and the late Major-General Reynell Taylor, j.p., who died at Newton Abbot. This fine old property has now ]3assed out of the hands of the descendants of its ancient owners, since it was sold some few years ago to Mr. Daniel Robert Scratton, j.p., and D.L. for Essex, and j.p. for Devon, who now resides at West Ogwell. I must now return to Sir Richard Reynell, who after he had amassed a fortune in London, came back to his ^ " Epis. Kegisters." 112 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. native county to spend it, like many a true sou of Devon has done, both before, and since the time in which he live. The opportunity of acquiring property so closely situated, not only to the home of his fathers, but to his maternal relatives as well, for his mother was, as I have said, a daughter of the house of Indhio, in the neighbour- ing parish of Bovey Tracy, must have been singularly attractive to him, and it is considered that he built the " fair house at Ford," in the year 1610. I say considered) because there appears to me to be a strong probability that he only altered and added to a previous residence upon the same site, and' it is shown by an indenture dated 40 EUzabeth, 20th December (1597), that a certain "John Drewe, Gentleman," had previously lived there, since, in this deed he is described as of Ford.^ The present house, is anything but a mansion, according to the modern acceptation of the term, but it is a large and comfort- able dwelling, standing In a pleasant lawn on the banks of the river AUer and near the foot of Milbourne Do%vn. It has five ornamented Elizabethan gables, and the wings and porch project slightly from the main biiilding, thus forming the letter E. There are thirteen windows in the front, all muUioned and divided by transoms, and the string course has been diverted to foim label weather mouldings over the lights in the upper story of the porch and winos. The entrance is in front and leads into an ordinary sized hall and the dining room on the same floor has a handsome mantle-piece, a finely moulded ceiling, and a recess for the sideboard supported by four classical pillars. The staircase is broad and convenient, the draw- 1 Wolborourrh Feoffee Deeds. PARISH OF WOLBOROUOH. 113 ing room has an arched ceiling, springing from moulded figures and is ornamented with foliage ; over the front windows of this room are the arms of Waller, impaled with Reynell. The chamber in which the Prince of Orange is said to have slept, is still, I believe, known as the " Orange room." Here Sir Richard Reynell had the distinguished honour of twice receivinof his Sovereisfn King: Charles I. It was on the 15th September, 1625, in the first year of his reign, that his Majesty, then on his way to Plymouth, arrived at Newton Abbot. The king came from Crewkerne where he had passed the previous night, and avoiding Exeter on account of the plague which was then rife there, crossed the river below that city, probably at Maddeford, and made straight for Powder ham, where he was met by the High Sherifi" of the County, Sir Simon Leach. His suite consisted of the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Derby, Lord Holland, Sir Robert Killegrew, and the Lords Esses and Arundell, together with several others of his house- hold, and amongst them his Server-in-Ordinary, Thomas Reynell, younger brother of the then "Squire" of Ogweil, and a nephew of Sir Richard's. Great preparations had of course been made for the proper reception of Royalty, and the neighbouring gentry appear to have sent in contributions of fish, flesh, and fowl, with a very liberal hand. The complete list of the bucks, does, sheep, fowls, salmon, partridges, pheasants, and quails, which must have filled the Ford larder to repletion, has been already copied from " Chappie's Col- lections," re-printed by the authors of the " Magna Britannia," and has since appeared in the small history Q 114 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. of Newton, published by Stirling in 1830, and more re- cently in the "Transactions"' of the Devon Association, so I need not reproduce it here. King Charles arrived at Ford, on Wednesday evening. On the Thursday after dinner he conferred the honour of knighthood upon his host's nephew the " Squire of Ogwell," Richard Reynell, and upon his brother Tliomas, who was one of his Ser- vers-in-Ordinary/ and said to each of them " God give you joye," which words he subsequently repeated to their wives, whom he affectionately kissed before his departure for Plymouth. At the same time His Majesty knighted John, son of Walter Yonge of Upton Hellions, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Strode of Newnham, and whose mother was Jane, daughter and co- heir of the Lord Chief Baron John Periam. His ancestor, Walter Young of Bassildon, co. Berks, had been fined, first of Queen Mary, for not accepting the above distinc- tion. The expense of this grand entertainment cost Sir Richard Reynell, £28 13s. 5d. The King must have been accompanied by a considerable retinue as, in addition to the Lords and Gentlemen-in- waiting, whose names I have given, it is shown by the accounts of the Plymouth Corporation,* that when he arrived at the latter town he was attended by — His Gentlemen Ushera in daily waiting. Gentlemen Ushers of the Privy Chamber. Serjeants at Arms. Knight Harbinger. * " Transactions Devon Association," x, 233. 2 Sir Eic. W. Keynell's Diary. 3 " Transactions Devon Association," x, 234. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 115 Knight Marshal. Gentlemen Ushers quarter waiters. Servers of the Chamber. Yeomen Ushers. Grooms and Pages. Footmen. Four Yeomen. Gate Porters. Serjeant Trumpeter. Trumpeters. Surveyor of Ways (a very necessary officer at this period to such an expedition). Yeomen of the Fields. The Coachman. Yeomen Harbingers. A Jester. On Saturday the 24th of the same month, the King returned to Ford, and was again hospitably entertained by its loyal owner at an expense of £55 5b. The pro- visions for the entertainment were on the same elaborate scale as before and included : two hogsheads of beer, one barrel of Canary, and thirty-five quarts of white wine. "Barnacles, larks, sea-pyes, and gulls," were amongst the contributions to the feast from the neighbours. On Sun- day the King attended divine service at Wolborough Church, and, says Sir Richard Reynell in his diary, " At my unkell's suite cured a child which was troubled with the king's evil." On the following day His Majesty took his departure, and returned to Mr. Pawlet's house at Hinton, near Crewkerne. Sir Richard Reynell, married Lucy, daughter of Robert IIG DEVONSHIRE PARISHE.1 Brandon, Chamberlain of the City of London, and died 24th Januaiy, 1633, aged *77. His wife, who founded the pleasant houses at the bottom of Church Hill, for the widows of four clergymen of the diocese, survived him until 1652. Her life was afterwards written by her husband's nephew, the Rev. Edward Reynell, Rector of East Ogwell, as I have already remarked. Sir Richard and Lady Reynell, had an only daughter, Jane, who died in the same year as her father. May 1633, and was buried at "Wolborough. She was the first wife of the celebrated Parliamentary General, Sir William Waller, and had issue by him two sons, viz., Richard, baptised in Exeter Cathedral, 28th October, 1630, who died without issue ; John, who died in infancy, in the parish of St. Bride, Fleet Street, London, and was in- terred with his mother at Wolborough ; and a daughter, j\Iargaret, who ultimately inherited Ford, and was the direct ancestress of the present Earl of Devon. Sir William Waller frequently resided at Newton with his wife's relatives, and is described as of Ford, three years before his father-in-law's death, 10th July, 1630, when he became one of the feoffees of the Wolborough parish lands. The parish documents also show that he buQt a new market house at Newton Abbot 1634, and he afterwards engaged in litigation with William Yarde of Bradley, as to the ownership of the said market, which, it will be noticed, appears to have been included in the Manor of Wolborough, which was purchased of the Crown by John Gaverocke ; and there is no mention of it in the particulars of that portion of the property situated at Newton Abbot which was subsequently acquired by Mr. Yarde. How- PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 117 ever, it was ultimately determined that the market did really belong to Mr. Yarde, and Sir William had to re- nounce his claun to it and to pay the costs of the action, and he says in his " Recollections," " My endeavours to supplant Mr. Yarde in his possession of the market of Newton Abbot, though upon a dormant title, yet proceed- ing from a covetous end, was justly punished by the loss of the thing sued for, and in all that befell me in the King's Bench." Sir William who was born in 1597, was like the poet of the same name, descended from the ancient family of the Wallers of Spendhurst, co. Kent. He was educated at Magdalen College and Hart's Hall, Oxon., and after- wards went to Paris. He commenced his military career in the service of the Confederate Princes against the Em- peror, and upon his return to England he received the honour of knighthood. Shortly afterwards he married Miss Reynell of Ford, and became strenuous in his opposi- tion to the Court. He appears to have had a violent quarrel with his wife's first cousin, Sir Thomas Reynell, who was, as I have already stated " Server-in-Ordinary " to the King, or as Lord Clarendon describes him, " one who had the honour to be a menial servant to the Kino- m a place near his person : which in that time was attended with privilege and respect from all men. These two gentlemen discoursing with some warmth together, Sir William Waller received such provocation from the other, that he struck him a blow over the face, so near the gate of Westminster Hall, that there were witnesses who swore ' that it was in the Hall itself,' the Courts beincr then sitting." ^ For striking a blow within the precincts ^ Clarendon, iv, 113. 118 DEVONSHIRE PAEISHES. of the Court, Sir William was thi'own into the " Star Chamber " and heavily fined, a large proportion of the fine being given to his adversary. This made him so angry that he is said to have thrown in his lot with the Presbyterians whilst rankling under a sense of injustice, and having been returned to the Long Parliament, as member for Andover, he opposed the demands of the King by every means in his power, and upon the com- mencement of hostilities, accepted the position of second in command of the Parhamentary army, under the Earl of Essex. He obtained several signal successes in the West of England, but was afterwards defeated at Pound- away Down, near Devizes, and at Cropready Bridge, in Oxfordshire. He was considered one of the great sup- ports of the Presbyterian party, and was one of the eleven members impeached of high treason by the army, and was finally expelled the house and committed to prison. On the Restoration, he was again returned to Parliament as one of the representatives for Middlesex, but he did not take much further interest in public matters. He married a second time and left a son called after him, "who was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, was after- T\-ards knighted, became a Justice of the Peace for county Middlesex and member of Parliament for Oxford. He, however, got himself into trouble with the ruHng powers, and being left out of the Commission of the Peace in 1680, he retired to Holland and did not return to this country until the advent of William of Orange. Sir William Waller, the elder died at his seat, Ostei'ley Park, Middlesex, 19th September, 1668, aged 71. He was buried 9th October, in the middle of the chancel, or PARISH OF WOLBOROUOH. 119 in the upper part of the nave of the chapel in Tuttle Street, Westminster.' The assistance of the Heralds at his obsequies appears to have been dispensed with, and, perhaps to save expense the services of an heraldic painter were retained instead, who is said to have provided a hel- met and banner, the former with a wrong crest, which were duly suspended over the grave, but shortly after- wards, these were taken down, defaced and thrown aside by the authority of the Officers of the College of Arms, who at that period were accustomed to exercise the power with which they were entrusted in order to prevent the assumption of improper armorial healings. Wood says, that his first wife, Jane Eeynell, "dying at Bath, was buried in the south transept of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul there; over whose grave is a very fair monu- ment erected and thereon the statues of her and her husband lying at length." Dr. Oliver also, tells us that Lady Waller was buried in Bath Abbey. It w-ould appear however from the memorial inscription, that her body was subsequently removed to Wolborough. Her daughter Margaret, succeeded to Ford and to the other property at Newton. The house during the rebellion had experienced all the horrors of Civil War and had been three times taken by either party, until it was finally captured by Sir Thomas Fairfax ; it must have been a sad time for poor " Dame Lucy Reynell," who must have been the sorrowful witness of all these troubles as she survived her husband Sir Richard for nearly twenty years, and her death did not take place until 1652. Margaret Waller, brought Ford and the rest of her pro- 1 Wood. 120 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. perty at Wolborough to lier husband, Sur William Cour- tenay, eighth of that name at Powderham. Sir William was created a Baronet in 1644, but disdained the title, and could never be persuaded to take out his patent. He was invariably so styled however in the various Com- missions sent him by the King. His wife Margaret, brought him nineteen children, and died January 19th, 1693. Sir William survived until the 4th August, 1702, when he expired in the 74th year of his age. It was in his time that Ford House was again rendered memorable by the visit in 1688 of the Prince of Orange, on the 7th of November in that year. Upon this occasion, there was a marked difference in the hospitality and rejoicing which had been accorded at the previous Royal visit. The Prince found no one to receive him excepting the ser- vants, for Sir William was naturally anxious to avoid compromising himself, but he had given directions as to the provision of suitable accommodation for his august but vmwelcome guest. The Prince slept at Ford on that night, and the next morning, somewhat to the relief of the inhabitants, left for Chudleigh en route for Exeter. Sir William Courtenay's eldest son, Francis, had died in his lifetime, he was therefore succeeded in the title and estates, by his grandson. Sir William Courtenay, second Baronet. Sir William, who was M.P. for the county of Devon, married in 1704, Lady Anne Bertie, daughter of James, first Earl of Abingdon, and died in 1736. He had issue five sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his third, but eldest surviving son, William Courtenay. Sir William Courtenay, the third Baronet, who bad been born in 1710 ; married in April, 1741, PARISH OF WOLBOROUQH. " 121 Lady Frances Finch, daughter of Heneage, second Earl of Aylesford. Upon the Gth May, 1762, he was created Viscount Courtenay of Powderham Castle, and died ten days subsequently to his elevation to the peerage. He was succeeded as second Lord Courtenay by his only sou, William Courtenay, born 30th August, 1742, who married Frances, daughter of Thomas Clack of Wallingford, Berks. This marriage, according to the various peerages, was solemnized 7th May, 17G2, but the licence granted by the Bishop of Exeter is dated 17th December, 1763. By this marriage, Lord Cour- tenay, had an only son, William, born 30th July, 1768, and thirteen daughters. Lady Courtenay, died December 14th, 1778. William, third Viscount, succeeded to the title upon the death of his father, 14th December, 1788. His Lord- ship was the direct lineal descendant of Hugh, Earl of Devon, and Margaret, his wife, grand- daughter of Ed- ward I ; on the 15th March, 1831, a petition which he had presented to the House of Lords, was decided in his favour, and by it he established his rights to the third Earldom of Devon, which had been created by Queen Mary, 3rd September, 1563, in favour of Edward Cour- tenay (son of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter, who had been beheaded 9th January, 1539), "to hold to him and his heirs male for ever." Edward Courtenay, died unmarried at Padua, 4th Octo- ber, 1566, and the earldom had thus remained dormant for the long period of two hundred and sixty-five years. The new Earl of Devon never married. Upon his death 26th May, 1835, the Viscounty of Courtenay became 122 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. extinct and the earldom, together with the baronetcy, devolved upon his second cousin, William Courtenay. WUliam Courtenay, who thus succeeded his kinsman, as eleventh Earl of Devon of the name, and third of the creation of Queen Mary, was the son of the Right Rev. Henry Reginald Courtenay, Lord Bishop of Exeter, and of Lady Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Ho's^-ard, second Earl of Effingham, and grandson of Henry Reginald Courtenay, M.P., who married Catherine, daughter of Alexander, first Earl Bathhurst, who was the second surviving son of Sir William Courtenay, second Baronet, and younger brother of the first Viscomit Cour- tenay of Powderham. His Lordship who was born 19th June, 1777, was Clerk Assistant to the Parliament previously to his succession to the title. He was High Steward of the University of Oxford and held various other offices. He mamed, first, 29th November, 1804, Lady Harriet Leslie, daughter of Sir Lucas Pepys, Baronet, by Jane Elizabeth, Countess of Rothes. She died IGth December, 1839; and his Lord- ship married, secondly, 30th Januar}^, 1849, Elizabeth Ruth, daughter of the late Rev. John Middleton Scott, and niece of the Earl of Meeth. His Lordship who died 19th March, 1859, had by his fii'st wife thi'ee sons and a daughter, and was succeeded by his eldest son, William Reginald, the present highly respected and popular Earl of Devon, of Powderham Castle and Ford House, and Lord of the Manor of Wolborough. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 123 CHAPTER XVII.— PART III. The History of "Wolborough. — The Parish Church. The Parish Church of Wolborough, dedicated to St. Mary, is situated upon an eminence about three quarters of a mile south- vest of the Market Cross of Newton Abbot. Fronr the neatly kept churchyard, which is approached by an embattled lych gate, a magnificent view of the surrounding country may be obtained. The sacred structure is lofty and well proportioned, and is altogether a good example of the architecture of the four- teenth century in which it appears to have been either rebuilt or to have received very extensive alterations and repairs. It has of late years been carefully restored by the exertions of the present Rector, aided by the active co-operation and assistance of the Earl of Devon, the patron of the living. It consists of a nave separated fi-om north and south aisles by an arcade of six bays, supported upon clustered Perpendicular piers with the capitals car- ved in foliage, two shallow transepts on either side, both screened by parcloses, a south porch and a tower at the western end containing four bells. The circular font of fine red gritstone with its cable and chevron moulding is of Norman date, and appears to be the only relic of the original church now remaining at r^ ^ ■ 124 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Wolborougli. Thi'ee of the ancient bells have curious inscriptions in Latin, one of them " Sum rosa pulsata mundi Katerina vocata." This bell has also a shield of arms which may be blazoned as a chevron between three laver pots, the arms of the Guild of Bell founders. Another is inscribed " In diu celorura Xre Placiat tibi Eex sonus iste " — and the third, " Protege Prece Pia quos convoco San eta Maria." There was once another smaller bell, I have heard, which was removed to St. Leonard's Chapel and broken by clocking. The chancel which is twenty feet in breadth is perhaps earlier than the rest of the present fabric. The priest's door remains on the south side, and thei'e is also a square headed piscina with a handsome ogee arch and trefoils in the spandrils. The reredos is of modern construction but of Third Pointed character, it was erected in 1833 at a cost of £70. An organ chamber and a new vestry were erected on the south side of this chancel in 1881. There are north and south chancel chapels, both screened by parcloses. In the latter may be seen a tomb under an obtuse arch with tlie inscription " Orate pro anima Will™ Ba(]cull ?) obiit vi die August! A" d'ni MDXVIII." This tomb is in the founder's place ; on the eastern end of the exterior of this aisle are the figures MDXVI, which would seem to show that it was rebuilt in the year 1516 ; but Dr. Oliver assumes, without alleging any reason that the date is in- tended to mean 1546." There was a family called Balcull, resident at Wolborougli in the fifteenth century, and amongst the parish documents I have found the name of 1 "Ecc. Ant.,"i, US. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 125 Thomas BalcuU, attached to a lease dated 22nd October, 1498. Dui'ing the constniction of the new organ chamber, a fine example of an hagioscope (an opening originally pro- vided to enable the worshippers in the aisle to command a view of the altar), -was discovered and laid open. There is also an aspersorium, or holy water stoup remaining on the south-western side of the porch. The beautiful screen which extends across the nave and aisles, has a delicately carved cornice of vine leaves and grapes, and four taber- nacles, or I'ecesses, from which the images have been re- moved, adorned with crockets and finials. It has of late years been carefully restored and is rich with chromatic decoration and gilding. The panels in the lower portion are filled with the figures of Apostles, Saints and Mar- tyrs, each with the emblems by which they are usually distinguished, and I have been therefore able to easily identify most of them. Some of them, however, have become so much obliterated as to render them quite un- recognizable, and in a few instances, they have entirely disappeared, but this is scarcely to be wondered at when it is considered that they were all for many years con- cealed beneath a coating of common house paint, which it "was found very difiicult to remove without destroying the original colour beneath it. Across the Church from north to south, there are thirty- six compartments : — 1. A Bishop, with pastoral staff. 2. St. Aidan, Bishop and Confessor, with his crosier. 3. St. Gertrude, Abbess, with a loaf. 4. St. Ursula, Virgin and Martp*. Holding an aiTOw and surrounded with smaller figures. 126 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. 5. St. Wulfstan, Bishop and Confessor. 6. St. Sidwell, with her scythe. 7. St. Catherine, with her sword and trampUng on an mfidel. 8. St. Dorothy, with basket of flowers. 9. Sir John Shorne, with the boot (will be referred to subsequently). 10. St. Honorius, with a baker's shovel ) 11. St. Cosmo, with pestle and mortar. ) 12. St. Damien (both physicians). 13. St. Julian. 14. St. Irena3us, with crosier and book. 15. Isaac, with the bundle of wood, according to parochial tradition. It appears to me however to much more j)robably represent St. Faith, Virgin and Martyr, whose usual emblem was a bundle of rods. IG, A figure holding a knife. Doubtless intended for Abraham, but the figm-es in both these compartments have been re-painted. 17. Bishop. 18. Bishop. 19. Abbot. 20. Priest, with tonsure. These four panels have also been re-painted, they are on the central doors and the figures were intended for the four doctors of the western Church, who are usually found in this position, viz., St. Jerome, habited as a Cardinal ; St. Gregory, with the triple crown as Pope; St. Ambrose, as a Bishop ; St. Augustine, as a Monk, 21. St. Appollonia, with the tooth. 22. St. Loys, with a hammer. \ PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 127 23. St. Edward, King and Confessor. 24. St. Hugh, Bishop and Confessor. 25. A figure giving the Benediction. 26. A figure in profile, with book. 27. St. Damien repeated, with bottle. 28. Probably St. Cosmo repeated, as the Saints are usually found together. It has been usually considered, however, to be intended for Moses, with the tables of the law. 29. 30. 31. St. Barbara, with her tower. 32. St. Helena, with the Latin cross. 33. A female figure, with palm branch. 1 both 34. A female figure, with sceptre. ) re-painted. 35. St. Veronica, with the Sudorium. 36. No. 33 may be intended for St. Anastasia, and No. 34 for the figure of the Blessed Virgin. The parcloses separating the chancel chapels and the two transepts are of the same character as the screen. The lower portion of the latter on the south side is divided into fifteen compartments. South transept — east to west. 1. St. Jerome. 2. St. Ambrose. 3. A figure in a red cloak. 4. A figure, with two swords. 5. A figure, with a blue book. 128 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. \ The Annunciation, as shown by the almond jtree, which is flourishing in a pot. 9, 10. St. Koche. The figures have been re-painted, the three last have been prepared only for this operation and the originals are very indistinct. 11. 12. 13. Figure with a banner, thereon a Maltese cross. 14. Figure of a Bishop. 15. Figure with legs locked together — (St. Leonard). North transept — east to west. 1. St. James the Greater, with staff and book. 2. St. Stephen, with stones in his chasuble. 3. St. Paul, with the sword. 4. St. Bartholomew, with the flaying knife. 5. St. Andrew, with the saltire. 6. ^ St. Peter? ( 7. /St. John ? < These figures have been obliterated. 8. ) St. Thomas ? i 9. St. Jude, with a club. 10. St. Philip, with the spear. 11. St. Matthew, with a square. 12. St. Simon, with a saw. 13. Figure of a Bishop, crosier turned outwards. 14. 15. Figure of a Bishop, as above. 16. St. James-the-Less, with long cross and book. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 129 All the figures on this parclose are quite in their original condition, and have neither been re-touched or re-painted and this makes them the most interesting of the series. Some of these figures are seldom to be found elsewhere. I would instance the representation of Sir John Shorne, on the ninth panel of the nave screen. " Sir " was a title frequently given to such of the clergy as had not graduated at either of the Universities, " Sir " John Shorne was one of the uncanonised Saints and was prayed to in cases of ague. He was a very devout man and Rector of North-Marston in Buckinghamshire and he fiourished about the close of the thirteenth century, and consecrated a well to which multitudes of people at one time resorted. There is a legend respecting him some- thing similar to that related of St. Dunstan. He is said to have confined the " Devil " in a boot — and he is there- fore usually represented, as at Wolborough, holding a boot in his hand, out of which issues the head of his prisoner surrounded with flames of fire. His figure is shown on several screens in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, but I know of no other instance in Devonshire. There is also the representation of St. Gertrude, Virgin and Abbess, with her loaf (No. 3), and of St. Honorius, the Bishop, holding a baker's shovel (No. 10). Neither of the latter occur elsewhere in England 1 believe. I fancy that these figures were painted by the Monks of Tor, and as there were probably several foreigners in that com- munity, and many others of them doubtless came from distant counties, the singularity of several of the saints may be easily accounted for. The screen at Buckland-in- the-Moor which was also probably their work exhibits 130 DEVONSHIRE PAPISHES. some extraordinary paintings on its back, or eastern face, to which I have more than once drawn attention, but their signification I have never yet been able to explain quite satisfactorily. The brass eagle, used as a lectern is also of excellent workmanship, it is believed to have been concealed during the great rebellion upon Bovey Heath and to have been restored to its proper place In the Church when the war was ended. At its base are four sejant lions. Amongst the foliage on the cajjital of one of the piers immediately outside the chancel and upon its interior side, I noticed the figure of a pig, emblematic of the pollution of the world. On the respond, on the north side are two other animals, one apparently an ox, a symbol of St. Luke. The other, which has been much mutilated, is holding a shield. There is an ancient image recess in the north transept. There are four old paintings on panel of the four Evangelists, which for some years were placed on the top of the screen, still preserved in the Church. From the dress of the figures, I should imagine them to be of late seventeenth century date. St. John (with his eagle near him), is employed in writing his gospel. St. Matthew, with heavy grey hair, beard, and mous- tache, has the figure of an angel on the right hand, and is pointing to his gospel which is in front of him. St. Mark, has a lion's head close to him, on ths table at which he is writing. St. Luke, in half armour, is identified by the head of a black ox, which appears above his shoulder. PARISH OF WOLBOROUOH. 131 There are many remains of ancient glass in the various windows throughout the building. In the eastern win- dow, which is a Perpendicular of" five-lights, I noticed the armorials of Neville, quartering Montague, and impaling Monthermer ; and in the fifth light, the well-known coat of Godolphin — Gu. an eagle disjilayed with two necks, Or. A square window, which was originally over the priest's door, on the south side, contains the inscription : — " Orate pro omnibus benefactoribus, qui istam fenestram vitrari fecerunt." In consequence of the alteration and extension of the fabric to which I have already referred, the wall was removed, but the window was re-inserted in the new wall on the same side of the chancel in 1881. In the south wall, westward of the porch is a very interesting window, which was carefully restored in 1878. It well merits the attention of the antiquarian or herald. It appears to commemorate the founders and early bene- factors of the Church, since the first and sixth ligfhts contain shields charged with the monograms of Warren I'Ercedekne of Haccombe (son of John I'Ercedekue c. 1328), and of his wife, the daughter and co-heir of John Talbot. Second, the arms of Briwere or Bruere. Lord William Briwere was one of the earliest recorded benefactors of the Church of Wolborough (which appears to have been invariably served, before the Reformation, by a Canon from Tor. The only ' Curate ' met with in earlier times being Jno. Whitechurch, 14th February, 1449). Third, Lucy, impaling I'Ercedekne. Eleanor, eldest daughter of Warren I'Ercedekne, married Sir Walter Lucy and from them descended the Lords Vaux. 182 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Fourth, Arundell of Talvern, impaling TErcedekne, he having married the second daughter of Warren above- mentioned. Fifth, De Vere impaled with I'Ercedekne. De Vere was the husband of Philippa, the youngest daughter of Warren aforesaid. The foUomng are the blazons of these interesting coats — Bnivere, or Breioer, Gu. two bends wavy Or. Lucy, Gu. three Lucies haur. Arg. impaling Archdeacon, Arg. three chevrons Sa. De Vere, quarterly Gu. and Or., in first quarter a mullet Ai'g. imiDaling Archdeacon. On the opposite side of the Church, in the second win- dow from the western end of the building, are several other ancient shields, viz. : — Scrope, Az, a bend Or., a label of three points. Ccurtenay, Or. three torteaux, a label of three points Az. each charged with as many mullets. De Vere, as above, impaling Archdeacon. Beaumont, Barry vair and Gu , with Courtenay as above. In another window on the same side are j^resei-ved the arms of Yarcle of Bradley, Arg. a chevron Gu. between three water bougets Sa. ; and also those of Ferrers, Arg. on a bend Sa. three horse shoes of the field. In addition to these armorials, there are numerous frag- ments of ancient coloured glass, which will well repay careful inspection. Amongst these I particularly noticed, the eagle of St. John, with the words from the commence- ment of his gospel, " In principio erat verbura ; " a cross PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 133 calvary, with circlet of thorns ; " the Five wounds of Christ ; " the ox, emblematic of St. Luke ; SS. Cosmo and Daraien, as on the screen tivice repeated, the former with a bottle, the latter with long forceps ; St. Jude, with the club ; the angel of St. Matthew, twice repeated, and the head of St. Mary Magdalene, may be found in the north chancel chapel. Most of this glass, must have been in the original cliurch, as it is all of a date anterior to the sixteenth century. The huge erection over the vault of the Reynell family and which blocks a window on the north side of the chancel, is very handsome of its kind, but like similar tombs of the j)eriod at which it was constructed, it is sadly out of place in its present position. It is constructed of marble and alabaster, and is sur- mounted by an arch, springing from two massive Corinthian pillars, the interior of which is profusely covered with cherubs, their wings expanded, interspersed with knots and stars, all heavily gilded. In front of the arch are the arms of Reynell — Masonry Arg. and Sa., a chief in- dented of the last. Impaled with Brandon, Ar, two bars Gu., over all a lion ramp, queued Or, pellettee. Beynell Crest — On a mount vert a fox passant Or.' On either side of these arms are figures, holding a torch and a skull, and a torch and an hour-glass respectively. Beneath the arch, on a marble table are the effigies of Sir Richard and Lady Reynell, The knight is attired in the armour of the seventeenth century, and his wife in the ordinary costume of the same period. At their ^ This crest was derived from Striglndl. See Reynell Pedigree, ante. 134 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. heads, is a figure of Proserpine, and at tlieir feet, another of Saturn, with his scythe and hour glass. Beneath them, on a marble slab, is the full length image of their daughter Jane, Lady Waller, and on the ground, underneath, the infant figure of the latter's son John Reynell Waller, who died ia the parish of St. Bride, Fleet Street. The Latin inscription, much obliterated, states that the monument has been raised to the memory of Sir Richard Eeynell, Knight, of Ford, died January 24th, 1633, in the 77th year of his age, and of Lady Lucy Reynell, his dear wife, as well as Lady Jane, his daughter, lately wife of Sir William Waller, Knight, who died at Bath, 18th May, 1633, and now lies under this tomb. Also of John Reynell (Waller), their son who, dying in London an infant, was buried under this monument 1634. There are also several English inscriptions Ln rhyme, and the representation of two hands united : — " Friends you who read our names this counsel take, Which we beyng deed our living names do speak Care, learn, live and dye rich." " For the religious Lady Lucy Keynell, only wife of Sir Richaril Keynell, Knight, who left earth ontil the Resurrection day, April 18th, 1G52." Under this is another vei'se, the first letters of the lines forming her name. There are several modern memorial windows, which add much to the appearance of the sacred structure, and a few mural tablets ; amongst the latter, are two in the south aisle, for Thomas Babb, December 12th, 1810, set. 56 (he was Lieut.-Col. of the Haytor Regiment, of Volunteers) ; PARISH OF WOLBOROUOE. 135 for S. Babb, Lieutenant, R.N., and for his brother John Babb, Merchant, who were both lost at sea, March 6th 1817. There are also inscriptions on leger stones in the nave for Beardon, 1604-1 G27, and for Ann Trose, "Servant to the family at Ford nearly 50 years." In the north aisle, are buried, members of the Manning family, 1637-1673 ; John Beardon, 1638 ; Colcott, 1650; The Rev. John Reynell, Incumbent of Wolborough, 1698, and liis son Thomas, 1699. In the transept, lies Nathan Stode, 1670, and in the north chancel chapel, Bradford, 1793, Sloman, 1798, and Freke, 1789. In the south aisle, there are inscriptions for Mawry, 1605; Moore, 1663; Matthew, 1688; Pellington, 1702; The Rev. William Buckland, Incumbent of Wolborough (died of Gout, 1760), and for Elizabeth Harris, 1764. In the south transept is buried, Samuel Chapell, " Free of Merchant Tailors' Hall," son of I. Chapell of this parish, 1669. The Church is quite plain on the outside. The tower is low, square and embattled, and the staircase is carried up in the thickness of the wall. The south porch is also crenellated, the interior doorway is square headed with deep mouldings, the jambs carved in foliage with grotesque heads at the bottom. The outside doors with their heavy iron hinges, are apparantly co-eval with the structui'e. The weather moulding of the window of the south chan- cel chapel, is terminated by corbel figures holding shields. The Parish Registers commence m 1588, and profess to be- y 136 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. " A true copy of Christenings, Weddings, and Burials, within the parish of Wolborough, in the county of Devon, 15th November, 1558." In one of these iDooks is the following declaration — " I William, Lord Viscount Courtenay, do allow and permit Mr. to have the use of a seat on the south side of the middle ayle in Wolborough Church, viz., the 2nd from the ayle leading from the great door, and on the east side of the last mentioned ayle, and that the said enjoy the same, he being at the ex]3ense of the necessary repairs, during my will and pleasure, or until I, my heii'S exors. adm. or assigns do revoke the same. Signed, Courtenay, 1768. The name of the grantee has been erased, and the following note is appended to this permit — " This seat is now unapplied by his Lordship, but there are a few of the children of the family of (Polling- ton), who continue to dare to dispute his Lordship's grant and to intrude there, notwithstanding they have been for- bidden by T. Hugo, in his Lordship's and his own name." (Mr. Hugo was the Incumbent from 1760 to 1778). An inventory of the Church plate was made in 1749. It then consisted of one silver flagon ; one silver chalice ; one silver paten ; one silver bason ; one silver hafted knife. The flagon, the paten, and the knife are still in use, but in 1838, the chalice and bason were exchanged for two new chalices ; and in 1753, a silver bason, for private bap- tism, and a chalice with a cover for the Communion of the sick were purchased and added to the rest of the silver. There are several of the ancient oaken benches remain- ing in the north chancel chapel. PARISH OF WOLBOROUOH. 137 On a table over the gallery it is set forth, that " this Church was beautified in the year 1710, at the exjiense of the feoffees, T. Lethbridge, and W. Jones, Churchwardens. The arms of Courtenay of Powderham— Or, three tor- teaux, with the crest " A dolphin naiant and embowed pp.," carved in oak, are at the western end of the building. A church probably existed at Wolborough, at a very early date, and the Norman font is perhaps now the sole relic of that building. We have seen that William, Lord Briwere, by his deed in 1196, gave the advowson to the Abbot of Tor. In the taxation of Pope Nicholas (12S8- 1291), it is valued at £3 6s. 8d. per annum. In the Valor of Henry VIII— TAe Rectory of Wulburgh, then leased to Joan Scose, widow and executrix of Henry Scose, for a term of seven years, is set down at .£20 13s. 6d., and from thence there was an annual payment to the Ardhdeacon of Totnes, for procurations 2s. 5d., and to the Bishop and his successors for visitation annually 19id. But Bishop Vesey states in his Eegister, that the fee of the triennial visitation was "de Abbate de Torre pro Kectoria de ' Woulboro ' 5s." When the King sold John Gaverocke the Manor of Wolborough, he reserved the advowson of the Rectory for himself, and it was then that the Rectory must have been changed into what is termed a " Donative Curacy," and thus it remained after the Crown had, at some subse- quent date, transferred the patronage to the Lords of the Manor. These " Donatives " are peculiar inasmuch as they merely require the collation of an ecclesiastic by the Pat- ron without institution by the Bishop, and they are not T 138 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. subject to Episcopal Visitation. Thei'e have been very few of them in this countiy in modem times, although some say, that, " donation " was the only way anciently of conferring a Church living, and that institution by the Bishop was unknown previously to the reign of Heniy II ; and Pope Alexander III in a letter to Thomas d Becket, severely criticises what he calls the " prava consuetudo " of investitiu'e by the Patron alone. Donatives are not sub- ject to lapse, either to the Bishop or Crown, but the Patron is bound to present, or be compelled by the Ecclesiastical Courts. The Incumbent has to subscribe the usual declara- tion and take the oaths enjoined by the statutes, and to assent to the thirty-nine Articles hke the rest of the Clergy, but if upon a vacancy, the nominee of the Pat- ron submits to institution, the preferment ceases to be a Donative and is then subject to the usual Episcopal supervision. Previously to the Reformation, the Church Service appears to have been provided for by the Canons of Tor, smce then, as there have been no institutions, the various Incumbents are not mentioned in the Bishop's Registers, and this makes it somewhat difficult to give anythmg like a correct Ust of them. I have, however, recovered the following names from the Parish Registers, and other documents connected with the Chrn-ch — 1. John Calkyn, " Chaplain," occurs 1312. He is mentioned in the deed of Richard Lananor, 6 Edward II, amongst the feoffee papers. He was probably the stipen- daiy Priest, as it is shown by the Chantry Rolls that there was a " Stipendarye " in the parish Church of Wol- borough, "to fynde a Pryst and repayr ye paryche Church." Yearly value of the lands, &c., £5 18s. 2d. PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 139 2. John Whitchurch, I4th February, 1449. The only pve-Reformation Rector met with by Dr. Oliver, 3. Matthew Sanderland, occurs 1558. He must have held the curacy for nearly fifty years. 4. Philip Smith. 5. John Comming. 6. Thomas Foster. 7. Stocks, probably succeeded in 1620. 8. Johnson, probably succeeded in 162S. 9. "William Easton. 10. N. Downing. 11. William Yeo, M.A., 1648. He was ejected for Non- conformity in 1662, and was several times obliged to leave his dwelling and hide in the fields to escape arrest. Upon the publication of the " Declaration of Indulgence " he applied for and obtained a preaching Hcence in 1672. He died in 1G99, set 82, 12. J. Buckley, occurs in 1685. 13. John Reynell, succeeded the same year. He died in 1698, and was buried in the north aisle of his Church. 14. William Eveleigh 1700. 15. Walter Elford, 1701. 16. Robert Sadler, 1727. 17. Mannister Barnard, 1731. 18. Robert Cliute 1732. 19. Charles Bertie, ll.d., 1739. The Hon. Charles Bertie, ll.d., Professor of Natural Philosophy at Oxford, youngest son of James, first Earl of Abingdon, and bro- ther of Lady Courtenay. He had been instituted to the Rectory of Kenne, upon the presentation of Sir William Courtenay, 27th August, 1726, was preferred to this 140 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. "Donative" 1789, and on the 15th November, 1740, he was also presented to the vaUiable Rectory of Honiton. Patron Sir WiUiam Courtenay of Ford. He died on the 15th February, 174G, set G9, and was buried at Kenne. He continued to hold Wolborough until his death, and ■was succeeded by 20. William Buckland, 1746. This Incumbent was buried in the south aisle of his Church, and his stone has a Latin inscription, which states that he died of Gout. He was followed in 1760, by 21. William Davie. He died in Church whilst reading the second lesson, and was succeeded by 22. Thomas Hugo, 1778. 23. Edward Honey wood, LL.D., 1793, Dr. Honeywood, was a younger brother of Sir John Honeywood, who had married Frances, eldest daughter of William, second Viscount Courtenay, by his wife Frances Clack. Lord Courtenay had previously presented him to the Rectory of Honiton, 6th December, 1788. He was admitted to a Prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral, 12th July, 1799. He married Sophia Long, and left issue a daughter. He died on the 1st and was buried at Honiton, 7th December, 1812, set 50. He was succeeded at Wolborough, by 24. William C. Clack, 1813. Mr. Clack, was the son of the Rev. Thomas Clack, Rector of Kenne (whose sis- ter Frances had become the wife of Lord Courtenay). He held this preferment, with Moreton-Hampstead, also in his Lordship's gift, for fifty-two years, and died at Moreton in 1865. He was succeeded by 25. Hany Tudor, who upon the presentation of the Earl of Devon, was duly instituted and inducted to the PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 141 Rectory of Wolborough in that year. Mr. Tudor was also preferred to a Prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral in 1885. He resigned for the Rectory of Lustleigh in 1888, and was succeeded by the present Rector, the Rev. A. H. Simms. My best thanks are due to Mr. Tudor for his kindness, and attention to my enquiries and for much valuable information which he has from time to time assisted me tojprocure. I have found in the Bishop's Registry at Exeter, a "caveat" entered 26th August, 1624, against the admis- sion of a Clerk to the "Rectory" of Wolborough, "nisi prius vocetur," Thomas Wistlake, Senr., George Colcott of " Nuton Abbot," or Timothy Shutt, Clerk, of the City of Exeter. The ancient Chapel of St. Leonard, which is mentioned in Bishop Grandisson's Register, May 29th 1350, was removed some years since. It consisted of a nave 55 feet long by 20 feet in width, and a square embattled tower at the western end about 60 feet high which still stands. and contains a peal of six bells. Close to this tower, are the remams of the ancient market cross which consists of an octagonal block of granite 50 inches in diameter and 21 inches in thickness, an inscription on which sets forth that the first declaration of the Prince of Orange was read from thence " by the Rev. John Reynell, Rector of this Parish, November 5th, 1688." This statement appears to have no foundation whatever in fact. A very careful journal, of the pi'oceedings of the Prince, from the time he left his palace at theJHague to his arrival 142 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. at Whitehall, is in existence, from the pen of the E,ev. John Whittle one of the Chaplains to the Expeditionary force, it was printed in 1689 and is now very scarce. From this diary we learn that the Prince left the Hague on November 1st, and landed on Monday the 5th Nov- ember, 1588. He did not commence his march until the 6th, ivliich at once slioivs the incon-ectness of the date on the Cross at Newton. On the 7th, however, the Prince with his followers drew nigh to Newton Abbot, when, Whittle says, " he went to Ford House within a short distance of the town." Sir William Courtenay the then owner did not wish to compromise himself, so he was " not at home " when his august visitor arrived, but he had left directions as to the provision of suitable hospitality and accommodation, and the Prince slept there without doubt and on the following day the 8th proceeded to Chud- leigh and from thence to Exeter. But, says Whittle, " On the march to Newton Abbot a certain divine went before the army and finding that t'was their Market day he went unto the Cross or Town Hall, where, pulling out the declaration of the Prince of Orange, with undaunted resolution he began with a loud and audible voice to read as follows " — Then follows the declaration — " He, the Divine, " Told the people that he would go and visit their Minister and cause their bells to ring." "He thereupon went to the Minister's house and was courteously invited in and desired to sit down." He then asked for the keys of the Church "for to welcome the Prince of Orange into England with a peal," but Mr. Rey- nell replied " Sir, I am ready, for my own part to serve PARISH OF WOLBOROUGH. 143 his Highness in any way, but of my own accord cannot give the keys, but you know you may command them or any- thing else in my house in the name of the Prince of Orange." The keys were then peremptorily demanded and Mr. Reynell directed his visitor to the clerk's house and the bells were ultimately runo-. The new Chapel of St. Leonard is situated in Wol- borough Street, and is a large commodious modern build- ing suitable for the purpose for which it is intended and it has of late yeai's been enlarged and re-seated. The foundation stone was laid on the 20th September, 1834, "amidst a large concourse of people," and it was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter, November 24th, 18SG. The total cost of the structure was £2,614 2s. 9d. and the site was given by the Incumbent, the Eev. W. C. Clack. The seats in this chapel are entirely free in the morning and one side of it, upstairs and downstau's, is always free. It has a handsome chancel, and over the altar is a large pamting of our Saviour bearing the Cross, copied and presented by the late Eev. R. Bradford, from the origmal painting in Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford, Near the Chapel stands the ancient Parsonage House, which has not been occupied as a clerical residence for many years ; it is small and inconvenient. A little fiurther west, is the old Manor House, which in several deeds is described as "the great house in Ulborough Street." The exterior has been modernised, but some of the rooms still retain their original form and have curious moulded ceil- ings, with foliage, tracery and grotesque figures.' It was probably erected by the Gaverockes. 1 Stirling's " History of Newton." 144 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XVIIL— PART I. The Parish of Hennock. The picturesque village of Hennock, situated on an eminence overlooking the valley of the Teign, is in the hundred of Teignbridge and deanery of Moreton. It comprises 3,469 acres of land, inclusive of the chapelry of Knighton and the hamlets of Warmhill and KeUy. The total number of the inhabitants (accordmg to the census returns of 1881) was 384. The Saxon Alnod (one of the King's Thanes), was compelled by the Norman Conqueror to resign his land of " Hainoc " into the hands of Baldwin, the Shex'ifF, under whom it was held for some years by Roger Fitz- Payne. Baldwin de Brion, to whom I have several times re- ferred, was one of the most illustrious of the Norman generals, and after the Conquest was made by his Royal master hereditary sheriff of this county and Baron of Okehampton. He was one of the sons of Gilbert, Earl of Brion, who was murdered in Normandy, and grandson of Richard, Earl of Ewe, and therefore nearly akin to William, who bestowed upon him no less than 181 manors in Devonshire, as pi-oved by Domesday, and granted him the custody of the Castle of Exeter, which he had built at the King's command. PARISH OF HENNOCK. 145 The family of Fitz- Payne doubtless first acquired im- portance from holding land under such a distinguished person as Baldwin, for the name literally means Robert, the son of the peasant (Robertus filius pagani). Cheri- ton, in the hundred of West Budleigh, passed from the Stantous by marriage to the Fitz-Paynes (who do not appear to have remained long at Hennock) early in the thirteenth century, and has ever since been called Cheri- ton Fitz-Payne. This family is declared by Lysons to have become extinct in the male Une about the reign of Edward I, when the heiress married Austell. Still, John Fitz-Payne must have held a very good position in the county many years after the date given in the Magna Britannia as the period of the faUure of the heirs male of his house, since he was High Sheriff in the second year of the reign of Richard II, a,d. 1379. Not long after the Conquest a family who denominated . themselves " de Hainoc " were settled at Hennock ; one of them was called Roger, and his son, William " Lord of Heniock," had issue Beatrix, who married Sir Gerrard de Clist, Knight. This lady being sole heir to her father brought the property to her husband, and with the Clists it remained for several generations. Sir Gerrard was probably a son of the house of Clist of Clist Gerald, within the parish of Broadclist the different members of which appear to have been generally called Gerard or Gerald ; the last at Clist Gerald, Gerald de Clist, died in the reign of King John, leaving his daughters co-heirs, two of whom married VaUetort and Franckcheney. The branch of this family who settled at Hennock were great benefactors to the neighbouring Abbey of Tor, and the D 146 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. cai'tulary of that house px'oves that Philip de Salmouville gave to the abbot and convent the advowson of the church of Hennock. Lysons says that this gift was made in the reign of Richard I ; it was confirmed by Beatrix, his wife, and by William, the son of Gerard de Clyst, from which I infer that Beatrix, heiress of WOliam, Lord of Hennock, married this PhiHp de Salmonville after the death of Gerard de Chst, and that the former only pos- sessed the power to alienate the rectory jure uxoris, and that it was necessary for him therefore to obtain the con- currence of his wife and of her son by her first husband, her natural heir. Whenever this gift was made it w^as not confirmed until the episcopacy of Bishop Simon de Apuha, who was consecrated a.d. 1214 ; but it must be remembered that our See had then been vacant since the 26th October, 1206, the complication relative to the suc- cession to the See of Canterbury and the subsequent interdict having prevented the appointment of a successor to Bishop Marshall during the long period of eight years. It is certain that Bishop Simon confirmed the grant of the church of Hennock to the abbot aiid convent of Tor, since amongst the contents of the cai'tulary above referred to is a deed endorsed " Confirmacio Symonis episcopi Exon., de ecclesla de Hennok, in proprios usus canonico- rum." My inference relative to the second marriage of Beatrice de Clist is substantiated by another cartulary of Tor Abbey, where she is described as " Beatrice, the daughter of William, the son of Roger," whereas in the first authority to ^Yhich I have referred her confirmation is thus endorsed — " Confirmacio Beatricis uxoris predicti Philippi de eadem," that is concerning the church of Hennock. PARISH OF HENNOGK. 14,7 There was some land in Hennock called the land of Flode, which appears to have been held by one Richard de la Flode, and upon his death the custody of his pro- perty, together with the wardship of his heir, devolved upon WiUiam de Clist. I cannot find that there is any estate in Hennock now called Flode (which is expressly stated to have been wi'thin the manor), but amongst the deeds I have referred to there is one from William, the son of Robert Lancelyn, concerning the land of Hywis (Huish), in la Flode ; and in another there is reference to the " hill of Wellesmore." I find in the Ordnance map a place called Warm Hill, and a little south of it there is an estate written Kuish, whicli is doubtless the Huish described as being within Flode. Gerard of Clist, who seem to have been as lord of the manor, the real owner of Flode, gave it to Nicholas, the chaplain, vicar of Chud- leigh. This must have been during the first half of the fourteenth century, since there were two vicars of Chud- leigh called Nicholas— one bequeathed six shillings and eight pence to the fabric of the cathedral in 1303 ; and the other (Nicholas Cofiin), was instituted on the 20th June, 1337, and probably retained his preferment eleven years, since the next presentation is dated 28th March, 1348. The grant of the wardship and marriage of the heir of Richard de la Flode was confirmed to Nicholas, the chap- lain aforesaid, by William de Clist. These deeds, more- over, prove that Nicholas, vicar of Chudleigh, had a daughter, Joanna, married to Martin of Babbicombe, and he granted all his claims in the free dower of his wife in Flode to Adelard, chaplain of Beydon. The vicar of Chudleigh had previously granted this Adelard a half 148 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. furlong of land in Flode, and also the custody and ward- ship of Kichard de la Flode, and this was confirmed by the lord of the manor, then Richard Tremenet, the manor of Hennock having by this time passed to him through his marriage with Isabel, daughter and heir of WiUiam de Clist. One of the family of Flode (their modem name would be Floyd or Flood) was called Alicia ; she married Walter Parmenter, and had a son also called Walter. Her hus- band, with her consent, gave all his inheritance in Flode to the Abbot of Tor at a certain rent. Mariota, or Maria, daughter of Richard de la Flode, bestowed one furlong of land from the same estate, as defined by metes and bounds, upon the same abbot. All the property which Adelard (or as he is sometimes called, Ayllard), chaplain of Beydon, obtained from time to time from the Flodes, from Nicholas vicar of Chud- leigh, his daughter, and her husband, was given by him to the same abbey, so that in the end the abbot and community of Tor possessed nearly, if not quite, all the Flode property, together with a rent-charge payable out of the estate of Hulsli ("juxta la Flode"), and all these grants were duly confirmed by Richard Tremenet, as the rejiresentative of the Cllsts, lords of the manor of Hen- nock. With respect to this Adelard and his office of "Chaplain of Beydon," I find that within the church of Ramsbury, in Wiltshire (before the Conquest the seat of a bisliopric, which afterwards became united to Sher- borne, and was eventually translated to Old Sarum), there existed an ancient prebend, called the Prebend of Rams- bury with Beydon, valued in 1535 at £52 per annum, out EARISH OF EENNOCK. 149 of which there was a charge of £5 68. 8d., " for the pay of one chaplain for celebrating divine service in the church of Bey don." Richard de la Flode gave to the chaplain of Beydon a half furlong of land, together with a garden in Hanock, in exchange for a piece of laud previously granted. This, with the rest of Adelard's property in this parish, passed eventually to the community of Tor (the then rectors of the church of Hennock), and " there is now pertaining to the glebe land of Hennock a small plot, or vegetable garden, apart from the other fields, and generally let off to some poor cottager at a rent of 5 s. a year." This is very probably the piece of ground referred to in the deed. A cottage in the parish is still called Baden or Beydon, and has been known by that name from time immemorial. With respect to the two in- teresting cartularies from which I have been quoting — the first of them was long in the custody of the Queen's Remembrancer of the Exchequer, and it is called the " Tor Cartulary, or Leiger Book." It is a thick folio volume, written on vellum in a large and clear hand, and appears with few exceptions to be in the same handwrit- ing throughout. The first three leaves contain fragments of Papal bidls headed " Papalia," and then follow the instruments to which I have alluded. This book was carefully examined by the late Dr. Oliver,^ who gives the history of its preservation. It appears that after the dissolution of Tor Abbey, John Gaverock, the purchaser of Wolborough, became possessed of it. A memorandum at the commencement states "that it belonged to the heirs of John Gaverock, gentleman." Two other memo- i"Moii. Dioc.,"p. 178. 150 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. randa furnish the information that it was delivered into Court for the Queen's use on the morrow of the Purifica- tion, 21st year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by a person called in one place Richard Melford, of the Inner Temple, and in another William Melford. A. few entries are as late as the reign of Edward IV, although the charters and instruments are generally undated, but the mention of Bishop Simon of Apulia, and of Nicholas, vicar of Chudleigh, enables us to assume with safety the dates of those connected with Hennock. The second cartulary is a manuscript classed in the Trinity College Dublin Collection, as E 5, 15, and en- titled " The Cartulary of the Monastery of Thorre, in Devonshire." It is on veUum, extending over 170 leaves of two pages each in small quarto. The pages have been numbered by a modern hand. Its records extend from the reign of King John to 1409, which latter is believed to be the latest express date in the collection. The records copied are exceedingly numerous, and amongst them are twenty-hve deeds relative to Hennock. This volume is stated to have been presented by William Barry, a.m. to the College library. Stamped upon the first leaf is a seal exhibiting the crest of a stag's head, the whole stag appearing on the shield with the motto " Veritas vincit," and the words Sig. Rich Co Nortar .... 1668," in an outer cu'cle. The heiress of Tremanet brought Hemiock to the family of Dymock in the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). The Dymocks were also the owners of the manor of Manaton in the same hundred, and the heiress of this race brought both the estates to her husband, who was PARISH OF HENNOCK. 151 called Britricheston, and who was the lord of the manor of Bvitriceston or Brixton, in the deanery of Plympton. This ancient family had been settled in Brixton (from whence it called itself) from a very early date, but failed in the male line in the reign of Henry III, when the husband of the elder co-heir took the name of his wife, and their posterity remained there for nineteen descents according to llisdon ; Lysons says for seven generations. The heu-ess of Britricheston, or Brixton, brought aU the three manors of Brixton, Hennock, and Manaton to Wyvill, and by a member of the latter family the last two estates were sold to the Southcotes, who possessed Hennock in the reign of Charles I. Matthew Lee was lord of the manor together with Knighton, in 1773, and they were sold by him to Richard Inglett, whose ancestors had been for some years resident in the neighbouring parish of Chudleigh. The Templers (afterwards of Stover, in the parish of Teigngrace), succeeded Mr. Inglett at Hennock, Mr. James Templer having purchased it of him in 1775, and from him it descended to his grandson, Mr, George Templer of Stover. The Duke of Somerset now owns a considerable portion of the land. That part of the manor of South Bovey, lying within the parish, is the property of the Earl of Devon. It is possible that the manor of Knighton may have been the " Nietone " of Domesday, which, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, belonged to " the Priests of Bomine " (Bodmin). I am aware that the Priory of Bodmin possessed the manor of Newton St. Petrock at the dissolution of monasteries, and some may say that this " Nietone " mentioned in the Survey is merely the ancient manner of writing Newton. 152 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. This, however, Is not the case ; the various manors after- wards called Newton are none of them spelt thus, and besides Newton St. Petrock in the reign of William the Conqueror was parcel of the manor of Shebbear, and this last, under the name of Bare, was then the property of Brictric, the Saxon, Lord of Gloucester ; and the Priory of Bodmin did not acquii'e it until it had been through the hands of Jeffrey, Bishop of Coutance, Chief Justiciary of England. When it afterwards reverted to the Crown it was given to the Prior and community by King Henry I. But the priests of Bomine possessed " Nietone " many long years before this, even in " that day in which King Edward the Confessor died." These ecclesiastics are reckoned amongst the Enghsh Thanes in the Exeter Domesday, and Leland supposes them to have been the secular priests of Bodmin, settled there before the foun- dation of the Priory. The canons of Bodmin were deprived of a great deal of their land Immediately after the Conquest by the Earl of Mortain, half-brother to the Conqueror, and their priory was refounded by Bishop WlUIam Warelwast (who governed the See of Exeter between the years 1107 and 1137), who settled In It regular canons of the Augustinlan order. There was a very ancient chapel at Knighton, which for many years was used as a barn, but I have been unable to discover anything as to the date of Its dedication. Polwhele says, "It Is situate In the middle of the village. There was a field that belonged to the chapel, and called Chapel Park ; It Is now sold off, the length and breadth of the old chapel, 24 feet by 14^." This structure was subsequently enlarged and converted Into a Wesleyaix i PARISH OF HENNOGK. 153 meeting house. The present chapel in this village is an unpretending structure, buUt of flint and limestone in 1841-2, with the sum of £900 raised by subscriptions and grants. It is dedicated to St. Paul. It became the church of a separate ecclesiastical district in 1880, formed out of the parishes of Hennock, Bovey Tracy, and Kings- teignton. The living is a chapelry in the gift of the vicar of Hennock, and the Rev. P. R. Sandilauds is the Incumbent, with an income of £230 per annum, and a population of 547. Beneath a very large chestnut tree at Hennock stood an ancient cross, which has, I regret to say, been removed within the last few years. 154 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XVIII. PART II. Hennock Chubch. The parish church stands in a small churchyard in the centre of the village, and is dedicated to St. Mary. It comprehends chancel, nave opening into north and south aisles heneath four debased arches, supported upon clus- tered columns of the Perpendicular style of the reign of Henry VII, a south porch, and a tower at the western end containine: four bells. There is no exterior or interior architectural definition of the chancel, which is merely a continuation of the nave, but the rood screen is still retained, and extends across the aisles, thus separating the eastern end, with its north and south chantry chapels, from the other portion of the church. The windows have been generally restored, but one on the soutli side of the chancel has a quati'efoil in the head, ^^■hich seems to prove that it belonged to an older structure than the present, which it is hardly necessary for me to remark was merely rebuilt in the fifteenth century upon the site of a much more ancient church. The priests' door also remains in its proper position on the south side of the chancel, and the stairs, which once led to the rood loft, with the apertures for exit and entrance, are on this side also. There is a particularly mteresting Norman font, with rude carvings, supported upon four slender piers of green stone, and a thick circular pedestal in the centre. The PARISH OF HENNOCK. loo window in the south chancel chapel has been filled with stained glass in memory of a member of the family of Wills of Kelly, 1856. I noticed on the north side four angels in fourteenth century glass. In another window- were previously to the " restoration," figures of the four evangelists with their names on labels ; and also the following armorials : — Lucy — Gu. 3 fish haurient Or. Bishop Booihe, 146.5-1478 — Arg. 2 boars' heads erased and erect Sa. a label of 3. Chichester — Cheeky Or and Gu. a chief Vair. Chudleigh — Erm. 3 lions ramp. Gu. Stourton — A bend Sa. (should be Sa. a bend Or.) be- tween 6 fountains. James Chudleigh, married Margaret, daughter of William Lord Stourton, 1476. During the " restoration '' quantities of ancient stained glass were removed from the north aisle, chiefly in a fragmentary state, consisting of portions of figures of bishops and priests in full robes, the birth of our Saviour, and the adoration of the Magi. I did not see this glass myself, so I am vmable to offer any opinion about it ; but it was evidently a great mistake not to replace it in the windows, as enough of it appears to have remained to intimate pretty clearly what the general designs were. I believe that a great quantity of valuable glass is still permitted, even in these days, to be carried away from churches by workmen simply because it is considered to be dirty, incapable of restoration, and therefore worthless. During the same restoration I am informed " about twenty square tiles were discovered or- namented with scriptural emblems." These tiles are 156 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. frequently found in churclies, and altliougli some call them " Norman tiles," yet there is no evidence, I believe, to prove that any have been noticed in England of etu'lier date than the thirteenth century. These tiles were genei-ally ornamented with various designs, and the process of their manufacture has been thus described — " The thin squares of well-compacted clay having been fashioned and probably dried in the sun to the requisite degree, their ordinary dimensions being from four to six inches, -wdth a thickness of one inch, a stamp, which bore a design in relief was impressed upon them, so us to leave the ornamental pattern in cavetto ; into the hollows thus left on the face of the tile clay another colour, most commonly wliite or pipeclay, was then inlaid or impressed ; nothing remained except to give a richer effect, and at the same time ensure the permanence of the work, by covering the whole, in the furnace, with a thin surface of metallic glaze, which being of a slightly yellow colour, tinged the white clay beneath it, and imparted to the red a more full and rich tone of colour. Tiles of this kind with armorial and other decorations have been fre- quently found in churches and in excavating the ruins of abbeys, and one ornamented with the Holy Lamb is represented in the " Gentleman's Magazine," new series, xii, 597. One of those found at Hennock had a repre- sentation of the Holy Lamb and Flag ; and it is worthy of notice that in the church of Buckland-in-the-Moor (which was also for many years intiniately connected with the Abbey of Tor), there are still some of these tiles, many of them pax-tially hidden by the present seat- ing. Those visible bear traces of a considerable amount PARISH OF HENNOCK. 15^ of decoration, and some of them have portions of an inscription stamped upon them in relief in the manner I have described. The altar table Is made from the front of an ancient parish chest which used to stand in the chancel, and a plain image recess or " tabernacle " has been laid open at the eastern end of the north chancel chapel. The ancient Perpendicular screen, which has been re- paired, is of the same character as others which I have already described in these pages and elsewhere. Amongst the figures of the saints in its lower panels I noticed St. John, with the chalice ; St. Peter, with two keys St. Jude, with his club ; St. Paul, with the sword ; St. Stephen, with the stones in his chasuble ; St. Philip, with the long cross, and St. Matthias ; St. Lawrence, with his gridiron ; St. Gertrude, virgin and abbess, -with a loaf ; St. Margaret, trampling on the dragon ; and a representation of the Annunciation. The almond tree flomnshes between the Angel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin, and this makes me consider that this church, which I have already said is devoted to St. Mary, was so dedicated upon the Festival of the Annunciation. There, are, moreover, two figures in good preservation of an abbot, and a bishop, several figures in monastic habit, and one of St. Anastasia. The roof is cradle or wagon headed ; that portion immediately over the screen is painted in gold and colours, and has a few good bosses of fohage, vine leaves, and grapes. The interior of the chm"ch is very neat and clean. The work of restoration was nearly finished at the period of the death of the late vicar and patron the Rev. R. Riley. The new open seat- 158 DEV0F8HIRE PARISHES. ing is of oak with a quatrefoil cai^ved in solid in the bench ends. The porch once had a parvise over it ; the aspersoriura, or holy water stoup, still remains on its north side. The tower is square, and plainly built ; its height to the parapet is 44 feet. There is a good western doorway, and the entrance on the south side has a Pointed arch with a deep moulding, The exterior of the church is well-buttressed, and I am told that the four ancient bells have Latin inscriptions. I noticed in the church the well-known arms of Yarde of Churston Ferrers, impaling Hody, of Netheway, in Brixham. — Arg. a fesse indented point in point Vert and Sa. between two cotises counter- changed. They are beneath an inscription to the memory of Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Hody, and re^ct of George Yarde, a.x>. 1672. Another stone has a Latin inscription to the memory of Bartholomew Geale of Knighton, yeoman, who died 29th November, 164—. aged 74. There are or should be also inscriptions remaining for Gcde, with arms — a fesse fretty ; and for Hyne, a hind passant, a label of 3, impaling Hody as before. The parish Registers are of the earliest date, commenc- ing 1538. The birth of Edward VI is thus mentioned, " The eleventh day of October, the year of our Lord God 1537, was borne Prince Edwarde, which was the 29th yeare of oiir Sovereigne Lord Kmg Henry VHI, by the grace of God King of England, France, and Ireland. God send him good old Inge and his father a long and prosperous reigne. Amen. Thomas Herle, Vicar of Hennock." PARISH OF HEN NOG K. 159 There are several quaint entries in these books (which are in good preservation) concerning former vicars. They prove that there was a " pestUence " at Hennock in the year 1574, and that the small-pox raged there in 1603. No records ajspear to have been kept during the year 1545. 1 have heard it stated that every man-servant in this parish paid one shUhng, and every maid-servant six- pence annually as duty to the vicar. These offerings are now discontinued. Simon Rede, the last Abbot of Tor, surrendered his abbey into the hands of King Henry VIII on February 23rd, 1539. He must have foreseen the speedy dissolution of his house, and it appears that he was not unmindful of his own interests, for in the preceding year he had alienated a considerable amount of its property, inclusive of " The whole our Rectory, and the Tithe of Wheat of the Church of Hennocke, as well as aU our messuages, lands, and tenements, with then- belongings in Hennocke aforesaid, together with all rights and profits pertaming or belong- ing to the said rectory," to John Southcote and John Parre, to hold the same from Michaelmas then last past, under the yearly rent of £10. In the Valor Ecclesiasti- cus, amongst the spiritual possessions of the late Abbey of Tor, is the following entry (translation) : — " Heniocke, in the deanery of Moreton and diocese aforesaid. The rectory in the same place is valued by the year, with sanctuary lands and all other profits belonging to the said rectory, £10." Up to this period the services of the church of Hennock appear to have been provided for by the Canons of Torre. The great tithes were purchased of the Southcotes in 160 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. 1631, by the Chamber of Exeter with £400 given in 1615, bj Dr. Lawrence Bodley, aided by £200 given two years afterwards by Thomas Moggridge, for the endowment of a lectureship in the city of Exeter. It appears by the parish books that between the years 1648 and 1692 the Chamber of Exeter endowed the vicarage with the great tithes, subject however to a payment of £42 a year to the Mayor of Exeter on account of the aforesaid lecture, and £7 per annum to the lord of the manor. The right of presentation to the vicarage has passed through vai-ious hands, and it is now vested m the family of Riley, the present patron being Mr. Richard E. Riley, scholar of Jesus College, Cambridge, and son of the late Rev. Richard Riley, twelve years vicar and patron, who acquired it through his wife from the Misses Wood of Ireland. The present Vicar of Hennock with Knighton, is the Rev. J. F. N. Gillman, who was instituted in 1875. He has twenty acres of glebe. I have to thank Mr. Henry F. Riley for his courteous attention to my mquiries ; he informed me that the rec- torial tithes are received by the trustees of the late Dr. Bodley, and that at some former date they were separated from the vicarial, so that the arrangement to which I have referred above does not seem any longer to exist. The impropriators receive £l86, whilst the rent-charge as commuted and received by the vicar amounts to £233 per annum.' John Stooke of Trusham, about the year 1692 gave a tenement called Knowle, within the parish of Hennock, ' With reference to the Bells (already mentioned), the 1st is an Alphabet Bell, from A to K ; the 2nd and 4th are dated 1637 ; the 3rd is inscribed with an Invocation to the Yirgin. PARISH OF HENNOOK. 161 the rent to be applied to the provision of four threepenny loaves to be given to four poor people inhabitants of the almshouse in the parish weekly for ever, provided that they constantly attended church and duly received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Charity Commis- sioners report that this rent, whicli issues out of a field now called the " Parish Meadow," is not given away weekly in bread according to the will of the donor, but quarterly in sums of 3s. 3d. each to four poor widows of the parish, who have been appointed at a parish meeting to receive it, due care being taken however that (as far as the performance of their religious duties are concerned) they come under the terms of the deed. When once appointed they are considered entitled to receive their shares unless they marry or quit the parish. Elizabeth Gribble by her will May 2nd, 1726, gave to the poor of the parish £5 to be paid to the vicar for the tune being, the interest to be annually given at Christmas to such poor people of Hennock not receiving parish pay as he should think fit. 162 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XIX. -PART I. The Parish of North Bovey. The village of North Bovey, about two uilles distant from Moretonhampstead, is in the hundred of Teign- bridge, and in the deanery of Moreton, and is situated upon the banks of the beautiful river, the "West Teign, sometimes called the Bovey River. The soil is peaty, resting on granite, but yields good crops of barley, oats, and grass. The parish includes 5,654 acres of land, and the population in 1881 was 439. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, two manors of Bovey, or as they were then written, " Bovi," were held by " Joannes." At the Conquest these estates appear to have been given to Juhel de Totnais, under whom they were occupied by Turgis. One of these must have been that now known as South Bovey, within the parish of Hennock, and which, as stated in a previous chapter, now belongs to the Earl of Devon. In North Bovey, accord- ing to the record of Domesday, Turgis held one hide and three rods of land. These manora must not be con- founded with the neighbouring man^ir of Bovey Tracey, which in the year 1187 was written " Bovelie," and which was taken from its ancient owner, the Saxon Edric, and given to Jeffrey, Bishop of Coutance, an historical cele- ])rity who seems to have combined the three professions PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 163 of the army, the law, and the church, for he was Lieuten- ant-General of the Army at the battle of Hastings, and was afterwards appointed Chief Justiciary of England, I cannot say how long Turgis or his descendants con- tinued to reside upon the manor of North Bovey, of which it must be remembered they were merely the tenants. As I have already stated elsewhere, Juhel, Baron of Totnes, was accused of conspiracy and banished the kingdom, in the reign of William Rufus, and as a necessary conse- quence, his estates were sequestrated by the Crown. His manors of Tetcott (in the hundred of Black Torrington), Blackaton (in the parish of Widecombe), and North Bovey were given to De la Ferbe, and William de la Ferbe, is afterwards described as having been possessed of them.' The tenure of property in those days, however, was by no means secure. After a very few years the De la Ferbes appear to have lost North Bovey, and the rest of theu- property and the three manors above mentioned, once more alienated to the king, were given in the year 1214 to William Pipard, who appears to have been the ancestor of a once powerful family of that name. I say the ancestor, because, I believe tliat this William Pipard was the first of his race who achieved any distinc- tion in this county, and his social influence was probably due to his marriage with a co-heir of De Pola, Lord of South Pool, in the hundred of Colerido-e. Immediately upon the accession of Richard the First, that "lion-hearted" monarch at the instigation of Pope Clement III, commenced his disastrous expedition known as the Thii'd Crusade, the object of which was to retake 1 Rot. Pat., 16th King John. 164 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. the city of Jerusalem, which had been captured by the Sultan Saladin two years previously, William de Pola, the son of Nicholas, accompanied the English King, who was allied with Philip Augustus of France and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. The last monarch was acciden- tally drowned, Philip returned to France, and Richard of England made a truce with Saladin, but was arrested in Germany on his way home, and was only released upon payment of a heavy fine. I cannot learn that William de Pola ever returned to Devonshire, or that he left a son. Prince says that his daughter Joan was the wife of Sir Guy de Brian of Tor Bi'ian, in King Henry the Third's reign, and it was through this alliance, I presume, that the latter family obtained the manor of Pole, in Slapton, where they re- sided for several generations. He was succeeded at South Pole, by Maurice de la Pole, who is stated to have been the owner of Compton, in the parish of Marldon (which estate must have been acquired by the marriage of Alice, the heiress of Angier, Lord of Compton, with one Ralph de la Pole, in the reign of Henry II). He left two daughters co-heirs, one of whom married William Pipard, the owner of North Bovey. It appears by an inquisitio post-mortem 51 Henry III, that WiJliam Pipai'd had held lands in Devon called " Blakeden ;" and again in 1286 (14 Edw.ard I), Thomas Pipard is declared to have died seized of the manors of Blaketon and North Bovej. The family continued their descent in the male line until the reign of Edward III, and in the year 1344 William Pipard was High Sheriff of Devon. He left issue two daughters, Margaret and PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 1G5 Matilda. Margaret married Sir Gerard Lisley, or Lisle ; and Matilda bestowed her hand upon Sir Gilbert Hamlyn. Lysons in the " Magna Britannia," under the head of North Bovey, says : — " The manor was at an early period in the family of Pipard, from whom it passed by successive female heirs to the Lords Lisle and Berkeley. A daughter of Thomas, Lord Berkeley, brought it to Richard Beau- champ, Earl of Warwick, and a daughter of the Earl of Warwick to Nevil, Lord Latimer." This statement is partly correct in the main points, but appears to me to require further explanation. William Pipard, the last of his name, left North Bovey with other estates to his daughter Margaret, who married Warine de L'Isle, who died 1383 (6 Richard II), and had received summons to Parliament as a Baron, from43 Edward III to 5 Richard II, They left a son, Gerard de L'Isle, who died without issue and a daughter Margery (called after her grandmother, Margaret Pipard), who married Thomas, Lord Berkeley, and had issue a daughter, Elizabeth Berkeley, who brought the property to her husband, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Margaret, daughter of Lord and Lady War- wick, mai'ried John Talbot, the stout Earl of Shrewsbury, so well known to readers of English history. At the time of this marriage he was a widower with three sons, and the result of this alliance was a foui'th son, John, who, as the eldest begotten of Margaret Beauchamp, assumed his mother's title of Lisle. Towards the latter end of the year 1452, the Gascons sent deputies to Henry VI with an offer of recovering Guienne, if they could be assured of proper help from England ; the Lords of Caudale and L'Esparre were the agents to this country, and their pro- 16C DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. positions met the hearty concurrence of Queen Margaret and the Council. The Earl of Shrewsbury, although he was eighty years of age, readily accepted the command of the expedition upon this occasion, and embarked on the 18th October with four thousand men, with tlie promise that more troops should immediately be sent after him. He landed near Bordeaux on the 21st of this month, and his expected reinforcement followed bim as had been arranged, and amongst his principal officers was his son John, Viscount Lisle. Shrewsbury at once took the field, overran some parts of Guieime and recovered Fronsac, Castillon, and many other places with as much rapidity as the French had conquered them. The King of France, when he received the news of these transactions, was marching towards Lyons with thirty thousand troops in order to chastise his son, the Dauphin, but when he found that it was necces- sary to oppose himself to a foreign enemy be speedily adjusted his domestic quarrel, and detached ten thousand men, under Chabannes and the Earl de Penthieore, to make head against the English Earl in Guienne. Pen- theiore laid siege to Castillon, which defended itself bravely for some montlis, and the besiegers in June, 1453, were joined by the other half of their force under Chabannes. The Earl of Shrewsbury was at this time at Bordeaux with about 7,000 men. He was vmdecided as to whether he should raise the siege, fearful of the difficulties he must encounter from the superiority of the Frencli and their strong situation. He had heard, moreover, that the main body of the hostile army, under the orders of De Clfer- mont, was rapidly advancing, and he knew that he must PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 167 act at once if he wished to avoid opposing himself, with liis scanty numbers, against an enemy nearly thirty thousand strong. Under these circumstances he marched out of Bordeaux and attacked the besiegers with the greatest intrepidity. The four thousand men under De Chabannes were soon defeated, but the victors were attacked in rear by the French cavalry, which obliged the English general to face about and form two fronts against ten thousand men. Overpowered by multitudes our soldiers were com- pelled to give way, and the Earl was mortally wounded by a musket shot in the thigh, and his horse was also killed under him. He ordered his son to " retreat and preserve liimself for a more fortunate occasion ; " but Lord Lisle disregarded these commands, and fell fighting over the l)ody of his dying fether. The next day Cas- tillon surrendered, and (if Calais be excepted) this country was left destitute of French possessions. The remains of the father and son were conveyed to England, and it is known certainly that the former was buried at Whit- church, in Shi'opshu-e. The Viscount Lisle was succeeded by his son Thomas, who died without issue (his mother was Joan, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Chedder, Knight). His estates rev^erted to his sister Elizabeth, who became the wife of Sir Edward Grey. Upon the accession of King Edward IV, the family of Grey became very illustrious in consequence of the King's alliance with Ehzabeth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey of Groby, who had been slain on the Lancastrian side at the battle of St. Albans (a.d. 1461). Two children were born of the marriage between Edward Grey (who was created Viscount Lisle, 7 Henry VII), and Ehzabeth 168 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Talbot. Their sou John Grey, Viscount Lisle, married Margaret, sister of Lord Herbert (afterwards ci'eated Earl of Huntingdon, and who was the husband of the Queen's sister, Mary Woodville), who died in 1504, and left issue an only daughter Elizabeth, who was the first wife of Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon, created Marquess of Exeter in 1525 ; but as she died without children, she was succeeded m the barony by her aunt, Elizabeth Grey, who married first, Edmond Dudley, and secondly, Sir Arthur Plantagenet, who was afterwards permitted to assume the title of Lisle in 1541. He was a natural son of King Edward the Fourth, by Elizabeth Lucy, the daughter of a man called Wyatt, of Southampton. She was a person of low extraction, but having attracted the Royal attention she left her husband to become the King's mistress, and bore him two children, Arthur, above-men- tioned (who was afterwards created a Knight of the Garter, and constituted Lieutenant of Calais ia the year 1523, 14 Henry VIII), and Elizabeth, who married Sir Thomas Lumley. Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, left no son ; of his three daughters co-heirs, the eldest appears to have transmitted the title of Lisle to her pos- terity, and in the reign of Chai-les I, it was borne by the son of the Earl of Leicester. Frances Plantagenet. her younger sister, married first, Sir John Basset, liy whom she had issue Sir Arthur Basset, High Sheriff of Devon, IG Elizabeth, and the direct ancestor of the Bassets of Heanton Court, in the parish of Ashford, who afterwards removed to Umberleigh in that of Athermgton, when they had acquired the latter by a marriage with an heiress of Beaumont. Francis Basset, who died in ] 802, was the PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 1G9 last of this branch. He left no issue, and bequeathe 1 his estates to his nephew, Mr. Joseph Davie, who assumed the name of Basset. The family of Basset, descended from Osmund Basset of Stoke Basset, in Oxfordshire, and became connected with this county by the marriage of Sir Alan Basset with Lucy, daughter of Sir William Peverell of Sampford Peverell, who gave as her portion the manor of Whitechapel, in the parish of Bishop's Nympton, and upon this property her descendants continued to reside for many generations. Frances Basset, daughter of Sir Arthur Plantawenet, survived her husband, John Basset, whose grandfather, also called John, had acquired the Heanton and Umber- leigh property by his marriage with Jane, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Beaumont. She endeavoured to console herself in her bereavement by taking a second husband, and by so doing became the direct ancestress of a very illustrious Devonshire worthy. Her second choice fell upon Thomas Monk of Potheridge, High Sheriff of this county in the year 1564 (6 Elizabeth), and she had by him a numerous issue. The eldest, Anthony, had a son. Sir Thomas Monk, who died in the sheriff's prison of this county on the 30th June, 1627. His wife was Eliza- beth, daughter of Sir George Smith of Maydeworthy, or Madford in the parish of Heavitree, and half sister to Grace Smith, wife of Sii- Bevil Grenville. Their eldest son, Thomas, married Maiy, daughter of Wmiam Gould of Hays, but had no chUdreu. The second son, George, was the famous Duke of Albemarle, called by Prince " The great glory of our country and our kingdom." I have alluded to the imprisonment of his father for debt. 170 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. and it appears that this circumstance was the indirect means of George Monk becoming a soldier, although his biographer says, " being a second son he was always designed for one." King Charles I at the beginning of his reign visited Plymouth to inspect his fleet in view of the expedition against Spain. Sii" Thomas Monk, who appears to have been equally renowned for his loyalty and impecuniosity, sent a message to the Sheriff expres- sive of his ignorance as to the number of " writs " there might possibly be in existence against him, and with a request that he might be permitted to visit Plymouth to assist in the reception of the Sovei'eign without danger of arrest. The Sheriff' promised the Knight the necessary protection, but afterwards treacherously seized the oppor- tunity to arrest the confidmg debtor in the presence of most of the gentlemen of the county. This conduct so exasperated his son, George, then not seventeen years of age (he is stated to have been born on Tuesdky, Decem- ber Gth, 1608), that he immediately went to Exeter, sought out the Under Sheriff", and having first expostulated with him for his falsehood and insincerity, afterwards inflicted upon him severe corporal chastisement, and to avoid the results of his breach of the peace, he fled the county and joined the army, taking with him a recom- mendation to his kinsman. Sir Richai'd Grenville. He carried the colours of his reguuent in the expedition to the isle of Rhu in 1626, under Sir John Burroughs. He belonged to the King's forces during the early part of his career, and ultimately attained the rank of colonel in the Iloyal army, but he appears during this period to have been chiefly employed abroad and in Scotland and Ire- PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 171 land ; upon his return from the kitter country he was presented to the King at Oxford. He was soon after taken prisoner by Fairfax, although he was without any command at the time, and was for some years confined in the Tower of London by order of the ParUament, during which period the King sent him a present of £100 for his support in prison. It is stated in a note to the 1810 edition of Prince, that " he commanded a brigade at Namptwich," and in that capacity was taken prisoner by Fairfax. It is probable, however, that he had no such authority, but that he was merely sent by the King upon a visit of inspection to the regiments stationed there. He was frequently offered his libex-ty if he would declare against his Sovereign, but he always steadily refused to do so, and it was not until the year 1647, when the last of His Majesty's garrisons in England had surrendered by his order, when his armies were disbanded and he was himself a prisoner, and when all hopes of success to the Royal cause were absolutely at an end that Monk reluctantly consented to accept a commission in Ireland under his connection the Lord Lisle (son of the Earl of Leicester). The charge frequently brought against him, therefore, that he was a traitor to his party both immediately before and subsequent to the restoration of monarchy, is absurd. His associations and predilections were essentially loyal, although after he had once accepted command under the Parhament his personal regard for Cromwell may have induced him to go beyond his original intentions ; but he scarcely took the trouble to dissemble his attachment to Royalty, nor is this to be wondered at when we recollect that he quartered " France and Eng 172 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. land " on his ancestral shield, and although the lions and lilies were debruised with a baton, still the blood of the kings of England was in his veins, and he was the grand- son, but three times removed of the fourth King Edward. The origin of the name of Monk is sufficiently curious, and I give it on the authority of Prince. The family were originally called Le Moigne, and at last one of them who was a monk became the heir to the ancestral property, upon which event he procured a dispensation from his religious vows, and was permitted to return to the tem- poral state in order that his house might be continued, and his descendants for several generations called them- selves " Monachus," but afterwards adopted the English rendering of the word. The name of Monk became extinct in this county in the year 1687, when Christopher, the only son of the great Duke of Albemarle died. I fear that I have digressed somewhat,, but all the descendants in the female line of the ancient lord of North Bovey were of great distinction in their genera- tion, and I am convinced therefore that Devonshire men will be glad to trace the connection between the Berkeleys, Beauchamps, Talbots, Plantagenets, and Monks, and the old west- country house of Pipard. The family of Beauchamp of Elmley Castle, co\mty Gloucester, claim descent from Hugh de Beauchamp, one of the companions in arms of the Conqueror, and of this powerful stock was the renowned Guy, Earl of Warwick. Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, left three daughters, Margaret, Countess of Shrewsbury, Alianor, first Lady Ros and afterwards Duchess of Somerset, and Elizabeth, wife of George Neville, Lord Latimer. In the partition I PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 173 of the property Lady Latimer inherited North Bovey. Lord Latimer (created Baron, 1432) was descended from George, a younger son of Ralph, the first Eai'l of Westmore- land. His great-grandson John Neville, Lord Latimer, who died 1542, married secondly Catherine Pan-, who after- wards married King Henry VIII. He left issue by his first wife, Dorothy, sister and co-heu- of John de Vera, Earl of Oxford, John, Lord Latimer, who died 1.577, and left four daughters co-heirs, viz., Catherine, Dorothy, Lucy, and Elizabeth. Their descendants were the owners of the Bovey property in 1630, when Risdon finished his Survey, and it must therefore have been in their family nearly two hundred years. The Marquess of Winchester presented to the rectory, wliich was always attached to the manor, in 1670. About the year 1700, if not at an earlier period, the family of Langdon, became the pos- sessors of this property. They had been settled in the parish for many previous years, and were probably descendants of " Hugh Langdon, a citizen of Exeter," who purchased the adjoining parish of Manaton, in the reign of Henry III. Mr. John Langdon, the last of his name in this neighbourhood, resided at Park, in the parish of Bovey Tracey, of wliich latter manor he was also the lord. Upon the death of his only daughter, in 1747 he bequeathed it, together with North Bovey and other property, to his brother-in-law. Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, afterwards restored to the peerage by the title of Viscount Courtenay. Edward Courtenay (the son of that Henry, Earl of Devon and Marquess of Exeter, who was attainted and executed in the reign of Henry VIII) is well known in history on account of the secret love which he is stated 174 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. to have inspired in the breast of Queen Mary, although he is declared to have sHghted her for her sister, the Princess Elizabeth. He Hved a prisoner for some years in the Tower, and was afterwards exiled, but he died twelfth and last Earl of Devon, at Padua, in 1556 (3 Philip and Mary). The descendants of the four sisters of his great grandfather Edward, the ninth Earl, were found by an inquisitio post-mortem to be his heirs, and the possessions of the elder line and the dormant claims to the baronies of Okehampton and Plympton were distributed amongst the families of Trethurfe, Arundel, Mohun, and Trelawney. The name of Courtenay was, however, continued by Sir WiUiam Courtenay of Powderham, whose connection with the Earls of Devon, I will here briefly state. Hugh Courtenay, the tenth Earl of this county, but the second of his name who enjoyed that dignity, married Margaret, grand-daughter of King Edward I, and daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, eighth Earl of Hereford, and acquired the Powderham estate as his wife's dowry. He settled it upon his sixth son, PhiHp, who became the common ancestor of the branches of his house, afterwards settled at MoUand, Wotton, Cheriton Fitz-Pain, and else- where. The Sir William Courtenay, who inherited North Bovey was his direct descendant, the head of the house, and in actual possession of the family property, and the fourteenth in hneal descent from Sir Philip. He was called to the peerage in 1762 by the title of Viscount Courtenay. The earldom remained dormant, however, imtil 1831, when it was revived by a decision of the House of Lords, as previously stated. The present Earl of Devon is the lord of the manor of North Bovey. PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 175 It is shown by the Hundred Roll that in the reign of Edward I. " Margery Pipard had gallows and an assize of bread and beer within the manor of North Bovey, and that her ancestors had enjoyed these privileges from time immemorial, but that no one could tell by what warrant." The same authority also proves " That this manor was a member of the bai'ony of Totnes," and that it fell into the king's hands in the year 1271 (being held from him in chief), on account of the death of Edmund Pipard in that year. The Crown held the manor on this occasion from the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin to the Feast of St. Michael, and received the customary rents, &c. Thomas Pipard then pleaded for the restitution of the property on the gromid that he was the brother of the aforesaid Edmund Pipard. After the manor was restored to him, Richard Clifford, " Escheator of the King," is stated to have assumed the custody of him and his land, on the ground that he was non compos mentis, which, however, does not appear to have prevented him from " giving him in marriage to a certain niece of his." " Et ipsum maritavit cuidam nepte sue quo warranto ignorant."' A fair was formerly held here on the Monday following the first Sunday after the festival of St. John the Baptist, to which saint the church is dedicated, but I can gain no information as to whom it was granted, nor have I been able to find any reference to the original charter.^ 1 "Rot. Hund. Hund de Teignbridge." - The Courtbnay Earldoms. — Thonuis Courteiiaij, sixth Earl of the Uiime, a staunch Lancastrian, was taken at Towton, and beheaded at York, April, 1462. Hugh Courtcnay, his brother, was attainted and be- headed at Salisbury, 4th May, 1466. John Courtaiay, their younger brother (together with his kinsman and heir-at-law, Hugh Courtenay, of Boconnock), was killed at Tewkesbury, 14th May, 1471. His arms, th 176 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. points of the label differenced with, three mullets, are in a window on the north side of Wolborough Church (pp. 96 and 132 ante.) With his death the elder line of Courtenay became extinct, and the title equally so by attainder. Hugh Comienai/, of Boconnock, was grandson of Hugh, second Earl, and son of Hugh of Haccombe, brother of Edward, third Earl. He left a son, Edward. This Edward obtained restitution of Tiverton Castle and of most of his sequestered property, and was elevated to the Peerage as Earl of Devon by patent 26th October, 1485, and died Earl of Devon in 1509. His son, William, never succeeded to the earldom ; he married Katherine, daughter of Edward IV, but was attainted and senj, to the Tower by his brother-in-law, Henry VII. Henry VIII released him from prison, but did nothing more for him. His wife probably resided at Colcombe Castle, where their daughter, Margaret, " above thirteen years of age in 1512," died, and was buried in Colyton Church. Their son, Henri/, was in high favour at first with his Koyal cousin, who re- stored him in blood and honours, permitted him to assume his grandfather's title, and to succeed as second Earl of the last creation, and advanced him to the marquisate of Exeter, patent dated 18th June, 1525. He, however, soon incurred the king's suspicion, and with his son Edward, was sent to the Tower, attainted and beheaded 9th January, 1539. Edward CouHenay, then twelve years old, was kept in prison until the accession of Queen Mary, who released him, restored him in blood, but not in honours, and created him Earl of Devon by a fresh patent dated Richmond, 3rd September, 1553, "To him an4 his heirs male for ever." He died immarried, at Padua, 4th October, 1556, and his heir male was Sir William Coiirienay, of Powderham, Knight, seventh in direct descent from Philip Courtenay, of Powderham, sixth son of Hugh, second Earl. This Sir "William, who was killed at S. Quentin the following year, should have at once succeeded to the earldom, but perhaps he feared to offend the Queen by any allusion to it. since the last Earl had slighted her affection for him in order to make love to her sister, and had then given up the latter to save his life. His son was of good repute in the county, was High Sheriff in 1581, and laid the foundation of the Irish property, concerning which his grandson wrote to Mr. Yarde, of Bradley, a letter still preserved at Powderham, in which he speaks of the " five or six and thirty thousand acres of land " around his old castle there, most of it " as good as any in my manner of Alphington, and yett I am forct to sett y' for lesse at twelve? pence an acre, which goes to y® heart of mee." His wife was Margaret Waller, and the descent from him will be found pp. 120 d seq. aiifi', ])ut he was the .sixth William Courtenay of Powderham, not the cifjhth as mi.sprinted in the text, PARFSH OF NORTH BOVEY. 177 CHAPTER XIX. PAKT II. The Church of North Bovey, The parish church of North Bovey stands in a small churchyard, and is situated close to the well-wooded and picturesque village green, and comprehends chancel, nave opening into north and south aisles, beneath an arcade of five bays, supported upon octagonal monoliths of moor- stone of Second Pointed date ; a south porch, and a western tower containing six bells. Tlie interior of the sacred structure is neat, clean, and in good repair, and it is to be regretted that it is much disfigured by an accumulation of plaster and whitewash. The eastern window is of Perpendicular date, but those on the north and south sides, although mutilated, date from the First Pointed or Early English period, and the ancient priest's door still remains in its proper position. In the chancel roof I noticed amongst the bosses the heads of Edward I., and of his two queens, Eleanora of Castile and Marguerite of France. A fourth has the three rabbits, their ears meetmg and forming a triangle, which design is prevalent in several churches on the borders of Dartmoor, as I have previously noticed.^ The four-leaved flower, characteristic of the Second Pointed period, occurs on the wall-plate. There are still 1 " Ashburton and its Neighbourhood," p. 66. Z 178 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. remaining many oak benches and some ancient choir stalls. On one of the bench ends may be discerned the letters W.P. (probably an allusion to William Pipai'd, the ancient loi'd of the manor), and on another is the representation of a grotesque head with a forked beard. The beautiful Perpendicular screen Lad, when I saw it, its original decoration concealed by many coats of brown paint. It has a good cornice of vuie leaves and grapes, and the lights are filled with Third Pointed tracery. The samts in the lower panels are at present obliterated, but the jambs of the doorway are adorned with carved representations of the Holy Apostles, each one standing under an elaborate crocketted and finialed canopy, and I recognised the well-known emblems of St. Peter, St. John, St. Philip, St. Paul, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Matthew, and St. Stephen. There are two parcloses separating the chancel from the north and south chapels, but there were no traces of piscines, or of the doors of exit and entrance to the rood loft, these being all concealed beneath the plaster I have already referred to. The font is octagonal, and has a moulded pedestal. There are numerous fragments of ancient glass in the vanous windows, and amongst them 1 remarked the emblems of the four Evangelists. The nave roof is modern ; the church is fitted with open sittings, but there are more than thirty ancient benches remaining in the nave and aisles. The porch is probably of Decorated date ; the four-leaved flower occurs here, and the doorway opens beneath a well-proi^ortioned aixh. The tower, if it is earlier than the end of the fifteenth century, must have been considerably altered at that period. Its arch is ex- PARISH OF NORTH BOVEY. 179 cessively debased, and the western window has apparently a circular head. It is well buttressed, and has four pinnacles and a pointed doorway, and an octagonal stair turret on its north side. There is also an external rood turret. The lords of the manor have always presented to the rectory, and the present patron is the Earl of Devon. I find from the Taxation of Pope Nicholas that in the year 1291 this rectory was valued at £8 10s. lid. per annum. In the reign of Henry VIII. (A.l). 1.535), Robert Wymerley was the rector, and his preferment had nearly doubled in value since the former assessment. After the usual outgoings had been paid, he received £22 10s. 3d. a year. The present rector is the Rev. W. H. Thornton, who was instituted in 186G, and I have to thank him for his attention and kindness when I visited his church and parish. He has twenty-six acres of glebe. I find from an inspection of the parochial registers that the eai'liest, which is in good condition, is endorsed "A Record of Births, Marriages, and Burials from 1572 to 1693." There are several interesting examples of ancient way- side crosses remaining in this parish, and one of them, known as Hale or Yaal Cross, on the road from Beetor to North Bovey, is stated by Mr. G. W. Ormerod' to be, with the single exception of the one at Bovey Tracey, the only example of a Maltese cross which has come under his notice in this district. It appears to have formei'ly stood on the edge of a hollow, made by persons carrying away friable gravel granite, but Mr. Ormerod, on the occasion of his visit, drew the attention of the then curate of the ^ "Trans. Devonshire Association" 1874. •) 180 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. parish to its dangerovis position, and in 1868 Lord Devon caused the cross to be set up a Uttle to the rear of the original position, on a firm foundation. It has been stated that this cross was a station which pilgrims visited on their way to Tavistock Abbey. The height of the cross is about six feet, the bottom of the shaft is quadrangular and perpendicular for twelve inches, and then the edges are chamfered and the sides inchne inwards towards the arms. It stands on a quadrangular pace bevelled off at the top comers to form the upper face into an octagon. The cross on the green, does not appear to have been the original village cross, or, if it is, a portion of it must have been broken off, since the shaft is not as broad as the socket. Mr. Ormerod says, "As the shaft does not taper in, probably some other cross stood here formerly." It is a plain, massive cross, measuring about five feet two inches, and it stands on a square pace. This cross was tlu-own at some period into the Bovey Brook, and re- mained there for some years, but shortly after the passing of " An Act for the reUef of Her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects," 13th April, 1829, the then curate of the parish, Mr. Jones, rescued it from its ignominious j^osition, and caused it to be set up in its present position. It is probable that many crosses still remaining were originally set up merely as boundary stones. The idea of erecting them for this purpose originated in the supposition that no one would be sacrilegious enough to remove or mter- fere in any way with the symbol of salvation, as shown by an inquisition made in 1557 (4th and 5th of Philip and Mary), concerning the boundaries between Dartmoor and Brent Moor. The Commissioners caused all the boundaries PARISH OF NORTH BOYEY. 181 to be marked with stone crosses, and conclude their report, in words which may be thus translated : — " Through Avhich certain crosses, signs worthy of a Christian, we believe that the aforesaid mete and division of Brent Moor may be known and recognised for ever, so that ignorance in the future, which is hostile to truth, may never have the power to take away and destroy the knowledge of the aforesaid metes' limits, divisions and Ijounds." There is an example of a cross of this character at North Bovey, on the moor, near the Moreton and Tavistodi Koad, and about five miles from Moreton-Hampstead ; it is knowTi as Bennett's Cross, but the letters W.B. carved on it mean "Warren Bounds." The height of the shaft is about six feet four inches, and tapers in gradually towards the top. Hospit or Stumpy Cross is also mentioned at page 394 of the 1874 Transactions of the Devonshire Association. It is marked in the Ordnance map as " Bovey Cross ; " it is only twenty -two inches high, and has the letters M N O B incised on to it to indicate the roads to Moreton, Newton, Okehampton, and North Bovey. Mr. Ormerod, when speaking of this cross, remarks that the origm of the name Hospit Cross is not known." There can, I think, be no doubt whatever that the word Hospit is derived from the Latin "hospes," a guest. The cross may have marked sanctuary ground, or it may have once stood near an Hospitium or guest-house. In the Traiisactions above referred to, Mr. Ormerod has given faithful illustrations of the handsome cross at Yaal, and of that upon Bovey Green. There are divers tenements at North Bovey, which have been freely inhabited by paupers of the parish, whilst the 182 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. rent of the church-house has beeu appropriated to the repair of the church. The earhest trust deed connected with this estate bears date 22nd and 23rd October, 1744. The Rev, Thomas Parr, rector of the parish, who died in 1733, gave £3 yearly for the education of poor children of North Bovey for ever, to be paid out of the estate known as Higher Langdon. Robert Tapper, of Fursdon, 9 th May, 1813, gave £4 a year to be paid out of Lower Langdon quarterly for ever, to be distributed in bread among such poor people as should regularly attend Divine service and receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, on the four quarterly days on which the same should be laid out in shilhng loaves, and be placed over the seat where he usually sat in the said church, on a shelf to be provided for that purpose ; and he particularly directed that the said loaves were to remain there during the morning service. The Charity Commissioners remark upon this gift that about sixty loaves were distributed by Andrew Sawdye, who married the testator's sister, and who was the owner of Lower Langdon in 1815, but that since that time there has been no distribution in respect of the donation. They add that the gift is void under the provisions of the Mortmain Act, and cannot be enforced. PARISH OF LVSTLEIGH. 183 CHAPTER XX. PART I. The Parish of Lustleioh. Lustleigh, or " Listleigh," is situated in tlie hundred of Teignbridge, the archdeaconry of Totnes, and the deanery of Moreton. It is tibout nine miles distant from its post town (Newton Abbot), with which it is connected by a branch of the South Devon Railway, and in 1881 it returned a popidation of 366 persons, distributed over 2,939 acres of land. Lustleigh is one of the numerous manors written in Domesday " Liege," or " Lege," and the only guide we have as to its Saxon owner is our knowledge that at the Norman Conquest it became the property of " Judhel de Totenais," who held tliree manors of Lege, which in the days of Edward the Confessor pertained respectively to Alebrix, Osmer, and Alwin, the King's Thane. The priory of St. Mary, of Cornworthy (which stood midway between Totnes and Dartmouth), is supposed to have been founded either by Judhel or one of his suc- cessors in the honor or lordship of Totnes for nuns of the Order of St. Augustine. It was endowed with land within the manor of Lustleigh, and also with the manor and rectory of Cornworthy, and with the rectory of Clawton, which were likewise the property of Judhel. When Judhel, or Juhel, was banished from England, a considerable portion of his estates was given by William Rufus to Roger de Novant, who does not, however, appear 184 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. to have obtained possession of Lustleigh, which early in the reign of Henry I. was held by GaJfridus, or Geoffery de MandevUle, who had been appointed by the latter monarch Warden of the Castle of Exeter, and who had also been enriched with the gift of the hundred and manor of Wonford. He was succeeded by his daughter, who man-ied Wilham Fitz-John. Their descendant, William Tilly, forfeited his property on being convicted of treason in the reign of King John, and upon his attainder Robert de MandeviUe, a connection of the aforesaid Geoffery, used his interest at Court to such good advantage that he managed to secure to himself the reversion of the lands of the elder branch of his family. In the reign of Edward I. (1272) Lustleigh had passed into the hands of the knightly family of Widworthy, in the hundred of Colyton. William de Widworthy, the then possessor, was succeeded by Sir Hugh, who married the daughter and co-heir of Sir William Reigney, knight. They had issue one daughter, Ahcia (who is erroneously called by Risdon, the "sister of Sir Hugh Widworthy"). She married Prouz, of Gidleigh Castle, in the hundred of Wonford, and had a son, Sir William Prouz, whose grand- daughter, Alice, the only child of his third son, Sir Hugh, inherited the manor of Lustleigh. This Alice Prouz was twice married, first to Roger Mules, by whom she had issue one daughter, also called AHce ; and secondly to Sir Robt. Dinham. She was succeeded by her daughter, above-mentioned, who married John Damarell, by whom she had two daughters, co-heirs, Clarice and Joan, who divided the property between them, and who were married respectively to Beriy and Durnford. PARISH OF LUST LEIGH. 185 In the reign of Henry V. (141 3) William Burleston con- veyed this manor to Sir John Wadham, and in his family it remained until the year 1609, when, upon the death of Nicholas Wadham, who married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Petre, and left no children, the manor was divided between his three sisters, Joan, married to Giles Strang- ways, of Dorsetshire, and secondly to Sir John Young, of Bristol, knight; Florence, first married to Sir John Wyndham, of Orchard Wyndham, Somersetshire, secondly to Charles Farringdon, of Farringdon, Esquire ; and Ann, married to Nicholas Martin, of Athelhampston or Ald- meston, in Dorset, Esquire. Nicholas Wadham, of Edge, Meryfield, and Lustleigh, had about £3,000 a-year derived from his various estates. Partly through his wife, and partly by his own care, his income became increased £800 a year in land, and he also accumulated £40,000 in money. He had no child, and he resolved to devote the increase of his estate to some good use, but determined that his paternal acres should descend in due course to his rightful heirs. At first he thought of founding a college at Venice for youths of the EngHsh nation, wishing to obtain an educa- tion m accordance with the doctrines of the Church of Rome, in which religion his wife, the daughter of Queen Mary's secretary, had of course been reared and educated. Some of his friends, however, persuaded him to change his mind, and to spend his money in England, and he accord- ingly proceeded to purchase a site for the erection of a new college within the University of Oxford, to be called after his name. Before he could commence the work, however, he was removed by death, but his wife strictly 18G DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. and honourably carried out all his intentions, and in 1613 she founded Wadham College, Oxford, upon the site of an old monastic edifice which formerly belonged to certain Augustinian friars, who taught theology and philosophy there at a very early period. For these buildings Dorothy "Wadham gave £500, and the College, which was finished in less than three years, cost £10,816. No portion of the University has undergone less alteration than Wadham, but the structure is still firm and compact. The College foims a quadrangle 130 feet square, and the only additions to the original are a building of three stories, erected on the south of the front in 1693, and twelve sets of rooms added about the middle of the present century. The foundation was to consist of one warden, fifteen fellows, fifteen scholars, two chaplains, two clei-ks, one manciple, two cooks, two butlers, and a porter : and having obtained the royal leave of King James I., in the year 1612, she sent a charter of incor- poration for the said warden, fellows, &c., together with a book of statutes for the better government of the house. The statutes prove that she was a liberal-minded woman, for setting aside the natural prejudices she must have entertained for the reformed religion, she directed " that all the scholars should resort to divine service as it is now professed ; that the warden must be born in Britain, that he must at least be Master of Arts, and lead a single life,^ and that if he be preferred to a bishopric that he must forthwith leave his wardenship. That the fellows may profess what faculty they please, and must quit their fellowships within eighteen years of their being regent masters ; that they are to be chosen out of the 1 Au Act of Parliament to annul this prohibition was obtained in 1806 PARISH OF LUSTLEIGH. 187 number of the scholars, and the scholars to be three out of Somerset, three out of Essex, and the rest out of Great Brifcaui." The llrst Warden of Wadham was Robert Wright, D.D., admitted April 20th, 1613. Two-thirds of the manor of Lustleigh appear to have been disposed of in lots to the various lessees soon after the death of Nicholas Wadham, and the remaining third was sold more recently by the Hon. Percy Wyndham, under the powers of the Land Tax Redemption Act. Wc find from the " Hundred Rolls " that the lord of the manor erected gallows, and claimed to have the power of inflicting capital punishment. Risdon speaks of Barnhouse, in this parish, as having been the ancient possession of the Barnhouse family. This is now called the manor or reputed manor of Barne Court. Lustleigh Cleve, generally considered to be one of the most romantic spots in the county, is a vale whicli runs nearly pai*allel with the one in which the village is situ- ated. The outlines of the hills forming this singular valley are rocky and ban-en, but at its narrow enti'ance there are some thick woods. The rocks are so numerous that it is rather difficult to gaiji the top of the hill, but the ascent amply repays the trouble taken to achieve it. A small logan stone is pointed out on the top of the Cleve, near which are what are known as the " Peck Pits," the remains of ancient tinworks. Lustleigh was visited by a teiTific thunderstorm some years since, when the light- ning struck the church, and inflicted great damage both to it and to some of the houses situated in its neighbour- hood. 2 A- 188 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XX. PART TI. LusTLEiGH Church. The parish church, situated in the centre of the village, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and comprehends chancel, nave opening into a north aisle beneath four arches supported upon clustered Perpendicular columns, a south transept, a south porch, and a western tower con- taining four beUs. The eastern window, which has been restored, is filled with stained glass, illustrating the birth, crucifixion, and burial of oiu' blessed Lord. The chancel contains also two Early English windows in good pre- servation, that on the north being a single, and on the soutli side a double lancet. Entrance to this part of the building is still afibrded by the ancient priest's door, which has been restored. On the north side of the altar there is a good example of an Easter sepulchre of First Pointed character. It was used previous to the Reformation for the purpose of a representation of the entombment of our Lord : the crucifix was placed in the sepulchre with gi-eat solemnity on Good Friday, and continually watched from that time until Easter Day, when it was taken out, and rejJaced upon the altar with especial ceremony. As I have ah-eady' said, in this covmtry the sepulchre was most commonly a temporary wooden erection. Lustleigh ^ "Ailiburtou and its Xeiglibourhoocl," 100, 101. PARISH OF LUSTLEIGH. 189 jjossesses another interesting relic of pre-Reformation times in tlie presence of the small brackets, each perforated with three holes, from which the Lent cloth used to be suspended in order to veil the glories of the high altar during the forty days. Durandus mentions two Lent cloths, one between the nave and choir, and another (as in this instance) between the choir and altar. On the south side of the chancel is a very beautiful Early English double piscina, with a trefoil in the head, and three trefolled and triangular headed sedilia of equal height and of the same date. The north aisle is of much later date than the chancel, and was probably built by some member of the Dlnham family about the middle of the fourteenth century. It is lighted by square Perpendicular windows, and contains the effigies (under two very obtuse arches) of a knight and his lady : he has his right hand on his shield : she is habited in a long gown. We read in Risdon's account of Lustleigh : — " Another tomb there is arched over, where some say the Lord Dinham and his lady were inteiTed whose pictures are to seen very glorious in a glass window having their armories between them, and likewise on their surcoats escutcheons of aims." If Risdon's in- formation was correct these memorials must have been raised for Alice Prouz and her second husband, Sir Robert Dinham ; but the painted glass mentioned by our author has long since disappeared, and there is nothing left to warrant my offering any positive opinion on the subject. The font, of Norman date, is circidar and massive, and is ornamented with a cable moulding, and was once surrounded by six pillars, the capitals and bases of which now only remain. The south transept, which is 190 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. entered beneath a good two-centred arch, was probably originally erected for a mortuary chapel, and once con- tained the figure of a cross-lodged knight, which has been now removed to the side chapel at the end of the aisle. This monument is also mentioned by Risdon ; — " In an aisle of this church is a tomb with the statue of a knight cut thereon in stone, on whose shield are three liona between six cross crosslets, by which I conceive it was one of the family of Prouse." The arms have now disappeared. Sir William Prouz ordei-ed by his will to be buried among his ancestors in this church, but his executors interred him at Holberton. His daughter Alice petitioned Bishop Grandisson that the body of her father might be exhumed, and buried according to his desu'e, and thereupon a mandate was issued to that purpose.' This mandate has been printed in Risdon, and Westcote. The screen, which extends across the nave and aisle, is of Perpendicular date, and has a good cornice of vine leaves and grapes. The lower part is divided into twenty -four compartments, and the figures of the saints are carved in relief Most of them carry labels, and do not appear to be distinguished by any pai'ticular symbols, and I could only recognise the figure of St. Barbara with her tower. The doors leading into the chancel have long been taken away, but I was glad to find that, through the zeal and energy of the then resj^ected rector, this beautiful memorial of the faith and piety of our ancestors was undergoing correct and careful restoration. The rood stairs still remain, and the doors of entrance and exit open beneath very debased arches. The south porch, which contains an aspersorium with a > "Ep. Eeg. Grandisson" ii. 131 b. PARISH OF LUSTLEIGH. 191 square basin in good preservation, is of Perpendicular date, but the ai-ch of the interior door is probably earlier. The tower, which has a lofty and almost circular arch, contains a western window filled with good Perpendicular tracery ; the walls of the north aisle are supported by plain cushioned buttresses, and there is an ancient yew tree on the north side of the churchyard. I also examined some very ancient glass which had been taken from the church during its restoration (which at the period of my visit was hardly completed), and which it was intended to replace as nearly as possible in its old position. It was in good presei-vation, and from the circumstance of the figures being single, of the pre- valence of ruby and deep blue in the colouring, and of the absence of canopies, I considered that it was of Early English date, and probably among the most ancient examples of this kind in the county. In which opinion my late friend, Mr. R. J. King, concurred. I was particulary struck with the figures of the Blessed Virgin with the Infant Saviour, of a crowned figure in a purple mantle, and holding a staff and book ; of an archbishop habited in his pontificals ; and with the spirited representation of St. Margaret with her crozier, trampling upon the dragon. At the threshold of the church is an inscribed stone, four feet in length, and a foot and a half in breadth, the size of the letters being about six inches. An SiQcmsXe facsimile of the inscription may be seen in Lysons' " Magna Britannia," There is a crack through the stone. It does not appear to have any reference to the church, and was probablv selected for its present purpose on account of its size. There is no tradition in the parish relative to it, nor can it 192 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. be ascertained when it was placed at the entrance. Copies of the inscription have been transmitted to antiquarians, and have been brought before the notice of learned sccieties, but no accurate information has ever been obtained on the subject. Some have conjectured that the characters are Runic, and others have suggested that they were rude marks formed at random. Mr. Morrier is reported to have seen at Nakshi Rustam, near Persepohs, a Greek inscription containing similar letters, which may be seen in the first volume of his " Travels through Persia." A late well-known local antiquaiy remarks, " It will certainly be a subject of enquiry how it was possible for Greek letters to be found on a stone at Lustleigh." He accounts for it by quoting from Caesar (Book 6, c. 13), to prove that the Druids made use of Greek letters, " Neque fas esse existimant ea literis mandare, quum in reliquis fere rebus publicis privatis que rationibus Graecis literis utuntur." He confesses that he runs the risk of being laughed at, and the idea, one must allow, seems rather far- fetched. Is it not more probable that the Lustleigh stone is an ancient gravestone with the in- scription partially effaced ? Between the church and the railway station is the " Bishop's stone," a block of granite in a hedge adjoining the road about five feet in height. It appears to have been the pedestal of a cross, and was pi-olxibly originally erected by one of the Bishops of Exeter. The form of an escutcheon may still be traced on it, and the sword and a portion of one of the keys pertaining to the See of Exeter. A tradition prevails that the arms were those of Bishop Grandisson,who once passed through Lustleigh and dined on this stone. PARISH OF LU8TLEIQH. 193 A. steep ascent leads to the parsonage-house, wliich is most beautifully situated, and commands a most exquisite view ; the house contains a fine Hall with an early English roof, which was discovered and laid open a few years since. This portion of the house is of cruciform shape, and has every appearance of having been built for ecclesiastical purposes. I can find no record of any chapel there. Can it be possible that its existence is con- nected with the interest the prioress and community of Plympton had in the parish ? A short distance from the village between S. Harton and Manaton, some old build- ings still remain in a farm-yard which doubtless were con- nected with the Priory. They are of monastic character and have pointed windows and doorway in good preservation. Sir William de Wid worthy presented Peter de Taunton to the rectory of Lustleigh, December 19th, 1262. In 1291 (according to the taxation of Pope Nicholas) the rectory was valued at £4 13s. 8d. a year, It appears from the " Valor Ecclesiasticus," that in the reign of Henry VIII. the rector of Lustleigh was Stephen Why te, who received from various sources £16 7s. 2^d. per annum. I have sincere pleasure in acknowledging the courtesy and attention of the late rector of Lustleigh, the Eev. F. Ensor. He died at an advanced age, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Rev. Prebendary Tudor (see Wol- borough ante), 1888. The registers are contained in eight books. The earliest is in fair condition, and includes the baptisms, marriages, and burials from 1631 to 1784. The sacred vessels are very handsome, and consist of a chalice, two patens, and a flagon. The chalice was the 2b 194 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. gift of Edward Basill, rector of Lustleigh, who died January 6tli, 1697, aged 65. The rest of the plate was presented by the late Rev. William Davy, of whom I have spoken already in my " History of Wiukleigh," to whieh vicarage he was preferred shortly before his death in 1826. He is remarkable for his literary labours, having printed twenty- six volumes of his own semaons upon a press which he set up at Lustleigh. Upon the title page of the first volume are the words, " Lustleigh, Devon, Printed by himself, Fourteen copies only m.d.cc.xcv.' 1 "Manor of Winkleigh," p. 42. PARISH OF DENBURY. 195 CHAPTER XXI. PART I. The Parish of Denburt. Denbury, in the hundred of Haytor and the Arch deaconiy of Totnes, is now included in the Deanery of Moreton, but was formerly in that of Ipplepen ; it is a scattered village, pleasantly situated about three miles from Newton Abbot, and extends over 1,050 acres of land, with a population — according to the last census return — of 331. It has been stated that this parish acquired its name from having been the burial place of a host of Danish invaders, and one author remarks, " on a high down near the village are still to be seen traces of an encampment supposed to be of Danish origin." I consider that Denbury is probably derived from the two words " Dan " (or Den ") signifying a dwelling in low ground, and " Berry," which was a very usual Saxon termination to the name of a place, and that the compound word means literally the valley toion. As regards the camp, there is no evidence whatever to prove that it was constructed by the Danes, whose invasions were always of a temporary and predatory nature, and who did not estab- Hsh themselves for any length of time in the country. The position, which is a very strong one, is about half a mile distant from the village upon the high ground known 2 B^ 196 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. as Denbury Down, and is the eastward of a chain of forts between Dartmoor and the valley of the Dart (having Hembury Castle, near Buckfastleigh, on the west), and is probably of Saxon origin. In form it appears to be nearly oval, and to contain about eight acres of land. One account describes it as 200 paces from east to west, and 180 from north to south, but it would be impossible to verify this statement, since the whole enclosure is much over- grown with bushes and underwood. On the south and east is a double dyke of considerable depth ; on the west and north there are but little vestiges of any ditch, the hill having been apparently fortified simply according to its natural requirements. The manor of Denbury, wx'itten in the Exeter Domes- day Devenaberie, was in the reign of Edwai-d the Confessor, the property of Aldred, Archbishop of York, and under Norman rule it pertained to the Abbey of Tavistock. Livingus, the second Abbot of Tavistock, was promoted to the see of Crediton in 1032, and upon the death of his uncle, Brithwold, Bishop of Cornwall, he succeeded in uniting that diocese in perpetuity to his own see. In 1U38 King Harold appointed him to the bishopric of Worcester, which he continued to hold with Crediton imtil his death on Sunday, March 23rd, 10 46. He was succeeded first at Tavistock and afterwards at Worcester by Aldred, a monk of Winchester, who is noticed in the chronicle of Lambeth, a.d. 1058, for his pilgrimages and for offering a golden chalice at the sepulchre of Christ at Jerusalem. In his lifo, by Thomas Stubbs, the Domini- can, ill the " Decem Scriptores," it is stated that he was translated from Worcester to York in 10(J0, during the PARISH OF DENBURY. 197 reign of Edward the Confessor, who probably conferred upon him the manor of Denbury. He consecrated the last of our Saxon kings, and appears throughout his life to have been always the trusted servant of the reigning sovereign. After the Battle of Hastings the two potent earls, Edwin and Morcar, in concert with Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, proclaimed Edgar Atheling, and endeavoured to put the people in a posture of defence. The Londoners, however, having received a repulse from 300 Norman horse, the terror which the citizens had experienced from the previous success of the invaders was renewed, and when William passed the Thames at WalUngford he found that Edwin and Morcar had retired into their own provinces, and that Stigand, the Primate, was waiting there to make his submission to him. The Conqueror, however, was not prepared readily to forgive him, and refused to be conse- crated by him, pretending that he had received his pall in an irregular manner from Pope Benedict IX., who was himself an usurper, and he therefore conferred the honour upon Aldred, Archbishop of York, the Lord of the Manor of Denbury; and Westminster Abbey was the place appointed for that magnificent ceremony, at which Aldred in a short speech asked the English whether they agreed to accept William as their King. The Bishop of Coutance put the same question to the Normans, and both being answered with acclamations, Aldred administered to the Duke of Normandy the usual coronation oath, and then anointed him and put the crown upon his head. In 10G8 our Archbishop was selected to perform the same office for Matilda, King William's Consort, upon her arrival in 198 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. England ; and being thus in favom- at Court, we can hardly be surprised to find that he was no sufferer in the redis- tribution of property, and it Avas doubtless through liis exertions that the Abbey of Tavistock retained the eight manors which they held in the reign of Edward the Confessor, and obtained the five new ones of which they are stated to have been the Lords in Domesday, making with Denbury (the gift, as it is only natural to suppose, of Aldi'ed himself) a total of fourteen. Robert Champeaux, or Campell, who was elected Abbot of Tavistock in 1285, obtained for Denbury (which in ancient records is described as a borough) in the first year of his benediction, a market on Wednesday and a fair for three days at the festival of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.^ This fair is also noticed in the reign of Edward II., but the days are not mentioned.^ A cattle fair is now held there in the month of September, but the market has been long discontinued. An inspection of the " Valor Ecclesiasticus " of King Henry VIII, proves that at the dissolution of monasteries the manor rents of Denbury were valued at £23 5s. lOyd. per annum, whilst those pertaining to the Borough in- creased the rental by the sum of £5 63. 9|d. The Abbot of Tavistock was in the habit of paying the bailiff of Den- bury (who in the year 1535 was called John Lacche) IBs. 4d. a year. It is well known that John, Lord Russell, ancestor of the present Duke of Bedford, obtained from King Henry in consideration " boni veri et acceptabilis servicii," and of a further pecuniary sacrifice, nearly the whole of the 1 Rot. Cart 14th, Ed. I. » Ibid. 12th, EJ. II. PARISH OF DENBURY. 199 possessions of this magnificent Abbey ; the grant, whicli is referred to in .i previous chapter/ contains mention of Denbury in woi'ds of which the following are a transla- tion : — " We give also and yield, by these pi'esents, and for the aforesaid consideration, to the said John Russell, knight, Baron Russell, the whole our borough of Denbury and all the manor of Denbury." In another part of this deed the King grants him "all the profits and emolu- ments of sundry parish churches," and amongst them those pertaining to this rectory — " et rectorie, et eccle- siarum, parochialium de Virgenstowe, Denbury et Whymple." William, the fifth Earl of Bedford, was created Marquess of Tavistock and Duke of Bedford in 1694, and for many generations the Denbury property remained in the hands of this family.^ The Reynells of East Ogwell appear to have purchased the manor in the seventeenth century, in the fourth year ot Richard II. (1381). Walter Reynell accompanied the Duke of Bedford (John Plantagenet, uncle oi the reigning sovereign Henry VI.) in his memorable expedition to France in 1428, when the raising of the siege of Orleans by Joan of Arc gave rise to one of the most singidar revolutions that is to be met with in history. For many years, as I have already shown, the descendants of this ancient stock were amongst the most 1 Vol. 1, p. 265. * See the history of this family, vol. 1, chap, xii, part 2. At page 287 it appears by an error of punctuation that the "Eecl deer were extirpated in the neighbourhood of Tavistock by the Duke of Bedford in 1870-75." The full stop should be placed after the latter figures. The hounds -svere sent down for the purpose bj* the fourth Duke, ■who died 15th January, 1771. 200 DEVONSHIRE PARI SUES. important of our county families, and their well-known aiTDorial bearings — " Arg. ; masonry sa, a chief indented of the second"— may still be seen in many of our parochial churches and elsewhere.' Richard lleynell, Lord of Devibury, died without issue in 1735, and by his death the elder branch became extinct. His half-sisters married Whitrow, Copleston, and Morice ; and the heiress of Whitrow brought the estates (inclusive of Denbury) to Joseph Tayloi", by whose descendant they were sold to Mr. Scratton, the present proprietor of East Ogwell, a few years since. The family of Froude have some estates in Denbury, and are the owners of the picturesque manor house of sixteenth century date, which probably occupies the site of a much older dwelling, since it is situated close to the church — an almost invariable arrangement where a monastic community were the lords and patrons. The lower part of the ancient market cross, which has, I believe, been restored, remains in the village street, a small portion of its shaft was used to form a kind of finial to a cumbrous mass of masoniy erected near it. Several old houses here have plain doorways, dating most probably from the last quarter of the fifteenth century. ^ Ante chap, xx, part 2. PARISH OF DENBURY. 201 CHAPTER XXI. PART II. Parish of Denbury— The Parish Church. The parish church of Denbury is a plain and unpre- tending structure consisting of a very deep chancel, nave, north and south transepts, a south porch, and a low tower at the western end containing five bells. The ancient screen has been removed, but a parclose of sixteenth century date still separates the nave from the southern transept, which latter, from the reign of Queen Anne, was used as a place of interment by the Taylor family. The font of red sandstone is circular, and has an antique moulding characteristic of the Norman style, and the church of Denbury is mentioned in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, as finished in 1291 ; but little if any of the early building now remains. A church here was dedicated to St. Mary during the Episcopate of Bishop Stapledon on the 27th of August, 1318, and at that time doubtless the present chancel was erected in place of the ancient structure which had probably fallen into such decay as to attract the attention of that munificent restorer of churches, Robert Campell, then abbot of Tavistock. At first sight the chancel appeared to me to be of early English date. The five windows on its north and south sides (filled with modern stained glass), are all lancets of two lights each, precisely similar, however, to one in the 2c 202 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. vestry of Ashburton Church, which I have good reason to beUeve dates from the year 1314.' The piscina, which has a broad angular projection and a deep and very curious drain hole, is sui-mounted by an ogee arch of Early Second Pointed character. The priests' door remains on the south side, and amongst the nodi in the roof may be seen the " Lacy knot," and several bosses carved in good perpendicular foliage. The nave and transepts were probably added during the episcopacy of Bishop Lacy (1420 to 1458), and before this date I consider that the church consisted of nothing but the present chancel. The transept windows have been well restored and contain good examples of perpen- dicular tracery, but those in the nave which have been also renewed are capable of considerable improvement. The entrance to the staircase, which once led to the rood loft, has been partially blocked, but the arch still remains on the eastern side of the north transept, whilst high up on the north wall of the chancel may be seen the narrow doorway which once afforded admission into the church from this staircase. In the south transept is a heavy mural tablet of white marble with a long Latin inscription commemorating the virtues of Joseph Taylor, erst Captain of the Royal Navy, and who commanded the flag-ship which was stationed at Plymouth at the time of Queen Anne's death. Amongst the tasteless decorations usually found upon funeral monuments erected at this period are the conventional skulls, and a medallion portrait of the deceased ; whilst 1 "Ashburton and Its Neighbourhood," p. 18. PARISH OF DENBURY.. 203 nearly opposite, there hangs a naked sword, apparently of the fashion of the early part of the eighteenth century, and which was, therefore, I presume, his property, together with a helmet, which he certainly never wore, surmounted by an heraldic monster, intended possibly to represent his crest. " A Lion pass, arg.", but which when I saw it was coloured in stripes of black and white, and much needed heraldic attention. The interior of the church is particularly neat and clean, and it was repaired and reseated at the expense of Miss Froude, of Denbury House, and other subscribers about the year 1846, a very bad period for church restoration. The greatest praise is due to the present rector for his lavish decoration of the chancel, which is both costly and beautiful. The walls behind the altar rails are hned with encaustic tiles of very good design. The tower, like the nave and transepts, probably dates from the fifteenth century, and the western window and doorway are both of this period ; it is unbuttressed, but embattled, and the staircase is on its north side. The present ugly roof, pierced with dormer windows, is comparatively modern, and much lower than the original, as proved by an inspection of the outside of the tower, but the ceiling of the south porch appears to have been left untouched. The transepts and chancel are supported by plain butti'esses. There is an external rood projection, partly hidden by the vestry, and the woodwork of a north door which has been blocked on the inside, in the angle between the tower and the wall of the nave. On the south side of the chui'chyard there is an excessively fine yew ti-ee. The profits of the rectory of Denbury are not included 2 c' 204 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. in the possessions of the dissolved abbey of Tavistock, from wliich it is clear that the abbots exercised only the right of patronage there, in point of fact the Valor Ecclesiastiais absolutely proves that the monks made the rector an amiual payment out of the manor rents, " Et Walteri Michel, rectori de Denbury, et successoribus, suis pro capitali redditu ab antique tempore consueto Is." At this time the said Walter Michel, according to the same authority, was in receipt of an income of £12 7s. 3d. per annum. The patronage still remained with the Duke of Bedford up to the year 1836 ; afterwards it was pur- chased by the Rev. John Eichard Bogue, who was for some years curate there to the late Ven. Archdeacon Froude, and who enlarged the rectory house, a very com- fortable residence, in 1847. The present rector is the Rev. James H. Eeibey, who was instituted in 1859, and who has eighteen acres of glebe. He informed me the altar plate, which is very handsome, was given to the church by Joseph Taylor in 1773, and that the parochial registers commence alike in 1559. The Eev. Richard Serle, M.A., who was instituted in the year 1642, was veiy soon ejected by the Puritans, and was replaced four years later by a Presbyterian of the name of Bickle, who does not seem to have profited much by his act of usurpation since he was dismissed in his turn for Nonconformity in 1662, and was turned out of the rectory together with his wife and ten children, and once had his hovise stripped of his furniture because he refused to pay a fine which had been inflicted upon him. He is stated to have been insane for twelve months before his death in 1702 ; however, he held possession of PARISH OF DEN BURY. 205 Denbury rectory for a period of sixteen years, and its rightful owner, Mr, Serle, does not appear to have lived to be restored to his preferment. There are several ancient feoffments relating to the parish lands. The first is dated 20th March, 2nd and 3rd Philip and Maiy (1555-6), by which John Prideaux, seijeant-at-law, enfeoffed John Gilbert alias Vicary and othei's and their heirs of a messuacce and tenement with the appurtenances called Poundhayes, situate in the parish of Denbury, to the support and reparation of the parish church. The next deed bears date 23rd September, 23rd Elizabeth (1581), by A'hich John Boteler and William Holford granted to WilUam Gilbert alias Vicary and others and their heirs a messuage or tenement, bakehouse, curtilage, and garden, situate at Denbury, to the intent that they shoiild employ the rents and profits to such charitable and good uses as by the major part of the parishioners (house- holders) should be agreed upon. When all the trustees save four should be dead provision is made for the election of new ones. The next trust is dated 20th March, 1603. WiUiam Vicary alias Gilbert and others granted Richard Culling and others and their heirs all the messuage and tenement called Poundhayes, and the house called Church-house, in the parish of Denbury. No trusts are declared by this deed. No part of this parish is now known by the name of Poundhayes. A more recent appointment of trustees of these lands was made on the 14th July, 1807, when several houses, 206 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. and a close of land called Denbury Down, containing by estimation an acre and a half were conveyed by tlie three co-heiresses of the surviving feoffee to the Rev. Eobert H. Froude, and others and their heirs, upon trust that they or the major part of them should meet yearly on Easter Monday in the church house and after deducting incidental expenses should apply the balance of the rents to such charitable and good uses as they should agree upon, either for the reparation of the parish church, amending the highways, or relieving the poor thereof and such like. Mr. John Peter, by will dated 1570, gave to the poor of the parish £1 per annum, payable out of the sheaf of Cornworthy. I believe that this annuity is distributed among such of the poor not receiving parochial relief, as are selected at a vestry meeting. In commemoration of this bequest the arms of Peter, painted on canvas and framed, are hung up in the vestry. The Charity Commissioners state " that in the returns made to Parliament in 1786, John Simming gave to the parish £10, then producing an interest of 10s., to be laid out in the purchase of books for poor children. I have not been able to verify this by the evidence of any docu- ment, but I find that the parish have been in the habit of expending ten shillings per annum in the purchase of Bibles, which have been distributed every two or three years among such poor children of the parish as have been chosen to receive them at a meeting of the parishioners." PARISH OF SOUTH BRENT. 207 CHAPTER XXII. The Parish of South Brent. South Brent, in the hundred of Stanborough, and in the deanery of Totnes, is a small market town, with 1,298 inhabitants, about eight mQes from Ashburton, on the old road to Plymouth. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, and at the time of the taking of the Domesday Survey, the Abbey of Buckfastleigh possessed two manors of Brent. The first entry of these two manors in the description of the Abbey property runs thus : " Abbas Habet i mansionem que vocatur Brenta quam tenuit Alwinus Abbas ea die qua Rex Edwardus fuit vivus et mortuus et reddidit gildum pro ii hidas," &c. The next entry, commencing in similar terms, probably refers to Brent Tor, in the hundred and deanery of Tavistock, and which eventually became the property of its magnificent monastery, the Abbots of Tavistock having probably acquhed it either by purchase or exchange with Buckfast.* South Brent, however, remained with its ancient possessors untU the 25 th February, 1538, when Gabriel Dunne, the last Abbot of Buckfast, surrendered his convent into the hands of King 1 Mr. Brooking Eowe, in his account of Buckfast Abbey, Trans- actions Devon Association, vol. viii, p. 881, says " Tbe two Brentas stand for manors, both probabli/ in the parish of SotUh Brent." I cannot tell upon what grounds he formed his opinion for there is no Manor of Brent mentioned in Domesday, as the property of Tavistock Abbey. 208 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. Henry VIII. On the Uth of September in tlie preceding year he had leased to John Southcote, of Bovey Tracey, and Anthony Burleigh, the tithes of sheaf and hay of Brent for sixty years at £20 a year, and from the Valor Ecclesiasticus we find that he had been in the habit of deriving an income of £121 6s. 7fd., from this property alone, which must have been amongst the most important and valuable of the Abbey possessions. Sir William Petre (of whom I have already spoken in my account of Tor Brian),' is said to have obtained from King Henry VIII. the " Manor of Brent, alias South Brent, and the Rectory of the parish church of Brent," and, what is more extraordinary, on November 25th, 1555, Pope Paul IV. confirmed him in this grant of ecclesiastical pi'operty. But, despite this statement, in 1559 the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, were Hectors and Proprietors of the Church, and Sir William was merely Patron of the Vicarage. In Bishop Turbe- ville's Register is a copy of the release of a certain yearly payment of four shillings issuing from this parish church, made by the aforesaid Sir William Petre (who had then become principal Secretaiy of State to Philip and Mary) to Philip and Phrear, the then Vicar, and his successors. I have also alluded to Mr. Phrear in my account of Dean Prior,' and have stated there that an appeal for augmentation of the Vicarage of Brent was made on his behalf to the Dean and Canons of Christ Church, and in Turbeville's Register (fol. 48) may be seen " A composition for the union and the annexation of the ^ " Asliburton and Its Neighbourhood," chap, xxiii. ^ Ibid. Cliap. XX. PARISH OF SOUTH BRENT. 209 Rectory of the church of Brent to the Vicarage in the same place." The composition states that the Rev. Pliihp Phrear having declared that the Vicarage of Brent was so poor and slender in its " fruits, returns, and incomings," as to have been altogether forsaken by a fitting pastor, that he, the Bishop (considering that " whosoever served the altar should live by the altar " " equum esse ut qui altari servit, de altari vivere") had interested himself with the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church at Oxford, the Rectors and proprietors of the jaarish church of Brent, and that they, with the council, will, and express consent of the honourable man, Sir WiUiam Petre (the true and undoubted patron of the Vicarage), had consented to give up all the tithes, rights, and emoluments, spiritual as well as temporal (reserving to themselves, however, an annual pension of £20) for the proper augmentation of the Vicarage. Philip Plu-ear was Vicar of Dean Prior and Brent, and in 1553 was patron of Holne and presented William Avery to that Vicarage. He acquu-ed this latter patronage from the Crown, who had assumed it upon the suppression of St. John's Hospital. The parish of Brent includes the small hamlets of Aish, Charford, Harbournford, Lutton, Wcnton, and Brent Mill. A fair on Brent Down was granted to the Abbot of Buckfast about the year 1350, to be held for three days at Michaelmas.' In the year 1778 the fairs were altered to the last Tuesday in April and the last Tuesday in September. I find from the Hundred Roll that the Abbot had the power of inflicting capital ^ (:;art Kot, 25th-27th Edwd. IIL, No. 170. 210 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. punishment. Most of the land was sold off some years since, and now belongs to the executors of the late Sir Walter Carew, Dr. Butter, and many smaller owners. I believe that the manor itself is now the property of Mrs. Bayliffe. " On Brent-hill are ruins which have been stated to be those of an ancient chapel." I can find no record of a chapel on this hill either in the Chantry Roll or elsewhere, but I have heard the following explanation of the origin of the building : — About the year 1790 one Mr. Nicholas Tripe, surgeon, built a lai'ge house for a residence at the head of East-street, Ashburton (now known as the Golden Lion Hotel). From his bedroom he could see the summit of Brent-hill, and he erected there a windmill, in order that he might amuse himself by watching it from his bed in the early morning. The remains of this windmill have since been mistaken by some for the remains of an ancient ecclesiastical structure. In the year 1557 (4th and 5th Philij) and Mary) an inquisition was made concerning the boundaries between Dartmoor and Brent Moor. Out of the 10,100 acres of land belonging to the parish, 6,312 acres only are cul- tivated, the rest being open common in the south-east angle of Dartmoor, whei'e the hills rise boldly from the valleys of the Avon, and the Erme. The evidence given before the three Parliamentary Commissioners (John Predyaux, John Rudgeway and Thomas Williams), proved that the waste called Brent Moor extended by ascending a certain valley or place in which two waters, called " Lez Glasez," met (in quo due aque vocate Lez Glasez simul concurrunt in unum "). The witnesses having given fuller evidence as to the boundaries, the Commissioners ordered PARISH OF SOUTH BRENT. 211 that stone crosses, inscribed " Bunda de Brentmore," should be placed upon Three Barrow Beacon and Wester Whitboro, and at Buckland Ford and Welbroke. And they, moreover, declared that they adopted these crosses, in order to preserve the boundaries, they assuming that no one would take down, remove, or destroy such holy symbols. " Per quas quidem cruces, Signa Christiano digna, credimus, quod predicte mete, et divise de Brent- more pariter imperpetuum cognoscerentur," &c. Sir William Petre is buried in the Church of Ingarteston, in the county of Essex. The monument to his memory is thus described by Prince : — " On the north side of the altar in Ingardeston Church is a bed raised about four- feet-and-a-half high and seven long, curiously canopied over, and adorned on the sides with marble pillows, whereon lie the statues in full proportion of Sir William Petre and Anne his second wife." Sir William died 1 3th January, 1572 ; his brother John (the Customer of Exeter), in 1570, and the latter is interred in the parish church of Brent. A branch of the ancient family of Le Pruz, commonly called Prowse, who inherited the lands of Ashton under Haldon, from the Hilions (seven knights of the latter name having held them from the time of the Norman Conquest), had an estate called " More," in this parish. In the year 1692, Arthur, the son of Solomon Hele, of Stert, married Elizabeth, daughter of Prowse, of More, in South Brent. Palstow, in Brent, belonged to the Abbey of Buckfast, and the occupiers paid a rent to the Community, amounting to £3 a-year. 2d^ 212 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XXIL-PART. II. Bkent Church. The parish church, dedicated to St. Petrock, though in some documents it is assigned to St. Patrick, is a large and very ancient fabric. It has been restored, and it is suprisiug to notice the number of walled-up arches in the different parts of the building. The interior of the ohurch has not been replastered, Ijut the bare stone has been pointed, and these old arches can therefore be seen distinctly. The church consists of a chancel, nave opening into north and south aisles, beneath six pointed arches, supported upon octagonal columns, with moulded capitals, north and south transepts, a small porch, and a low tower at the western end, containing six bells. The rood screen was found to be so much decayed, that it was considered impossible to restore it, and it has therefore been re- moved, but the door leading to Its gallery remains on the southern side. I presume that the church was enlarged at the time this screen was first placed there, since two of the arches were built in a peculiar form in order to admit of its erection ; besides, many of the details at the eastern end of the building appear to be of Perpendicular date, whilst the western end of the fabric is decidedly of Decorated character. On the north side of the chancel there is a large low arch (now blocked) which may have PARISH OF SOUTH BRENT. 213 once contained an altar tomb, or it possibly may have been an Easter sepulchre. There is a large square-headed piscina on the south side, and one old sedile, the spandrils enclosing shields, bearing respectively a cross quarterly and a saltier. Two new sediUa have been added ; the ancient priest's door remains in its proper position. There are square piscinae of Perpendicular date in both the north and south chancel chapels. High up in the eastern wall of the south transept was discovered, during the recent restora- tion, an arched recess, which, upon being opened, was found to contain many pieces of carved and painted stone, including the fragments of one large image ; tliey are preserved at the Vicarage, and very likely are the remains of the ancient altar, and of the statue of the blessed Virgin, which were secreted here when the Act of 1559 was passed, reviving Edward's laws, and directing all images, to which adoration had been paid, to be destroyed, and directing a communion table to be set up where the high altar formerly stood. On entering the church by the south porch, I noticed that the old oak- door, with its ancient key, still remained, and there is an aspersorium, or holy water stoup, on its eastern side. The Norman font is in good preservation and is decorated with the zigzag and band ornaments. The tower is square and massive, and has no staircase ; it has a Norman arch, and there are also two veiy perfect circular arches (stoned up), on its northern and southern sides. The upper windows (Norman) are divided by small shafts, with imposts of long stones reaching entu-ely through the wall. There can be little doubt that the 214 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. church has been several times restored (or I may almost say rebuilt), and that upon each occasion a very consider- able portion of the old erection has been utilized. At the western end of the south aisle is a small building with a room over. In excavating the lower part for the purpose of fixing a heating apparatus many skeletons were discovered, affording evidence that it was originally used as a mortuary chapel ; the upper room has been for years used as a vestry. The windows of the church are principally of the Perpendicular order, but one good example of the Decorated style remains at the western end of the north aisle, and it has been recently filled with stained glass. I noticed several inscribed grave- stones to the memory of former vicars : J. Gandy, Pre- bendary of Sarum, 1672 ; John Wil cocks (Prebendary of Exeter, collated 12th Ap. 1681), and 43 years Vicar, 1715 ; Walter Taylor, Vicar, 1664; and Thomas Acland, third son of Sir T. Acland, Vicar, 1735. In the south transept there is a memorial for the family of Prowse. Before the Reformation this church was most probably served by a canon from Buckfastleigh. Philip Phrear, who was admitted on July 25th, 1550, M'as succeeded by Richard Fountain, May 8tb, 1561. Dr. John Gandy (above mentioned) who was buried in 1672, was Chaplain to Dr. Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury. In the year 1642, his Prebendal stall (Torleton, in the Diocese of Salisbury), was put under sequestration and given to a Parlia- mentarian called Briten.' > According to Lc Keve, " Fasti," ii, 656. There were no collations to the Pieljendal Stalls at Sarum, between the years 1638-9 and 1660. Gandy 'e name does not occur, neither is there any note of his death, but PARISH OF SOUTH BRENT. 215 Mr. Gandy was at that time residing at Brent, and about the year 1644 he was arrested as he was going to church, and earned prisoner to Dartmouth, wluther he went in his habit, his bible in his hand. He was fre- quently threatened with death by his captors, and was not released untU he had paid the sum of £100 as ransom. His house was several times ransacked by the soldiers, and his wife and children illtreated. About the year 1645, he was totally dispossessed of his living, and his wife and family (in his absence in London) thrown out of doors to beg or starve, Mrs. Gandy having with her a baby of but a few weeks old. The intruder who was to succeed the rightful Vicar, and who was called Felinger, and who had been rescued from beggary by the Vicar's father, was present whilst the ejectment was taking place, and watched the troop of horse whilst they barbarously tivrned Mrs. Gandy and her children out of the house ; the soldier who was most conspicuous in this act of cruelty being a man whom that lady had recently freed from prison by the payment of his debts. After he had been dispossessed, he was compelled to sell the choicest of his books to support himself in London, but towards the latter end of the usurpation he was pemiitted to hold the rectory of Bridport, where he continued until the Restoration, when he had his preferments given back to hun, became a Doctor of Divinity, and retired to end his days at Brent Vicarage, and as I have already stated he is buried in the South Chancel Chapel of his Church. The late Vicar and Patron, the Rev. F. Cole, was suc- ceeded by his son, the Rev. W. S. Cole, in 1866, to whom Robert Frampton was collated to the Prebend of Torleton, and installed 15th Aug., 1672. 216 VEVONSEIRE PARISHES. my best thanks are due for his kind attention to my enquiries. He informed nie that he still pays the yearly pension to Christ Church. During my visit to his Vicarage (which is situated in a large lawn and sheltered by ancient trees, with the river Avon flowing through it), he showed me a fine copy of Missal. Rom. Paris, 1526 ; a copy of the " Breeches " Bible {quarto imp. apud Londinum) by Robert Barker, 1615 ; and a curious and valuable manuscrij^t, consisting of sundry short treatises, and including " A Treatise on ye Fabrique and use of the Astrolabe by ye famous clerke Sir Geffry Chaucer, Knight." There are thirty-two acres of glebe, and the population in 1871 amounted to 1,449 persons. The parish lands comprise sixty-four acres and five houses which have been long vested for the use of the poor. John Wilcocks (formerly vicar) endowed a free school, with three acres of land, to which the Rev. Thos. Acland, his successor, added another acre in 1733. The poor have 40s. a year out of the great tithes of Corn worthy. Lord Petre, as Lord of the Manor of South Brent I'eceived certain free rents of the value of £7 14s. 4d., and these free rents were anciently charged with a payment to the poor of £20 a year ; and the Rev. Robert Bradford, in 1800 left £10, the interest to be Spent in providing Bibles for four poor children belonging to this parish. PARISH OF HARFORD. 217 CHAPTER XXIIl. PART I. The Parish of Harford. Harford, iu the hundred of Ermiiigtou, the Arch- deaconry of Totnes, and the Deanery of Plympton, is a small parish on the river Erme, about two miles distant from Ivy Bridge. The population numbered 182 according to the last census, in 1871 it comprised 171 inhabitants living in 27 houses, on 2,050 acres of land. The vicinity of the South Devon Railway does not appear to have benefited this picturesque Anllage, as there were 28 houses there in IS 11, and these had decreased to 25 in 1321 ; but in the last year there were 199 parishioners, against 182 in 1811. Since then, however, a portion of the land has been absorbed by the Ecclesiastical district of Ivy Bridge, which was formed out of the four parishes of Ermington, Cornwood, Ugborough, and Harford in the year 1835. The Manor of Harford was the property of <)rdulf in the time of Edward the Confessor. This noble Saxon (who must not be confounded with Ordulph, the gigantic son of Ordgarius, Duke of Devon) was at that time a considerable landowner in this C(xmty, foi- iu addition to this property, he is shown by Domesday to have also held the Manors of Alverdiscot, Alwlngton, Bigbury, Beer-Alston, Bratton, Crideholde, Frithelstock, Hempston Lege, Raddon, Wic, and one or two Manors in 2e 218 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. St. Mary Church ; and all these, at the Conquest, were given to the King's half-bi'other, the Earl of Mortaine. Besides these Ordulf held Lamerton, Were, and Hanston, together with the Manor of Broadclist, which last was afterwards assumed by the Conqueror himself. The period of the death of Robert of Mortaine is by no means certain. It has been frequently stated that he left an only son William. As a matter of fact, he was t\^'ice married, and had two sons, both of whom ai-e i-eferred to in his grant of the Manor of " Ludahanum "' to the Piiory of St. Michael's Mount, " Pro anima mulieris suae defunctpe Mathildis et pro viventi Ahnodi et pro ]}ueris eorum. . . . Robertus filius comitis Moi'etonii. . . et Willielmus ejus alter fihus," &c. Upon the death of Odo, Bishoj) of Bayeux, a.d. 1097, William, who had then succeeded his father, claimed, as his lUicle's heir, the Earldom of Kent. The King, Henry I, not only refused him this honour, but called upon liim to prove his right to his other estates. Earl William, in disgust, retii'ed to Normandy, where he liroke out into open rebellion. His property was, of course, seized by the Crown, and on September 28th, 1106, he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Tinchebrai. Some authors state that he died in prison, while others declare that his life ended in the cloister after he had been for some time a monk at Bermondsey. Although Robert, Earl of Mortaine, had received the Earldom of Cornwall and 79o manors scattered over 20 counties, and although most of the King's ' " Liululmm," nionticined amongst liis possessions in the Domesday .Suivey. PARISH OF HARFORD. 219 relatives and chiefs had received similar rewards, yet it is somewhat remarkable that none of the Conqueror's sous appear as possessed of land iu Domesday with the single exception of his illegiti- mate son, William Peverell, who although he did not acquire any Devonshire land in the re-distribution, yet had 162 manors in the Midland Counties, his Northamptonshire land having belonged to Githa, the mother of Harold. The Peverells, however, soon became large landowners hei'e, and although the branch settled in the south were in after ages distinguished by then- different coat armour from that of Sampford, near Tiverton, yet they doubtless had a couuuon ancestor with the Lords of Nottingham and Derby. The Hundred Roll shows that King Henry first gave to Matilda Peverell the Manor and Hundred of Ermington, and she was succeeded by Hugh Peverell m the same reign. It con- tinued in this name for several descents. Sir John was the last, and his daughter married Sir Nicholas Carew, and brought him the Manors of Weston, Mamhead, Galmeton, and other lands, but not Harford, which appears to have been alienated before her time, and prior to the reign of Edward III belonged to John, Baron of Torringtou, subsequently both East and West Harford were held by Hugh de Harston. Lysons says that the Hai'stons were settled here between 1327 and 1377, and that they were succeeded by Cole, and iu the year 1G22 Harford was sold by Christopher Cole to Sir Richai'd Buller and others, trustees probably for Williams, of Stowford, whose family became possessed of it about 2e=' 220 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. this time." There are several manors of "Stafort," variously written, mentioned in the survey, and I wiU not attempt here to identify that which is known as " Sto'U'ford," and which is situated vrithin this parish. It is the East Harford referred to by Risdon as one of the manors held by the Baron of Torrrngton, and it also belonged to the Peverells. It was at an early period in the possession of one " Matthew, of Ivy bridge, whose daughter, Margaret, brought it to her husband, William Dymock, whose three sons held it in succession and died without issue. By means whereof the Lord Bonville, by a deed in tail, got this land, which, upon the attainder of the Duke of Sufiblk, came to the Crown, and was bought by Adam Williams, ancestor of Williams, a man of rare gifts and excellency, learned in the laws, and Speaker of the Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth." This Thomas Williams, who was Speaker of the House of Commons in 1562, was the son of Adam Williams, of Stowford, by his marriage with Alice, dauo'hter of Thomas Prideaux, of Ashburton. He married Emlyn, daughter and co-heir of William Cruwys, of Chumleigh, by his wife Margaret, sister of Antony Pollard, of Horewood, and by her he had two sons, John and Thomas, and foui- daughters, Joan (who marned Philip Cole, of Slade), Anne, Ehzabeth, and Thomazine. This pedigree is continued in the Visitation of 1564; Westcote adds, " That John Williams married Joan, daughter of Richard Drewe, of Hayne, and had issue ;" and we are told b}' Risdon that the issue was 'Thomas,'" who " lately enjoyed this land." In PARISH OF HARFORD. 221 the parish church there is a memorial to the Speakei', who died in 1566, to his son John, 1615, and to John Williams, 1716. I have a note also of a memorial on the outside of the church, against the churcli wall, dated 1752, and which exhibits the Arms of Williams impaled with three demi-lions issuant from three castles. Thomas Williams, the grandson of the Speaker, is supposed to have sold Stowford in the reign of Charles I to the Saverys, who for some time resided there ; it afterwards passed through the hands of Dunstirville, of Plymouth, Rivers, and Bowen. Mr. Rivers rebuilt the house. The Manor of Hall was sometime in the Chudleiffh family, who appear to have obtained their property in this neighbourhood by the marriage of Cliistopher Chud - leigh, Knight, with Christiana, daughter and heir of William Strichley, of Strichley, in the adjoining parish of Ermington, by his wife Anne, sister and co-heir of John Gould, of Seaborough. The issue of this marriage was a son John, who died in the Straits of Magellan while on a voyage of discovery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He married Elizabeth, daughter of George Speke, of White-Lackington, Knight, and by her had issue two daughters — Bridget married to Richard Carew, of AnttHiy ; and Dorothy, whose husband was Sir Reginald Mohun. His two sons, George and John, are both mentioned by Prince ; John, who according to the Heralds' visitations, was aged 36 in 1620, was knighted by King Charles I., September 22nd, 1625. George, the eldest son, succeeded to Ashton, and married Mary, daughter of Sir William Strode, and had issue five sons and four daughters— John, aged 14; George, aged 8; 222 BEVONSHIRE PARISHES. William, aged 5 , James, aged 4 ; Richard, aged 3 weeks — in the year 1620. The names of the four daughters were Elizabeth, Mary, Dorothy, and Anne. At the breaking out of the civil war Sir George, who had been when almost an infant deprived of his father, declared for the Parliament against the King. But he joined his Sovei'eitrn at Oxford in 1643-4, and the declaration which he at that time published has been re-produced by Prince, and the reasons he gives in it for his change of opuiion are alike honourable, convincing, and satisfactory. Both Sir Geoige and his son James were in Cornwall with the rebels in May, 1643. Sir George was detached from headquarters, and was ordered to march with 1,200 Dragoons to Bodmin in order to surprise the High Sheriff and the principal gentlemen of the county. The King's forces immediately advanced upon the enemy's position at Stratton in order to take advantage of the absence of then- Cavalry. James Chudleigh was in command there as a Major-General, and according to Clarendon, actually " ordered the battle," from which he says Lord Stamford "stood at a safe distance." In the route that followed, Chudleigh, with 30 other officers and 1,700 men, were taken piisoners and Stamford did not hesitate to say that he [had betrayed hmi, and to send the same information to London. Clarendon praises his conduct most highly, and he appears to have done good service to the rebel cause ; however, he was so much stung ^\•ith the ingratitude of his colleagues that after he had been about ten days in captivity he tendered his services to the Kuig. They were accepted, and he became a colonel in the Royal Army, in which he soon PARISH OF HARFORD. 22:j afterwards fell, killed by ii musket-shot, diu'Ing the siege of Dartmouth, just before that town yielded to Prince Maurice in October of the same year. Sir George Chudleigh, who married one of the co-heirs of Sir William Uavie, of Greedy, died leaving three daughters. The title expired with Sir James Ghudleigh, who was killed at the siege of Ostend in 1745. Colonel Thomas Ghudleigh was the younger brother of Sir George, and had Hall for his inheritance, and, I believe, occasionally resided there, although he was Governor of Chelsea. He married his first cousin, Henrietta, a younger daughter of Hugh Chudleigh, of Chalmingtou, co. Dorset, and had a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1726, and who in consequence of his death was left at an early age with but slender provision. Her mother, through the interest of William Pidteney, afterwards Earl of Bath, procured her an appointment at Court, as Maid of Honour to the Prince of Wales, mother of King George III. After this her career appears to have been very remarkable. Her wit and beauty soon procured her many admii-ers, and although her manner was chai-acterised by the utmost levity, she is stated to have received a serious offer of marriage, from the Duke of Hamilton. She appears to have much wished to marry him, and had she done so the probability is that her after-life would have been very different from that which is recorded of her. While the Duke was on the continent it is said that one of her i-elatives sncceeded in persuading her that she was sHghted and forgotten, and these arguments induced her to consent to a secret marriage with a naval officer, Captain Harvey, afterwards Earl of Bristol, on 224 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. August 4th, 1744. After her mamage she continued to use her maiden name, and her refusal of several advan- tageous offers so offended her mother that to avoid her constant reproaches she was induced to go abroad, where she is stated to have been well received both by the King of Prussia and also at the Court of Dresden. She afterwards returned to England, and resumed her situation as IMaid of Honour. Her subsequent efforts, first to conceal and afterwards to assert her marriage with Lord Bristol, appear to savour more of romance than reality. Ultimately the Duke of Kingston made her a matrimonial offer, on which she endeavoured to procure a divorce from the Earl ; and although he at first opposed her scheme, he at last consented to it, and she became the wife of Evelyn Pierrepoint, and Duchess of Kingston, 8th March, 1769. On the Duke's death, in 1773, she was left mistress of a magnificent income, which she was not permitted to enjoy undisturbed, since the heirs of the Duke commenced a suit against her for bigamy. She was tried before the House of Lords and found guilty, but on her pleading the privilege of Peerage, the usual punishment of burning in the hand was remitted, and she was discharged on paying the fees of office. The remainder of her life was spent abroad, and she died at her seat near Fontainebleau, August 28th, 1783. In Ballai'd's " Learned Ladies " there is a notice of Mary, Lady Chudleigh, daughter of Richard Lee, Esq., of Winscott, where she was born in 1666. She man-ied Sir George Chudleigh, Bart. She was the author of a poem entitled " The Ladies' Defence," PARISH OF HARFORD. 225 occasioned by a sermon against the sex, published in 1703. She also published a volume of Essays, in prose and verse, dedicated to the Electress Sophia. She died in 1710. The manor of Hall now belongs to Lord Blachford, and the house is occupied by the tenant of the estate. The Rev. John Savage, Rector of Harford 'u\ 1822 resided at Lukesland Grove, which estate, with Darts, he had then recently acquired by purchase. Lukesland Grove is now the pi-operty and residence of Mr. James Johnston McAndrew, the present lord of the manor of Harford. 2 F 226 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XXIII. PART 11. Harford Church. The Rectory of Harford, which is valued in the King's book at £11 14s. 4gd., is now in the patronage of Mr. J. J. McAndrew. It was recently in that of the Rev. A. P. Bellamy, the late Rector, and of Lord Blachford. In 1835 it was in that of the late Sir J. L. Rogers, Bart., his Loixlship's uncle, and of the heirs of the Rev. H. Julian. In the 3 Edward II (the day after the Feast of Ascension, 1310), the advowson of this rectory belonged to Isadola, the wife of John de Torriton (together with a certain messuage and tenement with its apiDui'tenances in Harford). She then sold it to Hugh de Coleford and Margery his wife, subject to the payment of twenty marks, in two equal portions, at Easter and ]\Iichaelmas, during the lives of her husband and herself, and after their deaths, by the return of " one Rose " at the feast of St. John to her heirs, &c.' The Tithe Rent- charge amounts to £185 a year, and there are fifty acres of glebe. In 1291- it was taxed at £4 2s. p. a. The parish church, dedicated to S. Patrick, stands in a neatly-kept churchyard, and comprehends chancel, nave, separated from a south aisle by an arcade of four bays supported upon slender, perpendicular columns ; » Fines 3 Ed ii.— No. 24. '^ Taxatio — Nich. iv. PARISH OF HARFORD. 227 north transept, south porch, and a low, square tower at the western end containing three bells. The second is inscribed in " In nomine Patris." The third has a frieze of grapes and leaves, and was east by Mordecai Cockey of Totnes, Thomas Williams being churchwarden. The tower staircase is carried up in the thickness of its north wall. At the period of my visit (20th July, 1875) I found that gradual repairs had been going on in the church for some time. The Rev. R. S. Borland, the then Kector, who had erected the organ in the previous year, was absent ; but to the courtesy of his representative, the Rev. Frankland Tonkm, I felt much indebted. I noticed a fine trefoiled piscina on the south side of the altar, and a good example of an Hagioscope or Squint from the eastern end of the aisle into the chancel. The windows generally had very debased arches, and there was an entire absence of tracery, save in those at the eastern and western ends of the structure, which had been neatly restored. The " Priests' door " opened into the aisle, at the eastern end of wliich a bracket, which had once supported an image, still remained. The granite font was plain and octagonal, and there were many good bosses of foHage existing ui fair preservation. The Wall Plate had an inscription " I.H.S. Helpe us, Amen. Walter Hele Ps'on, 1539. I.H.S. Salus." Every rib of the cradle roof was carried into a twining stem or leaf. The south porch, which had been badly repaired, had a square- headed arch, and there was an aspersorium on the eastern side of the interior door. The western entrance had been blocked up. In the churchyard I found a portion 2 F' 228 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. of the ground walled off from the rest, and I was in- formed that it was thus separated as the property of the owners of Stowford. On the north side my attention was drawn to an old table-tomb, from which a brass had, at some time, apparently been removed. Since the institution of the Rev. A. P. Bellamy to the Rectory, in 1877, I believe that this interesting little church has been completely restored. The present Rector, the Rev. H. Rutherfurd, was instituted in 1882. There is no register in existence prior to 1724. The oldest book in the parish chest is a Church-rate Book of 1695. John Hake was then Rector, Richard Abbot, Churchwarden, and the principal names in the parish then appear to have been WiUiams, Stowford, Scobell, Prideaux, Rockwood, Underbill, Bowen, and Chubb. Among the disbursements is an item, " Bread and wine for Easter-day, 7s." In 1703 — Christopher Rockwood, Churchwarden — there is a somewhat singular entry. : — " For the Church Bible, and for bringing of him whome, £1 12s." The silver chalice and paten are comparatively ancient. On the latter is the following inscription and date, in dotted letters : — LET SACRAMENTS AND PRAYER BE MOKE IN FASHION; WE NEED NOT DOUT OK FEARE OF TOLLORATION. MAY 15th, 1687. The Rectory House was rebuilt by the Rev. W. Sanders, Rector, in 1843. He has entered in one of the registers an extract from a letter written by the Rev. — Hart, living in Cornwall, and dated January, 1832. It is as follows : — PARISH OF HARFORD. 229 "Forty years have parsed away since I have seen Hardfor Church. I have no recollection of its style of building. If it were very old or characteristic 1 think I should re- member it. The lord of the manor is supposed to have been the founder generally of the Parish Church. The Peverells were the lords of Harford in the time of Henry I. My great-great-grandfather, William Hart (most honourably mentioned in Walker's " Sufferings of the Clergy " for his loyalty), was Rector of Harford in the time of Charles I. He rebuilt the parsonage-house, which was a ruin when I saw it." To this extract Mr. Sanders has added the following remarks : — "The initials " W.H." cut in granite were found in one of the porches of the old house. In taking down the old house to build the new one in 1843, the stone having the initial H was so much broken that it was put in the gateway at the east end of the present house, while the stone having the initial W was built into the new porch. The Rev. WiUiam Hart is thus mentioned by Walker in his " Sufferings of the Clergy," p. 417 : — He was a man of an excellent life, and had by this means so much recommended himself to some of the neighbouring gentlemen that they preserved him, though with much difficulty, in his living. However, he was plundered by the soldiers, and summoned befoi-e the Committee to take the Covenant, when some of his friends getting him excused, one Major Pierce was so much enraged at it that he bid the parishioners pay him no tythes; and further told them that if they ivould knock him off his horse and kill him his friends should have no law of them. 230 DEVONSHIRE PABISHES. I cannot close this chapter without reference to one of the most distinguished of the natives of Harford — one whose industry and talents caused him to attain a very high and responsible position among his fellow-men, and whose life and actions will never suffer by comparison with those of the other " worthies " included in John Prince's "Danmonii Orien tales Illustres." John Prideaux was born "at (or in the Manor of?) Stowford, in the parish of Harford, 17th September, 1578," as his biographer says, "of honest and ingenuous parentage " ; and adds, " to satisfy myself and others as to the birth of the learned Prelate, I purposely visited the house where he received bis first breath, and found it a decent dwelling, healthfully situated, having about £30 a-year estate belongmg to it, which hath been in this name and family, and still is, near 300 years, though held only by lease or copy ; so that the Doctor was not of that mean and contemptible extraction some suppose he was."' Dr. Prideaux appears to have been one of twelve children. Through the patronage of the Fowel family he was sent to Oxford. He was admitted to a scholarship at Exeter Coll., Act Term 1.596. He obtained a Fellowship in 1601 ; was elected Rector 4th A])ril, 1612, which position he resigned 3rd August, 1642. He was five times y ice-Chancellor between 17th July, 1619, and 7th October, 1641. Eegius Professor of Divinity Sth December, 1615-1642, and hence Canon of Christ Church and Rector of EAvelme, Oxon. ; Vicar of Bampton 17th July, 1614, resigned 1634; Chaplain to Prince Henry, James I., and Charles I. ; consecrated Bishop of 1 Prince, p. 6.34 (edit. 1810), Wood'.^ Athen, Oxon., vol. 2, p. 130. PARISH OF HARFORD. 231 Worcester 19th December, 1641 ; died at Bredon, in Worcestershire, 20th July, 1650 in his 72nd year. In 1639 Dr. Prideaux, then Rector of Exeter, placed a memorial in Harford Church to the memory of his father and mother. For an interesting account of his life, and for a list of his writings, I must refer my readers to the works of Prince and Wood, I will only add of him an anecdote mentioned by the former, that when he was a boy he considered himself sufficiently qualified to become the parish clerk of Ugborough, but when he made appli- cation he found that there was another candidate for the office. It was, therefore, arranged that on the following Sunday the competitors should undergo a kind of vivd voce examination, one of them was "to tune the Psalm in the morning and the other in the afternoon ; he that best did please the people should have the place." Prideaux was unsuccessful, to his very great grief and trouble, and it is recorded of him that in his after-life he was accustomed frequently to say, " If I could have been clerk of Ugborough I had never been Bishop of Worcester." 232 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES. CHAPTER XXIV. PART I. The Parish of Shaugh Prior. General History. Shaugh Prior is a singularly interesting and picturesque village, to which I have already i-efeiTed as having been the first habitation of the Slannings in this county. It is situated in the Hundred and Deanery of Plympton and m the Archdeaconry of Totnes. The visitor who leaves Blckleigh and proceeds to Shaugh Bridge, where the Mew and Plym unite their waters, will find himself among some of the most beautiful scenery in the South of Devon. The two streams, almost covered by overhanging fohage, here rush onwards among granite boulders, while in front rises the far-famed Dewerstone, covered with wood, which descends in broken rocks to the bed of the river. Below the bridge formerly existed the remains of the mansion of Grenofen, which was the seat of the Slannings after they had become possessed of the Manor of Bick- leigh, and here, tradition declares, they resided in much state and in the exercise of true Devonshire hospitality for many years. A little higher up the stream a steep and winding road, formed amid a labyi-inth of rocks, ascends to Shaugh village, which parish, in 1879, had a population of 615, and by the census taken in 1881, (;97 persons dispersed over 8,708 acres of land. The important Barony of Plympton, which at the Domesday Survey became attached to the Crown, was PARISH OF SHAUQU PRIOR 233 given by Henry I. to Eicliard de Red vers, or Rivers, who was created by that monarch Earl of Devon and Lord of the Isle of Wight, and who died in 1107. The Manor of Shaugh (sometimes written Shave, or Scaghes) probably dei'ived its name from the Anglo-Saxon " sceac{ja," which signified 7vugh coppice. It appears to have l^een held at an early date, under the Redvers family, hy a certain Roger de Novant, who was the ancestor of a powerful baronial house, but who is not mentioned in the roll of Battle Abbey. The similarity between the letters n and v in early writing has frecjuently occasioned con- fusion, and thus we find the name of Novant variously spelt—" Nuatte" (Leland, Coll., 1, 80), Nunant, Novant, and Nonant. They probably took the appellation from their residence in Normandy, where there are several estates thus called, and one of them is said to have con- stituted an ancient Barony. After the disgrace of Judhel, Baron of Totnes, in the reign of William Rufas, Roger de Novant, who succeeded him in his honours, gave Shaugh to the Prior and Convent of Plympton, as shown in the confirmation by Henry II., which recites l)y " inspexlmus," a charter of King Henry I., in favour of that monastery — " de feodo, etiam Rogeri de Nunant Westscirefort, quietam et liberam de omnibus rebus, exceptis danegeld et Murdro, sicut idem Rogcvus eis concessit, et per cartam, suam confirmavit ; et dc feodo ejusdem, Scaghes (Shaugh) cum omnibus appendiciis suis." The Novants appear to have held many fees in the Plympton Barony, as it is shown by the above Charter that all those lands were confirmed to the Canons Regular of PlymptoM which the Earl Baldwin de Redvers, Wido 2 G 234. LEVONSHIRE PARISHES. de Nunant, Robert the son of Martin, and Matilda Peverell, his wife, and their " Vavasors " ( Vavasorei^ Eorura), [that is, those in dignity next to Barons] had given them ; and from the fee of Wido de Nunant half AValeford, which Hugh de Waleford conceded to them. I presume that this Wido de Nunant was the son and successor of Roger, since he was contemporary with Baldwin, and with Richard de Redvers, the second and third Earls of Devon. In conjunction with the latter his signature occurs as one of the witnesses to the Charter of William Warelvvast, Bishop of Exeter, which is preserved among the arcliives of that city, and which bears the following elaborate date : — '• Datum Exonie, vi. nonis Julii, anno ab incarnacione Domini MCXXXIII., indictione xi., Epacta xii., concurrente vi., ciclo lune xiii., termino paschale ix., Kalendis Aprilis ; de Pasche vii., 'i'rigesimo tercio anno regni Henriei, gloriosi regis Anglo- rum. Testibus Ricardo filio, Baldwiiii de Ridvers, Widone de Nunant," . . . cum multis aliis." To the confiimation h\ the Chapter of Exeter, in the same archives, and of the same date, Earl Baldwin's own signature is attached. He died 2nd of June, 1 1 5.5, and Avas biu'ied at Quarre, in the Isle of Wight. An inspection of the Exeter Domesday shows that the Canons of St. Peter of Plympton possessed two hides of land there at the period of the Conqueror's survey. At this time the foundation appears to have consisted of a Collegiate Church for a Dean and four Prebendaries, which, as Leland says, was establislied by King Edgar. This College was transplanted to Bosham, in Sussex, by William Warelwast, nephew of AVilliam the Conqueror, PARISH OF SHAUGH PRIOR. 235 who had been advanced to the See of Exeter upon the death of Bishop Osbern, the successor of Leofric; although, in consequence of a dispute about investitures between the Church and the Crown, his consecration was deferred until Sunday, 11th August, 1107. The clerics, thus removed into a strange county, flourished in regular succession until the Reformation, and their five Prebends (styled Apuldurham, Chudham, Fontyngdon, Waleton, and Westbroke) were always in the gift of the Bishops of this Diocese. By their removal from Plympton Bisho[) Warelwast was enabled to carry out a long-cherished scheme, and to found in their stead, in the year 1121, a new Augustine Priory, dedicated to " The Blessed ]\Iary and S. Peter and S. Paul." Richly endowed by our princely Bishop, this new Priory of Black Monks con- tinued to prosper, and constantly to receive accessions to its property until it ultimately became the richest house in the Diocese, and even exceeded the Mitred Abbey of Tavistock in annual value. The bones of its founder, who died September 26th, 1 1 37, were deposited in the Chapter- house, and many early members of some of our most ancient families — the Courtenays, Valletorts, Strodes, and others — also found a last resting-place within the same sacred precincts. Its temporalities, in the year 1291, reahsed a gross sum of £53 per annum; and at the period of the dissolution the clear income amounted to £821 7s. od. The last Prior, John Howe, then received a pension of £120, and smaller gratuities were apportioned to eighteen of his brethren. The taxation of Pope Nicholas assesses the annual value of Shaugh at the end of the thirteenth century, in conjunction with Triselton 2g' 236 DEVONSHIEE PARISHES. (Tlirnshelton), and Waterfall (Walefbrd ?) at £3 14s. After tlie suppression of the Priory of Plympton, their manor, known as Shaugb Prior, was purchased by Slaaning. John Slannynge, of London, gentleman, and Anthony Butler jointly acquired Hethfield, in this parish (which had belonged to Buckland Abbey), from the Crown, September 24th, 154G, and among the annuitants of the last Prior of Plympton I find the name of Nicholas Skinning, who, in addition to his pension, livery-gown, and meat and drink, was allowed four shillings yearly for the shoeing of his horse, as well as grass for the said horse, by the assignment of the steward of the Priory, or else five shillings yearly in lieu thereof. He had been bailiff