| Washfield | |
|---|---|
 St Mary the Virgin Church, Washfield | |
  Washfield Location within Devon | |
| Population | 362 (2001 census) |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Washfield is a village, parish and former manor in Mid Devon, Devon, England, situated about 2 miles north-west of Tiverton. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. It was within the jurisdiction of the historic West Budleigh Hundred. In 2001 the parish had a population of 362.
Washfield is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as two separate manors, now referred to as Little Washfield and Great Washfield. [1] Washfield is situated close to Tiverton Castle, one of the most important mediaeval strongholds in Devon, and principal seat of the Earls of Devon, feudal barons of Plympton.
Great Washfield was held by Ralph de Pomeroy, [2] one of William the Conqueror's Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief. It is listed in Domesday Book as the 39th of his 58 Devonshire manors, and was held by him in demesne. [3]
The tenant in chief of Little Washfield as listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 was the Norman magnate Ralph de Paynell, Sheriff of Yorkshire, one of William the Conqueror's Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief. It is listed as the ninth of his ten Devonshire manors held in-chief. [4] His tenant at Washfield was Gerard, himself a tenant-in-chief of two manors within Tiverton Hundred, [5] who also held from him the nearby manor of Little Tiverton [6] ("Great" Tiverton having been a royal manor since Saxon times [7] ). Gerard's own two manors later passed to the feudal barons of Plympton, [8] lords of Tiverton Castle, which castle was given by King Henry I to Richard de Redvers, [9] Earl of Devon. The eldest son of Ralph de Paynell was Ralph FitzPayne of Dart, [10] who at the time of the Domesday Book held the manors of Dart and Worth, the latter in the parish of Washfield, from the overlord William of Poilley ( 21,6&14).
Ralph FitzPayne died without male progeny when his younger brother Reginaldus inherited his manor of Worth and making it his seat adopted the surname "de Worth". [11] His descendants in a direct male line, later known as Worth, remained seated at Worth until 1880 on the death without male progeny of Reginald Worth. [12] This makes the Worth family one of the longest lived and longest seated on its original seat in the history of Devon. It thus compares in these aspects to the continuing families of Fulford and Kelly.
Another ancient gentry family situated within the parish of Washfield was Barby. [13]
Efford is an historic manor formerly in the parish of Eggbuckland, Devon, England. Today it has been absorbed by the city of Plymouth to become a large, mostly post-World War II, eastern suburb of the city. It stands on high ground approximately 300 feet above the Laira estuary of the River Plym and provides views over long distances: to the north across Dartmoor, to the east and south-east across the South Hams. It consists predominantly of local authority and housing association properties. Before this land was built upon it was known as 'The Wilds of Efford', and was largely unspoilt countryside and marsh land. That a deer park may have been attached to the manor is suggested by the survival of the street name "Deer Park Drive".
Roborough is a village and civil parish 5.5 mi (8.9 km) from Great Torrington, in Devon, England. Situated topographically on the plateau between the Torridge and Taw Rivers, the parish covers 1,258 ha and contains a population of some 258 parishioners. It is surrounded by a pastoral landscape of rectangular fields, high hedges and scattered farmsteads.
Potheridge is a former Domesday Book estate in the parish of Merton, in the historic hundred of Shebbear, 3 miles south-east of Great Torrington, Devon, England. It is the site of a former grand mansion house re-built by George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608–1670) circa 1660 on the site of the former manor house occupied by his family since at the latest 1287. It was mostly demolished in 1734 after the death of the widow of his son Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle.
Bremridge is a historic estate within the former hundred of South Molton in Devon, England. It is now within the parish of Filleigh but was formerly in that of South Molton. It is situated 8 miles north-west of South Molton. Since the construction of the nearby A361 North Devon Link Road direct access has been cut off from Bremridge to Filleigh and South Molton. The surviving wing of the mansion house built in 1654 is a Grade II* listed building. Bremridge Wood is the site of an Iron Age enclosure or hill fort, the earthwork of which is situated on a hillside forming a promontory above the River Bray. In Bremridge Wood survives a disused tunnel of the former Great Western Railway line between South Molton and Barnstaple, much of the course of which has been used for the A361. The tunnel is 319 yards long and was identified as "Bremridge Tunnel" in the 1889 Ordnance Survey map but as "Castle Hill Tunnel" in subsequent editions.
Thuborough in the parish of Sutcombe, Devon, England, is an historic estate, formerly a seat of a branch of the Prideaux family, also seated at Orcharton, Modbury; Adeston, Holbeton; Soldon, Holsworthy; Netherton, Farway; Ashburton; Nutwell, Woodbury; Ford Abbey, Thorncombe, all in Devon and at Prideaux Place, Padstow and Prideaux Castle, Luxulyan, in Cornwall. The present mansion house, comprising "Thuborough House" and "Thuborough Barton", the north-east block, is a grade II listed building.
Floyer Hayes was an historic manor in the parish of St Thomas on the southern side of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, from which city it is separated by the River Exe. It took its name from the ancient family of Floyer which held it until the early 17th century, when it was sold to the Gould family. In the 19th century the estate was divided up and the manor house demolished. The parish church of St Thomas, situated a short distance to the west of the house, was burned down in 1645 during the Civil War, and was rebuilt before 1657. Thus no monuments survive there of early lords of the manor, namely the Floyer family.
Widworthy is a village, parish and former manor in East Devon, Devon, England. The village is 3 1/2 miles east of Honiton and the parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Stockland, Dalwood, Shute, Colyton, Northleigh, and Offwell. The parish church is dedicated to St Cuthbert. Near the church is Widworthy Barton, the former manor house, which is largely unaltered from its early 17th century form. Widworthy Court is a mansion within the parish built in 1830 by Sir Edward Marwood-Elton to the design of G.S. Repton. In 2011 the parish had a population of 296.
Webbery is an historic manor in the parish of Alverdiscott in North Devon, England.
Kenedon is an historic manor situated in the parish of Sherford in Devon.
Collacombe is an historic manor in the parish of Lamerton, Devon, England. The manor house survives as a grade I listed building, known as Collacombe Barton or Collacombe Manor (House).
Whiteway is an historic estate in the parish of Kingsteignton, Devon. It should be distinguished from Whiteway House in the parish of Chudleigh, Devon, 4 3/4 miles (7.6 km) to the north, in the 18th century a seat of the Parker family of Saltram.
Luscombe is an historic estate situated in the parish of Rattery in Devon.
The manor of Broad Hempston was a historic manor situated in Devon, England, about 4 miles north of Totnes. The present village known as Broadhempston was the chief settlement within the manor and remains the location of the ancient parish church of St Peter and St Paul.
Spurway is a historic manor in the parish of Oakford in Devon. It was the seat of the de Spurway family from before 1244 until the mid-20th century. The derelict buildings of Spurway Barton are in a remote location above a wooded combe.
Robert Bastard (fl.1086) was a Norman warrior who assisted in the 1066 Norman Conquest of England under King William the Conqueror. He was subsequently rewarded with landholdings in Devonshire and is one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of that monarch, with a holding of 10 manors or estates held in chief, 8 of which he held in demesne, i.e. under his own management without tenants. He had at least one further holding as a mesne tenant, at Goosewell, Plymstock parish, Plympton hundred, held from William of Poilley, a Norman tenant-in-chief from Poilley in Normandy, most of whose 21 landholdings were later granted by King Henry I (1100–1135) to his trusted supporter Richard de Redvers, feudal baron of Plympton in Devon.
Hareston is an historic estate in the parish of Brixton, about three miles from Plymouth in Devon. The mansion house built during the reign of King Henry VII (1485-1509) burned down partially in an accidental fire at the beginning of the 18th century, and in 1822 the surviving part, the Hall and Chapel, was being used as a farmhouse. It was described by Candida Lycett Green in her 1991 book The Perfect English Country House as: "The most forgotten Manor House Farm In England, untouched for hundreds of years, sits safely, impossible to find, down miles of private sunken lanes which in the spring brim with Campion, Bluebells, Purple Orchids, Primroses, Violets, Speedwell and Stitchwort. Wooded hills rise behind this, the quintessence of an ancient English Manor House".
Speccot is an historic estate in the parish of Merton in Devon, England. It was the seat of the de Speccot family, one of the oldest gentry families in Devon, which founded almshouses at Taddiport, near Great Torrington, Devon, in the 13th century. It is situated about one mile south-west of Potheridge, the seat of the Monck family from before 1287 to the late 17th century, who were thus close neighbours of the de Speccot family for many centuries. The present farmhouse known as "Speccot Barton" is Victorian and although no obvious traces of an earlier house survive, is marked "On Site of a Mansion" on the First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1880-99. The estate is today operated as a family-run sheep farm with six holiday cottages to let. A smaller house known as "Little Speccot" is situated on the approach lane to Speccot Barton.
Croker's Hele is an historic estate in the parish of Meeth in Devon, England.
Weycroft is an historic manor in the parish of Axminster in Devon, England. The surviving manor house known as "Weycroft Hall" is a Grade I listed building which includes elements from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, with a great hall of circa 1400, and was restored in the 19th century.
Bagtor is a historic estate in the parish of Ilsington in Devon, England. It was the birthplace of John Ford the playwright and poet. The Elizabethan mansion of the Ford family survives today at Bagtor as the service wing of a later house appended in about 1700.