William Crocker (fl. 14th c.), living during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377), of Crocker's Hele in the parish of Meeth, Devon, was a Member of Parliament. [2] His descendants were the prominent Crocker family seated at Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon until 1740. William Crocker is the earliest member of the family recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon, [3] although one of his ancestors is known to have been Richard Crocker (fl.1335) of Devon, England, a Member of Parliament for Tavistock (UK Parliament constituency) in Devon in 1335. [4]
The earliest known Devonshire seat of the Crocker family was Crocker's Hele, [5] in the parish of Meeth, [6] (in 2016 a 7-acre solar farm [7] ) which in the 14th century was abandoned by William's grandson John II Crocker in favour of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, which he had inherited from his wife Alice Gambon, daughter and heiress of John Gambon of Lyneham. [4]
The Crocker family is believed to be one of the most ancient in Devon, reputedly of Anglo-Saxon origin, very rare for English gentry who mostly descend from Norman invaders who took part in the Norman Conquest of 1066. According to "that old saw often used among us in discourse", the traditional rhyme related by Prince (d.1723): [8]
"Crocker, Cruwys, and Coplestone,
When the Conqueror came were at home"
The last male of the Crocker family of Lyneham was Courtenay Crocker (d.1740), [9] several times MP for Plympton. [10] The Cruwys family in 2014 still resides in its ancient manor house at Cruwys Morchard where, despite the traditional rhyme which seeks to give it Anglo-Saxon origins, it is first recorded in the reign of King John (1199-1216), or possibly a little earlier. [11] The senior branch of the Coplestone family died out in the male line in 1632, [12] but the Coplestones of Bowden in the parish of Ashprington survived a further century until the death without progeny of Thomas Coplestone (1688-1748), MP, whose heirs in 1753 sold Bowden to William Pollexfen Bastard of Kitley. [13]
Yealmpton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is located in the South Hams on the A379 Plymouth to Kingsbridge road and is about 8 miles (13 km) from Plymouth. Its name derives from the River Yealm that flows through the village. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,923, falling to 1,677 at the 2011 census. There is an electoral ward of the same name. The population of this ward in 2011 was 2,049.
Tamerton Foliot is a village situated in the north of Plymouth, England, that also lends its name to the ecclesiastical parish of the same name.
Colebrooke is a village and parish in Devon, England about 8 km west of Crediton. The main point of interest is the church and the connection to Henry Kingsley's novel The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn. Also Uncle Tom Cobley, of the folk song, signed his will at Pascoe House, but is buried 4 miles west at Spreyton. The champion Devon wrestler, Abraham Cann was born and buried here. He won the all-comers wrestling crown in London.
Rev. John Prince (1643–1723), vicar of Totnes and Berry Pomeroy in Devon, England, was a biographer. He is best known for his Worthies of Devon, a series of biographies of Devon-born notables covering the period before the Norman Conquest to his own era. He became the subject of a sexual scandal, the court records of which were made into a book in 2001 and a play in 2005.
Membury is a village three miles north west of Axminster in East Devon district. The population at the 2011 Census was 501.
Bowden is a historic estate in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, England. From the 15th century until 1748 the manor house was for eight generations the seat of a junior branch of the Copleston family of Copplestone. The manor house was largely rebuilt in the 19th century and, together with some of its outbuildings, now serves as a farmhouse.
The historic title White Spur was a rare variety of English esquire in Devonshire.
John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, Holbeton, in South Devon, was a Whig MP for South Devon 1832-4 and was Sheriff of Devon in 1841. He was Master of the Dartmoor Foxhounds and bred the finest pack of hounds in England.
Bableigh is an historic estate in the parish of Parkham in North Devon, England. It is separated from the village of Parkham by the Bableigh Brook. It was the earliest recorded seat of the Risdon family in Devonshire, from which was descended the Devon historian Tristram Risdon.
Warleigh is an historic estate within the parish of Bickleigh in Devon, about 6 miles from Plymouth. Warleigh House, the manor house of the manor of Tamerton Foliot is situated one mile west of that village on the south-east bank of the River Tavy where it joins the River Tamar. It was remodelled in about 1830 in the Gothic style by John Foulston and has been listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England since 1960.
Sharpham is an historic estate in the parish of Ashprington, Devon. The Georgian mansion house, known as Sharpham House, overlooks the River Dart and is a Grade I listed building. The house was commenced in about 1770 by the Royal Navy captain Philemon Pownoll to the designs of the architect Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788). In the opinion of Nikolaus Pevsner it contains "one of the most spectacular and daring later 18th century staircase designs anywhere in England". The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Part of the descent of Sharpham is shown on the Palmes family heraldic pedigree roll.
Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, is an historic estate. The surviving grand mansion house known as Lyneham House is a grade I listed building. It was built c.1699-1703 by Sir Courtenay Croker, MP for Plympton Morice in 1699. A drawing of Lyneham House dated 1716 by Edmund Prideaux (1693–1745) of Prideaux Place, Padstow, Cornwall, survives at Prideaux Place. It shows formal gardens in front with flanking pavilions and an orangery.
Flete in the parish of Holbeton in Devon is an historic manor. In 1810 it was called "one of the finest estates in the county of Devon". The present manor house known as Flete House was built in the 19th century incorporating some elements of an earlier Tudor house on the site.
Richard Crocker of Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for Tavistock in Devon in 1335. His descendants were the prominent Crocker family of Crocker's Hele in the parish of Meeth, Devon, later seated at Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon until 1740.
Radford in the parish of Plymstock in Devon is a historic manor and the oldest recorded seat of the prominent Harris family. It is today a low-cost housing suburb of the City of Plymouth. The 16th century manor house of the Harris family was remodelled in the 18th century and was demolished in 1937. However, various traces of the estate remain, including most notably the deerpark, now a public amenity known as Radford Park, with its large lake, an early 19th century gate-lodge at the entrance drive to the former mansion house, with gatepiers, on Radford Park Road, a bridge and boathouse with follies of a sham castle and another sham-ruin.
Thomas Coplestone (1688–1748) of Bowden, Yealmpton, Devon, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 29 years from 1719 to 1748.
Croker's Hele is an historic estate in the parish of Meeth in Devon, England.
Bagtor is an historic estate in the parish of Ilsington in Devon, England. It was the birthplace of John Ford (1586-c.1639) 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.
John Woolcombe (1680-1713) of Pitton in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in Devon 1702–5, and served as Sheriff of Devon in 1711–12.
The manor of Haccombe was a historic manor in the small parish of Haccombe, near the town of Newton Abbot, Devon, England. It was the seat of important branches of the Courtenay and Carew families.