Sir William Pole (1561–1635) of Colcombe House [4] in the parish of Colyton, and formerly of Shute House in the parish of Shute (adjoining Colcombe), both in Devon, was an English country gentleman and landowner, a colonial investor, Member of Parliament and, most notably, a historian and antiquarian of the County of Devon.
Pole was baptised on 27 August 1561 at Colyton, Devon, the son of William Pole, Esquire (c.1514 – 1587), MP, by his wife Katherine Popham (died 1588), daughter of Alexander Popham of Huntworth, Somerset by his wife Joan Stradling. [5] Katherine was the sister of John Popham (1531–1607), Lord Chief Justice. In 1560 his father had purchased Shute House, near Colyton and Axminster, Devon.
He entered the Inner Temple in 1578, was placed on the Commission of the Peace for Devonshire, served as Sheriff of Devon in 1602–3, and was MP in 1586 for Bossiney, Cornwall. He was knighted by King James I at Whitehall Palace on 15 February 1606. He paid into the Virginia Company, and was an incorporator of the third Virginia charter.
During his life Pole wrote many unpublished manuscripts containing his researches into the history and antiquities of Devon and the descents of that county's ancient families, their landholdings and heraldry. These documents laid the foundation not only for future historians of the county but also for his contemporaries, such as Tristram Risdon (died 1640) who acknowledged the help he had received from Pole's compilations. [6] Pole stated that he used as his sources "Records out of ye Towre, the Exchecquer & such deedes & evidences which in my searches I have founde". [7] The Tower of London was one of the main repositories of legal and governmental deeds and other historical documents, until the opening of the Public Record Office in 1838. His work was enlarged by his son Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet, "who was much addicted also to this ingenuous study". [8] However some, maybe many, of his manuscripts were destroyed at Colcombe Castle during the Civil War. [6]
The documents that survived include:
Pole's collections were used as source material for their own historical writings by among others, Tristram Risdon (d.1640), [10] John Prince (d.1723) ( Worthies of Devon ), and the brothers Daniel Lysons (1762–1834) and Samuel Lysons (1763–1819), [6] in volume 6: Devon (1822) of their Magna Britannia . [11]
His contemporary and fellow researcher into the history of Devonshire Tristram Risdon (d.1640), wrote as follows of Pole: [12]
He was the most accomplished treasurer of the antiquities of this county [...] Such a gift had he of rare memory, that he would have recited upon a sudden the descents of most eminent families; from whose lamp I have received light in these my labours.
Today, Pole's collections are considered to be valuable records of otherwise lost documents, [13] though as Youings wrote in 1996: "being a man of his time, the material was largely concerned with the genealogy and landed possessions of Devon's aristocracy and gentry, and he found no place for the rest of society". [6]
Pole married twice. His first marriage was to Mary Peryam (1567–1605), [b] one of the four daughters and co-heiresses of Sir William Peryam (1534–1604), of Fulford House, Shobrooke, Devon, a judge and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. By Mary Peryam he had six sons and six daughters including:
His second marriage was to Jane Simmes (died 1653), daughter of William Simmes (or Symes) of Chard, Somerset, and widow of Roger How, merchant of London. The marriage was childless.[ citation needed ]
Pole died on 9 February 1635, aged 73, at his home Colcombe Castle, in the parish of Colyton, to which he had retired leaving Shute for the occupation of his son John. He was buried in the west side of the chancel in Colyton church, in the floor of which exists a simple ledger stone, with an inscription now much worn.
Old Shute House, located at Shute, near Colyton, Axminster, Devon, is the remnant of a mediaeval manor house with Tudor additions, under the ownership of the National Trust. It was given a Grade I listing on 14 December 1955. It is one of the most important non-fortified manor houses of the Middle Ages still in existence. It was built about 1380 as a hall house and was greatly expanded in the late 16th century and partly demolished in 1785. The original 14th-century house survives, although much altered.
Walter Yonge (1579–1649) of Great House in the parish of Colyton in Devon, England, was a lawyer, merchant and diarist.
Sir William Peryam of Little Fulford, near Crediton in Devon, was an English judge who rose to the position of Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1593, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.
Charborough House, also known as Charborough Park, is a Grade I listed building, the manor house of the ancient manor of Charborough. The house is between the villages of Sturminster Marshall and Bere Regis in Dorset, England.
Sir John William de la Pole, 6th Baronet of Shute in the parish of Colyton, Devon, was a Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of West Looe. In 1791 he published, under the title Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, the researches on the history and genealogy of Devonshire made by his ancestor the antiquary Sir William Pole (d.1635), which he did not publish in his lifetime and which were enlarged by his son Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet, but which were partly destroyed during the Civil War at Colcombe Castle.
Sir George Carey, JP, DL, of Cockington in the parish of Tor Mohun in Devon, England, was Lord Deputy of Ireland from May 1603 to February 1604.
Sir William Strode (1562–1637) of Newnham in the parish of Plympton St Mary, Devon, England, was a member of the Devon landed gentry, a military engineer and seven times a Member of Parliament elected for Devon in 1597 and 1624, for Plympton Erle in 1601, 1604, 1621 and 1625, and for Plymouth in 1614. He was High Sheriff of Devon from 1593 to 1594 and was knighted in 1598. In 1599 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Devon. There is a monument to him in the parish church of Plympton St Mary.
Colcombe Castle was a castle or fortified house situated about a 0.5 mi (0.80 km) north of the town of Colyton in East Devon, England.
William Pole (1515–1587), Esquire, was a lawyer and speculator in church lands following the Dissolution of the Monasteries who served as MP for Lyme Regis in 1545, Bridport in 1553 and for West Looe in 1559. He acquired lands in East Devon and was the founder of the influential and wealthy Pole family of Shute, Devon. He was the father of the famous Sir William Pole (1561-1635), the antiquary, historian of Devon.
Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet, of Colcombe Castle, near Colyton and Shute, near Honiton, Devon was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1701 and 1734.
John Peryam, of Exeter, Devon, was elected four times as a Member of Parliament, for Barnstaple 1584, Bossiney 1586, Exeter 1589 and 1593. He served as Mayor of Exeter. He was the younger brother of Sir William Peryam (1534-1604) of Little Fulford, near Crediton in Devon, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Templeton is a hamlet, parish and former manor in Devon, England, situated 4 miles west of Tiverton. The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret.
Creedy is an historic estate in the parish of Sandford, near Crediton in Devon. It is named from its location on the west side of the River Creedy. It was the seat of the Davie family from about 1600 until the late 20th century. The mansion house on the estate has been called at various times New House, Creedy House, and as presently, Creedy Park. It was first built in about 1600, rebuilt in 1846, burnt down in 1915 and rebuilt 1916–21. It is surrounded by a large park, the boundary of which is enclosed by a stone and brick wall several miles long.
Mohuns Ottery or Mohun's Ottery, is a house and historic manor in the parish of Luppitt, 1 mile south-east of the village of Luppitt and 4 miles north-east of Honiton in east Devon, England. From the 14th to the 16th centuries it was a seat of the Carew family. Several manorial court rolls survive at the Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton, Somerset.
Great House on South Street in the town of Colyton, Devon, is the remnant of an historic Elizabethan mansion house built by the Yonge family, originally prominent wool merchants in the town, later Yonge baronets. It is a grade II* listed building.
Bindon is a historic manor, house and estate in the parish of Axmouth in Devon, England. The house is a grade II* listed building.
Walter Erle (c.1515/20-1581) of Colcombe in the parish of Colyton, of Bindon in the parish of Axmouth, both in Devon, and of Charborough in Dorset, England, was a courtier and servant of the Royal Household to two of the wives of King Henry VIII, namely Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, and successively to his son King Edward VI (1547-1553) and two daughters, Queen Mary I (1553-1558) and Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) during their successive reigns.
Indio in the parish of Bovey Tracey in Devon, is an historic estate. The present large mansion house, known as Indio House is a grade II listed building rebuilt in 1850, situated about 1/2 mile south of Bovey Tracey Church, on the opposite side of the River Bovey. According to the Devon historian Pole (d.1635) it was originally a priory, however research from 1840 onwards has suggested it was more likely merely a grange farm, a possession of St John’s Hospital, Bridgwater, Somerset, from 1216.
Southcott is a surname of an ancient and prominent family from the English counties of Devon and Cornwall.
The Pole, later de-la-Pole, later Reeve-de-la-Pole Baronetcy, of Shute House in the County of Devon, was created in the Baronetage of England on 12 September 1628 for John Pole, Member of Parliament for Devon. It was created during the lifetime of his father, the historian of Devon, Sir William Pole (d.1635), Knight, MP, of Colcombe Castle and Shute in Devon. The second Baronet was Member of Parliament for Honiton. The third Baronet represented Lyme Regis, Bossiney, Devon, East Looe and Newport in the House of Commons. The fourth Baronet was Member of Parliament for Newport, Camelford, Devon, Bossiney and Honiton. The sixth Baronet represented West Looe in Parliament. In 1790 he assumed the surname of de-la-Pole, which his successor discontinued. The eighth Baronet assumed in 1838 the surname of Reeve-de-la-Pole but later discontinued it.