From Bradford near Holsworthy
to Landrake & St Germans near Plymouth
on the Cornish side of the Tamar

ALL ABOUT LAND, PROPERTY AND INFLUENTIAL CONNECTIONS - with the  their daughters carrying it all!

Thomas Pomeroy Esq., son of Hugh Pomeroy & Barbara Southcot of Ingsdon was Born in 1550 in Ingesdon Devon.  Admitted to the Inner Temple (Inns of Courts) in 1567. 


In 1575 he married Elizabeth Henscott daughter of John Henscott or Hengscott
They had 6 children .The  heir was Richard  Pomeroy of Ingsdon who married Anne Copleston of Bowden Farm in  Ermington in 1602 & who died 1616 leaving a family of 7 underage children


Thomas died on 18 Apr 1610 & was  buried at Ilsington on 25 Apr 1610. 
Probate granted at the end of that year in Feb 1610. (New Year began in March )

  The church at Bradford with floor-slabs to the Arscotts, Bickfords, Henscotts, and other local families

Stray FMP 

Single line entry in Bradford parish register which just says - Richard Pomere Burial  28 May 1581  
South West Heritage Trust Archive ref 134A/PR/1/1


 Bradford Manor built in 1868 replacing the old house burned down in 1770.


Referred to in Visitations as Thomas Pomeroy of Bradford it is unclear where he might have lived.

Bradford may simply refer to the parish of Bradford, in the Torridge valley, 8 miles  from Hatherleigh. The parish containing  3468 acres of land & anciently held by the Dabernon and other families, Vivian, Grylls, and Kendall of Helston. Bradford Manor once had a 1,110-acre estate  with five farms and three workers’ cottages .
The parish includes the manors of Dunsland Manor, a  seat of Arscott family a house that no longer exists.   Hengescott, and Lashbrook, which are all mentioned in Domesday , are close to town of Black Torrington and Holsworthy.
They may have lived at Hengescott Farm which today is a  working farm  but they seem to have moved  to somewhere in the Landrake - St Germans area .


St Germans & its Abbey  Church & its Monastery

Anglo Saxon church was founded in 430 AD by St Germanus & its first written record  is of Conan ,made Bishop  there as a result of King Athelstan's settlement with Cornwall.
The present church replaced the Anglo-Saxon building and became the cathedral of the Bishops of Cornwall. A monastery grew alongside the church, and was reorganised by the Bishop of Exeter between 1161 and 1184 as an Augustinian priory. 

The monastery had a busy port and was an important attraction for pilgrims visiting St Germanus’ relics. The possession of two holdings of land, Landrake ("Landerhtun") and Landulph ("Tinieltun" i.e. Tinnel) was confirmed by King Canute in 1018 having been granted by King Edmund. Both holdings remained in the monastery's possession until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538.


The monks house, adjacent to the church, was called Porth Prior and like most monastic settlement they did a good trade through it. After 1538 it was granted to the Champernowne family, who in 1565 sold it to Plymouth merchant adventurer  John Eliot   "gentleman, merchant and mayor" He renamed the house Port Eliot & the property remains in that family today .


The history of Landrake tells us that estate of Priory of St Germans  lay in the Parish of Landrake & included
”Landrake Barton (250 acres), Talvan (72 acres), Cutlinwith (110 acres), Penquite, Tortan Down with its quarries, (stone from these quarries was used to build St Germans Priory) Pencaver Mill, Brighter, Poldrissick, Trewint, Trebighan , Lantullock and Trewandra”.
 After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in  1564 the Priory and the estate in St Germans was purchased by John Ellyot & became known as Port-Eliot; it has remained in his family ever since.    The Pomeroys of Landrake, if they were  tenants of the Priory ,  would have become  tenants of the Ellyots. 

 Hengescot Manor was held by the Henscots from the C13th  until the death of John Henscott in 1572 .

His daughters  Elizabeth & Thomasine were his heirs:

Elizabeth Henscott  married Thomas Pomeroy was 25, and brought the Hengscott property in Bradford to the Pomeroy' s as her dowry.  She died in 1599  having  given  her husband 6 children.
Sister & co heir Thomasine Henscott married  Sir Nicholas Prideaux  son of Roger Prideaux  of Soldon as the 1st of his 3 wives;  they had 1 son before she died in 1573;  Nicholas was knighted in 1606  and married twice more.

Thomas Pomeroy & his wife Elizabeth  Henscot married in 1575 had the following children:
 Richard  born 9 April 1578   parents not recorded baptised in Bradford parish Devon
the child died 28 May 1581   Bradford  ref  134A/PR/1/1  

1. Richard Pomeroy“Of Ingsdon”  (1582-1616) Born on 9 Apr 1578 in Bradford, Devon. On 9 Nov 1602 age 24, he married Agnes Anne Coplestone Of Bowden,near Yealmpton, born abt 1580, daughter of Henry Coplestone & Joan Northway, in Yealmpton, Devon.  Richard died in 1616, buried on 31 Aug 1616 in Ilsington, Devonshire.        See children below ##
After  Richard's death Anne /Agnes married James Lowman of Whitstone. They married  at St Mary Major in Exeter on 15 feb 1619.  She died age 70, in abt 1650; parish registry entry below 

2. Captain Thomas Pomeroy  (1579-1622) Born in 1579 at Ingsdon Manor in Ilsington read law entering ( Inns of Court/Lincolns Inn ) in 1634.Captain " of St Erney” . On 1 May 1598, at the age of 19,  he married 1st wife Marie GIFFRIE Jiffrie: Widow of John Jeffrey.  in St Erney, Cornwall. ( children below **)

4. Dorothy Pomeroy. On 1 Feb 1613 who  married  in Bickington, near Ashburton to Hugh Wichalse of Barnstaple son of a cloth merchant of Chudleigh and Barnstaple, who it seems were a dubious family of Watermouth smugglers near Coombe Martin !
In 1627 at the time of an outbreak of plague  Hugh moved his family to his house, old Grange Farm at Ley,  on the cliffs above Lynton. ( The current property was built in the C19th & now called Lee Abbey but was never a monastic establishment )

5. Barbara Pomeroy  On 30 Dec 1611 she married Stephen Southcott in Ilsington, who died in 1613. Her 2nd marriage 1620 was to Arthur Seccombe.  His daughter  by his 1st wife Grace Blighwas Maria Seccombe who was just 13 when they married her to Barbara's brother John .see below

3rd son . John Pomeroy born about 1580   “Put To The Law” (1588->1655)  When he was about 40 ,
on  22nd Sept 1626 in Lynton North Devon he married the 13 year old Mary Marie Seccombe. They had
2 daughters & a son Arthur from whom came the Armorial line of Lord Harberton in Ireland, created in 1791

Agnes/Anne Coplestone widow Pomeroy went on to marry again .On Feb 1619 at St Mary Major in Exeter she married James Lowman 

To that 2nd marriage  Agnes/Anne  took 8 under age children:

Hugh age 1,  

Elizabeth age 7 , 

Amy age 9 ,

Anne age 9 , 

Henry age 13 , 

Richard age 14   

Thomas the heir age 15

Vivian says James Lowman was of Whitestone.) although the marriage record does not tell us this 

Hengscot Farm

Tredinnick Manor

FMP records


ARTHUR SECOMBE Ist Marriage   21 Aug 1606 EGLOSKERRY to Grace BLIGHE she died 9 May 1619  Their daughter Maria Seccombe married Barbara's brother John Pomeroy

Arthurs  2nd wife was Barbara POMEROY  widow of Stephen Southcot 1st marriage ( age 16 ) 30 Dec 1611 Ilsington, Devon. He who died without children on  24 Jul 1613 at  Weare Giffard Devon  

Barbara's 2nd husband was Arthur Seccomb of  St Stephen by Launceston in 1620  EXETER DIOCESE MARRIAGE LICENCES  Boyd's 1st Misc

They had at least 3 Seccombe children  in St Stephen by Launceston


1631  Nathaniell s/o Arthure SECOMBE (Gent.) & Barbe

1633  Ambrose s/o  Arthure SECOMBE (Gent) & his wife Barbara

1634  Susanna SECCOMBE Bb daughter of  Arthur (gent.) Barbera


Arthur  Seccombe died 21-Nov 1644  St Stephen by Launceston

Barbara  Pomeroy Southcott Seccombe died  11-Apr 1669 St Stephen by Launceston

Anne Copleston widow Pomeroy 2nd marriage st St  Mary Major in Exeter in 1619 

For a long time it puzzled me as to why 35 year old  John Pomeroy & his 13 year old bride Maria Seccombe  should marry so far from home & in a remote place like Lynton on the North Devon coast in 1621 .   However John's  sister Dorothy Pomeroy in 1613  had married Hugh Wychalse a Barnstaple  Merchant & this might account for it.  The Wychalse's might well have been living at Ley high on a headland about a mile along the coast west of  Lynton . He must have already owned the property because in 1627, when Plague threatened Barnstaple, Wychalse uprooted  his entire Barnstaple household  and moved them to Ley ,a place that to  this day is remote but in C17th was  only accessed by a rough Exmoor track .

1626 Lynton  in North Devon - Marriage of John Pomeroy to Maria Seccombe 

Son & Heir  Richard Pomeroy   b. 9 Apr 1578, Bradford, Devon  son of Thomas & Elizabeth Pomeroy of Bradford & Landrake  died age 38  buried 31 Aug 1616.   Married   9 Nov 1602, at Yealmpton,   his wife was Anne Coplestone  of Bowden Farm Manor Yealmpton b. abt 1580  d. abt 1650 

  Their children were

1.  Thomas Pomeroy born 1603, probably at Ingsdon Manor and baptised at nearby Bickington.  He married 1st  Mary DREWE and 2nd wife was Jane  

His sons by Jane were:

Thomas b circa 1633  married  a Mary 

Ambrose, b c 1635.  Both  died without children

Charles 3rd son who married Ann no children found

Their daughters were co- heirs.

Jane who married Rev James Wolcombe of Bickington in Feb 1668

Elizabeth who according to Visitations married John THOMAS of  Langford Budville in Somerset (Not found)  However  parish records have a  marriage to Walter Couch at Bickington in Feb 1701.

Anne Agnes who married George Irysh gent of Ashburton in 1655 at  Buckfastleigh ; George died 1675 at Buckfastleigh;
Her marriage entry in the parish register suggests she was of the Ingsdon family in Ilsington  see below
  Agnes Irysh was buried in wool at Broadhempston  25 Oct 1684 ( 4  miles from Ashburton)

   Maria who married Henry Sheares; No Birth or Marriage found in FMP nor in the mouse eaten register of Bickington
there was  Henry son of Christopher  Sheere , Thorverton, Devon, gent   (deceased) apprenticed as clerk to Lancelot Rider on, 8 Jun 1657, Fishmongers' Company London Apprenticeship Abstracts, 1442-1850- Christopher Sheere gent of Thorverton died 1687
A  Henry Sheere gent  buried 1674 at Ipplepen. 

2. Richard Pomeroy. Born on 7 Dec 1604 in Bickington, Devon,  died before 1684;

3.  Henry Pomeroy “Of Westminster”. Baptised at Bickington nearAshburton in 1606 . He  married Elizabeth  & died in London in 1681 buried at Westminster

4.  Barbara. a minor when her father died 1616

5.  Agnes Pomeroy. Born 1612 at IngsdonManor  baptised  at Bickington. Died and was buried 3 May 1617 in Ilsington.

6.  Ann  Born & Baptised 1 Sept 1610 died Sept 1617

7.  Amy Pomeroy. a minor in 1616 when her father died  On 17 Sep 1628 age 18 she was married to Percival Carwitham Lord Of Panston  in Saint Paul, Exeter, Devon. Percival died aft 1642.

8. Elizabeth Pomeroy. Born ca 1612 in Bickington Devon. Died 3rd April 1642 unmarried

9 .Hugh Pomeroy  “Royalist Captain” (1615- 1682) born & baptised at Bickington  24 Nov 1615. Death date & place unknown possibly London. Married Frances Vaughan -    1 daughter -  Welthen  1648 Devon Baptisms Bickington, who  married at Withycombe Raleigh on 29 Sept 1668 to William Gilham

Frances Vaughan was daughter of  Charles Vaughan Esq of Chudleigh baptised 2 May 1621
Her parents were Charle Vaughan Esq of Tresurersbeare, Clist Honiton  & Frances Reynell who married by licence on 22 Aug 1617 at Ogwell  

3rd son of Thomas & Elizabeth -  John Pomeroy's children by Mary Seccombe were .



Arthur Pomeroy  born 1640 went to Westminster College 1656 then elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1657,  (adm. Pensr. May 22 1657, scholar 1658) matr. Michaelmas 1660; 10th in “ordo” 1660/1 ; BA 1660/1; MA 1664; DD 1676; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1661–c.1674;Ordained ; 1663 Chaplain to Earl of Essex, Lord Lieut. Ireland ; Dean of Cork from 11 Feb 1672/3 ; Treasurer of Cloyne from 5 May 1673 ; Prebendary of Limerick 1 Oct 1674-8 ;    Married  Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Osborne, Bart. MP  Ballintayler, co.Waterford and died 1709/10. Arthur's son John Pomeroy also took holy orders and in 1716  married Elizabeth Donellen of Clogham in County Roscommon.


Their  eldest son, Arthur, named for his grandfather, Arthur Seccombe , was created Baron Harberton of Carbery in County Kildare in 1783 and in 1791 Viscount Harberton. He died in 1798 and was succeeded by his eldest son Henry who became the 2nd Viscount.


 John Pomeroy (1724 – 10 June 1790) was an Irish general, the younger brother of Arthur Pomeroy, 1st Viscount Harberton born on Cork , sons of the Rev John Pomeroy, Archdeacon of Cork, and his wife Elizabeth Donnellan of Cloghan, County Roscommon.

Elected to the Irish House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Carrick in 1755 and for Trim in May 1761. 

On 9 March 1762 he was promoted from Lieutenant-Colonel to Colonel of Foot,[3] and later to Major-General. He served in North America, including at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  He was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland on 28 May 1777  and promoted to Lieutenant-General on 6 September 1777. In 1783 he was re-elected for Trim alongside William Wellesley,[ and in May 1790 alongside Arthur Wellesley. On his death later that year, he was succeeded as MP for Trim by Clotworthy Taylor,  and as Colonel of the 64th Regiment of Foot by Major-General John Leland.


George Irysh & Agnes Pomeroy of Ilsington married by banns at Buckfastleigh 1655

Mentioned in connection with the sale of Ingsdon Manor in 1662 to John Stowell 
Exchequer: King's Remembrances: Depositions taken by Commission E 134/19  1662

Sir John Stowell, knight. v. Francis Moore, clerk, and his wife Jane - widow Pomeroy ; Geo. Irish and his wife Agnes nee Pomeroy;  Henry Sheeres & his wife Maria nee Pomeroy &  Jane Pomeroy who married  Rev Wollecombe 1668.
 Value, &c., of the barton, demesne, and manor of Engesdon (Devon), late of Thomas Pomeroy Date range: 1667 - 1669.

Baptisms

03-Jul  1636 Landrake  Thomas son of Henry Pomeroy & Jane

04-Apr 1639 Landrake  Henry son of Henry & Jane Pomeroy

HENRIE POMERYE Baptism 15 Apr 1599 Parish  St Erney Father Thomas POMERYE

Marriages

Thomas Pomeroy Marriage   17 Jul 1609 at St Erney to Alice Samble

Matilda Pummery  marriage: 15 Jan 1610 St Germans, to  Edward Clemmant

Jane Pomroy marriage:        12 Jul 1704     St Germans, spouse:       John Skin

James Pomry marriage:       29 Sep 1710    St Germans,?   spouse    Joan /Jane

John Pummery marriage:     13 Aug 1610    S t Germans,? spouse:    Margaret Willyms

ALSO FOUND

Cornwall OLPC (6/12/14) Baptisms

1588    Landrake    Alce         P-BNER?    dau of   Wilya       

1667    Landrake    Jane        POMEROY   dau of Thomas   

1601    Landrake    Francys    POMEROY  dau of   Thomas  died in infancy

burials

1600    Landrake with St. Erney    Frances    POMEROY  

1601    Landrake with St. Erney    Frances    POMEROY

Wills & Probate

Pomeroy Hugh Esq Death 12 Aug 1715 Stoke Gabriel, Devon, England

Pomeroy Henry 1616 Wolborough, St Mary, Devon, is Wolborough & Ogwell , Newton Abbot, Devon

Pomeroy Henry 1623 Plympton St Maurice, Devon, England

Pomeroy Henry 1646 Landrake, Cornwall, England

Henry Pomeroy Death Probate year     1723 Place  St Germans

WILL of  Thomas Pomeray Probate year  1622 in & of St Erney probate and administration granted to his relict

For later  information on this tree go to  Pomeroy Connections

Sir Henry Pomeroy of Westminster;

Mentioned  in the Will his brother of Hugh, sister Elizabeth, another brother ( Not in Visitations Pedigree ) and sister Maria Dorothie. He had tenements in Whitefryers, London  London

Tredinnick today is a shooting business

 Landrake & St Erneys
 parish church -
Church Rates book C18th Here

1704: For killing a wild cat 1/-
For killing a badger 1/-
Washing the church linen 6d


This Will, gives the names of this siblings and would suggest that he was the son of Richard Pomeroy and Anne Copplestone of Bowden Manor in Yealmpton Devon and Uncle of William Pomeroy, Merchant Taylor of London and EIC.

The same Sir Henry Pomeroy, of the Holland Regiment, was  implicated in the scandal surrounding  Prince Charles  Stuart  and Lucy Barlow  whilst he was a refugee in The Hague during the English Civil war until his Restoration in 1660 .
Lucy Walter or Barlow  was a young a Welsh gentlewoman, who led a highly disreputable life as mistress of numerous Gentlemen of rank . She seems to have been the first mistress of Prince Charles Stuart , Charles II of England . She bore him a child , James Scott, who Charles later made Duke of Monmouth.  In 1678, with  Charles II married but childless,  a Protestant faction tried to make Lucy's son the heir to the English throne .They spread unproven rumours that the 18 year old Prince Charles had married Lucy, something which he denied.  In 1685, after the death of King Charles his Catholic brother took the throne as James II. The Duke of Monmouth started a rebellion against the catholic king but it was crushed at the Battle of Sedgemoor & the duke was beheaded.
James II  was deposed and William Duke of Orange and his wife, Mary daughter of James II & rightful heir to the throne,  were invited to take the Crown which they did in 1689.  


There other Pomeroys in the area around as yet unlinked to this group  in Maker. Millbrook & Pillaton here

Like many merchants of that time he was a slave trader & his statue has recently been removed - the bad, evidently outweighing the good he did.

Sir Robert Geffery is the most famous man of Landrake with a distinguished record in the City of London in the 17th Century. He was born at Tredinnick Farm,( seen above)  on the banks of the River Tiddy.
 Robert Geffery, was a local boy living at Tredinnick Farm in Landrake  parish. His baptism is recorded in the register on the 24th May 1613, He went to London and became an eminent East India merchant.  

He later became a member, then Master of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers & in 1673 he was knighted. He went on to  became Lord Mayor of London in 1686.

When he died in 1703 at the age 91 he remembered his home village. On the south wall of the South Transept is a clause from Sir Robert Geffery's will relating to what he left to the school master and the poor of Landrake and St Erney.

 

Today Landrake has the Sir Robert Geffery's School voluntary aided school in the village and half the governing body are from the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers in London. The Chalice used in the church during Communion was a gift from the Ironmongers' Company.

The Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch, East London, is the only museum in the United Kingdom to specialise in the history of the domestic interiors of the urban middle classes