INGSDON MANOR
ILSINGTON PARISH

Ingsdon Manor

 
On the far side of a wide valley from the village of Ilsington -  about 4 miles just south east on foot through narrow lanes & up quite steep hills the Ingsdon Estate lies  above Bickington . The church there is considerably closer to Ingsdon Manor than the parish church of Ilsington.

 

Over  Ingesdon also called Burnes Place. Latest documents: Chancery Charge and answers. 

Hugh Pomeroy vs Henry and Robert Pomeroy:

Hugh Pomeroy, grandson of  Sinclere the eldest of Robert & Elizabeth sons claimed that Over Ingsdon had been illegally diverted from his inheritance.   He kept up the Chancery suits his entire life.

Presumably because an iron mine with a processing plant was a valuable asset.

 These suits caused the younger Robert to spend all of his money. His brother Henry gave evidence which defended his brother.

These suits must have been successful often enough for the patrilineal heir to take them to Chancery. The law of the land was family land and it supported keeping the patrilineal lands together.

Robert  Pomeroy died 3 Jan 1517  Isabel also called Elizabeth Beaumont, who was 17 when John Beaumont died in Oct 1471.
She died before her husband circa 1500

Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Proceedings C 1/153/58  Date: 1486 - 1515 

John Pomeray, son of Syncler ( Sinclere), son of Isabel Beaumount, deceased. v. Robert Pomeray, esquire, late husband of the said Isabel.:

Detention of deeds relating to the manor of Ingsdon and lands in Ilsington.: Devon. Chancery pleadings addressed to the Archbishop        

Two generations on , 1566 , Mary Pomeroy, daughter of John & Elizabeth great, great-grandchild of Robert Pomeroy & Elizabeth Beaumont,  married John Ford of Ashburton.
She and their Ford family may have lived at the now lost Manor House at Ingsdon or stayed at the Elizabethan house of Thomas Forde at Ilsington village, the ruins of which can still be seen in the churchyard there .

HOWEVER    it seems more likely that they lived at the original  Bagtor Manor which is very close by.  John Ford  Mary Pomeroy's father in law was an  Ashburton lawyer who died in 1538 . He was  heir of William Ford a wealthy wool merchant of Chagford.  He purchased the estate of Bagtor and then remodelled the C14th manor. 

Hugh Pomeroy,  son of John and his wife Elizabeth , married Barbara Southcote daughter of John Southcote of nearby Indiho House near Bovey Tracey. Hugh was buried at Ilsington  in 1602, as were his sons Thomas in 1610  & Richard in 1606.
His wife Barbara gave him 11 children before dying at the birth of the last child  in1563.

Hugh Pomeroy &his wife Barbara Southcote 11 children were

Sons were Thomas the heir born 1550 who married Elizabeth Hengscot;   George who died as an infant in 1560; Bartholmew  who died 1587 at Woodland;  John born 1561 who lived to be 65  & Richard  who died in 1626

Their daughters were  Mary who married John Ford in 1566; Thomasine  b 1559; Margaret who married James Woodley in 1573; Barbara  born 1560 married Ist Robert Incledon and 2nd Phillip Chichester  in 1602;  Grace who married John Gilbert of Bridgerule and lastly Elizabeth  b 1563 at whose birth their mother died who remained  unmarried dying in 1627 

children of Thomas Pomeroy of  Bradford parish & Elizabeth Hengscot his wife were

Richard Pomeroy who married Anne or Agnes Copleston of Yealmpton - Bowden in Yealmpton, an ancient manor house now a farmhouse & long the seat of the Coplestons  & not to be confused with Bowden House near Totnes.

They married  at her home town of Yealmpton in 1602 when she was just 16. They had 8 children before he died  in 1616 .

Anne married again in1619 in St Mary Major in Exeter to James Lowman of Whitston

Their children were Thomas Pomeroy  the heir and 8 siblings

Richard born 1604, Henry born  1606, Elizabeth born  1608, Ann born 1610, Agnes born 1612 and Hugh born 1615

also  Amy, and Barbara for whom we have no dates  but both were living and under 21, in 1616,  when their father died.

The 26 year old Anne/ Agnes, with 8 Pomeroy children all still very young , married again after Richards death in 1616. 

This Marriage at St Mary Major in Exeter was on 10 feb 1619 her 2nd husband being James LOWMAN of Whitestone  

Whitstone is4 miles west of Exeter not far from Tedburn St Mary where Loman were Lords of the manor in 13th C -

Brit-Hist-online says Lowman of Whitstone, cciv & Lowman, cciv. 238

Lowman, of Whitstone. — Five descents are described in the visitation of 1620, when there was male issue.

Arms: — Argent, 3 escutcheons, S., charged with as many gauntlets,

Reference:    C 2/JasI/L1/29 Description:  Lowman v Reynell.

Plaintiffs: James Lowman and Agnes Lowman his wife  ( widow of Richard Pomeroy ) [on behalf of themselves and children of Richard Pomery].

Defendants: Richard Reynell and Richard Reynell.

Subject: performance of trust respecting the manor of Engesdon [Ingsdon] and other lands, Devon.

Document type: [pleadings]

Date:     1603-1625

Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Legal status: Public Record 

The heir Thomas married twice  his first wife being Mary Drew  and his 2nd wife Jane, 

he had 3 sons  

Thomas who also married a Mary ( family name  unknown) no children found

    Ambrose died 1645 and  

Charles who married an Ann - no children found

they also  had 4 daughters that lived to be married. 

Elizabeth Elizabeth who according to Visitations married John THOMAS of  Langford Budville in Somerset in 1653 (Not found)  However  parish records have a  marriage for her & Walter Couch at Bickington in Feb 1701

Jane married to Reverend Richard Wollacombe of nearby Bickington 1668 (PR)

Agnes  married Thomas Irysh at Buckfastleigh 1st Dec 1655

Maria married  Henry Sheares - date and place not known

Sir John Stowell, knight. v. Francis Moore, clerk, and his wife Jane, George Irysh and his wife Agnes, Henry Sheeres and his wife Maria, Jane Pomeroy.: Value, &c., of the barton, demesne, and manor of Engesdon (Devon), late of Thomas Pomeroy Date range: 1667 - 1669

This last Thomas Pomeroy with his brother Charles, in Oct 1662, sold the heavily mortgaged Ingsdon Estate  just 5 months after his father died in July 1662  to James Stowell.  They also sold a tenement of 45 acres at Ingsdon, presumably Over of Higher Ingsdon, to Mr W Gascon. 

The 1642 Protestation Returns show no Pomeroys in Ilsington parish.

however there is a Protestation return 1641  for Landrake  for  Henry Pomeroy, of  St Germans, 

son of THOMAS POMEROY of Hengscott  in parish of Bradford  grandson of Sir Thomas who married Elizabeth Hengscott

Henry Pomeroy was born in 1579 at Ilsington, and died in  1622 at St Erney in Landrake, Cornwall. 

 Married  1st Marie Geffrie (Widow) of Landrake 1598.

then  2nd Alice Samble, 1609- he had issue see Landrake page

Inquisitions post mortem (sometimes known as escheats) are among the most 'genealogist-friendly' of records, and were a mainstay of traditional medieval genealogy.

These were inquiries, undertaken after the death of a feudal tenant in chief (that is, a direct tenant of the crown), to establish what lands were held and who should succeed to them. They survive from around 1240 until the Restoration in 1660, when feudal tenure was abolished.

 After the death of a tenant in chief, a writ would usually be issued to the local official responsible for taking possession of the dead tenant's estate. He would then  convene a local jury and conduct an inquiry - usually a separate one was held in each of the counties where the deceased had held land.

The earliest inquisitions are  less detailed, but generally the information recorded would include the date when the tenant died, the names of the manors held and details of the services performed  in return for them, and also the name, age and relationship of the heir (or of each coheir).

The ages might well be approximate, particularly if given in 'round figures', and for older heirs; if the heir were a minor, however, accuracy would be important.

Further records might be made of the assignment of dower (part of a husband's estate, to be held by his widow for her lifetime). 

If the heir were a minor, the crown had the right to his or her wardship - the heir would not take possession of the estate until his or her majority was attained, and at this point proof of age might be recorded. From 1540, in cases where the heir was a minor (or in cases of lunacy), further information may be found in the records of the Court of Wards and Liveries .

 One shortcoming of this system, genealogically speaking, is that it applied only to tenants in chief. No such record would be taken for anyone who was, technically speaking, a sub-tenant, no matter how rich or powerful he might be. On the other hand, many other people are mentioned incidentally in the inquisitions.

Those of higher status appear as sub-tenants or as trustees ('feoffees') of the deceased; feoffees were often related to the tenant although the relationships are not usually stated. Humbler people appear as jurors, or may give evidence about the age of the heir,  and detailed manorial surveys might also be made.

 There are published abstracts of the inquisitions post mortem (and the associated documents), from the earliest records up to the early 15th century (in progress), and also for the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509).

(These abstracts do not generally include detailed manorial surveys, but do include the names of jurors from volume 22 onwards - i.e. from 1422 onwards.) For the intervening period there are older printed calendars, which include the names of the manors held, but few genealogical details.

FINAL NOTE_ POWLEY  stated that Sir Thomas Pomeroy ,who married the twice widowed Johanna Chudleigh in an unlicensed marriage in 1388,  was son of Robert of Sandridge .  Thomas became head of the family after Sir John Pomeroy  whose wife was Johanna de Merton died in 1416 .

however we have found records that suggest that Thomas was of Smallbridge & Upottery , a cadet line which descended from the Allaleigh/ Hawley near Dartmouth . 

 This cadet line of the family in East Devon descended for Geoffrey de la Pomeroy, and his wife Matilda de Raleigh in the 13th Century. Geoffrey was the 2nd son of the 2nd of 9 sequential Henry Pomeroy & his wife Alice de Vernon daughter of William de Reviers , 5th Earl of Devon.

The cadet line had  holdings in East Devon including  Bokerel & Upottery  & possibly  Smallridge,with its mill , was held by Robert Pomeroy a son of Thomas of Bockerel/Buckerell

The manor of Buckerell is 3 ½ miles  from  Honiton, 15600 acres  anciently being held by the Pomeroys, being dismembered many years ago. 

The manor of Upottery a  its 6,000 acres is 5 miles from Honiton  given to Ralph de Pomeroy by William the Conqueror who afterwards gave it to the church of Rouen. It was later  passed to Sir Nicholas Cheyney, in the reign of Henry III ( 1216-1272) subsequent owners were the Willoughby, Blount, and Popham families.

Smallridge is a hamlet 1 mile north of Axminster. The manor of Axminster was part of the royal demesne until King John (1199-1216 ) gave it to Lord Briwer or Brewer. . divided into ten tithings including Smallridge.