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WYCHALSE
Lee Abbey today, was built in the C19th & was never a monastic settlement - but it is remote & has magnificent coastal views
Hugh Wichehalse, Esq. was married on 1st Feb 1613, to Dorothy Pomeroy , daughter of Thomas Pomeroy Esq & his wife Elizabeth Hengscot of Ingsdon Manor in Ilsington,.
The family of Wichalse appear to have gone from Chudleigh to Ashcombe, where are gravestones from 1681 to 1732. The first entry of the name in the Parish Register is in 1558, and the last in 1606.
Chudleigh website gives us
The family of Wichalse* resided at the hamlet of Wych, south of the town, said to have been so called from a large wych elm that formerly grew there. Arms:–Per pale, argent, and sable, six crescents counterchanged.
Westcote gives the pedigree of Wichalse of Chudleigh as follows: " Nicholas Wichalse. married Margery and had issue John, William, Nicholas, Margery, (married to Peter Lutton of Mowlish;) Joan, (to Bartholomew Burrington of Ideford.) John, son and heir, married Joan, daughter and co-heir of Dotwel, and had issue Robert, John, George, Nicholas, Bennet, Thomas, Pierce, John, Joan, (married to Thomas Stert of Stert;) Christian, and Helen, unmarried. Robert married Eleanor, daughter of John Marwood of Westcot, and had issue a daughter married to Charles Trevanion, of Caryhays in Cornwall, Esq.
" William Wichalse (second son of Nicholas,) married Helen, daughter of Humphrey Walrond, of Bradfield, esq., the relict of Anthony Fortescue of Fallopit,esq., and had issue, Richard, Margery, Jane, (who married Fortescue of Preston;) and Joan.
" Nicholas Wichalse, of Barnstaple, (third son of Nicholas,) married Mary, daughter and heir of Richard Welsh of Pilton, and had issue Joan.
" Margery (before named) married Thomas Huit of Bishopsteignton. Jane married to Richard Kelland of Totnes. Joan married to Nicholas Pointingdon of Shobrook, Richard, their brother, died sans issue."
The Book of the West by Baring Gould gives us....
Lee Abbey was the seat of the De Wichehalse family, which, family legend would have it, came from the Low Countries in or about 1570.as religious refugees . However the Wichehalse family first appeared in Devon, at Chudleigh, nearly half a century before their supposed flight from Flanders.
They were cloth merchants apparently, and one of the family, Nicholas Wychalse, the third son of Nicholas of Chudleigh, having married a daughter of Welsh of Pilton, Barnstaple, where they settled . Nicholas became a very successful merchant and died there in 1570. As merchants in the wool trade the Barnstaple branch did well, and married into some of the best county families.
Nicholas Wychehasle , senior, was a very prosperous wool merchant and that prosperity showed in the extensive landed property he purchased in North Devon. Besides the manors of Lynton & Countisbury he held manor of Maydenford, Barnstaple, the Watermouth estate in Berrynarbor, Combe in Loxhore, Overfoldhay and Netherfold- hay in Parracombe, the Barton, and several other estates in Fremington and Bickington.
His grandson Hugh Wichehalse, Esq., after his marriage on 1st Feb 1613, to Dorothy Pomeroy ,daughter of Thomas Pomeroy Esq & his wife Elizabeth Hengscot of Ingsdon Manor in Ilsington, continued to reside at Crock Street Barnstaple, where nine children were born to them .
In 1627 rumours once again began to circulate that the plague was coming. The fear of that drove most of the gentry families of the town to retire to their country seats.
However at that time the Wychehalses manors were inhabited by other families, and Hugh, decided it was desirable to have another residence. He decided to repair and enlarge the old Grange Farm at Ley in the manor of Lynton. This was a safe distance from Barnstaple and so and free from the danger of infection. It is remote even today.
Thus in the summer of 1628 Hugh moved there with his wife and children. It was a difficult journey to make with small children. There was no road, only a rough track over the moors; there was no possibility of wagons or wheels to convey all their worldly goods . The only conveyance was a string of pack-horses and so the master, the mistress, all their children, servants, baggage and furniture, was be carried. to their new home. A farmhouse with gabled ends, a gabled long porch in the centre, inside of which were two long benches fixed in the thickness of walls all under a thatch must have seemed lowly after fire-places and moulded ceilings the mansion in Crock Street; even with the addition with extra chambers had just been built. Here Hugh Wychehalse remained living with his family for the rest of his days in a quiet and retired manner.
A potted history of Barnstaple
Alfred the Great established a fortified town, or burgh at the mouth of the River Taw in the late 9th century. A Viking attack on the burh took place in AD 893. Barnstaple was important enough to have its own mint before the Norman Conquest.
From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and thus great wealth followed. Later it imported Irish wool, before the harbour silted up. Other industries developed, such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills.
The town's wealth came in the Middle Ages & it had an early merchant guild known as the Guild of St Nicholas. Imports of Irish wool increased its wealth, until the harbour silted up. In the early 14th century it was Devon's third richest town after Exeter and Plymouth, and the largest textile centre outside Exeter until about 1600.
Barnstaple of Olde The house on the hill above the town is Pilton House, the home of the Incledon family
C16th Century merchants ship owners
Merchants, traders and ship owners NORTH DEVON
Modern port Ship Master Destination Date Source reference
Exmouth; Trenite William Wychehalse unknown 1532. ref E122/43/7 f.2rv
Kingswear the John Thomas Wychehalsse Dartmouth Eng 1550 E122/201/13 f.5v
Brixham the George Thomas Wychehalsse Dartmouth Devon 1551 E122/201/13 f.13r
Brixham the Nicholas Thomas Wychehalsse Dartmouth Eng 1551 E122/201/13 f.30v
Dawlish the Jamy John Wychehalse unknown 1493. E122/41/15 m.8
Dawlish the Mare John Wychehalse Exeter 1528. E122/42/10 f.2v
London the Moryan George Pomery from unknown to unknown 1572 SP15/22 f.11v
Elmore the Julyan Ralph Pomerye from Gloucester to Carmarthan Wales 1571 E190/1128/13 f.16r
Bideford the Harry John Pomery from Bristol to Bideford 1576 E190/1129/18 f.8v
Bideford the Henrie John Pomery from Bristol to Barnstaple 1576 E190/930/15 f.3r
Bideford the Henrie John Pomery from Barnstaple to Bristol 1576 E190/930/15 f.3v
London the John George Pomery from Beaulieu to London 1574 E190/814/9 f.9v
6 Beaulieu is on southeastern edge of the New Forest national park in Hampshire, inland of on south coast close to Southampton & the Solent
2 Elmore is on the Severn river seaward of Gloucester there is no evidence of river side wharfs but salmon fishing was for long been a flourishing industry and possible elvers .
3,4,5 these three entries appear to be for John are the same man here he is again Possibly a resident in Barnstaple BUT might be a Dartmouth man making voyages between DARTMOUTH & Barnstaple;
probably on their way to Cork in Ireland (AML: Would it be safe to surmise that John, master in 1617, was a son of one of the three in the 1570's? (Ralph, John or George?)
Port Books Barnstaple
John Pomery master of the 12 ton Samuel out of Northam in 17th June 1617 departing Barnstaple for Milford ( Haven) Wales for merchant William Whellin carrying wool, bacon ,raw cloth & white leather
John Pomeroy Master of the 14 ton Samuel registered at Northam departing Milford for Barnstaple 18th July 1617 with a cargo for merchant Richard Walter with a cargo of wool, butter & wheat
The carvel 'the Matthew' was owned by the Bristol merchant, John Shipman, Bristol's richest shipowner, & owner or part-owner of five great ships by 1513.
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