Widworthy
| Widworthy | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 St Cuthbert's church, Widworthy | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY219988 |
| Location: | 50°47’3"N, 3°6’29"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Devon |
Widworthy is a tiny village in eastern Devon, just south of Wilmington; three and a half miles east of Honiton.
The parish church bears an unusual dedication for a southern church, being named for St Cuthbert.
Near the church stands Widworthy Barton, the former manor house, which is largely unaltered from its early 17th century form.[1] Another mansion in the village is Widworthy Court, built in 1830 by Sir Edward Marwood Elton to the design of G.S. Repton.[1]
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 lists WIDEWORDE as the 26th of the 27 Devonshire holdings of Theobald FitzBerner (Tetbaldi Filii Bernerii) a Norman warrior and magnate, one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. His lands later formed part of the Feudal barony of Great Torrington.[2] His tenant was a certain Oliver, who also held from the same overlord the manors of Culm Davy[3] and Marwood[4]
The earliest lord of the manor listed by the Devon historian Sir William Pole (d.1635)[5] is Sir William de Widworthy, who as was usual had taken his surname from his seat. The male line died out though in the reign of King Edward I (1272-1307), when the manor passed by the heiress Emma de Widworthy to her husband Sir Robert Dynham.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the manor was inherited by John Chichester (1472-1537/8) of Raleigh, who as well as his eldest son the heir to Raleigh, had two younger sons by his second wife the heiress Joan Brett, and to the younger son by this second marriage, John Chichester, he gave Widworthy.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8page 910-11
- ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), Chapter 36
- ↑ Thorn, 36:18; Part 2 (notes), Index of Persons, shown holding 3 manors only in Devon
- ↑ Thorn, 36:16
- ↑ Pole, Sir William (d.1635): 'Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon' (1791 ed., pp.144-5)
- ↑ Pole, p.145
