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Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/57

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34 Devon Notes and Queries. gone to attend the King as High Sheriff to the extreme limit of the county. Since 1842 the parish of Thomcombe, in which Ford Abbey is situated, has been annexed to Dorset. His son Walter was knighted at Whitehall on the 3rd December in the following year. Sir Simon seems to have acquired great wealth in land. Sir W. Pole, his contemporary, speaks of six estates sold to Sir S. Leach, one Cadeleigh (circa i6op) purchased from Sir John Horton, who in turn had purchased it from Sir William Courtenay, of Powderham, who had it by descent from his ancestor, Hugh, Earl of Devon. It carried with it the Lord- ship of the Manor with power of inflicting capital punishment and the advowson to the Church, valued at the time of sale to Sir S. Leach at £1^ per annum. Here, says Pole, he ** hath made it the seate of his Dwellinge." Sir Simon probably possessed lands in the twelve parishes, to the inhabitants of which he left legacies in his Will, and in the same Will he mentions lands of his in four other parishes as well, viz. : — Barnstaple, St. Columb, Beare, and Clannaboro*. These possessions included Raddon Court, in Thorverton parish ; Burn, in Silverton parish (bought from Sir Richard Champernon) ; Endicott, in Cadbury parish ; and Coombe, in Sandford parish (bought from Bevill Prideaux), as well as the advowson of the Church of Bridford (bought from Sir R. Champernon), valued at £1^ 15s. per annum {Pole)^ the Lordship of the Manor, with power of life and death there, and the Lordships of the Manors of Butterleigh (bought from Sir William Courtenay), Chuderleigh, in Bickleigb parish (bought from Sir R. Champernon), and Coombe above mentioned (Lysons). Sir Walter married Sara, daughter of Sir Robert Napper, Bart. Sir Walter's great uncle, the Chancellor, had married Elizabeth Napper, another relative of Sir Robert's. By his wife Sir Walter had three daughters and one son, Simon. Sir Waller pre- deceased his father, Sir Simon, on whose death, in 1637, the grandson Simon succeeded, then a little boy of five years old, a tender age for such troublous times. However, this Simon managed to keep his own, and achieved the best match his family had yet made, marrying Bridget, daughter of Sir Bevil Grenvile, the great Royalist, who was killed at Lansdowne (Vivian). Her brother's wife. Lady John