Wreyland Documents

excerpts from Wreyland Documents, by Cecil Torr (Cambridge University Press, 1910)

[p. i]
INTRODUCTION.
   Wreyland lies in the parish of Bovey Tracey in the hundred of Teignbridge in the county of Devon. ...
   The river Wrey is here the boundary between the parish of Lustleigh and the parish of Bovey Tracey, and on the Bovey Tracey bank of the Wrey there is a tract of land called Wreyland with a village and a manor and a tithing of that name.
[p. ii]    The village of Wreyland is within a quarter of a mile of Lustleigh church. ...
   The manor of Wreyland includes the neighbouring places on that side of the Wrey:-- Leigh, Kelly, Wilmead, Knowle and Yeo. ...
   Formerly a portion of the manor ... was in the parish of Hennock.
   ...
[p. xxiii]    ...
   ... an eighth part of Knowle was held by Joseph Bury after 1703 ...
   ...
[p. xxxiv]    ...
LEIGH.
   On 28 December 1732 the tenement called Leigh or Lee, and a cottage and garden in or near the village of Wray or Wrayland, were sold to John Pinsent for 175l. by Laurence Clampitt and Jane, his wife. She was the daughter of Joseph Berry; and she inherited this property from her brother John Berry, who bought it from her uncle John Berry. In a Fine in Michaelmas term 1732 this property is described as 1 messuage, 1 cottage, 2 gardens, 2 orchards, 7 acres of (arable) land, 2 acres of meadow, 1 acre of pasture, 1 acre of wood, and 2 acres of furze and heath.
   ...
[p. xli]    ...
MIDDLE WREYLAND.    ...
[p. xlii]    ...
   On the Court Roll for 9 October 1718 -- see page 83 -- there is an entry of the appointment of John Berry as tithingman for 1718 in respect of Middle Wreyland; and also an entry of the death of John Berry, junior, and the admission of his sister Jane Yeo as a tenant of the manor in his stead for a quarter of Middle Wreyland. Jane "Yeo" was the daughter of Joseph Berry, niece of John Berry, senior, and wife of Laurence Clampitt of Yeo.
   ...
[p. xlv]    ...
YEO AND KNOWLE.    ...
[p. xlix]    ...
   On 31 October 1767 the John Skardon of 1742 and his son and heir, the next John Skardon, conveyed both these properties to John Gawler for the purpose of a Recovery; and in this Recovery in Michaelmas term 1767 these two properties are described as 2 messuages, 4 gardens, 15 acres of (arable) land, 6 acres of meadow, 12 acres of pasture, 3 acres of wood, and 3 acres of furze and heath, in Higher Yeo. The name of Middle Yeo is omitted here, and also in the previous conveyance, the Middle Yeo property being described there simply as a barn, two orchards, a meadow, the three Thornparkes and the two Downs. On 2 February 1768 the two John Skardons sold these two properties to Samuel Sercombe as their lands in Higher Yeo and Middle Yeo.
[p. l]    On 24 June 1786 some part of a tenement called South or Middle Yeo and Knowle was sold to Samuel Sercombe by Thomas Lane. This had formerly belonged to Thomas Tothill, and had been brought into settlement (on 16 April 1768) on the marriage of his grand-daughter Penelope Tothill with Thomas Lane. On 2 January 1794 it is described as being at or near South or Middle Yeo, and consisting of two dwelling houses, a barn, and certain fields, namely, the Orchard, the Wormhill Close, the Brakefield, the Great and Little Three Corners, Harris's Close, the Yeo Close, Chubb's Meadow, the Little Close, the Wayparke, the Tinparke, the Great Rudge, the Tinwork and Jacket's Acre.
   On 2 January 1794 all these three properties were sold by Samuel Sercombe to Nelson Beveridge Gribble for 1000l. They were then described as being at or in or near Higher Yeo and Middle or South Yeo, or at or in or near Knowle.
   ...
[p. li]    ...
   On the Court Roll for 14 October 1703 -- see page 77 -- there is an entry of the admission of Joseph Berry as a tenant of the manor for an eighth part of a tenement called Yeo and Knole, lately in the possession of Thomas Willmead. On 23 May 1752 an eighth part of "two tenements called Yeo and Knoll otherwise Higher Yeo, lyeing and being in Yeo otherwise Higher Yeo," once in the possession of Richard Hole, then of Thomas Willmead, then of Joseph Berry, and then of Laurence Clampitt, and also a fourth part of two tenements "lyeing and being in Yeo and Knoll," lately in the possession of William Bury, were leased by Laurence Clampitt and his wife Jane Clampitt (daughter and heir of Joseph Bury) to their son John Clampitt for a term of 99 years, determinable on the death of Jane Clampitt; Laurence and Jane reserving to themselves the right "to hunt, hawk, fish or fowle there at seasonable times." On the Court Roll for 13 October 1697 -- see page 74 -- there is an entry of the death of William Berry, and of the admission of Joseph Berry as a tenant of the manor. No doubt, he was admitted then as tenant for the quarter of Yeo and Knowle that belonged to William Berry and afterwards to Jane Berry, wife of Lawrence Clampitt.
   In a Fine in Michaelmas term 1757 this same property is described as a fourth part of 2 messuages, 2 cottages, 20 acres of (arable) land, 20 acres of meadow, 20 acres of pasture, and 10 acres of furze and heath, and two eighth parts of 2 messuages, 2 cottages, 2 gardens, 2 orchards, 50 acres of (arable) land, 10 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture, 20 acres of furze and heath, and 10 acres of moor, in Yeo and Knoll otherwise Higher Yeo.
   On 27 October 1790 this property was sold to Nelson Beveridge Gribble for 800l. by John Sercombe and his wife Elizabeth Sercombe (one of the two children of John Clampitt) and Mary Clampitt (the other child of John Clampitt) as three tenements called Yeo otherwise Higher Yeo otherwise North Yeo and Knowle, formerly three (eighth) parts of several tenements there. And in a Fine in Michaelmas term 1790 this property is described as 3 messuages, 1 barn, 1 linhay, 1 stable, 1 shippen, 1 garden, 2 orchards, 40 acres of (arable) land, 6 acres of meadow, 5 acres of pasture, 16 acres of wood, 20 acres of furze and heath, and 3 acres of moor, in Knowle and Yeo otherwise Higher Yeo.
   ...
[p. 110] DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE OWNERSHIP OF WREYLAND.
   ...
[p. 182] LXXIII.
   ... And also [p. 183] all those three messuages called or commonly known by the name or names of Yeo otherwise Higher Yeo otherwise North Yeo and Knowle (or situate and being in, or formerly parts and parcels of, certain messuages, tenements and lands called Yeo otherwise North Yeo otherwise Higher Yeo and Knowle) within the manor of Wrayland otherwise Wreyland and parish of Boveytracey aforesaid, and formerly in the possession of Richard Hole, Thomas Willmead, Joseph Berry, Pitson Vernon and Elizabeth, his wife, afterwards of Lawrence Clampitt (father of John Clampitt, deceased), since of the said John Clampitt, deceased, late of Mary Clampitt, his widow, but now of the said Nelson Beveridge Gribble ...

content last revised 28 Feb 2001