Spencer Combe

"Spence Combe" House, near Crediton, Devon
Setting of "Spence Combe"
Arms of Sir Robert Spencer (d. circa 1510) "of Spencer Combe": Sable, two bars nebuly ermine[1]
Arms of de Esse of Thuborough, Sutcombe, impaling Spencer of Spencer Combe, Thuborough Chapel of Sutcombe Church

Spencer Combe in the parish of Crediton, Devon, is an historic estate. The grade II listed farmhouse known today as "Spence Combe",[2] the remnant of a former mansion house, is situated 3 miles north-west of the town of Crediton. Spencer Combe is given in several traditional historical sources as the seat of Sir Robert Spencer (d.pre-1510) who married Eleanor Beaufort (1431–1501), the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406–1455), KG, and who was father to two daughters and co-heiresses who made notable marriages. The arms of this Sir Robert Spencer were Sable, two bars nebuly ermine,[3] as shown in the Percy window in the chapel of Petworth House and as quartered by Cary, Viscount Falkland.[4] The American genealogist Douglas Richardson[5] suggests however that Sir Robert Spencer was in fact the son and heir of John Spencer, Esquire, MP for Dorset, of Frampton in Dorset, Ashbury in Devon and Brompton Ralph in Somerset, by his wife Jone. The arms given by Pole for Spencer of Spencer Combe, are: Argent, on a bend sable two pairs of keys or,[6] and are shown quartered by Prideaux on the monument in Farway Church, Devon, to Sir Edmund Prideaux, 1st Baronet (d.1628) of Netherton Hall, and are shown in stained glass impaled by de Esse of Thuborough in the Thuborough Chapel of Sutcombe Church.

Descent

Lancells

The earliest holder of the estate as recorded by the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640) was the Lancells family.[7] However the Devon historian Sir William Pole (d.1635) stated Comb Lancelles to be a separate estate to Cumbe, held by the Hody then Spencer families. Indeed, the grade II listed farmhouse[8] known today as "Combe Lancey" survives, situated within the parish of Sandford, to the immediate north-west of Crediton. Pole gave the descent of Comb Lancelles as follows:[9]

Hody

Combe passed by inheritance to the Hody family.[10]

Spencer

On inheritance by the Spencer family the manor became known as Spencer Combe[12] or Spencer's Combe.[13] The arms of Spencer of Spencer Combe were given by Pole as: Argent, on a bend sable (or azure) two pairs of keys or,[14] and were later quartered by Prideaux, as visible in Farway Church (Prideaux of Netherton) and in Sutcombe Church, in the Thuborough Chapel. The descent is given by Pole as follows:

Giffard

Arms of Giffard: Sable, three fusils conjoined in fesse ermine

Prideaux

Arms of Prideaux: Argent, a chevron sable in chief a label of three points gules[19]

Leach

Sir Simon Leach (1567-1638) of Cadeleigh, near Crediton, Sheriff of Devon in 1624, purchased Spencer Combe from Beville Prideaux.[27]

References

  1. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.438, Viscount Falkland
  2. Listed building text
  3. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.438, Viscount Falkland
  4. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.438, Viscount Falkland
  5. Richardson, Douglas, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Baltimore, Maryland, Genealogical Publishing Co, 2004, p.480, pedigree of Carey
  6. Pole, p.502
  7. Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.100
  8. Listed building text
  9. Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.227
  10. Risdon, p.100
  11. Pole, p.227
  12. Risdon, p.100
  13. Pole, p.227
  14. Pole, p.502
  15. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.397, pedigree of Giffard
  16. Vivian, p.128
  17. Vivian, p.397
  18. Vivian, p.618
  19. Vivian, Heraldic Visitations of Devon, p. 616
  20. Vivian, p.618
  21. Risdon, p.249
  22. Pole, p.227
  23. Vivian, p.619
  24. Vivian, p.526, pedigree of Leach
  25. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.241
  26. Pole, p.227
  27. Pole, p.227
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.