Manor of King's Nympton

The Manor of King's Nympton was a manor largely co-terminous with the parish of King's Nympton in Devon, England.

Descent of the manor At the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, the whole manor of Nimetone, in the hundred of Witheridge, belonged to the KingThorn, Caroline & Frank, Domesday Book: Vol.9: Devon, Ed. Morris, John, Chichester, 1985, 2 parts, Chap. 1,49 and was held by him in demesne,Risdon, Tristram, Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p.311 but King Henry I (1100–1135) granted the manor, together with that of Black Torrington, in Torrington hundred, to Joel de Mayne (Latinised to de Meduana).Thorn, Part 2 (notes), 1,37, quoting Book of Fees, p.97 He appears to have been a resident of Normandy, as when that former possession of the English kings became separated from England, King John (1199–1216) seized it back into royal ownership.Risdon, p.311

de Luscy The manor was probably re-granted by King John (1199–1216), as is known to have been the case with Black Torrington, to Geoffrey de Luscy.Thorn, Part 2 (notes), 1,37, quoting Book of Fees, p.97 The manor subsequently escheated to the crown by cause unknown.

de la Zouche King Henry III (1216–1272) granted the manor, again together with Black Torrington, to Roger la Zouche,Thorn, Part 2 (notes), 1,49, quoting Book of Fees, p.612 lord of the manor of North Molton. Risdon states that la Zouche granted the manor to Godfrey Lucy.

de Cornwall

Sir Geoffrey de Cornwall was lord of the manor tempore King Edward III (1327–1377). His heir was a minor and became the ward of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, Earl of Bedford (1340–1397). He was succeeded successively by Sir Bryan de Cornwall and Sir John de Cornwall, temp Kings Henry IV (1399–1413) and Henry V (1413–1422).

Pollard

Sir Lewis Pollard (died 1526) The manor of King's Nympton was eventually purchased by Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465 – 1526), of Grilstone, Bishop's Nympton, Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526Hoskins, p.337 and MP for Totnes in 1491 and JP in Devon in 1492. He enclosed a deer park in the late 15th century. His heir was his eldest son and heir Sir Hugh Pollard.Vivian, Heralds' Visitations of Devon, 1895, pp. 597–599, pedigree of pollard

Sir Hugh Pollard (fl. 1545) Sir Hugh Pollard (fl. 1535, 1545), eldest son and heir, great-grandfather of Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet of King's Nympton. He was Sheriff of Devon in 1335/6 and Recorder of Barnstaple in 1545.History of Parliament biog. on his contemporary George Rolle of Stevenstone, MP He married twice: Firstly to Elizabeth Valletort, daughter and heiress of John Valletort of Clyst St Lawrence, by whom he had three sons and one daughter: Sir Lewis Pollard, eldest son and heir. (see below) Richard Pollard John Pollard Elizabeth Pollard, married firstly Richard Bury (1516–1543) lord of the manor of Colleton, Chulmleigh,Risdon, 1810 ed. p.426; Vivian, p.123, pedigree of Bury of Colleton whose wardship and marriage had been purchased by her father, with the helpful influence of his brother Richard Pollard, the government official. Richard Pollard managed at the same time to persuade Richard Bury's father John Bury (1481–1533) to give him for his own wife his daughter Jacquetta Bury.Byrne, Muriel St. Clare, (ed.) The Lisle Letters, 6 vols, University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London, 1981, vol.1, p.604 Secondly Elizabeth Pollard married Henry Dillon (died 1579) of Chimwell, Bratton Fleming, lord of the manor of Bratton Fleming, whose sister Dorothy Dillon was the wife of Elizabeth's cousin Hugh Pollard of Knowstone. In 1539 Hugh Pollard acquired a 21-year lease of the site and demesne of Torre Abbey at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and in 1543 acquired the freehold from John St. Leger (died 1596) of Annery. Youings, Joyce, Devon Monastic Lands: Calendar of Particulars for Grants 1536-1558, Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol.1, Torquay, 1955, pp. 25–7, grant no.33

Sir Lewis Pollard (died before 1569)

Sir Lewis Pollard (died before 1569), eldest son and heir, was a serjeant-at-law and served as Recorder of Exeter from 1548.Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, pp.468-9Vivian, p.598 regnal date 2 Edward VI He married Joan Prust, daughter and heiress of Hugh Prust, Esquire, (died 1559) of Thorry, near Hartland (alias Thorvey, etc.), who married secondly Sir John Perrot (1528–1592), Lord Deputy of Ireland.Vivian, 1895, p.629, pedigree of Prust, states that her executor was Sir John Perrot. In the pedigree of Pollard, p.598, she is stated erroneously to have been the widow of Perrot The Prust family were settled at "Gorven" from at the latest 1199, a deed of which date is recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon as mentioning John Prust of Gorven.Vivian, p.629, pedigree of Prust Hugh Prust (died 1559) was the second son of John Prust of Thorry by his wife Agnes. Thorry had been held by an unnamed tenant in 1299 from the Abbot of Hartland for the rent of 1 lb of pepper, due annually at Michaelmas.Chope, pp. 41–42, quoting an inquisition post mortem of one of the abbots, dated 1299; It was still held in 1566 (from overlord unknown) at the same rent, by the "heirs of Hugh Prust", i.e. the Pollards.List of free tenants, 1566, per Chope, Appendix 1, pp. 197–199 In 1530 Hugh Prust gave to St Nectan's Church, Hartland, the set of surviving bench-ends showing his initials "H P" each in its own shield.Pevsner, p.472; Hugh Prust was one of the largest tenants of the lands of Hartland Abbey as revealed by the Valor Ecclesiasticus made in 1535 preparatory to its dissolution. Amongst his lands were the lease of the manor of Bykyngton (i.e. Abbots Bickington) which he had leased from the Abbey for 40 years paying £12 per annum rent.Chope, R. Pearse, The Book of Hartland, Torquay, 1940, p.208 This manor became the seat of his descendant Sir Amyas Pollard, 3rd Baronet (died 1701). Hugh Prust was described in a contemporary document as "a man of great wealth and of fair land and living"Chope, p.102, quoting apparently "Exchequer Special Commissions" and had a private chapel at Thorry served by the cleric John Horwell (died 1553), the prior of Hartland Abbey before its dissolution in 1539, who also served as mass-priest in St Mary's Guild, at the sole expense of Hugh Prust.Chope, pp. 101–102 Hugh Prust's other lands held from Hartland Abbey in 1566 were:List of free tenants, 1566, per Chope, Appendix 1, pp. 197–199 the whole of: Friar's Hill, Holepark, Thorry and Wembsworthy; part of Elmscott, Hardisworthy, Pitt and Higher Velly. In addition the widow Katherine Prust (possibly the widow of Hugh Prust or of his brother Richard Prust (died 1550) of WollesworthyVivian, p.629) held possibly as her dower: part of Fursdon and Natcott. Lewis Pollard died before 1569 and his infant sons became wards of Sir John Chichester (died 1569) of Raleigh. He left the following children: Sir Hugh Pollard, eldest son and heir (see below). Lewis Pollard, second son, married Cecilia Chichester, sixth daughter of Sir John Chichester and widow of Thomas Hatch. Thomasine Pollard (died 1539), married Admiral Sir George Carew (c. 1504 – 1545), who drowned in the Mary Rose. Frances Pollard, who married Sir John Uggan of Pembroke. Susan Pollard, who married firstly John Copleston and secondly Sir Anthony Rouse.

Sir Hugh Pollard Sir Hugh Pollard, eldest son and heir, married twice: Firstly, to Dorothy Chichester. Hugh became on the death of his father a ward of Sir John Chichester (died 1569) of Raleigh, who bequeathed his wardship and marriage to his daughter Dorothy Chichester, who duly married him. They had the following children: Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet, eldest son and heir (see below) Francis Pollard, second son William Pollard, third son Arthur Pollard, fourth son Hugh Pollard, fifth son Robert Pollard, baptised 1598 at Ashton

Susanna Pollard, who married in 1596 as his second wife John Northcote (1570–1632), of Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton, whose splendid monument with standing effigy exists in Newton St Cyres Church. She was the mother of Sir John Northcote, 1st Baronet (1599–1676). A panel on the monument to her husband is dedicated to her memory and contains in the centre a sculpted relief of her head circumscribed by the following two lines of verse: "My JacobJacobus, Latin for "John" had by mee As many sonnes as hee, Daughters twice three" Above her portrait is a chronogram in verse: "See heer In ChrIst sLeeps shee, FroM paInefVLL Labors free, Her VVorks henCe foLLoVV on, To resVrreCtIon" If the capital letters in red are added together as Roman numerals ("VV" being treated as V + V, and the first letters of each line excluded) the sum of 1634 results, Susanna's date of death.Date of burial of Susanna Pollard 5 June 1634, at Newton St Cyres, per Vivian, p.581 The remaining unused letters are SFHT, the initial letters of each line, of uncertain cryptic meaning. Below the chronogram is a heraldic escutcheon showing the arms of Northcote impaling Pollard: Argent, a chevron sable between three escallops gules. Below her portrait inscribed on a black stone tablet is the following verse:

"Jehovah first compos'd us two in one, Then made one two, till strong affection Did reunite us one; Death tried his skill To part's us againe, but could not worke his will One was our hope, faith, comfort, one's o(u)r tombe One place our soule hath, till the day of Dome Regia pacifisae commisit chartula libram Justitiae lustris aetatis quinque peractis Libravit rectum pura cum mente probatus Stellata camera spectatur ut ignibus aurum"

Anne Pollard, who married on 9 April 1604 at Ashton (as his 2nd wife) to James Welshe (alias Walshe), counsellor-at-law,Risdon, p.280 lord of the manor of Alverdiscott. A small partially destroyed monumental brass inscription to her survives on the wall of the south chancel St Peter's Church, Barnstaple, with the following text: Here lyeth the body of Anne late the wife of James Welshe Esqr and daughter of Sir Hugh Pollard, Knight. She departed...this world to the kingdome of Heaven...seaventeenth day of March A(nn)o MD...Blessed are the dead w(hi)ch dye in the.... On it within a strapwork surround is a heraldic escutcheon showing the arms of Welshe/Walshe (Azure, six mullets orEngraved, tinctures not shown; tinctures given for arms of the more prominent branch of Walshe of Gloucestershire a crescent for difference) impaling Pollard: quarterly 1st & 4th: A chevron between three escallops (Pollard); 2nd & 3rd: A chevron between three mullets (de Via/de Way arms, a common Pollard quartering). Over-all is a crescent for difference, denoting a second son. Gertrude Pollard, who in 1616 married at Newton St Cyres Gilbert Davie (1583–1627) of CanonteignVivian, p.269, pedigree of Davie in the parish of Christow, Devon. Margaret Pollard, married firstly a certain Whiddon and secondly in 1609 at Ashton to Robert Dodson of Haye. Secondly Sir Hugh Pollard married Elizabeth Speke, a daughter of Sir George Speke (c.1530-1584) of Whitelackington, Somerset, and of Heywood, Wembworthy, Devon, Sheriff of Somerset in 1562–63 and a Member of Parliament for Somerset 1572-83, and widow successively of John Chudleigh and Sir John Clifton. By Elizabeth he had three sons, Arthur, Hugh and Robert.Vivian, p.598

Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet (c. 1578 – c. 1645), eldest son and heir. He was created a baronet on 31 May 1627. He married Margaret Berkeley, daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley of Bruton.Vivian, p.598

Sir Hugh Pollard, 2nd Baronet