Combe is a historic estate in Somerset, England, situated between the town of Dulverton and the village of Brushford.
Descent
Taunton Priory Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the estate was one of the possessions of Taunton Priory, which also held the manor of Dulverton.
Combe family In the medieval period the Combe estate was probably held by the Combe family, although in 1254 the lord of Dulverton, Richard de Turberville, held land there. Alfred of Combe, the Bailiff of Dulverton in 1225, may have come from the estate – doubt arises because Combe, meaning steep-sided valley, is a common name in west Somerset.Combe Estate (.doc file) VCH Explore. Accessed 28 November 2016. In 1425 John Combe was a free tenant of Taunton Priory, and Joan Combe, who has been assumed to be an heiress to the estate, married Edward Sydenham at some time before 1506, to whose Sydenham descendants Combe was home until 1874.
Sydenham
It was the seat of a junior branch of the de Sydenham (later Sydenham) family, which took its surname from the manor of Sydenham, near Bridgwater in Somerset. The family split into many prominent branches, the senior branch seated at Sydenham and Kittisford died out in the male line in the 15th century when Sydenham passed via the heiress to the Cave family, then to the Percival family, later Earl of Egmont. The next senior line was seated in the early 15th century at Combe Sydenham in the parish of Stogumber, Somerset, of which family was Simon Sydenham (died 1438), Bishop of Chichester, and which later inherited the Somerset manors of Orchard Sydenham (later called Orchard Wyndham) and Brympton d'Evercy, which latter remained the seat of the Sydenham baronets, which title was created in 1641. In 1871 Rev. Charles St. Barbe Sydenham (1823–1904), whose son was born at Combe in 1861, was declared bankrupt, which may have necessitated the sale of Combe. The descent of Combe in the Sydenham family was as follows:
Edward Sydenham (fl.1506) Edward Sydenham, who at some time before 1506 married Joan de Combe, daughter and heiress of Walter de Combe of Combe. He was descended from John de Sydenham (eldest son of Roger de Sydenham (fl.1331) of Sydenham and Kittisford) who married Mary de Pixton, daughter and heiress of John de Pixton (alias Peekstone) of Pixton in the parish of Dulverton, situated across the River Barle from Combe.Collinson, vol.3, p.521 In 1506, together with John Doune of Exebridge, he obtained a lease of the manors of Brushford, Dulverton, Milverton, Halse and Stoke Pero and the advowson of Brushford with the next vacancy for £16 10s rent, from William Byrte, son and heir of William Byrte of Brushford.
John Sydenham (died 1561) John Sydenham (died 1561), son, who married Elizabeth Frank, daughter and co-heiress of John Frank of Aller Butler, Somerset. The Victoria County History (Somerset, Volume 3) states that in 1549 he purchased Pixton from Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk.Victoria County History, Somerset, Volume 3, p.232
John Sydenham (died 1580) John Sydenham (died 1580), son, who married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Pollard, daughter of Sir Hugh Pollard of King's Nympton in Devon, and secondly to Mary Ayshford, daughter of Nicholas Ayshford of Ayshford in the parish of Burlescombe in Devon. In 1566 William Babington sold the manor of Dulverton, "with its appertenances, and divers lands, tenements, and hereditaments, in Dulverton and other places", to John Sydenham.
Humphrey Sydenham (died 1625) Humphrey Sydenham (died 1625)Inquisition post mortem in Somerset Record Office, DD\L/P7/24,AccNo.C/800: "Inquisition post mortem of Humphrey Sydenham concerning the manors of Bathealton held of Dunster, Poleshill, Houndsmoor and Dulverton. He died 26 March 1625 and his son and heir John was 35. (Prynne ref. Box 7 no. 24) Date:23 Aug 1625" (son by his father's second wife) of Combe, was assessed at £40 in the 1581 subsidy, the highest level of any person in the locality and twice as much as Robert Courtenay of Molland. In 1582 he made a settlement: "To make provision for his brother, sisters and any future wife, involving the manors of Dulverton, Brushford Sydenham, Chubworthie, Bathealton and Polleshill, all in Somerset, and of Heale, Nycolashayne and a moiety of East Anstey, all in Devon, and properties in Dulverton, Brushford, Brompton Regis, Bathealton, Milverton, Thorne St Margaret, Stawley, Raddington, Chipstable, Huish Champflower, Kittisford and Langford, all in Somerset, and Culmstock, East Anstey and Exeter, all in Devon". He married firstly Jane Champneys, eldest daughter of John Champneys (1518–1569) of Uffculme, Devon, and widow of Martin Sandford of Harberton, Devon, whom she had married in 1569. Her brother William Champneys (1554–1629) of Yarnscombe, Devon, married as his first wife Margaret Sydenham, Humphry Sydenham's sister.Vivian, p.166, pedigree of Champneys of Yarnscombe; Margaret Sydenham "daughter of John Sydenham of Dulverton" He had at least three sons by his first wife: John Sydenham, his eldest son and heir, Roger Sydenham and Rev. Humphry Sydenham, "Silver-Tongue Sydenham", Rector of Puckington and Oldcombe, Somerset, heir to his elder brother John.
John Sydenham John Sydenham (born 1590), eldest son and heir, who married Margery Poulet, daughter of Sir Anthony Poulett (1562–1600) (alias Paulet), of Hinton St George, Somerset, Governor of Jersey, and Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. Her brother was John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett (1585–1649). In 1627 he paid feudal relief to George Luttrell (died 1629), feudal baron of Dunster for the manor of Bathealton held from the Barony of Dunster for a sixth of a knight's fee. In 1638 John Sydenham of Combe raised £2,000 for his son and daughters by way of mortgage on his manors including Combe and nearby Brushford and East Anstey. He died without male children, leaving only four daughters, whilst Combe passed to his younger brother Humphry, apparently under tail-male.
Rev. Humphrey Sydenham (1591–1650) Rev. Humphry Sydenham (1591–1650), "Silver-Tongue Sydenham", Rector of Puckington and Oldcombe, Somerset, heir to his elder brother John Sydenham, who died without male children. In 1613 he became a Fellow of the newly founded Wadham College, Oxford, founded posthumously by his fellow Somerset resident Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) and his wife. He was the first to graduate as Master of Arts from that foundation on 3 December 1613. He married Mary Cox, daughter of William Cox of Crewkerne, Somerset.
Humphrey Sydenham Humphrey Sydenham (son), of Combe, who married Jane Pole, second daughter and eventual co-heiress of Sir William Pole, Knight (1614–1649), eldest son and heir apparent of Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet (died 1658) of Shute, Devon, by his second wife Katherine St Barbe, only daughter of Henry St Barbe of Broadlands, Hampshire.Vivian, p.603, pedigree of Pole His sister-in-law Mary Pole married William Floyer of Berne, Dorset, descended from the ancient family of Floyer of Floyer Hayes near Exeter,Vivian, pp. 344–6, pedigree of Floyer of Floyer Hayes whose daughter Katherine Floyer (fl.1695) married her first cousin Humphry Sydenham of Combe. He had three sons: William Sydenham, eldest son and heir apparent, who predeceased his father and was unmarried. Humphrey Sydenham (1672–1710), of Combe, eldest surviving son and heir. John Sydenham "of Dulverton", younger son, who appears to have been the father of Rev. John Sydenham (1720–1788), who matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1743 and later became vicar of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, in which office he died in 1788. Rev. John Sydenham (1720–1788) married Anne Pudsey, daughter and heiress of William Pudsey (died 1729) of Hampden, Kidlington, Oxfordshire and lived at Hampden House. His son Rev. John Pudsey Sydenham (1748–1810) matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1766 and was vicar of Kidlington in 1788 and later rector of Ratley, Warwickshire, and was succeeded by his son John Pudsey Welchman Sydenham who was succeeded in 1854 by his sister Amy Sydenham, wife of Richard Burgoyne. Several Sydenhams of Hampden are buried in the Sydenham aisle of Kidlington Church.
Humphrey Sydenham (1672–1710)
Humphrey Sydenham (1672–1710) of Combe, son, married firstly Eliza Peppin, daughter of George Peppin of Old Shute,The Book of Dulverton, Chapter: "Houses, Estates and Families", Dulverton & District Civil Society, Tiverton, 2002 Dulverton, (which family after 1858 developed the Peppin Merino breed of sheep in AustraliaThe Book of Dulverton), by whom he had an eldest son and heir Humphrey Sydenham (1694–1757) of Combe. He married secondly his first cousin Katherine Floyer, daughter of William Floyer of Berne in Dorset, by whom he had a third son Floyer Sydenham (1710–1787), the noted scholar of Ancient Greek, whose descendants appear to have been inherited Combe on the failure of male children in the senior line. His monumental brass survives on the north wall of All saints' Church, Dulverton (repositioned after the 19th century rebuilding), inscribed in Latin as follows: Humphrydus Sydenham de Comba in comit(atu) Som(er)set, Armiger, mortuus est vicesscimo et sexto die Junii Anno Dom(ini) 1710 magno amicorum detrimento aeta(tus) suae 38. (Humphry Sydenham of Combe in the county of Somerset, Esquire, died on the twenty-sixth day of June in the year of our Lord 1710, to the great detriment of his friends, of his age 38) Above are shown the arms of Sydenham: Argent, three rams passant sable with crest above: A ram's head erased.
Humphrey Sydenham (1694–1757)
Humphrey Sydenham (1694–1757), "The Learned", of Combe and Nutcombe,His wife's sister, Hannah Hill, married Richard Nutcombe of Nutcombe in the parish of Clayhanger, Devon, according to the monument in Broadhembury Church to her father Richard Hill (1655-1737) of Kerswell Priory in the parish of Broadhembury, see image :File:RichardHill OfKerswellPriory BroadhemburyChurch Devon Died1737.PNG Devon, eldest son and heir of Humphrey Sydenham (1672–1710), was MP for Exeter 1741-1754. His mural monument survives in All Saints' Church, Dulverton. He was a lawyer trained at the Inner Temple. He married Grace Hill, 2nd daughter and co-heiress of Richard Hill (1655-1737) of Kerswell Priory in the parish of Broadhembury (who is mentioned on her father's mural monument in Broadhembury ChurchSee image :File:RichardHill OfKerswellPriory BroadhemburyChurch Devon Died1737.PNG) (a junior branch of Hill of Hill's Court"Hill's Court" is the present "Court of Hill" in the parish of Nash, South Shropshire in ShropshirePer inscription on mural monument in Broadhembury Church :File:RichardHill OfKerswellPriory BroadhemburyChurch Devon Died1737.PNG), by whom he had children 1 son and 3 daughters. He was ruined by the South Sea Bubble of 1720, in which he lost £20,000. His financial situation was restored by a large inheritance from his great-great-uncle Sir John St Barbe, 1st Baronet (died 1723), MP, of Broadlands in Hampshire. In the chancel of Ashington Church, Somerset, is a monument of grey and white marble, inscribed:Collinson, Rev. John, History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, Vol.3, Bath, 1791, Vol.3, p.213 "Here lies Sir John St. Barbe, Bart. possessed of those amiable qualities, which birth, education, travel, greatness of spirit, and goodness of heart, produce. Interred in the fame vault lies his second wife Alice Fiennes, aunt to the prefent Lord Say and Sele. His first was Honour, daughter of Colonel Norton. He died at his seat of Broadlands in Hampshire Sept. 7, 1723, leaving for his only heir and executor Humphrey Sydenham, esq., of Combe in Somersetshire, who ordered this marble to his memory." In 1736 Humphrey Sydenham sold Broadlands to Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston. His own mural monument in Dulverton church is inscribed as follows: