Spridleston (modern: Spriddlestone) is an historic manor in the parish of Brixton in Devon, England, long a seat of a branch of the prominent and widespread Fortescue family. The ancient manor house does not survive, but it is believed to have occupied the site of the present Spriddlestone Barton, a small Georgian stuccoed house a few hundred yards from the larger Spriddlestone House, also a Georgian stuccoed house,Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.214 both centred on the hamlet of Spriddlestone and near Higher Spriddlestone Farm.
Descent Anglo-Saxons Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 the manor was held by four thanes, who held it "freely (and jointly)",Thorn, 15:52 as the Domesday Book records: Quattuor taini libe(re) teneb(ant) T(empore) R(egis) E(duardi).
Domesday Book Spredelestone is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 52nd of the 79Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:52 Devonshire holdings of Robert, Count of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall, (–1090) a Norman nobleman and the uterine half-brother of King William the Conqueror and one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of that king. His tenant was Reginald I de VautortAs listed in Domesday Book (Thorn, Chapter 15) (died about 1123), who held several other Devonshire manors from the count and held also from him 57 manors centred on Trematon CastleBearman, Robert, "Vautort, de, family (per. 1086–1274)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 After the Count's rebellion his landholdings reverted to the king and were re-granted as separate feudal baronies to several of his larger tenants.Thorn, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15 Thus Reginald I de Vautort became a tenant-in-chief and the first holder of the Feudal barony of Trematon in Cornwall. Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272), second son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, bought the barony in 1270,Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.90-1 and it thus became again a possession of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Ferrers
The manor is recorded in the Feudal Aids 1284-1431Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids with other Analogous Documents Preserved in the Public Records Office AD 1284-1431, HMSO, 1899-1620, 6 Vols., Vol.1, p.334, quoted by Thorn, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:52 as held from the Honour of Trematon by Reginald de Ferrers. His surname was Latinized as de Ferariis, from the Latin noun ferrarius (from ferrum, "iron"), meaning an iron-worker or blacksmith, hence his canting arms display three horseshoes. His tenant was Ralph Spridel, who also held La Forsen, probablyThorn, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:52 a constituent part of the Domesday Book manor of Spredelestone. The chief seat of the Ferrers family of Devon was Bere Ferrers,Pole, p.336 formerly just Bere, which they held also from the Honour of Trematon.Thorn, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:46 They held also Newton Ferrers, formerly just Newton, also from the Honour of Trematon,Thorn, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:37 and Churston Ferrers, together with many other manors held from other superior lords.
de Spridleston The Devon historian Pole (d.1635),Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.325 states: Spridelston hath given name & dwellinge unto a famylye and proceeds to give the descent of Spridleston in the de Spridleston family as follows: William de Spridleston dwelled there in 1242Regnal date 27 Henry III and was followed by Walter de Spridleston, Raph de Spridleston (who lived there in 1295Regnal date 24 Edward I), Roger de Spridleston who lived there in 1314 and 1345; William de Spridleston (1347) and Walter de Spridleston in 1364.Pole, p.325
Fortescue
John Fortescue, MP
Spridleston was next held by the Fortescue family who acquired it by means unknown.Not stated by Pole, p.325; Risdon states: Afterwards it came to be a dwelling of that notable name of Fortescue (Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.194) The first mentioned holder according to Pole was John Fortescue of Whympston in the parish of Modbury, Devon, the earliest recorded English seat of the Fortescue family. He was the eldest son of William Fortescue of Whympston (by his wife Isabel Falwell, daughter and heiress of John Falwell, of Falwell (today "Velwell") in the parish of Rattery, Devon) elder brother of John Fortescue (died after 1432), of Sheepham in the parish of Modbury, Captain of the captured Castle of Meaux,Vivian, p.352 during the Hundred Years' War (ancestor of Earl Fortescue). He was a Member of Parliament successively for Totnes, Tavistock and Plympton.Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.353, pedigree of Fortescue John Fortescue, MP, married Jane Preston (d.1501), who survived her husband,Vivian, p.353 daughter and heiress of John Preston of Preston in the parish of Newton Ferrers in Devon. By his wife he had three sons: John Fortescue (d.1519) of Whympston, eldest son and heir, who continued the senior line of the family at that ancient seat. His descendants were not prominent.Vivian, p.358 William Fortescue (d.1519/20), 2nd son, whose descendants founded a line of the family at Preston, the inheritance of his mother Jane Preston.Vivian, pp.353,357 John Fortescue (d.1538), 3rd son, of Spridleston, which manor was given to him by his father, and where he founded his own branch of the family.
John Fortescue (d.1538)
John Fortescue (d.1538), who was given Spridleston by his father. He married Alice Cockworthy, a daughter of John CockworthyVivian, p.353 "Cookworthy" of Cockworthy (today "Cogworthy") in the parish of YarnscombePole, p.325 "of Yerncomb" in Devon. The canting arms of Cockworthy Argent, a chevron between three cocks gulesPole, p.475 "Cokworthy of Ernscomb". Today a farm called "Cogworthy" in the parish of Yarnscombe were displayed impaled by Fortescue in a 16th-century stained glass window in Spridleston Hall, with several other similar heraldic shields, all in about 1838see: Notes on Spridleston by Rev Richard Lane (d.1858):File:NotesOn SpridlestonBrixtonDevon ByRevRichardLane Died1858.jpg removed to the parish church of Buckland FilleighSee image :File:FortescueHeraldicWindow BucklandFilleighChurch Devon.png in Devon, a seat of another branch of the Fortescue family which had inherited Spridleston by marriage. One of the younger sons of John Fortescue (d.1538) was Sir Nicholas Fortescue, Groom Porter to Henry VIII, who in 1542 obtained as his seat Cookhill Priory in Worcestershire and was the grandfather of Sir Nicholas Fortescue (c.1575-1633), a Chamberlain of the Exchequer.
Another younger son of John Fortescue (d.1538) was Lewis Fortescue (d.1545) a Baron of the Exchequer, who married his cousin Elizabeth Fortescue, daughter and heiress of John Fortescue of Fallapit in the parish of East Allington, descended from John Fortescue (died after 1432), Captain of Castle of Meaux. Lewis's male descendants remained at Fallapit until 1734,Vivian, p.366 and continued thence via a female line, and included Edmund Fortescue (1560–1624) of Fallapit, a Member of Parliament and ancestor of Sir Edmund Fortescue, 1st Baronet (1642-1666).
The descent of Spridleston from John Fortescue (d.1538) was as follows:Vivian, pp.353, 364 et seq Richard Fortescue, eldest son and heir, who married Elizabeth Knolles (d.1550), a daughter and co-heiress of Robert Knolles of North Mymms, Hertfordshire. John Fortescue (born 1516), son and heir, who married Florence Vivian, a daughter of John Vivian of Trelowarren in Cornwall. John Fortescue (d.1602), son and heir, who married Joan Shapleigh, a daughter of Robert Shapleigh of Dartmouth in Devon, and sister of John Shapleigh (d.1628) of Totnes, Mayor of Dartmouth and twice Mayor of Totnes, whose monument survives in St Saviour's Church, Dartmouth.Vivian, p.678, pedigree of Shapleigh John Fortescue (1580-1612), son and heir, who married a daughter of the Pitt family. John Fortescue (born 1610), son and heir, who married a certain Joan (d.1680) and buried at Brixton.Vivian, p.364 Edward Fortescue (d.1702), son and heir, who in 1667 married Dorothy Crossing (born 1637), a daughter and co-heiress of Richard Crossing of Exeter (by his wife Elizabeth Dodderidge, a daughter of Pentecost DodderidgeChanter, J.R., Memorials Descriptive and Historical, of the Church of St Peter, Barnstaple, with its other ecclesiastical antiquities, and an account of the conventual church of St Mary Magdalene, recently discovered. Barnstaple, 1882, p.165; Vivian states she was the daughter of Richard Dodderidge and sister of Sir John Dodderidge(1555–1628) (died c. 1650) of Barnstaple in North Devon, three times a Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1621, 1624 and 1625), nephew of Hugh Crossing, Mayor of Exeter in 1620. Edward Fortescue (1673-1702), 2nd son and heir, who gave SpridlestonRisdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.391 to his 5th sister Rebecca Fortescue (born 1676), wife of their cousin George Fortescue of Tavistock.
Fortescue of Tavistock & Buckland Filleigh George Fortescue of Tavistock, inherited Spridleston on his marriage to his cousin Rebecca Fortescue (born 1676). He was the third son of William Fortescue (1622–1680) of Buckland Filleigh in Devon and younger brother of Henry Fortescue (1659–1691) of Buckland Filleigh. John Fortescue (1700-1776) of Bampton, Oxfordshire, and of Spridleston, son and heir, who in 1752 inherited the manor of Buckland Filleigh on the death of his cousin Mary Spooner. He died unmarried and was buried at Brixton. His heir was his nephew Richard Inglett "Fortescue" (1731–1790), son of his sister Rebecca Fortescue (1699–1764) by her husband Caleb Inglett (died 1752) of DawlishVivian, p.360 and of Chudleigh.Risdon, p.391
Inglett-Fortescue Richard Inglett "Fortescue" (1731–1790)
Richard Inglett "Fortescue" (1731–1790) (nephew), who on inheriting his uncle's estates including Buckland Filleigh assumed by royal licence in 1766Thorne, R.G. the surname Fortescue. He was a collector of customs. He was the eldest son of Caleb Inglett (died 1752) of Dawlish by his wife Rebecca Fortescue (1699–1764), sister of John Fortescue (1700–1776) of Buckland Filleigh. He married Elizabeth Weston, daughter of Lucy Weston.Vivian, p.361 In 1785 he sold Spridleston to Thomas Lane of Coffleet in Devon.
Lane
Thomas Lane (1741/2–1817), of Coffleet in Devon, purchased Spridleston in 1785 from Richard Inglett Fortescue of Buckland Filleigh. His portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds survives at Stourhead House in Wiltshire. He was the nephew and heir of Thomas Veale (d.1780),Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, "Lane of Coffleet" a wealthy attorney-at-law at Plymouth,Admitted a member of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in 1752 as "attorney-at-law at Plymouth" of Coffleet in the parish of Yealmpton, which estate adjoined Spridleston and was largely surrounded by the parish of Brixton.Risdon, p.390 Thomas Lane was the son of Richard Lane by his wife Charity Veale, sister of Thomas Veale.