Colleton, Chulmleigh
Colleton is a hamlet and former manor in the civil parish and ecclesiastical parish of Chulmleigh, in the North Devon district of Devon, England. It is situated on the north side of a valley containing the River Taw. Its nearest town is Chulmleigh, which lies approximately to the south-west. It consists of the grade I listed Colleton Barton and Colleton Mill, the former manorial mill, with another former industrial building situated at the approach to the bridge over the River Taw.
History
Descent of the manor
Cole
According to Pole, the earliest recorded holder of the manor was the Cole family, which presumably gave its name to the settlement "Cole's town/ton". The arms of "Cole of Coleton" according to Pole were: Argent, three ravens sable. Risdon stated it to have remained in the possession of that family for many generations, until during the reign of King Richard II it passed by inheritance to an heir general of the Bury family.Bury
The manor passed to the Bury family, the descent of which was as follows:- John I Bury
- John II Bury, son, who during the reign of King Henry VI married a widow named Johanna
- John III Bury, who married Elizabeth Hatch, a daughter of John Hatch of Wooleigh, Beaford, which lady remarried to William Pollard of Langley, Yarnscombe.
- William I Bury, who married Agnes de Reigny, a daughter of John de Reigny lord of the manor of nearby Eggesford.
- John IV Bury, son, who married Joane Coffin, a daughter of Richard Coffin of Portledge, lord of the manor of Alwington in North Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1511. He resided at Heanton Punchardon, where his monument survives, of which manor he held a lease from the Beaumont family of Shirwell.
- Richard Bury, son and heir. He was a minor aged 17 at the death of his father and his wardship was acquired by Sir Hugh I Pollard, lord of the manor of King's Nympton, Sheriff of Devon in 1535/6 and Recorder of Barnstaple in 1545, possibly through the influence of his younger brother Sir Richard Pollard, MP for Taunton and Devon, of Putney, Surrey, King's Remembrancer of the Exchequer and an assistant of Thomas Cromwell in administering the surrender of religious houses following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. As recorded in the Lisle Letters his wardship had been sought after by Lady Lisle of Umberleigh, who wished to marry him to her daughter Philippa Basset. He was thus married off to Elizabeth Pollard, a daughter of his warder Sir Hugh Pollard. Whilst Sir Richard Pollard was negotiating his brother's acquisition of the Bury wardship, he acquired for his own wife Richard Bury's sister Jaquetta Bury.
- John V Bury, son and heir. He was aged 3 at the death of his father. It is not known who acquired his wardship. He was said by Pole to have been "simple". He married twice, firstly when both parties were aged only 13, and contrary to ecclesiastical law, to Wilmota Giffard, daughter and sole-heiress of John Giffard of Yeo, Alwington, Devon, without progeny. He was divorced from her in 1560 by Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker and she remarried to Sir George Cary of Cockington in the parish of Tor Mohun, Devon, Lord Deputy of Ireland. Her monumental brass survives in St Saviour's Church, Tor Mohun. John V Bury's younger brother Hugh Bury was said by Risdon to have been "envious", and "much molested his nephew, yea wasted and sold some of his estate, endeavouring to deprive him of the whole". Pole states as follows:
"His brother Hugh, abusinge his simplicyty, enjoyed the profits of his land & kept him as a prisoner & wastfully consumed and sold the land. But John, having stollen from his brother, secreatly maried on Mongey's daughter & had issue Humfry which was secreatly brought upp from the knowledge of Hugh Byry which Humfry, when hee came to full age, sued for ye land & after much trowble concerninge the validyty of the divorce betwixt his father & his first wief, at length recovered back all the land which was sold by his unkle Hugh".
Thus, secondly John V Bury married secretly a daughter of "Mountjoy", alias "Mongey", by whom he had issue. On his death in 1574 his younger brother Hugh Bury was declared his heir, in ignorance of the existence of John's second marriage and son Humphry.
- Humphry I Bury, son, who in 1623 married Gertrude Stucley, a daughter of John Stucley lord of the manor of Affeton. As Pole relates, on attaining adulthood he successfully sued for the recovery of his paternal inheritance from his uncle Hugh. A datestone of 1612 survives and Humphry I Bury is believed to have rebuilt or remodelled the mansion house in that year.
- John VI Bury, who married Mary Arscott, a daughter of Arthur Arscott of Tetcott, who rebuilt Tetcott House in 1603.
- Humphry II Bury, son
- John VII Bury, eldest son and heir, died without progeny
- Arthur Bury, younger brother, who married Mary Clotworthy, daughter of John Clotworthy lord of the manor of nearby Rashleigh, Wembworthy. Her mural monument survives in Wembworthy Church.
- Humphry III Bury, son and heir, who in 1679 married Johanna Bere, daughter of Thomas Bere, lord of the manor of Huntsham, Devon. An escutcheon, carved in wood and now much decayed by age, survives within a rectangular stone niche above the front door of Colleton Barton, showing the arms of Bury of Colleton: Ermine, on a bend engrailed azure three fleurs-de-lys or impaling Bere of Huntsham, whose canting arms were: Argent, three bear's heads erased sable muzzled or. The mural monument she erected in 1706 to her seven children survives in Chulmleigh Church. It is inscribed as follows:
- Humphry IV Bury, "son and heir", who married Anne Cutcliffe, daughter of John Cutcliffe lord of the manor of Damage, Mortehoe, Devon.
Incledon-Bury
- Vice-Admiral Richard Incledon, third son of Chichester Incledon of Barnstaple, a junior branch of the ancient gentry family of Incledon of Incledon, later of Buckland, both in the parish of Braunton, Devon. As required under the terms of his inheritance, he assumed the surname of Bury. He resided at Doniton in the parish of Swimbridge, Devon. In 1792 he married his second cousin Jane Chichester, second daughter of Charles Chichester of Hall, Bishop's Tawton, by his wife Amy Incledon, daughter of Robert Incledon of Pilton, mayor of Barnstaple in 1712 and 1721, the second son of Lewis Incledon of Buckland. His portrait was published in the Naval Chronicle Vol.XI, I. His biography was published in the Naval Chronicle Vol. 29, Jan–July 1813, pp. 177–180, which commenced:
"REAR-ADMIRAL BURY, of whose professional life a slight sketch is here submitted to the public, is the son of a private gentleman, and descended from a family of the name of Incledon, in the north of Devonshire. In addition to his paternal name of Incledon, he, about five years ago, assumed that of Bury. Mr. Incledon's entrance into the navy was in the year 1772; he was made a lieutenant in 1778; and he served as second of the Agamemnon, Captain Caldwell, of 64 guns, in Admiral Rodney's memorable action with the Count de Grasse, on the 12th of April, 1782. In that engagement, the Agamemnon suffered severely: Lieutenant Incledon was wounded; as was also Lieutenant Brice, who subsequently died of his wounds; and fourteen seamen were killed, and twenty-two wounded. Mr. Incledon was promoted to the rank of commander, in the year 1789, in consequence of his being first lieutenant of the Magnificent, of 74 guns, Captain Richard Onslow, and attending on his Majesty at Weymouth. On his promotion, he was appointed to the Childers sloop. On the 22d of November, 1790, he was promoted to the rank of post captain; and, at the capture of the French West India Islands, by Admiral Sir J. Jervis, and General Sir C. Grey, in 1794, he commanded the Ceres frigate, of 32 guns".
His tenant in the early 19th century was the father of Edward Ashworth, the West Country's leading ecclesiastical architect, who was born at Colleton Barton and lived there until 1822.
Incledon_Bury had three daughters, Jane, who died young, Lucy, wife of Stephen Bencraft, a banker from Barnstaple, and Penelope, heiress of Colleton.
- Penelope Incledon-Bury, 3rd daughter, heiress of Colleton, who married Rev. John Russell , the "Sporting Parson", vicar of Swimbridge, who developed the Jack Russell Terrier, a variety of the Fox Terrier breed. Russell is said to have had expensive sporting habits both on and off the hunting-field, which drained the substantial resources of his heiress wife and left the estate of Colleton in poor condition. In 1850 Colleton Barton was being used as a farmhouse, occupied by George Routcliffe, a farmer. In 1883 it was also described as a farmhouse.
Martin
- William Pethebridge Martin, tenant of Heanton Court, Heanton Punchardon, Devon, who in 1901 purchased Colleton manor. He founded the leading Sydney, Australia, wool-brokerage firm W.P. Martin & Co. He was a JP for Devon, High Sheriff of Devon 1919–20 and was Master of the Eggesford Foxhounds 1924–33. In 1891 he married Maude Price, daughter of William Price of Sydney, Australia. With his partner Harry Austin, William equipped a hospital for soldiers during WW I, which he later donated to the municipal council as a children's hospital. He died at Colleton in 1935. He had three sons:
- *John Arthur Pethebridge Martin, eldest son, a Captain in the North Devon Yeomanry. He married Alison Campbell, daughter of Sir Alexander MacCormack KCMG of Sydney, Australia.
- *Ralph Pethebridge Martin, DSC, Lt-Comm Royal Navy.
- *Philip Michael Pethebridge Martin later of Beam, Great Torrington, High Sheriff of Devon in 1959.
Phillips