Devonshire Parishes: or, the antiquities, heraldry and family history of twenty-eight Parishes in the Archdeaconry of Totnes

Front matter

DEVONSHIRE PARISHES, OR THU ANTIQUITIES, HERALDRY AND FAMILY HISTORY OF TWENTY-EIGHT PARISHES IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF TOTNES. BY CHARLES WORTHY, ESQ, LATE H.V 82ND REGIMENT, AUTHOR OP " ASHBURTON AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD," "HUNDRED OF WINKLEIGH," "NOTES ON BIDEFORD, AND THE HOUSE OF GRANVILLE," ETC, ETC, In Two Volumes. VOLUME I. EXETER : PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM POLLARD & Co., PRINTERS, NORTH STREET. LONDON : GEORGE REDWAY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1887. I DEDICATE THESE VOLUMES TO THE RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON, IN MEMORY OF HIS USEFUL AND HAPPY CONNECTION WITH THIS DIOCESE AS LORD BISHOP OF EXETER FOR SIXTEEN YEARS. 1887.

Preface

. In my preface to "Ashburton and its Neighbourhood," which appeared more than eleven years ago, I said that I hoped " to be permitted at no distant day to publish a second volume of Devonshire Parishes." I had at that time visited most of those which are included in the present volumes, but shortly afterwards my residence in the district was terminated by the lamented death of my father, the late Vicar of Ashburton. Since then various circumstances have delayed the appearance of this work, and I cannot altogether regret these since they have afforded me an opportunity of procuring more extended information than I could otherwise have obtained. My Papers on Parochial history, which originally appeared periodically in the columns of the " Western Morning News" and the " Exeter Gazette, " in the former journal between the years 1875-77, and in the latter between 1883-4, have been now almost rewritten, and DEVONSHIRE PARISHES.

VI in many instances, especially in the earlier ones, have received very considerable additions and necessary cor rections; besides which the account of Dartmouth, including the Hawley Family, the life and genealogy of Newcomen the Inventor and the description of the Churches of Townstall, S. Saviour's and S. Petrock's is now printed for the first time, and the same may be said of the parishes of Wolborough with Newton Abbot, Highweek with Newton Bushel, Kingsteignton, and Torquay which includes Tor Mohun and S. Marychurch. I have done my best to substantiate my statements by reference to public and private documents, to the Episcopal and Parochial Registers, to the Municipal Archives of Exeter and to the Wills at the Court of Probate, and I have also devoted a considerable time to searches at the Public Record ( >ffice and British Museum, and have obtained much of my genealogical information from Heraldic MSS. preserved at the College of Arms and else where.

I have endeavoured by these means to reconcile and correct as far as possible the diverse statements of our old County Historians, whose works, though undeni ably valuable, are notoriously somewhat untrustworthy. Very probably I have not always been successful, and there are one or two points to which I should wish to direct the reader's attention. The pedigree of Slanning was compiled several years ago, and was founded, as will

PREFACE.

. VII be seen, chiefly upon Heraldic and monumental evidence. It has been recently shown1 that the latter is altogether misleading, the Slanning Memorial at Bickleigh, having suffered from the effects ofthe " restoration " ofthe Church in 1838. It is therefore necessary to correct some ol'the statements in the text as to the descent. Nicholas, son of John Slanning married Margaret Champernowne, but he did not die in 1580 ; he (not his son Gamaliel) was killed in a duel with Sir John Fitz, June 4th, 1599. The son Gamaliel married his kinswoman Margaret Marler, not Maynard, and had issue a son Nicholas as I have said. Since the account ofthe famdy of Redvers, Earl of Devon, was in print, I have also discovered that the Heralds were in all probability mistaken as to Constance daughter of the Earl of Devon and her marriage into the Worth family.

I have never been able to find any mention out side the Heralds' College Records of this Constance de Redvers, but I have lately seen an original deed of William de Vernon, 6th Earl of Devon, by which he grants land to Robert, son of Hawise Worth. This Hawise seems to have been a daughter and ultimately heir of Richard the 3rd Earl and a niece of the said William de Vernon, so that my subsequent remarks as to the descent of the Earldom to Courtenay, will equally apply to her, because Widiam de Vernon only succeeded to the Earldom 1 Trans. Devon Assoc, 1887, vol. xix., p. 454. DE VON SHI RE PA R ISHES. VIII in default of heirs male, and when these failed, the descen dants of Hawise, daughter of the 3rd Earl would certainly seem to have had a prior claim to those of her cousin Mary the wife of Sir Robert Courtenay.

In conclusion, I have to thank my subscribers for the kind interest they have taken in my work, and I also have to express my very great obligations to the Clergy ofthe several parishes, and to many other kind friends and correspondents, who have not only given me their ready assistance, but have facilitated my labours, by affording me access to documents in their custody or under their control. And I can only hope that this book will be found to add something to what is already known ofthe twenty eight parishes of whicli it treats and that it will not dis appoint the expectations of those who have encouraged me to produce it. CHARLES WORTHY. Exeter, December, 1887. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Chapter I. Parts I, II, III. PAGES. The parish of Bickleigh — General History — Families of Slanning* and Lopes — Bickleigh Church — Heraldry, &c. 1—23 Chapter II.

Parts I, II, III. The parish of Sheepstor — General Description and History— Elibrd's Cave— The Pixies— The Elsord Pedigree — Sheepstor Church — Heraldry — The Church House — The Vicarage House — Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. 24—54. Chapter III. Parts I, II, III. The parish of Walkhampton — General Histoiy — The Family of Redvers, Earls of Devon — Isabella de Fortibus — The descent oi" the Courtenays and their succession to the Earldom — Constance Worth - Appropriation of Walkhampton Church and Description of the Fabric — John Dunning, First Lord Ashburton. 55—76 Chapter IV. Parts I, II, III, IV. The parish of Buckland Monachorum — General History — Baldwin de Brioniis Sheriff of Devon — His descendants — Amicia de Redvers — Foundress of Buckland Abbey — Account of the Abbey— The dissolution — The Grenvilles — The Abbey Buildings — The Drake Pedigree — The Drake Arms — The Church of S. Andrew, Buckland — The Charities of Buckland. 77—120 DEVONSHIRE PARISHES.

Chapter I. Part

I. The Parish of Bickleigh — General History. The pleasant village of Bickleigh in the south-western portion of this county, is situated about seven miles north of Plymouth, in the hundred of Roborough, the Deanery of Plympton, and the Archdeaconry of Totnes. Until the recent alteration of the ecclesiastical divisions of the Diocese, Bickleigh belonged to the ancient Deanery of Tamerton, now altogether suppressed. The parish consists of 2,323 acres of land with under 362 inhabitants. I believe the Manor to be the " Bich. nelie " of Domes day, whicli under the Saxons belonged to Brictric, the son of Algar, and which, although it was at one time appendant to Tavistock, was ultimately held by him as pertaining to the Manor of Bickington, in the hundred of Teignbridge, which teas a portion ofhis honour of Gloucester} In common with the rest of his land, Bickleigh was after wards appropriated by Matilda, the wife of the Conqueror, 1 This alienation is alluded to both in the Exeter Domesday and also in the Exchequer copy.

With the remark in the former that it, "Biche nelia " has been taken away from Tavistock. " Et modo est injuste in mansione quæ vocatur Bichentona." In the Exchequer Domesday it is called " Bichenelie," and the entry concerning it ends " Hæc terra jacet injuste in Bichentone." B D E VON SHI RE PARISHES. 2 and I will not here repeat the romantic history of this alienation, since I have already more than once referred to it elsewhere.' In the year 1278, Amicia, wife of Baldwin de Redvers, seventh Earl of Devon, and daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, founded the Abbey of Buckland for monks of the Cistercian order, and endowed it with the Manor of Buckland, and with the Hamlets ("cum hamelettis ") of Columpton, Walkhampton, and Bykeley. The foundation deed; printed in the Monasticon of the Diocese, p. 382, sets forth that the Countess had founded and endowed this Abbey for the health of the souls of Henry, King of England, and his wife Alianor and their children ; of King Edward, son of the said King Henry, and of his wife Alianor and their children ; of Gilbert de Clare, formerly Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, her father ; and of the Countess Isabel, her mother ; as well as for her husband, Baldwin, Earl of Devon and her daughters, Isabel, Countess of Devon and Albemarle, and Margaret, a nun of Lacock.

The confirmation by her said daughter, Isabella de Fortibus, is recited by " In speximus."2 And the permission to bestow the land on the Abbey had been duly obtained from the Crown by deed dated 8th Aug., 1276, still to be held, however, " de nobis et heredibus nostris in capite." This interesting document whicli Dugdale calls the Charter of Edward II, may be thus translated : — " Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord 1 History of Winkleigh (Devon seat of Honour of Gloucester), p. 10. 2 Rot. Pat. 9th Hy. IV, pt. 2, m. 18. Monas. Dioc. p. 383. of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to all, &c. Know ye that we have yielded and confirmed to Amicia de Redvers Countess of Devon,1 the Manor of Bocland, with the hamlets of Columpton, Walkhampton, and Bykele, together with all and singular their appurtenances everywhere existing, to be had and held to the said Amicia, according to the form and tenour of the deeds wliich she holds from hence, from the gift (or concurrence) of the Countess of Albemarle, her daughter ; and if it should happen that the aforesaid Amicia should wish to give and assign the said manor and hamlets, &c, to certain religious men, and hence to found a new religious house, know ye that we, for ourselves and our heirs, would esteem the said gift grateful and acceptable, so that however, the said house, after the decease of the said Amicia, may be held from us and our heirs-in-chief.

And we promise in good faith, when it shall have been constructed or appro priated, to confirm it in pure and perpetual alms. Of which, &c, witness ourself, at Odiham,2 8th Aug., in the fourth year of our reign." 1 The Countess died in 1282. 2 Odiham Castle in Hampshire the residence of the King's aunt Alianore wife of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and widow of William Marshal the younger, Earl of Pembroke. The household Roll of the Countess in the British Museum which commences in 1265, shows that she went to Odiham on the 22nd of February in that year and on the 17th of the following month she was joined by her son Henry, who brought with him his two cousins, Prince Edward, and the son of the King of the Romans, escorted by a strong guard. The " Countess of Gloucester " was also one of the visitors.

Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, mother of Amicia, was sister-indaw to the Princess, by her first marriage as she was one of the daughters and ultimately coheirs of William Mar shall, 1st Earl of Pembroke of that name. B2 I lmve ventured to use the word " concurrence " in connexion with Isabella de Fortibus, although the usual expression, " de dono," is employed in the original, since I believe that the Bickleigh property, as part of the honour of Gloucester, was the paternal inheritance of Amicia. When John de Lydeford, Archdeacon of Totnes," visited " Bickleigh church in October, 1392, he found the chancel in a very bad condition, and recommended extensive repairs both to the roof and windows.1 On the 12th of the month, the Abbot of Buckland, " Walter," and " Sir Richard," the Vicar of Bickleigh, appeared before him in the choir of the Conventual Church, when the Vicar excused himself from his liability on account of his poverty and the inadequacy of his preferment.

But the Abbot exhibited the endowment, or composition, of the Vicarage which had been settled by Bishop Grandisson by his deed, dated at Chudleigh, llth Nov., 1356 ; and from which it appeared that upon the admission by that Prelate of " John Day, of Shenesbi," Priest to the Perpetual Vicarage of Bickleigh upon the presentation to the Abbot and Convent, it had been arranged, with the consent of the patrons, that the Vicars of Bickleigh for the time being were to have all the houses, lands, orchards, courtlages, meadows, pastures, and moors which " Master Robert Pye," while he lived Rector of this Church, had and held in the name of the Church. That the said Vicars were also to have twenty acres of the adjacent land of " Bickerio-_-e." common pasture over the whole waste there with certain restrictions, and sufficient timber for necessary repairs 1 Grandisson's Reg. vol. i, inter sol. 30, 31. from Bickleigh wood ; the tithe of wheat of Bickleigh and Dedesham, and all the small tithes pertaining to the Church of Bickleigh and its dependant Chapel of " Schetelestorre " (Sheepstor).

The Vicars were to duly celebrate at their own expense, to repair the chancel, books, ornaments, &c, and to be responsible for all other burthens which usually belonged to the Rector. But the Monks were to pay any subsidies to the King or to the nuncios or legates of the Apostolic See, and they were also to supply the annual pension of 20s. due to the Cathedral of Exeter. By virtue of this instrument the Patrons were adjudged exempted from making the requisite repairs. The Chapel of Sheepstor appears to have been always dependant on Bickleigh ; it is so mentioned in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1288-1291. Dr. Oliver,1 speaks of an estate known as '; Le Torre," as being situated in Bickleigh. The Patent Roll 9th, Henry IV., however, to which I have already referred, clearly shows that it was in the neighbouring parish of Sheepstor, "Et terram et villanos de la Torr apud Shitestorr."

There were certain tithes of wheat, &c. reserved to the Patrons, and on October 25th, 1536, John Toker, the last Abbot of Buckland, leased these Rectorial tithes of Bickleigh with Sheepstor, together with those of Walkhampton, to his brother Robert and his nephews William and Hugh Toker for sixty years, at the annual payment of £7 10s. It is to be noticed that the tithe of " Dedesham," a farm now known as " Didham," in the parish of Buckland Monachorum, was appropriated to the Vicar of Bickleigh. Although somewhat unusual, this endowment of one 1 "Monas. Dioc." p. 381. parish, with a portion of the tithe of another, was at one time occasionally adopted in similar cases where a religious community were the common patrons.1 At the dissolution of Monasteries, the Manor of Bickleigh with Shaugh, was valued at _£30 18s. 4Jd. per annum, after deducting the pension of 20s. payable to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter.

Of this sum Shaugh contributed £9 18s., and is described in the "Valor " as being situated in the Deanery of Tamerton. It is referred to in the " Confirmation " " with metes and bounds " of Isabella de Fortibus ;"2 " per-transeundo viam que ducit de ponte de Cadaworth ad Plympton per terram de Schagh versus orientem usque ad Shitaburgh," It must not be con founded, therefore, with the neighbouring manor known as " Shaugh Prior," which was, and still is, in the Deanery of Plympton, and which belonged to the Priory of the same name. Eleven lines only are devoted by Lysons3 to the parish of Bickleigh. 4 Risdon refers to it in the following words : — " This manor, with other lands, was given to the Abbey of Buckland in the time of King Edward I., A.D. 1278, and after the surrender was sold to the ancestors of Sir Nicholas Slanning, Knight."

Westcote's account5 is even more unsatisfactory : — " Byckley alias Buckley is not to be neglected, although we had almost passed it unseen. The Abbot of Buckland held it together with Buckland 1 Nelson, " Rights of the Clergy " p. 547. 2 Rot. Pat, 9 Hen. IV. part 2. m. 18 per inspex. Printed in "Monas. Dioc." p. 383. 3 Mag. Brit. Devon, vol. 2, p. 46 4 Risdon Edit. 1811, p. 210. Survey of Devon, p. 375. BICKLELGH. 7 and Walkhampton in the reign of Edward III. In King Edward I's. time I read of Sir William and Sir John Bickleigh, but whether of this place or of Bickleigh by Tiverton, or of both, I say not." On September 24th, 1546, John Slannynge, of London, gentleman, and Anthony Butler purchased of the Crown the capital messuage of Heale, with the land of Mayburgh, in the parish of Bickleigh, the land which had belonged to Buckland Abbey in " Shilstorre" and Eynmore, and the tithes of Bickleigh and Heale, together with the manor and advowson of Walkhampton.

The same to be held in fee at the yearly rent of 6s. 4d. for the property in Shil storre (Sheepstor) and Eynmore; 15s. for Bickleigh; and £2 4s. 7Jd. for Walkhampton. The entry in the " Valor" relative to a portion of this purchase may thus be translated : — " Heyle, Shittistor, and Eynmore in the aforesaid Deanery and Diocese." " Beturn of Assize of Heyle of free as well as of customary holdings in the same p. a. £7 Os. Od Eeturn of Assize of Shittistor, of free as well as of customary holdings p. a £2 13s. 3d. And for Guldage of the same manor, Sd. Eeturn of Assize of Eynmore in the aforesaid p. a. 10s. Od. Total £10 3s. lid." There was an annual payment of a fee of £1 6s. 8d. to " Walter Knyghton, bailiff of the aforesaid manor of Byklegh." CHAPTEE I. PAET II. The Parish of Bickleigh — Families of Slanning and Lopes.

The first property held hy the Slannings in this county seems to have been " Leye," which, according to Prince, and others who have followed him, was situated in the parish of Plympton St. Mary. This author corrects the assertion made by Westcote,1 who, when speaking of Shaugh Prior, remarks, " Therein is Ley, the inheritance of the generous tribe of Slanning. This gentlemen matched with Champernon, his father Maynard next before Harestone." But it is to be remarked that in his pedigree of Slanning, Westcote contradicts himself2 since it com mences with " Slanning of Ley, in the parish of Bickleigh, gentleman." There is a foot-note relative to Ley in the 1810 Edit, of Prince, p. 715, which expressly, and erroneously, states that " Ley is in the parish of Plympton St. Mary," to which I shall again have occasion to refer.

The Pedigree inserted by Dr. Colby, in his Edition of the 1564 Visitation of Devon, commences with Nicholas Slanning, who married the d. and h. of Nicholas At-Leye, issue William and John. William Slanning, eldest son, had a wife Joan, d. and h. of " William Horstons, of De la 1 View of Devonshire, p. 384. s Pedigrees— Ibid., p. 563. Will," Co. Devon, and had two sons, Nicholas and John ; and two daughters, Nichola, wife of Eouert Snelling, of Plympton, and Elizabeth, who married Thomas Cliffe of S. Cliffe (Westcote calls him Clyff ). I believe that John Slanning, the yonnger son, was the purchaser, 24th September, 1546, from the Crown, of tlie Bickleigh property, and that he also bought Maristow, in Tamerton Parish, of the Champernownes in 1550. In 1546 he is described as of London, gentleman : and in 1550, as John Slanning, Esq., of Shaugh.

I have fonnd no record of his marriage, and I presume, therefore, that his property passed to the representatives of his elder brother, Nicholas Slanning, " of Ley," who married Elizabeth, d. of Thomas Maynard, of Sherford, and left four sons, Nicholas (Æt. 56 in 1579), William, John, and Thomas. Nicholas married Margaret, d. of William, son of John Amadas, Sergt.-at-arms to King Henry the Eighth, and had issue one daughter Anne ; he is described by Prince as of Bickleigh, Esq., but the assertions made by Prince1 and Westcote2 that he married Margaret Champ ernoivn, of Modbury, and had a son Gamaliel, who continued the elder line, are manifestly quite incorrect. His second brother William married Wilmot Baldwyn, and had a son Nicholas, who cannot have left issue, since heraldic evidence points clearly to the fact that the family prop>erty descended to the sons of his third brother John, whose wife was Jane, d. of Wm. Cruse, of Cruse Morchard, and who had two sons, Nicholas and John.

It was Nicholas, the eldest of these (and not his uncle Nicholas) who married Margaret, cl. of Henry Champernown ; his younger brother John appears to have resided at Ley, and 1 Edit. 1810, p. 713. C 2 View of Devon, 563. he it is probably who is referred to in a foot-note,1 to the 1810 Edit, of Prince in the following paragraph : — " Ley, which is in the parish of Plympton St. Mary, continued to be the residence of the family of Slanning after the purchase of the Bickleigh Estate at the dissolution of monasteries ; but after that period was probably the residence of a younger branch, the elder having removed to Bickleitdi and Maristow. So late as 1632 died John Slanning, of Ley, who had married Jane, d. of William Woollcombe, of Pilton, and whose armorial ensigns were distinguished by a crescent.

How long this branch continued we know not, but their estate of Ley became the property of the Parkers, and was lately sold by John Lord Boringdon, to Mr. Snell." Nicholas Slanning, who died in 1580, by his marriage with Margarat Champernown, had a son Gamaliel, who married Maynard. He was killed in a duel in the year 1599 with Sir John Fitz, of Fitz-ford, near Tavistock. It is related that at the commencement of the encounter a reconciliation was about to take place, but Fitz, in consequence of a taunt from his attendant to the effect that the meeting savoured somewhat of " child's-play," again drew his sword, when Slanning tripped over his spur, and was killed unfairly when at a disadvantage. Fitz had interest enough at Court to obtain a pardon from the Queen for the death of Slanning, whose widow, however is said to have brought an action against him for the loss of her husband, and to have procured the surrender of a portion of the Fitz Estate to herself and her family.

Some time afterwards Sir John is said to have again placed 1 pp. 715-16. himself in a similar predicament, and while on his road to London he halted for the night at Salisbury and upon retiring desired to be called at daylight in order that he might continue his journey. He awoke suddenly from his sleep, and heard someone knocking at the door of his room. It was quite dark, and forgetting the orders he had given on the previous evening, he conceived that it must be the officers of the law in pursuit of him. Acting on a sudden impulse he armed himself, rushed to the door, struck wildly around him, and with fatal effect, for when lights were brought he found that he had killed the unhappy servant who had been endeavouring to fulfil his commands of the previous evening. The dreadful mistake occasioned him such horror and remorse that he at once terminated his existence by throwing himself on his own sword.

The Slanning memorial in Bickleigh Church, and wliich I shall again mention, has several shields of arms which will help to prove my conclusion as to the genealogical incorrectness of Prince and Westcote : — 1st. Slanning impaling Cruse. 2nd. Slanning impaling Champernown. 3rd. Slanning impaling Maynard. I would further remark that in the account of the duel given by Mrs Bray1 it is stated that Fitz fought with Nicholas Slanning. Gamaliel Slanning left issue a son, Nicholas, who became celebrated for his loyal adherence to King Charles I., and for his frequent acts of bravery in front of the enemy. He appears to have been educated at 1 Trad, of Devon, vol. ii, 323. See also Prince, Edit. 1810, p. 715, Moore's Devonshire, vol. ii, p. 485. C2 Oxford, and to have followed the law as a profession, since in the 15 th Charles 1st we find him Eecorder of Plympton and M.P. for that borough ; in the next year he represented the borough of Penryn.

On the 29th May, 1621, he married Philippa, d. of John Coplestone (Bap. 6th Dec., 1590);' and, secondly, in 1631, Gertrude2 daughter of Sir James Bagge, of Little Saltram, so that his first wife cannot have long survived. In the latter year he received the honour of knighthood, and is described by Lord Clarendon as being in 1643 " the gallant governor of Pendennis Castle," and in conjunction with Sir Bevil Grenville, Sir Ealph Hopton, John Arundel, and Col. Trevanion, he undertook to raise troops at his own expense for the Eoyal cause. For numerous interesting details of his career I would refer my readers to the accounts of him given by Prince, to Moore's Biographies3 and to the pages of Clarendon. Mrs. Bray4 gives some curious extracts from his " muster roll," the names of the officers (Sir Nicholas Slanning,5 Lieut-Col. ; Joseph Drake, Esq., Captain-Lieutenant ; John Jacob, gentleman, Ensign ; four sergts ; eight corporals; 156 men; of which about two 1 Ped. of Copplestone. — She was sister of Amias Copplestone of Tamerton Foliot, and aunt of Elizabeth, wife of John Elsord, of Sheepstor. 2 She was mar. secondly to Richard Arundell, Esq.; her son, Nicholas Slanning, was a minor, April 1662.

Moore's Devon, vol. 2. p. 484. 4 Trad, of Devon, vol. 3, p. 37. '•> " The Muster Roll of Sir Nicholas Slanning is still in existence, in fact it is at this time in our house; my brother copied it and inserted it in his notices of Tavistock Abbey, in the " Gentleman's Magazine." It is entitled " a perfect Muster Roll, containing the several hundred parishes and hamlets," together with the officers and souldiers within the said Stamiaiy — It is signed Nicholas Slanning, Edw. Yarde, Joseph Drake, and another, the first name has been erased." Ibid. thirds bore muskets and the rest pikes) are included in this document, and on the back of it are some memoranda respecting the arms of the company. For the horse, " a backe, brest, and pot, pistol proofe, a sword and case of pistells, the barrel not under 14 inches in length."

Horse furniture, " a great saddle or pad with bars and straps to affix the holster." Footman's arms. " musquett barrell not under three foot, the £ra_;e of the bore for twelve bullets 7 CO (new), but ye old way fourteen to ye pound ; a collar of bandaliers, with a sworde." Pikeman's armes, " a pyke of ashe not under 15 foot, head and foote included, with a backe, brest, head piece, and sworde, ye old pyke fifteen (feet). Musquetier, halfe pounde poudder, and three yards of matche, half a pounde of bulletts." At the battle of Lansdown, in 1643, Col. Slanning is recorded to have performed prodigies of valour, to have led on his followers in the mouth of cannon and musketry, and to have apparently borne a charmed life. He accompanied Prince Eupert to the attack on Bristol, and fell before the walls of that city 26th of July, 1643.

His friends, Godolphin and Trevanion, perished in the same encounter, Sir Bevil Grenville had been mortally wounded at Lansdowne, and the contemporaneous verses upon the death of these heroes, of wliich Prince has given us two lines, is commented upon by Mrs. Bray, who truly says, *" Certainly such men deserved to be celebrated in better verse "■ " The four wheels of Charle's wain, Grenville, Godolphin, Trevannion, Slanning slain." The body of Sir Nicholas is supposed to have been buried on the field. " His helmet, gauntlet, and pennon were suspended in Bickleigh Church."1 I saw nothing of the pennon, but I found the helm and glove were duly hung over the Slanning memorial in July, 1874. The statement made by Lord Clarendon, and repeated by others, that Sir Nicholas was not more than twenty-eight 3rears of age when he died must be incorrect, since his father, Gamaliel, teas killed by Sir John Fitz in 1599, and, moreover, as I have already remarked, he married Philippa Coplestone in 1621, when, if Lord Clarendon's statement be true, he could have only been six years old.

He left two children — Nicholas and Elizabeth. His son had to pay the Eoundheads £1,197 13s. lid., as a composition for his estate, but upon the Eestoration he was made a Knight of the Bath, and was created a Baronet in 1662. By his wife, Anne, he left a son Andrew, who succeeded as second Baronet, and died without issue. He was killed in a duel at the " Golden Key," in Fleet-street, in 1695. His mother, Anne Lady Slanning, married afterwards Hugh Stafford, who had then recently purchased the Pyne Estate from the Coplestones which passed by the marriage of Sir Henry Northcote, 15th Bart., with Bridget Maria Stafford, to the ancestors of its present possessor the Earl of Iddesleigh. In the Church of Upton Pyne may be seen the memorial of " Dame Anne Slanning relict of Sir Nicholas Slanning, Bart., and third wife of Hugh Stafford, 1697—" Upon the death of Sir Andrew Slanning, Second Bart. without issue, in 1695, the property of Bickleigh and Sheepstor, together with the beautiful estate of Maristow, on the banks of the Tavy, and just above its confluence 1 Moore, vol. ii, 486. with the river Tamar, were inherited by his aunt Eliza beth (daughter not sister, as stated by the editors of Prince1) of the great Sir Nicholas.