The manor of Haccombe was a historic manor in the small parish of Haccombe, near the town of Newton Abbot, Devon, England. It was the seat of important branches of the Courtenay and Carew families.
Descent of the manor.
The descent of the manor of Haccombe was as follows:
de Haccombe.
The earliest recorded holder of the manor was the "de Haccombe" family, which as was usual took its surname from the manor.
Courtenay.
His marriage to Phillipa Archdekne was without male children, but did produce a daughter Joane Courtenay (born 1411), the wife of Nicholas Carew of Mohuns Ottery in Devon, and the eventual sole-heiress of her mother Phillipa Archdekne, from whom she inherited 16 manors including Haccombe, which she divided amongst her younger Carew sons.
Carew.
Nicholas Carew.
Nicholas Carew of Mohuns Ottery in Devon, who married Joane Courtenay (born 1411), a daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay (1358–1425) of Haccombe and of Boconnoc. As her eldest son was already well provided for as the heir to his father's estates of Mohuns Ottery and others under primogeniture, Joane Courtenay gave Haccombe to her second son Nicholas Carew, who founded there a prominent junior branch of the Carew family. (See Carew baronets (1661) of Haccombe).
Risdon however states the reason for Joan Courtenay having passed over her eldest son in distributing the Haccombe estates was "for some defect of a due respect to his mother (as she conceived)".
The Carew family of Haccombe obtained a baronetcy in 1661, still extant today, and continued to reside at that estate until the 19th century, having earlier inherited further estates from other advantageous marriages, including Bickleigh, inherited by Sir Thomas Carew, 1st Baronet (died 1673/4) following his first marriage to Elizabeth Carew, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Carew of Bickleigh and Tiverton Castle, the ancient seat of the Courtenay Earls of Devon, which latter was inherited by Sir Thomas Carew, 4th Baronet of Haccombe from his marriage to Dorothy West, a daughter and co-heiress of Peter West of Tiverton Castle.
Joan Courtenay survived her husband and married secondly, by royal licence dated 5 October 1450, Sir Robert Vere, second son of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, by whom she had a son, John Vere, father of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford.
Nicholas Carew (died 1469).
Nicholas Carew (died 1469), second son, was given Haccombe by his mother Joan Courtenay. He married Anna Crocker, "widow of John Seymour" and a daughter of Sir John Crocker (died 1508) of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, a Member of Parliament for Devon in 1491, whose inscribed monumental brass, showing him dressed in armour, survives in Yealmpton Church.
The well-known and fine small monumental brass of Nicholas Carew, "in spiky armour", between four heraldic escutcheons displaying the arms of Carew, survives set into a ledger stone on the floor of the chancel of Haccombe Church, on the south side of the effigy of Sir Stephen de Haccombe. It was described as follows by Stabb (died 1917): "The armour is very rich; on his head is a visored salade raised to show the face; on the shoulder are paldrons, and on the right shoulder a peculiarly shaped plate of steel, called a moton; the hands, which wear gauntlets, are joined in prayer; the elbow and knee plates are large. The sword, which hangs in front, is long and reaches to the feet, the latter having spurs on the heels".
John Carew (d.1528).
John Carew (d.1528) of Haccombe, son and heir, who was a commander in the army (called "Exercitus Anglicorum et Gallorum Regnum pro Pontifice Romano Liberando Congregatus" "The army of the Kingdoms of the English and of the French gathered together for the liberating of the Roman Pope") sent into Italy in 1527 jointly by Kings Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England and under the command of Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec, in order to rescue Pope Clement VII, then besieged in his Castel Sant'Angelo, following the Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 by troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
On 6 June 1527 the siege was lifted and Clement VII surrendered to the imperial troops, having agreed to pay a large ransom. Carew died at Pavia in 1528, soon after the pope's release. Carew married Katherine Zouch, a daughter of John la Zouche, 7th Baron Zouche, 8th Baron St Maur (1459–1526), who survived her husband and remarried to Sir Robert Brandon, an uncle of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
John Carew (d.1529).
John Carew (d.1529) of Haccombe, eldest son and heir, who survived his father by just one year. He married Elizabeth Martyn, a daughter of Christopher Martyn and sister of Richard Martyn.
Thomas Carew (1518–1586).
Thomas Carew (died 1586) of Haccombe, eldest son and heir.
He was a minor aged 11 at the death of his father and his wardship was acquired by William Hody (died 1535) of Pilsdon in Dorset, whose will directed "that his executors, Anne (Strode) his wife, and John his son, shall have ward of Thomas Carewe, son and heir of John Carewe, late of Haccombe, Devon, for the use of Mary, his daughter." Thomas Carew was thus duly married-off to Mary Hody (died 1589), a daughter of William Hody (died 1535) of "Pillistone" in Dorset, by his second wife Anne Strode, a daughter of John Strode of Chalmington in Dorset. Mary's grandfather was Sir William Hody (born before 1441, died 1524) of Pilsdon, Attorney General of England and Chief Baron of the Exchequer under King Henry VII. Thomas Carew died aged 68 on 28 March 1586 of "Gaol Fever", following his attendance as a magistrate at the notorious Black Assize of Exeter.
His monumental brass survives in Haccombe Church, on the floor of the chancel, near those of his wife and his great-grandfather Nicholas Carew (died 1469).
Sir Rivers Carew Bt assigned the Manor of Haccombe with Combeinteignhead to Colonel Gerald Arnold, together with the Patronage of the Benefice of Haccombe, Combeinteignhead. Stokeinteignhead, Ringmore and Shaldon in March 2010.
References.
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