Croker's Hele is an historic estate in the parish of

Meeth Meeth is a small village roughly north-northwest of Okehampton and west-northwest of Exeter. It lies to the west of the River Torridge. In the past, ball clay mines were a major source of employment in the village, lying just to the west, howev ...

in Devon, England.

Descent

Domesday Book

It was one of several estates split-off from the single manor of ''Hele'', listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as the 47thThorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 15:47 of the 79 Devonshire holdings of

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastin ...

(died 1090), half-brother of King

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

and one of his

Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief The Domesday Book of 1086 lists in the following order the tenants-in-chief in Devonshire of King William the Conqueror: *Osbern FitzOsbern (died 1103), Bishop of Exeter *Geoffrey de Montbray (died 1093), Bishop of Coutances * Glastonbury Church, ...

. Robert's tenant was

Erchenbald Erchenbald or Archembald was a mesne lord listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant of nine manors in Devon and Cornwall, England. He is believed to be the first English ancestor of the prominent Fleming family. Landholdings The Domesday book ...

, who held from Robert several other Devonshire manors, including Culleigh,

Alverdiscott Alverdiscott (pronounced ''Alscott'', or ) is a village, civil parish, former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, centred south-south-west of Barnstaple. Demography A rural population – hav ...

Bratton Fleming Bratton Fleming is a large village, civil parish and former manor near Barnstaple, in Devon, England. It lies a few miles west of Exmoor. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Challacombe, Brayford, Stoke River ...

Croyde Croyde is a village on the west-facing coastline of North Devon, England. The village lies on the South West Coast Path near to Baggy Point, which is owned by the National Trust. It lies within the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natura ...

and Stockleigh. The single manor of Hele listed in the Domesday Book probably involves two adjacent manors of that name, one in the parish of

Petrockstowe Petrockstowe (or Petrockstow) is a small village and civil parish in the district of Torridge in Northern Devon, England. Its population in 2001 was 379, hardly different from the figure of 385 recorded in 1901. The southern boundary of the par ...

the other in

. Later sources evidence three further subdivisions of Hele which had occurred by that time, namely: *''Hele Sechevil'', named after its then lord Richard de Sechevil (the Satchville family were seated at

Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe Heanton Satchville was a historic manor in the parish of Petrockstowe, North Devon, England. With origins in the Domesday manor of Hantone, it was first recorded as belonging to the Yeo family in the mid-14th century and was then owned succe ...

), as listed in the

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs'), being a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, but f ...

(c.1302). It was later held by John Crokker as listed in the

Feudal Aids Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

1284-1431. This is therefore believed to have become today's ''Crocker's Hele'' in the parish of Meeth. *''Hele Pore/Pouere'', held with Hele Sechevil by Robert de Stocheye of Stockey in the parish of Meeth, as listed in the

1284-1431. Hele Pore/Pouere was later known as ''Fry's Hele'' (today corrupted to "Friar's Hele"), after it was acquired by the Fry family. It was held by Geoffrey Frye as listed in the

1284-1431. ''Fry's Hele'' is in the parish of Meeth. This is the earliest known seat of the Fry family, of which the prominent branch seated at

Yarty Yarty is an historic estate in the parish of Membury in Devon, and was from the 14th century until 1726 for many centuries the principal seat of the Fry family. It takes its name from the River Yarty which flows near or through the estate. Dur ...

in the parish of Membury is assumed to be a branch, which bore a differenced version of the arms of Fry of Fry's Hele. The Fry family of Fry's Hele died out in the 16th century on the death of John Fry, and his daughter and sole-heiress Elizabeth Fry brought the estate to her husband Thomas Parker (d.1545) of

North Molton North Molton is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also exists. The ward population at the ce ...

, thus she was the ancestress of the Parker Baronets of

Melford Hall Melford Hall is a stately home in the village of Long Melford, Suffolk, England. Since 1786 it has been the seat of the Parker Baronets and is still lived in by the Hyde Parker family. Since 1960 it has been owned by the National Trust. The ha ...

in Suffolk and of Viscount Boringdon and

Earl of Morley Earl of Morley, of Morley in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Parker, 2nd Baron Boringdon. At the same time he was created Viscount Boringdon, of North Molton in the County o ...

Saltram House Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era mansion house located in the parish of Plympton, near Plymouth in Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The ho ...

in Devon. *''Hele Godyng'', today "Hele Barton" in the parish of Petrockstowe, held by Thomas Tyrel as listed in the

1284-1431.

Croker

Hele is the earliest known Devonshire seat of the prominent Crocker family, which according to a traditional Devon rhyme:

Crocker, Cruwys, and Copplestone,
When the Conqueror came were all at home

was one of just three Devon families to have a pre-Conquest pedigree – a claim dismissed by

W. G. Hoskins William George Hoskins (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an English local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of landscape history. ...

as a "hackneyed jingle" with "not a word of truth in it". Croker's Hele was the seat of William Crocker, living during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377). He is the earliest member of the family recorded in the

Heraldic Visitations Heraldic visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms (or alternatively by heralds, or junior officers of arms, acting as their deputies) throughout England, Wales and Ireland. Their purpose was to register and regulate the c ...

of Devon, Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.254 although one of his ancestors is known to have been

Richard Crocker Richard Crocker ( fl. 1335) of Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for Tavistock in Devon in 1335. His descendants were the prominent Crocker family of ''Crocker's Hele'' in the parish of Meeth, Devon, later seated at Lyneham in the pari ...

(fl.1335) of Devon, England, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Tavistock (UK Parliament constituency) Tavistock was the name of a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in Devon between 1330 and 1974. Until 1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 it was a parliamentary borough, consisting solely of the town of Tavistock, Devo ...

in Devon in 1335. In the 14th century Croker's Hele was abandoned by John Crocker (William's grandson) in favour of Lyneham in the parish of

Yealmpton Yealmpton () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is located in the South Hams on the A379 Plymouth to Kingsbridge road and is about from Plymouth. Its name derives from the River Yealm that flows through the villag ...

, Devon, which he had inherited from his wife Alice Gambon, daughter and heiress of John Gambon of Lyneham. The last male of the Crocker family of Lyneham was Courtenay Crocker (died 1740), several times MP for Plympton.

Present day

Since 2014 Crocker's Hele has contained a

solar farm Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

with power capacity of over 1 MW.

Notes

{{notelist

References

Historic estates in Devon