Huish (anciently ''Hiwis'') is a small village,

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and former manor in the

Torridge Torridge may refer to: * Torridge District, a local government district in the county of Devon, England * River Torridge, is a river in Devon in England * Torridge Lass Suffix beginning with F ''Empire Fabian'' ''Empire Fabian'' was an E ...

district of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. The eastern boundary of the parish is formed by the

River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristo ...

and the western by the Rivers Mere and Little Mere, and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Merton, Dolton,

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 ...

and

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 pa ...

. In 2001 the population of the parish was 49, down from 76 in 1901. The village lies just off the

A386 road The A386 is a primary route in Devon, England. It runs from Plymouth on the south coast to Appledore on the north coast. The road starts in the centre of Plymouth, and forms Tavistock Road, the main route out of the city to the north. It cross ...

, about five and a half miles north of

Hatherleigh Hatherleigh is a small market town in west Devon, England. It hosts an arts festival in July, and a carnival in November featuring two flaming tar barrel runs. The Walruses meet on New Year's Day to jump into the River Lew to raise money for ...

, and about seven miles south of

Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

. It was a member of the historic

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Shebbear and was in the deanery of Torrington. The majority of the parish consists of parkland belonging to Heanton Satchville, the seat of

Baron Clinton Baron Clinton is a title in the Peerage of England. Created in 1298 for Sir John de Clinton, it is the seventh-oldest barony in England. Creation and early history The title was granted in 1298 to Sir John de Clinton, a knight who had served ...

; the mansion-house is a few hundred yards to the north of the church.

Parish church

The church, dedicated to St James the Less, was heavily

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

in 1873 by the 20th Baron Clinton to the designs of George Edmund Street. The work is described by

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

as "not of his best". The 15th-century tower is the only part that remains unaltered. The church contains a monument to John Cunningham Saunders, the noted eye surgeon who was born in the parish in 1773.

Manor

Gotshelm

The manor is 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 manus ...

of 1086 as ''Hiwis'', the 2nd of the 28 Devonshire holdings of Gotshelm, one of the

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, ...

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 ...

. He held it in demesne. The tenant before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

of 1066 was an Anglo-Saxon named Alwy. It is today believed to have been centred on the estate of Lovistone,Thorn, part 2 (notes), chap 25:2 within the parish. Gotshelm was an Anglo-Norman magnate and was the brother of

Walter de Claville Walter I de Claville (floruit 1086) (''alias'' de Clarville and Latinised to ''de Clavilla'') was an Anglo-Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. He also held lands in Dorset. His Devon ...

(

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1086), also a Devon Domesday Book tenant-in-chief, who as listed in the Domesday Book had 32 holdings in Devon from the king. Before the end of the 13th century the Devonshire estates of both brothers formed part of the

feudal barony of Gloucester The feudal barony of Gloucester or Honour of Gloucester was one of the largest of the mediaeval English feudal baronies in 1166, comprising 279 knight's fees, or manors. The constituent landholdings were spread over many counties. The location o ...

de Hiwis

In Kirkby's Quest, a survey of 1284–1285, the manor of Huish was recorded as being held by Richard de Hiwis, whose family had, as was usual, taken their surname from their seat. According to the Book of Fees (pre-1302), the estate of ''Lovelleston'' (today ''Lovistone''), within the parish, was however held by Robert Pollard, directly from the

. According to Sir William Pole (d.1635) the last in the male line of the de Hiwis family was William de Hiwis, who died without issue late in the reign of King Edward III, whose sister and heiress Emma de Hiwis married Sir

Robert Tresilian Sir Robert Tresilian (died 19 February 1388) was a Cornish lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench between 1381 and 1387. He was born in Cornwall, and held land in Tresillian, near Truro. Tresilian was deeply involved in the struggles be ...

(d.1388), Chief Justice of the King's Bench, after whose execution she remarried to Sir John Coleshill.

Yeo

Tristram Risdon Tristram Risdon (c. 1580 – 1640) was an English antiquarian and topographer, and the author of ''Survey of the County of Devon''. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated ar ...

(d.1640) relates further that the land was subsequently purchased by Leonard Yeo who built a new house there. The principal seat of the Yeo family had been at nearby

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 succ ...

, which had passed by marriage to the Rolles, then by inheritance to the Trefusis family. His descendant, also Leonard Yeo, owned the manor in Risdon's time. The manor remained in the Yeo family until it was sold by Edward Roe Yeo (died 1782), MP. Various 18th-century mural monuments to the Yeo family survive in the parish church.

Innes-Ker

John Dufty purchased the estate from Edward Roe Yeo (died 1782) who in 1782 sold it to the Scottish nobleman Sir James Norcliffe Innes (d.1823), later 5th

Duke of Roxburghe The Duke of Roxburghe () is a title in the peerage of Scotland created in 1707 along with the titles ''Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford'', ''Earl of Kelso'' and ''Viscount Broxmouth''. John Ker, 5th Earl of Roxburghe became the first holder ...

, who built a new mansion house on the estate, which he called ''Innes House''. He sold the manor to Richard Eales.

Trefusis

In about 1812 Richard Eales sold the manor to Robert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton, a member of an ancient Cornish family. Clinton renamed the estate as Heanton Satchville, after his former family home at

, across the valley to the west, which had burned down in 1795. In the early 20th century, following his inheritance from

Mark Rolle Hon. Mark George Kerr Rolle (1835–1907; Mark George Kerr Trefusis), of Stevenstone, St Giles in the Wood, Devon, was High Sheriff of Devon in 1864, a DL of Devon and High Steward of Barnstaple. Due to an inheritance from his uncle by ...

(d.1907) (born ''Trefusis'', a younger son of the 19th Baron Clinton) of the vast former Rolle estates, Baron Clinton utilised the grander

Bicton House Bicton House, or Bickton House, is a late 18th- or early 19th-century country house, which stands on the campus of Bicton College, Bicton, near Exmouth, East Devon. It is a Grade II* listed building. The park and gardens are Grade I listed i ...

, the former Rolle seat, as his main residence. However this was vacated in the mid-20th century and the family moved back to Heanton Satchville, which today remains the seat of the

Barons Clinton Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

, now the Fane-Trefusis family, the largest landowners in Devon through the

Clinton Devon Estates Clinton Devon Estates is a land management and property development company which manages the Devonshire estates belonging to Baron Clinton, the largest private landowner in Devon, England. Lord Clinton is of the Fane-Trefusis family, and is s ...

, the lands of which are principally situated near Bicton, in East Devon.

Historic estates

The parish of Huish includes the following historic estates: *Lovistone (anciently ''Lovelleston''), which according to the Book of Fees (pre-1302), was held by Robert Pollard, directly from the

. In the 18th century it was the seat of the Saunders family, most notably John Cunningham Saunders (1737–1783), Esquire, Senior, whose 2nd son was John Cunningham Saunders (1773-1810), Junior, an English surgeon and oculist, best known for his pioneering work on the surgery of

cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

who in 1805 founded the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, now known as

Moorfields Eye Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital is a specialist NHS eye hospital in Finsbury in the London Borough of Islington in London, England run by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Together with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, which is adjacen ...

. Mural monuments to both men survive in the bell-tower of Huish Church. The will of an earlier John Cunningham Saunders "Gentleman of Great Torrington , Devon", near Huish, was proved on 14 April 1744.National Archives, Kew PROB 11/733/61
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

Listed Building text, Heanton SatchvilleListed Buildings text, Church of St James the LessClinton Devon Estates website
{{authority control Villages in Devon Civil parishes in Devon Former manors in Devon Torridge District