Today, Winscott Barton is a large 19th-century farmhouse in the parish of

St Giles in the Wood St Giles in the Wood is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village lies about 2.5 miles east of the town of Great Torrington, and the parish, which had a population of 566 in 2001 compared with 623 in 1901 ...

, Devon, England. It was built on the site of the mansion house belonging to

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 ...

(died 1640), an early historian of Devon. The present building is Grade II listed. The name ''Winscott'' derives from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

meaning the

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

of a man named "Wine". In the 16th century Winscott was the property of the Barry family, according to Risdon a branch of the ancient de Barry family which played a prominent role in the Norman conquest of Ireland under King Henry II (1154–1189). The family had large landholdings around

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in Ireland. One of the Barons Barry gave all his English lands to his second son, and according to Risdon this branch of the family lived at Winscott.Risdon, p.275 Michael Barry (died 1570) of Winscott married Johanna Pollard (1547–1610), the daughter of George Pollard of Langley, Yarnscombe. Their only child Thomazin Barry became the wife of John Tripconey of

Gulval Gulval ( kw, Lannystli) is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Ludgvan, Madron and Penzance in 1934, and is now considered to be a suburb ...

in Cornwall, but they had no children. After the death of Michael Barry, Johanna Pollard remarried to William Risdon and remained at Winscott. William Risdon was the third son of Giles Risdon of Bableigh, in the nearby parish of Parkham. William and Johanna's eldest son

was born at Winscott, and later it became his property when it was bequeathed to him by Thomazin. Tristram Risdon married Pascoe Chaffe. Their eldest son Giles (1609–1644) inherited, but died childless so the property passed to his brother William who left as his sole heiress a daughter Mary Risdon. Mary married four times, but her only child, from her first marriage to Joseph Prust, died aged only four. After Mary's death Winscott passed via descendants of one of Tristram Risdon's daughters eventually to the Northcote family, ancestors of Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (1818-1887).Risdon, 1811 additions, p. 422

References

Sources

*{{cite book , last=Risdon, first=Tristram, authorlink=Tristram Risdon , title=The Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIdnAAAAMAAJ , editor=Rees, edition=updated, year=1811, orig-year=written c. 1605 – 1630 , publisher=Rees and Curtis, location=Plymouth, display-editors=etal Historic estates in Devon