Wadham, Knowstone

The manor of Wadham in the parish of Knowstone in north Devon and the nearby manors of Chenudestane and Chenuestan (more anciently known as Cnudstone and Cnuston with the possible meaning "Canutestone") are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086:

"Ulf holds Wadeham. He himself held it in the time of King Edward" ('The Confessor').

Samuel Lysons suggested in his Magna Britannia that Ulf may have been an ancestor to the Wadhams.

'Wadeham' was the earliest recorded residence of the prominent ''Wadham'' (originally ''de Wadham'') family, which ended in the senior male line in the person of Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) of Merryfield, Ilton in Somerset and Edge, Branscombe in Devon, co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, founded largely after his death, by his wife Dorothy Wadham (died 1618).

Descent

Ulf

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists ''WADEHAM'' as held in chief from King William the Conqueror by ''Ulf'', one of 'the king's (Saxon) thanes' in Devonshire.

It has also been suggested that Ulf, a possible supporter of King Canute rewarded with land in Devon, may have been of Danish or Anglo-Danish descent.

Ulf, who before 1066 held Wadeham and other manors in Devon and elsewhere in Wessex, and still retained Wadeham under the Saxon King Edward the Confessor, was one of only twenty Saxon thanes in Devonshire who survived the Norman Conquest of 1066, retained their antiquated high status as thanes, and became tenants-in-chief under the new Norman king. However, he appears less prominent than some others of his fellow surviving Devonshire thanes who held up to eleven manors each under King William the Conqueror after 1086, whilst Ulf only added the manor of Axminster which he held from William Cheever, alias Chièvre after 1086 from the King in desmesne. The Domesday text is as follows:
:''Ulf ten(et) WADEHAM. Ipse teneb(at) T(empore) E(dwardi) R(egis). Geld(a)b(at) p(ro) una v(irgata) t(er)rae. T(er)ra e(st) III car(rucis) q(uae) ibi s(un)t. III servi, IIII vill(an)i, VI ac(rae) pti L ac(rae) pasturae, silva IIII l(on)g(a) III lat(a). Valet XX solidii'' ("Ulf holds Wadham. He himself held it in the time of King Edward (the Confessor). It paid tax for 1 virgate of land. Land for 3 ploughs which are there. 3 slaves, 4 villagers, 6 acres of ..., 50 acres of pasture, wood 4 furlongs long, 3 furlongs wide. It is worth 20 shillings).

The Exon Domesday contains additional text after the description of the woodland, translated as "8 wild mares, 12 cattle".

The Domesday Book also has entries for both Chenuestan and Chenudestane as being held from the King by his thane Aelfgar, or Algar. As an Algar de Wadham and his 'Lady' Wadham are recorded in the reign of Henry III (1207-1272), it seems possible that the Algar of 1086 may too have been an ancestor.

Bret

According to Pole (died 1635) the family of Bret later held Wadham. No further details are provided by Pole or by his contemporary Risdon (died 1640) about this tenant. Risdon did however state that in the time of King Henry II (1154–1189) the lord of the manor of Knowstone was Ailmer de Brett. A Brett family, today represented by Viscount Esher, was anciently seated at Whitestaunton in Somerset and in the late 15th century inherited the manor of Pilland in the parish of Pilton, North Devon, where they resided for about a century.

Beaupel

From Brett the estate or manor of Wadham passed to the family of Beaupel,Pole, p.419 lord of the manors of Knowstone and of Landkey in North Devon. Ailmer de Brett, lord of the manor of Knowstone in the time of King Henry II (1154–1189), granted Knowstone to Richard Beaple "whose posterity made this place their dwelling, of which family were divers knights".Risdon, T., Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p.303 In the Book of Fees it is recorded that Richard Beupel held "Cnuston" from the feudal barony whose ''caput