East Down is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

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. Devon is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It includes the hamlets of

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

, Shortacombe, Brockham and Clifton. The parish contains a church, pub and manor house.

Historic estates

The estate of Northcote was 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 and was the earliest known seat of the ''de Northcote'' family which became Northcote Baronets in 1641, by which time they had moved to Hayne, in the parish of

Newton St Cyres Newton St Cyres is a village, civil parish former manor and former ecclesiastical parish in Mid Devon, in the English county of Devon, located between Crediton and Exeter. It had a population of 562 at the 2011 Census. The village is part of ...

, and were created

Earls of Iddesleigh Earl of Iddesleigh ( ), in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the Conservative politician Sir Stafford Northcote, 8th Baronet, of Pynes in the parish of Upton Pyne near Exeter i ...

in 1885, by which time they were seated at

Upton Pyne Upton Pyne is a parish and village in Devon, England. The parish lies just north west of Exeter, mainly between the River Exe and River Creedy. The village is located north of Cowley and west of Brampford Speke and Stoke Canon. It has a populati ...

. The

Heraldic Visitation 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 ...

s of Devon lists the founder of the family as ''Galfridus de Northcote, Miles'' ("knight"), living in 1103. The family later in the 16th century made its fortune as cloth merchants at

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon in England. It stands on the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, about north west of Exeter and around from the M5 motorwa ...

Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959, p.389

Notes

External links

Villages in Devon {{devon-geo-stub