Membury, Devon on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Membury is a village three miles north west of Axminster in East Devon district. The population at the 2011 Census was 501.
The village has a 13th-century church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, with a tall slim tower. In the aisle there is a monument to Sir Shilston Calmady, who was killed in a skirmish near the village in February 1646, and was buried in the chancel. The founding editor of the medical journal, The Lancet, Thomas Wakley, was born at Membury in 1795.
The village is within the
*Waterhouse (anciently ''Waters, AtWaters, West Waters''), anciently the seat of the ''de la Water'' family (gallicized to ''de l'eau'' ("from the water")Risdon, p.21), which family, as was usual, had taken their surname from their seat. It was so named (according to Pole (d.1635)) from its closeness to the River Yarty and "took the name of the water adjoyining & floatinge under it".Pole, p.118 Isabell Water, daughter and heiress of William Water, married Nicholas Hele, a younger son of Nicholas Hele of Hele, in the parish of Cornwood, Devon. His granddaughter was the heiress Emma Hele, who by her marriage (during the reign of King Henry VI (1422-1461)) to Christopher Perry brought Waters to her son William Perry who married a daughter of John Fry of adjoining
Membury Community School
East Devon District Villages in Devon {{Devon-geo-stub
Blackdown Hills
The Blackdown Hills are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England, which were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1991.
The plateau is dominated by hard chert bands of Upper Greensand wit ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and lies just to the north east of Beckford Bridge over the River Yarty, which is the oldest packhorse bridge in East Devon. Near to the village there is former Quaker Meeting House that is now a hotel.
Historic estates
The parish of Membury contains several historic estates including: *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 ...
, long the seat of the Fry family.
*Waterhouse (anciently ''Waters, AtWaters, West Waters''), anciently the seat of the ''de la Water'' family (gallicized to ''de l'eau'' ("from the water")Risdon, p.21), which family, as was usual, had taken their surname from their seat. It was so named (according to Pole (d.1635)) from its closeness to the River Yarty and "took the name of the water adjoyining & floatinge under it".Pole, p.118 Isabell Water, daughter and heiress of William Water, married Nicholas Hele, a younger son of Nicholas Hele of Hele, in the parish of Cornwood, Devon. His granddaughter was the heiress Emma Hele, who by her marriage (during the reign of King Henry VI (1422-1461)) to Christopher Perry brought Waters to her son William Perry who married a daughter of John Fry of adjoining 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 ...
. After a few generations the family became extinct in the male line on the death of William Perry, who according to Pole: "wasted all his estate except this only", which sole possession he bequeathed to his four sisters and co-heiresses. They sold it to William Fry of adjoining 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 ...
(or Nicholas Fry (d.1632), Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.375, pedigree of Fry. Pole (p.118) states the purchaser's mother was of the Newbiry family of Stokland, whilst the only son of that lady given in the Heraldic Visitations is Nicholas Fry (d.1632), not William Sheriff of Devon in 1626, who rebuilt Yarty and whose monument survives in Membury Church), who amalgamated it with his other local estates and according to Pole: "made a very lardge & profitable & commodious demesnes, replenished with pastures, meadows, arable land, woode & water & all com(m)odities belonginge unto hospitality". The arms of Perry of Waters were: ''Quarterly gules and or, on a bend argent three lions passant azure''.
References
External links
Membury Community School
East Devon District Villages in Devon {{Devon-geo-stub