Fay Sampson’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
WILLIAM HOLBEAME (21)
WILLIAM HOLBEAME. In the second half of the 14th century John Whitinge was lord of the manor of Woode, in the East Devon parish of Kentisbeare. Sir William Pole tells us that his wife was Julian, daughter of William Holbeame.[1]
He does not tell us where William Holbeame was from.
The Holbeames were lords of the manor of Holbeame, in the parish of East Ogwell, just east of the town of Newton Abbot at the head of the Teign estuary. Until recent times, there was no real village in East Ogwell, just St Bartholomew’s church and a scatter of houses. Amongst these was Holbeame manor house.
We do not know whether William was one of the lords of this manor, or from a younger branch of the family.
Pole starts his Holbeame pedigree with Robert, in the mid-13th century:
“HOLBEAME. Robert de Holbeame dwelled there anno 27 of Kinge Henry 3 [1242-3]: and lineally there hath succeeded him John, Peter, Willam, Walter, Willam,….”
The first William would have lived in the early half of the 14th century, making him a possible father for Julian.
Pole does not say, as he does with a number of other women, that Julian was her father’s heir. This would accord with his being followed by a son Walter.
We do not have enough information to be certain that this is Julian’s father, but it would be consistent with the scanty evidence.
The arms of Holbeame are: Argent, a chevron enarched Sable.
This can be found on one of the piers in East Ogwell church.
W H Hamilton Rogers says: “The peculiar device adopted by them is evidently allusive, and intended to display the whole-beam, or one of the principal timbers of a roof, heraldically described as a chevron enarched.”[2]
Polwhele adds: “the large old mansion at Holbeame was partly pulled down by Mr Taylor a few years since. Mr Taylor now has in his possession a very curious piece of oak with the Holbeam arms carved on it. It was placed over the chimney piece in the old mansion.”[3]
[1] Sir William Pole (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon,(1791),
[2] William Henry Hamilton Rogers, The ancient sepulchral effigies and monumental and memorial sculpture of Devon. 1877.
[3] Richard Polwhele, The History of Devonshire, 3 vols., (1793–1806)
NEXT GENERATION: 20. WHITINGE-HOLBEAME
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