21. KIRKHAM-DURBURGH or ?ASHTON

Sampson Tree 

NICHOLAS KIRKHAM and ALICE DURBURGH or ?ASHTON (21)

 

NICHOLAS KIRKHAM is the third in a succession of that name. He was lord of the manor of Blagdon, inland from Paignton, in the reign of Richard II [1377-1399]

He was the son of an older Sir Nicholas Kirkham, also of Blagdon. The Kirkham family tree in the Heralds Visitations of 1620 does not include his mother’s name.[1]

An alternative tree in the Survey of Worcester makes her Alice, daughter of John de Somorron.[2]

Nicholas was Sheriff of Devon in the 12^th year of Richard’s reign, 1388-89.

The Kirkhams manor house had been at Blagdon since the time of Nicholas’s grandparents, Sir Nicholas Kirkham and Agatha Dennys.

Sir William Pole tells us that this younger Nicholas Kirkham added the manor of Kilmenton to his other estates.[4]
KILMENTON (AXMINSTER)
In Kinge Rich 2 tyme, it came unto Nicolas Kirkham, of Blagdon, in whose issue it remained until George Kirkham.

Kilmenton is Kilmington, on the river Axe, a mile south of Axminster.

Pole does not tell us how Nicholas acquired it. The most likely answer is that it was brought to him by his wife.

 

ALICE DURBURGH or ?ASHTON.

The Heralds Visitations has him marrying the daughter of Sir William Ashton, first name unknown. We have found nothing further about the Ashton family.

The Survey of Worcestershire has Nicholas’s wife as Alice daughter of Sir Rafe Durburgh. Rafe/Ralph Durburgh was a prominent figure in Somerset society.

There was certainly a connection between these two families, as the following court cases show.

The first involves a debt owed to Nicholas Kirkham by James Durburgh.[5]

1384 Oct 10
Debtor: James Durburgh, Richard Stapledon, the son of Richard Stapledon, knight, William Taylor of Dunster {Dunsterre} of Somerset. [Bulstone Hundred]
Creditor: Nicholas Kirkham.
Amount: £100.
Before whom: John Tailor, Mayor of Exeter; William Gambon, Clerk.
When taken: 21/02/1384
First term: 04/05/1384
Last term: 04/05/1384
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon
Sent by: Robert Wilford, Mayor of Exeter; William Gambon, Clerk.
Endorsement: Devon’ Coram Justic’ de Banco xv hillar’.

Nicholas was sufficiently wealthy to lend sums as large as £100. Three of these loans resulted in court cases. We must assume that there were other loans which did not.

James Durburgh was either the son or  the half-brother of Ralph Durburgh, whom Habington names as Nicholas’s father-in-law.

Another debtor was Richard Stapledon. Nicholas’s son Robert married Agnes Hankford, whose mother was a Stapledon. [6]

Nicholas was involved in other cases in his role as Sheriff of Devon.[7]

1389 Jul 16
Debtor: John Cole, esquire, of Tamerton {Tham’} in Devon [Roborough Hundred]
Creditor: Peter Pounfreyt, citizen and skinner of London.
Amount: £16 9s. 4½d.
Before whom: Nicholas Exton, Mayor of the Staple of Westminster.
When taken: 13/02/1389
First term: 18/04/1389
Last term: 18/04/1389
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon
Sent by: Chancery
Endorsement: Nicholas Kirkham, Sheriff, replies that John Cole, esquire, was not found in the bailiwick and has no lands or chattels there. The certificate is in the Chancery file for the 12th year,
Inquisition and return: Date given for return to Chancery: 6.10.1389

In the second debt case, the debtor was Ralph Durburgh, the name Habington gives as Nicholas’s father-in-law, or else his son.. [8]

1390 Jan 13
Debtor: Ralph Durburgh [esquire] of Somerset [held Brompton Ralph, Williton and Freemanors Hundred]]
Creditor: Nicholas Kirkham [held fee in Lower Rixtail, in Ideford, Axminster Hundred, Devon]
Amount: £20
Before whom: John Talbot, Mayor of Exeter; William Gambon, Clerk.
When taken: 06/02/1384
First term: 29/09/1384
Last term: 29/09/1384
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon
Sent by: Richard Bozoun, Mayor of Exeter; William Gambon, Clerk.
Endorsement: Som’s Coram Justic’ apud Westm’ in Octab’ Pur’ be’ Marie.

This tells us more about the estates that Nicholas held besides Blagdon.

Nicholas and his wife had at two sons, John and  Robert.

It appears that first Nicholas and then  John died while Robert was still a minor.[9]

1392
Ashcombe. Grant
John Cade and Thomas Barton, clerk
John of la Pomeray knt.
Premises: 2. is bound to 1. in 40 marks. If Alice wife of John Cade dies while Robert, brother and heir of John Kyrkham, is under age, and if, after the death of Alice, 1. holds the third part of the manor of Aysshcombe during the minority of Robert or his heirs or before any one of his heirs reaches full and legal age if Robert dies under age, without hindrance from 2., then the bond in 40 marks is to be null and void
Date: Berry Pomeroy, 9 June 15 Richard II

Ashcombe is the village where we first find the Kirkhams in the time of Nicholas’s great-grandfather.

If Robert had already inherited the Kirkham estates, then Nicholas must have died by 1392. This would be consistent with the following case in which his executors are pursuing another debt owed to him. [10]1396 May 2

Debtor: John Denning of Devon.
Creditor: James Chudleigh, knight, Robert Stobhill, and Robert Maynard, the executors of Nicholas Kirkham, and John Cade [deceased] and Alice, his wife, joint-executors.
Amount: £20.
Before whom: Robert Wilford, Mayor of Exeter; Adam atte Wood, Clerk.
When taken: 13/01/1395
First term: 29/09/1395
Last term: 29/09/1395N
Writ to: Sheriff of Devon
Sent by: Simon Grendon, Mayor of Exeter; Adam atte Wood, Clerk.
Endorsement: Devon’ Coram Justic’ de Co’i Banco in quindena s’te Trinitatis.

The wording of the debtors is a little unclear, but we know from other cases that Alice was the name of John Cade’s wife. It is less likely to mean that she is Nicholas’s wife, though that would agree with Habington’s pedigree.

We have no information about the death of Nicholas’s wife.

 

[1] Tuckett, John. Devonshire Pedigrees. Recorded in the Heralds Visitations of 1620.
[2] Habington, Thomas, A Survey of Worcestershire. Handwritten c.1640, pub. Worcestershire Historical Society, 1899.
[3] Wikimedia Commons.
[4] Sir William Pole (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description  of the County of Devon,(1791)
[5] National Archives: C 241/173/95
[6] National Archives: C 241/173/95
[7] National Archives C 131/206/26
[8] National Archives C 241/178/86
[9] National Archives: 3799M-0/ET/1/2
[10] National Archives C 241/185/70