24. KIRKHAM

Sampson Tree

JOHN KIRKHAM (24)

 

JOHN KIRKHAM of Ashcombe is the earliest member of the Kirkham family for whom we have a record. He appears as the first generation on a family tree of the Kirkhams in the Heralds Visitations of 1620.[1]

Sir William Pole tells us:[2]
ASHCOMB
Ashcomb lyeth under Haldon Hill, toward the South, & hath bine from Kinge Henry 3 unto these tymes thenheritance of the famyly of Kirkham, & the first land yt I find them to have had. John Kirkham was the first, whose sonne Sr Nicolas  removed his dwellinge unto Blagdon by the marriage of Dennys his daughter.

Henry III reigned  from 1216 -1272, so we cannot date John Kirkham with any precision.

Ashcombe (the modern spelling) lies west of the Exe at the southern foot of Haldon Hill.A guidebook of the Teignmouth area describes it thus:[3]
“Below the Exeter road, in the sheltered coombes is Ashcombe, with the woods around Mamhead…
The little village of Ashcombe is exceedingly pretty, the church and parish lying in a deep glen, surrounded by rising grounds covered with heath, up which a narrow lane leads to Haldon. The mill at the entrance to the village is remarkably picturesque. The church was dedicated by Bishop Bronscombe on the vigil of St Clement, A.D. 1259. The arms of Kirkham appear on the first arch of the nave. This family held considerable property in the parish, and were for a long time Lords of the manor.”

The arms of Kirkham are found on a capital in St Nectan’s church and carved on a bench end. They are argent, three lions rampant gules a bordure engrailed sable.

The present mill will be from after John’s time, but there was probably one here in the 13^th century.

We do not have a record of his wife. The only child we know of is Nicolas.

Although Nicolas moved to Blagdon on his marriage, he was still “of Ashcomb” when he was recorded by Pole as being among the notable men of Devon in the reign of King Edward I [1272-1307]. This probably dates John in the mid to late 13^th century.

Nicolas is recorded as a knight, but his father is not.

Westcote’s A View of Devonshire tells us that Ashcombe was held by Nicholas Kirkham, Kt, in Edward I’s time [1272 -1307].[5] This puts John’s death probably somewhere in the later 13^th century, but we cannot be more precise than that.

There is an alternative Kirkham pedigree in Thomas Habington’s A Survey of Worcestershire, Part 2.[6] This has Nicholas’s father as Robert Kirkham, recorded in the first year of Edward I’s reign (1272-3). No further information has been found about him, and Pole’s account of finding John as the earliest of that name sounds convincing. 

 

[1] Tuckett, John. Devonshire Pedigrees. Recorded in the Heralds Visitations of 1620.
[2] Sir William Pole (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description  of the County of Devon,(1791)
[3] Croyden, Edward. The Teignouth Guide. 1840.
[4] Cottages.com.
[5] Westcote, Thomas, A View of Devonshire in MDCXXX. 1630.
[6] Habington, Thomas, A Survey of Worcestershire. Handwritten c.1640, pub. Worcestershire Historical Society, 1899.