27. HACCOMBE

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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)

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WILLIAM DE HACCOMBE (27)

 

WILLIAM DE HACCOMBE.  Records tell us that William de Haccombe was the son of Stephen.[1]

He must have been born in the 1140s or earlier.

His father died before 1166, leaving William as his heir.

 

In 1166 Haccombe, Ringmore and West Clifford (Coombe Hall manor in Drewsteignton), constituted 1 knight’s fee held by “William, son of Stephen”. The term “Fitz Stephen” can mean either a son or a descendant of Stephen, but other records indicate that he is the son.

He held his manors of Robert, the King’s son. The king was Henry II, son of the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. Earlier that century she had fought an unsuccessful war against King Stephen, who had usurped the throne that was rightly hers.  Robert was the king’s younger son, through whose wife he succeeded to  the estates of Baldwin, baron of Okehampton Honour.                                                         These included the lands of the Haccombe family. Robert was now their overlord. Haccombe constituted 1/3 of the fee. The remaining 2/3  was made up of West Clifford and Ringmore. There is a village of  Ringmoor on Bigbury Bay in the South Hams, but William’s land may have been the settlement of Ringmore on the River Teign, upstream from Shaldon, and close to Haccombe.

 

Maidencombe (Medenacumba), between Torquay and Teignmouth, was in the possession of William, son of Stephen, in the 12th century. Before 1168 he had given 1 virgate there to the Canons of Plympton Priory. That year, he charged them by a fine in the Bishop’s Court with an annual payment of 5/- to Ford Abbey. The abbey is on the River Axe near Chard.

Around 1150, some land at Haccombe was  in the possession of the Chapter of Exeter Cathedral. This may have been a similar gift from the Haccombe family.

 

We have no information about William’s marriage. He was succeeded by Jordan de Haccombe, whom we assume to be his son. Jordan  is thought to have been born around 1170.

 

William died somewhere between 1166 and 1216, when we have the first record of Jordan as lord of the manor.

 

 

[1] Genealogical information from A. W. Searley, “Haccombe, Part I, (1086-1330)”,  Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1918.

 

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