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AYSHFORDS OF AYSHFORD |
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Arthur Ayshford witnessed several Canonsleigh deeds in the early part of the thirteenth century. He married Agnes, a daughter and supposed co-heir of Humphrey le Bel. A Richard le Bel son of Humphrey is recorded in the Guild Roll of Totnes around 1270 and this may be the first Ayshford contact with that town. Certainly the family held property there at a later date. Arthur and Agnes had a son, John, who made a good match for himself by obtaining the hand of another Agnes, only child of Sir William Peverel of Sampford. John received Peverel lands as a dowry which led to litigation for his son, yet another John! The Peverels were a baronial family whose connections with the Ducal house of Normandy were intimate ... the first of the family is said to have married the mistress of Duke William himself. The eldest son of that marriage was made an Earl, not so much for his talents as for his reputed parentage! The Devon Peverels were descended from a younger brother who did not share that illustrious ancestry! Agnes Ayshford (nee Peverel) was holding the Ayshford lands in 1241 on behalf of her son who was under age, the father being dead. When "little" John came of age he was met by a demand from Lord Hugh Peverel, nephew and heir of the above mentioned Sir William, that the dowry lands be returned as possibly being entailed to the male line of the Peverel Family which he represented. An entail was a way of ensuring that the MALE heir of a landed family should always inherit the lands as well as the title, if any. In those days a title or knighthood was a job description and a man had to have the cash to support the title and consequently the King with soldiers or "loans". An entail did not usually apply to property purchased by the dowry giver and John retained the land, called Gosmere and lying between Ayshford and Sampford, by an agreement dated 1262. John married Sapiencia the niece of Thomas Le Boteler, Archdeacon of Totnes and possibly a daughter of John of Norfolk who had himself married a Cookworthy heiress. When in 1269/70 John and Sapiencia with Michael Trenchard and Matilda his wife, granted lands in Alphington to William and John Trenchard, it was with the proviso that, in default of heirs male, the lands would descend to the heirs of Sapiencia and Matilda, which would indicate that the women where sisters and co-heirs of their father, The Trenchard family appears in Devon at around this period and obtained a grant of land near present day Lewtrenchard. A Richard de Cockworth witnessed a deed before 1243 at Lifton about 4 miles away and this supports the general thesis. John and Sapiencia (which means wisdom) had several children; John who married Alice Walrond of Bradfield and died childless within his father’s lifetime, Juliana who married a member of the Lamprey family, holders of the Fenacre estate, and produced Juliana Lamprey Abbess of Canonsleigh from 1345 and Simon Ayshford the eventual heir. In 1282 an agreement was made by the Ayshfords that a priest from Canonsleigh would do duty at Ayshford chapel in return for stated fees paid to the priory. This is the first mention of the chapel which stands, a little forlorn, in a field next to Ayshford Court.
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