Bremridge is a historic estate within the former hundred of South Molton in Devon, England. It is now within the parish of Filleigh but was formerly in that of South Molton. It is situated 8 miles north-west of South Molton. Since the construction of the nearby A361 North Devon Link Road direct access has been cut off from Bremridge to Filleigh and South Molton. The surviving wing of the mansion house built in 1654 is a Grade II* listed building. Bremridge Wood is the site of an Iron Age enclosure or hill fort, the earthwork of which is situated on a hillside forming a promontory above the River Bray. In Bremridge Wood survives a disused tunnel of the former Great Western Railway line between South Molton and Barnstaple, much of the course of which has been used for the A361. The tunnel is 319 yards long and was identified as "Bremridge Tunnel" in the 1889 Ordnance Survey map but as "Castle Hill Tunnel" in subsequent editions.
Descent of the manor Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxon holder of the estate of Bremridge immediately before 1066, as recorded by the Domesday Book, was a certain Edmer, who also held, amongst others,Thorne & Thorne, part 2, list of names under Edmer the nearby estate of Alre, i.e. South Aller,Thorne & Thorne, 3,56-57; to be distinguished from another Alre, i.e. the adjoining estate of North Aller (Thorne, 42,12), one of the many manors recorded in Domesday Book as held by Odo FitzGamelin, 1st feudal baron of Great Torrington, and before 1066 by Godiva one mile south of Bremridge, also later referred to as Aure and Sudaure. Concerning the etymology of Bremridge, Risdon (d.1640) (who called it Bromridge) stated: "lands subject to brambles and briers so the name importeth".Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p. 307
Norman
In the Domesday Book of 1086 BREMERIGE is listed as the 56th of the 99 Devonshire landholdings of Geoffrey de Montbray (d.1093), Bishop of Coutances, and was one of the 73 holdings he sub-infeudated to Drogo son of Mauger, his chief sub-tenant in Devon.Thorn & Thorn, 3,56; Exchequer Domesday Book identifies him simply as "Drogo" whilst Exon Domesday identifies him as "son of Mauger", see Thorne part 2 (notes), 3,9 Mauger his father was probably Mauger of Carteret who is listed in the Domesday Book as a tenant of Robert, Count of Mortain (d.1090) at his Devonshire manor of Donningstone in the parish of Clayhanger, Devon,Thorne & Thorne, 15,57 and was also a tenant of several of the Count's manors in Somerset.Thorne & Thorne, part 2: 3,9; 3,70; 15,57 The ancient manor of Carteret is on the west coast of Normandy, Manche,Thorne & Thorne, 15,57 immediately to the east of the Channel Islands. The (expanded) text of the Domesday Book entry is as follows: (Bremridge. Edmer held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. It paid tax for half a hide. There is land for six ploughs. In demesne there are 2 ploughs with one servant. 3 villagers and 3 smallholders with one plough. there (are) 15 acres of woodland, 30 acres of pasture. (Value) formerly 10 shillings, now 20 shillings.)
The Exon Domesday contains:
translated as: The bishop of Coutances has 1 estate which is called Bremeridge, which Eadmær held on the day that King Eadweard was alive and dead, and it paid geld for half a hide. 6 ploughs can plough this. Drew holds this from the bishop. Of it Drew has 1 virgate and 2 ploughs in demesne and the villans 1 virgate and 1 plough. There Drew has 3 villans and 3 bordars and 1 slave and 5 beasts and 10 pigs and 60 sheep and 22 goats and 15 acres of woodland and 30 acres of grazing-land. This is worth 20 shillings and, when the bishop received it, it was worth 10 shillings.
Feudal barony of Barnstaple Bremridge was a constituent manor of the large feudal barony of Barnstaple, whose first Norman lord was Geoffrey de Montbray (d.1093), Bishop of Coutances.Sanders, p. 104 Thus the descent of Bremridge followed the descent of the barony. At some time before his death in 1100 King William II re-granted the barony of Barnstaple to Juhel de Totnes (died 1123/30), formerly feudal baron of Totnes.Sanders, p. 104 Juhel's son and heir was Alfred de Totnes, who died sine prole some time before 1139, leaving two sisters as his co-heiresses each to a moiety of the barony: Aenor and a sister whose name is unknown,Sanders, p. 104 wife of Henry de Tracy (died pre-1165).
de Tracy The Totnes sister of unknown name married Henry de Tracy (died pre-1165), to whom approximately half of the constituent manors of the barony, including Bremridge, were allocated as his wife's inheritance. Henry left a son and heir Oliver I de Tracy (died c. 1184), who in 1165 was charged scutage on 25 knight's fees for his moiety. In the Cartae Baronum of 1166 he declared 23 1/3 and in 1168 30 1/2 knights' fees. Oliver I left a son and heir Oliver II (died 1210), who left as his heir Henry de Tracy (died 1274), who also inherited in 1213 the other moiety of the barony.Sanders, p. 104 The Book of Fees (compiled circa 1198-1292) lists Bremelrig and Sudaure (Bremridge and South Aller) as held by "Oliver de Tracy".Thorne & Thorne, part 2, 3,56
de Tracy confirmation An undated confirmation deed relating to Bremelrigge sealed by Henry de Tracy survives as the oldest of the mediaeval deeds amongst the Cruwys Papers at Cruwys Morchard House.Cruwys, Margaret, The Cruwys Morchard Notebook 1066-1874, James Townsend and Sons, Exeter and London, 1939, pp. 9–10, with photograph and transcription It was dated by Dr. OliverProbably G. Oliver, author of Ecclesiastical Antiquities in Devon, 3 Vols., Exeter, 1840-2 as tempore King Richard I (1089-1099), but by more modern authorities as circa 1220. The text (translated) is as follows: Know ye present and future that I, Henry de Tracy, have given and granted and by this present charter have confirmed to Oliver de Tracy, for his homage and service, all the land of Bremelrigge and the service of Aure which belongs to the said land, with all its appurtenances, to have and to hold to himself and his heirs or to whomsoever he shall have wished to give or assign it, from me and my heirs, for ever freely, quietly, peacefully, wholly, doing for it royal service as much as pertains to the fee of one knight for all service and demand, to me and my heirs, he and his heirs or assigns. And I, the aforesaid Henry, and my heirs, are bound to warrant the title of the said land of Bremelrigge with the service of Aure and with all its appurtenances to the said Oliver and his heirs or their assigns against all men for ever. And that this my grant, gift and confirmation by charter may remain stable and unbroken for ever I have strengthened the present charter with the impression of my seal. Witnesses: Hugh Peverel; Willm de Widewich; Richard de Cruwes; Philip de Bello Monte; Nicholas de Filelaya; Hugh de Chaggkeford; Willm Coffin; Alexander de Cruwes; Henry de Bello Monte; Ralph de Widewich; Thomas le Brutun; Gregory de Stoke, clerk; and many others.
Amongst the witnesses were members of the Cruwys family, which still survives today in residence at its ancient seat of Cruwys Morchard, anciently held as tenants of the de Tracey family;Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p. 59 members of the Beaumont family (Latinised to Bello Monte) of Youlston in the parish of Shirwell, great landowners, a member of the de Filleigh family lord of the manor of Filleigh, in which parish is now situated Bremridge; and Hugh de Chagford, of Chagford,Risdon, p. 126 re Chagford: "In king Henry the third's time (i.e. 1216-1272) Hugh de Chegford, knight, held it" Dartmoor. Also William Coffin of Portledge, lord of the manor of Alwington, which family survived there in the male line until 1766.Richard Coffin (d.1766) was the last in the male line. Portledge then passed via a female line to the Bennett-Coffin and then Pine-Coffin family, which held it until the late 20th century
FitzMartin The eventual heiress of the barony was Maud de Brian, granddaughter of Henry de Tracy (died 1274), who married Nicholas FitzMartin (d.1260), feudal baron of Blagdon in Somerset. Maud's son was William I FitzMartin (died 1324) whose son and heir William II FitzMartin died sine prole in 1326. The 1326 Inquisition post mortem of William II FitzMartin (died 1326) lists his fees pertaining to the Barony of Barnstaple, comprising 88 estates, including Bremelrugg and South Alre (Bremridge & South Aller), forming one knight's fee and tenanted by John Tracy.Watkin, Hugh R., History of Totnes Priory & Medieval Town, Torquay, 1917, pp. 1068–1071
Cobleigh Margaret Cobleigh (died 1547) of Brightley, Chittlehampton, died seized of the manors of Brightley, Stowford, Snape, Wollacombe Tracy, Bremridge and Nymet St. George.Per her Inquisition post mortem Margaret was the only child and sole heiress of John Coblegh (d.1542) of Brightley by his wife Joan Fortescue, whose small monumental brasses survives in Chittlehampton Church. Joan (or Jane) Fortescue was a daughter of William Fortescue (d.1520), 2nd son of John Fortescue,Stated in the Visitations of Devon to have been MP for Totnes, Tavistock and Plympton; However the History of Parliament biography of his 1st Cousin Sir John Fortescue, Lord Chief Justice, of Ebrington, states the latter to have been MP for those places, thus confusion exists between the 2 sources of Whympston, Modbury,Vivian, Visitations of Devon, p. 357, pedigree of Fortescue; Joan's brother Henry Fortescue founded the Fortescue family of Preston, Devon which John Fortescue was 1st cousin of Sir John Fortescue (c. 1394–c. 1480), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and ancestor of Earl Fortescue of Filleigh. Margaret Cobleigh married Sir Roger Giffard (d.1547) and thus Brightley, together with other estates including Tapeley in the parish of Westleigh,Risdon, Tristram, Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p. 284 passed to the Giffard family.
Dodderidge John Dodderidge (1555–1628)
At some time the estate of Bremridge became the inheritance of Sir John Doddridge (Doderidge or Dodderidge, etc.) (1555–1628), Justice of the King's Bench in 1612 and Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1589 and for Horsham in 1604.Fuidge, N.M., biography of John Dodderidge, published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1558–1603, ed. P. W. Hasler, 1981 The Dodderidge family had long been prominent merchants in nearby South Molton and later in Barnstaple.