Dowrich (anciently Dowrish) is an historic estate in the parish of Sandford, on the River Creedy, three miles north-east of Crediton in Devon, England. Between the 12th century and 1717Hoskins, p.473 it was the seat of the ancient gentry family of Dowrish (originally de Dowrish) which took its name from the estate where it had become established before the reign of King John (1199–1216), when it built a castle keep on the site. A 15th century gatehouse survives there today, next to the ancient mansion house.Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.276
Mansion house The grade II listed mansion house, known as Dowrich House, is situated on a hill about two miles north-east of Sandford Church. It was described as follows by Polwhele (died 1838):Polwhele, Richard, History of Devonshire, Vol.2, p.38 "To enter the dwelling-house we pass through a building called the Prison, which indeed has all the appearance of one, and tradition says that it was such; for it is reported that the Dowrich family had great powers, and that it was actually a place of confinement for such offenders as were amenable to their jurisdiction. At the foot of the hill which we ascend to the house is a small brook with a bridge over it, and it is said that whatever criminal passed that bridge in his way from Dowrich House to the County Goal was sure to be hanged. Nothing remarkable is to be discovered in the house except a few very ancient family portraits and many armorial bearings of the intermarriages with some of the first families, the arms of whom are painted in the panels of the wainscoting of the drawing-room. The prospect from the house is extensive and very beautiful"."History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Devon Including the City of Exeter", p.698
Descent The estate of Dowrich formed part of the vast manor of Crediton, the lord of which both before and after the Norman Conquest of 1066 was the Bishop of Exeter,Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.78 whose earlier cathedra was the See of Crediton. Of the many separate estates granted by the early bishops within the manor of Crediton, one was recorded in the Cartae Baronum of 1166 as held as one knight's fee by William de TracyTrease, p.38 (d. post-1172), feudal baron of BradninchSanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.20 in Devon. This single estate was divided at some time into a further four, one of which was Dowrich, held as an eighth of a knight's fee by a tenant or follower of the lords of Bradninch, who took his name "de Dowrich" from his estate.Hoskins, p.78 Dowrich continued to be held from the feudal barony of Bradninch until 1352 and possibly later.
Dowrish
The descent of the estate in the Dowrish family, called by Prince (died 1723) "A very ancient and gentile family",Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, p.103 was as follows, as recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon:Vivian, p.289
12th to 14th centuries .... Dowrish, a man whose first name is not recorded, who built a castle keep on the site during the reign of King John (1199–1216). Walter Dowrish, son. Nicholas Dowrish (fl. 1256), son. William Dowrish, son, who held Dowrish in 1302 as 1/8 of a knight's fee. Thomas Dowrish (fl.1315), son, who married Elinora de Helion, a daughter and co-heiress of Robert de Helion, who obtained as her share of the paternal inheritance the manor of Upton Helion, near Crediton. William Dowrish (fl.1327), son. John Dowrish (fl.1335), son. William Dowrish (fl.1340), son. Thomas Dowrish (fl.1366), son. Thomas Dowrish (fl.1389), son.
Richard Dowrish (fl.1413) Richard Dowrish (fl.1413), son of Thomas Dowrish (fl.1389). A chantry in Crediton Church was established by nine men resident near Crediton which provided an endowment to the Canons of Crediton to find a priest to sing daily mass for the soul of Sir John Sully (c.1283 – c.1388), KG, of Ruxford in the parish of Sandford, near Crediton and of Iddesleigh in Devonshire. One of these contributors was recorded in 1408 as Richard Dowrich.Maddock, Michael P. St J., The Manor of Combe Lancey, Sandford, Crediton, Devon: A history of the 12th Century Norman Manor and the people associated with it through 900 years, 3 volumes, 2015, Devon Record Office, Exeter; Vol.1, Domesday to Hamlyn, p.44
Thomas Dowrish (fl.1439) Thomas Dowrish (fl.1439), son.
Thomas Dowrish (died 1464/79) Thomas Dowrish (died 1464/79), son, Recorder of Exeter from 1468 to 1479, who married Alice Fulford, whose father is not recorded in the pedigree of Fulford of Fulford in Devon,Vivian, p.378 into which family her son certainly married. In 1470 he complimented King Edward IV (1461–1483) in a speech after that king had entered the City of Exeter in pursuit of the Duke of Clarence.
Richard Dowrish (fl.1483) Richard Dowrish (fl.1483), son, who married twice, firstly to a member of the Catsby family, secondly to Joan Fulford (died 1512), a daughter of Sir Thomas Fulford (died 1489) of Fulford in Devon, by his wife Phillipa Courtenay, a daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay (died 1463) of Powderham (by his wife Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (died 1449), KG). His daughter Katherine Dowrish, by his second wife, married John Sneddall and received from her father as her marriage portion the manor of Upton Helion.
Thomas Dowrish (died 1552) Thomas Dowrish (died 1552), son by father's first marriage, who married Elizabeth Taverner, daughter of Sir John Taverner of Oxfordshire.
Thomas Dowrish (1522–1590) Thomas Dowrish (1522–1590), eldest son and heir, who married Anne Farringdon, daughter of Charles FarringdonVivian, pp.721,292,340 lord of the manor of Farringdon, near Clyst St Mary, Devon, by his wife Margery Stukeley, daughter of Sir Thomas Stukeley (1473–1542) lord of the Affeton, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1521.Vivian, p.721 His children included: Walter Dowrish, eldest son and heir, see below. Rev. Hugh Dowrish, second son, Rector of Lapford and Honiton, whose wife was Anne EdgecombeVivian, p.290 (born before 1560–1596) a poet and historian, a daughter of Sir Richard Edgecombe of Mount Edgcumbe in Cornwall. A small painted heraldic escutcheon representing this marriage survives, among other similar ones, on the wooden cornice in the hallListed building text of Dowrich House, and shows the arms of Dowrich (Argent, a bend cotised sable a bordure engrailed of the lastPole, Sir William (died 1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.480) impaling Edgcumbe (Gules, on a bend ermine cottised or three boar's heads couped argent).See image Elizabeth Dowrish (died 1587),Vivian, pp.581, 290 the wife of John Northcote (died 1587) of Crediton and mother of John Northcote (1570–1632) of Uton and Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton, lord of the manor of Newton St Cyres, whose splendid life-size standing effigy and monument survives in Newton St Cyres Church. Either he or his identically named son (Sir John Northcote, 1st Baronet (1599–1676), ancestor of the Earls of Iddesleigh) was Sheriff of Devon in 1626.
Walter Dowrish
Walter Dowrish, eldest son and heir, who married Mary Carew (1550–1604), daughter of Dr. George Carew, Dean of Windsor, third son of Sir Edmund Carew, Baron Carew, of Mohuns Ottery in the parish of Luppitt, Devon, by his wife Catharine Huddesfield, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Huddesfield (died 1499) of Shillingford St George in Devon, Attorney General for England and Wales to Kings Edward IV (1461–1483)Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.246 and Henry VII (1485–1509).Vivian, p.135 Mary's younger brother was George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes (1555–1629)and her elder brother was Sir Peter Carew (died 1580), who was killed in Ireland. The extravagant monument dated 1589 with effigy of Sir Peter Carew (died 1581) and of his uncle Sir Gawen Carew (died 1585) in Exeter Cathedral includes the following inscription on three sides of the cornice: "Walter Dowrich of Dowrich Esq., married the only sister of this Sir Peter Carew, Knyght, under figured, elder brother to the Lord Carew of Clopton which Sir Peter Carew, Knyght, was slayne in Ireland".Jenkins, Alexander, "Civil and Ecclesiastical History of the City of Exeter", 2nd Edition, Exeter, 1841, p.301 (mutilated condition in 1841, now restored, restored text added) By his wife he had one son and three daughters as follows: Thomas Dowrish (1568–1628), only son and heir, who married Katherine Stukely, eldest daughter of John Stukely (1551–1611), lord of the Affeton, Devon. (see below) Dorothy Dowrish, the wife of Thomas Peyton, Customer of Plymouth, the second son of Thomas Peyton of St Edmundsbury in Suffolk (a junior member of the ancient Peyton family of Peyton Hall, Boxford, Suffolk, descended from Thomas Peyton (1418–1484),See image, stained glass, Long Melford Church twice Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire (1443 & 1453) who rebuilt the church of St Andrew's in Isleham, in the chancel of which survives his monumental brass)Burke, John, History of Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, 1838, p.409, Peyton by his wife Lady Cecilia Bourchier, a daughter of John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath (1499–1561) of Tawstock in Devon. Thomas Peyton's elder brother was Sir Henry Peyton who married Lady Mary Seymour, a daughter of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, KG, (c. 1500 – 1552) Lord Protector of England from 1547 until 1549 during the minority of his nephew, King Edward VI (1547–1553) and the eldest brother of Queen Jane Seymour (died 1537), the third wife of King Henry VIII.Burke, John, History of Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, 1838, p.409] Elizabeth Dowrish, wife of George Trobridge (1564–1631)Vivian, p.738, pedigree of Trobridge of Trobridge, near Crediton.Pole, p.227