The lord of the manor of Swimbridge in Devon, England, until the 20th century was the Duke of Bedford, of Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire and of Endsleigh Cottage in Devon, whose ancestor John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (c.1485–1555) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Devon by King Henry VIII and obtained large grants of land in that county following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Thus there is no manor house in Swimbridge as the lord was non-resident. The location of the court house where manorial business was transacted may have been Ernesborough.Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.323

Dennington

Dennington (modern spelling) was a seat of the Chichester family, a branch of that family seated originally at Raleigh, Pilton, with a later major branch at Hall, Bishop's Tawton. (Not to be confused with nearby Dinnaton Barton, Swimbridge, 3/4 mile to S-E, a 19th-century model farm built in 1853 by the 7th Duke of Bedford). The notable mural monument to Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670) survives in Swimbridge Church, on the east wall of the North Aisle Chapel, inscribed: Carolus filius Johannis Cutcliffe ar(migeri) e Dammage et Elianorae Chichester e Dinnyton huius parochiae caelestis anima nunquam habitavit pulchriore domicilio narcet ganymed fictiunculae solus hic noster flos et deliciae juventutis ostendit vis divina quid potuit et volvit tace. (Added later at bottom:) Christian his sister wife of Henry Chichester of Stowford, Gent., was buried ye 14 of June 1721 aged 51.

Which may be translated thus: "Charles, son of John Cutcliffe, Esquire, of Damage, and of Elianor Chichester of Dennington of this parish. Never a heavenly soul inhabited a more beautiful home, this our flower and darling of youth, only Narcissus and Ganymede of trifling tales. Divine power showed what it was able and rolled. Be silent."

Charles Cutcliffe was buried at Swimbridge on 17 November 1670.Vivian, p.265 He was the eldest son of John Cutcliffe (1632–1696), of Damage in the parish of Mortehoe near Ilfracombe, buried at Ilfracombe, by his wife Eleanor Chichester (1629–1681), daughter of Tristram Chichester of Hearsdon, in the parish of Swimbridge, and co-heiress of her brother Tristram Chichester, whose monument with sculpted bust survives in Swimbridge Church. Her large mural monument survives in Holy Trinity Church, Ilfracombe.See image :File:Monument ElionorCutcliffe Died1681 IlfracombeChurch.xcf. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.264-5, pedigree of "Cutcliffe of Damage; p.184, pedigree of "Chichester of Hearsdon" Monuments of two of Eleanor's children survive in Swimbridge Church: Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670), and his sister Christiana Cutcliffe (d.1721), wife of Henry Chichester of Stowford in the parish of Swimbridge.

Hoskins (1954) remarked "Notice the monument to Charles son of John Cutcliffe of Damage (1670), surmounted by a beautiful oval portrait in oils which has been attributed to Lely but is more probably the work of James Gandy (1619–89), a pupil of Vandyke".Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.483

Dennington House was later the residence of Richard Incledon-Bury (1757–1825), heir of Vice-Admiral Thomas Bury, Royal Navy, lord of the manor of Colleton, Chulmleigh in Devon,Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.499, pedigree of Incledon and third son of Chichester Incledon (1715–1771) of Barnstaple, a junior branch of the ancient gentry family of Incledon of Incledon, later of Buckland House, both in the parish of Braunton, Devon.Vivian, pp.497–8, pedigree of Incledon of Buckland As required under the terms of his inheritance, he assumed the surname of Bury. He married his second cousin Jane Chichester, second daughter of Charles Chichester of Hall, Bishop's Tawton.Vivian, p.499 His daughter and heiress Penelope Incledon-Bury, in 1836 at Swimbridge, married the famous fox-hunting Parson Jack Russell (1795–1883), Rector of Black Torrington and Vicar of Swimbridge, who invented the Jack Russell Terrier. Russell lived both at Dennington and at Tordown House, also within the parish. From 1985 to the present (2018) Dennington House has been used as a residential rehabilitation centre supporting men with recovery from alcohol addiction, trading as "Francis House", part of Assisi Community Care.

Stowford Stowford is the traditional birthplace of Saint Hieritha,Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, pp.323–4 an Anglo-Saxon Christian lady martyred at nearby Chittlehampton in the 8th century.Hoskins, p.483 Many centuries later it was a seat of the Chichester family. Surviving in Swimbridge Church is a monument to Christiana Cutcliffe (d.1721), wife of Henry Chichester (d.1730) of Stowford, a daughter of John Cutcliffe (1632–1696) of Damage in the parish of Mortehoe near Ilfracombe, Devon, by his wife Eleanor Chichester (1629–31 March 1681), a daughter of Tristram Chichester of Hearsdon, Swimbridge, and co-heiress of her brother Tristram Chichester (1624–1654), whose monument is in Swimbridge Church. Eleanor's large mural monument survives in Holy Trinity Church, Ilfracombe.see image :File:Monument ElionorCutcliffe Died1681 IlfracombeChurch.xcf Also surviving in Ilfracombe Church is the monument to John Cutcliffe's parents, namely Charles Cutcliffe (1577 – Oct 1637) of Damage and Grace Chichester (d.Nov.1637), a daughter of John Chichester of Hall, Bishop's Tawton, about 2 miles west of Stowford.

Hearsdon

Hearsdon, within the parish of Swimbridge, was anciently a "mansion" and a seat of the Chichester family. A mural monument survives in St James' Church, Swimbridge, to Tristram Chichester (1624–1654) of Hearsdon.Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.184 "Chichester of Hearsdon" He was the second sonA crescent for the difference of a second son appears on his monument of Tristram Chichester (1595–1672dates per tudorplace.com) (the son of Tristram ChichesterVivian, p.184 (1568–1642) of Hearsdon by his wife Christiana Handford (d.1651) of "Dynnington" in the parish of Swimbridge) by his wife Eleanor (of family unknown) (1603–1647), and was descended from the prominent Chichester family of Hall in the adjoining parish of Bishop's Tawton, itself a junior branch of Chichester of Raleigh, Pilton, near Barnstaple. He married a wife unknownidentifiable by her as yet unidentified heraldry on the monument by whom he had four daughters, mentioned in his will but not by name. The monument displays at the bottom the arms of Chichester (with crescent for difference of a second son), impaling the arms of his wife (Sable, a fess vair) and the two arms again on separate shields. Partly behind his head on a smaller shield appear the arms of Chichester impaling: Paly of six argent and gules, on a chief of the second three mascles conjoined in fess of the first (unknown familyProbably representing his parents' marriage).

The top inscription is as follows: "Tristram the sonn of Tristram Chichester of this parish, Gent., was here interred the 30th day of March 1654 aetatis suae 30" (i.e. "of his age 30")

The central panel contains the following verse under the line Defunctus ad viatorem ("Dead man to traveller"):

He has long hair and wears the dress of a puritan of the Commonwealth period. His right elbow rests on a skull, a vanitas reference. Pevsner described this monument as "frontal demi-figure, cheek in hand, in an oval niche; deplorably bad".Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.772 The artistically acclaimed monument to his nephew Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670), survives in the North Aisle Chapel (see under Dennington). The large and elaborate monument to his sister Eleanor Chichester (1629–1681) (mother of Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670)) survives in Ilfracombe Church.

Ernsborough

Ernsborough is an ancient Saxon estate within the parish of Swimbridge occupied in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Mules family, descended from Baron Moels of North Cadbury in Somerset.

Bydown

The estate of Bydown, within the parish of Swimbridge, was in ancient times owned by the Mayne and Chichester families.Kelly's Directory of Devon (1902) The surviving Bydown House is a grade II* listed country house built by the Nott family in 1798 as the surviving datestone states,Pevsner publishes the datestone with transposition error as "1789" and for unstated reason suggests it to have been "obviously reset" or between 1820–30 as Pevsner suggests.Note similarity of west front to Canonteign House, Christow, built 1828 It was described by Pevsner as "a trim neo-Grecian mansion in a small park with two immaculate white stucco fronts".Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.240 Between the lower storey windows is a small inscribed tablet inscribed "1759, J Nott", with the arms of Nott, reset on the new house.Listed building text It remained in the ownership of the Nott family until about 1925.Pevsner

Nott

The Nott family was previously resident at Torrdown within the parish, as mentioned in an announcement in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post 19 October 1809: "To be Let for the Term of 14 years, from Lady-day next, a Dwelling-House, with suitable outhouses, and about 140 acres of exceeding good arable meadow, pasture, and orchard land, parts and parcels of all those messuages and tenements, called Torrdown, situate and lying in the parish of Swimbridge, in the county of Devon, lately occupied by James Nott, Esq. deceased. These premises have been for a long period in the possession of the proprietors." In 1902 the owner of Tordown was Frederick Richard Harding-Nott, Esq. The Notts also owned West Cobbaton, in Swimbridge, formerly owned by the Bury family, and from the 16th century were substantial yeomen in the parish. in 1523 a certain John Nott was a party to a conveyance of land within the parish of Swimbridge. Cobbaton passed on the marriage Mary Nott to her husband William Thorne, and her Thorne descendants held it until after 1902. After the building of Bydown House Trewman's dated 27 November 1834 announced the death of "Mr John Nott at Denniton in the parish of Swimbridge, aged 69".

John Nott (1769–1808)

John Nott (1769–1808) (son of James Nott (1726–1790)Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.1699, pedigree of Pyke-Nott late of Bydown by his wife Emma Mules, a daughter of John Mules (a distant descendant of Baron Moels of North Cadbury, Somerset) of Ernesborough, Swimbridge) "of Bydown",BLG, 1937 married Susannah Norris, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Norris of South Molton. From his wife he inherited properties in Witheridge, Thelbridge, South Molton and Brendon. His elder brother, who died unmarried, was James Nott (d.1809) of Tordown, a Captain in the North Devon Yeomanry and lay rector of Swimbridge. His son and heir was John Nott (1805–1856), of Bydown, who died childless.

John Nott (1805–1856)