Bableigh, Parkham

The present Bableigh Farm, in the parish of Parkham, Devon, near the site of the demolished former mansion house occupied by the Risdon family from the 12th - 18th centuries

Bableigh (pronounced Babe-leigh) is an historic estate in the parish of Parkham in North Devon, England. It is separated from the village of Parkham by the Bableigh Brook. It was the earliest recorded seat of the Risdon family in Devonshire, from which was descended the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640).

Descent

de Oilgi

The holder of bableigh during the reign of King William the Conqueror 91066-10870 was Robert de Oilgi.^[1]

Risdon

Arms of Risdon of Bableigh and Winscott: Argent, three bird-bolts sable^[2]

According to Tristram Risdon (d.1640) himself, in his work The Survey of Devon, the Risdon family originated in Gloucestershire, where during the reign of King Richard I (1189-1199) they were lords of the manor of Risdon.^[3] The Risdon family is first recorded at Bableigh in 1274,^[4] and a member of this family, apparently Giles I Risdon (1494-1583), built the north aisle of Parkham Church (in which are situated several monuments to the Risdon family, now very worn and illegible) and also Veybridge (alias Heybridge^[5]) over the River Torridge.^[6] The descent of Bableigh in the Risdon family was as follows:^[7]

13th century

• Robert Risdon, held Bableigh in 1274^[8]

15th century and subsequent

• Thomas I Risdon (15th century^[9]), the first member of the family recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon.^[10]
• Gefferie Risdon (son and heir)^[11]
• Richard Risdon (son) who married Matilda Braye, daughter of John Braye.^[12]
• John Risdon (d.1518) (son)^[13]
• Giles I Risdon (1494-1583) (son and heir), whose monument survives in Parkham Church,^[14] with inscription worn away. He built the north aisle of Parkham Church, in which is situated his monument, and also Veybridge (alias Heybridge^[15]) over the River Torridge.^[16] He married twice:
  • Firstly to Elizabeth Bremelcombe (d.1549), daughter and heiress of Thomas Bremelcombe of Honichurch, Devon. By his first wife he had progeny two daughters and seven sons including:
    • Thomas Risdon (d.1586), his eldest son and heir to Bableigh,
    • Ambrose Risdon (d.1604) (2nd son), who founded his own branch of the Risdon family in the parish of Buckland Brewer,^[17] adjacent to Parkham.
    • William Risdon (d.1622), of Winscott, St Giles in the Wood, father of the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640). William married Joanna Pollard a daughter of George Pollard of Langley, Yarnscombe by his wife Thomazine Coplestone, a daughter of John III Copleston (1475-1550) "The Great Copleston"^[18] of Copleston, Devon.^[19] Joanna's younger brother Pollard, or another close relation,^[20] of unknown first name, was Gentleman Usher to Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and to her successor King James I (1603-1625) and married a sister of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1527-1608) ("Bess of Hardwick").^[21][22] Pollard's daughters by this marriage were Maids of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I.^[23]
    • Edward Risdon (born 1541) who was a Jesuit priest, a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and one of the founders of the College of Douai^[24] in France, established in about 1561 for Catholic exiles from Protestant England.
    • John Risdon (1544-1628), rector of Parkham.^[25]
  • Secondly in 1649/50 he married to Phillipa, of unrecorded family, widow of Mountjoy, by whom he had further progeny.^[26]
• Thomas II Risdon (d.1586) (eldest son and heir), a Justice of the Peace for Devon, a lawyer who was double Reader of the Inner Temple. He died along with several other Justices of the Peace and members of the Devon Gentry at the Black Assize of Exeter 1586, having contracted gaol fever.^[27] He married Willmot Giffard (d.1617), a daughter of his neighbour Thomas III Giffard (d.1550)^[28] of Halsbury, in the parish of Parkham, by his wife Margaret Monck, a daughter of Anthony Monck (d.1545)^[29] of Potheridge in Devon, great-great-grandfather of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670). He had five daughters and two sons, the younger of whom was Thomas Risdon (d.1641), of Sandwell, in the parish of Harberton, near Totnes, Devon, Reader of the Inner Temple,^[30] one of the Worthies of Devon of John Prince (1643–1723).^[31] His monument survives at Harberton Church, Devon.^[32] He made his fortune in the Law and purchased the estate of Sandwell. As he died without progeny he made his great-nephew^[33] Thomas Risdon (d.1667) his heir, the son of Francis Risdon (1601-1639) of Bableigh by his 3rd wife Dorothy Bluett. A monument survives in Harberton Church in memory of Dorothy Bluett erected by her son Thomas Risdon (d.1667) of Sandwell.^[34]
• Giles II Risdon (1565-1632) (eldest son and heir), who married Elizabeth Viell, a daughter and co-heiress of William Viell (d.1598) of Trevorder in Cornwall,^[35] and of Vielston in the parish of Buckland Brewer,^[36] adjacent to Parkham, in Devon. He had three daughters and three sons.
• Francis Risdon (1601-1639) (eldest son and heir), who married thrice:
  • Firstly to Frances Hill, without progeny;
  • Secondly in 1630 to Frances Greene (d.1631) of Harberton, Devon, by whom he had a son and heir Giles Risdon (1632-1679).
  • Thirdly to Dorothy Bluett (1612-1654), youngest daughter of Arthur Bluett (1573-1612) of Holcombe Rogus, Devon,^[37] and widow of Giles Poyntz, a relative of her step-father Philip Poyntz (d.1645).^[38] Her monument survives at Harberton Church, Devon.^[39] By Dorothy Bluett Risdon had two children including a son Thomas Risdon (d.1667) of Harberton, whose monument survives at Harberton Church, Devon.^[40]
• Giles III Risdon (1632-1679) (son and heir by father's 2nd wife), who married Grace Hill (d.1677), whose monument survives at Harberton Church,^[41] by whom he had progeny 5 daughters and 7 sons.
• Giles IV Risdon (d.1697) (eldest son and heir). He married thrice:
  • Firstly in 1677 to Katherine Coffin (1654-1682), 3rd daughter of Richard Coffin (d.1700) of nearby Portledge, in the parish of Alwington, Sheriff of Devon in 1683,^[42] of a very ancient Devon family. Without progeny.
  • Secondly in 1684 to Jane Carter (d.1685), a daughter and co-heiress of John Carter of St Columb Major in Cornwall, by whom he had a daughter Jane Risdon (born 1685).^[43]
  • Thirdly to Anne Darrell, daughter of Thomas darrell of Trewornan, Cornwall, who survived him and remarried to John Carveth.^[44] By Anne Darrell he had progeny 3 daughters and a son and heir Giles Risdon (1689-1748).
• Giles V Risdon (1689-1748) (son and heir by father's 3rd marriage), who in 1729 married Anne Bruton (d.1752), and had progeny a daughter Elizabeth Risdon and a son and heir Giles Risdon (born 1732).^[45]
• Giles VI Risdon (born 1732) (son and heir), who married a certain Frances, who survived him.^[46]

Sources

• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 648–50, pedigree of Risdon of Bableigh
• Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, pp. 702–5, biography of Risdon, Thomas, Bencher of the Inner Temple.

References

1. Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.243
2. Per the 17th-century Risdon monument and (newly restored) Chafe monument in St Giles in the Wood Church, and as given by Thomas Robson in The British Herald. However, the published edition of Risdon's own Note-book gives his arms with the tinctures reversed: Sable, three bird bolts palewise argent,(Tristram Risdon's Notebook, 1897 edition, p.41 ) as does his contemporary Devon historian Sir William Pole (Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.499)
3. Risdon, p.243
4. Risdon, p.243, regnal date 3 Edward I
5. Prince, p.702
6. Risdon, p.243
7. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.648-50, pedigree of Risdon of Bableigh
8. Risdon, p.243, regnal date 3 Edward I
9. Estimated date of life as his great-grandson died in 1518
10. Vivian, p.648
11. Vivian, p.648
12. Vivian, p.648
13. Vivian, p.648
14. Vivian, p.648, denoted by "MI"
15. Prince, p.702
16. Risdon, p.243
17. Vivian, p.649 & pedigree p.650
18. Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, p.235
19. Vivian, p.224
20. Not mentioned in Vivian, p.599, pedigree of Pollard of Langley
21. Risdon, p.314
22. Prince, p.644
23. Risdon, p.314
24. Vivian, p.649
25. Vivian, p.649
26. Vivian, p.648
27. Jenkins, Alexander, Civil and Ecclesiastical History of the City of Exeter and its Environs, 2nd edition, Exeter, 1841, p. 125
28. Vivian, p.397
29. Vivian, p.569, pedigree of Monk of Potheridge
30. Vivian, p.649
31. Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London
32. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.469; Image from Flickr ; For transcript of inscription, see Prince, p.703
33. Great-nephew per Vivian, p.649, but called "his eldest brother's son" by Prince, p.703
34. Prince, p.703
35. Vivian, p.649
36. Rogers, W. H. (1938) Buckland Brewer, reprinted 2000, Snetzler, M.F. (Ed.), Barcott, Buckland Brewer, p.14, quoting Inquisition post mortem 10 Charles I, 473 N.14
37. Vivian, p.649; p.93, pedigree of Blewett
38. History of Parliament biography of her brother John Bluett (1603-1634), MP
39. Vivian, p.649; For transcript of inscription, see Prince, p.703
40. Vivian, p.649
41. Vivian, p.649
42. Vivian, p.210, pedigree of Coffin
43. Vivian, p.649
44. Vivian, p.649
45. Vivian, p.649
46. Vivian, p.649