Knowstone

Knowstone is a village and civil parish situated in the North Devon district of Devon, England, halfway between the Mid Devon town of Tiverton, Devon and the North Devon town of South Molton. The hamlet of East Knowstone lies due east of the village. Knowstone was the birthplace of Admiral Sir John Berry (1635–1691), second son of Rev. Daniel Berry (1609–1654), vicar of Knowstone ''cum'' Molland. An elaborate mural monument erected by Sir John in 1684 to the memory of his parents survives in Molland Church.

The village lies on the route of the Two Moors Way and Celtic Way Exmoor Option.

History

Knowstone appears to have included several separate manors at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. It was within the jurisdiction of South Molton Hundred.

Historic estates

The parish of Knowstone included three notable historic estates:
*Beaple, the home of the de Beaupel family, also of Landkey.
*Shapcott, the original home of the Shapcott family;
* Wadham, Knowstone the original home of the Wadhams, who took their name from the manor, later of Edge, Branscombe Devon, and then Merryfield, Ilton Somerset, the most prominent of whom was Nicholas Wadham (1531/2– 1609), who with his wife Dorothy Wadham was the co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford.

Domesday Book

In the Domesday Book of 1086 Knowstone has four entries:
*''Chenuestan'', held by Rolf from the overlord Walter of Douai, feudal baron of Bampton, Devon and of Castle Cary, Somerset, formerly held by Algar (1/2 a hide, 7 ploughs);
*''Chenuestan'', held by Rolf from the overlord Walter of Douai, formerly held by Leofwin (3 furlongs, 4 ploughs);
*''Chenudestane'', held from the king by Algar, who held it before 1066 also, listed in the section covering the King's thanes (1 virgate, 3ploughs) This holding was thought by O.J. Reichel (1894) to represent the later named "Shapcote", but he provided no evidence for his opinion.
*''Wadeham''; A fourth separate entry exists for the apparently separate manor of Wadham, held from the king by his thane Ulf both before and after 1066 (1 virgate, 3 ploughs).

Mediaeval period

Beaple

Tristram Risdon writing in about 1630 stated that in the time of King Henry II (1154–1189) the lord of the manor of "Knowston" was Ailmer de Brett, who granted it to Richard Beaple "whose posterity made this place their dwelling, of which family were divers knights".Risdon, T., Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, p.303 In the Book of Fees it is recorded that Richard Beupel held "Cnuston" from the feudal barony whose ''caput