HELYAR DOCUMENTS AND MUNIMENTS FROM COKER COURT.

The present catalogue contains short English abstracts of the early Latin and Norman-French charters and the later miscellaneous muniments of the family of Helyar of Coker Court. They relate to lands held at various times by the family, situated in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Southampton and Wilts. All are not, of course, Helyar Deeds, but when the various lands were acquired by successive member of the family, in most cases care was taken that all the title-deeds relating thereto were transferred with the property.

Thus, for instance, although Coker was not acquired till the year 1617, charters relating to Coker are found as early as the thirteenth century. The earliest indeed is a Confirmation by Geoffrey de Mandeville of a charter of his father Robert de Mandeville of a virgate of land in Estcocre. There are also (a) a copy of a Bailiff's Accounts-Roll of West Coker Manor dated in 1309, (b) a copy of an Extent of East Coker Manor taken in 1321 and (c) a Court Roll of the same Manor in 1392-3. The descent of the Manor as shown by the present collection of deeds is as follows :-

The Mandeville, 13th Century.

The Courtenays, of Powderham, temp. Hen VII - Eliz.

The Dillons, of Chymwell, 1591 - 1610.

Sir Edward and Sir Robt. Phelipps of Montacute 1610-1617.

The Helyars, 1617 to present time.

The Deeds of Sale of the Manor etc., from Sir.R.Phelipps to William Helyar, Archdeacon of Barnstaple, in 1617 and the Acquittance for the purchase money have been framed and hang in the Hall at Coker

Court.

The pedigree of Helyar is well authenticated from William Helyar the Archdeacon who died in 1645 "aged about 90". Authorities give as the Archdeacon's parents (cf. 1110b) William Helyar of St Budeaux and Alice Veel, married on tenth of January 1555, though that statement does not quite agree with the entry of the Archdeacon's matriculation at Oxford viz. "Hart Hall, 1571, aged 18". The same paper (1110b) also gives an earlier member of the family, "Richard Helyar, Archdeacon of Cornwall, 3 Aug, 1442, Archdeacon of Barnstaple 20 Feb. 1445, died Dec. 15 1446 and buried in Exeter Cathedral", between whom and William Helyar the later Archdeacon it will be seen there is a gap of a hundred years. In some pedigrees also it is suggested that William Helyar M.P. for Melcombe Regis in the time of Richard II and Henry IV is an ancester.

William, the Archdeacon, held many ecclesiastical appointments. In 1577 he was Vicar of Bickleigh and chaplain to Lord Mountjoy. in 1582 Rector of Dunchideok, in 1588 of Charlton near Exeter, in 1596 Canon of Exeter, Vicar of Heavitree in 1602, Archdeacon of Barnstaple and Rector of North Tawton from 1610 till his death. In 1632 he had a dispensation to be absent from his two livings of N.Tawton and Charlton for three years "on account of old age and infirmity" on his making suitable provision for supply of competent curates (132).

He was also chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. This may have been due to his connection, by his marriage with Mary, daughter of William Cary of Cockington or Lidford, with Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon, Lord Chancellor of the Household to Qu. Elizabeth. Now Lord Hunsdon was first cousin to the Queen, for his father, another William Cary (first cousin to Mary Cary's father) had married Mary Boleyn Sister to Ann Boleyn, 2nd wife of Henry VIII, and so the Archdeacon was a cousin by marriage to Queen Elizabeth.

A Royalist, of course, in the Civil War, he was forced in January and April 1643 to "lend unto the Parliament" two several sums of £800 and £200, in consideration of which an order of protection, signed by Lord Stamford the Parliamentarian General, was granted to him (133).

In 1617 he purchased the manor of East Coker from Sir Robert Phelipps of Montacute (733,744) and died in 1645. Having previously in 1634, lost his eldest son Henry he was succeeded by his grandson William. The latter was Colonel of Royalist troops during the War and was in Exeter at its capture by the Parliamentary forces in 1646. He compounded as a delinquent, that is, a Traitor to the Parliament and was discharged on payment of the sum of £1,522. This we learn from a remarkable document (134) namely, a Pardon for all treasons committed since May 1642 (the outbreak of the War). This pardon takes the form of Letters Patent of Charles I bearing date 6th Nov. 1648, is sealed with the King's Seal and the testing clause is "I myself, at Westminster", but there is the additional clause "By order of Parliament". Charles was at that moment a prisoner at Hampton Court and his Great Seal, carried off to him at York by Lord Keeper Lyttleton in 1642 had been recovered by the Parliament at the surrender of Oxford in June 1646 and broken to pieces. Parliament had naturally found it awkward to issue documents of authority without a great seal, and as, while the King was alive, the usurpers could not be a properly constituted body, it was considered advisable and necessary to have a new royal seal made, the only difference being that it bore the date 1643, the original seal having no date upon it. They at the same time issued an order making void all documents sealed with the original seal from 1642.

There must, I suppose, have been other Pardons or documents of a similar character issued by Parliament during the Civil War, but I have never come across one, nor are there any, as far as I can find, in the National Collection at the British Museum.

Similarly the Manor of Lattiford in North Cheriton came into the family in 1620 through the marriage of the Archdeacon's son Henry to Christian only daughter of William Cary of Clovelly (939, 941) but the deeds concerning that place go back to 1355 when the Prior and Convent of Bustlesham, otherwise Bisham Montague, Co. Berks with the consent of their lord and founder William de Monte Acuto disposed of to the manor to John de Cammel (918-920). From the Cammels it went to John Wyke of Bindon in 1439 (930, etc.) a descendant of whom, Robert Wyke, sold it to Robert Cary of Clovelly for £93 in 1538, in whose family it remained till 1620. The above-mentioned marriage also brought some Devonshire property to the Helyars.

The earliest charter of Pendomer is dated 1373 and is of interest as it shows the genesis of the word. It is a grant by James Dummer, heir to Sir Edmund Dummer, of the reversion of the Manor of Penne Dummere and Chylton Dummer, with the advowson (948). From the Dummers it passed to the Stourtons (952, etc) and through Alice Stourton on her marriage with William son of Sir Giles Daubeny, to the latter family in 1445 (967) Henry Daubeny, Earl of Bridgewater sold it to John Bevyn who settled it on his daughter Mary Keymer in 1545-1547 (969,970). John, Lord Poulett gave £5000 to William Keymer for the manor in 1630 (972) and a later Lord Poulett sold it for more that twice that sum to William Helyar, of Coker, less than a hundred years ago (976). There is a book of neatly drawn and coloured plans (including a drawing of the church and houses adjoining) of the several farms, etc. in Pendomer, made in 1775 (977).

The largest single collection of Somersetshire Deeds next to that of Coker, relates to Bruton, and more particularly to some fulling mills there, called, after a former owner, Gaunts mills. Hugh Plomer, burgess of Bristol, acquired them in 1386 (596,etc.) and conveyed them to John Gregory in 1406 (613,614). The Westons held lands in Bruton as early as 1424 (619-621) and in 1462 Gauntsmills were conveyed by the trustees of Amice Gregory to John and Edith Weston and their heirs in tail (635,636). Sir William Weston died seised of the mills in 1594 (648) and the last Deed in this collection connecting the Westons with the mills is a lease in 1619.

As it does not appear that the Helyars ever held them, or any property in Bruton, it is probable that these 74 charters came to the Coker Muniment Room with the other Weston documents.

There are more than 200 charters relating to property in Stallbridge, Co. Dorset and its sub-manors Stallbridge Weston, Calow Weston, Newnhams, Antioch, etc. dating from the thirteenth century. These lands came into the Helyar family on the marriage of William Helyar, of East Coker (b.1720, d.1783) with Betty Weston in 1743, daughter and co-heiress of William Weston. Other heiresses who added lands to the Helyars were Joanna Hole, of South Tawton, Co Devon who married William Helyar, of Canon Teign and Coker in 1690, and Mary Goddard (a kinswoman of the Westons) who by her marriage with another William Helyar, of Coker in 1717 added to the latter family their Wiltshire property.

The catalgoue, however, tells its own story, and the index, which gives names of all persons (with the exception of a few unimportant lessees, mortgagees etc., of lands no longer in the family) and of all places mentioned should facilitate reference to particular estates and persons.

The collection is rich in personal documents, as the following list will show: - Wills, 48, Inventories, 14; Inquisitions post mortem, 8; Marriage Settlements 21; etc. There are many good specimens of Royal Seals, as well as seals of Sherborne Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey, Bishams Montagu Priory, Wells City, Yeovil Town, and private seals of arms. The following names are worthy of note :- William (382); John le Sadelhakkere, (577); Alexandra Prentyz, (577); Adam Turnpeny, (354); Henry Bisouthewode, (907); Brome and Emorb Johnson, (833 etc.); Chichelia Nywenam, (372); Geoffrey de Pupelpenne, (290, 292, 322, 387); and Gundaria de Nywenam (357). Of rent tenures, a rose at Midsummer is most frequent other notable ones being, a pair of spurs at Easter (346), a root of ginger at Easter (371), and a bushel of corn (588, 589). All the early Deeds are in Latin except a few in French, which are marked accordingly in the Catalogue.

Compiled by ISAAC HERBERT JEAYES OF WRITTLE, CHELMSFORD.

Sometime Assistant Keeper of the MSS. British Museum. Author of the Catalogue of the Muniments at Berkeley Castle, the Letters of Philip Gawdy, etc.

1912 - 1913.

1. PERSONAL DOCUMENTS.

1. Wills Inventories of goode, plate, books etc., of the families of Weston, Helyar and others. 1547 - 1872. 1 - 62.

2. Appointments, Commissions, etc. 1604 - 1804. 63 - 91.

3. Marriage Settlements and similar documents, 1656 - 1857. 92-121.

4. Letters Patent, Pardons, and General. 1587 - 1874. 122 - 157.

II. DEEDS LOCALLY ARRANGED.

1. Co. Cornwall. 1288 - 1834. 158 - 176.

2. Co. Devon. 16th - 18th Cent. 177 - 287.

3. Co. Dorset. 1289 - 1886. 288 - 570.

4. Co. Somerset temp. Hen.lll - 19th Cent. 571 - 1014.

5. Co. Southampton. 1563 - 1669. 1015.

6. Co. Wilts. 16th - 19th Cent. 1016 - 1036.

III. MISCELLANEOUS.

14th - 19th Centuries. 1037 - 1090.

IV. APPENDIX.

1. Wills, Inventories, etc., 1091 - 1120.

2. Co. Cornwall, 1121.

3. Co. Devon. 1122 - 1137.

4. Co. Dorset. 1138, 1139.

5. Co. Somerset. 1140 - 1144.

6. Co. Wilts. 1145 - 1147.

7. Miscellaneous. 1148 - 1155.

CONTENTS OF THE BOXES.

1. Nos. DD\WHh/1 - 40.

2.Nos. DD\WHh/41 - 62.

3.Nos. DD\WHh/63 - 91, 95 - 100.

4.Nos. DD\WHh/101 - 120.

5.Nos. DD\WHh/122 - 157.

6.Nos. DD\WHh/158 - 176.

7.Nos. DD\WHh/177 - 180, 182 - 190, 202. 206 - 217.

8.Nos. DD\WHh/230 - 243, 253, 254.

9.Nos. DD\WHh/260 - 266, 280 - 287.

10.Nos. DD\WHh/288 - 343.

11.Nos. DD\WHh/344 - 432.

12.Nos. DD\WHh/433 - 497.

13.Nos. DD\WHh/498 - 548.

14.Nos. DD\WHh/349 - 570.

15.Nos. DD\WHh/571 - 651.

16.Nos. DD\WHh/652 - 706.

17.Nos. DD\WHh/707 - 732.

18.Nos. DD\WHh/733 - 742, 745 - 749, 751 - 758, 760 - 764.

19.Nos. DD\WHh/765 - 771, 773 - 783, 785 - 794.

20.Nos. DD\WHh/795 - 813.

21.Nos. DD\WHh/814 - 844.

22.Nos. DD\WHh/845 - 856.

23.Nos. DD\WHh/858, 863, 864, 866, 868, 869, 873, 891 - 894.

24.Nos. DD\WHh/895 - 905.

25.Nos. DD\WHh/906 - 934, 936, 937/939 - 943, 945 - 947.

26. Nos. DD\WHh/948 - 970, 972, 977 - 992

27.Nos. DD\WHh/993 - 996, 999 - 1010, 1013 - 1016, 1018 - 1022.

28.Nos. DD\WHh/1013 - 1025, 1035 - 1038, 1040, 1041, 1044 - 1047. 1052 - 1056, 1059, 1060, 1062 - 1068, 1070 - 1087.

29.Nos. DD\WHh/1091 - 1120.

30.Nos. DD\WHh/1121 - 1150.

31.Nos. DD\WHh/92 - 94, 121.

32.Nos. DD\WHh/181, 191 - 195.

33.Nos. DD\WHh/196 - 198.

34.Nos. DD\WHh/199 - 201.

35.Nos. DD\WHh/203 - 205.

36.Nos. DD\WHh/218 - 221.

37.Nos. DD\WHh/222 - 225.

38.Nos. DD\WHh/226 - 229.

39.Nos. DD\WHh/244 - 248.

40.Nos. DD\WHh/249 - 252, 255 - 257.

41.Nos. DD\WHh/258, 259, 267, 268.

42.Nos. DD\WHh/269 - 272.

43.Nos. DD\WHh/273 - 278.

44.Nos. DD\WHh/279, 750, 759.

45.Nos. DD\WHh/772, 784, 857, 859, 860.

46.Nos. DD\WHh/861, 862, 865, 867, 870.

47.Nos. DD\WHh/871 - 876.

48.Nos. DD\WHh/876 - 882.

49.Nos. DD\WHh/883 - 886.

50.Nos. DD\WHh/887 - 890.

51.Nos. DD\WHh/935, 938, 944, 971, 973.

52. Nos. DD\WHh/974 - 976, 997, 998.

53.Nos. DD\WHh/1011, 1012, 1017, 1026 - 1028.

54.Nos. DD\WHh/1029 - 1034, 1039, 1042, 1043.

55.Nos. DD\WHh/1048 - 1051, 1057 A.1069.

56.Nos. DD\WHh/1057 B.C. 1058.

57.Nos. DD\WHh/1061 A.B..1088.

58.Nos. DD\WHh/1089.

59.Nos. DD\WHh/1090.

60.