Great Fulford

Great Fulford House, 1780 watercolour, British Library

Great Fulford is an historic estate in the parish of Dunsford, Devon. The grade I listed^[1] manor house, known as Great Fulford House is situated about 9 miles south-west of Exeter, the site of which was said in 1810 to be "probably the most antient in the county".^[2] The present mansion house is Tudor (16th century) with refurbishing from the late 17th century and further re-modelling from about 1800.^[3] The prefix "Great" is of comparatively recent origin and served to distinguish it from the mansion house known as "Little Fulford" in the parish of Shobrooke, Devon, about 8 miles to the north-east, later known as Shobrooke Park, which was destroyed by fire in 1947.^[4] Fulford has been the residence of the Fulford family (originally de Fulford), which took its name from the estate, since the reign of King Richard I (1189-1199) to the present day. There are thus few, if any families in Devonshire of more ancient recorded origin still resident at their original seat.^[5]

Descent

The descent of the estate was as follows:^[6]

Normans

Honour of Okehampton

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Foleford is listed as the 132nd of the 176 holdings of Baldwin FitzGilbert^[7] (died 1090), Sheriff of Devon (alias Baldwin the Sheriff, Baldwin of Exeter, Baldwin de Meulles/Moels and Baldwin du Sap), an Anglo-Norman magnate and one of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. He was the first feudal baron of Okehampton, which barony, known as the Honour of Okehampton, was later inherited by the Courtenay family, later Earls of Devon.

Modbert

Baldwin FitzGilbert's tenant in 1086 was Modbert, who also held from him the Devonshire manors of Kelly,^[8] Broadwood Kelly,^[9] Eggbeer^[10] and Uppacott.^[11]

Kelly

Modbert's heirs in all these five manors appear to have been the de Kelly family,^[12] which as recorded in the Book of Fees continued to hold from the Honour of Okehampton, and which survives today in 2014 as one of the most ancient of Devonshire families, still resident at Kelly House, the manor house of Kelly, Devon. (Coincidentally the present owner of Kelly House also appeared on the TV reality show Country House Rescue which featured Francis Fulford, the present owner of Great Fulford, in another episode).

Fulford

Arms of Fulford: Gules, a chevron argent^[13]

The de Fulford family is first recorded as resident at Fulford during the reign of King Richard I (1189-1199). According to Prince (d.1723), the name of this family was Latinized to de Turpi Vado ("from the foul ford" (i.e.muddy ford)).^[14] Records of Feudal Aids record John de Kelli had as his tenant of Fulford a certain William de Foleford.^[15] The descent of Fulford was as follows:^[16]

• Edmond Fulford^[13]
• John Fulford (son), who married Alicia FitzUrse, daughted and co-heiress of Ralph FitzUrse, son and heir of Sir Reginald FitzUrse.^[17]
• Sir Baldwin I de Fulford (d.1476)^[13]
• Henry I de Fulford (son)^[13]
• William I de Fulford (son)^[13]
• William II de Fulford (son)^[13]
• Thomas de Fulford (son), who married the daughter and heiress of Mourton^[13]
• John II de Fulford (son)^[13]
• Henry II de Fulford (son), who married Willmot Brian, daughter and heiress of Phillip Brian.^[13]
• Sir Baldwin I de Fulford (d.1476)^[18] (son), Sheriff of Devon in 1460, a Knight of the Sepulchre and Under-Admiral to John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter (d.1447), High Admiral of England.^[13] According to the Devonshire biographer John Prince (1643–1723):

He was a great soldier and a traveller of so undaunted resolution that for the honor and liberty of a royal lady in a castle besieged by the infidels, he fought a combat with a Sarazen, for bulk and bigness an unequal match (as the representation of him cut in the wainscot in Fulford House doth plainly shew), whom yet he vanquish'd, and rescu'd the lady.

In commemoration of this victory supporters to the arms of the family were granted (generally reserved as a privilege of the nobility alone) of two Saracens, which they still retain,^[19] and which survive today sculpted in relief on the wooden panelling of Fulford House, as Prince noted. He married Jennet^[13] (or Elizabeth^[20]) Bosome, daughter and heiress of John Bosome (alias Bosom, Bozun, Bosum, etc.) of Bosom's Hele, in the parish of Dittisham, Devon,^[20] who survived her husband and married secondly to Sir William Huddesfield (d.1499), of Shillingford St. George, Devon, Attorney General to King Edward IV (1461-1483). Huddesfield married secondly (as her third husband) to Katherine Courtenay, a daughter of Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham, Devon. A monumental brass of Huddesfield and his second wife Katherine Courtenay survives in Shillingford St George Church,^[21] and the arms of Bosome (Azure, three bird bolts in pale points downward or) survive in a stained glass window in the same church.^[22] By Jennet Bosome he had progeny two sons and two daughters, namely Thomasine Fulford, who married John Wise of Sydenham House, from whom was descended John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (c. 1485 - 1555), the most powerful magnate in Devon, and another daughter Alice Fulford, who married Sir William Cary of Cockington, from whom was descended Lord Hunsdon and the Earls of Monmouth and Dover.^[23] His younger son was John Fulford (d.1518), a Canon of Exeter Cathedral and Archdeacon successively of Totnes, Cornwall and Exeter, whose monument exists behind the high altar in Exeter Cathedral.^[13]

• Sir Thomas Fulford (d.1489) (eldest son and heir), who married his step-father's sister-in-law, Phillipa Courtenay, a daughter of Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham, and sister of Katherine Courtenay, second wife of Sir William Huddesfield.^[24]
• Sir Humphrey Fulford (1467-1508) (eldest son), who married Florence Bonville, a daughter and co-heiress of John Bonville (1417-1494) of Shute, Devon, nephew of the Devon magnate William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1391-1461),^[25] the latter who during the Wars of the Roses was an enemy of the Courtenay Earls of Devon and an ally of their cousins the Courtenays of Powderham. The marriage was without progeny.
• William III Fulford (1476-1517) (younger brother), who married Joana (or Jane) Bonville, daughter of John Bonville (d.1491) of Combe Raleigh, "base son"^[26] ("spurious son"^[27]) of William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1391-1461).
• Sir John Fulford (1503-1544) (son), twice Sheriff of Devon in 1534 and 1540. He married Dorothy Bourchier, a daughter of John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath (1470-1539), of Tawstock, Devon.^[28] She survived him and remarried to Walter Denys of Holcombe Burnell, Devon.^[29]
• Sir John Fulford (1524-1580) (son), twice Sheriff of Devon in 1557 and 1576. He married firstly Anna Denys, a daughter of Sir Thomas Denys (c. 1477 - 1561) of Holcombe Burnell,^[30] Devon, six times Sheriff of Devon during the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547).^[31]
• Sir Thomas Fulford (1553-1610) (son), who in 1580 married Ursula Bampfield, a daughter of Richard Bampfield (1526-1594) of Poltimore, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1576, ancestor of the Bampfield Baronets and Barons Poltimore. His monument survives in Dunsford Church.
• Col. Sir Francis Fulford (c. 1583 - 1664) (eldest son), a Royalist commander during the Civil War, captured and briefly imprisoned in Devon in early 1643. He maintained a garrison at Great Fulford until December 1645, when he surrendered to Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He was pre-deceased by eldest son Thomas Fulford (1604-1643), who was killed at the Siege of Exeter in 1643 during the Civil War. He served as Member of Parliament for Devon in 1625, as a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset by 1640 and was Sheriff of Dorset for 1642–43.^[32] He was fined during the Commonwealth by the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, but not heavily enough to destroy the family's fortune. He married Elizabeth Samways, a daughter and co-heiress of Bernard Samways of Toller Fratrum and Winsborne in Dorset. He left his wife's Dorset estates, including Toller Fratrum to his 5th, but 2nd surviving, son George Fulford (1619-1685),^[33][34] twice MP for Christchurch in Dorset, in 1679 and 1681,^[35] whose son would eventually inherit Fulford on the failure of the senior male line in 1700.
• Francis Fulford (1632-1675) (grandson, eldest son of Thomas Fulford), who married Susanna Kellond (d.1670), daughter of John Kellond^[34] (1609-1679) of Painsford House, Ashprington, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1666,^[36] whose monument survives in Ashprington Church.^[37]
• Col. Francis Fulford (1666-1700) (son), twice MP for Callington in Cornwall in 1690-5 and 1698-1700, presumably upon the interest of the influential Rolle family of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe,^[38] Devon. Samuel Rolle (1646-1717) married in 1704 as his second wife Margaret Tuckfield, daughter of Roger Tuckfield, of Raddon, by whom he had a daughter and sole heiress Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton (1709-1781).^[39] He was also Sheriff of Devon 1689–90 and Mayor of Exeter 1689–90.^[38] Col. Francis Fulford married twice, firstly to Margaret Poulett (d.1687), daughter of John Poulett, 3rd Baron Poulett (c. 1641 - 1679), of Hinton St. George, Somerset, without progeny. Secondly he married Mary Tuckfield, one of the two surviving daughters and co-heiress of John III Tuckfield (1625-1675), of Fulford House, in the parish of Shobrooke (relatives of the Tuckfields of Raddon), by his wife Mary Pincombe, a daughter of John Pincombe (d.pre-1657), a barrister of the Middle Temple, of South Molton, Devon.^[40] According to the Devon topographer John Swete (d.1821), it was at this time "When the two Fulfords were the possession of one lord" that the epithets "Great" and "Little" were assigned to each property.^[41] According to Swete, Col. Fulford:^[42]

May reasonably be supposed to have a predilection for his own inherited mansion to which for the sake of distinction and pre-eminence he would annex the adjunct of "Great". Nor will it be consider'd as an appropriation ill-placed, if the reference be made to its superior magnificence and antiquity, in which latter boast it exceeded the other by three centuries.

By his second wife Mary Tuckfield he had one son John Fulford (1692-1693) who died an infant and whose monument survives in Dunsford Church.^[34] Mary married secondly in 1704 to Henry Trenchard.^[43] Col. Francis Fulford repaired Great Fulford House after the extensive damage it suffered during the Civil War.^[14] He died without surviving progeny.

• Francis Fuller of Toller Fratrum, Dorset (Cousin: grandfather's nephew, son of George Fulford (1619-pre-1688)), who married a certain Mary.^[34]
• Francis Fulford (d.1730) (son), who married Catherine Swete, daughter of William Swete.^[34]
• Francis Fulford (1704-1749), Sheriff of Devon in 1744. He married Ann Chichester, a daughter of Sir Arthur Chichester, 3rd Baronet (d.1717),^[34] MP for Barnstaple of Youlston Park, Shirwell,^[44] from one of the most ancient and prominent families of North Devon, formerly of Raleigh, Pilton, near Barnstaple, which seat he sold in 1689 and moved to Youlston.^[45] He had 11 children, 8 sons (5 of whom died as infants) and 3 daughters.
• John Fulford (1736-1780) (4th and eldest surviving son). he married Elizabeth Laroche (1731-1791), daughter of John Laroche. The marriage was without progeny.^[46]
• Baldwin II Fulford (1775-1847) (nephew, eldest son of Benjamin Swete Fulford, 8th and youngest son of Francis Fulford (1704-1749)). he was an officer in the Inniskillen Dragoons and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Devon Militia. He married Anna Maria Adams, eldest daughter of William Adams (1752–1811), MP for Totnes, of Bowden House, Ashprington, near Totnes. He had 14 children. His monument survives in Dunsford Church.^[46]
• Col. Baldwin III Fulford (1801-1871) (eldest son and heir), a Justice of the Peace for Devon, Colonel of the 1st Royal Devon Yeomanry. He married Anna IsabellaGiles, eldest daughter of Rev. J. Allen Giles, DCL, of Sutton. Without progeny. His monument survives in Dunsford Church.^[46]
• Francis Drummond Fulford (1831-1907) (nephew, son and heir of Bishop Francis Fulford (1803-1868), Anglican Bishop of Montreal, Canada). He married Mary Anne Holland, daughter of Philip Holland of Cholderton Lodge, Montreal.
• Francis Algernon Fulford (1861-1926) (eldest son and heir). Born in Montreal, in 1897 he married Constance Drummond (d.1935).^[47]
• Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Edgar Fulford (1898 - c. 1968) (son), who married Joan Blackman, daughter of Rear-Admiral C. Maurice Blackman.
• Francis Fulford (born 1952) (son and heir), the current owner in 2014, a former stockbroker and insurance broker who has appeared on many reality television shows featuring his house and family.

External links

• www.greatfulford.co.uk, official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Fulford.

Sources

• Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, pp. 392–5, biography of "Fulford, Sir William, Knight".
• Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp. 847–8, pedigree of Fulford of Fulford.
• Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, pp. 247–8, Fulford
• Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, pp. 128–9, 376
• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 378–81, pedigree of Fulford of Fulford
• Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, pp. 458–9, Great Fulford

References

1. ↑ Listed building text
2. ↑ Prince, p.395, 1810 footnote 5 (1810)
3. ↑ Listed building text
4. ↑ Pevsner, p.729
5. ↑ Contenders might be the Coffin family of Portledge, which moved away recently; The Courtenay family feudal barons of Okehampton, surviving as Earls of Devon at Powderham Castle; the Kelly family of Kelly, still resident at Kelly House; The Fortescue family of Whympston, Modbury, surviving until recently in the male line as Earl Fortescue of Castle Hill, Filleigh; The Incledon family of Incledon, Braunton, surviving in a female line there and at adjacent Buckland, Braunton
6. ↑ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp.847-8, pedigree of Fulford of Fulford.
7. ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 16,132
8. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, 16,11
9. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, 16,26
10. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, 16,130
11. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, 16,131
12. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, part 2 (notes) to 16,11;26;130;131;132
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 Vivian, p.378
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Prince, p.392
15. ↑ Thorn & Thorn, part 2 (notes), 16,132
16. ↑ Vivian, 1895
17. ↑ Vivian, p.378, names translated from Latin
18. ↑ Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, p.394
19. ↑ Prince, 1810 edition, editor's note 5, p.395
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Risdon, pp.167-8; Pole, p.291
21. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.727; a framed rubbing of the brass hangs in the chapel of Powderham Castle
22. ↑ Rogers, William Henry Hamilton, Wilshire Notes & Queries, Vol.III, 1899-1901, Devizes, 1902, pp. 336-345, Sir William Huddesfield and Katherine Courtenay his Wife, Shillingford Church, Devon
23. ↑ Prince, p.394
24. ↑ Vivian, p.246, pedigree of Courtenay
25. ↑ Vivian, p.102, pedigree of Bonville
26. ↑ Burke's Landed Gentry
27. ↑ Vivian, p.103, pedigree of Bonville
28. ↑ Vivian, p.107, pedigree of Bourchier
29. ↑ Vivian, p.379. The identity of Walter Denys is not clear. He was apparently too early to be the Walter Denys (fl.1592) who was a brother of Anna Denys, wife of Sir John Fulford (1524-1580) (Vivian, p.279, pedigree of Denys)
30. ↑ Vivian, p.279, pedigree of Denys
31. ↑ Risdon, p.120
32. ↑ "FULFORD, Sir Francis (1583-1664), of Great Fulford, Dunsford, Devon and Toller Fratrum, Dorset". History of Parliament Onine. Retrieved 30 May 2013. 
33. ↑ History of Parliament biography of Francis Fulford (1666-1700)
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 Vivian, 1895, p.380
35. ↑ History of Parliament biography of FULFORD, George (c. 1619 - 85), of Toller Fratrum, Dorset
36. ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.508, pedigree of Kellond of Painsford
37. ↑ Pevsner, p.136
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 History of Parliament biography
39. ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.655, pedigree of Rolle
40. ↑ Vivian, p.594, pedigree of Pincombe of South Molton
41. ↑ Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of The Reverend John Swete, 1789-1800, 4 vols., Tiverton, 1999, vol.3, p.123
42. ↑ Swete, vol.3, p.123
43. ↑ Vivian, p.380, pedigree of Fulford of Fulford
44. ↑ Vivian, 1895, p.174, pedigree of Chichester
45. ↑ Reed, Margaret A., Pilton, its Past and its People, Barnstaple, 1985, p.31
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Vivian, 1895, p.381
47. ↑ Burkes, 1937