John Arscott


John Arscott, of Tetcott, Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1675.
W. G. Hoskins described the Arscotts as one of the ancient families of freeholders that rose to the ranks of the squirearchy over a period of 300 years or so by the steady accumulation of property, mostly through marriage. Originating at Arscott in the time of Henry III,, a junior branch of the family moved to Tetcott in about 1550.
John Arscott was the eldest son and heir of Edmund Arscott, of Tetcott, by his wife Mary Walrond, daughter of William Walrond of Bradfield, Uffculme. Arthur Arscott, the sheriff's grandfather built a new manor house at Tetcott in 1603.
He married Gertrude Calmady, a daughter of Sir Shilston Calmady of Langdon, Wembury, who was killed during the Civil War during the siege of Ford Abbey. In 1638 John's sister Mary Arscott had married Gertrude's half-brother John Calmady in Ashwater parish.
John Arscott died childless and was buried on 25 September 1675 at Tetcott. His heir was his nephew John Arscott of Tetcott, who married as his second wife Prudence, of unrecorded family. The younger John's third son was Dennis Arscott of Ethy, Cornwall, Sheriff of Cornwall and his daughter was Jane Arscott who in 1699 married Sir John Molesworth, 3rd Baronet, whose later descendants inherited Tetcott in 1788.
A mural monument to John Arscott exists in the Arscott Chapel of Holy Cross Church, Tetcott.