The historic manor of Raleigh, near Barnstaple and in the parish of Pilton, North Devon, was the first recorded home in the 14th century of the influential Chichester family of Devon. It was recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1086 together with three other manors that lie within the later-created parish of Pilton. Pilton as a borough had existed long before the Norman Conquest and was one of the most important defensive towns in Devon under the Anglo-Saxons. The manor lies above the River Yeo on the southern slope of the hill on top of which exists the ruins of the Anglo-Saxonhillfort of Roborough Castle. The historic manor of Raleigh is now the site of the North Devon District Hospital.
Domesday Book
Under the heading Terra Epi Constantiensis ras tenet Drogo de Epo, is the following entry for Raleigh, 28th of 99 Devon holding of the Bishop : "Raleigh. Brictric held it before 1066. It paid tax for 1/2 hide. Land for 4 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough; 4 slaves; 1 virgate, 4 villagers and 4 smallholders with 1 plough and 1 virgate; meadow 2 acres; pasture 5 acres; woodland 30 acres; 2 cattle; 30 sheep; 16 goats. Value formerly and now 30 shillings"''. Drogo was probably "Drogo son of Mauger" mentioned in another nearby entry and was one of the Bishop's knights and his largest tenant in Devon, and held about 70 manors from him. On the death of Geoffrey de Mowbray in 1093 his heir was his nephew Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, who rebelled unsuccessfully against King William II in 1095 and forfeited his lands to the crown. King William II then re-granted most of the de Mowbray lands to Juhel de Totnes, the first feudal baron of Barnstaple. The manor thus became a constituent part of the Feudal barony of Barnstaple and the barons remained the feudal overlords for many centuries. In the Book of Fees Raleigh was in the same ownership as Challacombe, which was also a Domesday manor held by Drogo from the Bishop of Coutances. In the 19th century Challacombe was sold by the Chichesters to the Fortescues of Filleigh.
Raleigh family
The holders of Raleigh through the 14th century were a family that took its name from the manor, the Raleigh family of Raleigh. The early ancestry of this Raleigh family, along with that of other Devon Raleigh families, has been studied in much depth, largely as a result of enquiries into the origins of the famous Elizabethan adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh, but no clear early pedigree has emerged. This Raleigh family also held the manor of "Auvrington", as recorded in the Book of Fees, held from the overlord Philip de Culumbars, of Nether Stowey, 2nd husband of Eleanor FitzMartin, sister and one of two co-heiresses of William FitzMartin, feudal baron of Barnstaple. Arlington was thus also inherited by the Chichesters from Raleigh. Thomasine Raleigh, daughter and eventual sole heiress of Sir John de Raleigh of Raleigh married Sir John Chichester. Her Inquisition post mortem states that she died on 7 August 1402.
Chichester
;John Chichester ;Sir John Chichester ;Richard Chichester of Richard Chichester ;Sir John Chichester ;Sir John Chichester ;Sir John Chichester ;Sir Robert Chichester ;Sir John Chichester, 1st Baronet ;Sir John Chichester, 2nd Baronet ;Sir Arthur Chichester, 3rd Baronet
Champneys
Arthur Champneys sold Raleigh in 1703 to Sir Nicholas Hooper, his fellow MP for Barnstaple in 1701.
Hooper
Sir Nicholas Hooper, MP for Barnstaple 1695-1715. In the return to the Dean Milles' Questionnaire of about 1745, the manor house of Raleigh was described as "Rawleigh in Ruins". His son Nicholas Hooper rebuilt Raleigh House on an adjacent site slightly higher up the hill, which building survives today. Nicholas Hooper married Mary Davie, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Davie, 4th Baronet of Creedy in the parish of Sandford, near Crediton in Devon, by his first wife Mary Steadman, daughter and heiress of..... Steadman of Downside, Midsomer Norton, Somerset. The marriage was childless. Nicholas Hooper's heir was his sister Elizabeth Hooper, who married John Bassett, of Heanton Punchardon, MP for Barnstaple 1718-1721.
In 1793 Francis Bassett, who never lived at Raleigh, sold some land in Raleigh to Robert Newton Incledon. Incledon sold land in Raleigh in 1885, which was resold in 1894 and again in 1919. In the mid-18th century John Bassett Esq., was the last person to live in the Old Manor House, and appointed Rev. George Foss as chaplain to the private chapel.
Marriott
In 1813 Christopher Marriott, Esq., was resident at Raleigh, as the mural monument he erected in Pilton Church to his sister Georgina Marriott records.
Barbor
Jane Jeffreys, "Mrs Barbor", the widow of George Barbor of Fremington House, about three miles west of Barnstaple, was resident at "Rawleigh House" from at the latest 1830 until her death in 1845 as is recorded on her mural monument in Fremington Church. The heir of the Barbor family, lords of the manor of Fremington, was William Arundell Yeo, who is later recorded as a landowner at Raleigh.
Various
The 1843 tithe award showed manor of Raleigh held between three owners:
William Arundell Yeo, 147 acres. He was lord of the manor of Fremington, near Barnstaple, and resident at Fremington House, which manor he had inherited from George Acland Barbor.
Robert Newton Incledon, who held together with William Hodge 160 acres.
William Hodge, who held together with Robert Newton Incledon 160 acres.
