Manor of Withycombe

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Withycombe as one of the vast possessions of Geoffrey de Montbray (alias Montbrai, Mowbray) (died 1093), Bishop of Coutances, whose tenant there was Edmer. His heir was Robert Mowbray, who forfeited his estates to the crown for rebelling against King William II, who regranted many of the Somerset estates to the Mohun family, henceforth feudal barons of Dunster. Thus Withycombe was held from the barons of Dunster as overlords, by the service of grand serjeanty of providing a wagon with two men and eight oxen for one day carrying hay.[2]

The Hadley family inherited the manor of Withycombe by marriage to the heiress of the Durborough family.[3] The family also held the manor of Williton Hadley and further estates in nearby Watchet.[4] Christopher Hadley (1517-1540),[5] was the last Hadley lord of the manor. He married Anne Hill, daughter of Sir Giles Hill, who survived him and remarried to Lewes Stucley (1529–1581),[6] lord of the manor of Affeton in Devon, Standard Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I. Christopher Hadley's only son Arthur Hadley died without progeny[7] and thus his eventual sole heir was his daughter Margaret Hadley, the wife of Thomas Luttrell (died 1571), of nearby Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster, Member of Parliament for Minehead from 1563 to 1567 .[8] and Sheriff of Somerset in 1570–1. Thus the manor of Withycombe passed to the Lutterells, whom it is worth remarking, as feudal barons of Dunster had been the feudal overlords of the Hadleys at Withycome Hadley. At some time before 1777 John Fownes Luttrell acquired the other sub-manor of Withycombe Weke,[9] and thus the manor of Withycombe was unified to its pre-1212 position. The coats of arms of the Durborough and Hadley family are visible in Dunster Church and in Dunster Castle, quartered by Luttrell.