page_title: Speccot, Merton
section_title: Theobold FitzBerner
hierarchical_section_title: Speccot, Merton / Descent / Theobold FitzBerner
caption_attribution_description: English: Entry for manor of Speccot in the parish of Merton, Devon, in the Domesday Book of 1086. Text: Ide(m) G(oisbertus) ten(et) de T(etbaldo) Spececote. Eilaf teneb(at) T(empore) R(egis) E(duardi). Geld(e)b(at) p(ro) una v(irgata) t(e)r(ra)e. T(e)r(r)a e(st) III car(ucis). Ibi e(st) I vill(anu)s, XV ac(rae) p(r)atuli, XL ac(rae) pastur(a)e. Olim modo va(le)t VII solid(ii) VI denar(ii). ("The same Gosbert holds Speccot from Theobald. Elaf was holding it in the time of King Edward. It was paying tax for one virgate of land. There is land for three ploughs. There is one villein, 15 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture. Formerly (and) now it is worth 7 shillings 6 pennies").
context_page_description: Speccot is an historic estate in the parish of Merton in Devon, England. It was the seat of the de Speccot family, one of the oldest gentry families in Devon, which founded almshouses at Taddiport, near Great Torrington, Devon, in the 13th century. It is situated about one mile south-west of Potheridge, the seat of the Monck family from before 1287 to the late 17th century, who were thus close neighbours of the de Speccot family for many centuries. The present farmhouse known as "Speccot Barton" is Victorian and although no obvious traces of an earlier house survive, is marked "On Site of a Mansion" on the First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1880-99. The estate is today operated as a family-run sheep farm with six holiday cottages to let. A smaller house known as "Little Speccot" is situated on the approach lane to Speccot Barton.
context_section_description: The manor of Spececote is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the 27 Devonshire holdings of Theobald FitzBerner (fl. 1086), (Anglicised to "Theobald son of Berner", Latinized to Tetbaldus Filius Bernerius) an Anglo-Norman warrior and magnate, one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. His tenant was a certain "Gosbert", who also held from him the Devonshire manors of South Hole, Milford (both in the parish of Hartland) and Little Marland (in the parish of Petrockstowe), listed with Speccot as successive entries in the Domesday Book. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 it had been held by a Saxon named "Elaf". His lands later formed part of the Feudal barony of Great Torrington. The Domesday Book entry is as follows:
  Ide(m) G(oisbertus) ten(et) de T(etbaldo) Spececote. Eilaf teneb(at) T(empore) R(egis) E(duardi). Geld(e)b(at) p(ro) una v(irgata) t(e)r(ra)e. T(e)r(r)a e(st) III car(ucis). Ibi e(st) I vill(anu)s, XV ac(rae) p(r)a(tuli), XL ac(rae) pastur(a)e. Olim modo va(le)t VII solid(ii) VI denar(ii). ("The same Gosbert holds Speccot from Theobald. Elaf was holding it in the time of King Edward. It was paying tax for one virgate of land. There is land for three ploughs. There is one villein, 15 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture. Formerly (and) now it is worth 7 shillings 6 pennies").
  In the Book of Fees (c.1302) Spekcoth is listed as held from the Feudal barony of Great Torrington.
caption: Domesday Book entry for Spececote
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