page_title: Umberleigh
section_title: Champernon/Champernowne family
hierarchical_section_title: Umberleigh / Descent of the manor / Champernon/Champernowne family
caption_attribution_description: English: Arms of Willington (ancient): Party per pale indented argent and gules a chief or. (Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.317)
context_page_description: Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it became a part of that parish. It forms however a part of the civil parish of Chittlehampton, which is mostly located on the east side of the River Taw.
  The manor of Umberleigh, which had its own entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, was entirely situated on the west side of the River Taw and was centred on the Nunnery which was given by William the Conqueror to the Holy Trinity Abbey in Caen, Normandy.
  The site was later occupied by the manor house of Umberleigh, the present Georgian manifestation of which, a large and grand farmhouse, is known as "Umberleigh House". Next to the manor house in about 1275 was founded Umberleigh Chapel, now a ruin the single remaining wall of which forms the back wall of a farm implements shed.
context_section_description: The Champernon family, sometimes Latinised Campo Arnulfi ("field of Arnulph") originated in the Cambernon area of Lower Normandy, and their arrival in England was associated with the Norman Conquest. Many members of the family later adopted alternate spellings such as Champernoun, Champernowne, and Chapman. 
  The immediate line of descent from Jordan and Mabill de Champernon is unclear. According to Risdon,  their sole heir was a daughter, Joan de Champernon (implying perhaps that her issue son adopted the name Champernon). However, Pole's account assigns two sons to Jordan and Mabill: Richard de Champernon, who died without issue, and Jordan de Champernon (II).
  At Umberleigh, William de Champernon, apparently a grandson of Jordan II, was by his wife Eva, the father of another Joan de Champernon (II), also a sole heiress. Joan II who lived during the reign of King Edward I (1272–1307) married Sir Ralph de Willington (II; see the following section) of Gloucestershire, but retained her maiden name, which she used in legal documents. For instance, an (undated) grant during her widowhood, confirmed by "Peter, Bishop of Exeter" (apparently Peter Quinel (reigned 1280–1291), gave land to Umberleigh Chapel. It was recorded by Risdon as follows:
  Johan de Campo Arnulphi salut(ate) noveritis me in viduitate mea divinae charitat(e) intuit(a) pro salut(ate) animae meae et antecessorum meorum nec non pro salut(ate) animarum Domini Will(ielmi) de Campo Arnulphi patris mei et Eve matris mei et Domin(i) Ralph de Willington, quondam viri mei et puerorum nostrorum conces(ssi) totam terram de Wiara ad sustentationem capella ad present(atio)nem nostram et haeredum ad celebrand(um) divina in capella nostra de Umberley. Hiis testibus: Joh(an)n(is) de Punchardon, Nicholao de Filleigh, Roberto Beaple, Matth. de Wollington, milit(ibus)
  [Which may be translated thus:]
  
  "Joan de Champernon, greetings. Know ye all that I in my widowhood, inspired by divine charity for the good of my soul and of the souls of my ancestors and not least for the good of the souls of Lord William de Champernon my father and Eve my mother and of Lord Ralph de Willington, sometime my husband and of our boys, I have granted all that land of Wiara [possibly Wear] towards the support of a chaplain, the presentation of whom to belong to us and our heirs, for the celebration of divine service in our Chapel of Umberleigh. With these witnesses (present): John de Punchardon (originally de Pont Chardon, lord of the manor of Heanton Punchardon; Nicholas de Filleigh, (lord of the manor of Filleigh); Robert Beauple (probably lord of the manors of Landkey and Knowstone); Matthew de Wollington, knights"
  Other branches of the Champernon family were associated with three other prominent estates in Devon:
  Ilfracombe was inherited during the reign of King Richard I (1189–1199) by Henry de Champernon of "Clist Champernon" from his wife Rohais. The Ilfracombe line was itself descended from Richard de Champernon of "Clist Champernon", a brother of Jordan de Champernon II (see above).
  Modbury was inherited from the Okeston family during the reign of King Edward II (1307–1327). It was retained by the family until 1700 when it was sold by Arthur Champernowne of Modbury (born 1671/2), who died without issue some time before 1717.
  Dartington Hall was acquired by Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Champernowne (before 1524–1578) in 1559. Sir Arthur Champernowne was descended from Richard de Champernon, brother of Jordan II, by way of a younger son of the Champernon branch at Modbury. Jane Champernowne, the sole-heiress of Arthur Champernowne (d. 1766), married Arthur Harrington (d. 1819), who in accordance with the terms of inheritance, changed his family name by royal licence to Champernowne. Arthur Melville Champernowne (b. 1871), the great-grandson of Jane and Arthur Harrington Champernowne, held Dartington Hall until 1925, when it was sold out of the family.
caption: The (ancient) arms of the Willington family: Party per pale indented argent and gules a chief or. All the sons of Joan de Champernon and Ralph de Willington abandoned their paternal arms of Willington (ancient) in favour of a differenced version of their maternal arms of Champernon (see below).[8] These ancient arms are shown in 19th-century stained glass in Atherington Church impaling the Champernowne arms.
exif: {}