Woolleigh, Beaford
Woolleigh (anciently "Woolley", "Wollegh", etc.) is an historic estate in the parish of Beaford, Devon. The surviving mansion house known as Woolleigh Barton, situated 1 3/4 miles north-west of the parish church of Beaford, is a grade II* listed building, long used as a farmhouse. It incorporates remains of a "very fine example of a late Medieval manor house" and retains a "very rich" 15th century wagon roof, a garderobe with the original door, and an attached private chapel with a 17th-century roof. Chapel of St Mary. The private Chapel attached to the mansion house was  dedicated to St Mary. The earliest surviving record of it is in the registers of the Bishops of Exeter for 1321 when it was licensed to Master William de Wolleghe, Rector of Yarnscombe. He was permitted by the licence to say mass therein but was forbidden from administering the sacraments there and was obliged to attend the parish church on Sundays and Feast Days. Mention of it is made later in the registers of Bishop Stafford in 1400 and of Bishop Lacy in 1426, in which latter year a licence was granted to John and Elizabeth Haache (i.e. Hatch) who  at the same time were also licensed for their private chapel of St Andrew at Hele (now "Great Hele Barton") in South Molton. Descent. Domesday Book. "Uluelie" (Woolleigh) is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 41st of the 176 Devonshire holdings of Baldwin de Moels (died 1090), Sheriff of Devon, feudal baron of Okehampton, one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of William the Conqueror. His tenant was Colwin. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 it had been held by the Anglo-Saxon Alsi. Woolleigh was thus a member of the feudal barony of Okehampton , whose later barons were the Courtenay Earls of Devon of Tiverton Castle. The descent of Woolleigh was as follows: Murdake. The holder of Woolleigh first recorded by Risdon (died 1640) was the Murdake family of Compton Murdake in Warwickshire, "where Thomas Murdake dwelt". Risdon asserts that a member of this family was Henry Murdac (died 1153), Archbishop of York. Hatch. The family of "de Hatch" succeeded Murdake at Woolleigh. The "de Hatch" family descended from Robert Atwater, son of William Atwater of South Molton, Devon, by his wife Jone de Wolrington, daughter and heiress of William de Wolrington of Hatch  (alias "Hach, Hacche", etc.) in the parish of South Molton. According to Risdon, Hatch was the "lord of the royalty" of South Molton, thus the principal estate within that royal manor and borough. The Wolringtons were themselves heirs of the original "de Hatch" family, which died out in the male line. On receiving his maternal inheritance Robert Atwater adopted the surname "de Hatch", or "Hatch". Robert's son was Thomas Hatch, who married Mabill Leigh, daughter and heiress of Thomas Leigh of Leigh, near Tiverton. Acland. Woolleigh remained in the Acland family for many generations, following the descent of Killerton . The Aclands soon abandoned their original seat of Acland and in 1622 Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet (1591–1647), son of Sir Arthur Acland and Eleanor Mallet, moved definitively to Columb John, which he had inherited from his great-uncle Sir John Acland (died 1620), and left Acland as a residence for younger branches. Sir Hugh Acland, 5th Baronet (died 1714), 4th son of the 1st baronet, abandoned Columb John for adjoining Killerton. After that Woolleigh appears to have been used as a residence of elder sons and heirs apparent whilst their fathers were still alive and living at Killerton. Thus  John Acland (died 1703), the son and heir apparent of Sir Hugh Acland, 5th Baronet (died 1714) lived at Woolleigh, but predeceased his father so never inherited Killerton. Leverton. The last tenants of Woolleigh under the Aclands were the Leverton family who farmed at Woolleigh: Pengelly. The next occupants of Woolleigh were the Pengelly family.