Frithelstock Priory

[1] The manor was later held by Sir Roger de Beauchamp who, in about 1220,[2] donated a large part of it to the Augustinian priory dedicated to St Gregory that he had founded within it as a dependency of Hartland Abbey in North Devon.

Sir Thomas Arundell, the receiver of the Court of Augmentations in the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset, farmed the lands out to John Wynslade at an annual rent of £20 2s.

Wynslade was not long in possession as on 4 September 1537 the crown made a grant to Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (d.1542), an illegitimate son of King Edward IV, and his wife Honora Grenville, widow of Sir John Bassett (1462–31 Jan 1529) of Umberleigh, of "The site, church, etc., and demesne of Frithelstock Priory, the manor, rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Frithelstock and the manor of Broadwoodwidger, all late of the priory".

In the centre is the coat of arms of Walpole, and on the right is inscribed: "This was a Priory of Canons regular, founded & endow'd by Robert de Bello Campo or Beauchamp, & dedicated to God the blessed Virgin & St. Gregory.

He relates the journey in his Journal thus: "Accompanied by Mr Stevens I went in quest of the Priory of Frithelstock, in the way to which we descended to the bridge at the SW end of Torrington, which passing over, we again rose up a steep hill, introducing us to a common precipitous towards the river but having a delightful prospect on the north of Beam a seat of Dennis Rolle Esq., a most lovely and sequestered spot, protected on every side by the richest woods of the finest amphitheatrical form, the roots of which were washed by the river which as if enamoured of the spot winds round it in many a meander and seems reluctant to retire from it.

On the summit of an hill three miles from Cross, having again past the Towridge by another bridge, we came to the ruins of the priory, which tho' not grand nor extensive have a good deal of the picturesque in them and possess a peculiarity in the rounding of the western windows of the chapel, rarely if at all to be met with.