Historic estates in Swimbridge parish

(Not to be confused with nearby Dinnaton Barton, Swimbridge, 3/4 mile to S-E, a 19th-century model farm built in 1853[3] by the 7th Duke of Bedford).

Hoskins (1954) remarked "Notice the monument to Charles son of John Cutcliffe of Damage (1670), surmounted by a beautiful oval portrait in oils which has been attributed to Lely but is more probably the work of James Gandy (1619–89), a pupil of Vandyke".

[10] Stowford is the traditional birthplace of Saint Hieritha,[11] an Anglo-Saxon Christian lady martyred at nearby Chittlehampton in the 8th century.

Partly behind his head on a smaller shield appear the arms of Chichester impaling: Paly of six argent and gules, on a chief of the second three mascles conjoined in fess of the first (unknown family[19]).

The top inscription is as follows: The central panel contains the following verse under the line Defunctus ad viatorem ("Dead man to traveller"): Stay thou that passest by look here & see, An image of thine own mortalitie, If genteel birth or youth or the loud call, Of friends could have repreiv'd me I had all, But sith nor these nor many helps beside, Could sheild me from that stroak wherof I dy'de, Be thou admonish'd so to watch and ward, That death may not assail thee unprepar'd He has long hair and wears the dress of a puritan of the Commonwealth period.

The large and elaborate monument to his sister Eleanor Chichester (1629–1681) (mother of Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670)) survives in Ilfracombe Church.

Ernsborough is an ancient Saxon estate within the parish of Swimbridge occupied in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Mules family, descended from Baron Moels of North Cadbury in Somerset.

[27] The Nott family was previously resident at Torrdown within the parish, as mentioned in an announcement in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post 19 October 1809:[29] "To be Let for the Term of 14 years, from Lady-day next, a Dwelling-House, with suitable outhouses, and about 140 acres of exceeding good arable meadow, pasture, and orchard land, parts and parcels of all those messuages and tenements, called Torrdown, situate and lying in the parish of Swimbridge, in the county of Devon, lately occupied by James Nott, Esq.

[21] After the building of Bydown House Trewman's dated 27 November 1834 announced the death of "Mr John Nott at Denniton in the parish of Swimbridge, aged 69".

[29] John Nott (1769–1808) (son of James Nott (1726–1790)[32] by his wife Emma Mules, a daughter of John Mules (a distant descendant of Baron Moels of North Cadbury, Somerset) of Ernesborough, Swimbridge) "of Bydown",[33] married Susannah Norris, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Norris of South Molton.

[33] His elder brother, who died unmarried, was James Nott (d.1809) of Tordown, a Captain in the North Devon Yeomanry and lay rector of Swimbridge.

John Nott (1805–1856), of Bydown, son, was a magistrate for Devonshire and senior Captain[28] in the Royal North Devon Yeomanry.

[35] His monument survives in Swimbridge Church in the form of an inscribed open book sculpted in marble, including the words: "A humble minded Christian and the friend of his poorer brethren".

A mob marched against him to Bydown House "in order to seek relief and give John Nott a bloody shirt".

Jack Russell, the famous fox-hunting vicar of Swimbridge, who deemed him "a little less than generous to the poor" and in turn Nott criticised him for bad conduct in his ministry, and made a formal complaint to the Bishop of Exeter.

In 1854 "John Nott, Esq., of Swimbridge, has most kindly given to all the poor in receipt of parochial relief a week's pay in addition to the sum which they are receiving".

[41] On 16 April 1856 his executors sold the livestock of his estate at Rowley in the Parish of Paracombe, transported to Bydown for better market access, including: "Pure North Devon Stock, Agricultural Implements, Dairy Utensils &c., &c., 77 Bullocks and Yearlings, 315 Couple of Ewes and Lambs, 123 Ewe and Wether Hoggerals and Rams, 21 Horses and Ponies, 12 Pigs".

[47] In August 1869 his 24 year old younger brother James Nott Pyke, of Parracombe, then an undergraduate at Exeter College, Oxford, was killed by a friend in a rabbit shooting accident near Bydown.

Dennington House in 2018
Monument to Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670), Swimbridge Church. It names his mother as Elianorae Chichester e Dinnyton . It is unusual, if not unique, in incorporating an oil painting of the deceased, probably by James Gandy [ 2 ] (1619–89), a pupil of Vandyke . The heraldic cartouches on either side have been re-affixed upside-down
Portrait of Charles Cutcliffe (d.1670), Swimbridge Church, probably by James Gandy [ 2 ] (1619–89), a pupil of Vandyke
Mural monument in St James' Church, Swimbridge, to the third Tristram Chichester (1624–1654) of Hearsdon
Monument in Holy Trinity Church, Ilfracombe , Devon, to Elionor Chichester (1629–1681), wife of John Cutcliffe (1632–1696) of Damage in the parish of Morthoe , near Ilfracombe, and daughter of Tristram Chichester of Hearsdon in the parish of Swimbridge, Devon, and co-heiress of her brother Tristram Chichester (1624–1654), of Hearsdon, whose monument is in Swimbridge Church
Bydown House, west front, in 2018
Bydown House, south front, in 2018
"Bydown, Swimbridge, Devon", painting by George Moor, English Native School, 19th century
Arms of Nott: Gules, on a bend engrailed or between four leopard's faces two and two argent an estoile of eight points between two martlets of the first [ 28 ]
1798 [ 30 ] datestone, wall of inner hall of Bydown House, showing arms of Nott in centre, with (clockwise from left): Berry, Bellew, Harvey, Wyatt and Mules. [ 31 ] Latin inscription below: J.N. AEDIFICAVIT 1798 ("John Nott built (it) (in) 1798")
Canting arms of Pyke: Quarterly or and gules, on a chevron barry wavy of four argent and azure between two trefoils in chief and another in base counterchanged a pike naiant proper [ 44 ]