[2] The village was one of the first in the west of Devon to be founded by the Saxons, and was of strategic importance because of its location on a major route close to the border with Cornwall.

[4] Lifton became the centre of an administrative hundred, and was a royal manor, passing into private hands when sold by Queen Elizabeth I to local landowner William Harris of Hayne in the parish of Stowford, Devon, in the late 16th century.

Since they had moved here from Kenegie in Cornwall their armorial bearings include a motto in Cornish, which is "Car Dew tres pub tra" ("Love God above everything").

[7] The village was bypassed by the A30 in 1993,[6] and today, unusually for such a small place, Lifton is a post town and has several youth football teams.

[8] Frederick Stockdale said of the house "very delightfully situated and commands an interesting prospect of the town of Launceston with its ancient castle, indeed no expense seems to have been spared to render the surrounding plantations containing about 8,000 acres.

His monument in Truro Cathedral displays the arms of Hunkin of Gatherleigh, namely: Argent, a mascle sable over all a fess of the last.