AYLESBEARE MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry name and Devon location match the documented medieval and early-modern Manor of Aylesbeare (Ailesberga/Aylesbere). Historical evidence places its manorial centre at Minchin Court, which was the manor house of Aylesbeare from 1592. The record is distinct from Manor Farm, although Manor Farm may represent an earlier or associated demesne/barton site.
Representative point: 50.7166, -3.3626
Basis: documented_manor_house — Minchin Court, Aylesbeare, at approximately OS Grid Reference SY 039 915. Devon HER identifies Minchin Court as the manor house of Aylesbeare from 1592; the surviving building incorporates late-medieval fabric and was refurbished in 1589.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; specific surviving evidence includes the sixteenth-century manor survey and later manorial records.
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence confirms a substantial historical manor centred on Aylesbeare and associated with Newton Poppleford, but does not provide a sufficiently recoverable perimeter for the manorial land. A sixteenth-century survey describes the manor as an enclosed lordship, identifies demesne holdings granted by copy of court roll under the name Barton, and records a former park of approximately 140 acres. Medieval evidence separately identifies Newton Poppleford as a hamlet belonging to the manor of Aylesbeare. These references establish territorial components but not a defensible complete polygon. The modern parish boundary cannot safely be substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Aylesbeare Manor, TNA/MDR record F276423: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F276423 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor identity and authority reference GB/NNAF/M294481.
- Devon and Dartmoor Historic Environment Record: Minchen Court, Aylesbeare, MDV14848: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=104&uid=MDV14848 — Identifies Minchin Court at SY 039 915 as a former barton and states that from 1592 it was the manor house of Aylesbeare.
- Devon and Dartmoor Historic Environment Record: Manor in the Parish of Aylesbeare, MDV16944: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=104&uid=MDV16944 — Records the Manor of Aylesbeare, its location near Minchin Court, its Domesday association, Courtenay ownership, and probable relationship with Houndbeare and Minchin Court.
- Great Halls, Aylesbeare, Devon: Heritage Statement: https://docs.planning.org.uk/20231130/44/S40T6JGHMIJ00/noicwslzf81ow3fu.pdf — States that Minchin Court was a medieval barton and became the manor house of Aylesbeare after its refurbishment in 1589; discusses the 1842 tithe map and Minchin Court landholding.
- Viewe and Survey of the Manor of Aylesbere: https://doczz.net/doc/5406530/tne-vyewe-and-survey-off-dyvers-lordshipps--manors--londes — Sixteenth-century survey describing the manor, its Barton demesnes, enclosed lands, decayed mansion, and a former park containing about 140 acres.
- Mapping the Medieval Countryside: Inquisition Post Mortem 21-344: https://inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/view/inquisition/21-344/index.html — Medieval fiscal description lists the manor of Aylesbeare and the hamlet of Newton Poppleford, including its relationship to the manor and associated chantry.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is the documented manor-house site at Minchin Court, not the modern centre of Aylesbeare.
- The historical manor may have included lands and subordinate holdings beyond the immediate village, including an association with Newton Poppleford and a former 140-acre park.
- No authoritative online source located in this research supplies a complete, georeferenced perimeter of the manorial land. Do not inject a polygon based on the modern civil parish boundary.