# Bagtor

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**Bagtor** is a historic estate in the parish of [Ilsington](/source/Ilsington) in Devon, England. It was the birthplace of [John Ford](/source/John_Ford_(dramatist)) (1586-c. 1639) the playwright and poet. The Elizabethan mansion of the Ford family survives today at Bagtor as the service wing of a later house appended in about 1700.[1]

## Descent

### Early records

The [manor](/source/Manorialism) of *Bagetore* is listed in the [Domesday Book](/source/Domesday_Book) of 1086 as the seventh of the twelve Devonshire holdings of [Nicholas the Bowman](/source/Nicholas_the_Bowman), one of the 52 [Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief](/source/Devon_Domesday_Book_tenants-in-chief) of King [William the Conqueror](/source/William_the_Conqueror). His tenant was a certain Roger, and before the [Norman Conquest](/source/Norman_Conquest) of 1066, it was held by a Saxon named Ordric, who had held six of the manors later obtained by Nicholas the Bowman.[2]

The earliest holder of the manor of Bagtor recorded by the Devonshire historian Sir [William Pole](/source/William_Pole_(antiquary)) (d.1635) is the *de Bagtor* family.[3] In the [Book of Fees](/source/Book_of_Fees) (c. 1302) it is recorded as held from the [feudal barony of Plympton](/source/Feudal_barony_of_Plympton) by "William de Baggetorre",[4] who also held Aller in [Abbot's Kerswell](/source/Abbotskerswell), also a former holding of Nicholas the Bowman.[5] According to Pole, it was subsequently held by the Beare family.[6]

### Ford

- John Ford (died 1538) of [Ashburton](/source/Ashburton,_Devon)[7] (the son and heir of William Ford of [Chagford](/source/Chagford)[8]) purchased the estate of Bagtor.[9] The Devonshire biographer [John Prince](/source/John_Prince_(biographer)) supposes him to have been descended from the Fords of Fordmore, in [Moreton Hampsted](/source/Moretonhampstead), settled there as early as the 12th century.[10] He married three times, secondly to Joane Walrond, a daughter of William Walrond of Bovey[11] in the parish of [Beer](/source/Beer,_Devon),[12] by whom he had issue: - George Forde (1521-1570) of Bagtor, son and heir (see below); - Margaret Ford, wife of [John Rolle (1522–1570)](/source/John_Rolle_(1522%E2%80%931570)) of [Stevenstone](/source/Stevenstone).
- George Forde (1521-1570) of Bagtor, son and heir, who married Joan St Cleere, a daughter of Gilbert St Cleere of [Budleigh](/source/Budleigh_Salterton).
- Thomas Ford (1556–1610) of Bagtor, eldest son and heir, who married Elizabeth Popham (d.1629) of the [Popham family](/source/John_Popham_(Lord_Chief_Justice)) of [Huntworth](/source/Huntworth) in Somerset.[13] Her monument survives in Ilsington Church.[14] His second son was [John Ford](/source/John_Ford_(dramatist)) (1586-c. 1639) the playwright and poet.
- Henry Ford (d.1616), eldest son and heir, who married Katharine Drake, daughter and sole heiress of George Drake of Spratshays in Littleham, Devon. He was buried at Littleham. His younger son Edward Ford (1596-1665) continued the Ford line at Ilsington,[15] and was the father of John Ford (1632-1677) of [Dartington](/source/Dartington), supposed by [Lysons](/source/Samuel_Lysons)[16] to have been the last in the line seated at Bagtor. Henry Ford's eldest son Sir Henry Ford (1617-1684) moved to the estate of [Nutwell](/source/Nutwell).
- Sir [Henry Ford](/source/Henry_Ford_(Tiverton_MP)) (1617-1684), of [Nutwell](/source/Nutwell) in Devon, eldest son of and heir, four times an [MP](/source/Member_of_Parliament) for [Tiverton](/source/Tiverton_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), Devon, between 1664 and 1685 and twice Secretary to the [Lord Lieutenant of Ireland](/source/Lord_Lieutenant_of_Ireland), 1669–70 and 1672–73.[17]

### Later owners

Rev. Thomas Tothill resided at Bagtor. His daughter and heiress Penelope Tothill married Thomas Lane of Bradley, Newton Abbot; of Coffleet in [Yealmpton](/source/Yealmpton) and of [Spridleston](/source/Spridleston), all in Devon, [Sheriff of Devon](/source/Sheriff_of_Devon) in 1784.[18] (See [Spridleston](/source/Spridleston)).

Bagtor was later part of the large [Dartmoor](/source/Dartmoor) estate of [John Dunning, 1st Baron Ashburton](/source/John_Dunning,_1st_Baron_Ashburton) (1731–1783), whose seat was at [Spitchwick](/source/Spitchwick), about 6 miles to the south-west.[citation needed]

## References

1. [Pevsner, Nikolaus](/source/Nikolaus_Pevsner) & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.507; [Hoskins, W.G.](/source/William_George_Hoskins), A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.415

1. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 1, 48:7

1. [Pole, Sir William](/source/William_Pole_(antiquary)) (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, [Sir John-William de la Pole](/source/Sir_John_de_la_Pole,_6th_Baronet) (ed.), London, 1791, p.267

1. Thorn, part 2, Notes, 48:7

1. Thorn, part 2, Notes, 48:11

1. Pole, p.267

1. [Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.](/source/John_Lambrick_Vivian), (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the [Heralds' Visitations](/source/Heraldic_visitation) of 1531, 1564 & 1620. Exeter, 1895, p.652.

1. Vivian, p.349, pedigree of Ford

1. [Risdon, Tristram](/source/Tristram_Risdon) (died 1640), Survey of Devon, 1810 edition, London, 1810, p.135.

1. Lysons, Samuel & Daniel. (1822). [*Magna Britannia: volume 6: Devonshire, Families removed since 1620.*](http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50555) pp. CLXXIII-CCXXV.

1. Vivian, p.471, pedigree of Hockmore

1. a junior line of Walrond of Bradfield House, Uffculme, Devon (Vivian's pedigree of that family, p.768)

1. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620. Exeter, 1895, p.349, pedigree of Ford of Nutwell. No first name given for her father "..Popham of Huntworthie"

1. Vivian, p.349 "MI"

1. Vivian, p.350.

1. Lysons, Samuel & Daniel, Magna Britannia, volume 6, *Devonshire*, Families removed since 1620, 1822

1. Vivian, p.350.

1. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, "Lane of Coffleet"[\[1\]](https://books.google.com/books?id=YdIKAAAAYAAJ&dq=thomas+veale+Coffleet&pg=PA690)

## Further reading

- Meller, Hugh (2015). *The Country Houses of Devon*. Vol. I. Crediton: Black Dog Press. pp. 93–4. ISBN 978-0-9524341-4-6.
- Ransom, Bill (2003). "The Manor of Bagtor, Ilsington". *Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association*. **135**: 99–110.
- Wills, Dick (2000). *The Book of Ilsington: A Photographic History of the Parish*. Halsgrove. p. 119. ISBN 978-1841140605. (includes old photos of the house)

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