AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 225 



(for I don't find he was a doctor) continue the space of fifteen 

 years ; and then his fame having reached the court, he was, 

 by that pious prince, King Henry VI., in the 38th year of his 

 reign, made Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He continued 

 Bishop of this Diocese about one and thirty years, and died 

 upon the Lord's-day, October 3, 1490, at what time, by 

 computation, he must be nearly ninety years of age. He 

 lieth buried in his church at Lichfield." 



" The village of Sherford is very ancient. It once belonged 

 to St. Nicholas's Priory, Exeter. The church (St. Martin) is 

 a fine specimen of the decorated style, and has a lofty tower 

 and five bells. There are stoups at the north and south 

 doors, and in the chancel is a fine trefoiled piscina."* 



Let us pass through Chillington, which is a long straggling 

 village, with a few pleasant-looking houses in it. It is one of 

 the many villages in the parish of Stokenham. 



"This manor (Stokenham) belonged, in the reign of 

 King John, to Matthew Fitz-Herbert ; it continued several 

 generations to his descendants, by the name of Fitz-Matthew, 

 Fitz-Herbert, and Fitz-John. Matthew Fitz-John, the last of 

 this family, was summoned to Parliament as a baron. Dying 

 without issue, he gave the inheritance of all his lands to the 

 King (Edwd. I.). The manor was then held under the Cour- 

 tenays, as of the Honour of Plympton. King Edward I. gave 

 it to Ralph de Monthermer, his son-in-law, to be held of the 

 crown, of which the Earl of Devon complained in a petition 

 to Parliament, and obtained redress. From Monthermer this 

 manor descended through the families of Montacute and 

 Poole to Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, who sold it to the 

 Arierideths. Both Sir Wm. Pole and Risdon state that 

 this manor was dismembered; Risdon says by the Earl of 



* White's " Devonshire." 



