Origin of the Dackombe Family of Steepletonpublished in SDNQ March 2011 by Dr. Geoffrey Mann Steepleton Iwerne lies three miles north of Blandford Forum where a marked detour of the main road shows how a lord of the manor once diverted the highway around his estate. There is no village now, but a church and manor house. The Dackombe family came into possession of the manor before 1378 when Thomas Daccombe married Agnes de Stupelton, heiress to the estate 1 and the family remained in possession for over two hundred years 2 . The pedigree of the family derived from the Visitations of Dorset 3 however begins with John of Steepleton who died in 1517 and no published relationship with Thomas and the earlier family has been found. In this note it is proposed that John came from Chilworth
near Southampton and was only distantly related to the earlier Dackombe
family at Steepleton. In other notes, the descendants of John of Steepleton
are described 4, including Sir John Dackombe, c1570-1615,
M.P. for Corfe Castle, secretary to Robert Cecil, and Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster 5. Origin in Devon and the Isle of WightThe first known record of the family relates that in 1205 Jordan de Daccombe gave up his right to the advowson of Coffinswell near Torquay 6. Within Coffinswell lies the manor of Daccombe which Jordan held and later gave to Torr Abbey, a gift confirmed by his son Thomas 7. It is likely therefore that the family took its name from the manor. Not long after, in 1227 Thomas De Accumbe acquired land in various parishes on the Isle of Wight 8 and from then until 1370 almost all known Dackombe records are from the Isle. Thomas, William or John Daccombe appear as witnesses or holders of land in various parishes 9. The name is spelled Daccombe D'Accombe de Daccumbe etc John Daccombe acquires ChilworthIn 1368, John Daccumbe, his wife Marjorie and son John were in possession of land in Brading on the Isle of Wight 10. Brading was then a port though it is now some miles inland. Trade with Southampton would have facilitated movement to the mainland, and in 1369 John Daccomb of Brading possessed land in Mainsbridge near Southampton 11. By 1372, he had sold this land to Smyth 12 and acquired the nearby manor of Chilworth from Sir Thomas Tyrrell 13. John served on a jury at Southampton in 1385 14, collected tax between 1385 and 1388 15 and in 1399 a John Daccombe was associated with the rebellion against the new King Henry IV though it is not certain that he was of Chilworth 16. In 1412 he held land in Chilworth worth £20 17 He had connections with Beaulieu Abbey 18 and at his death c1415, was married to Lora 19. Thomas Daccombe acquires SteepletonAt the same time that John bought land in Mainsbridge and Chilworth, a Thomas Daccombe bought the manor of Mainsbridge, also from Tyrrell and sold it before 1372 also to Smyth 20. It is highly probable that he is the Thomas Daccombe who acquired the manor of Steepleton shortly afterwards by marrying the heir to the estate as there are no known further records of him near Mainsbridge (except for a small Chilworth rental of ten shillings 21). Moreover in 1398 at the first opportunity as patron of Steepleton, he appointed as rector, a William Daccomb 22, almost certainly the former vicar of Brading 23. Thomas of Steepleton was a tax collector in Dorset between 1385 and 1413 24, having been “too busy to go to Portugal on the king’s service” in 1382 25. He was coroner 1385-90 26, escheator for Somerset and Dorset 1390-93 27, sheriff of Somerset and Dorset 1397-99 28, knighted by 1398 29 and commissioner of the peace 1410-1413 30. From these records, Thomas and John were both substantial men in their own county, both died c1415 and both were probably born around 1340. They bought adjoining manors c1370, both making property deals with Tyrrell and Smyth and both probably came from Brading. So they were undoubtedly related, perhaps as close as brothers. Daccombe families of Chilworth and Steepleton For the next hundred years after the deaths c1415 of Thomas of Steepleton and John of Chilworth, most known Daccombe records concern these two manors, which remained in the possession of the separate families. ChilworthOnly two records are known from Chilworth from this period but these show that a later John of Chilworth died c1460-70, that he was married to Christian and had a son John living in 1471. The first record is a commission to defend the sea coast near Chilworth: 1457 3 September: Commission to array and try all
men at arms and lead them to the sea coast to resist the king's enemies; to
John Daccombe for hundreds of Tychefeld, Mannesbrugge and Farham 31. The hundred of Mannesbrugge (Mainsbridge) includes Chilworth, and these localities cover some 30 miles of coastline SE from Southampton. The enemies were undoubtedly the French. The second record is the will of Christian Daccombe of Chilworth. Her will shows that her husband John was dead, and she referred to him as John the elder, implying that she had a living son, John the younger: 26th June 1471, I Christian Dackombe the relict of John
Dackombe the elder gentleman of Chilleworth in the County of Southampton … do
make my will in this manner…. my body to be buried in the churchyard of the
chapel of Chilleworth …to Edith my daughter….32 SteepletonThomas who first acquired the manor, was followed by three generations named William 33 but the extensive Steepleton pedigrees derived from the visitations of Dorset, all begin with John 34. Neither the Visitations of Dorset nor Hutchins History of Dorset nor any other known source claim any descent of John from the previous William generations. It is now proposed that John, the founder of the Steepleton pedigrees, was in fact John the younger of Chilworth, acquiring Steepleton around 1470, and taking up residence there to become John of Steepleton. The arrow in Fig.1 implies this identity. Fig. 1. Proposed origin of John of Steepleton
John---m--Christian
of Chilworth elder |
d1471 d<1471
|
John ▬► John-m-Sibyl
of Steepleton
younger bc1435|
bc1435 d1517| Thomas-m-Anne of Steepleton
eldest son | held
Chilworth d1514 | John bc1495 inherited both manors Supporting Evidence 1. Thomas, the eldest son of John of Steepleton died in 1514, three years before his father, and his will shows that he held the manor of Chilworth 35 (see Fig.1). He possessed the manor as early as 1477, as in that year, he sold the manor 36. No record has yet been discovered showing how he regained possession before his death. Well before his death in 1517, John of Steepleton gave his lands, including the manor of Steepleton, in trust for the use of his eldest son Thomas, no doubt to avoid tax 37 The trust did not possess Chilworth but it would have been consistent to have already conveyed this to his eldest son, probably in 1477 after Thomas became of age. John of Steepleton retained an interest in Chilworth however as he was a complainant in a Chancery suite after 1515 concerning the use of Chilworth 38 2. In the1623 visitation of Dorset, a preamble to a pedigree that includes the Dackombes of Steepleton states that “The Dackombs claimeth to come from Dackomb Castle in Normandie, from whence they came to Chelworth (sic) in Hampsh; and possessed 10 or 12 Mannors there”. The pedigree was signed by the son of Sir John Dackombe, and shows a family tradition that Chilworth was the earlier location of the Steepleton family. I have not identified Dackomb Castle, and a more likely immediate origin is the manor of Daccombe in Devon as discussed above. 3. John of Steepleton did not name any of his sons William after the previous holders of Steepleton. He did however name his only known daughter Christian, which, it is now proposed, was after his mother, Christian of Chilworth (see Fig.1). It is not known whether he bought Steepleton or perhaps inherited it. If Thomas who first acquired Steepleton, and John who first acquired Chilworth were brothers, as suggested above, the Steepleton family may have died out with the last of the William Dackombes after 1470 and John of Chilworth inherited as the next heir before 1477. Perhaps he named both of his first two sons Thomas, in recognition of the source of his inheritance. 4. The estimated birth dates of John of Steepleton and John the younger of Chilworth fall within the same time span. The eldest son of John of Steepleton sold Chilworth in 1477. He would have been of age to possess the manor so John was born before c1435 and since he died in 1517, a birth date only shortly before 1435 is likely. John the younger of Chilworth was adult in 1471, so born before 1450. His father led men at arms in 1457, so probably aged less than 60 at this time and his son consequently born after c1420. Thus John the younger of Chilworth was born c1435 +/- 15 years consistent with the birth date of John of Steepleton. Conclusions The Dackombe family took their name from the manor of Daccombe in Devon, and moved from there to the Isle of Wight. John of Brading on the Island purchased Chilworth manor near Southampton around 1370 at about the same time that Thomas Daccombe, probably also of Brading, acquired Steepleton by marriage.. John Daccombe of Chilworth in Hampshire, c1430-1517, son of John and Christian of Chilworth, came into possession of Steepleton in Dorset after 1470 and headed the Steepleton pedigree. He conveyed his former manor of Chilworth to his son Thomas in or before 1477. References 1.
E.
A. Fry, ‘Daccombe Family’, SDNQ, vol. 13, 220 2.
J.
Hutchins, ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset’ 3rd
edition 1863. vol. I, 299 3.
G.
Mann and D. Williams, ‘Sir John Dackombe 1570-1618 Part I’, SDNQ vol.
33, 363 4.
G.
Mann, ‘Descendants of John Dackombe of Steepleton’. SDNQ to be
published 5.
G.
Mann and D. Williams, ‘Sir John Dackombe 1570-1618 Part II’, SDNQ vol.
33, 408 6.
Brownlow,
‘St Marychurch in Saxon and Norman Times’, Trans. Devonshire Assoc. for
the Advancement of Science Literature and Art 1886 vol. 18, 143-160,
429-441 7.
C.
Worthy ‘Devonshire Parishes, the Antiquities, Heraldry and Family History of 24
Parishes in the Archdeaconry of Totnes’ 1887 vol. 2, 368 8.
TNA
CP 25/1/203/5 no.20 Feet of Fines Hampshire, 12 Hen III 9.
Isle
of Wight Record Office, The Oglander Collection OG/A – OG/Z; STH/P/14 &
72; Victoria County History of Hampshire, vol3. 3, 165; vol. 5, 229,
230 10.
TNA
E326/676 11.
TNA E210/3870 12.
Calendar of Patent Rolls
Ed III vol. 15, 143 13.
TNA Inquisition post mortem 45 Ed III no 48 14.
Calendar of Patent Rolls Ric.II vol.2, 586 15.
Calendar of Fine Rolls vol.10, 117, 157, 217 16.
Calendar of Close Rolls Hen IV vol. 1, 23 Feb 1400 17.
TNA
Feudal Aids vol.6, 422 18.
Calendar of Close Rolls Hen V vol.1, 4 Dec 1415 19.
Calendar of Patent Rolls Hen V vol.2, 96 20.
Victoria County History of Hampshire vol.3,.484 21.
TNA
Feudal Aids 1401/2 vol. 6, 631 22.
Hutchins,
“History and Antiquities of
Dorset” vol. I, 301 23.
William
Daccombe was vicar of Brading from 7Jun1395 to 17Dec1397 when he went to
Minstead, 7 miles E of Southampton until his resignation on 26Apr1398 (Bishop
Wykeham’s Register) 3 months before William Daccombe was appointed at
Steepleton 6Aug1398 24.
Calendar of Fine Rolls vol.11, 72,97; vol.14, 26 25.
Calendar of Patent Rolls Ric. II vol. 2, 96 26.
Calendar of Close Rolls Ric. II vol. 3 Nov.1385, vol.4 Nov.1390 27.
Calendar of Fine Rolls vol.10,.342;
Calendar of Patent Rolls Ric.II vol.5, 229 28.
Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 11, 221 278 29.
J
Collinson ‘The History and
Antiquities of Somerset’ 1791. vol.1, xxxv 30.
Calendar of Patent Rolls Hen.IV vol.4, 481; Hen.V vol.1, 413 31.
Calendar of Patent Rolls 1452-1461 p.400 32.
Will
of Christiana Dackomb proved 1471
PROB 11/6 33.
Hutchins,
‘History and Antiquities of Dorset’
vol. I, 299 34.
Mann
and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 368 35.
Will
of Thomas Dackham, proved 1514 PROB 11/17 36.
TNA
CP25/1/207/34 Foot of Fine, Hants 37.
TNA
E150 905/15 Inquisition post
mortem,1518 38.
TNA
C1 402/59 |