The manor of Blacheberie is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 101st of the 176 holdings of Baldwin the Sheriff, a Norman magnate, 1st feudal baron of Okehampton, seated at Okehampton Castle in Devon. Out of the 52 Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror, his was the largest fiefdom in Devon. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 it was held by the Anglo-Saxon Godric. Baldwin's tenant at Blacheberie was a certain William, possibly "William of Aller", who held seven manors from him, all within the hundred of Silverton. The feudal barony of Okehampton later passed to the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon. Blackborough was donated by a later feudal baron of Okehampton to Forde Abbey which later transferred it to Dunkeswell Abbey, both in Devon.
de Bolegh
The earliest holder of Blackborough recorded by the Devon historian Sir William Pole is the family of de Bolegh, the descent of which was as follows:
Sir Hamelyn I de Bolegh, who lived during the reign of King Richard I.
Sir Hugh de Bolegh. In the Book of Fees "Henry son of Henry and the heir of Hugh de Bolley" held lands in Kentisbeare, Ponsford, Kingsford and Catshayes, from the Honour of Okehampton.
Sir Hamelyn II de Bolegh
James de Bolegh, last in the male line, who left a daughter and heiress Amisia de Bolegh, wife of John Cobham.
Cobham
Sir John de Cobham married Amisia de Bolegh, heiress of Blackborough. He was a younger son of Baron Cobham of Cobham Hall in Kent. The arms of "Cobham of Blackburgh Bolhay" are recorded by Pole as Gules, on a chevron or three eagles displayed sable, which are a difference of the arms of the prominent family of Cobham of Cobham Hall in Kent, created Baron Cobham in 1313: Gules, on a chevron or three lions rampant sable, the heir of which family was Sir Thomas III Brooke of Holdich and Weycroft, Devon, grandson of Sir Thomas II Brooke of Holditch, "by far the largest landowner in Somerset" and served 13 times as a Member of Parliament for Somerset. John Cobham had issue by Amisia de Bolegh as follows:
**James Cobham, son and heir;
**Isabel Cobham, wife of John Bampfield of Poltimore; the arms of Cobham of Blackborough are amongst the 30 quarterings above the effigy and monument to Sir Amyas Bampfylde in All Saints Church, North Molton.
Sir John Cobham of Blackborough, who left a daughter and heiress Elizabeth Cobham, wife of Walter Charleton, but died without issue. Charleton had conveyed the estate to Sir William Bonville of Shute, who after his death entered onto the estate, giving rise to a dispute with the families of Bampfield, Hungerford and Hill, right heirs of John Cobham and Amisia de Bolegh. The dispute was won by Bonville and thus Blackborough descended by the great heiress Cecily Bonville to her grandson Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset. On the attainder of the latter in 1554, the estate escheated to the crown, and was sold to Sir John Wyndham, of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset.
Blackborough House
Blackborough is home to the Grade II listed building Blackborough House. This was built in 1838 by George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont. Originally designed as an Italianate palace, there were no funds to complete it on this scale, so it was constructed as two smaller, linked buildings. The house was variously used as a school, a religious institution for wayfarers and for training conscientious objectors for relief work As of 2016, the house is semi-derelict but has been purchased by a developer who plans to restore it and turn it into an events venue.
