Matford is an historic estate in the parish of Alphington, near Exeter, Devon. It should not be confused with Matford in the parish of Heavitree, almost immediately opposite on the other side of the River Exe. The Devon Hotel occupies the site of the former Matford House at the junction of Old Matford Lane and the A379 Exeter By-Pass. Close by is Matford Bridge, the crossing point over the Matford Brook on the road between Alphington and Exminster.
Descent
The descent of the estate of Matford-Dinham was as follows:
Dinham
Matford-Dinham was formerly a seat of the Dynham family, whose main seats were Nutwell and Hartland, on the south and north coasts of Devon respectively.
Hurding
Matford was later held by the Hurding family. The heiress of the family was Margery Hurding, who married Richard Northleigh. A mural monument survives in the south aisle of Alphington Church to Elizabeth Hurding daughter of John Hurding.
Northleigh
Richard Northleigh of Northleigh in the parish of Inwardleigh, near Okehampton, Devon, where the family had long been established, married Margery Hurding, heiress of Matford, by whom he had two sons: Raymond Northleigh, the eldest son, who inherited Northleigh, and continued the senior family line there, and Robert Northleigh, 2nd son, who was the founder of the branch of the family seated at Matford.
Robert Northleigh, who married Johanna Woode, daughter of John Woode of Harston, in the parish of Brixton.
George Northleigh who in 1583 married Alice Hockmore, daughter of Gregory Hockmore of Buckland Baron, in the parish of Combe-in-Teignhead by his wife Alice Cruce, whose monument survives in Combe-in-Teignhead Church, a daughter and co-heiress of William Cruce.
Robert Northleigh , who married Johanna Tothill, one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Henry Tothill of Peamore, Exminster, Sheriff of Devon in 1623. A memorial tablet dated 1639 in memory of Master Robert Northleigh of Matford Dinham, survives in Alphington Church. The Devon historian Tristram Risdon, in his Survey of Devon, reported Matford to be "the mansion of a branch of the name of Norley, who married a co-heir of Tothill",
Henry I Northleigh , who in 1639 at Wolborough married Lettice Yard, a daughter of Edward Yard, lord of the manor of Churston Ferrers, Devon. His ledger stone survives in the floor of Alphington Church.
Henry II Northleigh of Peamore House, thrice MP for Okehampton. he married Susanna Sparke, who survived him and remarried to his cousin Edward Yard of Churston Ferrers, MP for Totnes in 1695. Henry's white marble mural monument survives in the north aisle of Alphington Church. At about this time the Northleighs abandoned Matford for nearby Peamore, after which it fell into ruin. In 1799 the Devon topographer Rev. John Swete visited the area and noted in his journal that the ancient mansion of Matford Dinham "a century ago of respectability among the mansions in the neighbourhood, is now on the verge of ruin and desolation, by an anticlimax it has pass'd from the hands of the gentleman to those of the farmer and is now become the habitation of a family or two of labourers, dilapidated and overspred with huge volumes of ivy, it will perhaps soon become untenantable".
