As the 17th-century Fortescue mural monument in the parish church of Weare Giffard states, "Whympstone" in the parish of Modbury is the oldest known home of the Fortescue family. The manor of Whympston is thought to have been granted to them by King John in 1209, but according to Hoskins they were already in the district in about 1140 when Ralph Fortescue donated some land to Modbury Priory at about the time of its foundation.
William Fortescue, of Whympston married Elizabeth Beauchamp, widow of Richard Branscombe, a daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Ryme in Dorset by his wife Margaret Whalesborough, and a co-heiress of her brother Thomas Beauchamp of Ryme. The Beauchamp family of Ryme was a junior branch of the Beauchamp feudal barons of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. Thomas Beauchamp died without children, when his heirs to one moiety each became the descendants of his two sisters, the other of whom was Joane Beauchamp, wife of Sir Robert Challons, from whom the moiety descended to a member of the Carwithan family. The younger son of William Fortescue and Elizabeth Beauchamp was John Fortescue, of Sheepham in the parish of Modbury, Captain of the captured Castle of Meaux, during the Hundred Years' War, ancestor of the Fortescues of Filleigh and Weare Giffard in Devon and of the Fortescues of Buckland Filleigh, Devon. These three prominent seats of the Fortescue family were all inherited by the marriage of Martin Fortescue to Elizabeth Densyll, daughter and heiress of Richard Densyll.
William Fortescue (fl.1410, d.pre-1440)
William Fortescue of Whympston, eldest son and heir, who married Mabell Falwell, a daughter and co-heiress of John Falwell, of Falwell in the parish of Rattery in Devon. In 1410 William and his wife, "Matilda, alias Mabilia," and his parents were granted a license by Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, for an oratory in their mansion at "Whympton". A fine dated 1425 records that John Falwell and his wife Agnes settled lands on themselves for life, with successive remainders on their daughter Mabel, wife of William Fortescue, and her heirs; on George Denysyll and Agnes his wife and their heirs, and on John Boson and his heirs. Mabel Falwell survived him and remarried to John Trumpyngdon.
John Fortescue
John Fortescue of Whympston, son, was a Member of Parliament successively for Totnes, Tavistock and Plympton. He married Jane Preston, who survived him, daughter and heiress of John Preston of Preston in the parish of Newton Ferrers in Devon. By his wife he had three sons:
John Fortescue of Whympston, eldest son and heir, who continued the senior line of the family at that ancient seat. His descendants were not prominent. He married Isabell Gibbes, daughter of Thomas Gibbes of Fenton.
William Fortescue, 2nd son, whose descendants founded a line of the family at Preston, the inheritance of his mother Jane Preston.
John Fortescue, 3rd son, of Spridleston in the parish of Brixton, Devon, which manor was given to him by his father, and where he founded his own branch of the family.
Fortescue monument, Weare Giffard
On the south wall of the south aisle chapel of the parish church of Weare Giffard is affixed the Fortescue mural monument, erected in 1638 by Hugh Fortescue. Inscribed across the monument at the top of the lower tier is the following Latin text, which summarises the history of the Fortescue family:
Memoriale Hugonis Fortescue arm et Elizabethae ux filiae Johs Chichester Equit itemque Johis Fortescue eorum fil arm et Mariae ux filiae Humphredi Speccot de Thornbury arm Sunt hi ab Johe Fortescue Equite Duce castri de Meaux in Gall sub H 5.o oriundi qui praesepia Fortescutorum de Wimeston Devon ortus habuit fil Johem Summum Justic et Cancell sub H 6.o sepultum Ebertoniae Glocest Familia quidem perantiqua et etiamnum felici subole propagata sepulti sunt: Hugo, Aug. 2 1600; Johes April 5, 1605: Elizabetha May 7, 1630; Maria April 11, 1637.
Which may be translated literally as:
"In memory of Hugh Fortescue, Esquire, and of Elizabeth his wife, daughter of John Chichester Esquire and also of John Fortescue, the son of them, Esquire, and of Mary his wife, daughter of Humphrey Speccot of Thornbury, Esquire. These arose from John Fortescue, Knight, Captain of the Castle of Meaux in France, arisen under Henry the Fifth a scion of the Fortescues of Whympston, Devon. He had a son John, Chief Justice and Chancellor under Henry the Sixth. He was buried at Ebrington in Gloucestershire. Indeed the very ancient family even now is happy with fruitful issue and are buried here: Hugo, Aug. 2 1600; John April 5, 1605: Elizabeth May 7, 1630; Mary April 11, 1637"
The Fortescue family sold the estate shortly before 1600.
Treby
Writing in 1797 Swete stated it was then owned by Paul Treby Esq. of Plympton House.
Prettejohn
Walter Lamble Prettejohn purchased the estate from Paul Treby and at some time before 1810 built a new house on the estate. His memorial plaque survives in Chivelstone Church, inscribed as follows: The co-executrix to his will was his niece Elizabeth Prettejohn Pitts of Chivelstone, wife of Nicholas Pitts, Gentleman, and only child of his sister Elizabeth Harris.
Pitts
In 1862 the estate was owned by Nicholas Pitts of South Allington.
The country mansion called Whympston House was purchased in 1916 by the Plymouth Co-Operative Society Ltd as a holiday home for its members. The sale catalogue of 1915 lists the following:
"Whympston Estate, Stubston Estate, Lower Little Modbury Estate, Stoliford Estate, Challonscoombe Estate, Damerelscoombe Estate, Easton Estate, Bray's Wood Tenement, Houghton Estate, Chantry Estate, Idestone Estate, Great Gate Estate, Alston Estate, fields called Tongue and South Down, several fields with barn and cattle linhays near Idestone Cross, Will Street meadow and pond in Loddiswell, Modbury, Aveton Gifford, Bigbury, Loddiswell and Malborough"
In 1925 the Co-Op sold the estate, as detailed in a sale catalogue of that year:
"Whympston Estate including Stoliford Farm; Lower Little Modbury Farm; Stubston Farm; Whympston House and Farm, Modbury"
Present day
The site in 2012 at the end of a private lane marked "Whympston" comprises a small settlement of a modern-looking farmhouse with older farm buildings and two modern bungalows nearby. No trace of the former mansion house remains.
