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PROMINENT CITIZENS
SIR PIERS / PETER
EDGCUMBE (1477-1539)
| Updated:
28 February 2011
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It is somewhat doubtful that Sir
Piers/Peter Edgcumbe did become a prominent citizen of Plymouth but he was
the first of that family to own land within the present City. The
family owned the Cotehele Estate, in the Cornish parish of Calstock, along
with the Borough, Manor and Castle of Totnes, in Devon. [1]
Peter
Edgcumbe, or Piers as the family seem to prefer to call him, was born in
1477 to Sir Richard Edgcumbe and his wife, formerly Miss Jane Tremayne.
He was only 12-years-old when his father died on June 14th 1489 and he
inherited the land mentioned above along with other manors and holdings
throughout Devon and Cornwall. [1]
He married
Mrs Jane Dynham, the widow of Mr Charles Dynham, of Nutwell, in the parish
of Lympstone, Devon, and who
just happened to be the daughter and heir of Mr James* Derneford
(the modern spelling being Durnford), the owner of
the manors of East and West Stonehouse and Rame. [1]
East Stonehouse
developed into the township of that name, which was amalgamated with Plymouth
and Devonport in 1914 to create the modern Plymouth while West Stonehouse
was the area on the Cornish shore of the Hamoaze that is now Cremyll.
Thus, with Rame, also in Cornwall, meant that the Edgcumbe's now owned all
the land of strategic importance for the defence of Plymouth and Plymouth
Dock when the latter was created in 1690.
He was
knighted in 1494 and served as Sheriff of Devon on four occasions between
then and 1522. He was present at what became known as "The Battle of
the Spurs" in France. [1]
Jane gave
Sir Piers three sons and three daughters (Richard, John, James, Elizabeth,
Jane, and Agnes [2]) before she died sometime before
1525. He then remarried, to Catherine, the widow of Sir Gruffudd ap
Rhys and daughter of Sir John St John, of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire. There
were no children from the second marriage. [1]
Sir
Piers/Peter Edgcumbe died on August 14th 1539 and his estates went to the
eldest son, Sir Richard Edgcumbe, who erected Mount Edgcumbe House to
eclipse Mount Wise House that had been built on the Stoke Damerel side of
the Hamoaze by the Wise family. [1]
* The
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [1] gives his name as James but
the Collins's Peerage of England [2] states his Christian name to have
been Stephen.
Sources:
[1] Sir Peter
Edgcumbe (1477-1539), "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography",
Oxford University Press, Oxford, Oxfordshire, 2009.
[2] Brydges, Sir
Egerton, KJ, "Collins's Peerage of England, volume V", London, 1812,
as digitized by Google.
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