Harris of Hayne at Ebrington in Gloucestershire and Creech St Michael in Somersetshire
There were Harris families holding land in both of the counties of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire in the 1500s and the coat of arms as referred to is the same as that of the Hayne branch of the family. In regard to Ebrington, whether this was a result of the Harris /Beauchamp and Fortescue association with the area in the early 1400s is not known.
Reference: 1262M/TG/7Creation dates: c.1456Scope and Content LetterDame Joyce Beauchamp to Sir John Fortescue telling him that she has attorned Ebrington to him on advice of Thomas Lyttylton her "cousin and counsel"
Certainly the Harris family was at Ebrington, on Fortescue lands, by the late 1500s as is shown by the following Archives entry:
Reference: 1262M/M/148Creation dates: 1580-1581 Scope and Content Copies Court Roll (2)Licences to Harris and White to sub-let tenements in Ebrington
In regard to the land in Creech Sit Michael it is interesting to note that the land was held with members of the Radford family, early owners of Radford House in Plymstock, residence of the Harris family, following inheritance of it from the Beauchamp/Radford family in the early 1400s.
From entries in the official English archives records the following can be established:
Land at Ebrington: in Gloucestershire
1456 Beauchamp to Sir John Fortescue (who died 1456)
1612 Sir John Keyte died at Ebrington
1687 Coventry leases life estates to Sir William Keyt of Ebrington
1694 Dorothy Keyt married Gilbert Coventry
EBRINGTON is a parish in the upper division of the hundred of Kiftsgate, county Gloucester, 2 miles N.E. of Chipping Campden, its post town, and 1 mile from the Campden station on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton railway. It is situated on the Cotswold hills, and includes the hamlets of Charingworth and Hidcote Boyce. Stone is quarried for building purposes. The living is a vicarage annexed to the vicarage of Mickleton, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church, a spacious stone edifice, dedicated to St. Edburgh, has a fine E. window of stained-glass. It contains monuments of the Fortescue family. Earl Fortescue is lord of the manor, from which he takes the title of viscount.
(The Church of Ebrington)
The land held at Ebrington was held at the same time as land at Creech St Michael in Somerset was held.
The following will entries for members of the Keyte family show Harris members as their executors:
WILL OF RICHARD KEYTE OF EBRINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Will dated 7.6.1557
In the name of god amen and in the year or our lord god am (amen) and by the
seventh day of June in the third and fourth year of the Reign of King philly'
and queen Mary / I Richard KEYTE of the town of Eberton husbandman in the
County of Gloust. being sick in body but of good and perfect rememberance lord
and praise be to Almighty god / Do make my last will and testament in manner
and form …I give and bequeath to my wife An and I make my overseers John WIGET
witness to the same B BURDETT (or BURDELL) Anthony WORTH (or WORCS) of Campden
Willy FFREEMAN and Willy HARES who owes me
Debts owing me
Imprimis John WAKELY £103.Item Margery WARDE £7.
Nothing is not known about when or where Richard KEYTE or his wife Ann
were born or married, where they lived, or when they died.
* Queen Mary reigned from 1553 to 1558
*Eberton = this word was used to describe Ebrington
WILL OF JOHN KYTE OF EBRINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Will dated 21.10.1564 (9.9.1564)
In dei nomne Ame
In the name of god Amen the 21 day of October in the year of our Lord God I
John KYETT of eberton into the County of Glous yeoman sick in body and in fit
mind do make my last will and testament in manner and form following… / And to
this my last will and testament I do make Willm GRANT gentleman John HARRIS Ric
CANNING of Foxcote and John FREEMAN of Eberton my overseers to whom I give 6sh.
8d. a piece.
FOOTNOTES:-
* Nothing is not known about when or where John KYTE or his wife Elizabeth were
born or married, where they lived, or when they died.
* eberton = this word was used to describe Ebrington
Ebrington Manor House)
WILL OF JOHANNIS KYETE OF EBRINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Will dated 21.10.1569 (Original dated 1569 at Family Record Centre, London)
In the name of god Amen the 21st day of October in the year of our Lord god a
thousand five hundred sixty and nine, I John KYETE of Eberton within the county
of Gloucester, yeoman sick in body and in perfect mind do make my last will and
testament in manner and form following. __ from the beginning of the world unto
this day and yet keeping a bill in like case and to this my last will and
Testament I do make William BRYNT John HARYYE Richard CANNING of foxcote and
John FREEMAN of Eberton my overseers to whom I give 6s.8d a piece / Probatum –
in Latin.
[See also the will of 21.10.1564]
Will proved at Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Folio Ref: Sheffield 12
Land at Creech St Michael in Somerset
The Parish comprises several villages and hamlets on the edge of the Somerset Levels approximately 3 miles outside Somerset's County town of Taunton, and just off the A358 at Ruishton, one and a half miles from Junction 25 on the M5 Motorway. Creech St Michael village is in the southern part of the Parish and is the main centre. Ham lies to the south, and Langaller, Adsborough, Charlton to the north, and Walford Cross to the north east, whilst Thurloxton and Coombe nestle in the foothills of the Quantocks on the northern extremity of the parish.
A grant of land in 882 by King Alfred to Athelstan has been identified, probably incorrectly, as Creech. In 1066 CREECH was held by Gunild, daughter of Earl Godwin, and at the Conquest passed to the Crown. William, count of Mortain, had acquired the manor by c. 1102, when it formed part of his endowment of Montacute priory. Montacute retained the manor until 1539, receiving a grant of free warren in 1252. In 1542 the manor was granted for a term of years to Sir Thomas Wyatt (d. 1542), who left it to his widow Elizabeth. Elizabeth (d. 1560) and her second husband, Sir Edward Warner, sold her interest in 1557 to William Knapman the younger, who had already acquired the reversion of the manor, which the Crown had granted in reversion to Sir Edward Hastings. It was then subject to a fee farm rent payable to the Clothworkers Company and a charge of £53 11s. 10d. a year in favour of Hastings's hospital at Stoke Poges (Bucks.). The manor was divided, probably by Knapman, half passing in 1558 to John Radford (d. 1565) and later to John's son Lawrence, and half to John Harris, whose share in 1585 was sold by Nicholas Harris and Henry Shattock to Lawrence Radford
From: 'Creech St. Michael: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6: Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and neighbouring parishes) (1992), pp. 21-4.
1558 Manor held by John Radford, then by Lawrence Radford
1585 Land with John Harris then Nicholas Harris
1590 Lawrence Radford died
1598 Robert Cuffe and White held the land
1660 Sir John Coventry held the land
1680 Francis Coventry and Elizabeth Keyte held the land
These land entries show the linkage between the Coventry and Keyte families, and that of Harris and White. I have no record at this stage of a marriage between Harris and the Keyte or Coventry families however it appears that is the case in view of the display in the window of the church at Ebrington, an illustration of which is hereunder.
The window in Ebrington Church
Ebrington is about 5 miles away from Donnington and that was the home of Harris of Hayne who married into the Donnington and Arundel families.
the Whyte/White family was established in North Devon and Cornwall, for example John Whyte, Esq., at Pilton, owned the site of the priory, and Westaway estate, and had a handsome mansion there called Pilton House –in the same area as Harris of Hayne.
In the area of Creech is the Forde Abbey.
Founded in 1146, Forde Abbey was one of the most significant Cistercian monasteries in England during the four centuries that separated the reign of King Stephen from the Reformation. The buildings seen today were all in existence in the Middle Ages. They formed the Abbot's and monks' quarters, their kitchen, refectories, and their chapter house. The abbey church has gone, together with the guest wing and three sides of the cloisters.
While the final years of so many English 
monasteries are
remembered for their feebleness and decadence, Forde ended in a blaze of glory.
Thomas Chard, the last of the thirty-two abbots, devoted much of his time and
energy to repairing and reconstructing the fabric of the Abbey building. In
1539 Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the larger monasteries. Chard, his
work unfinished handed the Abbey over to the King, and was subsequently made
vicar of Thorncombe, the local village.
In the borderlands of Dorset, Somerset and Devon, Forde Abbey was a Cistercian abbey founded by Richard Fitzbaldwin in 1136 with monks from Waverley (in Surrey). The original site was at Brightley in Devon, but the house later (1141) moved to a site close to the River Axe in the parish of Thorncombe. In 1171, monks from Forde founded the Cistercian house of Bindon, also in Dorset. Forde's most famous abbot was Abbot Baldwin (1168-1181) who later went on to become Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of Canterbury.
Some of the surviving monastic buildings (e.g. the chapter house and dorter) date from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. However, shortly before the Dissolution, Abbot Chard (1521-1539) began rebuilding the monastery. Pevsner (p. 210) notes that this was "on a scale to justify the Reformation and the Dissolution." A new abbot's lodging was built, and part of the cloister rebuilt. Pevsner writes that Chard's "princely great hall is preceded by a porch of equal pretence. It is a tower so elaborate that it must be described motif for motif. An entrance with a basket arch leads into a fan-vaulted lobby. Above is a two-storied oriel, each tier with six narrow lights and a transom ... "
At the Dissolution, the abbey passed to Henry Pollard, and by the seventeenth century it was owned by Edmund Prideaux. (Elizabeth Pollards daughter married Fulk Prideaux, ancestor of Edmund Prideaux )
Sir Edmund Prideaux, (1601 – 1659) was Attorney General to Oliver Cromwell at the time of the Commonwealth. He transformed what must have been a somewhat dilapidated monastery into the magnificent country house you see today, by adding state apartments above the monastic cloisters and transforming the principal rooms with the addition of panelling and ornate plaster ceilings. These ceilings are almost unique in England. The famous tapestries that hang in the Grand Saloon are copies of the cartoons drawn by Raphael for the Sistine Chapel. This set were ordered by Sir Edmund Prideaux from the factory at Mortlake but only reached Forde when Queen Anne presented them to Sir Francis Gwyn (who married Prideaux's granddaughter) in recognition of his services as Secretary of State for War.
The Prideaux family shared several marriages with the Harris family in Devon in the 1500s and 1600s. Later entries confirm the Harris of Hayne connection with Creech
1628 Reference: HARRIS/875 Deed between John Harris, one of the sons of John Harris late of Donnington, yeo., and Thomas Moore of Bersted, Sussex, yeo. (1) and Nicholas Harris, another son of the said John Harris, (2)
Creation dates: 21 July 1649Scope and Content
Whereby, after reciting an indenture dated 23 December 1628, whereby George Smith of Westdean, gent., sold to Joan Harris, John Woodyer and Nicholas Woolgar - for £327 - one indenture of lease dated 20 June 1605, by Sir John Mallet of Enmore, George Mallet of London, John God of Creech and John Kynaston of Parham to William Randall of Binderton of the messuages comprising 29 acres situate in Donnington in the tenure of William Smith, the term of the lease being for a 1000 years and the rent of 25s. yearly. And reciting the will of John Harris dated 20 January 1627 bequeathing to his son Nicholas, at the age of 21 years, £300. And reciting an indenture of 26 September 1629 between Joan Harris (1), William Lutman of Merston, yeo. (2), John Woodyer, Nicholas Woolgar, John Harris and Thomas Moore (3), investing (3) with the original lease of the said premises. And reciting that the same came to John Harris and Thomas Moore on the decease of the other parties. And reciting that Joan Harris purchased the lease for her son Nicholas in lieu of the bequest of £300.By the present deed John Harris and Thomas Moore, trustees, assign to Nicholas Harris, all the 29 acres in Donnington.Signatures: John Harris, Thomas Moore (mk.) one seal (J.H.).Witnesses: Richard Smythe, George Coperthwaite.
1629 Reference: HARRIS/874 Deed between Joan Harris, relict and executrix of John Harris of Donnington, yeo. (1), William Lutman of Merston, yeo. (2) and John Woodyer of Hunston, yeo., Nicholas Wolgar of Donnington, yeo., Thomas Moore of Bersted, yeo. and John Harris one of the sons of the said John Harris (3)Creation dates: 26 September 1629Scope and Content Whereby, after reciting former leases of the messuage, lands, etc. in Donnington (as in HARRIS/191) and the will of John Harris bequeathing a legacy of £300 to Nicholas.By the present deed (and before the marriage of the said Joan Harris to William Lutman) the aforesaid lease of the premises is assigned to John Woodyer, Nicholas Woolgar, Thomas Moore and John Harris in trust for Nicholas Harris as the legacy bequeathed him in his father's will.Signatures: William Lutman, Joan Harris (mk.) and seals.Witnesses: R.M. Williams, William Sandham, George Payne.
References:
UK On line archival entries http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/index.asp
Genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/
Go to the main web page of Bob Harris (Harris from Devon and the Channel Islands)