The papers of the Huyshe family of Sidbury, in east Devon, have been accepted by the government in lieu of inheritance tax, and have been formally allocated to Devon County Council, having already been in the custody of the Devon archive service for almost fifty years.
The Huyshe archive contains records dating from the mid-thirteenth century to the present day, and complements many other family collections held at the Centre, in particular the estate archives of the Fortescues of Castle Hill, the Courtenays of Powderham, the Rolles of St Giles and the Aclands of Killerton. It tells the story of the development and management of a rural estate in England’s south west, and is rich in material charting the gradual acquisition of property, especially in and around Clyst Hydon and Sidbury in east Devon. The collection also contains material relating to parishes in other parts of Devon, including Blackawton, Heanton Punchardon, Shobrooke, Thorverton and Winkleigh, and records which relate to other counties, including Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Herefordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire, with the Somerset holdings complementing the estate records of our sister service in Somerset.
An item of particular interest relates to James Huyshe, a member of the family who was a citizen of London and a member of the Grocers’ Company. When he died in 1590, as was customary, an inventory (pictured) recording his property was prepared as part of the process of proving his will. James Huyshe owned land in London, Middlesex, Somerset, Essex, Devon, Dorset and Worcestershire, and his possessions were valued at more than £5400 (equivalent to approximately £950,000 today). What is especially unusual about his inventory is that it is approximately 155 feet long, making it almost certainly the longest document in our possession.
A large portion of the archive was deposited by the Huyshe family in 1975 and it has become an important component of the archive sources available to the public for research in the county. The Huyshe family has continued to add to contents of the collection, most recently in 2021 with a major addition of late twentieth-century and twenty-first-century material, mainly relating to the management of the Sand estate.
The South West Heritage Trust wishes to express its gratitude to the Acceptance in Lieu Panel of Arts Council England, the Huyshe family and The National Archives.
