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The Manor of the Rectory of Morchard Bishop
To this Court came Mary Churchill Daughter of Christopher Churchill Clerk and took of Nutcombe Quicke Chancellor Lord of the Manor aforesaid of his own proper grant the Reversion of one Tenement or cottage called Tatepath and Thirty acres of Ground be it more or less with the Appurtonances situate laying and being within the Manor aforesaid which Christopher Churchill and William Churchill his brother now hold for the term of their lives and the longer liver of them by Copy of Court Roll according to the customs of the said Manor. To Have and to hold the reversion aforesaid and the aforesaid Tenement or Cottage called Tatepath and also the aforesaid Thirty acres of Ground with the Appurtonances unto the said Mary Churchill for the term of her life.......Yearly Rent of Ten shillings and the best Beast in the name of an Heriot or farliou when it shall happen and for such Estate in Reversion....... she hath given the said Lord for a fine Twenty one Pounds before hand paid and so she is admitted Tenant.....
A Manor Court was held shortly after the beginning of each Ecclesiastical year (25 March), when the tenants sat as jurors. Whenever matters arose that required the Court to sit at other times, a jury of only three members was required. Jurors for these intermediate courts would be selected from those in good standing in the manor with a good knowledge of who lived where and who did what. The jurors from 1720 to 1799 are included in the list of personalities.
The annual Manor Court elected a Reeve to act as a link between the Lord of the Manor, or his steward, and the tenants. The Reeves for the period 1731 to 1799 are also included in the list of personalities.
The manor extended to an area of 250 to 300 acres and included the farms of Longmarsh (90 acres) and Tatepath (30 acres). The remainder of the manor covered what is now the centre of Morchard Bishop and some outlying blocks of land. The majority of the tenants were husbandmen, tradesmen or day labourers although some held farms outside the manor renting fields or cottages within the manor.