Manor of Loxhore

The Manor of Loxhore was a manor in the parish of Loxhore, North Devon, England.

In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was a double manor, part of the historic Shirwell Hundred and was one of the 176 landholdings in Devon held in-chief by Baldwin de Meulles, Sheriff of Devon, who held the largest fiefdom in Devon and was the first feudal baron of Okehampton. These two holdings are thought to correspond to today's division of the parish into (Higher) Loxhore, where is situated the parish church, and Lower Loxhore, two miles south in the valley bottom of a small tributary stream of the River Yeo. Prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066 the part called Lochesore was held by the Saxon Doleswif, whilst the other, called Locheshore, the entry following it, was held by Wulfward. Before 1066 both paid tax at the same sum, for 1/2 a hide, and both were valued in 1086 at 20 shillings. Wulfward's former holding contained more arable land, and 4 more villagers, but less pasture and woodland than Doleswif's. Wulfward's holding also contained 4 acres of alder-grove, the presence of which wetland-loving trees may suggest his estate was Lower Loxhore, and that Doleswif held the estate on higher ground where now stands the parish church. Baldwin de Meulles' tenant of both holdings as listed in Domesday Book was "Robert de Beaumont".

In the Domesday Book of 1086 the twin holdings of Loxhore were two of at least four manors held in Devon by the Norman magnate Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan (c. 1040/50-1118) as a mesne lord from Baldwin de Meulles.William the Conqueror had granted Robert about 91 English manors in several counties as recompense for his service in the Norman conquest of England. Loxhore, along with Ashford (east of Heanton Punchardon) and Shirwell, stayed for many generations within the Beaumont family.

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