Richard Stapledon

Sir Richard de Stapledon (died 1326) of Annery in the parish of Monkleigh, North Devon, England, was a judge and the elder brother of Walter de Stapledon (1261-1326), Bishop of Exeter. His effigy and monument survive in Exeter Cathedral.

Stapledon was probably born at Annery, the eldest son and heir of Sir Richard Stapledon, of Annery, descended from a noble stock. The Stapledons originated at the estate of Stapledon (ten miles south-west of Annery), in the parish of Cookbury, four miles east of Holsworthy and about thirteen miles south west of Bideford in Devon. His younger brother was Walter de Stapledon (1261-1326) Bishop of Exeter and twice Lord High Treasurer of England, who founded Exeter College, Oxford.

Stapledon was a lawyer and a judge, a Justice of Assizes for the western circuit. Few records have survived concerning his career. In August 1315 he entertained his brother the bishop at his manor house at Stapledon when he came to dedicate Cookbury church. He also was granted by his brother a licence to have a private chapel at Stapledon, a common request made by many of the mediaeval country gentry. The estate of Stapledon descended as Annery, eventually to the St Leger family, but then diverged when sold to Speccott, thence to Hele, Trelawney, May and Harvey.

Records of a lawsuit brought against "Richard de Stapledon, knight, of Devon" in 1341/5, thus after his death, or perhaps referring to a son then living, for recovery of a debt of £28 5 shillings owed to Master Robert Hereward, Archdeacon of Taunton, reveal that Stapledon held lands in Devon including one knight's fee in Huish, Fremington Hundred; parts of a fee in Stapledon, Cookbury, etc. in Black Torrington Hundred; in West Down, Braunton Hundred and in Broad Harford in South Molton Hundred.

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