Normans

The manor of "Hantone" is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 35th of the 176 Devonshire holdings of Baldwin the Sheriff,^[6] feudal baron of Okehampton.^[7] His tenant was Ralph of Bruyère, from Bruyère in Calvados, Normandy,^[8] who also held from Baldwin the manors of Dunterton,^[9] Broad Nymett,^[10] Appledore,^[11] Teignrace^[12] and Wolborough.^[13] Before 1066 the lord of the manor had been Edwin. It was in Shebbear hundred^[14]

Sachville

According to Magna Britannia (1822), between the reigns of Kings Richard I (1189-1199) and Henry III (1216-1272), the manor of Heanton Sachville was held by members of the Sachville family,^[15][16] originally from Sageuile,^{[clarification needed]} France.^[15] The Book of Fees lists Yauntone as held by John de Sicca Villa (the Latinized form of the name) from the feudal barony of Okehampton,^[14] whose lord was the Courtenay family, later Earls of Devon.^[17]

Killigrew

It later passed to the Killigrew family,^[15][16][18] a prominent Cornish family.

Yeo

The manor came into the Yeo family at the beginning of the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377) when Nicholas Yeo, son of William Yeo, married Elizabeth Killigrew, daughter and heiress of Henry Killigrew of Heanton Sachville.^[20] The descent was as follows:^[20]

• Nicholas Yeo, husband of Elizabeth Killigrew, daughter and heiress of Henry Killigrew of Heanton Sachville
• John Yeo (son), who married a certain Alice
• William Yeo (son), Sheriff of Devon in 1359, who married Anne Esse, daughter of John Esse (or Ashe) of Westo in Devon.
• Robert Yeo (fl.1410) (son), who married Jone Pyne, daughter and heiress of William Pyne of Bradwell, Devon
• Robert Yeo (died 1399) (son), husband of Isabell Brightley daughter and heiress of John Brightley of Brightley in Devon.
• John Yeo (born 1380), married Alice Jewe, daughter and part inheratrix of William Jewe of Cotly, Devon
• William Yeo, (son) married Eilin Grenville, a daughter of William Grenville of Stowe in Cornwall and Bideford in Devon.
• Robert Yeo (son), husband of Alice Walrond, daughter of John Walrond of Bradfield, Devon
• William Yeo (son), who married Joane Fulford, daughter of Sir Thomas Fulford of Fulford, Devon
• Robert Yeo (son), who married Mary Fortescue, a daughter of Bartholomew Fortescue of Filleigh
• Margaret Yeo, (daughter and sole heiress), who married Henry Rolle^[20] (died circa 1620,^[22]) the 3rd or 4th son of George Rolle^[20][23] (died 1552) of Stevenstone, Devon^[24]

Rolle

Walpole

• Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford, whom in 1724 Margaret Rolle had married as her first husband,^[16][37] eldest son of Robert Walpole the first Prime Minister.^[38][39] She lived briefly at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, built by Robert Walpole in 1722,^[40] but on the failure of her marriage she moved abroad to Italy.
• George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (died 1791) (only son). He died without progeny^[41][42] and was said never to have visited his Devon seat of Heanton Satchville.^[43]

Trefusis

The manor was then inherited by the Trefusis family^[43] together with the barony of Clinton and Say, in the person of George William Trefusis, according to Lysons.^[16] Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797) successfully claimed the title 17th Baron Clinton in 1794.^[44]

In 1795, the house was destroyed by fire^[45] and Rev. John Swete reported in his journal of 1797, when he was visiting John Inglett Fortescue at nearby Buckland Filleigh, that he had seen a painting by Rubens that Baron Clinton had himself rescued from the fire and had sent to Fortescue to look after while he was still homeless. Swete also reported that in the same fire Mr Fortescue had lost a much-valued family portrait of an ancestor which he had sent to Heanton Satchville to be restored by Lord Clinton's picture restorer.^[46]

In 1797, the 17th Baron died, leaving his son and heir Robert Cotton St John Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton (1787–1832) a minor aged ten. Next, George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley (1749–1827), later 1st Marquess, who was heir to the Walpole estates, launched a legal suit against the young Robert Trefusis for possession of the former Rolle estates. Although the legal case took nine years to resolve, it was decided in favour of Baron Clinton.^[45] The house at Petrockstowe was never rebuilt, but in 1812 the 18th Baron purchased the contiguous manor of Huish to the east together with its capital mansion Innes House,^{[citation needed]} made it the new family seat, and renamed it Heanton Satchville.^[43]

Samuel Lysons wrote in 1822: "Heanton Sachville, which was some time a seat of the Rolles, and afterwards of the Earls of Orford, was burnt down several years ago. A farm-house has been fitted up out of the ruins. The deer-park is still kept up".^[16] The only remnant of the original mansion is the stable block, now the site of a modern farmhouse called Heanton Barton. A large modern tractor shed occupies the flat site of the former mansion house.^{[43][lower-alpha 3]}