Lapford Manor

Additional information from Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries p257 item 151:
Lapford Field Names: So the great manor containing a church with two parsons was unquestionably at Eastington, now a small hamlet a mile from Lapford with only two or three farms and one or two private houses. Further, I read of a priest’s house, a mill and shops (no doubt carpenters’ and blacksmiths’ shops). Clearly this must have been a thriving community and a much more important place than it is at present.
Calling at a farm I was told that there were ruins in the orchard of a big house said to have burnt down about a hundred years ago. I wondered if this house was the successor of the original manor house. At first the field names did not seem to help a great deal, then, just opposite the site of the burnt house on the other side of the narrow road I found “Great House Down”. That seemed conclusive as such an important manor would have spread over a considerable area.
Calling at the farm again some time after I was told that an ancient yew tree had been discovered among the ruins. Yews were often planted in churchyards or near churches. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that this tree marked the site of the chapel, oer oratory, for which a license was granted in 1310.
Nellie J.Drake