It is not known exactly where Brendon was: it is described as part of the manor of Moreton and also as part of the manor of Hayne. In 1503 John Taverner died holding ‘100 acres of pasture, 2 acres of meadow and 20 acres of furze and heath in Moreton called Brandon Parkes or Brendon Parkes held of Robert Cary Esq as of his manor of Heyne by fealty and 18d rent yearly and are worth 20s beyond outgoings’ (Cal. Inq. Post Mortem Henry VII (vol. 2, 1915), p.481). The same land had been held of Hayne Manor by his father Richard Taverner of Sele in 1497 (see pp.84-5).
However, in 1563 George Sellake of Dawlish sold to Thomas Nosworthy of Manaton ‘a close of land called Brendon within the manor of Moretonhampstead in the tenure of Geo Grey and Thos Grey’, the said manor in the north, the lands of Thomas Hoidge in the east and south and the manor of North Bovey in the west (WCSL Enrolled deeds, no. 593). Benjamin Tozer had property in ‘Higher Brendon otherwise Great Brendon, Cold East, otherwise Little Brendon’, and elsewhere, in 1747 (Devon Record Office, 4930 B/E/M/38). [IJFM]