Mohuns Ottery

Mohuns Ottery or Mohun's Ottery (/ˌmuːnzˈɒtəri/ "moon's awtrey"), is a house and historic manor in the parish of Luppitt, 1 mile south-east of the village of Luppitt and 4 miles north-east of Honiton in east Devon, England. From the 14th to the 16th centuries it was a seat of the Carew family. Several manorial court rolls survive at the Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton, Somerset.

The old manor house burnt down in 1868 and was completely rebuilt as a farmhouse, categorised as a grade II listed building since 1955. The ruins of a mid-16th century gatehouse lie to the south of the house; these and the adjoining garden walls, probably built in the mid-19th century at the same time as the farmhouse, are grade II* listed. The house now has six reception rooms and six bedrooms. Around the courtyard are a cottage, stables and farm buildings. The River Otter forms part of the eastern boundary of the estate. In January 2014 the house with 228 acres was offered for sale for £3.5 million.

The word Ottery derives from the River Otter, Old English "oter" ("otter") + "īe" (dative singular of "ēa"). The first appearance of the place-name is in the Domesday Book (1086) where it is recorded as Otri – one of the twelve places in Devon that had that or a very similar name. It appeared in the Book of Fees in 1242 as Otery. In 1247 it was recorded as Otery Flandrensis (Latin "of Flanders") and as Ottery Flemeng in 1279, after the family of William le Flemmeng who held part of the manor between 1219 and 1244.

The name later reflected the residency of the Mohun family, appearing in the Feudal Aids in 1285 as Otermoun, and as Oteri Mohoun in an Inquisition post mortem of 1297. In 1453 it was recorded in the Patent Rolls as Mounesotery, and as Moonsotery in the Recovery Rolls in 1630. Tristram Risdon, writing in the early 17th century, referred to it as Mohun's Ottery, while his close contemporary Thomas Westcote, called it Mohuns-Ottery.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records that before the Norman Conquest the manor of Otri was held by an Anglo-Saxon thegn known as Alsi. He held several other properties near to Otri, as well as another in Devon, at Dunsford, and probably two more near Dunsford at Lowley and Doddiscombsleigh. He had a large manor at Castle Cary in Somerset and other holdings around this, and single holdings in Dorset and Wiltshire.

In 1086 as recorded in the Domesday Book, the manor of OTRI was the 18th of the 27 Devonshire holdings of Walter of Douai, one of the Devonshire tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. His tenant was a certain Ludo, who held a further five manors from him, namely Little Rackenford, Hetfelle, Luppitt, Greenway (now represented by the synonymous large and ancient farmhouse in the parish of Luppitt) and Stoch (later Stoke Fleming). The last four manors held by Ludo, but not Little Rackenford, descended to the de Mandeville feudal barony of Marshwood and later to the de Mohun family, at least one via the Flemings.

It passed at some time, by means unknown, from Walter of Douai to the de Mandeville family, feudal barons of Marshwood in Dorset. A tenant of Geoffrey de Mandeville's manor of Ottery was Reginald de Mohun, as recorded in the Feudal Aid records.

The Fleming family at some time held Ottery, which became known as Ottery Fleming. They were also lord of the manor of adjoining Luppitt, which manors thenceforth descended under common ownership for several centuries. It is not known what relationship if any this family bore to the Fleming family, named after its likely origins in Flanders, of Bratton Fleming and other manors in North Devon. The descent was as follows: