Sitr John Kennaway, Bart. is lord of the manor and owner of a great part of the soil, and has a handsome seat here, called Escot House, built on the site of the old mansion which was erected about 1688, and was destroyed by fire on 28th December 1808 with all the furniture and most of the pictures and other valuables. The late Sir John Kennaway was created a baronet in 1791 and purchased this estate in 1794 from Sir George Yonge, Bart. who entertained George III, Queen Charlotte and three of the Princesses here on 14 August 1789. Escot House stands on a well-wooded demesne of 500 acres, remarkable for the luxuriant growth of its firs and forest trees which increase rapidly after their roots have spread through the loamy substratum.

J.P. Mathew Esq., owns part of the parish and resides at Ridon House; and Mr. R. Pratt and a few smaller freeholders have estates here.

The church (St. James) has a tower and five bells and contains a rich screen and some memorials of the Eveleigh and other families. The Rectory, valued in the King's Book at £32 3s 1½d and in 1831 at £581, is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. L. P. Welland, who has 62 acres of glebe and a rent-charge in lieu of tithes. The Poor's Land, 2½acres let for £3, was purchased in 1657 with £23 benefaction money. The sum of £30, given by William Eveleigh and £30 paid by the parishioners, were laid out, in 1802, in the purchase of two small tenements worth £8 a year. The poor have also the dividends of £230 new five per cent stock purchase with £209 left by Jonah Pynsent, Elizabeth Prideaux and George baker, and £15 derived from timber felled in the Poor's Land.

Escot District Church, for adjacent parts of Talaton, Ottery St. Mary and Feniton parishes, is about two miles from the respective parish churches, and 5 miles W.S.W of Honiton. It is a small neat structure, erected a few years ago; and its perpetual curacy, valued at £75 is in the patronage of Sir John Kennaway, and incumbency of the Rev. Francis Thomas Hill.

© Richard J. Brine

RESIDENTS

William Franks, butcher

William Godden, schoolmaster

Rev. Francis Thomas Hill, Incumbent of Escot

William Hookway, wheelwright and beershop

James Ireland and Tichard Shepherd, shoemakers

Sir John, Kennaway, Bart. Escot House

Jonah Pynsent Mathew, Esq., Ridon House

Elizabetyh Pyle, victualler, The Half Moon

William Salter, blacksmith

Joseph and William Stokes, tailors

Ann Sweetland, cooper

Rev. Lawrence Palk Welland, Rector

FARMERS

Humphrey Baker, Escot

William Grendon, Larkbeare

Ann Lovering, Weeks

William Lovering, Weeks

Thomas North

John Pratt, Talaton Farm

William Pratt, Escot

Francis Pyle, Escot

William Pyle, Town Farm

James Salter, Moor Farm

Barnabas Wright, Taliwater