Thomas Denys

Origins

He was the son and heir of Sir Thomas Denys (d.1498) of Holcombe Burnell by his wife Joan (alias Janera) Loveday, daughter of Philip Loveday of Sneston in Suffolk.

Career

He served twice as Recorder of Exeter, 1514-1544 and Sept. 1551 to his death. Sir Thomas is notorious as having supervised in Exeter, in his capacity as Sheriff of Devon or as Recorder of Exeter, the burning at the stake of the Protestant martyr Thomas Benet in January 1531/2. The burning took place outside the eastern side of the city walls, near the Livery Dole where in 1592 his son Sir Robert Dennis (d.1592) commenced the building of an almshouse, possibly an act of atonement for his father's action.

Lands acquired

Royal grant 11 February 1539. The following grant from King Henry VIII dated 11 February 1539 was made to Thomas Denys of Holcombe Burnell, Knt. for £1,127 3s 4d:

His later heir Henry Rolle (1708-1750), later 1st Baron Rolle, of Stevenstone obtained an inspeximus of this grant from King George II in 1731, immediately on coming into his inheritance following his father's death in 1730.

St Nicholas' Priory, Exeter, granted 25 June 1541, following Dissolution.

Buckfast Abbey, Devon

Marriages

He married twice:

The first marriage was at sometime before 1506, to Anne Wood, daughter of a "Wood of London" and widow of Thomas Warley (alias Waley) an Exchequer official and clerk of the works.

His second marriage was to Elizabeth Donne, a daughter of Sir Angel Donne, an Alderman of London, by his wife Anne Hawarden (alias Hawardine), of Cheshire, and widow of Sir Thomas Murfyn, Lord Mayor of London. Elizabeth's brother was Gabriel Donne (d.1558), the last Abbot of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, who in 1539 on the Dissolution of the Monasteries surrendered his abbey into the hands of Sir William Petre, as agent for King Henry VIII and was rewarded with a large annual pension of £120. The site of the abbey was granted by the king to Dennis, the Abbot's brother-in-law.

Progeny

His eldest son was Sir Robert Denys (d.1592), MP for Devon in 1555 and Sheriff of Devon, who acquired the manor of Bicton, on the other side of Exeter (i.e. the eastern side) to Holcombe Burnell. It is likely that the Easter Sepulchre in the church is his tomb and monument.