The house dates back in records to the Domesday Book of 1086 AD. It then belonged to one Roger de Moles and was described as a Royal Manor ranking as "Knights status with the order to provide three Horsemen to serve the King."
No mention is made of the Manor again till the reign of Henry 111, when it is described as "Manorium cum aula", in the possession of the Trenchard family. Silver coins from the time of Edward 11 have been found in the walls and below the floors.
From the Trenchards the estate passed to the Monks of Potheridge by marriage and Lew became an appanage of the second son. In James 1's reign, Sir Thomas Monk fell into financial difficulties and was put in the debtor's prison in Exeter. To get him out of his difficulties, Henry Gould bought the manor in 1626, which is commemorated by the overmantel on the fireplace in the Front Hall.
There were several Gould brothers but Henry's brother James was Mayor of Exeter and fought valiantly for King Charles I. He had two sons, James and Edward, both of whose portraits, painted by Carlo Maratti, hang in the Front Hall. Edward, the younger brother, must have been a bit of a fop, for he wears red ribbons about his wrists and as a necktie! James, the elder one who died in 1680, was a China merchant. On one of his visits to China he had himself modelled in clay dressed as a mandarin. He clearly did it as a joke, as the moulder reproduced the amused expression of his face. This, on his return, he presented to his wife!
History of the Manor
