Kitley Heritage - Pollexfen impaling Harris

13/ Quarterly 1 & 4 Argent a lion rampart gules 2 & 3 Azure impaling Sable three crescents or – Pollexfen impaling Harris

One of the children of Nicholas & Petronell (q.v. shield 12), and the most important from the point of view of the present discussions, was Edmund Pollexfen, who has been described in other sources as not only having been the son of a John Pollexfen, but also as the “last Pollexfen of Kitley”. That he was in fact the son of Nicholas & Petronell there can now be no doubt for, even without the wealth of other documentary evidence which has been uncovered respecting this branch of the family, his baptism entry alone proves this (from the Yealmpton registers) – “26th May 1630 was baptised Edmund son of Nicholas Pollexfen Gent”. Now this essential piece of information has escaped the notice of previous writers cannot be divined.

It is also now clear (q.v. shield 10) that not only was he the “last” Pollexfen of Kitley but, in strict conformity, he was also the first! For, whilst some of his ancestors – but not his own parents – had lived at Kitley as tenants, it was Edmund Pollexfen who purchased Kitley and the surrounding lands outright from Edward Hungerford in a protracted settlement undertaken in the 1670s. Given succeeding developments (q.v. shield 14) it can also be summarised that Kitley House itself was a t the time in a very ruinous state, and that it was Edmund Pollexfen who set it up on its feet again as a prime country residence and comfortable mansion.

Regarding the shield itself, it shows the marriage of Edmund Pollexfen, son of Nicholas (q.v. shield 12), to Ann, daughter of John Harris of Manadon, on 21st Feb 1666. No date for Edmund Pollexfen’s death is given in Vivian’s Visitations, but his memorial dominates the north transept of Yealmpton church – once again, it seems inconceivable that this huge monument should have been overlooked by previous chroniclers. This records that he died 17th June 1710. It also displays a coat of arms showing Pollexfen impaling Harris and Prideaux, the second impalement denoting his second marriage, to widow Admonition Pendarves. The second marriage produced no children, however, and the daughter and heiress of Edmund Pollexfen, the first and last Pollexfen owner of Kitley, married William Bastard of Gerston, through whom the inheritance passed to their son of the same name (q.v. shield 14).