Trusham belonged to Buckfast Abbey from before the age of King Canute (1015-1036), and in the Domesday Book of 1086 it was noted as consisting of four viIlagers, nine smallholders and ten slaves. The original farmer of Cridford's would have been one of these nine smallholders. He was a yeoman, the original word meaning a freeman, a small proprietor who cultivated his own land.

Mediaeval records are few although Feudal Aids 1284-1431 tells us that there were less than ten tenements in Trusham. In one court case of 1356, the Buckfast Abbot was taken to court by Robert Dueray who said that the Abbot had come to Trusham and taken a large amount of crops and livestock from him. Unfortunately, the court decided that Robert was a serf and had no rights of redress. From this event it can be seen that being a yeoman was no empty honour.

The first known holder of Cridford's was John Credford who appears on the tax roll of 1524. After him it passed, father to son, through another five generations: Roger, Henry, William, William, William. This last William Cridford died in 1744 and the old mediaeval farmhouse passed to the Harris family.

As it happens, Buckfast Abbey had lost Trusham back in 1539 in the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the manor was confiscated by Henry VIII and given to the Southcote family. Debt-ridden, the Southcotes had to sell in 1642. The Pole-Carew famiIy then bought it. In turn, Sir Robert Palk of Haldon House bought Trusham in 1787 and the Palks held it right through the nineteenth century. The Southcotes were not model lords of the manor. In 1639 they tried to eject 'an ancient woman' from her tenement. A case ensued and the Cridfords stepped forward to testify that they held their house and lands under legal manor court law. This to support the case against ejectment, Incidentally, their testimony, which has been preserved in Carew-Pole records in Cornwall, was invaluable in piecing together the history of the property.

Apart from such a case, who was lord of the manor made little difference to the yeomen of Cridford's. They held their house and land as copyhold tenants of the manor. This meant a long lease with a number of replenishable lives attached to the property. The same family could and did hold it for hundreds of years. With Cridford's being as old as Trusham manor itself, in addition to its position close to the centre of the parish by the church, we find that the Cridford family and their successors were extremely active in parish affairs. The ancient farm tenements carried traditional duties such as those of overseer of the poor and churchwarden, and for generation after generation the Cridford families served as churchwardens, overseers of the poor, tax collectors, tithingmen, manor court Jurors and trustees of the school lands' charity and of the local almshouse. However, they were not always completely virtuous. In 1689, and in 1701, William Cridford was hauled before the manor court. First for poaching on the lord of the manor's private land and later for felling trees on the marshes.

The Cridford name has been attached to their old farmhouse for more than five hundred years however the family seems to have disappeared from the parish long ago. After the Harris family, a Joses Cleave took over Cridford, Continuing the tradition, he was overseer of the poor and in 1831, he had to submit a return of the lunatics in Trusham parish. There were just two names, one of which was crossed out because she had died, her name was Mary Cridford, described as 'not dangerous' and aged fifty years. She was one of the last of the family, There were no Cridfords in Trusham on the Census of 1851.

The Cleaves continued to live on Cridford's and farm its lands of more than a hundred acres until after the First World War, the last was the widow Annie Cleave. By the twentieth century, ownership was in the hands of the Commercial Union Assurance Company, It was bought in 1918 by Mr Trim and continued to be a farm right up to 1982.

The architect in its change of role was Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy-Gubbin, With her three children she spent two years converting the old farmhouse. On 7 August 1982, it became The Cridford Inn. Actually, Cridford does have something of a previous inn connection. Joses Cleave held the lease to the New Inn back in 1838. For a long time, it was the only pub in Trusham, it closed after the First World War leaving the parish literally high and dry for sixty years. However, it comes as a surprise to learn that it was not always so, In 1642 Trusham had no less than three alehouses.

The oldest part of Cridford's buildings dates back to the 1400s but there were building alterations carried out in the Victorian age, principally in the building of the wing on the road. There used to be another building in the centre courtyard area but this was knocked down when the wing was added. When work on conversion was being carried out, Mrs Mountjoy-Gubbins' son, Justin, they found forty-four pairs of boots down a well in the patio. This mystery was relatively easy to solve, in 1841 a shoemaker called John Potter was sharing and working out of the premises along with the farmer.

 

In 1988, workers were stripping back a layer of concrete. They found a cobbled floor underneath with a mosaic set in the middle. Made of dolerite and quartz in black and white the initials H1 are set with the date 1081, this section of original flooring is a permanent commemoration to a visit in the previous building of Henry 1 in 1081. This explains why he is referred to as Henry 1 at a time before he was crowned. This mosaic record was created as part of the 'new build' in 1300's.

Trusham Manor belonged to Buckfast Abbey even before the Norman Conquest. The Abbey itself was endowed sometime prior to the reign of to King Canute (1015-1036), and in all probability Trusham was part of the original endowment. There is no record of it being added later to the Abbey holdings.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Trusham was a small manor with four villagers and nine smallholders. In addition, there were ten slaves. Scholars have long argued over the exact status of 'slaves' in Domesday manors.

It has been suggested that The Cridford Inn used to be a nunnery. This probably originated from there being a convent attached to the Abbey. However, there is no evidence that this convent was in Trusham. Valor Ecclesiasticus at the date of the Dissolution of the Monasteries lists the assets of Trusham a 'barton' (Whetcome) plus the numbers of free tenants' and 'customary tenants' but no mention of any erstwhile convent or nunnery. If there ever were one in Trusham, it disappeared a long, long time ago. Closeness of the site of the Inn to the church and parsonage no doubt contributed to the nunnery theory. It should also be added that Cridford's was not included in any of the Trusham Glebe Terriers, which were surveys of the Church holdings in the parish.

In fact, where Cridford's does originate is as one of those nine smallholders in the Domesday Book. Down the centuries, the holders of Cridford's took pride in being yeomen or free men. The term 'yeoman' originally meant a small proprietor who cultivated his own land. This land was not absolutely his own. Like most other yeomen, the Cridford farmers were customary tenants that is, they held the property on a copyhold lease from the lord of the manor for a number of lives according to the customs of the manor. When one of the wives died, the lord took his heriot or tax, and the next life took on the lease. Also, new lives could be added. By this system, one family could hold a farm for hundreds of years. So it was with Cridford's.

Being a yeoman was no empty honour in mediaeval times. Now and then, from the documents that have survived, we get glimpses of life in Trusham between the date of the Domesday survey and 1500 when the records start to become more plentiful. In a Devon Quarter Sessions case, a certain Richard Dueray took the Abbot of Buckfast to court. Apparently, Robert Simon the Abbot went to Trusham on 13 October 1356 and took off three mares, six bulls, four cows, two further mares, two oxen, five pigs and ninety sheep, plus quantities of corn, rye, oats, hay, straw, iron and ‘clayes', all belonging to Richard Dueray. Not surprisingly, Richard asked for one hundred pounds in compensation. A great deal of money in those days. However, the Abbot held that Dueray was a villein or serf, as his ancestors had been before him, and that he, the Abbot, as lord of the manor, was entitled to the crops and livestock, Dueray argued he was a free man. The jury, however, judged he was a villain, so the Abbot could keep the property.
At about this time, a Charter dated 5 February 1346 concerning 'Tresseme' (Trusham) granted a piece of land lying between the lane leading to Estera Brumel to the church of Tresseme on the south side and the grantor's land on the north and his garden on the east and his land on the west. The grantor was John de Brumel to Nicholas Dyngel and Joan his wife.

In the Feudal Aids 1284-1431 it is entered that there are not more than ten inhabited tenements in the parish of Trusham. This is as far as the mediaeval records can take us in identifying Cridford's tenement and those who lived on it.

Then, in 1524, the name of John Credford appears on the tax roll as a property holder in Trusham. He was probably the first named holder. Even so, just because he had the name does not authenticate the link. There was more than one Cridford. With the Stock family, it was one of the oldest established names in the parish.

Fortunately, for forging the chain of possession, there is a document with the Carew Pole family in Cornwall called 'Title of Southcote to a tenement in Trusham'. It is dated 5 August 1639, shortly before the Southcotes, as lords of the manor, sold Trusham, Basically, it concerns an attempt to eject ‘an ancient woman' from her tenement. The case went into dispute at the Manor Court and the various tenants came forward to certify the validity of their contracts with the lord and lady of the manor. William Crideford and his wife Barbara came forward to swear that they had taken on the reversion to their property when his father Henry 'did surrender one Garden':
In the time also of Mrs Southcote William Credeford and his wife did take the Reversion of one tenement in the possession of Henry Credeford. And afterwards for confirmation of the same grant in reversion: Henry did surrender one garden to the use as the names of Henry Credeford, William Credeford and John Weymouth are beside the entry. This was vary probably today's Cridford Inn.

William and Barbara's affidavit lead back to Henry paying a rate for a property on the Church Rate of 1613, and so back from father to son to John in 1524. It is not only possible but very probable that the first John held it from his forebears back into the 1400s or even 1300s. There are simply no records of this, but the feudal system tied people to the manor and lands so continuity can be assumed. As a case in point, everyone in Trusham seemed to remember with perfect distinctness that poor Richard Dueray’s ancestors had all been villains.
In all, there were six generations of Cridford (Crideford, Credeford, Credford) who farmed the tenement and lived in the old house. Their names in sequence were John, Roger, Henry, William, William and William. John lived there prior to 1524 and, as said, probably so did his forefathers. The last William died in 1744, (Actually, we have to put some caveat on stating that six generations lived there continuously. There is evidence that they sublet Cridford' s from time to time. On the 1660 subsidy roll, the reference is to the ‘tenant of
William Cridford and his wife'. Although almost illegible, a note against John Weymouth's name on the document to do with the 1639 ejectment case indicates that he was then tenant.

Rather unusually, the property was called Cridford’s for an unbroken five hundred years. Often, a West Country farm changed name with the changes in families holding it, As just one example, there is a farmhouse in Somerset that was called 'Hawkins', 'Hearns', ‘Boobys’, ‘Broomhayes’, ‘Brownsells’ and 'Longs'. Today it has gone back to being called Brownsells once more. With this precedent, Cridford's
might have been known as 'Cridfords', ‘Harris’s’, ‘Cleaves’, ’Hardings' etc.

Quite rightly, the history of Cridford's concentrates on the copyholders who farmed the lands and lived in the house. They, after all, put their mark on it. The lords of Trusham manor who owned it probably did not set foot across the threshold for hundreds of years.

For the record, the Abbey of Buckfast surrendered Trusham and Cridford's to Henry VIII on the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, The Southcote family then acquired Trusham. However, by 1642 the family was debt-ridden. To pay the debts, a thousand-year lease went to the Pole family who lived at Colyton and Shute. To this day, records of Trusham and Cridford's are lodged in Antony House, Cornwall, the seat of the Pole-Carew family. Then, in 1787, Sir Robert Palk of Haldon House bought Trusham. By 1910, Cridford's was free of the shackles of the lords of the manor. However, as part of the Haldon Estate, it was in shackles to the Commercial Union Assurance Company; as were Tucketts next door and Whetcombe, the original grange farm for Buckfast Abbey. Presumably, the Palks had some financial difficulties? The Haldon Estate was duly sold and 'Tucketts and Cridford's' passed into private ownership on 5 July 1918 for the sum of one thousand seven hundred and forty pounds. Apparantly 'Tucketts and Cridfords' were separated and the individual properties sold off almost immediately. Edwin Harding was the resident farmer when Cridford's was put up for sale again in 1940.

When the manor of Trusham passed from the improvident southcotes, the move naturally generated a lot of documentation. Attached to the draft Lease and Release of 1642, now at Antony House, there is a list of the free tenants and customary tenants of Trusham and their ancient farms and holdings. Both William Crideford (and his wife Barbara) and John Crideford are on the list.

This is where a small mystery comes in. At some early date, there were either two Cridford tenements, or else the original Cridford's tenement was subdivided, possibly between brothers. The names of both Henry Credyford and John Credyford appear on the Devon Subsidy Roll of 1624.

Furthermore, at the time of the attempted ejectment of 'an ancient woman' from her tenement in 1639, John Cridford also held a tenement in Trusham. John Cridford and his first wife, Katherine née Weston, whom he married on 21 .January 1622/3, held it by Copy of Court Roll dated 15 October 21 James 1623. The tenement was then in their possession. Before that they had held only the reversion because Margery nell had been in possession.

Katherine the wife of John Crydforde was buried on 16 December 1623, and

The same John Credeford (after Katherine's Death) did surrender that Tenement and he and Elizabeth Prowse by Copy dated 5 October 22 James• [1624] did take agane the same tenement in possession and the reversion was granted to John his son by another Copie.

Elizabeth Prowse was to be John Credeford's second wife and he married her on 1 November 1624. Later, amongst the Pole-Carew papers, there are two leases, one dated 1661, which has William’s name and another for 1683 bearing John's name.

The 1661 Lease is a renewal by Sir Courtenay Pole to William Cridford of ‘all that massuage and dwelling house in the possession of the said William Cridford’. A list of fields is also given, including Lower Park, The Down, The Shule and Little Ash.

The 1683 Lease is more complicated. In it, Sir Jonn Courtenay and John Cridford senior 'demise, lease and grant to farm' a Moiety or share of a house and lands to John Cridford junior, his son. At the time, the property is in the possession of John Cridford the elder and it is divided up so John junior gets

the Haule house and the two chambers over the same, the milk house and one chamber over the same the entry and one chamber over the same the moyety of the barn being the to the roofe and also the moyety of the courtlage lying just before the same and to the said barn and all that part of the orchard...

In addition, some fifteen acres of land were named, including closes called The Champitt, Bottom Park, Blackley, Long Close 'and the meadow under the same', White Close, and the Lane.

So by 1683 we have two Cridford's tenements, one of which is subdivided, making three. In 1792, when a draft Marriage Settlement was drawn up for the marriage between Lawrence Palk of Haldon House and Lady Elizabeth Vaughan, the three tenements were listed. James Board was then tenant of 'part of Cridifords', gross annual value seven guineas. John Harris had a Lease for Lives for a 'part of Credifords', annual value twenty-one pounds, and also another 'part of Credifords' with an annual value of ten pounds. By 1838, the parts had been reunited and Joses Cleave was tenant of what was apparantly the original Cridford's tenement (or tenements) of the 1500s and earlier.

Which is today's Cridford Inn? We have to deduce the answer to this from later leases. In one of 1709, Sir William Pole lets two closes called Blakely and Long Close to John Harris. No house is mentioned, but the lands are ‘part and parcel of the moiety of the tenement called Cridfords Tenement’.

In leases of 1724 and 1736, Sir William Pole leases William Cridford's same property of 1661 to a later William Cridford, probably William and Barbara's grandson.

The difficulty is that the lands mentioned in both John Cridford's (and John Harris's) lease and those of William Cridford name are closes that appear under Cridford Farm holdings on the Tithe Survey of 1838.

To sort out which is which, the names of the closes give a crucial clue. Henry Cridford's farm and house paid a larger rental than John's. So it was a more valuable (perhaps larger) farm. Also, Little Ash's close is particularly significant. On the Tithe Survey, it is identified as a garden close to The Cridford Inn house and connected by a road. The copy of the Tithe Map marks it. So The Cridford Inn is almost certainly 'the dwelling House' named in William Cridford's 1661 lease.

John Cridford's house is probably the two cottages numbered 77b and 77 on the Tithe Map. These cottages are given as part of Cridford's on Tithe Survey.

Clearly, there was more than one dwelling on Cridford's Farm. If all originated from one ancient tenement, then an early division of the property may have been in the time of John Cridford of 1524. (Roger Cridford and John Cridford were alive at the same time perhaps they were sons of the first John and the original tenement was divided between them.) Or else it may have come a little later on in the 1600s for Roger's son, Henry Cridford had two sons, John and William, born in 1597 and 1599 respectively. It must have been a later John who in turn split his part of Cridford's with his own son John in 1683.

John Harris leasing a few fields of Cridford's in 1709 got his foot in the door. There is a gap in the records after the death of the last William Cridford in 1744, The Land Tax Assessments of 1780, however, show that Cridford's passed into the Harris family John Harris held 'late Cridford's' up to 1828. After that, it was Joses Cleave's turn to hold the property. He came from Chudleigh and married Sally Harris on 1 August 1823. Advantageous marriages were as vital to the yeoman farmers as to the great landed Devon families.

We can deduce something of the character of the six or more generations of Cridfords who lived and farmed the property before dying out. In Devon parishes, people were not only remembered by the records of their births, marriages and deaths but also either by their being civic-minded or because they committed misdemeanours. For example, if someone got a local girl into trouble he would be disagreeably immortalised on the Bastardy returns.

The Cridfords were largely recorded as being civic-minded. As the service records would say nothing adverse was known about them. Stooks Almhouse Books records William Cridford the elder, the younger, and John Cridford as trustees when the almshouse was incepted in 1689. And in 1723, William Cridiford was a trustee of lands in Trusham endowed to pay for the education of poor children of the parish. John Cridiford granted the rent charge from the fields for the endowment. It almost looks as if William and John, as a team, pretty well ran the parish of Trusham between them. William Credford was the Collector of Poll Tax in Trusham in 1660. Both he and John were apprisers of an inventory to a will of John Pole in 1677. Again, William was Tithingman in 1702. John Cridford was the registrar of Trusharn in the 1650s. There are bundles of Trusham Manor Court entries and Presentments from l689 to 1784. The Cridford name figures regularly in the Court Jurors. On one of the Presentments, when William Cridford was a Juror, Joan Cridford’s death was recorded in 1702. Joan was the widow of William who died in 1662 and the mother of William the juror. The jury had to discuss the tricky question of how much heriot a sort of death due payable when a lifehold lessee died had to be paid. It must have been a difficult situation.

Although William was a Court Juror he was not a docile manor tenant. In 1689 and again in 1701, he himself was presented to the Court - the first time for poaching on the lord of the manor's private property. Actually, there was a party of them involved. On the second occasion, he unlawfully felled trees on an area in Trusham called 'The Marshes’. It used to be part of Cridford's, although no longer so by the 1838 Tithe Survey. A small plantation traditionally grew there.

The farm, being as old as Trusham itself and so close to the church and parsonage, carried traditional parish duties. Joses Cleave was the Overseer of the Poor. In this capacity, on 30 August 1831, he had to fill in a return listing the lunatics in the parish. There was just one entry, and one more although the entry was crossed through, probably because she died. The crossed-through name was that of a sixty-one-year-old lunatic called Mary Cridford. A last descendant, it was a melancholy end to the Cridford name in Trusham.

The Cleaves were still farming Cridford's until after the First World War; the last being Mrs Annie Cleave, the widow of James Cleave. At that time, part of Tuckett’s Farm next door and Cridford's were run as one farm. Joan Cridford, on being widowed in 1662, also farmed Cridford's until her son took over. Widows running large farms with a sizeable force of labourers after the death of their husbands was a frequent occurrence in old Devon. At the time of the Tithe Survey in 1838., Cridford's totalled one hundred and two acres, one road and twelve perches. But at one stage in the nineteenth century., one hundred and fifty acres were being farmed.

Cridford's continued as a farm until 7 August 1982. On this exact date, it became an inn. The guiding light was Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy-Gubbin, who., with the help of her children, spent two years converting the old farmhouse. At the time there was a small flood of newspaper articles recording the occasion. Most noted that Trusham had been ‘dry' for sixty years, the last inn having been The New Inn. Closed in the early 1920s, it dated back several centuries.

By a small coincidence, Joses Cleave had been the leasehold owner of The New Inn back in 1838. Although Trusham had been 'dry' for a good part of the twentieth century, it had not always been so. The earliest victualler recognizances for Trusham that have survived show that in 1642 it had no less than three inns! Where they were located we do not know. Although the Cridford name does not appear as a licensee, is not impossible that part was sub-let as an alehouse for some period in the 1660s.

Architecturally assessed as fifteenth century, and a Listed Building, Cridford's is actually older than most. It did have some radical changes, albeit the oldest part was unaffected, in the Victorian Age. Comparing the 1838 Tithe Map with the Ordnance Survey Map of 1887, it can be seen that a wing on the road was added, a building was knocked down in the centre behind this wing, and at the point of the roadway to the Little Ash plot, the buildings were joined.

There used also to be a well on the patio. Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy-Gubbin's son, Justin, uncovered it and found forty-four pairs of boots at the bottom. They must have been tossed there by John Potter, a shoemaker who was living there with his wife Maria and family in 1841. At this date, the house appears to have been subdivided. Farmer George Harris was living in the other half. (There is a contradiction here in that the Tithe Survey of 1838 specifies that John Potter and Elizabeth Harris lived in the Cridford Cottages. However, the 1841 Census shows John Potter and George Harris sharing Cridfords'.)

There is one mystery on which neither the records nor vernacular architects have been able to shed light. In 1988 workers were stripping back a layer of concrete. Under the concrete, they found a cobbled floor with a mosaic set in the middle. Made of dolerite and quartz in black and white the initials HI or HJ are set with the date 1801 or 1081. This is a novel feature for a yeoman farmer's dwelling. Perhaps it commemorates a Harris marriage. Almost certainly it will never be explained. One can speculate: ‘Mrs H', the wife of Palk in the early nineteenth century who drew the rents of Cridford's and other Trusham properties? H for Haldon House, the seat of the Palks? Possibly, Cridford's was used for manor court presentments and the mosaic solemnised the room where they were held? Whatever the origin it is one secret The Cridford Inn is likely to keep.

Manor of Trusnam (or Trisma) including Cridfords Tenement belongs to Buckfastleigh Abbey (before 1066-1500s)

Cridford Farmhouse built (replacing any previous building) (c.1400s-1500s)

Cridford Farmhouse floors inserted (c.1500s-1600s)

John Credford assessed on Subsidy Roll (1524)

John Credford is buried on the 25 days of June (1563)

Henry Credford ye sonne of Roger Credford is baptised on 8 September (1567)

Roger Credford assessed at Goods worth £6 on Subsidy Roll (1581)

Allce, ye wlffe of Roger Credford ls buried on 15 April (1585)

Frlsett, wife of Roger Credford is buried on 25 September (1593)

Harry Credford & Marye Foxwill are married on 24 October (1595)

John ye sonne of Henry Creedford tis baptised on 31 July (1597)

Roger Credford is buried on 1 April (1599)

William ye sonne of Harry Credford is baptised on 4 December (1599)

Henry Cridford pays 2s Church Rate (1613)

Henry Credyford & John Credyford are each assessed on the Subsidy Roll (1624)

William Credeford & his wife confirm that they took the reversion of their tenement in the possession of Henry Credeford in the time of Mrs Southcote 5 August (1639)

Jonn Credcford also confirms that he held his tenement in the time of Mrs Southcote 5 August (1639)

Manor of Trusham alias Trisme is conveyed to Sir John Pote of Colcombe & others as Trustees to sell & pay the debts of Thomas Southcote of Mohuns Ottery, esq & his son & heir Sir Popham Southcote (1642)

Barbara the wife of Wiliam Crydforde is buried on 26 December (1643)

Henrie Crydford is burried on 29 October (1648)

John Cridford is Registrar of Trusham (e.1654-1657)

The Tenants of William Credford & his wife are rated at £13 & John Credford ls rated at £10 (1660)

William Cridford the elder is given a new lease by new owner Sir Courtenay Pole of Shute for the Dwelling House & Tenement now in his possession including the fields Lower Parke a r u, The Down, The Shule (1661)

William Credford ls burled on 12 February (1662/3)

John Cridford widow of William Cridford & her son William Cridford yeomen continue to hold Cridfords (1660s-1702)

John Crldford the elder divides his property to give his son John Cridford a share including the Haule House & lands called The Champitt, Bottom Park, Blackley Long Close and The Lone by estimation 15 acres (1683)

John Crideford the younger is a clothier (1689)

William Cridford the elder William Cridford the younger & John Cridford are Trustees (with others) of Stooks Almshouse (1689)

John Cridford (ye Clerk of this Parish) is buried on 1 January (1696/7)

John Cridford (ye son of ye aforesaid Clerk of Trusham) is buried on 19 February (1697 /8)

William Cridlford holnolds Office of Tythingman for the year ensung (1702)

Joan Cridford. widow of William Cridford who died in 1662 is burled on 5 February (1702/3)

John Harris is granted a lease by Sir William Pole of Shute for the two closes called Blackley & Long Close late in possession of John Cridford & part of the moiety of Cridfords Tenement 22 April (1709)

William Cridford is present at Trusham Manor Court for felling trees in the marsh over Teng without leave of the Lord (1723)

Mrs John Cridford ls presented to be Tenant for part of the estate called Tucketts on the death of Mr John Burrough & Clay his wife (1723)

William Cridford leases Cridford messuage and lands including Lower Park, Little Ash and Shule from owner Sir William Pole of Shute 26 November (1724)

William Cridford and Elizabeth Berry, widow both of Trusham are married on 5 October (1725)

William Cridford leases Cridford messuage and lands including Lower Park, Little Ash & Shue from owner Sir William Pole of Shute 2 August (1736)

William Cridford is buried on 9 February (1744)

Elizabeth Cridford is buried on — July (1745)

John Harris late Cridford’s & part of Tucketts owned Sir John Pole (c.1740s-1780)

John Harris leasehold owner & occupier late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & John Lawson occupier Sir John Pool owner Part of Cidfords (1780-1783)

John Harrls leasehold owner & occupier Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir John Pool owner Part of Cridfords (1784-1786)

Sir Robert Talk purchases Manor of Trusham including Cridfords of Sir John William Pole if Shute (1787)

Marriage settlement is drawn up between Lawrence Pole of Haldon House (only son of Sir Robert Palk) & Lady Dorothy Elizabeth Vaughan & (eldest daughter of Earl of Lisburne) & includes Cridford's (1792)

John Harris holds part of Credifords worth annually £21 part of Credifords worth annually £10 part of Tucketts worth annually £15.10sh, &
James Board holds part of Cridifords worth annually £7.7sh. (1792)

John Harris occupier Sir Robert Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir Robert Talk owner Part of Cridfords (1787-1797)

John Harris occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Burgoins & Part of Cridfords (1798-1806)

Mr John Harris is buried on 2 June (1807)

William Harris occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Burgoins & Part of Cridfords (1807-1819)

William Harris pays half yearly rents for Simmons etc £23 part of Credifords £11.10sh, part of Credifords & Part of Tucketts £25 which rents go to Lady Palk (late Mrs Hartopp) the wife of Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk (1814)

Sally Harris occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Burgoin.
& Part of Cridfords (1820-18.23)

Joses Cleave of Chudleigh marries Sally Harris (1 August 1823)

James Westlake Cleave only son of Joses & Sally Cleave baptised (3 November 1824)

Joses Cleave occupier Slr Lawrence Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & James Board occupier Sir Lawrence Palk owner Burgolns & Part of Crldfords (1824-1828)

Joses Cleave occupier Slr Lawrence Palk owner Late Cridfords & Part of Tucketts & William Board occupier Slr Lawrence Palk owner Burgolns & Part of Crldfords (1829-1832)

Joses Cleave occupier Str Lawrence Vaughan Palk, Baronet owner Cridfords an estate of 102a.1r.1.2p. Two cottages are occupied by Elizabeth Harris & John Potter (1838)

George Harris farmer & John Potter Shoemaker live at Cridfords (1841)

James Westlake Cleave of Trusham leases Cridfords in the occupation of Joses Cleave from Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk Rent £80.6s.0d. (7 June 1850)

James Westlake Cleave farmer Cridford (1850-1870s)

Mrs Sophia Louisa Cleave widow farmer Criaford (c.1878-1880s)

James Westlake Cleave eldest son of James Westlake & Sophia Louisa Cleave (baptised 8 July 1849) farmer Cridford (c.1889-c.1897)

James Westlake Cleave (third generation of this name) eldest son of James Westlake & Mary Annie Cleave baptised 22 July (1891)

James Westlake Cleave farmer Cridford (1880s-c.1902)

James Westlake Cleave farmer Tucketts (c.1902)

Annie Cleave occupier Commercial Union Assurance Company ownerHouse & Land Cridfords 126a.2r.5p. (1910)

Mrs Annie Cleave farmer Tucketts (c.1910-1918)

LOT 59: Tucketts & Cridfords part of The Haldon Estate of the Commercial Union Assurance Company for Sale by Auction July (1918)

Mr Trim purchases Tucketts & Cridfords 5 July (1918)

Mr Trim sells or lets "Tucketts & Cridfords" separately (?1918)

William Harding farmer Cridfords Farm (c.1923-1939) & Edwin & Adeline Harding farmer Cridfords (c.1923-1940)

Mr E Harding Resident Owner instructs the sale of Criafords November (1'940)

John, Dudley & Mary Griffin Cridfords farm (c.1951)

William & Jane Furler Cridfords Farm (c.1959)

Ronald & Muriel Caws David & Maureen Caws Cridfords Farm (c.1969)

Geoffrey & Rosalind Mountjoy Gubbin Cridford Farm (1970)

Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy Gubbin Cridford Farm (1971)

Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy Gubbin spends two years converting part of her home Cridfords Form into an inn. (1980-1982)

Cridford Inn owned & lived in by Mrs Rosalind Mountjoy Gubbin opens on 7 August (1982)

Cridford Inn sold at auction (1985)

Mrs Jean Christy & her son Mr Richard Christy & her daughter & son-in-law Liz & Tony Shepherd Cridford Inn (1985)

Mike Shepherd & Tony Shepherd brothers Cridford Inn (1988)

David & Sally Hesmondhaigh The Cridford Inn (1992)

William Frederick Farrell The Cridford Inn 7 January (1998)

The 3 cottages are separated from The Cridford Inn by William Frederick & Jasmine Farrell 1 December (2005)

Ian & Tracey Nixon The Cridford Inn, Glynis Patricia Weatherley The 3 Cottages 29 June (2007)

Inn The Village Ltd (Susan Burdge) The Cridford Inn 15 June (2016)

Moir Hospitality Ltd (Ness & Paul Moir) Leased from Inn The Village Ltd 20 August (2018)

Ness & Paul Moir Purchase the Freehold 7th December (2021)