Courtenay Street

The Courtenay family came from Courtenay in France with Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry II, in 1152 and before long had established themselves as one of the most eminent families in Devon. The twelfth century marriage of Reginald de Courtenay with Hawise, the heiress of the "barony and honour of Okehampton" consolidtated their position. The honour of Okehampton, the largest in the country was part of the enormous estates of Baldwin de Brionee who was Sheriff of Devon at the time of the Domesday Survey. The second largest was that of Plympton and that came to the Courtenays a little less than 100 years later when Hugh de Courtenay succeeded as the lineal descendant of William de Vernon, fifth earl of Devon in1293. The earldom of Devon was bestowed on Hugh de Courtenay in 1335 and remains with the now Powderham-based family today.

Interestingly enough there is a suggestion that the family name and hence the name of the post-war plymouth street (which replaced and earlier Victorian thoroughfare of the same name) owes its origin to the suggested father of the dynasty, William duke of Toulouse who was known as Guilliae au Court-Nez, that is William little-nose!

EH 26 July 1997