Ashburton, Devon, England

From the book: RALPH EARLE AND HIS DESCENDANTS

One branch of the Somersetshire Erles settled in the County of Devon, in the time of Edward the Third, as I find John Erie holding lands at Ashburton, twenty miles from Exeter, and bearing the same arms as his Somersetshire ancestor: viz. : Gules, 3 escallops, argent, within a bordure, engrailed, argent. This John Erie’s second son held lands at Culhampton, in the County of Devon, twelve miles from Exeter, and was succeeded in them by his son and heir, John Erle, who married Thomasine Beare, of the County of Somerset, and by her had a son Walter, who married Mary, daughter, and co-heir of Richard Wykes, of Bindon and Charlborough (or Charborough), both in the County of Dorset.

As the first allusion to a coat of arms is in connection with the history of John de Erleigh (G 8), the eighth in the above succession and the grandson of Henry de Erleigh, this passage would seem to bring John Erie, of Ashburton, several generations later. He is evidently a son of a younger son, as the eldest sons are in the Somerset succession.