The manor is not listed in the
Domesday Book of 1086, as it was a sub-manor of the manor of
Paignton, the 18th of the 24 Devonshire holdings of the
Bishop of Exeter listed in the Domesday Book. It is first recorded in surviving records in the
Book of Fees (
circa 1302) as
Colethon. Since then the name of the manor and village (
alias Coletone, Coleton, etc.) has changed many times, dependent on the surname of its holders, the first suffix being
Coleton Clavill (or
Colaton Clavell), after the Claville family.
Walter I de Claville (
floruit 1086) (
alias de Clarville and
Latinised to
de Clavilla) was an Anglo-Norman magnate and one of the 52
Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King
William the Conqueror. He also held lands in Dorset. His Devonshire estates later formed part of the
feudal barony of Gloucester. The subsequent holder was the
Dennis family,
Latinized to
Dacus, "the Dane/Danish", which had branches at
Orleigh and at
Holcombe Burnell, also in Devon. It later became known as Collaton-Kirkham, after the Kirkham family of Blagdon. During the reign of King Edward I (1272-1307) Sir Nicholas Kirkham,
Sheriff of Devon in 1308/9, of Ashcombe, married Agatha Dennis, sister and heiress of Sir Robert Dennis (d.pre-1307) of Blagdon, and following the death of Sir Robert Dennis the manor of Blagdon and others including Colaton-Clavil, passed to the Kirkham family, which shortly thereafter moved their seat to Blagdon. The Kirkham family held it for many generations. Finally the name changed to Collaton St Mary, when it became an ecclesiastical parish. The parish was created in 1864 and the foundation stone of St Mary's church was laid on 21 September of that year. ==References==