The manor at the Conquest was parcel of the king's demesne, which the Conqueror gave to Robert de Mount Chardon; but being released again was by King Henry II, with the manor of Whitford, bestowed on Sir Alan Dunstanville, whose son Sir Walter Dunstanville gave it in marriage unto Sir Thomas Bassett, his nephew, younger son of the Lord Bassett, by Alice, sister of the said Walter; which gift was by consent of King John.
It was part of an ornamental garden for the old Rectory now called Maningham - now a private house - built of bath stone in 1783 for the Rev John Basset, brother of Lord De Dunstanville whose monument is seen on Carn Brea.
Reginald de Dunstanville (Reginald FitzRoy, Rainald), Earl of Cornwall (French: Renaud de Donstanville or de Dénestanville) (c. 1110, Dunstanville, Kent, England – 1 July 1175, Chertsey, Surrey, England), High Sheriff of Devon, Earl of Cornwall, was an illegitimate son of Henry I of England and Lady Sybilla Corbet.