Walter de Claville

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.

He is believed to have originated at any one of the manors called Claville or Clasville in the Duchy of Normandy, namely:

His brother was Gotshelm, also a Devonshire tenant-in-chief, whose estates also later formed part of the feudal barony of Gloucester.

It is not known whether he married and left progeny, however Walter II de Claville (supposed by Cleveland to be his grandson) in about 1170 gave many of Walter I's former Domesday Book estates to a priory which he established on his estate of Leigh within his manor of Burlescombe, later known as Canons' Leigh Priory. Furthermore, several of his estates were held in the 13th century by a certain "William de Claville", as recorded in the Book of Fees (see list below).

Sir William Pole (d.1635) gives the descent of the manor of Lomen Clavill, in the parish of Uplowman, as follows:

According to Sir William Pole (d.1635), the male line of the Clavell family was extinguished during the reign of King Richard II (1377-1399). The heir to Lomen Clavell was the Beare family, lords of the nearby manor of Huntsham. There was however at some time a dispute over the inheritance between Thomas Beare and Sir Henry Perchey (alias Percehay). The hamlets of Lomen Clavell and Bukinton Clavell still retained the family's name in the 19th century. According to Pole the arms of "Clavill of Burlescombe" were: Or, three keys gules which are thus canting arms alluding to the Latin clavis, meaning a "key".

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