Yarty is an historic estate in the parish of Membury in Devon, and was from the 14th century until 1726[1] for many centuries the principal seat of the Fry family.[2] It takes its name from the River Yarty[3] which flows near or through the estate. During the reigns of King Richard II (1377-1399)[4] or King Henry IV (1399-1413)[5] William (or John[6]) Fry inherited the estate by marriage to the sister and heiress of Simon de Yarty,[7] who died without progeny. The mansion house was "newly builded and augmented"[8] by Nicholas Fry (d.1632), Sheriff of Devon in 1626, whose mural monument survives in the Yarty Chapel in Membury Church.[9] [10]
The following text appeared in "Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol 39 (1907)" p. 134:[11]
The story of the ghost returning home "at the rate of a cock's stride each year" also occurs in Devon in relation to Dowrich an historic estate in the parish of Sandford.