es likewise. Part of Colaton was sold by him; and he did not
occupy Fardell. As he is known to have owned a bark in the reign of
Mary, it has been supposed that he took to commerce. Whether for the
sake of contiguity to Exeter, then the centre of a large maritime trade,
or for economy, he fixed his residence in East Budleigh parish, on a
farm, which was his for the residue of an eighty years' term. His choice
may have been partly determined by his marriage to Joan, daughter to
John Drake of Exmouth. The Exmouth Drakes were connected with East
Budleigh; and Joan's nephew, Robert Drake, bequeathed charitable funds
in 1628 for the benefit of East Budleigh parish in which he lived. The
dates of Joan's marriage and death are uncertain. It is only known that
the two events occurred between 1518 and 1534. Her tomb is in East
Budleigh church, with an inscription asking prayers for her soul. She
left two sons, George and John. Secondly, Walter married a lady of the
family of Darell or Dorrell, though some genealogists describe her as
Isabel, daughter of de Ponte, a Genoese merchant settled in London. She
left a daughter, Mary, who married Hugh Snedale. On her death, some time
before 1549, Walter married thirdly Katherine, daughter of Sir Philip
Champernoun. She was widow of Otho Gilbert, of Compton and Greenway
Castles, to whom she had borne the three Gilbert brothers, John,
Humphrey, and Adrian. By her marriage to Walter Ralegh of Fardell she
had three more children, Carew, and Walter, 'Sir Walter Ralegh,' with a
daughter, Margaret, described sometimes as older, and sometimes as
younger than Walter.

At the time of Ralegh's birth the family had lost its pristine
splendour. But there has been a tendency to exaggeration of the extent
of the decadence, by way of foil to the merit which retrieved the ruin.
John Hooker, a contemporary Devonshire antiquary, uncle to the author of
_The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_, described the family as
'consopited,' and as having 'become buried in oblivion, as though it had
never been.' Yet Walter Ralegh of Fardell was still a land-owner of
importance. His third marriage indicates that he had not fallen out of
the society of his class. Not even personally can he and his wife
Katherine be set down as altogether obscure. Holinshed names one of
them, and Foxe names both. Walter seems to have had much of his great
son's restlessness and independence of character, if without the genius
and the gift of