Biography
Risdon was born at Winscott, in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, adjoining the town of Great Torrington in Devon, England. He was the oldest son of William Risdon and his wife, Joan. After a local education, he studied at Broadgates Hall in Oxford, though he left the university without taking any degree, supposedly because of the death of his half-sister, Thomazin Barry, upon which he inherited the family estate at Winscott, which required his personal attention.
He married Pascoe Chafe, the daughter of Thomas Chafe of Exeter, on 2 December 1608 and they had four sons and three daughters. From about 1605 to the 1630s he devoted his time to the study of antiquities, especially those of Devon, and the result of his labours was his Survey of the County of Devon. He died at Winscott in 1640 and was interred in St Giles's church; his mother (died 1610) is commemorated by a monumental brass in the same church.
Read more about this topic: Tristram Risdon
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