East Hagginton was eventually acquired by purchase, together with the lordship of the manor of Berrynarbor and the estate within it of Woolscott, shortly before 1810 from Rev. John Pine-Coffin by Joseph Davie Basset (1764–1846),Risdon, 1810 Additions, p.431 who was the son and heir of John Davie of Orleigh by his wife Eleanor Basset (1741–1800), sister of the last in the male line of the Basset family, Col. Francis Basset (c. 1740 – 1802) of Heanton Court, Heanton Punchardon. In 1803 Joseph Davie assumed the surname and arms of Basset, on succeeding to the Basset estates under the will of his uncle Col. Francis Basset.Vivian, p.48, pedigree of Basset Joseph sold Orleigh in 1807 and built Watermouth Castle as his principal residence,Rogers, W.H. Buckland Brewer, 1938, pp.52-3 adjacent to or possibly within the estate of East Hagginton, rebuilt from the picturesquely sited Palladian house built by Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Clinton, 14th Baron Clinton (1696–1751),Gray, Todd & Rowe, Margery (Eds.), Travels in Georgian Devon: The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete, 1789–1800, vol.3, Tiverton, 1999, pp.86-8 whose tenure in this location of Devon remains unexplained by available sources.
