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The name, like the variants Wyke and Wick, comes from the old English "wic", meaning a farm or dwelling. It is a fairly common farm name in Devon, and often denoted the house of the lord of the manor, so Week may have been an important dwelling in the past. According to the Dictionary of Devon Place-Names, the first mention of the Week in Spreyton was in a legal document of 1327, where it is described as "Northewyk by Spreyton".

Week entered into the possession of the Battishill family probably in 1639 when they purchased a half-share of the Manor of Spreyton from a descendant of the Kelly family (the Kellys had acquired it by marrying an heiress of the Talbots, ancient Lords of the Manor of Spreyton). The Battishills thus became with the Canns of Fuidge the main landowners in Spreyton. Barton was the main residence of the Battishills, and they normally rented out Week and neighbouring Woodhouse. In 1667, Hugh Peynde seems to have been the tenant, as he is recorded as paying the church rate for the property. Henry Shilstone was the tenant in 1780. But it seems that at the end of the 18th century the Battishills took Week in hand themselves. There are for instance monuments in Spreyton church to "William Battishill of Barton and Week" who died in 1806; and another to "William Battishill of Week" who died in 1806.

The last of the Spreyton Battishills was William Harrington Battishill of Barton. In 1913, after his death, the whole of his 904-acre estate was put up for auction. George Lambert M.P. (later 1st Viscount Lambert) of Coffins in Spreyton, who was by then the other main landowner in the parish, was the purchaser of Week. The story in his family is that he was keen to own Week as his mother so enjoyed the view of the Week firs - the group of fir trees at the beginning of the drive to Week - from the garden at Coffins. George Lambert's mother died only a few years later, and he resold Week. However, he hung onto a small copse on the road to Spreyton for the sake of its timber, and that remained part of the Lambert Family estate which was sold in 1972.

©Sophia Lambert April 2006.