The extract below from page 62 of "The Report of the Commissioners concerning Charities containing that part which relates to the County of Devon Vol. III" (1830) explains the background of Mann's Charity:
"Grace Mann, by her will, bearing date 10th September, 1776, gave to the vicar of the parish of Crediton, the rector of the parish of Upton Hellions, and the vicar of the parish of Colebrooke, Devon, and their successors, 1,000l. upon trust, to invest the same in the purchase of stock in the public funds, and to dispose of the clear dividends thereof, amongst such and so many poor widows and indigent fatherless children of the parish of Crediton, as they in their discretion should think best; and she empowered the said trustees, if they should think fit, to lay out the said sum of 1,000l. or any part thereof, in the purchase of lands in Devon, and as near as could conveniently be to Crediton, but not in that parish, to be settled upon the same trusts as were declared concerning the said sum of 1,000l."