Feudal barony of Dunster King Henry VII (1485–1509), he obtained the reward from that king of a reversal of his father's attainder and received restoration of his lands from the Herberts, who had never lived at Dunster, having been long seated in Wales. He was instrumental in quelling the rebellion in Devon. In 1487 on the coronation of the queen he was appointed K.B.. He was Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset in 1488. He erected the surviving sculpted stone heraldic panel above the western arch of the Gatehouse to Dunster Castle, showing on six shields (a further two blank) the arms of Luttrell, Beaumont,
Dunster Castle the Commonwealth years and the Restoration of Charles II to power in 1660. Francis' heir, another Francis, married a wealthy heiress worth £2,500 a year (£331,000 in 2009 values) and with this income set about modernising the castle during the 1680s, in particular building a grand staircase in the latest style. Francis was a colonel in the local militia and in 1688 backed William of Orange's attempt to oust James II; when William landed in Devon, Francis mustered a number of companies of infantry at Dunster on 19 November to support him, which formed the basis for the later Green