Kervile of Wiggenhall

[Andrew Lancaster via]

Dear List


The Kerviles (various spellings) of Wiggenhall (often once spelled
Wiggenhale) are a Norfolk family with many modern descendents and a lot
of links to other old Norfolk families. I wanted to list some of the
wives however, because it is one of those families where we have names
of wives, which seem real and very interesting, but are hard to link
exactly to another pedigree. At least one of them would give the
Kerviles a royal descent I believe (Fitz William). Where no source is
mentioned I am simply using Blomefield and the visitations.

I am interested in list feedback on this family, both in case anyone has
more information or leads, and also in some cases to get a feeling for
how other genealogists might judge the grey zone between a "plausible
guess" and a "reasonable assertion with some room for doubt".

1. Edmund Kervill of Wigenhale was living in 1379/1380 in the time of
Richard II, and had been declared eldest son of his father in 1367 in
the time Edward III. Edmund married Alice Tilney, daughter and coheir of
Sir John Tilney, of Whaplode, in Lincolnshire. Blomefield states that
this Sir John was the son of a Thomas Tilney. The Tilney's despite the
Lincolnshire link, seem to have long been in the same part of Norfolk.
For example, Blomefield says that "Sir Frederick de Chervill held 2 fees
in Tilney, Islington, Wigenhale, and Clenchwarton, (when an aid was
granted, on the marriage of King Henry the Third's sister to the Emperor
of Germany) of the honour of Wimegeye; (Plita Con. 34 Hen. III. Rot.
29.) and was found in the 34th of that King, to have a gallows, in
Tilney, and the liberty, or power of trying and hanging offenders."

2. John Kervill of Wigenhale married Elizabeth Fitz-William, daughter of
Thomas Fitz-William of Mabblethorp, Esq. The Fitzwilliams of Mablethorpe
in Lincolnshire are a well-known old family, a cadet branch of the
Fitzwilliams of Sprotbrough in Yorkshire. A problem with the the
Mablethorpe family is there is a sequence of several Thomases. There was
for example one who died 1403 which seems about right. Furthermore his
son Thomas had a daughter Elizabeth who was born about 1440 and became
an heiress. Is this a case where we can pencil in a reasonable hypothesis?

3. Thomas Kervile Esq. lord of Wigenhale was lord by 1467. He died in or
before 1480, when Humphrey was found to be son and heir. He married Mary
(or Margaret?), co-heir of Gilbert Haultoft of Ely, Baron of the
Exchequer in the time of Henry VI. Gilbert was lord of Lord Bardolph's
Manor, alias Criktots. He had a PCC will July 1458 PROB 11/4/241, which
mentions already at that time that he had a daughter married to Thomas
Kervile, but he calls her Margaret. The Haultoft, Holtoft or Hiltoft
arms are shown and were displayed in many combinations in the church
there. The basic one appears to be sable, four lozenges, one two and
one, ermine, a bordure engrailed argent. I have not found good any lead
on his ancestry but I suspect it is from Lincolnshire where this
placename, and the arms appear to come from? However, his direct descent
could for example have been in London or another such city. He was
involved in affairs in both Norfolk and Cambridge.

Can anyone help me identifying the ancestry of these wives?

Best Regards
Andrew Lancaster

[Vance Mead]

Here's something about them, from Common Pleas in 1430:

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no677/bCP40no677dorses/IMG_1111.htm
1430 Easter term

d 1111 Norfolk
Isabel Kervyle, widow of Robert Kervyle, knight, deceased, versus Thomas Kervyle, of Wygenhale, esq; Eleanor his wife; Thomas Toures, deceased; Thomas Rigge; and Robert Grenham. Dower: land in Tilneye.

Vance

[Andrew Lancaster via]

Dear List

I recently asked for advice concerning trying to trace the ancestry of
the successive wives to the Kerviles of Wiggenhall.

I have not received many responses, so perhaps I should focus on one.
Does anyone have any opinion about how wrong or right it would be to say
that John Kervill of Wigenhale married Elizabeth Fitz-William the
daughter of the Thomas Fitz-William of Mablethorp, Esq. who died 1403?
(He and his wife, named Elizabeth, have a well-known brass dated 1403.)

My reasoning here is that the next Thomas in line had a daughter
Elizabeth who was born about 1440 (if we can trust various online
trees), whereas "our" Elizabeth's son in Wiggenhall was lord there by
1467, and her husband's father was in his prime in the 1300s.

I am also thinking that the fact that Elizabeth's father was
specifically said to be an "esquire" would imply he was not just any
member of the Mablethorp FitzWilliam family. Blomefield for example
writes "John, who married a daughter of Thomas Fitz Williams, Esq of
Maplethorp, in Lincolnshire, and was lord of this manor". (The
visitation pedigree, at least as reported by Rye, does not include the
"esq".)

By the way, it is possible that there is something relevant published
about the FitzWilliams of Mablethorp that I have not been able to find
online as a non American. So if I am simply unaware of some missing
link, it would be great if someone would let me know.

Best Regards
Andrew Lancaster

Sources:
*Francis Blomefield, 'Freebridge Hundred: Wigenhale St. Mary's', in An
Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 9
(London, 1808), pp. 176-183
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol9/pp176-183
[accessed 9 September 2015].
*Rye's edition of the Norfolk visitations of
https://archive.org/stream/publicationsofha32harluoft#page/178/mode/2up

[condyfee]

WIGENHALE ST. MARYS.
Jtjermerus De Febrariis, who had by the gift of the Conqueror, lordships in Tilney, and Islington, was also Lord here; those manors extending here, which came after to the lords Bardolph.
The ancient family of Capravill, or Kervile, held the chief manor in this town, of the Lords Bardolph, and had their seat or residence here. Robert de Capravill, Simon, son of Roger, and Robert, son of Walter de Cherevill, and Jeffrey de Cherevile were living in the reign Richard I.7
Reginald de Karevilla, or Kervill, who married Alice, daughter or Sir Richard de la Rokcley, and had with her the lordship of Greenvill, in Stoke Holy Cross, lived in the reign of King John. Sir Frederick de Capravill was found to hold in Wigenhale, two knights fees of the honour of Wirmegay, of the Lord Bardolph, when an aid was granted to King Henry III. on the marriage of his sister Isabel, to the Emperor; and Robert de Cherevile, by deed sans date was a benefactor to the priory of Cast/eacre, and Alice de Cherevile, conveyed lands ia Tilney, by fine in the 52d of Henry III. to Philip de Cherevile. William, son of William de Kervile, of Wigenhale, bought lands of Edmund de Serton, by fine, in the 21st of Edward I.* and Martin Snelling, and Agnes his wife, conveyed by fine to William de Kervill, and John, his son, lands in Tilney, in the 3d of Edward 11. and William de Wigenhale, and Petronilla his wife, lands in Wigenhale, &c. to John de Kervile, and a mill in the 17th that King; and one of the same name was witness to a deed in the 1st and 7th of Edward III.
After this lived EdmundKervil, who married Alice, daughter and coheir of Sir John Tilvey, of Quaplode, in Lincolnshire. Sir Robert Kervile of Wigenhale was son of this Edmund, CasI take it) and dying most probably in foreign parts, his heart was buried in this parish church: he is said to be the ancestor of the Kervi/s, of Watlington, and to have an elder brother, John, who married a daughter of Thomas Fitz Williams, Esq of Maplethorp, in Lincolnshire, and was lord of this manor.
Thomas Kervile, Esq. was lord in the year 1467, and had by Mary
1 Robert de Capravill was witness to the priory of Castleacre. Reg. Castleac.
a deed of Robert de Watlington, in King sans dare.
Stephen's, time.--Walter de Caprevilla >> About this time William Chenrill>>
appears to have a lordship here, and and Thomas at the Grange held the
granted with the nssent of Isabel his eight part of a fee of the Earl Warren, wile, LI mar, a villain, in free alms to
his wife, daughter and coheir of Gilbert Haultoft, of the isle of Ely, Baron of the Exchequer in the time of Henry VI. Humphrey was his son and heir, who married Alice, or Anne, daughter of John Fincham, Bsq. of Fincham, by whom he had Humphrey, his son and heir, who married Anne, daughter of Jef. Cobbe, Esq. of Sandringham, Norfolk and had 3 sons, and 7 daughters.
Thomas, his eldest, William his second, and Edmund the third, who married Catharine, daughter of William Saunders, Esq. she married to her second husband, John Spelman, Esq. of Narburgh, and to her third, Miles Corbet, Esq.
Alice Kervile, a daughter, married first John Bedingfeld, Esq. and afterwards Sir John Sulyard, Knt.-- Elizabeth married Robert Bozon of IVissenset, Esq--Eleanor to Neal, Esq.--Joan, to John Shouldham,
Esq.-- Catharine, to Gawsell, Esq.--Margaret, first married
Nicholas Dean of Wigenhale, Gent, and afterwards John Shorditch, alias Bexwell, Esq. ot Bexwell, and Mary to - .
Thomas Kervil, Esq. the eldest son, married Alice, daughter of Sir Heny Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, by whom he had Henry Kervile, Esq. who, by Winefred, his wife, daughter of Sir Anthony 'Choroid, Knt and relict of George Clifton, Esq. of Nottinghamshire; her third husband was Sir Edward Gawsell, Knt. and Sir Henry Kervile, who married Mary, daughter of Franc. Ptowden, Esq", by whom he had two children, who died in their infancy. He was a bigotted papist, and about November lf)20, was accused by Sir Cristopher Heydon, Knt. that the Papists met at his hou^e, in order to subscribe to and assist the Em
Ireror, against the King of Bohemia, when King James I. requested a oan (for the recovery of the Palatinate) from the nobility and gentry of England, whereupon he was sent for to the council table, imprisoned some time, and his papers seized, but was afterwards released.1 fcir Henry Spelman says that on his death, (1624,) the estate of the Kervifes came into the family of the Cobbs of Sandringliam ;* but it is certain it did not continue long so.
In the 21st of King Charles I. John Williamson, Gent, had a precipe to deliver it to Gregory Gawsell, Esq. who was eldest son of Thomas Gawsell, Esq. of Watlington, and dying unmarried in 1656, this lordship came to Hatton Berners, Esq. (son of Arthur Berners, Esq. of Finchingjield, in Essex, by Elizabeth his wife, eldest sister of Gregory Gawsell aforesaid,) who was high sheriff of Norfolk, in 1666, and on his deaih in 1713, it desended to Gregory, his eldest son, who dying unmarried in 1715, his brother William was his heir, who married and had several children, and dying in 1727, this estate was soon after sold, in order to pay his debts, &c to Sir Robert Brown, Bart, who was his Majesty's resident, or consul, at Venice, and created a Baronet in the 5th of King George II. was a member of parliament for llchester, in Somasetshire, and 1741, appointed paymaster of all his Majesty's works, and lord of this town ; his arms,--gules, a chevron, between three fleurs-de-lis, or;--crest, on a wreath, a demy lion rampant, guLs, in his dexter paw a fleur-de-lis, as before;--motto, Gaudeo: he died October 5, 1760, leaving a widow and two daughters. At a place called Wathden, or Waterden, in this parish, Serjeant
9 Pasche Ac. ai James I.N. 41. *OL.ix. A a
Godard observes there was to be seen in his time some remains of a church, also bones that appear at a low ebb upon the river side.
The old hall, or manor-house, was a large building of brick, with a good tower, or gate-house, embattled and built by the Kerviles, with their arms thereon; the greatest part of it is pulled down, and inhabited by a tenant.
WESTACRE PRIORY MANOR.
In the 14th of Edward I. Hubert, prior of Westacre, held lands here, as appears by a fine; in the said year, Robert, son of William, son of Ivo de Wigenhale, impleaded Hubert, prior, on account of lands here, and in the 31th of the said King, Robert de Walpolc aliened lands to that priory.--Each. N. 136.
In the 6th of Edward II. Jeffrey Sutton aliened lands to the aforesaid priory, viz. 60 acres of land in Wigenhale, Walton,Tilney, Tirington, &c. (Inquis. ad qd. damn. N. 15.) and in the 7th of the said King, William de Wigenhale aliened to the said house 102 acres of land, &c. 12*. rent in Wigenhale and Custhorp, by way of exchange; (Inquis. ad. qd. damn. N. 102 :) also John Wigenhale 60 acres of land, 12 of meadow, with a messuage in Wigenhale, Tirington, Tilney, &c. in the said year. N. 112.
In the 3d of Edward III. the said prior was found to hold the 4th part of a fee in Wigenhale and Tilney of the Lord Bardolph.
In 1428, the temporalities of this priory here were valued at 14/. Qs. per ann. in land, rent, and a mill, and their spiritualities (that is the appropriated rectory) at 12 marks.
On the Dissolution it came to the Crown; and in the 3d and 4th of Philip and Mary, lands belonging to this house, in the tenure of John Saunderson, were granted to Sir John Perrot, p. 2. on July 1, but the appropriated rectory was granted by Queen Elizabeth, in her 2d year, July 2, to John Harryngton, and George Burden, and the patronage of the vicarage remained in the Crown.
The Bishop of Ely had a little homage here of several free tenants, probably belonging to his manor of West Walton, which extended here, but it had not a lete.
The prior of Beriucell in Cambridgeshire was found to hold the fourth part of a fee in Wygenhale, of the Lord Bardolph, in the 3d of Edward 111. and his temporalities in 1428, were valued at 2/. 13s. per ann.
The abbot of Derham, and Edward Noon, were found to hold in Wigenhale, and Tilney, in the 3d of Henry IV. two knights fees of the Lord Bardolf, 45 acres of land, meadows, &c. in Wigenhale, granted July 22,In the 7th of James I. to Robert Angel, and John Walker, called Heydole, lately belonging to West Derham abbey.
The prior of Wirmegey's temporalities, in Wigenhale, were valued at 2l. 3s. lOd. ob.
The abbot of Bury had a manor here, &c. valued at 2/. 0>>. Cul. ob.
William de Sculdham, gave to this abbey, for his own soul, and that of Adeliza his wife, a toft, which Seman and his wife, Leofwot, held in the parish of Wigenhale St. Mary, and a croft in Waterdene, which Sampion, abbot of Bury, who lived in the reiga of King Richard I. confirmed to William, son of Alan, ancestor (as it is said) of the family of the Howards. Regist. Sacrist. Bur.fol. 58, 59.
Queen Elizabeth, on April 10, in her 16th year, granted concealed lands, belonging to this abbey, in the tenure of William Prentys, William Hoe, and others, to Edward Dyer, and Henry Cressener.-- P. 10.
The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a very regular pile, having a body, a north and south isle, and a chancel; the nave, or body is thatched, the isles, and a south porch covered with lead; in the steeple, which is foursquare, are 5 bells.
In the east window of the south isle, are azure, three cinquefoils, or, Lord Bardolfs arms; gules, six escallops, argent, Lord Scales, and gules, a cross ingrailed, argent, Inglethorp.
This east part is divided from the other part, by an oaken screen, and was an old chapel; here is a stately altar monument of marble and alabaster, whereon lie the effigies of a man in armour, and his lady in alabaster, resting their heads on cushions, with their hands in a supplicant posture; below them is the pourtraiture of a little girl, with her hands conjoined, and by her, a boy in swaddling cloaths; on one side of them is KervitCs arms, gules, a chevron, or, between three leopards faces, argent, impaling azure, a fess indented, in chief, two lis's, or, Plowden;--on the other side Kervil impaling Lovell, of Barton.--On the west end Kervile impaling sable, three bars, sable, over all, a bend ermin, Fincham; and Kervill impaling sable, three covered cups, argent, Boteler, or Butler.--At the east end Kervill, and Plowden in single shields.' On this stand 4 marble pilasters of the Corinthian order, with their capitals gilt with gold, supporting an entablature of the same; on the summit is a goat passant, sable, attired or; the crest of Kervill, and his arms as above.
On a black marble wall-piece this inscription:
Hie deponitur corpus Henricj Kervilj, equitis aurati,filij et haredis Henricj Kervillj Armig. de Winefreda conjuge sua Antonij Thorold militis, fi/ia procreati; uxorem duxit Mariam, Franciscj Plowden, Armig. gnatam, e qua pro/em binam, sed in cunabulis extinctam suscepit, Gervasium scilicet et Mariam; sororem habuit unicam, Annum Rob*. Thorald, Armig. nuptam, sine exitu defunctam, 26 Junij, 1624, obijt, et initio anliqui sui stemmatis Kervillorum nomen,Quam reliquit conjux vita, eum sequuta est, consors morte Martij 6to eodem anno.
In the lowest window of this south isle is the triangular emblem of the Trinity; in the next, sable, a fess dauncette, between three mullets pierced, argent, Wesenham, and azure, or argent, two chevrons, sable, Dal/ing.--In the 3d window, azure, three cinquefoils, argent, Fitton,--and in the fourth, gules, a fess between six lis, argent, Thorp; and gules, a bend between six cross crosslets, fitchee, argent, Howard.
In the west window, argent, a lion rampant, sable, crowned or, on his shoulder, a lis, argent, Morley.
On a marble stone lying near the east end of this isle;
"Also Kervile impaling ermine, a sable, three goats, saliant argent, Thospread eagle, gules, iJedingfield; and rod.
Here lye the bodies of Grace and Katherine, daughters of Hattom Berners, Esq; and Bridget his wife, the only sister of Sir Symon Leach, of Devonshire, Kt. oflhe Bath; Grace dyed the \6th of July 1682, aged above 4 years, the other the \0th of November 1680, aged 4 months.--Also the bodies of William and Mary the son and daughter of William Berners, Esq; he dyed \Sth of April 1718, aged 4 months; she the 1st of April 1719, aged4 months.
Adjoining lies a small marble stone, with an heart (in the centre) of brass, and round it 4 labels, or pieces of brass, each in form of a crescent, thus inscribed.--
Orate p. aia Dnj Robertj--Kervile Militis de Wigenhale--Filij Edmundi Kervile de--Wygenhale, cujus cor hie h

An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk ...
By Francis Blomefield, Charles Parkin

[condyfee]

On Sunday, September 6, 2015 at 8:33:53 AM UTC-7, Andrew Lancaster via wrote:

impalements of the Kerviles, which shewed the matches, or marriages, of the family: in an ancient MS. 1 perceive there were also these following.
Kervile, impaling barry of six, or, and azure, a canton ermine. Gawsell.--Kervile impaling Haultoft, sable, four lozenges, ermine,ia a bordure, ingrailed, argent, Kervile impaling Buresley.
The east part of the north isle was also a chapel, and is divided from the rest by a screen: in the east window, are the arms of Howard, also gules, a saltier ingrailed argent, Kerdeston, as I take it; and in the west window of the said isle, or, three barrulets, sable* over all a lion rampant, gules; and sable on a bend argent, three lis of the first.