IV.—Observations Upon the History of One of the Old Cheshire Families. by Sir ORMEROD, in His History of Cheshire, Mentions Gr
55 IV.—Observations upon the History of one of the old Cheshire Families. By Sir FORTUNATUS DWARRIS, B.A., F.R.S., F.S.A. Read February 24th, March 2nd, and 9th, 1848. ORMEROD, in his History of Cheshire, mentions Grosvenor, Davenport, and Brereton as " three grantees who can be proved by ancient deeds to have existed at or near the Conquest, though unnoticed in Domesday." Of these the family least favoured by fortune in later times (the peerage and the baronetage in the Brereton family having both become extinct, and the heirship in lands and manors in all the principal English lines having descended to females), was, during the earliest centuries after the Conquest, among the most distinguished in the palatinate, and, by its fortunate and splendid marriages, became entitled to prefer for its issue the highest claims, even to ducal and regal descent. This state of the case, and a natural desire to uphold ancient valour and renown against the mere caprices of fortune, renders what can be collected of personal anecdote, local tradition, or the biography of the members of such a family (and not the mere bead-roll of its pedigree which is printed in local histories), a suitable subject of archaeological inquiry, often suggestive of useful topics, and sometimes replete with interesting matter. The Breretons appear to have arrived in England from Normandy with William the Conqueror, under Gilbert or Gislebert de Venables, surnamed Venator (the hunter), afterwards Baron of Kinderton, in the retinue of that grim leader, Hugh Lupus (the wolf), afterwards Earl of Chester.a The names of Venables and of Breton (but not of Brereton) are to be found in the roll of Battle Abbey, a sufficiently cited and very memorable list of the names of Norman barons, knights, and esquires who were present at the battle of Hastings, which was hung up at Battle Abbey, and preserved with religious care by the monks, who had enough to do to pray their founders out of purgatory, and to save the souls of such bloody sinners.
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