Arwenack

Arwenack House today, remnant of the former fortified manor house
Aerial view circa 1840(?)[1] from north-east of estate of Arwenack: left on top of hill: Pendennis Castle, built on land belonging to the Killigrew family. Right: Arwenack House. Centre: the developing harbour and town of Falmouth
Map showing location of Arwenack, today the location of the town of Falmouth. The Carrick Roads are the world's 3rd largest natural harbour

Arwenack, historically in the parish of St Budock, Cornwall, is a historic manor on the site of what is today the town of Falmouth. It was long held by the Killigrew family, which was responsible for the development of the town of Falmouth, Sir Peter Killigrew (d.1667), MP, having received a royal charter for its foundation in 1661.[2]

Etymology

Arwenack is said to signify in the ancient Cornish language either "the beloved, still cove", or "upon the marsh".[3]

Descent

de Arwenack

The earliest recorded lord of the manor of Arwenack was the de Arwenack family:[4]

Killigrew

Ancient arms of Killigrew: Gules, three mascles or[5]
Modern arms of Killigrew: Argent, an eagle displayed with two heads sable a bordure of the second bezantée. The bezantée bordure indicates a connection to the ancient Earls of Cornwall[6]

The earliest recorded seat of the Killigrew family was the manor of Killigrew in the parish of St Erme in Cornwall, about 11 miles north-east of Arwenack, where Raphe Killigrew resided during the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272).[7] Killigrew is said to signify in the ancient Cornish language "a grove of eagles".[8] A junior branch of the family descended from Sir William Killigrew (d.1622) of Hanworth, Middlesex, later grew to much prominence as royal courtiers to the Stuart kings, as evidenced by their various tombs in Westminster Abbey.[9] The earliest recorded member of the family is Ralph Killigrew, supposed to have been a natural son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272), King of the Romans (second son of King John (1199-1216) and thus brother of King Henry III) by his concubine Joan de Valletort.[10] The Killigrew arms showing a double-headed spread eagle within a bordure bezanty are believed to refer to this royal descent, namely the eagle representing the arms of the King of the Romans (Or, an eagle with two heads displayed sable) and the bezants representing the arms of the Earl of Cornwall (Sable, ten bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1). The descent of Killigrew of Arwenack is as follows:[11]

Simon Killigrew (fl.1377)

Simon Killigrew (fl.1377), who married Jane de Arwenack, daughter and sole heiress of Robert de Arwenack. he was the son of John Killigrew (great-grandson of Raphe Killigrew) of Killigrew, by his wife Mary Poltesmore, daughter of Sir Richard Poltesmore.[12]

Thomas Killigrew

Thomas Killigrew, son, whose wife was a member of the Beaupell family[13] (possibly Beauple of Knowstone[14] and Landkey in Devon, the heiress of which Margaret de Beaupel, married Sir Neil Loring, KG (c.1320-1386), one of the founding members and 20th Knight of the Order of the Garter, established by King Edward III in 1348). He had two sons:

John I Killigrew

John I Killigrew, Senior, of Arwenack, eldest son and heir, who married Mary Boleigh, daughter and heiress of John Boleigh.[17] The Killigrews later quartered the arms of Boleigh: Argent, on a chevron sable between three torteaux as many bezants,[18] as visible on the monumental brass in St Budock's Church to John III Killigrew (d.1567) of Arwenack, first Governor of Pendennis Castle.

John II Killigrew (died pre-1513)

John II Killigrew (died pre-1513), son and heir, who died without male progeny leaving a daughter and sole heiress Elizabeth Killigrew, wife of John Godolphin of Godolphin, Cornwall.[19] The estates however descended to his younger brother as heir male under an entail.

Thomas Killigrew (d.1513)

Thomas Killigrew (d.1513), of Arwenack, younger brother. he died on 20 September 1513 at Biscay in the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain. He married twice, firstly to Jane Darrell, daughter and heiress of William Darrell of Andover, Hampshire, by whom he had a son and heir Alexander Killigrew, and secondly in 1512 to Johanna Herry, daughter of John Herry of Ruddeford (possibly John Harris of Radford[20])

Alexander Killigrew (born 1493)

Alexander Killigrew (born 1493), of Arwenack, eldest son and heir by his father's first marriage. He appears to have died without progeny when his heir was his second cousin once removed John III Killigrew (d.1567), the son of his second cousin John Killigrew (d.1536) of Penryn by his wife Jane Petit, daughter and co-heiress of John Petit of Ardevera.[21]

John III Killigrew (d.1567)

Monumental brass of John III Killigrew (d.1567) of Arwenack, Falmouth, first Governor of Pendennis Castle. St Budock's Church, Budock Water, near Falmouth

John III Killigrew (d.1567) of Arwenack, second cousin once removed of Alexander Killigrew (born 1493), of Arwenack. He was the first Governor of Pendennis Castle, situated on land within the Arwenack estate on the tip of a peninsula about 1 mile south-east of Arwenack House, appointed by King Henry VIII.[22] He married Elizabeth Trewennard, 2nd daughter of James Trewennard of Trewennard,[23] in the parish of St Erth.[24] His monumental brass survives in St Budock's Church, Budock Water, immediately to the west of Arwenack, inscribed as follows:

"Heere lyeth John Killigrew, Esquier, of Arwenack and lord of ye manor of Killigrew in Cornewall, and Elizabeth Trewinnard his wife. He was the first Captaine of Pendennis Castle, made by King Henry the eight and so continued untill the nynth of Queene Elizabeth at which time God tooke him to his mercye, being the yeare of Our Lord 1567. Sr John Killigrew, Knight, his son(n)e succeeded him in ye same place by the gift of Queene Elizabeth".[25]

He rebuilt Arwenack House, described by Martin Lister-Killigrew (d.1745) as "the finest and most costly then in the county, as to this time in part appears by the stately hall window thereof, still standing, and was possessed of one of the largest estates in the county, his lands on those parts extending from Arwenack, to Helford passage, and had the propriety of sixteen parish tythes".[26] He had five sons, including:

Sir John IV Killigrew (d.1584)

Sir John IV Killigrew (d.1584) of Arwenack, son, 2nd Governor of Pendennis Castle[30] (1568-1584)[31] appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, as stated on his father's brass in St Budock's Church. He was MP for Lostwithiel in 1563 and twice for the family's pocket borough of Penryn, in 1571 and 1572.[32] Together with his father he opposed the Catholic Queen Mary (1553-1558) and her Spanish husband, and used his fleet of ships to keep the Protestant exiles in France abreast of political developments and attacked Spanish shipping in the Channel. In 1556 he was imprisoned by Mary with his father in the Fleet, but released after three weeks. On the succession of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) he was restored to royal favour.[33] He became notorious for engaging in cattle theft, "evil usage in keeping of a castle" and as a Justice of the peace for abuses in arranging the quarter sessions. Having been appointed a Commissioner to inquire into piracy, he himself was heavily engaged in that activity and traded with smugglers and pirates who frequented the waters around Arwenack. He was the subject of an official investigation in 1565. In January 1582 both he and his wife Mary Wolverston[34] were suspected of involvement in a notorious act of piracy concerning a Spanish ship which had sheltered from a storm in an anchorage opposite Arwenack. It was said that he and his wife had acted together to overpower or murder the crew and steal the cargo of cloth, before ordering the ship to be disposed of in Ireland.[35] He married Mary Wolverston, daughter of Philip Wolverston (often described as a "gentleman pirate") of Wolverston Hall in Suffolk, and widow of Henry Knyvett. A mural monument to the couple was erected by their son in St Budock's Church, showing them facing each other kneeling in prayer. His youngest daughter Katherine Killigrew (d.1598) became the 3rd wife of Sir Henry Billingsley (c.1538-1606) Lord Mayor of London.[36]

John V Killigrew (c.1557-1605)

John V Killigrew (c.1557-1605), of Arwennack, son, was Vice-Admiral of Cornwall and the third Governor of Pendennis Castle (1584–98)(from which office he was ejected in 1598),[37] and was thrice MP for Penryn in 1584, 1586 and 1597. He had notorious dealings with local pirates. Due to his father's debts and his own extravagance he died in poverty.[38] He married Dorothy Monck, a daughter of Sir Thomas Monk (1570–1627) of Potheridge,[39] Merton, Devon, MP for Camelford in 1626, and a sister of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670).[40] By his wife he had progeny 6 sons and 4 daughters, including:[41]

Mural monument to Edmond Yeo (d.1636) of Chittlehampton and North Petherwin, in Chittlehampton Church, half-brother of Anthony Acland (1568-1614) of Hawkridge
"To the memorie of Edmond Yeo of North Petherwin, Esqr., who was borne and departed this life in this parish An(n)o D(omi)ni 1636 commending his godly loving wife of the noble family of the Kelligrews in Cornwall w(i)th two sonns and foure daughters living to God the Father of ye fatherles(s) defendor of ye cause of ye widow(s). Praemisimus non amisimus" (i.e. we have sent him ahead, we have not sent him away).
Heraldic escutcheons on monument to Edmond Yeo (d.1636) in Chittlehampton Church. Left: Yeo (Argent, a chevron sable between three ducks azure), with a crescent for difference, impaling Killigrew (Argent, an eagle with two heads displayed sable a bordure of the second bezantée), top of monument; right: Killigrew alone, bottom of monument
Above is an escutcheon showing the arms of Yeo (Argent, a chevron sable between three ducks azure) impaling Killigrew (Argent, an eagle with two heads displayed sable a bordure of the second bezantée); Inscribed underneath on the frame: "Edmond Yeo" (under the dexter side) "Eliz. Killigrew" (under the sinister side). On the sides of the frame is inscribed in Latin: left side: Leon(ardus) Yeo ducens uxorem ("Leonard Yeo taking as his wife..."), right side: filiam et haeredem Stapletoni ("the daughter and heir of Stapleton"). At the bottom is a shield displaying Killigrew alone, around which is inscribed in Latin: Elizabetha vidua relicta hoc monument(um) maerens posuit ("Elizabeth, widow left behind, placed this monument, sorrowing")

Sir John VI Killigrew (1583-1633)

Sir John VI Killigrew (1583-1633), eldest son, who married Jane Fermor, daughter of Sir George Fermor of Northampton, a younger son of Sir William Fermor, 1st Baronet (1623?–1661) of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire and younger brother of William Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster (1648-1711) and uncle to Thomas Fermor, 1st Earl of Pomfret (1698–1753). She was confused by the Cornwall historian William Hals (1655–1737) in his History of Cornwall for her grandmother-in-law the pirate Mary Wolverston.[44] She was accused by her husband of engaging in prostitution and is said to have been "first debauched by the Governor of Pendennis Castle".[45] He at last obtained a divorce in the Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, but at such great expense that he faced ruin. He died without progeny, the last of the "John Killigrews" of Arwenack, and was succeeded by his and the 1st Baronet's nephew Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (1634-1705). Lady Jane had been supported by the mayor and corporation of Penryn, which borough was jealous to preserve its ancient pre-eminence in face of the growing town of Falmouth, fostered by the Killigrews. She fled to Penryn where she was hospitably received by the mayor and corporation, to whom, after her husband's death in 1633 she presented a two-foot high silver cup inscribed:[46]

"1633. From Maior to Maior. To the Town of Permarin where they received mee that was in great misery. Kane Killygrew".

Sir Peter Killigrew (c.1593-1668)

Sir Peter Killigrew (c.1593-1668), younger brother, MP for Orkney, Shetland and Caithness in 1659 and for Helston in Cornwall from 1661 - July 1668,[47] known as Peter the Post from the speed and efficiency with which during the Civil War he despatched messages and other commissions entrusted to him in the cause of King Charles I".[48] He was briefly Governor of Pendennis Castle from March to September 1660.[49] He inherited Arwenack in 1633 on the death of his elder brother without progeny. he married Mary Lucas, daughter of Thomas Lucas, MP, of St. John's Abbey, Colchester,[50] and sister of Margaret Lucas, wife of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592-1676) and an attendant of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, with whom she went into exile in France, having departed with her son prince Charles in 1644 from Pendennis Castle near Arwenack, en route for the Scilly Isles. His support for the Royalists during the Civil War caused the destruction of Arwenack House by the Parliamentarians during their 5-month siege of Pendennis Castle in 1646. It was never rebuilt again on the former grand scale. He obtained a grant to hold markets at Smithwick, next to Arwenack, which became the nucleus of the town of Falmouth, for the establishment of which new town in 1661 he received a royal charter from King Charles II, following the Restoration of the Monarchy. The document refers to Sir Peter Killigrew as "our beloved and faithful subject" and states that it is given "in consideration of the good, faithful, and acceptable services, by him the said Peter as well to Us, as to our most dear Father, the Lord Charles, late king of England (of glorious memory)"[51] He received licence to transfer of the customs house from Penryn to Falmouth and established a new parish (separate from St Budock's) for his new town served by a new church dedicated to "King Charles the Martyr", the executed Charles I, in which he was buried in 1668.[52]

Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (1634-1705)

Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (1634-1705), son, who inherited his uncle's baronetcy under the special remainder. In 1660 he was elected Member of Parliament for Camelford in Cornwall, which election was declared void later the same year. He married Frances Twisden (d.1711), a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Roger Twisden, of East Peckham, Kent. In 1697 he moved away from Arwenack to Ludlow in Shropshire,[53] where he died in 1705, but was returned for burial in Falmouth.[54] By his wife he had the following progeny:[55]

Lister-Killigrew

The Killigrew Pyramid, between Arwenack House and the waterfront, Falmouth. Erected in 1737/8[58] by Martin Lister (d.1745), of Staffordshire, who adopted the surname Killigrew in lieu of his patronymic, having married in 1689 Anne Killigrew (d.1727), youngest daughter of Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (d.1705), of Arwenack. He died without progeny, being thus the last of the Killigrews. He wrote the History of the Killigrew Family. Left: oil painting of deconstruction prior to move in 1836/8,[59] Falmouth Art Gallery. Right: the same view today, with viewer's back to Arwenack house. Tregellas (1884): "This monument was originally placed on a site which overlooked on one side the remains of the family mansion, and on the other the little lake (formerly an arm of the sea, and known in Leland's time as 'Levine Prisklo'), which was once the well-filled swannery of the Killigrews. It was moved in 1836 to make way for the houses now known as 'Grove Place' and again in 1871 to its present appropriate site opposite the Arwenack Manor-office"[60]

Martin Lister Killigrew (1666-1745) was born Martin Lister, of Liston, Staffordshire, and as a junior army officer was stationed at Pendennis Castle during the Governorship of the Earl of Bath.[61] In 1689 at the time he resigned from the army he married Anne Killigrew (d.1727), the youngest daughter of Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet (d.1705), of Arwenack, the last male Killigrew of Arwenack. Under the terms of his wife's inheritance, on his marriage he adopted the additional surname of Killigrew, but died without progeny when the ancient name became extinct at Arwenack,[62] and the estate became the inheritance of Lord Wodehouse.[63] He wrote a history of the Killigrew family, which is the main source for the early history of Falmouth.[64] He left Falmouth in 1725 and in 1737 wrote a series of letters to his steward at Arwenack, Abraham Hall, instructing him to build a stone pyramid monument at Arwenack. His instructions were detailed, but he insisted there should be no inscription. It stood originally in the centre of a grove of trees, but in 1836 was moved to the hilltop at the southern end of The Avenue, and was again moved to its present position on Arwenack Green in 1871.[65] As a junior soldier he witnessed the brutal hangings of rebels in July 1685 at Taunton by Lieutenant General Percy Kirke (d.1691) following the Battle of Sedgemoor, and wrote an account of it which was eventually published by Tobias Smollet in the Sun newspaper of London on 3 September 1796.[66]

In literature

Arwenack is the setting for the historical novel The Grove of Eagles by Winston Graham, which chronicles the lives of the Killigrew family in the decade 1599-98. The narrator, an illegitimate son of John V Killigrew, notes the extraordinary unhappiness and ill-fortune which visited those who lived in Arwenack in his lifetime, and led to a local legend that Arwenack was under a curse. The narrator's own view was that the only curse was excessive ambition: his great-grandfather, Sir John III Killigrew, had built on a scale so lavish that it drained the family's modest resources, so that "from his time on, there was always a hint of the feverish and the insolvent in our lives".

Sources

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arwenack, Falmouth.
  1. ↑ Note transition of shipping between sail and steam. Compare date of Turner's The Fighting Temeraire (1838)
  2. ↑ See
  3. ↑ Tregellas, p.117
  4. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  5. ↑ Dunkin, p.20; Tregellas, p.116, footnote. These mascle arms are also visible on the Wrey monument (seeFile:BlancheKilligrew TawstockChurch.JPG) now in Tawstock Church, Devon, (moved from St Ive Church, Cornwall) of Blanche Killigrew (d.1595) and her husband John Wrey (d.1597) of Trebeigh, St Ive, Cornwall. The monument was moved from St Ive Church to its present position against the east wall of the nort transept of St Peter's Church, Tawstock, Devon, in 1924 by Sir Philip Bourchier Sherard Wrey, 12th Baronet (1858-1936), of Tawstock Court.(Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.790)
  6. ↑ See Martin Lister-Killigrew's History of the Killigrew Family : "What their arms were before is uncertain, but from ye Heralds Office we know that in the time of Rchard Duke of Cornwall, brother of Henry III, and King of the Romans, he gave to Ralph de Killigrew the spread eagle, with the border of Cornwall, which undeniably denotes the family to be of consideration, so high back as those antient times"
  7. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267; Tregellas, p.115
  8. ↑ Tregellas, p.115
  9. ↑ Tregellas, p.115
  10. ↑ Tregellas, p.116
  11. ↑ Vivian, 1887
  12. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  13. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  14. ↑ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.303
  15. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  16. ↑ Dunkin, p.20
  17. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  18. ↑ Dunkin, Edwin Hadlow Wise, The Monumental Brasses of Cornwall with Descriptive, Genealogical and Heraldic Notes, 1882, p.36
  19. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  20. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.267
  21. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.268
  22. ↑ Dunkin, Edwin Hadlow Wise, The Monumental Brasses of Cornwall with Descriptive, Genealogical and Heraldic Notes, 1882, pp.36-7
  23. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.268
  24. ↑ Tregellas, p.119
  25. ↑ Dunkin, Edwin Hadlow Wise, The Monumental Brasses of Cornwall with Descriptive, Genealogical and Heraldic Notes, 1882, pp.36-7, Plate 31
  26. ↑ Martin Lister-Killigrew (d.1745), History of the Killigrew Family
  27. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.268
  28. ↑ Dunkin, p.36
  29. ↑ See images
  30. ↑ Pedigree of Killigrew, Vivian, J.L., ed. (1887). The Visitations of Cornwall: comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1530, 1573 & 1620; with additions by J.L. Vivian. Exeter, p.268
  31. ↑ Fuidge
  32. ↑ Fuidge, N.M., biography of Killigrew, John I (d.1584), of Arwennack, Cornw., published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
  33. ↑ Fuidge
  34. ↑ Sources are very confused as to the identity of the female Killigrew supposed to have been engaged in piracy, the most reliable ones giving her as Mary Wolverston
  35. ↑ Fuidge; The original source for this famous story, which has been much added to and embroidered by several writers, is Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 15 January 1582 & 2 March 1582
  36. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269; History of Parliament biography of Henry Billingsley
  37. ↑ History of Parliament biography
  38. ↑ History of Parliament biography
  39. ↑ Vivian, J.L., ed. (1887). The Visitations of Cornwall: comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1530, 1573 & 1620; with additions by J.L. Vivian. Exeter: W. Pollard, p.269
  40. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895 , p.569 (Monck)
  41. ↑ Vivian, 1887, Cornwall, p.269
  42. ↑ Date of death 1624 per his inscribed monumental brass in North Petherwin Church
  43. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.834-7, pedigree of Yeo
  44. ↑ Baring-Gould
  45. ↑ Lister-Killigrew, Martin, quoted in Baring-Gould, Sabine
  46. ↑ Baring-Gould, with image of cup
  47. ↑ History of Parliament biography
  48. ↑ Footnote in 1893 edition of Pepys' Diary ; Burke, John A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies
  49. ↑ History of Parliament biography
  50. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of Cornwall: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1530, 1573 & 1620; with additions by J.L. Vivian, Exeter, 1887 , p.269
  51. ↑ See
  52. ↑ History of Parliament biography
  53. ↑ Lister-Killigrew, Martin
  54. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269
  55. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269
  56. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269
  57. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269
  58. ↑ Tregellas, p.115
  59. ↑ see
  60. ↑ Tregellas (1884), footnote pp.115-116; Gay, Susan, pp.188-190, details of Pyramid
  61. ↑ Gay, Susan, Old Falmouth, p.17
  62. ↑ Vivian, 1887, p.269
  63. ↑ See p.134-5. An Illustrated Itinerary of the County of Cornwall Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  64. ↑ See
  65. ↑ See text at
  66. ↑ Childs, John, General Percy Kirke and the Later Stuart Army, p.109
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