Kilkhampton Parish Church
Two times, once in 1987 then again in 1998, I travelled to Kilkhampton in Cornwall in Englands' West Country. The fascination for this area is that it was here, in the West Country in the northern part of Corwall and western Devon, were born those who planned and expedited the first English ventures to claim for England land on the North American continent and from this area, also, came most of the first colonizers.
This parish church, which even today the plaque of Grenville family marks their pew, is the church of the Grenville family, of which I wrote an earlier post on the Grenville seat of Stowe Barton.
From the earlier post:
The venture was sponsored under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh....who chose his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville and the Roanoke Hundred (to make the venture). Roanoke Hundred? Not a rock group, though, just the first hundred men -- actually one hundred and eight to be exact -- adventurers who made a voyage in 1585 in the attempt to plant the first English Colony in the New World named Virginia after the unmarried Elizabeth. But circumstances prevailed against Grenville's venture and the attempt lasted only for a short time. Roanoke Island was the name of the attempted seat located in present day North Carolina on an inlet just west of Nags Head and a replica of a type of ship that made those first voyages to Roanoke Island -- for there were three -- sits along side the pier in present day Manteo and you are struck about how small it is."
The following appeared on the North Cornwall website giving a summary of the history of this place.
"Grenville Ward comprises of the Parishes of Kilkhampton and Morwenstowe
Kilkhampton or "Kilk" as the place is known locally, sits astride the A39 "Atlantic Highway", following the line of the old ridge way, from Bude to Bideford, that dates back to Roman times, and like all North Cornwall has a colourful history that goes way back so far that much is lost to the mists of time. The parish of Kilkhampton stretches from the edge of the Tamar lakes to the beaches of Sandymouth and Duckpool and sits on a plateau about 5 - 6 Hundred feet above sea level.
There are several burial grounds, dated to the Bronze age, located around the parish that suggest this area as been occupied by man for many centuries. The Saxons were definitely here because the Doomsday survey states” that King William I, holds a meadow and Harold (the Saxon King) had it before him." This meadow known as Lords Meadow was possibly linked to the agricultural system of strip fields that surrounded the Saxon town of Kilkhampton....The 1084 Doomsday record says Kilkhampton had 3 leagues of woods and some still survive in the valleys at Stow and Hessaford.
The Norman-French Lords of the Manor were called Grenville and their lands passed by direct descent through the names of Carteret and Thynne until today, but they now only retain the ‘rite of wrecks’, on the shoreline."
Carteret Colony in North Carolina is named for this family of which Lord Carteret was one of the Lords Proprietors who were granted the lands in Carolina by Charles II before Carolina was divided into North Carolina and South Carolina as two Crown Colonies.
