Kriel History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Kriel was first found in Roll of Battel Abbey in which "Robert, Duke of Normandy, the Conqueror's father, in order to keep in check the people of the Pays de Dol, built in the year 1030 a castle at Cazel or Cheruel upon the Cousnon, a river which then divided the provinces of Normandy and Brittany. This place gave name to a family, which became highly distinguished in succeeding generations, and of which was the Norman knight, Kiriel, who appears on the Battle Abbey Roll. Among the more celebrated personages of the name, we may mention Hue Kyriel, Admiral of the French, and Nicholas Kiriel, Admiral of the English Fleet, in the 14th century." 1

"The family of Stansfeld, of Stansfeld, and of the Island of Jersey, deriving from Wyon Maryon, of a noble house in Brittany, to whom the extensive township in the West Riding of Yorkshire, whence he adopted his surname, was granted by the Conqueror, claims a common origin with the Kyriels and Kyrles, from the Kiriell of the Bathe Abbey Roll. " 1

Conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Ashburhnham by Sir Robert de Cruel, who held from Count Eu, who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086. They were from Criel sur Mer in the arrondisement of Dieppe. In 1870 the walls of the castle were still standing.