Trezza History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Trezza was first found in Herefordshire where Sire de Tregos, who was originally of Troisgots in St. Lo, Normandy held lands at the time of the Domesday Book census of 1086. The ruins of his castle exist on the Vire. Le Sire de Tregos held lands in Hereford, Wiltshire and Cornwall. 1

The family claim descent from "the castle of Tregoz, in the arrondissement of St. Lo: a place of some strength, built on a narrow neck of land washed by the Vire and one of its lesser tributaries. King John visited it in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Scarcely any traces of it now remain; and the name has long since degenerated into Troisgots. A priory once stood on the river bank hard by, founded by Robert de Tregoz in 1197. The Seigneurie was confiscated by Philip Augustus; but the family long remained in Normandy. Pierre de Tregoz was among the knights of the Cotentin summoned for the service of Mont St. Michel in 1271; and another Tregoz is mentioned in 1418 under Henry V." 2

"Cil ki dune tenet Tregoz," came to England in the Conqueror's army, and is praised by Wace for his intrepidity at the battle of Hastings. "He killed two Englishmen, smiting the one through with his lance, and braining the other with his sword; and then galloped his horse back, so that no Englishman touched him." We hear no more of this knight, either in Domesday or elsewhere; and though, according to the Testa de Nevill, the family was settled in Herefordshire from the time of the Conquest, the first mention of a Tregoz in public records is in the time of King Stephen. 3 William de Tregoz, in 1139, farmed the lands of William Peverel of London (Rot. Pip.), and had two sons, John, who held in Sussex under the Earl of Arundel in 1167, and Geoffrey, who died in 1155, a landowner in Essex. Geoffrey's grandson, Robert de Tregoz, first raised the house into importance by his marriage; for his wife Sybil, the heiress of Robert Lord Ewyas, brought him the castle and honour of Harold-Ewyas in Herefordshire, and Lydiard-since named from him Lydiard-Tregoze-in Wiltshire; nineteen knights' fees in all. He took part against Henry II. with his rebellious sons; was Sheriff of Wilts under Coeur-de-Lion; and greatly trusted and often employed both in Normandy and England by King John. " 2

"The lands of Trewothick or Trewothike, in the parish of St. Anthony in Kirrier, Cornwall, in ancient times belong to the family of Tregose, who had their seat here for several generations; which family was quite extinct in the days of Hals. In the reign of Charles II. this estate passed by sale to the Vaughans of Ottery St. Mary, in Devon." 4