Campernoune History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Campernoune was first found in Devon at Modbury, a market-town and parish, in the union of Kingsbridge, hundred of Ermington. "This place, called in Latin records Motberia, was in the possession of Wado in the time of the Confessor, and subsequently became the property of the Champernownes, of whom Richard Champernowne, in 1334, obtained permission to fortify his manorial residence here." 2

The family of Chambernowne, originally Campo Arnulphi, yields in splendour of descent to few in the west of England, and was, at a period approximating very closely to the time of William of Normandy, seated at Clist Chambernon in Devon. Prince, in his quaint language, narrates that "there have been many eminent persons of this family, the history of whose ancestors and exploits, for the greatest part, is devoured by time, although their names occur in the chronicles of England, amongst those worthies who with their lives and fortunes were ready to serve their king and country." 3

Over in Cornwall, another branch of the family was found in the parish of St. Germans. "The Champernowne family retained the priory estate until the year 1565, when they conveyed it to Richard Eliot, Esq." 4

Records from Halwyn House in St. Issey, Cornwall points an earlier Latin form of the name. "This place was the seat of the old family of De Campo Arnulphi, now Champernowne. Here they had a great and magnificent house, as appears by the ruins thereof, as also their chapel and burying-place, before the endowed church of St. Issey was erected. Halwyn, now frequently called Old Town, was acquired by the Champernownes about the time of Henry VI. in marriage with an heiress of Hamely; and in the Champernowne family it continued until the reign of Elizabeth, when it again passed into other families with female heirs." 4

"The manor of Otterham, [Cornwall] if it be the same that in Doomsday Survey is called Othram, belonged at that time to the Earl of Moreton, and was one of his 288 manors. In the reign of Edward III. this manor belonged to the Champernownes." 4

In nearby Devon, "Orcherton, at the time of the Survey, was held from the Earl by Reginald de Valletort. The Valletorts soon became the dominant race, and from them Modbury came to the Champernownes, who held it as the seat of the family from the reign of Edward II. until 1700. There were several distinguished members of this race, and one of them, Arthur Champernowne, was knighted in 1599 for his eminent services under the Earl of Essex in Ireland. There is a curious story that Queen Elizabeth was so exasperated by the refusal of the Champernowne of her time to lend her a fine band of musicians, that she found occasion to compel him to part with nineteen manors. A Priory was founded at Modbury, in the reign of Stephen, by an ancestor of the Champernownes, as a cell to the Abbey of St. Peter sur Dive, Normandy. " 5