Kitley Heritage -Bastard impaling Besilles

30/ Or a chevron azure Impaling Argent three torteaux – Bastard impaling Besilles

Yet another early marriage (q.v. shields 26, 28 & 31) which has not been identified. However, with respect to this one4, a few documentary clues were uncovered during the research – and their dates alone testify to the antiquity of the marriage depicted in these four shields. The most important document which was found was a quitclaim issued in 1275 by John Besilles, Lord of Alfyntone (now West Alvington), to Geoffrey de Wrockshale. At the time Sir Richard Bastard was Lord of Efford, on the outskirts of Plymouth, and it is very likely that it was through this marriage that the Bastards inherited the Gerston estate, their seat in the pre-Kitley era, for the 1275 deed refers to messuages and lands &c at what was then called Garstone, thus indicating that the Bessilles of the mid-late thirteenth century also owned that property. Moreover, the Bastards were later Lords of West Alvington, also previously owned by the Besilles.

Interestingly, one of the witnesses to the 1275 deed was a William Crispin, which also places that family in the general district at the time (q.v. shield 26, denoting a Bastard/Crispin marriage). Another signatory was a Richard Gilebert, which provides another valuable clue (q.v. shields 32 & 33 for later Gilbert marriages in the line).