Kitley Heritage - Gilbert impaling Compton

32/ Ermine a chevron sable charged with three roses argent Impaling Sable three helmets or – Gilbert impaling Compton

The Gilberts are another very ancient family, descended from the family of this name who held lands in Manaton in the time of Edward the Confessor. It was Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Brixham, knighted in 1577, who seized Newfoundland in 1583, and was thus the first to open up access to the important fishing grounds there. The marriage signified by this impalement took a while to track down, which is hardly surprising, for it dates way back to the first half of the fourteenth century, that of Geoffrey Gilbert to Jane, daughter of William Compton. There is then a gap of seven generations to the next impalement shown (q.v. shield 33).

It is often not easily understood why some marriages are shown in the Kitley display whilst other are ignored, but that this one should have been selected is perhaps understandable. For the emphasis is again on the great antiquity of the lineage – also denoted by many of the other coats of arms on this wall – and, in particular, a marriage into the Comptons, from the locality of that name in the same area where the Bastards held estates in the immediate post-Conquest period. But one would expect to have also found recorded at least one of the two Gilbert/Champernowne marriages in this line, most particularly that of Otes Gilbert to Katherine, daughter of Philip Champernowne, c1540, for it was their daughter who married John Bastard (q.v. shield 33).