Kitley Heritage - Chichester impaling Chamernowne

6/ Checky gules and or a chief vair Impaling Gules powdered with billets or a saltire vair – Chichester impaling Chamernowne

Despite extensive research into the pedigrees of the families concerned, the marriage signified by this impalement has not been identified, for the Gertrude who married Amias Copleston de Copleston (q.v. shield 7) is recorded in the genealogical notes of Prince, Vivian, and others, as having been the daughter of the Sir John Chichester (one of many Sir Johns) who married a member of the Dennis family – this might have been a case of mistaken identity in the lineage, for other errors came to light during research conducted by the present author (q.v. shields 9 to 13). His father, another Sir John, son of Edward (q.v. shield 4), had married Gertrude, daughter of William Courtenay of Powderham, so one would perhaps have expected to see a Chichester/Courtenay impalement here.

Because trying to identify the Chichester/Champernowne marriage signified by this shield have proved unsuccessful, this has also meant that it has not been possible to positively identify the precise significance of the previous one (q.v. shield 5) in the overall scheme of things in the Bastard ancestry. Many readers might consider it a curious circumstance that the identity of a marriage in the lineage of such well known and well documented families should prove to be so elusive, but it is a fact that unravelling the early genealogy of even the most important gentry families can often be vexed with much difficulty.

The Champernownes formerly held estates in Modbury, Dartington & North Tawton, amongst other places, Sir Arthur Champernowne becoming Lord Lieutenant of Devon in 1599. Another Sir Arthur, a Chichester descended from the family of that name of Raleigh & Bishops Tawton, was knighted for his services in the Irish Wars and later became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord Chichester of Belfast during the reign of King James I.