Bideford is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district.
Sir Richard Grenville, also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently participated in the plantations of Ireland specifically the Munster plantations, the English colonisation of the Americas and the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne PC, of Stowe, Cornwall, was an English Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1702 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lansdown and sat in the House of Lords. He was Secretary at War during the Harley administration from 1710 to 1712. He was also a noted poet and made a name for himself with verses composed on the visit of Mary of Modena, then Duchess of York, while he was at Cambridge in 1677. He was also a playwright, following in the style of John Dryden.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican parish church in the village of Newbold Astbury, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and its architecture has been praised by a number of writers.
St Helen's Church is in the village of Tarporley, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is united with those of St John and Holy Cross, Cotebrook, St Thomas, Eaton, and St Paul, Utkinton. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle was a Cornish lady whose domestic life from 1533 to 1540 during the reign of King Henry VIII is exceptionally well-recorded, due to the survival of the Lisle Papers in the National Archives, the state archives of the UK.
St Mary's Church, Patshull, is a redundant Anglican church in the parish of Pattingham and Patshull, Staffordshire, England, and is situated near Patshull Hall. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in parkland beside a lake.
Sir Thomas Grenville II, K.B.,, lord of the manors of Stowe in Kilkhampton, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and 1486. During the Wars of the Roses, he was a Lancastrian supporter who had taken part in the conspiracy against Richard III, organised by the Duke of Buckingham. On the accession of King Henry VII (1485–1509) to the throne, Sir Thomas was appointed one of the Esquires of the Body to Henry VII. On 14 November 1501 upon the marriage of Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon, he was created a Knight of the Bath. He served on the Commission of the Peace for Devon from 1510 to his death in circa 1513.
St Mary's Church stands on a hill in the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ellesmere, the archdeaconry of Salop, and the diocese of Lichfield. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
Brightley was historically the principal secondary estate within the parish and former manor of Chittlehampton in the county of Devon, England, situated about 2 1/4 miles south-west of the church and on a hillside above the River Taw. From the early 16th century to 1715 it was the seat of the Giffard family, whose mansion house occupied the moated site immediately to the west of the present large farmhouse known as Brightley Barton, a Grade II listed building which incorporates some elements of the earlier house. It is not to be confused with the 12th-century Brightley Priory near Okehampton.
Bideford Long Bridge in North Devon spans the River Torridge near its estuary and connects the old part of the town, and formerly important river port, of Bideford on the left bank with East-the-Water on the right bank. It is one of the longest mediaeval bridges in England, being 677 feet long with 24 arches. In 1790 the bridge was the longest in Devon. It remained the furthest downstream bridge on the river until 1987, when the Torridge A39 Road Bridge was built a mile or so further downstream at Northam. The river is still tidal at Bideford and a very large fluctuation in water levels occurs twice daily under the bridge. An ancient New Year's Eve tradition was to try to run across the Long Bridge during the time taken for the bells of St. Mary's parish church, near the west end, to chime midnight. A sight enjoyed by many in the winter months is of the starlings at dusk, as they come in large flocks to roost underneath the bridge.
Sir Richard de Grenville was one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan who served under Robert FitzHamon, in the conquest of Glamorgan in Wales. He obtained from FitzHamon the lordship of Neath in which he built Neath Castle and in 1129 founded Neath Abbey. He is by tradition the founder and ancestor of the prominent Westcountry Grenville family of Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall and of Bideford in Devon, the later head of which family was John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701). The surname of his supposed descendants the Westcountry Grenville family was spelled by tradition "Grenville" until 1661 when it was altered to "Granville".
The manor of Bideford in North Devon was held by the Grenville family between the 12th and 18th centuries. The full descent is as follows:
Netherton in the parish of Farway in Devon is an historic estate situated about 3 1/2 miles south-east of Honiton. The present mansion house known as Netherton Hall was built in 1607 in the Jacobean style, restored and rebuilt 1836-44, and is a Grade II listed building.
Richard Grenville lord of the manor of Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall and of Bideford in Devon, was an English soldier, politician, and administrator who served as a Member of Parliament for Cornwall in 1529, and served as Sheriff of Cornwall and Sheriff of Devon.
Bernard Granville of Birdcage Walk, Westminster, and Apps Court, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, a member of an ancient and prominent Westcountry family, was a courtier of King Charles II who served as a Member of Parliament for several Cornish constituencies.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Pilton is the 13th-century Anglican parish church for the Pilton suburb of Barnstaple in Devon. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1951 and comes under the Diocese of Exeter.
Raleigh was a Native American who was among the first to be brought to England from America in the late 16th-century. Living in the home of Sir Richard Grenville in Bideford, he was the first Native American on record to have a Christian conversion and an English burial site preceding Pocahontas.
The Church of St Margaret of Antioch is the Anglican parish church for Northam near Bideford in Devon. Dedicated to Saint Margaret, the church has been a Grade I listed building since 1951 and comes under the Diocese of Exeter.
St Mary and St Benedict is the Church of England parish church for the village of Buckland Brewer near Bideford in North Devon. It is part of the benefice of the Hartland Coast Team Ministry. This falls within Hartland Deanery, in the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple in the Diocese of Exeter. Begun in the 14th-century with 15th-century additions and retaining several architectural features from the first church of about 1100, the building was much restored in the 19th-century and has been a Grade II* listed building on the Register of Historic England since 1958.
