A Visit to Seagrave, England
In re-reading the introduction to Savannah's book, "The Reverend William Segraves and his Descendants," it struck me that there is some "new" information here that I had missed before - and that I don't remember seeing posted before. I thought I would share it with the rest of the family.
A Visit to Seagrave, England
The following account of visits to Seagrave, England, was written by cousin Arlene Swaim Cunningham (9(10)6) (Note: that’s a reference to her place in Savannah’s genealogical chart).
Bob, the children, and I lived in England for four years (1972-1976). Among the many places we traveled in Europe, I was especially interested in Seagrave, England, located in Leicestershire County, approximately 100 miles from where we lived. On our first trip to Seagrave, we stopped in Leicester, which is close to Seagrave. I notices several Seagrave names in the phone directory, so I thought, “No problem, I’ll find some Seagrave families in Seagrave.” Seagrave is a small, very pretty village that sits on a hillside. We stopped at the village pub located next to the village church. We were told there was no one by the name of Seagrave in the village at that time. E were referred to some elderly people in the village and to the vicar of the church. We didn’t get any help from the two elderly people to whom we talked; one was ill and the other could not hear. The vicar was not home. We did find a part of a church-like structure that looked like it belonged to a castle.
On our next trip to Seagrave, we met with the Vicar of the church of England and his wife, Delbert and Phyllis Underwood. They didn’t know a lot about the history of Seagrave but referred us to a man named Ted Warren. Mr. Warren took me over the land in Seagrave where the Segrave castle had been. The structure still standing was the chapel that had been connected to the castle. The rest of the castle had been torn down and parts of it buried under the ground, which was now a sheep pasture. We pulled slates from the ground that had come from the castle’s roof. We also looked at the church records which date back to the 17th century. There were no Segraves or Seagraves. Mr. Warren had spent a lot of time studying the history of Seagrave with an archaeologist. They had traced Seagrave village [formerly Segrave] and the family name of Segrave back to the year of 1066 when William the Conqueror brought the Segraves to England with him from Normandy, France. Their name at that time was de’Segrave. Mr. Warren gave me a cop of the de’Segrave family tree from 1066 to the early 1800s, which I am currently in the process of getting recopied.
According to the chart, William the Conqueror brought Thomas de’Segrave who became owner of Segrave village - no record of death. His son, Hugo de’Segrave - Lord of Segrave, died in 1133. Hugo’s son, Hereward de’Segrave - Lord of Segrave, died in 1166. On down the line is Gilbert de’ Segrave - Lord of Warwickshire and Segrave, and Sir Peter de’Segrave, who migrated to Ireland. The last English de’Segrave was Baron John de’Segrave (1315-1353).
According to Mr. Warren’s research, the de’Segrave came to England to help William the Conqueror take the throne of England. William the Conqueror’s cousin, Edward the Confessor, King of England, had promised the throne to William the Conqueror after he died. But after Edward died, Harold of Wessex (a pretender to the English throne) took the throne. William the Conqueror slew Harold at the Battle of Hastings, September 28, 1066. Then he wasted the English countryside, battled his way into London, and had himself crowned King on December 25, 1066. William the Conqueror battled several years with Northern England and Scotland. The de’Segraves settled in Segrave, England, about halfway between London and Northern England and Scotland. This area was a good location while they were fighting their battles. According to Mr. Warren, the village of Segrave was taken during the battles and some of the Segraves were accused of being traitors fighting against the King of England.
Arlene Swaim Cunningham (9(10)6)
Winston Salem, NC
Note: Savannah acknowledges that her book is incomplete, and that perhaps a later edition could contain a more complete history and correction of errors, and requests that addition information be sent to her, and lists her address. If you would like her address, email me and I will send it to you. Or, of course, you can post it here! I hope that Savannah does not mind my sharing this here.