terly, viz., one and four, az. 3 carpenters' levels or; 2 arg. a fess and on a canton gules a crescent of the field; 3 vaire two bars gules. The first is the modern, the second their ancient coat. The latter occurs in juxtaposition with the Pelham arms in the spandrils of a doorway in Laughton church. Agnes, daughter of Sir John Pelham, married John Colbrand of Boreham; and the Colbrands had lands in Laughton previous to the time of Henry V, and a manor farm bearing their name has been in the possession of the Pelhams for about four centuries.[1]
It may not be irrelevant to notice here a similar and interesting instance of the extension and varied manner of the perpetuation of another great family whose influence this county once acknowledged. The distinguished family of Acquila, lords of the honour and barony of Pevensey, or, as it was named after them, of the Eagle, Mr. Lower says, was the source of the two Sussex families of Michel and Eagles. And it would appear that the manors of Michelgrove and Eglesden, in the parish of Angmering, and Icklesham (Eglesham), near Winchelsea, were named after this great baronial race. The two latter belonged to the abbey of Fescamp, in Normandy, to whom the Acquilas were great benefactors. And there was a connection between the family of De Icklesham and the Acquilas which supports this supposition. Gilbert was the prevalent Christian name of the Acquilas, and seems to have originated an offshoot, with that surname, in the family of Gilbert of east Sussex, one branch of which bore for their arms a chevron between three eagles. The Michel-bournes, too, bore a cross between four eagles. Michel-ham priory was founded by Gilbert de Acquila; Michel-bourne does not occur in any of the maps of the county, but there was probably such a locality in Sussex which gave name to the family so called.
Here this list must close. It is intended merely as a brief and imperfect introduction to the subject, and is the result of desultory and incomplete research. But it is hoped hereby to draw attention to a mine of interest little known, and less worked; and wherein labour may be very profitably and pleasingly employed. The ' Curiosities of Heraldry,' indicate
- ↑ Suss. Arch. Collections, III, 222.
