This man named Hugh de Kilpeck and his family had lived
along the Welsh border for quite a number of years. Assimilation had occurred
amongst the border people. Customs had been shared, names blended, families
married and a host of other traditions became the norm for the people of the
area. One custom was naming the children of the family using some form of ‘son
of’ or ‘daughter of.’ In the Welsh tradition, the son of Owen was called John
ab Owen. This eventually became the surname Bowen. Another example would be the
son of Rhys (Rice, who would have been called Henry ap Rhys, which later became
Price. Daughters were referred to by ferch or verch, meaning daughter of. Since they usually married, their names
didn’t have the same impact in changing the sound or spelling of surnames. Another
example is William FitzNorman de la Mare. In this case, the Norman
tradition of using Fitz (son of and being a corruption of the French word fils, also meaning son of) show that
William is the son of Norman
So following the Welsh tradition, male children of Hugh were
called ap Hugh.
Various spellings of this have been found such as Apee (say
Apay), Opie, Pie and possibly Pugh. In some locations, this eventually became
the name Pye. It was with Hugh that the name change began and some traces of
his children, listed as ap Hugh, can be found. But, in general, he was known as
Hugh de Kilpeck. The use of two surnames confuses the lines when researching,
but awareness of it helps to lighten things up.
It was this Hugh who went on the First Crusade and when he returned
he commissioned the building of the Church
of SS. Mary Spain France
Some church histories on Kilpeck say that Hugh de Kilpeck
was a kinsman of Hugh de Mortimer. It is possible that de Kilpeck was a cousin,
of some degree, to de Mortimer’s wife, but this has not been verified. In its
870+ years, the church has been refitted and maintained, but otherwise nothing
much has changed. If you should ever be able to walk through its doors, you will
be in the same building used by people who prayed there over 800 years ago. For
those with an opportunity, church services are still held there every third
Sunday.
In the Middle Ages, Kilpeck was a
fortified village and home to a thriving community. The castle, which was still
in use at that time, was large and important enough that King John visited
three times within four years. Kilpeck was allowed three medieval
fairs, one of them
weekly on Fridays. By this time the Hugh de Kilpeck in residence was the
grandson of the above named Hugh.
Hugh did have children though, at
least 4 sons that can be found, a Hugh seems to be the oldest. Here we will
throw another Hugh into the mix to further muddy the stew. This Hugh appears to
have been born in Pulverbatch, Shropshire ,
rather than in the family digs back in Kilpeck. This would show the mobility of
the times as they moved from one land holding to another. This son, Hugh,
appears to have inherited lands in Shropshire which can be seen in Shropshire:
Its Early History and Antiquaries, by John Corbett Anderson and The
Notices of the Ellises, by William Smith Ellis, Esq. Many connections to
the de la Mares can be found in Shropshire .
Unfortunately, the names seem to have daughtered out and I haven’t pursued
those lines of research.
The other three children believed
to be sons of Hugh were John, Thomas and Henry. Another segment will continue
the history of Kilpeck, de la Mares, Pyes and associated families.
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