Merton in Devon

"The family of Moygnes, Moynes, or de Monacho, held Owre Moyne, or Moyne-Ogres, very early after the Conquest. In the reign of Edward I. it was found that Ralph Moyne held this manor of Owers by service of serjeancy of the kitchen, and his ancestors had held it from the time of Henry I., by gift of that king, by the said service."—Hutchins' Dorset. The last male heir, Sir John Moygne, died temp. Ed. IV., leaving two daughters, of whom one was married to Sir William Stourton, The Moines gave as their arms Barry of six, Or and Vert. "Their crest, a demi-monk with a penitential whip in his hand, alludes to the name, and not to one of them being whipped out of a monastery when the other issue male failed, as some have imagined. Some have deduced them from the Mohuns of Somerset, which, though it be a gross error, has taken such deep root, that the Lord Stourton still quarters the Mohun arms for those of Moygnes, though they are very different.

"A branch of this family had Sibton-Moyne, co. Gloucester. Another was seated in Essex in the reign of Henry II. Another in Cambridge and Huntingdon, in the reign of Henry III."—Ibid. In Essex they held Eystan (Easton) of the King in chief, and in Wiltshire, Maddington, both "per les services d'estre achateur del kuysine de Roy, et Lardiner de Roy a temps de coronements de Royes et de Reynes d'Engleter." Sir John le Moygne of Maddington, the last male heir, was Lardener at the coronation of Henry V. See Hoare's Wilts.

"Monk's Hall, in Blackburn Hundred, is supposed to take its name from a family who resided here as early as Edward III. They were sometimes called Le Moine and sometimes De Monkys, according to the language used in the charter. Henry de Moniaic occurs in the charter by which Accrington was granted, to Kirkstall Abbey."—Baine's Lancashire. He does not give their arms.

"In the neighbourhood of Oundle, in Northamptonshire, stands Barnwell, a little Castle, that formerly belong'd to Berengarius le Moigne, that is, Monk."—Camden. In Cambridgeshire their seat was at Weston; and in 1282 Sir John le Moine also held Moine's Manor in Norfolk; "in 1334 his heiress Margaret had it, and was wife of Sir John de Sutton of Wivenhoe." Wreningham, in the latter county, appears to have been owned by another branch, that, "about 1261, ended in three co-heiresses."—Blomfield. Sawtrey-Moigne, in Huntingdonshire, was long their residence; and some of their tombs remain in the church. John le Moygne was Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire 38 & 39 Henry III.; William de Moygne four years later; and others of the name occur in the list in the reigns of Edward I., Edward III., and Richard II. This was the last occasion on which they are found; and they were certainly extinct before 1433, as their name is missing among those of the "Gentry of the Shire," returned by Henry VI.'s Commissioners. In Devonshire we find the Le Moines, or Monks, seated at Potheridge, near Torrington, temp. Ed. I. "They continued there for fifteen or sixteen generations, having married heiresses, or co-heiresses, of Tilley, Estcott, Rishford, Trenchard, Crukerne, Grant, Champernowne of Inswerke, Wood, and Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle. It seems not improbable that the first of the Le Moynes, who was of Potheridge, might have been a younger son of the family who gave name to Shipton Moyne, in Gloucestershire."—Lysons. But their coat was entirely different; for they gave Gules a chevron between three lions' heads erased Argent, and eschewed the crest of the monk and his penitential whip. The brother of the last Sir Thomas Monk of Potheridge was the famous General Monk who brought about the Restoration, and was rewarded with the Dukedom of Albemarle.[126] He inherited Potheridge from his childless elder brother, and rebuilt the old house with great splendour, but it has since fallen to ruin. He married his sempstress, Anne Clarges,[127] and had an only son named Christopher, with whom his honours expired in 1687. The wife of this second Duke, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (afterwards Duchess of Montagu) was one of the co-heiresses of the wealthy Duke of Newcastle, but brought him only a child that died in infancy.
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Footnotes 126. ? Oliver Cromwell added the following curious postscript to one of his letters to Monk; "There be that tell me there is a certain cunning fellow in Scotland call'd George Monk, who is said to lie in wait there to introduce Charles Stuart: I pray you use your diligence to apprehend him, and send him up to me."

127. ? It appeared in evidence at a trial at the King's Bench in 1700, that Anne Clarges was the daughter of a farrier in the Savoy, married to one Thomas Ratford; and that she and her husband sold wash-balls, powder, gloves, Sec, at the sign of the Three Spanish Gipsies in the Royal Exchange. About 1647, "she being sempstress to Monk, used to carry him linen." Her husband either died or deserted her two years afterwards; and she was married to the General in 1652