This place had formerly possessors of the same name, but how long they
lived in it is uncertain; for I can meet with but one and the last of
them; John de Lanhearne, who by Margaret, the daughter and heir of
Richard Fitz John, had only one daughter and heir, Alice, married the
15th Henry III. (A. D. 1231) to Sir R. Arundell, of Trembleth, Knight,
ever since which time Lanhearne hath been the principal seat of this
illustrious family. I shall not here enter into a detail of the many
great men it hath produced, referring myself to their well known
pedigrees; and shall only take notice here that the Lord Arundell of
Wardour, Arundell of Tolvorne, Trevethick, &c. were descended from
younger branches thereof; and insert what Mr. Camden and Mr. Carew say
of them. The first hath these words:
“Near which place (St. Colomb), at a little distance from the sea,
stands Lanhearon, the seat of the family of the Arundells, knights,
who upon account of their vast riches, were not long since called ‘The
Great Arundells.’ They are sometimes called in Latin De Hirundine; and
appositely enough in my mind, for a swallow in French is Hirondelle,
and their arms are, in a field Sable, six swallows Argent. ’Tis
certainly an ancient and noble family, as also very numerous: to the
arms whereof Brito, a poet, alludes, where he describes a warlike man
of this family attacking a Frenchman, about the year 1170.
Swift as the swallows whence his arms device
And his own name are took, enraged he flies
Through gazing troops, the wonder of the field,
And sticks his lance in William’s glittering shield.”
Mr. Carew says of this family:
“Their name is derived from Hirundelle, in French a swallow, and out
of France at the Conquest they came, and six swallows they give in
arms. The country people entitle them ‘The Great Arundells,’ and
greatest for love, living, and respect, in the country heretofore they
were.” (See Carew, p. 343, Lord De Dunstanville’s edition.)