[Illustration] The curious poetical history of this family,
preserved in "Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica," claims one
"Saher," there written "_Sier, the syer of us all_," as their
ancestor: he is stated to have been the son of Ralph Maunsel, who
was living in Buckinghamshire in the 14th of Henry II. (1167).
Thickthornes in Chicheley in that county appears to have been the
residence of the Maunsells, and also Turvey in Bedfordshire. These
lands were sold by William the son of Sampson le Maunsel of Turvey
to William Mordaunt in 1287. The Maunsells afterwards settled at
Bury-End in Chicheley, and in 1622 at Thorpe-Malsor.
Elder Branches. 1. Maunsell of Muddlescombe, co. Carmarthen, Baronet
1621-2. 2. The extinct Barons Maunsell, created 1711, extinct 1744.
Younger Branch. Maunsell of Cosgrave in this county, which came from
the coheiress of Furtho.
See Coll. Topog. et Genealog. i. p. 389; Baker's Northamptonshire,
ii. p. 132; and Memoirs of the family, an unfinished work privately
printed in 1850 by William W. Maunsell, esq.
ARMS.--_Argent, a chevron between three maunches sable_.
Present Representative, Thomas Philip Maunsell, Esq. late M. P. for
North Northamptonshire.
+Gentle.+