who accompanied the Conqueror to England, and shared the fruits of his victory. In Domesday Book he appears under the name of Roger de Courselle, as proprietor of many lordships in the counties of Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, and Salop. Among these is Corfeton or Corton, now a demesne in the parish of Portisham, near Dorchester. His descendants afterwards spread into various branches, which may be traced, till the norman appellation was exchanged for that of Churchill. Of the branch which was particularly connected with the subject of these pages, was Sir Bartholomew de Churchill, who was seated in Somersetshire. He figured in the contest beween Stephen and the empress Maud; and after bravely defending the castle of Bristol, at length fell in the cause of the king. Of this brave warrior an epitaph of uncertain date has been preserved, which is printed in Lediard. * *
The possessions and honours which the Churchill family had acquired, were, however, gradually diminished or lost, by the failure of male issue in the direct line, and the subdivision of property, by the marriages of the daughters.
In the 14th century we find the Churchills established in Devonshire, and intermarrying with several families of distinguished birth and property. In the reign of Henry the sixth, William, a lineal descendant of Sir Bartholomew, was seated at Rockbear, in the same county. Charles, the grandson of William, was distinguished as a war