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The CHAMPERNOWNE name is well known in Modbury (a housing development has the name). The Champernowne ancestors came from Normandy. A younger son of the family, Richard, with no inheritance of his own, married Joan Okeston, whose mother had previously married into the de Valletort family. As a result, Modbury, together with extensive estates of the de Valletorts, was later transferred to Richard Champernowne by Edward II. Later marriages added further possessions to the family estates. The Champernownes gained influence at Court during the reign of Henry VIII and were involved in the upbringing of the young Princess Elizabeth. Katherine Champernowne, the wife of Otho Gilbert, was the mother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, founder of the first British colony in Newfoundland. Katherine’s second marriage to Walter Raleigh produced the even greater Sir Walter Raleigh.
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