Denys family of Siston

The Denys family of Siston, also spelled Dennis, originally came from Glamorgan in Wales and in the late 14th century acquired by marriage the manor of Siston, Gloucester and shortly thereafter the adjoining manor of Dyrham. Maurice Denys re-built Siston Court in the 16th century.

(The family name in historical documents is generally spelt "Denys" pre c.1600, "Dennis" post c.1600) The Denys family of Siston came most immediately from Glamorgan. It may have been of Danish origin, as is thought to have been the contemporaneous family of Denys of Devon established before the 13th century at Giddicote, Black Torrington. It is well established that there was much connection in the Mediaeval times between the SW Peninsula, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, therefore it is possible the two families sprung from a common origin. The ancient arms of Denys of Devon appear to make allusion to a Danish connection: "Ermine, three bills or Danish battle-axes gules" The arms of the King of Denmark were recorded in the Camden Roll (c.1280) as: "Gules, three axes in pale or". Either or both families may have descended from the very ancient Denys family of Sock Dennis, Ilchester, Somerset. This family was recorded in early Norman charters in French as le Deneys, meaning "The Dane", which was frequently Latinised by scribes as Dacus, being the adjectival form of Dacia, the mediaeval Latin for Denmark, thus "Danish". William Dacus ("the Dane"), perhaps father of John, was the founder of the Whitehall Almshouse in Ilchester c.1217. John the Dane "Deneis", "heir of Robert de Beauchamp" (of Hatch) brought an action in 1224 concerning a carucate which Richard of Ilchester (Bishop of Winchester 1174–88) had conveyed to a certain William son of Ralph. John the Dane held two fees in Sock of the Beauchamps of Hatch in 1236. Cecilia was one of the co-heiresses of her brother Robert de Beauchamp, and m. one of the Turberville family, possibly descendants of Sir Payn "The Demon" de Turberville,(fl.c.1100) builder of Coity Castle, and one of the 12 legendary knights of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107) Lord of Gloucester and Conqueror of Glamorgan. The other co-heiress appears therefore to have been a Denys. Yet Gerard of Trent tells of King John wresting Sock and Bearley from the men of Ilchester to give them to William the Dane in exchange for nearby Petherton Park. A 13thC exchange of land called "Deneysesdone" in Petherton Forest was certainly made with a "Haywardwyk" in Ilchester. The Denys family from Glamorgan, whose pre-Gloucestershire pedigree goes back 6 generations as set out in the Golden Grove Book of Welsh Pedigrees [1](believed to be 18thC), were likely to have been in the 13thC feudal tenants or officers, under Candleston Castle near Ogmore held by the Glamorgan branch of the Norman Cantilupe family, by whom their coat of arms was seemingly granted as arms of patronage. The earliest firm evidence of the Denys family in Glamorgan is from a charter dated 1258, witnessing an exchange by Gilbert de Turberville (Lord of Coity Castle) of lands in Newcastle (Coity) with Margam Abbey (Clark, Cartae no. DXCIV). Among the 5 witnesses are: Willelmo le Deneys and Roberto de Cantulupo. Cartae MXLIII dated 1376 is a lease by Margam Abbey to Johan Denys de Watirton (Waterton in the lordship of Coity), and we are very much on firm ground with the reference in the 1415 Inquisition post mortem of Sir Lawrence de Berkerolles Lord of Coity to "rent in Waterton which Gilbert Denys, knt., and others render yearly." Denys was by then established at Siston.

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