Marmion (surname)

Marmion is a surname found in France, Great Britain and Ireland, of Norman-French origin. The origin of the surname itself is disputed.

The noble Marmion family in Britain were Normans, who received English land after the Norman Conquest. Their earliest documented ancestor is William Marmion, who exchanged 12 acres of land with Ralf Taisson before Oct 1049 and witnessed a charter of William, Duke of Normandy in 1060. They retained their lands at Fontenay-le-Marmion in Normandy, but William's son Roger (died c. 1075) went to England. Roger was father of Robert Marmion, an ally of Robert Curthose who took part in the First Crusade, and he was apparently succeeded by Roger (died by 1129) and his son Robert Marmion (died 1144).

The first Marmion in Ireland arrived with the Anglo-Normans in the first invasions of 1169–71. The progenitor was Sir Robert Marmion of 'Fidun' where he built a castle (modern Fathom, County Armagh – a strategic defensive area for the Norman-Irish). He was the younger son of Sir Richard Marmion of Gloucester. He is documented in lists of Strongbow's companions and also in a 'prest' of knights held by King John in Dublin in 1210. Immediate descendants were a Bishop Philip of Ardfert and a Sir Gilbert, also mentioned as of 'Fidun'. The Marmions later gave up living at Fidun due to frontier pressures and removed to close-by Carlingford where they were important burgesses and leaders for centuries, until the then Chief-of-Name Marmion forfeited all his lands as an 'Irish Papist' to the Cromwellian invaders, circa 1655.

Historically, the heaviest concentration of the name is indeed found in County Louth, in Carlingford and Dundalk; and then later in Lecale Barony of County Down and County Meath from the 150's, with a smaller branch in County Cork from the 17th century. The Marmions still remain numerous in Louth. There was some emigration of Marmions from Louth to the Mourne area of County Down in the 18th century but there is no further family representation in that area at present.

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