Thomas Killigrew, son, whose wife was a member of the Beaupell family[3] (possibly Beauple of Knowstone[6] and Landkey in Devon, the heiress of which Margaret de Beaupel, married Sir Neil Loring, KG (c. 1320 – 1386), one of the founding members and 20th Knight of the Order of the Garter, established by King Edward III in 1348).

He married twice, firstly to Jane Darrell, daughter and heiress of William Darrell of Andover, Hampshire, by whom he had a son and heir Alexander Killigrew, and secondly in 1512 to Johanna Herry, daughter of John Herry of Ruddeford (possibly John Harris of Radford[3]) Alexander Killigrew (born 1493), of Arwenack, eldest son and heir by his father's first marriage.

[15] He became notorious for engaging in cattle theft, "evil usage in keeping of a castle" and as a Justice of the peace for abuses in arranging the quarter sessions.

Having been appointed a Commissioner to inquire into piracy, he himself was heavily engaged in that activity and traded with smugglers and pirates who frequented the waters around Arwenack.

In January 1582 both he and his wife Mary Wolverston[b] were suspected of involvement in a notorious act of piracy concerning a Spanish ship which had sheltered from a storm in an anchorage opposite Arwenack.

It was said that he and his wife had acted together to overpower or murder the crew and steal the cargo of cloth, before ordering the ship to be disposed of in Ireland.

A mural monument to the couple was erected by their son in St Budock's Church, showing them facing each other kneeling in prayer.

His youngest daughter Katherine Killigrew (died 1598) became the 3rd wife of Sir Henry Billingsley (c. 1538 – 1606) Lord Mayor of London.

[3][17] John Killigrew (c. 1557 – 1605), of Arwennack, son, was Vice-Admiral of Cornwall and the third Governor of Pendennis Castle (1584–98)(from which office he was ejected in 1598),[18] and was three times MP for Penryn in 1584, 1586 and 1597.

Lady Jane had been supported by the mayor and corporation of Penryn, which borough was jealous to preserve its ancient pre-eminence in face of the growing town of Falmouth, fostered by the Killigrews.

His support for the Royalists during the Civil War caused the destruction of Arwenack House by the Parliamentarians during their 5-month siege of Pendennis Castle in 1646.

[28] As a junior soldier he witnessed the brutal hangings of rebels in July 1685 at Taunton by Lieutenant General Percy Kirke (died 1691) following the Battle of Sedgemoor, and wrote an account of it which was eventually published by in the Sun newspaper of London on 3 September 1796.

The narrator's own view was that the only curse was excessive ambition: his great-grandfather, Sir John Killigrew, had built his new house on a scale so lavish that it drained the family's resources, so that "from his time on, there was always a hint of the feverish and the insolvent in our lives".