Thomas Grenville (died 1513)

Bideford was the residence of the Grenville family from shortly after the Norman Conquest[citation needed] and Stowe in Cornwall was also a seat.

Grenville's descendants made Stowe their chief seat, whilst retaining ownership of Bideford until the family died out in the senior male line.

[citation needed] A monument with recumbent effigy on a chest tomb exists of Sir Thomas Grenville in the Church of St Mary, Bideford.

Inscribed on the Tudor arch above is the following Latin text: Hic jacet Thomas Graynfyld miles patron(us) (huius) eccle(siae) q(ui) obiit XVIII die me(n)sis Marcii A(nno) D(omini) MCCCCCXIII cui(us) a(n)i(ma)e p(ro)piciet(ur) D(eus) Amen ("Here lies Thomas Grenville, knight, patron of this church who died on the 18th day of March in the Year of Our Lord 1513, to whose soul may God look on with favour Amen") His recumbent effigy is shown fully armed in a suit of Almain rivets and his feet rest on a dog.

His hair is of chin-length and his hands are clasped in prayer holding a ball shaped object, his heart according to Roger Granville, Rector of Bideford and the family's historian, who described the monument in detail in 1895.