Washburn

Little Washbourne, historically in the parish of Overbury, and the manor thereon, eventually becoming known as "Wasseburne Militis" or "Knyghtes Wasshebourne", for the many from this line that bore that honour.

It is a place name derived from the various river and sea beaches subject to overflow by floods and tides, hence known as wasses and now as cashes.

The little ham that stood upon its banks took its name from the stream, and the proprietor or lord of the village was so and so de Wasseborn, just as the parson was the most important person in the parish.

[3] Early writer's suggested that the first to use the name, was Sir Roger d'Wasseburne, ancestor of the American immigrant Washburns' of Plymouth Colony.

Descendant in the male line of the "Knights Washbourne", the first American colonist of the family, being that of John Washborn (Sr.), b.

They settled first in Duxbury and had eleven children, including the first notable set of Seven Brothers in the American Washburn line.

The first coat of arms met with for this family were recorded in the St George's Roll, c. 1285 for Sir Roger d'Wasseburne.

The blazon, "Gules bezantée on a canton or a raven sable", suggested to early writers a familial connection to the Houses of la Zouche ("Gules bezantée") and le Corbet ("Or a raven sable"), but this connection has yet to be corroborated.

The later recording of these same arms is shown here, by Joseph Foster in 1902, and suggests a slightly different blazon, "Gules ten bezants 4, 3, 2, 1" for la Zouche.

Another coat of arms as shown in Burkes General Armory for "Washborne" – "Gules bezantée on a canton or a cross sable".

When the vast estates that Urse d'Abitot had accumulated were usurped from his son Roger, a substantial portion of the same, including the lands of Little Washbourne, were ultimately bestowed upon his sister's husband, Sir Walter Beauchamp of Elmley.

Members of the Wysham, Walshe, Waleys, Burdett, Blount, Cardiff and other families, all bore these "fess between six martlets" arms, in differing tinctures.

Differenced both in tincture (sable instead of gules), and the charges on the fess, from those showing "quatrefoils slipped sideways" or the "cinquefoils of the field" varieties.

Behind are two female figures kneeling in recesses, with a classic cornice and ornament above crudely coloured and gilt.