5th Venables Convention

Are you a VENABLES or VENABLE and interested in the history of VENABLES, a
small village in France near Rouen, situated in the region of Normandy
(close to Paris and the Channel coast) ?

Did you know that all Venables are descendants of Gilbert de Venables, the
first baron of Kinderton in Cheshire, England ?

Eve McLaughlin...

No, and it is not true, because any descendant of any soldiers, servants
etc who came with him or from the same place later would also be de

roy...

Aaahh...now you are spoiling their bout of wishful thinking, Eve! As
I have pointed out, Gilbert can't be shown to have been at the Battle
of Hastings, either.

Still, people must have their dreams.....

Roy Stockdill

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."

Mark Twain

Eve McLaughlin...

But apart from that..........!

Venables.

He is mentioned in the Doomesday Book and also in the battle roles of honour
as a companion of William the Conqueror in the church at Dives sur Mer

roy...

Yet more historical wishful thinking!

Jeff...

Not always easy to shed that wishful thinking.

fairly early on in my research I came across a document in
Germany from 16c that identified my Ancestors as
illegitimate descendants of the Emperor Lothar who AIR was
Charlemagne's grandson

It would have been SO easy just to plug this into my
research and accept it.

I'm SO glad I didn't as further extensive research made it
clear there was not a shred of evidence to support it and
quite a lot tending to disprove it.

But I have to admit I was entranced with the possibility of
being descended from Charlemagne

However, the truth is I've got a lot more satisfaction
through disciplined research proving (as much as one CAN
prove) descendancy from Ag Labs and farmers.

Gilbert de Venables is indeed mentioned in two versions of the Battle
Abbey Roll and in the Falaise Roll and the Dives Roll (NOT roles).
However, these are widely regarded by most historians as
totally unreliable, since they were published long after the Battle
of Hastings. Indeed the Dives Roll was compiled in 1866 and the
Falaise Roll was unveiled as recently as 1931. There have been at
least six versions of the Battle Abbey Roll, none of them reliable.
Indeed, there are some who think the Roll was a 15th century
invention.

These are described by Anthony Camp in his book "My Ancestors Came
with the Conqueror" as "mixing fact with fiction".

Just because someone appears in the DOMESDAY BOOK in 1086 is not
evidence that he was at the Battle. Camp lists the knights who are
known to have been at Hastings, as given by other authorities, and
Gilbert de Venables is not among them.

Don Aitken...

The other dubious assertion often made about Gilbert is that he was
the uncle of King Stephen (which, if true, would take the male line
back to Thibaut de Blois, d.ca.942).

The Venables of Kinderton do have a reasonably well authenticated
male line from Gilbert to Sir Peter, d.1679. His granddaughter married
a Vernon, and their descendants are the Venables-Vernons, Lords Vernon
since 1762. Other branches of the Venables adopted the name of Legh or
Leigh and are still around. The notorious Page-Turner family descend
from the Leighs, as did Jane Austen.

Roy Stockdill

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."

Oscar Wilde

(France) and Battle Abbey near Hastings (England). Most Venables today live
in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and South
Africa.

Have you been told that the inhabitants of the village of Venables, called
the Venablois, are very much attached to the ancient history of their
village and wish to share it with others.

It is said that since 1981 the village of VENABLES organises every 5 years a
3 day convention to allow people bearing or those directly related to the
name of VENABLES, to meet.

The next Venables World Convention will be held in Venables in July 2006
from Thursday, July 13th until Sunday July 16th.

Interested and want to know more ? Send us an email with a short explanation
of the way you are related to the name VENABLES and if you want to be kept
up to date about the upcoming event, leave us also your postal address.

Robbert de GROOT

member of the organisation comitee "Venables 2006"

webmaster website Centre Culturel Gilbert de Venables