Identity area
Type of entity
Family
Authorized form of name
Nevill family, Marquesses of Abergavenny
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The lords of Abergavenny traced their descent from Walter, earl of Herefordshire and constable of England, the brother-in-law of Hamelyn (dsp. 1090), the Norman conqueror of Over Gwent and first feudal lord of Abergavenny. The estate remained in the hands of the Nevill family until its disposal in the 20th century.
Their Monmouthshire estates were a relatively minor part of their landed possessions. According to the 1873 return of owners of land, the Earl of Abergavenny owned some 15,000 acres in Sussex, 6,000 acres in Kent, and 7,000 acres in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, besides 11 acres in Norfolk (the manor of Sculton Burdeleys). Their principal residence was at Eridge, Kent, where the 2nd earl built a castle in the early 19th century on the pre-existing Eridge Park hunting lodge. The castle was demolished just before the Second World War, and a modern house built, when the name reverted to Eridge Park.