Kentmere Hall And Beyond The Gilpin Family And Their History

About the Book

This book in essence is a personal search for family history, and a record of the same.

In 1485, William Gilpin was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field whilst fighting alongside his king, Richard III.

The search also unearthed some other interesting facts, such as the loss of Kentmere Hall by the Gilpin family as a consequence of their involvement in the English Civil War in the seventeenth century, and a possible association with Ireland as a direct result.

At the same time the imprisonment of Captain Thomas Gilpin of Warborough for his refusal to continue fighting in Cromwell's army after becoming a Quaker.

The son of the above Thomas, Joseph Gilpin, and his wife Hannah, left England for a new life in America sometime after the Civil War. One of Joseph and Hannah's descendants was an aid to George Washington. And there is a connection between the Gilpin and the Washington families with the marriage of a William Gilpin and Elizabeth Washington.

There is also recorded an interesting encounter between one of Joseph and Hannah's descendants and Abraham Lincoln.

My search also unearthed a family secret, the murder by poisoning of my own great-grandfather, James Gilpin.

To add a little local interest, three legends associated with the Kentmere Valley have been added, including the story of the Kentmere Giant. Along with some more general history associated with the search.

About the Author

Born and educated in Kendal in what was then the county of Westmorland, but is now part of Cumbria. Married with two daughters and four grandchildren and essentially a family man.

Both my parents had died by the time I reached eighteen years of age, and very little family history had been passed on to me. A chance finding of a book in a shop window sparked my interest in the Gilpin family, and revealed the murder of my great-grandfather, something I had no knowledge of. This was just the beginning of a long and interesting search that has been ongoing for the past four years, culminating in the production of this book.