England

The Coffins are of Norman French descent. The Coffin family descends from Sir Richard Coffin, Knight, who accompanied William, the Conqueror, from Normandy to England in the year 1066, and the manor of Alvington, in the county of Devonshire, was assigned to him.

Near Talaise in Normandy is a large estate called Convititout, which belonged in the Coffin family until 1796 when the late Miss Coffin married Honorable LeClere.

Portledge Manor DevonshireThe principal seat of the family in England was at Portledge near Biddeford in North Devon, bordering upon Barnstaple Bay, now occupied by the family of John Richard Pine Coffin. (Click on the picture for a larger image.)

 

The authorities respecting the County of Devonshire, or Devon, make honorable mention of Sir Elias Coffin, Knight of Clist and Ingarby in the days of King John; of Sir Richard Coffin of Alvington, in the time of Henry II; of Sir Jeffery Coffin and Combe Coffin under Henry III; and other Knights, descendents of these, during successive reigns, until the time of Henry VIII, when we find Sir William Coffin, Sheriff of Devonshire, highly preferred at Court, and one of eighteen assistants chosen by the King to accompany him to a tournament in France in 1519. He was also High Steward of the manor and liberties of Standon in Hertford. By his will, he bequeathed his horses and hawks to the King and divided the manor of East Higgington, Devonshire, to his nephew, Richard Coffin, Esq., of Portledge. There is a missing link between the time of Richard Coffin, of Portledge, and Nicholas Coffin, of Butler's Parish of Brixham, which is due to the fact that no records are to be found relating to the intervening history.

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