The Grenville family, future Lords of the Manor of Bideford, arrived from Normandy in France in 1066.
The Grenville family, who played a prominent part in the medieval history of Bideford, claimed their ancestry from the Norman Baron, Robert Fitzhamon. Fitzhamon arrived in England with William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, and was rewarded with the Manor of Bideford.