The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. I.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.

Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Delahill : or De Heille, "from Heilles near Beauvais. Gozelin de Heilles, 1059, witnessed a charter of Henry I., King of France (Bouquet, xi. 579). "A branch settled in England 1066, and bore a bend Azure on a field sable, afterwards changed to a fesse, the tinctures remaining the same. The French line bore a bend fusilly."—The Norman People, The family became of considerable note in Kent; their wealth and influence being "probably the result of the marriage of Theobald de Helles with Agnes, a sister of the celebrated Archbishop Thomas a Beckett."—J. R. Planche. Their son, Thomas Fitz Theobald, gave, in the time of Henry II., a tenement at Canterbury to the Hospitallers. (Mon. ii. 411, 412.) Bertram de Helles was Constable of Dover Castle under Henry III., and his son Gilbert Viscount of Kent in 1355. Henry de Helles twice served as knight of the shire in the succeeding reign. They were seated at Helles Court in Ash, and St. Margaret Helles in Darent, and "Thomas de Helles had a charter of free-warren granted to him and his heirs, for his lands here and at Dartford, in 1289. One of his descendants, Richard Hills (for so the name was then spelt), about the beginning of King Henry VIII.'s reign, was possessed of this Manor of St. Margaret Helles, and left one sole daughter and heir."—Hasted's Kent. Roger, son of Robert Helles, founded the Priory of Canons, alias Chiltern-Langley, in Hertfordshire; which, "being near the Royal palace in King's Langley Parish, was greatly increased in revenue, as well as building, by Edward I. and the succeeding kings, so as to exceed all other houses of this Order in England."—Ibid. The coat of the De Heilles, Sable a bend Or, is carved on the roof of the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral.