The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. II.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.
Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Hamound : In this form the name can be only an interpolation. Hamo or Haimo is, indeed, several times entered in Domesday, but only as the Christian name of Hamon de Crevecoeur, Viscount of Kent, who was a son of the great Hamon Dentatus. "Hamo Dapifer, and Hamo the Sheriff, were the same person. Hasted says his family name was Crevecoeur. He was one of the Judges of the County Court when the great cause was tried between Archbishop Lanfranc and Odo. He died some time in the reign of Henry I., without issue."—Sir Henry Ellis. (See also Crevecoeur.)
Yet the name appears in Normandy during the following century as a surname, for Geoffrey, Ranulph, Waleran, Richard, and Stephen Hamon or Hammon are found on the Exchequer Rolls of the Duchy in 1180-98; and, as Hammond, became common in England. The last Abbot of Battle was a Hammond.
The Heymans, of Somerfield, in Kent, extinct baronets, claimed descent from the Crevecoeurs; and are said to have anciently borne their coat, Or three chevronels Gules, though it was subsequently changed. Their pedigree, however, only commences with Peter Heyman, one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to Edward VI. Somerfield was sold, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, by the second baronet, who wasted his substance and ruined the family. His son, Sir Bartholomew, found an asylum among the Poor Knights of Windsor; but the next heir, Sir Peter, pleading that his grandfather had dissipated his inheritance, was compelled to appeal to the public for assistance. Thus was fulfilled the old Kentish prophecy
"Somerfield
Shall quickly yield:
Scott's Hall[1]
Shall have a fall;
Ostenhanger [2]
Was built in anger;
Merstham Hatch [3]
Shall win the match."
A branch of this house remains in Somersetshire.
The Baronets Hamound (now Hamond-Graeme) also originated in Kent: their first recorded ancestor being Samuel Hamound of Blackheath, who died in 1715: and their arms bear a strong family resemblance to those of the Haymans.