I am the current owner of Revell Grange, a house near Sheffield, England, once the family home of the Revell line. The house dates from around 1495, and was substantially altered to its present appearance in the early 18th century. It has a significant place in the religious history of northern England due to its Catholic connections. The last Revell descendant to live in the house died in 1954.

The following is a re-edited version of my correspondence with a Revell descendant living in the USA who was seeking her family history. I have posted it here in the hope that it will be of use to others doing research - not least because some of the findings are very exciting;

I got out the old documents on the Revells last night which have lain in a
desk in the hallway practically since we bought the house. I hadn't paid
that much attention to them up until I recently took an interest in Revell history. I was amazed by what
I read.

I'll go into detail in a moment but if - and it is a big if - the Revells
connected with Revell Grange are indeed your branch of the family, then I
have documentation to show you are descended from Sir John Revel of
Warwickshire in the 3rd year of Edward 2nd, which I calculate to be 1310.
Not only that, but another descendant of his (and therefore an ancestor of
yours), Sir Richard Revel, was knighted for his valour at the Battle of
Bosworth (that was a hugely signficant battle in English history - if I
remember the date correctly it was 1485; I visited the battlefield site a
few years ago, it's in Leicestershire about an hour from here).

There's more. The Revels of this line include many more men who were
knighted (it's therefore a quite distinguished line) and the trail
eventually leads to the Revels of Stannington, who are without doubt the
family who once lived in this house. So, whoever is of this line - be it you
or someone else out there - has not only 700 years of their family history
on the desk in front of me; I am able to say I now live in their ancestral
home.

Although my research has uncovered a great deal, it will take someone quite a bit of time and research, probably
in English libraries, to decisively establish any link with their own line (unless any of the names I mention have already arisen in your own research).

Now to the nitty-gritty. My findings are based on a number of documents.
Foremost among them are copies from pages of a book called Familiae Minorum
Gentium, published in 1823. It's a highly-detailed account of family lines,
some parts written in Latin but the majority in English and fairly easy to
understand. One point I have noticed is that the spelling of Revell varies.
You may have noticed that the earlier references I quoted named several
'Revel' individuals. At some stage the spelling seems to have varied; that's
not unusual as English was not standardised until relatively recently and
place names certainly change in their spellings over the years (for example;
the district we live in is known as Stannington; I have an original map from
1648 displayed on the wall which shows it as 'Staynygton'). In any event, we
are certainly talking about the same familial line.

The second point of interest is that there aren't many Revells around (I'll
give a reason for that in a moment); I've just looked at the Sheffield phone
book are there are only four (Sheffield has a population of about 500,000)
and all four live in a small village in Derbyshire called Bradwell about
12-15 miles from here. My point is that it is not a common name, so there
will be relatively few lines of Revell. Therefore, anyone bearing the name
Revell has a reasonable chance of being descended from the line I described.

So let's look at Familiae Minorum Gentium.The line begins with two brothers,
Sir John Revel whom I mentioned earlier, and whose line, via Richard
knighted at Bosworth, is last mentioned in the 23rd year of Henry 7th, when
there were five brothers; Edward, Francis, James, Robert and Adam "for his
valour knighted". That branch of the family started in Warwickshire in the
14th century and later pop up in Nottinghamshire.

Sir John's brother Thomas for some reason ended up in Derbyshire, and here
the trail leads to our door. His second son Thomas was "knighted for his
prowess and admired valour in the 5th year of Edward 2nd (I think that must
be 1312; the English were pretty busy fighting the Scots and Robert the
Bruce around that time). The crucial twist comes with his sons Thomas and
Edward, the first "removed to Stannington (ie the district containing our
house Revell Grange) in the 23rd year of Edward 2nd" - (I reckon 1330),
while Edward was the son "from whom the Revels of Stannington lineally
descended".

(If all this sounds a little complicated, try sketching out the line on paper - it soon falls into place).

From that line, we have another Sir John Revel until his son Gregory Revel
de Stannington pops up, described as "armiger, Anno 22 Hen. VIII" - in other
words an armiger in the 22nd year of Henry the 8th. Know what an armiger is?
Neither did I till I looked in the Oxford English dictionary. It is "an
esquire, one entitled to bear an heraldic coat of arms". This gives rise to
another tantalising possibility. Not only do we have here a noble history.
Not only do we have a family house still in existence. We may also have a
coat of arms - it should be possible to trace it through the College of
Heraldry in London.

Old Gregory, to whom I have seen numerous other references, has two
descendant called John. I mention this because my correspondent was seeking a relative of that name who emigrated to the USA. I cannot tell whether either of them is that person and have no further evidence other than one of them was born on
March 3, 1678, another on February 28 1708. In any case we can rule out one
of them, since he apparently died without a male successor.

We now leave the Familiae Minorum Gentium and look at other scattered
references which refer directly to the house. The first of this (source
unknown) is from the 35th year of Henry the 8th (1544). It's in old English
and reads thus;

"The Lord of the Manor grants 1 messuage and half bovet of land formerly
Adam Brownes' called Bingles House in Stannington to Thomas Revel, Henry
Wainwright and Edward Creswick for good workes (bonis opibus) 3s 4d rent"

Translation into American? - A slick deal on a prime piece of real estate(later known as Revell Grange).

From the same source in the 1st year of Edward 6th (1547/8);

"Thomas Revel surrenders a moiety of all and singular the messuages, lands,
meadows and pastures in Stannington to the use of Gregory Revel.

Translation; he sold the real estate on three years later.

The final reference of note is where some real action begins. From a book
entitled 'The Lord's House', which details Catholic history in this area, we
have the following;

"No certain knowledge of a mass centre in Sheffield has come down to us but
the Revell (note change of spelling) family of Nethergate Hall, Stannington,
certainly maintained one. As early as 1573, Avery Keller, a servant, was
arrested while delivering a mass book to the Revell House. The charge
against Keller names John Revell, the scholars Palmer and Falconer, and
Skinner the priest. Fortunately for the Revells, the matter ended there, and
the family maintained an unbroken record of recusancy throughout penal
times."

Remember earlier I said there was a reason there weren't many Revells
around? Here's why, from the same source;

"Owing to the failure of the direct male line, the family continued there
under the successive names of Broomhead, Wright and Sutton". This reference
is dated some time after 1742 - when, I can't say, but note my earlier comment about the last Revell to live in the house, Lt.
Col. Francis Revell Sutton.

So there we are. As always with such researches, it throws open more
questions than it answers.

As to what can be done with this research; if you can take it further and
firmly prove a link with your line, you've just discovered 700 years of family history and you've got yourself a great story.If not, please feel free to post it to other Revells in case they find it of use.

As a parting note, you might also be interested in the following reference which turned up during my researches into Familiae Minorum Gentium. The author is speaking in the first person so I assume the reference dates from the 1820s;

"Mr Revel Reynolds, Chief Commissioner of the Court for the relief of insolvent debtors, told me that all he knew of Revel was that there were two brothers Henry and Nathaniel living at Gainsborough. One of them was murdered. A daughter of one married Reynolds and had his father the doctor".

Told you the Revells were an interesting bunch.

Good luck with your researching, everyone.