The Le Neve’s of Norfolk

FORWARD

This website is based on the book "The Le Neve's of Norfolk - A Family History" which was produced in 1969 by my grandfathers brothers son, Peter Le Neve-Foster, as part of a limited edition of 200 copies. As a first step I have reproduced the book on this website, www.leneve.com and intend over time to bring it up-to-date, extend it and add links to other relevant information about the stories contained in the original account.

David Oliver Le Neve-Foster, Somerset, England 2003

The original forward now follows ..

HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE WRITTEN

Some years ago my father's younger brother, the late Basil Le Neve-Foster, began to collect various bits of information about the Le Neve family and tried to collate them in a large notebook.

As he grew older he found this work becoming more and more exacting and finally he handed his notes over to me with a request that I should carry on from where he had left off.

This short history is the result. My Uncle Basil's notes have been vastly amplified and added to from various sources from both within the family and outside. A list of sources of information is given at the end of the book.

This little sketch of the family leaves many questions unanswered. For example, what was the exact connection between the Le Neves of Cavendish and the rest of the family? Where were the lands in Suffolk alluded to in the College of Arms document of 1627? In Cavendish? Why did Peter Le Neve's second marriage take place at Sparham rather than at Witchingham? Who was Peter Foster's mother and why was he brought up as a member of his father's family? Was he really a "natural son" as has been stated, or was he, perhaps, the legitimate progeny of an earlier but secret marriage?

The answers to all these questions may well lie hidden away in forgotten or inadequately perused letters, wills or parish records, but it would take a more skilled and experienced searcher than I to dig them out.

Peter Le Neve-Foster Borley, Sudbury, Suffolk 1968