De Calvomonte; a family, according to The Norman People, of most illustrious descent. “Childebrand, son of Pepin the Elder, had issue Nebelon, Count of Vexin, whose descendant, Nebelon III., married Ledgarda of Flanders, and had Waleran III., father of Geoffrey de Vexin, Lord of Caumont and Mantes; whose son Eudes de Caumont, is mentioned by Ordericus Vitalis. His son Otmund was a benefactor of St. Stephen’s, Caen, temp. William I. William de Caumont, his son, occurs in Durham 1130, and Ralph de Caumont, 1156, held two fees of the Honour of Wallingford.” John de Chaumont, son and heir of Sir John de Chaumont and Isabella his wife, is mentioned by Surtees in the fourteenth century; and may have been the same “Johan Chaumont” who received a pardon, as an adherent of the Earl of Lancaster, in 1313.—Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs. In Cornwall they gave their name to Trenowth-Chamond and Helston Chamond, and were long of great account. “There is a Place near to Stretton,” writes Leland, “caullid Ebbingford, but now commonly Efford, wher John Arundell of Trerice was borne, and hathe a fair Maner Place, in the which Syr John Chaumon now dwellith, that married the Mother yet lyving of John Arundale of Trerice.” This Sir John was twice Sheriff of Cornwall during the reign of Henry VIII., and, according to Carew, a man learned in the common law, who had been knighted at the Sepulchre of Our Lord at Jerusalem. At the dissolution of Hartland Abbey, he received a grant of Lancells, which he made his principal residence, and long continued that of his posterity. “He had a park of fallow deer at this place, which Norden notices, as I suppose the Abbots of Hartland had before him. It seems to have been to Sir John Chamond a country seat and place of retirement.”—Tonkin. His son Richard was again Sheriff 35 Hen. VIII., 2 Ed. VI., and 4 Eliz., and twice served as knight of the shire. “He received at God’s Hand an extraordinary Favour of long Life; serving in the Office of Justice of the Peace almost sixty years. He knew above fifty several Judges of the Western Circuit; was uncle and Great-uncle to three hundred at least: wherin yet his Uncle and Neighbour, Master Greynville, Parson of Kilkhampton, did exceede him. He married one of the Daughters and Heirs of Trevenner, and by her saw five Sons and two Daughters, the youngest out-stepping forty Yeares.”—Carew. He had an elder brother named Sir Thomas, whose two heiresses carried part of his lands into the families of Tripcony and Trevanion. Two others of the name appear on the Roll of Sheriffs: Deg. Chamond, 4 James I., and John Chamond, nine years afterwards: the latter, who died in 1624, lies buried under a highly decorated monument in Lancells Church. This John was a son of the venerable Justice extolled by Carew, and the family ended with him. “An heiress of this family married Hele or Porter of Lancells. Lord de Dunstanville is descended from this family through the Heles. The Rev. R. G. Grylls is representative of the elder branch by the marriage of his ancestor with the heiress of Trevanion.”— Lyson's Cornwall. They bore: Argent, a chevron between three fleurs de lis Gules.

Scarcely any traces are now to be seen of Lancells House, the splendid residence of the Chamonds. It had originally been “a cell of Austin canons, belonging to the Abbey of Hartland in Devonshire, which, in the year 1537, was leased, by King Henry VIII., to Sir John Chamond.”—Ibid.

William Chamond of Sussex; and Richard Chamond of Kent, occur in the Rotuli Hundredorum of Ed. I.

Chaumont: not in Wace or Domesday, but early seated in Cornwall. The name became Chamond.