The Children of Adam and Eve

Written on his son's memorial:

Near this place lies Gerard Burrell DD, Vicar of this church, Archdeacon and residentiary of Chichester, who settled at Cuckfield 1446 and died 17/04/1508. He was youngest son of Sir John Burrell of Devonshire, who attended Henry V to France inthe year 1415 with 1 ship, 20 Men at Arms, and 40 Archers. His Grandfather, Ralph Burrell, descended from an ancient family in Northumberland, married Sermonda, daughter and coheir of Sir Walter Woodland of Devon.

The Battle of Agincourt, the third English victory in the Hundred Years’ War, was fought on 25/10/1415 (St. Crispin’s Day), between the heavily outnumbered army of King Henry V of England (5,900 troops) and that of Charles VI of France(35,000troops). The latter under the command not of the incapacitated king himself, but of the Constable Charles d’Albret, and various notable French noblemen of the Armagnac party. The English King gave a sanguine speech (later adapted intoShakespeare’s Henry V) that rallied his men to fight. The English army prevailed against the heavily armoured French cavalry, which floundered in the mud and was wiped out in the hail of arrows that rained down on them. It was a decisiveEnglish victory.

John inherited the Woodland Estates and left several sons.