This local place gave name and original to an old British family of gentlemen surnamed de Carmynow, now extinct, who flourished there for many generations in great fame and riches; in particular here lived Robert de Carmynow, who held £16 per annum by the tenure of knight service, who was summoned by writ, 48 Henry III. to come and take his degree of knighthood. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 50.) This gentleman, as tradition saith, accompanied King Edward I. in the Holy War in Palestine. He had issue Ralph Carmenow, said to be Chamberlain to King Edward II.; who had issue Ralph Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall 2 Richard II. 1379. Betwixt whom and the Lord Richard Scrope, of Bolton Castle, in Richmondshire, Lord Chancellor of England temp. Edward III. (father of William Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire and Lord Treasurer of England 21 Richard II. and Knight of the Garter, beheaded at Bristol for attainder of treason against Henry IV. anno Dom. 1399,) happened a memorable trial in the Court of Chivalry, or Earl Marshal’s Court, about the bearing on their shields, or coat armour, viz. Azure, a bend Or. In this action the Lord Scrope was plaintiff, who declared that he was lineally descended from one Scrope, a French or Norman soldier, that came over into England under the banner and conduct of William the Conqueror, against King Harold, anno Dom. 1066; and that he gave for his arms, (portoit) d’Azur, à la band d’Or; and that his posterity till that instant (1360) ever gave the same arms, and to corroborate this their bearing, they produced a copy of the record thereof in the Earl Marshal’s Court; therefore Mr. Carmenow’s thus assuming and bearing their proper arms, it was contrary to law, and equity, and arms. To this declaration the defendant pleaded not guilty, and in justification of the bearing aforesaid, said that his ancestors were Cornish Britons; and lived at Carmenow long before the Norman Conquest; and particularly, that one of them was sent by King Edward the Confessor an ambassador, either to the French King or Duke of Normandy; who gave those arms in and for his device, or shield; and that from that time to the time of King Edward III. aforesaid, which was about three hundred years, his posterity had ever given or borne the same arms, without interruption or alteration.