The French Norman family of De Beville originated from Falaise and Caen in Normandy. The De Beville knights fought with William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, which the Bayeaux Tapestry depicts. William also originated from Falaise, so the Bevilles were well known to the then Duke of Normandy, a title he claimed for himself as the illegitimate son, instead of his legitimate half brother Robert on the death of their father Robert, the previous Duke of Normandy. William's great great great grandfather was Rollo the Viking Chieftain, who, after his attack on France and subsequent peace negotiations in AD 911, was given the title of 1st Duke of Normandy and a part of the northern territory of France. Together with his Viking Norsemen, he and his descendants settled there and assimilated into the Frankish culture. They became known as Normans and many of these noble Norman families descended from the Norsemen. William's most trusted knights who fought with him were rewarded with land and estates in post conquest Norman Britain. The names of the original Barons, Knights and men who accompanied William on his Conquest appeared in "The Roll of Battle Abbey", some of whom were killed, and all were commemorated in Battle Abbey, built on Senlac Hill, overlooking the site of the battlefield after Williams victory in 1066.  Some of the Bevilles were given lands in Cornwall, some in Huntingdonshire and others throughout the country. The Huntingdonshire Bevilles held lands at Chesterton near Peterborough, and various members of the Beville Family also held lands that came to them by marriage in the Soke of Peterborough, as it was then known, Upton near Alconbury, Catworth, Ellington, Little Gidding and Old Weston. They would later also hold lands at Denton, Haddon, Morborne, Conington, Glatton Cum Holme, Woodwalton and Sawtry. When William redistributed the lands during the time before the Domesday book was written in 1086,lands were given to his favourite niece Judith, some to Tostig, the King's brother in law, he also gave lands to another relative and trusted companion, Eustace, Count of Boulogne, also known as Eustace the Sheriff. Eustace then leased the land to Sir Walter De Beaumes a knight in service to the King (pronounced Bo Mes, a name he assumed here in Britain meaning fair dwelling, although the family name in France was Beaumaison, it was spelt in various ways, Beaumais, Belmeis and Beaumes and an alias Welles probably his wife's family name.) The Beaumes manor was held by that family for several generations. (See Beaumes Manor, one of the three manors of Sawtry on this website).

In the late 13th Century, Richard de Beville, who was the nephew of local landholder Sir Richard De Beville, married the heiress to the Beaumes estate, Alicia De Beaumes, daughter of Sir Walter.  Sir Walter's son, Robert, inherited the Beaumes Manor & estate and Robert & Alicia Beville's son Robert became their heir and upon their deaths, the estates of Denton, Conington, Upton, and other surrounding manors passed to him. A younger son Ralf became Abbott of Sawtry Abbey from 1340 to 1348. Later in the 14th century the Beaumes Manor was inherited by Robert De Beaumes' grandson William. Part of the Beaumes manor was successfully contested and won by Thomas Grendall, a distant relative in the late 1300's, only to lose it again some years later. It was finally amalgamated with the Moyne Manor and owned outright by Sir William Le Moyne up until his death in 1404. Both Sir William Le Moyne , Sir Robert Beville and his Kinsman John Beville were all sitting in Parliament for various constituancies of Huntingdonshire at the same time in the late 1380's. The Beville family continued to hold lands in Huntingdonshire for many generations. Some of their holdings were bought by them from the Crown after the Dissolution of the Monasteries some of which, had belonged to Ramsey Abbey. In the late 14th century the family of Sawtry Bevilles now headed by Sir Robert Beville owned farmland in Sawtry, Denton Manor, Conington and Conington Hall (before it became Conington Castle) Holme cum Glatton, Upton and Woodwalton including the marshland of the fens as there was good money to be made digging Peat Bog which was used for burning on fires. Robert's son Robert Beville the younger died in 1391 leaving the estates to his son William and then down the generations to Sir Robert's grandson, Thomas Beville and great grandson also Thomas  Beville. Thomas Beville II sold the whole estate to Thomas Cotton in 1505, the great grandfather of Sir Robert Cotton and a relative. An ancestor of the Beville family, Robert Bevyle (1480 to 1517) was married to Margaret Cotton, a relative of Sir Robert Cotton.

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