The Pendrill Family |
Once Charles II returned to England in 1660 he lived in the Palace of Whitehall.
With over 1,500 rooms it was the largest palace in Europe and the largest building in the world!
The king was very grateful to the Pendrill family who helped him hide and escape. He knew that without them and many others he might not even be alive.
Charles II intended to institute an order of knighthood as a reward to those who helped him, but laid this plan aside to avoid re-opening wounds. Even so, he gave the Pendrill family residence at Whitehall Palace for a number of years, and as well as being given their own Coat of Arms, the Pendrill’s received various gifts from the king including permanent pensions which are still paid to a number of descendants today.
During the 1700s, the monument of Richard Penderell (in the churchyard of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London) was decorated with oak branches every Royal Oak Day.
Today, his tomb remains in the churchyard, and the tablet from the top of the tomb was brought into the church in 1922 to preserve it.
In 2001 the Pendrill Family History Society placed a plaque at Boscobel House to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the saving of the king.
|