The Conquest Family.

As far back as 1223 Geoffrey Conquest is found engaged in a law-suit with his mother-in-law concerning the manor of Houghton, to which the name Conquest was added during the family's 500 years' tenure. John, who succeeded in 1297, was held in high esteem by both Edward I and Edward II, the latter appointing him Conservator of the Peace for the county while he was away in Scotland in 1314. A later descendant, Sir Richard, was a colonel in the Royalist army and his estates were sequestered in 1644, being released in 1651 only after a law-case resulting from allegations by ill-disposed persons that Sir Richard had concealed the true value of the property. The last of the male line was Benedict, who sold the manor to the Earl of Upper Ossory in 1741.