The only hypothesis I can form of this name is, that the second letter is wrong, and that, as in the case of Grancy (vide Gracy) an n has been left out. This gives us Granteville or Grenteville; and Thurold de Grenteville appears on the Dives Roll as one of the Conqueror's companions. According to the Monasticon, William de Granteville held land near Skelton in Yorkshire, and Hawise de Grenteville gave one bovate at Skelton, and a toft at Wyhill to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.

They derived their name from Granville, in the arrondissement of Mont St. Michel. "Those," writes M. de Gerville, "who have undertaken to speak of this family, have perceived no difference between the names of Magnavilla and De Grandisvilla, and yet the difference is a very real one. Nor should the Granvilles be confounded with the Grennevilles from the other end of La Manche, as has been done by the most accredited Peerages of Great Britain, in assigning to both a common origin.

"In the chartulary of Mont St. Michel, we find, on a deed of 1054, the signature of Duke William and Rainald de Grandevilla; and the following charter bears that of William de Grandevilla. Roger de Grandivilla, about 1180, was one of the knights of Mont St. Michel. Sir Thomas de Granville, in 1252, owned the site on which the castle of Granville was afterwards built, and his fief, named the fief of Lihou, passed through Jeanne de Granville to the family of Argouges." In 1440, Lord Scales, then Seneschal of Normandy, bought of Jean d'Argouges the rock and mountain of Granville pour un chapel de roses vermeilles, and erected the great fortress that was to hold in check the hostile garrison of Mont St. Michel, at the same time removing and re-building the town in its present position.

-- Cleveland