De Marisco: A Family’s Journey Through Time

This is the story of a family whose journey through time has spanned the heights of wealth and power, the lows of adversity, and along the way has produced some remarkable people and an enduring spirit.

The de Marisco family came from Anglo-Norman aristocracy. They benefitted handsomely from Britain's conquest by the Norman king William the Conqueror, but they maintained a tempestuous relationship with the English monarchy and in the following centuries, saw many ups and downs. Eventually, the de Marisco name became Marris, the family castles went, as did Lundy Island and the family's piratic adventures, and their great fortunes were lost forever. This once-powerful family was reduced to yeomanry and peasantry status.

But the Anglo-Norman blood of their ancestors still surged through the veins of the later generations of Marris's. They led lives that were both ordinary and, for several, extraoardinary. Many sought their fortunes in lands as far off as Australia and New Zealand, and it is here that the de Marisco story comes full circle as a long-lost family name gains prominence again.