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Gloucestershire is a maritime county, bounded on the north and north-east by the counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire, on the east by the county of Oxford, Wiltshire, on the south and south-west by the county of Somerset and the Bristol Channel, and on the west and north-west by the counties of Monmouth and Hereford. Formerly in the diocese of Lichfield, and afterwards in that of Worcester, but by Henry VIII in 1541, was a distinct bishopric in the province of Canterbury.

(Lewis…, 1831, also the source for most of the parish descriptions in this report)

Combs were in Gloucestershire, England by the 13th Century, and this is also the county where we find John COMBS, brother of Thomas of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, as well as a number of other Combs connections, including Colonial.

Also note that a number of those named in these records either lived very close to Bristol (once an incorporated city/county), or in Bristol itself (See Also Parishes within 15 miles of Bristol)

Combs &c. Records by Hundred, Liberty and Parish in which Combs and Associated Families have been found thus far

To learn more about medieval terms for land see the ENGLAND: Land from Medieval to Present Day.

Parish Not Known

1289 John de las COUMBE, co. Gloucester, 1289: Household Exp., Ric. de SWINFIELD, Camd. Soc., p. lxxxv (Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames with Special American Instances, by Charles Wareing Bardsley, 1901 - See Earliest Combes of England)

Gloucestershire was also home to:

Edward PALMER of Leamington, Gloucestershire, who died in London “having lands in Virginia and New England,” probate to the son, Giles PALMER in Dec 1624, and Giles PALMER of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, “who had lands in Virginia,” died with probate to Edward PALMER in Jun 1637. ("American Willis And Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1610-1857 by Peter Wilson Coldham, 1989)

Notes: The only Leamington found thus far is in Warwickshire, but not fully researched. Question: Relationship, if any, of above PALMERS to the Archdale-Combs-Palmer families? See Also Combs-Palmer of Isle of Wight Co VA.

Sources Still To Be Checked

“Men & armour for Gloucestershire in 1608" by John Smith [of Nibley]; a Muster Roll of fit and able bodied men. "The names and Surnames of all the able and sufficient men in body fitt for his Ma'ties service in the warrs within the City of Gloucester and the Inshire of the same, wherein are contayned the City of Glouc' and the Hundreds of Dudstone and Barton Regis, with their ages, personable Statures and Armours viewed by the Right honorable Henry Lord Berkley Lord Lieutenant of the said City and the County thereof by direction from his Ma'tie in the month of September, 1608.”

According to Gloucestershire Gen-UKI, the “original manuscript of Men and Armour is now on deposit at Gloucestershire Record Office. The printed version - Reference: Author(s): Smith, John, b.1567 [compiled by] John Smith - was republished in 1980 by Alan Sutton: ISBN/ISSN: 0904387496 as a limited edition of 400 numbered copies.”