Cope of Bramshill, Baronet 1611.
The Copes appear in the character of civil servants of the crown in the reign of Richard II. and Henry IV., and were rewarded with large grants of land in the counties of Northampton and Buckingham. Hardwick and Hanwell, both in the neighbourhood of Banbury, were subsequently the family seats, and are noticed by Leland, who calls the latter "a very pleasant and gallant house." Towards the end of the seventeenth century the family appear to have been established at Bramshill, traditionally said to have been built for Henry Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James I.
See Wotton's Baronetage i. p. 112; and Beesley's History of Banbury, p. 190.
Arms.—Argent, on a chevron azure between three roses gules, slipped and leaved vert, as many fleurs-de-lis or. The original coat was, Argent, a boar passant sable, which William Cope, Cofferer to Henry VII., abandoned for Argent, three coffers sable, allusive to his office; but he afterwards had assigned to him the present arms alluding to the royal badges of the crown.
Present Representative, the Rev. Sir William Henry Cope, 12th Baronet.
STAFFORDSHIRE.
Knightly.
Okeover of Okeover.