In 1030 there arrived William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of Coutances in Normandy.
Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town was given the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus.
The Diocese of Avranches was not reinstated after the revolution but under the Concordat of 1801 was instead amalgamated with that of Coutances to form the Diocese of Coutances and Avranches.
The manor of Kensington, Middlesex, was granted by William I of England to Geoffrey de Montbray or Mowbray, bishop of Coutances, one of his inner circle of advisors and one of the wealthiest men in post-Conquest England.
He was born in Courcy, near Coutances, in the 6th century and became bishop of Coutances around 525.
As the Coutances the ship has also served on Portsmouth-Caen (Ouistreham) in the early years of the route where she provided extra freight capacity.
Finally, they restarted the motor and landed safely at Agon-Coutainville near Coutances.
Portbury is mentioned in the Liber Exoniensis and was given by William the Conqueror to one of his favourites, Bishop Geoffrey de Montbray of Coutances — the 'battling bishop' - sword in one hand and crook in the other!
They were spread far and wide geographically from Kent, controlled by Bishop Odo, to Northumberland, controlled by Robert de Mowbray, to Gloucestershire and Somerset under Geoffrey de Montbray (Bishop of Coutances), to Norfolk with Roger Bigod, Roger of Montgomery at Shrewsbury in Shropshire, and a vast swathe of territory in the south-west, centre and south of England under Count Robert.
Possibly another brother of Roger's was Odo of Coutances, a canon at Rouen Cathedral.