Robert de Stourton, who in 1166 held 3 fees of the old feoffment from Henry Lovel of Castle Cary, may confidently be claimed by the Stourtons as their ancestor; but there are many steps missing in the succession. Robert was alive in 1177. From 1183 to 1185 a William de Stourton was trying to recover land in Harptree, Somerset, which his father (unnamed) had mortgaged to Gilbert Croc. A moiety of Harptree was of the barony of Lovel, but there is no evidence that a Stourton ever held it before or after this period. It is, however, probable that, apart from Stourton, Robert's fees were in Somerset, and possible that William was his son. Stourton itself is partly in Somerset. [Complete Peerage II/1:296]