A Lancashire family of good antiquity, and until the middle of the last century lords of Ashurst in that county, where they appear to have been seated not long after the Conquest. In the reign of James II. the eldest son of a younger brother was created a Baronet, of Waterstock in this county. His daughter and eventual heiress married Sir Richard Allin, Baronet, whose daughter, marrying Mr. Ashurst of Ashurst, great-grandfather of the present representative of the family, brought the estate of Waterstock into the elder line of the Ashursts.

See Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetage, and his Landed Gentry.

Arms.—Gules, a cross between four fleurs-de-lis argent. The Baronet family bore the cross engrailed or, and but one fleur-de-lis of the same.

Present Representative, John Henry Ashurst, Esq.

Ralph, surnamed Brito de Annesley, living in the second year of Henry II. (1156,) is assumed to have been son of Richard, of Annesley, in the county of Nottingham, mentioned in the Domesday Survey. That estate continued in the Annesleys till the death of John de Annesley, Esq., in 1437, when it went by an heiress to the Chaworths. The family then removed to Rodington in the same county, and afterwards to Newport-Pagnell in Buckinghamshire; but Ireland was the scene of the prosperity of the family, early in the seventeenth century, which may be said to have been re-founded by Sir Francis Annesley, Secretary of State in 1616. Hence the Viscountcy of Valentia, which afterwards merged in the Earldom of Anglesey in England, adjudged by the English House of Lords to be extinct in 1761; but by the same evidence the Viscountcy of Valentia was allowed to the grandson of the last Earl of Anglesey, whom the English House of Lords found to be illegitimate. He was created Earl of Mountnorris in Ireland in 1793, and on the decease of the last Earl in 1844, the Irish Viscountcy and the representation of the family descended to Arthur Annesley of Bletchingdon, Esq., descended from the second marriage of the first Viscount Valentia.

Younger Branches. 1. Annesley of Clifford Chambers, co. Gloucester. 2. The Earl of Annesley in Ireland, 1789.

See Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 502; Thoroton's Nottinghamshire, p. 251; Archdall's Lodge, iv. 99; and the Tyndale Genealogy, privately printed, folio, 1843.

Arms.—Paly of six argent and azure, a bend gules. Monsieur de Annesley bore, Paly of six argent and gules, a bend vairy argent and sable, in the reign of Edward III. The present coat was borne by John de Annesley in the reign of Richard II. (Rolls.)

Present Representative, Arthur Annesley, 11th Viscount Valentia.

The family of Villers or Villiers is ancient in Leicestershire, Alexander de Villiers being lord of Brokesby in that county early in the thirteenth century. The present coat of arms is said to have been assumed in the reign of Edward I., as a badge of Sir Richard de Villers' services in the crusades. "Villiers of Brokesby" occurs among the gentlemen of Leicestershire, "that be there most of reputation," in the Itinerary of Leland the antiquary in the reign of Henry VIII. But the great rise of the family was in the reign of James I., when the favourite Sir George Villiers became Duke of Buckingham in 1623, extinct 1687. The Earls of Jersey are sprung from the second but elder brother of the first duke. Their connection with Oxfordshire appears not to have been before the middle of the last century. Brokesby was sold by Sir William Villiers, who died s. p. 1711.

Younger Branch. The Earl of Clarendon (1776), descended from the second son of the second Earl of Jersey.

Extinct branch. The Earl of Grandison in Ireland, 1721; extinct 1766; descended from the elder brother of Sir Edward Villiers, who died 1689, ancestor of the Earl of Jersey.

See Leland's Itinerary, i. fol. 23, and vi. fol. 65; Nichols's Leicestershire, iii. pt. i. p. 197; and Brydges's Collins, iii. 762.

Arms.—Argent, on a cross gules five escallops or. The ancient arms founded on those of the Bellemonts Earls of Leicester were Sable, three cinquefoils argent.

Present Representative, Victor Albert George Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey.

The younger, but I believe now the only remaining, line of a family formerly seated at Coker in the county of Somerset, where it can be traced to the time of Edward I. Mapouder in Dorsetshire, derived from the heiress of Veale in the reign of Henry V., became afterwards the family seat. In 1554, John Coker, who appears to have been second son of Thomas Coker, of Mapouder, purchased the Manor of "Nuns' Place or King's End in Biscester," which has since remained the residence of this ancient family.

See Coker's Survey of Dorsetshire, p. 98; Hutchins's History of Dorsetshire, vol. iii. p. 273; Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, 1st. ed. p. 109; and Burke's Commoners, 2nd ed. vol. iii. p. 347.

Arms.—Argent, on a bend gules three leopard's heads or. The Mapouder line bore the arms within a border engrailed sable; but the elder branch of the family, who are represented by the Seymours Dukes of Somerset, omitted the border.

Present Representative, Lewis Coker, Esq.

By the decease of the late Thomas Hawe Parker, Esq., of Park Hall, in the county of Stafford, the representation of the family has devolved upon the Earl of Macclesfield, who represents the junior line. The Parkers were established at Park Hall, in the parish of Caverswall, in the seventeenth century, having been previously seated at Parwich, and before that at Norton-Lees, in the county of Derby. The first recorded ancestor, Thomas Parker, was of Bulwell, in Nottinghamshire, in the reign of Richard II. He married the heiress of Gotham, and from hence, says Lysons, the seat of Norton-Lees.

See Lysons's Derbyshire, p. cxxxviii.; Brydges's Collins, iv, 190; and Ward's Stoke-upon-Trent, p. 561.

Arms.—Gules, a chevron between three leopard's heads or.

Present Representative, Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield.

The Wingfields of Wingfield and Letheringham, both in Suffolk, a distinguished family of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are traced nearly to the Conquest, though they do not appear to have been lords of the manor or castle of Wingfield before the reign of Edward II. The elder branch of this family is represented by the Viscount Powerscourt in Ireland, descended from Lewis the ninth son of Sir John Wingfield of Letheringham. The present family is sprung from Henry, a younger brother of this Sir John, who died in 1481. Tickencote was acquired by marriage in the reign of Elizabeth with the heiress of Gresham.

Younger Branch. Wingfield of Onslow in Shropshire, according to the Visitation of that county, descended from Anthony Wingfield of Glossop, co. Derby, younger son of Sir Robert Wingfield of Letheringham, who died in 1431.

See the elaborate dissertation on the House of Wingfield in the second volume of Anstis's Register of the Order of the Garter; see also Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, pp. 147, 150; Camden's Visitation of the county of Huntingdon, 1613, (printed by the Camden Society,) p. 125, &c.; and Blore's Rutlandshire, (fo. 1811,) for full pedigrees of the different branches formerly seated at Crowfield and Dunham-Magna, co. Norfolk; Kimbolton Castle, co. Huntingdon; Letheringham and Brantham, co. Suffolk; and Upton, co. Northampton, p. 65-70. For Viscount Powerscourt, see Archdall's Lodge, v. 255.

Arms.—Argent, on a bend gules cotised sable three pair of wings conjoined of the field. In the reign of Richard II. Monsieur William Wyngefeld bore, Gules, two wings conjoined in lure argent. (Roll.)

Present Representative, John Muxloe Wingfield, Esq.

Pre-eminent among the ancient aristocracy of Shropshire is the House of Corbet, descended from "Roger, son of Corbet," so called in the Domesday Survey. In the twelfth century the Corbets divided into two branches; the elder was seated at Wattlesborough, the younger at Caus-Castle. In the time of Henry III. the former became of Moreton-Corbet, derived from the heiress of the Anglo-Saxon family of Toret; but the Caus-Castle line was by far the most eminent, and became barons of the realm. In the reign of Richard II. several of the most ancient of the Corbet estates were lost by an heiress; and this happened again in 1583, when the lands brought into the family by the heiress of Hopton went by marriage to the Wallops and Careys. Moreton-Corbet remained till 1688, when it also descended to the sister of Sir Vincent Corbet; but the male line was still preserved by the Corbets of Shrewsbury, and the ancient estate of Moreton-Corbet re-purchased about 1743.

Younger Branch. Corbett of Elsham (co. Lincoln) and of Darnhall (co. Chester,) descended from Robert second son of Sir Vincent Corbet, of Moreton-Corbet, who died in 1622.

Extinct Branches. 1. Corbet of Stoke and Adderley in this county, Baronet 1627, sprung from Reginald third son of Sir Robert Corbet of Moreton-Corbet; extinct 1780. 2. Corbet of Hadley in this county, descended from the second marriage of Sir Roger Corbet of Wattlesborough, who died temp. King John. The heiress married John Greville, in the 7th Henry V. 3. Corbet of Longnor in this county, and of Leighton, co. Montgomery, Baronet 1642, descended also from John third son of Peter Corbet, Baron of Caus, and Alice Orreby; extinct 1814. 4. Corbet of Sundorne, formerley of Leigh in this county, descended from John third son of Peter Corbet, Baron of Caus, and of Alice his wife, daughter of Sir Fulke de Orreby; extinct 1859.

See Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire, fol. Shrewsbury, 1831, pp. 37, 63, 65, 230, &c., corrected by the MSS. of the late Mr. Joseph Morris of Shrewsbury;* see also Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vii. p. 5; and Gent. Mag. for 1809, pp. 599, 903.

Arms.—Or, a raven proper. The present coat, "Or, un corbyn de sable," was borne by Sir Peter Corbet in the reign of Edward II.; but Thomas Corbet, in that of Henry III., bore "Or, 2 corbeaux sable," which, with the addition of a bordure engrailed sable, is the coat of the Corbets of Sundorne. Or, three ravens in pale proper, was borne by Corbet of Hadley, and was so borne by Sir Thomas Corbet in the reign of Edward II. (Rolls.)

Present Representative, Sir Vincent Rowland Corbet, 3rd Baronet.

The Leightons are stated to have been seated at Leighton in this county prior to the Conquest: Domesday has "Rainald (vicecom') ten' Lestone; Leuui tenuit temp. Reg. Edw." Hence there can be no doubt the name Lestone, i.e. Lewi's-town, now Leighton, was derived. Certain it is that the direct ancestors of the family of Leighton were resident there at the very commencement of the twelfth century. From Rainald the sheriff, who was the superior lord of Leighton when Domesday was compiled, that and all his other manors passed in marriage with his daughter to Alan, the ancestor of the Fitz-Alan family; and in the Liber Niger, under the year 1167, Richard son of Tiel (Tihel) is stated to hold Leighton under William Fitz-Alan by the service of one knight. This Richard was the undoubted ancestor of this ancient family. Leighton is now severed from the inheritance of the male line of the Leightons, belonging to Robert Gardner, Esq., whose wife was the heiress of the Kinnersleys, descended in the female line from the second marriage of Sir Thomas Leighton, knighted in 1513. Church Stretton, acquired by the heiress of Cambray in the fifteenth century, was for four generations the family seat. Loton (an ancient Corbet estate) was acquired by marriage with a coheiress of Burgh, by John Leighton, Sheriff of Shropshire in 1468.

See Eyton's Shropshire, vii. p. 325; Wotton's Baronetage, iv. 38; Blakeway, pp. 74, 75, 80, 91; Stemmata Botvilliana, 1858; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Quarterly per fess indented or and gules. In 1315, Sir Richard de Leighton bore the present coat differenced by a bendlet, as appears by his seal attached to a deed still preserved at Loton: the same arms are on his monument, formerly in Buildwas Abbey, and now in Leighton church.

Present Representative, Sir Baldwin Leighton, 7th Baronet, late M.P. for South Salop.

A family of acknowledged antiquity, whose ancestor Richard de Sanford was certainly seated at Sandford soon after the Conquest, and which has ever since remained their principal seat; it is in the parish of Prees, and is mentioned by Leland in his Itinerary. The Herald of the eighteenth century, and the late excellent Bishop of Edinburgh, were both of this family.

Younger Branch. Sandford of the Isle House near Shrewsbury, parted from the parent stem in the fifteenth century, and who also by marriage represent the ancient Shropshire families of Sprenghose and Winsbury.

See Eyton's Shropshire, ix. p. 221; and Blakeway, pp. 54, 190, 222.

Arms.—Quarterly per fess indented azure and ermine. The Sandfords of the Isle bear, Party per chevron sable and ermine, in chief two boar's heads couped close or.

Present Representative, Thomas Hugh Sandford, Esq.

The Kynastons are lineal descendants of the ancient British Princes of Powys, sprung from Griffith, son of Iorwerth Goch, who took refuge in this county; where, as it is stated in the Testa de Nevill, King Henry II. gave him the manors of Rowton and Ellardine, in the parish of High Ercall, and Sutton and Brocton in the parish of Sutton, to be held in capite by the service of being latimer (i.e. interpreter) between the English and Welsh. He married Matilda, younger sister and coheir of Ralph le Strange, and in her right became possessed of the manor of Kinnerley and other estates in Shropshire. Madoc, the eldest son of Griffith, seated himself at Sutton, from him called to this day "Sutton Madoc;" Griffith Vychan, the younger son, had Kinnerley, a portion of his mother's inheritance, and in that manor he resided at Tre-gynvarth, Anglicè Kynvarth's Town, usually written and spoken as Kynaston; and hence the name of the family. Griffith or Griffin de Kyneveston, son of Griffith Vychan, was witness to a grant of land to the abbey of Haghmond in 1313. His lineal descendant Roger Kynaston fought at Blore Heathe in 1459, and Lord Audley the Lancastrian General is supposed to have fallen by his hand; hence the second quarter in the arms, and for this and other services he received the honour of knighthood. The Kynastons, from the place so called, went to Hordley, and latterly in the seventeenth century removed to Hardwicke.

The Kynastons of Oteley, extinct early in the eighteenth century, were an elder branch; they acquired Oteley by the marriage of an heiress of that ancient house in the reign of Henry VII., and were descended from John, elder brother of Sir Roger Kynaston before mentioned.

See Blakeway, p. 73; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Quarterly, 1 and 4, Argent, a lion rampant sable; 2 and 3, Ermine, a chevron gules. Sir John de Kynastone in the reign of Edward II. bore, Sable, a lion rampant queve forchée or. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Sir John Roger Kynaston, 3rd Baronet.

This is the only remaining branch of the once powerful family of Cornewall, for so many ages Barons of Burford, (though without a summons to parliament,) descended from Richard, natural son of Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, and second son of John King of England: (an illegitimacy however which was denied at the Heralds' Visitation of this county in 1623, by Sir Thomas Cornewall, of Burford, who stated that the said Richard was the legitimate son of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, by Sanchia of Provence, his second wife). The Barony of Burford came into the Cornewall family before he ninth of Edward II. with the coheiress of Mortimer, and continued with the descendants till the death of Francis, Baron of Burford, in 1726. The present family is sprung from a younger line, seated at Berrington in the county of Hereford, in the fifteenth century, and which estate was sold in the eighteenth. Delbury was purchased by and became the seat of Frederick Cornewall, Esq. who died in 1788, and was father of the late Bishop of Worcester.

See Blakeway, pp. 72, 83, 92; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Ermine, a lion rampant gules crowned or within a bordure engrailed sable bezantee. "Jeffery de Cornewall" and "Symon de Cornewall" bore, Argent, a lion rampant gules crowned or, with a baston sable, the first charged with three mullets or, the second with three bezants. (Roll of the reign of Edward III.) The present coat was borne by Monsieur Bryan Cornewall, in the reign of Richard II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, Herbert Cornewall, Esq.

The first recorded ancestor of this loyal family is Ralph de Wigmore, lord of Lingen, in the county of Hereford, founder of the Priory of Lyngbroke. His son and grandson John took the name of Lingen: the latter is recorded in the Testa de Nevill as holding various estates in Herefordshire, "of the old feoffment," that is, by descent from the time of King Henry I. His lineal descendant, Sir John Lingen, of Lingen and Sutton, in the county of Hereford, having married in the reign of Edward IV. the daughter and coheiress of Sir John Burgh, succeeded to considerable estates in Shropshire, and to the manor of Radbrook, in the county of Gloucester, until recently the inheritance of his descendants. Longnor, the ancient seat of the Burtons, came into the family in 1722, by the marriage of Thomas Lingen, Esq. of Radbrook, with Anne, only daughter of Robert Burton, Esq. and sister and heir of Thomas Burton, of Longnor, Esq. Their son assumed the name of Burton by Act of Parliament in 1748.

From Morris MSS.

Arms.—Barry of six or and azure, on a bend gules three roses argent.

Present Representative, Robert Burton, Esq.

The origin of this knightly family has been recently explored by Mr. Eyton in his Antiquities of Shropshire, and from that valuable authority it appears that Edward and Hernulf, living in the first half of the twelfth century, were lords of Harley, and the ancestors of the race who were afterwards denominated therefrom. Sixth in descent from William de Harley living in 1231 was Sir Robert de Harley, who having married the coheiress of Brampton Bryan, in the county of Hereford, that place became the residence of his descendants, sprung from Sir Bryan his second son. The Shropshire estates went to the elder son, and passed through heiresses first to the Peshalls, and thence to the Lacons. Fifth in descent from Sir Bryan de Harley was John Harley, Esq. who signalised himself at Flodden Field in 1513. His eldest son was ancestor of the Earls of Oxford (1711,) extinct 1853. The present family, who now represent this ancient lineage, are descended from William third son of the above mentioned John. He died in 1600, having seated himself at Beckjay, in this county. The family afterwards became citizens of Shrewsbury, and acquired Down-Rossal, the present seat, in 1852.

See Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vi. p. 230; Collins's Noble Families, p. 184; Brydges's Collins, vol. iv. p. 37; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Or, a bend cotised sable, and which was borne by Sir Richard de Harlee in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, John Harley, Esq.

This is a younger branch of an ancient Lincolnshire family, according to Wotton, to be traced to Sir Hercules Tyrwhitt, living in the tenth of Henry I., and raised to eminence by Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, Justice of the Common Pleas and King's Bench in the reign of Henry IV. He was seated at Kettleby, in that county, which remained the residence of the elder branch, created Baronets in 1611, until its extinction in 1673. A younger son was of Scotter, in the same county, the ancestor of the present family, of whom John, fifth son of the Rev. Robert Tyrwhitt, married a descendant of the Jones's of Shrewsbury, and by her acquired the Stanley-Hall estate, and took the name of Jones, but the present Baronet has since resumed the ancient name of Tyrwhitt.

See Blakeway, p. 240; Wotton's Baronetage, i. 178; Camden's Remains, p. 151; Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 115 and "Notices and Remains of the Family of Tyrwhitt," &c. "printed not published." 8vo. n.d. [By R. P. Tyrwhitt, Esq. of the Middle Temple, eldest son of Richard Tyrwhitt, late of Nantyr Hall in Denbighshire, Esq. younger brother of the first Baronet.]

Arms.—Gules, three tyrwhitts or.

Present Representative, Sir Henry Thomas Tyrwhitt, third Baronet.

A family of great antiquity, and which is said to have been established at Gatacre by a grant from Edward the Confessor. The pedigree, however, is not traced beyond the reign of Henry III.

Although very ancient, this family does not appear to have been distinguished except by "The fair maid of Gatacre," (see Blakeway, p. 169,) and by the eminent divine of this house noticed in "Fuller's Worthies," and who was the ancestor of the Gatacres of Mildenhall, in Suffolk.

See Leland's Itinerary, v. p. 31; Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. iii. p. 86; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Quarterly gules and ermine, on the second and third quarters three piles of the first, on a fess azure five bezants. This coat, a remarkable exception to the simple heraldry of the period, is supposed to have been granted to Humphry Gatacre, Esquire of the Body to King Henry VI. The following coat, ascribed to this family, was about the end of the seventeenth century in the church of Claverley in this county: Quarterly, first and fourth ermine, a chief indented gules; second and third gules, over all on a fess azure three bezants. (Eyton's Shropshire, iii. p. 103.)

Present Representative, Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq.

This family can also lay claim to great antiquity, being certainly resident at Eyton on the Wealdmoors as early as the reigns of Henry I. and II. They were in some way connected with the Pantulfs, Barons of Wem, who were Lords of Eyton at the period of the Domesday Survey, and, in consequence of this connection, not only quarter their arms, but were among the very few Shropshire gentry who were not dispossessed after the Rebellion of the third Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, in the time of Henry I.

Robert de Eyton stands at the head of the pedigree.

See Blakeway, pp. 56, 70, 71; Eyton's Shropshire, viii. p. 26; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Quarterly, first and fourth, or, a fret azure; second and third, gules two bars ermine.

Present Representative, Thomas Campbell Eyton, Esq.

When the ancestors of this family were first seated at Plowden is a matter of doubt, but it was at a very early period. In 1194 Roger de Plowden is said to have been at the siege of Acre with Richard I., and there to have acquired the fleurs-de-lis in the arms. The name occurs upon all the county records from the reign of Henry III. Edmund Plowden the lawyer, in the sixteenth century, was the great luminary of this family.

See Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 470; Blakeway, pp. 132, 222, and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Azure, a fess dancettée, the two upper points terminating in fleurs-de-lis or.

Present Representative, William Henry Francis Plowden, Esq.

Engelard de Acton, of Acton-Pigot and Acton-Burnell, was admitted on the Roll of Guild Merchants of Shrewsbury in 1209. His descendant Edward de Acton, of Aldenham, married the coheiress of Le'Strange, living in 1387, and with her acquired an estate in Longnor, in this county. The baronetcy was the reward of loyalty in the beginning of the great rebellion.

General Acton, Prime Minister to the King of Naples for twenty-nine years, commencing in 1778, was a distinguished member of this family.

See Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 398; Blakeway, pp. 54, 174.

Arms.—Gules, crusilly or, two lions passant in pale argent. This coat is evidently founded on that of Le'Strange.

Present Representative, Sir John Emerick Edward Dalberg Acton, 8th Baronet.

This is a younger branch of an ancient family formerly seated at Whittimere or Whitmore, in the parish of Claverley, where it is traced to the reign of Henry III. The Apley branch made a large fortune by mercantile transactions in London in the reign of Elizabeth, and purchased that estate in 1572, from Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight. The Whitmores have represented Bridgnorth in Parliament constantly since the reign of Charles II. Blakeway observes that this family does not appear to have had any connection with the Whitmores of Cheshire, though the Heralds have given them similar arms, with a crest allusive to the springing of a young shoot out of an old stock.

Younger Branches. Whitmore of Dudmaston, in this county, and Whitmore-Jones, of Chastleton, in the county of Oxford.

See Blakeway, p. 106, and Notes on the Whitmore Family, in Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. p. 159.

Arms.—Vert, fretty or.

Present Representative, Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq.

The name is derived from Walcot in the parish of Lydbury, which was held under the Bishop of Hereford by Roger de Walcot in 1255. He was the ancestor of the present family. Sixth in descent from Roger de Walcot was John Walcot, of whom the pedigree relates, "that playing at Chess with King Henry V. he gave him the check-mate with the rooke, whereupon the King changed his coat of arms, which was the cross with fleurs-de-lis, and gave him the rooke for a remembrance." Walcot was sold in the year 1764, and Bitterley, which had belonged to the family in 1660, became the seat of the Walcots, descended from Humphry Walcot, who died in 1616, and who was the eldest son of John Walcot of Walcot. He had livery of the manor of Walcot in 1611, "on the extinction (says Blakeway,) I suppose of the elder line."

See Blakeway, p. 112; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Argent, a chevron between three chess-rooks ermine. The former coat, Argent, on a cross patonce azure five fleurs-de-lis or, was ascribed to John de Walcote in the Roll of the reign of Richard II.

Present Representative, the Rev. Charles Walcot.

This ancient family, which has been supposed to be of Norman origin, was early seated at Diddlebury, (or Delbury,) in Corvedale, which appears to have come from the heiress of Wigley. Roger Baldwin of Diddlebury died anno 1398, and was the ancestor of the family. Diddlebury was sold to the Cornewalls of Berrington in the last century, when the Baldwins removed to Aqualate in Staffordshire. Kinlet was the inheritance of the Childes, whose coheiress married Charles Baldwin, Esq. The Childes derived it from the Lacons, and the Lacons by inheritance from the Blounts of Kinlet.

See Blakeway, p. 212.

Arms.—Argent, a saltire sable.

Present Representative, Walter Lacon Childe, Esq.

A branch of the Dods of Edge in Cheshire, now extinct in the male line, and one of the oldest families in England, which can be traced in a direct line, undoubtedly of Saxon, if not of British descent, which, says Blakeway, "is in the highest degree probable." The following is Ormerod's account of the origin of this family. "About the time of Henry II., Hova, son of Cadwgan Dot, married the daughter and heiress of the Lord of Edge, with whom he had the fourth of that manor. It is probable that the Lord of Edge was son of Edwin, who before the Conquest was sole proprietor of eight manors; we may call him a Saxon thane. It appears by Domesday that Dot was the Saxon lord of sixteen manors, from all of which he was ejected; we may presume he was identical with Cadwgan Dot." "A descent in the male line (adds Ormerod) from a Saxon noticed in Domesday would be unique in this county" (Cheshire). The Dods of Cloverley descend from Hugo, living in the fourteenth of Henry IV., who married the coheiress of Roger de Cloverley. He was the son of John Dod of Farndon, who was son of Roger Dod of Edge, living in the reign of Edward III., which John Dod had also acquired property in Shropshire, by marriage with the coheiress of Warden of Ightfield.

See Ormerod's Cheshire, ii. 374; and Blakeway, p. 206.

Arms.—Argent, a fess gules between two cotises wavy sable. The Dods of Edge bore three crescents or, on the fess, by which one would imagine they were the younger rather than the elder line of the family, and the present owner of Cloverly possesses deeds which appear to prove that this was the fact.

Present Representative, John Whitehall Dod, Esq. late M.P. for North Shropshire.

An ancient family, descended from Philip, who in the reign of Henry III. was lord of Oakeley in the parish of Bishop's Castle, from whence he assumed his name, and which has ever since been the inheritance of his descendants.

Younger Branch. Sir Charles Oakeley, Baronet 1790.

See Blakeway, pp. 132, 173; and Morris MSS.

Arms.—Argent, on a fess between three crescents gules as many fleurs-de-lis or. These arms are, with those of the Plowdens and other families of the vicinity, allusive to the services of ancestors who fought under the banners of the great suzeraines of their district, the Fitz-Alans, in the Crusades and the battlefields of France.

Present Representative, the Rev. Arthur Oakeley.