| The Sons of Hardwin de Scalers |
| On
Hardwin’s death, his lands were split
between his sons Hugh and Richard, though not in
a simple way. For some reason, both brothers were
given lands in the same village on a number of
occasions, with one of them being the dominant
partner. Hugh had the upper hand in Hertfordshire
and Richard in Cambridgeshire. This lead to
inevitable lawsuits between cousins down the
generations, the outcome of which tended to
reinforce this particular division. |
| The
family tree of these two branches as far as it is
known is shown on the right. |
| |
| The Reed Branch |
| Hugh
was Lord of the Manor in Reed, near Newselles.
The manor there became known in a frenchified
form of the family name as Deschallers or
in the more anglicised version Challers.
The remains of the manor house, consisting of a
moated mound, are still in existence near Reed
Hall (see the map of Reed on the previous page). Google
Earth shows the moat clearly, just to the
south of Reed Hall. |
| Hugh’s
son Henry died without issue on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and younger son Geoffrey took over the
Reed estate. The Reed line continued in relative
obscurity until its last male bearer of the name
John de Scalers (1422-1467). He was Sheriff of
Berkshire and Oxfordshire in 1451. He had three
daughters, Anne, Alice and Margaret, who were his
co-heiresses. |
| |
| The Shelford Branch |
| Hardwin’s
son Richard was Lord of the Manor of Shelford.
Their manor house was on the western bank of the
River Cam (see the map bottom right). The house,
obviously in an updated form, is still there and
still inhabited (it can be seen clearly on Google
Earth). Several great estates held land in
Shelford as witnessed by a number of surviving
moats and earthworks. |
| Despite
Richard’s adopted title, the major seat of
this branch of the family was at Caxton. In fact,
Hugh and Richard were both born in Caxton, so
presumably Hardwin had moved there before about
1070. All of Richard’s descendants were also
born there. The manor house at Shelford was
probably not much used by the family. It may have
been occupied by a bailiff for the estate. |
| The
last male bearer of the name in this line was
Richard de Scalers (c.1172-1231). His heiress was
his daughter Lucy de Scalers (c.1205-1256) |
| |
| Caxton Moats |
| A
complex of moated enclosures known as Caxton
Moats (now a Scheduled Monument)
exists about a mile to the north-west of the
present village. This site is almost certainly
the seat of the Scalers family in Caxton, though
the earliest clear documentary evidence dates
from 1312, when it was occupied by the de
Freville family, descendants of Lucy de Scalers,
(last of this particular Scalers line) and her
husband Sir Baldwin de Freville. The expanded
complex, with its additional islands, fishponds
and warren, may derive from this later period and
the need to create a more prestigious dwelling
reflecting the increasing status of the family at
that time. Google Earth shows the site
in some detail. |
| |
| John de Scalers |
| Linked
with the Shelford line by a cadet branch of which
there are no further details was John de Scalers
(c.1223-1312) of Caxton. He was Sheriff of
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire intermittently
between 1246 and 1264. |
