| Anne de Scalers |
| Anne
de Scalers, heiress of the Scalers of Reed,
inherited the Manor of Challers and married
twice. Her first marriage was to John Harcourt, a
minor member of an illustrious family whose
forebear had fought at the side of William of
Normandy in the Battle of Hastings. Her second
marriage was to Giles Wellisburne, who also
predeceased her. Little is known about either of
them. |
| Both
of Anne's husbands suffered from financial
embarrassment, as appears from the marriage
settlement she made on her daughter and heir
Margery with Humphrey Wellisburne in January
1493. Humphrey had paid off several of the debts
of Anne and her two husbands, and Anne in return
granted him the yearly issues of the Manor of
Challers, receiving 20 marks a year for her
maintenance and that of her maid. However, she
died shortly after when Margery was 18. |
| Thus
this line of the family finally terminated after
13 generations and some 450 years. The estates
had become much divided by this time and the
family seems to have gradually disappeared into
relative obscurity. |
| |
| Margery Wellisburne |
| Humphrey
Wellisburne died in 1516 and left most of his
estate to Margery. In return for this, in
accordance with a promise she had made him,
Margery in 1516 conveyed the manors of Reed and
Wyddial (a short distance to the south) to
trustees to be settled to her use for life and
then to pass to her son Arthur Wellisburne and
his heirs, or, failing that, to her sons Ardewyn
(Hardwin was still remembered, apparently),
Jasper and Henry Wellisburne and their heirs.
Around 1520, Margery married her second husband
Thomas Cheyne. By 1522, she had presumably moved
in with him since she sold the Manor of Challers
to one Robert Dormer, to whom Arthur Wellisburne
also conveyed his rights in the manor. Following
this the manor changed hands numerous times down
the centuries. |
| |
| Lucy de Scalers |
| In
1230 Lucy de Scalers, heiress of the Scalers of
Shelford, married Sir Baldwin de Freville
(d.c.1257) from a prominent Cambridgeshire
family, who had a short time before obtained her
wardship for 200 marks. Lucy's death in 1256
marked 7 generations and some 200 years of this
branch of the Scalers family. |
| The
church of St. Andrew in Caxton dates from around
the time of Lucy and Baldwin and the de Frevilles
might well have had a hand in its construction.
All Saints Church in Little Shelford is even
older, some parts dating from Saxon and Norman
times. The stalls in the church bear the arms of
the de Freville family and there are early 14th
to early 15th century carvings and brasses of
some of them. |
| |
| The de Frevilles of Shelford
and Caxton Manors |
| Lucy
and Baldwin de Freville had three known
grandsons: Baldwin, John and Alexander. The
eldest grandson Baldwin died without issue and
the Manors of Shelford and Caxton passed to his
younger brother John (d.1312). |
| The
earliest clear documentary evidence of the
family's occupation of the Caxton Moats site (see
the previous page and the map at top right) dates
from the year of John's death. Note also de
Freville Farm on the map on the previous page.
The Shelford manor house was first recorded in
the late 13th century. By 1349 it included a
chapel and in the 1520s a hall, two parlours, and
a great and little chamber. |
| Shelford
and Caxton Manors descended in a not entirely
straightforward manner to John de Freville's
great-great-grandson William (d.1460). In 1424,
William handed over Caxton Manor via a quitclaim
to John Burgoyne of nearby Dry Drayton, who held
half a knight's fee at Caxton (for military
services rendered). The manor changed hands many
times over the succeeding centuries. From the
current OS map (top right), it appears that the
manor moved to a new site to the south-east, near
the church, at some stage. |
| William
presumably concentrated his interests on Shelford
Manor. The manor stayed in the de Freville family
until William's great-great-grandson George, a
judge and baron of the Exchequer, sold it in 1577
to one John Bankes. It subsequently changed hands
many times down to the present day (it was sold
again a few years ago). |
| |
| The de Frevilles of Tamworth
Castle |
| Lucy
and Baldwin de Freville's youngest grandson
Alexander (1250-1328) married Joan de Cromwell,
heir to the prestigious Norman Marmion family
through her mother Mazera de Marmion, in 1291.
The Marmion family had had their seat at Tamworth
Castle since the early 12th century and this now
passed into Alexander's hands. He fought in the
Scottish wars in the time of Edward I and Edward
II and at the start of Edward III's reign in 1327
was summoned to parliament as Baron de Freville. |
| Alexander's
grandson Baldwin (1317-1375) had accumulated land
in Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire,
Staffordshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. He
served in the wars with Gascony with Edward the Black
Prince, so he would have been there with his
distant cousin Robert 3rd Baron Scales (see the
next page but one). |
| This
Baldwin's great-great-grandson Baldwin (and there
were plenty more of that name) died without issue
in 1418 and there this de Freville line ended.
The vast estate was split between his three aunts
Elizabeth, Margaret and Joyce, who all made
prestigious marriages. Elizabeth married Sir
Thomas Ferrers, son of William 5th Baron Ferrers
of Groby (near Leicester), and got Tamworth
Castle and lands in Warwickshire, Herefordshire
and Staffordshire. Margaret married Sir Hugh
Willoughby and then Sir Richard Bingham and got
lands in Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and
Herefordshire. Joyce married Roger Aston and got
lands in Surrey, Wiltshire and Warwickshire. |
| From
the de Ferrers, Tamworth Castle passed by
marriage to the Shirleys of Chartley in 1688,
again by marriage to the Comptons, Earls of
Northampton, in 1715, and finally to the
Townshends of Raynham in 1751, with whom it
remained until 1897. |
