Dyrham
Encyclopedia
Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire
, England
.
, about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway
. The Cotswold Way
long-distance footpath runs through the village.
of Dyrham & Hinton and by the unitary authority
of South Gloucestershire
.
)
Dyrham is thought to have been the site of the important Battle of Deorham
in 577 AD.
of 1086 records the tenant-in-chief
of Dyrham as William FitzWido (William son of Guy, latinised as Willelmus Filius Widonis). In 1086 he held 7 hides in Dyrham, formerly the land of Aluric. He had formerly held also 3 hides of this manor which Durand de Pitres, Sheriff of Gloucester, had given to Pershore Abbey
, by the King's command. These had apparently (according to Mr Alfred Ellis)been given to Turstin FitzRolf
by "Earl William", presumably William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford
.
, a magnate from Maine, France, who supported King William Rufus, and appears to have arrived in England with his brother Hamelin de Ballon between 1086 and 1088. Virtually the whole of Wynebald's fiefdom had formerly been held by Turstin FitzRolf
, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, who appears to have rebelled against William II and been banished.
, Somerset, to his son-in-law de Newmarch who had married his daughter Mabilia. Wynebald's grandson Henry de Newmarch was raised to baronial status due to his holding of Wynebald's fiefdom per baroniam, and the resultant feudal barony is referred to as the Barony of North Cadbury, and the Newmarch holder of it as "Baron Newmarch".
going to the husband of each daughter, to be held on her behalf. James de Newmarch had died in 1216 whilst his daughters were still legal infants, i.e. under 18 years old, and the marriage of Isabel, and possibly of Hawise also, was granted by King Henry III
to Sir John Russell(1174-1224) of Kingston Russell
in Dorset.
, to which family the other moiety of the barony descended. The Russell family appear to have resided during the 13th. & 14th. centuries firstly at Kingston Russell and latterly at Yaverland
in the Isle of Wight
, Hampshire. Ralph and Isabel's daughter Maud(d.1288) (also known as Matilda) married Robert Walerand(d.1273) of nearby Siston
, a great magnate and Justiciar to King Henry III
(1216-1272). Ralph gave Dyrham as Maud's dowry, but as the couple produced no children, Dyrham reverted to Ralph, as the following entry in the Close Rolls, dated 4th May 1273 at Westminster, shows:
Clearly the escheator had seized Dyrham believing it to be held by Walerand in his own right. Maud retained Dyrham as her dowry, along with the customary third share in many of Walerand's extensive manors elsewhere, until her death in 1288. By then her father Ralph was dead and the Russell lands had passed into the wardship of Queen Eleanor of Castile
,wife of King Edward I
, during the minority of Ralph II Russell, son of her deceased brother James. Ralph II, who had married a certain Eleanor(d.1303),died without issue in 1295 whereupon the lands passed to his uncle Robert, 2nd brother of James, who died shortly thereafter in 1298, again without issue, the lands then descending to William, the 3rd brother.
Sir Ralph Russell's 3rd son and eventual heir was Sir William Russell
(1257-1311) who married in about 1280Katherine de Aula, heiress of the de Aula family of the Isle of Wight, who brought to the Russell family the manor of Yaverland
, Isle of Wight. Sir William Russell was seated there for the remainder of his life and played a central role in the defence of the Island from the frequent attacks by the French. He was appointed as one of 3 Wardens of the Island and Constable of Carisbrooke Castle
, the caput of the Island, from which all manors were held under feudal ties. In 1294 he received royal instructions for putting the Island into a proper posture to meet the threatened invasion by France of the southern coasts of England. In 1295, still as a younger son, his brothers being still alive, he was elected to parliament as burgess
for Great Bedwyn
, Wiltshire, where the Russell family held the manor of Little Bedwyn
.In 1297 he was summoned by King Edward I to join with his barons to muster in London in preparation for a military expedition crossing over to Flanders
. Sir William was summoned by royal writ to be at York on 25th May 1298 to oppose the Scotsman William Wallace
. He fought at the Battle of Falkirk
, where a great English victory was won. However, the Scottish forces regrouped and Russell was again summoned to join King Edward's army on 24th June 1300 at Carlisle
.
He was present at the Siege of Caerlaverock
later that year, during which his armourials were recorded in the famous eponymous roll of arms
made then by the heralds. Russell was again summoned as "Sir William Russell of the Isle" to be ready at Carlisle in 1301, after which the army wintered with much hardship in Scotland. In 1302 he was appointed for a 2nd time a Warden of the Isle, with Sir John de Lisle. In 1307 Russell received another summons from King Edward I Hammer of the Scots to join the royal army at Carlisle within 15 days of July 8th, to counter the aggression of Robert the Bruce. Before the campaign commenced, the King determined on knighting his son, and was accorded by parliament the customary feudal aid
, a form of taxation, to meet the costs of the splendid ceremony. Russell was appointed as collector of this feudal aid for the county of Southampton. On this occasion the royal army was spared any fighting since Bruce had in the meantime been defeated by the border barons acting independently. King Edward II, just knighted as Prince of Wales, succeeded his father later in the year 1307 and called his first parliament to meet at Northampton, to which Sir William Russell was summoned by writ for the county of Southampton. Russell thereupon relinquished his duties as Constable of Carisbrooke Castle to his successor Nicholas de Bois. In 1308 by letters patent
Russell was appointed 1 of 3 justiciaries for the Channel Islands
to make enquiry into encroachments to the royal revenues. In 1309 Russell was summoned by royal writ to be ready "with horse, arms, and all his lawful service (i.e. retinue)" at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by September 29th., to punish the Scots for their non-observance of the truce recently entered into. By now Russell was elderly and being unable to meet the summons in person, he sent knights to serve in his stead. Sir William Russell died in 1311, leaving an only son, Theobald Russell, still a minor aged only 7.
Sir Theobald, as his father, was not based at Dyrham but in the Isle of Wight. He died in 1349 leading local forces against a French invasion of the Isle. He had sub-enfeoffed Dyrham to Roger de Cantock(d.1349), who is recorded as holding the manor in 1347 in the records of the feudal aid
of 20 Edward III (1347):
in 1306. Roger went to Ireland in 1309, possibly to visit this relative, as the following entry in the patent rolls
of 2 Edward II (1309) show:
(1356-1416), the first of the family to make his home at Dyrham.
the manor of Dyrham and other manors to the progeny of this marriage. He was buried in St. Peter's church next to the manor house, as his funerary brass attests. He married his eldest daughter to his neighbour at Siston
, Sir Gilbert Denys
(d.1422), with whom he was involved in administrative duties for Gloucestershire. By his 2nd marriage to Joan Dauntsey, Russell had his only son and heir, Thomas, who survived his father by 16 years and died aged about 18 in 1432. On his father's death, Thomas had become a royal ward, and had been found a wife named Margery, of family unknown, but no doubt as a result of his marriage having been sold by his guardian. Margery was pregnant at the time of Thomas's death, but her daughter died as an infant soon after her birth. Thus was extinguished the line of Russell of Dyrham and Kingston Russell. As most of the Russell lands had been entailed to the progeny of Sir Maurice's first marriage, Dyrham passed into the hands of his two daughters by Isabel Childrey, Margaret and Isabel. The right heirs of Thomas would inherit the unentailed Russell lands on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. Isabel and her 3rd husband Sir John Drayton of Nuneham Courtenay
, Oxfordshire, sold their moiety of the Russell inheritance to Margaret and her husband Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston, and thus Dyrham and Kingston Russell descended into the Denys family, which held Kingston Russell until 1543 and Dyrham until 1571.
in the Church of Olveston
, which manor was also held by the family, and Agnes Danvers. His half-uncle was Hugh Denys
(d.1511) who had been Groom of the Stool
to King Henry VII(1485-1509). It may have been due to the closeness of Hugh to the old King, for he occupied the foremost position of all the courtiers, that Henry's son Henry VIII appointed Sir William as an Esquire of the Body, at some date before 5th June 1511. The new King had not continued Hugh Denys in his post, which was one of some personal intimacy, having appointed his own favourite Sir William Compton
(d.1528), but perhaps out of respect for his father's loyal old servant had kept him on as a standard Esquire of the Body for the first 2 years of his reign until Hugh's death in 1511. It was perhaps at the very time of William's appointment as an Esquire of the Body that the King granted him the honour of the licence to empark 500 acres of Dyrham, which is to say to enclose the land with a wall or hedgebank and to establish a captive herd of deer within, with exclusive hunting rights. This grant is witnessed by a charter on parchment, to which is affixed a rare example of a perfect great seal of Henry VIII, now hanging in a frame beneath the main staircase of Dyrham Park
. It clearly was handed down with the deeds of the manor on the termination of the Denys era at Dyrham. The charter is of exceptional interest as it is signed as witnesses by men of the greatest importance in the state, who were at the King's side at that moment, at the Palace of Westminster. The text of the document, translated from Latin is as follows:
From the size of the present park it appears that only about 250 acres were ultimately enclosed. Sir William served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
in 1518 and 1526, continuing the tradition of the Denys family which would hold that post on more occasions than any other family.
William Denys married firstly in about 1482, Edith Twynyho, da. of John Twynyho(d.1485), a wealthy cloth merchant of Cirencester, MP for Bristol 1472-5, 1484, and sister-in-law to John Tame(d.1500), the builder of Fairford Church
, Glos., business partner of John Twynyho and favoured courtier of Henry VII. The marriage settlement is contained in a charter dated 21 Ed IV (1482), quoted by the Inquisition post mortem of Sir William Denys. The marriage produced no issue. William married 2ndly Anne Berkeley, da. of Maurice Berkeley, de jure 3rd Baron Berkeley
, from the leading Gloucestershire family. This marriage accorded to William a considerable status in the county gentry.
In June 1520 Denys was one of the 7 knights of Gloucestershire selected to form part of the 100 nobles and gentlemen appointed to attend King Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold
, near Calais
, where the King was to meet King Francis I of France
. Each knight was expected to bring his own retinue, but limited to 10 persons and 4 horses. Denys's former brother-in-law Edmund Tame(d.1534) was also on the Gloucestershire list, but his name was subsequently struck out and replaced, possibly due to ill-health. In a subsequent record Deny's name is shown as erased from the list of those attending the King, with the words "With the Queen" added, suggesting he had been transferred into the retinue of Katharine of Aragon. In 1520 Sir William and Lady Ann founded the "Guild of St. Dennis" in the Church of St Peter, Dyrham, which had about 300 members, not only from Gloucestershire but also from adjoining
counties. The records of the guild are held by Bristol Archives. It is likely that the Patron Saint was selected due to his having the same name as the Denys family, yet the family itself was probably so named not after the saint, but due to its probable Danish origins. There were 3 prominent mediaeval Denys families in the South-West, one from Ilchester, Somerset, one from Devon, and that from Glamorgan which later came to Siston and Dyrham in Gloucestershire. The three families may all have originated from a common root before the era of the mass adoption of armorials, that is to say the first half of the 13th.c. The Somerset branch was the most ancient, having disappeared before it might have adopted arms, but the Devon Denys's adopted as their arms three Danish battle-axes, as borne by the King of Denmark and recorded on various rolls of arms
. Sir William's younger son, Sir Maurice Denys
(d.1563) entangled the family as a whole in his debts which he had accumulated through his property speculation during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
and through his construction of Siston Court
. This forced his elder brother Sir Walter Denys(d.1571) to sell Dyrham shortly before his death, which was purchased by the Wynter family, from whom it was eventually purchased by the Blathwayte family, builders of the present William & Mary style mansion known as Dyrham Park
, said to incorporate some of the structure of the earlier manor house.
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Location and communications
Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west . It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk roadA46 road
The A46 is an A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development...
, about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north of Bath and a little south of the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
. The Cotswold Way
Cotswold Way
The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created.-History:...
long-distance footpath runs through the village.
Administration
Dyrham is administered by the civil parishCivil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of Dyrham & Hinton and by the unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...
.
History
(See main article: Battle of DeorhamBattle of Deorham
The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...
)
Dyrham is thought to have been the site of the important Battle of Deorham
Battle of Deorham
The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...
in 577 AD.
FitzWido
The Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 records the tenant-in-chief
Tenant-in-chief
In medieval and early modern European society the term tenant-in-chief, sometimes vassal-in-chief, denoted the nobles who held their lands as tenants directly from king or territorial prince to whom they did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy....
of Dyrham as William FitzWido (William son of Guy, latinised as Willelmus Filius Widonis). In 1086 he held 7 hides in Dyrham, formerly the land of Aluric. He had formerly held also 3 hides of this manor which Durand de Pitres, Sheriff of Gloucester, had given to Pershore Abbey
Pershore Abbey
Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was an Anglo-Saxon abbey and is now an Anglican parish church.-Foundation:The foundation of the minster at Pershore is alluded to in a spurious charter of King Æthelred of Mercia...
, by the King's command. These had apparently (according to Mr Alfred Ellis)been given to Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf was a Norman magnate, one of the few "Proven Companions of William the Conqueror" who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As his name indicates, he was the son of a certain Rolf, synonymous with Rou and Rollo . His first name appears as Tosteins, Thurstan and other variants...
by "Earl William", presumably William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford
William Fitzosbern, 1st Earl of Hereford
William FitzOsbern , Lord of Breteuil, in Normandy, was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror and one of the great magnates of early Norman England...
.
Wynebald de Ballon
The manor then passed into the extensive fiefdom of Wynebald de BallonWynebald de Ballon
Wynebald de Ballon ,, was an early Norman magnate. He was a son of Drogo de Ballon and appeared in England accompanied by his brothers, Hamelin de Ballon, later created 1st Baron of Abergavenny, and Wynoc de Ballon, about whom little is recorded...
, a magnate from Maine, France, who supported King William Rufus, and appears to have arrived in England with his brother Hamelin de Ballon between 1086 and 1088. Virtually the whole of Wynebald's fiefdom had formerly been held by Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf
Turstin FitzRolf was a Norman magnate, one of the few "Proven Companions of William the Conqueror" who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As his name indicates, he was the son of a certain Rolf, synonymous with Rou and Rollo . His first name appears as Tosteins, Thurstan and other variants...
, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, who appears to have rebelled against William II and been banished.
Newmarch
Dyrham passed with Wynebald's fiefdom, based at North CadburyNorth Cadbury
North Cadbury is a village west of Wincanton in the River Cam in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It shares its parish with nearby Yarlington and includes the village of Galhampton, which got its name from the settlement of the rent-paying peasants, and the hamlet of...
, Somerset, to his son-in-law de Newmarch who had married his daughter Mabilia. Wynebald's grandson Henry de Newmarch was raised to baronial status due to his holding of Wynebald's fiefdom per baroniam, and the resultant feudal barony is referred to as the Barony of North Cadbury, and the Newmarch holder of it as "Baron Newmarch".
Russell
Henry de Newmarch's heir was his youngest son James who died leaving two daughters co-heiresses to the barony, Isabel the eldest and Hawise. The barony was split, with a moietyMoiety title
Moiety title is legal term describing a portion other than a whole of ownership of property. The word derives from Old French moitié meaning "half" , from Latin medietas "middle", from medius....
going to the husband of each daughter, to be held on her behalf. James de Newmarch had died in 1216 whilst his daughters were still legal infants, i.e. under 18 years old, and the marriage of Isabel, and possibly of Hawise also, was granted by King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
to Sir John Russell(1174-1224) of Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out...
in Dorset.
Sir Ralph Russell(b.1204)
Russell married off Isabel de Newmarch to his son Sir Ralph Russell(b.1204), and thus the moiety of the barony of Newmarch containing Dyrham came into the Russell family. The marriage of the other Newmarch heiress, Hawise, seemingly having been sold by Sir John Russell, was acquired by John Botterel, on whose death Hawise married secondly Sir Nicholas de MoelsNicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels was a medieval Norman administrator in Somerset.He was born about 1195. He married, as her 2nd. husband, Hawise de Newmarch, younger daughter & co-heiress of James de Newmarch feudal baron of North Cadbury, Somerset, in about 1224...
, to which family the other moiety of the barony descended. The Russell family appear to have resided during the 13th. & 14th. centuries firstly at Kingston Russell and latterly at Yaverland
Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown. It has about 200 houses. About 1/3 of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of Yaverlandia and a pterosaur, Caulkicephalus...
in the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, Hampshire. Ralph and Isabel's daughter Maud(d.1288) (also known as Matilda) married Robert Walerand(d.1273) of nearby Siston
Siston
Siston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol, recorded historically as Syston, Sistone, Syton, Sytone and Systun etc. The village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon...
, a great magnate and Justiciar to King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
(1216-1272). Ralph gave Dyrham as Maud's dowry, but as the couple produced no children, Dyrham reverted to Ralph, as the following entry in the Close Rolls, dated 4th May 1273 at Westminster, shows:
"To Master Richard de Cliff(ord), escheator this side Trent. Order to
deliver the manor of Derham to Ralph Russell, together with everything received therefrom from the time of its being taken into the king's hands, as the king learns by inquisition taken by the escheator that Ralph gave his said manor to Robert Waleraund with Matilda his daughter, whom Robert married, to hold to Robert and the heirs of their bodies, with reversion to Ralph in default of such heirs, and that Robert died without an heir of his body, wherefore the manor ought to revert to Ralph".
Clearly the escheator had seized Dyrham believing it to be held by Walerand in his own right. Maud retained Dyrham as her dowry, along with the customary third share in many of Walerand's extensive manors elsewhere, until her death in 1288. By then her father Ralph was dead and the Russell lands had passed into the wardship of Queen Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu in her own right from 1279 until her death in 1290, succeeding her mother and ruling together with her husband.-Birth:...
,wife of King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, during the minority of Ralph II Russell, son of her deceased brother James. Ralph II, who had married a certain Eleanor(d.1303),died without issue in 1295 whereupon the lands passed to his uncle Robert, 2nd brother of James, who died shortly thereafter in 1298, again without issue, the lands then descending to William, the 3rd brother.
Sir William Russell(1257-1311)
William Russell, knight
Sir William Russell was holder of a moiety of the feudal barony of North Cadbury, Somerset, but spent most of his life engaged in the administration and defence of the Isle of Wight, where he obtained by marriage the manor of Yaverland...
(1257-1311) who married in about 1280Katherine de Aula, heiress of the de Aula family of the Isle of Wight, who brought to the Russell family the manor of Yaverland
Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown. It has about 200 houses. About 1/3 of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of Yaverlandia and a pterosaur, Caulkicephalus...
, Isle of Wight. Sir William Russell was seated there for the remainder of his life and played a central role in the defence of the Island from the frequent attacks by the French. He was appointed as one of 3 Wardens of the Island and Constable of Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke, near Newport, Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.-Early history:...
, the caput of the Island, from which all manors were held under feudal ties. In 1294 he received royal instructions for putting the Island into a proper posture to meet the threatened invasion by France of the southern coasts of England. In 1295, still as a younger son, his brothers being still alive, he was elected to parliament as burgess
Burgess
Burgess is a word in English that originally meant a freeman of a borough or burgh . It later came to mean an elected or unelected official of a municipality, or the representative of a borough in the English House of Commons....
for Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Bedwyn was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-1295–1640:-1640–1832:Notes...
, Wiltshire, where the Russell family held the manor of Little Bedwyn
Little Bedwyn
Little Bedwyn is a village and civil parish on the River Dun in Wiltshire, about south-west of the market town of Hungerford in neighbouring Berkshire....
.In 1297 he was summoned by King Edward I to join with his barons to muster in London in preparation for a military expedition crossing over to Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. Sir William was summoned by royal writ to be at York on 25th May 1298 to oppose the Scotsman William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
. He fought at the Battle of Falkirk
Battle of Falkirk
The Battle of Falkirk, which took place on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence...
, where a great English victory was won. However, the Scottish forces regrouped and Russell was again summoned to join King Edward's army on 24th June 1300 at Carlisle
City of Carlisle
The City of Carlisle is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
.
He was present at the Siege of Caerlaverock
Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...
later that year, during which his armourials were recorded in the famous eponymous roll of arms
Roll of arms
A roll of arms is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms...
made then by the heralds. Russell was again summoned as "Sir William Russell of the Isle" to be ready at Carlisle in 1301, after which the army wintered with much hardship in Scotland. In 1302 he was appointed for a 2nd time a Warden of the Isle, with Sir John de Lisle. In 1307 Russell received another summons from King Edward I Hammer of the Scots to join the royal army at Carlisle within 15 days of July 8th, to counter the aggression of Robert the Bruce. Before the campaign commenced, the King determined on knighting his son, and was accorded by parliament the customary feudal aid
Feudal aid
Feudal aid, or just plain aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstances varied.-Origin:The term originated...
, a form of taxation, to meet the costs of the splendid ceremony. Russell was appointed as collector of this feudal aid for the county of Southampton. On this occasion the royal army was spared any fighting since Bruce had in the meantime been defeated by the border barons acting independently. King Edward II, just knighted as Prince of Wales, succeeded his father later in the year 1307 and called his first parliament to meet at Northampton, to which Sir William Russell was summoned by writ for the county of Southampton. Russell thereupon relinquished his duties as Constable of Carisbrooke Castle to his successor Nicholas de Bois. In 1308 by letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
Russell was appointed 1 of 3 justiciaries for the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
to make enquiry into encroachments to the royal revenues. In 1309 Russell was summoned by royal writ to be ready "with horse, arms, and all his lawful service (i.e. retinue)" at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by September 29th., to punish the Scots for their non-observance of the truce recently entered into. By now Russell was elderly and being unable to meet the summons in person, he sent knights to serve in his stead. Sir William Russell died in 1311, leaving an only son, Theobald Russell, still a minor aged only 7.
Sir Theobald Russell
Feudal aid
Feudal aid, or just plain aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstances varied.-Origin:The term originated...
of 20 Edward III (1347):
A certain Roger de Cantock, possibly his father, was prepositor to the Sheriff of Bristol in 1260 and 1271. "Cantock's Close" in Bristol, now occupied by buildings of the University, was apparently a field owned by his family. Cantock had been appointed by the Russell family as parson of the church in their manor of Hardwick, Buckinghamshire, a former Newmarch manor. In 1332 he was granted the manor of Hardwick itself for the term of his life, which ended in 1349. He was possibly related to Thomas Cantock, Bishop of Emly, appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland
"De Rogero Cantek pro uno foedo militis in Derham et Henton quod Willelmus Russel quondam tenuit ibidem, XX s" (Received from Roger de Cantock for one knight's fee in Dyrham and Hinton which William Russell once held the same, 20 shillings)
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...
in 1306. Roger went to Ireland in 1309, possibly to visit this relative, as the following entry in the patent rolls
Patent Rolls
The Patent Rolls are primary sources for English history, a record of the King of England's correspondence, starting in 1202....
of 2 Edward II (1309) show:
Theobald Russell's grandson was Sir Maurice Russell
"Master Roger Cantok, parson of the Church of Herdewyk, going to Ireland, has letters nominating Nicholas de Langeton his attorney until Michaelmas, May 2, Westminster"
Maurice Russell, knight
Sir Maurice Russell of Kingston Russell, Dorset and Dyrham, Glos. was a prominent member of the Gloucestershire gentry, the 3rd son, but eventual heir of Ralph Russell and his wife Alice. He was knighted between June and December 1385 and served twice as Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire in...
(1356-1416), the first of the family to make his home at Dyrham.
Sir Maurice Russell
On his marriage to Isabel Childrey, Maurice was granted the manor of Dyrham by his father, and appears to have set up home here. The marriage settlement entailedFee tail
At common law, fee tail or entail is an estate of inheritance in real property which cannot be sold, devised by will, or otherwise alienated by the owner, but which passes by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death...
the manor of Dyrham and other manors to the progeny of this marriage. He was buried in St. Peter's church next to the manor house, as his funerary brass attests. He married his eldest daughter to his neighbour at Siston
Siston
Siston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol, recorded historically as Syston, Sistone, Syton, Sytone and Systun etc. The village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon...
, Sir Gilbert Denys
Gilbert Denys, knight
Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by Jan 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1393-4...
(d.1422), with whom he was involved in administrative duties for Gloucestershire. By his 2nd marriage to Joan Dauntsey, Russell had his only son and heir, Thomas, who survived his father by 16 years and died aged about 18 in 1432. On his father's death, Thomas had become a royal ward, and had been found a wife named Margery, of family unknown, but no doubt as a result of his marriage having been sold by his guardian. Margery was pregnant at the time of Thomas's death, but her daughter died as an infant soon after her birth. Thus was extinguished the line of Russell of Dyrham and Kingston Russell. As most of the Russell lands had been entailed to the progeny of Sir Maurice's first marriage, Dyrham passed into the hands of his two daughters by Isabel Childrey, Margaret and Isabel. The right heirs of Thomas would inherit the unentailed Russell lands on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. Isabel and her 3rd husband Sir John Drayton of Nuneham Courtenay
Nuneham Courtenay
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford.-Manor:The toponym evolved from Newenham. In the 14th century the village belonged to the Courtenay family and in 1764 "Newenham" was changed to "Nuneham"....
, Oxfordshire, sold their moiety of the Russell inheritance to Margaret and her husband Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston, and thus Dyrham and Kingston Russell descended into the Denys family, which held Kingston Russell until 1543 and Dyrham until 1571.
Sir William Denys
The first of the Denys family to have resided at Dyrham rather than at the Denys ancestral manor of Siston, appears to have been Sir William Denys(1470-1533), son of Sir Walter Denys(d.1505), who is depicted on the Denys monumental brassDenys brass, Olveston
The Denys monumental brass in Olveston Church, Gloucestershire, dates from 1505, and is one of only about 80 Monumental brasses of Gloucestershire surviving today. It was erected following the death of Sir Walter Denys in 1505, and shows the latter together with his father Maurice Denys, both ...
in the Church of Olveston
Olveston
Olveston is a small village and larger parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The parish comprises the villages of Olveston and Tockington, and the hamlets of Old Down, Ingst and Awkley. Alveston became a separate parish in 1846...
, which manor was also held by the family, and Agnes Danvers. His half-uncle was Hugh Denys
Hugh Denys
Hugh Denys was a courtier of Kings Henry VII and of the young Henry VIII. As Groom of the Stool to Henry VII, he was one of the King's closest courtiers, his role developing into one of administering the Privy Chamber, a department in control of the royal finances which during Denys's tenure of...
(d.1511) who had been Groom of the Stool
Groom of the Stool
The Groom of the Stool was the most intimate of a monarch's courtiers, whose physical intimacy naturally led to him becoming a man in whom much confidence was placed by his royal master, and with whom many royal secrets were shared as a matter of course...
to King Henry VII(1485-1509). It may have been due to the closeness of Hugh to the old King, for he occupied the foremost position of all the courtiers, that Henry's son Henry VIII appointed Sir William as an Esquire of the Body, at some date before 5th June 1511. The new King had not continued Hugh Denys in his post, which was one of some personal intimacy, having appointed his own favourite Sir William Compton
William Compton (courtier)
Sir William Compton was one of the most prominent courtiers during the reign of Henry VIII of England. Born around 1482, Compton was about nine years older than his king, but the two became close friends. Compton was the eldest son of Edmund Compton of Warwickshire and became an attendant on young...
(d.1528), but perhaps out of respect for his father's loyal old servant had kept him on as a standard Esquire of the Body for the first 2 years of his reign until Hugh's death in 1511. It was perhaps at the very time of William's appointment as an Esquire of the Body that the King granted him the honour of the licence to empark 500 acres of Dyrham, which is to say to enclose the land with a wall or hedgebank and to establish a captive herd of deer within, with exclusive hunting rights. This grant is witnessed by a charter on parchment, to which is affixed a rare example of a perfect great seal of Henry VIII, now hanging in a frame beneath the main staircase of Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park is a baroque mansion in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, England. For the history of the manor of Dyrham, see main article Dyrham.-Description:...
. It clearly was handed down with the deeds of the manor on the termination of the Denys era at Dyrham. The charter is of exceptional interest as it is signed as witnesses by men of the greatest importance in the state, who were at the King's side at that moment, at the Palace of Westminster. The text of the document, translated from Latin is as follows:
"Henry by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland sends greetings to his archbishops, bishops, abbotts, priors, dukes, marquises, earls, barons, judges, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all our bailiffs and faithful subjects. Let it be known that we, motivated by our especial grace and certain knowledge of him, have granted for us and our heirs to our faithful servant William Denys, esquire of the Royal Body, to him, his heirs and assigns, the right to empark 500 acres of land, meadow, pasture and wood together with appurtenance at Le Worthy within the manor of Dereham in the county of Gloucestershire and enclose them with fences and hedges in order to make a park there. Also that they may have free warren in all their demesneDemesneIn the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
lands within the said manor. No other person may enter this park or warren to hunt or catch anything which might belong to that park or warren without permission from William, his heirs or assigns under penalty of £10, provided that the land is not within our forestRoyal forestA royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
.
Witnessed by:
- The most reverend in Christ father William
William WarhamWilliam Warham , Archbishop of Canterbury, belonged to a Hampshire family, and was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, afterwards practising and teaching law both in London and Oxford....
Canterbury our chancellor and archbishop- The reverend in Christ fathers Richard
Richard FoxeRichard Foxe was an English churchman, successively Bishop of Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham, and Winchester, Lord Privy Seal, and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.-Life:...
Winchester, Keeper of the Privy Purse and- Thomas
Thomas RuthallThomas Ruthall was an English churchman, administrator and diplomat. He was a leading councillor of Henry VIII of England.-Life:...
Durham, our secretary, bishops.- Thomas
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
Surrey, Treasurer of England and- George Shrewsbury, steward of our household, earls.
- Charles Somerset Lord Herbert, our chamberlain and
- George Neville of Abergavenny, barons.
- Thomas Lovell, treasurer of our household and
- Edward Poynings, comptroller of our household, knights, and many others.
Given by our hand at Westminster on the 5th day of June in the 3rd year of our reign" (1511).
From the size of the present park it appears that only about 250 acres were ultimately enclosed. Sir William served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred...
in 1518 and 1526, continuing the tradition of the Denys family which would hold that post on more occasions than any other family.
William Denys married firstly in about 1482, Edith Twynyho, da. of John Twynyho(d.1485), a wealthy cloth merchant of Cirencester, MP for Bristol 1472-5, 1484, and sister-in-law to John Tame(d.1500), the builder of Fairford Church
Fairford
Fairford is a small town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswolds on the River Coln, about east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.-Schools:...
, Glos., business partner of John Twynyho and favoured courtier of Henry VII. The marriage settlement is contained in a charter dated 21 Ed IV (1482), quoted by the Inquisition post mortem of Sir William Denys. The marriage produced no issue. William married 2ndly Anne Berkeley, da. of Maurice Berkeley, de jure 3rd Baron Berkeley
Baron Berkeley
The title Baron Berkeley originated as a feudal title and was subsequently created twice in the Peerage of England by writ. It was first granted by writ to Thomas II de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, 6th feudal Baron Berkeley, in 1295, but the title of that creation became extinct at the death of...
, from the leading Gloucestershire family. This marriage accorded to William a considerable status in the county gentry.
Field of the Cloth of Gold
The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase...
, near Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
, where the King was to meet King Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. Each knight was expected to bring his own retinue, but limited to 10 persons and 4 horses. Denys's former brother-in-law Edmund Tame(d.1534) was also on the Gloucestershire list, but his name was subsequently struck out and replaced, possibly due to ill-health. In a subsequent record Deny's name is shown as erased from the list of those attending the King, with the words "With the Queen" added, suggesting he had been transferred into the retinue of Katharine of Aragon. In 1520 Sir William and Lady Ann founded the "Guild of St. Dennis" in the Church of St Peter, Dyrham, which had about 300 members, not only from Gloucestershire but also from adjoining
counties. The records of the guild are held by Bristol Archives. It is likely that the Patron Saint was selected due to his having the same name as the Denys family, yet the family itself was probably so named not after the saint, but due to its probable Danish origins. There were 3 prominent mediaeval Denys families in the South-West, one from Ilchester, Somerset, one from Devon, and that from Glamorgan which later came to Siston and Dyrham in Gloucestershire. The three families may all have originated from a common root before the era of the mass adoption of armorials, that is to say the first half of the 13th.c. The Somerset branch was the most ancient, having disappeared before it might have adopted arms, but the Devon Denys's adopted as their arms three Danish battle-axes, as borne by the King of Denmark and recorded on various rolls of arms
Roll of arms
A roll of arms is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms...
. Sir William's younger son, Sir Maurice Denys
Maurice Denys
Sir Maurice Denys was an English lawyer in London, a property speculator during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, during which period he served as a "powerful figure at the Court of Augmentations", a Member of Parliament for Malmesbury in Wiltshire, Treasurer of Calais and the builder of Siston...
(d.1563) entangled the family as a whole in his debts which he had accumulated through his property speculation during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
and through his construction of Siston Court
Siston
Siston is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol, recorded historically as Syston, Sistone, Syton, Sytone and Systun etc. The village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon...
. This forced his elder brother Sir Walter Denys(d.1571) to sell Dyrham shortly before his death, which was purchased by the Wynter family, from whom it was eventually purchased by the Blathwayte family, builders of the present William & Mary style mansion known as Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park
Dyrham Park is a baroque mansion in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, England. For the history of the manor of Dyrham, see main article Dyrham.-Description:...
, said to incorporate some of the structure of the earlier manor house.
Nearby features
- Dyrham Park. At the edge of the village is Dyrham ParkDyrham ParkDyrham Park is a baroque mansion in an ancient deer park near the village of Dyrham in Gloucestershire, England. For the history of the manor of Dyrham, see main article Dyrham.-Description:...
, a spectacular mansion in 274 acres (1.1 km²) of parkland built between 1691 and 1702 for William Blathwayt (William III'sWilliam III of EnglandWilliam III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
Secretary of State and at War) and now owned by the National TrustNational Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural BeautyThe National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. Dyrham Park was used as the set for the 1993 Merchant Ivory film The Remains of the DayThe Remains of the Day (film)The Remains of the Day is a 1993 Merchant Ivory film adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, Mike Nichols and John Calley. It starred Anthony Hopkins as Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton with James Fox,...
and also for a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
production of DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
. - Dyrham Wood. A woodland named Dyrham Wood lies about a mile to the south of the village.
- Lower Ledge Farm, south of the village, is where the new Farbio GTSFarbio GTSThe Ginetta F400, previously known as the Farboud GTS is a sports car made by the British Ginetta Cars car company. It was the first Farboud planned for production until its sale to Ginetta....
sports car has been made.
Sources
- Sanders, I.J. English Baronies, a Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960. North Cadbury, p.68
- Scott-Thomson, Gladys FRHistSoc, Two Centuries of Family History, London, 1930. (Contains pedigree of Russell of Kingston Russell & critique of Wiffen's work)
- Wiffen, J.H. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell from the Time of the Norman Conquest, 1883. vol.1 (Confounds the family of Russell of KR with Russell ancestors of Dukes of Bedford, but otherwise contains excellent biographical research)