CONFIRMATION OF GRANT FROM WILLIAM Circa Om'ib' X'ri fidelib' ad quos p'sens sc'ptu' p'ven'it Will's fil' Will'i filii Alani sal't' Novit' universitas v'ra me concessisse & hac p'senti ch'ta mea confirmasse Ricardo de Lectona & he'dib' suis totam villa' de Lectona cum o'ib' p'tinentiis suis i' bosco & plano in viis & semitis aq's & molendinis & i' o'ib' locis ad p'd'cam villam p'tinentib' cum Advocat'one eccle' ejdem ville tenenda de me & he'dib' meis sibi & he'dib' suis in feudo & he'ditate libe' & q'ete & honorifice p' ide' servicium q'ip'e & an'cessores sui mi & ancessorib' meis inde fac'e solebant. Et q'm volo hanc concessionem firmam & i'concussam p'mane' eam sigilli n'ri imp'ssione confirmavi. Hiis testib' Rob.' Corbet John ex'neo Warino d' Burewardell' Reinio de Le Rob' de Wudescota Bartholomo filio peti Ham' filio Marescot & multis aliis. The original of this fine old deed is in the possession of Robert Gardner, Esq., of Sansaw and Leighton, and has appended by twisted silk cord a large round seal, two-and-a-half inches in diameter, of dark-coloured wax, on which is a knight in armour, with shield and sword and conical helmet, on a caparisoned war-steed. Around the margin was an inscription, of which only one word now remains: + SIGILL MEMORIALS OF THE FAMILY OF PITCHFORD, OF THE COUNTY OF SALOP. BY J. BROOMHALL, Esq., J.P. "PYCHEFORD (now Pitchford) in Shropshire, which gave name to the family of Pitchford, was itself so named from a well there, the surface of which is frequently covered with the oily substance called petroleum, and at a very early period was one of the possessions of the 'de Pychefords.' The family was founded by Ranulph de Pycheford, who, as Camden says, was for his valiant conduct at Bridgenorth Castle, temp. Hen. I., enfeoffed by that king, of Littlebrug, co. Salop, to be held by the tenure of finding dry wood (i.e., fuel) for the chamber in the castle when the king came thither; and in consequence of this service, the fundamental bearing of the early de Pychefords seems clearly to have been adopted; it being a blue lion passant, on a golden field.' This was borne on a chief by Englefield, who married one of their heiresses; and the Surrey Pychefords, who branched from the Shropshire stock, temp. Hen. III., were evidently those of the name who placed the same charge, in a fess, on a field chequy or and az.; derived probably from Warren. These early Pychefords were a distinguished and knightly family, and of large landed possessions during the two centuries immediately succeeding the exploit which raised them, viz., from Henry the First's time; and a branch which had moved to Blimenhull, in the adjoining county of Stafford, did not expire till the fifteenth century: but all trace of their name disappears, at least in public records, about the Wars of the Roses; and if their blood was not lost during those commotions, there can be little doubt their possessions were." VOL. VIII. Р Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire contain an exhaustive account of the family of Pitchford, and their various possessions in the county of Salop-vol. i., p. 354, treats of Littlebrug and Bridgenorth; vol. ii., p. 81, of Ryton; vol. ii., p. 149, of Albrighton; vol. vi., p. 267, of Pitchford Manor, with pedigree of family; and vol. ix., p. 361, of Lee Brockhurst. Pitchford Manor is fully described in Doomsday, and Eyton in his Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vi, pp. 267-284, describes Ralph de Pitchford as the heir of Norman Venator, living 1085-1093. He states that Pitchford Church was built by Ralph de Pitchford, and he is of opinion that the celebrated oak monument preserved in that church represents Sir John de Pitchford.1 The Manor House, at which the Princess Victoria, now Queen Victoria, slept (in 1831), is one of the finest timber houses remaining in the kingdom,2 built since the time of the first Pitchfords; but, the Pitchford Lime, which still stands, dates, I believe, many years anterior to the building of the house. Eyton is of opinion that the early Pitchford line closed by the selling of their estates (1301-1316), to the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and others. These facts are also confirmed in vol. ii., pp. 55, 56, 189, 190 & 506-11 of the Topographer and Genealogist, which, together with Eyton's Antiquities, are to be found in the British Museum and the City of London Library.3 On the accession of Henry VII., and the settlement of the kingdom, a second family of the 1 This monument stood for many years within the altar rails, east and west, but recently it has been removed outside the rails, and stands north and south, face to the north, legs crossed, and in as fine a state of preservation as when carved. A.D., 1282-1300. 2 I saw this house for the first time in 1838, and lastly in 1882; it is a noble building, and shows no outward sign of decay. 3 Thomas Otteley, one of the first Aldermen of Shrewsbury, purchased the manor of Pitchford, in A.D., 1444, where his family continued for ten generations. Vide Transactions Shropshire Archæological Society, vol. iii., page 249. In the early part of the present century (1800), the estate was purchased by Mr. Jenkinson, afterwards Earl of Liverpool, by whose descendants it is now held. name appeared, resident at Lee Brockhurst, in Shropshire, of which manor Sir John de Pycheford, of the former race, had died seized in 13th Edw. I. (1284-5); and hence owing at least their name to the original stock. This second family, however, seems to have just emerged from yeomen, when Robert Cooke, Clarenceux, who visited Shropshire in 1584, allowed John Pitchford (II.) a coat-of-arms, totally different from the previous family's, with a crest, the former being "Az., a cinquefoil between six martlets or ;" the latter, An ostrich arg., beaked and ducally gorged or." This house, first recorded as Pycheford, afterwards as Pichford, and finally Pitchford, like most yeoman families, kept its chiefs on its lands (the Lee Brockhurst estate), and sent its younger sons into the trades of London. One of these-William Pitchford (I.), of London, grocer-married Elizabeth Aldersey, niece of Randle Aldersey, of Aldersey, in Cheshire, and died in 1608-9, when his widow married Thomas, first Lord Baron Coventry. 66 Another son, also a grocer, of London-Robert Pitchford, Esq., of St. Albans in Herts-recorded his pedigree at the Hertfordshire Visitation, in 1634, from his grandfather, John Pycheford (I.), Esq., of Lee Brockhurst. He also recorded the arms of the family (which had been allowed to be legally and rightfully borne by them by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux, at the Shropshire Visitation, 1584) Az, a cinquefoil between six martlets or," and which ancient, house of Pycheford, or de Pycheford, was lineally descended from Sir John de Pycheford, who died seized of the manor of Lee Brockhurst, 13th Edw. I. (1284-5), whose progenitor, Ranulph de Pycheford, was for his valiant conduct at Bridgenorth Castle, in the reign of Henry I., enfeoffed by that monarch of Littlebrug, in that neighbourhood. William Pycheford, or Pitchford (II.), baptized 23rd January, 1597, at Lee Brockhurst, co. Salop, and of St. Mary's Colechurch, London, citizen and haberdasher, was the son of Thomas Pycheford (I.), of Lee Brock |