Stokesay Castle is one of the finest surviving fortified manor houses in England, and situated at Stokesay in Shropshire. It was largely built in its present form in the late 13th century by Laurence of Ludlow, on the earlier castle founded by its original owners the de Lacy family, from whom it passed to their de Verdun heirs, who retained feudal overlordship of Stokesay until at least 1317. Laurence 'of' Ludlow was one of the leading wool merchants in England, who intended it to form a secure private house and generate income as a commercial estate. Laurence's descendants continued to own the castle until the 16th century, when it passed through various private owners. By the time of the outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642, Stokesay was owned by William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697), a supporter of King Charles I. After the Royalist war effort collapsed in 1645, Parliamentary forces besieged the castle in June and quickly forced its garrison to surrender. Parliament ordered the property to be slighted, but only minor damage was done to the walls, allowing Stokesay to continue to be used as a house by the Baldwyn family until the end of the 17th century.
Baron Wrottesley, of Wrottesley in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 July 1838 for Sir John Wrottesley, 9th Baronet. He was a Major-General in the Army and also represented Lichfield, Staffordshire and Staffordshire South in House of Commons. The Wrottesley family's original patronymic was 'de Verdun', which meant that the creation of the title Baron Wrottesley represented the third barony created by a branch of the de Verdun family in England. The other two were established by Theobald de Verdun, 1st Baron Verdun of Alton Castle and Sir John de Verdon, 1st Baron Verdon, lord of Brixworth in Northamptonshire and Bressingham in Norfolk.
Fulk FitzWarin, variant spellings, the third, was a prominent representative of a marcher family associated especially with estates in Shropshire and at Alveston in Gloucestershire. In young life, early in the reign of King John (1199–1216), he won notoriety as the outlawed leader of a roving force striving to recover his familial right to Whittington Castle in Shropshire, which John had granted away to a Welsh claimant. Progressively rehabilitated, and enjoying his lordship, he endured further setbacks in 1215–1217.
Bertram de Verdun was the name of several members of the Norman family of de Verdun, native to the Avranchin.
This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelow was created in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Wrottesley Hall is a 1923-built Grade II listed house in the civil parish of Perton, and historically part of Tettenhall in Staffordshire, England.
This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire
Sir Roger de Pulesdon from Puleston in Shropshire, was the son of Sir Roger de Pyvelesdon, who was commemorated by his son and namesake with a Market Cross in Newport, near the family's home. He is found recorded as Sheriff of Staffordshire and Salop in 1285.
Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln suo jure, was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. Her father was Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester. She was the sister and a co-heiress of Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. She was created suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln in 1232. She was the wife of Robert de Quincy, by whom she had one daughter, Margaret, who became heiress to her title and estates. She was also known as Hawise of Kevelioc.
Goldstone is a small hamlet in eastern Shropshire, England, in the civil parish of Cheswardine. It lies in an isolated rural area north of Hinstock and Ellerton, around 5 miles (8 km) south of the nearest town, Market Drayton.
Alan la Zouche (1205–1270) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and soldier of Breton descent. He built the Zouches Manor in Cambridgeshire. He was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire from 1261 to 1266.
Sir Edward Aston built and resided at Tixall House, Staffordshire. He served four terms as Sheriff of Staffordshire.
John Darras (c.1355–1408) was an English soldier, politician and landowner, who fought in the Hundred Years' War and against the Glyndŵr Rising. A client of the FitzAlan Earls of Arundel, he served them in war and peace, helping consolidate their domination of his native county of Shropshire. He represented Shropshire twice in the House of Commons of England. He died by his own hand.
John Ipstones was an English soldier, politician and landowner. He fought in the Hundred Years War and in John of Gaunt's expedition to win the Crown of Castile. He represented Staffordshire twice in the House of Commons of England, including the Merciless Parliament of 1388, in which he supported the measures of the Lords Appellant. A member of a notoriously quarrelsome and violent landed gentry family, he pursued numerous property and personal disputes, one of which led to his murder while in London, serving as a Member of Parliament.
Henry Audley was an English royalist baron and marcher lord. He was made Constable to Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster.
Sir John Talbot of Pepperhill, Boningale, Shropshire, was an English knight and lord of the manors of Albrighton, Shropshire, and Grafton, Worcestershire.
John III Lestrange, of Knockin in Shropshire, landowner, administrator and soldier, was a marcher lord defending England along its border with Wales.
Sir John Wadham (c.1344–1412) was a Justice of the Common Pleas from 1389 to 1398, during the reign of King Richard II (1377–1399), selected by the King as an assertion of his right to rule by the advice of men appointed of his own choice, and one of the many Devonians of the period described by Thomas Fuller in his Worthies of England, as seemingly "innated with a genius to study law".
Sir Roger de Pyvelesdon is cited as Sheriff of Shropshire and Staffordshire c.1240s.