Ralph de Somery I inherited the barony of Dudley on the death of his uncle, Gervase Paganell, in 1194 although he did not get full ownership of the lands until the death of his mother in 1208. Ralph swapped land that he owned at Wolverhampton with King John, obtaining estates at Kingswinford which proved very valuable to later Lords of Dudley during the Industrial Age. He had three sons and died in 1210.
Ralph de Somery was the son of John de Somery and his wife Hawise, sister and heir of Gervase Paganell, baron of Dudley. [1] When his uncle Gervase died in 1194, Ralph inherited the barony although not all the lands that accompanied the title, as some were inherited by his mother. [2] Around 1205, Ralph swapped land he held at Wolverhampton with King John, obtaining estates at Kingswinford, including Pensnett Chase. [3] [4] The Chase was used by later Lords of Dudley as a hunting ground and much later proved to be a rich source of coal and other minerals. [5]
Ralph married Margaret le Gras, niece of William, Earl of Pembroke. [2] The couple had three sons, Ralph II, William Percival and Roger, who successively inherited the barony. Ralph I died in 1210.
Dudley is a market town in the West Midlands, England, 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Wolverhampton and 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 79,379. The Metropolitan Borough, which includes the towns of Stourbridge and Halesowen, had a population of 312,900. In 2014, the borough council adopted a slogan describing Dudley as the capital of the Black Country, a title by which it had long been informally known.
Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland.
Dudley Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Originally a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortification during the twelfth century but subsequently demolished on the orders of Henry II of England. Rebuilding of the castle took place from the second half of the thirteenth century and culminated in the construction of a range of buildings within the fortifications by John Dudley. The fortifications were slighted by order of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War and the residential buildings destroyed by fire in 1750. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century the site was used for fêtes and pageants. Today Dudley Zoo is located on its grounds.
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourbridge and Halesowen.
Baron Dudley is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created circa 1440 for John Sutton, a soldier who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The title descended in the Sutton family until the 17th century when Frances Sutton, the heir apparent to the title, married Humble Ward who was granted the title Baron Ward in 1644. Their heirs inherited both titles until 1740 when the differing rules of inheritance meant that the Barony of Dudley descended on Ferdinando Dudley Lea, who became the 11th Baron whilst the Barony of Ward went to John Ward, who later became 1st Viscount Dudley and Ward. On Ferdinando's death in 1757, the title fell into abeyance. The title was revived in 1916.
Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford, is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family.
Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands, situated 5 miles (8.0 km) west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census.
Pensnett is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south-west of central Dudley. Pensnett has been a part of Dudley since 1966, when the Brierley Hill Urban District, of which it was a part, was absorbed into the County Borough of Dudley, later the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley from 1974.
Swindon is a village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is 6 miles (6 km) west of Dudley, 2 miles (6 km) northwest of Kingswinford and 2 miles (6 km) southwest of Wombourne. Swindon is located just outside the county and conurbation of the West Midlands. It borders the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley and Wolverhampton to the east and northwest. The parish which includes Swindon and the neighbouring villages of Hinksford and Smestow had a population of 1,279 recorded in the 2021 Census.
The de Birmingham family held the lordship of the manor of Birmingham in England for four hundred years and managed its growth from a small village into a thriving market town. They also assisted in the invasion of Ireland and were rewarded with the Barony of Athenry. They were stripped of most of their lands in England by the notorious John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who held sway over the young King Edward VI (1547–1553).
Pensnett Chase was a wooded area of land owned by the Lords of Dudley Castle in the parishes of Kingswinford and Dudley. As a chase, it was originally used by them to hunt game in although it was also used as common land by local people. At some periods it was regarded as extending into Gornal and including Baggeridge Wood at one end and perhaps Cradley Heath at the other. By the 17th century the ancient woodlands had largely been cleared.
William de Chesney was a medieval Anglo-Norman nobleman and sheriff. The son of a landholder in Norfolk, William inherited after the death of his two elder brothers. He was the founder of Sibton Abbey, as well as a benefactor of other monasteries in England. In 1157, Chesney acquired the honour of Blythburgh, and was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk during the 1150s and 1160s. On Chesney's death in 1174, he left three unmarried daughters as his heirs.
Prestwood is a hamlet now in the parish of Kinver, but in the Kingswinford until the creation of Brierley Hill Urban District in the 1930s.
Kinver Forest was a Royal Forest, mainly in Staffordshire.
Ralph Basset, 1st Baron Basset of Drayton Bassett in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman who fought in both the Anglo-French War and in the First War of Scottish Independence. He was the son of one of Simon de Montfort's barons, Ralph Basset (d.1265), and Margaret de Somery. In 1291, he was made Governor of Edinburgh Castle. He was created 1st Baron Basset of Drayton in 1295.
The feudal barony of Plympton was a large feudal barony in the county of Devon, England, whose caput was Plympton Castle and manor, Plympton. It was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the medieval era. It included the so-called Honour of Christchurch in Hampshire, which was not however technically a barony. The de Redvers family, first holders of the barony, were also Lords of the Isle of Wight, which lordship was not inherited by the Courtenays, as was the barony of Plympton, as it had been sold to the king by the last in the line Isabel de Redvers, 8th Countess of Devon (1237–1293).
The Earl of Dudley’s Railway or Pensnett Railway, was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge railway that developed from a single 3-mile (4.8 km) line opened in 1829 to, at its maximum extent, a 40-mile (64 km) long network around the Earl of Dudley’s Iron Works at Round Oak near Brierley Hill.
Gervase Paganell inherited the feudal barony of Dudley around the year 1150. However, after rebelling against King Henry II, his castle was demolished. Gervase founded the Cluniac Priory of St James in Dudley and probably founded the Church of St Thomas in Dudley. He died in 1194.
Roger de Somery inherited the feudal barony of Dudley in 1235. In 1262, Roger started the re-fortification of Dudley Castle, which had been slighted by order of King Henry II after a rebellion in 1173-1174. Roger married twice and died in 1272.
Ferdinando Dudley Lea, 11th Baron Dudley (1710-1757) succeeded his uncle, William Ward, 10th Baron Dudley in the Barony of Dudley in 1740. However, he did not inherit the ancestral estates of the Barony, including Dudley Castle, which descended on a relative, John Ward. On Ferdinando's death in 1757 the barony fell into abeyance between his sisters.