DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0210
114
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
monastery of Haghmond, his grant to that effect is followed, in the chartulary of the
abbey, by the confirmation of Hugh de Laci, under the character of chief lord,
" principalis domini." The family of Say possessed this manor for at least four
generations: but it had reverted to the Lacies before 1273, when John de Vernon,
the husband of their coheiress, was found to die seized of it. His heir must, I pre-
sume, have sold it immediately after this to the family of Lodelowe : for in 1281,
Laurence de Lodelowe had a grant of free warren here, and in 1291, license to
embattle his mansion kernellare mansum suum. It continued in the same line to
1498, when, on the decease of Sir Richard Ludlowe, it passed with a moiety of his
estates, to his youngest grand-daughter and coheir, Anne, whose husband, Thomas
Vernon, made this his principal residence. It was then holden of the lordship or
Castle of Wilton, the Greys of that place having acquired the superiority by marriage
with a daughter of Ferrars of Groby, the representatives of an heir general of Vernon.
Leland, who visited Shropshire after this place had been for some years in the
hands of the Vernons, speaks of it as being "builded like a castel," so that it was
regarded by him only as a castellated mansion, and the license of 1291 authorizes us
to consider it in no other light.
Henry, the grandson of Thomas Vernon, of Stoke-Say, died without issue in
1607, when his estates devolved to his aunt and heir, Eleanor Vernon, the wife of
Francis Curson, Esq. of Kedlestone, by whom I presume it was sold not long after
to the Cravens. They realized largely in Shropshire, at an early period of the
seventeenth century; but I have not seen any document which authorizes me to
state when they purchased Stoke-Say.
The mansion attained the name of a castle in the civil wars of Charles I. being
till June 1645 garrisoned for the King, and commanded by Captain Danvers, under
Sir Michael Woodhouse, Governor of Ludlow. I find from the Baronetage, that
Sir William Croft, a brother of the Bishop of Hereford, was killed here on the 9th
day of that month ; he probably fell in an ineffectual attempt to defend it against
the forces of the parliament.
Stoke Castle was inhabited in 1673 by Sir Samuel Baldwyn, sergeant at law, as
lessee of the Cravens. He is styled of this place on his monument in the Temple
Church. It had been the residence, in the same quality, of his brother Sir Timothy,
an eminent civilian ; and one of the descendants of Sir Samuel is still, or very lately
was, in the lease of Stoke Castle, under the Right Honourable the Earl of Craven,
its present possessor.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
monastery of Haghmond, his grant to that effect is followed, in the chartulary of the
abbey, by the confirmation of Hugh de Laci, under the character of chief lord,
" principalis domini." The family of Say possessed this manor for at least four
generations: but it had reverted to the Lacies before 1273, when John de Vernon,
the husband of their coheiress, was found to die seized of it. His heir must, I pre-
sume, have sold it immediately after this to the family of Lodelowe : for in 1281,
Laurence de Lodelowe had a grant of free warren here, and in 1291, license to
embattle his mansion kernellare mansum suum. It continued in the same line to
1498, when, on the decease of Sir Richard Ludlowe, it passed with a moiety of his
estates, to his youngest grand-daughter and coheir, Anne, whose husband, Thomas
Vernon, made this his principal residence. It was then holden of the lordship or
Castle of Wilton, the Greys of that place having acquired the superiority by marriage
with a daughter of Ferrars of Groby, the representatives of an heir general of Vernon.
Leland, who visited Shropshire after this place had been for some years in the
hands of the Vernons, speaks of it as being "builded like a castel," so that it was
regarded by him only as a castellated mansion, and the license of 1291 authorizes us
to consider it in no other light.
Henry, the grandson of Thomas Vernon, of Stoke-Say, died without issue in
1607, when his estates devolved to his aunt and heir, Eleanor Vernon, the wife of
Francis Curson, Esq. of Kedlestone, by whom I presume it was sold not long after
to the Cravens. They realized largely in Shropshire, at an early period of the
seventeenth century; but I have not seen any document which authorizes me to
state when they purchased Stoke-Say.
The mansion attained the name of a castle in the civil wars of Charles I. being
till June 1645 garrisoned for the King, and commanded by Captain Danvers, under
Sir Michael Woodhouse, Governor of Ludlow. I find from the Baronetage, that
Sir William Croft, a brother of the Bishop of Hereford, was killed here on the 9th
day of that month ; he probably fell in an ineffectual attempt to defend it against
the forces of the parliament.
Stoke Castle was inhabited in 1673 by Sir Samuel Baldwyn, sergeant at law, as
lessee of the Cravens. He is styled of this place on his monument in the Temple
Church. It had been the residence, in the same quality, of his brother Sir Timothy,
an eminent civilian ; and one of the descendants of Sir Samuel is still, or very lately
was, in the lease of Stoke Castle, under the Right Honourable the Earl of Craven,
its present possessor.