| Notes |
- ARMS: Arg a lion rampant Gules an annulet for difference
descended from Leigh of Highleigh in Cheshire, lived in time Henry VI [1422/3-1461]
See Visitations of Cornwall 1620, Vivian, p 284, LEIGH or ALEIGH, alias LEIGH of LEIGH.
The first 3 generations of this pedigree is a copy of the Original Visitation of Cornwall 1620,, Harl. MS 1162, signed William Aleigh. This appears to have been a branch of the familiy of Leigh, or Legh, of the East Hall in Highleigh, Cheshire. The arms are identical, but the Editor has been unable to trace the connection In Week St. Mary registers the name is spelt indiscriminately Aleigh, Alleigh, Alee, and Leigh, but since 1700 it has been always Leigh. In January, 1694, Walter Leigh was a party with others to an arrangement for a survey of the parish boundaries to Whitstone.
Pedes Finum, 2nd Edw. VI, Pasch, Humphry Aleigh qu., Thomas Aleigh, Senior, def., lands in Morva and Ladock. Pedes Finum, 3rd Edw VI, Pasch, Francis Mares, qu., Thomas Aleigh, def, lands and tenements in Southleigh.
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-"Leigh family charters": 214 deeds and papers of the Leigh family of Westhall in High Leigh c.1250-1825. The numbering of the list runs to 217, but nos. 204 and 205 are not with the collection, and the number 208 is unused.
- An untitled group of 150 deeds and papers of the Legh, Davenport and other families in Cheshire, 13th Cent-1821. The numbering of the list runs to 153, but nos. 6, 31 and are not with the collection.
- Papers of the Leigh family of Westhall, bound into 7 volumes, and relating to management of estates, the parsonage of Lymm, various public offices held by members of the family, pedigrees, inventories, etc 1383-c.1850. These volumes were calendared by the Historical Manuscripts Commission (see no. 11 below).
Date: c1240-1825
Held by: Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:
Leigh family of West Hall, Cheshire
Custodial history:
It is clear that the Leigh family charters (no. 3 above) and some at least of the untitled group (no. 4 above) were known to, and used by Sir Peter Leycester, the 17th Century antiquary and historian of Cheshire. Several of the Westhall deeds are calendared in Sir Peter's manuscript books drawn up between 1664 and 1666 which are now in the Cheshire Record Office (ref. DLT/B2 and 3). Interestingly, his notes include various deeds which were then at Westhall which are now no longer in the collection. Unfortunately, his interests concentrated on Bucklow Hundred, and there is no evidence that he saw or used the Jodrell deeds or those of the Knutsford and Booth families. In the early years of the nineteenth century, the collection was extensively used and calendared by the Rev. Peter Leigh, second son of Egerton Leigh of Westhall; many of the deeds have his initials endorsed. He also corresponded with George Ormerod, the historian of Cheshire, in the 1840s.
The Twemlow:Knutsford and Booth deeds presumably passed to the Leighs of Westhall when Egerton Leigh bought the Booth family estate in Twemlow in 1862. The Jodrell deeds, on the other hand, can probably be traced to the marriage of Egerton Leigh and Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Francis Jodrell of Yeardsley in 1778. In 1881, Egerton Leigh entrusted his records to J.P. Earwaker, who had a particular interest in the history of Cheshire and Lancashire, and acquired a large collection of books and manuscripts on the subject, as well as making extensive notes on the records of others. (His papers are now in the Chester City Record Office). Earwaker appears to have been responsible for sorting, arranging and endorsing them. In his report, dated 27th February 1883, he writes: "The Deeds were in a state of great confusion when they reached me ... By far the greatest number of the deeds were without any endorsement, and these had become mixed up with the few that were endorsed [by Peter Leigh], and had then been roughly stored away in the various boxes of all shapes and sizes, in which they reached me". The report divided the collection into four sections: "1. Deeds relating to the family of Leigh of the Westhall, High Leigh; 2. Deeds relating to the family of Leigh of the Easthall, High Leigh; (sic); 3. Miscellaneous deeds relating to Cheshire; 4. Miscellaneous Deeds relating to Lancashire and chiefly to Manchester". The first group appears to be the "Leigh family charters" (no. 3 in the list of contents); the second group was transferred by Egerton Leigh at Earwaker's suggestion to the Cornwall-Legh family of Easthall and is presumably among the records deposited in the John Rylands Library in Manchester in 1951; the third group is the untitled group of deeds ( no. 4 on the list of contents) and the Jodrell charters (no. 1 on the list of contents); the fourth group was given to Mr Earwaker by Egerton Leigh. Earwaker also had various family papers bound up into the seven volumes now in the collection. He also saw the Calico bag containing Peter Leigh's notes, and the collection of family pedigrees (including a pedigree of the Jodrell family, now not with the collection). The deeds of the former Booth family estate in Twemlow (no. 2 on the list of contents) were not lent to Earwaker until after he had completed his report; but he quoted from them in his "History of the ancient parish of Sandbach," published in 1890. By 1889, it appears that most of the collection as we now see it was back at Westhall, where it probably remained until the house was sold in 1924.
The collection is unusual in that it contains, almost exclusively, mediaeval material, and fewer of the seventeenth and eighteenth century leases and accounts which one would expect to find in a complete estate archive collection. This process of selection can also be attributed to Earwaker who, in a letter dated 20th Dec. 1882, refers to "sorting out those [documents] to take with me", and states that "Most of the later leases etc were left behind".
By 1932 the collection was in the possession of Major T.V. Booth-Jones, a descendant of the Booths of Twemlow, and it was probably he who had the deeds listed at the College of Arms. (Col. Malet of the National Register of Archives, in a letter written in 1951, refers to "the lists made at the Heralds College".)
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Highleigh, Cheshire
Unusually this village was the seat of two ancient landed gentry families for generations, namely: Leigh of West Hall and Cornwall-Legh of East Hall. Both halls have now been demolished, but both families are still represented today, the head of the "West Hall" family being Sir Edward Leigh MP but no longer associated or living within the parish and that of the "East Hall" family headed by Richard, 6th Baron Grey of Codnor. A member of a cadet branch of the Leigh of West Hall family was created a baronet in 1773 for Sir Egerton Leigh, but this title is now dormant and other cadet branches were the Leigh-Traffords of nearby Oughtrington Hall as well as the Barons Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire and the Barons Newton of Lyme Park. The third lordship of the manor was held by the Egerton family of Tatton and all three landed families swapped and consolidated their estates throughout the 18th and 19th centuries until the Egerton Leighs sold their High Legh estate to the Cornwall-Leghs just before World War I. When Maurice, 4th and last Lord Egerton of Tatton, sold off the remaining farms and land in High Legh in the 1930s, so ended a connection dating back to the 13th century.
East Hall was demolished in the early 1970s (while West Hall had been some 20 years previously) and the debris was used as foundations for the first Thelwall Viaduct bridge of the M6. High Legh Hall (the East Hall) resembled nearby Tatton Park and the West Hall (Egerton Leigh family) was a beautiful Tudor building similar architecturally to Little Moreton Hall.
In a mainly agricultural area, its proximity to Manchester and the area now known as Gold Trafford, has made it nowadays a most desirable residential area.
High Legh was recorded in the Domesday Survey as having two Saxons theins (Ulviet or Wulfgeat, and Dob). The boundary between Mere and High Legh is still known as Dobb Lane and is in fact the medieval boundary between the two parishes. A moated site was found some years before, alongside the Roman road which connected Wilderspool and Latchford to Watling Street (A556) and contained Samian pottery from Cirencester, a Roman cloak clasp and a beautiful flint knife. High Legh was also a high-status Bronze Age burial site. High Legh is the location of an early Methodist chapel in Northwood Lane, with Wesleyan connections. Northwood Methodist Chapel was founded by the Okell family of High Legh (who married into the Egerton Leigh (West Hall) family). In the early 19th century, Robert Moffat, a Scottish lad, came to work on the West Hall estate as a gardener, but in 1814 he joined the London Missionary Society and moved to Plantation Farm in Dukinfield. In 1816 he left with his wife for southern Africa where he became a missionary; his daughter met and fell in love with their student preacher, David Livingstone. The oldest building in the parish is believed to be St Mary's Chapel, formerly the domestic chapel of the Cornwall-Legh family of High Legh Hall (or East Hall), which is sometimes open to the public. However, other older buildings in the parish contain wattle and daub but no evidence of their dates is yet established. The Anglican Church of St John was formerly the domestic chapel of the Leighs of West Hall (Egerton Leigh family).
The park of East Hall, High Legh was laid out by Humphrey Repton for George John Legh in 1791, and John Nash was also engaged to create an idyll village (never completed). Repton removed the old toll road (the original Roman road) and dropped it to its present position (A50), removing the village and creating a more enclosed entrance to the estate and pleasure gardens.
Both mansions were used by the Government for the training of Royal Engineers during World War II after the families moved out; they never returned to their respective halls and subsequently sold the internal section of the estate to two building companies, Wimpey Homes and Crossley Homes. In the 1980s more of the estate pleasure gardens was sold off for housing to Ideal Homes. In the 1990s another estate was built on the former Army camp buildings, now known as The Belfry. All the street names in these developments have a connection with the history of High Legh through either one of the ancient landed families (Legh & Leigh), prominent people within the parish or parts of the former park (Pheasant Walk).
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Matthew de Alperham
Marriage: Eva de Vernon 713
Died: Abt 1313, Alpreham, Cheshire, England 713
bullet Information about this person:
• Background Information. 713
Matthew, son of Walter de Somerville, held the manor of Alpram under the Wettenals, during the reign of Edward I, and assumed the name de Alpram. He appears in a undated deed, confirming possion of the vill of Calveley to Richard, son of Hugh de Calvelegh.
Matthew de Alpraham married Eva or Elena, who survived him, daughter of Matthew, son of Warin de Vernon. Matthew and Eva had seven daughters and coheirs.
Children of Matthew and Eva de Alpram:
Alice, wife of Thomas de Bulkeley, and second husband thomas de Sladehurst.
Sibilla, wife of William de Wetenhall
Amelia, wife of Robert de Wetenhall
Joan, wife of John, son of Hugh de Legh
Wervill, wife of Robert de Troghford
Catherine, wife of William de Clotton
Ellen, wife of another Robert de Wetenhall.
~George Ormerod's The History of County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol. II, p. 279
Matthew married Eva de Vernon, daughter of Matthew de Vernon and Unknown.713
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