| The Sons of Hardwin de Scalers |
| On
Hardwin’s death, his lands were split
between his sons Hugh and Richard, though not in
a simple way. For some reason, both brothers were
even given lands in the same village on a number
of occasions, with one of them being the dominant
partner. This lead to inevitable lawsuits between
cousins down the generations. The family tree of
these two branches as far as it is known is shown
at the bottom of the page. |
| The Reed/Whaddon Line |
| Hugh
de Scalers (b.c.1070) held the manors of Reed and
Whaddon, among others. The manor at Reed became
known in a frenchified form of the family name as
Deschallers or d'Eschallers, or
in the more anglicised version Challers.
The remains of the manor house, consisting of a
moated mound, are still in existence near Reed
Hall. Google Earth shows the moat clearly,
just to the south of Reed Hall. Hugh became a monk at Lewes
Priory. |
| Hugh had one
son Henry for sure, who inherited the Reed and Whaddon estates. He may also have been the father
of Roger de Scales (b.1098), who married Muriel
de Lisewis and thereby acquired domains in
Norfolk and founded the Middleton/Rivenhall
branch (see later on this site), but this has not
been confirmed. |
| It seems
that the Manor of Newselles passed temporarily to
the Rochester family in 1210, to be reclaimed in
marriage by the Middleton/Rivenhall branch of the
family in 1255 (see later on this site). At any
rate, from around 1200, Whaddon in Cambridgeshire
became an increasingly important seat of the de
Scalers family and their descendants until the
16th century. The current OS map shows the scant
remains of three moated sites in the village
(other families had interests there too). The
Scalers manor house stood on the site to the
south-east of St. Mary's church, though I can
detect no signs of this on Google Earth.
As at Reed to the south, the strategic Roman road
Ermine Street passes nearby. |
| Henry's son
Hugh (d.c.1218) handed over the church at Whaddon
to Lewes Priory. On his death, custody of the estates
was assigned to his
widow Ala while their first son Henry (d.c.1221)
was on Crusade. Unfortunately he died without issue in
Jerusalem and his younger brother Geoffrey
(c.1200-bef.1267) took over the estates when he
came of age. |
| By
1258 Geoffrey was said to be too old and infirm
to perform his duties and arranged for his son
Geoffrey (d.1267) to take over. On the latter's
death, custody passed to his widow Eleanor until
their son Thomas (c.1263-1341) took over on
coming of age in 1284. |
| Thomas
married Elizabeth de Turnbergh and their first son
Thomas (d.bef.1364), who married Amice,
predeceased his father before having any
children. The estates passed to his younger
brother John (c.1350-1388), who was a minor at
the time, and became Sir John de Scalers. Upon
his death, custody passed to his widow Margaret
as their son Thomas (c.1381-1443) was only about
7 years of age. |
| Thomas
took over when he came of age in 1402. He was
succeeded by his son, another Sir John de Scalers
(1422-1467), who became Sheriff of Berkshire and
Oxfordshire in 1451. He left three daughters:
Alice (d.1478), Anne (d.1493) and Margaret de
Scalers, who were his co-heiresses. |
| The Churches of St. Mary |
| St. Mary's
Church in Reed has its origins about the middle
of the 11th century, before the arrival of
Hardwin de Scalers; the surviving nave is of this
period. Much of the other work is 14th and 15th
century and so the construction would have
spanned the time the de Scalers family were
resident here and for which they were presumably
benefactors. |
| There was a
church at Whaddon in Saxon times. The present St.
Mary's church seems to have had its origins in
the 12th century, though much of the structure is
14th and 15th century; the de Scalers family were
again presumably patrons. It contains the tomb of
the second
Sir John de Scalers and also monuments to his great-grandfather
Thomas, his grandfather John and John More (d.
1493), husband of Alice de Scalers. |
| Alice de Scalers and the More
Family |
| When
Sir John de Scalers of the Reed/Whaddon branch
died in 1467, he left three daughters: Alice,
Anne and Margaret de Scalers, who were his
co-heiresses. Thus the Reed/Whaddon granch of the
de Scalers family finally ended after 12
generations and some 450 years. |
| Of
the youngest daughter Margaret, I have not been
able to find further details, except that she
apparently married Henry Moyne and probably did
not get much of a deal from the estate. Alice
married John More of Oxfordshire and the Whaddon
estate passed to her. On Alice's death in 1478,
the estate passed down the male line of the Moore
family, growing in size, up until her
great-great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth More
who inherited on her father William's death in
1608. Elizabeth married William Tempest. One Sir Charles Robert Tempest
was a 19th century descendant, who was also a
descendant of the Middleton/Rivenhall line and
thereby laid claim to the De Scales barony (see
later on this site). The estate subsequently changed
hands many times down the centuries until it was
sold to
Cambridgeshire county council and private tenants
in 1914. The manor house was demolished in the
early 19th century. |
| Anne de Scalers and the
Wellesborne Family |
| Anne
de Scalers inherited the Manor of Challers at
Reed and married twice. Her first marriage was to
John Harcourt, a minor member of an illustrious
family whose forebear had fought at the side of
William of Normandy in the Battle of Hastings.
Her second marriage was to Giles Wellesborne, who
also predeceased her. Little is known about
either of them. |
| Both
of Anne's husbands suffered from financial
embarrassment, as appears from the marriage
settlement she made on her daughter and heir
Margery with Humphrey Wellesborne in 1493.
Humphrey had paid off several of the debts of
Anne and her two husbands, and Anne in return
granted him the yearly issues of the Manor of
Challers, receiving 20 marks a year for her
maintenance and that of her maid. However, Anne
died later in 1493 when Margery was 18. |
| Humphrey
Wellesborne died in 1516 and left most of his
estate to Margery. In return for this, in
accordance with a promise she had made him,
Margery in 1516 conveyed the manors of Reed and
Wyddial (a short distance to the south) to
trustees to be settled to her use for life and
then to pass to her son Arthur Wellesborne and
his heirs, or, failing that, to her sons Ardewyn
(Hardwin was still remembered, apparently),
Jasper and Henry Wellesborne and their heirs.
Around 1520, Margery married her second husband
Thomas Cheyne. By 1522, she had presumably moved
in with him since she sold the Manor of Challers
to one Robert Dormer, to whom Arthur Wellesborne
also conveyed his rights in the manor. Following
this the manor changed hands numerous times down
the centuries and was sold to a private tenant
around 1900. |
| |
 |
| |
| Family Tree of the Scalers
of Reed/Whaddon and Shelford/Caxton |
| NB:
Sources are often conflicting or ambiguous,
especially with respect to minor family members.
Dates in general are imprecise. This is my best
attempt to pull everything together into a
coherent whole using the latest available
information. |
