NORBURY MANOR HOUSE AND THE FITZHERBERTS. 255 
greate offenders as Iam. And yf yo honor will this once be compassionable 
you shall be an eye witnes that I will conforme my selfe & come to the Churche 
as I pmysed yo honor, and avoyde the company of all such dangerous psons, 
as your Lo. gave me warnyng of, and beare myself hereafter, like a most loyall 
and obedyent subject: Pdonme my Ho: good Lord (I humblie beseeche yo) 
my unfortunate boldenes for the streightness of this place, and most odyous for 
manye causes, which the lothesome and unsaverye smelles and the combersome 
companyons wch be hether remytted for all vyces, wherewith I am pestered, 
doo so daylie encrease the manye infirmyties of my weake bodye with some 
other more speciall and pticular causes, wch I made known to yot Honor at 
my beinge wth you, as, unlesse I fynd yo Honor to stand my good Lord, I 
shall rather wishe a short & spedye deathe, than so weary & consumying a lief, 
my full confydence is yt your Honors goodnes will not be unmyndfull of me, 
And I shall praye to God for yo" honors happie felycitie and daylie increase of 
all honors ffrom the Gaole of Derby, the xxi of Maye 1591. 
““Y" Ho most bounde in all duity, 
‘* ANTHONY FITZHERBERT.”* 
To this Anthony Fitzherbert, by his wife Martha, daughter of 
Thomas Austen, was born an only son, Sir John Fitzherbert, 
seventeenth lord of Norbury, who died issueless in 1648. From 
this date Norbury was no longer the residence of the Fitzherberts. 
The Manor passed to William Fitzherbert, of Swinnerton, third 
in descent from William, a younger son of the Judge, who married 
the heiress of Swinnerton, which was henceforth their chief 
residence. ; 
Another doorway in the west wall of the Great Hall, distinctly 
shown on Plate XVI., has the date 1682 over the keystone, flanked 
by the initials R. W. There are other letters below, but they 
cannot all be decyphered. ‘This gives the probable date of an 
extensive reconstruction and diminution of the size of the Manor 
House, and of the replanning and making habitable of the present 
block of buildings now used as a farm residence. But this build- 
ing has been partially re-cased with brick, and still further 
modernised at a later period. The family of Maskery have been 
the yeoman tenants of all that remains of this ancient hall of the 
Fitzherberts, almost ever since the lords of Norbury ceased to 
reside there. To the courtesy of Mr. Maskery, the present tenant, 
* Talbot MSS. H. 280. 
