ISO THE VERNONS OF HAPnON HALL. 



Vernon by descent ; in truth, he was no more a Vernon than the 

 Peverels of the Peak of Sir Walter Scott were descendants of the 

 great Peverels of the time of the Conquest. It is only due to 

 General Wrottesley, to whom the historian, and especially the 

 Staffordshire archaeologist, is so deeply indebted, to record that, 

 although very recently he has published in the " Derbyshire 

 Archaeological Journal ' his disbelief in the theory propounded by 

 the writer, yet still later researches of his own have satisfied him 

 of their correctness, and he has most handsomely withdrawn his 

 criticisms, and it is with something like certainty, that, now still 

 further light has been thrown upon the subject by further 

 researches in the muniment-room of Belvoir Castle and the British 

 Museum, it can be positively stated that all doubt is set at rest, and 

 that the fatnilies of Vernon and Francis are distinct. The writer 

 is indebted to Her Grace the Duchess of Rutland for being able 

 to throw quite a new light upon the question, as a recent search 

 in the magnificent muniment-room of Belvoir Castle, which per- 

 haps stands first in the kingdom for the extent and value and 

 variety of its historical possessions, has brought to light a great 

 number of charters of the earliest settlers of the Vernons at 

 Haddon, which hitherto apparently have never been examined, 

 and with them, almost of still greater interest, some of the charters 

 of the Avenels who preceded them ; but of the highest interest of 

 all is a series of charters of the de Insula family, which not only 

 help to illustrate and to indicate the history of the Avenels, but 

 to give the true origin and the true house of this family of Vernon. 

 For many generations the Heralds have endeavoured to connect 

 the Vernons of Haddon with the great Cheshire family of that 

 name. The writer, many years ago, pointed out that it is rather 

 to the houses of Vernon and de Insula held by the Earls of Devon 

 that we should look, and this was the view published by Her 

 Grace the Duchess of Rutland in a recent sketch of the Vernon 

 family. The records recently discovered leave no reasonable 

 doubt that this view is the correct one, and the following pedigree 

 will show at a glance how the idea is arrived at. It requires little 

 ingenuity to discover that this theory easily accounts for the 



