69 



€f|e ©toners of Sl^allcvoss.* 



By THE Rev. W. H. Shawcross, Vicar of Bretforton, 

 Co. Worcester. 



(i) The Name and Place. — The surname of the long line of 

 owners is the identical name given by its Norse progenitors 

 and others to A Cross, erected between a.d. 627-685, 

 which gave its name to a vill, not mentioned in Domesday, 

 within the King's liberty and Forest of the High Peak, in 

 the north-west boundary of this county, and it was assumed 

 by the family befoi., the time of Henry I., a.d. 1103. 

 An enumeration of some variations of orthography, of 

 which Shacklecross, Shallcross, and Shawcross are the 

 standard forms, shews that this ancient place-name, wherein a 

 store of history lies couched, has undergone some remarkable 

 handling. We find, in the twelfth century, Sachalcros, Scakel- 

 cros ; in the thirteenth century, Sakelcros., St. Cruce, 

 Shacrosse, Shorecroft, Schalkros, Schalkiros, Schakilkros ; 

 fourteenth century, Schakilcros, Schalecros, Scalecros, Shakel- 

 cros, St. Schalcross, Schallecrosse, Schalcrosse ; fifteenth century, 

 Schalcros de Shalcros, Schalcress ; sixteenth century, Shalcrosse, 

 Shawcrosse of Shawcrosse, Shawlccrowe, Shakel(s)cross, 

 Shacrost, Shallcrosse or Shawcrosse, Shawcrofte, Sharcrofte, 

 Shallcross, Shawcross ; seventeenth century, Shaw-Crosse, Shal- 

 croste, Shalcroft, Sholecross, Scholecrofte, Shacrofte, Shawcroft, 



*And, incidentally, of Yeardsley. We enlarge on the Jodrell con- 

 nections in view of Mr. Gunson's articles on these Halls in the last foiirnal. 

 Vol. x.xvii., p. 185. 



