170 A THIRTEENTH CENTURY SEAL OF ROGER DE CARSINGTON. 



Carsington, 1345-50.* The advowson would belong to the 

 de Hoptons, either of Hopton or Carsington. It is also quite 

 probable that the Roger de Kersinton of the seal may have 

 been the grandfather of William de Hopton de Kersinton of 

 1324. 



In Pym Yeatman's Feudal Derbyshire, sec. vi., p. 237, we 

 have the name of Walter de Kersington, 1251-2, and in sec. iii., 

 p. 55, we find mention of Nicholas fil Roger de Kersington, 

 1276. There can be very little doubt that this Roger was the 

 actual owner of the seal, for his date exactly corresponds with 

 that of the seal. 



So far as the writer is aware, these are the only records of 

 this family.! There are no monuments, nor any remains at 

 Carsington, either of the de Hoptons or de Kersingtons. With 

 the exception of the seal and the names given above, nothing 

 seems to be known of the family. It is a far cry from the 

 little village of Carsington in the Derbyshire hills to Haverford- 

 west. The finder quaintly suggests that the seal was " lost 

 by some of the folk who flocked to Milford (six miles off) to 

 welcome Henry of Richmond." This, however, was at least 

 two centuries too late, but at the date of the seal, between 

 Haverfordwest, where it was found, and Carsington there was, 

 nevertheless, an interesting little connecting link in their feudal 

 history. \ 



In 1 1 99, King John conferred the manors and wapentake of 

 Wirksworth and Ashbourne upon William Ferrers, Earl of Derby. 

 As this included the lands subsequently held by Roger de 

 Carsington, it transferred the military service of his predecessors 

 from the Crown to the Earl. The Earl died in 1247, and 

 was succeeded by his son William, who some years previously 

 had married Sibilla, daughter of William Marshall, Earl of 

 Pembroke, whose stronghold was the castle of Haverfordwest. 



* Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, by Dr. Cox, vol. iv., p. 517. 



t Dr. Cox coincidentally supplies another on p. hi. — Ed. 



X The principal authorities from whom the following particulars are gleaned 

 are Prof. Tout in " Wales and the March in the Barons' Wars," Owens 

 College Historical Essays ; and Dr. Cox in " Duffield Castle," vol. ix. of this 

 Journal. 



