234 Whalton and its Vicinity, by the Rev. J. E. Elliot. 



the feudal system of pressing back into its own coffers the 

 wealth which the rapacity of the barons was always draw- 

 ing away from it.* To such exactions it probably was owing 

 that the family which had so long possessed the Barony 

 of Whalton, became so reduced as eventually to lose it. The 

 offer of 1200 marks which Ada de Baliol made for the 

 tuition of her grandson, Robert Fitz-Roger, was refused ; 

 and his wardship was granted to the king's brother, William 

 de Valence. His property at the time of his death went to 

 his son John ; probably considerably deteriorated by the 

 sweating it had undergone at the hands of the crown. John 

 Fitz-Robert took the name of de Claveringe and was the an- 

 cestor of the Claverings of Callaly. He died in Edward TII.'s 

 reign, leaving a daughter; having previously given up his 

 Northumberland property for lands in the south. Thus, the 

 Barony of Whalton again fell into the hands of the crown. 

 It was granted by Edward III. to Lord Scrope of Masham, 

 and remained in the hands of that distinguished family down 

 to the reign of Henry VIII. One of them was Lord of the 

 Bedchamber to Henry V., against whose life he conspired 

 along with, the Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey. 

 There is a fine scene at the beginning of Shakespeare's Henry 

 V., in which the king, after drawing on the conspirators to 

 an unmerciful sentence on a less guilty culprit, convicts them 

 of their own evil designs, and condemns them out of their own 

 mouths.f The Barony of Whalton, which had been forfeited 

 for his treason, was afterwards, however, restored to the 

 family, with whom it continued until it fell into the hands of 

 another great border family, the Dacres (probably by mar- 

 riage) ; the last of whom — the fiery Leonard Dacres — again 

 lost it by confiscation to the crown, on account of his rebellion 

 against Queen Elizabeth in 1569. Finally, in James I.st's 

 reign, it was granted in small allotments to the Meggisons, 

 Moores, Rochesters, and other small proprietors, some of 

 whom still retain their properties at the present day. 



The barons of Whalton were, with others in the neighbour- 

 hood, bound to aid in the defence of the castle at Newcastle ; 

 towards which they paid castleward and cornage,J and it was 

 also deemed necessary that they should build each of them a 



* Warren's Blackstone, p. 275. 



f Shakespeare's Henry V., Act IT., Scene 2. 



X See Scott's Border Antiquities, p. 6. 



