THE NORWOOD FAMILY PAGE

Marion Norwood Callam writes (pp. 36-39): "A reference in Roll of the de Northwoodes: 6 Ric II, Roll 508--Kent Archaeological Society, stated that Humphrey de Northwoode was the first possessor of the Manor of Shalford. This piece of information impelled us to set out in search of Shalford, which we found to be a village five miles to the north-west of Braintree in the county of Essex. the church lay right off the beaten track in grasslands approached by a little used farm road, at the end of which we discovered a large square building, almost opposite to the church. Obviously the Manor house, as the lady who stood by the gate confirmed. This was Shalford Hall where Sir Humphrey de Northwoode, sixth son of Sir John de Northwoode and Lady Joane de Badlesmere, had lived just after the end of the thirteenth century...[. T]he present building...represents only one wing of the original structure, the remainder having been destroyed by fire."

"We entered the church, and were surprised to be greeted by the Vicar, the Rev. Vaizey, who appeared to be expecting us...

We learned that at the time of Edward the Confessor this Parish was held by Algar, Earl of Mercia, and at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held by the King (William I) under the care of Otto, Master of the King's Royal Mint. The church was founded in 1174 and we felt greatly rewarded to find the tomb of Sir Humphrey de Northwoode "Lord of the Manor of Shalford in 1316, of a family of great antiquity settled originally in the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, under and arch of ancient appearance and singular masonry in Norwood's Chapel in the south wall of the chancel". The Parish Church of St. Andrews Shalford, by Florence F. Law.

"This church has a beautiful five-light east window, which the Vicar informed us was commemorative to Catherine Picot [wife of Humphrey's son Sir John de Northwoode, who succeeded his father as Lord of the Manor]. This window embodies nine coats of arms, richly executed in stained glass...[Represented in pen-and-ink by GMNC in Figure 55, p. 40]."

Photo c. 1990 by Steve Norwood

Another pen-and-ink drawing on page 40 shows the arms of Valoines, Northwood, Poynings, and Sackville, and GMNC writes, "I was most interested in the connection of the two families Poynings and Northwood, especially when I found a further association in the east window of the south aisle, where the coats of arms are (fig. 56): 1. Valoines, 2. Northwood, 3. Poynings, 4. Sackville."

The window my parents photographed is almost identical to the one in the east window of the south aisle, but does not show Valoines but Fitz Bernard.

I originally thought that GMNC had made an error representing this window, replacing Fitz Bernard with Valoines; however, Steve Norwood, who has also visited St. Andrews, relates (paraphrased here) that there are two stained glass windows with Norwood Arms. The one my parents photographed with the FitzBernard arms is in the main window behind the altar, not in the east window of the south aisle.

Not mentioned by GMNC, as Steve remembers, are two fine Norwood tombs before both windows. One with Norwood--Norwood of Shalford (ermine, a cross engrailed gules a boar's head sable in the first quarter)--and Valoines, the other with arms of Norwood of Shalford and Picot.

Please take the following link to additional Norwood arms on the ceiling of the Cloisters at Canterbury Cathedral.

According to GMNC (p. 27):

"1. Sir Stephen de Northwood, armiger, was the first to bear arms. He took the Crusaders' cross which he ornamented by engrailing (scalloping the edges) gules (red). This first coat of arms is termed the pronominal coat.

2. His son, Roger de Northwood, took an ermine field on which to emblazon his cross engrailed gules. Upon his marriage to Bona de Wautham, heiress of Ralph Fitz Bernard, from which she was know as Bona Fitz Bernard, he was entitled to impale her arms vair (variation on a checked pattern as seen in the photo) on a chief (a field with a bar across the top) gules, 2 mullets of the field (Arch. Cant. Vol. XV. p. 19) with those of his own." The husband's arms are placed on the right (dexter) and the wife's on the left (sinister) of a vertically bisected shield.

"3. Their son Sir John de Northwood, upon his marriage to the Lady Joan de Badlesmere, daughter and heir of Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere of Chilham Castle, Kent, could quarter his arms by placing Norwood in the first and last quarters, Fitz-Bernard in the top sinsiter and Badlesmere in the dexter bottom quarter, the latter being argent (silver), a fesse (a bar horizontally bisecting the field) between 2 bars gemelles gules."

The sixth son of this couple, Sir Humphrey de Northwoode, was Lord of Shalford, and the Northwood and Fitz Bernard arms are explained. How do Poynings and Sackville enter the picture? The Poynings connection is apparently through Sir Humphrey's uncle Henry's family, whose daughter (or granddaughter) Joan, co-heir of his son Thomas, married Thomas, Lord Poynings.

The only Sackville connection that GMNC discusses in this book is that of Anne Sackville, the second wife of William Norwood of Leckhampton Court, Gloucestershire.

Beginning on page 80 of GMNC's The Norwoods III, we find a history of Anne Sackville, daughter of Sir Christopher Sackville. Her first husband was Richard Fogge of Dane Court, Tilmanstone, Kent. In the vicarage house at Ashford, Kent, there are eight coats of arms in glass, which include Poynings--Sir Edward--along with Fogge and others. Richard Fogge died in 1598 and Anne married William Norwood of Leckhampton Court, Gloucestershire. Predeceasing William, she left a very detailed will in which she names Tyringham Norwood as cousin, 3rd cousin, once removed, of her second husband. In an earlier generation, Sir John, son of Sir Roger and Sir Humphrey's father, also had a Sackville (Sakeville) connection, for in 1319 shortly before his death "he sold Bokhurste manor, a part of the honor of l'aigle, to Joan, widow of Andrew de Sakeville...without the king's license."(James G. Dempsey, Norwood--Northwood families of Kent, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. Cincinnati, 1983, 1987)

This is all that the records available to me at this time reveal. If you have more to add or corrections to make, please send them along.

Some links to Shalford, Essex, information:

Feudal Truth Website

Essex Archaeological Society

Shalford Parish Council-Essex

Photographs in this section (unless otherwise noted) were made around 1965 and scanned for inclusion on this website by Richard C. Norwood of Ocala, Florida. Photos of the ceiling of the Cloisters at Canterbury Cathedral were made by Margaret Pearson Norwood.

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