Notes on Ancestors

For identification, the numbering system refers to the Main Family Tree.

11th November 1297: William Wallace and his Scottish forces arrive at Carlisle. according to the escheator’s roll, the tenements of Henry del Dykes at Burgh and of Thomas de Leverisdale at Kirkcambeck were burnt at this time so that neither rendered any issue the following year.
For the rural tenantry of northern England it was a harrowing, though short-lived, experience. Memories of the Wallace invasion no doubt contributed to the decision of the northern counties in 1311 to 1314 to pay the extortionate ransoms demanded by Robert Bruce, rather than risk a repetition of the horrors of 1297.

From Register and Records of Holm Cultram  in 1299: At Martinmas 1299 the abbey of Holm let to fee farm to William f. Gilbert of Burgh the land which Reginald del Dikes formerly held of the monks in Burgh-on-Sands; and half an acre which Stephen del Grene formerly held of them between the land of Sir Robert de Wyterigg and that of Radulph f. Peter in the same vill. William is to build a sufficient house on that half-acre at his own cost, and to pay the monks 9s. yearly. If he fails in payment or in keeping up the house or land, the monks can enter and resume possession.

William f. Gilbert of Burgh quitclaims to Holm the land in Burgh-on-Sands which he held on ferm from the abbey, the same that Reginald del Dykes held on ferm from the monks; with half an acre which Stephen del Grene formerly held of them in that vill.



00 - Robert del Dykes (b.1270 - d.1315)
Unfortunately, there is no further mention of Robert del Dykes and no Inquisition Post Mortem for him as he did not hold his land directly from the crown i.e. was not a tenant-in-chief. It was up to his descendants who married into better families to raise the profile of the Dykes name.

05 - William del Dykes (b.1440- d.???)
MP for Cumberland (lives in the time of Henry VI) 
m. 1465 to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Lee Thwaites, of Thwaites (Elizabeth is a descendant of William the Conqueror via WtheC’s sister)..
William del Dykes, the sixth of the name, represented the county in Parliament, in the reign of Henry VI. He received the manor and lands at Wardhall (still in the family) from one Robert Whitehede. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William de Leigh, of Isel, who claimed her descent from Emma, sister to William the Conqueror, and Harlowen de Conteville, or de Burgo, who could trace his pedigree in the direct male line to Charles, Duke of Ingleheim, fifth son of Charlemagne.