The Barons of Pulford

The Barons of Pulford in the 11th and 12th Centuries

George Ormerod, in his history of Cheshire, starts the chapter on Pulford with the Domesday Survey dividing the area unequally between the secular canons of St. Werburgh and Hugh Fitz Osbern.  He continues: "The place was subsequently divided between the Ormesbees [sic] and Pulfords, the first of whom were probably successors to the seculars."  He believed the Pulfords were probably descendants of Hugh Fitz Osbern and that the Ormesbys were a Lincolnshire name but did not link them until 1245 when the two estates were united when Ralph Fitz Simon de Ormesby granted his Pulford estate, including the castle, to Robert de Pulford.  

The relationships were resolved by Sir George Sitwell, the father of Dame Edith Sitwell.  In 1889 he published ‘The Barons of Pulford in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries and their Descendants’. He was an antiquarian as well as an MP and his interest in the barons of Pulford was that he claimed to be one of those descendants. His middle-name was Reresby and he showed that the Reresbys were one of the families descended from Hugh Fitz Osbern. According to its subtitle, the book is “an historical account of the lost baronies of Pulford and Dodleston in Cheshire, of seven knights’ fees in Lincolnshire attached to them, and of many manors townships and families in both counties.” From his study of original charters, deeds and other documents he was able to draw a number of conclusions on these subjects, in particular, the genealogy of the lords of Pulford showing the descendants of Hugh Fitz Osbern: “the Reresbys of Thrybergh and Ashover, the Ormesbys of South Ormesby, and the Pulfords of Pulford Castle”.

To put the publication in context, it appeared a few years after Thomas Helsby had published his revised and extended edition of Ormerod’s ‘History of Cheshire’ in 1882. In his preface Sitwell put forward a particular view on the survival of the institutions of Norman Cheshire that, due to the county’s palatinate status and separate Magna Carta, had lasted longer than in the rest of the country. “Low and primitive types of institutions, as of plants or animals, are apt to survive in corners where they are protected from competition. The secret of the peculiar institutions of the county palatine, unguessed by Leycester, Ormerod, or Helsby, is that they were survivals.”  He intended to publish a separate book on the Normans in Cheshire but it does not appear to have been published.  It is, however, possible to give an overview of his conclusions on the descendants of Hugh Fitz Osbern.

Hugh Fitz Osbern

In addition to holding nearly all the land in Cheshire as Earl of Chester, Hugh d'Avranches held many properties in Lincolnshire from the king, as tenant-in-chief.  He granted some of these to other Normans as tenants including Hugh Fitz Osbern who held three manors there (see map and table).  This suggests he was in the contingent of fifty boats that Richard d'Avranches, the future earl's father, contributed to William the Conqueror's fleet and took part in the campaign starting at Hastings.  However, it is not known who his father Osbern was or where in Normandy he came from.  It had been thought that he was the son of Osbern Fitz Tesso who held the manor of Dodleston and had a son also named Hugh Fitz Osbern, but it is now regarded that they were just closely related as they bore the same hearaldic figure, a 'cross patonce' but with different tinctures (see the illustration of the cross on the history group's logo). He does not appear to have held any land in Normandy and so was probably a younger son.  

Sitwell points to there being a Fitz Simon in the Battle Abbey Roll, which was a 13th century document recording families whose ancestors had fought at Hastings, and suggested it might refer to Ralph Fitz Simon, Hugh Fitz Osbern's great-grandson.  However, this is far from certain as there would have been other Fitz Simons.

Hugh Fitz Osbern almost certainly served as one of the Earl's officers in  putting down the Cheshire revolt in 1071/2 and was rewarded with 11 manors in Cheshire, including Pulford.  Although not one of the eight or so tenants-in-chief who became the largest land-holders and were acknowledged as the major Cheshire barons, Hugh Fitz Osbern was certainly not insignificant, sitting on the earl's council and being a witness to several charters, and therefore Sitwell believed he should also be regarded as a baron.  In addition Sitwell claimed Pulford was the caput (seat) of his barony, with the castle as possible evidence although it is not clear when it was actually built: "here no doubt Hugh Fitz Osbern and his heirs had a stockaded fortress and oaken hall, which, through centuries of border warfare, must have stood many a siege from the Welsh, and been the starting point of many a raid." However, he would probably have spent little time in Pulford as he would have been in constant attendance upon the earl, both in war and court which was noted for "pomp, prodigality, feasting and an army of retainers."  So much of the year involved journeying with his lord, including fighting in his campaigns in Wales, Anglesey and France.  He was also in attendance with Archbishop Anselm at the foundation of the Abbey of St. Werburgh in Chester in 1093.

The Descendants of Hugh Fitz Osbern

Sitwell was able to piece together the descendants of Hugh Fitz Osbern due to a convenient piece of evidence provided when one of his great grand-sons, Ralph Fitz Simon, the senior member of the family, was called on to give evidence in a suit brought before the court of Richard I in 1194 by another member of the family, Isorius Fitz Alexander, whose father, Alexander Fitz Osbern, appears to have been disinherited.  In the record of the 1194 suit Hugh Fitz Osbern is called 'Blundus' or 'the Fair' in order to distinguish him from his grandson, another Hugh Fitz Osbern. 

It is also possible to infer historic actions that his descendants would have been involved in.  As feudal tenants of the Earls of Chester they would have had to render military service and been in attendance on their lord from whom they held their land.  The actions of the Earls of Chester give an indication of what the barons of Pulford would have been involved in, especially during the years of 'The Anarchy', which was the civil war between 1138 and 1153 when Matilda fought her cousin Stephen for the throne.

Osbern Fitz Hugh, 2nd Baron of Pulford

Osbern Fitz Hugh succeeded his father sometime before 1119. He was with Richard d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, the son and successor of Earl Hugh, when he witnessed the Earl's charter of confirmation to the Abbey of St. Werburgh.  Richard died in 1120 when he was on board the fated White Ship that capsized and sank in the Channel and drowned along with many of England's young nobility including Prince William, heir to King Henry I. Richard was succeeded as Earl of Chester by his cousin, Ranulph Meschines (Ranulf le Meschin) ('The Younger').  Little else definite is known about Osbern apart from his holding several manors in Lincolnshire in addition to Pulford and being a witness to various charters of both Earl Richard and Earl Ranulph.  There is evidence that one of the lords of Pulford in the twelfth century gave a part of the manor of Wardle to the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem and Sitwell thought it possible that Osbern was the donor. 

Earl Ranulph Meschines died in 1129 and was succeeded as Earl of Chester by his son Ranulph, surnamed de Gernons (Ranulf de Gernons), who became the most important noble in the kingdom and played a key role in the dynastic struggle for the English crown between Stephen and Matilda, changing loyalty as served his own interest. It is likely that Osbern Fitz Hugh was present at the Battle if Lincoln in 1141 when Stephen was captured by the Earl, and he would have followed his feudal lord in his continual switching of alliance.

It is not known precisely when Osbern died but it was before the accession of Henry II in 1154.

Hugh Fitz Osbern, 3rd Baron of Pulford

Hugh succeeded his father as Third Baron but died before 1154.  His next younger brother Alexander Fitz Osbern did not inherit the title. He was apparently living as late as 1174 but appears to have been disinherited. He married Juliana de Reresby, a place near Lincoln.  She was an heiress and their son Isorius (Isore, Isidore) assumed the de Reresby surname. It was this Isorius who brought the suit in 1194 mentioned above against his father's cousin, Richard de Ormesby, claiming lordship of an area of land at Moreton in Lincolnshire.  Sitwell devotes the first chapter of his book to this suit as the record contains so much information about the family members of Hugh Fitz Osbern and the lands they held and the consequent rivalries.  It is likely that Isorius lost his case.

Simon Fitz Osbern, 4th Baron of Pulford

Simon succeeded his elder brother, Hugh, as Fourth Baron and was with Earl Ranulph II in 1153 at the castle of Devizes when Henry II restored to the Earl his inheritances in England and Wales.  He was also possibly with the Earl when he was poisoned by William Peveril at Gresley Castle in Derbyshire towards the end of 1153.  Ranulph II was succeeded by his son who became Earl Hugh II (Hugh de Keveliok) at the age of eight. Simon would have continued in attendance on the new Earl and when he attained majority supported him in campaigns against the Welsh.  In 1173 the Earl became involved in the family feud between King Henry and his three sons, Henry, Richard and Geoffrey, which broke out on both sides of the channel.   Earl Hugh, along with other rebel barons sided with the young Henry and on the resolution of the feud, was disinherited of lands and castles. These were later restored.

There is a record of a gift from Simon to the Abbey of St. Werburgh of the church of St. Peter in Chester.  The annals of Chester record his death in 1184.

Ralph Fitz Simon, 5th Baron of Pulford

Ralph succeeded his father as the fifth and final Baron of Pulford. He was constantly in attendance on Earl Ranulph III (Ranulf de Blundeville) who succeeded Earl Hugh II on his death in 1181 becoming Earl at the age of eleven and ruling over Cheshire for more than fifty years.  Ralph was a witness to the foundation of the Abbey of Dieulacres which was originally established by Earl Ranulph in Poulton but later moved to Staffordshire in 1214, possibly due partly to its exposure to Welsh raiding parties.  He was witness also to many others of the Earl's charters and was called as a witness to the 1194 suit of Isorius Fitz Alexander de Reresby, being regarded by both parties as head of the family.

He used the surname de Pulford in two charters when confirming a gift to the monks of Poulton but de Ormesby, which is a Lincolnshire name, when passing Pulford Castle to his relative Robert de Pulford. This occurred shortly before the Earldom of Chester passed to the crown in 1237 on the death of John the Scot, Earl of Huntingdon and seventh and final of the Norman Earls of Chester, who succeeded Ranulph de Blundeville in 1232.  At this point, to quote Sitwell, "[this] threw into abeyance the barony of Pulford, by alienation of its caput."  However, Ralph's descendants, the Ormesbies, continued nominally as overlords of Pulford for more than a century.  It is not clear exactly what the relationship was between Ralph and Robert but the de Pulfords are assumed to have been junior members of the family.

It is possible, following the family genealogies in Ormerod, to trace the ownership of the manor and castle of Pulford, as well as the advowson or patronage of Pulford Church, through the many generations of de Pulfords, Grosvenors, Winnertons and Warburtons, all significant Cheshire families linked by marriage.  Finally, on the passing of Sir Peter Warburton, Fifth Baronet of Arley, in 1812, the baronetcy expired and the estates were bought by Robert Townsend who then sold them to Robert, Earl Grosvenor, another descendant of Robert de Pulford.  He later became Marquess of Westminster and Pulford and Poulton became part of the Eaton Estate of the Dukes of Westminster.  The Grosvenors continued to hold them until the western part of the Eaton Estate was sold in 1919. 

References:

"The Barons of Pulford in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries and their Descendants" by Sir George Reresby Sitwell (1889)

"The Norman Earls of Chester & their Barons" by Tony Bostock (2021)