The family of Edward HALL (1498-1547), the chronicler, came from around Kynnersley, and the coat of arms granted before 1548 were for "Hall of NORTHALL, near Kynnersley." The problem is that Northall cannot be found, and the Halls seem not to have had a named farm or manor near Kynnersley. Northall exists as a surname (with a concentration near Stoke-on-Trent) but the only Northalls on the maps are in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk. Has anyone a clue about where the Northall in Shropshire might have been? I am preparing a new edition of Hall's Chronicle (1548, 1550), so I'd like to confirm such biographical information. Thanks from San Francisco, California!
Mike, thanks very much for looking for Northall. I asked Shropshire Archives directly to see if Northall might be lurking in an obscure list, but no, they can't identify it. Prof. John Baker, co-editor of the Shropshire volumes of the Survey of English Place-Names, could not locate this Northall, near Kynnersley. Even the Notes & Queries antiquarian subscribers a century ago couldn't find it. (The original query in N&Q 10th series, no. 12--Mar. 19, 1904--noted that "Eyton does not mention the place, nor is it marked in the Stafford Estate Maps." Two replies only pointed to Northall villages in distant counties.)
One lead I got from a Northall in the west of England: "When I was a boy I read a book about the origin of surnames and needless to say I looked up my own. The origin of Northall was given as being from the North Hall near Shrewsbury. My paternal grandfather was a Shropshire man so that seemed reasonable." I have checked surname indexes at my local genealogical collection and didn't see confirmation of that.
I speculate that Northall was a medieval location--field, hill, an empty place, perhaps north of Kynnersley--where the Halls as new landed gentry thought to build a house. But I may never find out!
Al in San Francisco
Have you considered a connection between Edward HALL and the Earls of Bridgewater? They may have been friends in Parliament. I say this because the Earls of Bridgewater have great connections with Shropshire and they owned Ashbridge estates in Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire which contained the hamlet of Northall. Could Edward have called his house Northall to honour his aquaintence. Just a thought, I have no knowledge other than looking for clues! KMB.
Kathleen, thanks. I looked up the Daubeney family--barony 1486, earldom of Bridgwater 1538 (both extinct in 1548) in Complete Peerage but didn't see any names or placenames that connect with the Hall family of around Kynnersley or Edward, the chronicler. He was actually born in London and had his career in law there, but represented Much Wenlock and, later, Bridgnorth in Parliament.
Earlier, I had researched the history and ownership of local great houses/castles and the first Tudor owners of the dissolved monasteries in the Kynnersley area, without finding anything to connect to the Hall family or point to the site of "Northall, near Kynnersley."
Biographical facts about minor players in the Tudor drama tend to be repeated, thus "Northall, near Kynnersley" went without challenge or even comment. As well, various sources have said he was at Oxford as well as Cambridge (no) and obtained former monastic property in Norfolk (doubtful), and that an edition of the chronicle printed in 1542 was so thorough suppressed by Queen Mary that no copy can be found (there was no such edition). Biography and genealogy never fails to be at least interesting!
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Hello
We have an index of place names in Shropshire compiled in the mid-1900's but there is no mention of Northall.
More recently a crowd sourced project to index every place and other reference on the Ordnance Survey maps of the UK published around 1900 at a scale of 6 inches to 1 mile has been completed and become available online at the National Library of Scotland web site. Again Northall does not appear.
I have had a look at The National Archives web site but couldn't see anything which looked useful.
Likewise I have tried the Shropshire Archives web site but the references seem to refer to people with that name.
Mike