Walpole of Wolterton, Earl of Orford 1806, Baron 1723.
Walpole, in Mershland, in this county, gave name to this historical family, and here Joceline de Walpole was living in the reign of Stephen. Reginald de Walpole, in the time of Henry I. seems to have been lineal ancestor of the house. He was father of Richard, who married Emma, daughter of Walter de Hawton, or Houghton, which at a very early period became the family seat, and which, after the death of the third Earl of the first creation, passed to the issue of his aunt Mary, Viscountess Malpas, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole; whose descendant, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, is the present possessor.
See Blomefield, iii. 796, and iv. 708; also Brydges's Collins, v. 631.
Arms.—Or, on a fess between two chevrons sable three cross-crosslets of the first.
Present Representative, Horatio William Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford.
Berney of Kirby Beedon, Baronet 1620.
Berney, in the hundred of North Greenhow in this county, doubtless gave name to this ancient family, who are traced pretty nearly to the Conquest. Park Hall, the former seat, is in the parish of Reedham, and was acquired by the marriage of Sir Thomas de Berney with Margaret daughter and heir of Sir William de Reedham in the reign of Edward III.
Younger branch, Berney of Morton Hall in this county, descended from a younger brother of the first Baronet.