The Noble and Gentle Men of England / or, notes touching the arms and descents of the ancient knightly and gentle houses of England, arranged in their respective counties.

by Evelyn Philip Shirley

No family in England can claim a more noble origin than the house of Arden, descended in the male line from the Saxon Earls of Warwick before the Conquest. The name of Arden was assumed from the Woodlands of Arden, in the North of Warwickshire, by Siward de Arden, in the reign of Henry I.; which Siward was grandson of Alwin the Sheriff in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The elder line of the family was long seated at Park-Hall in Warwickshire, and became extinct in 1643. A younger branch descended from Simon second son of Thomas Arden, of Park-Hall, Esq. settled at Longcroft, in the parish of Yoxall, in the reign of Elizabeth, and now represents this most ancient and noble family.

See Dugdale's Warwickshire, 2nd edit. vol. ii. p. 295; Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 102; and Erdeswick, p. 279; also a paper by George Ormerod, Esq. LL.D., the historian of Cheshire, "On the connection of Arden, or Arderne, of Cheshire, with the Ardens of Warwickshire," in "The Topographer and Genealogist," vol. i. 1846.

Arms.—Ermine, a fess checky or and azure, and so borne by Sir——de Arderne in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.)

Present Representative, George Pincard Arden, Esq.

Meynell of Hore-Cross.

An ancient Derbyshire family, which can be traced to the reign of Henry II. One of their most ancient possessions was Langley-Meynell, in that county, an estate which remained in the family till the end of the fourteenth century. A younger son at this period was seated at Yeaveley, his grandson at Willington, both in Derbyshire. Bradley, in the same county, became in the seventeenh century, by purchase, the residence of a still younger branch, descended from Francis, fourth son of Godfrey Meynell of Willington: from him descends the present family, who were of Hore-Cross the latter part of the last century. Temple-Newsom, in Yorkshire, was inherited from the Ingrams by the present Mr. Meynell on the death of the Marchioness of Hertford in 1835.

Younger Branch. Meynell of Langley-Meynell, Derbyshire, descended from Francis, second son of Francis Meynell, of Willington, who died in 1616.

See Leland's Itinerary, iv. fo. 17; and Topographer and Genealogist, i. 439, and 494.

Arms.—Vaire argent and sable. This was the coat of De-la-Ward, of which house Hugh de Meynell married the heiress in the reign of Edward III. The proper coat of Meynell was, Paly of six argent and gules, on a bend azure three horseshoes or.