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

The pedigree begins with John Clarke, of Basledon, in this county, living there the latter part of the fifteenth century. The family afterwards removed to Ardington, where they were established, according to Lysons, in the reign of Henry VII. The Visitations of 1566 and 1623 record five generations of the Clarkes before the year 1600.

See the Visitation of Berks, 1566. Harl. MS. 5822, 22 b, and Harl. 1532. See also Lysons's Berkshire, pp. 180, 186, and Clarke's Hundred of Wanting, p. 56.

Arms.—(Confirmed Oct. 22, 1600.) Argent, on a fess sable three plates between three crosses patée of the second. Sometimes the fess is placed between six crosses patée.

Present Representative, William Nelson Clarke, Esq.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

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Knightly.

Chetwode of Chetwode, Baronet 1700.

This very ancient family is lineally descended from Robert de Thain, who held Chetwode under the Bishop of Baieux in the time of William the Conqueror, as appears by Domesday Book.