RIDLEY FAMILY OF ENGLAND, — EARLY ANCESTRY. 403
County Palatine of Chester, six and a quarter miles from Nantwitch, and
in 1850 contained one hundred and twenty-three inhabitants.
It is not known whether Ridley Hall took its name from the family, or
the family their surname from the place of residence; the latter, however,
is the most probable conclusion, Ridley, or Ridleigh, as the name was
originally spelt, being a local name. William the Conqueror required all
residents to assume surnames at his accession, in order to properly keep
the records; and the family at Ridley Hall, if then resident there, prob-
ably adopted the name at that time. As one authority in a local history
calls the Ridleys "a gentile family," it is possible that their ancestor came
with William from Normandy, and was rewarded with the lands of Ridley
for services in his army; indeed nearly all the evidence points to that as
the origin of the family. I have not yet learned that the name stands on
the Domesday Book.
In St. John's church-yard, in the city of Chester, is a slab, which is partly
flat, and covered with flowing foliage, executed in low relief, and in part
cut away in order to disclose to view a sculptured semi-effigy; the upper
part, including the figure, that of a female,- is much worn and injured
by lapse of time, but the lower part of the stone is nearly entire. The
tracery and border-legend within which it is contained, are still sharp and
distinct, with the exception of a few letters only of the legend. The in-
scription in Latin on this monument is, —
"Hic jacet Agnes Victor Rice de-Ridlegh,
Ive Obiit Dic,
Sabiti Pri aw Flu.
Phi et Jacob a
CCX."
Translated: "Here lies Agnes, wife of Richard de-Ridlegh, who died on
Sabbath-day next before the feast of Philip and James, the apostles."
A junior branch of the ancient family of Ridley of Chestershire emi-
grated to Northumberland, and became settled upon extensive lands in
the valley of the Tyne, long before the elder line became extinct at Rid-
ley Hall.
Just how their lands in Tynedale came to them has not been
learned; neither what place they made their first residence in that County.
They were certainly possessed of the castle and estates of Willimoteswick
as early as 1280, and probably much before that date. Evidently daugh-
ters of Hudard de Willimoteswick were married to the Ridleys. Hudard
or Bedard de Willimoteswick was witness to a grant of land in Whitelaw,
to the Canons of Hexham, by Adam de Tynedale, in the reign of King
Henry II (1154). An evidence of the connection between the families of
Ridley and Willimoteswick is the fact that the singular name "Odard” or
"Hudard" came into the Ridley family about this time; and the first who
bore the name was undoubtedly the heir to the estate.
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Willimoteswick means the mote or keep of William; the name may also
represent a villa. Bishop Ridley, the martyr, whose uncle was resident
there, in his farewell letter, written just before he was burned at Ox-
ford, spells the name "Willimountwick," and his friend Doctor Turner
has it "Willowmountwick." The willow tree in the dialect of Northum-
berland, where this old place is situated, is always called a "willey." But
Willimoteswick is the ancient and most common way of spelling the name;
mote is clearly Saxon, and means a court or meeting-place, both of which
were anciently held in the open air in ciruse surrounded by a trench and
vellum, and afterwards in castles and towers. The old distich-
