Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Walter Roberts[1]

Male Abt 1442 - 1522  (~ 80 years)


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  • Name Walter Roberts 
    Alternate birth Aft 1436  of Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Birth Abt 1442  Glassenbury Manor, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Death Between 11 Feb 1522 and 18 Oct 1522  Glassenbury Manor, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Person ID I12324  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of FL, Ancestor of GFS, Ancestor of TS
    Last Modified 4 Mar 2022 

    Father John Roberts,   b. Glassenbury Manor, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between 20 Jan 1461 and 7 Feb 1461, Glassenbury Manor, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Agnes Baker   d. Between 15 Feb 1495 and 2 Jul 1496, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F8035  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Margaret Penn   d. 6 May 1480 
    Marriage 23 Oct 1463  [1, 4
    Family ID F8050  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Jun 2015 

    Family 2 Isabel Culpepper   d. 17 Jan 1491, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage 20 Nov 1480  St. Dunstan, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
    +1. Joan Roberts,   b. Between 1480 and 1491, Glassenbury Manor, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Between Sep 1547 and Feb 1548, Lamberhurst, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 67 years)
    Family ID F8034  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Mar 2022 

    Family 3 Alice Naylor 
    Marriage 18 Feb 1492  [1, 4
    Family ID F8051  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Jun 2015 

  • Notes 
    • Lancastrian; attainted under Richard III; made Sheriff of Kent by Henry VII.

      His will, made 11 Feb 1522, mentions "Johan Horden my doughter". His daughter Joan's second husband, after the death of Richard Exhurst in 1512, was Thomas Horden, who died in 1552.

      From The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (citation details below):

      THE MANOR OF GLASSENBURY is of considerable note, the mansion of which is situated near three miles north-west from the church. This seat was for many generations the residence of the antient family of Rokehurst, the first of whom, who settled in this county, was William Rookehurst, alias Roberts, a gentleman of Scotland, of the shire of Anandale, who, leaving his native country, came to the adjoining parish of Goudhurst in the 3d year of king Henry I and then purchased lands at Winchett hill there, where he built a mansion for his residence; which lands were afterwards named from him, the lands and denne of Rookehurst, which name it still retains, and there is a tablet put up over a tomb in the south chancel of this church, giving an account of him and his posterity, who bore for their arms, Azure, on a chevron, argent, three mullets, sable. This family continued at Goudhurst for 274 years, till, in the reign of king Richard II. Stephen Roberts, alias Rookehurst, marrying Joane, daughter and heir of William Tilley, esq. of Glassenbury, whose ancestors had resided here, as appeared by private evidences, from the time of king Edward I removed to his manor, where he built a mansion, on the hill of Glassenbury, which came by lineal descent to Walter Roberts, esq. who possessed it in the reigns of king Edward IV and Henry VII and was the first who wrote himself by that name only. He, about the year 1473, pulled down this antient seat, and built another lower down the valley, being the present seat of Glassenbury, which he moated round, and inclosed a large park which lay at some distance from it; to enable him to do which, in the 4th year of king Henry VII. he had a grant to impark six hundred acres of land, and one thousand acres of wood, in Cranebrooke, Gowdehurst, and Ticehurst, in Kent and Suffex, and liberty of free warren in all his lands and woods, and of fishing in all waters in his lands in those parishes, with all liberties and franchises usually granted in such cases. The park of Glassenbury has been long since disparked. He was afterwards dispossessed of this seat, and forced to fly into sanctuary, for endeavouring to conceal his friend and neighbour Sir John Guildford from the resentment of king Richard III. for which he was attainted, and this manor and seat, together with all other his lands in Kent, Suffex, and Surry, were granted by the king, in his first year, to his trustly friend Robert Brackenbury, esq. constable of the tower; but on the accession of Henry VII his attainder was taken off by parliament likewise, and all his estates restored to him. And in the 5th year of that reign, he was sheriff of this county. He died in the year 1522, aged more than eighty years, and was buried under the old tomb on the north side of the south chancel, being the first who appears by clear evidences to have been interred in this church, in which there are many gravestones and memorials of his posterity, who continued to reside here, several of whom were at times sheriffs of this county, until within memory.

      From "The Exhurst Ancestry of the Stoughton Siblings", citation details below:

      Walter's manor of Glassenbury was the scene of a well-documented episode during the War of the Roses. At the parliament that began on 23 January and ended on February 20, in the first year of King Richard III, Walter Roberts was attainted and his lands forfeited:
      Forasmoche as oon Walter Roberd, late of Crambroke in the Countie of Kent...accompanyed with Sr George Browne, Sr John Gylford, and other the Kyngs Traytors and Rebells, the xviiith day of October, the first yere of the Reigne of the Kyng oure Soveraigne Lorde, falsly and traiterously levied Werre ayenst oure said Soveraigne Lorde. And afterwards, the xth day of Fevrier, the said fyrst yere of oure said Soveraign Lorde, the said Water [sic]...herboured, comforted and ayded the same Sr John, and othre the Kings Traitors and Rebells...Bee it therfore ordeigned...that the said Water Roberd be atteynted of high Treason, and forfaite...all his Lands and Tenements, and other Hereditaments and Possessions, that he...had...the said xviiith day of October.
      A vivid account of the attempt to arrest Walter Roberts on February 10 is given in the 1592 and 1629 Roberts pedigrees:
      On the Wednesday following the Purification of the Virgine in the first yeare of that Kings reigne Edw: Stanley and John Savage Knights guarded with an extraordinarie Companye of Souldiours did with extreme violence enter the house of Glastenbery and there apprehended Sir John Guildeforde whom they Deteyned prisoner, wherewith Walter Rooberts being feared and doubting further evills to fall upon himselfe did yet set a good countenance thereon preparing a costly Dinner for Stanley and Savage. But when they were at their Repaste Walter beying let downe out of the House by a Sheete, for Stanley and Savage had so fastened the Doors yt none might enter in or out did forsake his house and committed himselfe to Sanctuary in whichhe lay secretly 3 yeares...until King Hen: the 7th obtained the Crowne at length; when Stanley and Savage knew the departure of Walter forthwith they seised upon his goods, spoyled his house and carried away the valew of A Thousand pounds declaring all there doings to King Richard whereupon the king beying heavily incensed against Walter Rooberts condemned him of High Treason and entered upon all his goods and possessions.

  • Sources 
    1. [S373] Adrian Benjamin Burke, John Blythe Dobson, and Janet Chevally Wolfe, "The Exhurst Ancestry of the Stoughton Siblings of New England." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 165:245, October 2011; 166:46, January 2012.

    2. [S376] Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy.

    3. [S3796] The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Volume VII, by Edward Hasted. Canterbury: W. Bristow, 1798., year and place only.

    4. [S370] Findagrave.com page for Walter Roberts, by Todd Whitesides and Ken Smith.