Early history of the Dykes family

The earliest member of the Dykes family that I can find is Robert del Dykes who was born in 1270.

The earliest mention of the his name name in official records relates to the year 1303.  In that year, the lands of John de Mulcastre (tenant in chief) were taken from him by the crown (King Edward 1st) due to the "enmity and rebellion of Alice, niece of John, who stays with the Scots the king's enemies"; and the land was awarded to Robert de Crokedayk, of Great Waverton in Cheshire.

On the death of Robert de Crokedayk there was no male heir, so the official records states the land is to be split in two equal parts and inherited by the sisters of Robert de Crokedayk; Agnes and Christiana.

Agnes de Crokedayk was the wife of Robert del Dykes at the time of inheritance, and so had the name Agnes del Dykes.

She and her sister, Christiana de Crokedayk were not the automatic beneficiaries. As there was no male heir, the lands automatically passed to the Crown on the death of the male line. Representation had to be made to the Crown for any female heirs to inherit, and this was recorded by Royal Charter on 20th February 1304 (see below). In order to obtain the lands, Robert del Dykes swore allegiance to the crown (fealty) and so assumed control of the share of his wife's sister, Christiana de Crokedayk.

Robert del Dykes died aged 45 in 1315. He and Agnes had two children; Agnes del Dykes born in 1306 and Walter del Dykes born in 1308 (I can't remember where I found this information). Agnes, wife of Robert del Dykes, was born in 1279 in Waverton Cheshire.

At this time the language of the landed-gentry was undergoing change as, since 1066 and the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings, the principal language of Court was French. With the Norman victory, all the English Barons, Dukes and other peers of the realm lost their lands to the victorious (French-speaking) Normans . In order to regain control of their lands, the English had to marry their daughters to the Norman lords.  In the meantime, for about 200 years, French remained the principal language of Court.  The first king who spoke English as his first language was Edward 1st.

From Burke's peerage (see below) there appears to be a bit of confusion. The male line starts with William del Dykes and not Robert del Dykes.

It is further confusing as William is married to Agnes, heiress of Sir Hugh Waverton of Waverton. Are Robert and William the same person?

From the above, after a number of "William" Dykes - possibly 9 in a row - and the one that is of interest is  there came a Thomas Dykes, whose some was Leonard Dykes.  Leonard is very interesting and he married Margaret Fretcheville (the Fretcheville name was then associated with the Dykes family for over 200 years). 

At this point we can get an idea of the date as the son of Leonard Dykes was another Thomas Dykes, who is described as a "distinguished cavalier".  This almost certainly relates to the time of the English Civil War between 1642-51.  Thomas Dykes is the source of the family motto Prius frangitur quam flectitur "rather broken than bent".  Thomas Dykes, was a Royalist at the time of the English Civil War during the reign of Charles I, secreted himself at Wardhall (Warthole Hall) after the defeat of his party at the Battle of Marston Moor on 2nd July 1644. Thomas Dykes is then reputed to have hid in many areas of his land, including in a mulberry tree, which stands to this day (it sits on land behind a bungalow adjacent to the site of Warthole Hall - see aerial photo below, the tree is at the bottom of the photograph and the outline of Warthole Hall can be seen in the field). 

Unfortunately, Thomas Dykes was soon captured by the Parliamentarians and imprisoned at locally at Cockermouth Castle. Thomas Dykes was offered his freedom and the restoration of his property if he would become a traitor to his King by joining the Parliamentarians, but responded with Prius frangitur quam flectitur - Sooner broken than bent. 

Thomas died at Cockermouth Castle and, such was the strength of the story, the family adopted Prius frangitur quam flectitur as the family motto, and the mulberry tree as a family symbol..

Before he died, Thomas had two wives, the first being Joyce, niece of Lord Fretcheville of Staveley, and his 2nd wife was Jane de la Vale.  His heir was Leonard Dykes, son of Joyce.  It would appear (I need to do some research) that Leonard Dykes raised his game for his bride as he was married to Grace Salkeld who was decended from Richard Huddleston who was married to Margaret Nevill who was the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Warwick (the man who would be king).