FOUNDER OF HUNSTANTON HENRY STYLEMAN LE STRANGE

The Norfolk Town of Hunstanton was founded by Henry Styleman le Strange, who opened the lands of his estate to visitors and laid the foundations of a new seaside resort.

Henry built the Golden Lion Hotel. He was the 22nd great-grandson of Ralph of Hunstanton, and 30th heir.

What began in 1086 as a Norman farmland grew into a thriving town in its own right, now administered by a local council. This transformation marked a significant new chapter in the history of the le Strange Estate. In time, the ancestral home was auctioned, and portions of the townland were sold for residential and commercial development, including enterprises such as the Le Strange Arms Hotel.

THE ANCESTRAL HOME

Hunstanton Hall, the family’s ancestral home, still stands within its historic parklands. The main residence was sold out of the family in 1949, though from the 1960s to abt. 1990s the family retained a small foothold in the West Wing. As children, my generation was among the last to enjoy our time delighting in the mysterious corridors and well kept gardens during our visits to our Grandparents.

EARLY ANCESTORS

Back in time, in the 1150’s, the earlier ancestors became a Marcher family. As was customary in that era, they lived largely peripatetic lives, holding several manors and fortified residences. As their influence expanded—something of a trusted “franchise” built on loyalty and service—provisions and positions were granted to male members of the wider family. In doing so, they supported both the Monarch and the principal Hunstanton heir within the Shropshire frontline defence network.

Established in the Welsh Marches of Shropshire, the senior Hunstanton branch rose to considerable prominence. With strongholds at Knockin Castle, Ness, Ruyton Eleven Towns, and Myddle, among others, they had formed stable alliances with the Fitz Alans and Earls of Arundel. Knockin stood as the furthest outpost against Welsh incursions. Although their Shropshire residences have long since fallen into ruin, several of these outposts survive today as protected monuments, many of them marking what would become the modern English–Welsh border.

THE LE STRANGE COLLECTION

Over many centuries, the family papers accumulated until they would have filled numerous medieval trunks. While the Marcher Lords were away, they still visited this, their working farm. The later family kept the collection in the Muniment Room. The earliest surviving document in the family’s own collection was dated by the distinguished historian Eyton to the mid-13th century, circa 1250–1275, suggesting it had remained on site since that time.

Court Rolls and other records attest to the family’s enduring loyalty to the Crown, and their documented history now spans some 939 years, reaching to the present day (2025).

The Le Strange Collection of documents is now preserved at the Norfolk Record Office. Following the fire there on 1 August 1994, the archive was rehoused, and today the surviving files occupy approximately an 11 by 13 foot room.

These landed knights and barons were long familiar figures in royal circles. Even into the 21st century, when the Royal Family resided at Sandringham House as neighbours, the le Stranges and the Royals shared in country pursuits, including shooting parties.

Having established themselves as a Hunstanton landowning family by the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, their allegiance proved enduring. When 12th-century politics required a relocation some 200 miles west to Shropshire, they assumed pivotal roles as Marcher Lords on the frontier. From there, they raised their families while continuing to hold their Hunstanton estates. They were not only entrusted as royal castle keepers, but maintained castles of their own.

Today, their legacy is recognised in Keepers of the Kingdom: The Ancient Offices of Britain by Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, which explores offices later associated with the junior branch seated at Hunstanton.

When they rode out as medieval battle leaders beneath banners bearing their motto Mihi Parta Tuerri (“I will defend what I have won”), it expressed a steadfast commitment to land, loyalty, and duty that defined the family across generations.

DIVERSION OF THE HUNSTANTON SUCCESSION - 1310

The le Stranges of ‘Knockin and Hunstanton’ share common ancestry and are one of the same. In 1310, the heir of ‘Knockin & Hunstanton’ arranged an amicable and lawful diversion of the original Hunstanton heirloom to a younger brother, Hamon le Strange, of the senior Knockin Castle branch—then headed by his brother, John VI le Strange.

Hamon le Strange’s tomb may be seen at St Mary the Virgin Church, Old Hunstanton. Both the Hunstanton Estate and the church required restoration, and Hamon began significant building works before his premature death in 1317. His son continued the project thereafter. For this reason, the Hunstanton line became known as the junior branch.

Hamon’s younger brother, Eubulo (Eble) le Strange, is remembered for the dramatic episode involving his wife, Alice, Countess of Lincoln, who was reportedly abducted in May 1317—the same year Hamon died.

LINEAGE & BLOODLINE

As mentioned above, the Hunstanton bloodline is direct from the elder branch via brothers. Though it may appear that the elder line later died out in Shropshire, the reality is more nuanced. Knockin Castle was eventually abandoned by the 15th century when the sole surviving heiress, Baroness le Strange, married into the Stanley family, Earls of Derby. The title “Baron Strange” was absorbed into that line, preserving the bloodline under a different guise. In that sense, the descendants became, perhaps, less “le Strange” in name—though not in heritage.

By contrast, the direct male line of the present Hunstanton branch continues to this day. The addition of the “Styleman” name arose through a single female heiress, aged 71, who inherited the estate from her late brother in 1762. Her tenure was brief, lasting only six years before her death, after which the estate passed to her eldest son. She was the 18th great-grand-daughter of the earlier heiress, Matilda le Strange (d.bef. 1135). Although the bloodline on occasion passed to the brother or brother’s son, all successors are the grandchildren of the progenitor Ralph Herluin of Hunstanton.

EARLS & LORDS

The connection between the Hunstanton family and the Earls of Derby today rests upon a 15th-century marriage alliance of Baroness Strange of Knockin. A more recent cousinship links the family to the Lords of Mostyn of North Wales, through the 1866 marriage of Katherine Mostyn, my great-grandmother, and Rev. Austin le Strange.

TUDORS

From the Tudor period, one notable ancestor was Sir Thomas le Strange, Esq to the Body of Henry VIII. He appears among the sketches of Hans Holbein the Younger in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.

Sir Thomas—my 14th great-grandfather—lived within the orbit of the Tudor court, where Anne Boleyn featured prominently. He is believed to have been buried at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Hunstanton, though no grave or inscription can now be definitively identified.

ST. MARY THE VIRGIN CHURCH

For many, the Church of St Mary the Virgin at Old Hunstanton serves almost as a museum to the le Strange family. Within its walls are tombs, polished memorial plaques, and monuments, while the surrounding churchyard holds generations of family graves. Over centuries, the family invested heavily in preserving the church, saving it from decline.

The Norman font stands as silent witness to nearly a thousand years of le Strange family gatherings. Around it, countless christenings have taken place across the centuries—including my own—linking the present directly with a deeply rooted past.   

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY

When friends in Wrockwardine invited us to visit, we had no idea what awaited us.

In a remarkable twist of history, the le Strange family had come full circle. My grandmother, Viola le Strange, had married George Astbury Meakin, a Shropshire-born clergyman. During the Second World War, they evacuated from Norfolk to the Shropshire countryside. George returned to his native roots and became Vicar of Wrockwardine. They lived in the vicarage opposite St Peter's Church, Wrockwardine—unaware that one of Viola’s medieval le Strange forebears had resided only metres away in the 13th century.

In the 1990s, family friends contacted her daughter, Mary, with some exciting, unexpected news. While digging in their back garden, they had uncovered remains believed to be part of the le Strange manor house that came into the Family in 1200 via Hamo le Strange (crusader).

NOTES:

This ancient Family history is evidence based. References from many sources via the once private Family records now kept at the Norfolk Records Office, British Museum, Debretts Peerage, The Le Strange Records book by Hamon le Strange, and many more, and Court Rolls of Monarchs.

Website Publication Date 2025