Before the le Stranges became powerful Marcher lords, their story belonged to East Anglia. Meet Matilda, heiress of lands at Hunstanton and Barnham, whose marriage to Roland le Strange helped establish an historic Family. From her intriguing le Brun name to the estates she inherited, we explore the world, upbringing and connections of this remarkable early twelfth-century noblewoman.

Blog excerpt:

From Houghton-on-the-Hill in Domesday Norfolk to the Haughtons of twelfth-century Shropshire, an intriguing trail emerges around the early le Strange family. Herluin fitz Ivo disappears from the record, only for Hamo le Strange to appear decades later in the FitzAlan world of Haughmond Abbey, taking over Osbaston — the land from which Knockin would emerge — from a family called Haughton. Coincidence, or is there a missing chapter still waiting to be found?

A closer look at the original Domesday Book entries raises an intriguing possibility: was Ralph fitz Herluin — Ralph of Hunstanton — a considerably greater Norfolk landholder than previously recognised? Different scribal hands, variations between Radulfus and Ranulf, and a striking network of estates held beneath Reginald fitz Ivo suggest that lands now attributed to different men may deserve another look at how many scribes were used in the entries. At Haveringland, the puzzle becomes particularly compelling, while an unidentified Ralph at Titchwell provides another tantalising clue — especially as Titchwell later belonged to the le Strange family.