Descendants Of The Le Stranges

Are there any le Strange descendants living today? Yes. The direct descendants remain the owners of the Hunstanton Estate. Their lineage now spans 32 generations since Ralph fitz Herluin in 1086, or 31 generations from Roland le Strange, who first established the family surname.

The same senior branch expanded its fiefs and holdings after relocating to Shropshire in the 12th century. This was the third generation—the grandsons of Ralph of Hunstanton and the sons of Matilda and Roland le Strange.

Their principal seat was a fortified residence, later known as Knockin Castle, situated in the village of Knockin near Oswestry. In time, through marriage, their baronial title passed into the Stanley family, Earls of Derby—exchanging a frontier stronghold for the great stately houses of Lancashire.

By the 1540s, Knockin Castle was described as being in ruin. Meanwhile, in 1496, Thomas, Earl of Derby, had built the magnificent medieval Lathom House, reputed to have eighteen towers and a commanding central turret known as the Eagle Tower—an impressive symbol of the family’s new seat and status.

Baroness Joan le Strange of Knockin (1463–1514), daughter of John, Lord Strange of Knockin, married Sir George Stanley, later associated with the Earls of Derby. Her mother was Jacquetta Woodville, sister-in-law to King Edward IV. Joan was likely among the last of the le Strange family to reside at Knockin Castle.

Her parents were buried at St John the Baptist Church, Hillingdon, where one of the church’s most notable memorials—a celebrated brass relief (CH50) set into a marble slab dated 1509—commemorates John, 8th Lord Strange, Baron of Knockin, and Jacquetta his wife.

The title “Baron Strange” long outlived the ruined castle itself. It eventually fell into abeyance in 1594 upon the death of Ferdinand Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, whose wife, Alice Spencer of Althorp, survived him, marking another turning point in the complex history of the title.