As generations came and went the legacy grew into the modern lineage of 32 generations of grandchildren from which approx 36 of those assumed Heir Duty. Thanks to Hamon le Strange’s research work in the le Strange Records printed in 1916, we were able to fill in the Family Tree. There is no Heir of the Estate who is not a grand-child of Ralph of Hunstanton (aka Ralph fitz Herluin).

The ‘le Strange’ name arrived in the Family early on. It was during in the second generation around 1100 when Ralph of Hunstanton and his wife Helewisa, experienced their fair share of trauma losing two sons; Simon and Reginald. The Hunstanton inheritance was then handed down to their eldest living child, Matilda, and it is this female Heiress who was married to a man named Roland ‘le Strange’.  All subsequent male (and female) heirs descend directly from Ralph of Hunstanton, and of course, that includes his son-in-law, Roland le Strange.

Matilda and Roland le Strange’s eldest son was John le Strange (I) of Norfolk and subsequently Shropshire too. He held Hunstanton, Ness, Cheswardine, & Myddle Castles to name a few. He inherited their Norfolk Estate (between 1122-1135), before settling in Shropshire on military service around the 1150’s.

The Hunstanton lands remained valuable in the Family, and so in addition to his lands in Shropshire, consuming their own seasonal farm produce as part of a healthy varied diet, meant travelling to and fro between properties fetching the seasonal produce. Like a merry-go-round, the production lines were to keep ticking over and the produce often used as currency.

Throughout the Centuries the Family had maintained a reputation for their unwavering loyalty to King and Country. Notably, they carried a healthy male Heir line that survived until today. During Queen Victoria’s reign she had given the Heir, Henry Styleman le Strange permission for the le Strange surname to be reinstated after a le Strange Heiress brought in her husband’s name. But as she was a grand-child of Roland and Matilda, the genealogical line today still has no breaks.

While some male Heirs played the field, and lost their lives in service, others lay low under Henry VIII’s rule and others escaped death penalties due to amiability. Between 1086 and 1949, the time card of le Strange residences (be they created from wood or stone - or both) ticked away.

Aside from their noble Knighthoods, The le Strange inhabitants of Hunstanton Hall assumed various job titles; They played pivotal roles in the field defending the Kingdom, often with the title of Sheriff aka judicial peace-keepers for their local community, small court and jury inside the residence of Hunstanton Hall would be held.

Two titled figureheads were Esquires to the Body (of Kings Henry VII & Henry VIII). This allowed 6 of them into the private areas of the Royal palaces associating with the King on both a private and personal level. One was Sir Thomas le Strange of Hunstanton, who sat for Hans Holbein the Younger in his creation of a stipple engraving [see National Portrait Gallery]. Owned by the Royal Family the Collection remains at Windsor Castle. Sir Thomas succeeded his uncle, Sir Roger le Strange (d. 1509) previously Esquire to the Body (of Henry VII). Sir Roger’s tomb with monumental brass can be found inside St. Mary the Virgin Church, Hunstanton - a stone’s throw away from his residence of Hunstanton Hall.

Other Estate Heirs in times of peace came in all forms such as members of the clergy, hands-on farmers, and the 19th century artist/entrepreneur, Henry Styleman le Strange, who put Hunstanton seaside resort on the map bringing to his lands of Hunstanton both hospitality and transport.

His statue was erected in 2017 overlooking the Town and the continuing development under his Grandson Heir, Bernard le Strange, took the form of Cliff residential housing Estate.

Individual plots were first sold in the spring of 1937 and 12 years later, in the summer of 1949, a sequence of plots were sold. Subsequently, that same year, the ancestral home was sold. Examples of road names reflected in the 19th- 20th Century Family are Bernard Crescent, Austin Street, Astley and Hastings Crescent, Boston Square, and so forth.