The Ratcliffe Coat of Arms

Blazon of Arms:Argent two Bendlets engrales Sable (Silver or White)
                 Indicates Sincerity.
           Crest: A Bulls head erased sable ducally gored and lined.
          Origin: England.

                          The Ratcliffe name meaning.

Ivor De Tailbois or John Talbot in English the first Earl of Holland and Baron 
of Kendal was born in Anjou Normandy between the years 1020/30 his brother was 
the Earl of Normandy,he died in the year 1094 in England,Ivor is claimed to be 
the proginator of the Radclyff,Radcliff,Ratcliffe family name.
Ivor fought alonside William the Conqueror in Norman conquest and the Battle 
of Hastings in 1066, and in the year 1068 as a reward for his loyalty from now 
King William of England, he was given estates taken from the Saxon Hereward 
the Wake in Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
Ivor married Lucia Ap Gruffyed Mallet,daughter of Earl Aelfgar,she was of 
royal line been the grandaughter of Gruffyed King of Wales.
Ivor had three children,Lucia De Tailbois,Nicholas Fitzgilbert and Aelftred 
Tailbois born 1045 know as the "Englishman" in Mercia England.
Aelftred marries Adgitha of Northumberland and they have a son Gilbert De 
Frunesco
 De Tailbois born about the year 1070, he marries Goditha "Lady Goditha" and 
they have a son called
Nicholas Fitz Gilbert De tailbois born about 1097 he was 
given the Manor 
of Radeclive from his Lord,named so because of it's position next to the river 
Irwell in now Lancashire and renown for it's red clay.
On this site he built Radcliffe Tower,the ruins still stand to this day in the 
town of Radcliffe in Lancashire.The De Radclyff's ranked amongst the most 
important families in Lancashire including been Knights of the 
Shire.Eventually the name Tailbois was dropped and 
the family took on the name De Radclyff,meaning of the RED Cliff who's name 
variants now take place in the family lineage.

                                 Radcliffe Tower
Radcliffe Tower stands close to Radcliffe Parish Church and is surrounded on 
three sides by the River Irwell, on the opposite bank of which is the 'red 
cliff', which is said to have given Radcliffe its name.

Even in its present ruined condition, the Tower stands as an impressive 
reminder of a time when Radcliffe was a medieval manor, governed by a family 
who ranked amongst the most important in Lancashire. These were the de 
Radcliffes and it was a member of this family, James de Radcliffe, who in 1403 
ordered the construction of the Tower as part of an ambitious rebuilding of 
his manor house.


Little is know about the manor house of Radcliffe prior to that date, although 
excavations in 1979-80 by the Bury Archaeology Group suggest that it stood on 
the site of the later buildings. Its focal point was probably a great hall, 
built in timber. That the pre-1403 manor house also included a stone tower, as 
has sometimes been supposed, remains unproven. 



 

The 'licence to crenellate'
When James de Radcliffe planned the rebuilding of his manor house, his 
intention was that it should be fortified. This would mean gaining permission 
from the King. A 'licence to crenellate' was granted to James on the 15th of 
August 1403 by King Henry IV. Under its terms James was allowed to construct a 
new great hall and two towers and to enclose these with an outer wall. It has 
been a continuing debate as to whether one or two towers were built. Sketches 
do exist showing two, but no present or archaeological evidence exists to 
support the argument for two towers. 


The Tower
It was built in the local red sandstone and is of a type known as a 'pele 
tower'. This type of medieval fortification is to be found mainly in the north 
of England, and were typically rectangular in plan, three stories in height, 
with a single room on each floor. The ground floor was usually roofed with 
stone vaulting. All these features are found at Radcliffe Tower but the Tower 
also includes some more unusual details.
The Tower internally measured 12.2 metres thick from north to south by 5.5 
metres from east to west, with the walls 1.5 metres thick. In the south-west 
corner this width increased to 1.8 metres to accomodate a staircase which was 
built into the thickness of the wall. Elsewhere a double plinth ran along the 
base of the outside walls and increased the wall thickness to 1.9 metres.
The ground floor of the Tower was entered by a doorway in the centre of the 
west wall. 

Later history
The manor house was occupied for more than a hundred years. In 1517, however, 
the manor passed to a distant relative Rober Radcliffe, Lord Fitz Walter, who 
in 1529 was made the Earl of Sussex. In 1561 the third Earl sold the manor to 
the Assheton family who lived at Middleton Hall, and by the 1670s the manor 
house and lands were being leased to local farmers. 

Today the Tower is protected under law as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. 
Purchased from Wimpey by Bury Council in 1988 for a nominal fee of £5, it lies 
approximately 1km east of Radcliffe town centre off the A6053 (Bury Street). 
At present there is no public access to the Tower but the building can be 
viewed from the south end of Sandiford Street. 

RESEARCH SOURCES:

This ever growing family tree is down to the input from my Cousins distant and 
close,without the help of these  people a lot of this research would not have 
been found,My Second Cousin Colleen O'Grady who now lives in Austarlia is now 
helping me to put this site together,here are a few names of other cousins and 
relations to who credit must be given for there research and input:

 
Bernard Arundel(UK Yorkshire),Richelle Trerice Arundel(UK Yorkshire),Graham 
Bate (UK Staffordshire),Paul Brown (UK 
Yorkshire)Tony Carroll (UK Yorkshire,)Sarah Eaton (Uk Yorkshire)Patricia Forbes (UK 
Yorkshire),Audrey Foster(UK 
Staffordshire),Cedric 
Fletcher(UK 
Staffs/W Mids),Wayne Fletcher (Uk Staffs/W Mids),Rhonda Ferntorp 
(Australia) Jill Hardy (UK Durham/Yorkshire),Roger Hill (UK Yorkshire),Laurence 
Johnson(UK Yorkshire)
Colleen O'Grady(Uk Yorkshire & 
Australia),Colleen 
Taylor(USA Pennsylvania)
Terry 
Langhorne(UK Yorkshire),Emma Lee(UK Yorkshire),Carol Loxton(UK Yorkshire)Ian 
Trippick(UK Somerset) and 
Corinne Spencer-
McDonnell(USA Alaska) who's work with the Latter- 
day Saints is of great value to this site.