from Ormerod:
Sir Peter de Arderne, Knt., son and heir, grantee of Aldford in 1265, from his father, occurs as Lord of Aldford in a grant of the manor of Congleton to his first-born son, John, and Margery, his contracted wife, daughter of Griffin de Bromfield, made between 1267 and 1270, as shewn by the official attestation of Thomas de Boulton, Just. Cest., who held office at that time. The Record mentions Margery as mother of the infant heir so contract. [Chesh. Domesday, No. 54]
Between 1272 and 1280, the same Sir Peter de Arderne grants the wardship of Thomas de Orreby, of Gawsworth, a minor, to Thomas de Macclesfield; the said manor having been held by his father, Richard Orreby, by the service of finding a man, with a hauberk, for military service at Aldford Castle, in war time [Hist. Chesh. and Harl. MSS. 2074. 184.], at the lord's cost.
Two documents then follow of especial interest. One, a release to Sir John de Orreby of one silver mark, -- part of a debt due to Sir Peter, -- dated Nov. 3, 1288, 17 E. I, with a seal appendant of the Arderne arms, as at present used, circumscribed, "FRANGE, LEGE, TACE". [Hist. Chesh. ii, 38. The Charter is in the writer's possession, and an engraving of the Seal prefixed to this account.] The other is the record of a suit between Sir Peter de Arderne and the Bishop of Lichfield (17 Ed. I), in which he deduces his right in Elford from the House of Montalt in direct terms: from Roger (namely Roger de Montalt) in the time of Richard I, to Leuca, daughter and heir; from Leuca to Agnes, daughter and heir; from Agnes to Peter, the claimant, son and heir. As the Montalt family still existed, the word "heir" refers to the inheritance under settlement, and not to the heraldic import; but this proves the descent by which the ultimate heirship passed.[Original Plea Roll, Easter, 17 E.I. Records of Common Pleas.]
The Leger Book of Chester Abbey contains a grant of land in Elton made to the Almoner by this Sir Peter, and also an exchange with it of the Abbey lands in Aldford for an estate in Alvanley, between Alvanley and Dunham. [Harl. MSS. 2074, pp. 54, 60.]
By Inquisition taken on Sunday after September 14, 20 Ed. I, 1292 [Tower Records], this sir Peter de Arderne is found to have died seized of the manor of Aldford, and the vills of Elton, Alderdelegh, and half of Mobberly, held from the King, in capite, by service of two knights' fees; the vill of Alvandelegh, held from Richard Fitz Alan, Lord of Dunham; and the vill of Upton, by service of one knight's fee, from Robert de Praers. John, son of the said Peter, next heir, and aged twenty-six years.
He was also father of Agnes, wife of Warin Mainwaring, of Warmingham, whose beautiful scal, appendant to an Aldford deed of 35 Ed. I, has on it conjoined arms of Mainwaring, Arderne, and Montalt.[Hist. Chesh. ii, 41.]
