Is Your Name Rowley?

A good old Cheshire name is that of Rowley...and if you are one of the Rowleys your ancestors may have sprung from the hamlet of Rowley, in Kermincham, in the 13th century.

In 1310, William de Raylegh is mentioned and around this time, Robert, the son of Randle Rowley, granted lands in Swettenham to his son, Robert and his daughter-in-law Elizabeth.

In 1357, Thomas de Roulegh received a grant exempting him from service as sheriff, coroner or other office in the county of Chester because of his services to the Prince of Wales at the Battle of Poitiers and in Gascony.

Another Robert, Robert de Rowley, held lands in Baddeley in 1374 and in 1383 a Richard de Rowley was listed as a juror at Chester.

In 1418, one Randle de Roley sued for a dower of lands in Knutsford and Nether Peover. The family also held lands in Goostrey and Congleton in the 15th century.

In 1542, Randolph Rowley granted land in Kermincham to his son, Robert.

Later in the 16th century one of the Rowleys married Alice, a daughter of Piers Legh, and other members of the family were noted as living in Staffordshire and Hertfordshire where they owned the manor of Rushden.

The family had begun to spread far and wide and Robert Rowley, of Clynton in Huntingdonshire, is mentioned in a 16th century deed in which he sold his estate in Cheshire to Randle Mainwaring.


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