Scrope - Early Scropes

Early Scropes

One Richard Fitz Scrob (or Fitz Scrope), apparently a Norman knight, was granted lands by Edward the Confessor before the Norman Conquest, in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire as recorded in the Domesday Book. He built Richard's Castle, near Ludlow in Shropshire, and is recorded in chronicles of the Conqueror's early years in England as asking for assistance against the Welsh.

Legend has it that an earlier Scrope (perhaps Richards father) was the Anglo Saxon who gave his name to the settlement "Scrobbesbyrig" (Scrobbs Fort), which name was later corrupted into Shrewsbury. Certainly, prior to the Conquest, Scrobbesbyrig was an established Anglo Saxon settlement.

His son was Osbern FitzRichard. According to one genealogy, his wife was Nest. This Nest is identified as the daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn by his wife Edith of Mercia, herself granddaughter of Leofric, Earl of Mercia possibly by his wife Godiva (or Godgifu). The evidence for Nest's name comes from charters of her son Hugh granting lands to an abbey, where he declares his parentage; that son, however, is silent about his mother's antecedents. The heiress of this family eventually married into the Mortimer family, famous as Marcher Barons and important players in 14th century English politics. The Mortimer line was eventually merged into the Crown in the person of Edward IV of England. His paternal grandmother was Lady Anne Mortimer, heiress of the Mortimers and heiress of line of her brothers, themselves successively heirs of line of Richard II of England.

The same genealogy states that Osbern's great-grandson was Hugh Le Scrope who, having been born at Richard's Castle, was the first of the family to be granted lands formerly belonging to the Priory of Bridlington, in Yorkshire. However, recent research has shown no clear connection between this Hugh Le Scrope (or his alleged Yorkshire descendants) and Richard FitzScrob, or between Hugh le Scrope and subsequent Yorkshire Scropes.

The first well-documented ancestor of the Yorkshire Scropes appears to be Robert le Scrope (1134-aft.1198), who is described as the son of the aunt of Alice de Gant, Countess of Northampton by her husband Richard le Scrope. The Scrope family appear to be related and allied to the Gant family in the 12th century, and possibly trace their origins to Lincolnshire or Northamptonshire.