Filsham was an area in the ancient Baldslow Hundred. It was located
west of Saint Leonards and centred on Filsham Manor which although rebuilt still stands in its original location in Harley
Shute, see the map below.
Below is an older map of Filsham Manor which was at that time called
Felsham farm. Filsham Manor is located in the center of the map and Roger Daniel would have owned a piece of land somewhere in
the vicinity of this manor. The size of the land held would have been about the size of the area coloured yellow.
Please click on the map to enlarge to full scale.
Below is an excerpt from the Doomsday Book that mentions Roger Daniel as
holding half a hide of land in Filsham ( about 30 to 60 Acres of land ), followed by a translation.
Roger Daniel is the ancestor of the Cheshire family of Daniel or D'Anyers
of Daresbury and Over-Tabley. Petre and Ralph Daniel occur in Normandy in 1198, and descendants from this family made
their way to England after William the Conqueror invaded. Roger Daniel quickly acquired more land along with other recent
Norman families. Eudo Filius Daniel resided in Suffolk up to 1148. Then some of the Daniels moved north, with Cecilia Denyel
found in Cheshire in 1279 and Robert D'Anyers found in Cheshire in 1291.
|Seal of Robert D'Anyers
By 1379 the Daniel surname was one of the most numerous in Yorkshire with
Beatrix, Robertus, Thomas, Oliva and Teffen Danyell all being mentioned as living here at this time. The Daniels who remained
in the south continued to proliferate especially in Sussex, where the original founder made his home. The family also continued
to be of importance in Normandy where the family was represented at the great assembly of Norman nobles in 1789.
In Cheshire the descendants of Robert D'Anyers continued to prosper and by
the 16th century his descendants had spread far and wide including but not limited to the Counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk,
Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire. The first descendants of Robert D'Anyers are shown in the following family tree:
The arms of the Cheshire branch of the Daniels family are shown below:
The arms are described as:
Argent, Five Fusils in Pale, Sable.
Crest - A
unicorn's head couped argent, attired gold.
Motto - Neo
timeo neo sperno (I neither fear nor despise)
These arms are similar to the arms of William Fitznigel,
the 2nd Baron of Halton, and the Abbey of Norton (near Halton) which he founded, which were, Gu.,
a pale fusily, Or.
The following extract from "The History of the City
& County Palatine of Chester" by George Ormerod explains the reason for the similarity of arms:
"WILLIAM FITZ-NIGEL, 2nd Baron of Halton, Constable
of Cheshire, was by right of office ranked above all subjects of the Palatinate, next to the Earl of Chester. His son died
issueless, but his female descendants continued in possession of his vast estates, till the daughter of the celebrated Henry
de Lacy brought them to Thomas Earl of Lancaster, after whose attainder they merged in the Duchy of Lancaster.
With the father of this William, Nigel Fitz-lvon (1st Baron
of Halton) , came five "supposedly brothers" from whom descend the DUTTON'S, WARBURTON'S, HATTON'S, and other ancient Cheshire
families, and from circumstances of tenure, united to similarity of arms, it appears probable that the LYMME'S and DANIELL'S
were also of this noble stock"
|Arms of William FitzNigel
The family tree of Robert D'Anyers (see above) shows close connections with
the Leghs and the Savages who are both also of Norman origin. At this time Norman families would have only married into
other Norman families.
The Buckinghamshire Daniel, Daniells and Daniels families of Shenley, Stoney Stratford and
Whaddon are almost certainly related to this Norman line. First of all a surname density map of the Daniel(l)(s) surname shows
an isolated cluster around the Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire border, which centers around Newbury manor in Flitton,
which was owned by a known descendant of Robert D'Anyers. The maps below show this cluster. Flitton is located in the Ampthill
area and Whaddon, Shenley and Stoney Stratford are located in the Newport Pagnell area.
|Close up of cluster
|Number of people with the Daniels, Daniel and Daniells surname per 100000 people
The county of Bedfordshire was visited in 1634 by the officers of the college
of arms for the purpose of recording the pedigrees of the gentry entitled to bear arms. During this visitation the officers
were satisfied that the Daniels of Newbury manor in Flitton were descended from the D'Anyers of Cheshire and so were
listed in the document, together with their arms. Below is a copy of the entry.
The arms given in the above are drawn out below. Note the connection with
the Daniel of Cheshire arms.
|Daniell of Newbury Manor, Flitton in Bedfordshire
The Savages are also found listed in this same visitation and are listed
as coming from Whaddon in Buckinghamshire, see below.
It is also known that the Daniel of Cheshire family had close connections
with Whaddon because one of the children of Agnes Danyell, daughter of Peter Daniels of Tabley, Cheshire, was born there.
Please click on the family tree below to enlarge.
Also a DNA study has been conducted
where the Y Chromosome of a Buckinghamshire Daniels has been compared to the Y Chromosome of a Savage and a Legh. The results
show a common racial background as most of the markers are identical.
|Please click on the picture to enlarge
This type of DNA is associated with North
West Europe and the closest matches occur in France and Germany. However apart from matches in the uk there is also one
close 25 marker match in Sicily, one in Italy and one in Turkey. This is unusual for this type of Western European
DNA but is probably due to the fact that these two areas were part of the Norman empire, please refer to the map below:
|The Norman Conquests are shown in red
|Norman shield design