EDVIN LOACH


Preamble

This transcript was compiled from extracts taken from library records of the counties Warwickshire and Herefordshire. It is divided into two sections to relate to the presence of the family De Loges in these areas. The distance between the place names referred to is 60 miles at the furthest point, thus giving rise to the view (not proven) that we are relating to one nuclear family of the de Loges.

It also gives some credence to the fact that the Loach name and peoples came from this region in the main. The preposition de was discouraged during the 15th / 16th century although it is still in use in America. Presumably the forebears of those de Loaches were direct èmigres from France.


Origin of the name (a)

Mention is made in the Domesday book of a district near Bromyard, Herefordshire, called Gedeven, Edevent, Jedefen and Zedefen. It is described as the land of Osbern Fitz Richard, but soon after it fell into the hands of two families, the Ralfs and the De Loges. From which the two parishes of Edvin Loach and Edvin Ralph derive their names.

Ralf de Yedefen appears in the margin of Hereford Domesday, but the de loges are first heard of in the district in the second half of the twelfth century when Germanus de Loges, "in the presence of Bishop Gilbert, Dean Geoffrey and the synod of Hereford clergy, gave the church of St. Giles in Yedenon together with two hides* of land in the parish of Lyde to the priory of St. Guthlac, Hereford" (Ref. St.Guthlac's Cartulary,* No. 204). The parson who had the living of the church was allowed to continue there on the condition that he and his successors paid two shillings annually to the priory and that the church sent an annual gift of three shillings to Clifton-on-Teme, the mother church of Edvin Loach. This three shillings was duly paid as late as 1536 (see Valor Ecclesiasticus,III,280, and Swinfield's Register, p.134).

The charter of Germanus also reveals that the church, which has always been known as St. Mary's, was originally dedicated to St. Giles. Close to the church, not much more than an acre in size, is an orchard belonging to the Parochial Council with the remains of a cottage once occupied by the parish clerk, long known as St. Giles' Acre.

Germanus was probably by that time lord of the manor. His mother Albreda, his daughter Isabel and his son Richard consented to his gifts to the priory. A hundred years later John de Loges and his son William were still patrons of the living. In 1235-5 John de Loges was assessed at a quarter of a mark for a quarter part of a knights fee in "Wedefen" for an aid** in marrying the King's daughter,.. Book of Fees, commonly called Testa de Nevill, Vol.I., pp.527,528, under Worcestershire. Lond. 1920.

In 1256 William released the parson from his payment of two shillings and made a further gift of a messuage and six acres in the parish. So the parish rightly took to itself the name of Edvin Loach.

The old church, parts of which are still standing is described by Habington in his Survey of Worcestershire (Vol. I, p. 516) as "a little church without arms or monuments which adjoineth so near to an old fortification that they both seem to possess jointly antiquity and poverty".

He refers to a great inequality of ground which may be observed, where some foundations of buildings have been discovered, which they say, are the remains of a mansion house belonging to the Loches or Loges. The new church was built in 1800 and the register dates from the year 1589.

Origin of the name (b)

The domesday estate of Richard the Forester of Stowe (Coventry), Chesterton (Warwick) and the other estates in Warwickshire granted to him by William I, which he held by the sergeantry of keeping the forest of Cannock (Stafford) eventually came down to the de Loges.

Hugh de Loges held the lands and the sergeantry of the forest in 1195, but Hugh de Loges II forfeited his office to the Crown in 1232 (Coll. Hist. Staffs. pp196,198). In 1279 the Loges service was described as that of escorting the Earl of Chester through the forest on his journeys to and from the King's court, and in 1337 as the render of a barbed arrow to the King whenever he passed by Stowe on his way to Wales.

In old age Hugh de Loges II, who died in 1268 made a grant of all his land in Stowe, a messuage* and a carucate* to William Bagot which was confirmed by the King in 1270. The property was recovered by Hugh's son Richard in 1272, on the ground that his father had been senile when he alienated it. Apart from this brief interruption the manor had followed the descent of Chesterton, remaining in the Loges family until 1349, when at the death of John de Loges (or de Warwick) it was inherited by his daughter Eleanor, wife of John de Peyto. Being held there-after by the de Peyto family until the 18th century. Eventually passing to Willoughby de Broke through marriages until the early part of the 20th century.

Whilst the foregoing does not confirm the origin of the name directly, what may be said, is that the influence of this family, in this region of middle England and the potential of our forebears to have been followers, servants or serfs, thus taking the name, may be true.

What is noticeable in our genealogical studies is the frequent mis-spelling of the name. Lotch, Loche Loch and Louch all appearing randomly within the same family line. All due to the phonetics of the area, illiteracy and confusion of the Priests or recorders who compiled the registers.



Definitions:

Hide...................... A measure of land, up to 120 acres.
Messuage...............A dwelling house, it's adjacent buildings and land used by the
household.
Carucate................A measure of land, as much as could be tilled with one plough in
a year.

Cartulary...............The register or documents, relating to a monastery or church.



Compiled and written by, Roger Loach 1997.