Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/429

Rh may be the line of blood relationship between these families, the favoured heir to this baronial rank and wealth gathers within his coronet all the memories and distinctions and even relationships of his predecessors all the way back to the Conquest. He is the heir of all of them. Saxon, Dane, and Norman converge into his status and blend in his being. Just glance at the succession which the present Earl of Warwick represents. Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, built a fort here in 914. Under the Danish regime this and the town came into the ownership and rule of a nobleman by the name of Thurkil, or, as it was originally spelt, Thorkill, a name that figured in the old Icelandic sagas. He was ousted by William the Conqueror to make room for one of his followers, Henry de Newburgh, originally from Flanders judging from his name. He rebuilt or perhaps enlarged the castle which Thorkill had erected on the foundation laid for him by the Saxon lady, Ethelfleda. This Henry de Newburgh became the first Earl of Warwick. The title and estate thence descended through the families, Le Plessetis, Maudit, De Beauchamp, Nevill, Plantagenet, Dudley, Rich, and Greville, the family name of the present earl. All these noblemen added each to what he found, both to building and its adornment. And here we see most of their external and interior contributions. The