Waddington

 

In the Craven Herald the Rev. S. T. Taylor-Taswell, M.A., writes:

"The Waddingtons are a very ancient family, and trace their ancestry to a period prior to the Norman Conquest, to even Saxon times. The name itself is territorial, and signifies the town (ton) of the children (ing) of Wada, and may be traced in such places as Wad-how, Wadsworth, Paddington, and, strange as it may seem, in Padiham, the abode of Wada, since Pada and Wada were only variations of the same word.

Their possessions extended over a large part of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno 798, records a great fight at Whalley during Lent, in which, according to Simeon of Durham, Wada Dux was put to flight by King Eardulfus. Some tumuli near Hacking Ferry attest this battle. One of them has been excavated, and a model of it is now to be seen in the museum of Stonyhurst College."

 

The following references to Wada have also been found.

Extract from Vol. II Symeon of Durham (A.D. 1083), edited by Thomas Arnold, M.A., published in 1882

~ 59. Anno DCCXCVIII. conjuratione facta ab interfectoribus Etheidredi regis, Wada dux in illa conjuratione cum eis belium inierunt contra Eardwlfum regem in loco qui appellatur ab Anglis Billingahoth, juxta Walalege, et ex utraque parte plurimis interfectis Wada dux cum suis in fugam versus est, et, Eardulfus rex victoriam regaliter sumpsit ex inimicis. he defeats it.

Translation

In the year 798 a conspiracy was made by the men who had slain King Ethelred, in which conspiracy Duke Wada joined, and the conspirators fought a battle with King Eardulf in a place called by the Angles Billingahoth, by Walalege. A very great number were killed on both sides, Duke Wada and his side were put to flight, and Eardulf the King obtained a victory in kingly fashion over his enemies.

 

Extract from The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, Anglo-Saxon Period

by Francis Palgrave, F.R.S. and F.S.A., 1832; Northumbria-Angles, page 313

A.D. 798. Ealdorman [i.e. Earl] Wada at the head of the party which had slain Ethelred declares war against Eardulf. Battle of Billingaheth near Whalley in which Wada is defeated [April 2].

 

The principal seat of the Waddingtons was at Waddington; near Clitheroe. At the Survey of "Doomsday Book," Waddington is represented as part of the lands of Roger of Poitou. By a Survey dated 29 Edw: 1. [A.D. 1301] it appears that Roger Tempest, by his marriage with the heiress of Walter de Waddington, held one carucate of the Earl of Lincoln, and he of the King."

A pedigree of one branch of the Waddington Family, descended from the Waddingtons living in Altham, Lancashire, in the mid-sixteenth century can be found by clicking on the link below.

Waddington Family Pedigree Chart

Details of the village of Waddington and Waddington Old Hall can be found by clicking on the following links.

Waddington

Waddington Hall