My great uncle Tom prepared a genealogy of the Whitton family who lived at Sulgrave, one of whom (also Thomas – died 1632) has a large ‘altar’ tomb in the churchyard along with all the other ‘Whittons’. My great uncle indicated that a Thomas Whitton owned one of the manors (Leeson Manor)in the parish of Sulgrave. There is I understand still a field called the Whitton Dairy Ground.

The family joke is that the Whittons were fairly well-to do and Catholic and presumably royalist but within one generation were protestant and no longer classified as ‘gentlemen’! It took two more generations for that to be rectified! Probably all hearsay.

I have the full genalogy plus some very interesting material from Mr Sirot-Smith who indicated that there is much more material probably available locally.

If a message can be passed to the Vicar in case he is interested I would be very grateful. I am a direct descendant of the Thomas Whitton mentioned above.

Christopher Whitton

I am doing something similar to the above man. My family, the Pettifers, come from Helmdon as far back as late 17th C but may have lived elsewhere prior to that date. I am doing a `trawl` of villages close by to see if the family name is recorded on old tombstones etc. I live in Northumberland but can be reached by e-mail. Does this name feature in any old documents? I would love to hear from anyone who can help.