Englishman travels to Kilkenny to visit ancient ancestor

Last week, Cliff Shardalow, an Englishman living in Scotland visited Kilkenny to see the tombstone of a relative.

While that may not seem too noteworthy, this case is particularly interesting as Cliff’s ancestor lived over 800 years ago.

There is strong evidence that Robert de Sardaloue, whose tombstone is found outside the Black Abbey, is Cliff’s 20 times great-grandfather.

De Sardaloue was born in England, probably in the town of Shardalow between Derby and Nottingham in 1200.

He was a justice by the time he was 20 and in 1227 was sent by King Henry III to Rome. In the 1230s and 40s there are records of him having land seized by the King while his brother Hugh was locked in the Tower of London.

De Sardeloue was a justice itinerant, riding from county to county and was sent to Ireland in 1246. He died in 1275 and had two sons and a daughter, Edmund, who Cliff is descended from, Geoffrey and Petronilla.

Irish references to the family disappear by the time of Edmund’s son who moved to East Anglia where the family remained for 600 years.

During his visit, Cliff met up with members of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society where he was informed that the tombstone was found in 1851 on Blackmill Street when some building work to a house broke through the floor to reveal the stone underneath.

A search was conducted beneath for bones but too much water prevented this, so de Sardaloue still lies there. The Abbey booklet says of the tombstone: “It is perfect, with raised floriated cross and inscription in Norman French and Lombardic lettering.”

The booklet also states that: “In the White Book of Ossory, a Canon of St Canice’s Cathedral, Robert de Sardaloue witnessed a grant. Date between 1245 and 1250.”