File:Rochford (of Rochford Hall, Essex) arms.svg

Arms of de Rochford of Rochford Hall, Essex: Argent, a lion rampant sable crowned gules (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.864) (de Rochford of Rochford Hall, Essex, an heiress of Butler). Text from: www.rochfordtown.com[1]

"In 1247 Sir Guy de Rochford of Rochford obtained licence from King Henry III to hold a market and fair. In 1340 Edward III granted the Manor of Rochford to William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton. In 1381, the arranged marriage took place at Rochford Hall of Mary de Bohun, aged 11, and Henry Bolingbroke (later King Henry IV), aged 14. Their son was King Henry V. The old stone manor house was replaced by the grander project that would eventually become a magnificent Tudor mansion, with turrets, gables and twisted brick chimneys. James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, inherited Rochford Hall from his ‘de Bohun’ grandmother around 1450 and later added Viceroy of Ireland and Earl of Wiltshire to his titles. He supported Henry VI and the Lancastrian faction during the ‘Wars of the Roses’ and became Earl of Wiltshire. He fought in a number of battles but was executed following the Yorkist victory at Towton in 1461. As a result, his family lost possession of Rochford Hall when the Manor was given to the Duchess of Exeter, the Woodvilles, and then to the Greys. Rochford Hall was returned to Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond (brother of the 5th Earl). The Butler coat of arms appears on the fine brick tower of the church. When Thomas Boteler died in 1515, his 72 Manor Estates were divided equally between his two daughters, Anne Butler and Margaret Butler, with Rochford being inherited by Margaret Butler, the wife of Sir William Boleyn".