The early years

Abstract

A legend in the Chronicle of Battle Abbey in Sussex tells the story of Robert, the patriarch of a family from St. Leger near Caen in Normandy, who gave his hand in support to William the Conqueror as he disembarked from his ship on landing in England in 1066; and of his son Clarembauld who granted lands to Battle Abbey in the time of Henry I. Their descendants were the St. Legers of Kent and Devon, and the Viscounts of Donneraille. Some moved to Ireland, in different parts of the Pale ( especially in Kilkenny ), and their name became corrupted to Sallinger, Sellinger, and even Slodger, and to Ledger.