In 1331 Edward III licensed the appropriation to the priory of the church of Gresham, the advowson of which had been granted by John, Earl Warenne, in 1281, but the Bishop of Norwich refused his consent. [Victoria History of Suffolk, p. 109]

At last the Earl of Surrey, whom KING Edward had appointed his viceroy in Scotland, bestirred himself. He was now an elderly man whose long military experience had taught him that foot soldiers in their hundreds could be scattered like chaff by a handful of armed knights. He had little doubt that with the Scottish lords, the core of their chivalry, sitting on the sidelines or in prison or in the retinue of his master, he would brush aside the common folk of Moray and Wallace like a fly from his face. Marshalling at Berwick a formidable host of heavy cavalry and footmen, he marched towards Stirling where the crossing of the Forth was the key to the north. [Robert the Bruce, p. 45]

John, the Earl of Surrey had not crossed the bridge at Stirling. Aghast at the slaughter beyond it, he lost his nerve and galloped in such haste to the border that his horse had nothing to eat between Stirling and Berwick and
foundered on arrival. [Robert the Bruce, p. 46]

John, 7th Earl of Warren & Surrey; son of William, 6th Earl of Warren & Surrey, and Maud de Marshal; m. Alice de Brun, uterine sister of Henry III of England. Seated at Peomsey Castle, Sussex; Castle Dinas Brau in Denbighshire; and Holt Castle. He was succeeded by his son John, 8th and last Earl of Warren & Surrey.
[The Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, p. 186]

John m. Alice, the sister of Henry III; 7th earl. From the Hundred Rolls (records of the local court assizes) there come tales of men and women imprisoned at Consibrough, and of the colorful if rather unlawful dealings of the seneschal and constables of the castle, one of whom, Richard de Heydon, was charged with 'devilish and innumerable oppressions.' John d. 1304 and since his own son William had been killed at a tournament in Guildford in 1286, he was succeeded by his 18-year-old grandson John. [Conisbrough Castle, p. 22]

Holt Castle, known as Chastellion or Castrum Leonis from the lion sculpture above its gateway, was built some time between 1282 and 1311 by John de Warren, who was granted the area after Edward I's final defeat of the Welsh. He chose this low-lying but strategically important site on the west bank of the Dee in preference to Dinas Bran, which he apparently did not maintain. The KING's architect may have been responsible for the design of the castle.

The site lies in a quarry, which presumably provided the stone for the building. It was probably intended to guard the river crossing now occupied by the Holt-Farndon bridge a little further downstream. The castle must have been high enough to see to the west and to the crossing point. The visible remains are difficult to interpret since almost all the stone work was removed between 1675-83 for the construction of Eaton Hall, about 5 miles downstream. A survey of 1562 shows all the towers as round with a rectangular external annexe
containing the chapel running full height of the SE tower opposite the gate as square or rectangular. [Holt Castle
When the sixth earl died in 1240, his son John, probably only nine years old, was made a royal ward and in 1247, while still a minor, was married to Henry III's half-sister, Alesia de Lusignan. John de Warenne spent much of his time in the saddle on military campaigns and diplomatic misions, leaving him little time to enjoy his Norfolk estates, but he is known to have entertained Edward I several times at Castle Acre between 1292 and 1301.

In 1304, John was succeeded by his grandson, another John and last of the Warenne earls of Surrey. [Castle Acre Castle and Priory, p. 11-12]

1. Eleanor (de) Warenne b: ABT 1251 in Varenne, Sussex, England
2. William (de) Warenne b: 15 JAN 1256 in Warenne, Sussex, England
3. Isabella (de) Warenne b: ABT 1258 in Varenne, Sussex, England

1. Author: Frederick Lewis Weis, GPC 7th ed.
   Title: A2-Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, (W) - WEIS
   Note:
   Source Medium: Book
   Source Quality: 100%
   
   Page: 83.28