_Wray_ (Vol. iv., p. 164.).--In one of the Wray pedigrees in Burke's
_Landed Gentry_, it is stated that the Yorkshire family of that name
originally resided in Coverdale in Richmondshire.
In Clarkson's _History of Richmond_ is a pedigree of the "Wrays," which
commences (if I rightly recollect) with an ancestor (six or eight years
before him) of Sir Christopher Wray, of whose fore-elders, some lived at
St. Nicholas, near to Richmond.
I have traced a family of the name of _Wray_ or _Wraye_ for three centuries
back, in Wensleydale, and at Coverham in Coverdale (both in Richmondshire),
but am unable to connect it by direct evidence with either of the pedigrees
above referred to; and should be much obliged for any information touching
any part of the family in Richmondshire, particularly such as might aid in
showing the relation of the several branches to one another.
With reference to the origin of the name, I may mention, that there is a
valley called Raydale, between Wensleydale and Craven, adjacent to
Coverdale and also a village in Westmoreland, near to the western extremity
of Wensleydale, called _Wray_ or _Ray_.
The arms of the Wensleydale Wrays are: azure, a chevron ermine between
three helmets proper on a chief or, three martlets gules; crest a martlet,
and motto "Servabo fidem."
I am informed that there is to be found, in the Heralds' College, an entry
of a _Wray_ pedigree with these arms; and I should be glad to have
particulars of such entry.
The motto of the St. Nicholas family is, to the best of my recollection,
"Et juste et vraye:" a canting motto, as is that of