[Illustration] The name, originally "Del Dykes," is derived from the
two lines of Roman wall in "Burgh," from whence the family at a
remote period originated; Ramerus de Dikes, who lived before the
reign of Henry II., is the first supposed ancestor. The pedigree is
regularly traced three generations before the 50th of Edward III. to
the present time. In the Wars of the Roses the Dykes's, like
most other families in the Northern counties, were Lancastrian; and
in the Civil Wars of the seventeenth century, devoted Royalists, and
sufferers for their allegiance to the Crown. Dovenby, formerly the
seat of the Lamplughs, came by marriage in the present century. The
Manor of Warthole or Wardhill, purchased in the reign of Henry VI.,
and still in the family, was the former residence. Waverton,
acquired in the 10th of Edward II., exchanged in 1619, and
Distington, acquired in the 7th of Richard II., and afterwards
alienated, were more ancient possessions.
See Lysons, lxxii. 36; Hutchinson's Cumberland, ii. 98 and note;
Burn's Cumberland, ii. 49, and i. 157. I am obliged to the present
Representative for additions to this account.
ARMS.--_Or, three cinquefoils sable_. Monsr. Willm. de Dyks bore,
_Argent, a fess vaire or and gules, between three water bougets
sable_, as appears by the Roll of the reign of Richard II.
Present Representative, Frecheville-Lawson Ballantine-Dykes,
Esq.