[Illustration] Waterton in the county of Lincoln was the original
seat, and from hence the name was derived at an early period. Sir
Robert Waterton, Master of the Horse to Henry IV., and John
Waterton, who served King Henry V. at Agincourt in the same office,
were of this place; the last was succeeded by his brother Sir
Robert, who was of Methley in this county, which he inherited with
his wife Cicely, the daughter and heir of Robert Fleming, of
Woodhall in that parish, and where his tomb is still preserved. This
Sir Robert was Govenor of Pontefract Castle during the time that
Richard II. was confined there. The present family descend from John
Waterton, a younger son of this house, (the male line of the elder
branch being extinct,) who married Catherine de Burgh, heiress of
Walton, in the year 1435, which has since continued the residence of
this ancient knightly lineage.
See Whitaker's Leeds, vol. i. p. 269; and the Scrope and Grosvenor
Roll, vol. ii. p. 190, for a memoir of Hugh Waterton, Esq.; and the
History of the Isle of Axholme by Archdeacon Stonehouse.
ARMS.--_Barry of six ermine and gules, over all three crescents
sable_.
Present Representative, Edmund Waterton, Esq.