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COMPRISING

THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES

EASINGWOLD

AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

BY
THOMAS GILL.

"The Vale of York is the most beautiful and romantic (vale in tha
world, the Vale of Normandy excepted;' — Chevmjeb Bunsen.

LONDON:
SIMPKIN, MABSHALL & Co., STATIONEES' HALL COURT;
B. SUNTEB, STONEGATE, YOBK; AND THOMAS GILL,
EASINGWOLD. 1853.

EASINGWOLD: PBINTBD BY THOMAS GILL.

TO
SIR GEORGE WOMBWELL, BART.,
OF
NEWBURGH PARK,
LORD OF THE MANOR OF EASINGWOLD, &c, &c,
THIS HUMBLE ATTEMPT
TO PRESERVE THE ANTIQUITIES
OF
EASINGWOLD,
AND THE MOST INTERESTING PORTION
OF THE
VALE OF YORK,
IS
WITH PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY THE AUTHOR.
EASINGWOLD, 188.2.

PREFACE

It has longbeen a matter of regret with tourists, antiquaries,
and naturalists, when visiting this interesting neighbour
hood, rich as it is in monuments, of 'antiquity, abbeys, prio
ries, castles, and encampments — as well as in theMnagnifi-
oence and beauty of its natural scenery, the salubrity of its
climate, and the enterprising spirit of its agriculture, that no
historic and authentic record could be obtained of its curi
osities and antiquities. 0-*
The Vale of York, if Chevalier Bunsen may be. relied on
as an authority, is the most beautiful and romantic in the
world, the Vale of Normandy excepted, and the district of
¦which these pages treat, formerly known as the Forest of
Galtres, is the most interesting portion of this interesting vale.
The object of the Vallis Eboracensis is to exhibit a topo
graphic view*of Easingwold and the neighbourhood, and to
. rescue from obscurity the decaying relics of antiquity with-
which it abounds. In doing this, the author has endeavour
ed to embrace an entire history ,of each place, tracing out its
origin and institutions from the earliest authentic sources,
with biographical records of celebrated characters, and illus
trated details of its antiquities, scenery, &c.
These researches have been attended with a considerable
amount of labour and expense, and many difficulties, which ,
however-he has not felt as a. drudgery but a pleasure, haying
undertaken the 'work not in the pursuit of pecuniary advan
tage, but in the gratification of a natural inclination, and a
desire' to supplv a crying want in the neighbourhood.
A3

VI. TKEFACE.
If space had permitted he would gladly have given more
extended quotations from the authorities consulted, but his
object has been to give such evidence as miglit establish the
truth of the information in the plainest and most useful
manner. To Sir George Wombwell, Bart., of Newburgh Park,
who allowed the writer the use of his valuable library of
manuscripts and ancient works, which were of essential ser
vice, and for the gift of the plate of Newburgh Hall and
his coat of arms on the exterior of the cover; — to the Right
Honourable Lord Feversham for his contribution of the
plates of Helmsley Castle and Rievaux Abbey; — to Lady
Frankland Russell who kindly contributed the plates of
Thirkleby and Aldwark Churches ; — to the Venerable Arch
deacon Churton for his learned and elaborate account of
Crayke and its ancient Castle; — to Lord Viscount Downe
and the Rev. John Overton for their very interesting details
of Sessay ; — to Sir William Worsley, Burt., for his contri
bution of the plate of Hovingham Spa; — to William Waite,
Esq., for his contribution of the plate of Crayke Castle ; — to
the Rev. S. J. Allen for his valuable assistance as to Easing-
wold and other information of much interest; — to the Rev.
R. Cooper, for.his contribution of the plate of Ampleforth
College; — to Andrew Lawson, Esq., and others, who have
manifested a lively interest in the work, the author returns
his warmest acknowledgments.
The work in its present form has been published at the
request of several of the author's friends, and in endeavour
ing to satisfy their wishes, he humbly hopes that his labours
may not prove uninteresting to a more extended circle- of
readers.
THOMAS GILL.
Easingwold, June 21si, 1852.

SUBSCRIBERS.

His Boyal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, 4 copies.
His Grace the Archbishop of York, 3 copies.
• The Lord Bishop of Eochester, Danbury Palace.
The Right-Honourable the Earl of Carlisle, K.G.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Chesterfield, 2 copies.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth.
The Right Honourable the Earl de Grey, K.G.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Zetland.
The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Canterbury.
The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Downe, K.C.B., 4 copies.
The Right Honourable Lord Eeversham.
The Right Honourable Lord Walsingham, 2 copies.
The Right Honourable Lord Wenlock.
The Right Honourable Lord Stourton.
Lord Adolphus Fitz-Clarence, G.C.H., 2 copies.
Lady "Walsingham, Merton Hall.
The Honourable Lydia E. C. Dawnay, Beningburgh.
The Honourable Payn Dawnay, Beningburgh Hall, 2 copies.
The Honourable Octavius Duncombe, M.P.
The Honourable James Macdonald.
Lady Frankland Russell, Thirkleby Park, 4 copies.
Lady Worsley, Hjavingham Hall, 2 copies.
Sir William Payan Gauway, Bart., M.P., 2 copies.
Sir William Lawson, Bart., Brough Hall.
Sir George Wombwell, Bart, Newburgh Park, 4 copies.
Sir William Worsley, Bart., Hovingham Hall, 4 copies.
E. S. Cayley, Esq., M.P.
Miss Frankland, Thirkleby Park.
Addeeley Bowyer, Rev., Fillougley Almack, Mrs., Hyde Park, London.
Hall, near Coventry. Almgill, Mr., Tollerton.
Allan, Robert Henry, Esq., F.S.A., Anderson, Mr. William, York.
Blackwell Hall. Anderson, Mr. Thomas, Aldwark.
Allen, Rev. Samuel James, M.A., the Appleton, Mr. James, Raskelfe.
Vicarage, Easingwold, 4 copies. Armstrong, Mr. James.
Armstrong; Rev. H., Vicar of Whixley Ash, Miss, Ripdn.
Atldnson, Moses, Esq., Roundhay, Atldnson, Mr. Thomas, Priory Mills,
Leeds. Birmingham, 3 copies, f
Atkinson, T. C-, Esq., Northallerton. Atkinson, Mr. J., Kilburn.
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
Agar, Miss, Brockfield. Barnes, Bev. J. A., Rector of Gilling,
Agar, Mrs., Helmsley. 2 copies.
Allom, Mr. Jno., York. Barnes, Mrs., Gilling.
Allenby, Mr. James, Helmsley, 4 co- Barnes, Mijss, St. Catherine's, Horn-

pies.

dean.

Almack, Mr., North Bar Street, Bev- Bellasis, A. F, Esq., Regent's Park,
erley. London.

Vlll.

SDBSCRIBEES.

Blair, Lieutenant Colonel, Scotch
Fusilier Guards.
Barker, Thos , Esq., North Shields.
Belcher, H., Esq., Whitby.
Bittleston, Rev. Edwin, Perpetual Cu
rate of Halton Gill.
Blackburne, Rev. J., Duxford.
Braithwaite, Rev. Wm., M.A., Vicar
of Alne.
Burke, Bernard J., Esq., London.
Byers, Rev. Wm., Barton-le-Street.
Bainbridge, Mr. G. P., York.
Bainbridge, Mr. Wm., Yarm.
Baker, Mr. John, Draper, Thirsk.
Bannister, Mr., Helperby.
Bannister, Mr. John, Easingwold.
Bardon, Mr. Robert, Oulston.
Barraclough, Mr. L., Master of Top-
cliffe Grammar School.
Barker, Mr. T., Sutton-on-the-Forest,
2 copies.
Barker, Mr. Henry, Easingwold.
Barker, Mr. George, Easingwold.
Barker, Mr. John, Raskelfe.
Barritt, Mr. John Wesley, Bradford.
Barnett, Mr., Stillington.
Barnett, Mr. Thomas, Thormanby.
Barton, Mr. AVm., Easingwold.
Barugh, Mrs., Easingwold.
Barwick, Mr. William, Coxwold.
Batty, Mr. Richard, Tollerton.
Batty, Mr. Thomas, Husthwaite.
Batty, Mr., Coxwold.
Bean, Mr. John, York.
Beedom, Mr. Wm., Worcester.
Beckwith, Mr. J., Easingwold.
Beezley, Mr. J. Churchill, Chipping-
Norton, Oxon.
Bell, Mr. J., Richmond, 2 copies.
Bell, Mr. William, Easingwold.
Benn, Mr. John, Huby.
Bickers, Mr. James Sefton, Mow-
thorpe, Terrington.
Bird, Mr., Tollerton.
Blackburn, Mr. Thomas, Raskelfe.
Bland, Mr. John, Easingwold.
Bland, Mr. John, Do.
Bland, Mr. William, Howden.
Bland, Mr. George. Draper, York.
Bland, Mr. Richard.
Bland, Miss Jane, near Leeds.
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Bolton, Mr. George, Kilburn.
Boswell, Mrs., Stillington.
Bowlby, Mrs. Ann, Huby.

Boyne, Mr. Wm , Leeds, 9 copies.
British Museum Library.
Britton,' Mrs. Newburgh.
Brown, Mr. Wm., Sessay.
Brown, Mr. George, Ripon.
Brown, Mr. Jabez, Easingwold.
Brown, Mr. John, York.
Burdekin, Mr. R., York, 2 copies.
BurdoD, Mr. Wm., Sutton-on-the-
Forest.
Burton, Mr. Robert, Linton-on-Ouse.
Butterfield, Mr., York.
Chdeton, the Venerable Archdeacon,
Crayke.
Cholmeley, Francis, Esq., Brandsby
Hall, 2 copies.
Christie, J. Esq., Kirk Hammerton
Hall, 8 copies.
Constable, Rev. Charles, Wassand.
Crane, the Rev. Edward, North Kil-
" vington.
Croft, Admiral, Stillington.
Croft, William, Esq., Do.
Croft, Miss Anne Maria, Stillington.
Clough, Francis, Esq., Easingwold.
Cox, W. B. Esq., Pickering.
Cooper, Rev. R., Ampleforth College,
3 copies.
Carver, Mb. Francis, Sessay.
Carlton, Mr. Charles, Tollerton.
Cambridge University Library.
Cass, Mr. Thomas, Whixley.
Cass, Mr. James C., York.
Cattle, Mr. Timothy, Sheriff-Hutton.
Cattley, Mr. Robert, Steresby.
Chrispin, Mr. Jonathan, Stittenham.
Chrispin, Mr. Thomas, Sheriff-Hutton
Clark, Mr. J., Bishopton Close, Ripon
Clark, Mr., Crayke.
Clark, Mr. George, Helmsley.
Clarke, Miss, Easingwold.
Clemetshaw, Mr. John, Easingwold,
2 copies.
Clemetshaw, Mr. Thos., Easingwold.
Coates, Mr., York.
Coates, Mr., Gilling Park House.
Cooke, Mr. James, Howe Villa, Rich
mond.
Cook, Mr. Christopher, Stillington.
Cook, Mr. Robert, York.
Coopland, Mr. Walcot, Lincolnshire.
Coopland, Mr., Topcliffe.
Coppin, Miss, Easingwold,
Cordukes, Mr. Jos., Sheriff-Hutton.

SUBSCBIBEES.

Cordukes, Miss, Boarding School,
Easingwold.
Coulthard, Mr. G., Engineer, Baxby
Manor House.
Coulson, Mr., Crankley, Alne.
Crawford, Mr., Easingwold.
Crosby, Mr. John, Great Ouseburn.
Denton, Henry, Esq., Lincoln's Inn
Fields, London.
Diggle, Joseph, Esq., Merton Grove,
Surrey.
Dixon, J. Esq., Lord of the Manor of
Husthwaite.
Duesbury, W. D. T. Esq., Skelton.
Dowding, Rev. John, Easingwold, 4
copies.
Dunwell, Rev. T. F., Crayke.
Darley, Mr. John, Newburgh.
Daniel, Mr. Robert, Huby.
Dennis, Mr. William, Stillington.
Dennis, Mr. George, York.
Dennis, Mr. James, Tollerton.
Dickson, Mr. Francis, Easingwold.
Dobson, Mr., Brandsby Mill.
Dobson, Mr., Terriugton.
Dobson, Miss, Brandsby Mill.
Dowthwaite, Mrs., Easingwold.
Dresser, Mr. Thomas, Topcliffe.
Dresser, Mr. Richard, York.
Driffield, Mr. Henry, Easingwold.
Driffield, Mr. John, Easingwold.
Driffield, Mr. Thomas, Husthwaite.
Dunnington, Mr., Raskelfe.
Dunnington, Mr. A., Alne.
Du-Vivier, Mr. J., Linton-upon-Ouse.
Edwards, Rev. T. L., Brandsby Rec
tory.
Eteson, John, Esq., Knaresbrough.
Eckroyd, Mrs., Bermondsey, London.
Edson, Mr. John, Shrewsbury.
Edson, Mr. Leonard, Easingwold.
Ellison, Miss, Stillington.
Eshelby, Mr. Thomas, Aldwark.
Eyre, Mr. William, Hull.
Fairfax, Charles Gregory, Esq., Gil
ling Castle.
Fenwick, Thornton, Esq , Stockton.
Fenwick, John, Esq., Newca^tle-on-
Tyne.
Fowle, T., Esq., Northallerton.
Freemantle, Captain, R. N.
Flower, Rev. R., Nunnington.

Fairbourn, Mr. George, Easingwold.
Farrar, Mr. John, Marton Park.
Fawcett, Mr., Tollerton.
Fawcett, Mr., Sheriff-Hutton.
Featherstone, Mr., Helmsley.
Ferguson, Mr., Do.
Flawith, Mr. Thomas, Alne.
Flower, Mr., Huby.
Foggett, Mr., Oulston.
Forrest, Mrs., Sessay Hall.
Foster, Miss, Darlington.
Freeman, Mr. Joseph, Tollerton.
Gaklen, Rev Samuel, M.A,, Vicar of
Bossall.
Gatenby, Rev. John, Newton-upon-
Ouse.
Gray. Rev. Canon, Brafferton Recto
ry, 2 copies.
Greenhow. Rev. Edw., Nun Monkton.
Greenwell, the Rev. Wm , Principal
of the Medical College, Newcastle-
on-Tyne.
Guise, Rev. G. C, M.A., Pulverbatch
Rectory, Shrewsbury, 2 copies.
Guise, Frederick Charles, Esq., Pul
verbatch, Salop.
Garbutt, Mr. William, Innkeeper,
Hovingham.
Garbutt, Mr. James, York.
Germain, Mr. G., Stillington.
Gibbs, Mr. Alexander, Raskelfe.
Gibson, Mr Geo., Artist, Easingwold.
Gibson. Mr. Martin, Yearsley.
Gibson, Mr. Wm., New Parks, Huby.
Gill, Mr. Christopher, the Lund, Ea
singwold.
Gill, Mr. Wm., the Lund, Easingwold
Gill, Mr. Thomas, Wath. "
Gill, Mr. Christopher, Easingwold.
GDI, Mr. Robert, Crayke.
Gill, Miss, Sowerby, near Thirsk.
Glaisby,' Mr., York, 3 copies.
Gordon, Mr. J. S., Pickering.
Goodwill, Mrs., Alne Station.
Greenwood, Mrs., Raskelfe.
Habland, Charles, Esq., Sutton Hall.
Hartley, Rev. Thomas, Raskelfe.
Harley, R., Esq., Member of the
Manchester Lit. Phil. Society.
Harper, Alfred, Esq., M.D., Darling
ton.
Hawkin, Rev. C, Sutton-on-the-Fo
rest.

X.

SUBSCEIBERS.

Haxby, John, Esq., Solicitor, Easing
wold.
Higginson, Rev. J., M.A., Rector of
Thormanby.
Higginson, R. Esq., Brafferton House
Hodgson, Lumley, Esq., Highthorn.
Hodgson, Wm., Esq., East Ayton,
Pickering, 2 copies.
Hall, Mr. George B., Thirsk.
Hall, Mrs., Easingwold.
Halmarack, Mr. John.
Harrison, Mr., Helmsley.
Harrison, Mr. Wm., Stamp Office,
Ripon, 2 copies.
Harrison, Mr. Thomas, Acaster Hill.
Harker, Mr. Christopher, York.
Hastings, Mr., Flaxby Academy.
Hargrove, Mr. Alfred E., York.
Harbron, Mr. Christ., Easingwold.
Haw, Mr. John, Raskelfe.
Hawkin, Mr. J., Park Street, York.
Hawking, Mr., Newburgh.
Hawkin, Mr. Edward, Easingwold.
Hawldng, Mr. H., Linton-upon-Ouse.
Hawking, Mr., Newton Willows.
HerriDg, Mr. C. T., Solicitor, Bedale.
Herring, Mr. G. A., Solicitor, Leeds.
Hobson, Mr. Joseph, Gardener, Eas
ingwold.
Hobson, Mr. Joseph, Currier, Easing
wold.
Hodgson, Mr. John, Raskelfe. *
Hodgson, Mr. Martin, Raskelfe.
Hodgson, Mr. William, Do.
Holmes, Mr. William, Newcastle,
Hope, Mr. George, York.
Horner, Mr. Thomas, Raskelfe.
Horner, Mr. Geo., Easingwold.
Horton , Mr., Sheriff-Hutton.
Humphrey, Mr. D., York, 6 copies.
Hurward, Mr. Benjamin, Sunderland.
Johnstone, Rev. Charles, Sutton Hall.
Jackson, William, Esq., Hull.
Jefferson, W. T., Esq , Northallerton.
Jennett and Co., Messrs., Stockton-
on-Tees.
Ingledew, Mr. C. J., Thirsk.
Djbotson, Mr. Henry, Gawthorpe.
Jackson, Mr., Huby.
Johnson, Mr. John, Easingwold.
Johnson, Mr., Aldwark Bridge.
Jones, Mr., Helmsley.
Jones, Mr. Roger, Easingwold.
Judson, Mr. Wm., Bletchingley.

Kendall, T. M. Esq., Pickering Hall
Kay, Mr. John, Boscow.
Kettle, Mr. Daniel, Blackfriars, Lon
don.
Kilvington, Mr. Thomas, Steresby.
Kilvington, Mr., Crayke.
Kimber, Mr. Joseph, York.
King, Mr. J., London.
Kirk, Mr., Draper, York.
Lamb, E. B., Esq., London.
Langhorne, J. Bailey, Esq., Rich
mond, 2 copies.
Lawson, Andrew, Esq., Aldburgh
Manor, 3 copies.
Lawson, Rev. W. M., M.A., Mosely,
near Birmingham.
Lawson, Gray, Rev , M.A., Rector of
Littleton Drew, Wilts.
Lawton, Wm., Esq., Minster Gate,
York.
Lockwood, Rev. Wm., M.A., Fencote,
Vicar of Kirby Fleetham.
Lockwood, Miss T., Fencote.
Longstaffe, J. Hylton, Esq., Gates
head.
Lacy, Mr., Huby.
Lambert, Mr. J. C, Easingwold.
Lambert, Mr., Tollerton.
Lawson, Mr. Joseph, Raskelfe.
Lazenby, Mr. Matt, Boarding School,
Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.
Leake, Mr., Youlton Lodge.
Leake, Miss, Tholthorpe.
Leadley, Mr., Easingwold, 2 copies.
Lee, Mr., Stillington.
Leng, Mr., Linton-on-Ouse.
Linton, Mr. Wm., Sheriff-Hutton,
Lowther, Miss C, Stillington.
Lumley, Mr. Wm. T„ Kirbymoorside.
Lund, Mr. Thomas, Easingwold.
Lund, Mr., Thornton Bridge.
Lyon, Mr. Robert, Sessay.
Lyth, Mr., York.
Masteb, the Rev. R. M., Burnley.
Mewbum, Francis, Esq., Darlington.
Meek, James, Esq., York.
Milburn, M. M., Esq., Sowerby.
Mac Bride, Mr., Darlington.
Marshall, Mr., Hutton.
Marsh, Mr., York.
Martin, Mr. Robert, Easingwold.
Martindale, Mr., Easingwold.
May, Mr James, Easingwold.

SUBSCEIBEBS.

Menon, Mr. G. J., Birmingham.
Metcalfe, Mr., Alne.
Metcalfe, Mr. Wm., Alne Station.
Millington, Mr. Jesse, Leeds.
Milner, Mr., Tollerton.
Moffatt, Mr., Aldwark Bridge.
Monkhouse, Mr. Wm., York.
Moon, Mr. Wm., Alne.
Moon, Miss, Alne.
Moore, Mr. Wm., Hovingham.
Morrell, Mr., Baxby.
Mosey, Mr.Wm., Gilling.
Mountain, Mr. Mark, Boroughbridge.
Muncaster, Mr., Schoolmaster,
Husthwaite.
Neville, Ralph, Esq., Butleigh Court.
Newton, Mrs., Otterington Hall.
Noble, Mr., York.
Noton, Mr. Wm. Leng, the Lund,
Easingwold.
Oakley, R. B., Esq., Ibstock Rectory,
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Overton, Rev. John, M.A., Rector of

Overton, Charles, Esq., Solicitor, York
Palmee, Captain J. R., Milford
House, Hants, 2 copies.
Paley, E. G., Esq., Lancaster.
Parker, T. L., Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Knutsford, 2 copies.
Phillips, John, Esq , F.R.S., St. Ma
ry's Lodge, York.
Phillips, Thomas, Esq., Helmsley.
Phillips, John Henry, Esq., Helmsley
Phillips, Wm., Esq., York.
Peckett, H., Esq., Carlton Husthwaite
Palliser, Mrs., Sessay.
Parry and Co., Messrs., London, 6
copies.
Parker, Mr. Thomas, Tholthorpe.
Passman, Mr. Francis, Oulston.
Peacock, Mr. Thomas, Easingwold.
Peacock, Mr. F., Easingwold Terrace,
Smedley, Manchester.
Peacock, Mr. John, Thormanby.
Pearson, Mr. Wm. B., Spring House,
Raskelfe.
Peirson, Mr. Thomas, Mowbray Cot
tage, Lockport, N. A-
Peirson, Miss Elizabeth, Do.
Pehty, Mr. Edward, Easingwold.
Penty, Miss, Easingwold.

Pindar, Mr., Alne.
Pinder, Mr. G. E., York.
Plowman, Mr, Tollerton.
Plummer, Mrs., Thormanby.
Postill, Mr., York.
Potter, Mr. Charles, London.
Potter, Mr. Henry, Tamworth.
Preston, Mr. George, Easingwold.
Preston, Misses, Easingwold.
Quaeton, Mr., Greenhammerton .
Raine, the Rev. James, M.A., Crook-
hall, Durham.
Robinson, John, Esq., Easingwold.
Ramsden, Mr. D., Huby Burn.
Reid, Mr., Baxby.
Reed, Mr. Robert, Sheriff-Hutton.
Reid, Mr. George, Baxby Mill.
Remmer, Mr. George, Stillington.
Richardson, Mr. John, Pocklington.
Richardson, Mr. Wm., Easingwold.
Ripley, Mr., York.
Robinson, Mr. Thomas, 2 copies.
Robinson, Miss, Easingwold.
Robinson, Mr. G., Easingwold.
Robinson, Mr., Thormanby.
Robinson, Miss, Settle.
Robson, Mr., the Shires, Easingwold.
Robson, Mr. Robert, Raskelfe.
Robson, Miss, Easingwold.
,Roe, Mr. John, Brandsby.
Rogers, Mr., Helmsley.
Rooke, Mr., Marton Lordship.
Rook, Mr., Linton-upon-Ouse.
Rookledge, Mr. John, Easingwold.
Rookledge,Mr. Wm.,5, New Clarence
Street, York.
Rookledge Mr. Thomas, Melbourne,
Australia.
Rowntree, Mr., Land Agent, Easing
wold.
Rowntree, Mr., Howden.
Rowntree, Mr., Oxford Street, London
Rowntree, Mrs., Swinton.
Rowntree, Mr. John, London.
Rounthwaite, Mr., Lilling.
Ruddock, Mr. W. P., Cemetery,
York..
Russell, Mr. H. M., South Holme.
Rutter, Mr., Raskelfe.
Rymer, Mrs- Mary, Coxwold.
ScoiT,:Rey. George, M. A., Coxwold.
Bcott, Henry, Fisq., Oulston.

SUBSCBIBEES.

Smales, Henry, Esq., Junr , Darling
ton.
Smith, Ecroyd, Esq., Camden Town.
Stapylton, Henry Miles, Esq., Myton
Hall.
Stevenson, Rev. T. B., M.A., King
Edward's School, Birmingham.
Stewart, Rev. F., B. A., Stillington
Rectoryi
Strangwayes, E. S. Esq., Alne Hall.
Simpkra, Marshall, and Co., London,
25 copies.
Simpson, Rev. J., Bradford.
Sutcliffe, Rev. John, Peniston.
Sadler, Mr. James, Hawkhills.
Salmon, Mr. Thomas, Stillington.
Sampson, Mr. John, York, 4 copies.
Scales, Mrs , Stillington.
Seamer, Mr., Newton Grange.
Seifart, Herr, Harrogate.
Shepard, Mr. Robert, Alne.
Shepherd, Mr. John, Raskelfe.
Shepherd, Mr. James, Raskelfe.
Shepard Mr. John, Alne.
Shepherd, Mr. Wm., Sutton.
Shepherd, Mr. George. Otley.
Shepherd, Mr. George, Raskelfe.
Shields, Mr. George, Hanover House.
Shillito, Mr. Joseph, York.
Sigsworth, Mr. F. P., York.
Sigsworth, Miss A. E., Melbourne,
Australia.
Silburn, Mr. James, Pocklington.
Sissons.Mr. Robert, Hull.
Skaife, Mr. Thomas, Easingwold.
Skaife, Mr. R, T., Easingwold.
Skaife, Mr. John, Sessay.
Skaife, Mrs. John, Easingwold.
Sleight, Mr. John, York, 4 copies
Slater, Mr. John, Husthwaite.
Slater, Mr. Thomas, Bury, Lancashire
Smith, Mr. Robert, Coxwold.
Smith, Mr. Thomas, Wilden.
Smith, the Misses, Easingwold.
Smith, Mr. H. B., Sheffield.
Smith, Mr. Joseph, Coxwold,
Smith, Mr., Sheriff-Hutton.
Smith, Mr. George, Oulston.
Smith, Mr. Richard, Easingwold,
2 copies.
Smithson, Mr., Sessay.
Smithson, Mr. Richard, Alne.
Smythe, Mr., York.
Snowdon, Mrs. E., Easingwold.
Sotheran, Mr. Henry, York, 2 copies.

Sootheran, Mr., Ampleforth.
Stationers' Hall, London.
Stockton, Mr. John, Aldwark.
Stockdale, Mr., Coxwold.
Stokoe, Mr., Tollerton.
Stonehouse, Mr. Wm., Hovingham.
Strangways, Mr. John, Magherafelt,
Ireland.
Sturdy, Mrs. John, Easingwold.
Sturdy, Mr. John, 13, Esplanade,
Scarborough.
Sturdy, Mr. William, Newton.
Sugden, Mr.", Otley.
Sunter, Mr. Robert, York, 25 copies,
Surr, Mrs., Keldholme, Kirbymoor-
side.
Surtees, Mrs., Mainsforth, Darlington.
Tetley, Wm., Esq., Asenby Lodge,
Thirsk.
Thistleton, C. A., Esq., Minster Yard,
York.
Thompson, R. J., Esq., Kirby Hall,
Boroughbridge.
Thompson, H., Esq , Moat Hall, Do.
Thompson, Luke, Esq., York.
Torre, the Rev. Henry, Thornhill
Rectory.
Townsend, C, Es^q,, Derby.
Tucker, Major, ' Royal Engineers,
Ripon.
Tarbotton, Mrs., TJckerby.
Tebb, Mr. George, Raskelfe.
Temple, Mr. William, Raskelfe.
Tesseyman, Mr. Henry ^Husthwaite.
Thompson, Mr., Raskelfe Station.
Thompson, Mr. John.
Thompson, Mr. Thomas, Sutton-on-
the-Forest.
Topham, Mr. William, Alkborough,
Lincolnshire.
Trenam, Mrs., Helmsley.
Trinity College, Dublin.
Tuke, Mr., Stillington.
Turner, Mr. T., Bookseller, Borough-
bridge.
Veeity, Robert, Esq., South Woods.
Vickers, Miss, Pigburn, Doncaster.
Watles, F. Esq., Beacon Banks,
Husthwaite, 3 copies.
Waite, Wm. Esq., Holdgate, York,
6 copies.
Waite, Wm., Esq., Crayke Castle.

STJBSCRIBEES.

Walbran, John Richard, Esq., Hall
Croft, Ripon.
Walker, James, Esq, Sandhutton
1 Hall.
Walker, Rev. Wm., Slingsby Rectory.
Webb, Wm. Frederick, Esq., Lord of
the Manor of Raskelfe, 4 copies.
Webb, A. F. C, Esq., 17th Lancers,
3 copies.
Webb, Mrs , Hampton Court, 3 copies-
Welburn, Rev. M., Ampleforth.
Wellbeloved, the Rev. C, York.
Whytehead, H. Y., Esq., M.D.,
Crayke, 4 copies.
Whytehead, Wm., Esq., York.
Whytehead, Miss, York.
Whytehead, Miss, Easingwold, 2
copies.
Wilson, Doctor, Pocklington.
Wilson, Joseph, R, Esq., Stockton.
Wilson, Rev. W. A., Linton-upon-
Ouse.
Winter, Rev John, Coxwold.
Wise, Samuel, Esq., Ripon.
Wombweil, George Orby, Esq ,
Newburgh Hall, 2 copies.
Wombwell, John, Esq.
Wright, Rev. George, M-.A., Vicar of
Conisbrough.
Walker, Mr. Robert, London Bridge.
Warin, Mr- Richard, Thomton-on-
the-Hill.

Walton, Mr. Robert Dodgson, Sessay.
Watt, Mr., Tollerton.
Weatherill, Mr. Robert, Stillington.
Webster, Mr., Easingwold.
Webb, Mr. Wm., Otjey.
Weddell, Mrs., Alne.
Weightman, Mr T , York.
White, Mr. John, Yearsley.
Whitehead, Mr., Alne.
Whitwell, Mr. Wm., Hutton Sessay.
Wiley, Mr., Easingwold, 2 copies.
Wilkinson, Mr. T., Cold Harbour,
Raskelfe.
Wimp, Mr. Peter, Husthwaite.
Windross, Mr. John, York.
Winter, Mr. Robert, Oulston.
Winter, Mr. Wm., Oulston.
Withers, Mr. T., Leicester.
Wood, Mr. Wm , Whixley.
Wood, Mr. George, Easingwold.
Woodward, Mr., Dnnsforth.
Woodward; Mr. John, Beverley.
Woodward, Mr. Thomas, Baxby.
Woodward, Miss, Crayke.
Wright, Mr. AY. N., Bookseller to the
Queen, fiO, Pall Mall.
Wright. Mr. Wm., Raskelfe, 2 copies.
Wynn, Mr. Noah, Stillington.
Young, Mr. David J., Huby.

.ADDITIONAL SUBSCRIBERS.

The Lord Bishop of Durham^
Major-General, Sir George Bowles, K.C,B, Curzon Street, London.
Charles Edward Murray, Esq., Bedford Square, London.
The Rev. Charles Lloyd, Hampden Rectory, Bucks.
Mr. J. E. Bigland, Queen's College, Cambridge.
Mr. Charles Loftas, Dalton, Thirsk.
¦ Messrs. Fenteman and Sons, Leeds, 3 copies.
Mr. James Wardell, Leeds.
Mr. AArm. Dale, Topcliffe Park.
Mr. J. Chapman, York.
Mr. AVm. Wilson, Slingsby.
Mr. Thomas Smith, Slingsby.
Air. Jackson, Osgodby Grange.

Missing Page

Missing Page

^ntrntartnq taurk

S3!

I

iH

N tracing out the History and Antiquities of Eas
ingwold and its Neighbourhood, it will be neces
sary to epitomise the history of other tribes and
nations, as connected with the origin and descent
of the first inhabitants of this island.
Before the time of the Romans, there was much of uncer
tainty associated with the history of Britain, and all the other
nations of the earth. The accounts handed down to us are
involved in much obscurity, for the Druids or priests of the
ancient Britons considered it unlawful to communicate any
information, except by oral tradition. But there are other
sources of evidence drawn from the enlightened and civilized
nations of the earth, which will enable us distinctly*to trace
out the origin and descent of the first inhabitants of this
country. Britain was first peopled by the descendants of Japheth, the
son of Noah. After the confusion of tongues as described in
the book of Genesis, the sons and nephews of Noah dispersed
themselves into the various quarters of the globe. "Some
departed towards the East, some to the main land, others went
forward into the North, until they came as far as Britain, situ
ate in the northern climates."1 The sons of Japheth, we are
told by Moses, betook themselves into Europe, and peopled
the western parts of the world, and the isles of the Gentiles,
or the British isles. ' Theophilus Antiochenus.
B

18 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Gomer, the eldest son of Japheth, established a colony in
Italy, called the Gomerians. From thence they passed into
the north parts, where they were called Cimbri. They emi
grated into France, where they were called Gauls, and into
Britain, where they were called Celts. It is probable that
some of the Cimbri from the Coasts of Germany came and
settled in this island, for some writers, speaking of the ancient
inhabitants, call them the Cimbri Celts, and the ancient Britons
speaking of themselves, invariably made use of the term
Cymri, which word is still used to designate the Welsh people
to this day.
The first inhabitants of Britain, therefore, may be traced
to Gomer, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah. By this
branch of Noah's family were "The isles of the Gentiles divi
ded in their lands," and the blessing of the old patriarch is ,
fulfilled in then* prosperity: — "God enlarge Japheth, and let
him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant."
"The Britains," says Camden, "are the posterity of Gomer,
and of Gomer took their denomination, the very word implying
extent and dominion, a name bestowed on the eldest son of
Noah by Divine Providence, and signifying in the Hebrew
tongue, — utmost bordering."
The peopling of Britain by the descendants of Japheth, was
about two thousand years before the birth of Christ. It is
difficult to pierce the mysterious gloom which shrouds an
infant world, but in an incredible short space of time, mighty
and powerful nations were established, though their history
presents little else but a scene of treachery and blood.
Nimrod began to build cities, and he established the Baby
lonian empire. Nineveh was the seat of another tribe, and
formed another colony. Tyre and Sidon sprang, up into com
mercial and maritime importance, and they carried on an
extensive commerce with the isles of the Gentiles. Tyre is
called by Ezekiel " the mart of nations," and we learn from
Solomon, that the Phoenicians were an ingenious and enter
prising race of men. Their country included the land of the
Philistines, the Sidonians, Tyrians, Canaanites, &c, and was
bordering on the Mediterranean sea and the land which the
children of Israel possessed. With this people the British

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 19
Isles carried on an extensive traffic. They established colonies
on our coasts, — introduced their religious rites and ceremonies,
and from this time the British character became amalgamated
with the Phoenician.
The period of time when the Phoenicians established their
colonies in Britain, was about fifteen hundred years before the
Christian era. They had been harassed and driven from one
spot to another, by the all-conquering hand of Joshua, who
pursued them with an Israelitish army, till, having lost the
land of Canaan and other territories, they were led to seek the
enlargement of their borders by emigration. There was an
inscription legible for many ages on two pillars near the fount
of the Magi, atTangiers, running thus : — "We fly from the face
of Joshua, the robber."2
Another writer upon this subject, thus states, — "Two pillars
were found in the kingdom of Tangier, upon the Streights,
with a Phoenician inscription, thus :—
WE FLY FROM THE
FACE OF JOSHUA, THE
SON OF NAVE, THE
ROBBER."3
Being well acquainted with the laws of -navigation, the
Phoenicians extended their commerce, first to the isles of the
Mediterranean — from thence to Spain, and then upward to the
British Isles. Strabo, the celebrated heathen geographer,
declares, that Tyre not only sent fortli colonies into Spain, and
to the pillars of Hercules, but beyond them ; yea, expressly,
that the Phoenicians began a commerce with the Britons, and
that they alone carried on a commerce with them, and he
afterwards enters into the details of this commerce. "The
Phoenicians,'' says he, "imported into Britain, earthenware,
salt, all sorts of instruments of iron and brass ; and they receiv
ed in exchange, shoes, leather, and tin ; and the single article
of tin, (the mines of which abound in Cornwall), was an inex
haustible source of wealth to the Phoenicians." Another
author of equal authority, confirms the same statement, and
adds, " these islands were called the Cassiterides or Tin islands."
2 Procop. Vandal, lib. ii. c. 10. in Moore, p. 9.
3Sammes* Britannia Antiqua, p. 141.
A3

20 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
When the Phoenicians first came to this island, — about
three thousand three hundred and fifty years ago, they found
the ancient Britons and Celts carrying on a good home trade
in the manufacture and use of articles, produced among
themselves. There was a degree of civilization amongst them,
and the arts, if not science, were encouraged. The tin mines
were worked by the natives, for the Phoenicians on their arrival,
beholding the tin in its slimy state, as taken from the mine,
called it " the mud," not knowing to what use it could be ap
plied. But the skill and ingenuity of the ancient Tyrians soon
found out a use for this important article. Through them it
was conveyed from Britain to Tyre, and easily transmitted from
this "mart of all nations,'' to every quarter of the globe.
When Moses erected the Tabernacle, we find him by the
command of Jehovah making use of this article of our island's
produce. The only metals used by Moses were gold, silver,
and brass. The latter was extensively used for rings, pins,
hooks, sockets, and "all the vessels of the altar, the pots and
the shovels, and the basons, and the flesh hooks, and the fire
pans; all the vessels thereof made he of brass," Exodus,
xxxviii. 3. &c.
The brass here spoken of was no doubt from Britain,- for
the ancients obtained all their tin, and, consequently, all their
brass from this country. The Rev. Dr. Vincent, in his Trea
tise on the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the
Indian Ocean, says, "thatfo'mis mentioned as an import into
Africa, Arabia, Scindi, and the coast of Malabar. It has con
tinued an article of commerce brought out of Britain, in all ages,
conveyed to all the countries in the Mediterranean by the
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, and carried into the Eastern
Ocean, from the origin of commerce."
The prophet Ezekiel, when speaking of the merchants of
Tyre, says, " Tarshish (or Britain) was thy merchant by reason
of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and
lead, they traded in thy fairs." chap, xxvii, 12v.
In the erection of that most magnifieient of all buildings,
the TEMPLE OF SOLOMON, the metals of bbitain formed
an essential element towards its completion and grandeur.
David says, "I have provided for the house of the Lord an

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21
hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand
talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight," and
when Solomon commenced the building, he sent to Hiram,
King of Tyre, (or the Phoenicians,) saying, " Send me now
therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in
brass," and Hiram sent him a cunning man endued with un
derstanding, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in
iron, in stone, and in timber, also to grave any manner of gra
ving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him."
The Trojan war terminated 1150 years' before the birth of
Christ, and the three hundred and fifty thousand warriors
engaged on the plains of Ilion were chiefly clad in armour
manufactured from British metals, and procured from the
Tyrian market. The famous shield of Achilles, Homer
describes as made of silver, brass, tin, and gold. (Book XVIII.
Iliad, v. 545.)
"In hissing flames huge silver bars are roll'd,
And stubborn brass, and tin, and solid gold !"
And atBook XX. v. 318.
. . I'-Eive plates of various metal, various mould,
'Compos'd the shield; of brass each outward fold,
Of tin each inward, and the middle gold."
The sword too is described as made of brass Book XIX.
v. 398. " The silver cuisher first his thighs enfold
Then o'er his breast was brac'd the hollow gold :
The Bkazen Swobd a various baldric ty'd,
That starr'd with gems, hung glittering at his side."
And not only were the shields and swords of the Grecian
warriors made of British metal, but the whole of their arms
and armour were either in part or whole, the produce of our
island. Iliad, Book VI. v. 143.
"This said, with ample strides the hero past;
The shield's large orb behind his shoulder cast,
His neck o'ershading to his ancle hung,
And as he march'd the Brazen buckler rung. "
Book XXIII. v. lOSt.
" Take then the prize, but let brave Merion bear
This beamy javelin in thy brother's war.
B3

22 introductory remarks.
Pleas'd from the hero's lips his praise to hear,
The king to Merion gives the brazen spear."
Book V. v. 602.
" From his proud car the prince impetuous springs,
On earth he leaps; his brazen armour rings."
Book II. v. 199.
" No : let my Greeks, unmov'd by vain alarms,
Once more refulgent shine in brazen arms."
Book XV. v. 544.
" At its full stretch as the tough string he drew,
Struck by an arm unseen, it burst in two ;
Down dropp'd the bow ; the shaft with brazen head,
Eell innocent, and on the dust lay dead."
Book XXIII. v. 941.
"Next these a buckler, spear, and helmet brings;
Cast on the plain, the brazen burden rings ;
Arms which of late divine Sarpedon wore,
And great Patroclus in short triumph bore."
Idem, v. 639.
" With plates of brass the corselet cover'd o'er."
Book XVI. v. 162.
" He cased his limbs in brass, and first around
His manly legs, with silver buckles bound."
Idem, v. 142.
" Stern Hector wav'd his sword ; and standing near
Where furious Ajax ply'd his ashen spear,
Eull on the lance a stroke so justly sped,
That the broad falchion lopp'd its brazen head ;
The pointless spear the warrior shakes in vain ;
The brazen head falls sounding on the plain."
Arms made of these metals were quite common among the
Grecian soldiers, and were not noticed particularly by Homer,
unless inlaid with other metals, and worked with gold and silver
devices, like the sword of Achilles, and many others of the
Grecian heroes. That the Grecians obtained their armour
and other articles of resplendent brass from the Phoenicians, is
proved by these lines. Book XXIII, v. 865,
" A silver um that full six measures held,
By none in weight or workmanship excell'd ;
Sidonian artists taught the frame to shine
Elaborate with artifice divine;

INTRODUCTORY remarks. 23
Whence Tvbian sailoks did the price transport,
And gave to Thoas at the Lemnianport."
The trade of Britain must have been in a very flourishing
state at this period of its history, and the commercial inter
course which she held with a people of so much refinement
and civilization as the Tyrians, and skilled as they were in the
arts and sciences,4 would render Britain not only a commer
cial, but an enlightened and civilized people. The mines of
Cornwall must have been extensively worked to supply the
Tyrian market, which supplied the world.
We are not acquainted with the government of Britain du
ring the time of the Phoenicians, but a regular intercourse
between the two nations for nine hundred or a thousand years,
would, as a matter of course, introduce most of the Tyrian
habits and customs into this country.
The language of Britain was much the same as the language
of the Phoenicians. This is shown at large by Sammes in his
Britannia,5 and also by Borlace, who says, "that many' words
in the present British are evidently of Tyrian derivation."6
The language of the Tyrians or Phoenicians was derived from
the Hebrew. The famous city of Carthage, built by Queen
Dido, sister of Pygmalion, King of Tyre, was a Phoenician
colony, and spoke the same language.7 Many authors ascribe
to the Phoenicians the glory of having invented letters and the
art of writing. Cadmus, son of Agenor, King of Phoenicia, in
troduced the use of letters into Greece, and the writings of
Sanchematho, a Phoenician philosopher who was contemporary
with Joshua, were the most ancient written documents after
the books of Moses.
4 It is recorded that in the reign of Pharoah Necho, King of Egypt, 630
years before Christ, some Phoenician vessels sailed completely round
Africa, a circumstance which would have placed their skill in navigation
beyond doubt, even had it not been proved by so many other facts.
5 See Sammes' Britannia, p. 81.
6Borlace's Antiquities, p. 31.
7 Sharon Turner says that Britain was peopled not only by the Kim-
merians (Cimbri) Keltoi (Celts) but also by the Phoenicians, partly those
of the original Tyrians, and partly by Carthaginians, a colony of Tyre who
also traded here.— Turner's Hist, Anglo Sax. vol. I, p. 53.

24 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
The names of places as well as the language, prove the
connection this country has had with the Phoenicians, for the
name of Albion, Britannia, and Ierne or Ireland, are of Phoeni
cian derivation. In a work dedicated to Alexander the Great,
and supposed to have been written by Aristotle the philosopher,
reference is made to Homer having obtained some faint
glimpses' of the west, but it was a century later before they
were explored by the Massillian Greeks, and the first time
they are handed down in any authentic record, they are referred
to under their old Celtic names of Albion and Ierne.
The relics of antiquity which have been found from time
to time in Britain, prove the connection which has existed
between this country and the Phoenicians. Golden orna
ments of considerable value and superb workmanship, have
been discovered in many parts of Ireland and Cornwall.
Among the most beautiful of these ornaments are golden
torques or collars, supposed to have been worn by the Druids,
as, according to Strabo, the same description of collar was
worn by the Druids in Gaul. One of these, of delicate work
manship, and of the purest gold, is in the possession of the.
Marquis of Lansdowne. Also a variety of swords and other
weapons have been discovered, which are composed of a mix
ed metal, chiefly copper, admitting of a very high polish,
and . of a temper to carry a very sharp edge. The swords
correspond in every particular with those in Sir William
Hamilton's collection, now in the British Museum, which were
found in the field of Cannse, and said to be Carthaginian.
These swords are principally found in Cornwall, and Count
Caylus has given an engraving of one of the same kind, whieh
he calls Gladius Hispaniensis, and which was dug from the
ruins of Herculaneum. These weapons appear to be all of the
same Punic or Phoenician origin, and may be traced to those
colonies which traded with the British isles. There have been
also found scythe-blades of bronze, such as were attached an
ciently to the wheels of war chariots ; the use of that ancient
mode of warfare having prevailed formerly in Britain.
The instrument called the Celt is most probably of Phoeni
cian or Celtic origin. A large quantity of these, with spear
heads and broken pieces of copper-swords were found in the

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 25
year 1800, in the parish of St. Hilary. Leland also mentions
spear-heads, and swords of copper, and battle axes, (probably
celts) having been found in the same parish. Celts have
been found in various' parts of Yorkshire, and a large quan
tity were dug up in the neighbourhood of Easingwold.
An analysis of these ancient swords, celts, and other instru
ments found in Britain as well as in various parts af Asia and
Africa, prove them to be all the same in metal as well ,as
manufacture. They contain from 85 to 90 of copper, and tin
from 10 to 15. 8 The manufacture of these articles "was
EXCLUSIVELY IN THE HANDS OF THE PHCENICIANS, AND ALL
THE TIN THEY USED THEY WERE OBLIGED TO
PROCURE FROM THE CASSITERIDES, the present
CORNWALL."
In 1802, a circle of brass inlaid with gems, and ornamented
with zig-zag patterns shaded with dots, was found in Cornwall,
and is now in the possession of Wm. Rashleigh, Esq. The
rich and various designs pourtrayed upon the shield of Achilles,
are described by Homer to have been relieved with shades of
darker metals, " Next ripe in yellow gold, a vineyard shines,
Bent with the ponderous harvest of its vines ;
A deeper dye the dangling clusters show, I
And curl'd on silver props, in order glow; /
A darker metal mixt intrench'd the placej
And pales of glittering tin th' enclosure grace."9
The striking similitude which exists between the arms of
the Greeks and those found in Britain, can only be accounted
for upon the supposition that there existed a communication
with the countries in the Mediterranean sea, and that the same
civilization which was cultivated in Greece and its neighbour
ing nations was conveyed to Britain, and maintained by
constant intercourse regularly kept up by the Phoenician
merchants. All history — and tradition older than history,
point to them as the channel through which civilization flowed
in upon these islands. The names of the islands and of the
8Klaproth's Magasin, p. 298.
9 Book XXIII, v. 681.

26 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
metals speak the same language, and confirm the truth of his
torical and other evidence.
Herodotus was born fifty years after the death of Ezekiel.
Aristotle was born fifty years after the death of Herodotus.
Strabo and Diodorus Siculus lived in the time of Augustus,
and each of them speak of the Cassiterides or Tin Islands, as
the place from whence the Tyrians obtained their metals.
About the same time an account is also given by Himileo, the
Carthaginian, who visited these islands ; thus step by step,
from the time of David, till the reign of Alexander, the connec
tion between Tyre and the British Isles can be traced.
The religion of the Tyrians and the ancient Britons was
the same. What might have been the religious state of the
island previous to the arrival of the Phoenicians, we know not,
but there can be little doubt of their having introduced their
Magi, (the Druidical priests) into Britain. Strabo says ex
pressly, that the Phoenicians carried their religion into far
distant regions, and Pliny informs us that the Phoenician
nation was eminent for science and learning, for the first in
vention of letters, and for their knowledge in astronomy,
navigation, and nautical skill.1
It is very natural to suppose that the superior learning,
skill, and ingenuity of the Phoenicians would gain an ascen
dency over the minds of the unsophisticated, untutored inhabi
tants, and prevail upon them to adopt their imposing religion.
" The worship of the Tyrian Deity was introduced into the
most distant parts of the world to which that people penetrated
and founded settlements, and furnished a strong band, which
knit the whole together by the effect of common feasts and
sacrifices."2 The superior civilization of Phoenicia is corroborated by
Scripture, for she is represented as famed for her wisdom
as well as her influence over the nations. Thus she is said to
be "very wise," and the Prince of Tyre considered himself
"wiser than Daniel." According to Isaiah, her merchants too,
were "princes, and her traffickers were the honourable of the
earth." And when God purposes her overthrow, he is said to
iPlin. Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. XII.
2Heeren's Historical Researches.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 27
do it " to stain the pride of her glory, and to bring into con
tempt all the honourable of the earth." If such people as these
came over to the British Isles, they would not only wish to
establish their religion ; but their claim to antiquity — to science
and the arts, would enable them to do so. And with this
sentiment, Sir Isaac Newton seems to concur; for he says,
"With these Phoenicians came a sort of men skilled in religious
mysteries."3 The "sort of men" h'ere alluded to were the Druids, or
the Priests of Britain, who remained in this island after the
Phoenician commerce ceased, on the downfall of their nation
and the destruction of their chief cities, Tyre and Sidon. And
in further evidence of the whole, and particularly of the latter
position, we will add, the identity of the customs of the
Phoenicians and Britons. "Were the Phoenicians accustomed
to erect pillars of stone as memorials and objects of worship?
So were the Britons. Did the Phoenicians gather heaps of
stones for certain purposes? So, in the isles of Britain we find
these heaps, or earns. Had they their altars of rough, unhewn
stones? So had the Britons. Did the Phoenicians sacrifice
to the Sun under the name of Baal? The same Deity was
worshipped in Britain, under the name of Bel, Beal, Belinus,
and Apollo. Did they cause human beings to pass through
the fire to their gods; and did they offer human sacrifices?
So did the inhabitants of these isles. Were their assemblages
of stones placed in a circular form for sacred purposes in that
country? So they were in these Britannic Isles, and such
circles remain unto this day. Did they in that country vene
rate, as sacred, the oak, and worship in groves? It was the
same here. Was Tyre famed for its "harps " and its "songs?"
So were the ancient Britons, and so are the Welsh, their des
cendants to this day. Did the Phoenicians and the people of
the East, reckon the day from evening to morning? So did
-the Druids. Did they measm-e by the cubit? So did the
Druids. Had they castles? They were common among the
ancient Britons. Did they carry on their war with chariots?
So did the ancient Britons."4 3 See Moore, p. 13. Note.
4 Weaver's Monumenta Antiqua, p. 93.
The offering of the cake is another ceremony in which the Britons

28 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
After the destruction of Tyre and Sidon, and the withdrawal
of the Tyrian commerce from the British Isles, its civilization
began to take a retrogade movement, and the barbarous condi
tion in which it was found by the Romans, proves, that the
words which the prophet Jeremiah pronounced against Tyre
and Sidon, and the kings of the isles beyond the sea, were words
full of truth and weighty import, and were literally fulfilled in
the humiliation and punishment of our own island as well as
the overthrow of the Phoenician cities.
The former history of the world is a history of the rise and
fall of empires and nations, and the changes and vicissitudes
connected therewith. The ten tribes of Israel were carried
away into Babylonish captivity, and their name is no more
heard among the history of nations. The Babylonians in
their turn shared a similar fate, for the King of Assyria, lifted
up with human pride, turned his arms against the Medes and
Persians, and invaded their country. The Persians sent Cyrus
at the head of a powerful army, who repelled the Assyrians,
invaded their country, killed their king, took Babylon, and
reduced the whole empire to subjection.
The Persian empire was greatly extended under Darius and
his son Xerxes, but it was ultimately subdued and conquered
by the confederated Greeks, under Alexander, King of Mace-
don, commonly called Alexander the Great. The origin of
the Grecian nation may be traced to a few small tribes located
on the isles and coasts of Greece and Asia Minor, who, behold
ing the growing power of the Persians, and their ambitious
projects, united their forces against the world's conquerors,
resembled the Phoenicians and the idolatrous Hebrews, as learning from
them. Indeed, the word " sacrifice," in Gaelic, is composed of two words,
which signify, " the offering of the cake." This offering consists of a quan
tity of flour, mills;, and eggs, and some few herbs and simples. It has still
existence in several parts of North Britain. How forcibly does this remind
us of the practice of the Jews in Jeremiah's time : — " Seest thou not what
they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? The chil
dren gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-
offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." Jer. vii. 17.
18. And in chap. xliv. 19. the women themselves say that it was to "wor
ship her."

INTRODUCTORY REMARK*. 29
and wrested from its trembling grasp the destinies of mankind,
on the ever memorable plains of Marathon.
The Greeks in their turn gave way to Roman valour, and
Rome having diffused among the Celtic nations of Western
Europe the germs of civilization grounded on municipal free
dom, degenerated, into imperial despotism, from which she
was aroused by the hardy tribes of the Teutonic race, issuing
from the forests of Germania, and diffusing that spirit of inde
pendence which is the peculiar characteristic of their tribe.
Since this period we find, that the Celtic or Teutonic race
have singly or conjointly, swayed the destinies of mankind.
If we turn our attention to our island-home, formed- as it has
been by the blending of Saxon and Scandinavian tribes, we
behold it arrived at a position of commercial prosperity and
maritime greatness hitherto unparalleled. England is now in
the possession of that heritage, whose succession we have
briefly traced through cognate races. The civilization which
germinated on the plains of the Ganges, about four thousand
years ago, has been transmitted westward from race to race,
— from the Israelites to the Babylonians — from the Babylo
nians to the Persians, — from the Persians to the Greeks, —
from the Greeks to the Romans, till at length we find among
ourselves, the elements that constitute its essence.
When Julius Csesar first invaded Britain, before Christ
about 55 years, he found the inhabitants in a wretched state of
barbarism. He represents them as being very numerous, and
a warlike race of men, divided into chieftains or principalities,
and governed by their own kings or leaders. They had inured
themselves to hardship and fatigue, and chiefly subsisted by
hunting and the milk from their flocks. Both men and wo
men went naked, or nearly so. They wore a collar round their
necks and another round their loins, as a badge of distinction.
Their hair grew long and flowed down their backs without any
fastenings. Csesar says they painted their bodies blue, which
rendered them frightful in battle. The men, he says, had
their breasts and bodies disfigured, with ugly beasts, serpents,
ravenous birds, scales and fins of fishes. The married womeri
were known by having pictured on their shoulders, elbows and
knees, the heads of some fierce beasts; as lions, gryphons, &c,

30 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
on their body the sun spreading his beams, on their breasts
moons and stars, and on their arms, thighs, and legs, some
other fancies of their own choice. Their virgins were garnished
over with the shapes of all the fairest kinds of flowers and
herbs. But this system of nudity and tatooing only prevailed
among the uncivilized part of the Britons. It is true, they
were not much encumbered with dress, but the ladies of Bri
tain in the time of Queen Boadicea were skilled in needlework,
and wore handsome dresses of their own manufacture, which
they dyed various colours. The dress of the men was a sort
of tunick which covered a great part of their bodies, and reach
ed down to their knees. The rest of their bodies were uncov
ered. The ancient Britons generally dwelt in villages surrounded
by a rampart of wood and earth to keep off the wild beasts, and
as a kind of defence in case of the approach of an enemy.
Their weapons, says Herodian, were narrow shields and short
spears, at the end whereof, says Dio, was a little bell like a
ball, which they shook at their first encounter in war to terrify
the enemy's cavalry. Swords also they had, but short ones,
hanging at their naked sides; but helmet and corslet they used
none, considering them as burdens rather than helps to war.
Their manner of fighting as well as their arms were much in
accordance with the Grecians as described by Homer. Strabo
declares, and Diodorus Siculus saith, that the Britons lived after
the first ages of the world, using chariots in their fight as the
Greeks did at the Trojan war. These chariots had short
scythes fastened to the ends of the axle-trees, which inflicted
terrible wounds when they came in contact with the enemy.
The chariots contained about a dozen warriors who darted their
javelins against the enemy, as they drove furiously about.
And such was their dexterity that they would run along the
Jbeam or shaft of the chariot, leap on the ground, resume their
seat, and turn their horses at full gallop down a hill in a very
short space.
The nation was then divided into minor kingdoms each
governed by its own king. A table of them is given by Ptolemy,
the principal of which were the Trinobantes. the Iceni, Ordo-
vices, the Silures, the Caledoni, but the most powerful of these

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 31
nations was the Brigantes, which comprehended the counties
of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Richmondshire, Durham, Westmore
land, and Cumberland, and the Capital or chief city of their
kingdom was Isurium Brigantium, now an inconsiderable
village called Aldburgh, eight miles from Easingwold.
Venutius was the famous king of the Brigantes at the period
of the Roman invasion. He is represented by Tacitus as being
expert above the rest of the ancient Britons in military affairs,
born under the state of the Brigantes, and having to wife
Cartismandua, a noble born British lady for his Queen.
The Romans in their conquest of Britain, experienced some
signal defeats. Tacitus saith that Agricola drove the intractable
Britons into the interior parts of the country, and that the Brig
antes sent forth an army against Severus, and in one expedition
the Romans lost seventy thousand men. But the conquerors
of the world ultimately prevailed. State after state was subdued,
and the last great battle fought between the contending powers,
the Romans and the ancient Britons was led on by that most
valiant British lady, Boadicea, queen of the Iceni. This brave
and courageous woman marshalled all the forces that flocked to
her standard, — encountered the forces of Petrilius Cereales,. —
put them to flight, — sacked one of their fortresses, — reduced
London to ashes, and massacred of the Romans and other
strangers to the number of 70,000.
A fresh supply of Roman soldiers was immediately des
patched to' Britain, and Suetonius encamped his forces upon a
plain, enclosed with woods, having a narrow entrance. Boadi
cea drew up her army in battalia, near to the spot, — drove her
chariot from troop to troop to commend their valour; and
dismounting, attended by her two daughters and two hundred
and thirty thousand resolute Britons, got her to a seat made of.
turf, apparelled in a loose gown of changeable colours, wearing?
a kirtle thereunder very thickly plaited, the tresses of her yellowt
hair hanging down to her skirts. About her neck was a chain
of gold, and in her hand she held a light spear.
By stratagem, the Romans gained the victory, and eighty
thousand of the Britons were slain. Queen Boadicea seeing
her army thus vanquished and scorning in her noble spirit to
be a spectacle in their triumphs or a vassal to their wills, after

32 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
the example of Cleopatra made an end of her life by poison.
Had the Britons been confederated together and united
their forces to repel the invading Romans, they would no doubt
have succeeded in baffling and overcoming all the efforts of
Csesar and the Roman arms, but they were at constant war
among themselves and filled with jealousy toward each other.
This, says Tacitus, was the cause which brought that puissant
nation into bondage, and was ' the only help to the Roman
victories. Thus ended the final conquest of Britain, except a good
deal of skirmishing in the woods, in which sort of warfare the
Romans lost fifty thousand men.
Tacitus, the Roman historian, when giving an account of
the attack of the Romans upon Anglesey, then very populous,
being a " constant harbour for all fugitives," and a chief seat of
the Druids, says, " Suetonius Paulinus formedthe design of redu
cing the island of Mona, now Anglesey, at that time very pop
ulous, and the chief seat of the Druids. On the opposite shore
stood numerous multitudes of men and women. The women
in black, with their hair loose about their shoulders, carrying
torches in their hands, and running about like so many furies;
whilst the Druids with hands lifted up to heaven, poured forth
execrations, and loudly called to their deities for vengeance.
The Druids were the guardians of the religion of the
Britains. They acted in the treble capacity of priests, legis
lators, and philosophers. They offered sacrifices unto the sun
under the name of Apollo, Diana, and Andraste. styled by
them the Goddess of Victory, and as such was invoked by Queen
Boadicea before the fatal overthrow of her army. Their tem
ples were under the shady oaks, and they believed in the im
mortality and transmigration of souls.
Their learning was considerable, and it took twenty years
close application to study to be well initiated into all the mys
teries of their system. They had schools in the forests for the
instruction of youth, and Csesar says, that the Gauls came to
Britain to be educated.
The Druids consisted of three orders — the Priests, the
Bards, and the Vaids. The Priests alone offered the sacri
fices and had the sole management of their religious concerns.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 33
The Bards sang the praises of their gods and of their heroes,
accompanying them with the harp and other musical instru
ments. They sang at the head of their armies before and after
battle, and were the poets of the day.
The Vaids were the prophets who foretold future events by
auguries and omens. There were also Druidesses, or female
Druids, who were a sort of prophetesses, and perhaps the fortune-
telling- women and witches of the present day are the relics of this
nearly extinct race. Over all these was one that presided as a
sort of sovereign pontiff, and he was called the Arch-Druid.
After the conquest of the Britons and the different tribes
were reduced to a state of peace and quiet, the Romans turned
their attention to the improvement of the commerce and agri
culture of the island. They drained the marshes and intersec
ted the country with high- ways, or what are now called Roman
Roads, the remains of some of which may be found at the
present day. These roads were paved with stone, well cement
ed, so as to prevent roots or branches of trees striking through
them, and of a sufficient breadth for wagons to pass each
other. Bridges were thrown over rivers where they were not
fordable, and a direct line of communication was made from
sea to sea, from coast to coast. Along these roads Augustus
placed young men at first, as posts, within small distances one
of another, and afterwards swift wagons to give immediate
notice in case of revolt. Inns, or houses of accommodation
were built for travellers and wayfaring persons to abide and
rest in, and where a change of horses, draught beasts, or
wagons might be obtained. Cities and towns were afterwards
built along these roads and derived their name therefrom.
Adjacent thereto, on the sides thereof were tombs and sepul
chres with inscriptions graven thereon in memorial of brave
and noble men, to remind the passers by of their mortality.
The ancient Brigantes, being at length reduced to subjection,
this part of the country was formed into a Roman province
denominated Maxima Csesariensis. Isurium Brigantium, now
Aldburgh, was at first the head quarters of the province as it
had been the Capitol of the Brigantes, at which place the
 "bold Brigantian kings
Bul'd awful, ere the martial clime was hail'd
By the lov'd name of York," o

34 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
to which place it was afterwards removed, and Eboracum or
York was made head quarters of the sixth legion, which held
the first rank. It became the seat of the Roman Emperors,
and Severus died here, so also did Constantius and his son
Constantine. The Romans continued to rule in Britain during the reigns
of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, when their country be
came weakened and enervated with intestine wars. Its over
grown power began to crumble beneath its own pressure, and
at length the Romans withdrew all their forces from Britain.
Previous to this event the Island had been stripped of its
young men, who were sent into Gaul to fight the battles of the
Romans. The country was almost left without protection, and
exposed to the ravages of the Picts and Scots, a race of desper
adoes, thieves, and robbers.
Under the protecting and civilizing influence of the Romans,
the country had flourished in commerce, agriculture, arts,
sciences, and it had been kept secure from foreign aggression.
The wall which Severus built had secured it from the ravages
of the Scots. Garrisons had been placed on the eastern coast
the commanders of which were called Comites Littoris Sax-
onici, or the counts of the Saxon shore, and were in subordi
nation to the Dux Britanniarum whose residence was at the
pretorean palace at York. These garrisons were placed there
to protect the coast from the invasions of the Saxons who had
made several attempts to gain a landing.
The military roads which had been constructed, ran in
various directions, radiating from one grand military station,
and forming a connexion with all the parts of the country, so
that in case of revolt or threatened invasion, military supplies
could be despatched to the place. And in addition to the
military roads and maritime garrisons, they formed encamp
ments on high hills where they could command an extensive
survey and watch the movements of an enemy at a distance.
But when the Britons were left to themselves, deprived of
their fighting men and the flower of their youth, the Caledoni
ans broke down the wall built by Severus, and ravaged part of
the country north of the Humber. Vortigern was then king of
Britain, and being alarmed for the welfare of the country, and

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 35
much harassed by the barbarians from the north, invited the
Saxons to come to his assistance. Hengist the Saxon general
landed on the east coast with a numerous army, and marched
through the Forest of Galtres, where a bloody battle was fought
in which the Picts and Scots were defeated with great loss, the
city of York taken from them, with all the country on this side
the Tees.
Thus commenced the Saxon era in Britain. Finding it a
goodly land and rich in the luxuriance of its pastures, its fruits,
and of a genial climate, they were unwilling to return, and
under pretence of refreshing their wearied troops in York, they
sent for fresh supplies ; but this aroused the Britons from their
lethargy and the Saxons were defeated in four successive battles.
Arthur was king of Britain when the Saxons made their
next attempt. The chroniclers of those times say, he defeated
the Saxons in twelve successive engagements, one of which
was fought on the hill near Hambleton, where Arthur is said to
have gained a decisive victory having slain 90,000 of the enemy.
After Arthur's death, the Saxons redoubled their efforts to
subdue Britain. Ida, a Saxon prince landed a numerous army
at Flamborough Head in the year 547, and having subdued
Northumberland, Durham, and the eastern parts of Scotland,
he established the kingdom of Bernicia, and assumed the title
of king. Ella, another Saxon prince, overcame Lancashire
and the greatest part of Yorkshire, and received the appellation
of King of Deira. Crayke castle was his country house or
hunting seat. These two provinces were afterwards united in
one, called the kingdom of Northumberland.
Under the iron yoke of the Saxons the Britons suffered
many hardships. The light of Christianity which had been
introduced at an early period, was well nigh suppressed by
these pagan conquerors. The private and public edifices of
the Britons were reduced to ashes; the priests were slaugh
tered, and the bishops and nobility shared the common fate, if
they escaped not the vigilance of their oppressors.
The Saxons in their turn were doomed to suffer the same
fate as they had inflicted on the Britons. The Danes, a fierce,
hardy, and warlike people, had long envied the good fortune
of their Saxon neighbours, and resolved, if possible, to supplant
c2

36 INTRODUCTORY REM AUKS.
them. This was not a difficult matter to accomplish, for the
country was torn asunder by intestine broils. The Danes lan
ded on the eastern coast under their leaders, Hubba and
Hinguar, and for a short time they held dominion in Britain.
But Alfred, a prince of the royal blood, after many reverses,
finally triumphed over them. In 950 the Danes were com
pletely subdued, and the sovereignty was united in Edred the
First, who was styled King of Great Britain. After the death
of Edred, the kingdom was again divided, but on the death
of Hardicanute, the Saxon line was restored in Edward the
Confessor, who mounted the British throne in the year 1042.
On' the death of Edward, Harold, the second son of Godwin,
Earl of Kent, seized the crown, but William, Duke of Norman
dy, insisted that the crown belonged of right to him, having
been bequeathed to him by Edward the Confessor. He be
sides claimed allegiance to Harold, who swore upon a box of
relics to support his claim to the English throne. The battle
of Hastings decided this matter, in which Harold was killed
and his army routed, on the 14th day of October, 1066, which
introduces the rule of the Norman kings.

eS2S2

fmd nf (Mto.

Calaterium Nemus, from Cal a tre.— Brit,

HE word Galtres seems to be naturally deduced
from the British Cal a tre* which signifies nemus
ad urbem, or, as the Romans designated it, Cala
terium Nemus, a woody place or forest; and the
Forest of Galtres was in many placest thick and
shady with lofty trees and underwood, and in others wet and
flat, full of bogs and moorish quagmires. It was a dreary
waste, extending about twenty miles northward from York to
the ancient Isurium Brigantium (Aldburgh,) and was a famous
place for hunting, where the ancient British Kings as well as
the Saxon monarchs pursued the wild boar, the wolf, the bear,
and other beasts of prey with which it was infested.
Our ancient chrbniclers, in days when the art of historic
doubting, which now threatens to deprive us of the most attrac
tive legends of our wondering boyhood, was as yet unknown,
gravely carried back their history of this district to about 400
years before Christ. Belinus and Brennus, two brothers, then
jointly ruled in Britain, but quarrelling about the division of
the kingdom, Brennus fled into Denmark and Norway to pro
cure assistance against his brother. . He arrived with his forces
in Albania, and sent ambassadors to Belmus to restore the
kingdom of Northumbria, of which he had taken possession.
Belinus refused to comply, and assembling the whole power of
the island, went into Albania to give him battle. Brennus
8 For Cal a see Baxter under the words calagim, calava, Caledonia, and
for tre see Lluyd's adversaria at the end of Baxter, p. 271.
c

38 FOREST OF GALTRES.
advanced to meet him in a wood called Calaterium or the Fo
rest of Galtres. The fight which was long and bloody, ended
in the almost entire destruction of the Norwegians, who were
completely routed and pursued by the victorious Britons.6
It was the same Brennus who led the Britons and confede
rate Gauls against the Romans, routed their armies, destroyed
their cities, and was on the very point of entering Rome itself,
when, as the Roman historian relates, "the gabbling of some
sacred geese that had been kept in the temple of Juno, aroused
the garrison," and the few brave heroes who had already scaled
the walls were overpowered by the number of their assailants.7
Isurium or Aclud as it is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth,
was the capitol of Northumbria, and the seat of the Brigantian
Kings before York was a place of much note. Their favourite
amusement was hunting, and for this reason, the forests were
preserved as the resources of royal pleasure. In Monmouth's
history we find, that a British Prince called ArchiUagus or
Artogal, whose royal residence was at Aclud, had for some indi
rect practices, been deprived of his crown and dignity by his
nobles, and compelled as a fugitive and outlaw, to wander about
in disguise. Elidure had been advanced to the throne, and
while the king was hunting in the wildest part of the forest
of Calaterium, he discovered his unhappy brother, whose mis
fortunes he had long pitied and lamented. He conveyed him
privately to the city, and afterwards restored him to the crown.
The ancient name of York, Eborwic, or Everwic, is proba
bly derived from its proximity to the Forest. Ebor or Euer sig
nifies in the old Saxon a wild boar. Wic is a refuge or retreat,
"and it may be," says Drake, "it had of our ancestors that ap
pellation, as being the refuge or retreat from the wild boars
which heretofore were in the Forest of Galtres,8 which is
within a mile of that city ; and the more like it is for that there
yet remains a toll called gude lawe which is paid for cattle at
Bowdam-Bar, a gate of the city so called and was first paid for
"Geoffrey of Monmouth.
* Tacitus, Book III. s. 45, note; and Livy lib. v. s. 38 & 47.
8 Boars at this day, says Lawyer Hildyard, who is very fond of this opini
on, are called in Yorkshire; Gautes, Hild. Ant. York, 1664.

FOREST OF GALTRES. 39
the payment of guides which conducted them, belike, to save
them from the cruel beasts through the said forest." 9
That there were wild boars, as well as wolves and bears, in
this island formerly, will not be denied, and no forest could bet
ter harbour these creatures than the famous Forest of Galtres.1
It may here be taken notice of to strengthen Verstegan's con
jecture, " that there is a village at the extremity of the Forest,
north from Bowdam-Bar and in the road to it, called Tollerton,
which probably was the place from whence travellers took their
guides, and paid one part of their toll or tax for it. That there
is another village on the forest, above a mile from the city
named Huntington, which no doubt took its name from the
hunting of the wild beasts in those days. And lastly, that there
is over the north door of the west end of the Cathedral, point
ing to the gate and forest aforesaid, in a sort of Basso relievo, the
figure of a wild boar pursued by one winding a hunter's horn,
surrounded with a pack of hounds, which is slain by a man
armed with a shield and lance. In this hieroglyphical descrip
tion, the builders of this famous edifice might probably allude
to the name of Ebor."*
There is reason to believe that the Forest suffered much
spoliation during the ascendancy of the Romans in Britain.
The regal power had been transferred from Isurium to York,
which was the seat of the Roman Emperors and the Capitol of
the kingdom. The Britons though conquered were never sub
dued, and Virius Lupus, the Roman general in Britain writing
to the Emperor tells him of the insurrections and inroads of
the barbarians, and the havoc they made far and near, and
begs either for a greater force, or that the Emperor may come
over in person. When Severus came he fixed his head quarters
at York, determined to destroy this nest of hornets, and drive
them out of their fastnesses and lurking places in the woods
9 Sir Thomas Withrington's MS history of York.
1 Constat igitur quod Nemus Calaterium quod anglice galtebs di-
citur attingit pene Eboracum & inde versus Zephyrum extenditur juxta,
Aldbubgh, in longum spatio XX miliarium, cujus, nemoris plurima pars
nodie snccisis arbusculis ad culturam redigitur, Polichron. K. Higdeni.
3 Drake.

40 FOREST OF GALTRES.
and forests. Dion relates that the Romans lost 50,000 men in
these attempts, and the furious and unexpected attacks of the
Britons so annoyed the Emperor that he lost all patience and
gave orders to put man, woman, and child to the sword. These
orders were given at York, and were expressed in two Greek
verses which carry this bloody meaning,
Let none escape you, spread the slaughter wide ;
Let not the womb, the unborn infant hide
From slaughter's cruel hand.
The Forest of Galtres was a royal demesne, and as has
already been stated, was preserved as a place of amusement fol
iate British as well as the Saxon Kings. Some parts of it were
thick and woody, but in general it was open, like a park, so
that the hunters might pursue their game in it.
Under the Roman jurisprudence, birds, beasts, fishes, &c.
were the rightful property of the pert-on who could take them.
But the Saxons as well as the Danes brought with them a
strong relish for hunting, and being now possessed of more
easy means of subsistence from the lands they had conquered,
their chiefs and leaders began to appropriate the pleasures of
the chase, and, instead of a natural, to make it a royal right.
When the Saxon kings, therefore, had established their
Heptarchy, the forests were reserved by each sovereign for his
own particular amusement. Hunting and war, in those unciv
ilized ages, were the only employments of the great. Their
active, but uncultivated minds were susceptible of no pleasures
but those of a violent kind, such as gave exercise to their bodies,
and prevented the uneasiness of thinking. As the Saxon kings
only appropriated those lands to the purposes of the chase
which were unoccupied, no individual received any injury. But
it was otherwise when the Norman kings were settled upon the
throne. The passion for hunting was then carried to an excess,
and not only was every civil right disregarded but this ardour
proved stronger than the strongest religious considerations,
even in a superstitious age. The village communities, nay
even the most sacred edifices were thrown down, and all
around turned into one vast waste, to make room for the stag,
the wolf, and the wild boar, the object of a lawless tyrant's
pleasure. Sanguinary laws were enacted to preserve them;

FOREST OF GALTRES. 41
and in the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I., it was less
criminal to destroy one of the human species than a beast of
chase. Thus it continued while the Norman line filled the
throne, but when the Saxon line was restored, under Heniy II.
the rigour of the forest laws was softened. The barons also,
for a long time, imitated the encroachments, as well as the
amusements of the monarch ; but when property became more
equally divided, by the introduction of arts and industry, these
extensive hunting grounds became more limited : and as tillage
and husbandry increased, the beasts of chase were obliged to
give way to others more useful to the community. Those vast
tracts of land, before dedicated to hunting, were then contract
ed; and as the useful arts still gained ground, wise Sovereigns
protected and encouraged the labours of the industrious, and
repressed the licentiousness of the barons. It is therefore
among the subjects of a despotic government only, that these
laws remain in full force — where large wastes still lie unculti
vated, — where the husbandman can find no protection from
the invasion of his lord, or the continual depredations of those
beasts of prey, the pursuit of which afford him so much grati
fication. But to return to the Forest of Galtres, not only were men
prohibited from hunting, but even dogs were not allowed to
enter these enclosures. According to the ancient Forest laws,
all persons whatever that let any great dog run loose in the
king's forests without first cutting out the balls of his fore
feet, or paring his nails, paid three shillings fine to the king.2
The forest abounded with deer, and during the Saxon
heptarchy, this part of Yorkshire was called Deira, or deer-
land. It is very probable that at that time there was a greater
variety than now exists in the species of this animal, for in
some parts of this neighbourhood, horns are found of much
larger dimensions than any that are to be seen upon the pre
sent fallow deer, or the red deer of the mountains. A few
years ago, while excavating a drain in the Long street of Eas
ingwold, the workmen dug out a pair of fine horns about five
feet below the surface. The horns, though not unusually large,
are in a good state of preservation. The writer is in possession
sBlounts' Law Dictionary.

42 FOREST OF GALTRES.
of a very large specimen of the horn of the red deer, distin
guished from that of the fallow deer by its spiked branches, the
others being palmated. This horn was dug out of the bank of the
river Foss near Stillington, in the year 1851. It lay about six
feet below the surface. There are six branches; named by one
"skilful in ye arte of venery,"3l — the Browantelier, 2 — Be-
zantelier, 3 — Royal, 4 — Surroyal, Top. The Royal antler has
two branches, and the Surroyal two. The "bur" is eight
inches in circumference.
The hunting of the stag was a favourite amusement of the
"barons bold" in the Forest of Galtres. For this reason Ella
fixed his country house at Crayke that he might enjoy the
pleasures of the chase. The sport was not unattended with
danger, dogs and men were sometimes plunged headlong into
the morasses or bogs with which the forest abounded, or pre
cipitated into ravines or gullies, which the stag would clear
at one bound, but the danger gave zest to the sport. When
the beast could no longer elude its pursuers, he turned upon
them and furiously attacked the first man or dog that ap
proached. A wound from a stag's horn was deemed poisonous
by our ancestors, as the old rhyme testifies,
If thou be hurt with hart it brings thee to thy bier
But barber's hand will boar's hurt heal, thereof thou need'st not fear.
A more ancient custom of hunting the stag and one which
prevailed among the ancient Britons, was by surrounding the
herd with artificial paling, and then with their long bows or
cross bows shooting and killing all they could, after which the
day concluded with mirth and feasting.4
But the hunting of the wild boar was one of the principal
amusements of the ancient kings and nobility of this country,
and in this species of animal the Forest of Galtres abounded.
The wild boar of the wood was not a sluggish animal like that
we have reduced to tameness. Its colour was iron grey, inclin
ing to black — its snout longer than that of the tame hog, its
tusks which projected out of the mouth were sometimes
almost a foot in length.5 3 Guillim.
4 Pier. Hieroglyph, lib. vii. cap. 6.
5 Buffon, vol. IX. p. 147

FOREST OF GALTRES. 43
The barons were accustomed to hunt these animals with
dogs of a slow, heavy kind. When a day for hunting was fixed
upon, the baron assembled all his knights and vassals by the
sound of the horn, and armed with lances and swords, they
sallied fortli into the forest upon their snorting steeds. The
foot men were armed with short swords, and bows and arrows.
Boar hunting was a sport in which the hunter was expo
sed to considerable danger as well as his dogs. When the
boar was brought to a stand, he turned upon his enemies in
self defence. The dogs kept him at bay while the huntsmen
inflicted wounds upon him with their swords and long spears.
It sometimes happened that the boar would by a sudden
movement seize the shaft of the protruded spear between his
powerful jaws, in which case his assailant was exposed to the
most imminent danger of destruction. One crush was suf
ficient to grind the wood to fragments ; and the next instant,
unless some one was near to renew the attack, the enraged
beast had his unarmed enemy upon the ground under his
hoofs, and was ripping him up with his tusks. Horses were
frequently wounded in this way. As soon as the animal was
killed the huntsmen celebrated the victory with their horns.
The greatest jealousy was manifested with respect to the pre
servation of these animals in the Royal domains. William the
conqueror punished such as were convicted of killing the wild
boar in the Forest of Galtres and his other forests with the
loss of their eyes. At present the wild breed are extinct, but
the tame are in no country more valued than Britain, and
probably nowhere in Britain held in more esteem as the
staple commodity of the region than within the bounds of the
Forest of Galtres.
The boar's head was a favourite dish with our ancestors the
Britons as well as the Anglo Saxons. Dugdale in his Origines
Juridiciales, p. 155, speaking of the Christmas day ceremonies
in the Inner Temple, says : " Service in the church ended, the
gentlemen presently, repair into the hall to breakfast with
brawn, mustard, and malmsley. At dinner, at the first course
is served in a fair and large bore's head, upon a silver platten
with minstralsye."

44 FOREST OF GALTRES.
The following Christmas Carol of bringing in the boar's
head is headed thus.
A Carol, bryngyng in the bore's heed. 6
" Caput Apri defero
Reddens Laudes Domino.
The Bore's heed in hande bring I,
With garlands gay, and rosemary
I praye you all synge merely,
Qui estis in convivio.
The Bore's heed, I understande
Is the chefe seruyse in this lande
Loke where euer it be fande
Semite cum cantico.
Be gladde lordes, both more and lasse,
For this hath ordeyned our stewarde
To chere you all this Christmasse
The bore's heed with mustarde.
Chaucer seems to allude to the above custom in the follow
ing passage in his Franklein's Tale : —
"Janus sitteth by the fire with double herd,
And he drinketts of his bugle-horne the wine;
Before him standeth the brawne of the tuskd swine."
Another sort of amusement in the Forest of Galtres was
the hunting of wolves, which were both numerous and destruc
tive. It was also a favourite diversion among the barons, and
by the aid of a few large greyhounds the wolf was sooner
brought to bay, when the hunters came up with their cutlasses
and helped to despatch him.
The wolf was extirpated in England sooner than in any
other European country. Ancient chroniclers state that in the
tenth century King Edgar commuted the punishment of certain
crimes into the acceptance of a certain number of wolves'
tongues from each criminal, and converted the tax of gold and
silver paid by the Welsh into an annual tribute of three
6 The custom of bringing the Boar's head into hall at Christmas with a
Carol, is still continued at Queen's College, Oxford.

FOREST OF GALTRES. 45
hundred wolves heads. Their destruction was also rewarded
by certain gifts of lands. After the 13th century we have
little mention of wolves in England. The last wolf known in
Scotland was killed in 1680, and in Ireland in 1701.
The brown bear was also an inhabitant of this extensive
forest, and bear baiting was a favourite amusement among our
ancestors long after the animal ceased to be a native of our
woods. Sir Thomas Pope entertained Queen Mary and the
Princess Elizabeth, at Hatfield, with an exhibition of this
barbarous sport, which is said to have afforded them high
gratification. The maiden Queen, says Rowland White, in her
sixty seventh year enjoyed the sports of bull and bear baiting.
" Our nobility," Pennant says, kept their bear-ward ; twenty
shillings was the annual reward of that officer from his lord,
the fifth Earl of Northumberland, " when he comyth to my
lorde in Christmas, with his lordschippes beests for making of
his lordschip pastyme the said twelve days. '"7
In the very rare Roman Catholic book, the Life of the
Reverend Father Bennet of Canfilde, by R. R. a Catholic
Priest, is the following passage; "Even Sunday is a day de
signed for beare-baiting, and even the howre of theyre (the
Protestants) service is allotted to it, and indeede the time is as
well spent at the one as at the other." R. R. was indeed an
honest Romanist and speaks out boldly. This cruel amuse
ment has seldom been practised in England since the middle
of the eighteenth century. Bears were never so numerous in
this forest, as the wolves or boars. Their dens were in its
most gloomy parts, in some unfrequented cavern or lonely
retreat. Badgers were very numerous in this forest, and the race is
not yet extinct though they have become scarce. A badger was
taken in this neighbourhood about twenty years ago and baited
in the town of Easingwold. There is no animal which has felt
the vengeance of man more than the badger. It is hunted, and
subjected to every species of torment till it is literally torn
to pieces. The elephant, the tiger, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros
probably infested these forests at a period anterior to any of
our chronicled events ; their existence in the neighbourhood is
7 Northumb, Household Book.

40 FOREST OF GALTRES.
evident from the bones of each which have been found in a
cave at Kirkdale near Kirkby-moorside.
The forest also abounded with wild cats, which were an
object of sport to huntsmen. Gerard Camvile 6. John, had
special license to hunt the hare, fox, and wild cat in the King's
Forest.8 And 23, Henry III, William, Earl Warren by giving
Simon de Pierpont a goshawk, obtained leave to hunt the
buck, doe, hart, hind, hare, fox, goat, cat, or any other wild
beast, in certain lands of Simon's.9
But it was not for diversion or sport alone that this
animal was pursued in chase ; for the skin was of value, being
much used by the nuns in their habits, as a fur. Hence, in '
Archbishop William Corboyl's Canons, anno 1127, Art 10,
it is ordained, " That no abbess or nun use more costly ap
parel than such as is made of lambs' or cats' skins." The skin
was the only part of a cat that could be rendered useful for
any thing, hence arises the proverb, that you can have nothing
of a cat but her skin.
In the year 1225, about the time of Easter, Hugh de
Neville and Briande L'isle with other appointed persons, were
sent throughout England for the purpose of choosing, in
each of the forest districts, twelve knights or free and liege meu,
to perambulate the bounds of the forests, and to determine, on
their oath, which forests ought to remain in their present state,
and which ought to be deforested. The king's commands
being very soon fulfilled, not, however, without great opposi
tion from many, the inhabitants of the deforested portions
speedily put their liberties in practice, selling the produce of
their own-woods, making essarts, hunting game, and plough
ing the land which was before uncultivated.
The Forest of Galtres however being a celebrated retreat,
escaped the devastation which befel many of the smaller chases
at this time.
Camden in his Britannia speaks of a yearly horse race to
be run on the Forest of Galtres, where the prize was a little
golden bell, which was tied on the forehead of the horse win-
8 Sir Wm. Dugdale's Baron. I. p. 627.
"Ibid. II. p. 457.

FOREST OF GALTRES. 47
ning, who was led about in triumph, from whence comes the
proverb for success of any kind, " To bear the bell."
The custom of perambulating the boundaries of townships
and forests, was a ceremony duly attended to in former times.
The Gang Dagas of the Saxons were the days of perambulation,
which were performed in Rogation week. The custom is of
heathen origin, and is an imitation of the Heathen Feast, cal
led the Terminalia, which was dedicated to the god Terminus,
whom they considered as the guardian of fields and landmarks,
and the preserver of friendship and peace among men. For
parish purposes, the procession consisted of the bishop or cler
gyman, with the churchwardens and parishioners accompanied
by a banner. The custom is kept up in some parishes at the
present day. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1790,
says, " that at Ripon, on the day before Rogation Thursday, all
the clergy with the singing men and boys of the choir peram
bulated the town in their canonicals, singing hymns."
In the perambulation of the forest boundaries, the proces
sion consisted of the Protoforestarius or Chief Forester, with
several of the barons or knights on horseback, with a numerous
retinue. In order to perpetuate the memory of their bounda
ries, they took with them a number of boys. A willow wand
was distributed to each at the commencement, and some hono
rary rewards at the close. The more effectually to impress the
recollection of these boundaries upon their minds, it was cus
tomary to bump them at certain stages or landmarks, or souse
them in some stream of water. A man being once asked if a
certain stream which bounded the forest was the boundary
line, replied. " Ees, that 'tis, I'm sure o't, by the same token,
that I were toss'd into't; and paddled about there lik a water-
rat, till I were hafe deead." The willow wands were also in
some cases applied vigorously to the back of some unlucky
urchin, as a sort of memoria technica.
The following is the translation of an ancient Perambulation
of the Forest of Galtres, taken from the Records in the Tower.
Perambulation of the Forest of Galtres.
" An Inquisition taken at York in the greater Church of St.
Peter, on Monday, the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross

48 forest of galtres.
in the ninth year of King Edward, (the second) by Robert de
Umframvyle, Earl of Angous, keeper of the forests of our lord
the king beyond Trent, according to the tenor of a writ for
holding such inquisition, as well upon the oaths of all the offi
cers of the forest aforesaid, as upon the oaths of William Wys-
burn, Robert Cademan, Stephen Sampson, Hugh de Clifford,
Thomas le Harpour, Thomas, son of Hugo de Wandisford, Rich
ard Payvyn, John de Hoby, John Fitz Hugh, William Fitz Si
mon, Walter Brogh, Robert Brown, — who being sworn, say that
the last perambulation was made in the Forest of Galtres, by Sir
John de Lythegraynes and his companions, beginning at the
foot of the wall of the city of York, at the bridge of Layrthorpe,
following the wall as it goes up to the Boutham gates of the
same city, and so following the wall to the water of Ouse,
thence to Bcnyngburgh and Newton bridge, and so by Lynton
brook and the midst of Lynton marsh going on to the west of the
village of Thollerton as far as Carne-brig, and from the bridge
of Carne following the said brook through the midst of Alne
marsh, and so following the water of Kyle through the midst
of Mikelbar to Raskelf bridge, and so going up by Waneless
mill, and by Wyteker brook between the demesne of our
lord the King and Thornton wood to the park of Crayk, going
up and following the bounds of the said park to the water of
Foss and to the mill of Stivelington,1 and by the same water
to the priory of Melsenby and so to the Brendmilne of Farling-
ton, and so by the said water to the mill of Bulford, and so to
Strensale, and so to Huntingdon by the same water even to
the foot of the wall of Layrthorpe bridge where the perambu
lation begun. And they say that in the aforesaid perambulation
were situated without the forest in the Bailiwick of Kyle, the
villages of Lynton, Aldwark, Thoraldthorpe, Brafferton, Hel-
perby, Flauthworth, Miton, Faldington, Thornotby, Cessey,
Raskelf, and Youlton, with their woods and fields, and in
the baliwick of Esingwald, the villages of Baxby, Hustwait,
Thorneton, and Elleston, with their woods and fields, and in
the bailiwick of Myrescough, the villages of Brandsby, Quen-
eby, Marton, Farlington, Cornburgh, Hoton, West-Lilling,
East-Lilling, Sticlen, Thornton, Foston, Barton, Flaxton,
Stillington.

FOREST OF GALTRES. 49
Claxton, Harton, Bossale, Bameby, Buttercramb, Sutton-our-
garth, part of Battle-bridge,2 (Pons-belli) Gate-Helmesley, Over
Helmesley, Sandy-Hoton, Holtby, Warthill, Stokton, Strens-
hale, Towthorp, Earswick, Huntington, Morton, Osbaldwick,
Heworth, and Tonge, with their fields and woods. And they
say that all the aforesaid villages with their fields and woods
were in the forest, as they suppose, at some time before the
enclosure of the forest made by Henry, of good memory,3
grandfather of our Lord, king Henry,4 grandfather of our lord
the king that now is.5 Also there were situated without the
forest, in the said perambulation, le Brownemore and the woods
of Myrescough, and the woods of Sandy-Hoton, and Sandy-
burne moor in the bailiwick of Myrescough, and whatever were
and yet are of the demesne of our lord the king. And the said
village of Raskelf with all its demesne which was situated
without the forest, was at some time an escheat of the progen
itors of our lord the king, and was given entire to the ances
tors of the Lord Ranulph de Nevyle. And they say that no
one is accounted forester in fee in the said forest, but John
Hayword is forester, and holds his bailiwick for the term of
his life, by the gift of our Lord King Edward, father of king
Edward that now is, and has for his deputy hi those parts
William de Wully, who has been summoned according to the
tenor of the writ, and who conducts himself well and faithfully
on behalf of the said John his lord. And the aforesaid (jurors)
certify upon oath, to the council of our lord the king, that the
premises aforesaid are true. — Bundle of Forest Rolls, No. 3.
9 Edward II. (1316.)
It will be seen from this perambulation that the Forest of
Galtres originally comprised about 60 townships, and contained
within its demesne one hundred thousand acres of land, or
nearly the whole of the wapentake of Bulmer.
In the year 1644, Prince Rupert lodged his army in the For
est of Galtres previous to the fatal battle of Marston Moor.
The place where his forces lay encamped was on the north side
sNow Stamford Bridge.
3Henry H. 4Henry III. 6Edward II.

50 FOREST OF GALTRES.
of the Ouse near Poppleton Ferry. The Parliamentarians
were drawn up on Marston Moor, on the south side of the river.
Prince Rupert being determined to give them battle, arrayed
his forces, crossed the ferry, which was fordable at the time,
came up with the enemy, and both armies being drawn up in
battalia, the fight commenced about two o'clock in. the after
noon. The Prince's army consisted of 14,000 foot and 9,000
horse, with 25 pieces of ordnance. That of the Parliamenta
rians of about 40,000 in all, commanded by the Earl of Man
chester, Lord Ferdinando Fairfax, Sir Thomas Fairfax, General
Lesley, and Lieutenant General Cromwell. The armies ex
tended a mile and a half in line. The battle raged with fury
from seven to ten o'clock, when victory wholly inclined to the
parliament's forces, and the royalists fled to York and other
places, pursued with great slaughter. The number slain on
both sides is said to have been 8,000. The countrymen em
ployed to bury the dead gave out, that they interred on the
spot 4,150, and the graves are yet to be seen on the moor
near Wilstrop wood.
"Where is that banner now? — its pride
Lies whelm'd in Ouse's sullen tide ;
Where now these warriors? — in their gore
They cumber Marston's dismal moor!"
The forest of Galtres, as well as the rest of the Royal
Forests suffered very considerably during the civil war, and
all the time of the usurpation of Cromwell. Some parts of it
were entirely stripped of wood, so as scarcely to retain any
memorial of their sylvan character. In the year 1770, temp.
Charles II. an act of parliament was obtained for its divi
sion and inclosure, since which period it has undergone a
very striking alteration and improvement. Its boggy places
have been drained and brought under cultivation, and it forms
part and parcel of the rich and fruitful vale of York, which the
Prussian Ambassador, Chevalier Bunsen, in the Royal Agri
cultural Meeting held at York, described as the most beautiful
and romantic vale in the world — the vale of Normandy ex
cepted. In some of the low lands of this forest, trunks of large trees,

FOREST OF GALTRES. 51
principally of oak, are frequently discovered at different depths,
which are supposed to have been cut down by the Romans to
prevent the continual incursions made upon them by the an
cient Britons from their thick woods and impenetrable marshes.
The writer has seen and examined several of those trees,
the substance of which appears to be the imperishable heart
of oak. They are often not more than a foot or two below
the surface, branch out in several directions and extend a
considerable distance. They are quite black, and have appa
rently been destroyed, partly by fire, and partly by the axe, of
which instrument some of them bear evident marks.
There are a great number of grants, &c, relating to this Fo
rest among the records of the Tower, as to the Forest-Keepers,
Timber, Underwoods, Venison, &c. The tithes of this last
were given to the Abbey of St. Mary's, York. Claus. 9 Ed.
II, M. 16.
The Rotuli Originales, temp. Edw. III. record a grant
to Ada de Walton and his heirs, of a piece of waste land
called Westmore\ (adjoining the king's hunting seat at New
Parks,) in the king's Forest of Galtres, containing 120 acres
with common of pasture and all appurtenances, by the service of
carrying a bow when the king happens to hunt in the same
Forest, with leave to enclose the same.
Leland, in enumerating the rivers which water the Forest
of Galtres, says, "The Fosse, a slow stream, yet able to bear
a good vessel, ryseth in nemore Calaterio, or amongst the
woody hills now called Galtres Forest, and in its descent from
the highest ground, leaveth Crayke on the west side, thence
it goeth by Marton Abbey, Marton, Stillington, Farlington,
Towthorpe, Erswick, Hundingdon, &c, at York into the Ouse.
The Kyle, flat north at Newburgh, from whence it goeth by
Thornton on' the hill, Raskelf Park, Awne (Alne,) Tollerton,
and so on to the Ouse at Newton.
Officers and Customs of the Forest.
The Lord Keeper of the Forest held jurisdiction over the
forest, whose duty it was to make the perambulations and act
as supreme in all civil and legislative matters.
d2

5a

FOREST OF GALTRES.

The Lord Chief Forester, whose duty it was to inspect the
forest and enforce the customs and laws relating thereto.
The Under Forester or Bailiff who acted as deputy to the
Lord Chief Forester.
The grave or bedel, whose duty it was to gather the es
treats, make impanels for ihe lord, and between party and
party, to arrest or seize all felon's goods within the said forest,
and do all other things to their office belonging.
The men holding land under the lord of the forest were
subject to certain usages and customs : —
In the case of death, the lord of the forest seized upon the
best beast for his heriot, or the sum of twenty shillings in lieu
thereof, and the person paying the heriot became entitled to
the messuage or land.
A person entering upon a messuage paid for it in fee-
simple fourpence, and for every acre of land sixpence, with the
understanding that he should do suit and fealty . to the lord's
court, pay heriot, take upon him the office of grave or bedel if
chosen, and perform other services as hath been accustomed.
There was a place in York, formerly called Davy's Haul,
assigned as a place of punishment for offenders in this for
est. — Leland.

'S/TuBKhf-.oje LiAl Tcrk

EASII^Gr"W"iQHiB, IFROMT TfflE CMUl^CIHI,

toitigmnlt
(Eisicewalt — Domesday; Esingwald — Torre; Easeinwood; Easingwold.)

ASINGWOLD, though not itself rich in objects of
interest, may be considered as the centre of a
neighbourhood abounding in the relics of by-gone
days. In British and Roman times, it was sur
rounded or traversed on every side by Forts,
Military Roads, and ancient British Track Ways. Crayke
Castle, by which it is overlooked from the adjoining hill, boasts
a Roman origin ; and no part of England is so fertile in mo
nastic remains, and other objects,, furnishing materials for
local history, which will be noticed under their separate heads.
The town is pleasantly situated in the. Vale of York, on the
western side of the Howardian hills, and at the foot of the
terminating point of Hambleton, towards the verge of the great
Forest of Galtres. It is thirteen miles N. N. W. of York; ten
W. N. W. of Boroughbridge; ten S. of Thirsk; twelve S. W.
of Helmsley, in the Wapentake, of Buhner. Its Ecclesiastical
allocation is in the Archdeaconry of Cleveland, and Deanery of
Buhner. The immediate neighbourhood possesses the charms of an
undulating and richly wooded surface, in a high state of culti
vation. On the north and east side of the town, these charac
teristics are most observable, and the scenery in the direction of
Crayke and Newburgh is of the most sylvan description. To
the south and west, fhe ground gently declines into a fertile
valley, and on the descent,
"Bosom'd high in tufted trees "

54 easingwold.
stands the Saxon Easingwold, disfigured by the Norman pro
nunciation of the Domesday scribes to Eisicewalt.
The name is most probably derived from '-Ease," still com
monly used in the adjoining county of Lancaster for rich
irriguous land, occasionally overflowed;6 and wold which Vers-
tegan describes as signifying, in common with wald or weald,
a wood or forest.
The popular derivation of "ease," or a place of rest and
refreshment in the wood, or Forest of Galtres, will scarcely
maintain its ground with an etymologist, however attractive to
an English ear, and fortified by Camden's statement that
' ' neere upon these Causeys" (those constructed by the Romans,
of which the Long or Low Street here is believed to be one),
" were limes furnished with all necessaries belonging to this life,
for travailers and way-faring persons to abide and rest in, as
also Mutations; for so, they called in that age, the places
where strangers, as they journied, did change their post-horses,
draught-beasts, or wagons. He therefore that seeketh not
about these Rode-waies, for those places which are mentioned
in the Itenerarie of Antoninus, shall no doubt misse the truth,
and wander out of the way." An old house near the top of the
Long Street, demolished within the last twelve years, had
however, the reputation of having been the "Ease" or "Travel
ler's Rest" of these ancient days.
The northern or higher part of the town, called Uppleby,7
is founded upon a yellowish limestone, alternating with beds
of clay, and described by geologists as the oolite formation.
The strata is thickly imbedded with organic remains, consist
ing of various species of fishes, reptiles, and other animals,
6 This may well apply to the lower part of the town which was frequently
covered with water, called the mires, afterwards lease-mires, now lessimers,
being leasedin later days by one of the honourable family of the Bourchiers
of Beningborough, to the inhabitants of Easingwold, for the payment of a
trifling sum. Through these mires the Boman Boad passed up the Long
Street, then called the Low Street of Easingwold, and led to the North.
7 Uppleby forms a distinct street or suburb attached to Easingwold, but
is not a distinct township , or in any other way severed from the general
local arrangements. It is remarkable that the like imnexation of a sort of
suburb, the name of which usually terminates in " by," is found in other
d3

easingwold. 55
indicating its proximity to the sea, or its antediluvian charac
ter. Numerous bivalve shells, whose inmates appear to have
existed in shallow seas, were found some few years ago, in an
excavation near the bathing-house. Also a quantity of ammon
ites, some of large dimensions.
The serpent-stones are reckoned among the curiosities of
this part of Yorkshire. Drayton, in his Poly-Olbion, when
enumerating the wonders of the North-Riding, says: —
"And stones like serpents there, yet may ye more behold
That in their natural gyres are up together roll'd;
Stones of a spherick form, of sundry mickes fram'd,
That well they globes of stone or bullets might be nam'd,
For any ordnance fit; which broke with hammer's blowes,
Doe headless snakes of stone within their lounds enclose."
Various have been the opinions of the learned respecting
these marine relics, but geologists are nearly agreed in con
sidering them as memorials of successive creations and des
tructions, prior to the existing order of things which alone the
Sacred Historian undertakes to describe, and not as relics of
the Deluge of Noah.
Beneath the oolite is a limestone of a dark gray or blue
colour, mixed with clay of a dull earthy texture, and a con-
choidal fracture, called the has formation. There is now in
the possession of Mr. Wm. Leadley, in Uppleby, a species of
the ammonites giganteus which was discovered at the time of
the excavation alluded to.
In October, 1851, while sinking a well in the nurseries of
Mr. Joseph Hobson, adjoining the church, a small vein of

places in the neighbourhood, of which the relation of Helperby to the vil
lage of Brafferton affords an example. " By " is an exclusively Danish
designation of a town or village, so much so, that the settlements known to
have been given by King Alfred to Guthrum and his followers on the coast
of Suffolk, have invariably this termination, and are popularly known in
their vicinity as the "Byes." May not this indicate that bodies of these
invaders settled in Easingwold and other places similarly circumstanced,
and remained long unincorporated with the general body of the inhabitants.
The preceding syllables in UppleSj/, Helper&y, Thirkle&y, Brands^/, &c,
probably indicate the names of their chiefs or leaders.

56 easingwold.
bitumen or vegetable jet was discovered about four yards below
the surface. It was imbedded in the above mentioned lias, is
very brittle, and of a high polish. When exposed to heat, it
burns like a candle and produces a resinous smell.
In the oolite strata were discovered a variety of species of
vegetables, differing from plants at present in existence. They
appear as if allied to ferns, reeds, and some species of palms,
resembling altogether plants of a tropical climate. Several
species of the Lepidostrobus variabilis, the supposed' seed of
Lepidodendron, and one beautiful specimen of Lepidophyllum
lanceolatum, the supposed leaflet of Lepidodendron. These
are indicative of coal.
The yellow marl in some places rises to the surface, or is
covered only with a thin coating of alluvium, partly^of the same
description, mixed with pebbles. Such is the case on the
Clay-penny-hill adjoining the high end of the town. The soil,
on its north and eastern side, reposes on the rocky strata, which
is full of crystals, and replete with the entombed remains of
animals and vegetables.
Though the town does not at present exhibit any remains
of Roman antiquity, there can be no doubt of its existence in
the Roman period. It is stated by Gale s to have been on the
line of a Roman Road from Derventio or Aldby on the Der-
went to Cataraetonium, (Catterick) passing through Thirsk and
Northallerton, where it was joined by another Roman Road
from Isurium, (Aldburgh.) A very ancient map of Yorshire,
now in the writers possession, gives the route of this road.
From Aldby it proceeded to Flaxton-moor, Sutton-on-the-Forest,
crossing between Heuby (Huby,) and Stillington up the Long-
Street of Easingwold to Tresk (Thirsk.) The Long-Street or
Low Street has no doubt derived its name from the Roman
stratum. Drake in the MS. additions to his Ehoracum, preserved at
Newburgh, speaks of a Roman Vicinary way which went out
from Malton (the Camulodunum of Ptolemy,) to Hovingham,
over Yeresley (Yearsley) moor, through Easingwold, Alne,
and over the river Ure (Ouse) at Aldwark Ferry, to Isurium
Brigantium, or Aldburgh.
8 Begistrum Honoris de Eichmond. p. 237.

easingwold. 57
The Royal Society of Antiquaries, London, have published
in their miscellaneous Papers No. 27. a map of the Roman
Roads of Yorkshire, and according to their statement, two
Roman Roads or British Track ways proceeded from Malton
in this direction. The one taking the route of Hovingham,
Gilling Castle, and Thirsk, and the other proceeding direct
to Crayke Castle, Easingwold, and thence to Isurium. The
same authority gives the route of three Roman Roads in this
direction from York, — the first taking a direct line to Crayke
Castle, thence to Gilling Castle, Helmsley, to the Tees mouth,
— the second passing through the Forest of Caltre to Easing
wold, Thirsk, Northallerton, &c. — the third-leaving York and
passing along the Ouse to Beningburgh, Newton, crossing the
river at Aldwark Ferry, and joining the road from Easingwold.
This line orroad is also noticed by Drake, who traced it as far
as the forest, where the agger of it seemed to be swallowed up
and was no longer discernible.
The same authority further states that upon examination,
vestiges of a Roman Road were discovered in the neighbourhood
of Coxwold, which passed Newburgh, and went as far as Crayke,
which, along with Newburgh seemed likely to have been two Ro
man fortresses on the Road. It then proceeded through the Fo
rest of Galtres to Eboracum or York, and Drake was of opinion
that during the time of the Saxons this road was good, and
made use of by St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne in going
and returning from York, and that the donation of Crayke to
this prelate was a special advantage as it gave him a house on
his nearest route from Lindisfarne to York. "The spacious
Forest of Galtres began almost at the foot of this hill, the
ground of which being loose and watery, has long since swal
lowed up the agger of the road."9
The Track ways or Roads of the Brigantes and Romans in
this part of Yorkshire have been generally on the natural
ground, though in some places they appear to have been thrown
up so as to form a road when the land has remained uninclosed.
As usual, they were paved with stones and their route was
marked by Tumuli. 'Drake's Eboracum. p. 37.

58 easingwold.
The tumuli are of very ancient origin, and are generally
found in the vicinity of Roman fortifications.
In May 1735, about one hundred celts were found on' Eas
terly moor together with several lumps of metal and a quan
tity of cinders. Smelting iron ore was much practised by the
foresters here in ancient times, when the forest abounded with
wood, but in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. these forests
were dreadfully mutilated, and some of them nearly destroyed.
It is probable that there had been a forge at the above place for
making celts, or that it had been a scene of terrible conflict
betwixt the ancient Britons and the Romans. Mr. T. W.
Wiley, of Easingwold, has some celts in his possession which
were discovered in this neighbourhood.
The celt is an implement of brass on the use ofjwhich anti
quaries are not yet agreed. Some have thougrrWhat it was
.^.employed by the Druid Priests to cut the sacred branches of
the misletoe, used in their religious ceremonies. Others
suppose it to be the Roman chisel employed in cutting and
polishing stone. Others think, and with more probability,
that it was a warlike weapon, used by our remote ancestors, or
by the Romans. Those in the possession of Mr. Wiley are in
the shape of wedges, each having a socket at one end, and a
loop on one side. They exactly correspond with others found
in different parts of the country. Mr. Graves, in his history of
Cleveland, page 6, giving an account of the ancient Britons,
says, " they sometimes carried sharp spears, pointed with brass,
each one having a bell fastened to its socket, the harsh sound
of which on their advance to battle served to terrify and throw
the enemy's cavalry into confusion."
This part of Yorkshire was inhabited by the most warlike
of the Brigantes, or ancient Britons, and being intersected with
Roman Military ways, and interspersed with Roman Camps,
many a scene of bloody conflict must naturally have ensued.
After the departure of the Romans from Britain, Anno Domini
430, it was not less harassed by ferocious and contend
ing armies. It was always exposed to -the fury of the northern
nations, received the barbarous shocks of the Danes, and
groaned under repeated devastations. The various entrench
ments, camps, sites of battles, tumuli, &c. in this neighbour
hood are evident proofs of these facts.

easingwold. 59
After many repulses, the Saxons ultimately prevailed, and
the remains of the ancient Brigantes, which had escaped the
Roman arms were subdued. Saxon laws were then establish
ed, Saxon customs adopted, and the Saxon language spoken.
Verstegan informs us that at the time of the Heptarchy, the
language of England, Saxony, and the Netherlands was the
same. Whatever might have been the names of places previous to
this period, the Saxons mostly re-named them from their own
vocabulary. We can neither trace the name nor the history
of Easingwold farther back than the time of the Saxons, but
there seems some reason to believe that it furnishes an illus
tration of the system of accommodation adopted by St. Gregory
in order to^ri*the people gradually from their lingering at
tachment to the observances of Druidical or other modes of
false worship — that of dedicating to the commemoration of
Saints in the Christian Calendar the days which had previous
ly been most signally devoted, to the rites of heathenism.
Thus Midsummer day was especially signalized among the
Druids by festivities in honour of the Sun, — their Baal or Bel,
as he was the Apollo of their Roman conquerors; — and the
celebration was ushered in by the lighting of great fires on
their cairns or altars, through which the young people ran
with lighted torches, as a sort of expiation, and by the offering
of sacrifices for a propitious harvest on the Eve of that day. *¦
*To these practices in pagan or christian times the following lines refer,
" Oh patron of Soractes' high abodes !
Phoabus, the ruling power among the gods !
Whom first we serve : whole woods of unctuous pine
Are fell'd for thee, and to thy glory shine :
By thee protected with our naked soles,
Through flames unsinged we pass, and tread the kindled coals ;
Give me, propitious power, to wash away
The stains of this dishonourable day."— Virg. Mneid, Bk. XL 1. 1152.
Gaoge in the translation of Naogeorgus, says:
" Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptiste take his turne,
When banners great, with loftie flame, in eyerie towne doe burne;
And yong men round about with maides do daunce in everie streete ;
With garlands wrought of motherwdrt, or else with vervaine sweete."

60 EASINGWOLD.
It now became the Festival of St. John the Baptist, on whose
day, according to the old style of computation, the principal
Fair is still held, and to whom the Church of Easingwold
owed its original designation ; — but the lighting of great fires
on St. John's Eve, with some Druidical customs innocently
kept up since their origin and first intent, had long been for
gotten, were customary among the foresters of Galtres till the
middle of the last century. If now recalled to memory, it is
we trust, only as an incentive to gratitude for the happy change
which Christianity has made amongst us.
The place appears to have risen to some degree of impor
tance under the Saxon Heptarchy, as it is recorded to have
had a church and a priest' at the period of the Domesday
Survey, which closed before the year 1086. «>l^was at that
time a complete Saxon manor, that is, one township presiding
over ten others, as appears from the following extract from
Domesday Book. Orig. — 299. a, 1.
Terra Regis In evrvic Scire.

In Eisicewalt sunt ad gelda xn. carucate terra, qs. vn. camca?
possunt arare. H tenuit Morcar #•. uno manerio. T. R. E.
_ or
Modo, e. in manu regis. \ sunt ibi. x. uilli habentes mi.
Caracas. iEccla pbro. Silua pastilis. n. lev long. \ n. lat.
Int totu. in. leug long. \ n. lat. Tc ual xxxu. hb. m
xx. solidos. Ad hoc Man ptinet soca haru terraru. In
Hobi iiii. car. In Molzbi. in. car. In Mortune ii. car. \ di
mid. In Torp Sudtune Chelestred \ Carebi. xvn. car.
In Tormozbi. i. car. \ dim. In Hottune. vi. car. In Sorebi.
in. car. \ duse aliae ad halla ptinentes. cu Molendino. qd.
redd. xx. sol. Int totu sunt ad. gld. xxxrx. carucate qs. xx.
 or
carucse possunt arare. Non sunt ibi nisi, n uilli \ nn. bord

EASINGWOLD. 61
— u \
hntes. I car?, dimidia. Reliq tra waste. «r Silva tarn pas-
tilis. e. in aliqbz. in long. i. leug & dim. \ in lat similit.
The translation of which is as follows : —
In Easingwold there are 12 carucates3 of land liable to tax
ation, which seven teams are able to plough. These Morcar
held for one manor in the time of Edward the Confessor.
Now it is in the king's hands, and there are ten villeins4 having
4 ploughs. There is a church with a priest. The wood pasture
is two leagues long and two broad, and in all three leagues long
and two broad. Then it was worth £32, now 20 shillings.
To this Manor belongs the Soke5 of these lands. — In
Hobi (Hubs) ^ carucates. In Molzbi (Moxby) 3 carucates.
8 A carucate of land varied from 120 to 180 acres.
* Villein, or Vilein, from villanus a villager, to which the contempt
of the Normans for the Saxon population, probably attached its pre
sent stigma of moral baseness, was a term designating an humble class
of husbandmen. In the time of the Saxons, they were bondmen, em
ployed in servile works by the superior lords, and were as much the proper
ty of the lord of the soil as the cattle thereon. In later times they became
enfranchised by manumission, and in process of time, being permitted
through the good nature and benevolence of many lords to enjoy their
possessions without interruption in a regular course of descent, the com
mon law gave them title to hold it in spite of the lord's will. These villeins
generally held their lands agreeably to the customs of the manor entered
into the rolls of the Court Baron. They afterwards were called tenants
by copy of a Court Boll, and copy-holders are therefore no other than
villeins whose tenure was a copy-hold.
There cannot he a greater mistake than that by which Mr. Maucauley
in his History of England attributes the extinction of this species of domes
tic Slavery to the influence of the Church of Borne. It certainly continued
in full force on the lands of monasteries till their dissolution by Hen. VIII.,
and later on lands which had belonged to them than the generality of lay
estates. We find it, however, as late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by
whom, under far different influences a commission was issued in the year
1574, whereby all her bondmen and bondwomen might compound for their
manumission or freedom.
'Soke or soc, in law, was an ancient privilege, which a lord of a manor
claims in his court, of holding plea in causes of debate arising among his
tenants and vassals; and of imposing and levying fines and amerce-

62 EASINGWOLD.
In Murton (Marton) 2 carucates and a half. In Torpe (Thorpe)
Sudtune (Sutton) Chelestred (Felis-Kirk,) and Carebi (Kirby)
17 carucates. In Tormozbi (Thormanby) 1 carucate and a
half. In Hortune (Hutton) 6 carucates. In Sorebi (Sowerby)
3 carucates, and two others belonging to the hall or manor
house, with the mill which pays twenty shillings. In all there
are 39 carucates liable to taxation, which twenty teams are
able to plough. There are only two villeins and four bordarii6
or cottagers having one carucate and a half. The remaining
land is waste, but the wood pasturage is in some places a
league and a half in length and the same in breadth.
From the above extract, it appears that the manor of Eas
ingwold was held by Morcar in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, (1 041). Morcar was the last Saxon Earl of North
umberland, and succeeded Tosti. When the Saxon Heptar
chy was broken up,, and the kingdom united under one
Sovereign, an earl was appointed to govern where a king had
previously ruled.
Morcar was Governor of York when Harold Harfager,
King of Norway, with Tosti the banished Earl marched against
it. With the assistance of Edwin, Earl of Chester, his brother,
a few forces were raised, and a complete victory was gained
over the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge. The King of Nor
way and Tosti were slain, and their army almost cut to pieces.
After the battle of Hastings however, and the surrender of
York to the Norman Conqueror which so speedily followed,
Morcar, who had been superseded in his government by Robert
de Mowbray, a Norman of most cruel and austere nature, not
ments touching the same. The word is Saxon, and literally signifies
cause, contest, and thence right of jurisdiction, &c. When the soc was
given, the donor gave the grantee his right relating to that property, with
all the privileges belonging to it. The soke of Easingwold, however, so far
as concerns the exercise of any sort of civil jurisdiction over the surround
ing villages, has long since passed away.
6 Bordarii, a class of men of less servile condition than the villeins, who
had a Bord or Cottage, with a small parcel of land allowed to them, on con
dition that they should supply the lord with poultry and eggs, and other
small provisions for his Board or entertainment.

EASINGWOLD. 63
enduring to see the slavery of his country, raised a body of
Northumbrians disgusted like himself by the Conqueror's
severities, and, assisted by his brother Edwin, slew a great
part of the Norman garrisons. The city of York was re-taken
and William of Newburgh writes that 4,000 of the Normans
were slain.
The destruction of his garrisons so excited the rage and re
sentment of William, that he was often heard to swear in
his march to the north, " that he would not leave a soul of
the insurgents alive," and he soon began to put his threats in
execution. From the Domesday Survey which we have already quoted,
it will be seen that the manor of Easingwold was then greatly
depreciated in value. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it
was worth £32, but at the time when the survey was made
under William, it was only worth 20 shillings. This deprecia
tion was in consequence of the destruction ,and devastation he
had inflicted upon the inhabitants of Easingwold and their
property. In order to punish the Northumbrians for then lengthened
resistance, the Conqueror laid waste all the country betwixt
York and Durham, and made it so desolate, that for nine years
neither spade nor plough was put into the ground, and those
who escaped the sword were obliged to eat the vilest animals
and even human flesh to preserve their miserable lives. The
historian Hume says, "the houses were reduced to ashes, the
cattle seized and driven away, and many of the inhabitants
perished in the woods from cold and hunger. The lives of
one hundred thousand persons are computed to have been
sacrificed by this stroke of barbarous policy."
In several of the succeeding reigns we find this part of the
country the seat of intestine wars and all its attendant horrors.
The Scotch took every opportunity of invading the northern
frontiers, and frequently penetrated as far as York, under the
reign of Edward II. In the year 1314, an order was issued by
the King, at York, to John, Lord Mowbray, who was then Go
vernor of the city, to array all the defensible men in the
wapentake of Buhner, between the ages of sixteen and sixty,

04 EASINGWOLD.
as well horsemen as foot, in order to their joining him in the
expedition into Scotland.
From Humber's streams, whose tumbling waves resound
And deafen all the adjoining coasts around,
To where the Tweed in softer windings flows,
Full fifty thousand quiver'd warriors rose; —
A hardy race, who, well experienced knew,
To fit the shaft, and twang the bended yew ;
Bred up to danger and inured to dare,
In distant fight and aim the feather'd war :
These bands their country's highest triumphs boast;
And GLOCESTEE and HEBTFOED led the host,
In the same year was the fatal battle of Bannockburn, in
which the Scotch Historian' says, that fifty thousand English
men were slain upon the spot. The Scots afterwards entered
England and laid waste the country with fire and sword. They
came to Ripon and Northallerton, and received a thousand
marks each to spare the towns. They burnt the towns of
Skipton and Knaresbrough, and continued their depredations
to York where they burnt the suburbs: The Archbishop raised
an- army and pursued them to Myton, about six miles from
Easingwold, where the greater part of his forces were slain and
himself defeated.
In the year 1322, Edward pursued the Scots as far as
Edinburgh, but on his return, he was suddenly' and unex
pectedly attacked by Thomas Randolph and Sir James Douglas
while resting his forces at Byland Abbey, and narrowly esca
ped to York. The defeat of his army on this occasion was
attributed to the traitorous conduct of Sir Andrew Harcla, re
cently created Earl of Carlisle, who had conspired with the
Scottish Chieftains and kept back part of the English army
from joining in the conflict, for which he was afterwards de
graded and executed.
During the earlier portion of this stormy period, the manor
of Easingwold was in the hands of the crown, for it paid scu-
tage'of £17. 6s. 8d. as such, on occasion of the Galway eNpe-
dition, 3 3 Hen. 11.(1187); and again the executors of Robert
'Buchanan.

EASINGWOLD. 65
de Ayville were forbidden in 1244 to administer to his effects
till an arrear of £9. 12s. 2d., due to the crown, for the farm of
the mill at Easingwold was paid,3 but in 1265, after the battle
of Evesham, it was granted by Henry III. to his second son
Edmund Plantagenet, the first Earl of Lancaster, (Rotuli
Hundred. Edw. I.) to whom, according to Dugdale, his nephew
Edward the first, in 1291, granted a Fair to be held every
year at his manor of Easingwold, on the eve and festival of our
Lady. This connexion involved the place and neighbourhood in
the turbulent proceedings of the second Earl, the celebrated
Thomas of Lancaster, against Edward the second, which ter
minated in the battle of Boroughbridge, fought on the 16th of
March, 1321, and the execution of the defeated Earl at Ponte-
fract six days after. His honours and possessions however,
were restored to his brother Henry, who was required by an
instrument preserved in Rymer's Federa, (Vol. II. p. 704, Ed.
1821,) dated 1 Edw. III. (1327) to give an account to the
Exchequer, of the profits and outgoings of the manors of
Esyngwald, Hobi (Huby), and Barley, in the county of York,
among other possessions stated to be held during the king's
pleasure, on this condition, and to have been so held by the
deceased Earl Thomas.
Whatever were the limitations imposed by the crown, this
manor with the rest seems to have gone in the regular course
of descent, and at length to have devolved on John of Gaunt,
fourth son of Edward III., who derived his title of Duke of
Lancaster from his marriage with Blanch, daughter of Henry,
who first bore the ducal title, and great granddaughter of
Edmund, the first Earl of Lancaster.
Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt by Catharine Swinford,
was the second wife of Ralph Neville, called the Great, first
Earl of Westmoreland, and probably brought him, (besides a
family of thirteen children, in addition to nine left him by his
first wife), the manor of Easingwold, of which as well as Sheriff-
Hutton, Raskelfe, Huby, Gillinge, Aldeburg, Sutton-on-Galtres,
&c, &c. he died seized 4 Henry VI. (A.D. 1425). This power
"Madox's History of the Exchequer, Vol. I. p. 631, and II. p. 183
Edit. 1769.

60 EASINGWOLD.
ful nobleman, scarcely inferior to his royal father-in-law in
territorial importance, besides the hereditary domains of his
family in Durham dependant on the castle of Raby, those de
rived from the Buhners of which Sheriff-Hutton was the head,
and those of the Granvilles and Fitz-Randolphs in Richmond-
shire, owing suite and service to Middleham Castle, had a
grant for life of the Castle and Honour of Richmond, and was
constituted warden of all the king's forests north of Trent.
He was grandfather, by his second wife, to Richard Neville,
Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, the king-maker, and while his
ancestral honours and possessions continued with the children
of his first marriage, till the time of Elizabeth, those which
came to him from the daughter of John of Gaunt seem to have
reverted to the crown on one of the various forfeitures incurred
by her offspring, in whom the turbulent propensities of the
first line of Lancaster were inherent to the last. At all events,
we find the manor of Easingwold described as among the
crown deihesnes in the time of Edward IV., and so it appears
to have remained, till Charles the First, in the ninth year of his
reign, (A. D. 1633) granted it, with the manor of Huby, to
Thomas Belasyse, first Lord Fauconberg, distinguished for
his attachment to the royal cause in the civil wars of that un
happy period, with whose descendants in the female line,
Sir George Wombwell, Bart., of Newburgh Hall, they still
continue. In the same reign some important changes took place with
respect to property in Easingwold. The estates which had
been held on lease of the crown for terms of years, as portions
of its ancient demesne, were enfranchised. The king also, by
letters patent under his Privy Seal, at Canterbury, August 6th,
1638, granted George Hall, gent., (described at various times
as of Oswaldkirk, Sinnington, and Easingwold,) and to his
heirs and assigns for ever, a free market, to be held at Easing
wold every Friday, also two wakes or fairs, to be held on the
Feast of St. John the Baptist, and Holy-rood, and another
market for cattle every other week on Fridays, to commence
from the Friday after the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle,
and to continue to the Friday next before the Feast of St.

EASINGWOLD. 07
Thomas the Apostle, with a Court of Piepoudre1 to be held at
the time of the said wakes or fairs, with all tolls and profits
arising from thence.
In pursuance of this, which seems from records in the
Duchy Court of Lancaster, to have been rather a revival and
extension of privileges held from very ancient times by pre
scription, than an absolutely new grant, it was agreed, by inden
ture dated August 31, 1646, by the bye-law men, on behalf of
the inhabitants of Easingwold, to grant the present market-place
to George Hall ; he undertaking that the inhabitants within
the manor should be for ever free from all tolls in the market;
and that he and his heirs should repair the pavement in the mar
ket-place, and build and keep in repair a Toll-Booth or Town
House, ten yards long, and six broad, with stone steps, wherein
courts, bye-law, and other meetings might be held.
These arrangements have been a fertile cause of unprofita
ble litigation to the present generation of inhabitants, which
may vie with the case of "Poor Peter Peebles versus Plain-
stanes," as a specimen of the glorious and perilous uncertain
ties of the law; the validity of their claim to exemption from
tolls and stallage having been argued four times at York, and
six at Westminster, on points which the courts, after all, had
left open to further argumentation, when the litigants thought
it their wisest course to agree amongst themselves, the claim
to exemption being admitted, and both parties paying their
own costs.
We now turn from the civil to the Ecclesiastical History
of Easingwold. It is not likely that a place so near the centre of Christian
Institutions both in British and Saxon times, itself also the
head of a Saxon soke, would be long after the settlement
of Christian prelates at York, without its church and presbyter.
Easingwold shares however in the general obscurity which
hangs over the early history of our parishes, and though the
occurrence of references to the "field of Paulinus" and the
? Piepoudre, a court for the speedy adjudication' of small causes, the
name of which, derived from the Norman French, is said to intimate, that
its decisions were made while the dust was on the feet of the litigants.
E2

68 EASINGWOLD.
"Cross of Paulinus" in an account of enclosures made in the
forest before the time of Edw. I.2 countenances the supposition
that the first Archbishop of York and great Restorer of Chris
tianity in Northumbria, exercised his ministry in its immediate
neighbourhood, as well as at Brafferton, the first mention
of its ecclesiastical arrangements is in the Domesday Survey
already given. An inscription on « the ancient communion
plate, intimated that the church was named after St. John
the Baptist, and surely no designation could be more appro
priate to a forest oratory than that which revived the recollec
tion of him who first proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation
in the wilderness, whether a Christian application was thus
given to any previous festivities, of less worthy origin or not.
But there is early evidence that it also bore the designation
of All Saints Church, by which it is now commonly described,
'."Dns. de Stivellington tenet quodd™- pratum quod vocatur Pratum
Paulini quod factum fuit de p'prestura facta super dominicum Eegis
tempore E. Joh'is & val. per ann. ijs. Item homines de Esyngwald tenent
quandam p'presturam que facta fuit temp'. Bob. de Ros que continet xiv
acr. prati & red. per ann. vijs. iijd. Item Wills Peitevin tenet unam
purpresturam que de novo facta est super dominicum Eegis juxta Crucem
Paulini que continet vi acr. & valet per ann. iiijs. Item tempore G. de
Langet facta quedam purprestura apud Esingwald que continet iiij** acr. et
alia apud Hoby qu. continet viiijXI acr. unde quelibet acra valet vijd. &
tercium reddunt inde tenentes.
Item magr. S. Leonardi habet apud Esingwald unam p'presturam de
antiquo qu. continet 1 acras et valent per annum xxxijd."
"Ecclesia de Esyngwald et capella de Kereby fuerunt aliquando in
donacione Begum, & Archid. Bichmund modo tenet dictam ecclesiam sed
(juratores) nesciunt a quo tempore nee per quam" — Rot. Hundred. Edw. I.
These extracts will at once shew the connexion in which the name of
Paulinus occurs (perhaps still preserved in Paulins's Carr adjoining to a
field belonging to the poor of Stillington, on the borders of the parish of
Easingwold, and in the line of the Boman Eoad from York to Tees Mouth),
and furnish some further particulars as to early proprietors in the neigh
bourhood. It appears from Camden's Britannia, p. 693, that it v, as customary to
erect crosses in places where Paulinus preached and celebrated divine ser
vice, with this inscription,
PAULINUS HIC PRiEDICAVIT
ET CELEBRAVIT.

EASINGWOLD. 69
and which is usually regarded as indicative of a Saxon origin. a
Nor is such a double designation uncommon, especially where
an original fabric has been restored, in a manner which may
have induced the second race of builders to regard it as a new
foundation. In the account of the Forest already referred to, temp.
Edw. I., the patronage of the church with its chapel of Kirby
is stated to have been in the crown, but it appears to have
been appropriated, with four others, towards the endowment
of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, at the first institution of
that dignity in the church of York, by Abp. Thomas, about
A.D. 1090.
The vicarage was constituted before the year 1 293, and was
valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation, about that time at £5 ; redu
ced in 1318 by the Scotch Invasions to £4, but estimated in
the King's Books, reg. Hen. VIII. at £12. lis. per annum.
The Archdeacons had a fan* manor house with sufficient
offices at Easingwold, and as it was the nearest of their houses
of residence to York, it would probably be their place of retire
ment, when disengaged from their duties in the city, where
also they had a capital mansion.
Some traces of its former consequence may still be discern
ed in the moat, and ponds, and venerable trees around the " Hall
or Rectory," but having for a considerable time been occupied
as a farm house, its ancient architectural features had gradu
ally been disappearing, till at length they were totally removed
to make way for a new erection, better suited to its altered cir
cumstances, about sixteen years ago.
The following list of these dignitaries before the severance
of the Archdeaconry of Richmond from the diocese of York is
given by Gale —
Conan, Archdeacon (probably of Richmond) subscribed a
charter of Stephen Earl of Bretagne in the reign of William
Rufus. William, Thurstan, and William son of Durandus, , Arch
deacons, signed a charter of Thurstan, Abp. of York, in the
reign of Henry the First. One of these was probably Archdea
con of Richmond. 'Archdeacon Churton's Early English Church, p. 171.
B3

70 EASINGWOLD.
William de Chauville (or de Choneli according to Hoveden)
was Archdeacon, 1189.
Eustacius, 1196.
Honorius, 1198.
Roger de St. Edmund, Mar. 2, 1200.
Richard de Marisco, keeper of the great Seal, 1213, Bishop
of Durham, 12174
Walter de Gray, Abp. of York, 1217.
William de Rotherfield, L.L.D., 1217. Treasurer of the
church of York, 1239.
Walter de Woburn, 1240.
Robert Haget, 1242.
John Romain, sen., 1246, died 1256.
William and Ralph.
Simon de Eversham or Houf, 1265.
Richard Broune.
Thomas Passelew, 7 id. Feb., 1272.
Geoffrey de St. Medard, 1279.
Henry de Newarke, 1281, resigned 1290, on becoming Dean
of York. Gerard de.Weppens, Wypas, or Vyspeyns, May, 12Q0.
Francis Gaytan, an Italian Cardinal, appointed by Papal
provision 1307, to the exclusion of John de Sandal, Baron of
the Exchequer on whom Edward II. had conferred ihe dignity.
He died at Avignon, 1317.
Roger de Northburgh, installed June 13, 1317. Bishop of
Coventry, 1322, for whom Edward II. several times endeavour
ed, but in vain, to obtain the dignity of cardinal.
* Richard de Marisco is most probably the Archdeacon of whom the Can'
ons of Bridlington complained to Pope Innocent III. that he travelled on
his visitations with a train of ninety seven horses, twenty one dogs, and
three hawks, and that coming to a church of which they were impropria
tors, he had put them to as heavy outlays in one hour as would long have
sufficed for the maintenance of their whole convent. Very similar com
plaints were made of him, according to Godwin, by the monks of Durham,
and he died suddenly at Peterborough on his way to make his defence in
London — ."magna jurisperitorum caterva stipatus," — leaving a, debt of
40,000 marks to his successors, A.D. 122(i. Truly there was need of a
house " with sufficient offices " for the conductor of such visitations.

EASINGWOLD. 71
Elias Talairand, brother of Archambaud, Count of Perigord,
appointed by Papal provision 4 non. Nov. 1322. Bishop of
Altissiodori, 1328.
Robert de Wodehouse, Sept. 14, 1328. Baron of the Ex
chequer 1319. Treasurer of England, .1330. Summoned to
Parliament 1329 & 1337. Died, 1346.
John de Gineswell, Chaplain of John Duke of Lancaster,
afterwards Cardinal.
Henry de Walton, July 18, 1349, died 1359.
Humphrey de Cherleton, D.D., Dec. 14, 1359, bequeathed
his body to be buried in the chancel of Rykhall church, 1382.
John Bacon, Feb. 20, 1382, resigned.
John de Waltham, Jan. 11, 1384. Bishop of Salisbury,
1388. Treasurer of England, 1391, died 1395.
Thomas de Dalby, Sep. 22, 1388, bequeathed his body to
be buried in York Cathedral, 1400.
Stephen le Scrope, Junr. May 22, 1400. He was son of
Abp. Scrope near whose body he desired to be buried, by will,
proved Sept. 7, 1418. He resigned the Archdeaconry Mar. 16,
1401 to Nicholas Bubbewith, but two days after was readmitted,
his successor taking his prebend of Driffield.
Nicholas Bubbewith, Mar. 16, 1401, afterwards Bishop of
London, Salisbury, Bath, and Treasurer of England.
Henry Bowet on the death of Stephen le Scrope, Sept. 6,
1418. Thomas Kemp, D.D., Archdeacon, first of York, then of
Richmond, Nov. 19, 1442. Bishop of London, 1448, died Mar.
28, 1489.
William Grey, D.D., Mar. 3, 1449. Bishop of Ely, 1454,
died Aug. 4, 1478.
Lawrence Bothe, Aug. 21, 1454, afterwards Dean of St.
Paul's, London, 1456. Bishop of Durham, 1457, Abp. of
York, 1476, died 1480.
John Arundel, M.D., Oct. 31, 1457. Bishop of Chichester,
1458. John Bothe, May 37, 1459. Bishop of Exeter, 1465, died
1478. John Shirwode, D.D., July 14, 1465. Bishop of Durham
1483, died Jan. 12, 1493.

72 EASINGWOLD.
Edward Pole, Jan 6, 1484, died 1485.
John Blyth, L L.D., Oct 8, 1485. Bishop of Salisbury
1493, died 1499.
Christopher Urswick, L.L.D., Mar. 21, 1493. He resign
ed the Deanery of York for this dignity, and after a rapid suc
cession of other preferments, and refusing the Bishoprick of
Norwich in 1498, at length resigned the Deanery of Windsor
to which he had been appointed in 1495, and died Rector of
Hackney, near London, where he was buried Oct. 24, 1521.
John Stanley, admitted on the resignation of his predeces
sor, Dec. 5, 1500. Bishop of Ely 1506, died Mar. 22, 1514.
Thomas Dalby, L.L.B., Aug. 24, 1506, died Jan. 26, 1525.
Thomas Winter, Mar. 24, 1525, resigned 1529.
William Knight, L.L.D., Dec. 7, 1529, resigned May 20,
1541, and died Bishop of Bath and Wells, Sept. 29, 1547.
Among the names of many persons who attained the high
est dignities of the church, are those of several foreigners of
distinction, whom probably the long connexion of the Dukes
of Bretagne with Richmond, might aid in introducing to their
English territory. An Elias de Talairand, brother of the
Count of Perigord was Archdeacon in 1322, and appearances
of the Flamboyant, or French Gothic style of Architecture,
such as the absence of capitals from the pillars, and peculiar
ities in the tracery of the windows in Easingwold and other
churches in the neighbourhood, the present fabrics of which
belong to the above named period, may with great probability
be traced to this foreign connexion.
The Archdeacons exercised^manorial rights over their de
mesne, distinct from those of the crown and its . several gran
tees, which have devolved on their successors, and many inter
esting particulars respecting the general condition of the place
may be gathered from a curious " extent or survey of the manor
and church of Easingwold" preserved by Gale,5 from which we
find that ' ' their residence which in the time of Henry de Newark,
1281, was in excellent condition, had, during the incumbency of
his two immediate successors, Gerard de Wypas and Cardinal
Francis Gayton, from 1290 to 1317, become ruinous, and great-
5Registrum Honoris de Richmond, p. 70-72.

:!asingwold.

ly in need of repair
oxgangs of arable land w>

attached to it in demesne were four
rth 20s. per annum.
The free tenants of thk (manor were William Paycocke, (a
name still known in Easingwold) who held one house, with
two others which master J Ian had unjustly held, paying to the
Archdeacon a rent of 2s. er annum ; but the principal tene
ment seems to have be«i in dispute, for after the death of
master Alan, the Bailiffs f the Earl of Lancaster 6 had seized
it and still held it to tb damage of the Archdeacon. The
widow Beatrix held one wft and two oxgangs of land with their
appurtenances, paying a rent of 4s. per annum, with one cock
and three hens at Chrianas, and 40 eggs at Easter, besides
being bound to find a m , a to mow the lord's meadow for one
day and to make hay nd carry and house it in the grange
within the lord's court, iceiving his meat once in the day.
William Fitz Hugh eld one toft and one oxgang of land,
with an additional portin, at a rent of 3s. per annum, and

Robert in le Wra, one to
annum, both rendering
widow Beatrix. Robert

lor held one toft with
similar services. Rents

and one oxgang of land, at 2s. per
y moieties the same services as the
"olyfant held one toft with a croft,
at a rent of 12d. per anium, and was bound to help to make
the lord's hay, receivingnis meat once in the day. John Tay-
croft, rendering 16d. per annum and
n all lis. 4d.
In Keyrby (Cold K -by)' was an enclosure called Hallo-
6 Earl Thomas, beheadd after the battle of Boroughbridge.
1 Kirby, as to temporal jui ,dictiori seems to have early passed into the
hands of the Knights Temp is, for in the Quo Warranto Pleas, temp.
Edw. I., we find the Grand M gter of the Order in England summoned to
shew by what right he held " ! ireby in mora de Blakhou," which was part
of the ancient demesne of tl s crown. He called to warranty Baldwin
Wake, who said that King I nry the second had granted to Robert de
Stuteville his ancestor, andh heirs "Kereby,de mora de Esingwald" to
be held of the crown in fee nd heirship, and produced a charter to that
effect, which was admitted hrjustification of the claim. — Placita de Quo
Warranto, p. 192, in curia Riept. Scacearii.
Its subsequent history, b«h civil and ecclesiastical, is not a little con
fused. Though the rectorial .thes and glebe continued to be leased by the
Bishops of Chester, as part i the parish of Easingwold, as late as 1654,
when then- lessee paid £7. p ann. to the curate, it has long ceased to

74 EASING W0L3
dike, and in Raskelfe, one toft and two oxgangs of land, ren
dering one mark per annum, the tift yard containing a tithe-
barn, which had been thrown dowr. by the Welsh," and most
of the timber burned.
The Tithes of Easingwold were valued at £18 0. 0. Ras
kelf £11 0. 0, Kirby £2 13s. 4d.;jn all £31 13s. 4d.
The Archdeacon had Pannage,9 n the woods from his ten
ants. When Henry de Newarke heldthat office he had made a
large sheepfold upon three selionspf land at the head of the
town of Easingwold, and in the tinn of Francis Gayton, then
his vicar general, he sold the wood about it, but the land was
seized by the king's writ, and this thiugh neglect of the Arch
deacon in the defence of his right against the plaintiff.
Henry de Newarke had also an eiclosure within the wood
of Galtres, near Easingwold; but though the like neglect, on
his resignation of the office, the Sereschal of the Forest took
it into the king's hands, and still reained it.
acknowledge a connexion with the mother ciurch, which, from its complete
ly insulated position with respect to the retaining portions of the parish,
must at all times have been slight. So completely has this been the case,
that an erroneous statement noticed by ArcHeacon Todd, that Kirby was
once in the diocese of Chester, is the only memorial of its dependence on
Easingwold, which Mr. Lawton has preservd in his valuable collection on
the ecclesiastical affairs of the diocese of Yck, (v. Vol. II., p. 515,) and
probably the only local tradition of the fact- That gentleman also notices
a peculiar jurisdiction exercised by the Lod of the manor of Kirby with
respect to the probate and administration f wills, a, relic in all likelihood
of its early connexion with the Templars and its participation in their
exemptions from ordinary jurisdiction.
8Probably some of the turbulent retaines of Thomas Earl of Lancaster,
who by his marriage with the heiress of th Lacies, constables of Chester,
had much influence in the Welsh marshes
s The Lord of the manor formerly mde a charge caUed Pannage or
agistment, for the mast (the fruit of the oa and beech tree) eaten by the
swine in the Forest.
The swine herd was an Officer under thi Forest laws, whose duty it was
at the ringing of a bell at ten o'clock, to dure the swine upon the forest,
and to collect and bring them back when tb bell rang the hour of four. —
King John's Charter of the Forest. No. 7,

EASINGWOLD. 75
Further, before the time of Archdeacon Gerard de Wypas,
1290, no Justice, Seneschal, or Forester of that Forest, receiv
ed procurations or supplies of provisions, nor were they paid
by the tenants except when the Archdeacon was there, when
they paid procurations like other men of the country ; but after
the time of Henry de Newarke, this did not satisfy the Forest
ers, and they would have procurations every week both in meat
and drink, and the Seneschal with a burdensome family, and
the Justice, would have procurations for what time he pleased,
or a compensation in money.
Also the men of Easingwold practised great injuries and
extortions on the tenants of the church, and compelled them
by distraint to do unaccustomed services, and laid payments
"in aid" upon them with others of the town. And when
Adam Ballaster ' was beheaded, the said men of Easingwold
made the said tenants give geld, (or the fine imposed for their
share in the offence) with the rest.
And thus the said tenants were impoverished and destroyed
so that they could scarcely live for want of defence by the
Archdeacon . ' ' —
On the foundation of the See of Chester, 1541, the juris
diction and endowments of the Archdeacons of Richmond,
with some curtailments, were transferred to it ; and the appro-
'Lelandin his Itinerary, says "Adam Banaster, a bachelor of Lancaster-
shire movid ryot agayne Thomas of Lancaster by craft of Kynge Edward II.
but he was taken and behedid by the commandement of Thomas of Lan
caster." Dr. Whitaker in his Hist, of Whalley, p. 403, supposes Banaster to have
been of Bank in that parish, where the name of Adam occurs about the
time. Banaster or Bannaster is the same with Ballaster, (derived from
Balistarius) and the like change of orthography may be observed between
Balustre and the modem corruption Banister, in domestic furniture.
A sovereign craftily "moving riot" against his powerful subject, — his
agent beheaded by that subject on the failure of the attempt and those who
had taken part with hijn fined by the same authority, are strange sounds to
modern ears ; but when Leland wrote, the star of Lancaster was in the
ascendant, and language which seemed to take for granted the pretence
that the title of Iheir remote ancestor to rule was superior to that of Ed
ward II. would not be taken amiss by a Tudor monarch, notwithstanding
the far better title he had acquired by the union of his house with that of
York.

70 easingwold.
priate Rectory of Easingwold, with the right of presentation to
the Vicarage, remains with the Bishops of that See, though
by recent ecclesiastical arrangements, the Archdeaconry now
forms part of the diocese of Ripon. The diocesan jurisdiction
over the parish of Easingwold has always been vested in the
Archbishop of York, nor was it ever within the Archdeaconry
of Richmond, but, as now, in that of Cleveland.
The Church,2 which is approached from the town by a shady
avenue planted by a benefactor lately deceased,3 occupies a
beautiful situation, commanding an extensive prospect over the
ancient Forest of Galtres and the Vale of York, with the stately
Cathedral in full view to the S.S.E. It consists of a chancel, a
nave, with north and south aisles, and a western tower, and is
handsome and well proportioned, though sadly disfigured ex
ternally, by the removal of the tracery from the clerestory win
dows, of which only one or two specimens remain, and still
more internally, by the underdrawing of the roof, which cuts off
portions of the tracery both of the east and west windows, as
well as by the substitution of large and lofty square pews for
the original open seats, of which sufficient remnants are left to
shew how much the church has lost in appropriate ornament,
as well as the parishioners in general convenience of arrange
ment. Hopeful advances have lately been made towards the
restoration of the original beauty of the fabric, by the removal
of a cumbrous gallery which stretched across the- chancel arch,
and two pews of formidable elevation, supported on slight and
apparently precarious posts, which overhung the western gal
lery, besides the bringing to light of the west window, with
its rich and beautiful tracery which had at one time been ab
solutely boarded up, and latterly quite concealed from view
by the organ, now appropriately placed in the tower behind
it. Much however remains to be done for the interior, and on
the exterior, besides the clerestory restorations already alluded
2 Tradition relates that the church was originally projected to have been
built in the centre of the market place, now forming the circus behind the
shambles, where the materials were collected; but that during the night,
they were removed by invisible agency, to the site at present occupied by
the edifice ! A marvel not confined to this place.
3 W. Whytehead, Esq.

easingwold. 77
to, there is a modern porch of brick covered with cement, at
the south side, which might well be dispensed with, or give
place to one of a character more consistent with the generally
pleasing and decorous aspect of the building.
No traces of Saxon or Norman architecture appear about
the present fabric, and its earliest feature is the door-way on
the north side, which belongs to the Early English period,
probably about the time of Edw. I., and which has some
appearance of being an insertion in its present position.
The body of the church may be assigned from the curvilin
ear tracery of the east and west windows, to the early part of
the fourteenth century, probably about 1325. The square
headed windows of the north and south sides, if not an early
importation from France of forms not yet frequent in our na
tive architecture, must be regarded as insertions of above a.
century later. The tower is evidently an afterthought, dis
tinct proofs appearing that the west end of the nave, surmount
ed in all likelihood by a bell-gable, was the original termina
tion of the church. The chief feature of the tower is a lofty
pointed arch, formerly open, but now inclosing a western
doorway and square headed window, but it is of inferior work
manship to the rest of the church, and may be dated about
midway between the above named periods.
The only armorial bearings about the building, appear on
two shields supporting the label of the most eastern window of
the south aisle. They are,
1. — A chevron between three buckles.
2. — A saltire engrailed. 4
The first of these appears to have been repeated within
the church.for Glover in his visitations of York, 1584-5, preser
ved among the Harleian MSS., gives the colours,
Gules, a chevron ermine, between three buckles, or. 5
4 The engrailed appearance, may however, by possibility, be produced
only by the decay of the stone, in which case these arms may be a memo
rial of the Nevilles, who bore, argent, a saltire, gules.
6 These arms were borne by John Haxby, Treasurer of the Church of
York, who died in 1424, and whose monument stands near "the fourth
pier of the Tower" in that Cathedral, which was committed to his care in
1419. They appear with these colours on a panel in the possession of
J. Haxby, Esq., now of Easingwold.

78

EASINGWOLD.

He also mentions a shield, bearing
Ei-mine, on a bend sable, three boar's heads erased,
argent; impaling.
Or, a fess dancette, sable,
which does not now appear. 6
The shields first named are the more remarkable as all the
rest of the labels are supported by male or female heads, and may
perhaps intimate that this end of the aisle was appropriated as
a private chapel, as, from some fragments of screen work, would
seem also to have been the case with the corresponding por
tion of the north aisle. The vestry, on the north side of the
chancel is also of early date and has something of the chantry
character. In it, and on the gable of the Porch are preserved
some remains of a highly ornamented church-yard cross, ap-
6 This appears to be the shield of Christopher Driffield, of Eipon, bar-
rister-at-law, who married Bridget, daughter of Lewis West. The lady
was of a Cumberland family, which may explain the difference in the co
lours of her arms from those usually given for West, which are argent a
fesse dancette, sable. In Dugdale's Visitation of York, 1666, her husband's
bearings are assigned to a family of Easingwold whose pedigree is thus
given: Thomas Driffield, of Easingwold=Margaret, daughter of 
[ Merchant of London.

Mary= William Drifneld,== Ursula, da. Thomas ¦ P-

dau. of . .

of Easingwold.

of Bryan

Thornton

Rosse of

of 

Husthwayt,

m com.

in com.

Ebor..

Ebor. se
first wife.
cond wife.
Cundall s,p.
Francis=Frances Mat-=Ursula Chris-=Bridget Marg.=Tim- Stephen
dau. and thias dau. of topher dau. of aret othy Ursula
co-heir- Drif- Wm. Driffield Lewis Drif-
ess of field, Bow- of Eipon, West, field,
Nichol. of Eas- man, a bar- of ... .
Towers, ing- of Dun- rister. in com.
Cumberland.
Driffield, of Eas
ingwold, Justice
of Peace.
Oct. 25,
A. D.
1666.
a mer- wold, cotes,
chant in com. .
York. Ebor.
Wright, Peter
a mer
chant in
London.
Towers Driffield,
Oct. 10, 1666.
I I
Mary. Margaret.
Easingwold. 70
parently coeval with the original structure, which have been
found at various periods in digging graves for recent interments.
The last account we ha-ie of the cross in this church yard
is from Torr's MSS. of testamentary burials given in a follow
ing page. It was placed ipon a base of stone in front of
the building and near to he entrance.7
In the tower are five niusical bells bearing the following
inscriptions. — '
1— WITH CHEARFUL VOICE O LORD WILL I
SING TO THEE. 1788! Dalton of York, fecit.
2.— SOCIAL LOVE, ^EACE, AND GOOD NEIGH
BOURHOOD. 1788. Dalton of York, fecit.
3.— THE PEOPLE WILL ADORN THE FESTIVALS
WHEN WE CALL. 1788, Dalton of York, fecit.
4.— GLORIFY THE LORD THY GOD WITH THE
VOICE OF PRAISE AND GLORIFICATION.
JOHN RAPER k GEO. METCALFE, Church,
WARDENS. JOHN ARMSTEAD, Vicar.
5.— HAVE FAITH IN CHRIST ETERNALLY, HAL
LELUJAH. 1788. Dalton of York, fecit.
Here is also preserved a large coffin, made of oak, with
iron rings, of which the tradition is, that it was once in general
use as a kind of public bier for carrying the dead, with no
'The cross, though abused as an object of idolatrous veneration, and
therefore generally removed from our church-yards at the time of the
Reformation, originally pointed cut the spots where Christianity was first
preached to our forefathers, and . near which the churches were usual
ly erected. " It afterwards became," as is well observed by a correspondent of
Mr. Britton, (v. Architect. Antiq.) "part of the decoration of every church.
It was frequently fixed at the entrance of the church, to inspire recollec
tion in those persons who approached, and reverence towards the mysteries
at which they were about to be present. On the high road, the cross was
placed for the purpose of calling the thoughts of the passengers to a sense
of religion, and restraining the predatory incursions of robbers. In the
market place it was a signal for upright intention and fair dealing, and
was in every place designed as a check on a wordly spirit," — an intima
tion that all the transactions of life were to be under the controlling in
fluence of the doctrine and example of Christ.

80

EASINGWOLI .

other covering than the shroud, to the grave. It has, however,
no marks of very high antiquity or priteria by which its date
can be ascertained.
The only monuments of a perioil anterior to the Reforma
tion, are a portion of a crossed toribstone, well nigh effaced,
near the seat of the schoolmaster in|the chancel, and a similar
stone, with faint traces of letters
shaft of a cross and a sword, now

¦unning parallel with the
forming the inner step of
the chancel door. A portion of a crj>ss-headed tombstone has

the east end of the vestry.
some early testamentary
but of which no traces are

also been built into the outer wall a
The following is an account 01
burials, given by Torr in his MSS,
left in the church. A.D. 1346
Roger Wodeward, of Raskelf, nade his will (proved 30,
Jan. 1346,) giving his soul to God Almighty, St. Mary, and
all Saints, and his body to be burled in the High Church of
Esyngwald, at the great door. A.D. 1341
Emma, wife of William Paynoj de Esyngwald, made her
will, (proved 14, Nov., 1346,) giving her soul to God Almighty
and St. Mary, and her body to bepuried in the High Church
of Esyngwald. 1
A.D. 144C
William Pickering of Esyngwald made his will, (proved 13,
August, 1444,) giving his soul (ut ppra,) and his body to be
buried in the church-yard of Esyngwald against the cross.
1st May, A.D/ 1452.
Thomas Rawson, chaplain of he fraternity of St. Mary,
&c, in the High Church of Esyngwald, made his will, (proved
2 Jan. 1452,) giving his soul to God Almighty, St. Mary, and
all Saints, and his body to be buiied in the sanctuary of the
High Church of Esyngwald. 8th May, A.D.
Thomas Sawyer, late Vicar of
will proved and administration of his goods granted to Agnes
Sawyer, his sister. 5 Oct., A.D. 1475.
John Thorneburgh, Vicar of Whenby, was interred in the
High Church of Esyngwald.

1463.
Esyngwald, dying, had his

EASINGWOLD. 81
Penult May, A.D. 1506.
William Catterik, Vicar of Esyngwald, made his will, (proved
4 July, 1506,) giving his soul to God Almighty, St. Mary, and
all Saints, and his body to be buried in the midst of the Choir
of the Church of All Saints, of Esyngwald.
9 April, A.D. 1533.
Sir Thomas Pyngithman, Vicar of the High Church of All
Hallows, in Esyngwald, made his will, (proved 26 July, 1533,)
giving his soul to God Almighty, and his body to be buried in
the Choir. 19 Oct, A.D. 1549,
John Plomber, Vicar of Esyngwald, made his will, (proved
24th Oct., 1549), giving his soul (ut supra) and his body to be
buried in the church-yard of Esyngwald, before the Cross.
11 Oct., A.D. 1571.
Robert Ingram, Clerk, Vicar of Esyngwald, dying intestate,
administration of his goods was then taken.
2 Dec, A.D. 1620.
Rad. Stringer, of Esyngwald, Clerk, made his will, (proved
9 Dec, 1620,) giving his soul to God Almighty, his Creator and
Redeemer, and his body to be buried where his executors
pleased. The following monumental inscriptions at present appear
in the church :—
At the north side of the communion table, on a mural
monument, surrounded with the usual emblems of mortality,
and bearing the arms of Rayns, viz — azure, a chevron engrailed
between three griffins' heads erased, argent, each holding in
its mouth a slip of roses,8 stalked and leaved, proper ; impa
ling, azure, a Maunch or, surmounted by a bend gobony er
mine and gules, for  are the words,
Memorise Sacrum.
Here Lyeth interred the Body of
THOMAS RAYNS OF EASINGWOLD, Esq.,
once Ld. Mayor of York, who after 10 years' affliction in a
Paralysis, departed this Life ye 8th of Mar1; 1713, aged 73.
8These hearings, as well as the colours in general, have become indis
tinct, but are given as exactly as they can now be ascertained.

82 EASINGWOLD.
Hebr. 12 c: v. 6th.
Whom y! L? loveth, he chasteneth, & scourgeth ev'ry son
whom he receiveth.
He gave £10. to ye poor of Easeingwould, & left yf Rent
of Hardle-gate Close for Ever, to be paid quarterly to y.e
Schoolmaster, for Teaching 5 poor children, to be named by
His Niece Salvin or her Heirs, & for want of such, by yf
Minister. A stone on the floor beneath the monument marks the
spot where the subject of its commemoration is interred, and
is thus inscribed — Hie Jacet
T. RAYNES
de Easingwould Armiger,
Qui Animam Deo Resignavit
Mar. oct™ Amico fidelis,
Pauperi beneficus, & Rebus in
aduersis Christianus Patiens.
DM Anna Salvin Chara
& Msestissima Neptis
Hoc Monumentum posuit.
An. Dom. 171f.
On the north wall of the chancel, near the above, is a hand
some white marble monument, with much ornamental work,
amidst which is a shield formerly bearing the arms of Yates
 a fesse crenelle, counter-crenelle between three gates
 ; to which, pleasing allusion is made in the inscription
beneath,
SIT QUJIRTA JANUA VITM.
In this church, at the west end, lies interred the body of
Mr. HENRY YATES,
Surgeon and Apothecary of this place; son of Obadiah Yates,
Surgeon and Apothecary, of Bridlington in this County, by
Jane, daughter of Richard Thompson, Esq. of Kilham in the
East Riding: he died the 21 June, 1781, aged 88 years. He
married Margaret, daughter of William Kitchingham, Esq. of
Carlton Husthwaite, 1721, who was interred in this church 3

EASINGWOLD. 83
April, 1731, and by whom he had the following sons and
daughters; William, who died 2 May, 1781, aged 69, and is
interred in this church; Jane, who died 17 November, 1781,
aged 58, interred in this church; Obadiah, surgeon, baptized
7 June, 1724, died in the East Indies; John, baptized 11
Sep, 1727, lost at Jamaica in a hurricane; Robert, surgeon
and apothecary, died 18 April, 1798, aged 70, interred in this
church; Rachael, who died at Hornsea, 27 Dec, 1793, aged
62, interred in this church. The aforesaid Rachael was mar
ried 1765, to the Rev. William Whytehead, B.A., Vicar of
Atwick, to whom she had the following sons and daughters,
Margaret, Jane, William, Rachael, and Henry Robert. Jane
died 29 August, 1775, -aged 7, and is interred in this church.
Her surviving children in gratitude to their pious and benevo
lent ancestors have erected this monument.
In this church lies also interred, the body of
THE REV. OBADIAH YATES, A.M.,
Vicar of Bromfield, in the County of Cumberland, and brother
to the aforesaid Henry Yates; he died 6 June, 1765, aged 76.
Beneath the above, on the same monument, is inscri
bed, Here also was buried Sep. 14, 1746, the body of Sarah
Coates, daughter of Captain Benjamin Coates, of Bridlington,
and niece to the above-named Henry and Obadiah Yates.
"Verily there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless
there is a God who judgeth the earth." Psalm 58, verse 10.
On the south side of the communion table is a mural mo
nument, inscribed — To the Memory of
WILLIAM LOCKWOOD,
attorney-at-law, a native of this place. His integrity and
uprightness of conduct, his kindness and charity to his neigh
bours, are seldom equalled and never surpassed. He died
March 31st, A.D. 1836, aged 58.
On a similar tablet beneath, is an incription in memory of
ELIZABETH,
Wife of Stephen Rose Haworth,
f2

84 EASINGWOLD.
who died at Gamston, Notts, July 10, aged 37 years. Her
remains are deposited near to the west end of the Church.
On the chancel floor is an Inscription in some danger of
being effaced : To the Memory of
DINNES CHALONER,
who departed this life the 15th of May 1789, aged 63.
Also of
Mrs. FRANCES CHALONER,
wife of the above
 1797,
The South wall of the chancel is chiefly occupied by the
records of various charitable bequests of which the following
is an abstract with some additions from authentic documents.
Mrs. Eleanor Westerman by will, dated Aug. 24, 1781, gave
the dividends on £2,500, reduced annuities, of which £54 12s.
are to be paid to a Schoolmaster, who must be a member of
the Church of England, for teaching thirty boys, Latin, the
English grammar, reading, writing, arithmetic, and .book
keeping; and also for teaching thirty girls, reading, writing,
and arithmetic; £10 for house rent, coals, and candles; £8 8s.
for books, pens, ink, and stationery ; £2 to the minister for
preaching a sermon on the 26th of May, before the children,
on the benefit of early piety, and another, on the 1st of Sep
tember, on some moral subject. The schoolmaster to attend
with the children upon these days, and also on Sundays, Wed
nesdays, and Fridays, in every week, at the parish church.
The Rev. Ralph Stringer's charity, of Foss-bridge
House. This house, in the Long-street, was given in 1599 to
the vicar and churchwardens, and their successors, for the use
of two poor people, (since rebuilt so as to form houses for four
widows.) The Rev. George Wilson's charity, who by will, in 1666.
gave the rent of a close called North Moors, containing 5a. 2k.;
to the needy poor, and for the supply of fuel to the Foss-bridge
House. Also 11a. Or. 5p. purchased by means of a fund then exis-

EASINGWOLD. 85
ting, and conveyed to the Vicar and Churchwardens for the use
of the poor.
John Foster's rent charge of 10s. per annum, by will, in
1640, out of lands in Raskelf, for the like"use.
Nathaniel Wilson's rent charge of 30s. per annum, by will,
in 1726, out of land called York Waths, 20s. for the poor and
10s. for a sermon on November 5.
Mr. Robert Driffield 1712, gave by will, to the poor, the
yearly rent of a broad Sand acre in the mill field.
Ann Cobb 1728, gave by will, for ever, part of the annual
rent of Tods Close, to buy bread for 12 of such of the poor
inhabitants as are constant at church every Lord's Day, which
is to be distributed in the church every Lord's Day, immedi
ately after Divine Service.
George Westerman 's gift of the dividends on £200, old
south sea annuities, vested in 1783, in the names of the Vicar
and Churchwardens, to be laid out in bread for the poor.
John Raper's charity, 1798, of £2 per annum to four
housekeepers without trades, who have not received parish
relief, and £1 to the teacher of the Sunday School.
The Rev. Wm. Comber's charity, 1810, of the dividends on
£50, navy fives, for widows and poor housekeepers.
William Kitchen's rent of two Roodlands by will, dated
in 1761, out of an allotment called the Suskers, in the church
field, for the poor. Also 10s. to be paid yearly to the school
master, out of the Raglands, for teaching a poor boy.
William Driffield's gift, by will, dated 1778, of the inter
est of £50 for teaching four poor children to read, write, and
sew. Thomas Raynes's gift, 1713, recorded on his monument.
Alice Smith's rent charge, 1698, of 40s. per annum, out of
Thirsk lane Closes, for the yearly placing out a poor child ap
prentice. Frances Driffield's gift, 1676, of a tenement in the little
lane, Easingwold, for the residence of four poor single women.
and the rent of twelve acres of land, for their benefit and for
apprenticing a poor boy.
William Coopland's charity, 1759, interest of £10 towards
clothing two poor boys.
f3

86 EASINGWOLD.
Thomas What's charity, 1738, interest of £20 among four
poor widows.
Mr. Wm. Raisbeck's gift, 1811, of the interest of £100 to
the use of the Sunday School.
Ann Driffield's bequest Feb. 1834, £100 on government
real security, invested in the names of the minister and church
wardens, for the purchase of bread to be distributed weekly on
every Sabbath day to poor persons belonging to the parish of
Easingwold, who attend divine service at the Parish Church.
To these may be added, though not recorded in the Church,
a bequest of £150 stock in the three per cent consols made by
Miss Margaret Whytehead, by will, dated April 14, 1840, for
the payment of a mistress of the Sunday School, to be chosen
by the Vicar, and for the purchase of Reward-books to be by
him distributed at Christmas and Midsummer yearly.
A bequest by Mr. John Nicholson of Easingwold, who died
Sept. 10, 1841, of £4 18s. Od, per annum, for the distribution
of bread to poor widows or widowers on Easter-sunday,
Whitsunday, and Christmas day, during ten years from the
time of his decease, has lately expired. —
Passing from the chancel to the body of the church we
find on the floor of the centre aisle, the memorials of
John Raper, who died Aug. 2, 1799 aged 62, and
Margaret Raper, who died July 14, 1828, aged 86.
At the west end of the south aisle is an enclosure contain
ing two altar-tombs, that nearest the wall inscribed thus:
ELIZABETH,
wife of T. P. Vic. (Thomas Prance, Vicar.) daughter of Ones :
Paul, Rector of Warnbro' in com. Wilts. She lived 19 years in
Marr : and made not only one man happy, but, by a virtuous
and lively conversation endear'd herself to all that knew her.
READER : she recommended many virtues to tby practice.
I shall mention but one, which the Bd. Paul recommended,
Phil. 2. 3rd. In lowliness of mind let each esteem others
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others.

easingwold. 87
In the practice of this and all other christian graces, she
layde down her life Mar. 24th, 1737, aged 50.
It was her request (and is ours) that her ashes may never
be disturbed. On ih.e adjoining tomb, is the memorial of her husband,
and probably the author of the above honourable tribute to her
memory. Hie Subtus Jacet
Vir probus & doctus
THOMAS PRANCE, A. B.
Qui Munus Pastorale,
quod per Annos undeuiginti
in hac Parochia Vicarius
Obtinuit
Omni Virtute evangelica
expleuit & ornauit
Obiit 7mo- Decern. A.D., 1737.
,Etatis 48,
Near to these is the following inscription :
Beneath this stone lies the Body of JOHN ARMITSTEAD,
Clerk, who died 16th July, 1812, aged 77. He officiated as
Vicar of this Parish upwards of 40 years, where his modera
tion and peaceful demeanour will long perpetuate his memory.
On other tombstones, at the west end of the church are
commemorated —
Ann, wife of the above, who died Aug. 28, 1773, aged 41,
Mary, his second wife, who died Jan. 19, 1802, aged 49,
John, their son, who died Jan. 18, 1795, aged 13, and
Mary,- their daughter, who died Nov. 22, 1803, aged 17.
The Rev. William Whytehead, late of Hornsea, born Aug. 3,
1729, died Aug. 8, 1817.
Robert Gray, of Broom Close House, who died May 7th,
1814, aged 64.
Jane, wife of William Lockwood, Junr., who died May 9,
1808, aged 30.
Jane, wife of the Rev. William Lockwood, interred here Nov.
29, 1829, aged 26, and
Rachael, second wife of Wm. Lockwood, Attorn ey-at-law, who
died Apr. 18, 1828, aged 42.

88 easingwold.
These, with a sepulchral slab, bearing several names, both
longitudinally and horizontally, among which only that of the
Rev. Mr. Addison, Curate, in 1738, can be distinguished, com
prise all the monuments now within the church.
We must not, however, leave its interior without noticing
the Organ, erected by subscription in 1803, and enlarged in
1850; and the Font, which is of plain octagonal form, rest
ing on a cylindrical column, with a cup-like capital, and square
base, and which, with two richly foliated brackets at the eastern
extremities of the chancel and north aisle, seems, no less than
the northern doorway, to belong to a period somewhat earlier
than that of the general architecture of the church.
The building] with its present inconvenient arrangements
will accommodate about 700 persons.
Our space will not permit a minute description of the
numerous memorials of the dead which crowd the church
yard, where there is scarcely a stone but has its distich commem
orative of the deceased, and the sorrows of surviving relatives.
Near the eastern boundary is the family vault of the Whyte-
heads, whose benevolence of character and many social virtues
will long live in the grateful remembrance of the inhabitants of
this place. It is enclosed with palisades and contains a tomb
stone bearing the following inscription :
Within this sepulchre are deposited the earthly remains of
MARGARET WHYTEHEAD,9
who died December 1st, 1842, aged 76. She was a person of
extraordinary piety, charity, and humility, and was the eldest
daughter of the Rev. William Whytehead and Rachael his wife,
who was the daughter of Henry and Margaret Yates, all of
whom are interred in the west end of the church, along with
others of the family, whose names are recorded on a mural
monument in the chancel thereof.
3 To this excellent ;lady the town is indebted1 among many other bene
fits, for the establishment of its Sunday School about 1791, probably the
earliest institution of the land in the north of England, and which she
personally superintended for above half a century.
Her character is thus faithfully depicted by one who had the closest
opportunities of observing it. " She, for half a century, was regarded by all

EASINGWOLD. 89
In the same vault lies interred
WILLIAM WHYTEHEAD of EASINGWOLD, Esq, L.L.B.,
and deputy lieutenant for the North-Riding of Yorkshire,
who died January 27, 1850, aged 80.
He was a descendant of the ancient family of Whithed or
Whytehead', resident for several _ centuries at Titherley and
Norman Court, Hants. Its immediate ancestor was William
Whytehead, who came into Yorkshire soon after the Restora-
ration. Thomas was Lord Mayor of York in 1734, and chief-
magistrate of the borough of Scarborough in 1737, and by
interlinear marriages, this family is connected with the hon
ourable and ancient family of Thompson, of Kirby Hall.
Obadiah Yates, Esq., of Bridlington, married Jane, daughter
of Richard Thompson, Esq.
The present head of the family is Henry Yates Whytehead,
Esq,, M.D. and J. P. for the North-Riding of Yorkshire, now
resident at Crayke.
Arms. — Azure, a fesse argent, between three fleurs de
lis, or.
Crest. — A fox sejant, argent.
Near the above, on a stone of tapering form, slightly
raised, and bearing the monogram for Christus Alpha and
Omega, usual on the earliest Christian monuments, are these
words : —
around her as a mother in Israel; being religious and yet cheerful, admo
nitory yet affectionate, self denying yet hospitable, and charitable without
respect of persons, kindly attending to every one whether a neighbour or a
stranger, who solicited her aid, which she always accompanied with some
good advice or pious publication, so that thousands and perhaps tens of
thousands, had both their temporal and spiritual wants supplied by
her truly christian benevolence." Her grandfather, Henry Yates, com
memorated within the church, is stated on, the same authority, to have
been in the habit of daily resorting three times to the church, namely, at
five and ten in the morning, and three in the afternoon, for the purpose of
private devotion, and to have continued this practice in winter and summer
till called to his rest in the 87th year of his age.
His son-in-law also, the Rev. William Whytehead, of Hornsea, was no
less exemplary, both as a pastor and a devout christian.

90 EASINGWOLD.
MSRY,
WIFE OF SSMUEL JSMES SLLEN, M.S.
VICSR OF EKSINGWOLD;
Who died Hug. VI, MDCCCXLV, Kged XXXIX Years,
closing a course of earnest devotion, active exertion, and
cheerful endurance, in humble imitation of her Saviour, with
this comforting declaration of her reliance on Him alone, in
the hour of sudden dissolution, Jesus Christ is all my hope
in life and in death.
Near to the above is a memorial of the family of the
REV. RICHARD BARTON, Clerk,
FORTY THREE YEARS MASTER
of the Westerman's Charity School, who died May the 12th,
1827, aged 68 years.
Near the path leading to the porch is an altar tomb, the
southern side of which, is thus inscribed: —
GEORGE WESTERMAN,
Late Citizen and Musician of London, Ink-Maker,
Son of George Westerman, late of Carlton,
in this County; Blacksmith :
who departed this Life December the thirteenth;
one thousand seven hundred and eighty three ;
in the seventy fourth year of his age.
The following memorial has lately been placed on the north
side of the same. tomb: — In Memory of
ELEANOR, wife of George Westerman, Citizen of London,
Daughter of John May, of Crankley, in this parish,
in which she founded a Free School, for the Education of sixty
children, with special provision for their instruction on
the importance of Early Piety, and for their
constant attendance on the worship of the Established Church.
May those who partake of so great a Benefit
jghew their gratitude to Almighty God, in every future stage
of life, by devout attention to His holy commands,
And to the wishes of their kind Benefactress.
She died February 24th, 1783, aged 57 years.

EASINGWOLD. 91
Near the west end of the south aisle Is a handsome ridged
tomb adorned with a cross flory in the style of the 13th cen
tury, and inscribed in the characters of that period.
IONSThSN ; Eh ; LOEKWOOD = DI6D ; IUN6 | XXV \
•R \ D ; MDELTXLV ; KE6D ; XXV :
GOan is Of few bays anb pull op trouble j He comefch porch like
a flower anb is cue bown \
Personal obligations on the part of the writer of these pages
to the skill of the deceased, in which he shares with many
others, forbid him to leave the regions of the dead without
noticing the epitaph of —
WILLIAM LODGE ROCLIFFE, M.D.,
who died Dee. 14, 1839, aged 85.
He practised for many years as a Physician in this his na
tive place, and was greatly esteemed for his medical skill, and
also for his integrity, fidelity, and candour, never being known
to defraud his neighbours, to desert his friends, or disguise
his sentiments. —
Our notice of the Church-yard may fitly close with the
mention of a tree, removed from the vicarage garden, and now
flourishing near its north-west angle, which commemorates
Edmund, son of the late Vicar, and grandson of the celebrated
Archdeacon Paley, who died in India, A. D. 1840, aged 18.
Few spots can be imagined more favourable to reflection on
the past the present and the future,-^=looking down as it does, at
a convenient distance for retirement, on the houses and scenes
of occupation of the existing generation, amidst the multiform
and frequently mouldering and half perished relies of so many
preceding ones which have passed to their account. While
however, there is no lack of admonition to the young, occasion
ally presented under most affecting circumstances, the general
impression produced by a minute examination of these records
of the departed, is highly favourable to the longevity of the
inhabitants of Easingwold, and confirmatory of the reputation
which the neighbourhood has acquired for salubrity and gee?
neral exemption from the more violent forms of disease.
The like testimony is borne by the Register Books, which
commence in 1599, about sixty years from the passing of the

92

EASINGWOLD.

Act of Henry VIII. which first -required their use. In these,
as well as on the grave stones, a large proportion of the entries
of deaths and burials occur between the ages of 85 and 100 ; and
it is a remarkable instance of the state of settlement, and it is
to be hoped of thankful contentment with so favourable an al
lotment of Providence, on the part of the population, that of
the seventeen family names which occur in the first page of the
Register of 1599, no less than fourteen are still found in, the
parish. We could point to a patriarch, in good health, and in
the possession of all his faculties, who, has entered his hund
redth year, having been born Sept, 1, 1752, at 11£p. m., a peri
od marked by the change of style, which conducted him, as he
tells his neighbours, eleven days onward in his journey, half an
hour after his birth. Nor is it long since that three brothers,
one accompanied by his wife, met in the marketplace, whose
united ages amounted to 360 years.

EASINGWOLD CHUECH.

EASINGWOLD.

93

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST
OF THE VICARS OF EASINGWOLD CHURCH,
As taken from Torr's MSS.,andtheRegisterBooksoftheparish. From 1293 to 1851.

Temp.
Instil.

Vieavii Eccle.

A. D.
1293 13211335 13.49 13671379 142514371451 14581462 1488 14981506 1533 1549 157116201648 166216641668 1669 1685171317181738 1761 18121839

Dom. Tho. de Walorilafe . .
Dom. Joh. Malyham 
Dom. Nich. de Thurlyngton . .
Dom. Joh. Deyvill 
Dom. Joh. Busey 
Dom. Joh. Leyton 
Dom. Will, de Norton 
Dom. Joh. Norton 
Dom. Joh. Helton 
Dom. Tho. Raughton 
Dom. Tho. Sever 
Dom. Joh. Hugar vel Haggon
Mr. Ric. Streitbarell, M.A. . .
Dom. Geo. Wright 
Dom. Will. Cateryk 
Dom. Thos. PenMthman
Dom. John Plomher 
Dom. John Prattill 
Dom. Robt. Ingram  ,
Rad. Stringer 
Rich. Sandyman 
George Wilson 
Will. Anderson 
John Bradley 
Lucas Smelt 
Jeremias Hay 
Andrew Wilson 
Richard Musgrave 
Thomas Prance 
Radcliffe Russel 
John Armitstead 
Edmund Paley 
Samuel James Allen, 

Patrooi.

Archdn. of Richmond
 idem 
 idem 
Aepus p' lapsu.
Archdn. of Richmond
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
Dec. & Capit.
p' qu. ignot.
Ar,chdn. of Richmond
 idem 
 idem 
.... ,.. idem 
Bishop Chester.
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem. 
 idem 
 idem 
 idem 
Aepus. p' opt.
Bishop of Chester.

Mort.Resig. Mort.Mort.
Resig.
£Mort. Eesig.
gResig. Mort. Mort. Mort. Mort.
Ejected Resig.

Resig.
pres. Vie.

The Vicarage House stands in an angle of the mar
ket-place, at a short distance from the church to the south
west. Whatever architectural features it may anciently have
possessed were obliterated by fire in 1770, shortly aftej
which the centre of the present structure was erected, and the
•wings, which render it a commodious residence, were added
by the late worthy and benevolent Incumbent, the Rev. E.
Paley, about 1813.

94 EASINGWOLD,
The Rectory House, better known by the name of
ggUKjgiwft fall jot $tewr frost,
from its having been the occasional residence of the Archdea
cons of Richmond, and the head of the jj-Manor, as distinct from
that of the town, has been already noticed, but may merit a
more minute description, so far as any particulars of its former
condition can now be recovered.
It stood at the foot of the hill to the east of the Church, and
gave place to the present very unadorned farm-house, about
1835. Nothing now indicates its ancient dignity but the gar
den walls, the fish pond, and a few very old Weymouth pines.
These trees are fine specimens, and three hundred years
ago the Hall was surrounded with them, the approach towards
it being through a long serpentine avenue. On the principal
gateway were two lions couchant. The Court or inner area
appears to have been on the south east, and the plot of ground
now built upon, extending to what was lately the site of the
bathing-house, comprised the gardens or pleasure grounds, en
closed by a moat or ditch communicating with the upper part
of the fish pond, and were called "the Paradise."
The house itself was an irregular structure, with several
wings supported by buttresses, and surrounded by a parapet.
The front door opened into a spacious entrance hall, the
walls and ceiling of which, were ornamented with various
devices. The dining-room was lofty and spacious, it occupied
the whole of the south wing. The walls were richly empan
elled with black oak, on the interior squares of which were
beautiful paintings. In this room, behind the ceiling or
casement, was discovered the perfect skeleton of a cat in a
sitting posture, whose imprisonment may, no doubt, go far to
account for the mysterious noises which at one time alarmed
the inmates, and caused the apartment to be designated as the
"haunted room;'' though there was a tradition of a poor boy,
flogged to death by a not very remote proprietor, which gave
the like ill repute to a Uttle room adjoining the kitchen and
near the entrance to the cellar, as well as of a victim to eccle
siastical cruelty, under the name of discipline, in earlier days,
who was buried beneath a large stone in the adjoining ground,

EASINGWOLD. 95
called after his name, -'Gregory's stone," to the present day.
The fish ponds are at present altogether neglected. During
the time of the Salvins and the Vavasours, who occupied the
manor as lessees, they were kept in beautiful order, and well
stored with fish. The pond is fed by a spring about one hun
dred yards distant, in the ascent of the adjoining field. It is a
perpetual fountain, unaffected by the longest drought. On the
island in the centre stood an ornamented dove-cote, and round
the exterior were two rows of large pines, forming a rich and
shady bower. The grounds were interspersed with large
spreading trees, shrubs, and plants, which the hand of time
and the neglect of man has allowed to go to decay, and the
precints of the fallen pile as well as its own humbled remnants
are now only a monument " Of this world's passing pageantry."
It is impossible to say how far Easingwold was honoured
by the presence of the Archdeacons of Richmond, among
their various places of residence, but on the transfer of their
demesne to the see of Chester, the manor house became the
abode of several persons of distinction, as lessees of the suc
cessive bishops, who seem to have acquired or inherited
property of their own in the immediate neighbourhood, and to
have exercised considerable influence in its affairs.
In the reign of William and Mary (1688), it was the resi
dence of the Right Honourable Thomas Raynes, Lord Mayor
of York, and it is represented as having been at that time in
excellent condition. His benefaction to the school is recorded
in the church, and he appears to have deserved the honourable
remembrance of the inhabitants, as an active magistrate, as
weE as a liberal benefactor.
In 1704 he leased the manor of Easingwold, with the tithes
of the townships and chapelries of Raskelf and Kirby, to Sir
William Foulis, of Ingleby Manor, Bart., and thirty years after
wards, it appears to have been in the possession of Edward
Trotter, Esq., of Skelton Castle.
William Salvin, Esq., of Newbiggin Hall, in the year
1704 — 1705, married Anne, niece of the Right Honourable
Thomas Raynes, by which connexion he became possessed as

96 EASINGWOLD.
lessee of the manorial residence and its appendages in Eas
ingwold, and in his will bearing date July 6, 1741, bequeathed
several fields of his own estate to " his well beloved friends
Thomas Cholmeley of Brandsby, and Francis Cholmeley of
Brandsby, his brother.''
After the death of Thomas Salvin,1 Esq., who had succeeded
his father in possession, it devolved on his son-in-law, Peter
Bell, Esq., who married Mary Salvin, his daughter. In the
year 1773, Peter Bell, Esq., released part of his freehold
estate to Sir William Vavasour. !
When the manorial house was pulled down, several old
coins were discovered, but none of very remote antiquity;
1 This noble and ancient Norman family are descended from Ralph, call
ed Le Silvan, who flourished temp. Henry II. The Salvins of Easingwold
were descended from Sir Gerard Salvayne, Kt. of North Duffield and Hers-
well who was High Sheriff of Yorkshire 24 Edw. III. He obtained from
the Crown an exemplification of the pardon and restitution in blood grant
ed to his mother (for her father the Lord Ros's treason.) Francis, a des
cendant of the above was lieutenant of the horse in the regiment of Sir
Richard Tempest, Bart., and fell at Marston Moor under the Royal Banner
in 1644. Gerard Salvin was lieutenant of Col. Tempest's regiment of foot,
and was slain at Northallerton in 1644, in the service of King Charles I.
Mary Salvin, daughter of Gerard Salvin married George Grey Esq., of
the Hon. family of Grey's, Earls of Kent. She died 23 Dec. 1613. Her
death was thus announced : — " Mrs. Margaret Graie, about the aige of one
hundredth yeeares."
Arms. — Argent on a chief sable, two mullets or, quartering Bertram,
Ross, Espec, Trusbut, Harcourt, Bruce, Lancaster, Walton, Thornton,
Radcliffe, Culchetti, Plessington, Derwentwater, Cartinglon, Claxton, Tin-
dale, Devilston, and Menvylle.
Crest. — A dragon vert, wings elevated, and endorsed ppr.
Motto. — Je ne change qu'en mourant. (I change not till death.)
2 A descendant of the ancient and honourable family of the Vavasours;
"who," as Camden observes, "took their name from their office, being for
merly the King's Valvasor," (a degree very little inferior to a baron.) Sir
Mauger le Vavasour was living, temp. William the Conqueror, and was the
immediate ancestor to this family. The arms ascribed to West, and impa
led by Driffield, as stated in the account of heraldic memoranda made in
the church when visited by Glover 1584 — 5, have the colours and charge
usually given by Vavasour ; but no connexion;with[Driffield is known, which
can account for such an impalement, nor do the Vavasours seem to have
been so early connected with this place.

EASINGWOLD. 97
also several jettons, or counters bearing crosses and heraldic
insignia on the reverse. The jettons, which are small and
very thin, are generally of copper or brass, and were mostly
coined abroad. 3 With these, was found an English touch-piece,
bearing the device of St. Michael and the Dragon. — Mag. Brit. ;
reverse : a crown, — '*£ very similar in style and execution to
the Newark shilling and siege-piece of Charles I. The le
gends connected with the touch-pieces are either religious, or
Gardez vous de mescompter, or the like. It is recorded that
when King Charles was on a visit to York in 1639, " Upon
Good Friday, he touched for the King's Evil, in the minster,
200 persons ;" and the old MS. goes on to state the use to
which such coins or medals were applied.
" During the tyme the King touched those that had the
disease called the Evill, were read these words : ' They shall
lay their hands upon the Sick, and they shall recover;" and
during the tyme the King put about every of their necks
an Angel of Gold with a White Ribbon, were read these words :
' That Light was the true Light which lighteth every man which
cometh into the world.' "
Shakespeare has an allusion to the ceremonies attendant
on the touching of persons for the cure of the evil, where
he says : — " Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers."
The field on the road side leading from the hall to the
church, goes by the name of " Mill Field," from its having
once been the site of a wind-mill, the usual appendage of a
manor, and one which doubtless it behoved the Archdeacon's
tenants exclusively to frequent. The ruins of the building
may yet be traced. In a memorandum of agreement between
the Right Honourable Thomas Raynes and William Salvin,
Esq., both of Easingwold, the said William Salvin, Esq. is re
quired "to keep in good repair the mills, millstones, sails and
cloths." A lion and unicorn rampant, well carved in wood, apparent
ly of the time of James I. when the latter supporter first
* See Snelling's Treatise on Jettons.
a

98 EASINGWOLD.
appeared beside the royal shield of Great Britain, are now in
the possession of H. Y. Whytehead, Esq., M.D., and adorn
his house at Crayke — united after various wanderings, and
probably the only relics of the carved-work of Easingwold
Manor House.
The property of the parish having been chiefly possessed by
the great feudal tenants of the Crown who so completely over
shadowed all other aspirants, few families of historic note have
arisen within its bounds besides those to which reference has
already been made. Some names however of persons connect
ed with Easingwold occur among the worthies of York, and
particularly one, derived from the place itself, which must not
be passed by.
Temp. Edw. I. it is recorded by Drake, that for five suc
cessive years, the government of the City of York was in the
hands of the King, who appointed Roger de Esyngwald,
Knight, the Governor of it.
Sir Thomas Widdrington gives an account of a master
Nicholas de Esyngwold who was procurator for the Abbey and
Convent of St. Mary's, York, in the year 1390, and in that
capacity exhibited July 15, 1398 articles against three wo
men, viz. Johan Park, Agnes Chandler, and Maud Bell, for
that they did bury one John  an inhabitant of Ful-
ford, in the chapel yard, at Fulford, without due solemnity and
priestly functions; for which offence they were enjoined to
do penance by disinterring the body, and burying it with due
solemnity, and by walking in procession for six Sundays in the
Cathedral Church at York ; six Sundays before the procession
of the Abbot or Convent of St. Mary's ; six Sundays about the
Chapel of St. Olaves ; and six Sundays about the Chapel of
St. Oswald at Fulford, bareheaded and barefoot, each holding
a wax-candle in her hand 6 ,
In 1393, one Nicholas Browne of Esyngwald, Clerk, acted
as a Public Notary, duly authorized.
In the year 1410, in the reign of Henry IV., Thomas dc
Esyngwald was Sheriff of York, and in the year 1422, in the
rei^n of Henry VI., the said Thomas de Esyngwald was created
•From Sir Thomas Widdrington's Manuscript.

EASINGWOLD. D9
Lord Mayor of York. In 1430, John Esyngwald was High
Sheriff of York.
In the dearth of poets, politicians, or orators of more recent
date, Easingwold may be allowed to boast of one of the hum
bler heroes of Waterloo. Shaw the life-guardsman here served
an apprenticeship to the hardy calling of a blacksmith, at the
sign of the Horse Shoe in the Long Street, and being a tall, ath
letic youth, was induced to enlist in the guards, among whom
he held the rank of a corporal. His exploits at the closing con
test of our long protracted war with Napoleon have been thought
worthy of notice by Sir Walter Scott7 among those of combat
ants of greater name, who states that he distinguished himself
as a swordsman by feats of personal strength and valour amidst
the confusion presented by the fiercest and closest fight which
had ever been seen, and that he was supposed to have slain or
disabled ten Frenchmen with his own hand. His [death was
occasioned rather by the loss of blood from a variety of wounds,
than the magnitude of any one ; he had been riding about
fighting, a great part of the day, with his body streaming with
blood, and at night, crawled upon a hillock where he was
found dead the next morning.8 Close to La Haye Sainte, on
the plains of Waterloo, is still pointed out to every visitor, the
grave of Shaw, the brave Life-guardsman.
In passing from its ecclesiastical fabrics, and the notice of
its departed worthies, to a more general survey of the topogra
phy of Easingwold, and the abodes or places of resort of its
existing inhabitants, we must notice, that with one or two
exceptions, exhibiting the projecting roofs, richly ornamented
ceilings, and deeply paneUed wainscot-work of superior houses
in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the general cha
racter of its buildings is that of unostentatious comfort. They
are mostly of brick, but not a few are of the venerable timber
and plaster construction, with high pitched roofs supported on
lofty crooks, which sometimes seem to groan and bend beneath
an immense accumulation of thatch; the interior arrangements
corresponding with the massy yet not unpleasing features of
the exterior, in wide spreading chimney arches, where the
1 Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, p. 155.
8Kelly's Waterloo, p. 94.
G2

100 EASINGWOLD.
yule-log is under no constraint in sending up its cheerful blaze ;
comfortable oak screens, and long-settles, ponderous tables
and chairs which the good house-wife keeps in the highest
state of polish, and shelf upon shelf for the display of pewter
which need not hide its head for lack of comeliness beside the
most costly services of plate which adorn the mansions of the
great. One house on the ascent to Uppleby bears the inscription,
GOD WITH VS. 1664,
recording probably some old Parliamentarian's recollections of
Marston-Moor where this was the gathering cry of his party; but
many have evident marks of a much earlier date. The
lover of the picturesque cannot fail to regret the gradual disap
pearance of these ancient occupants of the soil, even in the
once woodland districts where they most abounded, a crisis
which recent legislative enactments tending to cheapen the
rival material of brick, has already perceptibly hastened.
The market-place is a square, containing about two acres
of ground. Its dimensions have, no doubt, been fixed by our
Anglo-Saxon forefathers, who were universally fond of games
and amusement. Every Saxon villa had its arena, — its plega
ftob — play place, where persons of all ages assembled on their
holidays, to be either players or lookers on, and this appears
to have been usually chosen near a fountain, or stream of wa
ter, or some object hallowed by the popular creed. These
games attracted merchants, and gradually became the centres
of extensive fairs. A row of houses has been built over part
of the north side with a double row of Shambles which tend
greatly to diminish its apparent extent. Here is the Toll-Booth
with its stone steps, which must have been rebuilt since the
days of George Hall, the only probable relic 'of whose period,
(if not of an earlier date,) an oak table, with richly carved legs,
perished by fire a few years ago. Near it are the steps and base
of a market cross of large dimensions, which has also perished.
On its north side is a perfect circle of good sized paving stones,
encircling a larger one in which was fixed an iron ring, used
when bull baiting was practised as a public amusement.
On the south east side of the cross formerly stood the
stocks, removed from their ancient site, but not altogether out

EASINGWOLD. 101
of use ; and near them was a whipping-post, possibly serving
upon occasion, the somewhat gentler purpose of a Kissing-
Post, whose heathenish origin and use is thus noticed by-Le-
land:9 " In places of public resort, was frequently erected a
Kissing-Post, and the loungers or porters of the town civilly
requested any stranger passing to kiss the post. If he refused
to do this, they forthwith laid hold of him, and by main force
bumped his body against the post; but if he quietly submitted
to kiss the same, and paid down sixpence, then they gave him
a name, and chose some one of the company for his godfather."
The post generally represented some old image or pagan deity.
On the north side of the market-place was a ducking-stool,
another description of punishment for various classes of mi
nor offenders, who were ducked so many times according to
the nature of their misdemeanors. Its chief victims, at least
in latter times, were scolds and unquiet women, who were pla
ced in a stool or chair fixed at the end of a long pole, and
thence let down into the water. Blount says, "it was in -use
even in our Saxon fathers' time, by whom it was called Scealb-
ing Stole."
An instance of its use at no great distance from the metro
polis, occurs in the London Evening Post, April 27 to 30,
1765: "Last week, a woman that keeps the Queen's Head ale
house at Kingston, in Surrey, was ordered by the court to be
ducked for scolding, and was accordingly placed in the chair,
and ducked in the river Thames, under Kingston Bridge, in
the presence of 2,000 or 3,000 people."
To the honour of the fair sex of the town of Easingwold,
this machine has long since been taken down as totally useless
and superfluous among the contrivances of "the court," for
the good government of the town.
On the north comer of the market-place, near the site of
the old guard-house and in close neighbourhood with the
pound and the stocks, is the Lock-up or prison, built in the year
1844, with accommodations for a Police-officer; — but as preven
tion of evil is far better than its punishment, it is gratifying to
observe the Town School maintaining its due prominence a-
mong these public erections. It was enlarged by subscription,
•Collectanea, p. LXXVI— 1770.
G3

102 EASINGWOLD.
A. D. 1822, for the purposes of the Sunday School in which
an average of 140 Boys and Girls were formerly taught toge
ther. The Boys however are now instructed in the school
room which on the week days accommodates the scholars of
Mrs. Westerman's excellent foundation, near the upper end
of the Long Street.
The river Kyle passes within a mile of the town. There
is some reason to believe that this stream was navigable during
the time of the Romans. If so, the diminution of its waters
since their departure, might almost render applicable the words
of the poet : — " The piteous river wept itself away,
Long since alas !"
Easingwold is supplied with abundance of springs, and wa
ter of the most pure and refreshing, as well as sanative charac
ter abounds. — Reviving gales here sweetly blow,
Restoring Springs redundant flow,
Of healing powers. —
In the lower part of the town, including the market-place,
the waters are not so highly , chalybeate as in those springs
which are found in the more elevated situations. The Speing
Head Well is a light and pleasant chalybeate, and almost free
from any earthy matter.
Another medicinal spring, is in a field near the Fish Pond
about one hundred yards out of the town. It most resembles
the Cheltenham Waters and has a ferruginous taste, exciting
the appetite, and is recommended for the removal of gout and
rheumatism .
On the south side of Uppleby, about twenty yards from the
road, in a croft which stretches down to "the Paradise," a name
extended to several fields to the south-east as well as the im
mediate precincts of the Archdeacons' residence, is a spring of
water combining the ingredients of the sulphur and chalybeate
springs. It has a clear and transparent appearance, but smells
and tastes strongly of the former ingredient. It is peculiarly
suited to the relief of chronic and cutaneous diseases.
The old spring called the Spa Well is about half a mile

EASINGWOLD. 1 03
out of the town, on the property of W. Whytehead, Esq., and
adjoining the farm-house occupied by Mr. Leonard Edson. Its
properties are similar to the Paradise Spa, and it possesses the
faculty of petrifaction.
These advantages, with the general quiet of the place, not
a little increased since the vicinity of a Railway deprived it of
its character as a posting-town and a great thoroughfare to the
North, have induced the medical and other inhabitants, at
various times, to form projects for rendering it attractive to
invalids, by the construction of baths, a pump-room, and the
usual adjuncts to a sanitory retreat; but whatever be the com
parative merits of its waters, or its air and scenery, Easingwold
has not hitherto shewn any signs of very formidable rivalship
to such neighbours as Harrogate and Hovingham.
Besides the religious or charitable institutions in connexion
with the Church of England which have been already enumer
ated, the Wesleyans have a commodious Chapel built in the year
1815, upon the site of an old chapel erected in the time of John
Wesley, which had become too small for the increasing congre
gations. In the Chapel-yard, under a flag, surmounted by a
fluted pillar supporting a pyramid of white marble, lie interred
the remains of JOHN SKAIFE,
who died November 20, 1838, aged 72 years. He was a con
sistent member of the Wesleyan Society for 55 years, and for
45 years a useful and laborious local preacher.
The late William Skaife, father of the above, was the chief
instrument of introducing Methodism into Easingwold. In his
house the early Methodist preachers held their services, and
through his zeal and persevering exertions in the midst of great
difficulties, the first Methodist Chapel was erected.
There is also an Independent Chapel, built in the year
1820, capable of accommodating about 200 people.
The Roman Catholics have a very neat and commodious
Chapel, in the Gothic style of architecture, built in 1830, with
a burial ground, and a house for the Priest. Over the altar is
a fine painting of the Crucifixion, by Mr. C. Fearne, of York.
The Rev. John Dowding is the Minister.

104 EASINGWOLD.
The Primitive Methodists have also a neat Chapel, capable
of accommodating 300 people. It was built in the year 1840. <
Sunday Schools are attached to all these places of worship.
The principal manufacture of the town is that of Steels, for
which it has long been celebrated, both on the continent of
Europe and the states of America. It is also famous for its
bacon and butter, great quantities of which are sent to York
and London.
The weaving trade was carried on to some extent in this
place before the later improvements in machinery, but is now
entirely extinct.
The township of Easingwold contains 464 houses. Its
population in 1801, was 1467; in 1821, 1912; in 1831, 1922;
in 1841, 2171; in 1851, 2240. The parish, including Raskelfe,
contains 2717 souls.
The Easingwold Poor Law Union, in respect of which
alone its modern condition bears any resemblance to its ancient
one as the head of an extensive Soke, comprehends 29 Parishes,
containing 89 square miles, with a population of 8,508. As
sessed property, £12,026. The Union-House is capable of
accommodating 130 persons.
The writer would conclude his annals of this his native spot
in the lines of the Yorkshire Bard: —
"I love" these wolds in which -'my infant sight
Caught the first beams of animating light;
Thy Saxon tongue to polished ears uncouth,
In guile unpractised, but allied to Truth ;
Thy hardy sons, who know with equal pride
To chase the shuttle, or the plough to guide ;
Thy thrifty wives, thy daughters ever dear,
Thy hearty welcome to their simple cheer ;
Thy hills all thick with Britain's silver fleece,
Thy dales all vocal with the songs of peace ;
Thy cottages where the meek virtues dwell."
Ye hills, and dales, and woods, " I love ye well !"

Hwkrift.

(Raschel— Domesday Book. Raskel— Dugdale. Raskelfe.)

St. Mary's Church, Raskelfe.
ASKELFE appears to be a place of very remote an
tiquity, though there are no records respecting it
previous to the period of the Norman Conquest.
The earliest authentic account which has reached
us is the following quotation from Domesday Book.
CO In Raschel, Cnut. VIII. car ad gld. Tra ad. IIII car.
It is difficult to ascertain from what source or circumstance
this place has derived its name, unless we acquiesce in that
which the Domesday spelling " Raschel" most obviously pre
sents to the modern ear, though not precisely with the modern

IOC) KASKELFE.
signification to the mind. The Rascal tribe, in forest lore in
cluded all animals not reckoned among beasts of venery or of
chase. Thus Dame Juliana Berners in the Boke of St. Albans,
the great authority in such matters, says: —
Four maner Bestes of Venery ther are,
The first of them is a Hart, the second is an Hare,
The Boor is one of tho,
The Wolf and no mo ;
And whereso ye come in Playe or in Place,
Nowe I shal tel you which be Bestes of Chase,
One of them a Buck, another a Doo,
The Fox, and the Martyn, and Wilde Roo ;
And ye shal my dere Sones, other Bestes all
Whereso ye finde, Rascals them call. —
Nor is the situation of Raskelfe at all unfavourable to the sup
position that it was a part of the forest which gave harbour
more especially to creatures of this tribe, the village having
formerly been surrounded by moors and waste commons ; —
Hagmoor on one side, Pilmoor on another, and the Lund
moor on a third, — on which very little was found but whins
and ling, a suitable cover for these inferior creatures, but less
fit for the sustenance of the higher orders of forest animals.
In later days indeed, if we may believe tradition, the term
might not have been without significance as applied in its
modern acceptation, to men, for Raskelfe has not always stood
so high in point of moral character and visible tokens of in
dustry, taste, -and a spirit of general improvement as it does at
present : there was a time when it was in ill-repute as notori
ously the resort of gangs of smugglers, thieves, robbers, and
murderers, who adopted upon a large scale the principle —
That they should take who have the power
And they should keep who can,
and many skeletons of human bones have been found in the
village and neighbourhood, which are supposed to have been
the bones of murdered victims.
To some of the above-named exhumations however, a far
earlier, and we may trust a worthier origin is to be ascribed.
About sixty years ago, three stone coffins were found in the
Spring House farm, two miles and a half from Easingwold,

KASKELFE. 107
while the men were digging up some old sward land ?> on the
border of the wood, which contained a sprinkling of dust,
with some bones which immediately crumbled to ashes when
exposed to the air. The coffins had overhanging lids, and
two have been preserved and used for troughs at the Spring
House farm, the third is used for a similar purpose in a field
under the same tenure adjoining the high end of the town about
two or three hundred paces from the road. They vary in length,
seven and a half to eight feet, and in width, from three to three
and a half feet, the width being the same both at the head and
foot of each coffin. Near them were remains of foundations,
with small red bricks and tiles described as highly glazed.
The great Roman Road ran within a mile, on the east side
of Raskelfe, and passed a farm house now known by the
name of Cold Harbour. It is probable that this was once a
Roman villa or small station on this road, such as were plant
ed there by the emperors after the conquest of Britain. After
the departure of the Romans, the ruins of villas or small sta
tions which stood by the sides of such roads were often rough
ly repaired or modified, so as to furnish a temporary shelter
for travellers who carried provisions &c. with them, and could
therefore entertain themselves without depending upon the as
sistance of others. A shelter of this kind, from its consisting of
bare walls, a mere defence against the inclemency of the
storm, might be termed a cealb hepebejiga (Cold Harbour) and
this would account for the great number of places in different
parts of England, which bear the name, and which are almost
always on Roman sites and near old roads. This explanation
is supported by the circumstance that the name is found among
the Teutonic nations on the continent; the German kedton
herberg, designating some Inns at the present day.
From the Domesday survey it appears that in the time of
Edward the Confessor, — temp. 1060, the manor of Raskelfe
was in the possession of Cnut, who had eight carucates of land
liable to taxation, and other land for four ploughs. Cnut was
probably a Dane who had forcibly seized the possession of which
he was as forcibly deprived by William the Conqueror, who
bestowed it with Sheriff-Hutton and other lands, upon As-
citel de Buhner, a Norman Baron, from whom it descend-

1 08 EASKELFE.
ed to Bertram his son, who was sheriff of Yorkshire in 5 Ste
phen and many years after. Bertram de Bulmer founded the
castle at Sheriff-Hutton.
Geoffrey de Nevil, (6. Henry II.) married Emma daughter
and heiress of Bertram de Bulmer, by whom he became pos
sessed of the estates ot Raskelfe, Sheriff-Hutton, Sutton-Gal-
tres, &c. Henry his son,(9 John,) succeeded, and had livery of
three knight's fees in Raskelfe, Sutton, &c, of the inheritance
of Emma de Bulmer his mother, sometimes called Emma de
Sutton and Emma de Humat.
From Henry it descended to Robert, who died 1271, and
from Robert to Ralph his grandson, who in 13 Edw. I. (1284)
had lively of the manors of Raskelfe, Sutton, and Hoton, part
of his inheritance. This was in the life time of his father, also
called Ralph, (a name so greatly in favour with the elder branch
of the Nevilles as to cause some confusion in the pedigree),
who being reputed not over wise in mundane affairs, chiefly
because he preferred the society of the monks of Marton and
Coverham to the usual occupations of the nobility among his
castles and honours, was overlooked and superseded in the
arrangements of his mother, the energetic heiress of Middleham,
first in favour of his eldest son, Robert, called "the Peacock
of the north'' and then of Ralph his second son. Ralph the fa
ther was buried at Coverham abbey, in 1331, in which year the
son had a grant of Free Warren and other liberties in Raskelfe,
from King Edward III. This Ralph seems to have been in
office in the Forest, and somewhat severe if not unjust in his
administration, for the jurors (Robt. Hundred, temp. Edw. I.)
complain that he had mulcted many villages near the Forest
of Galtres to the amount of £40 for not expediting their dogs,
( i. e. disabling them for pursuing game, by cutting off three
toes of each of the fore feet, when they were above a certain
size) the dogs having been already sufficiently disabled. Also
that he had mulcted the Dean of St. Peters, at York, £20 for
taking venison — the master of St. Leonard's Hospital 10 marks,
Willliam Croft £10., and had taken large sums of money from
various persons in surety for their appearance to answer in
dictments before the justices, on the same grounds.
Alice his widow, daughter of Hugh Lord Audley, had for

RASKELFE. 109,
her dowry Raskelfe, Carleton, &c, and £40 6s. 8d. rent issuing
out of the Lordship of Sutton in Galtres. Their son, John,
married Matilda, daughter of Henry, Lord Percy, (Hotspur,)
and was father of the third Ralph, who had license 11th
Richard II. (1387), to enclose his wood at Raskelfe, near the
King's Forest of Galtres, and to construct there a Park, and
adjacent to it three Deer-leaps, each of one hundred feet in
length. He was at this time constituted Warden of all the
King's Forests beyond Trent for life, was created Earl of
"Westmoreland, 1398; married, as has been already noticed,
first, Margaret daughter of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, and second,
Joan daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and died
1425, being then seized of the manors of Sheriff-Hutton, Ras
kelfe, Easingwold, Huby, Gilling, Aldeburg, Sutton-Galtres,
&c, &c. John, the eldest son of his first marriage, married
in his father's life time, 1423 ; a fourth Ralph, the second
Earl of Westmoreland, inherited the chief estates of his family,
but we find in 1440, (19 Hen. VI.) Richard Neville, Earl of
Salisbury, the eldest son of the second marriage and father of
the king-maker, holding Raskelf as well as Sheriff-Hutton of
the King in capite. In 1460, (38 Hen. VI.) John, brother of
Ralph, the second Earl of Westmoreland, and father of another
Ralph, who continued the line, was made constable of the
castles of Sheriff-Hutton and Middleham, at that time in the
King's hands by the forfeiture of Richard Neville, but his pos
session must have been but of short duration, as he was slain
in the battle of Towton in the same year.
How far Raskelfe was affected by these changes which
henceforward dissolved the connexion of the elder branch of
the Nevilles with Sheriff-Hutton and Middleham does not
appear ; it seems probable, however, from the memorials of
their later descendants which still remain in the church, that
having been held by Richard, Earl of Salisbury, only as part
of the jointure of his mother the Countess Joan.it reverted
after his forfeiture to its original possessors, the Earls of
r Westmoreland, and continued to be their property till the
general wreck of their fortunes under Charles the sixth Earl ;
or perhaps was held by a less distinguished scion who survived
the ruin of its head.

110 RASKELFE.
Earl Charles was attainted 13 Eliz. (1570), for his unhappy
attempt in conjunction with the Earl of Northumberland, to
restore the rites of the Church of Rome, in pursuance of which
they had caused the Mass to be celebrated both at Durham
Cathedral and Ripon Minster. Many of the movements of
the conspirators were carried on in this immediate neighbour
hood, but being baffled by the spirit and vigilance of the
friends of the established Faith and order, the Earls fled north
ward, and Westmoreland with difficulty escaped from Barlaw
in Scotland to the Netherlands, where he died in exile A.D.
1584. Tradition says, he made his escape into Scotland in
the time of a deep snow, towards the close of December 1569,
and eluded his pursuers by having the shoes of his horse
reversed; and that the descendants of the blacksmith who
shod his horse, not long since enjoyed a house in Pickering
as a reward for their ancestor's service, by grant from some
adherent of the fugitive Earl, at the rent of a farthing a year;
with the privilege of shooting and hunting.
There can be little doubt but Raskelfe has occasionally
been the residence of members of this great family, especially
of Ralph who enclosed the woods and park, and constituted it
a hunting seat on the borders of the forest.
The Hall or Castle which was at one time their seat, was a
little to the 'north east of the Church, but no account of its
structure can be obtained. About ninety years ago, part of it
was standing but it is now completely demolished. Like its
great owners it has experienced the influences of change. At
one period of its history, the romantic verses of Thomas Whar
ton were not inapplicable to its state : —
Stately the feast and high the cheer ;
Girt with many an armed peer ;
Illumining the vaulted roof,
A thousand torches flam'd aloof:
From massy cups with golden gleam
Sparkled tlie red metheglin's stream :
To grace the gorgeous festival
Along the lofty window'd hall
The storied tapestry was hung :
With minstrelsy the rafters rung
Of harps that with reflected light,
From the proud gallery glitter'd bright.

KASKELFE. Ill
But now only its foundations, a part of the fish pond, a bowling
green and the site of the gardens can be traced. The park
was inclosed with a double ditch and fence, and its boundaries
may yet be discerned along the road leading to Tholthorpe,
from thence to Low- wood house, now called Sam-house, and the
west moor. The Park house, nowa farm house, bearing that
name, was encircled by a moat only filled up a few years ago.
From the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to
the year 1626, the whole or greater portion of Raskelfe belong
ed to the family of Tancred, and the site of the house now
occupied by Mr. Gibbs, was known by the name of Tancred
Hall. The mansion was built of free stone, but it is now en
tirely demolished, and no memorial remains of its earlier occu
pants but a well which still bears the name of Tancred's well.
The Tancreds were a family of great antiquity, professed to
be lineally descended from the hero of Tasso, and were famous
among the Danes when in England. They possessed large
estates in this neighbourhood, and had branches residing at
Whixley and Thornton Bridge near Brafferton, both which
places had belonged to the Nevilles. They bore for their
Arms — Argent, a chevron between three escallop shells,
gules,
Crest — On a wreath, an olive tree, vert, fructed proper.
It would seem as if the Hall of the Tancred's at Raskelfe
had afterwards fallen into less honourable hands, for in search
ing among the ruins of the old buildings about a century ago,
a set of coining tools was discovered in certain underground
apartments which appeared to have been the lurking places of
the lowest order of conspirators, against the prerogatives of the
crown, with whom the " King makers" of ancient times would
indeed have scorned to share the name of Traitor, however
identical the crime and its punishment in the eyes of the law.
In 1623, Sir William Sheffield,1 a Magistrate, resided at
'In 1608, Lord Sheffield was President of His Majesty's Council estab
lished in the North, and lieutenant of the County and City. Sir William
Sheffield of Raskelfe was probably a descendant of the same family. His
wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of John Darnley of Kylhurst has
a monument in St. Martin's Church, York, erected by her husband, and

112 EASKELFE.
Raskelfe Park. "In this year," says Dr. Webster,8 a curious
discovery of a murder took place at Raskelfe by means of an
apparition. A man named Fletcher was murdered by Ralph
Raynard, Mark Dun, and his own wife, at Dawnay Bridge, from
whence a road at that time left the main line, and crossing the
Shires, led over the Lund to Raskelfe.
It appears that Fletcher had suspicions that the three con
federates contemplated his destruction from the following dog-
grel rhyme addressed to his sister a short time before the event,
" If I should be in missing or suddenly in wanting be,
Mark Ralph Raynard, Mark Dun, and my own wife for me."
The cause however of his disappearance remained undiscov
ered till on a certain day, Raynard with his share of the murd
ered man's property, went to Topcliffe Fair, and when about
to return, was visited by the apparition of his victim, who bid him
in an awful voice "to repent for vengeance was at hand." The
body was discovered in Raynard's garden at White House that
very day, and the three guilty parties were apprehended, con
victed, and hung in chains in a field near the road-side, on
Lund Farm, which has gone by the name of gibbet-hill ever since.
About fifty years ago, a quantity of human bones were found
on the spot, supposed to have been the bones of Raynard, Dun,
and Mrs. Fletcher, for it was customary then, as it is now in
Scotland, to bury culprits on the spot where executed.
From the Tancred's the Estate descended to the Earl of
Carlisle, who in 1650, conveyed it to Lord Belasyse in whose
possession it remained till the year 1689, when on the 22nd of
bearing their Arms — viz.
Argent, a chevron between three garbs gules for Sheffield; impaling
Gules, six flews de lys argent within a bordure Ermine, for Darnley.
She died July 31, 1633, aged 55.
"History of Witchcraft by Dr. Webster, p. 297.
John Webster the author of the discovery of pretended witchcraft, is
stated on his epitaph in Clitheroe Church, Lane, to have been born Feb.
3, 1610,. "in villa Spinosd supermontana, in Parochia silmce, emulates, in
agro Eboracensi" which Dr. T. D. Whitaker who gives a memoir of him,
(Hist, of Whalley, p. Edit. 3rd.) interprets, "at Thornton on the Hill,
in the parish of Coxwold, Yorkshire." He died June 16th, 1682, aged 72.

RASKELFE. 113
April, Lord Belasyse after devising his real estates to his grand
son, who died a minor without leaving children, divided the
same into four equal parts, giving one fourth to his daughter
Lady Honora Burgaveny and her children, another fourth to
his daughter Barbara Belasyse and her children, another to
his daughter Catharine and her children, and the remaining
fourth to his daughter Isabella. And in case any of them
should die without children, he gave their fourth part to the sur
vivors equally. Honora, Catharine, and Isabella all died
without leaving children who lived to attain twenty-one, and
Lady Barbara, who, on the death of her sisters, became pos
sessed of the entierty, married Sir John Webb, Bart., in whose
family the estate has remained to the present day.
Sir John was created a knight by Charles the first, as a
reward for his personal and pecuniary services to the royal
cause in the civil war. This family have intermarried with the
noble houses of Fauconberg, Teynham, Newburgh, &c. The
present representative is W. F. Webb, Esq.
Arms — Gules, a cross between four falcons, or.
As to the ecclesiastical history of Raskelfe, it has been
already stated that in the earliest records which have come
down to us on the subject, it appears, together with Cold
Kirby, as a chapelry in the parish of Easingwold, and it con
tinues to render the great tithes to the Bishops of Chester or
their lessees, as it had originally done to the Archdeacons of
Richmond, as Rectors, and a portion of the small tithes to the
Vicars of Easingwold, besides the acknowledgment of repair
ing a part of the church-yard wall of the mother parish.3
3 As to its ancient Habilities with respect to repairs, it may be mentioned
that an award is preserved in the parish Register of Easingwold, made
May 24, 1557, by John Rookebye and John Dakin, Doctors of Law and
Vicars general of Nicholas (Heath), Abp. of York, between James Chaise,
Robert Leithley, and other inhabitants of the Township of Easingwold on
the one part, and William Lawson, William Rider, and other inhabitants
of the Township of Raskell of the said Parish of Easingwold, on the other
part, by which it is ordained that " soe ofte as the parish church of Easing
wold aforesaide, shall need any reparacions of buildings necessarye or
decente ornaments hereafter perteyninge the charge of the parishioners,
the Churchwardens of Easingwold shall give warninge to the Inhabitants
of Raskell, openly in the chappie there, vpon a Sondaye or holidaye, by
H

114 RASKELFE.
It must have been an early offshoot, for though no religious
edifice or presbyter is spoken of in Domesday, the present
chapel of St. Mary, which consists of a chancel, nave, and
north aisle, with the addition in later days, of a singular tower
of wood at the west end, bears evident marks of the transition,
or semi-Norman period of architecture, which dates from the
reign of Stephen to the commencement of that of Henry III.,
so that the work may very probably be ascribed to Bertram de
Bulmer, the Sheriff, who gave name and foundation to Sheriff-
Hutton Castle, These early appearances are chiefly to be
found in the north aisle, which terminates to the east in a
line with the chancel, and has in that direction a small Norman
window. The more western part of the aisle has been rebuilt,
but it is connected internally with the nave, by two early point
ed arches, supported on one cylindrical and two semi-cylindri- ,
cal columns, projecting from massy piers, with boldly wrought
capitals and bases, which must be dated in the latter part of
the twelfth, or early in the thirteenth century. The font also,
which is placed near the central column, belongs to the same
the space of sixe days before, that four at the leaste of ancyent and discrete
Inhabitants of Raskell shall come to Easingwold church, at the daye ap
pointed,^) conclude W1? the churchwardens of Easingwolde vponthe saide
charges, and the some of the charges as shalbe agreed vpon for that tyme
knowne and determyned. — Then the Inhabitants of Raskell to paye and
contrybute to the charges aforesaid, fyve shillings and eight pence of the
pound, and soe more or lesse accordinge to the same Rate of fyve shillings
and eight pence at Twentye shillings and none otherwise." There is also
an award between the same parties as to what were to be considered decent
and necessary ornaments, made by John Gibson, Doctor of Law, Vicar-gene
ral of Edmund (Sandys) Abp. of York, May 13, 1574.
With respect to the patronage also, Raskelfe stood, tUl a comparatively
recent period, in the usual relation of chapelries to the incumbent of the
mother church. It is stated in the Parliamentary Survey of Livings, (A.D.
1654,) preserved at Lambeth, Vol. IH. p. 190, that "the Bishop of Chester
did present the Vicar of Easingwold, and the same Vicar finds a Curate at
Raskill," — also that "the same Vicar of Easingwold allows the church at
Raskill per annum, all the small tithes, saving wool and lamb." This
distribution of tithe or its equivalent rent-charge, still exists; and as late
as 1770, the Rev. J. Armitstead was licensed to the cure of Raskelfe on his
own petition, "being Patron thereof in full right by reason of his Vicarage
of Easingwold." Since his death, however, in 1812, the right of presenta
tion has been claimed and exercised by the Bishops of Chester.

RASKELFE. 115
period. The arches and pillars which connect the eastern part
of the aisle with the chancel, are of wood, but are also of very
early character. The east and south windows of the chancel
exhibit the curvilinear tracery of the fourteenth century. The
east window, in the north aisle, is an insertion of the fifteenth
century. In these windows are many disjointed fragments of
rich and elegantly painted glass, including portions of a figure
of St. Catharine, and the following armorial bearings, some of
which have had the misfortune to be reversed, without detri
ment, it is to be hoped, to the loyal reputation of their departed
owners. In the east window of the chancel,
(1) — Gules, three escallops argent, for Dacre.
(2) — Barry of ten, argent and azure, three garlands gules,
for Greystock.
(3) — Azure, a bend or, differenced by a label of five points
argent, for Scrope of Masham and Upsal.
In the east window of the north aisle are,
(4) — Gules, a saltire argent, for Neville.
(5) — Or, a lion rampant azure, for Percy.
(6) — Azure, a bend or, for Scrope of Bolton.
(7) — Neville, as above, differenced by a label, for Neville,
Marquis Montacute.
A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, (Vol. XC. p. 390,)
mentions two shields, besides the above, as in the east and
south windows of the choir, in Oct. 1820, which do not now
appear. The former he blazons, (apologizing for an imperfect
acquaintance with heraldry,) "a cross engrailed or, on afield
which appears to be argent;" the latter " seven mascles adjunct
gules and or ;" which he attributes to Ferrers, and supposes to
commemorate the prior marriage of Joan daughter of John
of Gaunt, and second wife of Ralph Neville, Earl of West
morland, with Sir Robert Ferrers of Oversley. The shield
of Ferrers is more correctly blazoned, Gules, seven mascles
conjoined, three, three, and one, or. Could we suppose the
former shield to have been Argent a cross Saltire engrailed
Gules, which is not improbable, it would have been that of
the Lords Tiptoft, of which family the three coheiresses, were
purchased of Hie crown by Richard Scrope, Lord Chancellor
h2

116 RASKELFE.
of England, founder of Bolton Castle, and married to his three
sons, after which the arms of Scrope and Tiptoft are usually
seen in close connexion.
There were numerous connexions between the Nevilles,
Percies, Scropes, and Dacres ; but the above shields seem de
signed to commemorate, or at all events will be found to be
fully accounted for, by the successive marriages of the descend
ants of Richard Lord Scrope of Bolton, and Margaret, daugh
ter of Ralph Neville, the first Earl of Westmorland.
Richard Lord Scrope of Bolton=M.exgaxet, daughter of Ralph Neville,

died, 8 Hen. V. His mother was
a co-heiress of the Lords Tiptoft.

Earl of Westmorland, by Joan
daughter of John of Gaunt, and
widow of Sir Bobert Ferrers.

Henry Lord Scrope,=Elizabeth, daughter of John Lord

died 37 Hen. VI.

Scrope of Masham and Upsal, by
Elizabeth, 'daughter of John Ne
ville, Marquis Montacute.

John Lord Scrope=Joan, daughter of William Lord
died 9 Hen. VH. | Fitzhugh.
 i

Henry Lord Scrope=Elizabeth. daughter of Henry Percy,
I Earl of Northumberland.

Henry Lord Scrope=Mabel, daughter of Thomas Lord
distinguished, as was also his fa- Dacre, and Elizabeth, heiress of
ther-in-law, Lord Dacre, at the the Lords Greystock.
battle of Flodden.
The Scropes appear to have had no connexion with Raskelfe
which can explain the insertion of these memorials in the
windows of the church, beyond the wish on their part, or that
of the Nevilles, to preserve the record of an early alliance, the
offspring of which were probably on terms of friendly inter
course as well as not very remote neighbourhood.
Should this however be deemed insufficient to account for
the commemoration of one particular branch of descendants
from the great Earl Ralph, all the shields may find owners
amongst the matrimonial connexions of his numerous children
or grand children withoutfollowing exclusively the line of Scrope.
A late memorial of the Nevilles appears on one of the Bells,
which is inscribed in rude characters,
Remember thy end and flie Prid 1593. R. W.
God save this Navel A. H. «h| S. F. III. «a|

raskelfe. 117
The occurrence of such an inscription twenty three years
after the attainder of the unhappy Earl Charles, and nine years
after his death, leads to the supposition that some branch of
the house of " Navel" still maintained a lingering existence in
Raskelfe notwithstanding the ruin of its head. There was an
Edmund Neville, unnoticed by the Peerages, who discovered the
plots of the Jesuit Parry against Queen Elizabeth, and has
a monument in the Church of East Ham, Essex, adorned
with the numerous quarterings of his family, on which he is
described as " Lord Lattimer and the seventh Earle of Westmor
land of the name of Nevilles." It seems to have been erected
in his life-time, and has no date relating to himself, but re
cords the death of a daughter in 1613. The dignity of Earl of
Westmorland was [not conferred on the Fanes, who now bear
it, till 1624, but by what authority Edmund Neville assumed it,
or whether he were in any way connected with the subject of
our present inquiry, does not appear.
There are two other bells, one of a date anterior to the
Reformation, bearing the inscription,
" Sancte Jacobe Ora pro Nobis."
The other more happily inscribed —
"Soli Deo Gloria, Pax Hominibus. A. S. et W. C. 1653.
II. IW.
The date of the latter bell may with great probability fix
that of the wooden Tower, internal evidence shewing, as at
Easingwold, that no such appendage was originally contem
plated as the western termination of the structure, but rather
a bell-gable surmounting a lofty arch, which though it might
possibly suffice for two bells, would render other arrangements
necessary for the suspension of a third. The four posts, a
sort of flying buttresses, which support this erection, are said
to have been brought from Sessay wood, and cut out of one
tree. There is a very picturesque display of wood-work ancient
and modern, in this primitive and interesting little chapel, well
according with the unique structure of the tower, and its origi
nal destination as a forest oratory.
It is calculated to accommodate 230 persons.
h3

118 raskelfe.
The only monument which it contains, is a neat Tablet of
white marble, on the south wall of the chancel, thus inscribed:
In Memory of
the Rev. B. F. TUCKNISS, B. A.
XIV years Incumbent of the Chapelry of Raskelfe,
who died July XXVIII, MDCCCXLV,
Aged XLVIII years.
"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he
is able to keep that which I have committed to him against
that day." 2 Tim. 1. 12.
This Tablet is erected by his Parishioners and friends, as
a tribute of sincere respect for his private worth, and of
gratitude for his faithful labours as a Minister of Christ.
A stone on the floor beneath, marks the spot of his inter
ment and date of his decease, with the following addition : —
Also
FRANCES TUCKNISS,
who departed this life on the 7th Oct., 1848,
Aged 78 years.
Near the chancel door in the church-yard, is a tombstone
commemorating the family of
JAMES ARMSTRONG,
of Raskelfe, who departed this life upon Wednesday the 15th
day February, 1806, and in the 62nd year of his age.
Also ELIZABETH,
his wife, who died Feb. 26th, 1820, aged 84 years, and Eliza
beth, wife of his son John. She died Nov. 16th, 1830, aged
68, her husband Sept. 18, 1824, aged 56 years.
This Chapelry has the following benefactions for its poor,
viz. £6 13s. 4d. per annum, left by John Foster, in 1640;
five acres of land, purchased with £100, left by William Jack
son, and now let for £7, half of which is distributed among the
poor in bread and money at Christmas, and half to a School
master for teaching 5 poor boys or girls to read; two acres,
purchased with £36, and now let for £6 a year, which provides
bread for the poor, distributed every Sunday; an ancient year
ly rent charge of 5s. out of land at Dishforth, the property of
Francis Barroby; and the interest of £20 benefaction money,

raskelfe; 1 19
partly given in bread and partly in providing for the education
of another child, of which sum £10 was the bequest of Isabel
Jackson. The endowment of the cure of Raskelfe has been twice aug
mented, viz. in 1744 and 1765, by grants of £200 on each oc
casion from the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, laid out in
the purchase of land.
The glebe-house, which was returned in 1818 and 1834 as
" only a small cottage unfit for residence," has since been re
built, and occupies a situation near the church, commanding
a complete view of the village, which few now surpass in neat
ness and general appearance, of respectability and comfort.
From the Parliamentary survey already quoted (1651 — 1654,)
it appears that " the Bishop of Chester, on the 16th of May,
16 Car. I. (1640) did demise, to Sir Roger Jaques, Knight, one
messuage called the Archdeacon's house, with its appurtenan
ces, and two oxgangs of land in Raskelfe, within the parish of
Easingwold, and all the tithe of corn and hay arising within
Raskelfe and Boascow grange, for three lives, viz. William,
John, and Eliz. Jaques, all living and in health, paying at
Martinmas and Pentecost, by equal portions, £11, to the said
Bishop." This was the valuation, as we have seen, at the
time when the curious extent was taken (v. p. 74.) which Gale
dates about 1317; but it was now stated to be " worth, upon
the rack, £100 per annum. Sir Roger Jaques however was a
Royalist, and had fallen under the displeasure of the ruling
powers ; for the survey further informs us that his estate was
sequestered and surrendered, and "the whole granted by him,
upon his composition at Goldsmith's Hall, in trust to Alder
men and others, for the maintenance of the Ministers of
Raskelfe and Thirsk." The great tithes are now leased to Sir
George Wombwell, Bart.
The three farms called Boscow Grange, claim to be ex
empt from highway-rates, and from tolls at Easingwold and
Thirsk, and pay suit and service, not at the manor court of
Raskelfe, but that of the Abp. of York, held at Sutton-under-
Whitestoneeliffe, of whom the property is held on lease. In
other respects they conform to the general arrangements civil
and ecclesiastical of the Township. This is doubtless the

¦ 120 raskelfe.
"Baskaa Grangia," valued at £9, among the possessions of
Byland Abbey, in a computus of the time of Henry VIII. pre
served in the Augmentation office, and stated to have been
given to the Abbey, by Henry de Neville, with pasture for 300
sheep, 10 oxen, 10 cows with their calves, and 30 hogs, with
out pannage, the grant being confirmed by Ralph de Neville,
Lord of Raby, and Sir Robert de Neville, Lord of the manor
of Raskelfe. No date is assigned to this grant by Dugdale, and
the names are of frequent occurrence in the Neville pedigree,
but the double confirmation seems to fix it to the time of Sir
Robert Neville, the Peacock of the north, (temp. Edw. III.) who
had the chief rule over the lands of the family in the life time of
his father Ralph, and who had an uncle Henry, in all proba
bility the grantor of this property to Byland Abbey, on the
dissolution of which it was transferred, with -several other mon
astic possessions in the neighbourhood, to the see of York.
We must not leave Raskelfe without noticing the fine old Oak
in a field near Spring-house, one of the few survivors of the
"deafforestation," which the neighbourhood long since under
went, and which left it, though by no means destitute of wood,
imdistinguished in general by timber of very large or early
growth. There are also two venerable Thorns in the church-yard.
The Wesleyans have a Chapel here, built in 1835.
The Township contains 3550 acres of land, mostly the
property of W. F. Webb, Esq., the lord of the manor. The
land is well cultivated, and the river Kyle passes through the
estate, and supplies a large corn-mill, now occupied by Mr.
James Armstrong. The Pihnoor and Luhdmoor containing
about 900 acres, were inclosed in 1836. The Rev. Thomas
Hartley, B. A. is incumbent. The York and Newcastle Rail
way passes within half a mile of the village. Population 477.

Cratjke.3

(Creic— Domesday Book. Creao — Camden. Crayke.),
il HE commanding hill, on which this pleasant village
is situated, with the remains of the Norman
Castle on its highest point, is one of the first
objects which strikes the eye of a visitor in the
neighbourhood of Easingwold : and few summer-
tourists, who have climbed its height, will have returned dis
appointed with the prospect of country expanding itself almost
without a bound to the East, South, and West; while to the
North only the Hamilton Hills confine the view at a distance
of about eight miles; the precipitous cliff called Rolleston
Scar, and the detached eminence known by the name of Hood
Hill, closing the range towards the North-West, while stretch
ing along towards the North-East are the nearer high grounds
to Newburgh Park, Yearsley.Bank, and Brandsby. On a clear
summer's day the remarkable form of Great Whernside, is
distinctly visible to the far west, with many nearer heights in
Craven and Wensley Dale; while to the eastward the view
extends beyond the Howardian Hills, and the termination of
the East-Riding Wolds at Oarroby, to landmarks which are
recognised to be in the near vicinity of the Humber. Right
in the South, the splendid pile of York Minster in the centre
of the vast plain appears at the distance of twelve miles like
the form of a ship at se^T while the well-planted and inclosed
tract of country that lies between, gives to all the nearer land
scape a clothing of foliage and varied verdure, which scarcely
leaves the eye to desire a greater multitude of nearer objects
to rest upon.
The name of the place has been variously spelt in modern
3 Contributed by the Venerable Archdeacon Churton.

122 CRAVKE.
times, Crake, Craike, or Crayke. We have preferred the last,
as appearing to have the best authority in its favour, the Eccle
siastical Records of the Cathedral Church of Durham, on which
see the parish-church and rectory have been dependent from
very remote times. And this is confirmed by the learned an
tiquary, Bp. Tanner in his Notitia Monastica. But to this
subject we shall shortly recur; or rather, we propose to trace
the different modes of spelling the name together^with its local
history. The advantageous situation of the hill as a place of defence
in times of the ancient system of fortification, standing detach
ed from other hills, and with a space on the top, which might
easily be inclosed with a ditch and rampart, may not improba
bly have marked it out for a camp or castle at a very early
period. It has been the opinion of some antiquaries, and
among others, we believe, of Drake, the able Historian of York,
that the Romans had here a castellum exploratorium, or watch-
tower, whence they might look out and detect any hostile
incursion from the neighbouring country; but we can find no
trace of any such post in the Roman Itineraries or Geogra
phers. A road from the old Roman town Isurium, or Aldbo-
rough, towards Malton, or Camulodunum, would have passed
near the place ; and there are signs that such a road existed,
or was begun at the Malton terminus ; as is also indicated by
the names of the villages of Appleton and Barton-le-Stfreef,
which are situated on it. But as we leave the supposed road
on the other side of Hovingham, and have no certain proofs of
the direction which it took further westward, it is a fact which
lends but slight support to the conjecture we are considering.
What is much more certain is, that Crayke was a place of
some consideration in the earliest times of which we have any
record under the Saxon kings of Northumbria. There seems
no reason to question the truth of a fact recorded by some of
the earliest Annalists of the Church of Durham, who recite a
Royal Charter, by which Egfrid, King of Northumbria, in A.D.
685, granted the village of Creca, and three miles in circuit
round it, to Cuthbert, the famous Saint and Bishop of Lindis
farne, that he might have it as a resting-place on his journeys

CRAKVE. 123
to and from the city of York.4 Here, they say, St.Cuthbert
shortly afterwards founded a dwelling for a society of monks,
which appears to have remained till the time of the Danish
invasions. When we hear of societies of monks, such as they were in
these early times, we should distinguish them from the very
different class of men, who were to be found in the religious
orders of the Church in the corrupt age preceding the Refor
mation. These primitive monks were men, to whom the
Western parts of Europe were in a great measure indebted for
their first acquaintance with Christianity; from them the na
tions learnt to abjure their Pagan worship, and to destroy
their idols ; and leaving their ferocious habits, were instructed
in the milder arts of husbandry and pasturage. Such, long
before the time of Cuthbert, were the disciples of Columba in
the northern island of Iona; such were, the monks of Bangor,
in Wales, before they were destroyed by the Pagan Saxons ;
and such were the companions and followers of St. Patrick,
who first carried the tidings of the Gospel into Ireland. The
venerable Bede informs us in particular of Cuthbert, that he
employed a great portion of his time, when he was abbot of
Melrose, in journeys on horseback and on foot to the villages
far and wide, where he constantly preached to the country-
people, and reclaimed them from their belief in charms and
spells, and other remnants of Paganism.5 No doubt the disci
ples of Cuthbert in this practice imitated the example of their
master; and by such means were the Saxon inhabitants of this
portion of England first brought under the discipline of the
Gospel. The parish-church of Crayke is said to be dedicated to the
memory of St. Cuthbert ; that is, it is called by his name, as
are many other parish-churches in this northern part of Eng
land. And his name is not unknown in districts much further
to the south, the handsome church of St. Cuthbert in the city
of Wells in Somerset, among others, bearing witness to the old
4Simeon Dunelm. Hist. Eccl. Dunelm. Lib. I. c. ix. p. 47. ed. Bedford.
1732. 6 Bede. Hist. IV. c. 27.

124 CRAYKE.
respect entertained for his memory. But it may very probably
be conjectured that the name, in the instance of Crayke, and
other instances, was first given to the parish-church, because
Cuthbert himself was the founder of it. When he founded a
monastery here, he would also found a church, for the place
where the monks and villagers would assemble in prayer. Mr.
Rees, in his able ' Essay on the Welsh Saints,' has clearly
proved that this is the origin of the names of the most ancient
Welsh churches ; and there is no other way, by which we can
so naturally account for the names of particular saints prevail
ing in the nomenclature of churches in certain districts, as that
of St. Botolph, a prince of the old Mercian family, in the Mid
land Counties, St. Hilda's near Whitby, or St. Werburga at
Chester. It was a frequent practice with the Norman ecclesi
astics after the Conquest to change the names of churches
called after these ancient Saxon saints, of whom they knew
nothing; and to give them a new dedication in the name of the
Blessed Virgin or St. Peter. But perhaps they did this under
a mistaken notion, the old name denoting, not the saint in
whose memory the church was built, but the original founder.
It may be difficult to prove so much in the case of all the old
churches in the north of England, which bear St. Cuthbert's
name, but as far as regards Crayke, where the holy man had
an estate granted him in his life-time, nothing can be more
probable. St. Cuthbert died in the year 687, about two years after
the royal donation of Ecgfrid. The Saxon kingdom of North
umbria continued to flourish for a century after his death, and
was illustrated by the learning and Christian virtues of Bede
and his friends, of Archbishop Egbert, and Alcuin of York,
who afterwards passing into France became the instructor and
counsellor of Charlemagne. It is from Alcuin's 'Poem on the
Bishops and Saints of York,' that we learn something of
another holy man, who appears to have chosen Crayke as a
place of religious retirement during this period. His death is
commemorated by Simeon of Durham as having taken place
in the year 767. "In this year," says this Historian in his
Chronicle, " Etha the anchorite died happily at Cric, a place

CRAYKE. 125
which is distant ten miles" (ten north-country miles, we sup
pose,) "from York." Alcuin says of him:
Claruit his etiam venerabilis Etha diebus :
"While Egbert held the see of ancient York,
Then flourish'd Etha, venerable man,
A holy anchorite in wilderness :
A secret life he sought, and in chaste zeal
Fled from all earthly honours, that, with God
His king, he might find honours at heav'n's court;
Devoutly led on earth an angel's life,
And seem'd as with prophetic pow'r inspired."
The words seem to shew, as Alcuin spoke of what he had
known in early life, that the country round Crayke was then a
wilderness or deep forest.
But Alcuin lived to hear tidings of less peaceful import
from the friends whom he had left behind.
Towards the close of the eighth century, A.D. 793, the
Christians of the north suffered their first great public calamity
in the sack and destruction of the Church of Lindisfarne by a
piratical fleet of Danes. These Pagan 'water-thieves ' carried
off the spoil of the old cathedral, taking part of the monks
with them as prisoners, and drowning part in the sea. But
in a later attempt on Tinemouth and Jarrow, they were repul
sed by the forces of the country, and getting back to sea with
the loss of their leader, are supposed to have subsequently
perished in a storm, or such as were thrown on shore to have
died by the hands of the justly irritated Saxons. This blow
being past, the burial-place of Cuthbert was for a good time
again surrounded by its sacred buildings and religious inhabi
tants. But the prosperity of the Northumbrian kingdom now
began to decline. In A.D. 827 it became tributary to Egbert
of Wessex. There were civil wars; some of their kings were
expelled, and others met with a violent death, at different
times during the next half-century; till at length the great
Danish invasion in A.D. 867 burst with irresistible force over
the disunited province.
It was the time, when nothing but the unwearied courage
and prudence of the great Alfred saved the whole kingdom
from falling again under Pagan enemies. As to the Northum-

126 CRAYKE.
brians, their realm was at this unhappy period the prize of
contest between two native princes, Osbert, of the royal family,
but who had treacherously slain the rightful possessor of the
throne, and Ella, a stranger to their blood, but raised up by
a party in revenge for his opponent's crimes. Both these
princes are accused as having seized upon lands, which their
more pious ancestors had consecrated to the Church; and
among other places on which Ella had laid his sacrilegious
hands, Crayke is especially mentioned.6
There is a wild story told of this Ella by some later
chroniclers, of which we find no traces in Anglo-Saxon history;
that the Danish invasion was provoked by his cruel treatment
of Rayner Lpdbrog, a sea-king, who was wrecked on the
coast of Northumbria. Rayner is said to have saved himself
and some of his companions from the wreck, and to have
marched into the interior, plundering the country; when he
was encountered with a far superior force by Ella, taken pris
oner, and thrown into a dungeon filled with serpents and veno
mous reptiles, where he died after enduring dreadful torments. *
They were the sons of this chief, it is said, who led the
great Danish invasion; Hinguar, and Ubba, and the rest,
whose names fill the annals of the time of Alfred.
The account given by some early English historians is,
that Rayner Lodbrog, was wrecked on the shores of East An-
glia or Norfolk, entertained hospitably by king Edmund, the
saint of Bury, but afterwards treacherously slain by Bern the
King's huntsman. 8 It may be, that both accounts are equally
fabulous. But the former is more famous in Scandinavian an
tiquities, because it agrees with the words of the famous Lod-
brokar- Quida, or Death Song of Lodbrog, one of the most war
like of the old Norse martial ditties, with which it seems that
the ancient warriors of the North, like the North American
Indians, could beguile the pains of death:
Hiuggom ver mid hiaurvi.
"With our swords we hew'd our way:
Mortal men to fate must bow :
Simeon Dunelm. Lib. II. c. 6.
'See L' Histoire duMoyen Age, par. M.Lame Fleury. Tom. 1. p. 232.
8 Roger Wendover, Vol. I. p. 305. ed. 1842.

CRAYKE. 127
Little dreamt I of the day
Of this bitter overthrow;
Little dreamt, that Ella's hand
Should my life's last hours confine,
When with dead I strew'd his land,
When I made his havens mine ;
When I gorged the birds of prey
In each northern forth and bay.
With our swords we hew'd our way :
Still my heart with joy can laugh;
Still my inmost soul is gay ;
Soon my weary lips shall quaff
Beverage bright at Odin's board,
Bright and mantling to the full,
Meet for those that wield the sword,
And the cup a f oeman's scull.
Glad I wait my summons near :
Who, when Odin calls, should fear?
With our swords we hew'd our way :
Soon Aslauga's sons and mine
Shall avenge my fatal day,
And the bonds in which I pine,
Arm'd with flaming battle-brands : —
Vipers, venom-swoln, around
Tear my body, feet, and hands : —
Yet amidst this deadly stound
My strong heart its treasures owns,
Noble mother, noble sons.
With our swords we hew'd our way :
Soon an heir my state shall know,
Though within grim adders prey,
Though they rend my heart-strings now.
Soon, I ween, shall Odin's lance
Deep in vengeful Ella stand :
Vengeance for their sire's mischance
Waits from many a youthful hand.
Peace their souls will never know,
Till my slayer's corpse lies low.
Such is a portion of this wild song, which chiefly relates to
Ella the usurper of the Church's land at Crayke. But we
believe the story to be fabulous, and that no such tragedy was-

] 28 CRAYKE.
perpetrated in the dungeons of Crayke Castle, or elswhere.
What is certain is, that, the Danish host under Hinguar and
his confederates having gained possession of York, Osbert and
Ella had composed their differences, and marched against the
common enemy : but after bursting open the city gates, they
met with a vigorous resistance, which terminated in the
defeat and death of both kings, and Northumbria became
entirely subject to the invaders.
From the time of this overthrow we find the Christian
inhabitants of the Northern Province in continual danger, and
wandering about in the most unfrequented places for shelter
and safety. The priests and monks of the ancient see of
Lindisfarne, no longer able to find protection in that exposed
position from the visits of Danish pirates, betook themselves to
flight, with their Bishop and Abbot at their head, followed by a
mixed multitude of suffering people, and carrying with them
their sacred service-books and church-vessels, and a coffer with
the bones of St. Cuthbert. They first crossed the country towards
Cumberland, and took ship at the mouth of the Cumbrian
river Derwent, intending to seek a refuge in Ireland: but
contrary winds drove them back, and after a while they found
themselves at another ancient see, Whithern, or Kirkcudbright,
in Galloway. They continued changing from place to place,
suffering the greatest hardships, for the space of seven years,
sometimes left almost alone, and so destitute of strength, that
the relics of St. Cuthbert must have been left behind, had it
not been for the fidelity of a few stout Northumbrians, seven
in number, and four especially as strong as they were faithful,
who had been brought up as children by the charity of the
fathers of the convent. At last they found some relief, when
they heard that the Danes had themselves expelled from the
kingdom their most cruel enemy among the Sea-Kings, Half-
dene, or Haldane ; who was driven by them to sea with three
ships only from Tynemouth, and was supposed to have perish
ed in a storm. Upon this they ventured to come further
towards York, and for four months, in A.D. 882, 3, Crayke
was their asylum. It was the practice of the Pagan Danes to
destroy all monks and monasteries, where they could find
them; and we lack information how Abbot Geve, who gave

CRAYKE. 129
them lodging here, had escaped the common destruction.9
Here however, we are told, they had a most friendly reception,
and for the several months while they stayed were as well off
as if they had been at home.
We need not follow them further than to remind the reader
that Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Eadred afterwards fixed the
see at Chester-le-Street, where it remained for a full century
before it was finally settled at Durham. But while these two
reverend persons were entertained at Crayke, Abbot Eadred is
reported to have seen a remarkable vision, which led to an
important reform in the Danish Government of the Province.
The Danish army by the expulsion of Halfdene had left their
forces without a commander, and the remnant of the Saxons
appear to have been making some ineffectual efforts to set up
a king of their own. Both parties were at this time probably
willing to listen to a plan, by which the sufferings of the coun
try might be mitigated, and the bloodshed brought to an end.
At such a favourable opportunity Eadred saw in a dream the
venerable form of St. Cuthbert appearing to him, and delivering
to him this remarkable message: "Go," said the Vision, "to
the army of the Danes, and tell them from me, that they are
to point out to you the place where the boy Guthred, son of
Hardacanute, is now to be found, whom they sold to a widow
woman, whose name they will know. When they have found
him, and paid the widow the price of his ransom, let him be
brought forward publicly in front of the whole army ; and when
they are all assembled at Oswy's Down, according to my will
and order, let him be elected and confirmed as king, with the
royal bracelet placed on his right arm." We are told that the
Abbot, as soon as he awoke, told his dream to his compani
ons ; that he then set out on his mission, and both Danes and
Saxons received with all reverence the commands of St. Cuth
bert, and elected the boy who had been made a slave with all
unanimity to be king of Northumberland. He was found to
be residing at Whittingham, near Alnwick. Another king
named Egbert kept possession of the part of the province
beyond the Tyne; but Guthred reigned at York from A.D.
883, — 894. His early death put an end to a peaceful reign,
'Simeon Dunelm. Hist. Eccl. Dun. c. 28.
I

130 CRAYKE.
in which he had done something for the restoration of Chris
tianity ; and he appears to have been on good terms with the
great Saxon Monarch, Alfred, to whom the Northumbrians
submitted shortly afterwards.
We want information as to the motives which led the rival
nations of the North so readily to acquiesce in this message.
It seems most probable that Guthred, from his name and
that of his father Hardacanute, was a Dane; and probably
of noble descent. It is not unlikely that Halfdene, before his
own expulsion, had secretly sold the boy as a slave, wishing
to get rid of one who might in after years become a rival
claimant to the kingly title which he held. In his state of
bondage Guthred had in all probability been instructed in
Christianity by the Saxons ; and this being known, his eleva
tion would of course be acceptable to them, as promising
them a relief from persecution.
But what shall we say of Abbot Eadred's dream? Was
it nothing but a pious fraud-? It is not necessary to suppose
this. If dreams are, what one of our poets calls them, "the
images of day-desires," Eadred's knowledge of Guthred's
history may very naturally have caused him to desire his
election to the royal office. What had filled his waking
thoughts very naturally became the subject of his dreams;
and in that simple age it was nothing unusual to consider a
refnarkable dream as a kind of supernatural admonition. He
believed it so no doubt, as much as the rude people to whom
he carried his message.
From the time of the Danish Invasion to the reign of
Eadred of Wessex, A.D. 946, this part of England was succes
sively ruled by Danish princes, sometimes "born in the land,
sometimes adventurers who had come from the shores of the
Baltic. These kings were often hardly pressed by the warlike
forces of Edward the Elder, Athelstan, and other leaders from
the South; but at one time submitting, at another asserting
their independence, they held on, till meeting with a final
overthrow from King Eadred at Castleford, A.D. 948, then-
last King Eric either fell in the field, according to the Norse
Historians, or was driven out to end his days in the preca
rious trade of a sea-rover, as the Saxon Chronicle seems to
intimate.

CRAYKE.

131

From this time the Saxon kingdom recovered a firm hold
upon Northumberland. There were no longer any rival kings,
but the province was governed by Earls, who were invested
with the authority of Viceroys over the portion of the realm
extending from the Trent to the Scottish border. The title of
Earl however appears among the North-men of old to have
been shared by all the sons of any noble who had held that
dignity: and hence we find the name of an Earl Thured,
who has no other record in history, but appears to have pos
sessed lands in Crayke about the time of King Edgar, or
Ethelred the Unready:
"Pep if gemeapcob," says the Liber Vita of the Church of
Durham,1 " hu manega hyba lanbep Bupeb eopl beCsehc hape-ji
into S. CuehbepCep pcope. Nu lr apepc on Smi^a-Cune cpa hyba
lanbep. anb on Cpeic cpa hyba. anb on Su^ -cuneanpe hybe. ¦past
he apa^ ^aem halejan pepe Co lope anb Co peop^mynbe gegypan
a co ecean hpe. "Rub pe fe fyrer opceo haebbe he hie pr]J Gob
gemsene anb prJJ $one halgan pep sep o^e prpop."
In modern English : "Here is set down how many hides
of land Earl Thured has given over to St. Cuthbert's see, (the
Church at Durham :) first, at Smeaton two hides of land ; and
at Creic two hides ; and at Sutton one hide. These he has
given the holy men, for their praise and honour, to be theirs
for ever. And if any one take away this gift, let him account
for it with God, and with the holy men there, sooner or later.'-
We find no mention of Earl Thured in the list of Earls of
Northumberland, which begins with Oswulf, about A.D. 950,
and ends with ' Waltheof, son of Siward, put to death by
William the Conqueror in A.D. 1075. 2 Neither does his name
appear in Domesday Book among the possessors of landed
property in the time of Edward the Confessor. In all proba
bility therefore this record is not later than the time of Ethel-
red. It seems to prove that at this period the Danish Earl
was in undisputed possession of part at least of St. Cuthbert's
patrimony at Crayke. His grant of two hides, a quantity
which was of very uncertain extent, but probably not less than
iPubl. by the Surtees Society, p. 56, 1841.
* Simeon. Dunelm. Hist. Reg. Angl. apud Twysden, p. 204.
i2

132 CRAYKE.
two hundred acres,3 is made without regard or respect to any
claim of right that had been made, or could be made, by St.
Cuthbert's representative. In absence of any more certain
information we may consider the date of Earl Thured's grant
to be about A.D. 990.
It would appear however that, between that time and the
period of the Norman Conquest, the Church had recovered its
own : as Domesday speaks of the last Saxon Bishop, Egelwin,
or Alwin, as having been sole proprietor of the place.
_ v  t v — *?s
In Creic ad gld. vi. car y mi. c poss. e e. H tenuit Aluvin fy.
i. maner. Nc. W. eps ht in dnio. i. car, y ix. uill. cu. m.
<i _ _ - _, _
car. iEccla y pbr ibi. e. Silua past, modica, Tot. n. lev Ig.
_ 0
\ ii. lat. T.R.E. xl. sol. m. xx. sol.*
The following is a translation of the record :
" In Creic there are to be taxed lands for six ploughs ; there
may be now four ploughs there. Bishop Alwin held this as
one manor. Bishop William has now in his domain one
plough; and nine villanes with three ploughs. There is a
church and priest here. There is a moderate quantity of
wood-pasture. The whole two miles long, and two broad.
The value (of the land-tax) in King Edward's time was forty
shillings ; now it is twenty shillings."
There is no mention of any other proprietor at this period
in Crayke. It is therefore probable that there were no others.
It would appear from the record, that the Saxon Bishop before
the Conquest had a Hall, or country-house, here; and kept a
3 It would seem from the old Anglo-Saxon Version of Bede, that a hide
of land was a "quantity large enough to support a family. Hence in East
Anglia, Norfolk^ and Suffolk, it was reckoned at about one hundred and
twenty acres. • Gale's Scriptores, p. 472. But in Wessex, Hampshire and
the Western Counties, it was no more than about sixty-four. Rudborne in
Angl. Sacr. I. 257. A modern antiquary thinks it was not more than thirty
of our present measurement. Kemble. Cod. Angl. S. Vol. iii. Pref. But
this seems doubtful.
f Domesd. Orig. 304. B. eol. 2.

CEAYKE. 133
portion of the domain for the supply of his own board, while
the rest was let out to his villanes, or land-servants, who paid
a rent or did service for the portion which they occupied. If
we reckon a plough-land to have been about sixty acres, as it
appears to have been reckoned in the time of Richard I,6 there
could not have been more than about two hundred and forty
acres then under cultivation, or somewhat less than a twelfth
part of the whole parish.
We must now leave the Saxons, and come down to Norman
times, of which indeed the Domesday Survey just mentioned
is the earliest record. The earliest existing monument of
these Norman times is the ancient Castle ; but the visitor will
be disappointed, if he looks for any great antiquity in the
keep or Castellated Peel, which now occupies the prominent
portion of the hill on which it stands. The present building,
which has long been tenanted as a farm-house, was evidently
built after a larger fortress had been dismantled. It is proba
bly of the age of the Tudor kings, built as a strong Grange, in
which a party of stout yeomen might easily have defended their
lives and some of their property against a party of Scottish
marauders, before the Border Wars had ceased: but the
remarkable low-vaulted room which is almost buried beneath
the soil to the north, with its strong-ribbed arched roof, and
a detached portion of ruin, inclosing a broken stair of stone,
to the north-east, are remnants of a much earlier date.
Probably there was an old Saxon Hall, as already mention
ed, near this spot. But we have no mention of any building
in the Domesday Book, or in another old record of the same
age, in which William de St. Calez, the second Norman
Bishop, who presided at Durham from A.D. 1080 to 1099, sets
down the lands and possessions of the see. He. says there
were then, perhaps a few years later than Domesday, "five
plough-lands in Creic," making a slight increase on the
Domesday return; but he gives no account of any thing
further. 6 He appears to have had trouble enough in recov-
sSee Du Cange. Diet. v. Carrucagium.
6 Liber Vitse. p. 77.
I 3

] 34 CRAYKE.
ering the Church's land after the disorders of the North in
the years which followed the Conquest; and had little time or
wealth to bestow on improving the property.
It seems most probable that the old Castle was erected by
Hugh Pudsey, the sixth of the Norman Bishops, and Nephew
of King Stephen. '• This prelate was a princely person, who
spent his wealth abundantly in building Churches, Bridges,
and Castles. His works remain in the Building called the
Galilee at Durham Cathedral, and one or two of the old
bridges over the Wear at that city. He also built the Church
at Darlington.8 He strongly fortified the Castle of Norham,
and repaired at great cost the Castle at Durham, and the city
walls. He founded a strong Castle at North Allerton, for the
security of the town and his estates in Allertonshire; and at
many other places he repaired or rebuilt the residences of his
predecessors, "raising stately buildings," says the Durham
Historian, "thinking it the most honourable course to leave
his successors no ground of complaint against his memory."9
His object was, it appears, to have on all his detached estates
a house fit for the entertainment of a Norman Bishop and
Baron. But in those days these Baronial Mansions were
usually Castles.
It has been asserted, without any historical ground that
we have discovered, that Hugh Pudsey fortified Crayke Castle
against Henry II, in the critical period when Roger de Mow
bray and many other nobles joined together in the wide-extend
ed conspiracy to put down the father and set up the son, the
young Henry, by aid of the Kings of France and Scotland.1
The writer of the work referred to speaks of a "Lord de Val
ence" as having taken Crayke Castle for the King, and after
wards receiving the surrender of Thirsk Castle from "John de
Mowbray," whom he sent as prisoner to Crayke. For these
and other details of the war the writer seems to have drawn
upon his own imagination. The noble name of De Valence
does not appear in the history of the Border Wars before the
7 Hist. Dunelm. c. VII. Gaufr. de Coldingham. s Id. c. IX.
s Hist. Dunelm. c. VII.
' In a History of Thirsk, published 1821. p. 24. & 27.
L L.

CRAKYE. 135
reigns of the Edwards. We know of no historical John de
Mowbray before the time of John de Mowbray, Earl of Not
tingham, in A.D. 1377. And no such person ever surrender
ed Thirsk Castle to a De Valence or any other royalist com
mander: for that Castle held out till the war was ended by the
capture of William the Lion, King of Scotland. That prince
was taken prisoner at Alnwick, July 13, 1174; and on July
31 Roger de Mowbray made his personal submission and sur
render of Thirsk Castle to King Henry II at Northampton.2
Bishop Hugh had not taken any active part in the war, but
as a kinsman of Stephen he seems to have been no fast friend
of the Plantagenets, and he was so strongly accused, that he
thought it best to accompany Roger de Mowbray to the king's
presence, and surrender his castles of Durham, Norham, and
North Allerton.3 No mention is made by any historian of
Crayke; so that, if it was built before this time, it is nearly
certain that it was not fortified by either party.
What is certain is, that a few years later the old Bis
hop and Baron was lodged here on his way up to London in
the beginning of the Spring, A.D. 1194. He had then been
forty-one years in possession of his bishopric, and had been
gratified by Richard I with the coveted title of Earl of Nor
thumberland. This was however his last journey; he fell ill
after a supper at Crayke Castle , in which it would appear that
there were some ingredients not suitable to an old man's
stomach. He proceeded to ride on his way as far as Howden,
but there he died on the third day of March. *
No other mention of the Castle occurs till the year 1345;
when King Edward III appears to have been lodged in it on
the 19th of October. The see of Durham had just become
vacant by the death of the famous Richard de Bury a learned
Prelate, who had filled the office of Lord Chancellor, and who
was said to be possessed of more books than all the other
bishops of England together. Besides the fixed libraries
which he had formed in his several palaces, the floor of his
3 Benedict. Petroburgh, ed. Hearne. p. 84.
3 Id. ibid.
* Hist. Dunelm. Coldingham. c. X,

136 CRAYKE.
common apartment was so strewn with books, that those
who entered it could scarcely thread their way to his presence.
The king's Charter from Crayke is simply a permission grant
ed to the prayer of the Prior and Convent of Durham to elect
a new Bishop;5 of which they soon availed themselves by
electing Thomas Hatfield, whose name survives in the Col
lege called Bp. Hatfield's Hall.
The condition of the Manor appears to have remained
during these centuries without any material change. Accord
ing to the tradition of the place, the Bishops had here] an in
closed park or chace, which appears to have extended to the
boundary of the parish towards the north ; and there are ap
pearances as if there had been a mound of earth raised to
some height in this direction, where the road to Coxwold
passes this boundary. It is said, that some old deeds make
mention of a palisade which was maintained at the top of the
mound; but it has not been in the power of the writer of this
notice to verify the statement. What is more certain is, that
the office of Forester of Crayke, towards the close of the next
century, was considered as a desirable appointment for the
Bishop's nephew, Thomas Fenton.
" And as for the confirmacyon, whych your lordship wrote
to me fore, gevyn by your lettres, of the kepyng of your place
of Crayk, with the forstership of the same, unto your nevow
Thomas Fenton, thay er confermed, and he hath the confirm
acyon." Hist. Dunelm. Append, p. 371 .
This is an extract from a Letter written to Dr. John Shir-
wood, formerly Archdeacon of Richmond, and then Bishop of
Durham, during his absence at Rome. It is dated Feb. 1.
1487. The deer-park was no doubt then preserved under
keeping of the Bishop's Forester. How much longer it con
tinued is uncertain. A tradition of the place speaks of it as
remaining to the reign of King James I ; and it is said that a
Royal Warrant or Charter of that Monarch was lately extant,
giving the Bishop a right to seize any of the king's deer which
might stray from the Royal Forest of Galtres into his park at
Crayke, provided he himself kept his own park-fence in good
repair, and' of such a height as to afford no facility of trespass.
'Append, ad Hist. Dunelni. p. 114.

CRAYKE. 137
It is not improbable that there may have been such a Charter;
but if it should become again discovered, it will probably be
found that it is older than the time of James I, or that if of so
recent a date, it recites the words of an older deed, as was not
unusual in such matters.
As to the Castle, which we must now notice for the last
time, it appears, by records preserved at Durham, that its use
as a place of defence had passed away sometime before the
reign of Elizabeth. There were then standing little more than
the present buildings, partly in ruins. And so it appears to
have remained, uninhabited, except as a farm-house, from the
Reformation to the time of the present possessor. The strength
of the walls is such as may still long resist the hand of Time.
It is a remarkable fact, that a cannon-ball was dug up a
few years since, about three hundred yards from the foot of
the Castle-Hill, in grubbing up an old holly-tree on the road
side. Whether there was some skirmish in the York and
Lancaster wars, or in the later Civil wars, of which history is
silent, its place of discovery was such as might lead to the
supposition that it had been shot from the Castle-hill.
The manor seems originally to have comprehended the
whole parish. By what process portions were from time to
time detached, and formed into smaller freehold or copyhold
estates, since the time of the Domesday Survey, we have no
particular information. The manorial estate, which now re
mains, consisting of near one thousand acres, was still the
property of the see of Durham till the time of Bishop Van
Mildert, A.D. 1826 to 1836. This Bishop, wishing to pur
chase in exchange another estate adjoining his domain at
Auckland, procured an Act of Parliament enabling him to sell
the old estate of the see at Crayke to the then Lessee, R. J.
Thompson, Esqr., of Kirby Hall; by whom it was again sold
a few years later to William Waite, Esqr., of Holdgate near
York. The'principal landed estate, next to the Lord of the Manor's,
is that of Henry Yates Whytehead, Esq., M.D., whose resi
dence meets the eye of the visitor, as he ascends the hill, a
little to the eastward of the Church. It is a modest mansion
of the last century, erected by a predecessor on the female

] 38 CRAYKE.
side, John Bowman, Esq., who died Sept. 28, 1799, at the
advanced age of eighty-two. The home-precinct is skirted by
a well-kept plantation, which is an ornament to that side of
the village, and contains one or two ash-trees of extraordinary
size. To the West is the Rectory House, an abode of corres
ponding proportions, and of nearly the same date, except a
small addition which is more recent. There is a fine old
wych-elm in the Rectory Garden.
There is a farm-house on the Manorial estate, known by
the name of Wyndham Hall, from the name of a former resi
dent, at Mill- Green, about half a mile to the East of the village,
which has some features of Elizabethan architecture, and some
remains of pannelled wainscot within the walls. Some of the
cottages in the village are also of considerable antiquity, par
ticularly those constructed of what is called stud-building,
timber-frames filled up with old compost or cement. There
are some stones to be seen in the walls of these cottages, which
appear to have been brought from the ruins of the Castle :
particularly two near the corner of the street on the right hand
side to one who ascends the hill, which contain the monogram
HIS in characters of the fourteenth century. The village
abounds with old draw-wells, some of which are of the depth
of a hundred and forty feet or more. At the foot of the hiH
in different places are several chalybeate springs.
The Church, dedicated, as before-mentioned, by the name
of St. Cuthbert, stands on a site near the eastern extremity of
the platform on the top of the hill, a little lower in elevation
than the site of the Castle. It is a neat little country-church,
of the age of Henry VII, as may be judged by the style of the
architecture, and by" the ornament of the Tudor rose, which
may be seen carved in oak in a comely Chancel-screen of the
same age as the building itself. It is of polished stone within
and without. The Font is a plain octagonal bowl, on a plain
shaft and base, having nothing further remarkable about it.
The building consists of a Tower, with three bells, a single
nave without aisles, and the chancel, which is nearly square.
It is capable of containing a congregation of about 250
persons,

CRAYKE 1 39
The pulpit is of carved work of the date of Charles I. The
carving contains the text, " Shew me thy wayes, O Lord, and
teach me thy pathes ;" with the year, "A.D. 1639." The body
of the Church is fitted up with oaken seats, which appear to
be of the same period; but the Chancel, which had been in a
more neglected state, has recently been restored, by the present
Rector, and adorned with appropriate Gothic wood-work, and
an East- Window, representing our Lord on the Cross with
the Blessed Virgin and St. John on either side, the work of
Mr. Wailes of Newcastle.
There are several monuments on the walls; but none
which present any features of public interest. One, which is
said to be the monument of Sir John Gibson, Knight, Judge
of the Ecclesiastical Court of York, but without any remaining
inscription, being composed of perishable materials, and exe
cuted in plaster, was so much decayed, that it was lately
thought right to lay the fragments of two horizontal figures,
where they may be seen through a trap-door, below the floor,
Another figure of a female barbarously designed and executed,
remains in a niche in the wall nearly opposite the pulpit. The
work is of the seventeenth century.
The Domesday Survey shows.. that there was a church here
before the Conquest. There are however no Saxon or Nor
man remains to be discovered in the present edifice; nor in
deed any thing to indicate that the materials of an older
building were used in the construction of it, except that one
of the mullions of the East Window appears to have been
formed in part from the stone-work of the tomb of an ancient
Rector. For thereon the eye of an antiquary will easily detect
a portion of an inscription, which may perhaps be filled up as
follows. We put our conjectural letters in italics ; those in
Roman we believe to be legible on the stone :
PIE MEMOBIE NICOLAI RECTOR/S ECCZESJE DE
CREC:
" To the pious memory of Nicolas, Rector of the Church of Crec.''
These characters are of the thirteenth or fourteenth century;
and the old Rector was probably of the age of Henry III or
Edward I.

140 CRAYKE.
We know of none among the more ancient Rectors, who
are recorded to have been of much distinction, or to have risen
to more eminent stations. When we come down to more
modern times, we find that at the trying period of 1688, Luke
Mawbarne, who had held the benefice, on the presentation of
the learned Bishop Cosin, from December 18, 1665, being
unable to reconcile it to his conscience to take the oaths to
King William and Queen Mary, resigned his preferment, and
became a Nonjuror. 8 The Rector who succeeded him, John
Turner, was a native of the place, where his birth, not his
baptism, is recorded, according to the practice of the time of
the Usurpation, as having taken place, June 23, 1659. He is
said in an inscription on a broken tomb-stone in the church
yard to have suffered danger and loss of property in Ireland
during the war between James II and his dutiful son-in-law.
In Crayke Rectory however he seems to have found a comforta
ble home for the best part of his life : as he held the office for
about five and forty years, and died in the beginning of May,
1735. His successor was Alexander Jephson, a learned and dili
gent Clergyman, author of 'the Reality and Authority of our
Blessed Saviour's Miracles defended.' London, 1731: a 'Dis
course concerning the Religious Observance of the Lord's
Day,' 1738; and 'The Certainty and Importance of a future
Judgment,' 1742. The last of these Works is said in the title*
to be the substance of some Sermons which he had preached
at Crayke Church. The first he published when Curate of
Dagenham in Essex. All these writings bear marks of learn
ing, ability, and piety. He was Rector for about thirty-two
years, and was buried near the Church-tower, July 15, 1767;
where his tombstone still admonishes the passing reader to
remember what was probably his most constant lesson during
life, "to keep holy the sabbath-day."
Among the later Rectors may be mentioned the name of
Dr. Robert Gray, afterwards Bishop of Bristol, and father of
Dr. Robert Gray, now Missionary Bishop of Cape Town. He
resigned the benefice in June, 1805, and was succeeded by the
late Revd. Powell Colchester Guise. Mr. Guise, who died in
'Life of Kettlewell, Append, p. xvii.

CRAYKE.

141

1835, was succeeded by Edward Churton, then Rector of Monk's
Eleigh in Suffolk, who was appointed by Archbishop Vernon-
Harcourt in 1846 to the Archdeaconry of Cleveland.
Among the distinguished natives of the place may be men
tioned the Rev. John Temple, Master of Richmond School,
of whose learning and ability as a Schoolmaster some memori
als are preserved at Richmond. He was born at Crayke about
the beginning of A.D. 1721.
The Wesleyans have for some years had a small Chapel in
this village. An old Roman Catholic Chapel has been for
several years disused, and converted to other purposes. It
appears that the Quakers were numerous here in the time of
Oliver Cromwell, and subsequently: but many conformed to
the Church in the time of Rectors Turner and Jephson; and
the last surviving member of this sect died a short time since
in full communion with the Church of England.
There is a full account of the Charities of the Parish in
Mr. Lawton's 'Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum:' p. 432. A
new School for Boys was built jointly by H. Y. Whytehead,
Esq. and the present Rector in A.D. 1846. Population in
1851, 608.

Inmtalnj.

(Branzbi — Domesday Book. Braneshy — Torr. Bransby, Brandsby,)
RAND SB Y is a pleasant rural retreat, situated on
a commanding eminence, on the North- West point
of the Howardian Hills, embosomed in wood,
and 5 miles E.N.E. of Easingwold. It is eccle
siastically located in the Deanery of Bulmer and
the Archdeaconry of Cleveland, and formerly comprised the
wildest part of the Forest of Galtres, now included in the Wap
entake of Bulmer.
Brandsby seems to derive its name from Brand a Danish
chieftain, who very probably after the conquest of the Sax
ons settled here, and bi or by in Danish, a town, village, or
settlement, signifying the town of Brand. Steresby seems to
have a similar origin. This conjecture is strengthened by the
fact that both were, previous to the time of the Normans,
temp. Edward the Confessor, in the possession of a Danish
franklin as the following quotation from Domesday Book tes
tifies : —
— \ v —
CO In Branzbi \ Esteresbi, ht Cnut xi. car toe ad gld. Tra.
v f b _ v ¦-
ad. vi. car. Ibi ht Hugo. xi. uill hntes. vi. car. Ibi
\ » — —
eccla y pbr. Silua past. vm. qz lg. \ totd# lat. Tot 00. i
\ - o
lev. lg \ i lat. T R E ual xl. sol. m. xx sol.
Translated thus :
In the Manor of Brandsby and Steresby Cnut had eleven
plough-lands to be taxed. There are six ploughs. Hugo son
of Baldric has there eleven villeins having six ploughs. There
is a church and a priest. Wood pasture eight furlongs long

BRANDSBY. 143
and the same broad. The whole manor one mile long and
one broad. In the time of King Edward (the Confessor,) it
was worth forty shillings, now twenty shillings.
At a later date the manor was given to Roger de Mowbray,
as a reward for his valorous services, along with other ex
tensive possessions in this neighbourhood. It was held as
one Knight's fee by Nicholas de Ryper, de Riparia, or de la
Ryver, for with such variations his family name is found, of
Roger de Mowbray, who held it of the king in capite.
The de Riparias were of Norman extraction, and first came
into Britain with the Conqueror. A branch of the same family
and name still exists in Normandy, bearing the insignia now
borne as the quartering for the name by the Cholmeleys of
Brandsby. Nicholas de Ryper appears to have been seated
at Brandsby, for we find his name frequently in the annals of
this part of Yorkshire. In a charter contained in Dugdale's
Monasticon Anglicanum1 confirming grants to the priory of
Marton, his name occurs as a witness, and in another charter
confirming grants to Newburgh Priory.' Henry de Riparia
gave the patronage of the Church of Brafferton and four ox
gangs of land in Brandsby, besides one oxgang of land in
UUverston, with a toft, to the latter house.
In the 7 Edward I., A.D. 1279, Richard de la Ryver was Lord
of Brandsby, for it is recorded among the benefactions to
Byland Abbey, that he gave to the Monks of Byland free
passage through his wood of Brandsby to Skakelden, both to
the monks and their men. The estates of Brandsby appear to
have descended to the de la Riparias by an intermarriage with
the Mowbrays, and that Brandsby Hall, the site of the present
structure, was the residence of this once noble family is evident
from Torr. "Thomas de la Ryver, Lord of Brandsby, died 25
July, A.D. 1451, and was buried in the Church of Brandsby."
And " John de la Ryver of Brandsby, Esq., died A.D. 1455,
and was buried in the Chapel within the High Church of
Brandsby, built by Thomas de la Ryver his father.
Steresby was a place of some note about this period and
iVol. H. p. 99.
*Ibid.p. 191.

144 BRANDSBY.
the residence of a family of the name of Bridesale. Robert
de Bridesale gave to the Abbey of St. Mary, York, two caru
cates of Land in Steresby.3 In the year 1383 William de
Bridesale was Sheriff of York, and a monumental inscription
in the Church of All Saints, Pavement, York, records the
burial place of the above Robert : —
Hie jacet Robertus Bridesale et Matilda uxor ejus quilibet
orans pro eis habebit D. E.
The Brandsby and Brafferton Estates came by a marriage
with the heiress of de la Ryver s, about the time of Queen Eliza
beth, to the Cholmeleys, in whose possession it now remains.
This is the senior line of the eminent Yorkshire family of
that name. Sir Richard Cholmeley descended from the Barons
Malpas in Cheshire, the parent stock of the present Marquis
Cholmondeley, married Elizabeth, daughter of  Neville
of Thornton Bridge. He was famed for his valour on several
occasions, and was knighted 12 Henry VII, and constituted
lieutenant of the Castle of Berwick and governor of Hull. For
his services at the battle of Flodden field, he was made lieuten
ant of the Tower of London. Sir Richard his son chiefly resided
at Roxby, between Pickering and Thornton. He was a distin
guished soldier under the Earl of Hertford, and received the
honour of Knighthood at Leith, in 1544. He married to his
first wife, Margaret daughter of Lord Conyers, and to his
second, Katharine, daughter of Henry, first Earl of Cumber
land, and widow of John Lord Scrope of Bolton. Sir Henry
Cholmeley, offspring of his second marriage was ancestor of
the Cholmeleys of Whitby. Margaret, married 
Strangwayes, Esq., the Lord of Sneaton. Jane, married
Ralph Salvin of Newbiggin and Easingwold. Katharine was
espoused to Lord Lumley, but was married to one Dutton,
who taught her music. Roger, the son of Sir Richard, by his
first wife, married a daughter of De la Ryver, and was ancestor
of the Cholmeleys of Brandsby. Their present representative is
Francis Cholmeley, Esq., who is magistrate and deputy-lieu
tenant of the North- Riding of Yorkshire. He married 22nd
3 Monasticon Anglicanum. p. 389.

BRANDSBY. 145
August, 1809, Barbara, fifth daughter of Henry Darrell, Esq.,
of Hall, Co. Kent.
Arms. — Gules, two helmets in chief,, proper, garnished
or, in base, a garb of the last ; quartering Englefield.
Crest. — A demi-griffin segreant, sable, beaked or, holding
a helmet of the arms.
The Cholmeleys have been distinguished in their country's
annals as faithful adherents to the Royal cause. At the com
mencement of the civil war, Sir Hugh Cholmeley and Sir
Henry Cholmeley, in connexion with Lord Howard of Escrick
and Sir Philip Stapylton, presented a petition to the King in
justification of Sir John Hotham's proceedings on behalf of the
parliament, and their names are found appended to a letter of
a similar nature; but Sir Hugh, who was governor of Scar-
brough Castle soon after, had abundant opportunities of tes
tifying his obedience to his sovereign in that important trust,
which he discharged with courage and singular fidelity.
In 1547 and 1556, Richard Cholmeley, Knight, was High
Sheriff of Yorkshire; and in 1724, Hugh Cholmeley, Esq., held
that office.
Brandsby Hall is a modern structure of free-stone, erected
on the site of an older mansion, not far from the Church,
of which Dom. Thomas de Ryparia, 12 Sept., 1228, was rector,
to whose family the patronage belonged as well as the manor,
and from whom it descended to the Cholmeleys.
In January. 1716, a faculty was granted to remove the old
Church to its present position, which was accordingly done at
the expence of the late Francis Cholmeley, Esq., except £45,
which was paid by the parish. If is built after the Italian style
of architecture. On the north side are emblazoned the arms of
the Cholmeleys, and the following inscription on a neat
tablet: — In this Vault are interred the earthly remains of
TERESA MARY CHOLMELEY,
Eldest daughter of Francis and Teresa Ann Cholmeley,
Born Jan. 25, 1785, died July 5th, 1794.
To. the memory of a most dear and lamented child, whose

146

BRANDSBY.

early dawn of life opened with the promise of every excellence,
this Tablet is inscribed by her unfortunate parents.
How tenderly loved and deeply regretted
While life endures their tears will testify! •
May this cold marble then record their grief
And bid the rising generation
Emulate the Angel it has lost. A. C.
Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to Heaven. Young.
The Church contains an Organ which was presented by
Mr. Cattley. The living is a Rectory, stated above, and was
valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation at £20. The Register
Books commence in 1575. The charities connected with the
parish amount to about £1 per annum. The Rev. Robert
Swann, M. A. is Rector, and the Rev. G. T. Edwards, Curate.
Population 310.

;: ¦«<:«»< .

'SIWB HTftGH IHLAlLIv.
THE SEATQFS'R GEORGE WOM BWELL, BART,

Jfatargjr.
(Novus Burgus — Leland. Newburg — Saxon. Newborough — Newburgh.)

EWBURGH is situate among the sylvan scenery
on the north-east side of Easingwold from which
it is four and a half miles distant, and bordering
upon the beautiful village of Coxwold, and the
romantic prospects of the Hambleton Hills.
The associations connected with the history of Newburgh
are suggestive of high and solemn remembrances. The grassy
mound on which the present Hall and remains of the ancient
Priory stand, is asserted by antiquaries to have been once
occupied by the Romans
Newburgh, called Novus Burgus by Leland, plainly indi
cates an origin from the ruins of some Roman Burgh or town,
in, or near the place which now bears the name.
What with us is called Brough, Borough, Bury, is taken
from Bupg, Bunge, or Bypij, which the learned Somner in
terprets urbs,* civitas, arx, caslrum, burgus, municipium, a city,
a fort, a fortress, a tower, a castle. Est enim locus munitus
ad salutem hominum. "It signifies," adds that author, "any
fortified place for the'safety of mankind." In the last sense,
it seems to suit our purpose best. It is well known that the
Saxons occupied and made use of the deserted Roman stations
and palaces, and kept up their fortifications till they were
beaten out of them by the Danes, who burnt or razed most of
them to the ground. Burgh was then a common Saxon
appellation for such a fortress, to which sometimes the Roman
name. was prefixed, as to Canterbury, Salisbury, &c, at other
times some distinctive term in the language of their succes
sors, as Aldburgh, Newburgh; the latter place being called
* See Somner's Saxon Diet. Skinner's etym. ibid and Gibson's regulae
generates de nominibus locorum. Chron. Saxon, in appendice.
K2

1-48 newburgh.
Newburgh, to distinguish it from Aldburgh, then a fortified
city in the neighbourhood, presenting appearances of higher
antiquity. There is of course much uncertainty connected with such
matters — "Darkness surrounds us; seeking we are lost
Amid Brigantian coves.
Nor characters of Greek or Eoman fame
To an unquestionable source have led.
Enough — if eyes that sought the Fountain-head,
In vain, upon the growing Bill may gaze,
and though Roman data may fail to give elucidation to the
problem, and the links connecting this pleasant rural retreat
with colonists from the "eternal city" are of a "questionable
source," yet there is a circumstantial alliance on which we
can gaze with pleasure, and which will enable us, however
imperfectly and erringly, to trace the "growing Rill" up to
the ' ' Fountain-head. "
Leland speaks of a remarkable estuary or bay, not taken
notice of by Ptolemy, which is the mouth of the river Tees.
This bay, he says, must have been used by the ancient Romans,
and therefore one may expect to meet with a road from it to
the city of York, as there appears to have been from Whitby,
(anciently Dunus Sinus,) Bridlington Bay, and some other
places. 6
The most direct route from York to Tees mouth is past
Crayke Castle, Newburgh, and by way of Hambleton. This
ancient trackway of the Brigantes and Romans seems to have
escaped the notice of some of our early antiquaries, but Drake
after some research discovered the strata of the road in the
lane between Coxwold and Newburgh, which was formerly the
high-road, but now laid open to the adjoining fields. "New
burgh," says he, " might have been an entrenchment on this
road. Up the hill by Lord Fauconberg's park wall, a good
deal of it is obvious ; particularly opposite to the extreme cor
ner of this wall, is a piece of it, ten yards out of the present
road, and almost under the hedge, very fresh and apparent.
This pavement is of the same kind of pebble, and manner of
1 Leland's Collectanea, 2, 369.

NEWBURGH. 149
laying as those of the Roman roads; and it is here set upon
a dry sandy hill, a place where none but the Romans would
have laid a street over, for good and bad ground by them was
paved alike. The vestiges or the stones of this road, may be
traced as far as Crayke, which might be a kind of fortress
upon this road."6
In a map of the Roman Roads of Yorkshire, published by
the Royal Society of Antiquaries, London, the route of this
road is given, as proceeding from York to Crayke Castle, across
Hambleton direct to Tees mouth.
The Roman vicinary way already noticed from Malton, ap
pears to have passed through or near the Park. Probably the
road branched off in two directions, one to Easingwold, &c,
and the other to Husthwaite, &c. The lane leading from
Husthwaite to Newburgh in the road to Malton is now called
Malton Street.
The intersection of the spot with Roman roads does not
indeed settle this minute point of local inquiry; neither does
the circumstance that several Roman coins have been discover
ed in the neighbourhood, dating as far back as Antonius Pius
and Marcus Aurelius, prove Newburgh to have been a Roman
town ; because Roman coins have frequently been found alto
gether apart from any Roman settlement. Yet these, connect
ed with other evidence of a less shadowy character will afford
some faint view of the past condition of the place.
"Upon Oulston Moor," says Drake, " adjoining the road to
Yearsley, and upon a dry sandy hill covered with heath, is the
agger of an ancient entrenchment, supposed to be Roman,
very much elevated and conspicuous, directed nearly in a line
from Newburgh to York. About a quarter of a mile below the
hill, in the same direction, near a farm house, called George
Hornby's new house, about a yard below the surface of the
ground, a floor resembling wall plaster, and pieces of tesselated
pavement have lately been found. There have been also about
this place many ancient tumuli or burial places."7
"All these circumstances," says our author, "make it ex
tremely probable, that Newburgh was a place of some note,
so long ago as the time the Romans resided in Britain." :
"Drake's Eboracum. p. 37. 'Ibid.
K3

150 newburgh.
There is apparently, little reason to doubt the conclusion
at which this celebrated antiquary has arrived, and the en
trenchment, many of the tumuli, the tesselated pavement, and
Roman roads close by, are further imprints of the Roman
footsteps at Newburgh.
On the south-east side of Newburgh Park and extending
over part of Oulston Moor is a double ditch, the agger of which
is in some places six or eight feet deep, and extending from
four to five hundred yards in length, across the summit of the
hill. Antiquaries agree that it is of Roman origin, and we can
not look into those deep defiles without beholding in imagina
tion the bristling features of
 " Those dauntless chiefs

Who clad in armour bright and lofty crests,
Dealt death with many a ghastly wound."
Adjacent to the entrenchment upon the summit of the hill,
is a large mound of earth, resembling a tumulus, but which on
being opened, contained no evidence of ever having been ap
propriated to such a purpose. It has apparently been one of
those elevated towers on which the beacon fires used to blaze,
on the sudden irruption of a foe. In those days of strife and
contention, watchers were constantly stationed at such places
and horsemen called in later times hobbelars, according to Cam
den, waited by, "to give notice in day time of an enemy's ap
proach, when the fire would not be seen." A most perilous task
it was for these watchers and hobbelars, for the enemy always
aimed at securing the beacon, in order to prevent the alarm
spreading, and many a deadly struggle has, no doubt, been wit
nessed on this tranquil and rural spot, which will ever remain
unpublished to the world.
Looking down from the lofty eminence on which this en
trenchment is situate, we see, before us, the accomplishment of
those words of the poet. " Battles rise before him, blue shield
ed kings descend to war. He shall burst with morning from
dreams and see the tombs of warriors round." And these
"tombs of warriors" are numerously scattered on the east side
of the entrenchment. In examining this interesting neigh
bourhood, the writer counted no less than sixteen tumuli in the

NEWBURGH. 151
immediate vicinity, and there are many more near Yearsley and
Gilling, extending in the direction of Hovingham. Though
history records not the feats of our ancestors in this neighbour
hood, or the causes which led Anglia's sons to "raise high the
mossy stories of their fame, that the children of the north here
after might behold the place where their fathers fought," yet
on these mossy tombs, containing "the ashes of the heroes of
other years, the hunter has reposed," and paced with medita
tive steps the spot
"Where Britons met with battle-axe and shield.
Some of the tumuli are large and scattered singly, here one
and there one, while others are in groups of three or four, al
most contiguous to each other. They are chiefly of a round
form, and those not subjected to the operations of the plough
have generally a circular cavity on the top.
In a field, adjoining the road leading from Yearsley to
Gilling, are three tumuli or barrows, J of large dimensions,
all of a conical shape. The largest, which is nearest the road,
measures at the base six hundred and thirty six feet in circum
ference, its sloping height one hundred and twelve feet, and
its perpendicular height thirty nine feet, a stupendous monu
ment of human labour, unaided by the scientific skill, which
works its wonders in the great mechanical operations of the
present day. It is a gigantic effort of what has been called "hero
worship," whose only object was to perpetuate the memory of
those over whose ashes such mountains of earth were raised.
Multitudes of ancient Britons must have assisted in its forma
tion, and have shouted or wept as it progressed or was com
pleted, but "the enduring monument" alone remains, to show
that there was a principle at work in these dark and cruel times,
which opened before the mind the vista of futurity, and stimu
lated to the achievement of great and mighty deeds. It is
thought that this may have been the burial-place of some an
cient British Chief or King previous to the time of the Ro
mans, for these large tumuli are of very ancient date. Anteri-
1 Barrow comes from the Anglo-Saxon Beare or Beorg, tumulus,
collis, <fcc, whence our word to bury is derived. Somner's Saxon Diet.

152

NEWBURGH.

or to the Roman invasion, the obsequies of the dead were
attended with the most profuse and absurd prodigality;
but the laws of Solon enacted that no sepulchral struc
tures should exceed the produce of ten men in three days.
This law was copied by the Romans into their XII Tables,
and when Britain became subject to Rome, the laws and cus
toms of the Romans were partly adhered to.
Sir Thomas Browne has remarked, " that there can be no
clear and assured decision," as to the history of these tumuli,
"without an ocular exploration and subterraneous inquiry by
cutting through one of them, either directly or crosswise."
T. M. Kendall, Esq., of Pickering Hall, with the consent
of Sir George Wombwell, Bart., opened several of these tu
muli in 1851, and Mr. K. has been kind enough to furnish the
author with some particulars of the same, and allowed him to
take sketches of the urns found in them.
About five hundred paces from the entrenchment, adjoining
the Park-wall on the inner side, and near the place called
" Thorsden's Neuke" is a barrow 270 feet in circumference, and
resembling a monster ant-hill. It contained a fine specimen
of a flint knife of ancient British manufacture, as per annexed
engraving,

with a heart urn and skeleton, also some Roman bricks and
pieces of Roman pottery.
On the outside of the Park, in a small field adjoining
Oulston Moor, and near the south-east boundary, was a large
barrow, which contained the annexed urn in a good state of
preservation, four feet deep, with a skeleton. This urn con-

NEWBURGH.

153

tained no calcined matter. It resembles the description of
urn known in the
" antiquarian no
menclature," as the
"drinking cup," and
has a graceful, swel
ling, Etruscan vase
like appearance.
Near the east
corner of the Park,
within the wall, is a
barrow 300 feet
in circumference
which contained a
large conglomerate
mass of animal, vegetable, and mineral matter, burnt together,
and weighing from ten to twelve stone. There is another
barrow adjoining this of equal size, and only divided by a
deer-track, yet unopened.
A short distance from the above, but within jthe wood, is a
group of four tumuli, two of them only divided by a deer-track,
and the other ten paces apart They are respectively one
hundred and fifty four feet, one hundred and sixty eight feet,
one hundred and ninety five feet, and two hundred and twenty
five feet in circumference. The barrows are all of a conical
shape. The largest, which is a kind of centre one, contained
a very important and interesting relic of a bygone age. Four
and a half feet below the surface, was a cromlech or kist-vaen,
i. e. a stone chest or cover stone, supported by other stones
placed in an upright position, and forming a rectangular space,
beneath which the urns were deposited. The Druids are
generally supposed to be the builders of the cromlechs. It
measured from five to six feet in length, three in breadth, two
and a half to three in depth, and was paved with stones at the
bottom. A large stone resembling an altar stone, was supported
by rude slabs of red sandstone over the kist-vaen, and would,
it is supposed, weigh not less than a ton! and a half. The
stone was removed with great difficulty, and beneath this rude
depository of the dead were several skeletons, with their heads

154

XEWBURGH.

towards the east, and their legs drawn up. On the side of one
was the foUowing urn, eight inches by five and a half, in a good
state of preservati on,
and deposited close
to the skeleton.
This urn is richly-
carved all over with
angular lines in
rows, running in
opposite directions,
— an ornament pe
culiar to the ancient
British period.
The stones of
which the kistvaen
was composed, are
rough from the quarry, and have never been submitted to a
refining process; — in fact, the Britons were at that period
unacquainted with the use of iron. In the adjoining tumulus
was the annexed urn,
which measures four
and a half inches by
seven inches, with a
skeleton in the same
position as the others.
This barrow contain
ed some ancient Brit
ish ornaments. The
other two barrows
have not been open
ed, but there can be
little doubt of these
containing urns like
the rest. Another barrow
was opened in a field,
adjoining the high
end of Yearsley.
This appears to have been of Danish origin, being surrounded
t

NEWBURGH. 155
at the base with large stones. It contained an urn filled with
calcined bones. The urn was of a later date than any others
found in this neighbourhood. A piece of iron (indescribable,)
was found near the skeleton. It was customary for a succeed
ing race of people to take possession of the old British bar
rows, and inter their dead in them.
A group of barrows like the above indicates rank, and from
the structure of the kist-vaen, the position of the bodies, and
the character of the urns, it ¦¦ is probable this has been the
burial-place of some British chieftain or general of the Brigan
tes, whose ashes have been quietly reposing in the dust for a
period of not less than two or three thousand years. All the urns
except one, are of ancient British manufacture; and tho bar
rows contained quantities of burnt charcoal, half burnt bones,
limestones, and the soil around the urns was quite red from
the action of a strong fire.
The circumstance of Roman ware being discovered in one
of the tumuli, would seem to fix its date at the Romano-Brit
ish period, since which, these graves have remained unmolest
ed by the various spoilers who have ravaged the land, and
their sepulchral character with the peculiarities connected
therewith, have only been established in the nineteenth century.
Besides the tumuli already mentioned, many others have
been opened, which contained urns of a similar description,
with bones and ashes of the dead, ornaments, domestic uten
sils, weapons of war, and decorations of the person. Mela
says, "that the Druidical belief led the people to bury with the
dead, things useful to the living.
Woden, the great law-giver of the Saxons, who was after
wards deified by them, expressly commanded that over the
ashes of their kings great hills of earth should be raised, a law
which was afterwards extended to all those who perished in
battle. While the monuments of brass and stone have disap
peared, these grassy mounds have survived, pointing out the
burial-places of generations long passed away. Time that
antiquates antiquities, has almost reduced some of them to a
level with the earth, and their form can scarcely be traced
except by the shadows which they cast in the morning or
evening sun. 1

156 NEWBURGH.
These tumuli are monumental evidences of the barbarity
of our ancestors, and will remain so to the end of time. The
names over which they were erected, have long ceased to be
remembered, and thus has the prophetic denunciation of the
son of Fingal against oppressors been fulfilled, not only on
them, but also on the renowned and virtuous of former times : —
'¦ The bard shall forget them in song, and their tombs shall
not be known."
On viewing the surrounding country, the penetrating eye
of the "hero of a hundred fights," would pronounce it a situa
tion peculiarly adapted for the meeting of hostile armies. At
what time such conflict took place, does not appear, but cir
cumstantial evidence favors the conclusion that it was a contest
between the Romans and ancient Britons, and the fact
that the tumuli are British and the entrenchment Roman,
would seem as if the former were victorious, and having driven
the conquerors of the world from their strongholds, they raised
those mounds of earth over the ashes of their departed heroes
who fell in battle.
Near to one of those tumuli was found, about fifty years
ago, a gold spur, which is now preserved in Newburgh Hall.
Some broken pieces of armour have also been dug up at differ
ent times, thus verifying the words of the bard : " The stran
ger shall come and build here, and remove the heaped up
earth. A half worn sword shall rise before him ; and bending
over it he will say, These are the arms of chiefs of old, but
their names are not in song."
In taking our final leave of these monumental remains, we
would again draw the attention of the reader to the period of
their establishment, when the thick veil of superstition over
shadowed our isle. From the high mound or beacon hill
above the entrenchment, we have a commanding view of the
whole valley scattered with tumuli, the results of strife and
blood. Like an illuminated clock set in the dark steeple of
time, they mark the character of the past, and read us an ho
mily on vicissitude and change. History teaches moral les
sons. She tolls the bell from that dome which overshadows
the world, — gathers us to the death, the funeral, and the judg
ment of heroes. A deep sea has gone over them. Only here

NEWBURGH. 157
and there they rise above the waves, like rocks darting through
the surf in the flashes of a storm, and as we look into the
dreary twilight, we perceive by the glimmering of the past, that
the ocean is of blood.
We can furnish no historical matter worthy of notice res
pecting Newburgh, during the times of the Saxons and the
Danes. The depredations of the latter, and the agricultural
character of the former, are not found among the records
relating to Newburgh; and, in the absence of historic data, it
is useless to carry our enquiries further back than the time of
the Norman Conquest.
The estates of Newburgh were given by William the Con
queror to Roger de Mowbray, after the battle of Hastings,
along with other extensive possessions in Yorkshire.
NEWBURGH PRIORY.
During the first century of the Norman rule in England
there were erected a larger number of those durable monu
ments of the earnest devotion of the mixed races of the people,
than at any previous or subsequent period of its history. This
part of Yorkshire, under the dominion of the Anglo-Saxons,
was not without its "religious worship" and its "magnificent
temples." Few are the material monuments now left of these
five centuries of struggle from supremacy within and against
invasion from without, — of Paganism overthrowing the institu
tions of Christianized Britain by the sword, and overthrown in
its turn by the more lashing power of a dominant church — of
wise government — of noble patriotism vainly contending a-
gainst a new irruption of predatory sea kings ; — these monu
ments are few and of obscure origin, but their existence can
not be doubted. Wherever Christianity obtained a footing,
monasteries were erected. St. Austin and his followers estab
lished several in Kent, and the Scottish bishops and monks
did the same amongst the Northumbrians. In the county of
York ten monasteries were founded before the invasion of the
Danes. Among the rest, in or about the year 685, St. Cuth
bert founded a monastery at Crayke,2 which was in existence
3Chron. Sax. Hoveden and Cressy, p. 976i

15B NEWBURGH.
200 years afterwards, but supposed to have been destroyed by
the Danes.
It would be vain to attempt to abstract the mind from those
local emotions which naturally arise from associations with the
past. St. Cuthbert has trod these sacred plains. His presence
and his prayers have rested upon the forts of Newburgh, even
When the heathen trumpet rang
Bound its beleaguered walls,
and we admire not that frigid philosophy which can pass in
different or unmoved over any ground which has been dignified
by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envi
ed whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of
Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer amongst the
isolated towers of Newburgh.
The ruins of those houses erected by the piety of the Anglo-
Saxons have long since been swept away, and they now remain
buried in the dust, verifying the words of the poet: —
We build with what we deem eternal rock,
A distant age asks where the fabric stood.
These early Anglo-Saxon monasteries were not the resi
dence of " lazy monks" as we are too much accustomed to call
this sacred profession, but of men distinguished by the purity
and simplicity of their lives, and their laborious and disinter
ested exertions to promote the public weal. From these sem
inaries of piety and philantrophy, went forth the Christian
missionary to search amidst the woods and forests for the dark
seats where Druidism still lingered, or the fiercer worship
where Thor still lifted his hoarse voice of desolation and war,
till " Prompt transformation works the novel lore,
 Woden falls and Thor
Is overturned."
Such are the materials which call forth those local emo
tions, excited by the piety of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers on
this spot, and though the ruins of St. Cuthbert's monastery is
but like •• the baseless fabric of a vision ,"

NEWBURGH. i a a
yet such emotions we love to cherish, because from this favour
ed place, as from a beacon house, the light of Christianity
shone upon the darkness all around.
Saxon piety had done much more than can be collected
from the pages of Domesday for the establishment of an en
lightened faith, but it is to the Norman more than to the
Saxon that we are to attribute those ecclesiastical edifices which
in a short space of time were so thickly studded throughout
the land.
It was during the troublesome reign of Stephen, in the
year 1145, that the priory of Newburgh was first established.
The turmoils of war and strife which then swept its desolating
influences over the country, did not restrain the piety and
charity of the people in building religious houses. Roger de
Mowbray was the celebrated founder of this Priory. He had
been a ward in chancery, and at his release he became posses
sed of large estates in different parts of the country but espe
cially in Yorkshire. The house was dedicatedto St. Mary, and
the Monks were of the order of the Canons Regular of St.
Augustine. Roger de Mowbray, the son of Nigel de Albini and Gun-
dreda, was a man of great distinction and large possessions,
and such was the fashionable zeal of those times that he found
ed no less than thirty-five religious houses. 3 His principal
residence was at Thirsk, but he had castles at Gilling, Hode,
and Slingsby. The first of these great and mighty barons was
Robert de Mowbray, who attended William the Conqueror,
and was afterwards created Earl of Northumberland, and re
warded with the estates of Newburgh, Byland, Hovingham,
Gilling, Thirsk, and Slingsby, but the said Robert de Mow
bray taking part with Robert Cuthrose against Henry I., had
his estates forfeited, which estates were bestowed on Nigel de
Albini, a Norman of noble extraction, and on the mother side,
a Mowbray. He came into England with William the Con-
3 A few years previous he had founded the Abbey of Byland, and no
doubt there were many who found refuge in such places, in whom the flame
of devotion burnt brightly , and their sense of the mercies of redemption was
a strong solace amidst the troubles of oppression and the rude manners of
a half barbarian age.

160 NEWBURGH.
queror, was bow bearer to William Rufus, and for the valour
which he displayed in the famous battle of Tenchebray, being
the last of those conflicts which Henry I. had with his brother
Cuthrose, where this Nigel slew his horse and brought him
captive to King Henry, and had from the king his forfeited
lands, amounting to no less than one hundred and twenty
Knight's fees.
Roger de Mowbray was present at the great battle of the
standard fought near Northallerton, in 1138, where we find
many other Yorkshire barons, William de Percy, Robert de
Bras, Walter, L'Espec, and others.4
The charter of the foundation of Newburgh Priory, trans
lated from the Latin of Dugdale is as follows : —
" To all the sons of our holy mother the Church, Roger de
Mowbray sendeth greeting. Be it known to you that I have
given and granted to God and the Church of St. Mary of New
burgh, and to the canons there serving God, the place in
which their Abbey is built, and all the ground which lies to
the east of Cukewald beyond the Fish pond. The Church of
St. Mary of Hode with the ground belonging to it, and the
woodlands on the declivity of the neighbouring mountains, in
the same manner it was before held by the monks of Byland:
The Church of Cukewald with nine oxgangs of land, and the
tofts and crofts in that village, and with the Chapels belong
ing to that church, namely the Chapel of Kilburn, with one
carucate of land, and the Chapel of Thurkilby with three ox
gangs of land, and certain tofts and crofts. The Chapel of Sil-
ton with two oxgangs of land. The Chapel of Tresc (Thirsk)
with one carucate of land in that village ; and tofts and crofts
in the borough, also the Chapel of St. James, with two ox
gangs of land in the village, with two tofts in the borough;
also one carucate of land in Tresc, which Bartholomew Gigator
held, or occupied with the tofts and crofts thereunto belonging.
Also I grant to them and their tenants, who live in the borough,
all the liberties and easements which my burgesses have in the
said borough of buying and selling in the market, and out of
j-IA genealogical and historical account of the Mowbray family may be
found^in the Cotton Library, also in Dugdales history of the Abbey of
Byland,

NEWBURGH. 161
the market, without paying toll or stallage : one oxgang of land
in Tresc, heretofore in the possession of William the son of
Katellus, which he had in exchange for one oxgang of land in
Colton and one toft in Tresc, near the bar towards Kil
vington, between the house of Robert Coins and the house of
Humphrey. Also another toft, between the toft of Helias the
son of Elwin and the toft of William the son of Robert. Also
the island of Tresc, which was the property of Richard the
priest, and an oxgang of land with a toft and croft which
the said Richard possessed, and that toft which belonged to
Basilia. The church of Howingham (Hovingham,) with one
carucate of land, and tofts and crofts, and dwellings belonging
to the said church ; and one plough land (cultura) in the vale,
and the chapel of Friton, and also one oxgang of land in Hov
ingham with all appurtenances belonging thereto; also two
oxgangs at Sartum, which they hold by the donation of Ralph
de Belvoir, (Ranulphus de Belvaria.) Also five acres of land
in the territory of Baggeby near the road which leads to St.
Felix. The church of Welleburn (Welburn) with six oxgangs
of land, and the vale in which the church is situated; with the
chapel of Wimbleton, adjoining to which are two oxgangs of
land. The church of Thirkby in Riedale with one carucate
of land, and tofts and crofts in that village. ¦ The church of
Kirkby near the bridge of the borough (Boroughbridge) with
one carucate of land and the chapel of Burton. The church
of Cundale with ten oxgangs of land in that village.
And whatsoever is reasonably conferred, or shall be here
after conferred upon my aforesaid canons, by the freemen of
my fee, I do by the testimony of this present writing, confirm
and appoint to be held and possessed by the church aforesaid,
in perpetual right, quit of homage, forfeits, foreign service, and
all other secular services and demands, well and quietly, freely
and honourably as my just and lawful gift or alms. These
being witnesses, Robert de Mowbray my uncle, &c, &c, &c.
No sooner had these monastic institutions obtained a foot
ing, than the neighbourhood began to be touched with a secret
and religious awe. Every person was desirous to promote
so good a work, and either by sale, by grant, or by gift in
reversion, was ambitious of appearing its benefactor. This feel-i
L

102 NEWBURGH.
ing was inflamed and felt too by the religious persons of the
age. William of Newburgh, one of the canons of this priory,
speaks thus of the Abbey of Fountains, then anew foundation :
" The place," said he, "is called Fountains, where from the time
of its foundation, many souls have drank, as from the foun
tains of their Saviour, of the waters springing up to everlasting
life." And again, of Rievaux and Byland, "What are such
religious dwellings but the camps of God, where the soldiers
of Christ our King keep guard, and the recruits are trained
against the assaults of spiritual wickedness?" Such is the
language of christian piety, and its influence was felt upon the
minds of others.
Besides the donations made to this monastery by Roger de
Mowbray, in the above recited charter, others were afterwards
made, or confirmed to it, by him, and by Nigel and William de
Mowbray, his son and grandson; namely, the churches of
Masham, Malesar, Landeford, Haxai, Ouston, Eppeworth,
Belton, and their appurtenances. The church of Brafferton,
the gift of Henry de Riparia, was confirmed to the monastery
by the Mowbrays. Also the church of St. Andrew, in Fisher-
gate, York, was given to this priory by Roger de Mowbray.
In addition to these lands and churches, they had lands,
meadows, and tofts in Cukwald, Thirkleby, Hovingham, Wym-
bleton, Kilburn, Thirsk, Silton, Kirby Kreandale, Brafferton,
Brandsby, Ulverston, Kava, Northibi, Hikelpage, Cave, Broun-
get flete, Angoteby, Carlton juxta Hustwayte, Steresbi, Kil
vington, &c, &c, &c.
Thomas de Lascelles granted to them (with his body) the
third part of the town of Sowerby, containing three carucates
of land and four oxgangs.
A certain part of his wood of Ravensland, with an essart
and moor beneath the river (Fosse.)
All the part of his pannage of Ravensland and as much
moor and turbary of the town as belongs to the said third
part. Also the third part of his mills at Surebi.
Roger Calvus gave (with his body) two oxgangs of land
in Scalton, with a toft and croft.
John Nevil, son of Sir Robert Nevil, granted them 14d.
annage rent in the town of Thornton on the bill, fox which

KEWBUP.GH. 168
they granted to him to celebrate his father's and mother's
anniversary obiits.
Agnes de Percy gave two oxgangs of land in Topcliffe.
Richard Mansel of Thormodbi, gave one croft and eight
acres of land in the territory of Thormodbi,
And Gilbert Bures gave half an oxgang of land in the same.
These are only a fractional part of the property with which
this monastery was endowed. A more full and particular
account may be seen in Torr's MSS., preserved in the Record
Office, York.
In a second charter granted to this Priory by William de
Mowbray, grandson of the founder, the original grants are
not only confirmed but considerably enlarged, including lands
in Ampleford, Fursden, (Helmsley,) "and all the land as it is
included by the great street or road which leads through the
middle of Fursden, as far as the boundaries of Hustwaite,
and across to Sunnecliffe, and so by the great road going
down to Cukewald."
Gulielmus Nubrigensis, or William of Newburgh, the cele
brated historian, was one of the Canons of the Priory of
Newburgh. He was born in the year 1136, and took the
name of William de Newburgh from this Abbey, though it is
said his real name was Petit, Parvus or Little. His Historia
Regum Anglim commences with the Norman Conquest, and is
carried down as far as the reign of King John. His Latin style
is considered pure, and even preferable to that of Matthew
Paris; but he evinces a violent prejudice against Geoffrey of
Monmouth and the Princes of Wales, having been disappoint
ed of the Bishoprick of St. Asaph. The best edition of his
work was published by Thomas Hearne, with a Preface and
Notes, Oxford, 1719, 2 vols. 8vo.
To the sacred retreat of Newburgh the words of the poet
are peculiarly applicable : —
" Here science calmly rear'd its laurelled brow,
And learning sheltered in this sacred pile.
Asylum soft ! where toiled the busy pen,
Transcriptive, volumes multiplied ; ere yet
The metal type, and ponderous moving press,
Had lent their magic art to literature."
1.2

164 NEWBURGH.
But we must return to the Priory itself, to which we have
only given a passing glance. A finer situation for a monastic
retreat can scarcely be conceived. It is surrounded by hills
once covered with thick wood, with the romantic mountains of
Hambleton and the Western ridges spreading forth a canvass
of delightful and picturesque scenery around.
The architectural features of the building have undergone
a thorough transformation since the dissolution of the mo
nastery, when it was converted into a family mansion, and
became the seat of the noble house of Fauconberg; neverthe
less, it still bears many striking features of the monastic cha
racter, and might as justly be styled Newburgh Priory as New
burgh Hall. The windows are principally square headed,
with mouldings of the Elizabethan style, and appear to have
been inserted shortly after the dissolution of the house.
Among those parts of the priory which still maintain its mon
astic character may be noticed the spacious kitchen with its
Gothic windows, ready at any moment to glow with " unwonted
fires," and renew those old hospitalities of which its immense
fire-places give such an expansive idea. All the lower parts of
the abbey have been modernized, but without undergoing any
material re-construction.
The best and most modern part of the building is the south
corner of the east end, which has twice suffered from the
effects of fire, and has been rebuilt upon a more lofty and
elevated principle. This part is ornamented with circular
projections which give it a castellated appearance.
Some idea of the extent and magnificence of this priory
may be gathered from the circumstance that the Princess Mar
garet, daughter of Henry VII., with her train of nobles, to
the number of two hundred, and their retainers, lodged at
Newburgh Priory for one night, when she took her journey to
Scotland, on her marriage with James IV. of Scotland.
The ceremonial of attending this Lady on her progress and
reception is thus recorded by an Officer at Arms, from whose
original record the following is transcribed.
"The fifteenth' Day of the said Monneth, departed the
Quene fro Pountefret in faire company, as others times before,
the Mayr, Oldermen, Bourges, and Habittanns in the convey-

NEWBURGH. 165
ing of her, and from thens she want to Dynner to Dadcasler.
And att the partyng after Dynner cam to hyr my Lord
Lalymer and my Lady his wiffe, vary well appoynted, com-
panyed of many Gentylmen and Gentylwomen, to the num-
of l Horses, hys Folk arrayed Liveray.
And of the said Dadcaster cam the two Shriffs of the
City of Yorke, wellcommyng the Quene in ther Fraunchyses, in
company of many Officers of the Towne, and oth' Bourges arid
Habitanns, well honestly apoynted and horst, to the nombre
of iiiixx Horsys. And two mille fro Dadcaster cam to her the
Lord Scroupp, of Bolton, and the Lord Scroupp, of Upsall, his
Sone, in Company of many Gentylmen well appoynted, and
ther Folke in suchwise to the numbre of xx Horsys, of ther
Liverays, and well Horsyd.
And fore mille from the sayde Towne met the sayd Quene
the Lady Conyars nobly drest, and in hyr Company many
Gentyllwomen,and others honnestly appoynted, to the nombre
of 60 Horsys.
At two Mille fro the sayd Cite cam toward the sayd Quene,
my Lord the Earle of Northumberlande well horst opon a fayr
Corser, with a forr Cloth to the Grounde of Cramsyn Velvett,
all horded of Orfavery, his Armes vary rich in many Places
uppon his Saddle and Harnays, his sterrops gylt.
Wyth hym in hys company was many noble Knyghts ; that
is to weytt, Sur John Haystyngs, Sur John Penynthon, Sur
Lancelot Thirklekeld, Sur Thomas Curwen, Sur John Nor-
manville, Sur Robert of Aske, all Knyghts, arrayed of hys sayd
Liveray of Velvet with some Goldsmyth Wark; grett chaynnes
and war well mounted, some of ther Horse Harnes full of
Campanes, sum of Gold and Sylver, and the others of Sylver.
Also ther was hys Officer of Armes, named Northumberland
— Herault, aray'd of hys sayd Liveray of Velvet, herring hys
Cotte sens the Mettyng tyll to hys departyng thorough all Hie
Entryng and Yssue of good Towns and Citez.
Also others Gentylmen in such wys aray'd of his sayd
Liveray, sum in Velvet, others in Damaske and Chamlett, the
others of Cloth, well mounted, to the Nombre of three hun-
dreth Horsys.
And all the Nobles, Lordes, Knyghts Gentylmen, and
l3

168 NEWBURGH.
others of hyr Companye apoynted in so good manere and so
ryche, that a goodly Sighte it was for to beholde.
The XVirh Day of the sayd Monneth the sayd Quene de
parted fro the sayd Cite of York in varey fayr Companye and
Ordre, rychly apoynted, the Archbischop of York and Byschops
of Morrey, and of Norwyche, and Durham, the Lords Willeby,
Lord Scroup and hys Son the Lord Latimer, the Lord Has-
tyngs, Therle of Kent, and hys Son Lord Straunge, Theiie of
Northumberlande, Therle of Surrey, the Lord Chamberlain,
the Officers of armes, and the Serjents, with the Ladyes in
way ting, including the Countess of Surrey bareing her Trayne,
the Countess of Northumberlande, well accompanyed of many
Knyghts and Gentylmen, and Ladyes and Gentylwomen.
Also the Lord Mair, Scheryffs and the Oldermen, the Streytts
and the Wyndows so full of people that it was a fair thynge for
to see. And after this doon, She took hyr Way to Newburgh the
Priorie, to the which place she was receyved by the sayd Prior
and Religyous, honnestly revested with the Crosse, at the Gatt
of the Church."
On the following day they proceeded en route for Edin
burgh, where the Princess was married to James IV. of
Scotland. The religious in those days were divided into two classes,
consisting of the seculars and regulars.
The latter were of two kinds, monks and canons ; and of
these, the most celebrated were the canons regular of the order
of St. Augustine, which order was instituted at Newburgh.
Although they were a less strict sort of religious than the
monks, yet they lived together under one roof, had a common
chapel, dormitory, and refectory ; were obliged to obey their
superior, and to observe the statutes of their order. Thus,
they lived a modified monastic life, and were frequently sent
out by the Prior into the rural retreats of the natives to teach
the ignorant population, and perform among them the rites of
religion. The dress of the Augustine Canons consisted of a
long black cossack, over which was a white rochet, with a black
cloak and hood, whence they were sometimes called " Black
;Canons." They also wore caps on their heads instead of the

NEWBURGH". 167
monkish cowl, and suffered their beards to grow, whereas the
monks were always shaven.
In the early part of their history, their russet gowns were
of the coarsest materials, and Walsingham describes them as
"going barefoot." One of them having indulged in the luxury
of shoes, is described as having dreamed that he was travelling
through a narrow pass, when he was assaulted by robbers, who
cried out, "Down with him! cut the villain's throat!" " Spare
me, spare me," was his reply, " I am but a poor monk." " You
a monk! with shoes to your feet! kill him, kill him!" roared
out the murderer, when the poor monk awoke in an agony of
fear, and in his zeal and revenge threw his shoes into the
court of the convent.4
The Church connected with the Priory is entirely demolish
ed. The foundations may yet be traced betwixt the north
entrance and the fish pond, where quantities of human bones
lie interred. "And here the cemetery, hallow'd ground,
Where sleep the fathers of this ancient place
With their monastic sons. 
This consecrated mould ! a garden now
Where culinary plants profusely grow ;
And thus the living riot on the dead !"
Many curious carved stones have been discovered in the
adjoining grounds, which are still preserved at the east end of
the hall, adjoining to the fountain. Among them are the upper
portion of an octagonal font once supported by a shaft of simi
lar form, with semi-cylindrical pillars at each angle, inclining
to a point on the outer face ; also a stone coffin about seven
feet in length ; the upper part of a richly ornamented cross ;
a rude and imperfect figure of a bearded man bearing a staff
in his right hand and a bird, probably a cock, in his left; and
an equally rude representation of the patriarch Abraham in
the act of stretching out his hand to slay his son for whom the
ram is substituted by Divine interposition. These sculptures
may date as early as the foundation of the priory. If we may
judge of its general style of architecture from the few and dis:
jointed fragments which are here collected, it resembled that
4T. Eocleston, Hist. MS.

1 68 NEWBURGH.
of Byland, which owed its origin to the same Founder. The
buildings of both were rising in the reigns of Stephen and
Henry II. The most ancient appearances about the present
house which was probably as in other cases, the Prior s lod
ging adapted to the use of a lay occupant, are of a period little
anterior to the Reformation. The heads of an angel, an owl,
and a man, appear on corbels in the Hall, which evidently
belong to this date.
Whatever might be the degeneracy into which these religi
ous communities had sunk at the time of the Reformation,
there can be no doubt of their primitive simplicity and adap
tation. In course of time they became encumbered with
wealth. Every year increased the magnitude of their funds,
and, consequently, they were rendered unwieldy and inoper
ative. Their vitality was fled. And though the English Re
formation originated in the basest of motives, its consequences
were, upon the whole, highly beneficial. We may deplore the
wholesale confiscation of property which, under a well regula
ted system, would have supphed the means for religious
instruction commensurate with the wants of the nation ; but
we cannot regret the dispersal of those clouds which had been
gradually obscuring the bright rays of the Sun of truth.
To the Austin and Cistercian Canons may be attributed
the revival of religion which took place in the twelfth cen
tury. While poverty was their lot, they remained a humble,
laborious, and self-denying people ; but with riches came lux
ury, power, and ostentation. Not more than a century had
passed before a change of this nature was visible in their con
dition, and the self-denying Austin and Cistercian Canons were
spoken of as following Reuben's choice, •' abiding among sheep-
folds and listening to the bleating of flocks;" and carrying on
an extensive trade in wool and other agricultural commodities.
These pursuits might be productive of benefit at a time when
the military barons altogether neglected agriculture ; but they
tended to promote feelings of pride, avarice, and ambition
among the canons ; and that such was the public opinion of
them in that age, may be gathered from the well known saying
of Richard I., who, when a gentleman in France, of very high
reputation for sanctity, was prompted to administer to him

NEWBURGH. 169
the bold reproof: — "You have three daughters at home, whom
you love more than the grace of God : they are, Pride, Luxury,
and Avarice;" replied, "My friend, they are no longer at
home: — I have married my daughter Pride to the Templars,
Luxury to the Black Canons, and Avarice to the Cistercians.
The Priory of Newburgh had now existed during a period
of four centuries, and like others, it had acquired a very large
share of power and property. Its revenues amounted to £367
13s. 5d. a year, which, considering the value of money at that
day, was an immense income, for a stipend of eight pounds a
year was considered a sufficient maintenance for a parish priest,
who had to represent the prior and canons, as the religious
instructor of the people.
The writings of Wickliffe, and others of the same school
in England, had been for a century previous to the dissolution
of the monasteries, preparing the minds of the people for some
great change in the religious affairs of the nation. The storm
burst with relentless fury in the reign of Henry VIII., and the
dissolution of all religious houses was the result. The King
appointed Cromwell, the Secretary of State, to be his vicar-
general, who employed commissioners to commence a general
visitation, in order to ascertain their state.
The commissioners employed were Layton, Louden, Price,
Gage, Petre, and Belasyse, who are said to have discovered
great irregularities in some of the religious houses, and the
next step was the dissolution of all the smaller establish
ments whose revenues did not amount to £200 per year, which
took place in 1 536, when three hundred and fifty-six of the lesser
monasteries were dissolved. This was but a stepping-stone to
the dissolution of the larger ones, and in 1538, two hundred
and sixty-eight of the large abbeys and priories, including
Newburgh, Byland, Rievaux, and Fountains, were stripped of
their ornaments, their lead and bells converted into gold, and
their revenues amounting to £161,100, appropriated to the
royal funds.
These suppressions led to various insurrections in York
shire, which proved unsuccessful; and the leaders of the in
surgents, among .whom were the Abbots of Rievaux, Fountains,
Ac, were apprehended and executed for high treason.

170

NEWBURGH.

The Priory of Newburgh with the estate contiguous thereto
was granted by the king to Anthony Belasyse. The prior
and canons retired upon pensions allowed them by the state,
and desolation was in the place, where the voice of praise and
melody had been heard.
The following is a list of the Priors of Newburgh, which
we believe has never yet been in print:
Catalogue of the Priors of Newburgh. Torr's MSS.
Archdeaconry of North Riding.

Temp.

Priores domus.

Vacat.

Confirm. Elect.

Fr.
Walteris.
2 Non May, 1205.
Fr.
J. de Foxholes.
5 Kal. Eeb., 1281.
Fr.
William de Empingham.
12 Non. May, 1305.
Fr.
John de Foxholes.
Cession.
9 Non. May, 1318.
Fr.
John de Hoton.
Mort.
13 Kal. April, 1321.
Fr.
John de Cateriks.
Mort.
Celerarius Monasterii ibid.
Mar., 1331.
Fr.
John de Thresk.
Mort.
13 Sept., 1369.
Fr.
Thos. de Hustwayte.
Fr.
John Esyngwald.
Mort.
29 Aug., 1437.
Fr.
John Milium.
Mort.
18 Dec, 1459.
Fr.
William Helmesley.
13 Jan., 1505.
Fr.
Thos. Barker.
Mort.
14 April, 1518.
Fr.
Thos. Thorp.
30 Dec, 1517.
Fr.
Eobt. Matecalf.
NEWBURGH HALL.
After the dissolution of the monasteries, Anthony Belasyse,
a Doctor of the Civil Law, and Chaplain to King Henry VIII,
second son of Thomas Belasyse of Henknowle, obtained a
grant of Newburgh Priory, and gave it to Sir William Belasyse,
Knight, son of his elder brother Richard.
The noble family of Belasyse originally descended from
Belasius, a Norman Knight, who came into England with
William the Conqueror, and was the commander of his forces
against Earl Morcar, in the isle of Ely. They were first loca
ted at Belasyse and , Beuly, and afterwards at Henknowle, in
the Bishoprick of Durham, but on the acquisition of New
burgh, made it their principal residence as it ever afterwards
continued.
NEWBURGH. 171
Henry Belasyse, son of Sir William, was created a Baronet
by King James I., on the 22nd May, 161 1.5
Thomas, son of Sir Henry was advanced to the dignity of
Baron Fauconberg, 3 Charles I., and for his faithful adherence
to that king, was afterwards created Viscount Fauconberg, of
Henknowle, in the Bishoprick of Durham. He retired to
Hamburgh with the Marquis of Newcastle after the fatal battle
of Marston Moor, and dying in 1652, was buried in Coxwold
Church. His wife was Barbara, daughter of Sir Henry Chol-
mondeley of Roxby, by whom he had two sons Henry and
John, and five daughters, Margaret, married to John Lord
Darcy, of Aston; Mary, to Sir Edward Osborne, of Kiveton,
Bart., ancestor to the Duke of Leeds ; Barbara, to Sir Henry
Slingsby, Bart., of Scriven Hall; Ursula, to Sir Walter Vava
sour, Kt., of Haslewood; and Frances, to Sir Thomas Ingram,
Kt., of Temple Newsham.
John Belasyse his youngest son, faithfully adhering to
Charles when through the influence of a predominant party in
the Long Parliament great forces were ready to march against
him, raised and brought to Nottingham, upon the erection of
the Royal Standard there in August, 1 642, a complete regiment
of stout foot soldiers with which having fought valiantly at
his behalf, in the battles of Kineton and Braineford, as also at
the storming of Bristol, and battle of Newbury, he was ad
vanced to the dignity of Baron of the Realm, by the title of
Lord Belasyse of Worlaby, in the 20 Charles I. He was like
wise in consideration of his eminent services in those times,
made Lieutenant General of the Counties of York, Nottingham,
Lincoln, and Derby, Governor of the City of York, and Garr
rison of Newark upon Trent, also Captain General of his Ma
jesty's Guards, and by King Charles II, was constituted Cap
tain General of his forces in Africa, and Governor of Tangier,
also Lord Lieutenant of the East-Riding of Yorkshire, Governor
of Hull, and Captain of his Guard of Gentlemen Pensioners;
but making scruple at the. oath enjoined by Act of Parliament,
1672, he resigned all his commands, and was afterwards im-
6 Sir William Belasyse married Margaret, daughter of Sir Nicholas Fair
fax, of Gilling, Knight, and Henry, his Bon, married Ursula daughter
of Sir Thomas Fairfax, of Denton.

172 NEWBURGH.
prisoned in the Tower on account of the Popish Plot, but at
length admitted to bail. He was married thrice. By his first
wife Jane, daughter and heir to Sir Robert Butler, of Woodhall,
he had Henry, who at the coronation of Charles II. was made
Knight of the Bath, and Mary, who married Robert, Lord
Viscount Dunbar, of Scotland.
By his third wife, Lady Jane Paulet, daughter of John
Marquiss of Winchester, he had four daughters ; Honora,
married to George Neville, Lord Abergavveny; Barbara, to Sir
John Webb; Catharine, to John Talbot, of Longford, Esq.,
and Isabella, to Thomas Stoner, Esq. These ladies were his
co-heiresses, but Henry his son, by his first wife, dying without
issue, his Barony of Worlaby became extinct.
Henry, eldest son of the first Viscount Fauconberg, died
before his father, leaving by Grace, daughter and heir of Sir
Thomas Barton of Smethells in com. Lane, four sons and
four daughters. Grace, was married to George Sanderson,
Viscount Castleton; Frances, to Sir Henry Jones, Kt, of Ox
ford ; Arabella, to Sir William Frankland, of Thirkleby, Bart. ;
and Barbara, to Sir Walter Strickland, Esq. Of the sons,
Thomas, Henry, Rowland, and John, the latter died young,
the third was made Knight of the Bath, the second died in his
father's life time, and the eldest in 1652, succeeding his
grandfather as Viscount Fauconberg, was one of the Privy
Council to King Charles II., and by him sent ambassador to
the Princes of Italy.
In the same reign, he was made Captain of the Band of
Pensioners, and on the 9th April, 1689, the 1st of William
and Mary, created Earl of Fauconberg. He married first Mil
dred, daughter of Nicholas Sanderson, Viscount Castleton; and
to his second wife Mary, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, the Protec
tor,6 but dying without male issue, A.D. , 1700, the title of Earl
ceased. Those of Baron and Viscount were however continued
6 The marriage was celebrated at Whitehall, with all pomp and magni
ficence, according to the rites then in use, but afterwards in private by an
episcopalian Clergyman according to the directions of the Book of Com
mon Prayer. Of the lady it is said by Bp. Burnet that she "was a wise
and worthy woman, more likely to have maintained the post of Protector
than either of her brothers."

NEWBURGH.

173

by the offspring of Sir Rowland, Knight of the Bath, his second
brother. He died during his brother's life time, 1699, having
married Jane, daughter and heir to James Davenport, Esq., by
whom he had four sons and two daughters, Thomas, the
eldest, succeeded his uncle in the title of Baron and Viscount
Fauconberg. He married Bridget, daughter of Sir John Gage,
of Firle, Sussex, Bart. He was succeeded by his son Thomas,
4th Viscount, who, conforming to the Church of England,
which it would seem his father had forsaken, was created Earl
of Fauconberg, 1756, which earldom, became again extinct
in his son Henry, 2nd Earl, 1802. But the viscounty devolved
on the male heir, Rowland Belasyse, the sixth Viscount, grand
son of Rowland, younger brother of Thomas, third Viscount,
which Rowland Belasyse, married Frances, daughter of Lord
Teynham, by whom he had five daughters, Maiy, Bridget,
Frances, Barbara, and Anne, and two sons, Henry, who died
unmarried, Oct. 13th, 1782, and Anthony, who died October
9, 1754, having married Susannah, daughter of John Calvert,
Esq., by Anne Clifford, by whom he had issue, Rowland, the
sixth Viscount — Raymond died in his infancy; Charles the last
Viscount, and Thomas, born Sept. 11, 175 1 ; married in 1788,
Marie Louise de Neville, by whom he had five daughters, and
died in August, 1810. Rowland, the sixth Viscount, died Nov
30, 1810, and was succeeded by his only brother Charles, D.D.,
of the Sorbonne, the seventh and last Viscount.
Henry, last Earl Fauconberg, was the only son of Thomas,
Earl Fauconberg. He was a nobleman of good abilities, and
was employed in several offices under Government. He was
Lord Lieutenant, and Custos Rotulorum, of the North- Riding
of Yorkshire, Lord of the Bedchamber to George the third, of
whom he was an especial favourite, also Colonel of the North
York Militia. He married Charlotte, daughter of Sir Matthew
Lamb, Bart., of Brockett Hall, in the County of Herts., and
by her had issue, four daughters. Charlotte, the eldest, was
married to Thomas-Edward Wynn, a younger branch of the
Newburgh family in Wales, who on the death of Earl Faucon
berg, in 1802, succeeded to the Newburgh estates and as
sumed the name of Belasyse. Anne the second daughter was
married to Sir George Wombwell, Bart., of Wombwell, in the

1 74 NEWBURO-H.
West Riding of Yorkshire, and by her had issue three sons,
of whom the eldest, the present Baronet, on the death of Lady
Cbarlotte-Wynn Belasyse, in 1825, succeeded to all the Fau
conberg estates.
The third, Lady Elizabeth Belasyse, married the late Duke
of Norfolk, and was mother of the present Duke, and of Earl
Lucan in Ireland.
The fourth, Lady Harriet died young.
The present worthy possessor of the Fauconberg estates,
Sir George Wombwell, Bart., married in 1824, Georgiana,
second daughter of the late Thomas-Orby Hunter, Esq., of
Croyland Abbey, in the County of Lincoln, by whom he has
issue four sons.
The members of this noble family have severally distin
guished themselves in their country's cause, but none arrived
at the same height of popularity and distinction as Thomas
second Lord Fauconberg. His marriage with the Protector's
daughter is somewhat remarkable as all his relations (Lord
Fairfax excepted,) had shewn themselves much attached to
King Charles I., in opposition to his parliament. The ruling
passion of this nobleman was ambition. He beheld the mon
archy dissolving without a prospect of its restoration, and he
cast his despairing eyes to that quarter where power alone
Could be obtained. The death of his wife paved th'e way for
his attaining the height of his wishes in becoming son-in-
law to the chief magistrate of the kingdom.
Lord Fauconberg on his return from Italy came to court
with every advantage from his rank, the antiquity and interest
of his family, their connexions and alliances, his education
improved by travel, fine person and address, a behaviour
winning and conciliating affection, and besides all these a
solid and strong understanding, as both Lockhart and Thurloe
testify of him. These valuable qualifications were not lost in
the sight of the Protector, or his daughter, Lady Mary, and
his Lordship did not long sue in vain, but obtained the lady
from the hands of her father the same year, and to honour the
wedding, even the gravity of the times were suspended for
near a week. Lord Clarendon thus writes respecting it: His
Lordship avers that he was " the owner of a very fair estate ux_

NEWBUBGBT. 176
Yorkshire and descended of a family eminently loyal. There
were many reasons to believe, that this young gentleman,
being then about three or four and twenty years of age, of
great vigour and ambition, had many good purposes, which he
thought that alliance might qualify and enable him to perform."
It may readily be believed his Lordship had ambition, for he
accepted every place and employment his father-in-law honour
ed him with, but Jerry White would no doubt widely differ
from the noble author respecting some of his other quali
fications. In the year 1657, he was placed in the new House of Peers,
and raised to the highest honours of the Commonwealth. He
went ambassador to France, and was there received with all
the honours due to a foreign prince. His train consisted of
upwards of one hundred persons, arrayed in a style of magni
ficence and grandeur which astonished the French court, and
induced the haughty Lewis to court one whom he had thought
an usurper., To do honour to the Earl, the King kept bare at
his public audience ; and even in private, remained uncovered
for two or three hours ; and the proud Cardinal Mazarine, paid
him an homage that had never before been given to any am
bassador; for, dispensing with the state of public audience, he
eame out of his own apartment to meet his Lordship, and after
an hour's private audience, conducted him down to the very
door where his coach stood, a ceremony which was never paid
by him, not even to his own sovereign : he also gave him the
right hand in his apartment, which the Emperor's Ambassa
dor, or the Pope's Nuncio had never received. This gave
great displeasure, not only to the representatives of the first
civil and ecclesiastical powers in Europe, but to all the other
foreign ministers at that court. During the time his Lord
ship remained at the French court, which was five days, he
was royally treated, both by the sovereign and his prime min
ister; and two handsome tables were provided at the public
expense, for the ambassador and all his retinue. At the audi
ence of leave, his majesty presented him with a gold box, in
laid with diamonds; upon the lid on the outside was the arms
of France, composed of three large jewels; in the inside was
that monarch's picture, also set round with diamonds; the

176 NEWBURGH.
whole valued at five thousand crowns. Gold medals were
given to several gentlemen of his train, and one thousand louis
dors 'listributed aronugwt the servants. From the Cardinal
hit, Lordship received a present of a dozen pieces of the rich
est Genoese velvet; and in return for two sets of English
horses of eight each, which the ambassador in the Protector's
name, had presented his majesty with, he received for his
father-in-law, a magnificent sword, as characteristic of the
prince to whom it was designed, valued at ten thousand crowns ;
and the Cardinal who had also received one set of horses, pre
sented his highness, by the hands of his ambassador, a set of
tapestry hangings, made in the Gobelins, in Paris, in the Per
sian style : his Lordship (in the letter written by him to his
brother-in-law, and given in Thurloe's state papers,) says, 'in
summe, through all their actions, not the least circumstance
was omitted that might witnesse the truth of these respects
they beare his highnes and the English nation;' and to exceed-
all, the French king sent an embassy to return the compliment,
that, if possible, exceeded that of Lord Fauconberg's in state
and grandeur; at which time the ambassador, the Duke de
Crequi, first lord of the bed-chamber, presented the keys of
Dunkirk to the Protector, with this handsome compliment,
' My master takes pleasure in parting with them to the greatest
captain upon earth.'7
Lord Clarendon was of opinion that this nobleman was
by no means attached to his father-in-law. His words are,
" Cromwell plainly discovered that his son Fauconberg's heart
was set upon an interest destructive to his, and grew to hate
him perfectly." But such an assertion appears to have little
foundation in truth. The death of Sir Henry Slingsby,8 un
cle to Lord Fauconberg, was, no doubt very distressing to
him, but there does not appear to have been any breach be
tween the father and son-in-law, for upon the death of Oliver,
he styles him " the greatest personage, not only our own, but
' Noble's Memoirs of the Protectorate House, Vol. II, p. 392, 393.
8 Sir Henry Slingsby was a loyal Eoman Catholic, universally beloved,
and his death as greatly lamented. He suffered with the unfortunate Dr.
Hewitt, by command of Oliver as a warning, that none need expect mercy
who rose against him.

NEWBURGH. ... 177
any other age, ever produced," and places him for his virtues,
in the "firmament of happiness." He was one of the privy
council of Richard, whom he supported to the utmost of his
power, but being unable to stem the torrent which was burst
ing upon the Protectorate house, he prudently retired to his
own domain at Newburgh, where he was received near York,
by above one thousand gentlemen on horseback, besides many
others, with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their robes, to
congratulate him on his return. This was on July 20, 1658.
Shortly after, Richard was deposed and sent to the Tower ; but
was afterwards liberated.
When all hopes of restoring the Commonwealth was at an
end, he determined to assist in the re-establishment of monar
chy. His principles were not unknown to General Monk,
who, for that reason, gave him Hasilrigg's regiment. His
zeal towards the Restoration made his marriage with the Usur
per's daughter soon forgotten, and he was again advanced
to office and to the privy council. In the following reign, he
lost his influence at court, but no sooner were William and
Mary seated on the throne than he ingrafted himself into
favour, and was sworn of their most honourable privy council,
and created Earl Fauconberg. He died December 31, 1700,
and was buried at Coxwold. This earl had no child that lived
by the Protector's daughter, who left all she had, from the
Belasyse family, even the house she resided in, standing in
Soho Square, called Fauconberg house, and adjoining to what
is now called Fauconberg Court.
Sir George Wombwell, Bart., of Newburgh is in pos
session of some curiosities which have been handed down in
succession by the Fauconberg's to the present owner. Amongst
these are a sabre used by Oliver, and having his head en
graved upon the blade with this inscription, " Oliver Crom
well, General, for the English Parlement: 1652;" above it,
"Soli Deo Glorior;" below it, "Fide sed cui vide." On the
other side of the blade are the same head and inscription
as above, and a man on horseback with the inscriptions,
"Spes meaest Deo;" and, "Vincere aut mori;" a broad sword
also of Oliver's, with the same head and inscription, except
that the " Spes mea est Deo," is omitted, and in its stead is

] 78 NEWBURGH.
"Pro aris et focis;" also a gold watch, said to have been worn
by the Protector, in a shagreen case richly studded, with a
viscount's coronet upon the back, which would intimate that
it had been presented to his son-in-law, and a heart transfixed
with two arrows. Appendant to it is a seal with a lion ram
pant, double tailed, also given by Oliver. The late Thomas
Beckwith, of York, Painter and F.A.S., had a knife, fork, and
spoon, in a shagreen case, silver gilt, as were the hafts of its
contents, very small and neat. They were Lady Fauconberg's,
who said they had been the elder Protector's: her ladyship
gave them to Miss Elizabeth Plaxton, afterwards the wife of
Mr. Robert Edwards, their grand-daughter marrying Mr. Beck
with, brought them to him. In the town house is a fine
portrait of Thomas, Earl Fauconberg, and another of his se
cond lady, the Protector's daughter, both painted by Walker;
and there is one by the same artist at Newburgh Hall. Two
engraved portraits of this Earl Fauconberg are mentioned by
Grainger; they are described " Thomas Belasyse, Lord Vis
count Fauconberg, &c, Maria Beale, p. A. Blootcling, fc. 1676,
large h. sh. scarce and fine," and " Thomas Belasyse, (or
Bellasis,) Viscount Fauconberg; White, h. sh. given in Gul-
lim's heraldry."
In the same apartment, called Cromwell's Room, is preser
ved Cromwell's saddle, bridle, and a brace of horse pistols,
with pockets for them in the saddle. The saddle is a curious
piece of elaborate workmanship, and the pistols are of superior
make. Cromwell's Room also contains an ancient British circular
shield, the construction of which, must convince us that our
rude forefathers had devoted their energies to the beautiful
and ornamental, if not the useful arts of life. In this room
is also preserved a "Peg Tankard," the name and form of
which drinking vessel has been thus explained. The Danes
were such great drinkers that Edgar by the advice of Dunstan,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in order to check the growing evil,
put down many alehouses, suffering only one to be in a village
or small town, and further ordained that pegs should be fas
tened into the drinking cups and horns, at stated distances,
and that whosoever should drink beyond these marks at one

NEWBURGH. 1 79'
draught, should be obnoxious to a severe punishment. This
law seems to have given occasion to a custom which was after
wards called pin drinking, or nicking the pin, and which is
thus explained in Croker's Dictionary : "An old way of drinking
exactly to a pin, in the midst of a wooden cup, which being
somewhat difficult occasioned much drunkenness; so a law
was made that priests, monks, and friars should not drink to or
at the pins."
Some of the old customs connected with the "peg tankard"
still linger in Yorkshire, and especially on the eastern coast,
where the Danes were numerous. The phrases, "he's a peg
too low," or "a peg too high,'' have a reference to the under
and above, and are expressions frequently heard among the
vulgar. " He is on a merry pin," is another of the relics of the
peg tankard, and implies neither under nor over it, but to
the mark. Toasting and pledging are from the same source.
It is said to have been common with the ferocious Danes
treacherously to stab a native in the act of drinking, towards
whom they had a secret enmity; hence, the Anglo-Saxons
would not drink in the presence of a Dane, unless some one
would be their pledge or surety that they should receive no
hurt whilst they were at their draught.
Shakespeare alludes to this practice in his Timon of Ath
ens, Act 1. sc. 5 :
" Great men should drink with harness on their throats."
The two principal entrances to the main building are on
the north and south sides at right angles.
The Library is 37£ feet by 30£ feet, and 20 feet high. It
contains, besides a rare collection of ancient and. valuable
books, full length paintings of Colonel Cholmondeley con
stable of Scarborough Castle, and Sir Henry Belasyse, Bart., of
Newburgh. The Chimney-piece is an imitation of marble, with compo
site columns, and figures of Diana and Apollo, attended by
two young Bacchuses, in the centre. Also Venus in a reclin
ing position attended by Cupid, Nymphs, and Satyrs.
The Drawing Room is 39 feet by 26. The Chimney-piece
is of Dove Marble, overlaid in parts with Sienna. In it
m2

180 NEWBURGH.
is a full length painting of Thomas, Earl Fauconberg, and the
Countess his wife daughter of Oliver Cromwell; also of Tho
mas the first Viscount Fauconberg; Barbara, Lady of Sir
Henry Slingsby ; Ursula, Lady of Sir Walter Vavasour.
The Brkakfast Room is 32 feet by 21. The Chimney-
piece is of beautiful Sienna, enriched with carving. The
ceiling is elaborately ornamented with branches intersected
with flowers, designed by Curtisca, an Italian artist. On the
walls hang paintings of Lady Ann Wombwell, mother of the
present Baronet and daughter of the last Earl, by Gainsbo
rough ; a Lady Fauconberg, (name unknown) ; Sir William Bel
asyse, Knight; Henry VIII; Procession of Queen Esther; a
water-colour drawing by Claude; Anne, Countess of Bedford;
Cathedral scene, an interior view, interspersed with figures,
the light and shade admirably managed; Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham; John Lord Belasyse, by Vandyke; Grace Bel
asyse Viscountess Castleton ; the last Earl Fauconberg, by Sh*
John Copley, &c, &c.
The Grand Staircaise contains some of the finest histo
rical paintings in- this numerous collection. — Horse and Dog,
by H. B. Chalon; John Lord Belasyse, of Worlaby; iEneas
killing Turnus ; ./Eneas relating his adventures to Dido, Queen
of Carthage; the burning of Troy and escape of iEneas, bear
ing on his shoulders his father Anchises, his wife and son
following; Sir Ralph Cole ; Admiral Billingsley; the Encamp
ment of the English Forces at Portsmouth ; and a beautiful
ancient Cabinet inlaid with curious devices of pearl.
The Antique Picture Gallery is 118 feet long, by 17 feet
in breadth. It contains two alabaster urns dug from the ruins
of JPompeii. The walls are covered with paintings the princi
pal of which are two ladies of the Fairfax family, by Philip
Mercier; Battle scene by La Bran; Pan and the Muses by
Rubens ; Near the Billiard table at the end of the gallery is
a Gipsy piece, a beautiful painting in which the vices of Gam
bling and Duelling are wellpourtrayed, artist unknown ; Ursula,
wife of Sir Henry Belasyse, painted in 1558; Earl Fauconberg,
by Soldi; Death of the Stag by Snyders; a Lady, by Sir Peter
Lely; Sir Ralph Sadler, the noted author of State Papers;
Lady in ancient costume, besides a large number of family
paintings.

NEWBURGH. 181
First Lodging Room on the Gallery, — Thomas Earl Fau
conberg; Mary Countess Fauconberg, Cromwell's daughter;
Barbara, Lady of Sir Marmaduke Dalton, Kt. This room is
ornamented with rich and beautiful Gobelins tapestry, present
ed to Thomas Earl Fauconberg, by Cardinal Mazarine. The
design pourtrayed on this canvass, is an imaginative piece, re
presenting a Grecian youth of noble blood, who had become
enamoured of a young princess. One part of the canvass exhi
bits the youthful pair beneath the shades of Cupid, near to the
temple of Diana. The opposite side of the room varies the
scene. The friends of the'young lady find out the secret attach
ment, and considering the young nobleman inferior in rank
to the daughter of a king, contrive to send him away to a distant
country. The ship is in the distance, an aged couple exert
their influence upon the youth, whose downcast looks and
dejected countenance betray the reluctance and emotions 01
his heart.
The Second Lodging Room contains a fine painting of
Catharine, Countess Fauconberg and her Black Page, and
many curious manuscripts. This room is worthy of a careful
inspection by the literary antiquary.
The Fourth Lodging Room on the Gallery has a repre
sentation in tapestry of a battle scene, in which the foes
"Do rushing come. —
Until at weapon point they close,
With sword sway and with lances thrust,"
and all the tug of war.
The Fifth Lodging Room is adorned with tapestry repre
senting the Triumphs of Marcus Aurelius.
The Large Bed Room. — Catharine Countess Fauconberg;
Grace, the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Barton, and
wife to the Hon. Henry Belasyse Esq., of Newburgh; Lady
Belasyse, of Braneepeth Castle. Henry Belasyse, Esq ;
Thomas, Earl Fauconberg.
The Black Gallery. — William Belasyse, of Braneepeth
Castle; The Holy Family; The Crucifixion; Christ being
scourged, &c, &c.
The Justice Room. — A Family painting containing Thom
as, Earl Fauconberg ; Catharine, Countess Fauconberg, Lady
m3

182 NEWBURGH.
Mary,8 afterwards married to J. Eyre, Esq., of Hassop,
died at Pisa; Lady Catharine, died at Brussels, unmarried;
Henry Lord Belasyse; Lady Ann, married the Hon. Francis
Talbot, brother to the Earl of Shrewsbury; Lady Barbara
married the Hon. George Barnewell, eldest son of Viscount
Kingstead; Lord Belasyse, an engraving from a picture paint
ed by Vandyke, &c, &c.
The Military Room contains the dresses of the New
burgh Rangers. This corps was raised amongst many others,
as a defence against the threatened invasion of the French
under Napoleon Buonaparte. It consisted of the tenantry of
the estate, and others selected from the neighbourhood, with
Thomas-Edward- Wynn Belasyse at their head.
They differed from almost all the other forces whether Ca
valry or Infantry, who, to the amount of nearly 400,000 men,
came forward for this purpose, for they never received any pay
from Government, nor were furnished with any thing at Us
expence except a sabre and brace of pistols, which the privates
accepted for the sake of being uniformly armed.
Their dress was a scarlet jacket with black pantaloons,
Hessian boots, and a hussar cap, with blue great coat, and
over-alls for bad weather. The expense of an officer's equip
ment for the Newburgh Rangers was £99 2s. 6d.
The Salooon has been a magnificent room, but needs re
pairing to prevent its fast going to decay. The ceiling is orna
mented with floral emblems, and a representation of Aurora.
The walls are graced with designs of the seasons, Apollo, the
Muses, &c, &c.
Cromwell's Vault, in a concealed part of the upper apart
ments of the priory, is shewn to the visitors of this antiquated
spot. The historian is well aware that Cromwell's bones were
interred with more than regal pomp in Westminster Abbey,
and that at the Restoration they were again disinterred. Vari
ous and conflicting are the opinions respecting the future.
fate of his relics. Some say they were sunk in .the Thames;
others, that they were buried in Naseby field, where the hot
test of the battle was fought, both of which accounts seem to
9 This Lady built and endowed a Chapel at Oulston, for the use of the
Boman Catholics on the Fauconberg estates.

newburgh. 183
have little warrant of truth. Harris in his Life of Cromwell,
(1762 quotes the following extract at page 542.) "The odi
ous carcases of O. Cromwell, H. Ireton, and J. Bradshaw, were
drawn upon sledges to Tyburn, and being pulled out of their
coffins, were there hanged at the several angles of the triple
tree till sunset. Then taken down, beheaded, and their loath
some trunks thrown into a deep hole under the gallows. Their
heads were afterwards set upon poles on the top of Westminster
Hall."1 The current report at Newburgh is, that the bones of
Cromwell were secretly conveyed to the priory, where they were
interred in the place now shown as his tomb. It is very possi
ble that this may have been accomplished through the influence
of his daughter and son-in-law, who appear to have been in the
secret of the Restoration, and would naturally be apprehensive
of the indignities which might be heaped upon his remains,
from which their conveyance to Newburgh would be a likely
expedient to secure them.
A slight glance at Newburgh Hall will convince the reader
that it has been built at a period when comfort was not so
much an object as at present in household construction. Its
monkish origin may account for the admission of the cold
blasts which sweep along its passages during the chilly months
of winter, but it is a pleasant summer residence, and the boun
tiful and "home-keeping" "Earls" of former days little heeded
such incidental defects of internal arrangement while they
found amongst its rural attractions abundant sources of en
joyment. The Park presents some most beautiful and romantic sce
nery, having a pleasing intermixture of wood and lawn, hill
and dale, and is well wooded and stocked with deer. On the
north side of the Hall is a fine sheet of water occupying
about ten acres of ground well stored with fish. On the east
side are small basins of water supplied from a spring called
"Jennie Lacy."
The southern Lodge opens into a long avenue, intersper
sed with clumps of trees and rising hills of table land, where
the grandeur and magnificence of external nature, and its
iGesta Britannorum at the end of Wharton's Almanack for 1863.

184 newburgh.
deeply interesting phenomena lead the reflective and devout,
"from nature up to nature's God."
What varied emotions rush upon the mind as we wander
o'er these ancient lawns. Here was the clash of arms, — here
the groans of the dying, for we are near the entrenchment
and the graves of the heroes of old ; but the hills and dales
which were devoted To the grim God of blood and scar,
The grisly king of northern war,
are now

To spirits of a gentler land,
where the meads decked with primroses, and the hills

¦ " with daises strewn,

might make proud Oberon a throne."
The secluded part of the east side of the park presents
large masses of wood in clumps, and gigantic trees, throwing
out their mighty arms so as to give us. a notion of some de
formed sons of Ahak, noble as well as fearful in their grotesque
proportions. The hall itself seems embosomed in a " leafy-
wilderness." There is a legend that all the oaks on this estate
were decapitated by order of Cromwell, as a punishment of the
loyalty of its noble owner, — the punishment being transferred
from the "lord" to the "trees," — and that only on this propiti
ation did Cromwell consent to give his daughter in marriage
to Lord Fauconberg.
We never wander amongst these venerable oaks and beech
es without being reminded of the old man, who, being asked,
while sitting upon a stump, "Who planted these ancient
"trees?" — replied, — "Planted ! these trees were never planted,
they are as old as the world."
The Arms of Sir George Wombwell, Bart, are : — Gules, a
bend between six unicorns'heads, couped, argent.

^

Cmuralir.

(Cucvalt — Domesday. Cukewald — Dugdale. Cokewald, Cockswould,
Cukwood, Coxwold.)

]OXWOLD is one of the most pleasant villages in
the North-Riding of Yorkshire, situated on the
south side of an eminence in the rich and roman
tic vale of Mowbray, in the Wapentake of Bulmer,
five miles north-east of Easingwold, and half a
mile from Newburgh Hall. The parish comprises Angram-
Grange, Birdforth, Byland cum-membris, Newburgh with
Morton, Oulston, Thornton-hiU, Baxby, Wilden-Grange, and
Yearsley. Coxwold appears to be derived thus, — Cucvalt from cue to
cry, and valt a wood, both Saxon, signifying to cry in the
wood, from whence it has been sometimes designated Cuc-
k oowood. The surrounding country is beautifully diversified with
hills and valleys, enriched with woods, green fields, and
meandering streams. Ecclesiastically it belongs to the Dean
ery of Buhner,1 and the Archdeaconry of Cleveland.
The following appears to have been the condition of the
place at the Norman Survey.
m ^ ^ _ in c'
CD In Cucvalt habuit Copsi. x. car tree ad gld. In Ireton
III. c' I.c' iii.c--, vni. c XV. bo1
Eureslage Ampreforde Ansgotebi Turchilebi Baschebi.
v <i v v _ <
Simul ad gld. xx. car tae i. bon min. Tra e ad xv. car.
Hugo fili Baldrici, ht ibi nc. mi. car y liiii mil. hntes
xxix. car. Silua vin. lev. lg. y nrlev, y mi. qz lat. Tot CO..
1 Torr places this parish in Bydale Deanery.

180 COXWOLD.
v - ^ o —
ix. lev. lg. \ mi, lev. lat. T. R. E. ual vi lib. m xn. lib.
Orig. Domesday Book, vol. I, p. 327.
Translated thus:
In the manor of Coxwold Copsi had ten carucates of land
to be taxed. In Ireton three carucates, in Eureslage three
carucates, Ampreforde one carucate, Ansgotebi three caru
cates, Turchilebi eight carucates, Baschebi fifteen bovates;
in all twenty carucates liable to taxation. There is land for
fifteen ploughs.
Hugo, son of Baldric has now there four carucates and
fifty four villeins, having twenty nine ploughs ; wood, eight
miles long, and three miles and four quarentens broad. The
whole manor nine miles long and four miles broad. — In the
time of King Edward (the Confessor,) it was worth £§., now
£12. In this place was seated at the time of the Norman Survey
the noble family of Colvil. A part of their original hall is
still remaining, though it has undergone much alteration and
repair, and is now occupied by the Rev. John Winter. In one
of its windows are the arms of Belasyse.
Argent, a chevron gules, between three fleur de lys, azure,
with quarterings six other coats.
Crest — a stag's head erased proper armed, or, in his mouth
a slip of oak leaved and fructed proper.
Also those of Paulet,
Sable, three swords in pile argent, differenced by a crescent,
or. This shield is surmounted by a Baron's coronet.
The family of Colvil in Fifeshire is descended from the
Colvils of Coxwold.
In the reign of King William the Lion, 1160, Philip de
Colvil is a frequent witness to the donations of that prince to
religious houses. This family appears to have been early
removed from its ancient residence in this place to Fifeshire,
and Robert, who eventually became its heir, was master of the
household to King James IV., and director of the chancery;
and on the 9th September, 1513, was slain, with his royal
master at the battle of Flodden field. Robert the first Lord
was knighted by Charles I., and created a Baron by Charles II.

COXWOLD. 1 87
Arms. — Quarterly, 1st and 4th, argent, a cross moline
sable, for Colvil ; 2nd and 3rd, — Gules, a fess cheque, argent,
and azure, for Lindsay.
In Torr's MSS., we find that in Cokewald, Thomas de
Kokvill held three carucates of land of Roger de Mowbray,
and he of the king in capite, paying fine to the wapentake
2s. The Colvils were also benefactors of Newburgh priory.
This village together with Helneston (Oulston,) and Everesley,
(Yearsley,) answered for one knight's fee.
THORNTON HILL
derives its name from the thorn, being in early times a place
full of thorns. The name is purely Saxon. The hill from
whence it is derived is a lofty eminence commanding an ex
tensive view of the vale of York, and the Western and Ham
bleton hills. The farm-house now occupied by Mr. Warin
bears marks of great antiquity.
Thornton together with Baxeby, was held by Roger de
Mowbray for the fourth part of a knight's fee, and contained
three carucates of land, which John Eyvill held of the Lord
Mowbray, by the rent of 3s. It is now the property of Sir
George Wombwell, Bart. The land in general is of a fertile
character, resting on a substratum of limestone.
Thornton, or as it is called by Torr, High Cokwald, ap
pears to have been a small village or town, connected by
some means with Newburgh priory — probably the country-
seat of some of the priors. In Torr's testamentary burials
at Coxwold, we find that John Manston, de Thornton juxta
Newburgh, died 4th November, 1464. Ellen Vavasour, of
Thornton-le-hill, juxta Newburgh, died January 13th, 1498,
and bequeathed to the altar of St. Mary, one chalice of silver,
with a paten.
OULSTON
or Helneston, as it was called at the Norman Survey, derives
its name from the Saxon Reiner,, a mount or promontory, and
con, a town — the town on the hill.

188 COXWOLD.
It is a pleasant village and township, one and a half niiles
on the east side of Coxwold, and 3£ N. E. of Easingwold.
Its rural scenery is characteristic of its peaceful retirement, and
the tenantry from generation to generation have been subject
to few changes. The laborious hinds settle down in the home
steads of their aged parents, and one generation passeth away
and another cometh, while the family name like the magic of
household words remaineth still.
The house occupied by Mr. Robert Smith, is an ancient site,
and has no doubt been at some period of its history the resi
dence of a distinguished family. On the south side of the
hill is the remnant of a fish-pond and bowling-green. The
adjoining grounds are full of ruins; and when the recent alter
ations were making, the fragment of a stone was found bear
ing apparently the three gresses of a monumental cross, within
which are the letters
O R K T 
O R I R 
I G P 
The two first lines are evidently Orate pro anima. The last,
referring to the person to be commemorated, resembles I G P
or I 8 P, but is too imperfect to warrant a conjecture as to the
entire name. The late Mr. John Smith preserved the relic
and built it into the garden wall.
Here is a Romanist Chapel built by Lady Mary Faucon
berg, about 1760. The Wesleyans hold their weekly services
in the school room. Nearly the whole of the township belongs
to Sir George Wombwell, who is lord of the manor.
ANGRAM GRANGE.
Angram — Ang or ing — a low swathy ground, and gram or
gramen, grass, signifying the vale of grass.
Angram Grange, another division of this extensive par
ish, is situated in the low vale of Mowbray, on a small stream
called. Twattleton beck, justly celebrated for its fine trout
This grange was built by the: Monks of Byland, the land

COXWOLD. 189
having been given to. them by one of the Ingleby family, to whom
Angram with Hutton belonged It was used as a farm-house
for the supply of milk, cheese, butter, bread, bacon, fruits,
and every other necessary for the Abbey. The rents of An
gram Grange at the dissolution were £13 06s. 08d. It was
afterwards granted to the Archbishop of York, by a charter of
King Henry VIII., bearing date at Westminster, anno regni,
38, in exchange for other ancient lands of that See. The
whole Township belongs to Sir George Wombwell, Bart., and
contains 32 inhabitants.
WILDEN GRANGE.
Willaden, as it was anciently called, from Jjehe (Sax.) or
gwilou (Brit.,) a place of willows or a wilderness, and 'Sen
(Sax.) a retreat of wild beasts. Roger de Mowbray gave all
the lands of Wilden, Skakilden, and Erghum to the monks of
Byland, in the year 1 140. " Cui suggestioni et concilio dominus
Rogerus assensum prrebuit, et non diu post dedit abbati Ger-
oldo et suceessoribus suis vaccariam suam de Cambe et totam
terram de Wildon et Skakelden et Erghum ad petitionem do-
mini Thurstani prsedicti et Gundrese matris suae anno Domini
mcxl. per qua? possent ad tempus sustentari sicut patet per
cartas." It is situated on the same rivulet as Angram Grange,
about a mile higher up the stream, and was built by the
soldiers of Roger de Mowbray, about the year 1138, as is
recorded in the " History of the Foundation of Byland, written
by Philip, the third Abbot." who states, that "Four years
being passed at Hode, and many persons admitted as con
verts there, Abbot Roger besought Lady Gundreda to mention
to the Lord Roger de Mowbray, her son, that the situation of
Hode was too confined for the building an abbey there, and
that he should provide another and a more convenient site for
his monks, whose numbers and possessions daily increased.
Certain veteran soldiers, discharged from the court and camp
of the said Lord Roger, had joined their society and had
brought with them no little temporal wealth, and by their as
sistance a grange had been built at Wilden. Amongst these

190 COXWOLD.
soldiers there were two of great name and prudence, Landric
de Agys and Henry de Wasprey, and a third also, not inferior
in prudence, Henry Bugge, who had charge of the works of
the abbey, and as the time went on they obtained many bene
fits for their house."
Wilden Grange was worth at the Dissolution £13 6s. 8d.,
and Wilden, Firma Molend, or the mill 13s. 4d. Dugdale
speaks of Wilden Magna and Wilden Parva, where the monks
fixed a Grange, but the place where stood the mill, with the
Grange, or country house of the monks, is now known by the
name of Widen Magna or Great Wilden, and is occupied
by Mr. Thomas Smith. The house is partly standing as erect
ed by the Mowbray warriors, who had laid down their arms to
build a temple of peace. It has originally been no mean struc
ture, for the foundations extend over a large pasture field
adjoining the house, in which are to be found
" Bemnants of things that have passed away,
Fragments of stone rear'd by creatures of clay."
Wilden Grange is 5£ miles from Easingwold, and contains
21 inhabitants. The Archbishop of York is lord of the manor,
but most of the soil belongs to  Mac Bean, Esq., of Thirsk.
YEARSLEY,
or Eureslage as it is spelled in the original Domesday, contain
ed at the time of the Norman Survey, three carucates of land,
held by Thomas de Colvil, of Roger de Mowbray, who held
them of the king in capite by the rent of 2s. Its derivation
may be thus defined, eures or euras, probably from its exposure
to the cold east and northerly blasts, and lage or leag, a field
or open place.
Yearsley is another township in the parish of Coxwold, five
miles N.E. of Easingwold, containing 121 inhabitants. It is
situated upon a lofty eminence, exposed to the chilling north
and eastern blasts as they sweep o'er the Blakemore moun
tains, and is generally a fortnight or three weeks later in vege
tation than Easingwold, though so short a distance from it.

COXWOLD. 191
Nearly the whole of the township, which contains 2686 acres
of land, is the property of Sir George Wombwell, Bart, who
is lord of the manor.
Before the dissolution of the monasteries there was a
small chapel at Yearsley, of which no vestige remains, though
there is traditionary evidence of its existence in the name of an
old tree, still standing, and known as the chapel tree,
and pieces of stained-glass with other fragments, have been
found on or about the spot. Near the site of the old chapel
the worship of the Church of England is now regularly con
ducted in a modest Ecclesiastical edifice, built in the year 1839,
by the lord of the manor, who allows £10 a year to a school
master for the instruction of poor children. The Wesleyans
hold services in the school-room every Lord's Day.
Yearsley appears to have been the seat or residence of some
branch of the family of Ros, for among the testamentary burials
recorded in Torr's MSS. we find that Thomas Ros ofYeresley,
was interred in the Priory of Newburgh.
The Church at Coxwold is a distinguished ornament to
the beautiful village, at the head of which it stands, surround
ed by the most enchanting scenery on every side. The origi
nal foundation of the structure is very ancient, and is sup
posed to date early in the Saxon period. It is dedicated to
St. Michael. The present edifice is light and handsome, and
consists of a nave and chancel without aisles, having the rare
appendage of an octagonal tower, and exhibiting the gener
al features of the architecture of Henry VIth* time.
The chancel, which was re-built in the year 1777, by Henry,
Earl Fauconberg, contains many beautiful monuments erect
ed to the memory of members of the noble family of Bel
asyse. The most ancient of these memorials of the dead, is
that for Sir William Belasyse, dated April 14th, 1603, at the
bottom of which is the following not very poetic effusion: —
" Thomas Browne did carve this tome,
Himself alone of Hesselwood stone."
This monument supports two recumbent figures representing
Sir William and his lady, with their hands raised in a praying

192 COXWOLD.
posture; surrounded by their children, kneeling, all in the
costume of their time, and the men in sureoats bearing the
family arms. These are also blazoned amidst the architectural
ornaments of the monument, which seems to have been origi
nally painted and gilt, and has certainly not been improved by
the retouching it has sustained in later days. The epitaph is
as follows ; —
Hie iacet GVLIELM8 BELASSYS eqves
avratvs , qvi honorifice ivvenis etiam
qve senex vixerat vsqve ad setatem
lxxx et amplivs annorvm , qvi viv' habvit
Henricvm filivm svper Margaretam filiam
Nicolai Fairfax de Gilling militis, et
Thomam, Henricvm, per Vrsvlam filiam Thomas
Fairfax de Denton militis haeredem
vnvm et altervm simvl milites, et
tandem fseliciter moriebatvr 14° die Aprilis
Anno salvtis 1603.
Viator siste . Ovid eras , et qvid eris perpende. Ego sicvt
fanvm arvi ; et ecce nvnc in pvlvere reqviesco revertvrvs e terra
in novissimo die . Virtvs est vera nobilitas. Memoria ivsti est
benedicta; nomen avtem improborvm pvtridvm est. Prov:
X: ver:VII.
On the south side of the chancel is an elegant marble mo
nument, on which within a recess appear the effigies of Tho
mas Viscount Fauconberg and Barbara his wife, both kneeling
upon cushions, with their faces to the east.
Pietas Nobilissimi THOM^E VICECOMITIS FAVCON-
BERGE, Baronis de Yarom
Ad Sepulchrum Charissimse olim
Conivgis BARBARA filias
HENRICI CHOLMELEY qvae obiit vltimo
die Febrvarii, A0 D1 1618,
Quod ille antiqvse fidei memor
posvit, et cvi swm etiam
(post mortem) depositvm vovet.
On the same

COXWOLD. 1 93
0 chari cineres, et dulcia coniugis ossa,
Parcite si lentus sim, properare luber.
Nobis non ipsse facient discordia Parcse;
Quam cupio in thalamos mortuus ire tuos.
Nos morimur, sed uiuit amor, superestq; sepultis;
Te mini fata, olim qu.se rapuere dabunt.
Omhis homo bulla, omnis caro foenum.
On the north side of the chancel is a most beautiful piece
of statuary in white marble, surmounted by the Fauconberg
Arms. — Argent, a chevron gules, between three fleur de lys,
azure. Supporters. — On the dexter side, 'a buck holding in his
mouth a branch of oak fructed, all proper; on the sinister, an
unicorn, azure, armed, crested, and unguled, or.
Crest. — On a wreath, a lion couchant guardant, azure.
Motto, — Bonne et belle assez.
In a recess are the effigies in life size, of Thomas Earl
Fauconberg, and Henry his son. The former has a Viscount's
coronet in his hand, and is dressed in his parliamentary robes ;
the latter is in a Roman habit. Two angels support a coronet
above the heads of the figures ; beneath, are the following in
scriptions in parallel columns : —
THOMAS BELASYSE, Comes Fauconberg, Baro de Yarum,
Vir Primarius, priscse nobilitatis Exemplar,
Animi Magnitudine, Fortitudine, singulari,
Ad publica obeunda munera,
Vere formatus,
Regise Pensionariorum Cohortis Prsefectus
Sub CAROLO II30, sub que et GULIELMO 111"° ,
Com. Ebor. qua ad Aquilonem vergit, Prorex,
Quorum utriq; a sanctioribus consiliis,
Utriq; fidus pariter et charus,
Nee inter Anglos solum, apud exteras vero gentes inclaruit,
Sub Carolo II d0 apud Rempublicam Venetam,
Sabaudise item, Hetruriseq; Duces
Splendida Legatione functus,
Regise dignitati regniq; commodis
Provide consuluit,

1 94 COXWOLD.
Gnaviter satisfecit ;
Gemino felix conjugio
MILDREDS primum, Vicecomitis de Castleton,
Postea MARLE, CROMWELLIORUM Stirpe,
Hla, brevis sevi, moesto marito superstite,
Hsec, Marito moesta supermit,
Quam indissolubilis Amor, non ficta Pietas,
Studiumq; conjugi morem gerendi,
Charam Marito, posterisq; exemplum,
lure reddiderunt;
Ptochotrophio propriis sumptibus extructo,
Hujusq; Parochise Pastori
Annuum, in perpetuum, stupendium legavit,
Et, cum bene latere frustra alias qusesierat,
Septuaginta et duos emensus annos,
Quietem hactenus denegatam,
Maturo intCoelum Secessu tandem consecutus est,-
Dec. 30m° A. S. H. 1700™'.

Honoratissimus HENRICUS BELASYSE, Armiger,
Thomse, Vicecomitis Fauconberg, filius.
Quem, ingenii eximise dotes, intaminata fides,
Intactaq; virtus, et probitas illustris, Patrise charum,
Suisq; ornamentum, merito effinxerunt,
Conjugem duxit, unigenitam, Dni. Thomae Barton Equitis,
de Smithells, in agro Lancase. filiam,
ex quibus numerosa effluxit progenies.
Maria, Thomas, facultatum et virtutum paternarum hseres.
Barbara, Henricus, Rolandus, Eques Balnei,
Qui uxorem habuit, unieam Humphredi Davenport
de Sutton in Com. Gestr. Armigeri, filiam,
Gulielmus, Gratia, Vicecomiti de Castleton,
Francisca, Dn° Henrico Iones Equiti,
Isabella, Dn°. Gulielmo Frankland, Bart4", nupta,
Margarita, Iohannes, Carolus, Barbara,
Quam duxit Dn". Marmaducus Dalton Eques.
Et Gulielmus, qui numerum bis septenarium complevit.
Obiit 23" die Maii A. D 1647mo

COXWOLD. 195
To the east of the chancel door is a monument
To the Memory of
HENRY BELASYSE, Earl, Viscount, and Baron Fauconberg;
Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the
North Riding of the County of York,
Lord of the Bedchamber to His Majesty
George the III., &c, &c.
He had issue by Charlotte his wife, four daughters,
Charlotte, Anne, Elizabeth, and Ann, who died young;
Born XIII of April, MDCCXLII,
Died XXIII of March, MDCCCII;
Also of Charlotte, wife to Henry Belasyse, Earl Fauconberg,
who died I. April, MDCCXC.
On the south wall is a marble tablet as follows : —
Depositum
Alani Chamber Generosi, in Memoriam infra sepulti,
De Baronia Kendal. Qui obiit GrandceVus, 28 die
Novembris, Anno 1690 ^Etatis 75.
Viri
(Dum in vita) ver6 Christiani —
Ecclesise Anglicans, filii fidelis,
Uxori, etliberis, indulgentissimi :
Egenis et pauperis benigni, a quibus
Eque amati et laudati. De fidelitate
Et fama, Cujus insignium virtutum
Perennium hoc ipsi marmore
AlanUs, unus filiorum efuncti,
Hoc erigi fecit. Anno 1699.
In the nave of the church is a brass plate, which contains
the following inscription, but it is somewhat imperfect:
Orate pro aiabus Johis Manston armig. qui obiit. vi die
mensis Octobris anno dni M . cccc . Ixiiii. Et Elizabethe . uxoris
ejus, qui obiit . . die mensis . . . A. D. . M . cgcc .... quor,
aiabus ppicietur Ds. am. . .
At the entrance of the south porch, is an ancient flat
tombstone much worn, distinguished by the representation of
n2

196 COXWOLD.
an axe laid across the shaft of a cross-fleury standing on two
steps. The following testamentary burials are taken from Torr's
MSS.
Sep. 26, A.D. 1504.
Roger Davell of Angram Grange, gentleman, died, and was
buried in the church of Cokewald.
7 Dec. A.D. 1631.
Dame Ursula Belasis of Cokwald wid., late wife unto Sir
Henry Belasis of Newburgh, Kt. and Bart., deceased, was bu
ried in the high church of Cockwald.
13 Oct., A.D. 1659.
Grace Belasis made her will, giving her soul to God Almigh
ty her Creator, and her body to be buried in Cockwald Church.
One improvement might be suggested which we think would
tend to beautify and render more interesting this " beautifullest
and rarest spectacle" among our country churches, and that is,
that the sloping waste ground between the church-wall and
the public road should be planted with evergreen shrubs. This
would not obstruct the view of the church from the road; and
it would convey to the sentimental observer and the silent
mourner, the hopeful image of an everlasting spring, around
the silent repository of the dead. ,
On the walls are several mural monuments.
The windows on the north and south sides exhibit some
fine specimens of stained glass, and the bosses at the intersec
tions of the oak roof are curious.
,Near the Church is a Free Grammar School which was
founded in the year 1603, by Sir John Harte, Kt, citizen and
grocer of the City of London ; for the support and mainte
nance of which, he charged his manor of Nether Silton, alias
Silton Pannel, in the county of York, and the rights, members
and appurtenances thereof, with the payment of £36. 1 3s. 4d.
in manner following : —
" To the master of the said School, yearly £20., for his pains,
and £1. 6s. 8d. for his livery.
To the usher of the said School yearly, for the time being

coxwold. 197
£10. for his pains, and 13s. 4d. for his livery. To a school
master yearly, for the time being, to teach the petties or young
children in Coxwold, to read English, £2 13s. 4d.
To a preacher yearly, for the time being, for three ser
mons to be there made, £1.
To the visitors (the masters and fellows of Sidney Sussex
College, Cambridge,) yearly for a drinking or repast, £1., and
also to repair the said Schoolmaster's house, from time to
time, as need shall require.
This last expence is an onus upon the present most hon
ourable and conscientious patron, David Burton-Fowler, Esq."3
The Rev. Geo. Scott, incumbent of Coxwold, is the pres
ent master of the School; and the Rev. John Winter, the
usher, who is curate, takes a limited number of pupils as
boarders, whom he instructs in Latin, Greek, English, and the
Mathematics. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the pa
tronage of Trinity College, Cambridge, from whom it is held
by Sir George Wombwell, Bart, as lessee.
The late Robert Pearson, M.A., Archdeacon of Cleveland,
was master of this School, which has produced many distin
guished men. It is worthy of remark that this institution
has been under the direction of three masters only for the last
one hundred and fifty years.
Thomas, Earl Fauconberg, in the year 1 696, founded at
Coxwold an HOSPITAL for ten poor men; and another hos
pital for eight poor women, was founded by one of the Faucon
berg family, but the date of its establishment is unknown.
In the centre of the village, and opposite the Fauconberg
Arms, stands an old Elm Tree which is no small ornament
to this rural and delightful spot.
" Oh ! the Old Elm Tree, what tales could he tell,
Of the merry peals rung on the old Church bell ;
How recount he the scenes, when the Yeoman or Lord
Was wed or was laid 'neath tbe soft green sward."
The Elm Tree was highly venerated by our Saxon fore
fathers, and perhaps the frequency of its occurrence in situa
tions like that which it here occupies, is derived from this
'Carlisle on Grammar Schools, ii. 6. 795.
n3

198 COXWOLD.
circumstance. But the " Old Elm Tree" is suffering from the
effects of time, and the interior of its trunk is beginning to
rot away. A successor has been judiciously planted at no
great distance.
At the western entrance of the town stands SHANDY
HALL, once the residence of the facetious Laurence Sterne,
the author of Tristram Shandy and several other sentimental
works, which do not well comport with the sacred character
of his profession as a clergyman, and are the more to be cen
sured as the manifest improprieties which disfigure their many
beauties, cannot be palliated, like those of some earlier writers ,
by the unrefined tastes and feelings of the age in which he
wrote. He was presented to the curacy of Coxwold by Lord
Fauconberg, in 1760, and resided there seven years, during
which period, he composed his Tristram Shandy and several
other of his well known works. He had previously held the
living of Sutton-Galtres, and the Rectory of Stillington, both
in the vicinity of Easingwold. He was a constant visitor at
Newburgh Hall;
The house stands in a recess, and bears marks of great
antiquity. It is a strange looking place, too low and dark for a
family mansion, and yet too romantic and beautiful for a clois
ter of confinement. Sterne calls it a cottage, and it appears
from the following extract from one of his letters, dated Cox
wold, June 7 — 1767, that he enjoyed himself not a little in
this rural retreat. He says, writing to a friend, "lam as hap
py as a prince at Coxwold, and I wish you could see in how
princely a manner I live — 'tis a land of plenty. I sit down
alone to venison, fish, and wild fowl, or a couple of fowls or
ducks, with curds, strawberries, and cream, and all the sim
ple plenty which a rich valley (under Hambleton Hills) can
produce — with a clean cloth on my table — and a bottle of wine
on my right hand to drink your health. I have an hundred
hens and chickens aboutmy yard — and not a parishioner catch
es a hare, or a rabbit, or a trout, but he brings it as an offer
ing to me."
The Sentimental Journal, which is considered the best of
his works, was written " at his favourite residence at Coxwold."
The following piece of original poetry by Sterne, has been

COXWOLD. 199
handed down in succession from the composer, to the Rev.
gentlemen who have succeeded him in the living of Coxwold,
and through the kindness of the Rev. George Scott, is now
presented to the public: —
THE UNKNOWN 0
Verses occasion'd by hearing a Pass-Bell,
By ye Revf Mr. St— n.
Harke my gay Frd y,' solemn Toll
Speaks ye departure of a soul ;
'Tis gone, y " all we know — not where
Or how ye the unbody'd soul do's fare.
In y' mysterious 0 none knows,
But ]J alone to wm it goes;
To whom departed souls return
To take y** Doom, to smile or mourn.
Oh!, by w' glimm'ring light we view
The unknown 0 we're hast'ning to !
God has lock'd up ye mystic Page,
And curtain 'd darkness round ye stage!
Wise 8 to render search perplext,
Has drawn 'twixt y" 0 & ye next
A dark impenetrable screen
All behind wch is yet unseen !
We talk of « we talk of Hell;
But w' yy. mean no tongue can tell !
Heaven is ye realm where angels are
And Hell ye chaos of despair.
But w' y ese awful truths imply,
None of us know before we die !
Whethep we will or no, we must
Take ye succeeding 0 on trust.
This hour perhaps o' Era is well
Death-struck y,e next he cries, Farewell!
I die ! — & yet for ought we see,
Ceases at once to breath & be.
Thu" launch'd fm life's ambiguous shore
Ingulph'd in Death appears no more,
¦ Then undirected to repair,
To distant 0 " we know not where.
Swift flies ye %, perhaps 'tis gone,
A thousand leagues beyond ye sun;
Or 2 oe 10 thousand more 3M told,
Ere y e forsaken clay is cold !

200 coxwold.
And yet who knows if FrBd' we lov'd
Tho' dead, may be so far remov'd;
Only yc vail of flesh between,
Perhaps yy. watch us though unseen.
Whilst we, yb loss lamenting, say,
They're out of hearing far away;
Guardians to us perhaps they're near
Conceal'd in Vehicles of air.
And yet no notices yy. give,
Nor tell us where, nor 'how yy. live ;
Tho' conscious whilst with us below,
How much ym" desired to know.
As if bound up by solemn Fate
To keep y° secret of ylr state,
To tell yir joys or pains to none,
That man might live by Faith alone.
Well, let my sovereign, if he please,
Lock up his marvellous decrees ;
Why sh4 I wish him to reveal,
W he thinks proper to conceal?
It is enough y* I believe
Heaven's bright* y" I can conceive :
And he y* makes it all his care
To serve God here shall see him there !
But oh! w' 0" shall I survey
The moment y* I leave y* clay?
How sudden ye surprize, how new!
Let it, my God, be happy too.4
He died in the year 1768, at his lodgings in Bond Street,
and was interred in the new burial ground of St. George's,
Hanover Square.
Population, 330. Robert Smith, Esq., Coxwold, and Tho
mas Smith, Esq., of Wilden, are the lessees of the rectorial
tithes of the parish under Trinity College, Cambridge.
4 Explanation of the above, 0 world, J) He, ^ heaven, 2f soul, ym»
themselves, y stands throughout for th followed by a vowel, thus yy. is
they, yir their, ym them, &c.

-i-r

-^

^

IfojlatA Ihtotj.

(Bellalanda, Begeianda, or Bechland, — Dugdale.)

YLAND ABBEY is a magnificent' ruin, and the
first impression it makes on the mind of the be
holder, is one of awe and wonder. Standing by
the side of the superb Gothic entrance at the
west end of the ruined pile, through which the
Lords de Mowbray, and after them the Plantagenets with their
chivalry have passed, what visions of glory seem to glide before
us. But we shall proceed to describe the particular events of
its history, the motives which influenced the mind of its found
er, and the feelings and thoughts of the people among whom it
was erected; and this may happily be done from a narrative
written by one of the monks of the abbey, and therefore
founded upon the best authority; written too, soon after its
foundation, when persons were still alive who had witnessed
the whole proceeding, In some instances we shall have occa
sion to borrow both the language and the facts as recorded
in this good monk's history, an epitome of which has been
printed in the Latin of Dugdale's Monasticon, and translated
in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1843, p. 261.
The history of the foundation of Byland to which we refer,
was written "by Philip, third Abbot of the aforesaid house, as
he heard it from his predecessor Abbot Roger, and other seni
ors of this house." It proceeds thus: —
" By the disobedience of our first parents, man's memory is
so greatly obsctrred and clouded, that, unless the actions and
events of this earthly life are expressly committed to writing,
the power of oblivion soon prevails, and causes them altogether
to pass away," us- though they had never been. Wherefore we
have thought it fitting, by a short history, to make known to
our successors, the cause, form, and manner, or the process of

202 byland abbey.
foundation of our house of Byland, as we have frequently heard
it from older persons, who were fully informed thereof by mas
ter Roger, our predecessor of pious memory, and many others,
who came from Calder." After this preface the history pro
ceeds to relate how, in the year 1134, twelve monks went forth
from the Abbey of Furness, and settled at Calder, under their
Abbot Gerold, where they continued for the space of four years,
and were just beginning to build, when their new abode was
utterly laid waste, in a hostile invasion of the country by David,
King of Scotland. Upon this, they fled for refuge to their
mother abbey of Furness; but, on arriving at the gate, were
met by the abbot and convent, who had heard of their ap
proach, and who, with unkind and unjust imputations as to
the cause of their return, denied them entrance. Turning sor
rowfully away from their own home, they determined to seek the
advice and counsel of Archbishop Thurstan, and set out on
foot towards York, having nothing with them but their clothing
and a few books, which were carried in a wain, drawn by oxen.
When this little company were approaching the town of Thirsk,
they were met (the history tells us,) "by the seneschal of the
Lady Gundrese, relict of Nigel de Albany, and mother of Ro
ger de Mowbray, a youth then under the wardship of King
Stephen, but soon to receive possession of his lands. The
seneschal, much admiring their deportment, diligently enquired
from the abbot, how he and his monks had come into such
grievous trouble, and learning the cause thereof, devoutly en
treated them to dine that day at the table of his mistress, who
was then lodging at the castle of Thirsk, a town close at
hand. To this request the abbot acceded, confidently trusting
his own and his monks' necessity to the will of God. The
seneschal went on before to the castle, to give his mistress no
tice of their approach, and how, in her name, he had from
motives of piety, invited them to dinner ; when Abbot Gerald
and his monks arrived thither, followed by their wain, and the
said lady, who, sitting in an upper chamber, saw secretly
through the window, their miserable plight, was moved by
pious compassion and burst into tears. Their arrival, however
made her glad, and being much edified by their demeanour
and simplicity, she kept them all with her, and caused their

byland abbey. 203
necessities to be bountifully supplied, strictly forbidding their
departure, and faithfully engaging to provide for them, with
in a short time, both a place of abode and means of subsis
tence. And since the abbot and his convent could not
travel with the said lady from manor to manor, through
the country, nor was it meet that they should do so, she sent
them to her uncle, master Robert de Alneto, a Norman
who had been a monk at Whitby, and was then living as a
hermit at Hode near 'Chileb urn. There she caused them to
be well and honourably maintained, until her son Roger de
Mowbray came to his lands, from the wardship of King
Stephen." But the sending them provisions to Hode being attended
with many inconveniences, Roger de Mowbray, at the request
of Gundrese his mother and Thurstan, Archbishop of York,
A.D. 1140, (5 Stephen,) gave th&m his vaccary or cow-pasture of
Cambe, and all the land of Wilden, and Scakilden, and Erghum,
for their support.
Being thus in some way of subsisting, the abbot went to
Savigny in Normandy, to procure an exemption from their
former subjection to Furness; and having obtained this, at a
general chapter of the Order, held at that place A.D. 1142,
(7 Stephen,) he returned to York, where dying, on the 25th
February, he was buried at Hode, and Roger the sub-cellarer,
who had left Furness, was chosen abbot in his place.
The account then goes on to relate their departure from
Hode, where they had dwelt four years, — the building of the
grange at Wilden, by the soldiers of Roger de Mowbray, — the
increase of wealth bestowed upon the monks, — -and the number
of converts to a monastic life, — "for as soon as we entered
this our new abode, it was reported .throughout the province
that we had lately received the support of many noble and well
born men, and thus the devotion of all who heard it was incli
ned towards us.
"But the lady Gundrese hearing and entertaining the petition
of Abbot Roger, and giving diligent heed to the sudden and un
expected conversion of the soldiers, began to shew them more
abundant grace and favour. Wherefore she requested Lord
Roger her son, to permit her to bestow upon the monks, out

204 BYLAND ABBEY.
of her own dowry, the vill of Byland on the moor. To
this supplication of his mother, the said Roger devoutly and
graciously aeceded, in the year of our Lord 1143, about the
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and he him
self gave to the said monks the said vill and all its appurte
nances." The vill thus assigned to them, consisted of the town and
church of Byland or Bellalanda super Moram, called Old
Byland, near the river Rye, almost opposite to the abbey of
Rieval, which was part of Gundrese's dower. The history then
proceeds : —
"This donation being perfected, Abbot Roger and his
monks, in obedience to the admonition and precept of Roger
de Mowbray, removed from Hode to a certain place in the
neighbourhood of Byland, upon the stream called the Rye, and
there they built for themselves a small cell, where their tiled
building is now erected, not far from the abbey, which that
noble person, Walter de Espec, Lord of Helmesley, a short
time, that is, thirteen years before, had piously built, and which
is now called Rieval. And so, Abbot Roger and his monks
remained upon the Rye five years. The intention and purpose
of Roger de Mowbray had been, that the abbey should, if pos
sible, be built on the south bank of the river Rye, in order that
we might receive in all respects the same advantages and ease
ments from the water, which the monks of Rieval enjoy on
the north bank. But the situation of the place rendered this
impossible; the two houses were too near each other to allow
of it, for at every hour of the day and night the one convent
could hear the bells of the other; and this was unseemly, and
could not in any way long be borne."
The history now turns aside to detail several minor events
which took place, and some territorial additions to the property
of the convent. These are not sufficiently important to merit
our attention, excepting one passage which we shall trans
late, as giving an interesting example of the care which the
religious houses evinced, at least in their earlier days, for the
spiritual wants of those who became dependent upon them
in their character of proprietors of the soil. If churches were
chiefly built, as we may gratefully acknowledge, by the piety of

BYLAND ABBEY. 205
the great thanes and lay nobility of our land, this instance will
prove that, where opportunity offered, ecclesiastics were not less
forward in this good work; and their personal co-operation in
it, and minute care for matters relating to the ornament of
God's house, adds much life and reality to the narrative.
" Afterwards Abbot Roger, considering within himself the
divers perils and the fatigue which his parishioners underwent,
in coming from Scalton to the mother church of Byland
as well for the purpose of hearing the divine office, as in order
to partake of the sacraments of the Church, went to the Lord
Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York, formerly Abbot of Foun
tains, in the first year of his pontificate, that is to say, in
1146, to make his humble supplication and request. This was,
that he would grant leave to him and his convent to build
a chapel in the vill of Scalton, which is within the limits of
the parish church of Byland ; grounding his petition principal
ly upon the aforesaid perils, and the benefit to the heirs
and tenants of his pious benefactor Lord Hugh Malbys. In
this chapel, the men of the said vill of Scalton were only to
hear the divine office, and to receive the sacraments of the
Church, perpetual reservation being made to the mother
ehurch of Byland of the right of sepulture of the parishion
ers of Scalton, which right is to this day carefully observed.
Having obtained a licence, the said Abbot Roger and his
monks diligently and devoutly erected at their own expense, a
ehapel in the middle of the vill of Scalton. The chapel being
built and finished, and, as befits the house of God, decently
furnished with books, vestments, a font and other necessary
ornaments, Abbot Roger gave commandment to Landric de
Agys, his cellarer, that with all haste and reverence he should
cause to be eonveyed in a wain, the lesser bell of the said mo
ther church of Byland, to her said daughter of Scalton. This,
Landric duly performed, and, every thing, as has been said,
being duly and honourably provided, the said Abbot Roger
conferred the chapel on a certain clerk called Richard, and
he, on. the presentation of Abbot Roger, was canonically insti
tuted by the said Lord Archbishop Henry, and he had and
kept charge of it for fifty-four years, without any interruption
either of years or times, namely, for eight years in the reign

206 BYLAND ABBEY.
of King Stephen, and throughout the whole reign of King
Henry, son of the Empress Matilda, and throughout the
whole reign of King Richard, son of the said King Henry; and
the said Kings, Henry and Richard, have by their charities
confirmed Byland with its appurtenances. "
After this account we shall be better prepared to afford
ready credence to the next passage of the history which .is thus
translated. From this passage it appears, that Roger de Mow
bray was desirous of granting to the convent the right of pat
ronage or advowson of several churches, with the view of their
ultimately obtaining the appropriation of them to their own
use. It may be worth while just to point out what would have
been the difference between the two acts. With the former we
are all familiar — it would merely have transferred the right of
nominating the incumbent of the benefices to the monks,
leaving the right of receiving the tithes and profits annexed
thereto untouched. The latter, on the contrary, would have
affected the right to the revenues, and vested them in the con
vent, imposing on them the obligation of performing, either
personally or by deputy, the spiritual duties of the benefice.
We shall see, however, that Abbot Roger was too disinterested
to accept this grant; he had observed the evils which frequent
ly ensued from appropriation, and therefore, at the risk of
offending their patron, restrained himself from accepting his
bounty. " But Roger de Mowbray, seeing that many had come to
gether to serve God, and that the spot where the monks abode
in the vicinity of Byland, could not, as has been said above,
be made convenient for the construction of an abbey, and that
the vicinity of Rieval, made it altogether unfitting; on his
return from the East country, added to his gift an extension
of their bounds, and in the year 1147 gave them for the site of
their abbey two carucates of waste land, according to the mea
surement of Hugh Malbys, his steward, lying in the vicinity
of Cuckwald, beneath the hill of Blackhow. Moreover
Lord Thomas de Colevyle, quit-claimed and gave to God
and the monks all the land which is between the pool of their
mill and Thorpe. He gave also all Bersclyve and Bertoft, and
the appurtenances of the vill of Cuckwald, lying to the north

BYLAND ABBEY. 207
towards Whitaker, to do therewith whatsoever they would
for ever.
" The said Roger de Mowbray granted likewise to Abbot
Roger and the monks the right of patronage of the churches
of Thirsk, Hovingham, and Kirby-moorside, together with
many other possessions. But the said Abbot Roger, being a
man of. scrupulous conscience for the care of souls, refused to
accept these gifts, protesting and declaring that they were al
ready amply and sufficiently endowed. This refusal much dis
pleased Lord Roger de Mowbray; for his intention had been,
that the abbot and monks, having obtained the right of patron
age of these churches, might in process of time more easily have
obtained their appropriation to their own use. And it was
said on the occasion of this refusal, the right of patronage of
the said churches was given, at the instance and petition
of Sampson de Albany, Roger Mowbray's cousin, to the afore
said canons of Hode, who now are called of Newburgh, among
whom the said Sampson devoted himself to God, and took on
him the habit of a canon regular. He obtained also from the
Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Lincoln that the said
canons of Hode should have peaceful possession, during the
life of the said Sampson himself, of all the churches which the
said Sampson held before his entrance into religion.
Now when the aforesaid monks had sojourned, as has been
said, four years with their Abbot Gerald, at Hode, and five
years afterwards with Abbot Roger, upon the Rye, in the vi
cinity of Byland, they began diligently to clear the grounds,
on the western side, within and near to Middleburgh, and to
build below the moor in the said region of Cuckwald, and
they straightway removed into the said territory of Cuckwald
where they diligently erected and built a small stone church,
a cloister, and other houses and offices, as is still plainly to be
seen, in the same place, and from that time they abode there
in holy religion during thirty years. During which time many
nobles, as well front ^those regions as from Westmoreland, de
voutly offered large donations in frankalmoigne to the said
Abbot Roger and his monks."5
During the above mentioned period the monks had not en-
6 Gent. Magazine, 1843. p. 261.

208 BYLAND ABBEY.
joyed uninterrupted peace, for according to Burton they were
involved in various law suits.6 In 1150, (15 Stephen,) the Ab
bots of Calder and Furness again renewed their claim to the ju
risdiction over the abbey notwithstanding the exemption these
monks had obtained in 1142; but it was determined in favour
of Byland by Ailred, Abbot of Rieval, appointed judge by the
Abbot of Savigni; and in A.D. 1155, 1 Hen. II., Roger of
Bishop-bridge, Archbishop of York, took this abbey into his
immediate protection.
After a residence of thirty years at Stocking or Old-Stead,
the said monks having cleared a large tract of woodland, and
drained the marshes, removed again, on the Eve of All Saints,
in the year 1177, 23 Hen. II. a little more to the eastward,
near to Burtoft, and Bersclive, between Whitaker and the
foot of Cambe-hill, where the abbey, dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, at length was settled, having a noble cathedral
and monastery, which continued in a flourishing state till the
dissolution. This abbey had privileges granted to it by Pope Adrian
the fourth, and Pope Alexander the third confirmed an agree
ment between these monks and the canons of Newburgh. He
also exempted them from paying tithes for such lands as they
owned or rented. Gregory II., exempted them from payment of
tithes on the produce of mines which they held in their own
hands, and other Popes confirmed them in the enjoyment of
these privileges. King Henry II., specially favoured this abbey
with his protection, and granted the monks and their servants
freedom from tolls in all cities, boroughs, markets, fairs, bridges,
and ports in England and Normandy, and exempted them
from tolls, pontage, &c, and from paying any sort of gelds,
scutage, hidage, or any other duty of the county, wapentake, or
riding, or belonging to the high-sheriff or his bailiffs; and from
all aids or rewards, and secular service ; he also granted them
liberty of holding courts for their own tenants, with soc, sac,
thol, theam, infangentheof and utfangentheof ; ' and many
6 Burton, ut supr. from the Eegister of Byland, fol. 12.
rIn the laws of King Edward the Confessor, these Saxon law terms are
thus defined. Pontage, a contribution towards the maintenance or re-edi
fying of bridges. Geld, tax or tribute. Scutage, a tax on those that held

BYLAND ABBEY. 209
other secular privileges. And no person was to molest them
under pain of forfeiture to the king.
King Henry III. in 1246, granted them free warren in all
their demesne lands, out of the boundaries of the king's forests,
and by another charter, granted also that they should be free
from ward-penny, over-penny, tething-penny, hengwite, fledwite,
blodewite, leirwite, flemenefrit, grithbreche, forestal, hamsoken,
herefare, and all service of secular exaction; he also gave
them liberty of trying causes at their manors of Sutton and
Clifton in Yorkshire, and at their manor of Wardecop, in
Westmoreland. Taking into consideration the many privileges enjoyed by
the monks, it is not surprising that wealth flowed in upon their
institutions. The structure of Byland Abbey, when completed, was mag
nificent, and elevated must have been the feelings of that man
whose architectural genius superintended it as it advanced to
perfection. The feudal chiefs and warriors of the olden time
lands by knight service, towards furnishing the king's army. Hidage, a tax
payable to the king for every hide of land, or as much land as would main
tain a family. Soc, power or liberty to minister justice and execute laws.
Sac, a privilege of holding plea in causes of trespass, and of imposing
fines and amercements. Tlwl, the right of buying and selling, and of ta
king custom or toll of those who buy or sell within the district. Theam,
from the Saxon tyman (propagare, to teem or bring forth,) signifies a roy
alty granted by the king's charter to the lord of the manor, for the having,
restraining, and judging bondmen, neifs, and villeins, with their children,
goods, and chattels, within his court. Infangentheof, the power of judging
thieves or robbers when found within the liberty or jurisdiction of the ma
nor or territory. Utfangentheof, a liberty or privilege whereby a lord was
enabled to call any man dwelling in his manor, and taken for felony in
another place out of his fee, to judgment in his own court. Ward-penny,
money paid and contributed to watch and ward. Tething-Penny, a small
duty or payment to the sheriff from each tithing, towards the charge of
keeping courts. Hengwite, liberty of amercement from gaol, prison, or
house of correction. Fledwite, a discharge from amercements for a per
son who has been a fugitive. Blodewite, liberty for an amercement for
bloodshed. Leirwite, the privilege of punishing adultery and fornication.
Flemenefrit, the receiving or relieving of a fugitive or outlaw. Grithbreche,
breach of the peace. Forestal, to intercept on the highway. Hamsoken,
the liberty or privilege of a man's own house. Herefare, going in a milita
ry expedition or to a warfare. o

210 BYLAND ABBEY.
have left behind them many a relic of stirring interest, and we
find their achievements set forth in many a chronicle and
many a legend ; but what have become of the designers, the
constructors of this " Glorious work of fine intelligence ?"
Where are the monks that conceived the bold design and
originated the large idea of erecting, under opposing difficul
ties, this beautiful and stately edifice, with its fine Gothic
arches, its lofty columns, and exquisitely shaped windows?
Surely to such we may apply the words of the poet : —
They dfeam't not of a perishable home
Who thus could build. —
Their names indeed have perished from the earth, and their
ashes are perhaps sleeping beneath those mouldering ruins;
but their memory will hot be uiihonoured as long as these
stately towers remain.
tThe situation of Byland, formerly called Bellalanda, or
pleasant land, is in a sequestered vale, protected on the north
and east by the mountains of Hambleton and the hill of
Cambe. A brook rolls close to the ruins, gushing among the
pebbles and forming a retreat for the reposing trout. Russet
moors and craggy hills of bold and varied outline surround the
abbey; the sides of which, are thickly clad with trees and
brushwood. A few rustic homesteads are scattered along the
vale, in some places peeping out from among the trees like
hermitages whose site has been chosen for the benefit of sun
shine as well as shelter ; and the ivy, clothing part of the walls
and roofs assimilates "them to the ruins by which they are
surrounded. Ah, who can look oh nature's face,
And feel unworthy passions move?
Her forms of majesty and grace
I cannot choose but love ;
and the people of Byland, the cottagers, seem to partake of the
sentimentality of the place, being distinguished by a dignified
repose and expression of countenance quite in accordance with
the venerable relics which surround them.

BYLAND ABBEY. 211
There can be no doubt but these monastic institutions ex
ercised a very powerful influence upon the country at large.
They were the preserves of knowledge; and the monks seemed
to take the lead in agricultural improvements. The great
wealth which had been bestowed upon the abbeys enabled the
monks to exercise great charity and hospitality, and this gave
them great influence over the minds of the people, and crea
ted a feeling of veneration for the church, the priest, and the
mass, mindful no doubt of the common saying, —
" God hears the man that often hears the mass."
Lord Hailes, (Annals of Scotland I. 100,) gives from Wm. of
Newburgh, vol. I. c. 24, a curious account of Wymund, a monk
of Furness, who having first gained a livelihood from various
monasteries by his penmanship, and afterwards at Furness,
distinguished himself by his eloquence, memory, genius,
and diligence, was sent with some of his brethren to form a
dependent establishment at Rushyn, in the Isle of Man, where
Olave the king, had given lands to Ivo, abbot of the parent
house in 1134. Here, besides his mental accomplishments,
his portly figure so won on the Islanders, that they elected
him their bishop, and, his ambition rising with his fortune,
he did honour to the motives which had dictated their choice,
by leading his flock on various freebooting expeditions on
the Isles and Coasts of Scotland — claimed the estates of An
gus Earl of Moray, pretendingto be his son — married a daugh
ter of Somerled Thane of Fife — baffled all the efforts of St.
David, King of Scots, to take him — and though at -length defeat
ed by a brother bishop on whom he proposed to levy contribu
tions, was still so formidable as to obtain from David as the
price of his forbearance, a certain territory in which Furness
was included, though it does not .appear that the donor had
much better right to bestow, than Wymund to possess it.
Here however his violence exasperated the people against him,
and being taken by surprise, his eyes were nut out, and he was
otherwise disabled "pro pace regni Scottorum non propter reg-
num ccelorum," as the monk who knew him observes, and he was
delivered over to David who long .confined him , at Rokesburgh.
The unfortunate adventurer was at last perjnitted *P retire to
o2

212 BYLAND ABBEY.
Byland Abbey, where he spent the remainder of his life, but
with a spirit so little broken, that he took delight in relating
his adventures to the wondering brethren — was wont to boast
merrily that God alone had defeated him in battle, by the
hands of a simple bishop — and to threaten what he would
have done had his enemies left him but the eyes of a spar
row. His adventures took place between 1141 and 1151.
Fighting prelates were not at all uncommon in those days,
and the border-wars were headed by more than one bishop, to
which Shakespeare alludes in speaking of Hotspur :
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm,
Lead ancient lords and reverend bishops on
To bloody battles and to bruizing arms.
But the monks in general were not a set of freebooters.
They spent a great deal of their time in reading good books.
There was a common library for their use, and to members of
their order we are indebted for most of our historical informa
tion as to the events of their times. The lives of holy men
were curiously written in vellum with many illuminations, in
order to draw the monks more easily to follow their exam
ple. For" the same end, sacred stories were painted in the
churches. The religionists of those days delighted in good
paintings, and they secured the best artists. The benefactors
of the abbeys had their names recorded on the windows or walls
of the building. And not only the monasteries and abbeys,
but the friaries were likewise adorned with most curious
painted glass, in which names were likewise written, whence
it is that a minor friar speaks thus to one that wanted to
be taught his creed.8
" We haven forsaken the world, and in wo libbeth,
In penaunce and pouerte, and prechethe the puple.
By ensample of oure liif, soules to helpen
And in pouerte preien, for al owr parteneres,
That gyueth us any good, God to honouren
Other bel other book, or bred to owr foode,
Other catel other cloth, to coueren with owr bones :
8 In a rare book, intituled, Pierce the Ploughman's Crede. Imprinted
at London by Eeynold Wolfe, Anno Domini. M. D. L. III.

BYLAND ABBEY. 213
Moneye, other moneye worth, here mede is in heuen:
Eor we buildeth a burwgh, a brod and a large,
A Chirch and a Chapitle, with chambers a lofte.
With wide wyndowes yurought, and walles wel heye
That mote ben portreid, and paint and pulched ful clene.
With gay glitering glas, glowyng as the sunne,
And mighteston amenden us with moneye of thyn owen,
Thou chouldest knely bifore Christ in compas of gold,
In the wyde window westward wel neigh in the myddel,
And Saint Frauncis hym selfe, shal folden the in his cope,
And present the to the Trinite, and praye for thy synnes.
Thy name shall noblich ben wryten and wrought for the nones
And in remembrance of the, yrad there for euere. "
But how little did the writer of these lines dream of the
fluctuations which were destined to produce such mighty
changes on what he deemed immortal rock. The names
written and painted on the walls, to be "read there for ever,"
have long since perished in oblivion, and their existence is
among the things of the past.
The monasteries, however manifest the evils resulting in
later days from what it may be feared was from the first a mis
taken exercise of piety, were not ill adapted to the period when
they were first erected. The state of society was such, that
both barons and serfs made no pretensions to learning, and
neglected all useful occupations in the pursuits of war.
What learning then existed was in the monasteries. The
monks were also compelled as a matter of necessity to cultivate
the soil. There were no tenant-farmers until the period just
preceding the Dissolution, and consequently there was no
source on which they could depend for the supply of grain.
" But at the Dissolution they had outlived the useful purposes
to which they were once subservient. The better education
which the laity were beginning to receive qualified them for
state-employments, and ecclesiastics began to lose the direc
tion of public affairs. The influence of monastic orders also
declined in consequence of the increased activity of society,
opening to the laity more frequent opportunities of pursuing a
career of usefulness. The laity multiplied books, and in the
walks of literature and science pressed upon the heels of the
churchmen. In time, the latter ceased to be the exclusive lights
o3

214 BYLAND ABBEY.
of the age. Pope Ganganelli remarked; — "The religious or
ders have not been gifted with infallibility nor with indefecti-
bility. If they were to be all abolished this day, the loss would
be great, but the Church would not be less holy, less apostolic,
nor less respectable."
The question of breaking up the monasteries was formally
proposed by Thomas Lord Cromwell, one of the ministers of
Henry VIII., in the year 1545. When Henry consulted with
his council on this subject, one was of opinion that, "there is
a due place left for monasteries ; yet, when they grow to that
multitude, that either the just proportion they bear in a state
is exceeded, or they become a receptacle only for lazy per
sons, it is fit to apply some convenient remedy. Therefore be
pleased, Sir, not to think so much of their overthrow as their
reformation." Another of the council remarked, that "the
clergy had one fourth part of all the revenues of the kingdom ;
that this was an undue proportion; and that two or three
monasteries left in every shire would be sufficient."
After much consultation, a general visitation of the monas
teries by commissioners was ordered, and according to their
report, great irregularities were discovered, especially in the
smaller houses. The result was the passing of a bill in both
houses of parliament in 1536, giving to the king all monastic
establishments, whose revenues did not exceed £200 a year.
Byland Abbey was not included in the number, but two
years afterwards it was surrendered by John Leeds or Alanbrigg
the last abbot, with twenty-four monks, who retired on pensions.
At the time of the Dissolution, there were seven bells in the
Abbey, and it contained 516 ounces of plate. The lead which
was stripped off the building amounted to 100 fodder, and with
the bells and plate, was sold for the king's use. The gross in
come of the institution was £295. 5s. 4d. — Speed: — the net
income, £238. 9s. 4d. — Dugdale.
Burton gives a particular account of the property of this
abbey. The larger possessions occupied the whole oi- part of
fifty-three townships in this neighbourhood, and the smaller
rights and privileges were contained in eighty-one townships,
amounting in all to several thousands of acres.

BYLAND ABBEY. 215
ABBOTS OF BYLAND,
Gerard died in 1138.
Roger occurs A.D. 1142. He resigned in 1196, when
Philip succeeded, who wrote the account of the foundation
preserved in Dugdale.
H. occurs as abbot in 1198.
Herbert in 12 JO.
R. occurs as abbot in 1225.
Henry in 1231, 1237, and 1246.
Henry de Bathersby in 1252, and again in 1266.
Thomas was abbot in 1285.
John professed obedience as abbot 3 Kal., April, 1287.
Another John had the king's letters of protection as abbot, Aug.
21, 1293.
Henry occurs in ] 300 and 1 302.
William professed obedience as abbot 10 Kal. May, 1302.
Adam had the king's letters of protection, Sept. 21, 1315.
After whom John de Wynkeburn occurs.
Walter de Diceford professed obedience as abbot in 1334.
John in 1349.
William received the benediction as abbot in 1357.
Robert de Helmesley was confirmed June 9, 1 370.
William occurs as abbot in the month of April, 1449.
Thomas in 1478.
John Farington, or Farlington, received the benediction
as abbot Sept. 27, 1499.
John Ledes alias Alanbrigg, was made abbot March 19,
1525. He was the last abbot.
Burton says that the Duke of Norfolk had the advowson
of this abbey in the 15 & 16, of Henry VII.
The site and most of the demesne lands were granted in
the 32 Henry VIII., 1546, to Sir William Pickeringe, Knt,
of whose son Sir William Pickeringe, Ann the wife of De la
Rivers was the sister and heiress, 17 Elizabeth. When Burton
wrote, Byland Abbey belonged to Sir Brian Stapylton, Bart,
and it still remains in the possession of the Stapyltons.
The bell which was by order of Abbot Roger, conveyed

216

BYLAND ABBEY.

from Byland to Scalton or Scorton Chapel, is still preserved
there, and bears the following inscription: —
*<uh?ipj]mji + BeiiTe-rrtuiRiat

/IVGRt

This humble little oratory attests by all the features of its
architecture that it is the original building erected by Abbot
Roger in 1146. Of these the most curious is a projection from
the north wall beneath one of the narrow semicircular-headed
lights, about 6 inches in depth, 4 feet in length, and 2 feet
2 inches in height from the floor, sustaining two circular pil
lars with foliated capitals much resembling the general form of
those in the abbey, on which rests a slab with bold mouldings
projecting eight inches from the wall. The pillars including
their bases and capitals are also 2 feet 2 inches in height.
The situation is that usually given to the Easter sepulchre,
but the length and depth of the projection seem insufficient for
that purpose and it may possibly have been a stand or recepta
cle for the " books, vestments, and other necessaries " with
which the good abbot furnished his clerk Richard who so long
occupied this solitary station.

BYLAND ABBEY. 217
There is a pleasing poetic memorial of the family of a later
incumbent on the chancel floor.
Roger de Mowbray, the founder, was buried in an arch on
the south side of the chapter-house, near his mother Gundrea;
and on his tomb was the figure of a sword. After the year
1326, Sir Thomas de Coleville, Lord of Cukewald, Joan, wife
of John de Mowbray, William, son of Hugh de MaUibisse,
Guido de Halebeck, Henry de Montfort, William de Play-
clure, and Roger de Maltby, were interred here. Peter \de
Rickhal, chaplain, by will proved 1359, was buried before the
altar of St. Mary, and William Tiplady, 1426, in the galilee
of St. Mary's Abbey in Byland, William Skupton of ,Skupton,
Esq., by will proved 1437, also directed that his body should
be interred here.
The great Roger de Mowbray9 after returning from the Cru
sade, much perplexed both in body and mind, and deprived of
the greater part of his estates by Henry II., in consequence of
a conspiracy with the Scotch king, against that monarch, retir
ed to spend the remainder of his life in this peaceful and
sequestered spot. Here he breathed his last, and his bones
continued to rest in peace till the year 1819, when they were
sought for by the direction of Martin Stapylton, Esq., who had
learned from ancient MSS. the spot where they were deposited.
The bones were discovered and disinterred, after a repose of
600 years, and conveyed to Myton, where they were once more
committed to the earth.
The abbey with its appurtenances appears to have extended
over a wide surface, as traces of its walls are still to be seen at
a considerable distance from the principal parts. It has sus
tained dreadful mutilation either at the time of its surrender,
or, as is more probable, by the gradual effects of time, neglect,
and tasteless devastation in later days.
Not a pillar of the nave is now standing, though some idea
of their form and dimensions may be gathered from the re
mains of the great transept piers which probably supported a
central tower, the inner portions of whose circular bases have
been cut away to prevent their interfering with the approach
from the nave to the choir.
St See Dugdale's Baronage, also on the pedigree pf the Mowbrays.

218 BYLAND ABBEY.
The proportions indeed of the nave and side aisles are un
usually narrow, and both the choir and transepts are short, as
was the general character of Norman and transitional structures.
The church must be dated about the time of the removal of
the monks from Old-Stead to this their final settlement, which
took place in 1177, and it is, even in its present dilapidated
state, a chaste and elegant specimen of the latest period of
Norman architecture, and the change of style which gradually
displaced the semi-circular for the pointed arch with which
for a time, and here throughout, it is found in combination.
The lower story of the north aisle, north transept, and east
end of the choir is nearly entire and consists of a succession of
narrow semi-circular-headed windows, the arches having plain
mouldings and resting on slender cylindrical pillars. The win
dows are separated by slightly projecting buttresses termina
ting below the plain corbel table which surmounts them, and
those of the transept and east end, where there are three, are
not distinguished from the rest. Here all is Norman, at least
externally; internally however the semi-circular-headed win
dows are surmounted by arches and vaulting of a pointed cha
racter, and the triforia and upper stories, of which valuable
relics remain in the south transept seem to have consisted
chiefly if not altogether of pointed arches.
The most striking portion of the Church and that most
familiar to the draughtsman is the west end, the transitional
character of which is curiously marked by its three doorways,
of which that to the north is pointed, that to the south semi
circular, and the centre a sort of trefoil compounded of both,
yet all apparently constructed at no great distance of time from
each other, and while the main design was in uninterrupted
progress. The compartment over the central doorway con
sists of nine beautiful lancet arches three of which are pierced
and somewhat less acute than the rest ; all are surmounted by
a continuous label exhibiting the tooth ornament, and mani
fest the decided predominance at last of the early English or
lancet style, in this which is undoubtedly the latest portion of
the building. But its crowning beauty is the splendid circular
window, of which only the lower section remains, suspended as
it might seem from the octagonal shafts and pinnacles which

BYLAND ABBEY 219
overlook the fragments of the north aisle and a small portion of
the north wall of the nave, so as to convey a faint but still
magnificent conception of the original -elevation of the whole
structure. A more faultless model of chaste simplicity both
in design and ornamental detail can scarcely be commended
to the modern architect than the Church of Byland Abbey.
The only sepulchral monument now to be found in the
structure is a fractured stone 8 i feet in length by 3£ in breadth,
which once bore the effigy in brass of an abbot, holding a cro
sier in his left hand, the head turned inward, which is said to
be the mark of distinction between an abbot and a bishop;
the figure surmounted by a rich canopy formed of three ogee
arches with crockets and finials, their supports terminating in
pinnacles with the like ornaments. Between the arches were
smaller representations of sacred subjects, shields of arms at
the upper angles of the stone, and a space sufficient for the
inscription at the feet of the effigy.
The brass has long since been removed, but from the form
of the arches -and other ornaments, it may very probably have
been the memorial of Abbot Robert de Helmesley, who presided
over the house in 1370.
In the year 1818, on the removal of some rubbish from the
interior of the abbey, by direction of Martin Stapylton, Esq.,
a beautiful tessellated pavement was discovered in a high state
of preservation, and two steps leading from the nave to the
high altar, six inches in height and about nine in breadth, of
similar construction, were visible in 1840, but have since dis
appeared. The altar stone itself, 7 feet 3 inches in length, and
3 feet 3 inches in breadth, with its five crosses, is now in the
summer-house at Myton.'
The conventual buildings have been almost totally destroy
ed, but their foundations may be traced in the usual position,
still observable at Rievaux, Fountains, and many other religi
ous houses; — the cloister court to the south of the nave, en
closed westward by the dormitory, southward by the refectory,
and subsidiary buildings, and eastward by the chapter-house
with its adjuncts extending from the south transept ;— the ab
bot's apartments still more to the east, and the hostelry at a
considerable distance to the south west.

220 BYLAND ABBEY.
The probable site of this building is marked by a window
of singular tracery, in a wall which may have formed part of its
chapel. The tracery occupies about half the height of the
window, and is of circular form above, with intersections form
ing five repetitions of the vesica piscis ; the lower portion of
the window consists of a single semicircular arch, but it has
had subdivisions not now to be traced. The whole is enclosed
in a pointed arch externally, but internally in a very wide sec
tion of a circle totally altering its apparent form.
Many fragments of sculpture are as usual to be found in
very incongruous positions among the surrounding buildings,
and a richly foliated capital fantastically crowns the arch of a
rustic bridge over the picturesque little stream to the south
west of the Abbey.
But the most distinguishable among the out-buildings is
the great gateway of the precinct to the north-west of the
church, a lofty semicircular, or very obtusely pointed portal with
remains of a postern, both formerly enclosed within a wide
spanned arch. It should not be overlooked that a doorway
opened from the precinct into the south transept of the church
under a Norman arch surmounted by a horizontal label rising
from the base moulding beneath the windows.
The most memorable secular event connected with the his
tory of Byland, is, the battle fought here between the English
and the Scots, called the battle of Byland Abbey. It is thus
described by Leland: —
"K. Edward II. in the year 1322, advanced from Pomfret at
the head of the English forces against the Scots as far as
Edinburgh, but the Scots kept so long in the woods, moun
tains, and moors, that famine and murmuring broke out in the
king's host. Edward seeing famine and death in his host,
recoiled. James Douglass and Thomas Randolph, captains
of the Scots under Bruce, King of Scotland, seeing this, made
a great road into Northumberland, and destroying the country
round about, went forth to Northallerton and burnt it. And
King Edward seeing T&is, raised his host beyond the Trent,
and they encountered with the Scots at Byland Abbey, fifteen
days after Michaelmas, and there the English were discomfitted.

BYLAND ABBEY. 2^1
And there John of Bretagne, Earl of Richmond, enemy to
Thomas Lancastre, was taken prisoner, and after being deliv
ered for a great ransom, went into France, and never returned
into England again. Strait upon this was Sir Andrew (Harcla,)
Earl of Carlisle, attainted of conspiracy with James Douglas the
Scot, whereby the Englishmen, for lack of Harkeley (Harcla's)
ready help, were vanquished in battle at the Abbey of Byland,
and he was judged to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, at Car
lisle, as Thomas of Lancaster prophecied of him. And this
was done the last day of October, in the year 1 322, and this
day the sun changed in the morning to a bloody colour, and
so continued till eleven o'clock." '
The following account which fixes the precise spot on
which the battle was fought is taken from Hollinghead's Chron
icle. "King Robert (Bruce) shortly after (the retreat of the
English from Scotland) entered with a puissant army into Eng
land, sporting and wasting the country almost to York. At
length hearing that King Edward was coming towards him
with an army, he chose a plot of ground behind the Abbey
of Byland, and St. Saviour's (the priory of Newburgh) there to
abide battle, which King Edward refused not to give, tho' in
the end he was put to flight, with his whole power, and chased
with great slaughter both of Englishmen and Normans which
were there in his aid. Divers also of the nobilitie were taken
prisoners, as John de Brytaine, Earl of Richmond, and Henry
Lowly, with others. The king, after his overthrow, fled and
got him into York, leaving his plate and much other stuffe be
hind him in the abbey, which the Scot's found and took away
with them."
From other accounts which are given, it appears that Ed
ward after his retreat from Scotland, came to Byland Abbey, and
encamped there with his whole army. The Scots had closely
pursued in their rear, and at noon, while the king was at din
ner, the English army were suddenly surprized by the Scots
attempting to force their passage into the English camp. The
English were defeated, and the plate, money, privy-seal, and
'Collect, ii. p. 466.

¦J22 BYLAND ABBEY.
other treasures, fell into the hands of the Scotch. Edward
made his escape from the Abbey with great haste, crossing the
country by way of Bridlington to York, and his safety is attri
buted to the swiftness of his horse. The Scots plundered
wherever they went. The Abbey of Beverly fell a sacrifice to
their rapacity, and they burnt the monasteries of Ripon in
their progress, and slew many of the college priests. They
continued their ravages even to York.
Such we perceive was the dreadful state of this country at
that time. Civil war raged to a fearful extent, and property
and life itself were never secure from the rapacious foe.
Byland Abbey is six miles from Easingwold, ten from
Thirsk, six from Helmsley, one from Newburgh, four from
Rievaux, and two from the romantic group of Hambleton. It
is annually visited by great numbers of strangers, who come
hither in parties to view the fine old ruins, in connection with
others in the neighbourhood.

lamiiletutt Hills.
(HimmelorHemel,— Teutonic. Hamildun,— ^Sax. Hamilton, Hambleton.)

1AMBLETON or Hamildun, is a name of very re
mote antiquity, being derived from himmel or ke
rnel, which in the Teutonic language signifies a
covering, a semi-globe, or the heavens, and thus
these hills first derived their designation from
their hemispherical form, or appearance. Or if we prefer to des
cend a step lower in our etymology the Hamildun of the Saxons
or Hamblescdun is derived from the Teutonic root and signifies
in that language ham blcsc, a cold, bleak, and chilly place, and
dun, a hill. These hills extend from Easingwold to near Helm
sley, Kirby Malzeard, Tadcaster, and Kendal. They reach their
highest altitude near Kilburn, seven miles north-east of Eas
ingwold. Blakehow, or Black Hambleton is the largest, and
is properly a range of hills, having at a distance, the appear
ance of one elevation which rises between the open and luxu
riant Vale of Mowbray and the romantic Rydale.
In whatever way you approach these mountain precipices
the words of the poet are applicable :
 " I turn and view thy awful heights,

Stupendous Hambleton ! thy dreadful wilds,
Thy gilded cliffs, and blue expanded side,
At once infusing horror and delight!
The hills beneath comparatively low
Exalt their flowery tops, to grace thy triumph."
The most romantic but somewhat difficult mode of ap
proach is through the village of Kilburn, and along the winding
avenues on the side of the hill called Roulston Scar, on a less
elevated position than at the projecting point. Every turn in
the road as you ascend the rugged cliff, varies the picture, and
presents new and more fascinating scenery. To the right is

224 HAMBLETON HILLS.
Hell Hole; and the tourist will be awe-struck with the wild
and varied views, extending over sunless ravines, savage
dells, barren crags, and bold romantic rocks, that afford shel
ter and retreat for beasts of prey, — and where
The owlet's solitary cry
The night hawk, flitting darkly by
And oft the hateful carrion bird.
Heavily flapping his clogged wings
¦Which reek'd with that day's banquetting;
are the only sounds that disturb the scene.
ROULSTON SCAR.
A short ramble on the top of the hill, which is nearly level,
brings you to the summit of the rock, which is one thou
sand two hundred and forty-six feet above the level of the sea,
and from which you may trace with deep and undefined emo
tions, the varying outline exhibited by rocks, water, and wood
land, all wonderfully grouped in the wildness of nature. Turn
ing to the east, the scene is changed as if by the power of magic,
for losing sight of the picturesque vale on the west, the deep
ravines and dells on the south, the round hill of Hood, the
smooth lake of Gormire, and the frowning peak of Whitestone-
cliff, you gaze upon the gloomy moors of Blakehow or Black-
moor, which stretches away as far as the eye can ken.
In some parts, the rock is perpendicular, and has the ap
pearance of an irregularly built castle. The foreground of
this, for fifty or one hundred yards is covered with massive
blocks of stone, evidently thrown off by some convulsion of na
ture. On the side of the rocky wall is a fissure opening into a
small, narrow cavern, called the Devil's parlour, from the com
mon disposition to attribute what is at once gloomy and mar
vellous to infernal agency — especially when in any way con
nected with heathen worship, of which there are not wanting
traditions in the immediate vicinity. For instance, the vale
below dividing Roulston crag from Hood Hill is called " The
Happy Valley" but the intermediate distance is less auspici
ously named " The Devil's Leap." for which this reason is given
by the village oracles. The Happy Valley was a famous retreat
of the ancient Druids, who without molestation or disturbance

Hambleton hills. 225
had for centuries practised their incantations upon the poor
deluded inhabitants. When the first Christian missionaries
visited Yorkshire, they sought out the hidden retreats of Dru-
idism, and one of them had penetrated the Happy Valley, to
the no small dismay of the Druidical priest. The ancient
Britons listened patiently to the statements of the Christian
missionary, weighed the evidences in their own minds, and
were perplexed as to their future procedure. In this dilemma,
a conference was appointed, in which the advocates of Druidism
and Christianity were to meet in public contest in order to de
cide which of the two systems had the best claim to their wor
ship and submission. .The meeting as usual was appointed in
the open air, at the foot of Roulston Crag. The intellectual
assailants met, and the devil in the garb of a Druidical priest
came with the worshippers of Baal. The Evil One placed his
foot on one of those mountain rocks, and being foiled in his
arguments by the powerful reasoning of the missionary, flapped
his brazen wings and fled across the valley with the stone ad
hering to his foot, the heat of which (they say) melted a hole in
the top, until he came to the ridge of Hood Hill, where he drop
ped the massive block, leaving the missionary the undisputed
master of the field. This account will of course be received as
a legend, but it is matter of fact that a large stone weighing from
sixteen to twenty tons, of the same rock as Roulston Scar, is
deposited on the ridge of Hood Hill, bearing a mark on the top
not unlike a large footprint. How it came there is a matter of
curious enquiry. It is evidently a work of art, and most pro
bably one of the Cairn Aljtars of the Druids, where they burnt
sacred fire and offered sacrifices to the sun.
The aptitude of this spot for such rites would not be unob
served by a race who made
" Their altars the high places, and the peaks
Of Earth o'ergazing mountains."
The Druids, says Toland, erected their altar-stones on the tops
of mountains, and they sacrificed in the valleys. They were of
Phoenician origin, and like their countrymen, often men of gi
gantic strength and stature. When the Israelites went to spy out
their country, by. command of Moses, the report they brought

226 HAMBLETON HILLS.
was that the Phoenicians were giants in comparison of whom
th'ey themselves were but as grasshoppers. That there have
been giants in Britain no one can deny. Calmet, under the
word "giant," says, that in the year 1719, at Stonehenge, near
Salisbury, a human skeleton was found, which was nine feet
four inches long; and a farmer in the neighbourhood expres
sing himself upon the subject, said: "Ye see, as our fooreold-
ers hev alous sed, the giants yance wer maisters of all this hill
country, and they had great forrests and set up their cams and
their great staines." Such appears to have been the traditions
handed down from their fathers.
If the Phoenicians or Druids were men of such strength
as well as ingenuity, we need not much wonder how the stone
was conveyed to Hood Hill. On the whole, we may conjec
ture that this immense stone was the seat of the idol or " sun
image;" and that the victims for sacrifice were slain under the"
olefts of the rock, while the multitudes of worshippers remained
in the valley. If this conjecture be correct, how applicable are
the words of the prophet. " Upon a lofty and high mountain
hasjfc: thou set thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer
sacrifice," referring to, their idolatrous worship upon the moun
tains and high places; and as the Phoenicians offered their
children in sacrifice on these occasions, the prophet upbraids
them also, with " slaying their children in the valleys, under
the; clefts of the rocks."
HOOD HILL.
Hood Hill is said to have been a retreat of the famous
Robin Hood and his brave foresters. "When his robberies,"
says Martin Charlton, "became so numerous, and the outcries
against him so loud, as almost to alarm the whole nation, par
ties of soldiers were sent down from London to apprehend
him, and then it was that fearing for his safety, he found it
necessary to desert his usual haunts, and retreat northwards
amongst the forests of Yorkshire." It was here he became
acquainted with the famous Friar Tuck of Fountains' Abbey,
who afterwards became one of his chief men.
" The curtail fryer in Fountains' Abbey
Well can a strong bow draw,

HAMBLETON HILLS. 227
He will beat you and your yeomen,
Set them all on a row.
Eobin Hood he took a solemn oath,
It was by Mary free ;
That he would neither eate nor drinke
Till the fryer he did see.
He took his bow into his hand,
It was made of a trusty tree ;
With a sheafe of arrowes at his belt,
And to Fountaine Dale went he,"
where he- met with the Friar, and after a trial of their skill the
Friar forsook his abbey and his religious order, and became
identified with these outlaws of the forest. Robin Hood's
Bow is said by Ray in his Itineraries, (1760, p. 161,) to have
been preserved in Fountains' Abbey.
In the reign of Henry II. a guard of soldiers consisting of
three hundred men, was despatched by the king, to put down
the banditti which, infested these mountains, and spread their
ravages in all the neighbouring towns and hamlets. An- en
gagement took place on Hood Hill, in which the robbers were
defeated, and their band of desperadoes finally dispersed.
WHITESTONEGLIFF,
is sometimes called, White-Mare-Crag, from a tradition, that
a white mare from the training course, becoming unmanage
able, leaped with its rider from the summit of this rock,
into the awful abyss below ; or more probably from some
fancied resemblance, if not artificial similitude in the face of
the rock to a well known object of British idolatrous worship,
such as that which gave name to the vale of White Horse, in
Berkshire. The rocky projection extends from Roulston Scar to White-
stonecliff, in the form of a crescent or half moon, and the way
leading thereto is
"Through heather mosse, 'mohgst frogs, and bogs and fogs ;"
but the adventurer is well repaid when he arrives at the
summit of the white cliff. The prospect is boundless, extend
ing over the wild, romantic vale of Mowbray,— the beau-
p2

228 HAMBLETON HILLS.
tiful and interesting vale of York, the plains of Cleveland,
Wensleydale, the Western Hills, the Eastern Wolds, the
Southern Plains, and the Northern Mountains.- A little in
advance stood the hermitage of Hode Grange. Beyond is a fine
view of the venerable ruins of Byland Abbey and the village of
Coxwold. On the other side is the splendid remains of the
abbey of Rievaux, with the Ionian temple and beautiful ter
race ; the rich and magnificent demesne of Duncombe Park, and
the Catholic college of Ampleforth. Further to the north is
Upsal Castle with the mount St. John where stood a pre-
ceptory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, founded by
William Percy. Gliding down a little further is Newby
Park and Topcliffe, the seat of the Earls of Northum
berland ; the sylvan park of Thirkleby, the seat of Lady Frank-
land Russell ; an extensive view of the Western Hills among
which may be seen the city of Ripon, with its noble cathedral,
the towns of Thirsk and Northallerton, and a little further on
the celebrated abbey of Fountains. Veering to the south and
passing along the vale of York, which is studded with villages,
farm houses, handsome villas, woods, &c. is the splendid mins
ter of York, the ancient Castles of Sheriff-Hutton, Crayke, Gil
ling, Helmsley, and Castle Howard, and the rich romantic sce
nery of Newburgh Park. The beauties of the landscape increase
and become more and more interesting as you continne to
" Survey wild Albin's mountain strand."
Beneath the summit of this hill are the "rocky ramparts"
which Gray describes as
" the rough abodes of want and liberty ;"
but if such was their character once when the forest laws
were in force, and when Robin Hood and his outlaws took up
their abode in these fastnesses of Hambleton Hills, a " hap
pier freedom" has dawned upon them, a freedom which in its
embryo state as it rolled along the stream of time, kept devel
oping its principles, till the "want and liberty" of the poet,
where the iron race of the mountain cliffs
<l Insult the plenty of the vales below,"
was finally settled in the " Great Charter" of British liberty —

HAMBLETON HILLS. 229
not won but wrested from the king by those feudal chiefs who
thus laid the foundation of these glorious free institutions by
which the strongholds of feudal oppression were ultimately
overthrown. Yes, the iron men who won the charter of Brit
ish liberty and British freedom, dreamt not of a power greater
than their own, which would shortly wrest it from them. That
power was the merchants and the villeins, the serfs of the
barons, but now " the people."
And the principal abettors and instigators of this char
ter of British liberty, were men locally connected with places
of which our pages treat. The De Ros of Helmsley, the De
Percy of Topcliffe, and the De Mowbray, owner of this roman
tic spot, with others, — these "barons bold" compelled the des
pot to sign "Magna Charta;' but another order of men whom
they of the pointed shield and the mascled armour would have
despised as slaves, have kept and will keep, Deus volens, what
was awarded by the reluctant monarch, on the 1 5th June, in
the year of grace 1215.
The white crags of this cliff are awfully grand in the per
spective. The base of the rock for some hundreds of yards is
strewed with massive blocks of stone as large as churches, and
thrown one upon another in wild confusion. And gazing up
ward you there behold
"  All splintered and uneven,

The shivered rocks ascend to heaven."
In an almost inaccessible part of the rock is a large cave
called " The Fairies' Parlour." The place is somewhat difficult
of access, but when attained it will amply repay the adventurer
for his trouble. The parlour or cave is a natural formation. A
large crevice of the rock forms the entrance, after which you
descend a rugged cliff of three yards perpendicular rock.
Another descent of two yards or so, introduces you to the area
of the cave, with a projecting arch of twenty or thirty feet in
height, very spacious, and running in a parallel line some twen
ty or thirty yards, with streaks of light glimmering into it
through the narrow fissures of the rock.
The mythology of the district declares it to have been the
p3

230 HAMBLETON HII.I.K.
retreat of the giants, and the words of Havillan the poet, are
not inapplicable: —
"A lodge it was to Giants fell (though few) of Titan's brood
Enthralled ; whose garments were raw hides of beasts full wood,
Their blaid they dranke, but cups they made of hollow blocks and stocks.
Caves served for cabins, bushes for beds, for chambers craggie rocks ;
Prey slak'd their hunger, rape their lust, in murder took they joy,
Force gave them rule, and furie heart, wrath weapons to annoy ;
Fight brought the death, grieves were their graves, thus groaned the
ground againe
With mountain monsters. Howbeit of them the number maine."
Not far from the mouth of the Fairies' Parlour is another
mysterious cavern, which penetrates the solid rock for a consi
derable distance. The writer, along with two friends, had the
curiosity to examine this rocky pathway as far as was practi
cable, extending as near as could be ascertained about thirty
yards. It is an arduous task, and requires courage and perse
verance to descend the rugged precipices, — to creep along the
dark narrow passes where the light of day never shone, and
where the candle would but dimly burn, — sometimes on hands
and knees, sometimes erect, sometimes in a slanting position
on back or breast, or assuming the vermicular motion, squeezed
beneath massive rocks, one move of which would make you
move no more. The next step brings you into a spacious,
lofty hall, festooned with chandeliers of stone, suspended over
head, as if ready to crush you to dust. After a couple of hours
spent in this subterranean retreat, you hail with joy the
return of day as you approach the mouth of the dark and
gloomy cavern.
These openings in the rock have been the effect of volcanic
eruption, which " Down to the vales in masses threw,
Crags, knolls, mounds, and confusedly hurl'd,
The fragments of an earlier world."
"On the twenty-fifth March, 1755, many persons in the neigh
bourhood heard a loud noise, which seemed to proceed from
the cliff, and which increased on the twenty-sixth. About
seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-seventh, Edward
Abbot, weaver, and Adam Bosomworth, bleacher, both of Sut-

HAMBLETON )1II,LS. 23)
ton-under-Whitestonecliff, riding beneath the scene of these
strange noises, heard a tremendous roaring, which they compa
red to the explosion of many cannons, proceeding from the
cliff. Shortly after, they witnessed the disruption of a frag
ment of the rock, four or five yards broad, which split and flew
off from the top of the crag. Between ten and eleven in the
forenoon, a part of the same rock, fifteen yards in thickness,
thirty high, and from sixty to seventy in breadth, was torn off
and hurled into the valley, with a report like the eruption of a
volcano. The cause of this alarming phenomena, which was
naturally enough mistaken for an earthquake, was the lodgment
of a large quantity of snow and rain in a cavity of the rock,
which rent in pieces the solid stone, and produced those fright
ful convulsions, to the no small terror of the villagers. Traces
of this awful avalanche remain in the fissures of the earth
which covers the foot of the Whitestonecliff; in the desolation
which reigns on its rocky sides; and the huge fragments which
were hurled into the fields and woods of the vicinity.'
The strange confusion of this romantic spot in all its wild
and native rudeness, is a fit scene for
" The poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling,
To give to gorjons, hydras, and chimeras dire,
Airy nothings, a local habitation and a name."
We have before stated that the rock from Roulston Scar to
Whitestonecliff is in the shape of an amphitheatre, and the
echo of the human voice or the report of a firelock rolls along
the Happy Valley and vibrates upon the opposing rocks, as,
" When revelled loud the feudal rout,
And the arched walls returned the shout."
But the scene is doubly impressive, and awfully grand, when
the sky begins to darken, the raging elements to roar, and the
forked lightnings to play around the dark impending rocks,
while the thunder as it bursts overhead is re-echoed a thou
sand times from every cave and hollowed crag around, and
descending into the valley, startles the browsing herds and
scares the peaceful labourers from their work. A crash as if
rock upon rock was tumbling into chaos, drives the astonished

232 HAMBLETON HILLS.
lingerer within the hollow cliffs; and the deepening thunder
that '¦ Made the rocks chatter, rolled from hill to hill
And boom'd along the sky."
mellows into the wail of nature, and all again is hushed and
silent as the grave.
How touchingly sublime is the scenery by moonlight, un
der the placid beams of Sylvia's soothing light, as she ascends
through the dark blue sky, casting mottled shades upon the
uneven ground, and gilding the surface of the smooth, glassy
lake, — the stillness of the hour, —
" Soul soothing season ! period of repose,
Or introverted thought, which day debars ;
Can language paint, can poetry disclose
The magic of thy silence, dews, and stars."
A poet or a painter would luxuriate on this wild and magni
ficent scenery. No noise disturbs the reverie of the outline.
" The scene is steep'd in beauty ; and the soul
No longer lingering in the gloom of care :
The landscape looks an Eden."
Here have, doubtless, existed tumuli, rocking-stones, and
basins, but they are not discernible, for all is a mass of wild
confusion. Whitestonecliff would form a splendid "lover's leap," and a
more eligible site for such a romantic adventure has not been
depicted since the days of Sappho; but we attribute it to the
prudence, discretion, and good sense of the youth of this neigh
bourhood, that such occurrences have not taken place.
GORMIRE
is a beautiful mere or lake, one mile in circumference, and is
supposed to have its etymology from the gor or moor cock, a
wild fowl peculiar to these northern parts. The following
lines from a work on natural history, seem to strengthen the
suggestion, and they are altogether highly descriptive of the
place : — " Where smooth, unruffled by the northern blast,
The crystal lake, in alpine rocks enshrined,

HAMBLETON HILLS. 233
Reflects the verdant scene, and gently bathes
With silver waves around the grass grown feet
Of woody hills. There to his cackling dames,
On blooming heaths and secret lawns dispersed ;
The GoE-cock calls, the sultan of the grove !"
This lake is well worthy the inspection of the curious. It
is situated near the foot of Whitestonecliff, on a lofty, conical
eminence, and surrounded by romantic hills. Its singular po
sition, beautiful appearance, and the popular traditions respect
ing its origin, render it alike an object of interest and pleasure.
The traditions respecting it, are, that this awful abyss was
produced by a tremendous earthquake, which ingulphed a
populous town, and its secure inhabitants, in a moment of un
expected calamity, leaving behind it a body of waters unfathom
able. The same authority declares that the tops of houses,
and the desolate chimneys are sometimes visible to the as
tonished eyes of the stranger when embarked on its myste
rious surface. " There is a magnet-like attraction in
These waters, to th' imaginative power,
That links the viewless with the visible,
And pictures things unseen."
That magnet-like attraction, is felt by those who swim across
the lake, some of whom declare it to be most difficult to ac
complish, but the why or wherefore they cannot tell. It is
surrounded by mountains, having on one side the foot of
Whitestonecliff, and on the other the foot of Hood, yet the wa
ters are not stagnant but beautifully clear. There is a recess
on the side near the cliff, where the waters find egress amongst
the rocks. The grand-dames relate that a goose possessed of
more courage than discretion, penetrated this dark track of the
waters, and made its exit near Kirbymoorside, stripped of all
its feathers. The centre of the lake is commonly believed to be bottom
less, as various parties have tried to fathom it but without suc
cess. Gormire, like other places of a similar nature, is not
without its metrical romance. Believing it to be bottom
less they conclude its waters can never be dried up, and the

234 HAMBLETON HILLS
following quaint lines are in the mouths of the villagers,
" When Gormire riggs shall be covered with hay,
The White Mare of Whitestonecliff will bear it away."
In Daye's "Yorkshire," it is observed that this "curious
pool of water is round as a bason, and has all the appearance
of the crater of a volcano." From the tops of the surrounding
hills it has the appearance of a circular lake, but on close in
vestigation it very nearly resembles the shape of a shoulder of
mutton. The lake is the property of Sir George Wombwell,
Bart., of Newburgh Park, and it is a singular circumstance,
that the lake only belongs to Sir George, without any of the
adjoining land.
In conclusion, a more interesting spot is not to be found
in Yorkshire than is here presented to the tourist. Steep
rising o'er steep, — yawning clefts, — storm deriding rocks, —
deep riven glens, — precipices and obscure abysses, are all
comprised in one long, lingering, and meditative gaze.
" I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch
Was glorious with the sun's returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me bath'd in light."
A tour to this romantic place will well repay the visitor
for any labour or trouble in the accomplishment.
OSGODBY,
or Ansgotesbi as it is spelt in Domesday book, was, before the
Conquest a Danish settlement, and appears to derive its origin
from Os-god, a pagan deity, who was hung on ropes and
swung up and down in the air; and bi the place where he was
worshipped. In Ansgotesbi, Norman and Toehi had two manors, of
three oxgangs to be taxed. Nigel has here one plough in the
demesne, meadow twenty acres, wood pasture half a mile long
and the same broad. The whole one mile long and one broad.
Valued in the time of Edward the Confessor at twelve shillings,
now worth five shillings. 2
2Orig. Domesday Book, p. 306.

HAMBLETON HILLS.

Norman and Tochi alluded to in the survey, were probably
Danes who held the place previous to the Conquest, and Nigel
or Nigel de Albini, a Norman nobleman, and predecessor of
Roger de Mowbray.
Roger de Mowbray gave lands in Osgodby to the Abbey of
St. Mary, Byland.
One Rompharus gave to the Abbey of St. Mary, York,
eight oxgangs of land in Osgodby.
A grange was established here by the monks of Byland
which from the Comput. Ministratum Domini Regis, temp.
Hen. VIII., preserved in the Augmentation Office, was valued
at the Dissolution at £13. 6s. 8d.
Osgodby Hall was once the residence of a branch of the
Wyvills, Knights of Slingsby Hall, a very ancient family, of
great estate in this neighbourhood, " but one of them taking
part with Stafford that came to Scarborough and took the castle,
lost all his lands but Wyvill Hall which was then in jointure.
Sir Marmaduke Wyvill of Burton Constable descended from
these more ancient Wyvills."
The same authority also relates a curious tradition respect
ing this Wyvill. The road through Slingsby from Hoving
ham instead of proceeding in a direct line, takes a singular
and awkward angle to the right, proceeding several hundred
yards due south, which our authority says was explained
in his day by the tradition of the snake. " The tradition is,
that near this town there was some time a serpent that lived
upon prey of passengers, which this Wyvill and his dog did kill
when he received his death wound. There is a great hole
half a mile from the town, round, three yards broad or more
where the serpent lay. In which time the street was turned a
mile on the south side; which does still shew itself, if any
takes pains to survey it."3 The tale of the snake is still cur
rent in the neighbourhood, and is stated to have been a mile in
length. The tradition, it appears, has been increasing in the
marvellous with the lapse of years, but there is no doubt some
truth in the fable, as there is an ancient monument of this
Wyvill and his dog erected in the church.
3 Eoger Dodsworth's MSS., in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

236 HAMBLETON HILLS.
The hall which is an antique structure, is now the property
of Mrs. John Smith, of Oulston. It is two miles from Kilburn
and eight from Easingwold.
In the pedigree of the Tancred family preserved at Whixley
Hall, we find that Charles Tancred, Esq., married Barbara,
daughter of William Wyvill, of Osgodby, Esq.

Ink ^rinrij.

]OD, or HODE was once a place of no small im
portance, though its former greatness is apparent
ly buried in oblivion. The following we have
extracted from Domesday. In Hode Turchil had
one manor of four carucates and five oxgangs of
land to be taxed, and there may be four ploughs. Nigel now
has of the earl in the demesne one plough and four villeins, and
three borders with one plough and one mill, of four shillings. In
the time of Edward the Confessor valued at £3. Os. Od., now 30s.
The next account we find recorded respecting Hode is, that
it was an hermitage, where lived in obscurity Robert de
Alneto, a native of Normandy and uncle to Gundrea the
mother of Roger de Mowbray. Nigel de Albini by permis
sion of Pope Paschall married for his first wife, Maude,
the wife of Robert de Mowbray, who was then in prison
for his rebellion against King William Rufus, but was after
wards divorced and married to Gundrea, daughter of Gerald de
Gornay. 4 William de Albini, who became Lord de Stuteville,
confirmed the gift of Adam Fossard of the place of Hode with
the chapel of Gillingmore with the plains and pastures in the
same village.
When the hermitage was erected, or what kind of an erec
tion it was, is matter of conjecture, but it appears to have been
the gift of Adam Fossard for that purpose.
Robert de Alneto who had been a monk at Whitby spent
an eremitical life at Hode, till Gerald with twelve monks from
Furness in Lancashire,5 were sent to Hode by Gundrea, and
Odericus Vitalis, 734. B.
5 See particulars of in the account of Byland, p. 203.

HAMBLETON HILLS. 237
placed under the care of Monk Robert, till Roger de Mowbray
should make further provision for them.
The Priory of Hode was first demised to the monks of
Bellalandaby Robert de Alneto, on condition that they should
here found an abbey of their canons. This was ultimately con
firmed by Roger de Mowbray his nephew.
By an agreement made between Roger, Abbot of Byland,
and the canons of Hode, the place with its appurtenances
was given up to the latter, upon condition, that the abbey of
these canons should be founded in that place, and continue
there always with a full convent which should there observe
the order of canons, according to the rule of St. Augustine. In
exchange for which place, Sampson de Albini gave twenty shil
lings yearly out of the mill of Cukewald, which he himself had
usually received from thence, to the Abbot of Byland. This
agreement was confirmed by Roger de Mowbray their common
patron and founder. Hode was afterwards ceded to the priory
of Newburgh by gift of Adam de Fossard with lands lying
about the same, which canons did acknowledge the said Adam
to be patron of the said place and all belonging thereunto.
The church of Hode was dedicated to St. Mary, and after
wards called a priory and cell to the abbey of Newburgh6
It appears from the pedigree of the Mowbrays, that Roger
de Mowbray had a castle at Hode, for we there find that "in
1148, he accompanied Lewis, King of France, to the Holy
Land, where to his immortal honour, he vanquished a stout
and hardy pagan in single combat. In 20th of Henry II., he
was taken prisoner at Leicester, and his castles of Thirsk and
Kirby Maleford were pulled down by order of the king.6
After founding the abbeys of Byland and Newburgh, he
went again to the Holy Land, was taken prisoner with Guy,
King of Jerusalem, but was redeemed by the Knights Tem
plars. On his return to England, he is said by Dugdale to
have fought with dragons and lions in the valley of Sarranell,
probably intimating that he there fought with men as fierce
5 Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. ii. p. 194.
"Leland's Col. Vol. 11.273.

238 HAMBLETON HILLS.
as these beasts of the forest. After this military expedition, he
returned to his castle at Hode.
So effectual have been the destructive elements of time
upon the ruins of this castle, that not one stone is now left
upon another to point out to the stranger the spot on which
it stood. " Where is mighty Mowbray's Hall,
The chieftain's voice — the clang of war;
The tower — the battlements so tall,
The Beacon flaming from afar?
* * * *
'Tis gone, and merely left a name,
Gone like the meteor's rapid light.
* * * *
The pride, — the strength — the dread array,
The feudal lord — the warlike throng,
The castle towers — have past away,
Save in historic page or song,"
The walls of the ancient church at Hode are yet standing;
they are covered with a modern roof and converted into a barn.
A stone coffin was found here many years ago in digging the
ground for the erection of a thrashing machine, and which is
now built upright into the barn wall by the unaccountable whim-
of the person who discovered it. It would no doubt contain
the ashes of the Abbot Gerald. A similar curiosity is to be
seen buried in the wall of the farm house in the vicinity. At
the west end of this edifice is the pedestal of an ancient stone
cross, with the arms of Mowbray and other devices very neatly
cut in basso-relievo. The superior parts of two Gothic win
dows are also remaining in a similar situation. The- bones
of several human bodies have been dehumated, the teeth of
which were very perfect, and are preserved at the farm-house,
whose thick stone walls and antique windows, testify its an
tiquity. An ancient stone font,, of curious workmanship, was, some^
years ago, dug up at Hode, and was in the possession of Hue
late John Bell, Esq., of Thirsk. The stone, which is square
at the base, is supported at the angles, by four grotesque
figures resembling the fabulous monsters which the heralds
term sea lions. Two opposite sides are decorated with as

HAMBLETON HILLS. 239
many indescribable beings; one apparently human, though
mutilated, holding a book and a two-edged sword; the other
supporting on a kind of shield an Agnus Dei, with its em
blems, a staff, cross, and banner. The upper part being cir
cular forms the bason, which is now hidden under a sun dial.
The whole group constitutes an object of interest, and is well
worthy of preservation.

dDiii Sqlrt.

T the time of the Domesday Survey there was a
Priest at Byland and also a Church which was
built of wood.
Old Byland contained three carucates of land
(which made, a knight's fee) held by the Abbot of
Byland of Hugh, de Malbys, who held the same of Roger de
Mowbray. Sir John de Walkingham, Knight, Lord of Bolteby, son
of Allan de Bolteby, Knight, in recompense for the injury
done by his goats in Haredale, gave and quitclaimed to the
monks of Byland all right that he and his men of Bolteby had,
in the common pasture belonging to. the town and grange of
Byland. The church was given to the Abbot and Convent of Byland,
by Roger de Mowbray. " It is. an ancient dilapidated structure.
The living is donative, in the patronage of Sir George Womb
well, who is lord, of the manor and owner of the soil.
The village is built round a verdant green, in a lofty situa
tion, on the moorlands hills, on the western side of Rydale,
in the Wapentake of Birdforth, and contains about 160 souls.
8 See account of Byland Abbey, page 204.

JHUrant.

(Chileburn— Domesday Book. Killeburne— Dugdale. Kilburn.)
ILBURN or Chileburn, derives its name from its
situation in a lovely secluded vale, forming a pass
between Hie towering heights of Roulston Scar
and Hood Hill. Kil or gil, (Icel.,) a fissure in a
hill, or a mountain pass, and bourne or bupn, (Sax.)
a brook or torrent, or a town situated upon brooks and encom
passed with hills. One part of the village stands upon an
eminence and is called High Kilburn ; the other, which con
stitutes the principal part of the town, Low Kilburn. The
parish includes Hie hamlet of Hode Grange, and the townships
of Oldstead, Wass, and Thorpe-le- Willows. It is ecclesiasti
cally located in the Archdeaconry of Cleveland and the Dean
ery of Bulmer, and is 7 miles north-west of Easingwold, and
7 miles E.S.E. of Thirsk.
At the time of the Norman Survey, in the manor of Chile-
burn, (Kilburn), Archil had six carucates of land to be taxed.
Land to three ploughs. Hugh has now there one villein and
two ploughs. The whole one mile long and half a mile broad!
Value in King Edward's time ten shillings, now six shillings.'
The earliest account respecting Kilburn subsequent to the
Domesday Record, is, that it was a Royal Hunting Park, in
the time of William Rufus and King Henry I. The latter
monarch, however, was not much addicted to the pleasures of
the chase. William of Malmesbury states that the king spent
the greater part of his time in Normandy and conferred many
benefits upon the church at Rouen. Among others was the
manor of Kilburn.
" Rothomagensis Ecclesia Cathedralis in Ducatu Nor-
manniffi. "Bawdwen's Domesday, p. 196.

kilburn. 24 1
" De Terris in Anglia ad Rothomagus Ecclesise Canonicos
spectantibus"
"Manerium de Kilburn (in com. Ebor.) cum pertinentiis,
quod datum fuit a Primo Henrico, bonre memroria?, illustri
Rege, Anglia? Archiepiscopo et capitulo Rothomagensi quod
positum est ad firmam pro Lxx marcis."* — Thus translated :—
The manor of Kilburn in the county of York, with its
appurtenances was given by Henry I., of blessed memory, the
illustrious King of England to the Archbishop and Chapter
of Rouen Cathedral, in Normandy, and was farmed at a rent
of 70 marks.
Shortly after this event, the manor of Kilburn came into
the possession of Roger de Mowbray, who gave the chapel to
the prior and convent of Newburgh, and at the Dissolution it
was granted to the Archbishop of York by King Henry VIII.,
and the said Roger de Mowbray gave the easements out of
his forest in Kilburn.
The town of Kilburn was afterwards held by the Barons
Stutevill. William Robert de Stutevill exchanged it with
Roger de Mowbray for the mediety of the lands of Landeford
and Hode, when the family of the Deyvills held Kilburn of Hie
tee of Mowbray.
The ancient hall, or most probably, the hunting seat of the
Lord Forester, is situated in Low Kilburn, and from the re
maining vestiges, it appears to have been a place of consider
able extent, but little of its ancient grandeur remains. A part
of it is now occupied as a dwelling-house, on the gable end of
which, facing the public street, is the following coat of arms.
Arms, — Two shin bones, saltireways, the sinister sur
mounted of the dexter.
Crest, — a hand grasping a jaw bone.
This appears to have been the arms of the Baynes', barons
of Kilburn, who formerly occupied the hall or hunting seat,
and most probably were the lords of the forest.
Amongst the distinguished characters of the olden time,
connected with this place, we must not forget the celebrated
Archbishop Bramhall, who appears to have attracted the no-
3 Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. II. p. 1017.

242 kilburn.
tice of Christopher Wandesford, Lord Deputy of Ireland, while
an obscure schoolmaster in this village, about the year 1620.
This eminent patron first procured for him the rectory of
Elvington, and after various other preferments, raised him to
the see of Derry. After passing through many misfortunes
during the usurpation of Cromwell, he was at the Restoration,
raised to the primacy of the church of Ireland, and has ever
been regarded as one of the ablest defenders of the Protestant
Episcopal Church.
The church, dedicated to St Mary, is a plain, unpretend
ing edifice, and stands on an elevation about the middle of the
low town. It consists of a body or nave and chancel,- with
a north aisle, and a tower.
The north aisle terminates in a line with the chancel, the
entrance to which, is through a plain Norman arch, without
columns or capitals, which appear to have been cut away in
the modernizing of the church. A similar but smaller arch
conducts to the eastern portion of the north aisle. This part
of the church is separated from the body by cylindrical pillars,
with bold foliated capitals supporting pointed arches, bearing
all the characters of the transition period.
The southern entrance by the porch is a richly adorned
Norman arch with chevron and billet mouldings, surmounted
by a representation of the crucifixion.
In the chancel within the altar rails is a stone bearing the
following inscription: —
Here lieth the body of
CHRISTOPHER BAYNES,
who died the 15th day of April, in the yere of our Lord 1696,
in the 62 yere of his age.
Adjoining to which is the following: —
Here lieth the Body of WILLIAM BAYNES, Esq., who
departed this life the 24th day of January, in the yere of our
Lord 1731, in the 7ist yere of his age.
On the outside of the altar rails, within the chancel is the
following inscription, on a brass plate : —
Here lye the Remains of RICHARD BROWNE, late curate

kilburn. 243
of this parish, who died much lamented, Feb. 13th, 1721,
aged 27.
These are all the monumental inscriptions in the Church.
For charities, &c, see Lawton's Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasti-
carum de Diaecesi Eboracensi. Vol. ii. p. 447. An enclosure
act was passed 43rd George III. The Register books com
mence in 1600. The Archbishop of York is lord of the ma
nor of Kilburn, owner of a great part of the soil, appropriator
and patron of the church; and the Rev. Thomas Barker is
incumbent. Population about 500.
The Wesleyans have a neat chapel here, built in 1838.
This romantic and picturesque village is watered by a fine
stream, abounding with trout, which dashes along the seques
tered dell, fed by the tributary streams of the Happy Valley,
and finds its way to the place where stood the ancient mills of
Willaden and Baxby, from whence it glides peacefully along
to join the "sacred river" Swale, at Elmer. The locality and
circumstances connected with Kilburn and its heathen worship
and traditions, might haye inspired the noble rhapsody of
"KhublaKhan:"— " A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted."
The scenery is romantic and beautiful, and well worth the in
spection of the lovers of nature. The hills are dotted with
trees and

• A various sylvan scene

Appears around, and groves of living green,
Where blooming meads with flowers are cro.wn'd,
And growing violets throw their odours round.
The villagers live securely and snugly in their mountain fast
ness. The alarms of war or invasion they little dread. Agri
culture is the staple produce, and the land in general is of a
fertile character. We will close our remarks in the words of
the poet, Soft steal thy bells upon the transed mind
In fairy cadence floating on the wind,
Telling of friends and times, long flown away,
And pensive hopes harmonious with the day.
Q2

jgmttogjwm.

(Houingham — Domesday. Hovingham.)
OUINGHAM or Hovingham as the Norman scribes
wrote it, from houe (Brit.) a place of graves or
tumuli, many of which are still found in the
neighbourhood ; ing a place of waters, or mead
ows by Hie side of waters, and J3am, a Saxon
appellative signifying a'house, farm, or village. The tun or
ton at the end of so many of our villages had a reference to an
enclosure, but the Saxon JJam implies that it was the residence
or home of its possessor. The situation of Hovingham exact
ly corresponds with the description given of the towns of the
ancient Britons, which were almost invariably fixed on the
border of a large forest for the conveniency of hunting and
pasture for their cattle, and on the bank of a river or running
stream for the sake of water.
Hovingham is a place of great antiquity, ecclesiastically
located in the Deanery of Rydale and Archdeaconry of Bulmer.
. It is partly in the Wapentake of Bulmer, 8 miles from Eas
ingwold, 9 from Malton, and 17 from York, the latter two of
which places were important Roman stations.
The vicinal Roman road or ancient British trackway from
Malton to Isurium, (Aldburgh) passed through Hovingham,
crossing the Forest of Galtres to Easingwold, and there
can be no doubt that, during the Roman times, Hovingham
was one of those fo$ts, formed not only for securing the road
just entering the wild region of the forest, but such a one as
they usually placed at a short distance from the larger stations,
where they fixed a small garrison and fortified them with
ditches, &c.
Be this as it may, Hovingham must have been a place of
some importance during the Roman period as well as at the

HOVINGHAM. 245
more subsequent epochs of its history,, it being evident that
the present mansion and pleasure grounds of the worthy
proprietor occupy the site of a Roman station, villa, or country-
seat of some chief officer, probably of the sixth legion, which
was for some centuries stationed at York and these northern
parts. In 1745, a Roman hypocaust or sudatory and bath was
discovered here in a good state of preservation. Among the
materials composing the same, may ;be noticed the flues for
conveying the warm water into the sweating-room, the fire-place,
hollow bricks planted round the circular vaporarium, over
which was laid a tessellated floor. The bath, eleven feet eleven
inches by ten feet nine inches, appears to be lined by a com
position of various hard ingredients, grossly powdered, and
mixed up with hot run lime, but the internal surface is compo
sed of a thin smooth covering. The roof was supported with
brick pillars, and consisted of polished tiles, which at several
places were perforated : on these were laid the brick tubes in
order to carry off the force of the heat, as described by the
poet: — " Volvebant hypocausta vaporem ; "
i. e. — The hypocaust breath'd out a vaporous heat.
At the distance of 221 feet from the bath was found a tes
sellated pavement; — several Roman coins were also found in
the grounds now occupying the site of the supposed villa, with
pieces of broken urns, tessellffi, pieces of compact, hard baked
earthenware, being portions of boilers of a large diameter, &c.
The coins are some of them as high as Antonius Pius and
Marcus Aurelius, his successor, as well as others of the
Emperor Constantius and Constantine his son, which would
intimate that the place was early and long occupied by the
conquerors of the world. The plan of the hypocaust with that
of the tessellated pavement, exhibit a taste much superior to
any thing of the kind ever found in the lower empire.
The late spirited owner, Thomas Worsley", Esq., who dis
covered these mementoes of the great rulers of the world,
caused sketches of the same to be taken to illustrate this
local antiquity, which serves in so interesting a manner to
connect this place with ancient Rome. These sketches were

246 HOVINGHAM.
copied and fully explained by Mr. F. Drake, the celebrated
antiquarian of York, under the superintendence of the Earl
of Burlington in 1748, and Hie whole were engraved in one
plate together with a large portion of the very beautiful pat
tern of the tessellated pavement then existing, by that able
engraver, G. Vertue, and which engraving with various speci
mens of the tessellse were exhibited, and greatly attracted the
interest of the curious at the meeting of the Archeological
Institute at York, in 1846.
A short distance from Hovingham and in the same parish,
was found in 1616, at East Ness, a stone monument, full of
bones, bearing the following sepulchral inscription: —
TIT A PINTA VLXIT ANN XXXVIII ET VALAADIVTOEI VIXIT1
ANN XX ET VAEIOLO VLXIT ANN XV VAL VINDICIANVS
CONIVGIE T' FILIS.
F. C.
Titse pientissimEe, vixit annos triginta oeto ;
Et Valerio Adjutori, vixit annos viginti ;
Et Variolo vixit annos quindecim; Valerius
Vindicianus conjugi et filiis
Faciendum euravit.
'Valerius Vindicianus has caused this monument to be erect
ed to the memory of his very pious wife Titia, who died at the
age of 38, — to his son Valerius Adjutor, who died at the age
of 20, — and his son Variolus who died at the age of 15.' " The
" commas at the top of the letters are very singular. The in-
" scription has not, like that at old Penrith, the D. M. (forDis
" Manibus) usually prefixed to Roman epitaphs. Perhaps
" Vindician had become a christian after the old Penrith monu-
" mentwas erected. The name Titia occurs in Fleetwood, 232,
" 4. Pinta is not a part of the name as Horsley and others make
" it, but a contraction for Pientissima or Piessima; as appears
" from Fleetwood, 281, 1. Perhaps Adjutori should be render-
" ed the assistant instead of reading it as a proper name. There
" were officers called adjutors as appears from the Notitia, sect.
" 49, 52, 53; and Valerius might be Adjutor to his father."1
It is very probable that Vindician resided at the Roman
'Young's History of Whitby, p. 713.

HOVINGHAM. 247
station at Hovingham, and Ness not being far out of the direct
route of the Roman road, might be occasionally used as an
out post, or as a place of interment.
The condition of the place at the time of the Norman
Survey is thus given in the Domesday Record : —
w y \ ^ ~
GD In Houingham ht. Orm vm. car tree ad gld. Tra. e ad. mi.
* B „ V _ *
car. Ibi ht Hugo nc. n. car. \ x nill. hntes. nn. car. Ibi
Eccla y pbr.
y B. Use ptinent ad ipsu GO. Wad. Frideton, Holtorp,
Eschalchedene, Hauuade, Coltune, Grimeston, Neutone,
Nesse, Holme, Essingesbi, Butruic, Aimundrebi, Brostone,
Newhuse. ', \ h - '.
Simul ad gld. xxxn. car tre. Tra. e. ad xv car. Ibi hnt
— o  ^ y o „,
nc ii. hoes hug. n. car. y dim. Ibi su. m xliii. uill. hntes
xiiii. car y xxxn. uc pti. Tot GO cu adiacentibz sibi
0
T. R. E. ual xn. lib. m c. sol.
Siluqg. Totu. Orig. Domesday, Vol. I. p. 327.
The translation of which, is rendered thus : —
In the manor of Hovingham, Orm had eight carucates of
land to be taxed. There is land to four ploughs. Hugh, the
son of Baldric has now there two ploughs and ten villeins, ha
ving four ploughs. There is a church and a priest.
Berewicks. These belong to this manor. Wath, Fryton,
Howthorp, Scackleton, Heworth, Colton, Grimston, Neuton.
Ness, Holme, Slingsby, Butterwick, Amotherby, Broston, and
Newsome. In all thirty-two carucates to be taxed. There is
land to fifteen ploughs. Two of Hugh's vassals have now
there two ploughs and a half. There are at present there forty
three villeins, having fourteen ploughs and thirty-two acres of
meadow. The whole manor, with the' places belonging to it,
were in King Edward's (the Confessor) time, valued at £12,
now 100 shillings.
Wood. — The whole.
After the Norman Conquest, Hovingham with other exten-

248 HOVINGHAM.
sive possessions in the neighbourhood, were given by William
the Conqueror to the great Roger de Mowbray, who is suppo
sed to have built a castle, or probably re-edified and re-fortified
the Saxon villa, so as to make it a fit residence for so great a
warrior. We can obtain very slight information respecting the private
history of these "barons bold;" but shortly after the cessation
of arms, they turned their attention to the building and endow
ing of churches. To the abbey of Byland which Roger de
Mowbray had erected, he gave the church of Hovingham, toge
ther with tne common of pasture in his forest and wood there ;
and to the priory of Newburgh, he gave two carucates and
seven oxgangs of land in Hovingham, and a culture in the vale,
with the chapel of Fryton.
How long the estate remained in. the hands of the Mow-
brays, we are not able to ascertain, but suppose it must have
passed to others soon after the execution of John de Mowbray,
who, conspiring with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, against the
Spensers, was taken prisoner at the battle of Boroughbridge,
and beheaded at York, all his lands being seized into the
king's hands, and his wife and son imprisoned in the Tower.
This took place 15, Edward II., 1332, in which year^r the battle
of Boroughbridge was fought. Sixteen, years after this event,
we find that Ralph de Hastings had licence to make a castle
of his house at Slingsby, and to impark his woods at Slingsby,
Frith, (now Fryton,) Colton, Surkilwode, and other lands,
which had formerly belonged to the Mowbray family, so that
in all probability, he had obtained a portion of the confiscated
estates by grant before the Mowbrays were again restored to
favour by Edward III., and the family of Worsley had settled
at Hovingham about the year 1307, prior to the final confisca
tion of the Mowbray estates on the insurrectionary movement
called the "pilgrimage of grace."
Hovingham is a small market town, placed in a beautiful
valley in the midst of a rich and populous agricultural dis
trict, having the advantage of a station on Hie Thirsk and
Malton, Railway, within a few hundred yards of the Hotel.
The charter for a market was granted in the 6th year of Henry
III., — renewed in the 13th of George II., and though in disuse

HOVINGHAM. 249
for some time, it has of late been revived for the sale of corn,
&c. The parish contains about 700 inhabitants, there being
other townships included in the parish. Nearly the whole
of the township of Hovingham consisting of 3113 acres of
land, is the property of Sir William Worsley, Bart., who is
lord of the manor, and resides at his family seat, Hovingham
Hall, a handsome modern mansion, built in the style of an
Italian villa, and approached through a handsome covered archi
tectural gateway, over which is this inscription, " Virtus in
actione consistit" This arched entrance is secured by a strong
iron gate and leads directly into a hall called the riding-school,
96 feet long by 36 feet wide, through which carriages pass into
the vestibule, from whence you enter on the right and left
into the other parts of the mansion. This entrance hall or
vestibule is a square of 36 feet, and with its semicircular groined
masonry top, resting on four centre columns and twelve other
three quarter columns attached to the walls, all of the pure
Tuscan order, has been much admired both for workmanship
and taste. The entrance hall leading from the vestibule on Hie
right (together with- the corresponding hall on the left) is of a
size and style of architecture in keeping with the vestibule, and
conducts to the principal staircase and dining room, which is
36 feet long by 30 feet wide, adorned with Corinthian columns
and a handsome chimney-piece of Italian marble with projecting
columns of yellow antique, fine models of the pure Greek Doric
columns, which were always without bases. The walls of this
noble room represent mural tablets painted in fresco, — a sacri
fice to Apollo, by Sibastian Rizzi, &c, &c, and there is a fine
bust of Oliver Cromwell in a niche over the chimney-piece.
Several of the apartments in the mansion are of large propor
tions, handsomely furnished, as for instance, the state bed room
which opens out of the dining room, is 36 feet by 22, adorned
with Corinthian columns, having two dressing rooms attached,
and a second entrance into the principal staircase. The draw
ing rooms are over the entrance hall and vestibule, command
ing a fine view of the grounds in front, and correspond in
regard to architecture and dimensions with the rooms above
mentioned, — the principal drawing room called the cube room
is a square of 36 feet by 28 high, the floor being supported

250 HOVINGHAM,
on the four stone columns of the hall below. The collection
here of statues, bronzes, busts, casts, paintings, drawings,
and prints are both very numerous and interesting ; the
library consists of a large collection of ancient, classical, and
modern books.
The late Thomas Worsley, Esq., who was Surveyor General,
of the Board of Works in the time of George the III., erect
ed the present modern mansion from his own designs, on
or near the site of Mowbray Castle, the position as above refer
red to of a Saxon villa, and where originally stood the Roman
villa or station, some of the foundations of which are still to
be found in the gardens and grounds adjoining. Sir William
Worsley, Bart., the present representative, is M.A. of the
University of Cambridge, a deputy lieutenant, and a magistrate
for the North- Riding.
The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a large and commo
dious edifice, with an embattled tower, and is situated near the
centre of the town. At the time of the Norman Survey, which
closed about the year 1080, there was a church and a priest
at Hovingham, but the interior of the church contains no evi
dence of Saxon architecture. The tower and chancel appear the
most ancient. It is evident from many parts of the tower that
the materials of the old church have been used in the construc
tion of the present edifice. On the west end is a fine Norman
arch, above which, is a cross-flory built in the wall. On the
South exterior of the tower is inserted into the wall a large oblong
stone, perhaps a relic of the Saxon Church, bearing a bass-
relief of eight figures, with glories encircling the heads, but
the sculpture is so much impaired by the lapse of time as to
render a conjecture hazardous what historical or other facts
was intended to be represented thereby.
On the north side of the church, is a large mausoleum or
vault, the burial-place of the Worsleys, encircled with appro
priate evergreens and surrounded with massive iron railings.
The south front was re-built in 1725, and in 1821, the inte
rior underwent a thorough repair, being re-pewed and fitted
up at a considerable expense by the parishioners. New orna
ments, coverings, and cushions, for the pulpit, reading desk, and
communion table, were provided and the communion plate

HOVINGHAM. '251
richly chased and embossed at the expense of Miss Worsley,
of the hall, daughter of the late Thomas Worsley.
The church originally consisted of a tower, a nave, with
north and south aisles, and a chancel. There is now no south
aisle, and the original windows were all removed from the
body of the church at the commencement of the last century,
when the church was repaired by the erection of the south
wall, and also the wall on the north aisle. There is supposed
to have been a private chapel at the north side of the chancel,
on the terminating point of the north aisle, the site of which,
was at one time a burial-place for the Crathorne family, who
had an estate in the parish. No vestige of the ancient decora
tions of the chapel are to be found, and the site is partly
occupied by a vestry and partly by pews. The interior of the
church is neatly fitted up, but has no pretensions to beauty or
ornament, with the exception of the following monuments.
On the north wall of the interior of the church, is a costly
monument of variegated marble, erected
To the memory of
THOMAS WORSLEY, Esq.,
who died 3rd May, 1715, aged 63.
His wife was Mary Arthington, daughter of Henry Arthing-
ton, Esq. She died 26th December, 1711.
Above an ornamental slab of Sienna marble is a hand
some monument To the memory of
Thomas Worsley, of Hovinghani Hall, who died 13th of
December, 1778, in the 67th year of his age.
Elizabeth, his wife, died 19 November, 1809, in the 82nd
year of her age.
On the same side of the church are two smaller tablets, to
the memory of Ann and Frances Arthington, two maiden
ladies, of the ancient family of the Arthingtons, of Arthington,
a'nd allied by marriage to the Worsleys.
On the south wall is a neat mural monument to the mem
ory of Mr. William Schoolcroft, late of this place.
The church is a perpetual curacy in the patronage of the
Earl of Carlisle, who is lay rector. The Rev. John Pigott
Munby, is incumbent, and resides at Slingsby.

252 HOVINGHAM.
On the south side of the church, at the termination of
a line of lofty and beautiful lime trees, is the charity school
and school-house, which was endowed in 1 808, by the Rev.
James Greaves, rector of Thorp Basset, with £10 a year, being
the interest of £200 vested in the navy five per cents, for the
education of 1 2 poor children of the township of Hovingham.
In 1716, the sum of £20 was left by Mrs. Frances Arthington,
of Arthington, the interest of which, was to be applied towards
educating 4 children of the same township.
The charities altogether amount to £118, the interest of
which is partly distributed at Christmas, amongst the most
needy of the parishioners.
By the permission of the late incumbent, a meeting was held
at this church in Sej)tember, 1836, when a selection of sacred
music and hymns from Handel, Keat, Attwood, Camidge,
&c, was ably performed, to an overflowing auditory from the
neighbouring districts, by the Hovingham, Malton, and Kirby -
Moorside societies, and other selected amateurs, and we can
not but express our regret, that, as sacred music meetings of
this description cannot but tend to engender both a feeling of
local attachment, and soften and harmonize the sympathies
of our nature, they should of late years have been so en
tirely discontinued.
The immediate scenery of Hovingham, as well as that by
which it is surrounded, is highly varied and picturesque
^beyond what is often to be met with in England. Encom
passed by well wooded and lofty hills interspersed with rich
dales and rippling streams, it appears equally secluded from
the idle, and shut out from the noise and turmoil of the
busy, — to the poetic eye it might seem a sort of "happy val
ley," such as Johnson in his Rasselas delighted to pourtray.
Here the woods, hills, and vales undulate in picturesque
variety, affording numerous and umbrageous walks to the
visitor. The vale is watered by several streams which tra
verse it in different directions. Standing on the top of the
Temple Hill, a noble and varied prospect strikes the eye. To
the west, the wild heath and moors of Colton, Gilling, and
Yearsley, exhibit a picture of bleakness and desolation, on
which are found scattered cairns and tumuli, recalling to mind

HOVINGHAM. ^53
the visions of former ages, and the venerable forms of grey
heroes rising out of the misty magnificence, where Ossian
would have revelled with delight. On the north, Hambleton
and the Black moors of Helmsley stretch away to the utmost
boundary of vision, and seem like Pelion piled upon Ossa.
Then turning the eye to the vale below, you behold, if in Au
gust or September, rich and fertile crops waving in the sun,
green and flowery pastures abounding with cattle, orchards gay
with ruddy and mellow fruit, and pleasant flower-clad gardens,
groves, and plantations.
The present worthy proprietor seems to have had in contem
plation some years ago the railway now in course of formation,
which no doubt induced him, at considerable expense to beau
tify and ornament the SPAS, and erect new baths and suitable
apartments, with requisite attendants for the accommodation
of invalids and pleasure-seeking parties.
The Spas, three in number, are situated a short distance
out of the town, on the south side of the main valley, on a
spot something like the place where the Harrogate waters
issue. These waters however, must on no account be confounded
with the medical waters of Harrogate, as they differ essentially.
Perhaps we cannot do better than give the following extract
from the printed notice at the spa: — " These waters are of the
Sulphur-Sodaic character, and there is a copious and very
strong Chalybeate spring, and also one of pure rock water.
They have been analyzed by Mr. West, the eminent chemist,
of Leeds ; and both Mr West and Dr. Simpson of York, as
well as several other medical gentlemen, concur in recommend
ing them as the most valuable of this class of mineral waters.
Their distinctive effects, as contrasted with other mineral wa
ters that are stimulant and aperient, are to soothe and invigo
rate, by allaying the irritation consequent on protracted disease,
and giving such an improved tone to the system as to superin
duce composure, sleep, and a more healthy action of the diges
tive organs, thus giving nature an opportunity to aid in the
cure ; — and, accordingly, the most favourable results have been
derived from the use of these waters, internally and externally,
in all cases dependent on, or connected with, impaired diges-

254 HOVINGHAM.
tion, viz., general debility, lameness, rheumatic affections, gra
vel, diseases in the skin, especially in young people, irritation
from chronic nettle rash, nervous complaints, weak health
from residence abroad, &c."
The situation of Hovingham renders it a place peculiarly
desirable either as a summer or winter retreat for the invalid.
It is sheltered in winter from the "bitter blasts" by the forest
wood and romantic hills, and in summer from the scorching
heat of the sun. Here are pleasant walks and shady bowers
as a retreat for the valetudinarian and pic nic parties in search
of mirth and pleasure. At the western end of the village is a
magnificent horse chestnut, the largest and finest in this part
of the country. Not far from the spa, in the midst of Hoving
ham wood, stands majestically, a noble specimen of the
royal forest oak, looking down like an ancient patriarch
upon his upstart juniors, and like Alexander Selkirk seems
to say: — " I am monarch of all I survey."
In the immediate vicinity of Hovingham are congregated
a collection of interesting scenes, rarely to be met within an
equally circumscribed district. Among the rest may be noticed
the mansions of Castle Howard, the seat of the Earl of Carlisle;
Duncombe Park, the seat of Lord Feversham; Wiganthorp
Hall, the seat of William Garforth, Esq. ; Newburgh Hall, the
seat. of Sir George Wombwell, Bart, with its sylvan park and
its region of "fairy land," which when viewed from the adjoin
ing hills appears like the image of Beauty reposing in the lap
of Sublimity. The antiquarian, geologist, and naturalist may here find
abundant gratification for their peculiar tastes, either in a visit
to Helmsley Castle, built by the De Ros ; Gilling Castle built
by the De Mowbray, and now the seat of the Fairfaxes; Crayke
Castle, the retreat of St. Cuthbert; Slingsby Castle, built by
De Hastings; Sheriff-Hutton Castle, built by Bertram Bulmer
and Ralph Nevil, in which Elizabeth of York and the last Earl
of Warwick lingered in captivity, till Bosworth's fatal field ex
alted one to a throne and the other to a block, all which places
are within a few miles of Hovingham; or, on a visit to the

HOVINGHAM. 255
splendid ruins of Rievaux Abbey, or to Byland Abbey, New
burgh Priory, and Kirkham Abbey; or to explore the now well
known antediluvian cave of Kirkdale, or to the lofty rocks and
sublime scenery of Hambleton with its deep caverns, frowning
cliffs, and glassy lake. — The Hovingham woods also are well
known to abound in an extensive variety of botanical plants.
The soil here is of a gravelly nature, resting upon a sub
stratum of rock, which is sufficiently durable for building
purposes. The quality of the soil is indicated by the massive
and flourishing woodland scenery adjoining the town.
The streets of Hovingham are wide and spacious, inter
spersed with forest trees, limes, sycamores, &c, orchards of
fruit, and garden grounds ; and the houses are respectable and
well built, many of them suitable, for the accommodation of
visitors to a rural watering place. — The increasing popularity
of its waters, and the late influx of visitors, occasioned by the
many well authenticated cures effected thereby, induced the
worthy baronet some years ago to erect a commodious and
substantial Hotel in the centre of the town, called the Worsley
Arms, conducted by Mr. William Garbutt, and families of rank
and respectability there find excellent beds and every accom
modation requisite on very reasonable terms. — Carriages and
conveyances are kept for the convenience of visitors to the spas
or elsewhere. Although Hovingham, on account of its delightful situation,
beautiful scenery, and many attractions, has been, styled a
"poetic place," yet, we are not aware that any inspireu char
acters, save the occasional effusions of "the unlettered muse"
have been fostered beneath its sheltering bowers. Could
we ransack the history of past generations now sleeping quietly
beneath the grassy sod, we should no doubt become acquaint
ed with many a tale of thrilling interest : — here no doubt we
should find manly youths in whose breasts glowed the flame of
ambition, — whose souls were lighted up with the fires of
genius, — and whose bosoms were warmed with poetic fire : —
" Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood."

filling.

(Ghellinge— Domesday Booh Gilling— Dugdale <& Torr. Gilling.)
i ILLING is situated on the main road from York to
Helmsley, in the wapentake of Rydale and Arch
deaconry of Cleveland, and is 8 miles from Easing
wold, 5 from Helmsley, and 18 from York. The
town is flanked by a clear stream of running water,
discharging itself into the Holbeck, which is crossed by a stone
bridge at the northern extremity of the village.
Independently of the pleasing and picturesque appearance
with which Nature has so largely invested it the place itself de
rives much interest from its immediate vicinity to the fine old
castle and the venerable feature of its church tower.
Gilling is derived from gil, (Sax.) a narrow dell; and
ing, (Sax.) a place beside waters, signifying a dell-river-town.
The vale through which the Holbeck runs was anciently a
lake extending from Flotmanby along the dale to Stonegrave
and Nunnington, occupying a wide space betwixt Oswaldkirk
and frilling, and proceeding up the vale a little beyond Am
pleforth.9 From the same authority to which note (9) refers, we gather
that a Roman road or ancient British Trackway, passed York
through the Forest of Galtres to Crayke, Gilling, Helmsley,
and thence to Redcar.
Previous to the Norman Conquest, the manor of Gilling was
in the possession of Barch, (probably a Saxon Earl). William
the Conqueror, after the battle of Hastings, assigned it to Hugh,
son of Baldric, a Norman, who held it of the King in capite.
The account is thus given in the Domesday Record: —
'Miscellaneous Tapers of the Eoyal Society of Antiquaries Vol. xxvii.
Plate xxxi, p. 404.

Hc5

257

GO In Ghellinge. ht. Barch, mi car tra? ad gld. Tra. ad. it.
* f b ^ \ t,
car. Ibiht Hugo, n. car \ til uill cu n. car. Silua past in 9z
v - « t v
lg i, in lat. Tot GO dim lev lg y dim lat. T. R. E. ual. xx
0
sol. m vin. sol. Orig. Domesday, p. 327.
Which may be thus translated : —
In the manor of Gilling, ^Barch had four carucates of
land to be taxed. Land to two ploughs. Hugh, son of Baldric
has there two ploughs and three villeins with two ploughs.
Wood pasture three quarentens long and three broad. The
whole manor half a mile long and half a mile broad. Value
in King Edward's time twenty shillings, now eight shillings.
It does not appear how the manor was transferred, but
we find shortly after, the son of Baldric replaced by the noble
baron Roger de Mowbray. The knightly family de Etton,
sprung from the Norman Ivo de Vescy, seem to have held the
estate originally of the Barons Mowbray, subject to the usual
conditions of vassalage. Subjoined is a genealogical table,'
shewing at a glance the order of succession from Galfrid de

' Galfrid de Etton, temp.
, — 'Hen. II. 1154.
Thomas de Etton, Lord
of Gilling, 1199-1210.
William de Etton, Lord
of Gilling, 1216.
Sir Ivon de Etton, Lord of
,  'Gilling, 1272.
Thorn as=Elizabeth
de Etton | Fairfax, 1350.

Thomas Fairfax of Walton=Elizabeth Malbys,

heir of John his father,
14 Edward III. (1341).
He was made next in re
mainder to the Gilling
estates on failure of is
sue of his daughter Eliz
abeth Etton.

daug. of Sir John
Malbys, of Acaster.

Elizabeth=Thomas de Thomas=
Fairfax . Etton, 1350. Fairfax
Walton.

Margaret, daughterof John
de Etton.

Thomas Fairfax.

Thomas de Etton, living 1424.
Sir John de Etton, ob. 1431-3. , —
l  i Richard Fairfax=Eustacia Calthorpe.
Alexander de Etton, 1447, died ,  '
without issue, having infeoff- William Fairfax=Katharine Neville.
ed Gilling Castle, Sec. to 16 Henry VI.(1438.) |
Sir Thomas Neville.

Humphrey Neville, of
Braneepeth, attainted
1465.

Thomas Fairfax , 1493, claims the
Gilling estates as heir to Thomas
Fairfax, father of Elizabeth Et
ton, by the entail created 1350.

258 GILLING.
Etton, temp. Henry II. to Alexander de Etton, Clerk, last
Lord of Gilling of that family. The estate was entailed on the
Fairfax family by Sir Ivo de Etton on the occasion of the mar
riage of his son Thomas to Elizabeth Fairfax, of Walton, temp.
Edward III. A.D. 1350, when failing the issue of Thomas
and Elizabeth, the remainder was made over to Thomas Fair
fax the father of the bride, and in virtue of this entail, Thomas
Fairfax of Walton, successfully asserted his claim to the pro
perty, temp. Henry VII, A.D. 1492, it being then vested in
the Crown, owing to the attainder of Humphrey Neville, of
Braneepeth, to whom his father, Sir Thomas, had bequeathed
it. It has continued ever since in the possession of the
Fairfax family, of which Charles Gregory Fairfax, Esq., is the
present representative.
Sir Thomas Fairfax of Walton and Gilling, the first Vis
count, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire, 3rd Charles I., created
Viscount Fairfax of Emeley in Ireland, 10th Feb. 1628. The
last Lord, Charles Gregory, 9th Viscount, died 1 772, and was
buried at Gilling. From the junior branches of this ancient
stock descended the Fairfaxes of Denton and Steeton, Barons
Fairfax of Cameron in Scotland, now resident in America.
The third Baron Fairfax of Cameron, contemporary with Sir
Thomas, created first Viscount Fairfax of Emeley, was previous
to his accession to the barony, Sir Thomas Fairfax, the celebra
ted republican general. Nor can we pass over in silence the poet
Edward, the son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, who was with
Charles Duke of Bourbon at the sacking of Rome 1527. It is
no slight praise that Waller professes to have learnt from the
translator of Tasso, the art of versification, and Fairfax not
inaptly describes himself in a manuscript note to his Doz-
monologia as a " singular scholar in all kinds of learning." It
is in this discourse of witchcraft that he thus speaks of himself.
" I am in religion neither a fantastic puritan, nor a supersti
tious papist, but so settled in conscience that I have the sure
ground of God's word to warrant all I believe, and the commend
able ordinances of our English Church to approve all I practise,
in which course Hive afaithful christian and an obedient subject,
and so teach my family." These principles he retained to his
death which is supposed to have taken place in 1632, in his

GILLING. 259
own house at Fuyistone betweeen Denton and Knaresbrough.
Others we might enumerate who deserved well of their country,
warriors, and judges, and sheriffs and some "who handled
the pen of the writer," and perhaps amongst the Dignitaries
and Worthies of Yorkshire no name occurs more frequently
than the honoured name of Fairfax.
Turning from this slight and imperfect sketch of the family
to the castle itself, we feel a redoubled interest in the contem
plation of this fine old building. Most of the surrounding baro
nial halls have either fallen into disuse or gone to decay, whilst
this Castle Keep remains under providence a valuable relic of
hoar antiquity, touched indeed, but little injured by time, or
mutilated by ignorance. It stands on the eminence of an
elliptical hill, half girdled by a dense mass of luxuriant trees,
above which appear its ivy mantled turrets. A noble poet
breathing forth his poetic effusions on the neighbourhood,
thus describes it: —
" This lyre might linger with too fond a praise,
O'er Vanburgh's airy domes and sculptur'd halls :
On to the sterner works of earlier days,
Byland's rent fane, and Gilling's ivy'd walls." l
The most ancient part of the Castle is the eastern end,
overlooking the village and commanding the picturesque vale
below. It had of course its moat and drawbridge, the situa
tion of which is shewn by the hill on the north side, which
retains the name of "Moat hill."
In olden times, there was an entrance on the eastern side
by a massive doorway, now walled up, protected by double doors,
and communicating by a narrow passage with the lower parts
of the castle, now used as cellars. At the farthest end of the
long dark passage is a flight of stone steps, leading to the up
per apartments of the castle.
The "Keep" is 78 feet by 73 feet, and 69 feet high from
the present level of the Eastern Terrace to the top of the
battlements. In addition to this mass are two projections,
One containing a staircase and the other is the oriel window
of the large dining room. Of this height, 20 feet are
i Address to the Yorkshire Annual, by Lord Morpeth, M.P., for 1832.
e2

260 GILLING.
occupied by the vaulted floor of the lower story; 21 feet by
the height of the principal floor, including the thickness of the
floor : 19 feet by the height of the principal chamber floor, and
9 feet by the roof &c, making 69 feet the total height.
Perhaps the souterrain or lowermost floor of the castle is
as interesting as any part of this ancient structure. The outer
walls vary from 8 to 1 5 feet in thickness, including as usual
in similar buildings, staircases, latrines and window recesses.
It might seem that this, story was entirely a fortification and
not inhabited except in case of actual siege, when of course the
soldiers would be accommodated in a similar way to that in
which they are in the casemates of modern fortresses. This
department of the castle is now known by the ominous name
of "the dungeons," but a great part of them being above ground
the term can scarcely be applied with propriety. No doubt
prisoners of war would be confined here occasionally. There
is, however, one secret cell reached by a narrow, dark passage,
which might seem almost to have suggested the description
so strikingly pourtrayed by the poet of the family: —
'¦ Nothing he saw, yet forward still he made,
With doubtful steps and ill assured pace,
At last his foot upon a threshold trode,
And ere he wist he entered had the place,
With ghastly voice the doore leaves shut behinde,
And clos'd him fast in prison dark and blinde." 8
The wall next the present court is 15 feet thick, but con
tains a staircase 7 feet wide, now stopped, but which probably
led up to the Hall of those days.
This story is vaulted with pointed barrel vaulting, solidly
constructed of stone. The doorways in the interior walls have
also acutely pointed chamfered arches, springing from jambs
of similar figure. The original hall including the present
ante room to the gallery (supposed to be so from the absence
of the partition wall in the basement) would be about 48
feet by 24.
The Great Dining Room commonly called the Elizabethan
room, in its present renovated state, is one of the very finest
Edward Fairfax's Jerusalem Delivered, Stanza 45, book 7.

GtLLING. 261
specimens of the age which have remained to our day. It
measures within the wainscot 39 ft. 5 in. by 22 ft. 2 in. and
17 ft. 3 in. in clear height. The oriel is 14ft. 6in. by 10ft,
measuring within the mullions. It is lighted by three beautiful
windows of stained glass, inserted . along with the oriel win
dows when the room was refitted. The glass is in a high
state of preservation. The date is below the dial in the lower
pane of the right hand of the south window, with the name
of the artist employed in blazoning the arms —
Bernard Dininckhoff, fecit, 1585.
This window represents the arms of the Stapyltons, the bay
window of the Fairfaxes, and the east window of the Constables.
The room up to the height of about twelve feet is wainscotted
with oak, the mouldings richly carved, and the panels, seventy
five in number, are all inlaid with flowers, frets, and other pat
terns, so delicate and so varied, as to confirm in a sort, the
tradition, that they were designed and perhaps even executed
by the ladies of the family and their handmaidens.
Between the cornice over the wainscot and the mouldings
from which the corbels spring, is a series of genealogical trees
painted on the panels of the room to represent the wapentakes
into which Yorkshire is divided, and shields on them with
the armorial bearings of the gentry of the county at that time
entitled to bear arms. This record corresponds with a docu
ment in the British Museum, being the result of a visitation
made in the year 1584, to ascertain the number of persons
entitled to bear arms in the county of York at that period.
The armorial bearings of the four ladies of the family who
designed the above, are quartered with their husbands, Va
vasour, Curwen, Belasyse, and De Roos, and preserved over
the chimney-piece, above which are the arms of the Fairfax fa
mily at that date, surmounted by the royal arms at the same
period. The chimney decorations are supposed to be of a later
date than the rest of the room. The figures in the north-east
corner represent the costumes of ladies and gentlemen in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The floor is of black polished oak, and the chairs and
other furniture assimilate to the general style and ancient
character of the rest of the room. The ceiling is adorned

262 GILLING.
with pendants, and divided into star-shaped compartments.
This description of ceiling, of which several examples remain,
shews the plan of the earlier stone vaults of which style it is
the final or vanishing state. The wainscotting, ceiling, and
carving, are in excellent preservation, forming an object of
considerable curiosity as an almost unique relic of the days of
Elizabeth. Leaving the Elizabethan room you cross a handsome en
trance hall, which leads through an ante-room, containing an
oak chimney-piece, very elaborately carved, — to the gallery, a
fine apartment, 90 feet in length, gracefully ornamented with
light and elegant arches and pillars, the panels beautifully
painted in arabesque by Crace, 1846, in which are inserted
old family portraits, the whole adapted with classical taste by
the present proprietor, Charles Gregory Fairfax, Esq.
At the end of the gallery is the drawing room, of an octaT
gonal shape, decorated in the same style, and very handsomely
furnished. In a corresponding apartment in the opposite wing, where
are some modern family portraits, is one of the parliamentary
general, Thomas Lord Fairfax and his wife Ann, daughter
and heiress to Horatio Lord Vere, by Dobson, a pupil of
Vandyke, which is much admired.
The immortal Milton has left us the following sonnet
to the Lord General Fairfax: —
"Fairfax, whose name in arms thro' Europe rings
And fills all mouths with envy or with praise,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze
And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings;
Thy firm unshaken valour ever brings
Victory home, while new rebellions raise
Their Hydra heads and the false North displays
Her broken league to imp their serpent wings.
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand,
For what can war but acts of war still breed,
Till injur'd Truth from Violence be freed,
And public faith be rescu'd from the brand
Of public fraud. In vain does Valour bleed
While avarice and rapine share the land."
The west side of the castle, which is now the front, has

GILLING. 263
windows of the date of the general adaptation to more modern
wants, from the designs of Sir John Vanburgh, who with his
able assistant, Mr. William Wakefield3 and his Italian plaster
ers, Cortese, &c, a school of artists which we have lately
seen expire, appears to have been constantly employed in this
part of Yorkshire, (Newburgh Park, Duncombe Park, Gilling
Castle, &c.) The two projecting wings added by the last
Lord Fairfax are also of this epoch, although we have ascertain
ed that older buildings existed.
The keep is most substantially roofed, which was absolute
ly requisite in order to bear the weight of the military engines.
It also slopes back from the south front, which form must
have greatly sheltered the defenders.
Gilling Castle has apparently been erected temp. Edward
II. during which stormy period so many houses were fortified,
and when the whole line of fortification extending from Dar
lington and Barnard Castle, to Penrith on the left bank of the
Tees, including Bowes Castle, Appleby, Brougham Castle, &c,
was rendered necessary by the visits paid to us by the Scots
in return for our inroads into their land by Edward I.
The approach to the castle through the park gates by the
south lodge, traverses a road somewhat thickly wooded, but
shortly after opening out and disclosing views of a singularly
wild and varied landscape, retaining still its traditional appel
lation of "The Wilderness." The view to the west is bound
ed by the bold outline of the Hambletons, and the bluff head
land of Sutton brow. At length you emerge upon a wide and
stately avenue of beech trees conducting direct to the castle.
The hanging gardens and sloping terraces on the south de
clivity of the building are pleasingly variegated with shrubs
and flowers. From the open space in front of the eastern side
of the castle, formerly used as a bowling-green, you see to the
best advantage the old turret walls under a thick mantle of ivy
which climbs to the very summit, concealing in its ascent the
Mr. William Wakefield was born at Huby, near Easingwold. Drake in
his Eboracum thus writes " Mr. William Wakefield, whose great skill in
architecture will always be commended, so long as Duncombe Park and
Gilling Castle do stand."

261 GILLING.
antique masonry and gray mullions of the Elizabethan period.
" This Castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses."
On the north-west side, the woods stretch away in rugged
magnificence till you come to the borders of a small but pictu
resque lake. Above, stands an elegant temple of the Tuscan
order, surrounded by stately silver firs, and commanding a
delightful view across the heathery moors of Gilling and
Oulston, of the sylvan park of Newburgh, the ruins of Byland
Abbey, the steep ridges of Hambleton, and the long scatter
ed village of Ampleforth, the whole presenting a singularly
interesting and romantic scene. Bidding farewell to these
pleasing scenes, we venture to insert the following gracefully
descriptive and truly Spenserian stanzas, by an ever lamented
member of the present family, inscribed over a bench in
Gilling Park, in the year 1822: —
Wanderer repose! a moment gaze arounde,
'Tis worthe a glance such softe and cheerful viewe,
Tho' here o'er rugged rocks no cataracts rebounde,
Nor mountains rise that pierce Heaven's vaulte of blue;
Nor swellinge lakes like smaller seas be founde,
Nor wilds which human step hathe ne'er passed through,
Yet stop, by gazinge it will sweeter seeme,
Nor these sequestered vallies worthless deeme.
No soft Enchantresse here hath raised this scene,
Such as the Italian barde whilome has sunge,
Yet sunny banks, and chrystal streams, and grots with greene
And moisture dropping ivy are o'er hunge,
And lovinge song of birdes, and greenwood shene,
Like where Armida wooed Einaldo younge.
Stranger sit down ! disdain not this roughe chair,
If thou wouldst find it softe, fetch thy Armida here !
T. F.
" His saltern accumulem donis, et fungar inani
Munere !'' 
The Church of Gilling in Ryedale has been irregularly built
at different periods, and presents corresponding varieties of
architecture.' In Domesday, no mention occurs either of
church or presbyter there, yet the cylindrical piers of the

205

nave, with the square abacus of the capitals and the peculiari
ty of the pointed arch, would seem to denote the Norman
period though perhaps in its waning state.
The windows of the
chancel are in the decora
ted style of the fourteenth
century, with the exception
of the centre one on the
south side, which was in
serted at the commence
ment of the sixteenth cen- .
tury. Under an arch in
the north wall is a curious
tomb of a knight in the
sculptured tracery of the
fourteenth century, combi
ning in a peculiar manner
the monumental cross,
with the recumbent effigy.
Some authorities have as
signed at once to the en
tombed person the distin
guished rank of founder of
the church; others, more
cautious, have ascribed to
him the foundation of the
chancel. In the attempt
to trace the arms on the
shield, this piece of anti
quity has proved indeed a
crux, and has baffled the
researches of more than
one antiquary. On his left "
side are laid his sword,
belt, and a shield engrailed, bearing on a bend three small birds,
apparently martlets or swallows, but in too imperfect a state to
be accurately defined, and on his right side a horse's head and
neck. The horse's head would seem to indicate a Malbys,
especially when viewed in connexion with the intermarriage

206 GILLING.
of the Malbys with the Fairfax family within the period as
signed to the foundation of the chancel, and also with the fact
recorded by Torr, that the arms of Malbys were to be seen in '
the east window of Gilling Church, associated with those of
Mauley, Fairfax, and Etton. In support of this theory, we find
by an ancient pedigree of Malbys in the Heralds' College, that
Walter Malbys made over his property at Scalton, in the event
of his not returning from the Holy Land, to Richard Fairfax,
on condition of William Fairfax, Richard's father, providing
him (Malbys) with the means necessary to defray the expense
of his pilgrimage. 4
This William Fairfax being first cousin of Walter Malbys,
died 1370, leaving his brother John his executor. John
Fairfax, Clerk, then Rector of Hanlaby, and also of Prestcote,
became Rector of Gilling towards the close of the fourteenth
century. But this combination of circumstances in favour of
the devout Walter can scarcely be regarded as conclusive, the
secret is still with the gallant knight : —
" Ille habeat secum, servetque sepulcro."
In the centre of the chancel floor is a monumental flag,
in which is inserted a brass plate bearing the following inscrip
tion : —
Orate P. Anim. Magistri Roberti Kellyngton olim Preben-
darii P. Bendse de Ulleskelfe, Rec. S de Bolton Percy, et Rec
tor istius Ecclise; qui obiit xiiiii0 Die men Februari, An. Doi.
Mo iiiii°. iii°.
Pray for the soul of Master Robert Kellington, formerly
prebendary of the prebend of Ulleskelfe, rector of Bolton Per
cy, and rector of this church; who died 15, Feb. A.D. 1503.
It was this Robert Kellington 5 who by his will proved
1503, directed that "his body should be buried in the High
Church of Holy Cross of Gilling, in the Quire, and gave one
of the bells to the new steeple, then a building, and willed
4 " Walterus Malbysse fecit Ricardum Fayrefax, heredem de Scalton
si non redierit de Terra Sancta per indentur inter ipsum et Willm Fayrefax,
patrem Eicardi pro mutatione pecuniae ad peregrinationem suam neces
saries." 5 In the Catalogue of the Rectors of Bolton Percy, Drake names him
Wellington.

GILLING. 267
that a marble stone be layed over his grave, and that his Ex
ecutors make a window on the south side of the church where
his body lyeth." The east window of three lights (in memo-
riam)was inserted by the Rev. J. A. Barnes, Rector of Gilling,
A.D. 1849. The masonry, of fine grit stone, is well executed
in all its details, from the foliated tracery in the head, to the
solid sill of one block at the base. The stained glass, repre
senting the figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity, is the work
of Willement.
The following testamentary burials are extracted from Torr :
2 Dec, A.D. 1438,
Richard Lende Rector, was interred in the High Church
of Gilling. 22 May, A.D. 1476,
William Preston, died &c, and was buried in the Quire of
the Church of St. Mary, Gilling.
15 Aug., 1517,
Dame Margaret Fayrfax, of Gilling in Rydale, widow, was
buried in the Church of Gilling, in the Quire before the
image of our Lady. Ult April, 1571,
Edmund Tyndal parson of Gilling, made his will giving
his soul to God Almighty his Creator and Redeemer, and his
body to be buried besides the old parson at Gilling.
4 January, A.D. 1538.
Nic. Fairfax of Gilling, Gent , made his will proved 3 Oct.
1582, giving his soul to God Almighty, hoping through Jesus
Christ to be saved, and his body to be buried in the chancel,
or church of Gilling.
The roof of the nave was lowered and the fine arch open
ing into the steeple mutilated in 1753, during the incumben
cy of Dr. Gouge who was also Prebendary of York. The date
of the erection of the steeple towards the close of the reign of
Henry YH. is clearly ascertained by the will of the above men
tioned Rector Kellington. The bell presented by him no longer
exists, the most ancient of the three now hanging, the south
bell, bears the inscription : —
CHARLES FAIREF AW WP IC GOD SAVE
HIS CHURCH 1667

268 GILLING.
The date 1667, marks the donor to have been Charles, the
fifth Viscount Fairfax. The north and middle bells bear res
pectively the dates, 1701 — 1775. The font, rude and crum
bling, of extreme antiquity, is placed at the western end of the
nave. In the south or Fairfax aisle is the tomb of Sir Nicho
las Fairfax, Knt, three times High Sheriff of the county during
the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, who by his will
proved 1572, directed that his executors "do cause a tomb ac
cording to his degree of the value of £30 or £40 to be set over
his body in the High Church of Gilling, and his first wife's
children to be pictured and engraven thereon." Nearly ad
joining to the tomb of Sir Nicholas in the south wall is an
antique arch profusely decorated, bearing at each termination
the shield of Etton, all but obliterated.
On the west side of this aisle is a singularly beautiful
monument in white marble, in the best style of modern art,
sculptured by Gott, " an English artist at Rome, of some
celebrity. Above the inscription is a graceful and most elegant
figure of Piety reclining, —
To the memory of
THOMAS FAIRFAX, ESQ.,
2nd son of Charles Gregory Fairfax, Esq., of Gilling Castle, "
and Mary his wife,
Bom April 12, 1800, died August 18, 1828.
Adorned with talent,
And a mind replete with every kind and benevolent feeling,
Breathing happiness and cheerfulness on all around him ;
Fulfilling every social duty in its most extended sense ;
In the midst of receiving and conferring that enjoyment of life
Which only such a mind can receive and give,
He was suddenly torn from his family
Of whom he was the pride and delight,
And to whom he was endeared by every filial and fraternal virtue,
Leaving a void that can never be supplied.

Thy will be done not mine, Supreme Disposer of Events,
Heaven gave him to our wish, that gift Heaven has resumed.
6Mr Gott was first introduced by Sir Thomas Lawrence, who spoke so
highly of his talentj and genius as a sculptor, that the late Benjamin Gott,
Esq., of Armley House, Leeds, committed to him the execution of a fine
monument to his two sons, by which he obtained much credit, and John
Gott, Esq., of Withers, Leeds, had a fine statue of " Ruth Gleaning," by the

GILLING. 269
Immediately over the monument is a marble tablet, bear
ing the following inscription : —
Sacred to the memory of
CHARLES GREG Oliy' FAIRFAX,
Of Gilling Castle, Esq.,
and Mary his wife,
Whom he survived but eleven months,
After an union of fifty years.
He died on the 29 December, 1845, aged 77.
She preceded him on the 28th January
Of the same year, aged 74.
In grateful remembrance of their constant affection
This Tablet is erected by their surviving children.
The Organ and Gallery were the gift of the late Mrs.
Fairfax of honoured memory, who bestowed also during her
life time an ample fund in augmentation of a previous endow
ment to the village school.
To the same Lady's munificence is due the erection of a
School House, 1837, and a row of ornamental cottages with
gardens in front. The present proprietor, Charles Gregory Fair
fax, Esq., is continuing the good work, and rapidly replacing
the mouldering tenements of former days by a succession of
commodious houses at right angles with the principal street.
The Thirsk and Malton Railway, a branch from the York and
Newcastle, passing a little to the north of the village is now
(1 852) in process of construction.
The benefice of Gilling is a rectory in the gift of the Mas
ter and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.
From the adjoining hills the gray church steeple rising
above the stone pines of the cemetery, the cheerful variety of
cottages and gardens refreshed by the passing stream of the
rivulet, and towering above all, the ancient Castle Keep, these
- together form a pleasing and impressive landscape, on which
the eye rests with no ordinary interest.
same artist, which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace, 1851. Mr, Goti's
works are to be met with in the Duke of Devonshire's Gallery, Lord Gran
ville's House. The piece of sculpture, Lord Cadogan's son throwing a ball
to a greyhound, is much admired. Also a fine statue of the late Mr.
Ferrand, of St. Ives.

dtaalukiri

(Oswaldescherea — Domesday Book. Oswald's Kirk. Oswaldkirk.)

SWALDKIRK is a small, retired village, plea
santly situated on the south declivity of the
sloping range of the Hambleton hills, the top and
sides of which are covered with trees of variegated
hues. The situation is exquisitely romantic,
commanding rich and interesting views of Gilling Castle and
Hie picturesque vale of the Holbeck rivulet along which passes
the Thirsk and Malton Railway, the park of Newburgh and the
wooded precipices of Cauklass and Gilling Park. It is 10
miles from Easingwold, 3 from Helmsley, and 20 from York,
The village derived its name from Oswald,8 the celebrated
King of Northumbria, who is mentioned by the venerable Bede
as having early embraced Christianity, after which, being about
to march against Cedwall, the Briton King of Cumberland, he
set up a cross in the midst of his army, and they unitedly im
plored the aid of Christ to deliver them from this fierce and
deadly foe. "We do not find" says Bede, "that any sign of
Christianity, any church, or any altar had been set up in this
whole nation before this banner of the holy cross was erected
by Oswald." jAfter his death 9 many churches were dedicated
to him, among the rest was Oswaldkirk from whence the village
derives its name.
In the Domesday Record, Oswaldescherea or Oswald
'Oswald was created King of Northumbria in the year 634.
9 Oswald was cut off with the flower of his army, A.D. 642, in an en
gagement with Penda, the Pagan King of .'Mercia, at Naserfield, in
Shropshire. The inhuman victor mangled the dead body of the christian
King, and to refine upon brutality itself, Tie caused the reeking fragments
yet streaming with blood, to be placed upon the points of stakes, as tro
phies of his -victory.

OSWALDKIRK. 271
kirk is stated to have been among the lands given by William
the Conqueror to the Earl of Morton, and Berenger de To-
deni. l Uctred had one manor of one carucate.
From the possession of the above it passed to Robert de
Ros, Lord of Helmsley. In Torr's MSS., we find that John
de Arbeuvyle and Nicholas de Barton, held in Ampleford and
Oswaldkirk the fourth part of a knight's fee of Robert de Ros,
who held it of the king in capite.
Oswaldkirk Hall, occupies a delightful situation at the
western extremity of the village. It is a neat and commodious
structure, and the gardens are laid out with great taste, but
now unoccupied. The last occupier of the hall was the
widow of Thomas Porter Banner, Esq. from whom the estate
descended to its present owner, Richard Banner Oakley, Esq.,
who is a minor and the property is managed by trustees.
The Church is an ancient rectory, formerly belonging to
the patronage of the Pykerings of Oswaldkirk for many gen
erations. By the marriage of the heiress of that family it
came to the Lords Wooton, from whom it passed to the Earls
of Chesterfield, and then to the Moores and Franklands. Mrs.
Mary Thompson presented in 1774, and her trustees in 1813.
The rectory is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev.
H. W. Comber.
The building, though small is a perfect beau ideal of a
neat country church, and though the north wall adjoins the
village street, the shrubs and trees by which it is surrpunded
give it a sweet and romantic seclusion. The church is entered
by an appropriate porch which has recently been erected at
considerable expense.
The interior of the church contains some relics of Norman
architecture. On the north side towards the west end is a Norman
arch supported by cylindrical pillars with handsomely wrought
capitals. This doorway, which was formerly the north entrance,
is now walled up. On the south side, now forming the main
entrance, is a modern depressed arch and pillars apparently
plastered over, but with handsome Norman capitals.
The church consists of a body and chancel. The more
eastern part of the windows date about the period of Edward
1 Bawdwen's Domesday Book, I. p. 72, 121.

U I a OSWALDKIRK..
II., in one of which is an angel bearing a censer. The bel
fry is modern.
On the north of the east window at the chancel end is a
marble monument recording the untimely death of Mary, the
daughter of Edward Thompson, Esq.; by Mary the daughter
of William Moor, Esq., who died at the age of 8 years.
On the opposite side is a marble monument to the memory
of
EDWARD THOMPSON OF MARSTON Esq.,
Son of Edward Thompson and Lucy, daughter of Bradwardine Tindal,
Esq., in 1724. He married Arabella, daughter of Edw. Dunch, Esq., in
1757. He married Mary, the daught. r of William Moor, of Oswaldkirk,
Esq., by whom he had one daughter. He was member of parliament for
the city of York 19 years ; a commissioner of customs in Ireland 17 years ;
was then made one of the Lords of the Admiralty. With all the virtue and
accomplishments which finish the private and social character, he was that
zealous and true friend to our happy constitution in church and state, that
his death was a singular loss to the public. Obt. July 25th, A.D. 1742
mat, 45.
Within the altar rails is a black marble slab on which is a
brass plate with the following inscription: —
Sacred to the memory of
MARY the daughter of WILLIAM MOOR,
of Oswaldkirk, Esq., and wife of Edward Thompson, who departed this
life 1784-aged 72.
On the north side of the chancel is a white marble monu
ment surmounted by a urn with the following inscription: —
M. S.
In this chancel lie the mortal remains of the late
THOMAS PORTER BANNER, Esq.,
Lord of the manor of Oswaldkirk who departed this life Oct. 15, 1826, aged
64 years. Also of Judith, relict of the above, who died at this place, May
9th, 1849, aged 81 years.
The walls are decorated with several mural monuments
and escutcheons of arms of Thompson, Banner, and Oakley.
One relic of antiquity however we must not overlook. In the
floor of the aisle adjoining the chancel is a large flag on which
is represented an abbot's crosier or pastoral staff, without any
inscription to certify whose ashes sleep beneath.

OSWALDKIRK. 273
The celebrated Archbishop Tillotson is said to have preach
ed his first sermon in this church, while on a visit to his par
ticular friend, ,the Rev. John Denton, Rector of Oswaldkirk.
The church-yard slopes down the south side of the hill, and
presents a rank luxuriance of vegetation, sheltered from the
east and north winds, and reposing in the full beams of a
genial sun. The situation renders applicable the words of
the poet : — " A little church-yard on the side
Of a green pastoral hill."
On the opposite side of the road from the church, still exist
the remains of an ancient building, supposed to be the ruins of
a monastery, erected in the ninth century, but never com
pleted, the establishment being removed to Old Byland. The
old wall, which is supported by buttresses, and very thick
ly surmounted with beautifully spreading ivy which waves
over its antique ruins, forms a very picturesque object in pas
sing through the village.3 In connection with these ruins,
and at a considerable elevation above the road, is a barn which
has on its south gable two shields of arms, each bearing on
a chevron, between three fleur-de-lis, three balls. At the en
trance of the village is a very large ancient tree, overhanging
the road, and carefully buttressed up. A line of rock extends
beyond it, overlooking Hie steep ascent of the road to Helmsley.
The charitable donations amount to about £23 per annum,
for particulars of which, see Lawton's Collectio Rerum Ecclesi-
asticarum de Dieacesi Eboracensi, vol. II. p. 532. The recto
ry is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. W. H.
Comber. In this church was " baptized, on the 24th of April, 1585,
Roger Dodsworth," that prince of antiquaries, and Newton
Grange: in this parish is the honoured spot which gave him
birth. Mr. Gough says, "One cannot approach the borders of
this county without paying respect to the memory of the inde
fatigable collector of its antiquities, Roger Dodsworth, who un
dertook and executed a work, which, to the antiquaries of the
present day, would have been the stone of Tydides." One
^Eastmead's Rievallensis, p. 220.
s

274 OSWALDKIRK,
hundred and twenty volumes of his own writing, besides ori
ginal MSS. which he had obtained from several hands, making
altogether, one hundred and sixty-two volumes folio, now lodg
ed in the Bodleian Library, are lasting memorials of what this
county owes to him; and the volumes of the Monasticon,
which, though published under his and Dugdale's names con
jointly, were both collected and totally edited by him, will
immortalize that extensive industry, which has laid the whole
kingdom under obligation. The patronage of General Fairfax
preserved this treasure, and bequeathed it to the library where
it is now lodged. Fairfax allowed Dodsworth a yearly salary
to preserve the inscriptions in churches. ?
" The account which this celebrated antiquary gives of him
self in the aforesaid MS. runs thus : — Roger Dodsworth born
July 24th,4 1585, at Newton Grange, in the parish of St. Os
wald, in Ryedale, in the house of Ralph Sandwith, Esq, father
of Elenor, wife to Matt. Dodsworth, Esq., my father."5
A branch of the ancient and illustrious family of Cholmeley
afterwards occupied the mansion at Newton Grange. Sir Hen
ry ' Cholmeley, Kt., son of Sir Richard Cholmeley, of Roxby,
near Thornton, resided at this place. He was brother to Sir
Hugh Cholmeley who distinguished himself by his gallant de
fence of Scarborough Castle, during the civil wars in the reign
of Charles I. Henry had been educated for the bar, but was
afterwards made lieutenant-colonel of his brother's regiment
of trainbands, and, on Sir Hugh declining to serve under the
Earl of Strafford, he was advanced to the command of the regi
ment. In 1641, he was created a knight by Charles I., and in
1645, after the unsuccessful termination of the' siege of Scar
borough, when his brother Sir Hugh was obliged to fly to the
Continent, Sir Henry became the guardian, protector, and fa
ther of his family, in the time of their distress.
In 1666, his nephew, Sir Hugh, who was Surveyor General
of the Mole erecting at Tangiers in Africa, but detained by
his engagements in London, prevailed upon his uncle, Sir
Henry, then in his 59th year, to go out as his substitute to
3 Gent. Biog. Diet. — Drake.
4 In the Register Books of Oswaldkirk, the entry is April 24th.
s Catal ut supra 5032, ex. vol. xoix.

OSWALDKIRK. 275
Tangiers, where the worthy old knight died not long after
his arrival.6 Sir Henry appears to have resided at Newton
Grange up to the period of his departure for Tangiers in 1666.
At no remote period from the above date, Newton Grange
was bought and annexed to the great lordship of Helmsley
by Thomas Duncombe, Esq. Little remains to mark the
spot where the old mansion stood with the exception of frag
ments of stone and mortar, scattered on the north side of the
chapel. The irregular surface of the ground with an embank
ment of some extent, running on the north and east side,
would also seem to indicate the birthplace of the great antiqua
ry of the north.
At a short distance from the fragments of the old hall, is
a small chapel, in a tolerable state of preservation, though
now entirely appropriated to agricultural purposes.
The entrance at the west end is by a plain, round-headed
doorway, and Hie square-headed windows, with plain vertical
mullions, round-headed lights obtusely arched, and hood mould
ings without ornament, betray the heaviness and inelegance
of the 17th century, at which period the Cholmeleys resided at
the hall. The interior has been fitted up with great taste. The
floor was composed of black and white flags arranged alternately
and forming lines in a diamond pattern, and the arched roof,
which lies broken and crumbling on the ground, was once
highly ornamental. The ploughs, harrows, drills, drags, and
other agricultural tools, now occupying the places where devout
worshippers have kneeled, seem like a metamorphosed con
gregation. At the east end, the altar has been raised a few
feet above the level of the floor, for the purpose of forming
a family vault which is entered by a flight of steps from
the body of the chapel.
This vault was examined about the year 1820, and five lead
en coffins of the Cholmeley family discovered therein, which
were afterwards removed to Oswaldkirk, and re-interred in the
church-yard. Lady Cholmeley bequeathed £1. per annum, to
the Rector of Oswaldkirk for preaching a sermon annually in the
chapel; 'but the ruinous state of the building has caused the
| 6 Young's History of Whitby, p. 839, et passim.
s2

276 AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE.
removal of the pulpit, seats, &c, and the sermon is now
preached in the church of St. Oswald.
The site of the old hall and chapel is in a beautiful vale
surrounded by gentle slopes of rich verdure, intersecting woods
and plantations which screen it from the busy world.
The land is mostly the property of Richard Banner Oakley,
Esq., who is lord of the manor. Population, 214.
Within this parish stands the Romanist seminary which
has obtained the name of
AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE.
It is dedicated to St. Lawrence, and is romantically situated
on the south-west side of the Hambleton range, half way
between the ancient villages of Ampleforth and Oswaldkirk,
in front of which is a beautiful valley and the picturesque
demesnes of Gilling Castle ; to the west is Newburgh Park,
and not far distant the ruins of Byland Abbey. On the north
it is skirted by the hills of Blackmoor and the extensive pos
sessions of Lord' Feversham, which shelter it from the cold
winds- and render it a retreat of remarkable salubrity.
The college was first established by the members of the
College of Dieulouard, near Pont a Mousson, in Lorraine, af
ter the confiscation of their property in that troublesome era,
the French Revolution.
The Hon. Mrs. Ann Fairfax of Gilling Castle, had, previous
to the above mentioned period, removed the chapel from her
residence to the site which the college now occupies, where
she erected a small chapel and a house for the priest, the Rev.
John Bolton, who being touched with compassion for the
homeless wanderers of Dieulouard invited them to his house
where they shortly after erected a small college for the educa
tion of young gentlemen, commencing with two pupils. Since
that period, several additions have been made to the building,
and many members of the English Romanist aristocracy have
been educated here.
The college is governed by a superior or president, with
six assistant teachers. In 1829, there were upwardf of eighty
students, but now about fifty. The very Rev. R&Cooper is

AMPLEFORTH. 277
the present president, who is said to pay great attention to the
classical attainments of the pupils and the general management
of the school.
The library of this establishment is well stored with books
in the varied departments of literature, and the illuminated
manuscripts with the museum of antiquities and curiosities,
are well deserving the attention of the bibliologist and natural
ist. In 1808, Hie Rev. Robert Nixon, B.D., F.A.S., presented
to the Antiquarian Society, a drawing of an urn found in a
barrow here, formed by a circle of large stones, about ten
feet in diameter. The urn was at the depth of between three
and four feet, near the centre of the barrow. (Archseologia.)
This relic of the ancient Britons is preserved in the museum.

Impltfortjr.

(Ambreforde — Domesday Book. Ampleford — Torr. Ampleforth.)
MPLEFORTH, from ample (Lat.) spacious, wide,
and popb (Sax.) a passage across the water, or a
place easily fordable. Among our Saxon fore
fathers, fords were denominated from particular
accidents, as Shillingford or Hillingford from the
overhanging hills; Monsford from the mount, and Ample-
ford from the broad and ample passage across the stream of
water at the lower extremity of the town.
Ampleforth is delightfully situated on the south-west acclivi
ty of the Hambleton range, partly in Birdforth wapentake and
partly in the liberty of St. Peter. The village extends itself
into three townships or constablewicks, and is 7 miles from
Easingwold, 4 from Helmsley, and 21 from York. It is ecclesi
astically situated in the Deanery of Ryedale and Archdeaconry
of Cleveland. ,s3

278 AMPLEFORTH.
The earliest account we have of the place is from the
Domesday Book, which states that Ulf the Saxon had here
one manor. The archbishop, eight acres of meadow, wood
pasture, half a mile in length and the same in breadth. Cop-
si, the Saxon, had one carucate, it belonged to Hugh, the
son of Baldric the Norman.
We next find that in Ampleford were four carucates and six
oxgangs of land geldable, (whereof twelve carucates made one
knight's fee); which were held of the fee of Robert de Ros, which
Clarkenwell and Nicholas de Barton held of Robert de Ros, as
he held them of the king, in capite.
We afterwards find, that in the town of Ampleford was one
carucate and one oxgang of land (whereof eight carucates made
a knight's fee) ; of which Walter de London held half a caru
cate of Robert Fitz- William, and he of the Abbot of Byland.
And Galfred Attebek held one carucate of the said abbot.
And the Abbot held one oxgang of land of John de Clark
enwell, and he of Robert de Ros, and he of Roger de Mowbray.
In the year 1513, George Manners, Lord Ros, bequeathed
the manors of Ampleford and Oswaldkirk to his son Thomas
Manners, who died seized of the same along with other estates
in Yorkshire. The church, dedicated to St. Hilda, was an ancient recto
ry, belonging to the prebendary of Ampleforth in the Cathe
dral Church of York, to which it was appropriated, and a
vicarage ordained therein, in 1 304.
The first vicar, Dom. Thomas de Askham vacated office in
March, 1349, and was succeeded by Robert de Carleton.
The church is a plain, but interesting structure. It con
sists of a body, chancel, and tower, with north and south
entrances. On the north side is a richly ornamented doorway
of late Norman work. The south entrance is through a Nor
man archway of much earlier character. A narrow light of the
same period appears in the south wall of the nave, but all the
other windows are insertions of later date.
The font is of early Norman sculpture, of form cylindrical,
as are also its shaft and base. In the tower, built into the wall,
is an effigy of a knight in mail armour, surmounted by a surcoat;
a belt from his right shoulder sustaining a sword; his hands

AMPLEFORTH.

279

uplifted as in the act of prayer; and his head sustained by a fe
male figure of life size, in an attitude with respect to the prin
cipal object, very unu
sual in sepulchral me
morials and best des
cribed by the engraver.
On the side of the slab
which supports these
figures, once doubtless
cumbent, though now
placed in an erect po
sition, are the words,
wiLeLcrwsDe  .'
but Hie surname is un
fortunately lost, nor is
it easy to supply its
place by conjecture,
though it needs no
great stretch of imagi
nation to suppose that
a dying knight of King
Edward the Second's
time, left on the field
after his Sovereign's
flight from the battle
of Byland, is here re
presented as receiving"
the same kind offices
which Scott so exqui
sitely describes as ren
dered by Clare to Mar-
mion on the field of
Flodden. Whoever be
the parties represent
ed, the characters and
costume assign them to the period not later than that of the
second Edward.
The church contains several fragments of cross-headed

180 AMPLEFORTH.
tombstones, one bearing a chalice, another apparently an open
book, and a third the letters X. R. ; some of these are built
into the outer walls, and a very fine one forms an impost over
the door of the south porch. There are also on various parts
of the floor three stones, each marked with the five small
crosses usually supposed to indicate an altar-table, two of
which may possibly have pertained to chantries.
The interior contains very few monuments. On the south
side is one of white marble, in memory of
THOMAS SOOTHERAN, and ANN, his daughter.
On the same side is a monumental slab headed with an
escutcheon of arms, in memory of
THOMAS NICHOLSON,
son of John and Mary Nicholson, who departed this life 27th Sept. 1787,
aged 33 years. Also of John Nicholson, son of Richard Mann Nicholson,
and Lucy his wife of London, who died 4th July, 1790, aged 18 years.
Also of John, father of Thomas and grandfather of the above John, who
left this vain world 13th Sept. 1798, aged 73 years. Also of Mary, wife of
John Nicholson, who died 21 February, 1811, aged 84 years.
On the east end is a neat monument of white marble
In Memory of JOHN SMITH, obt Aug. 22, 1810 iEtat 56, &c.
On the north-east corner of the church is suspended a
wooden helmet, a relic of the ancient practice of depositing
the actual arms of the deceased near their tombs. The win
dows contain a few scattered remnants of stained glass, on one
of which is a representation of the Resurrection. In the
church-yard are the remains of an ancient cross.
On two small bells in the tower are the inscriptions: —
REPENT IN TIME. 1623.
IESVS BEE OVR SPEED. 1617.
On the heights above Ampleforth, in a moor inclosure, a
mile from the town, and half a mile from the ruins of a wind
mill, is an ancient encampment, called by the country people
Studford's Ring. The outer embankment or barbican is of
considerable extent, surrounding the camp and terminating in
an acute angle on the south, the north-east corner being at
a right angle. In the midst of this extensive area is the
camp, the agger of which is elevated nine feet from the bot
tom of the fosse, the diameter 'measuring from east to west

AMPLEFORTH. 281
fifty four yards; the form of the camp is nearly pentagonal.
At each of the angles is a depression in the mound, and at
one of them a regular entrance with a levelled passage across
the inner ditch.
On the west of the encampment, about a quarter of a
mile down the vale is a deep ditch or fosse, on either side
extending nearly two miles north and south, and on the north,
after it crosses the Helmsley road, it branches into different
Valiums, running parallel to each other, and called by the peo
ple in the neighbourhood the double-dykes.
The Scotch historians7 say that the bloody battle between
Arthur, King of Northumbria and the Saxons, called the battle
of Badon Hills, where Arthur gained a decisive victory and slew
90,000 of the enemy, was fought on our Blake-a-more. This
battle, says Gildas, happened 44 years after the Saxons' first
arrival in Britain, wherein all the Saxon generals were slain,
and their army entirely cut to pieces. After this great victory
York was delivered up to the British chieftain, to which place
he retired with his army and spent a merry Christmas.
The place where this sanguinary battle is supposed to have
been fought, and where thus the fierce sons of Britain so un
mercifully cut down the Saxon hosts, is strewed with tumuli,
both within and without the barbican, many of which have been
opened of late years, and are believed to be of a date coeval with
if not anterior to the earliest descent of the Saxons. In the
autumn of 1 851, the members of the York Antiquarian Society
visited this interesting spot, and the result of that visit was
drawn up by Professor Phillips and presented to the members at
their usual meeting. The learned professor stated that the
" camp, dykes, and sepulchral mounds at Ampleforth are on Hie
southern slope of Hambleton, at an elevation of 869 feet above
the level of the sea, and in a district which was traversed in sev
eral directions by Roman and British roads. Looking at the
Hambleton moorlands or wolds, there are seen tumuli heaped
over the dead, the yet conspicuous trackways, and the appa-'
rently indestructible ridges and trenches of the extensive
"oppida" of the earliest inhabitants. Anglican have been ad
ded to British tumuli, and 1600 years of war may be supposed
< Scotch Chron. Buchanan.

282 AMrLEFOKTH.
to have mixed Anglican, Danish, Mediaeval, and modern en
campments of various dates with those of the Brigantes. It is
not on a first view obvious by which of the various races of men
who have been named, the great and numerous earthworks on
Ampleforth Moor were constructed, but it appears probable
that they all belong to one system, and it is certain that seve
ral of them are of early British date, to which belong the first
arrow heads, half-baked pottery, and cremation of the dead.
The tumuli are situated on the hill above Ampleforth called
Prior Rigg, on the line of an ancient trackway. Two of them
were examined by the society. The first tumulus was of that
large kind which seems to have been intended for single burial,
or even reared without any burial, and used as speculatory
mounds. It is 250 feet in circumference and about 1 2 in height.
On digging into it, the mass was found to be composed of sand
and clay, with a few large stones, oak charcoal, pieces of flint,
and traces of buried heath and heathy substance. In the clay
at about the surface of the ground, an urn was found of rude
British manufacture. The second tumulus was much smaller,
about 4 feet high, and, as in other examples of British tumuli,
was far richer in contents. It was composed like the other of
sand and clay. In the clay were found parts of five urns, flint
arrow heads, calcined human bones in great abundance, and
oak charcoal. There was evidence of several burials in the
same mound, with all the characters as well as the urns of
British type. It is in all probability a British work."
There can be no doubt of the correctness of the professor's
remarks respecting the British origin of the above camp,
though there is reason to believe that many of the earth works
often looked upon as ancient camps, are nothing more than the
remains of the enclosures of Anglo-Saxon residences, which as
Beowulf states, were generally built upon lofty eminences,
grouped within a large enclosure or outward wall of earth, for the
Anglo Saxon peall signifies an earthern rampart, and the
peallej- jeac the gate of the wall was the entrance through the
rampart. Ampleforth parish contains 2270 acres of land, and 648 in
habitants. Charles Gregory Fairfax, Esq., is the lord of the
manor. The Wesleyans have a chapel, and there is a neat
and commodious National school, built in 1831.

Srimalq.

(Ulmetum — Bede. Elmeslac and Hamelsec — Domesday. Elmesley —
Camden. Helmsley.)

ELMSLEY is a place of great antiquity, and has
been a station of importance during the early era
of the Saxon sway in Britain. Its etymology- is
from elm being a Druidical grove of lofty elms,
and j-lac or rlaec, a dell or hollow. It is situated
in Ryedale, through which runs the river Rye, and is designa-
ted"by Gulielmus Nubrigensis, "a vast solitude and horror," pre
vious to the time of Walter Espec, and the Norman era. It is
12 miles from Easingwold, 6 from Kirby Moorside, 16 from
Malton, and 23 from York.-
The following appears to have been the condition of the
place at the period of the Domesday Survey: —
In Elmeslac hb. Vctred. I. CO de vin carucates ad. gld. y mi.
— — -'I'r - _
car poss. ee. Nc ht com ibi, vi uill cu. n. car. Pbr y
aeccla. e. Silua past y cap arabil vi lev lg y I. lev. y dim
o *
lat. T. R. E. ual xxxn sol. m. x. sol.
Translated thus, — In Helmsley Uctred had one manor of
eight carucates to be taxed, there may be four ploughs. The
Earl has now there six villeins with- two p%|ighs. A church
and a priest. Wood pasture and arable fields (campus arabilis)
six miles long and one and a half broad. In the time of King
Edward (the Confessor) valued at 32 shillings, now 1 Os.
Independent of the above, we find from the same authority,
that in Elmeslac, "three Thanes had three and a half caru
cates of land to be taxed, and land to two ploughs." Also "In
Hamelsec (another mode of spelling adopted by the Norman

284 HELMSLEY.
scribes) were four carucates and two oxgangs of land to be
taxed. Such was the early history of the place previous to the
Conquest, after which it was bestowed upon the Earl of Mor
ton who held it as a fief under the usual conditions of vassal
age. At no great interval of time subsequent to the Conquest
the manor of Helmsley became the property of Walter Espec,
a young nobleman of Norman extraction ; and five carucates of
land geldable, were held by the Lord de Ros, who held it of
the king in capite by the rent of 4 shillings per annum.
Walter Espec gave to the monks of Rievaux the manor of
Helmsley,8 with wood and pannage for their hogs out of his
forest of Hamelac; and Everard, son of Robert de Ros, also
gave an essart here, with his wood on the west side of the town.
Walter Espec died without issue, and Adelina youngest
sister of the above, having married Peter de Ros, brought
the lordship of Helmsley to the Ros family. Robert de Ros,
surnamed Fursan, built and fortified the castle of Helmsley,
known in the early records as Fursan Castle. In the reign of
Richard I. the estates were forfeited to the crown by the rebel
lion of its lordly owner, 9 but in the reign of John, he was res
tored to favour and the possession of his castle and manors.
It remained the baronial residence of this distinguished family
till the reign of Henry VIII. when Thomas Lord Ros was
created Earl of Rutland, and Lady Katharine, daughter and
heiress of Frances, the sixth Earl, married George Villiers
first Duke of Buckingham, by which marriage the lorship of
Helmsley passed to the gay and dissipated nobleman who
wasted it by profligacy, when it was purchased by a predecessor
of its present noble owner, of which more hereafter.
Helmsley Castle with its terrible walls, gateways, and
towers, was first erected as a place of defence at a period when
the north was exposed to the incessant inroads of the Scots.
To check such invasions many castles were built, into which
8 Burton's Monasticon, p. 357.
9 In the year 1214, Robert de Ros, Beter de Brus, and Richard de
Percy, reduced the city and county of York to the obedience of the Dau
phin of France.

HELMSLEY, 285
the inhabitants of a district took refuge on any alarm of danger,
and for centimes such a state of things continued unchanged.
The battled towers, the donjon Keep,
The loop hole grates where captives weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep
In yellow lustre shone.
The warriors on the turrets high
Moving athwart the evening sky,
Seem'd forms of giant height;
Their armour as it caught the rays,
Flash'd back again the western blaze
In lines of dazzling light.
Its situation was aptly chosen for beauty and grandeur, and
the picturesque ruin looks down upon the principal part of the
town, which probably first grew up into importance under its
protection. The grand entrance to the castle on the south was by
double gates between two towers of uncommon strength,
and the gateway leading into the first court or vallum measures
twenty feet in thickness. Beyond this was another gateway,
leading to the inner court where were the lodgings, &c. The
walls of the castle were very strong and well cemented, as
appears from the broken fragments, which adhere together with
remarkable tenacity. The outer wall was surrounded by a
deep broad ditch fed by the waters of the Rye, and crossed by
two draw bridges on the north and south sides. The keep,
whose chief architectural features are those of the 13th century,
was 95 feet high, and though deprived of its roof, floors, and
windows, is, owing to the excellency of the masonry, in a good
state of preservation. Near to the keep are slight vestiges of
a building of a more light and ornamental appearance, suppo
sed to have been a chapel, under which was the dungeon, a
necessary appendage to those military strongholds, as a place
of confinement for prisoners of war.
The grand hall or banqueting room where the fair Nor
man damsels and their gallant lovers led the merry dance, and
cheered the gloomy hour of night with minstrelsy and song, is
no more. •' Pallida mors sequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas
Regumque turres."

286 HELMSLEY.
During the troubled reign of Charles, this castle was
strongly garrisoned and placed under the governorship of Col
onel Crosland. Soon after the surrender of York, Sir Thomas
Fairfax addressed himself to the reduction of Helmsley Castle,
then considered one of the strongholds of the county. In
Colonel Crosland, however, he found a brave and honourable
opponent. In one of those deadly onslaughts, Fairfax receiv
ed a musket-ball in his shoulder, and was carried off all but
dead to York, where for some time he vibrated between life
and death. A party of the Royal Horse from Skipton and
Knaresbrough, advancing to relieve the garrison, the Lord
Fairfax sent a party under Major Sanders to make good the
siege ; but before they came up, the besiegers routed the king's
party, killed and wounded divers, captured 80 horses, and a
quantity of meal, salt, and other provisions, and took about
50 officers and gentlemen, besides common soldiers, prisoners.1
After numerous sallies without much effect on either side, ex
cept wounds and waste of ammuniton, a proposal of surrender
was at length agreed upon. Colonel Crosland drew up the
terms of surrender himself, conceived in a high military spirit,
and agreed to by Fairfax. The terms were as follows 3 : —
1. That the Governor of the Castle and all the other officers shall
march out with their arms, horses, and all the rest of their goods belong
ing unto them, and to be safely conveyed to the garrison at Scarbrough
without any molestation.
2. That the soldiers shall march out with their arms loaded, matches,
lighted, colours flying, and drums beating, and to be safely conveyed to
the said garrison.
3. That the gentlemen, or others the country men, that came hither
for protection, may have free liberty to depart with their goods, unto their
own dwellings, aud to have my Lord Fairfax's protection for their safe
guard. 4. That the Lady Duchess of Buckingham's goods within the Castle,
her servants and their goods, may remain safe within the Castle, or the
town of Helmsley, under my Lord Fairfax's protection, as they have been
formerly without interruption.
5. That any goods within the Castle belonging to any gentleman in
the country, or to any other whatsoever, may have three days' time after
'Whitelock's Memorials and Grose's Antiquities.
SFairfax's Correspondence, Vol. 3. p. 120.

HELMSLEY. 2S7
the surrender thereof for the disposing of them, and to have my Lord
Fairfax's protection for their envoy.
6. That there may be carriages procured for the conveying of two
little drakes, arms, and other baggage, along with them, unto the garrison
before mentioned.
7. That the Castle of Helmsley, be absolutely demolished, and that
no garrison hereafter be kept there by either party.
8. That in performance of these, Lieutenant Colonel Forbes, and all
the rest of the prisoners, shall have their free liberty; and that Lieutenant
Spright, and five soldiers belonging to me, now prisoners at York, shall
likewise have their liberty.
9. And lastly, that there be time given until the 16th day of this month, ,
for to consider of these articles, in case there might be relief had in that
time from the prince, otherwise we shall perform these articles on our part.
Helmsley Castle, November 6th, 1644. Job. Ceosland.
On the 22nd of November the Castle poured out its garri
son accordingly with colours flying, drums beating, and match
es lighted. In it were about 200 men, 9 pieces of ordnance,
300 muskets and pikes, 6 barrels of powder, and much money,
plate, and powder. Many of the common soldiers turned to
the Lord Fairfax, whereof at least forty went presently to as
sist at the siege of Scarbrough. »
Helmsley Castle which had been raised at an enormous
expenditure of time, money, and labour, was quickly render
ed untenable, its strong fortresses were dismantled, its embat
tled walls broken down, and holiday parties now congregate in
peaceful mirth and gaiety, where cannon balls once came thick
and fast, dealing destruction on all sides.
The scenery from Helmsley Castle is beautiful and pic
turesque, and the scattered masses of ruins seen through the
rich foliage of the stately trees and double gateway, have long
formed a favourite subject for the pencil 6f the artist.
This castle was afterwards partially restored and became the
favourite retreat of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, after
he had retired from the court and cabinet of Charles II. On
the western side the remains of a range of apartments, consti
tuting his mansion-house and offices still exist, probably built
about the time when the Villier's family succeeded to the pro-
jGroSe's Antiquities ; which quotes a parliamentary Chronicle entituled
" the Burning Bush not consumed."

288 HELMSLEY.
perty, aud distinguished by a noble tower almost rivalling in
the depth of its descent to the moat, the height of the ancient
Keep. Here was the scene of his revelries, and Kirby-Moor-
side, a neighbouring town, witnessed his humiliation and
death, which transpired after three days illness, brought on
by inflammation, in consequence of sitting on the ground when
fatigued with hunting. He is recorded by Pope to have died:
"In the worst inn's worst room with mat half hung,
The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung,
On once a flock bed, but repair'd with straw,
With tape- tied curtains never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from the bed
Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red,
Great Villiers lies — alas ! how chang'd from him
That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim?"
But the poet has either taken a poetic license or been misin
formed, for there is no tradition of the house in which the
Duke died ever having been an inn, and from its present ap
pearance, it has evidently been at that time, one of Hie best
houses in the town.
The following is a literal copy from an old tattered Register
Book, belonging to the parish of Kirby : —
"Burials, 1 687, April 17th, Gorges vilaus Lord dooke of bookingam."
Helmsley Church is an ancient structure, dedicated to All
Saints, a circumstance which would seem to indicate its Saxon
origin, for most of the Saxon churches were dedicated to All
Saints ; "and it is probable," says Archdeacon Churton, "that
wherever there is a church so dedicated, it is of Saxon origin.
Af the time of the Domesday Survey, there was at Helmsley a
church and a priest.
"Walter Espec gave to Kirkham Priory, the church of
Helmsley-Blakemore with one carucate of land and pannage
in this wood for all the hogs belonging to the canons and their
men ; and also pasture for their other cattle.
" Although this church was appropriated to the priory, and
a vicarage appointed there, I can find no earlier account of
the vicars than in A.D., 1320, when Walter de Sixendale was

HELMSLEY. 289
instituted vicar."3 After the Dissolution, the patronage came
to the Crown, from whence it went to the Earls of Rutland,
the Dukes of Buckingham, and finally to the Duncombes.
The present patron is Lord Feversham. The benefice is
a vicarage, valued in the Liber Regis at £11 3s. 6£d. The
Rev. G. Dixon is the incumbent.
The church is entered on the south side by a spacious
porch and fine old Norman arch, of the zigzag pattern, and
supported by eight cylindrical pillars. It consists of a nave,
north aisle, transept, chancel, and tower. The cylindrical
columns which separate the nave from the chancel, rest upon
Norman bases, and are surmounted by Norman capitals, square
abacus, and pointed arches, of the Semi-Norman character.
The north aisle which was much dilapidated, was rebuilt in
the year 1849. The windows, of lancet shape, with curvili
near tracery, contain some specimens of stained glass. At the
east end of the aisle is a piscina, where formerly stood an altar
belonging to an ancient chantry, mentioned in the Valor Ec-
elesiasticus thus : —
Helmeslage Cant' £. s. d.
Valet clare p Ann"1  xlvii : x
xa. inde mj : ix. ob'
The architectural features of the piscina would seem to in
dicate that the chantry was founded about the fourteenth
century,4 and only a few years ago there appeared in the win-
ows of this aisle, the arms of, 1, Ros, 2, Neville, probably
commemorating the marriage of William Lord Ros, who died
1351, with Margaret, daughter of Ralph Lord Neville, and 3,
Hungerford, probably commemorating Sir Edward Hunger-
ford, Knight, the first husband of Cecily, daughter of Sir John
Tufton, Bart., and wife of Francis, Earl of Rutland, who died
in 1632.
3 Burton's Monasticon, p. 375.
* Chantries were dissolved in the 1 Edward VI. by Act of Parliament, ¦
and th e endowments vested in the Crown. The north aisles in most of our
country churches were used as chantry chapels, in which masses were sung
at the altar of soma favourite saint for the souls of the founder and others
whom he might name. They were also used as burial places for the
founder and his family. T

290 HELMSLEY.
The recent alterations in this part of the building have
entirely destroyed all traces of its antiquity, except the piscina
alluded to.
In communication with this aisle are a north and south
transept, the latter of which is lighted by a window of five
lights of the Tudor character, and on the west side by a plain
Norman window. On the walls hang escutcheons of arms of the
family of Duncombe and its alliances.
On the floor of this aisle, inlaid with brass, are the effigies
of a knight and lady with clasped hands, the former in the
armour which distinguished the latter portion of the 15th
century; at their feet three children in the like position, appa
rently two boys and a girl ; and over their heads a shield of
arms with the peacock and pencils or rays, which was the
badge of the Manners family.5
It probably commemorates Sir Robert Manners, Knt, of
Etall Castle, Northumberland, who married Eleanor, daugh
ter of Thomas Lord Ros and co-heiress of his brother Ed
mund, by which the barony and estate passed from the line
of Ros to that of Manners, afterwards created Earls and Dukes
of Rutland. Sir Robert Manners was born in 1408, and was much em
ployed in the transactions of the reigns both of Henry VI., Ed
ward IV., and Richard III.
On the wall of the west end is a marble monument sacred
to the memory of
THE Rev. GEORGE DIXON,
twenty-four years Vicar of the parish of Helmsley, and twenty-nine
perpetual Curate of Kirkdale, who departed this life March 31, 18,36,
aged 73 years. And of Margaret his wife, who died May 1, 1848, aged 93
years. In the north transept are several very neat marble monu
ments commemorative of the Sandwith family, of Helmsley.
One on the entrance to the right is surmounted by a female
figure weeping over an urn, supporting a staff around which
*In Collins's pedigree of the Earls of Rutland, we find, that in 6 Edw.
VI., Henry, Earl of Rutland, was at a m,u?ter in Hyde Park before Hie
king, at the head of a hundred men at arms in yellow and blue,— his stand
ard a peacock and pencils.

HELMSLEY. 291
is entwined a serpent, the emblem of the medical profession.
This monument records the death of William Sandwith, Esq.,
Surgeon, who died August, 1808, on his passage from Bom
bay, aged 52 years. Other monuments are in memory of
Robert Sandwith, who died April 11th, 1818, aged 37 years.
James Sandwith, died at Bombay in the East Indies, March
11, 1821, aged 25 years.
The following has been recently erected, —
In Memory of
COLONEL BENTHAM SANDWITH,
of the Bombay Light Infantry, companion of the most Honourable Order
of the Bath, who died at Cannes, South of France, on the 7th December,
1850, aged 58. His remains were interred at Nice, Sardinia.
The chancel, elevated three steps above the level of the
church, is entered by a beautiful Norman arch, enriched with
zig-zag, double cone, and billet mouldings resting upon a square
abacus, handsomely wrought capitals, and cylindrical columns
of the transitional character. The interior of the altar rails is
paved with Roman Tessellae with the exception of a large flag
which contains the following inscription on a brass plate : —
Here : lies : the : body : of : WILLIAM : MOORE : son : of: William
Moore : Gentleman : who : was : born : the : eighteenth : of : February
one : thousand : six : hundred : and : eighty : two : and : was : buried : the
eighteenth : qf : February : qne : thousand : six : hundred : and : eighty
five :
QUI : IN : LIMINE : VIT^E : IN : CCELUM : TRANSILIEBAT.
The east window contains several fragments of stained glass
and two shields of arms, thus : —
Ermine on a canton, a crescent, or; impaling or, a chevron
between three cinquefoils, sable.
The other, which is but the fragment of a shield, appears to
be cheeky, argent and gules, for Vaux. William de Ros mar
ried Maude, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of John
de Vaux. He died 10 Edw. II., 1217, and was interred at
Kirkham. On the chancel floor are three large flags, formerly bearing
shields of arms with inscriptions, but the brasses are removed.
On the north side qf the chancel is a small Norman light
similar to that in ,t?be south transept, also a neat marble monu
ment surmounted with the arms,
t2

29'-! HELMSLEY.
In memory of
CHARLES LORD FEVERSHAM,
whose mortal remains are deposited in the family vault in this church. He
was born December 5th, 1764, and died July 16, 1841. Also of
CHARLOTTE LADY FEVERSHAM,
born Oct. 5th, 1744, died Nov. 5th,1848
On the same side is a marble monument, sacred to the
memory of
THE HONOURABLE ALBERT DUNCOMBE,
eldest son of the Right Honourable William and Louisa, Lord and Lady
Feversham, born Feb. 11th, 1826. He died Sept. 14th, 1846, in peace and
assured hope, through the atoning merits of his Saviour, of a glorious
eternity. And thus shall faith's consoling power
The tears of love restrain;
Ah ! who that saw thy parting hour
Could wish thee here again !
Triumphant in thy closing eye
The hope of glory shone,
Joy breath'd in thy expiring sigh
To think the fight was won..
On the north side of the choir is a sepulchral brass with
the following inscription ;
Hie jacet Johanna quondam uxor Willi: Chetwynd que obiit octavo die
mensis Januarii Anno dni : M°. CCCC. X. cuius aia in sinu Abrahe re-
quiescat amen.
On the outside wall of the church is the following monu
mental inscription to the memory of
JANE the wife of RICHARD CONYERS, L.L.D.,
near 30 years the exemplary and beloved Minister of this parish. She
lived a life of Faith in the Son of God, and was translated to behold Him
whom she had loved unseen, on the 24th of February, 1774, in the 56th
year of her age. Her friends, her servants, and the poor,
Could tell thee gentle Reader more ;
Think not to find upon this stone
The praise for Graces not her own,
For though we saw her shine so bright
She drew from Jesus all her light.
The church contains an organ and eight bells. For bene
factions, see Lawton's Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum de
Diocesi Eboracensi, Vol. II. p. 519

HELMSLEY. 293
Helmsley town stands on the declivity of a small eminence
gently sloping towards the banks of the Rye, from whence the
wapentake derives its name. A rivulet runs through the town,
which still retains the old Saxon name of Boro' Beck. In the
early part of its history, Helmsley was famous for the manu
facture of linen from yarn, spun on the hand-wheel from the
distaff, but the introduction of machinery has deprived it of
its manufacture, and rendered the inhabitants almost exclu
sively dependant on agriculture.
The adjacent country is exceedingly fertile, and beautifully
interspersed with extensive woods and rich valleys. One of
these valleys retains the name of Dru-dale-howl, or Druid's-
dale, and is supposed to have been so called from its vicinity
to the hills where the Druids practised their religious rites.
A Roman road is said to have passed through Helmsley
to the Redcar rocks, but we are not aware of any vestiges of it
now remaining. Several years ago, some copper coins were
found in the vicarage garden with the inscription, Antoninus
Pius, Pater Patriae, round a beautiful laureated head of the
emperor ; and on the reverse, a female figure leaning on an
anchor, with the letters S. C, the usual contraction for Senatus
Consultu.5 Population in 1851, 1481.
The river Rye is subject to great fluctuations, and the fol
lowing extract which we copy, verbatim, from the MSS. of an
old inhabitant, may not be uninteresting: —
October ye 28: 1754:
"A great and trable flud of water came by the rever Reye to
Helm slay blakeymour: Which came with such veamency that
it drove doun to the ground 8 Houses 5 dweling houses —
Thorten poure creaters wear dround besids a great deal of
catel hea and corn staks it drove doun most part of helmsla
Bredg that was over the rever Rey and rivolx bredg doun to the
ground and part of bow Bredg and Shacan bredge and abon-
dance of damege in the contrey be sides : Esquire Duncombe
gardens quite demolished by the flod — A Hors was drove from
ye dow houms to the Goans alive gams Houling was found in
the Low felds besids a Bed that was quit drey all but the nat
Eastmead's Rievallensis, p. 412.
T3

294 HELMLSEY.
a Stak was drov a hundred and fiftey yards and was set as
strit as ever it was in John bentley blake cloas dorety houling
was drove a way and was verey weak in a feaver and was savd
in the Low folds. A whille after a flod came by borrow bek
which filed willeam ward and John Bentleys Selers and was
verey ney runing doun the market place and water came one
Bongate as beg as rey bek all this was Dune by the flud and
it is sartanley trew I so it with my oun eys.
J. P. October ye 28: 1754.
KIRKDALE CHURCH.
About four miles from Helmsley, in a tranquil valley, sur
rounded with woods is the church of Kirkdale, which contains
over its ancient porch, the following Saxon inscription attach
ed to a sun dial : —
Opm Eamal-j-una bohce rcy Epegopiup minreep Sonne hit pep
sel tobpocan y cbpalan y he hie lee macan nepan ppom jpun&e
XPe y per. Lpesopiur, in Babpapb bagum Chg. in Toffci bagum
6opl. In the centre of the dial : —
Pij- if bsejef rol mepca. And at its verge, sec ileum tibe.
JJapapo' me ppOhce y Bpanb ppp •
Translated thus : —
" Orm, Gamal's son, bought St. Gregory's Church when it
was all gone to ruin and fallen down; and -he let it out to
build anew from the ground, to Christ and St. Gregory, in
Edward's days, the king; and Tosti's days, the earl.
This is the day's sun mark at every season.
And Hawarth me made, and Brand the Priest."
From Dugdale's Baronage6 we learn that Tosti the fourth
son of Godwin, Earl of Kent, and brother to King Harold was
created Earl of Northumberland by Edward the Confessor, in
the year 1056, and was slain in an insurrectionary movement
at Stamford Bridge in the year 1066. Hence this church
must have been rebuilt, and the above inscription placed there
between the years 1056 and 1066.
6 Vol. I. p. 313 and Vol. II. p, 416.

HELMSLEY. 295
Memorials of the erection and consecration of ourchurches
by inscriptions before the Norman Conquest which date from
the latter year are very rare. Mr. Pegge says, that there are
not above three or four that actually precede the Norman
iEra. A short distance from the church, on the road to Helmsley,
is Kirkdale Cave, which a few years ago attracted the attention
of the literary world. The cave was discovered by chance, and
on being examined, it was found to contain large quantities of
bones, which Dr. Buckland has referred to the following twen
ty-two species of animals :—
7 Carnivoea. — Hyasna, Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, and
an unknown animal of the size of a wolf.
4 PachydeeMata. — Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus,
and Horse.
4 Rumistantia.— Ox, and three species of deer.
3 Rodentia. — Rabbit, Water Rat, and Mouse.
4 Bibds. — Raven, Pigeon, Lark, and a small species of
Duck, resembling the Anas Sponsor, or Summer Duck.
This appears to have been a Hyasna's den, for the teeth of
upwards of three hundred of these ferocious beasts were found
here. "The accumulation," adds Professor Buckland, "of these
bones, appears to have been a long process, going on du
ring a succession of years, whilst all the animals in question
were natives of this country, The general dispersion of simi
lar bones through the diluvian gravel of high latitudes over
great part of the northern hemisphere shows, that the period
in which they inhabited these regions, was that immediately
preceding the formation of this gravel, and that they perished
by the same waters which produced it. M. Cuvier has more
over ascertained, that the fossil elephant, rhinoceros, hippopota
mus, and hysena, belong to a species now unknown ; and as
there is no evidence that they have at any time subsequent to
the foundation of the diluvium existed in these regions, we
may conclude that the period at which the bones of these
extinct species were introduced into the cave at Kirkdale was
antediluvian."

296 DUNCOMBE PARK.
DUNCOMBE PARK.
A short distance from Helmsley, is the princely seat of the
Right Honourable Lord Feversham. It is situated on an emi
nence in the interesting vale of Ryedale, and surrounded by
scenery which is indescribably beautiful. The grounds are
laid out with great taste, and the park is well stocked with
deer. The mansion is in the Doric order of architecture, and
its principal front is considered a happy specimen of architec
tural skill and combination. It is supposed to have been de
signed by Sir John Vanburgh, but was constructed by William
Wakefield, Esq.,8 of Huby, near Easingwold, in the year 1718.
The hall and saloon are finished in the most correct classical
taste, and never fail to attract the admiration of tourists. The
present noble owner has made several additions to the mansion,
among which may be noticed two wings and a magnificent
conservatory, ninety feet long and thirty feet in breadth, all
of which buildings have been erected under the superintend
ence of Sir Charles Barry, the talented architect of the new
houses of parliament. The enclosed area around it has also been
recently enlarged which greatly improves its general effect.
The Hall, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, is surround
ed by fourteen lofty Corinthian pillars, and ornamented with
several statues; particularly with one of the Dog of Alcibiades,
said to be the work of Myron, the Grecian sculptor, who
flourished about 440 years before Christ. Dallaway says, it
was discovered at Monte Cagnuolo, and procured by Henry
Constantine Jennings, Esq., who brought it to England, from
whom it was transferred to the ancestor of the present pos
sessor, for 1,000 guineas. It ranks among the five celebra
ted dogs of antiquity. Here is also the figure of the Discobo
lus "which is considered by eminent artists the first statue in
England, exhibiting, beyond most others the finest propor
tions and the most pleasing attitudes on every side.
8 Drake's Eboracum, p. 341, Note.
"This statue is of Pentelican marble. Mr. Dallaway says, " It was found
in the ruins of the Villa Hadriana at Tivoli, at a place called the Colum-
bari, on the Appian way." (Treatise on Sculpture, p. 231.,) It is also
supposed to have been executed by Myron.

DUNCOMBE PARK. 297
The wall is further adorned with large medallions of the
twelve Csesars, as many busts of celebrated Greek and Latin
poets, others of eminent statesmen, and several very fine an
tique statues.
The Saloon which is now the Library, ninety feet long
and twenty-four broad, is formed into three divisions by
Ionic pillars, and possesses an air of great grandeur. The
ceiling is finely executed with basso relievo in stucco. — " Flo
ra in the centre, encircled with festoons, very delicate; and
small figures in the sides and corner divisions; at one end'
Peace, at the other, Plenty. The cornices of the chimney-
pieces are supported by double Ionic pillars, and the orna
ments enclose two landscapes. The tables are of fine Sienna
marble, the room is adorned with four antique statues, Mars,
Mercury, Bacchus, and Apollo, and two fine busts of Cicero
and Horace.
"Communicating with the saloon to the north, is a hand
some dining-room, and to the south, an elegant suite of apart
ments, all appropriately furnished ; but Hie most interesting
ornaments of these are the paintings, which have been selected
with peculiar taste, and exhibit some of the best specimens of
the works of the most celebrated masters." The^following are
much admired.
The Scourging of Christ, by Old Palma. This was painted
in competition with Titian, and crowned.
St. Paul, by Leonardo da Vinci. This is a highly finished
painting, and Mr. Arthur Young describes the hair of the
head tg be 'great as Raphael.'
St. Catharine, by Guido. The Angel appearing to the
Shepherds, by Guiacomo Bassano. A Landscape, by Pietro de
Cortona. — A treasure in the art. Nothing can exceed the
grandeur of the scene.
Venus and Adonis, by Titian. * Colouring excellent.
Adoration of the Shepherds, by Guido. a Composition
admirable. 2 This picture was a present from the last Duke of Tuscany of the
Medici family, to Marshal Wallis, for the exact discipline in which he
kept the Imperial Troops, while he was Governor of Milan.
3 This picture was purchased out of the Cibo Palace at Rome.

298 DUNCOMBE PARK.
Morning, a landscape; and Summer Evening, both by
Claude Lorraine. i
Herodias's Daughter, by Guido. Very fine.
Three Landscapes, by Weston. Excellent.
Martyrdom of St. Andrew, by Carlo Dolci.
Bacchus offering marriage to Ariadne, by Guido.
Christ visiting St. John, by Guido.
Venus and Adonis, by Albano.
Assumption of the Virgin, by Carlo Maratti. Fine.
Virgin and Child, by Corregio. A sketch for his famous
Notti. Madonna and Child, by Cignani.
St. Peter penitent, by Guido. Astonishingly fine.
A Dutch Merchant, by Rembrandt. Excellent.
The Holy Family, by Titian; Charity, by Guido, and the
Salutation of the Virgin, by Le Brun.
In addition to the above, the mansion contains a large col
lection of paintings, every one of which possesses sufficient
merit to claim the attention of the connoisseur. The late Lord
Feversham enriched the collection by the addition of the fol
lowing very rare paintings: — Abigail supplicating David, by
Guido (one of the Orleans Collection); a Landscape, by Both;
an old woman and boy with a lighted candle, by Rubens, a
most brilliant production ; a Hawking-Piece, by Wouverman,
considered one of his best performances ; the Emperor Otho,
by Rubens; and the Presentation in the Temple, by Giovanni
Bellini. 6
In the mansion are preserved two stones removed from
Helmsley Castle, each bearing the shield of Manners with the
augmentation granted in token of his royal descent, to Tho
mas the first Earl, quartering 2. Ros, 3. Espec, 4. Belvoir, 5.
Beauchamp, 6. Warwick, 7. Berkeley, 8. Lisle, 9. Gerard, 10.
England within abordure, 11. Tiptoft, 12. Charlton, 13. Bad-
lesmere, 14. Vaux, 15. Totnes, 16. D'Albanye; impaling 1st and
4th Holcroft, 2. Horton, 3. Culcheth, the whole differenced by a
¦'Both these pictures were painted for the celebrated Cardinal Ben-
tivoglio. 5He died 1512, aged 90, and is accounted the founder of the Venetian
School. He produced two memorable disciples, Titian and Georgiani.

DUNCOMBE PARK. 299
crescent. These shields commemorate Edward, the third Earl of
Rutland, who died April 14, 1 587. His wife was Isabel, daugh
ter of Sir Thomas Holcroft of the Vale Royal in Cheshire, Kt.
The Pleasure Grounds of Duncombe Park are laid out with
great taste and elegance. The Home Terrace is scarcely to be
equalled in the variety and richness of its prospects. At one
end is the Ionic Temple, commanding a beautiful landscape,
strikingly broken by large trees, and opening to the right on
a vast extent of rich champaign country, terminated by distant
hills. At the other end of the terrace is a Tuscan Colonnade
Temple, tastefully ornamented with white and gold in mosaics.
A beautiful valley winds at the base of a noble amphitheatre of
hanging woods, which, spread over a fine extent of hill, fringe
the shore of the river Rye, which winds through the valley, and
forms, almost in the centre of it, a charming cascade.
The Terrace presents an agreeable diversity of interesting
objects, which break in upon the sight at every step. The
valley, the keep of Helmsley Castle, every where graceful, the
mansion, and the fine avenue of plantations bordering upon
it, church and town of Helmsley, with scattered clumps of
trees, present a view rarely to be met with. To the left, the
hanging woods range in a curvature Of considerable extent,
while the valley, the river, and the cascade are seen beneath,
at a depth which presents a full view of every enclosure. To
the right, the valley continues to wind within a grand hollow
of. surrounding hills clothed to their summits with hanging
woods, the sombre hue of which contrasts in a striking manner
with the brightness of the river now seen in a greater breadth,
while another cascade in view superadds to the scene the beau
ties of sound and motion.
Leaving the Temple and proceeding along the Terrace, the
neat sobriety of the opposite grounds is well introduced, after
the past succession of luxuries. This view, however, is agree
ably diversified by some distant woody knolls, and at one point
by the East-Riding Wolds, which fade into the remote horizon.
The termination of the terrace opens on a spacious park lawn,
skirted by plantations. Its simple sublimity forms, perhaps,
the happiest transition that could have been devised from the
scenery just contemplated, the prevailing feature of which is,
its rich abounding woods.

800 DUNCOMBE PARK.
The principal entrance to the Park is through a triumphal
arch, erected in honour of Lord Nelson, on which are inscri
bed the following words : —
To the memory of Lord Viscount Nelson, and the unparalleled gallant
achievements of the British Navy.
Lamented Herol
0 price his conquering country griev'd to pay,
0 dear bought glories of Trafalgar's day.
1806.
The lordly owner of these stately domains is descended
from the family of Duncombe, originally of Barleyend, in
Buckinghamshire, which was in the reign of Henry VIII. and
Ed-ward VI., divided into several branches, from one of which
the present Lord Feversham is descended. William Dun
combe, in 1634, married Mary, daughter of John Theed, Gent.,
by whom he had issue three sons, whereof Anthony the second
married Mary, daughter of Paulye, lord of the manor of
Whitchurch, and had several sons, the eldest of whom was
Charles, who was in the year 1700, Sheriff of London, in
which year he was knighted, and in 1709, was Lord Mayor of
London. He died unmarried, possessed of a very large for
tune, which he left to his two nephews, Anthony, son of his
brother Anthony Duncombe, and Thomas Brown, Esq., son
and heir of Thomas Brown, Esq., by Ursula, sister to the
above named Sir Charles Duncombe; from which younger
branch the present proprietor derives the Helmsley estate. 6
, Anthony Duncombe, of the elder branch, (nephew of the
said Sir Charles), was created Lord Feversham, Baron of Down-
ton, in the county of Wiltshire, 23 June, 1747, 21st of George
II. He -married 1st, Margery, daughter of George Verney,
Lord Willoughby de Broke, which lady died 9 October, 1755,
having had issue, a daughter, who with two sons, Charles and
Anthony, died young; George the only remaining son lived
to the age of 19, dying 9 of August, 1741. His second wife
was Frances, daugher of  Bathurst, who died in childbed
of a daughter, November 2 1 , 1757. The third and last wife
was Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, Bart,, who survived
6 Pegge's " Curialia Miscellanea. "

DUNCOMBE PARK. 301
him, and afterwards married William Pleydell Bouverie, first
Earl of Radnor, having had issue by the Lord Feversham, a
daughter, Anne, who became the wife of Jacob, second Earl of
Radnor. Lord Feversham dying in 1 763, without issue male survi
ving, his peerage became expended. 7
The title was renewed on account of unusual services to
his country in Charles Duncombe, Esq., who was created Lord
Feversham 14 July, 1826. He married Charlotte, only daugh
ter of William, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, and had issue, William,
the present Lord Feversham, born 14 January, 1798. Henry,
born 25 Aug., 1800, died young. George, born 30 March,
1804, died 17 Dec, 1826. The Hon. Arthur Duncombe,
M. P. for the East-Riding of Yorkshire, born 24 March, 1806.
Adolphus, born 29 Aug., 1809, died 6 Jan., 1830. The Rev.
Augustus Duncombe, Canon of York Minster, born 2 Nov.
1814. The Hon. Octavius Duncombe, M. P. for the North-
Riding of Yorkshire, born 8 April, 1817. Charlotte died 22
Oct., 1811. Frances married to Sir Thomas Digby Legard,
of Ganton Hall, Yorkshire, Bart., 31 May, 1832. Louisa
married to the Earl of Eldon, 1 Oct., 1831.
William, the present Lord Feversham, succeeded to the
peerage on the death of his father, in July, 1841. He married
Louisa, second daughter of George 8th Earl of Galloway, and
formerly represented the county of York and the North-Riding
of Yorkshire. Arms. — Per chevron ingrailed, gules and argent, three tal-
bots' heads, erased, counterchanged.
Bankes' "Extinct and Dormant Peerage," iii, 297.

(Rievall — Dugdale. Rivaux — Ton: Rievaux. Rivaulx.)

1EVAUX ABBEY is the parent house of the Cis
tercian order in Yorkshire, and is situated in the
beautiful and romantic vale of Ryedale, thrpugh
which the river Rye flows over its rocky bed in a
stream both deep and rapid, and is crossed in
two places by rustic bridges. The site of the abbey is one of
the most picturesque which can be conceived by the most ro
mantic mind. It is in the bottom of a deep valley, surrounded *
by steep hills, covered with majestic woods, resembling the
entangled and almost impenetrable recesses of an American
forest. It is nearly on the point or angle where three valleys
meet, through each of which a rivulet nieanders its musical
course, merging their waters into the Rye, a brisk mountain
stream issuing out of the dreary hills of Blakemore, and takings-
its name from Rie or Rye, the Saxon appellation of a river,
from whence the vale and town derive their name, and the
monastery the Abbey of Rievaux. The back ground is truly
picturesque and beautiful. Tier upon tier of wood seem piled
one upon another as if they would Babel themselves up to
heaven. Byron has played off a joke upon the motives of
these religious for choosing such a spot, where he says : —
" Because the monks pr-ejerred a hUl behind
To shelter their devotions from the wind,"
but such solitary retreats the Cistercians always courted as con
ducive to devotional feeling.
Rievaux Abbey possesses a peculiar beauty arising from its
situation distinct from all others, and " has set an example of
elegance and magnificence to later foundations, seldom equal-

' ¦-'.' ,''¦" . ,;¦ IT.,; • :-¦ :,' '('.:.

mum

RIEVAUX ABBEY. 303
led, and never excelled." "The ruins afford one of the finest
existing subjects in the kingdom for the pencil or the graver."8
The village is close to the abbey, and consists of a few
scattered cottages, but they do not destroy the harmony of the
picture, which, with the ruin, the wooded heights, a winding
river, and two picturesque bridges, form a combination of
objects, that cannot fail to strike the attention of the least
practised eye. It is situate in the wapentake of Ryedale, ten
miles from Easingwold, along the road leading past Newburgh
Park, Byland Abbey, Hambleton, and some of the most
romantic scenery in Yorkshire; and is two miles from Helmsley.
The local situation of this romantic abbey may serve to
explain a provincial expression peculiar to this part of York
shire. When a person cannot easily reach a place without a
circuitous route; or for want of a proper term, is compelled to
make use of a circumlocution, it is a common saying, that " he
is going round about Rievaux to seek Old Byland." This ad
age is undoubtedly taken from the abbey, to which the road.
is almost circular; first down a very steep and craggy moun
tain, by many serpentine windings; then rising again much
in the same manner on the opposite side; seeming sometimes
to go direct to the place, and anon directly from it; sometimes
on one side and sometimes on another. This circumstance
appears to be the foundation of the proverb.1
There was also a story extant among the monks of Rie
vaux, of one of their order who had grown tired of the strict
ness and monotony of the place, and he determined to run
away and go back to the world. He plunged into the woods,
and wandered about among the mountain paths from valley to
valley, thinking all the while that he was going very far from
the abbey. About sunset, however, he was suprised to find
himself close to a convent which looked marvellously like the
Abbey of Rievaux, and sure enough so it was ; he had been
wandering round and -round it all the day, and at evening he
found himself precisely where he had started. It had been
hidden from him by the thick woods about him. The poor
monk thought the hand of God had led him round and round'
8Dr. Whitaker's Abbeys and Castles in Yorkshire.
» Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1754.

304 RIEVAUX ABBEY.
the place and again brought him to it in the evening, so he
once more entered the convent and patiently submitted himself
to the rigours of Cistercian discipline.
The founder of this abbey was Sir Walter Espec, a Nor
man baron, who for his eminent services and his valorous
achievements at the battle of the Standard, was rewarded by
King Henry I. with several grants of land in this neighbour
hood. The touching circumstance which led to the establish
ment of this monastery — a father's sorrow for the death of his
child — that child an only son, killed by a fall from his horse —
give a charm of sweet melancholy to this happy seclusion and
the fascinating scenery around.
Sir Walter Espec, Knight, by Adelina, his wife, had one
only son, who was passionately fond of riding swift horses.
While he was one day indulging himself in this diversion near
Frithby, his horse happened to fall, and young Walter was
killed. The afflicted father, deprived of his only heir, resolved
to "make Christ heir of part of his lands," and he accordingly
endowed three monasteries, one at Rievaux, another at Kirk-
ham, and another at Warden in Bedfordshire.
Pro reorum yenia Kirkham domus bona,
Rievallis deinceps, et hsec tria, Wardona
Est fundata primitus a dicta persona,
Pro quorum meritis datur illi trina corona.
The Abbey of Rievaux was the first of the Cistercian order
founded in Yorkshire. The Cistercians were so called from
Cistertium or Citeax, a village in the diocese of Chalons. St.
Bernard was the founder of this order, a man no less influen
tial for his piety as well as his learning, and through whose
influence and exhortations the second Crusade was originated.
To the monks of St. Bernard of Clareval, the " solitary place in
Blakemore near Hamlec" was given by its noble founder, and
ithe said "monks settled here and built their abbey and sung
their psalms like the pilgrim fathers in new England;" —
Amidst the woods- they sung,
And the stars heard and the sea.
The abbey was commenced by William, the first abbot, in the
year 1131, and like the rest of the Cistercian order, was dedi-

lilKVACX ABBEY- 605
cated to the Virgin Mary. This abbot was blessed with long
life, and from the existing remains of the building, there is rea
son to believe, he lived to see much of it completed, extensive
and magnificent as it was.
The Abbey of Melrose was a branch from the mother
church of Rievaux, and was the first of the Cistercian order
established in Scotland. It was founded in 1 1 36, by that " sore
saint for the crown" as James VI. styled his royal ancestor,
David I., when he found how his revenues had been impover
ished by his pious doings amongst the saints. The monks
from Rievaux Abbey, built the Abbey of Melrose. They
were wealthy and numerous, (nearly a hundred) and have left
no good character behind them. The old border ballad by
Galashiels thus slily alludes to their luxury and rapacity: —
O the monks of Melrose made gude kale2
On Friday, when they fasted;
They wanted neither beef nor ale
As long as their neighbour's lasted.
The ruins of this abbey, says Mr. Hutchinson, present the
greatest variety of Gothic ornaments of any in Scotland; and
Sir Walter Scott in his Lay, pointing out the architectural at
tractions of "Mailross ;" its intricate and exquisite stone car
ving, says, — Nor herb nor floweret glistened there
But was carved in the cloister arches as fair.
Sir Walter Espec survived the founding of the abbey about
thirty years, afld spent the last two years of his life as a monk
within its walls. On his death, his remains were interred at
the entrance to the chapter, March 9, 1153, where the ripple
of the stream that soothed his dying ear murmurs by his
grave; the "misty magnificence" of his beloved skies hang
eternally over him, and the bleak winds whistle and howl
through the pipturesque ruins which form his last earthly dwej*-
ling-place. During the period already alluded to, and under the rule of
William the first abbot, a Saxon yoiith pfnoble blood, rare learn
ing, shining, talents and splendid prospects, was moving among
• Kale, a kind of broth
v

306

RIEVAUX AUHKY.

the nobility in the palace of David King"of Scotland. The road
to fame, rank and preferment was open before him, yet he
hesitated to tread therein. He had read Cicero and Terence
and the Knights of the Round Table, but the touching history
of David and Jonathan pleased him more. The simple tales
of "the man" who journeyed through Palestine and Samaria
on his way to "the cross," threw a charm around his heart.
He was advanced by King David to be High Steward of Scot
land, but he was not happy. After a mighty internal struggle,
he quitted his royal office, and we trace his footsteps across
the border, — penetrating the fastnesses of the North-Riding of
Yorkshire — searching out among the labyrinths of vales and
ridgep of hills, the place where the three valleys meet — descend
the steep side through hanging woods as if leaving the light
of day — from terrace to terrace, guided by the sweet music
of its bells, till at the very bottom, from the last ledge of
all, folded in from the world, the calm, serene magnificence of
the cloistered quadrangle burst upon his view. That abbey
was the Abbey of Rievaux, — that Saxon youth was Aelred,
the future abbot of the place. Beautiful appeared to him the
lonely seclusion of the spot, — the graceful and disciplined
animation of monastic life, — its white monks issuing from
its gates in their hooded riding mantles to go to some dis
tant grange, or working altogether in a line on the hanging
steeps, while the mill was heard, its wheel turning merrily
amidst the splashing waters of the mountain stream which
dashed along its pebbled bed at the bottom of the dell; — beau
tiful did it all appear to Aelred as the abbey gates opened and
closed upon him.
Rievaux was then a place hard to find. One only path
through a tangled wood led the way; — the old and gloomy
trees seemed to close around him, and the damp mists as
down, down he descended into the valley, arose from the
undrained marshy grounds along the rolling stream. But
when he knocked at the lowly gate of the abbey, and the bro
ther fell down at his feet as was the wont in Cistercian abbeys,
with a " Deo gratias," thanking God for the new comer, then
Aelred- felt as if he had at last found a resting-place in this
weary world. Then William the abbot, the friend of Bernard,

EL&VACX. ABBEY. \ 307
welcomed the young Saxon to St. Mary's house; and though
the monks around him with their dark Norman features were
foreigners and enemies of his race, yet he felt that he was
among brethren.
It was fortunate for Aelred that he quitted Scotland at the
period alluded to, for the quiet seclusion at Rievaux. About
two years after, a storm gathered in Scotland and swept over
the north of England. In 1136, Henry I._ died, and then
began the stormy reign of Stephen, disastrous for all England,
but especially for the north. We will endeavour to picture
this scene as Aelred did, for he himself is the historian- from
which part of this account is taken, and in the wildest fits
of the storm, we may imagine him looking on quietly and
listening with his head enveloped in his cowl in the cloister
of Rievaux. In the year 1136, not long after Aelred's noviciate, news
arrived that the Scottish army was coming over the border.
On came the torrent, the chivalry of the Lowlands forming its
centre, though far outnumbered by the motley assemblage of
half-naked Galwegians, and men of the Isles. This horde of un
disciplined savages, for such was the Pictish host, with their
commissariat, committed all the wanton cruelties with which
the savage loves to torture his victim. It would be wrong to
give the sickening detail of their cruelties; suffice it to say that
droves of captive women whom they had made widows and
childless, were driven before them with spears, and formed the
van of this horrible array. This mass when once set in motion
was beyond the control of him who had called these uncouth
beings out of their native morasses. Churches were burnt and
pillaged, and monasteries sacked. The poor monks of Calder,
who afterwards built the Abbey of Byland, were turned out on
the wide world, with their whole property contained in a wag
on, drawn by eight oxen.
"The stream of invaders was rapidly moving on towards
Rievaux, when it was stopped by an event long afterwards cel
ebrated in the annals of border warfare — the battle of the Stand
ard. Aelred's dearest friends, David of Scotland and Henry,
were engaged in it, and yet he could not wish them to conquer
Besides, his affections were- divided, for on the other side waa
v2

308 P.IEVAOX ABBEY.
Walter Espec, the founder of Rievaux, his new home, and
sb froth the bottom of his deep hidden valley he prayed with
his brethren for the success of the English arms ; and when it
was over, he became the chronicler of an action which saved
Yorkshire with its churches and monasteries from desolation.
It was a very crusade this war of the Standard, for it was ap
parently an hopeless task to attempt to stop the progress of the
cbuntless swarms which David had brought out of Scotland.
But the old Archbishop of York implored the nobles and
knights of Yorkshire, for the love of God and his saints, to
venture their lives-, to save from desolation the houses of God,
and the poor people from all the horrors which were awaiting
them. Aelred becomes enthusiastic when he describes the
dark hair, broad forehead, and large piercing eyes of Walter
Espec, and details at length the eloquence of the noble soldier
when he addressed the soldiers from the foot of the Standard,
and promised them victory in the name of the Saints of the
Lord. Their Standard was a long pole, on which floated the
banner of St. Cuthbert, and from which was suspended a
pix containing the body of the Lord, and under this they
swore to conquer or die. Aelred describes on the day of battle
the small compact body of the English, with their armour glit
tering in the sun, and their pennons floating on their lances,
¦white the priests in their white albs flew from rank to rank to
©Short them. The bishop of the Orkneys blessed and absol
ved them, and the whole army answered his benediction with
B. loud Amen. Then the trumpets sounded, and with a wild
shriek the Ga'lwegians came on, but their countless host was
broken before the serried ranks of the men-at-arms, around
which they closed as the waves dash against the rock which is
"islanded amongst them. They might at length have broken
this little band, but their headlong valour was rendered use
less by the incessant clouds of arrows discharged from the
hows of the Yorkshire yeomanry. However, at the moment
that they were yielding, the battle was again rendered doubtful,
for with the speed of lightning, Henry, Prince of Scotland,
charged with the chivalry of the Scottish army ; and here Ael
red's love for the friend ofhis youth betrays itself, and he al
most seems to cheer them on as they broke through, the lines

RIEVAUX ABBEY. 30-9
of the Southrons as they would sweep aside a cobweb, and
pursued them off the field. 3 But still poured on the steady
ceaseless showers of the English arrows, and when Henry re
turned from the pursuit he saw the royal standard, the Dragon
moving off the field in full flight, and found that he was left
almost alone with a few knights about him. And here again
amidst his joy for the victory which God had given to the pray
ers of his church, Aelred pauses to describe the valour of the
friend of his youth, how prince Henry, seeing himself left
writh a few knights about him, turned with a smile to his com
panions, bade them mingle in the pursuit, as though they
were on the English side, and setting spurs to his horse, rode
right through the enemy to rejoin his father. This battle freed
the north of England from this horrid scourge, and it must be
said for David, that when afterwards Northumbria and Durham
were ceded to him, the north was resting in peace, while the
south was still suffering all the miseries of civil war.4
Such was the state1* of affairs outside the walls of Rievaux
during the period of Aelred's noviciate. In the year 1143,
William, Earl of Lincoln came to the Abbot of Rievaux, to beg
him to send a colony of monks to Revesby, one of his estates
in Lincolnshire. The abbot complied, and sent Aelred with
.twelve monks, to take possession of the new ground assigned
«to them ; and so he left the valley of Rievaux, and was advan
ced to the Abbacy of Revesby. In 1146, William, the first
abbot of Rievaux died, and brother Maurice was elected in hfs
stead. It was not long however before he resigned his charge,
¦and the monks bethought themselves of Aelred, the abbot pf
Revesby, and so they elected him Abbot of Rievaux.
The Abbot of Rievaux was head of the Cistercian abbots
in England, and sometimes causes came before him judicially.
In 1151, he decided a cause in favour of the monks of Byland,
who after many troubles had at length obtained a settlement
The Abbot of Furness, after treating them so inhospitably,
'again claimed jurisdiction over them, and the cause came be
fore Aelred, who decided in favour of his poor neighbours of
Byland. 3De hello Stand. Twysden, 345.
?William of Newburgh, 1, 22. v3

810 RIEVAUX ABBEY.
A little before the ascension of the same year, news came
to Rievaux that David, King of Scotland was dead, and that
the different clans were in a state of rebellion against the
young prince, the son of Aelred's friend. The insurgents who
had reduced the country to a state of want and destitution,
were the remnants of the ancient Picts who had hitherto resist
ed all the efforts of the Scottish king to civilize them. An ab
bot of Rievaux however, might venture among the savage tribes
of Galloway. Aelred's name was well known all over the bord
er, and even the vicious, turbulent Galwegian chieftain clans
felt awed by his simple dignity. Aelred negotiated a perma
nent peace with the dangerous chief, whom he approached in
his mountain fastnesses, and Fergus surrendered himself into
the hands of Malcolm, and afterwards became a canon in the
monastery. Very little is known of the latter period of Aelred's life, ex
cept that he suffered patiently and died triumphantly as the
Chronicle of Melrose says, on the 12 January, 1166. Leland
saw his tomb richly adorned with gold and silver a short time
before the dissolution of the abbey.
The Cistercian monks were of the strictest order, and en
forced the most rigid discipline. There was little of the smi
ling religion about them. They might converse with one ano
ther when at their daily labour if necessary to the performance
of their work, but silence was their motto, and hard beds, coarse
food, and manual labour their constant fare. The object for
which it had been established was, to introduce a more spiritu
al religion into the cloister. Monks had begun to expend their
religious feelings in the externals of devotion. The eleventh
century had been a time of deadly struggle with the powers of
the world : its great men were men of action like St. Gregory,
and its good monks were half hermits like Robert de Alneto.
It was a time of travail and labour, for the old world was gone
and the new middle world was in course of formation. Men
were just recovering from the wild fright into which the close
of the first thousand years of the christian era had thrown
them; their panic had broken out in frantic gestures so that
men and women danced5 band in hand over the graves in the
'I'orduu. VII. -20.

RIJSVAUX ABBEY.

311

church-yard, like the dances of death in the fifteenth century.
And after their recovery they took to building churches ; it was
the first sign of revival, the fashionable religion, so to speak,
of the day. Men and women formed themselves into compa
nies, and marched together to the building of a new church,
with banners carried before them. Knights and nobles yoked
themselves to carts to carry stones to the new edifice. The
utmost splendour of worship was the natural consequence of
the erection of these splendid edifices, for lofty naves and beau
tiful choirs were not built to be left in nakedness like vast
sepulchres. Images of saints and angels, in all the warmth
of colour and gilding peopled them on high,6 and the long
train of splendid vestments moved in glittering order amongst
the worshipers. 7
The habit of the Cister
cian monks was formerly a
dark dress, which they pre
tend was miraculously chan
ged to white at Cisteaux,
by the Virgin Mary. With
this white robe was worn a
black scapular and hood;
their garment was girt with
a black girdle of wool. In
the choir they wore a white
cowl, and over that, a hood,
with a rochet hanging down
before round to the waist,
and in a point behind to the
calf of the leg. On going
abroad they wore a cowl and a large hood, both black. This
engraving represents one of the monks of Rievaux, as copied
from the Supplement to Dugdale.
" His form you may trace, but not his face,
'Tis shadow'd by his cowl ;
But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,
And they seem of a parted soul."
'Quo sanotior eo coloratior, St. Bern. Apol. ad Guil.
1 Life of Aelred.

312 RIEVAUX ABBEY.
-s
Some idea of the rank and importance of the Abbots Of
Rievaux, may be ascertained from the fact, that in the year
1409, procurators were sent by the abbot to the council of Pisa,
which was held for the extinction of the schism between the
rival popes, Gregory XII., and Benedict XIII.; and also from
the fact, that at the sumptuous feast given by Nevil, Arch
bishop of York, on his installation in the year 1464, the Abbot
of Rievaux ranked fourth in the order of precedence at the
table. ¦' Who that had seen the abbot in his power,
Lord of a palace and a rich domain,
Had thought that time would bring a blighting hour,
And prove that all his honours bloomed in vain."
Such however was destined to be the fate of these -palaeeS
and rich domains. Not more than a century had passed from
the above period, before the storm Which had been thickly
gathering, burst with fury upon the monastic houses. The
dissolution of the minor houses was first effected, an act for
doing this having been obtained in the year 1535.
In the following year an insurrection broke out in the north
ern counties, which was headed by the Archbishop of York,
and several of the abbots. This movement was called the "pil
grimage of grace," the banners of the insurgents being painted
with the image of Christ crucified, and the chalice and host,
the emblems of their faith. The rebellion, though somewhat
formidable, was soon put down, and the leaders of the insur
gents, among whom was the Abbot of Rievaux, Were appre
hended and executed for high treason.
This insurrectionary movement led Henry to adopt more
stringent measures with the religious establishments, and he
resolved that the larger ones should share the same fate
the smaller houses already had done; and in 1 539, a bill was
brought into parliament vesting in the hands of the crown all
the property moveable and immoveable of the monasteries.
Many of the abbots and monks, seeing the determination of
the king, resigned office rather than meet the fiery ordeal.
When Richard de Blytoh, the last abbot, signed the surrender,
there were twenty-three monks who received pensions to the
amount of £165. 13s. 4d. per annum, of which sum the abbot
received £66. 18s. 4d.

RIEVAUX ABBEY.
LIST OF ABBOTS.

313

Time of occurring.

No.

Names of the Abbots.

How vacated.

A.D. 1131

1

William, obit. 1146.

Mort.

1146

2

Maurice.

Res.

1160

8

Aelredus, obit. 1166.

Mort.

1175

4

Roger.

1180

5

Bernard.

1189

6

Sylvan, obit. 1189.

Mort.

7

Godfrey.

1199
'8
D. Ernaldus.
Res.
1203
9
William Punchard, obit. 1203.
Mort.
10,
Guaranius, obit. 1211.
Mort.
11
Helyas.
Res.
12
Henry, abbot of Warden, obit. 1216.
Mort.
13
William, abbot of Melros, obit. 1223.
Mort.
1224
14
Roger, abbot of Warden,
Res.
1238
15
Leonias de Dundraynon, a monk of
Melrose, obit. 1240.
Mort.
1240
16
Adam de Telletia.
August 1275
17
William.
Feb. 1286
18
Thomas.
Feb. 1301
19
Robert.
Feb. 1307
20
Peter.
June, 1318
21
William,
1334
22
William deLraTngeton.
1 Nov. 1349
23
Richard.
1409
24
William.
Res.
18 Oct. 1419
25
William Bromley [or Rymley.]
1421
26
John.
10 Nov: 1423
27
Henry Burton, a monk of Salley.
1443
28
William Spencer.
5 April 1449
29
John In'keley [or Ingelay.]
29 Jan. 1489
30
John Burton.
18 Nov. 1513
31
William Helmesley.
32
Richard [or Rowland de] Blyton.
Among the nobility Who were interred in this abbey was
Walter E^pec the founder, Peter de Ros, Henry le Seroope,
Sir John Malbys, Knt., and Agnes his wife, Thomas de ~Ros,
Sir John de Ros, Lady Mary Ros, &c. B
At the dissolution of the Abbey, the gross income amount
ed to £351 14s. 6<L Speed; and the clear revenue according
to Dugdale was £278 10s. 2d. per annum. The commission*
ers sacked from thence 110 fodder of lead, 516 ounces of plate
and five bells. * Monasticon, p. 358.
314

HJEVAUX ABBEY .

The site was granted in exchange for other lands in 30
Henry VI1L, AD. 1538, to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, a de
scendant of Walter Espec, the founder of the abbey ; and by
Catharine, daughter and heiress of Roger, Earl of Rutland,
became the property of her husband, George Villiers, Duke
of Buckingham, whose son, the second Duke of Buckingham,
sold it to Sir Charles Duncombe, Knight, and the venerable
ruins are still in the possession of the lineal descendant of that
noble family, the Right Honourable Lord Feversham.
In the Augmentation
Office is a representation
of the common seal of this
abbey. It depicts an abbot
with his crosier, standing
between two figures, of
whom little more exists
than their feet; scarcely
any part of the legend re
mains. This engraving will
show the form and impres
sion thereof.
The arms of the abbey
were gules, an abbot's cro
sier between three water
bougets argent, a memorial
of the connexion of the house
with the Lords Ros, the des
cendants of its founder. The
simplicity of the colours and device marks a very high antiquity,
and the selection of the number three,- so frequent in similar in
stances, is said to refer to the Trinity. Thus the arms of the
Abbey of Fountains are charged with three horse shoes, those
of St. Mary at York with three swans, and those at Whitby with
three coil'd snakes, the snake stones or ammonites with which
part of the coast abounds being traditionally reported to have
been originally snakes turned into stones by St. Hilda.
The Cottonian manuscript Titus D. xii., fol. 936, has the
following tetrastic, prophesying the destruction of the abbey,
with a comment. The former said to have been written before
the Dissolution.

BIEVAUX ABBEY. 315
" Twoe men came riding over Hackney way,
The one of a blacke horse, the other on a gray;
The one unto the other did say,
Loo yonder stood Revess that faire abbay."
" Henry Cawton, a monke, sometime of Reves abbey in
Yorkshire, affirmed that he had often read this in a MS., be
longing to that abbay containing many prophecies, and was
extant there before the Dissolution. But when he or any other
of his fellowes redde it, they used to throwe the booke away
in anger as thinking it impossible ever to come to passe."
Rievaux Abbey is now a ruin, but one of the largest, if
not one of the most magnificent ruins in Yorkshire. The
architectural work affords one of the first instances of deviation
from the clumsy and massy style which may be considered as
purely Norman. The most ancient part of the building
appears in the transepts, where are two small rows of rich,
light, but narrow lancet windows, laced with hatched ornaments
which at a proper distance, have a rich and florid effect. The
blind story or triforium arcade, is of richer character, with two
rows of the nail head ornament in the mouldings. The cler
estory windows are small lancets, two under one bold arch.
The church instead of being east and west, approaches
more to the direction of north and south, so that the choir
is at the south end, and the north aisle is on the east. The
nave of the church is entirely gone, but the choir, one of its
aisles, great part of the tower, and both the transepts still
exist. The choir is 144 feet in length and 63 in width, and
when viewed from the altar has a most magnificent appearance.
On the east side of the choir are two flying buttresses which are
ofrare occurrence in contemporary monastic erections. At
the altar end of the choir is a large flat stone about nine feet
long, raised about two feet high, and has either been part of
the altar or a monument. This supplies the place of a table
to the numerous pleasure parties who visit these interesting
ruins. Near to this altar was exhumed in 1819, the bones
of Henry le Scroope, which were again buried in Helms
ley church-yard, near the porch of the south door. Near to
the same altar, called the high altar, was found in 1821, part
of a. beautiful tessellated pavement with the letters Arc Maria

816 RIEVAUX ABBEY.
gr which is supposed to have been an abbreviation of the
sentence " Ave Maria gratia plena." The tessellse were re
moved to the temple at the south end of the terrace where they
are arranged, in great part, as when discovered. The stone
with the Ave Maria gr is preserved in the Ionic Temple, and
is shewn by the gardener to the numerous visitors.
Near to the same altar was also discovered among the
rubbish, some fragments of beautiful stained glass, with which
Hie lancet windows seem to have been embellished.
The richness and delicacy 'of the architecture in the tower
as well as the choir is worthy of a moments notice. The
height of the stupendous arch is 75 feet, and the columnar
decorations, terminating with appropriate corbels, have an im
posing effect. The church is carried to the height of three
stories, which has contributed much to its lightness and beauty.
At the south corner of the choir, is an ivy mantled tower con
taining a circular staircase which leads to the upper story.
The staircase is somwhat dangerous by reason of the broken
steps and others which are greatly dilapidated, and which re
quire some degree of caution in those who ascend. Besides, tho
apertures of light are closed up by the clustering ivy which
renders the ascent more difficult and dangerous. The path
way runs along by the windows the entire length of the choir
and transept, and in its perfect state it appears to have formed
a complete pathway round the choir and transept, but part, of
it is broken down. These narrow passages or galleries were
called the monk's walk.
Adjoining the ruins of the nave on the west are the remains
of the cloisters, the square of which measures above 100 feet
each way. Part of the arches of the cloisters remain and are
good early English, slightly trefoiled, in rather a singular
manner and springing from corbels. The chief use of the
teloister was for the monks to walk in, while
" The pillar'd arches were over their head
And beneath their feet were the hones of the de>ad."
One side of the square adjoins close to the nave of the •ehurch,
•with which' it must have communicated. ;Qn the opposite si.de
of the cloister stands a large building 125 feet in length, and
87^- in breadth. This appears to have been the refectory, ac-

HIEVAUX ABBEf. 317
companied with a music gallery or scriptorum, the entrance to
which has been by an exterior circular staircase. Parallel to
the refectory, and in a line with the transept, was the dormito
ry which was several feet longer than the refectory, and about
the same breadth. The dormitory or sleeping apartments
communicated with the church, which communication was ne
cessary for the accommodation of the monks in repairing to
perform their devotions in the church, when at midnight hour
the matin bell
" Warn'd the grey Fathers from their humble beds."
Between the refectory and the dormitory was the great kitchen.
The length of the nave was 1 66 feet, and the whole length of
the church 343 feet.
The remains of the dormitory and other domestic buildings
are Norman, but one Norman doorway has a perpendicular
One inserted under it, with a piece of sculpture of the Annun
ciation. The pillars and arches of the transepts and the choir are
among the most interesting features of Rievaux Abbey. As the
visitor enters through the lofty arches and looks down the
long vista of columns, hatched ornaments, side aisles and lan
cet windows, till his eye rests on the great window which
bf old was wont to cast " its dim religious light"
into the choir, his mind is led to the contemplation of the
period when on "holy days" the mitred abbot, followed by a
long train of white clad monks, in solemn procession, entered
the choir, and the vaulted roof reverberated with songs of praise.
The "ruined choir" is not now without its musical element,
though the choristers are of a tinier race than in days of yore.
Here the robin sends forth his humble lay, and the blackbird
and the thrush warble their evening song. Here too, amidst
the lonely desolation, at eventide
_  " Oft sings
The owl his anthem, where the silenced quire
Lie with hallelujahsquench'd like fire."
Adjoining the dormitory was an open court surrOundea'by
the abbot's chamber and offices. On one side of it is a circu-

¦ilS BIEVA0X ABBEY.
lar archway and window, in which may be seen two mutilated
figures representing the fall in paradise. Adjoining the open
court are the remains of the abbot's house, the infirmary, alms
house, and chapter-house, but these are in total ruin, and the
dilapidated walls covered with ivy.
Near to the picturesque bridge at the lower extremity, of
the village is a place called "the forge," where metals and
charcoal are frequently dug up, and also between the west
corner of the village and the refectory several pieces of cast
metal have been discovered. The supposition is, that iron
works have once existed at Rievaux, and the conjecture is
strengthened by the fact that these monks had granted to them
certain iron works in Rumblesmoor.
How deep and pervading the influence this magnificent
structure must have had upon the minds of those connected
with it,— in the highest degree grand and impressive, convey
ing at once to the mind, that sense of sublime repose which
belongs only to works of essential unity. In those ruined
abbeys whose ivy covered columns lie broken on the floor,
worshippers have knelt generation after generation, dreaming
not that in a few centuries the bat and the owl would usurp
their places.
But the beauties of Rievaux do not terminate with the ab
bey. On the top of the hill, east of the monastery, is the beau
tiful TERRACE said to be one of the finest in England. This
handsome lawn was formed by Thomas Duncombe, Esq.,
in the year 1758, and is half a mile in length, and of ample
breadth. On the back of it are plantations of trees, mingled
with various shrubs. Here evergreens and blossoming beau
ties continually emit their fragrance. Below it is the vale, and
the ruins of the abbey. On the entrance to it through the
wooded hill, the summit of which is attained by a winding cir
cuitous pathway, the elegant temple with its Ionic portico
bursts upon your view. Having feasted your eyes on the
beauties of nature so richly displayed around, the visitor may
now be gratified with the productions of art. The temple is
spacious and^the ceiling is adorned with subjects from heathen
mythology, in fresco, beautifully painted by Burnici, who came
from Italy expressly for the purpose. In the centre of the

HIE VAUX ABBEY. 319
group Apollo is sitting in his chariot directing the four horses
of the sun, attended by the muses, and preceded by the god
dess Aurora, copied from the celebrated Aurora at Rome, by
Guido, who no doubt took his idea from the beautiful descrip
tion Ovid gives of the horses of the sun, —
" Interea volucres Pyroeis, et Eous, et iEthon,
" Solis equi, quartusque Phlegon, hinnitibus auras
" Flammiferis implent, pedibusque repaqula pulsant.
Metamoe. Lib. II. 153.
In the circular compartments of the ceiling are Ariadne
(daughter of Minos, King of Crete), and Theseus; Hero, a beau
tiful woman of Sestos and Leander; — Lord Byron's description
of these two lovers must not be omitted: —
The winds were high on Helle's wave,
As on that night of stormy water
When Love, who sent, forgot to save
The young, the beautiful, the brave,
The lovely hope of Sestos' daughter. —
Oh ! when alone along the sky
Her turret-torch was blazing high,
Though rising gale^and breaking foam,
And shrieking sea-birds warn'd him home,
And clouds aloft and tides below,
With signs and sounds, forbad to go,
He could not see, he could not hear
Or sound or sign foreboding fear ;
His eye but saw that light of love,
The only star it hail'd above ;
His ear but rang with Hero's song,
"Ye waves divide not lovers long!" —
That tale is old, but love anew
May nerve young hearts to prove as true. Bride of Aeydos.
Also Pan fighting with Cupid, his pipe of unequal reeds is sus
pended on one tree and Cupid's bow and quiver on the other;
Jupiter in the form of a white bull, swimming over the sea
with Europa on his back. In the cove of the ceiling, in oblong
compartments, Andromeda chained to a rock and exposed na
ked to be devoured by a sea monster; Endymion visited by
Diana in a cave, Endymion 's dog lies under his knee, and the
goddess's hounds are standing by; in the back ground are two
Cupids with doves, one of which is escaped; Venus arid Vulcan;

3,iO RIEVAUX ABBEY.
on one side are three Nereides, on the other, Triton blowing a
trumpet made of a sea shell; a Cupid is pointing a dart at
Vulcan's breast, another has a quiver of arrows, and a third
carries a flaming torch; and Hercules and Omphale. The poet
has thus generally depictedthe scene —
-'There in the centre of the pannell'd roof
Appears Aurora, goddess of the morn,
With splendid equipage and shining train:
The laughing Hours with cheeks of rosy tint
Move round the car where great Apollo sits;
Their radiant presence seems to crown the hills
With golden light, which gilds th' expanded sea.
There Hercules, for Lybia's smiling queen,
Has quit his ponderous club and warlike dress,
Exchanging his accoutrements to wield
The simple distaff. Smitten by her charms
The conquer'd hero crouches at her feet.
Daring Leander, with exertion spent,
Is there depicted striving with the flood;
While from the turret, watching in suspense
The lovely Hero waves her flaming torch,
Which breaks upon the datkness of the night."
The cornice and frieze, with the chaste and beautiful white
marble chimney-piece, are worthy of inspection.
Leaving the temple and proceeding along the winding lawn,
the prospect becomes more and more fascinating. The gray
tinted abbey looks out from among the tufted trees as it sweet
ly reposes in the lap of the vale beneath ; woods tour aloft,
dales stretch away into the distance, and the Rye as it rolls
along the bottom of the valley, occasionally peeps out of its
leafy bed and adds beauty to the scene.
At the bottom of the terrace is a circular temple with a
Tuscan colonnade, where the tessellated pavement before allu
ded to, is preserved. From this interesting spot the prospect
is the most varied and extensive. We shall not attempt de
scription, but must -•'Forego the flattering thought,

Nor vainly hope to paint the thrilling view
Seen from the verdant lawn, that spreads beyond
Th' Ionian temple,; Heaven alone excels
That earthly scene ! — description nought avails'"

Cljnrmiralnj.

(Tormozbi— Dugdale. Thormotby— Forest Rolls. Thormanby.)

VILLAGE and parish situated on an elevated
spot on the Great Northern Road, four miles
north-west of Easingwold and six miles south-east
of Thirsk, in the wapentake of Bulmer, and ec
clesiastically located in the Archdeaconry of
Cleveland. Those of our readers who have been accustomed
to the "merry road" ere the power of steam and railroads was
in existence, will recollect the first village on the north side of
Easingwold, with its steep ascent and its rapid descent, and the
shrill blast of the passing mail,
When sparks of fire from coursers' feet
Spring flashing at every, goad
And the rattling sound of wheels we greet
Upon the merry high road.
Thormanby appears to have derived its name from Thor,
the chief pod of the Saxons, who seems to have been the
favourite deity of this neighbourhood, hence we have Thar-
manby, 7'A/r-kleby, Thirl-by, Thirsk, all which, there is very
little doubt, have their origin from a Danish source. Thor was
a Scandinavian deity who was represented with the sceptre of
Jupiter, — ruled the elements, and was the protector of champi
ons and brave men. His devotees, after death, were conducted
to Valhalla, or Hall of heroes.
Rayner Lodbrog, the Danish prince, when expiring in the
dungeon of Crayke Castle, as the early historians say, far from
uttering groans or forming complaints, expressed his joy by
these words. "We are cut to pieces with swords ; but this fills
me with joy, when I think of the feast that is preparing- for
x

32'-2 THOHMANBY.
me in Odin's palace. Quickly, quickly seated in the splendid
habitation of the gods, we shall drink beer out of the skulls of
our enemies.1 A brave man fears not to die. I shall utter
no timorous words as I enter the Hall of Odin."
This mighty Scandinavian god Thor, appears to have had
a temple or shrine at Thormanby, and the Danes, as the poet
says : — Remembered Thor's victorious fame
And gave the town the Thunderer's name.
The worship of idols lingered long among the Britons and
Anglo-Saxons after the introduction of Christianity. In the
Canons of King Edgar (who died in the year 975,) is forbidden
worship of trees, rocks, and fountains ; and other rites of pagan
superstition. Our rude forefathers were with much difficulty
prevented from bowing down to the spreading oak and the
masSy column.
Ossian thus describes a British prince returning from his
devotions : —
" Grumal was the chief of Cona. His soul rejoiced in blood; his ears
in the din of arms. He poured his warriors on Craca. Craca's king met
him returning from his grove; for there within the circle of Bruno, he
spake to the stone of power."
In the time of Edward the Confessor (1041) Thormanby
belonged to the soke of Easingwold, — was one of those ten
townships which constituted the Saxon manor, and was sub- .
jected to the regulations of its Court Leet.
The condition of the place previous to the Norman Con
quest may be gathered from the following statement in
Domesday Book.
In Tormozbi, Aschil had four carucates of land to be taxed
where there may be two ploughs. Robert (Robert Mallet) has
it and it is waste. Value in King Edward's time ten shillings.
In the same village Gamel had half a carucate to be taxed.
From this statement we perceive that in the time of Edward
1 Southey alludes to the heroes of Valhalla thus : —
"They thought
One day from Ella's skull to quaff the mead,
Their valour's guerdon.

THORMANBY. 323
the Confessor, eight hundred years ago, the manor of Thor
manby was only worth ten shillings, the great part of the land
being waste, as appears from the circumstance of there being
only two ploughs in operation.
Aschil or Archil a Dane was lord of the manor of Tormozbi,
and to him nearly the whole of the township belonged. Ga-
mel was a Saxon chief of noble extraction, and held considera
ble possessions in Yorkshire. His son Orm was lord of Kirk
dale before the Conquest, and Gamel held several lordships, in
this neighbourhood. The Slingsby family of Scriven Hall are
ihterlineally descended from this ancient Saxon stock. After
the Conquest a mighty change took place in reference to pro
perty. The greatest part of it was taken from its original own
ers and given to the friends of the Conqueror. William Mai-
let or Malet was one of the barons who accompanied the Nor
man to England. After the battle of Hastings he was sent by
the Conqueror to see the body of Harold decently interred,
was Sheriff of Yorkshire in the 3rd year of that victorious
reign,9 and Robert de Malet, according to Dugdale, held thir
ty-two lordships in this county, three in Essex, one in Hants.,
two in Notts., eight in Lincoln, and two hundred and twenty
one in Suffolk. From this family are descended the honour
able family of Malet of Wilbury, Wiltshire, who bear for their
arms, — Azure three escallops, or.
Robert Malet held Thormanby of the king in capite.
The martial spirit of the Scandinavian deity which breathes
in the very name of the town, has long ago lost its influence
over the character, disposition, and pursuits of the inhabitants,
for since the days of the Saxons and the Danes the strife of
battle has not here been felt, nor the lovely green sod dyed
with the crimson blood of the foe. In the rebellion however
of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Forces encamped on Thormanby
Carr, on their way to Maiden Bower, near Topcliffe, where
the Earl narrowly escaped being surprised in bed, and by strafc
agem got across the river and made his way to Scotland.
On the top of the hill, commanding an extensive prospect,
¦is Ivy-bound Castle, formerly, no doubt, a place of note, bu$
"Sim. Dunelm.x2

924 BIBDFOBTH.
its history is buried in oblivion. It has been mostly rebuilt
within the last few years, but still retains some traces of antii
quity. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was given to the nun
nery ofMolesby (Moxby) to which it was appropriated, and the
Prioress of Molesby received a pension of 13s. 4d- therefrom.
Since the dissolution of the. monastery, the church has been in
the alternate presentation of the Lords Downe and the Cayleys,
Baronets. It consists of a nave, chancel, and tower, and is stalled with
black oak which gives it a venerable appearance. The north
Wall contains two arches with pillars of a Semi-Norman cha
racter, built into the wall, but formerly opening into a north
aisle, which has been removed. One of the arches contains a
small window and the other a tombstone, discovered under the
western arch of the north side, but now built upright in the
Wall, on which is a cross-flory with a short sword on the left
side. The chancel is entered by a lofty pointed arch. The
church contains no monumental inscriptions. Rector, Rev. J.
Higginson. Population, 154.

$irufartjj<

(Birdford— Torr. Bird's-ford. Birdforth.)
1IRDFORTH derives its name fro.m the ford which
at the Roman era, and during the time of the
Saxons, crossed the stream of water at this place.
The Roman road led past Birdforth, and there
would, no doubt, be a Roman fortress established
at this place.
Bird and Brid' are often used as synonymes in the Sax
on, language, and it is probable that its etymology may be from
brid o,r broad, as bird in connection with a ford is an unmean
ing term. It is. a place of renown as well as of antiquity, and
in Saxon times, the people assembled together at Bh'dforth
'William de Bridford, a monk, was abbot of St. Mary's York, in 1382.

niKOFOBTH. 825
in gemote for the transacting of all public matters relating
to the district, and there, by the laws of King Edgar, every
freeman in the district was obliged to attend. The governor
or chief of the district, when the people were assembled, dis
mounted from his horse, placed himself on an elevated spot,
and held up his spear, which each person approached and
touched with his own weapon, which ceremony of touching
the spear was regarded as confirming that community in one
common interest, and thus from paepnu (weapons) and cac (a
touch) or caccape (to confirm), they were called weapontack or
wapentakes. The hundred or wapentake courts were by statute
of the 14th Edward III., 1 340, discontinued, and the business
removed to the county courts.
The wapentake of Birdforth is 17 miles from north to
south, and from 16 to 7 miles in breadth, including the most
fertile portion of the rich and highly cultivated Vale of Mow
bray, sometimes described as part of the Vale of York'.
The Church or chapel of ease is an ancient structure, and
from its lonely situation, was most probably originally designed
for a wayside chapel, "where fainting pilgrims might obtain a
temporary rest and refreshment of soul." It was partly rebuilt in
the year 1585. A stone, placed in the north wall of the chan
cel, commemorates the event, on which is a shield bearing a
bend charged with three roses or cinquefoils, and a mullet for
distinction, impaling on afess dancette three lioncels rampant.
Above is the date 1585, and a small shield charged with a
bend. At the sides of the principal shield are the letters I. T.
R. D. The colours of the several bearings cannot be distinct
ly traced in consequence of the whitewash indiscriminately
daubed over them. The Chapel consists of a plain body and
chancel, without aisles. The west end contains a single Nor
man light, and on the south side is a semicircular headed
window, now blocked up. The chancel is entered by a Nor
man arch. On a beam in the roof is G. 1702 B. The south
side of the church contains a marble monument to the memo
ry of the
REV. ROBERT WHYTEHEAD, A.B.,
Rector of Gaxhill, near Hornsea, and Curate of Birdforth arid
Thormanby, who died 21 August, 1818. He bequeathed lands
x3

326 HUSTHWAITE.
in Easingwold for instructing two poor children of poor pa
rents in Birdforth, or if there be but one in Birdforth, for one
also in Thormanby.
Prior to the year 1715, this Chapel was served by the vicar
of Thirkleby. It is in Coxwold parish, and Archbishop Sharpe
says, "it has paid a considerable proportion to the repairs of
that church above 1 00 years." The living is a perpetual curacy,
in the patronage of the Archbishop of York. Impropriators,
Trinity College, Cambridge. The Rev. John Winter is incum
bent, and resides at Coxwold. It contains 35 inhabitants and
540 acres of land, mostly the property of Viscount Downe, who
is lord of the manor, and is distant 4$ miles from Easingwold
and 5£ from Thirsk.
"A few years since, a considerable number^of small silver
coins were found in widening Birdforth-beck. The treasure
has been dispersed and not a piece now remains in Birdforth.
The place where they were found being near the Roman road,
renders it not improbable that they might be Roman coins,8"
a circumstance which seems to strengthen the conjecture of a
Roman station here, as also its being about midway on the
Roman road between Easingwold and Thirsk, where no doubt
Roman stations or halting- places would be fixed.

gttatjnnaifc.

(Hustwait. — Torr. Hustwaite.— Drake. Husthwaite.)
USTHWAITE is pleasantly situated on an emi
nence, surrounded by a beautiful undulating coun
try and may not inappropriately be termed the
town among the hills. The name is of unmistake-
able Saxon origin. JJuj- or hus a house, and thpaite
or thwaite a field cleared of wood. The spot where it now stands
was formerly a portion of a wood, — the Forest of Galtres, and
it dates its commencement with a single house in the cleared
2 Jefferson's Thirsk, p. 98.

HUSTHWAITE. 327
wood, called Hus-thivaile, Or the house of the clearing, as our
transatlantic neighbours would now call it.3
With the exception of the Church, there are few buildings
of antiquity in the town of Husthwaite worthy of any lengthen
ed notice. The manor house, a portion of which is occupied
by Mr. Thomas Driffield, was formerly a hall or mansion of
some importance, as ruins may be traced in the gardens and
out-buildings, extending over part of the hill behind the house.
It appears to have comprised the site which the house and
barn now occupy. The ruins of the old hall have been used
in the present erections, and are of free-stone in massive blocks.
The site on which it stood commands a most delightful and
picturesque view of the Hambleton Hills, the vale of Mowbray,
and a long range of romantic scenery stretching away into the
far west.This house was formerly occupied by the prebendary who
was lord of the manor, held in his possession the demesne
lands, and exercised jurisdiction over the place.
The village of Husthwaite, without arrogating to itself any
peculiar commendation either as respects the structure or ar
rangement of its tenements, possesses many local advantages
which justly entitle it to lift its modest head without disparage
ment amidst our island homes.
It is celebrated for the fertility of its soil and the numer
ous and productive orchards and gardens which are attached
to almost every dwelling, and which are not only a source of
considerable profit to its inhabitants, but add greatly to the
beauty and interest of the scenery.
The parish comprehends within its limits, according to the
last survey, 2800 acres of land, including Carlton Husthwaite.
It is altogether an agricultural district, and more of the occu
pants of the holdings belong to the class of substantial yeo
men than in most other places in the neighbourhood. The
land is in a high state of cultivation, and the labouring classes
are "passing rich" with their well-stocked orchards and
gardens. Having alluded briefly to the quality of the land and the
3"What a noble clearing," exclaimed an American visitant recently, as
he surveyed the large open corn fields of Cambridgeshire,

328 HUSTHWAITE.
character of the people, we may next glance at the population
of this rural spot. For the last fifty years it has increased at
the ratio of about one per year, the census return for 1 85 1 being
houses 93 — male inhabitants 219 — females 210, — total 429,
leaving an average of somewhat more than six acres and a
half to each individual. There has been no increase of houses
of late years. The sons have succeeded to the dwellings of
their fathers, and the small acquired surplus population, have
like the hardy Swiss mountaineers, sought honourable employ
rnent elsewhere.
Near to Husthwaite is Highthorn House, once the seat of
the ancient family of the Goultons, the first of whom came to
England with William the Conqueror, and for his brave conduct
at the battle of Hastings was rewarded like the rest of the Nor
man heroes with valuable possessions. Their arms were
Or, two bars, sable, in chief, three fleurs-de-lys.
The name of Goulton became extinct in the last of that
family who died in 1815, and the estate descended to William
Hotham, Esq., his grandson.
Highthorn House which stands upon one of the seven hills
of this modern Parva Roma is a lovely spot, commanding an
extensive prospect over the beautiful vale of York. This rural
retreat is now occupied by N. T. Lumley Hodgson, Esq.,
and the following words of Gray perfectly accord with the
sweet seclusion of the place.
Here scattered oft, the earliest of the year,
By hands unseen, are showers of violets found ;
The red-breasts love to build and warble here,
And little footsteps lightly print the ground.
By a gentle circuitous ascent we pass from Highthorn
House to Beacon Banks, which is the loftiest hill adjoining
Husthwaite. Its name is derived from the circumstance of a
beacon being fixed on its summit to alarm the country in case
of danger during the time of the civil wars, a state of society
•which we trust will never again return.
When the atmosphere is clear and transparent, the view
from this elevated spot is most extensive. To the south
and south-west, is the gently undulating vale of York, on the
east are the Hambleton Hills stretching far away into the north

HUSTHWAITE.

329

with the rich vale of Mowbray at their feet, and to the west
and north-west, the lofty hills of Wensleydale and the moun
tains of Craven and Lancashire.
On the top of the hill commanding a view to the north
west is the agger of an ancient entrenchment, about four hun
dred yards or more in length, very much defaced and some
part of it nearly on a level with the ground. The entrench
ment is of the same character as that on Oulston Moor which
is supposed to be Roman. The situation has evidently been
chosen for the purpose of watching the movements of an en-
nemy, and if we suppose two divisions of the same army occu
pying the positions of Oulston Moor and Beacon Banks, which
are only about two miles apart, the one commanding an exten
sive view over the eastern coast, and the other a complete survey
over the north and west, a beacon on either eminence would
Serve to keep up a telegraphic communication between them.
The lower part of the hill beneath the entrenchment ap
pears in its pure forest state, having never been subjected to
the operations of the plough. It resembles in appearance the
foundation of an ancient British village, being full of undula
tions and protected by something resembling a baibaccn.
Pieces of armoUr and military buttons have some time ago
been discovered on the site of this entrenchment, but we can
obtain no correct description of them.
Inclining to the southern side of the Beacon Banks, where
 "Their summits far away
Shine sweetly through the gloom,
Like glimpses of eternal day
Beyond the tomb,"
is the residence of Francis Wailes, Esq., whose ancestors have
long held possessions in this neighbourhood; and a few hun
dred yards in front of the house is the hill

• where heretofore

Our barbarous sires the awful gibbet rear'd.
We will now take our leave of the hills, and descending
on the west side of the town, in a beautiful sequestered vale,
we fall in with the foundations of the ancient village ofBaxby.

330 HUSTHWAITE.
Nothing remains of it now but the manor house and the neigh
bouring water-mill, though the ruins may be traced to a consi
derable distance. We find in Dugdale's Monasticon that the
abbey of Byland held possessions in Baxby along with the
mill; and the house now known by the name of Baxby Manor
House, was then occupied by a family who took their name
from the town, and to whom the manor belonged. In the
Registrum de Bellalanda penes Johannem Russheworlh armige-
rum, fol. 179, is a confirmation of the gifts of John de Mow
bray to which we find attached as a witness the name of
Johannes de Baxeby.
In the year 1650, the estate of Baxby was purchased of
Richard Sandys, Esq., of Northborne, in the county of Kent,
by William Kitchingham, Esq., of Toulston, Yorkshire, and
at that time the village consisted of the manor house and nine
cottages with gardens. From William Kitchingham jit passed
to Arthur Thornton, Esq., who bequeathed it to his son Sir
William Thornton, Knight, of the city of York. Colonel Thorn
ton, a successor of the above, sold the estate in 1791 to Mr.
Thomas Woodward, of Aldwark, in whose family it remains at
the present time.
The land is principally a rich old sward of a very superior
quality, and the township, including Thornton-on-the-hill, con
tains ninety-four inhabitants and 1 740 acres of land.
The derivation of the name of this well-watered demesne is
obviously Becksby. The beck or brook which turns the water-
mill before alluded to, enters the estate towards the east, and
flows on in a western direction throughout the whole length of
the two farms, over which the manor extends. This beck was
formerly celebrated for its splendid trout, and no wonder, for
anglers know right well that the best fish are to be expected in
streams that run through the best ground. Here the fisherman
at the return of spring, revisiting his accustomed nook, may
look for the first arrived swallow flitting o'er the mill-dam; and
not improbably at the same time, will from Highthoms' neigh
bouring woodlands " Catch the earliest Cuckoo's vernal lay."
The Church, a substantial but unpretending structure, pre-

HUSTHWAITE.

331

sents, few exterior decorations to attract the eye except a rich
Norman arch forming the principal entrance, of which the fol
lowing is a representation.

There is also a plain Norman archway leading into the chan
ce], but the capitals appear to have been cut off and the beau
ty of the arch much defaced.
There is no uniformity in the architecture of the church,
and it appears to have been built at different periods. The
windows have mostly square tops without labels, except that
to the east window which is pointed, with mullions.
Beneath the east end of the church is the family vault of
the Goultons, but the inscriptions on the stones are so de-
•faced as to render them almost illegible.

332 HUSTHWAITE.
A neat marble slab bears the following inscription, With
the family arms : —
Near this place are interred the Remains of
FRANCIS GOULTON,
of Highthorn, died May the 24th, 1737, aged 64 years. Also Christopher,
his son, died March the 20th, 1792, aged 80. Also Christopher, son of
the above Christopher, died October the 17th, 1815, aged 72.
On the same side of the chancel is the following monument
al inscription : — -
Near this place are interred the Remains of
the Rev. ROBERT PEIRSON,
Archdeacon of Cleveland, master of the Grammar School at Coxwold,
and Minister of this parish. He was born August 2nd, 1742 , at Appleton-
le-street, of which parish his father was vicar, was educated at J esus Col
lege, Cambridge, and died at Coxwold, Dec. 5, 1805. His classical and
botanical knowledge were extensive, and happily adapted to the purity of
his taste. His unaffected humility, and the simplicity of his life and man
ners, gained him the affection and esteem of the clergy and all his ac
quaintances : as a magistrate, in differences amongst neighbours, he was
anxious to reconcile the parties in lighter offences against the law, to
amend the culprit by exhortation and reproof, and in all cases to pro
mote peace was the wish of his heart.
His Scholars and Friends, knowing and admiring his work, have caused
this monument to be erected as a testimony of their regard.
In the body of the church on the north side and nearly op
posite the pulpit is the following monumental inscription: —
ROBERT MIDGLEY, M.A.
a son of Joseph Midgley of Thirsk, M. A., fifty three years master of Gox-
wold Schbol, and minister of this parish, died May 24, 1761, aged 77,
deservedly admired for his fine taste in classical and polite literature.
He educated several Gentlemen who were an honour to their country.
The doctrines and duties of Christianity he cordially believed, zealously
preached, and assiduously practised.
Above the same is the following escutcheon, Barruly of ten
pieces, or, and sable. Three Pheons' heads sable, or.
The church is without buttresses, except at the tower or
Western extremity; and at the east side, opposite the altar table
is a piscina.
Before we take our leave of the church, we must not forget
a passing notice of those solemn tell-tales of life or death, of

CABLTON. 333
rejoicing or sorrow, the bells. They are three in number,
and bear the significant inscriptions : —
1.— JHESVS BE OUR SPEED— 1621.
2.— VENITE EXULTEMVS DOMINO— 1707.
3.— FUNERK DEPLORO, POPULUM VOCO— 1426.
In examining the tombstones in the church-yard, we find
that generation has succeeded generation through successive
centuries, but the representatives of the old stock still bear
the names and occupy the seats of their forefathers in the
house of God.
Torr gives a list of the curates of which our limited space
will not permit insertion. Incumbent, Rev. John Winter.
The Wesleyans have a neat chapel, well attended. There
is a good National school, and the poor enjoy several small
charities. John Dixon, Esq., of Acaster Hill, is lord of this
manor, also of the manor of Carlton Husthwaite.
Husthwaite is 4 miles north of Easingwold.

Carton,

ARLTON is called from ceopl, whence churl or carl,
designating an inferior rank in Saxon society, but
by no means conveying at its origin the opprobri
ous idea of rudeness and incivility which Norman
arrogance afterwards attached to it as applicable
to the whole Saxon race. It is a pleasant village and township,
about one mile north of Husthwaite.
At the time of the Norman survey, Ulchel had four carucates
of land in Garletun to be taxed, and two ploughs ; and it still
contains some ancient houses and trees, of so venerable an
aspect that they may almost be imagined to have been stand
ing there when Ulchel had the manor. H. Peckett, Esq., now
occupies Carlton Hall, which is a modern building.
The Chapel of ease is a structure, apparently of the 17th
century, annexed to the curacy of Husthwaite.

tfjjirkkhtj.

(Turgilebi — Domesd. Turgilesbi — Bawdwen. Tttrkelby — Torr. Thirklehy.)
HIRKLEBY is a pleasant, rural village, situated
on a small rivulet which divides it into two parts,
called High and Low Thirkleby; the former
the property of Lady Frankland Russell, and
the latter of the Lord Viscount Downe. It is
ecclesiastically situated in the Deanery of Bulmer and Arch
deaconry of Cleveland, and is 7 miles from Easingwold and
5 from Thirsk.
Thirkleby is from its termination a name of Danish origin,
and signifies the village of Thirkil or Torquil, probably' the
first settler of that nation. Previous to the Conquest it was
in the possession of Copsi, who held eight carucates of land
which belonged to the soke of Coxwold, and is recorded in the
Domesday Survey among the lands of Hugh the son of Baldric.
" In Turgislebi (Thirkleby) Chilbert, had one manor of four
carucates to be taxed, and there may be two ploughs. Nigel
has it, and it is waste."4 From the same authority, we find
that the manor of Turgislebi was again held by"Eddive, who
had eight carucates of land to be taxed. There is land to four
ploughs, Ralph has it, and it is waste. Value in King Edward's
time, thirty shillings. Two miles long and one broad."5 One
carucate of land of the soke of Turgilebi belonged to the man
or of Weaverthorp, and by an inquisition, mentioned in Bur
ton's Monasticon," Richard Holme, Clerk, and Peter de la
Hay were to have licence to give to the Priory of Twine, two
messuages, value per annum, each £0. Is. Od., 160 acres of
land, each acre worth £0. Os. 3d. per annum, and eighteen
acres of meadow here, value per annum, each acre £0. Osj 5d.
Gilbert de Meynel de Thurkelby gave lands and pasture

'Bawdwen's Domesday, p. 84. 6Ibid p. 186.

r~

3feSK |

1AL SMMf S 'aMWIMJIX »
: i?. mx:f>> bp J^g IVmki A-rib ftu(>« f-it , 1851

THIRKLEBY. 335
for 300 sheep in this territory, towards Angoteby,7 and Stephen
de Meynel confirmed the two acres of meadow near to the
bridge of Thurkelby, which Gilbert his father had given, toge
ther with the meadow given by Robert de Buscy, who also
gave a culture on the north of the hill of Turkilby, which was
confirmed by William his son and heir, who with Oliver de
Buscy, likewise confirmed the meadow at Harmskeld. 8
We find in Torr that the above mentioned Oliver de Buscy
held three carucates of land in Thirkleby of Roger de Mowbray,
who held them of the king in capite, or knight's service, by the
rent of 5 s., the whole answering for the fourth part of a knight's
fee. Nigel de Albini at the battle of Tenchebray (the last which
Henry I. had with Curthose) slew Curthose's horse and brought
him captive to the King, whereupon he obtained by the gift of
that king, all the lands of Robert, Baron Fronteboef or Stute-
ville and Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, who
held all the surrounding manors till the year 1095, when he
was deprived of them for treason, and his confiscated estates
given to Nigel de Albini, from whom they came to Roger de
Mowbray, the second baron of that name.
The honourable and ancient family of. Frankland settled
in Yorkshire at the time of the Conquest, and has been seated
at Thirkleby upwards of two centuries and a half. Sir Tho
mas Frankland, Bart., eldest son and heir of Sir William
Frankland, created a baronet by King Charles II., and grandson
of Sir Henry Frankland, Knight, married the youngest daugh
ter of Sir John Russell, by Frances, the Protector's youngest
daughter. He represented the borough of Thirsk in several
parliaments, and died in 1726, and his lady in 1733, having
issue, seven sons and three daughters. He was succeeded by
his eldest son, Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart., who held many
offices of importance under government, and represented the
borough of Thirsk in five successive parliaments. He had
issue by his first wife two daughters; Betty, married to John
Morly Trevor, of Glynn-Bourne, in Sussex, Esq., M.P., and Di
nah, married to George Henry Lee, Earl of Lichfield. This
Osgodby, then a grange to Byland Abbey.
8 Burton's Monasticon, p. 337.

336 THIRKLEBY.
alliance is the more remarkable, as the Countess was descend
ed in the fourth degree from Oliver Cromwell, and the Earl in
the same degree from King Charles I. Sir Thomas was suc
ceeded by his nephew Sir Charles Henry Frankland, who was
for many years collector of His Majesty's customs for the port
of Boston, North America, and afterwards Consul General to
Portugal. He was buried for an hour under the ruins in the
great earthquake at Lisbon, in 1755, but providentially es
caped. He married Miss Agnes Brown, of New England, who
was with her husband when the earthquake happened, and af
terwards from her elegant seat at Boston witnessed the battle of
Bunker's Hill, after which she returned to Britain. Sir Charles
dying without issue, was succeeded in the title of baronet by
his next brother, Sir Thomas Frankland, who distinguished
himself in the naval service, and was fortunate enough to cap
ture a French ship of great value, off the Havannah, with a
Spanish register, homeward bound, after an engagement of
several hours. He was advanced to be vice-admiral of the red
squadron of His Majesty's fleet, and was afterwards an admiral
of the white. He represented the borough of Thirsk in five
successive parliaments, and died Nov. 21, 1784, leaving issue,
several sons and daughters. He was succeeded by his son
Sir Thomas Frankland the sixth baronet, who was born Sept.
1750. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Smelt,
and had issue, two sons and two daughters. An Ulster badge,
worn by him on a mission at the Court of Lisbon, was pro
duced to the committee of Baronets in 1836. Sir Thomas
died in 1831, and was succeeded by his son Sir Robert Frank-
land, who assumed the name of Russell on succeeding to the
estates of Sir Robert Greenhill Russell in 1836, in con
sequence of the marriage between Sir Thomas Frankland and
the daughter of Sir John Russell. Sir Robert was born 1784,
and married in 1 835, the third daughter of the late Right Ho
nourable and Right Reverend Lord George Murray, Bishop of
St. David's. He was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1838, and
died in March, 1849, and Lady Frankland Russell is the pre
sent representative of this ancient and honourable house.
Arms — Azure, a dolphin, naiant, embowed, or, on a chief
of the second, two saltires, gules, quarterly with Russell.

THIRKLEBY. 337
Crest— A dolphin round an anchor, proper.
Motto — Frank land, frank mind.
Thirkleby Hall, the seat of 'Lady Frankland Russell, is a
handsome modern mansion, in the Italian style of architecture,
erected by Sir Thomas Frankland, father of the late Sir Robert,
from the designs of James Wyatt, architect. It is situated
on the north west side of the village, on a gentle eminence, in an
extensive and well-wooded park, commanding picturesqueviews
•of the romantic scenery around, and is approached through a
magnificient ancient avenue of Scotch Firs, considered one of the
finest in this part of the kingdom ; — a worthy approach to anoble
mansion, and a splendid record of the state of the ' olden times."
The old hall, probably erected about the time of James I.,
was entirely removed, and no vestige remains to tell of its past
beauties. It appears to have been one of those quaint gabled
houses on a rather large scale, of which there are many of the
same character in the country. Several of the family portraits
which adorned its walls have recently been found within the
walls of its successor. These are curious and interesting relics.
The church of All Saints, Thirkleby, was first erected about
the twelfth century, which appears from the few fragments of
that date discovered whilst pulling down the recent building
and excavating for the foundations of the new church. It was
originally a chapel to Coxwold, and was given by Roger de
Mowbray, the patron, to the prior and convent of Newburgh,
to which it was appropriated and a vicarage ordained therein.
After the Dissolution, the- rectory and the advowson of the
vicarage were given to the Archbishop of York and his suc
cessors, by King Henry VIII. in exchange, and the Archbish
op is still the patron and impropriator. Fragments of the vari
ous successive styles of architecture, discovered, show that
this building underwent the usual changes incident to the ful
ler development of the medieval art, until, we may presume,
the fabric was so shattered by the caprices of the various reno
vators, that it was again deemed necessary to entirely rebuild
it; this was done about the year 1722, by Sir Thomas Frank-
land, Bart. The church erected by Sir Thomas was in the
Italian style of that period.
At the east end of this building was the family vault, and
Y

:>:is TimtKiJilsY.
that of the incumbent was on the south side : these were the
only vaults in the church, and the greatest care has been taken
that they should not in any way be disturbed by any portions
of the new building.
Although the re-erection of this church had been long con
templated, it remained for the present proprietor of Thirkleby-
park to carry out the plan. The sudden bereavement which
this lady sustained induced the re-erection of the parish church,
as an appropriate and noble tribute to the memory of the late
Sir Robert Frankland Russell. In fulfilling this object many
considerations were necessary; the family vaults should not
be disturbed ; the accommodation for the parishioners should
be ample, but not crowded ; and all the accessories should be
such as would be consistent with the object required; at the
same time the character and expression should depend more
upon a suitable and harmonious application oiform, than an
elaborate display of ornamental detail.
The new church consists of a nave 48 feet 6 inches long,
17 feet 8 inches wide ; north aisle, 42 feet long, 7 feet 6 inches
wide; south aisle; 48 feet 6 inches long, and 7 feet 8 inches
wide; chancel, 25 feet long, 15 feet wide; north aisle, to be
used partly as a robing-room; and priest's entrance, 13 feet
6 inches long, and 9 feet 3 inches wide; south aisle, divided
into the Frankland aisle, 13 feet 6 inches long, and 9 feet 3
inches wide, and an octangular monumental chapel or ¦chantry
at the east end, 9 feet 6 inches in diameter. On the east side
of this chantry is placed a canopied monument divided into six
panels, to be filledwith brass tablets: over this monument is
a traceried equilateral window ; the north side is wholly filled
with another traceried pointed window of two lights; opposite
to these windows are the arched entrances to the chantry, Hie
other four sides have coupled panels, with trefoil heads, the
marble tablets removed from the old walls are placed over these
panels and in other positions in the chantry. It should be
mentioned, that the lowest portion of the plan of the chantry
is square, and the octagonal form is given to it by arched cor
bels in the angles ; these on the first stage are not equal in size,
but the regular octagonal form is again produced by corbel arch
es, from which spring the stone-groined roof. Heraldry and

THIItKI.EBY. 339
stained glass form portions of the decoration of this part of the
church. The Frankland and north aisles are each separated
from the chancel by two arches, the central pier being octago
nal, with moulded cap and base, some carved corbels termina
ting the sides of the arches. The nave has on each side three
large arches upon octagonal piers, and small arches at the east
end, under which are the entrances to the pulpit and reading-
desk. At the west end of the south aisle there is also a seg
mental abutting arch. In the lower portion of the tower is
placed the font, the upper part of the tower is approached by
the stair- turret shown in the Sketch. The whole of the seats
arc open, rather low, and with plain ends and moulded back-
rails. The roofs are of oak, arched and hammer-beam trussed,
open, and, under the hammer-beam, curved ribs, supported by
corbel columns.
Externally, the north and West fronts of the building require
no further explanation than the sketch. The east and south
fronts present unusual forms, from the additional height and
importance given to the Frankland aisle and chantry.
The style of architecture adopted for the new church par
takes of the character which prevailed at the time of Edw. III.,
but it has been the object to produce an agreeable harmonious
and characteristic effect by a pictorial combination of form,
arid an artistic balance of parts, rather than a servile imitation
of any existing style of architecture, so far adhering to conven
tionality, in order to prevent giving offence to old associations,
yet largely drawing upon the mind for new features. Strict
antiquaries might condemn, — but it is the province of fine art,
—and architecture is one of the noblest of the fine arts, — to
progress. In this building the architect may be said to have
imitated the ancients, for although they paid every respect to,
and revered the works of past times, they never reproduced
them. New times produced new wants, — new wants gave
birth to new ideas.
The whole height of the tower and spire is about 92 feet;
to the top of the vane, about 100 feet; to the point of the west
gable, about 50 feet. The position of the tower, detached from
the highest part of the church, materially assists in giving it a
mttch greater apparent height and consequence than it has.
y2

340 TIIUIKLEBY.
The walls are externally built with rough grey limestone;
all the quoins, with the squared stones from the former build
ing: internally the walls are lined with brick, the dressings,
moulding copings, &c. are built with Renton sand-stone; the
tracery, mullions, interior of the chantry, and other delicate
portions of the work, are of Hartlepool magnesian lime-stone.
All the timber is from the estate. The roofs are covered with
Peake's terro-metallic tiles.
On a flat stone at the west end of the church, is this mo
numental inscription : —
Depositum JUDITH* FILL* JOHANNIS BUKGOYNE de Sutton in
comitatu Bedford Bar, et uxoris Gulielmi Ayscough, de Osgodby in com-
itatu Ebor. militis, ab anno 1640 mensis Mar. 9°, ad 1688 et Julii diem 21
quo obiit.
Arms — A fesse between three asses passant for Ayscough ;
impaling a chevron between three talbots passant, on a chief
embattled, as many martlets for Burgoyne.
On another stone are placed the arms of Ayscough, as
above, impaling a chevron between three trees, with the in
scription :
ANNA AYSCOUGH
Viadua msestissima in memoriam
GULIELMI AYSCOUGH Armigeri
mariti charissimi, viri ingenio poUentis animo invictissimi, moribus
amoenissimi, filii natu maximi Gulielmi Ayscough Militis, adhuc superstitis,
hoc monumentum posuit. Obiit 18° die Novembris Anno. Dni 1676.
In the Frankland aisle is a monumental slab in memory of
SIR WILLIAM FRANKLAND, Bart.
who died August 2, 1697, aged 69.
On another tablet is inscribed an epitaph to the memory of
ARABELLA wife of SIR WILLIAM FRANKLAND,
and daughter of the Hon. Henry Belasyse, eldest son of Thomas, Lord
Viscount Fauconberg ; who died 26 Feb. 1687, aged 50.
In the same aisle is the following inscription,
Near this place lyeth the body of
SIR THOMAS FRANKLAND, Bart,
who departed this life the 30th day of October, 1 720, in the 62nd year of
his age. He rebuilt this church at his own expense in the year 1722.
In the same repository lieth ELIZABETH, wife of the said Sir Thomas
Frankland, daughter of Sir John Russell', of Chippenham, in the County of

THIRKLEBY. 34 1
Cambridge, Bart. She had ten children by her said husband, four of
which survived her.
In the monumental chapel or chantry are the following
inscriptions: — Memorise Sacrum.
LUCIA, uxor GULIELMI FRANKLAND de Thirklebie armigeri, tilia
Henrici Boteleri militis, comitates Hartfordise, ex nobili familiaBoteleroram
ca Baronium hujus Regni, Religionis purse, Devotionis sincern.', conscien-
tise teneree charitatis prodigse, notis gaudium natis gloria viro decus Chris-
to acceptabile sacrificium. Obiit 17 Die Maij 1639, jEtatis sure 57.
Near this place lieth the body of
SIR THOMAS FRANKLAND, Bart.,
(second son of Henry Frankland, Governor of Fort William, in Bengal,)
Admiral of the White; who represented the Borough of Thirsk in six Par
liaments. He died at Bath, on the 21st of November, 1784, aged 66. He
married Sarah, daughter of William Rliett, Esq., of South Carolina ; by
whom he left seven sons and three daughters.
In memory of
CAPTAIN ROBERT FRANKLAND ,
fourth son of Henry Frankland, governor of Fort William, ^in Bengal, who
died 25 December, 1757, off Bombay, while commander of Her Majesty's
Ship, the Yarmouth.
Erected in memorial of the premature deceases of four children in 1803,
by Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart., and Dorothy his wife, three of whom
were interred in the vault of this church, and the fourth in the island
of Madeira. In the vault of this church are deposited the remains of
SIR THOMAS FRANKLAND, Baronet,
son of Admiral Sir Thomas Frankland, the 5th Baronet, bom A.D., 1750,
who died Jan. 4, 1881. Also of DOROTHY, his wife, second daughter of
Wm. Smelt, Esq., who died May 19, 1820.
In the chancel is a large brass charger, or sacramental plate
of apparently high antiquity, curiously embossed, and represent
ing in relievo, Abraham offering his son Isaac in sacrifice.
The youth kneels before a blazing altar; the sacrificial knife is
already lifted to give the fatal blow ; but an angel appears in
the clouds, and the substituted ram is already detained in a
thicket. The countenances of the patriarch and his son are
worn away, but the general design is well preserved.
The benefactions amount to about £20 a year. The Rev,
Thomas Barker is incumbent. Population, 300.

fSezai — Domesday. Sezay — Camden. Se/.zn. Sessa. Se^su\.)
j ESSAY,1 for several generations the seat of the
ancient Yorkshire family of the Darrells, is sit
uated about &i miles, N.N.W. of Easingwold,
10 miles E.N.E. of Ripon, and 5 miles S.S.W.
of Thirsk. Its ecclesiastical allocation is in the
Deanery of Bulmer — Archdeaconry of Cleveland — Diocese of
York; for taxation and other county purposes it is still inclu
ded in the Division of Allertonshire.
In a territorial point of view, the parish of Sessay, which
comprizes the two townships of Sessay and Hutton Sessay, is
certainly not in clanger of being overlooked as a speck scarcely
distinguishable on the fair surface of "merrie England." By
the Tithe Commutation Agreement which took place in 1843,
we learn that the parish comprehends in its limits, by actual
survey, 3666 acres, 0 perches, of land. Of this quantity 180O
acres and upwards were found at the time of the Survey, to be
in tillage; above 1400 in grass, and the residue, wood, lanes,
and waste.
The population of the place when compared with its super
ficial extent, will, doubtless be considered by many as only
a thin colonization. For the last half century the number of
inhabitants seems to have fluctuated between 440 and 480.
When the census was taken in 1821, the amount was 464; in
1831,450; 1841, 437; and on March 31st, 1851, 473. This
proportion between the acreage of the land and its occupants,
leaves something like eight acres a piece, for the air, exercise,
and sustenance of each individual resident; a state of affairs
with which the veriest Malthusian, one may presume, can find
no great cause for complaint. The small deviations from
1 Contributed bv tb<; Rev. John Overton.

SESSAY.

343

time to time exhibited by the numerical barometer of the
place, are to be accounted for by the circumstance that Sessay
is a purely agricultural district. For many generations, its
farms have remained unaltered with regard to size; and conse
quently, the requisite number of cultivators continuing much
the same, the excess generated have sought homes and employ
ment elsewhere. On referring to the Parish Register Books,
the baptisms for the last thirty years, appear to have outnum
bered the burials, very nearly in the ratio of three to one.
Sessay, as its name unique in England sufficiently indi
cates, is a place of considerable antiquity. The most com
monly received opinion is, that the word is derived from
the Anglo-Saxon, "Settan" which signifies, to place, set, or
populate. Such, doubtless, is the origin of Settle, the very
ancient market-town in Ribblesdale. Some indeed, not with
out a show of plausibility, have arrived at the conclusion, after
having traced the etymology of the word through the varying
phases of nearly six hundred years, that Seza, Sezai, Sezal, or
Sesval, is none other than the identical Sezevaux or Sesevaus.
The local derivation we only mention for its whimsicality, and
it is this; — "In the parish of Sessay, when neighbour requires
of neighbour such give and take services as the needs of partu
rient cow or refractory colt may hastily demand; from the
scattered and isolated nature of the tenements, the request for
immediate aid has to be responded to with many and many a
" what 'says he?' before the reinforcement turns out."
Lsaving, however, etymological disquisition, to the learn
ed in such matters, we cannot but advert, before we quit this
part of our subject, to the confusion so frequently created by
the different modes adopted by different individuals of spelling-
one and the same word. Sessay, as we before observed, pos
sesses no English namesake. But in Italy its synonyme, or
ail-but synonyme, Sessa, is to be met with; and it is not a lit
tle remarkable, that as in the Yorkshire, so too in the Italiau
town, the ad libitum substitution of Z for S has led to the
bewilderment of the compilers of geographical books, some of
whom h ive laid it down, that two distinct seats of ail Episco
pal sec arc to bo met with in Iho "Term di Lavoro," Sessa and

344 SESSAY.
Sezza.2 With regard to the English Sessay, the indiscrimi
nate use of S and C has led to the mistaken notion, that there
must needs co-exist two Sessays in the North-Riding of York
shire; for in an enumeration published at York, A.D., 1703,
of all places in her Majesty's (Queen Anne's) liberty and court
of records of the dissolved monastery of St. Mary's, two
Sessays, Cessay and Sezzay, figure in the nomenclature of
places situated in the wapentake of Birdforth.
From the early name of Sessay we turn, by an easy transi
tion, to its original lords and owners. Lawton in his Collec
tions, says, when speaking of the place ; " Here are six caru
cates of land, of which half a carucate and four oxgangs were
held of Marmaduke Darrell of John de Percy, who held them
of the Bishop of Durham, who held the whole town of the
king, in capite, for one knight's fee and no rent." It is besides
our present purpose to attempt to ascertain the precise nature
of these ancient feodal holdings ; but by the aid of such cotem-
poraneous lights as shall from time to time gleam upon our
pathway, proceed we to trace down the ownership of the pro
perty from Norman times to our own.
William the Conqueror granted Topcliffe with many neigh
bouring manors, and amongst the rest that of Sessay, to Wm.
de Percy. And in this locality, one of the principal seats of
that warlike and illustrious house was situated. But the pomp
and pageantry of other days has departed. The clash of arms
and the obstreperous joviality of baronial festivity is now
superseded by more tranquil sounds and occupations, and
only one solitary vestige of the vast and castellated mansion-
now remains, — a mound surrounded with a moat and bearing
the peaceful appellation of "Maiden's Bower." In the course of
years, as was to be expected, many partitions of this once
princely domain appear to have taken place. One of the most
important, at least as far as our subject is concerned, was that,
where it might seem, the line of demarcation was struck at
Dalton upon Swale. In this apportionment, the land to the
west of the Cod-beck, or nearly so, fell to the lot of the De-
Topcliffes, from whom it has passed to its present gallant
proprietor, Colonel Wyndhain; that to the east of the brook
- YM. Brooke's Gazett. in voe.

SHSSAY,

315

became or remained the possession of a branch of the, Percies
whose subsequent abode was Kildale: — Kildale, where "Percy's
Cross," a lofty fell overtopped with an antique pile of stones,
still speaks of the great and powerful of other days.
William was the name of the first Darrell, who originally
obtained Sessay by a marriage with a daughter and heiress of
Richard Percy, of Kildale. Upon the date of this event we
cannot at this moment lay our hand ; it very probably, however,
took place anterior to the time of Edward II. For in the
reign of that monarch we find the name of Sir William Darrell
associated with that of Sir Alexander Percy and other knights,
in holding an inquisition at York, on the subject of his ma
jesty's rights of fishery, in his royal fish-pond, the, Foss. Er-
mise, a son of Sir William, most likely this Sir William, some
little while afterwards gives two oxgangs of land in Kirkedale to
St. Leonard's Hospital, York.
Of this ancient and honourable family, the Darrells, —
Sessay, the sylvan and secluded, — appears to have been long
the favourite home. Leland, who died April 18th, 1552, says
in his Itinerary, "I learned that the Darrells of Ceyssa, by
Newborrow, in Yorkshire, were the oldest house, or one of
the oldest of that name in England. The Heires Males of
this house faylled in King Henry the 7th his time ; and then
one Guie Dawney of Yorkshire, married the Heire general, a
woman of a manly spirit, and John her son is now the Heire.''3
The crest of Darrell, " out of a Ducal coronet or, a Saracen's
head couped below the shoulders proper, wreathed, argent and
azure," is said like the Dawnay crest to take its date from the
third Crusade, temp. Richard. I. The Darrell crest, especi
ally, is said to be derived from the siege of Ascalon, which was
taken by the Christians, Sept. 16th, 1191.
The chief leaders of the third Crusade were, .the Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa, Philip II., of France, and Richard I.,
of England. The Darrell arms are, azure, a lion rampant, or,
ducally crowned, argent, armed, gules.
Time the leveller, it is much to be regretted, has left un
scathed but few Darrell memorials in Sessay. Some scattered
remains of what once was the old family Hall are still visible
3 Leland ltin., Vol. vi. Edit., 1711.

3 It) SF.SSAY.
at what is now called "Little Sessay," for Sessay the little
of to-day was, unquestionably, Sessay the great of olden times.
The limits of the ample site once occupied by buildings are
still clearly defineable, but that site is now a grassy one; — the
long disinherited flocks have resumed their occupancy,
"Atqueiterum pascunt herbosa palatia VaceoV-'
which may be thus rendered : —
Recumbent Herds there ruminate once more,
Where costlier carpet deck'd the parlour's floor.
And yet, — as though time itself had considered to relent a
little in its work of demolition, unwilling that the very remem
brance of a name should be obliterated on the spot where once
it was so well known and honored; — even time itself has
spared for the denizens of Sessay, one interesting keep-sake,
still bearing the Darrell impress, and carrying back the
thought to Darrell times. Tuneful first-born of an harmoni
ous trio, there is still to be found in the belfry of the parish
church, a venerable bell, bearing in no characters of yester
day the following inscription : —
*ma:aD(DVRD)DARaL: a^;r:Vxai:.@:D;sas: cxv;b6crws.:
The true reading of which legend we take to be : —
'• I. H. C. Edmund Darell et habella uxor ejus: gratiam det
Sanctus Cuthbert us." Edmund Darrell who married Isabella
Etton, died 1 438. The bell in all probability was presented
several years previous to this event, so that it may fairly be
inferred that, for well-nigh half a millennium, has this time-
honored monitor sympathized, so to speak, with the simple
joys and sorrows of its auditory; "rejoicing with them that did
rejoice, and mourning with those who wept." And still does
it continue to summon to the house of the God of their fa-

SESSAY. :'>17
thers, descendants not a few of the very people who first listen
ed with delight to its Sabbath chime.
It was Sir Guy Dawnay of Cowick, who, as has been be
fore intimated by his marriage with Joan, daughter of George
Darrell, brought Sessay into the Dawnay family, in the reign
of Henry VII. The name of the lady of this George Darrell
was Margaret, daughter of William Plompton, whose ancestor,
Wm. de Plompton, served the office of High-Sheriff of Yorkshire
in the reign of Edw. III. There had been three sons, John,
Thomas, and Marmaduke, the offspring of the above union;
but all these having died without issue, Joan the daughter,
who seems to have been born to inherit the health as well as
the wealth of the family, became the heiress. Sir Guy died
A. D. 1522.
Sir Payan Dawnay, from whom Sir Guy was descended,
came into England with the Norman Conqueror. From him
descended Sir Wm. Dawnay, who was made a general in the
4th year of Richard I., A.D. 1192, at Aeon in Palestine, the
modern Acre. Here, it is recorded, having killed a chief
Prince of the Saracens, and afterwards slain a lion, He of
the lion-heart, in token of his royal satisfaction, forthwith took
a ring off his finger, and giving it to Sir William, ordered that,
"in perpetuam rei memoriam," his crest should be a demy-
Saracen in armour, with a ring in the dexter hand, and a
lion's paw in the left; and this is the family cognizance to
this day. The ring, which is still in the possession of the
Head of the house has been seen by the author of this notice.
It is a somewhat massive silver ring, containing a talismanic
gem, denominated a toad-stone which is still used as a charm
in the east. It has evidently been altered, since worn by
Rjchard I.; otherwise from its present dimensions, one would
be led to infer that the hand of the puissant wielder of the pon
derous battle-axe, was much like the hand of an ordinarily
sized man of what some will consider more degenerate days.
By way of a little interlude, we might here advert to the
degree of caution with which all local traditions of an oral
character are to be received. Were we to rely on village au
thority, that "boast of heraldry" the Lion's Paw is nothing
more nor less than a Miller's Pick. Once upon a time, so

318 SESSAY.
runs the story, Sessay Wood and the parts adjacent thereto,
were sorely invested by a most truculent giant, of more than
Robin o Bobin mastigatory celebrity, when ought like human
viands was unlucky enough to fall into his clutches. Many a
time, and oft the pale mother at night-fall would clasp her baby
to her bosom, all uncertainty whether the sleeping innocent
might not form the next matutine repast of the blood-sucking,
gristle-crunching cannibal. One bright morning however, so
proceeds the tale, in Dawnay annals, a Fore-elder of the family
found, (and a fortunate find it proved for him,) the supine
monster asleep in the precincts of what was then the Old, but
now the New Mills. Like the man-devouring Polypheme,
there he lay, " Immensus, saniern eructans, ac frasta cruento
l'er somnum commixta mero." — Viro.
Whether it was the stalwart miller himself or some more cou
rageous neighbour or kinsman who made the grand discovery,
our truth-loving tale-teller would not take upon himself to
avouch for a certainty. No matter, — the opportunity was a
golden one, — moments were precious. Seizing the Miller's
Pick as the implement of vengeance most impromptu, with un
erring hand, like the Kenite's dauntless consort he drove the
remorseless weapon right home to its mark. "In perpetuam
rei memoriam, " — no, our rustic informant was no Latin scho
lar, — he did not make use of this expression; but he did say
what amounted to this. "The king who at that time ruled
this land, to shew his respect for so brave a man and useful a
subject, made a decree that the giant-slayer should always
keep hold of the Miller's Pick, by which token all men might
know that to him, and to his, had been given the royalty of
Sessay to have and to hold, thenceforward and for ever." Bar
ring a little variation of the verbiage, we give the story as we
received it, and hasten to bring our little genealogical notice
to a close.
In a direct line from the Sir William whose exploits have
just been recited, descended Nicholas Dawnay of Sheviock in
Cornwall, whose second son Thomas, marrying Elizabeth
daughter and heiress of John Newton of Snaythe, in the days
of Richard II. was the first of the race who settled in Yorkshire.

SESSAY. 340
This Thomas therefore, was the founder of the Yorkshire fa
mily, which subsequently became the only one, the Cornish
one having merged into that of the Courtenays. A few removes
from Thomas, we come to Sir Guy, ancestor of William Henry,
seventh Viscount Downe, the present noble proprietor of Ses
say and other hereditaments derived from the Darrells. His
Lordship is son of William Henry, the late rector of Sessay,
who had also in his turn succeeded to the family honour , after
the death of his brother John Christopher of Cowicke, without
offspring. The arms of Dawnay are, argent on a bend cottised, sable,
three annulets of the field ; in allusion to the ring, won as
already described. And it is a fact too singular to be passed
over in silence, that the proudest armorial trophies of two
houses so long and happily blended in unison, should both
have been reaped in the same field of chivalrous enterprize ;
that when " From the moist regions of the western star
The wand'ring hermit wak'd the storm of war ;"
and responsive to the call,
'¦ In deep dark files advancing firm and slow,
Yictorious Albion twang'd the deadly bow," —
the Dawnay and the Darrell should each have fought his
way up to honourable distinction, and each brought home a
palm, hereafter to be ingrafted, and as we trust, perpetuated
on one common stock.
But Sessay is our theme, and our prescribed limits compel
us to take our leave of its noble owners, as soon as we have
put them in peaceable possession of the property. We cannot
however, refrain from remarking, that in the list of High
Sheriffs for Yorkshire, we find,
1543 — 35, Hen. VIII. Thomas Dawnay de Cowicke, Miles.
16] 0 — 8, James I. Thomas Dawnay, Miles.
1572 — 14, Elizabeth. John Dawnay de Cowicke, Armiger.
1826 — 6, George IV. The Honourable Marmaduke Langley,
(natus Dawnay) Wycombe Abbey.
1851 — 15, Victoria,- The Honourable Payan Dawnay, Ben-
inburgh Hall.

350 SESSAY.
As far as the township itself of Sessay is concerned, we are
compelled to acknowledge that any records, now in existence,
furnish but scant materials for writing a history. We at ence
admit, that with one or two exceptions, we have no lengthened
nomenclature to produce of men, who have studied in its
groves or enlightened the World by their lucubrations. The
fact is, as we before observed, the people of Sessay are, and
long have been a quiet, rural people. " Sober hinds," the phil
osophic bachelor of Selbourne would have said, what the author
of the Elegy would have sung,
" Far from the madd'ning crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray ;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
Living under a continuous succession of good landlords, the
dauntless breast of no village Hampden has been aroused to
withstand the petty aggressions of the little tyrant of his field.
Nations might be convulsed and monarchs deposed, but nei
ther the daily labour of the Sessay husbandman was suspend
ed, nor his nightly rest disturbed. Conscious of but few alter
nations save those of the seasons, the cold and the heat, the
seedtime and harvest, ordained to "cease not while the earth
remainsth,'' as he lived so he passed away, and was gathered
to his fathers in peace.
Nevertheless, among the magnates of the place, there does
occur one name deserving of passing recognition ; — that name
is Thomas Magnus. This Magnus was in the time of Henry
VIII. master of St Leonard's Hospital, York, one of the rich
est and most ancient endowments of the sort in England. It
was first founded by Athelstan, A.D. 936, who then granted to
God and St. Peter one thrave of corn out of every carucate of
land in the Diocese of York. The Conqueror confirmed these
thraves to the hospital, and Rufus his son, translated it to a
royal site. Subsequent grants by different individuals, and
among the rest, very considerable ones by the De Beningburgs,
greatly augmented the revenues of the institution. In the 31st
however, of Hemy, we find Thomas Magnus, master of the
hospital, with the unanimous consent of the brotherhood, sur
rendering it up to the king. Magnus, who died A.D. 1550,

m
\ w
MBA- Iwl
ill

h^ooVMta-

SESSAY. 353
was also Rector of Sessay Church, and buried in its chancel.
The slab which covers his grave, bears a brass figure and in
scription beautifully executed, and in a high state of preserva
tion. As we are enabled to present our readers with a fac-si-
mile impression of the whole, any lengthened description
would neither instruct the learned in such matters, nor edify
the simple.
Drake, the antiquarian, observes quaintly enough in his
Eboracum when referring to the subject before us. " These
arms, (i.e. those on the tombstone) shew Thomas a gentleman;
although there is a strange story of him at Newark, where he
founded a school &c, that he was a foundling child picked up
by some Yorkshire clothiers, who had him baptized, and agreed
to bear the charges of keeping and educating him among them :
for which reason he got the name of Thomas-amang-us, after
wards changed into Magnus. The Yorkshire tradition differs
not materially from the Nottinghamshire one, except as to the
place where he was first found, and that, it is asserted, was not
by the way side, but in the church porch of Sessay, on St.
Thomas's day in the morning, by the parish clerk and sexton,
cradled as he was, like Moses in a little wicker ark. Now
both these traditions current in parts of the country so widely
remote, seem at least to indicate one thing, viz., that there
must be some truth in the story. The only question is, which
version bears Hie greater degree of veri-similitude. And, on
the whole we are inclined to adopt the latter as the correct
one. Both claimants admit that Thomas's finders were York-
shiremen; the one says Yorkshire clothiers, the other, the
clerk and sexton of a village in Yorkshire. Now there is no
thing irreconcileable in these two accounts. Supposing the
two worthy functionaries alluded to were weavers by craft, as it
is well known most of their humble neighbours were, then the
whole difficulty vanishes. What more easy than that as the
story travelled from Sessay to Newark, where Magnus was
becoming a rising character, Yorkshire weavers should get
changed into Yorkshire clothiers. Besides, " amang," is the
Doric of the district for, among. And one can hardly imagine
that on the very spot where Magnu8 lived, at least a portion
of his time, died, and was buried, a story of his birth, utterly

354 SESSAY.
destitute of foundation, should have struck such deep root in
the minds and memories of the natives.
From the year 1550, when Magnus died, to 1612, when the
Parish Register Books of Sessay commence, we have no annals
of any sort to which we can resort for information. But, as it
has been since, so, we may almost take it for granted, had it
been before. On such a day, in such a year, Martin, the honest
miller of the place died, and there was sorrow in the neigh
bourhood. A few years afterwards, another Martin, the son
of Ralph, was baptized, and then there was rejoicing through
out the hamlet, that " a man was born into the world," who
would bear the name, and most likely, till the farm once tilled
by his grandfather.
In taking up the Sessay Register Books, which with the
exception of 1620, 1621, are perfect from 1612 to 1852, one
of the first things which must strike the examiner, is a sort of
cyclical recurrence of the same names, in some instances from
the first to almost the very last page. These names we men
tion not now, being unwilling to encourage any thing like
pride of pedigree amongst the good wives of Sessay. Never
theless, so it is; there are those little above the degree of
cotters in the parish, who, if " ten thousand a year" depended
upon their being able to produce an unbroken line of descent
for the last two centuries and further back, would not have to
ramble about from place to place to procure it.
Now, although far from asserting or even thinking that such
an order of things is one of pure good unmixed with evil, (what
is there earthly of which we dare so speak?) still at the same
time, there is something highly pleasing in the train of
thoughts to which the fact adverted to must give rise.
Under no other tenure could the result have been reason
ably expected. Supposing that the little holding of each little
occupant had been his own freehold, we cannot but entertain
a fear that when the "rainy day" came; when the run on the little
family bank commenced (brought on, perchance by unavoidable
misfortunes ;) then the few paternal acres would have had to
have been sold; the little establishment broken up; and the
family scattered, to meet under one roof no more. As it was,
under the worst of circumstances, there was always the home-

SESSAY. 355
stead ready, with latch upraised, to afford temporary asylum to
the invalid absentee, or even the returning prodigal. Whilst
under an aspect of affairs more cheering, the rudely carved ' old
langsettle' and the ' old familiar tree' would almost spring from
their places, along with faithful old Tray, to welcome to the
home of his youthful days, the prosperous tradesman, proud to
exhibit to his kinsfolk his smart young bride, or the sunburnt
veteran scarcely less proud of the glittering medal which told
a tale of glorious battle won on the plains of Assaye, Maida,
or Waterloo. But having stated the fact, we return to our Parish Register,
leaving others to draw their own inferences. Chronicled among
humbler names of their tenantry, only three, till recently, of
Dawnay race were to be met with. In August 1848, a fourth
was added to the number; Guy Cuthbert, fourth son of Wil
liam Henry Dawnay, Lord Viscount Downe, and Mary Isabel
his wife, was brought among the foremost to receive the rite
of baptism at the font given by his mother to the new church
just then completed by his father. The three earlier entries
are those of John, son of Sir Thomas Dawnay, who was buried
at Snaythe, in the year 1 629 ; and Sir Christopher and his son
Thomas buried at Sessay, in 1644. The entry of Sir Christo-
topher is made with more minute care than usual, it is as fol
lows : — " Sir Chrystopher Dawnay, knight and baronet, was bu
ried ye 25 of Julie, being St. James his day, and died 23d
being tuesday, about 6 of the clok p.m., 1644." Now as Snaythe
and not Sessay has been, until these last few years, the family
burial-place of the Dawnays, there is something for which we
are unable to account in this solitary exception to a general
rule, as well as in the short interval allowed to elapse between
the death and funeral of Sir C. We know however that exactly
three weeks before this baronet's death, the great battle be
tween the royalists and parliamentarians took place on Tues
day, July 2, when, as Sir Walter Scott has sung,
" On Marston heath
Met front to front the ranks, of death :
Right English all, they rush'd to blows,
With nought to win, and all to lose."
In this sanguinary encounter, fraught with presage of ruin
z2

356 SESSAY.
to the royal cause, many of England's best and bravest fell.
Was it on that fatal day, having bravely fought it out to the last,
heart-sick, it may be, the wounded soldier, had retired by way of
Helperby, like the stricken deer to the depths of the sylvan
solitude, there to seek and to find a peaceful grave ?
Ten years after the battle of Marston Moor, viz. in 1654,
the parliament usually denominated the Barebone parliament
held its five months' sessions. Among the few things perform
ed by this notable junta was the passing of a Marriage Act, in
which it was made the law of the land that Banns should be
published in the next market, three several days; the marriage
ceremony performed by a justice of the peace; and moreover,
a Register appointed in every parish to make such publication
and keep an account; — and this act appears forthwith to have
been put in force, for, a few pages further on, the following
very curious document is to be met with in the books from
which we have just quoted. Osgoodbie, Feb. 3rd, 1654.
North John Robinson of Sessay, sworn well and
Riding truly to exercise the office of a register within
of the parish of Sessay aforesaid, according to the
Yorkshire. best of his skill and knowledge. Done the day
and year aforesaid, before me, Wm. Ayscoughe.
No sooner has John received his diploma, and got installed
into his office, than his services are required. On the 20th of
February, same month and year, a marriage is done (we take
the word provided for us, doubting the propriety of solemnized)
under the new regimen. Ten such marriages take place be
tween February 20th, 1654, and 1657; but the publication at
the market cross appears to have been dispensed with, for pro
bably John had marriageable daughters of his own. Five differ
ent justices of the peace are recorded as the functionaries
at one or other of these nuptials: — Wm. Ayscoughe, Robert
Walter, W. Lascelles, Ra. Rymer, and one other, who feeling
perhaps some qualms of conscience as sto the validity of his
commission for Hie new office he had undertaken, has so con
trived to disguise his signature under a cramped concourse of
pot-crooks, that we would as soon undertake to decipher the

SESSAY. 357
hieroglyphics on the needle of Cleopatra or the Sarcophagus of
Semiramis. The single remark suggested by the perusal of the eight
singular registrations we have mentioned is this : — Cromwell,
as we know, did not die until Sept. 3rd., 1658; and since as
far as we are aware, the act in question was never repealed
during the Protector's life-time, it might almost seem as if the
coming event had cast its shadow before it; because, on May
\$th, 1658, we find Mr. Thomas Wakefield celebrating a mar
riage in the good old way, and not forgetting to subscribe him
self, Parish Minister.
As the insertions- of the ages of persons deceased does not
commence in the Registry until 1801, we are prevented from
forming any accurate table of statistics as to the average dura
tion of human life in what has generally been considered a
healthy part of the country. The only two well-authenticated in
stances of extreme longevity which we are able to produce with"
confidence, are those of John Ouseman of Hutton-Sessay, and
Mary Milbourne of Sessay. John was buried Oct. 21st, 1777,
having attained the Patriarchal age of 111 years. As far as
ever we could make out, Ouseman was a sober, steady, good
workman ; but at the same time, one who would have thought
that it argued an ignorance of good manners to refuse at any
time the proffered glass of ale. Mary was a widow and a pau
per. She was buried Nov. 13th, 1784, having reached the
respectable age of 1 01 years. We have it on authority to be
relied upon, that when the village undertaker, usually employed
on such melancholy occasions, received his instructions for this
funeral, the age, a hundred and one years, so far exceeded all
the figuring with which honest Robin was conversant, that his
numeration was exhausted: so when the body of poor old Mary
was lowered into its last receptacle, her coffin bore this inscrip
tion, "Aged 1001 years," a term of existence protracted beyond
that of Methuselah himself by the space of 32 years.
But while lingering among the records of the past, we are
in danger of incurring the charge of neglecting the present.
Sessay as it is, as well as Sessay as it was, requires some
notice at our hands.
The woodland features of the country around Sessay, we
z3

358 SESSAY,
have already alluded to. To a stranger indeed, placed on an
eminence, the whole district might convey the idea, especially
in summer, of one extensive grove. But the altered circum
stances of the times are now calling the services of the axe into
active requisition. The quality of the soil, as might be expect
ed, comprehending as it does, so broad an area, is various. It
may, however be laid down as a rule that, in a general way,
the higher land is the better land. Formerly, some five or
six hundred acres of the parish, lying towards Brafferton, con
stituted an ancient park; but, about 120 years ago, the deer
were removed to Cowick, and the park converted into farms.
The park-farm however retains to this day one memento of the
purposes to which it was originally devoted, in the continu
ance of its encircling belt, the bow-rake. This bow-rake or
bow-range, seems to have conferred on the owner of the park,
by an old feudal law, a right of soil, to the extent of a bow
shot, beyond the limits of his own manor.
Like the park-farm house, the majority of the Sessay home
steads lie scattered over the estate, as centrical and convenient
as may be for the management of the contiguous farms. Many
of these rural abodes were until very recently, almost as diffi
cult of access as the "lares" of their next-door neighbours,
the squirrel and the wood-pigeon. As is usual, we believe,
where any considerable tract of land is held under one land
lord, each individual homestead rejoices in its own distinctive
name. Some of these names are whimsical enough ; and we
fear, that if placed in juxta position, at one of our fashionable
watering places, with the Piazza and the Esplanade, and the
Terrace Belvidere, Throstle-nest, Urchin-head, and Mouse-
foot, would provoke the exclamation, " What singularly curi
ous names !"
We dare not aver that any little bouquet we could cull
from the fields of Sessay, would furnish the botanist with any
new floral varieties. Primrose-fringed banks and cowslip-enam
elled meads, although no mean attractions, are still only attrac
tions more beautiful than rare. Neither, as far as we know,
would the museum of the ornithologist be enriched by the
accession of any " rarse aves " to be met with in the locality.
The vernal laugh of the large spotted wood-pecker ; the rapid-

SESSAY. 359
ly descending blows of the nut-hatch, (Sitta Europasa) ham
mering away at his shell-encased prize; the scream of the
startled jay, making all sail with its grotesque swing-polka sort
of flight; — these, though all of them right dear, in their way,
to the lover of nature, are sounds not peculiar to the sylvan
recesses of Sessay. The nests of both the snipe and the teal
are, by diligent search to be discovered on the confines of Pill-
moor , and in yon little copse by the side of the Beck you
would be in danger of disturbing the early brood of the vigi
lant mallard.
Several years ago, a wood-cock's nest was discovered by
Robert Lyon, the then gamekeeper, in one of the quiet nooks
between the higher and the lower wood. The account he
gives of it corresponds in the main with the statements made
respecting more recent discoveries of the kind in Woolmer
Forest and elsewhere. The nest, if nest it might be called,
was of very simple construction; a little dry benty sort of
grass, compacted or rather compressed together at a slight
elevation from the ground. The number of the eggs was four,
the size between that of the cushat-dove and the Bantam hen's ;
— the colour a blueish white with brown spots. The hen, du
ring the period of incubation, was very tame, so tame indeed,
as almost to allow herself to be stroked; and the young ones,
like those of the pewit, ere the shell was well shipped, abscond
ed with a portion of the debris on their backs. According to
this account, the egg of the wood-cock for the size of the bird
is on a large scale. It corresponds, however, with that of its
congener the snipe; and in both instances the creative contri
vance, adapting the house to the accommodation of the embryo
tenant, is marvellously developed.
The only fish which may be called natives of the Sessay
Beck, are the trout, salmo pario; silver eel, murosna anguillo;
chub, capito; dace, leuciscus; gudgeon, gobio fluviatilis;
miller's thumb, cottus; loach, barbatula; and minnow, phox-
inus. An attempt was once made to introduce the cray-fish,
cancer astacus, but the experiment failed. Occasionally such
a thing as a solitary pike has been met with ; and unexpected
ly that mailed warrior the perch has bristled defiance upon
his angling foe. But these were evidently travellers en route;

360 SESSAY,
left by the last, to be swept away by the next flood. The trout
in the Sessay Beck are not very numerous, but they are deci
dedly superior in colour, size, and flavour to those taken in
the Izlebeck ; a rivulet which having intersected the two town
ships of Thirkleby, becomes the northern boundary line of
Sessay, and flows on until it reaches the Swale a little below
Topcliffe. The largest trout which we ourselves have been
able to abstract from the Sessay stream, weighed four pounds
and an ounce, and was caught in the Park Ings; the largest
we have seen fairly captured in these same waters, was one
hooked by the then Thomas Walker, Esq., of Maunby, a little
below the Birdforth Bridge. It weighed four pounds and a
half. It is only fair however to remark that, it may be, that
this latter giant of the pool, was only an excursionist, whom a
very natural curiosity to see a little more of the world had in
structed how to surmount the barriers of the Newburgh fish
ponds, through which the main feeder of the Sessay Beck
passes. But we must not trust ourselves to loiter on the banks of a
streamlet which full oft has beguiled the hour of sorrow in
bygone years with the soothing cadence of its peaceful waters,
placidly gliding through scenes of peace. There is but one
topic more, and then what we purposed to ourselves when we
set out will have been completed. We have hitherto abstained
as much as might be, from alluding to the church of Sessay ;
for what is first in intention and regard is not unfrequently
last in execution. This Church is dedicated to Cuthbert, the
sainted exile of Lindisfarne. Marmaduke and William Darrell,
gave it to the abbey of St. Mary ; but shortly after the Disso
lution the patronage was restored to the Dawnays as the repre
sentatives and successors of the Sessay Darrells. Among the
Exchequer Records the- Deed of Release is yet in being, by
which such transfer out of the hands of the Queen into those
of Sir John Dawnay is effected. 4
The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17
Os. 2d. ; the tithes were commuted, as before stated, in 1843,
and there are about sixty-six acres of glebe land. ' The rectory-
house was rebuilt, and its gardens and grounds enlarged and
4 13, Eliz. Rot. 6.

SESSAY. 30 I
beautified about fifty years ago, by the then Rector, the Ho
nourable and Reverend W. H. Dawnay, and here where their
names are still "as ointment poured forth," the justly venera
ted pastor and his amiable and excellent partner, spent in com
parative retirement, no inconsiderable portion of their well
regulated lives; and here too, in the exercise of all the social
and domestic affections, in acts of courtesy, kindness, and
mercy, they sought and unquestionably enjoyed a larger share
of real happiness than is ever to be found in the great Vanity
Fair of the world.
Considered as a building, the old Church of Sessay which
was standing so recently as the spring of 1847, presented to
the eye but few architectural recommendations. The innova
ting hand of improvement had in most instances marred in
stead of mended. But the brick tower, the modern porch, and
the east windows have all disappeared.
In 1847 — 8, the Lord Visconnt Downe, shortly after his
accession to the title and estate,- with a zeal for God's service
and honor, worthy of elder times, of his own free-will, and at
his own sole cost, caused to be removed the former unseemly
admixture of the past and the present, and in its stead to be
substituted a fair and goodly fabric, which might in some
degree at least realize the idea of a temple, meet abode for
One, who, although the Heaven of Heaven's cannot contain
Him, still in very deed condescendeth to dwell upon earth.
The structure was planned by Wm. Butterfield Esq., of Lon
don, and completed under his auspices ; and by all competent
judges in such matters, it is considered in no respect to detract
from either the former or subsequent fame of that deservedly
celebrated Ecclesiastical Architect. Though chaste and simple
in general outline and contour, as it was quite in character that
a place of worship intended for a plain and unpretending vil
lage congregation should be, still the artist seems not to have
lost sight of the great and glorious Being to whom that worship
was to be addressed. The style of the whole edifice, both in
ternal and external, makes very near approaches we should say,
both as respects design and feeling, to that of the most distin
guished epoch of medieval art, the Edwardian era of the 14th
century. Where there is so much to admire and approve, any

362 SESSAY.
lengthened detail might become wearisome to some, we trust,
not many.
For the window which the blushing orient irradiates with
its earliest beams, (a joint effort, we believe of Messrs. Powell
and O'Connor); for " That storied window richly dight
Casting a dim religious light,"
the parishioners are indebted to the christian liberality of their
former fellow worshipper, the Hon. L. F. C. Dawnay, Bening
burgh Hall : for the church's snow-white font (fit emblem of
the purifying waters of baptism), the thanks of generations yet
unborn, will be due to the Viscountess Downe. The really
magnificent embroidered altar-cloth of crimson velvet, is also
her ladyship's present, and it ought greatly to enhance the value
of this gift, that it is the handy work of the noble giver.
' Nor ought thenane of Minton and Co. of Stoke upon Trent,
to be omitted in our enumeration. To them belongs the cre
dit of having constructed the beautiful tessellated pavement of
encaustic tile. In short, while on some occasions it has prov
ed matter of regret that the workmanship seemed to fall short
of the material, sometimes the material has been marred in the
execution of the work: here the one is worthy of the other,
and both must be pronounced excellent by every competent
authority in such matters. The stone-work, whether the ham
mer wrought, or its more elaborated portions, is constructed
of the best blocks that could be hewn from the neighbouring
quarries ; the wood- work, of the soundest oaks that could be
selected from the surrounding fields. The massive doors, the
roof supporting beams, the modest seats, the copper studded
intablature of the graceful spire are all oak, solid heart of oak.
The timber so ungrudgingly supplied out of the thick trees of
the district, has indeed not only been " brought to an excel
lent work," but also converted to an excellent use.
The first Rector was Master Andre Crathall, instituted 13
"Kal. Maij, 1283. Present Rector, Hie Rev. John Overton, insti
tuted August, 1836.
A little to the north-west, but closely adjacent to the church,
its noble restorer has well completed what was so well begun,

SESSAY. 363
by the erection of a commodious school-room, with house and
every other requisite for the comfort and accommodation of a
Schoolmaster. These school premises are constructed of the
same materials as the church itself, and there is a striking
propriety in such a construction. In a spiritual point of view,
children, in all ages of the church have and musf, be regarded
as the most promising materials out of which that church has to
be fashioned and perpetuated. In this village nursery, means
have been provided for training up every child of the parish
in the way it should go. The children pay a small quarter
age, varying according to the means of their parents; and the
residue of the master's salary is made up, chiefly by the liber
ality of Lord Downe.
The church stands on a gentle eminence in the most fertile
portion of the parish. On a fine evening, in the glorious
month of May, with the beck gently, (we had almost said, more
staidly) gliding past the sacred inclosure ; — with a glimpse of
the noisy children just released from school, to the westward ;
— and towards the east the church, farm house, and other ten
ements in the distance, each surrounded with its garden and
its blossomed apple trees ; — the author has more than once
been reminded of the lines, with which he would now close his
somewhat protracted but not unpleasant task : —
The Cottage Homes of England !
By thousands on her plains ;
They are smiling o'er the sparkling brooks,
And round the hamlet fanes.
Thro' blushing orchards forth they peep,
Each from its nook of leaves;
And fearless there the lowly sleep
As the bird beneath their eaves !
The free fair homes of England !
Long, long in hut and hall
May hearts of native proof be rear'd
To guard each hallow'd wall.
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,
Where first the child's glad spirit loves
Its country and its God. *

11^

Cnprliift.
(Topeclive— Domesday. Tadenclife— Marianas. Topcliffe.)
OPCLIFFE, a healthy, pleasant little town, situa
ted on an elevated bank of the river Swale, from
which it appears to have its derivation.
" Topcliffe from top of cliffs first took her name,
And her cliff-mounted seat confirms the same ;
Where streams with curled windings overflown,
Bestow a native beauty on the town."
Leland designates it an "uplandish town, whose pretty manor
place stands on a hill, about half a mile from the town, almost
on the rise of the Swale." Camden thus speaks of it. — "The
Swale being past Richmondshire, draws near to the Ure where
it sees Topcliffe, the chief seat of the Percies, called by Marianus
Ta&en-chpe, who says, that in the year 949, the states of North
umberland took oath of allegiance there to King Eadred, the
West Saxon, brother to Edmund. He was the first monarch
that was styled King of Britain." "Wulstan, tharchebyshop of
Yorke" says Lambarde, "and al the nobilitie of the north coun
trie, made their homage to Eadred the King of Inglande at this
toune : and yet notwithstanding, sone after they choose to reign
over theim one Eiric, descended of the race of the Danes ; wher-
upon King Eadred invaded that countrie and destroyed thabbay
of Ripon, and so streightened theim besides, that they not only
depryved Eiric, but also offered Eadred great sommes of mo
ney to withdraw himselfe."
Previous to the Conquest, Bernulf, held the manor of Top
cliffe, but after the battle of Hastings, this manor with many
others were given by William the Conqueror to William de Per
cy as a reward for his valour, which he held of the king in capi
te. The following is an extract from Domesday Book, p. 323.
CD In Topeclive y Crecala, y B Deltunce, iEstanesbi, Schipe-
tune. ht. Bernulf xxvi. car tre ad gld. ubi. xv. car poss. e e.
Nc ht Wills ibi. in. car. \ xxx. v. uill y xim, bord cu xiii.

TOPCLIFFE. 365
¥ - \ -
car. Ibi teccla y n. pbri. hnts. i. car y i. mold. v. solidoz.
Silua past. mi. qrent lg. y iiii. lat. Tot CO. in. lev. lg. y n.
_ o
lat. T. R. E. mi. lib. m. c. sol.
Interpreted thus. — In the manor of Topcliffe and Crake-
hill, Dalton, Asenby, Skipton; Bernulf had 26 carucates of land
to be taxed, where there may be 15 ploughs. William has
now 3 ploughs and 5 villeins, and 14 borders with 13 ploughs.
There is a church there and two priests having one plough
and one mill of 5 shillings, wood pasture 4 quarentens long and
4 broad. The whole manor 3 miles long and 2 broad. Value
in King Edward's time £4. now 100 shillings.
The noble and illustrious family of Percy had their prin
cipal seat at Topcliffe, about half a mile from the village, where
they had an extensive park, now divided into farms. 6
In the year 1489, the parliament granted to King Henry,
a subsidy of ten per cent for carrying on the war in Bretagne.
This tax was found so heavy in the north, that the whole coun
try was in a flame- Henry Percy, the fourth Earl of Northum
berland, then Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, wrote to inform the
king of the discontent, and praying an abatement. The king,
in reply said, that the tax should be paid to the utmost, and
no mitigation whatsoever allowed. The earl, with too little
caution, announced the king's message, when the populace,
judging him to be an adviser of the measure, assailed his man
sion at Topcliffe and slew the earl with several of his atten
dants. The following lines by Skelton the poet laureate, were
written on the occasion to King Henry VIII : — 7
6Henry Percy, great grandson of Joceline of Louvaine, in 29 Edw. I.,
1291, was one of the nobles who subscribed the famous letter to the Pope
in the parliament of Lincoln, and signed himself " Henricus de Percy
dominus de Topclive," where the chief branch of the family then resided.
Another Henry de Percy about the year 1200, had the manor of Kirk-
levington from Adam de Brus in marriage with his daughter Isabel, on
condition (such was the polite chivalry of that age) that " the Lords de
Percy should repair to Skelton Castle every Christmas Day and lead the
faire Lady de Brus, from her chamber to the chapel to mass, and from
there to her chamber again, and after dining with her, to depart."
1 The destruction of this nobleman, so soon after the revolution in fa-

366 TOPCLIFFE.
" Trustinge in noblemen that wer with hym there :
Bot all they fled from hym for falshode or fere,
He was envyronde aboute on every syde,
Withe his enemys that were stark mad and wode :
Yet whils he stode he gave them woundes wyde,
Alas ! for routhe ! what thouche his mynde were goode,
His courage manly; yet there he shed his bloode,
All left alone, alas ! he fowte in vayne;
For cruelly amonge them ther he was slayne. "
The earl was one of King Richard's generals at the fatal
battle of Bosworth-field. On the morning of the engagement,
the Duke of Norfolk found the following distich written in the
Shakesperian style, on the tent door of Earl Percy: —
" Jacky of Norfolk, be not too bold
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold. "
Dickon or the king was slain, and Earl Percy was received
into the favour of Henry. He married a daughter of the Earl
of Pembroke, who together with her lord, have a monument in
Beverley Minister.
The odious tax however, which cost the earl his life, was af
terwards repealed to the inhabitants of Topcliffe &c, as the fol
lowing document, yet extant, plainly testifies.
" The King to his collectors of Taxes in the North Riding of the
county of York, greeting : — Whereas Eleanor widow of Henry de Percy,
has given us to understand, for herself and the inhabitants of Topcliffe,
Cristwayt, Astenby, Difford, Renington, Newby, Crathorne, and Kirkleving-
ton, that the said villages have been burnt by the rebellious Scots, our ene
mies, and that their goods and chattels have been destroyed or carried off
by them ; through which circumstance the said Eleanor and her vassals are
unable to pay the taxes ; — we taking into consideration the damage they
have received, hereby issue a supersedeas, relieving them from all burdens ,
and from the payment of all taxes levied on the same. ' '
Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, who succeeded
the unfortunate Henry, headed a conspiracy against Queen
Elizabeth, and the earl had well nigh been surprised in his
bed at his manor of Topcliffe, but by a stratagem he escaped.
He was afterwards taken and beheaded on a scaffold set up
vour of Henry, was probably occasioned by his deserting the house of York,
which had restored him to the honours forfeited by his father at the battle
of Towtbn." Allen's Yorks. Vol. 1. p. 104.

TOPCLIFFE. 367
for that purpose in the Pavement, York, his body buried in
Crux Church by two of his servants, where it lies without a
memorial, and his head set on a high pole on Micklegate Bar
where it continued for two years, but was afterwards stolen.
The history of the Percy family, is a scene of war and
blood; six of the earls died violent deaths, as did many of the
collateral branches. Henry Percy, first earl, was slain at the
battle of Bramham Moor, 1408. Henry, second earl, was killed
at the battle of St. Albans, 1455. Henry, third earl, was
slain at the battle of Towton, 1461. Henry, fourth earl, was
murdered by the mob at Topcliffe, 1489. Thomas, seventh earl,
was beheaded at York, 1572. Henry, ninth earl, shot himself
in the Tower, 1 585. Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, bro
ther to the first earl was beheaded at Shrewsbury, 1403. Hen
ry, lord Percy, eldest son of the first earl, was slain at the
battle of Shrewsbury, 1403. Sir Ralph Percy, third son of the
first earl, was slain by the Saracens in the Holy Land, 1400. Sir
Thomas Percy, fifth son of the second earl, was killed at the bat
tle of Northampton, 1460. Sir Ralph Percy, seventh son of the
second earl, lost his life at the battle of Haggelamore, 1463.
And Sir Thomas Percy, second son of the fifth earl was exe
cuted at Tyburn for a conspiracy. It is very remarkable that
John Nevil, created Earl of Northumberland, by Edward IV.,
1464, after the attainder of the third earl, lost his life at the
battle ofBarnet, 1472, and that John Dudley, created Duke
of Northumberland, by Edward VI. 1551, after the title became
extinct by the death of Henry, sixth earl, without issue, and the
attainder of Sir Thomas Percy, 29 Hen. VIII, was beheaded,
1553, as if some fatality attended the title.8
"The scenes of trouble which afflict the great,
Teach private life to prize its humble state."
Of the old baronial fortress of the Percys at Topcliffe, we
know little even by tradition. No traces now remain of frown
ing keeps and dungeons, the embattled towers, the huge port
cullis, the aspiring pinnacles, the graceful terraces. All have
disappeared except the mound on which it stood, now called
Maiden-Bower, and still encompassed by a moat. In this princi
pal hall of the Percys, the chiefs and barons of old have enjoy-
' 8 Gent's. Mag. 1774, p. 416.

368 TOPCLIFFE.
ed many scenes of festivity which are so aptly described by the
bard, when, With wassail, mirth and revelry
The castle rung around :
Lord Percy called for song and harp
And pipes of martial sound.
The minstrels of that noble house
All clad in robes of blue,
With silver crescents on their arms,
Attend in order due.
The great achievements of that race,
They sung their high command ;
How valiant Manfred 9 o'er the seas
First led his northern band.
Brave G-alfred next to Normandy,
With vent'rous Rollo came ;
And from his Norman castles won
Assumed the Percy name.
They sung how in the Conqueror's fleet
Lord William shipped his powers ;
And gain'd a fair young Saxon bride,l
With all her lands and towers.
Then journeying to the Holy Land,
There bravely fought, and died ;
But, first the silver crescent won,
Some Paynim Soldan's pride.
With loud acclaims the listening crowd
Applaud the minstrels' song;
And deeds of arms, and war became
The theme of every song."
At a short distance from Maiden Bower is the confluence
of the Cod-beck with the river Swale, near to which, ancient
coins, gun barrels, and other relics of olden times, have been
found. 9 Manfred de Percy, the first of this family we have an account of. He
was a nobleman of Danish extraction ; a great chieftain, who made irrup
tions into France before Rollo the Dane, anno. 886.
l Emma de Port. She was daughter of Gerpatric, Earl of Northumber
land, slain at the battle of Hastings, and lady of Seamer, near Scarborough.
The old Whitby Chronicle says, that "hee wedde hyr thatte was verie heire
to them, in discharging of hys conscyence." See Harl. MSS. 692, (26).

TOPCLIFFE. 369
Maiden Bower is a lofty artificial mound, approached by a
path winding spirally from the base to the summit, on which
are some aged firs. It is situated half a mile from Topcliffe,
on the border of the moat of Mote Hall, the only remains of
which are two broad and deep moats, now dry and overgrown
with grass, surmounted by lofty mounds, on the inner of which
is a still loftier elevation, probably marking the site of the
Keep. Leland describes Wressil, another house of the Percys
as having "a study called Paradise, and its gardens within the
moat, and orchard without, and in the orchard a mount opere
topiario, writhen about with degrees like turnings of cockle-shells
to come at the top without pain." This mount seems much
to have resembled the Maiden Bower of Topcliffe.
In the year 1602, James I. in coming to take possession of
the crown of England, was conducted by the Sheriff of York
shire to Topcliffe, where he stayed with his retinue all night.
In the year 1646, the Scotch army lay encamped at Top
cliffe, or in the vicinity, but Maiden Bower was their head
quarters, and the Scotch commissioners here agreed with the
commissioners sent by the parliament, that on the receipt of one
hundred thousand pounds paid by the latter in advance at
Topcliffe, the Scotch army should quit all their garrisons on
the south of Tyne within ten days.
On the May following of the same year, King Charles I. was
a prisoner at Maiden Bower. The king took leave of his faith
ful servant Sir Henry Slingsby. The Scots commissioners af
ter eight months treating, or rather bargaining with the parlia
ment, at length gave up the person of the king. It has been
observed that "this seems to have been the only market in
England for the sale of kings."
The Percys bore for their arms, or, a lion rampant azure.
These arms quartering Lucy and differenced by a crescent,
still appear in a window in the north aisle of the church.
The estate of Topcliffe consisting of 4030 acres of land,
all freehold, is mostly the property of Colonel George Wynd-
ham, who is lord of the manor, for which he holds a court leet
and baron yearly.
The Church, dedicated to St. Columbus, stands on a bold
acclivity of Swaledale, opposite Newby Park, and bears marks
2a

370 TOPCLIFFE.
of great antiquity. At the time of the Domesday Survey there
was a church at Topcliffe and two priests. It was an ancient
rectory, and belonged to the patronage of the Percys, till it
was given by William de Percy, 2 Henry II., to the Archbishop
and Dean and Chapter of York, to be perpetually appropriated
to the fabric of the cathedral church of York, and a vicarage
ordained therein in 1258.1
The vicarage is valued in Pope Nicholas's taxation, at £13
6s. 4d.; Nova Tax £5 6s. 8d.; and in the king's books at £19
9s. 2d. per annum ; 7s. 6d. for Procurations.
A chantry was founded in this church called Percy's chan
try. There was also a chapel at Eldmire or Elmer, dedicated
to the honour of St. Giles, in which Sir William Darrel, Lord
of Sessay, founded a chantry A.D. , 1338, and there are now
chapels at Dishforth and Marton-le-Moor.
The church consists of a nave, north aisle, chancel, and
tower. The pointed arches which separate the nave from the
north aisle, are of a semi-Norman character, resting upon plain
capitals, and supported by octagonal pillars with square bases.
There is a good oak screen at the east end of the north aisle,
now dividing the vestry from the chancel.
The north wall and the arches towards the east end have
diverged from the perpendicular in so alarming a degree as to
have occasioned the erection of two strong buttresses in the
church yard, and the aid of two substantial props.
The east window is large and lofty and consists of four
lights with beautiful curvilinear tracery, and a few scattered
remnants of stained glass.
On the south side of the chancel are three sedilia or stalls
provided for the priests assisting at the Holy Eucharist. They
are inserted into niches in the chancel wall having stone seats,
and follow the architecture of the church. And immediately
adjoining, is a piscina or lavacrum, indicating the place where
an ancient stone altar stood.
On a brass plate in the nave near the door is this inscription : —
lit jsot fflteta %m$t (?) jtirapntar Mm . •
. . Strap to prajjam (?)¦••• fa tmm
dtttiii pitomt • • • • mumt.
1 Torr, p. 531, ex. reg. albo Mon. Ang. vol. 1. p. 151.

In the north aisle is a tombstone of great curiosity, inlaid
with brass, and containing the full length effigies of Thomas de
Topcliffe and his lady, with their hands clasped, the feet of
the man resting on a lion, and a dog with a collar and bells
appearing among the folds of the long drapery at the feet of
the lady. The figures are surmounted with a superb canopy
of florid Gothic. In the central compartment of the canopy
over each of the two effigies is a crowned figure on a throne
bearing up the soul of the deceased, represented by a small
naked figure with conjoined hands, in a sort of cloth. In the'
compartments at each side of the crowned figures are angels
holding censers. Angels hold the cushions beneath the heads
of both the principal effigies. On the side supports of the
canopies are angels with musical instruments. At the angles
are emblems of the evangelists. On the border of the whole
is inscribed the following epitaph in black letter: —
f k . m& . ittnenrbilis .... f Afdgff . pi . 00$ . mat ¦
M. • m\ af. Mj - pom • artie  pmfeam . tor
am ¦ pt ¦ 0liijt • smur . Imam ¦ m° . tmfi • pni • rate
pgitietnr • tons.
The arms, a chevron inter three Tops, appear twice in the
fillet which contains the inscription, but the monument has
been much defaced by a long exposure to the tread of every
visitor. We are glad to find that this precious relic of antiquity
is now properly preserved.
The family of Topcliffe are of great antiquity and by inter
marriage allied to the Percys. John de Toppelyve, in 1302,
was Rector of St. Mary's, Castlegate, York. Another John
was Rector of All Saints', 1466, and a third John Topcliffe,
a native of Topcliffe, was a canon of the Priory of Hexham and
abbot of Whitby Abbey. Amidst the troubles preceding the
dissolution of the monastery, he resigned his office in 1538,2
Robert de Topeclif, occurs in a charter of Henry de Lacy to
Stanlaw Abbey.
On the north side of the north aisle above the ancient effi
gy of Topcliffe, is a large and elegant monument, erected to
2 Young's Hist, of Whitby, I. 265.
2a2

372 . TOPCLIFFE.
Sir Metcalf Robinson, Bart, who died the 6th February, 1688,
set. 59. A marble bust of the deceased is supported by war
like instruments, cannon, swords, standards, &c. Above, is
suspended his helmet in martial pomp ; the sword and gaunt
lets on one side, and the spurs on the other.
Arms: — Vert, on a chevron between three stags at gaze
or, an inescutcheon argent, bearing a sinister hand couped,
gules. He distinguished himself in the civil wars and was
created a baronet in the first of Charles II., 1660.
On the same side of the aisle, lies interred the body of Wil
liam Robinson, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, in 1689, and Lord
Mayor of York, in 1700. He was many years member of par
liament for Northallerton, and was returned in eight successive
parliaments for the city of York. He died 22 Dec , 1736, set 82.
Arms. — Robinson, impaling gules, three lozenges in fess,
argent, between three lions' heads, erased, or.
On the south side of the chancel is a marble monument in
memory of Sir William Robinson, Bart , eldest son of Tancred
Robinson, Bart., of Newby, who died 4 March, 1770.
Arms. — Quarterly, first and fourth, Robinson ; second and
third, azure, a manche, ermine; an inescutcheon, argent, bear
ing a sinister hand couped, gules; impaling, Argent, five bars,
gules, a chief of the first.
The head of the honourable family of Robinson, was crea
ted a peer in 1761, and took the title of Lord Grantham.
Thomas, second lord, married Mary Jemima, daughter of
Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, by the Marchioness de Grey. Tho
mas Philip, the third lord was advanced to the title of Earl de
Grey, in 1816.
There are several other sepulchral tablets and monuments,
which we regret our inability .to insert. On the parapet of the
north aisle, is a figure in the act of hurling a large stone. The
roof of the building is one unbroken line from east to west.
The situation of the tower near the brink of a lofty hill has
occasioned architectural arrangements in its basement story,
and the number and form of , its buttresses, which cannot but
at once strike the eye of the scientific observer as illustrating
the skill and energy of our ancient builders in overcoming na
tural difficulties.

NEWBY PARK. 373
Adjoining the church is Topcliffe School, a neat and com
modious edifice, built by subscription in 1812, on the site of
an old school founded in 1549. The school is well endowed
and the boys are instructed in Greek, Latin, as well as English,
writing and accounts. The master teaches 40 free scholars,
chosen by the feoffees from the poor children of the ten town
ships of the parish.
The town has a good stone bridge of five arches crossing
the Swale. Also an ancient cross where a market was for
merly held.
The Rev. Henry Annesley Hawkins is vicar, and the Dean
and Chapter of York are patrons and appropriators. For char
ities, &c, see Lawton's "Collectio rerum Ecclesiasticarum,"
vol. II., p. 469. Population of Topcliffe, 710; Dalton 288;
Elmer or Eldmire cum Crakehall, 73; Skipton 143; Catton
131. The above are east of Swale. On the west of the river
in the same parish, Rainton 412, Dishforth 355, Marton-le-
Moor 146, Asenby 207, Baldersby 270. Total 2735.
NEWBY PARK.

Half a mile from Topcliffe is Newby Park, the seat of
George Hudson Esq., M.P. It is situated on the southern
acclivities of Swaledale, thickly studded with ancient and ven
erable oaks and other trees, and well stocked with deer.
The house is a neat and spacious mansion, and was the
ancient seat of the Robinson family, predecessors of the Earl
de Grey, who, a few years ago, sold it to its present owner. It
has of late undergone considerable alterations and improve
ments, and the interior has been fitted up in a style of superb
and costly grandeur. The gardens are laid out with great
taste, and the shrubberies, avenues, and walks, are disposed
with the utmost elegance.

2a3

•Brafferfam,

(Bradfortune — Domesday. Braftertona-^- Dug dale. Brafferton.)

RAFFERTON evidently derives its nanie from the
broad ford-tun, or the town at the broad ford, which
crosses the Swale at this place, leading from Eas
ingwold to Boro'bridge. It is locally situated in
the wapentake of Bulmer, and is five miles from
Easingwold and four from Boroughbridge.
Brafferton is a place of great antiquity, and the visit and
baptism performed here by Paulinus in 626, sheds a sacred
influence over its history. Among the forty companions of
St. Augustine, the Roman Missionary to Britain, was one,
Of shoulders curved and stature tall,
Black hair, and vivid eye, and meagre cheek,
His prominent features like an eagle's beak ;
A man whose aspect both at once appal,
And strike with reverence.
This monk Paulinus, whose zealous endeavours effected
the conversion of Edwin, the Saxon King of Northumbria, and
Bretwalda, or leader of the Britons, was instrumental in sha
king the strongholds of British superstition in this part of the
kingdom. After Edwin had embraced the Christian faith,
Coin, his high priest, renouncing his idolatry, was the first
to profane the altars and temples of their idols, which were
immediately burned to the ground. Gregory, Emperor of
Rome thus writes: — "On the day of Christ's nativitie, he" (Pau
linus) "did regenerate by lively baptisme above ten thousand
men, beside an innumerable multitude of women and children.
Having hallowed and blessed the river called in English Swale,
the archbishop commanded by the voice of criers and maisters
that the people should enter the river confidently, two by two,
and in the name of the Trinitie baptise one another by turnes.

BRAFFERTON. 375
Thus were they all born againe with no lesse a miracle than in
times past, the people of Israel passed over the (Red) Sea di
vided, and likewise Jordan when it turned backe; for even so,
they were transported to the banke on the other side : and not
withstanding so deepe a current and channell, so great and so
divers differences of sex and age, not one person took harme.
A greate miracle no doubt, but this miracle as it was a greater
pre-eminence doth surmount: in that all feebleness and infir-
mitie was laid off in that river; whosoever was sick and deform
ed returned out of it whole and reformed."?
It is somewhat surprising how the little town of Brafferton
could find accommodation for such a host as flocked to it on
this important and interesting occasion, but the veracity of
such an occurrence cannot be doubted. Paulinus preached
and baptized in other parts of this neighbourhood. A cross
near Easingwold commemorated the place of Paulinus's la
bours, and the grassy banks of
"His bounding river rolling darkly blue,"
since designated the Jordan of England, are lively attestations
of the lonely spot where men sought pardon and turned from
idols to the living God.
At the time of the Domesday Survey, " in the manor of Brad-
fortune, Gospatric had five carucates to be taxed, land to two
ploughs. There is now a church and a priest there, with one
plough; and three villeins with one plough: half a mile long
and half a mile broad. Value in King Edward's time, forty
shillings, now ten shillings.''
" In the same manor Gospatric had one carucate to be taxed.
Land to half a plough. There is one villein with one plough,
paying two shillings."4
" In Bradfortune Haltor had one carucate without a hall.
There is now under the earl one villein with half a plough
and he pays, three shillings."5
Brafferton constitutes a portion of the picturesque and
romantic vale of Mowbray, and after the Conquest we find
3Pope Gregory's Epistle to St. Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, on
the conversion of the Britons.
4Bawdwen's Domesday, p. 26. 5 Ibid, p. 76.

376 BRAFFERTON.
that the town was held of the family de Riparia, who held it
of Roger de Mowbray, and he of the king in capite or knight's
service. From Roger de Mowbray, the manor of Brafferton
came to the possession of the Riparias, most probably by mar
riage, for in 39 Henry III., A.D. 1255, Richard, son of Richard
de Riparia granted to the abbot of Byland, common pasture
in 300 acres of moor-land in this territory, called "Pillmore."6
In A.D. 1691, the Hon. Robert Boyle [left £5,400 for the
advancement of the christian religion among the infidels, with
which an estate was purchased at Brafferton. The Earl of
Burlington and the Bishop of London for the time being,
were constituted trustees, and in 1693, directed that the pro
ceeds should be given to William and Mary College, in Vir
ginia, for the education of a certain number of Indian children.
After the declaration of American Independence, the Court of
Chancery decided that it could no longer be dispensed by the
College, and confirmed a plan, proposed by Dr. Porteus, Bish
op of London, by which these revenues (nearly £1 000 per
annum,) were appropriated to the conversion and religious in
struction of the Negroes in the British West Indian Islands.7
The church dedicated to St. Peter, stands on a command
ing eminence on the eastern bank of the river Swale, on the
very spot where Paulinus (it is said) preached Christianity
to the native Britons. It was an ancient rectory belonging
to the patronage of the Riparias, till it was given by Henry de
Riparia to the Priory and Convent of Newburgh, to which it
was appropriated and a vicarage ordained therein 3rd Mon.,
Julij 1311. The first rector was Dom Roger de Mowbray, 11
Kal, Apr. 1227, and the first vicar Dom Alana de Sourely.
On the 4th the Id. March, A.D., 1336, the rectory and vicarage
were consolidated, and the union was confirmed 15th October,
A.D., 1365; but on the 14th October, A.D., 1446, the church
was again appropriated to the Priory and Convent of New
burgh and a vicarage ordained therein.
The present edifice was rebuilt with the exception of the
tower in 1832, by public subscription at the cost of £1,300.
6 Burton's Monasticon, p. 331.
7 Hodgson' sLife of Bp. Porteus, p. 113.

BRAFFERTON. l 377
It consists of a body with chancel and tower. The old church
was of the Tudor style of architecture, and the new erection
partakes of a similar character. Among the ruins of the old
church were discovered stones highly ornamented, which had
belonged to a building of much greater antiquity than the Tu
dor or perpendicular character referred to.
On the outside of the chancel, over the south door, are three
shields, the first bearing, Quarterly 1 , a cross patonce, 2. Ne
ville a cross saltire differenced by a lozenge, 3. a goat's head
erased, 4. a horse's head (?) couped; the second Quarterly 1st
and 4th Neville differenced by a mullet, 2. a fess between three
two-headed eagles displayed, 3. three garbs; the third Quar
terly, 1st and 4th a chief indented  2nd and 3rd, three
escallops, impaling Neville; and underneath running round in
black letter characters : —
(Bxait $ m laMfi ffetoll fiWim Uim mulkxii
The tower contains three bells, on the largest is also in
scribed in characters similar to the above.
1. — Radulphus Neville, Armiger, IHS 1598.
2. — Huius Sci Augustini.
3. — Jhu fili Dei mis'ere nobis.
In the north aisle on a flat stone, is a crosier, supposed to
be the tomb of a prior of Newburgh, to whose convent the rec
tory was appropriated by Henry de Riparia. Augustine was
prior of Newburgh in the time of Roger de Mowbray, (see
p. 380.) In the chancel window, painted on glass, are the arms of
Neville, impaling azure, a cross botone, or. Also the arms
of Neville impaling argent, a fess sable between three bears'
heads erased, or, with this motto, Thole and think on.
Behind the pulpit is a handsome marble monument, with
the following inscription : —
In memory of
LATON FREWEN TURNER, Esq.,
of Brafferton Hall, who died July 19, 1777, aged 73. Also Mary his widow,
who died April 23, 1786, aged 73.

378 HELPERBY.
Beneath the above is the coat of arms with the various
quarterings. Brafferton contains a national school which is supported
by subscription. Also a small Wesleyan Chapel. Population,
— Males 96, females 106. Total 202, being an increased of 35,
in the last ten years. The Rev. Wm. Gray, A.M., Canon of
Ripon Minster, is incumbent.
Brafferton Hall was one of those old fashioned houses
whose picturesque beauties are so agreeably associated with
the country and its verdant scenery. The old building has
been entirely removed, and no vestige remains but the thick
and heavily buttressed garden walls, which contain about five
acres of garden ground. A modern house has been erected on
the site.

Bfelpttty.

Helprebi — Domesday. Helperby.
ELPERBY, as its termination implies, was origi
nally a Danish settlement, and most probably took
its name from some Danish chieftain or lord who
ocupied the manor. Tradition connects its origin
with the celebrated baptism of Paulinus. While
that venerable prelate was preaching to the multitudes assem
bled, he was asked by them " what way they should attain to
that salvation he spoke of?" " By water baptism" replied the bis
hop, and immediately ordered his chaplain to procure water
from a well, close by. The numbers increasing, the well was
soon dried, when the chaplain exclaimed " What's to be done
my lord? the well is dry !" " Never mind" replied the bishop,
"there is help-hard- by," meaning the river, where he immediate
ly conducted them ; from which circumstance the village took
the name of Help-hard-by or Help-er-by; and the story, howev
er ridiculous it may appear to some, is still current among
the villagers to this day.

HELPERBY. 379
At the time of the Norman Survey, " In Helperby there
were five carucates of land to be taxed and there may be three
ploughs. St. Peter had and has it, but it is waste. Value in
King Edward's (the Confessor) time, ten shillings. At present
one Rayner holds it and pays six shillings.
To this village belongs the Soke of these lands, Loletun
(Youlton) Turulfestorp (Tholtorpe) Wipestun ( ) Mitun
(Myton), in all 1 1 carucates and 2 oxgangs to be taxed, and
there may be 7 ploughs. Wood pasture 1 mile long and half a
mile broad ; the rest is waste.
In the same Helperby,. St. Peter had and has 3 carucates
of land to be taxed, land to one plough and a half. Saxford
held it of St. Peter. It is waste. 8
Thomas, Archbishop of York, temp. William II., gave the
town of Helperby to the Canons of the Church of St. Peter, to
be by them enj oyed in common, custom free, as other free
lands were.
In 44th Edward III., the Dean and' Chapter obtained the
king's precept, directed to the Sheriff of Yorkshire, to deliver
to them the possession of the manor of Helperby which
Geoffry, late Dean, and his Chapter of York, had granted in tail
to Bego, son of Alexander de Bajacis, and which now, for want
of heirs of their bodies, according to the entail by law, reverted
to them. Helperby, from its contiguity to Brafferton seems to have
been a suburban villa to the mother town, and was probably
erected by some wandering Danes who settled here, or took
possession by conquest. Brafferton is of Saxon origin.
The township of Helperby is partly in St Peter's liberty, in
the parish of Brafferton, and the land belongs to various owners,
mostly resident, one of whom, W. Lambert, Esq., is lord of the
manor, and lessee of the rectorial land and tithes.
Population. — Males 300 ; females 320 ; total 620, being a
decrease of 25 since the last census in 1841.
THORNTON BRIDGE HALL.
Thornton Bridge is in the parish of Brafferton, distant one
sOrig. Domesday a. 2. p. 303

380

MYTON-UPO.N-SWALE.

mile, and consists of three farms, belonging to the crown, and
known by the names of Treble Syke, the Bridge, and Broom
Close House. The old mansion, called Thornton Bridge
.House, was taken down and rebuilt about the year 1804. It
had been successively the residence of the ancient families of
Courtenay, Neville, Tancard, and Strickland. At what period
the Courtenays resided here, or what particular branch of that
illustrious and ancient house who derive their descent from
Pharamond, founder of the French monarchy, descended from
Lewis VI. King of France, occupied 'the hall at Thornton
Bridge we cannot accurately define. The Courtenays appear
to have been connected with the Riparias, probably by mar
riage. In the reign of Henry VI. Alexander Neville occupied
the mansion. His daughter Katherine in A. D. 1438, mar
ried William Fairfax of Walton, and for her second husband
Sir Richard Percy. Sir Thomas Strickland, of Thornton
Bridge who appears to have succeeded the Tancards, was crea
ted a knight banneret in the field, by Charles I. He was
one of the privy council to King James II., whom he follow
ed into France, and died there. He was interred in the
Church of the English Nuns at Roan, where a handsome
monument was erected to his memory.
Arms. — Sable, three escallops, within a bordure, ingrailed,
argent.

ffiijtnn-apnn-ltttalt

(Mitune. — Domesday. Mitton. — Camden. Miton. Myton.)

YTON, a Saxon settlement from OOep a lake or
pool, and tun a town. It is locally situated in
the wapentake of Bulmer, at the confluence of the
rivers Swale and Ure, and is 6 miles from Easing
wold, and 3 from Boroughbridge'.
Previous to the Norman Conquest, temp. Edw. the Confes-

MYTON-UPON-SWALE. 381
sor, A.D. 1061, Ligulfhad the manor of Mitune with four caru
cates of land. Gospatric and Aluerle had also one manor in
Myton of three carucates and two oxgangs to be taxed.
After the Conquest, Myton was granted to Robert de Stute
ville and Robert de Maisnil ; and Robert Stuteville gave eight
carucates of land in Myton to the Abbey of St. Mary, York.
At a later period we find among the Charters of Liberties grant
ed to St. Mary's Abbey, York, by Roger de Mowbray, the fol
lowing: — "Also I have given and granted to the Church of St.
Mary, that they may have at the town of Myton, the mill, and
pool, and fishery, as they have aforesaid had it; but since I
destroyed the bridge of the said town, for the proper transit of
them and theirs, and of all, to cross over to my castle in safe
peace and indemnity, and to bring and to carry whatever is
necessary for them; I have granted a ferry boat until it shall
be permitted me to repair the bridge which they had in my
father's time and mine. Also I have altogether peacefully set
tled the contention which had for a long time existed between
Beningburg and two of the towns, viz., Overton and Shipton,
concerning the land lying between the marsh and woods, by
the oath of twelve men whom the abbot of the aforesaid church
proposed, in the presence of Augustine, Prior of Newburgh,
and the men of William de Arches, to whose feud belongs the
aforesaid town of Beningburg, and who by my command as
sembled at the appointed day, so that they may successively
and quietly possess that land free from all calumny in future
times. Witnesses, — Robert de Daivil, Hugh Mallbysse.9
In the succeeding reign, we find Nicholas le Jovene de
Myton granting to the abbey of St. Mary, York, twenty acres
in the fields of Myton. In 1367, Thomas, vicar of Myton,
Robert de Manul or Maisnil, Stephen de Maisnil, Richard
Mblendarius de Myton, John de Hellebeck, and William de
Brompton, Clerk, granting lands in Mytou to the same abbey.
But Myton is particularly remarkable for the battle fought
hereon October 12th in the year 1319. Thomas Randolph,
Earl of Murray, the Scotch general, entered England with an
army, where he wasted all with fire and sword till he came to
the very gates of York, and had nearly captured the queen before
9 R. M. 148. B. 19, No. 71. Turre. Lond.

382 • MYTON-UPON-SWALE.
she could get into the city. He burnt the suburbs, and then
drew off his men and marched back to his own country. The
archbishop of York, (Willm. de Melton) assembled such forces
as he could raise, composed of clergymen, monks, canons, and
other spiritual men of the church, with a confused heap of
husbandmen, labourers, artificers, and tradesmen, to the num
ber of ten thousand. This formidable army, with the Arch
bishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, and the Lord Chancellor at
their head, breathing nothing but revenge, overtook the Scots
at Myton. The Scotch army having crossed the river, drew
up in order of battle on the east side near to Myton. While
the English were crossing the river, the Scots set fire to some
hay stacks which were upon the place, the smoke of which, so
blinded the English that they could not see the enemy, who
came down in good order upon them, and without any great
resistance entirely routed them. There were slainand drown
ed of the Yorkists above two thousand, some say four thousand,
the rest with, their generals made great haste back to the city.
In this conflict fell Nicholas de Fleming, Mayor of York, and
here was such a fall of the priesthood, that this battle, says
Buchanan, was afterwards called the White Battle.
In Hardyng's Chronicle, Edward II. folio 172, col. 2, we
find the following poetical paraphrase : —
" To Boroughbridge, by east and west he l brent,
And home agayne, with many a prysoner,
Without harm or lette of his entent
With mykell good, but in Myton meadowe nere
, To Swale water, laye there with greate power
Wajliee Wareyn among the hay rockes bushed,
Upon the byschop 2 sodenly with Scottes yssued."
Not content however with so many brave Yorkshiremen as
shed their blood on the banks of Swale, the bard of Abbotsford
has connected Myton with the fatal fight of Marston Moor, as
related in Rokeby, Canto 1. sec. 19: —
" Moncton and Mitton told the news,
How troops of roundheads choked the Ouse,
And many a bonny Scot aghast,
Spurring his palfry northward, fast,
1 Robert Bruce. 2 Archbishop of York,

MYTON-UPON-SWALH. 383
Cursing the day when zeal or meed
First lured their Lesley o'er the Tweed.
Yet when I reached the banks of Swale
Had rumour learned another tale.
With his barb'd horse, fresh tidings say,
Stout Cromwell has redeemed the day."
Pass we now from the important events with which Myton
stands distinguished on the pages of history, to the individual
account of some of those ' "Ancient, venerable dead
Sages who wrote, and warriors who bled,"
whose names stand identified with the annals of Myton.
The Stapyltons have been seated at Myton Hall, since
the time of Charles I., but their ancient seat was at Stapyl-
ton-upon-Tees, whence several of them were summoned to
parliament among the barons. Dugdale says they assumed
the name of Stapylton from the lordship of Stapylton. The
family is of great antiquity and was seated in Yorkshire previous
to the Conquest. In 1052, Heryon, or Heron .was seized of the
manor or lordship of Stapylton, and was father of Allen of Stapyl
ton, who was living about 1080. He was succeeded by Sir
John Stapylton, who was succeeded by Sir Miles Stapylton,
who married Pendoras, daughter of the King of Cyrus.
Another Sir Miles Stapylton3 temp. Edw. II., married for
his first wife, Sibill, daughter and co-heir of John de Bella
Aqua by Landerina, one of the Sisters and co-heirs of Peter
de Brus, by which marriage the manor of Carleton came
to the Stapyltons; and for his second wife Joane, daugh
ter of Sir John Darrell, of Sessay. He distinguished him
self in the expedition in Gascoigne, and the wars of Scot
land in the reign of Edward I. But Nicholas, his so*, taking
part with the Earl of Lancaster, in 15 Edw. II., in that unhap
py insurrection which was finally subdued by the battle of.
Boroughbridge, where the earl and several of his nobles were
taken prisoners, and their whole army cut to pieces, was
fined 2000 marks, which were afterwards remitted. Miles,
3 Sir Thomas Widdrington says that in the reign of Edw. II. Sir Miles
Stapylton carfie to the lordship of several estates in the North-Riding of
Yorkshire, by the marriage of the daughter and heir of Mowbray.
2b

384 MYTON-UPON-SWALE.
son of Sir Nicholas, was a great warrior. He was at the siege
of Calais, and afterwards passed through France with 2000
men and compelled the French into a treaty with the King of
Navarre. He was also one of the first Knights of the Garter,
commonly called the Founders of the order, who were selected
for their military valour and bravery, and bore an annulet of
gold on the shoulder of his lion as an armorial difference. He
also slew a Saracen chief in single combat, in the presence of
the Kings of England and France, and therefrom assumed the
Saracen's head for a crest. Sir Robert Stapylton Knt. when
High-Sheriff of Yorkshire in 23 Elizabeth, met the judges with
seven score men in suitable liveries. Drake says, he had a
quarrel with the archbishop of York, about an hostess of Don
caster, in consequence of which he underwent a grievous cen
sure and fine in the star chamber. Sir Henry Stapylton, Bart.,
created in 1660, married Lady Elizabeth D'Arcy, daughter of
Conyers, Earl of Holderness, from whom descended Sir Brian
Stapylton, of Myton, Bart., the first of the family seated here. .
He was a Justice of the Peace, and Receiver General in the
north parts for King Charles I., and married Frances, daugh
ter of Sir Henry Slingsby, Kt., of Scriven. The title became
extinct in 1817, by the. death of Sir Martin Stapylton, eighth
baronet. Stapylton Stapylton, Esq., is the present represen
tative of this ancient and honourable family, and resides at
Myton Hall, an elegant mansion, near the river.
Arms : — Argent, a lion rampant, sable. Crest — Out of a
crown or, a Saracen's head proper. Supporters — Two talbots
argent, their ears and shoulders gutte de sang. Motto — "Fide,
sed cui vide."
The following members of this family have been High-She
riffs of the County, —
1237, 21 Henry III., Roger de Stapylton.
1353, 27 Edward III., Miles de Stapylton.
1581, 23 Elizabeth, Robert de Stapylton, Miles.
1683, 35 Charles II., Sir Bryan Stapylton, Bart.
Of the magnates named from the place we may notice Hugo
de Miton, who represented the city of York in parliament, 26
Edward III.

MYTQN-UPON-SWALE. 385
The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, was an ancient recto
ry, till it was given to the Abbey and Convent of St. Mary's,
York, to whom it was appropriated, and a vicarage ordained
therein in 1301.
It consists of a nave, chancel, north aisle, and tower, and
is supposed to have been built of the stone from the ruins of
Isurium, having the marks of fire still upon it. 4 The east win
dow contains a fine representation in stained glass of the Apos
tles Peter and Paul in full size, with the arms of the Stapyltons
emblazoned in the centre, on the south side of which is a fine
painting of the Crucifixion, and on the north, another of the
Resurrection. The south window of the chancel contains a full length
representation of Moses with the Tables of Stone, and the north
window of the chancel represents a life size view of Aaron in
the vestments of the High Priest, carrying the censer in his
hand. The chancel wall contains a marble monument surmounted
with an urn and the Stapyltons' arms, —
In Memory of
THE REV. SIR MARTIN STAPYLTON,
of Myton, Bart., elder brother of the Queen's peculiar of St. Catherine in
the Tower, and 54 years Rector of Brightwell Baldwin, in Oxfordshire,
who departed this life 21st January, 1801, aged 79.
Also Dame Leckey his.wife, who died 11th April, 1797, aged 74.
¦ Quiescant in pacce.
On the north wall of the chancel is the following: —
Sacred to the Memory of
MARTIN STAPYLTON, ESQ.,
of Myton Hall, in the County of York, who succeeded to the family estates
of his grandfather, the Rev. Sir Martin Staplyltoh, Bart., on the death of
his uncle, the last baronet in 1817, and died at Leamington, March 7th,
1842, aged 71 years.
In the year 1820, the remains of the famous Roger de
Mowbray were removed from Byland Abbey, and interred here.
At the Dissolution, the patronage of the church came to the
crown, and was given by King Henry VIII. to the see of York,
in exchange, and the archbishops have ever since collated to
* Drake's Eboracum, page 37.
2b2

386 alne.
this vicarage. The church is valued in Pope Nicholas's taxa
tion at £10. Impropriator, R. J. Thompson, Esq.
The township of Myton contains 1 500 acres of rich and fer
tile land of a warpy nature, all the property of Stapylton
Stapylton, Esq. who is lord of the manor. Population, — Males
118, Females 96. Total 214, being an increase of 44 during
the last ten years.

Ito.
(Alne— Domesday. Alna — Dugdade. Awne — Leland. Alne.)
LNE derives it name from the Latin word alnus,
Hie alder tree, being situated in a low country
which formerly abounded with alders, and from
this circumstance was called the Forest of Alders.
Though formerly a swamp, it is now a pleasant
village and township, situated in the vale of the small river
Kyle, which passes on to Carnebrig and empties itself into
the Ouse at Newton.
In the survey made by William the Conqueror, as recorded
in Domesday, we find in Alne " there were eight carucates of
land liable to taxation, and four ploughs, then held by St. Peter
and the rest, waste. Also two woods or forests, one mile
long and one broad. In the time of King Edward, valued at
fifty shillings', then forty shillings."
The village of Alne is comprised within the boundaries of
the vast Forest of Galtres. In the thirteenth century,- there
was a large pool or lake in front of the hall of E. S. Strang
wayes, Esq. The river Kyle is spoken of as running through
the middle of this lake, a little above Carnebrig, or the bridge of
Caren, (now the water mill.)
The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and was an ancient
rectory in the patronage of the Treasurer of the Cathedral of
York, to whom it was appropriated, and a vicarage ordained

ALNE.

387

therein, 2nd January, 1131, to which an augmentation was
made 9th November, 1394. The Treasurer was lord of Alne,
and had jurisdiction as well spiritual5 as temporal.
The present fabric which is pleasantly situated on a slight
elevation on the bank of the stream of Kyle, must be ascribed
to the Norman period, (probably about A.D. 1120,) though it
has been much disfigured by alterations in the body and tower
too plainly marking the tasteless style of 1766, when a brief
was obtained for its repair. It consists of a nave, chancel,
north aisle, and tower. At the west end opening to the tower
is a very lofty Norman arch with boldly wrought capitals, and
this appears to have been the principal entrance into the church,
for the tower in this, as well as most of the churches in this
neighbourhood was an addition to the original structure.
A rich Norman doorway has also been preserved at the
south side of the nave, and the merit of its preservation by the

ENTEANCE TO ALNE CHUECH.
restorers of the last century must cast a veil over such incon
gruities as the inversion of highly ornamented capitals into
s Wills were formerly proved at the Court of Alne, and there is an ac
count of several transcripts of wills in the year 1552, in the Lansdowne
Catalogue of MSS. in the British Museum, page 223.
2a3

388 ALNE.
bases, and clumsy attempts here and there to supply the place
of sculptures which had gone to decay. These are easily dis
tinguishable from the originals, which happily still constitute
the mass of the work. The most remarkable ornaments are
a series of nineteen semicircles forming the outer, and of
fifteen circles forming the inner members of the arch-mould
ings. The former enclose angelic and human figures, birds,
and animals, mostly with a word above, by no means unneed-
ed, to indicate the principal object represented. Thus the
first three semicircles from the west, are marked UVLPIS,
PANTRES, ZfQLS. The fox in the former is laid on his
back and preyed on by eagles, and a human figure stretched
in bed is suffering the like punif 'anient, in the fifth compart
ment, probably in allusion to Prov. xxx. 17. The sixteenth
contains two figures which, but for the word CGROBGIM
above, might have been mistaken for sufferers in flames of
torment; and the word 7EFRICO on the eighteenth, appears
to indicate the breeze which wafts a bark exhibiting two human
heads at its sides, but which can by no power of imagination
be supposed capable of containing the bodies to which they
should pertain. The circular compartments bear no such helps
to research into their contents, but among various fantastic
nondescripts may be discovered the holy lamb,, a large animal
devouring a human figure, a camel, a pelican feeding a pros
trate traveller from its breast, and a man in the act of slaugh
tering a huge boar with an axe. Qn the capitals may also be
traced representations of a mermaid pursued by a sea monster,
and a land monster with two bodies uniting in one head, inter
mixed with luxurious foliage and wreathed or cable mouldings.
Many of the ornaments both of the arch and capitals, as is
usual in Norman work, exhibit marked imitations of classical
models and , somewhat resemble the character of portions of
Malmesbury Abbey Church.
The head of an arch, now appearing as an impost over the
chancel door, displays within a circle supported by two birds,
the bodies of two dogs or similar animals interlaced, their
hinder feet in their mouths, and in smaller circles at the sides,
quadrupeds with the heads of birds resembling those on the
larger doorway. The corbel table also on this portion of the

ALNE. 389
building is of Norman character, though the windows are inser-i
tions marked by the flowing tracery of the fourteenth century.
To the latter period must be assigned the north aisle, the
eastern portion of which was doubtless a chantry chapel. It
opens to the chancel by a pointed arch, and contains a piscina
projecting from an ogee-shaped canopy, the cup a septfoil and
provided with a channel to convey the water within the chancel.
On the floor are several fragments of coffin-shaped tomb
stones, one marked with a singularly shaped cross nearly ap- ',
proaching to a circle, in the centre of which is a small crescent,
and beneath it the upper part of a sword.
Here is also an effigy in alabaster of a lady in a recumbent
posture. She appears to have been a person of rank, but the
tomb bears no inscription. At her feet is a hound couchant,
and her head rests on cushions supported by angels much dis
figured. Her forehead is surmounted by a jewelled fillet or
wreath, and her hands are clasped in the attitude of prayer.
Her dress is that of the fourteenth century.
The aisle or chancel in which this monument appears for
merly belonged to the Ellerkers of Youlton Hall. It is most
probable that the lady was of that ancient family, and that she
was the foundress of the chantry, as that part of the church
descended from the Ellerkers to the family of E. S. Strangwayes,
Esq. Her monument or its site is known in the village by the
name of complin, a term which signifies the last act of worship
by which the services of the day are completed, and may pos
sibly indicate that this office was usually performed near her
grave. The font is of the same date as the earlier part of the
church. It has a large circular stone shaft and bowl surround
ed by Norman devices. A fragment of the original altar stone
forms part of the pavement of the chancel, bearing three of the
five crosses which formerly distinguished it. The pulpit is
an antique structure of carved black oak, and has the date 1626
on its front.
In a niche in one of the pillars or arches above the pew of
E. S. Strangwayes, Esq., is still preserved . a virgin's crown
or garland, the relic of a very early christian custom," which re-

390 ALNE.
garded the departure of those who were supposed to have tri
umphed over the strongest allurements of this life, as occasions
of joy rather than grief.
On the south east end of the chancel is a beautiful white
marble tablet with the following inscription: —
Sacred to the Memory of
WILLIAM JOHN BETHEL, Esq., OF ALNE,
and formerly of Swindon, in the county of York. He was second son to
Edward Codrington, Esq., who descended from Sir William Codrington,
Bart., and Elizabeth, daughter of William Bethel, Esq., of Alne and Swin
don. He was born on the 20th November, 1768, died the 1st September,
1831. He married Anne Maria, daughter of William Chaloner, Esq., of
Guisbrough in the county of York, by whom he had one only daughter.
The Bethels are an ancient family and resided at Alne for
some centuries. The hall stood on the site of Monk Green.
It appears to have been moated round, but one half of the moat
is now filled up, — the other constitutes the boundary line on
one side of the vicar's gardens. In the year 1415, William de
Alne was Lord Mayor of York, and in the year 1608, Hugh
Bethel de Alne was High Sheriff of the county. Walter
Bethel, fourth son of Sir Walter Bethel, of Alne, Knight, and
Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Slingsby of Red House, occupied
the Hall of Alne, and died in the year 1686.
Approaching the chancel is the following on a flat stone : —
HENRY CHALONER, A.M.,
died 26th November, 1850, aged 59.
In the church-yard are altar tombs to the memory of the
Rev. James Scroggs, 28 years vicar and master of Jthe school
in this parish, who died April 17th, 1793, aged 70. Ann, his
only daughter, who died Dec. 4, 1835, aged 78. Mr. Tho
mas Armstrong of Spring-House, her husband, who died June 5,
1831, aged 73, and their, only son, who died on board his Ma
jesty's ship Donegal, while watching the French Fleet off
Rochfort, Jan. 14, 1808, aged 25.
In the tower are three bells bearing the inscriptions : —
1.— DEO GLORIS 1638.
2.— SOLI DEO GLORIS PKX HOMINIBUS 1656.
3.— TE DEUM LHUDKMUS, 1765.

ALNE. ' 391
The vicinary Roman road leading from Easingwold is said
by Drake to have passed along the low side of the town of Alne
to Aldwark Ferry, and thence to Aldburgh.
The vicar of Alne was entitled to eight load's of wood but
of the wood of Alne and Tbllerton, to 'bes delivered by-'the
¦bailiff of the manor, and to have his swihe in time of 'maste,
;! pannage free. ALNE HALL,
is pleasantly situated on the eastern bank of the small river
Kyle. The hdiise was formerly a cell to Byland AbtJey,hut is
now the seat of E. S. Strangwayes, Esq., one of the magistrates
for the North-Riding. The family of the Strangwayes are of
great antiquity. The 7th son of Henry Strangwayes, of Strang
wayes Hall, near Manchester, settled in Dorsetshire and'inter-
married with the family of the Talboys, (descended from the
first Duke of Normandy,) and other wealthy families, among
whom were the Wadhams, (founders of Wadham College in
Oxford, &c.,) the last male descendant of whom, left two heir
esses, one married to the Duke of Hamilton, who died with-
but issue, the other married to Colonel Horner, of Mills Park,
in Somersetshire, who left an only daughter, who married Sir
Stephen Fox, the ancestor of the Earls of Ilchester and the
Barons of Holland.
The present representative of the family of Strangwayes,
at Alne Hall, is Edward Swainstoh StrangWayes, Esq., who
assumed the surname of Strangwayes, in addition to that of
Swainston, in 1804, on succeeding to the estates of the family.
He was formerly a lieutenant in the 1st regiment of dragoons,
and subsequently major in the 4th North Yorkshire local mili
tia. He is a magistrate and deputy-lieutehaht for the North-
Riding, and married in 1804, Eliza, daughter of John Hanning,
Esq., of White Lackington and Dillington, in the county" of
Somerset. Arms — Quarterly: 1st and 4th, sahle two lioncels, passant,
paly of six argent and gules, in the dexter chief, a canton of
the second, for Strangwayes; 2nd and 3rd, azure, a fesse, or,
charged with three maidens' heads, veiled", proper, for SwainV
ton.

392 ALNE.
The hou^e is a neat family mansion, situated among wood
land scenery, overlooking the picturesque vale, through which
the river winds its way. This stream, though of little im
portance now, is supposed to have been navigable during
the time of the Romans, and in 1815, the hulk of a ves
sel was found a little further down at a place called Carnebrig,
where the corn mill now stands. The parts of the ship dis
covered were from ten to twelve feet below the foundation of
the mill.
Some years ago, while the present owner was lowering
the ground near the hall, he found the skull and some other
bones of a man, lying about three feet below the surface, beside
which was the skull of a wolf, or large dog.
In 1604, the plague raged to such an alarming extent in
this neighbourhood that the markets were prohibited to prevent
the contagion from spreading in the country; and stone cros
ses were erected in various places in the vicinity, where the coun
try-people brought their goods (marked with the price demand
ed) and left them at or near the cross; afterwards the villagers
came there, took away their goods and left their money in
their place, which afterwards the owners of the goods came
and took away; the parties thus never coming in contact.
These stones were called plague stones, and the markets thus
held, the fetch and carry market. One of those crosses still
remains at the spot where the lanes cross each other leading
to Tollerton, Youlton, Flawith, and Tholthorpe, to memorial
ize the peri od when so many thousands of our fellow beings
were suddde nly swept into eternity. This pestilence is said
to have proved fatal to 11,000 persons in York.
The parish of Alne is extensive, including Tollerton, Ald
wark, Flawith, Tholthorpe and Youlton, a brief notice of which
we shall give under their separate heads. The charities of
this parish produce a yearly income of £47.
The Wesleyans have a very neat and commodious chapel,
built in 1848.
Alne is 4 miles from Easingwold. Population in 1801 —
342; 1831—415; 1851—481. Sir George Wombwell, Bart.,
of Newburgh Park, is lord of the manor.

Cnlktott

(Toreutun — Domesday. Thollerton — Tower Record. Tollerton.)
OLLERTON stands upon the border of the ancient
Forest of Galtres, near to the banks of the small
river Kyle, which in the reign of Edward II. was
the boundary line of the forest, and which is
spoken of as running under the village of Thol-
lerton, as far as Carnebrig, (Alne Mill.)
It derives its name from Toll, (both Brit, and Sax.,) a tax.
or custom paid for passage, or actively to ring a bell, and was
called the tolling-ton, or the town where tolls were taken. It
stood upon the border of the Forest of Galtres, near to the Ro
man road that led to Aldburgh. The forest was at that time a
famous harbour for wild boars, wolves, bears, and other ravenous
beasts, and was called by ancient authors CALATERIUM
NEMUS. It extended from York to Aldburgh, a distance of
twenty miles. Verstegan says, "there is a village at the ex
tremity of the forest, north of Bowdam Bar and on the road to
it called Tollerton, which probably was the place that travel
lers, took their guides from, and paid one part of their toll or
tax for it."
But the forest was not infested with wild beasts only; it
was the lurking place of large hordes of banditti, who dwelt in
caves and lived upon rapine and plunder. There were no roads,
and the forest is described as being covered in some places with
thick spreading trees, while in others it was wet and boggy.
On entering the forest at Tollerton for York, they were furnish
ed with guides properly armed, to defend them from the attacks
of robbers and wild beasts ; and a toll was taken by the guides
of these merchants or travellers after having safely cleared the
dangerous labyrinths of the forest. A toll was also taken at
Bootham Bar, for the same purpose. At Tollerton, a bell is

394 YOULTON.
said to have been rung or tolled, as a guide to those travellers.
There might probably be a tower for the ringing of this bell.
The lanthern tower of St. Saviour's Church, York, was used for
a similar purpose.
In Tollerton, one carucate and a half of land belonged to
the soke of Foston, and was held of Earl Alan.
Gamel also held one carucate of Berenger de Todeni.7
On the 4th December, 40th Henry III. the king granted to
the Treasurer and his successors, that they should have for
ever, at their Manor of Tollerton, a yearly fair for thre days,
viz., on the vigil, day, and morrow, after the Feast of the As
sumption of St. Mary. 8
The Inclosure Act was passed in 47th and 50th Geo. III.
The small stream of Kyle runs under the west end of the
village, and the Romans are said to have navigated it with their
flat bottomed boats. (See page 392.)
The Wesleyans have a good chapel here, and a Sunday
School. Sir George Wombwell, Bart., is lord of the manor. Pre
sent Population, 551.

^mtltmt.

(Loletune. Luctone. — Domesday Book. Yolton. Youlton.)
OULTONfrom lole to hang out, or luc, lux, alight,
and ton, a town. Probably a light was hung out
here, as a further guide to travellers just emerging
from the forest, as it is in the direct line from Tol
lerton to the Roman road for Aldburgh.
7 One of the favourites of William the Norman, who after the Conquest
was rewarded with possessions at Edstone, Kirbymoorside, Lestingham,
Spaunton, Sinnington, Henderskelf (now Castle Howard,) Terrington, Tol
lerton, &c, and was the son of Robert de Todeni, who built Belvoir Castle,
the present seat of the Dukes of Rutland, to whom it came from the Lords
Ros, of Helmsley, Robert de Ros having married Isabel de Albini, the
heiress of the Todenis.
» Torr's MSS. page 7, 57.

YOULTON. 395
Youlton, at the time of the Norman Survey, belonged to the
soke of Helperby.
The only relics of antiquity in this place are, part of the re
mains of a mansion or hall, now occupied by Mr. Batty. It
appears to have been at some time, an extensive structure,
moated round, with a park connected therewith. The house
occupied by Mr. Francis Leak, is called Youlton Lodge, and
was one of the entrance lodges to the park.
In the reign of Edward II. temp. 1330, it was the seat of
Sir William Ros, Baronet, a descendant of the ancient and
honourable family of Ros, of Helmsley.
William Tancred Esq., Judge of Assize, temp. Edward III.,
married Arabella, daughter of Sir William Ros of Youlton.
Thomas Lord Ros, 17 Henry VIII., created Earl of Rut
land, on his decease 34 Henry VIII., bequeathed to Roger, his
son, the manor of Linton-upon-Ouse, with the appurtenances
in Youlton, com. Ebor.
The hall was afterwards occupied by a family of the name of
Ellerker. King James occasionally remained here in his jour
neys between London and Edinburgh. A mint was establish
ed at this place, and some years ago, a quantity of gold coins
were ploughed up near the house, which were disposed off to a
silversmith in York without being submitted to the inspection of
the owner of the soil, or any other person capable of describing
them. There is a chamber or recess in one of the chimneys of
the house, evidently formed for the purpose of concealment.
Youlton is 5 miles s.w. of Easingwold. A great part of the
village belongs to E. S. Strangwayes, Esq., but the manorial
rights belong to the University College, Oxford. Population 68.

Sllmrk.

(Adewerca, Adewera — Domesday. Oldwarke. Aldwark.)
LDWARK carries the mark of great antiquity in its
name. Wherever our ancestors, the Saxons, be
stowed the appellation, 6al&, old, it alluded to
something before their time. Aldwark seems to
denote a Roman building, as much as Aldburgh a
Roman station, for papk signifies a building or work, and ealb
stamps a degree of antiquity upon it.
The Roman road crossed the ferry at Aldwark, and the
house now occupied by Mr. Moffatt, is still designated the
" wath house," while the opposite Inn, the sign of the anchor,
is called the "boat house."
The Roman station or fortress 9 spoken of by Drake, ap
pears to have occupied a site on the bank of the river a little
above the landing-place at Aldwark. It was known to some of
the oldest inhabitants as the warehouse, and pieces of broken
bricks, &c, denote the spot where it stood. The traditions of
the place are, that flat bottomed boats used to come up the
river, and that there was a warehouse at Aldwark at the bottom
of Common-lane. At the time of the Domesday Survey, Ligulf is stated to
have had one manor of eight carucates of land at Adewera or
Aldwark. It was then waste.
Aldwark was anciently the seat of a branch of the noble fa
mily of the Fitz-Williams, who resided at Aldwark and to whom
the estate belonged. Sir William Fitz- William was marshal of
the army of William the Conqueror, when he entered England,
and from him are descended the several branches of Fitz-Wil-
9 Dr. Stukeley is of opinion that the castra or castella for the guard of
the river above York, were situated about five miles apart, and they will
fall out to have been built anciently at Beningburgh, Aldwark and Aldburgh.

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ALDWARK. 397
Ham, of Emley, Spotborough, Woodhall, Wadworth, Aldwark,
&c, in the county of York, and others, who were all eminent
for their honourable birth and alliances, but are now become
extinct without male issue, and the estates have reverted to
others by marriage.
The ninth baron of this ancient and puissant family, married
Joan, daughter to Sir Adam Reresby, of Thriburgh, in the
County of York, Kt., whose son, Sir John Fitz- William, mar
ried Elizabeth, daughter to Lord Clinton, and by her had three
sons and three daughters. From the youngest of the three
sons, Edmund, descended the Fitz-Williams of Aldwark.
Sir William, brother to the above, married Maud, daughter
of Ralph' Cromwell, and by her had two sons and two daugh
ters. Sir John, the eldest, succeeded his father, and marrying
had six sons. The eldest succeeded his father, and married
Margaret, daughter to Thomas Clare!, of Aldwark in com. Ebor.
but dying without issue, this line became extinct in 1516.
By the intermarriage of Sir John Fitz- William, Lord of
Emley and Sprotborough, with Joan, daughter of Sir Adam
Reresby, the estate of Aldwark afterwards reverted to the
Reresbys, in consequence of that branch of the Fitz-Williams
failing of issue, and from the Reresbys it came by marriage
to the Franklands. John Reresby, of Thriburgh, married
Frances, the daughter and heiress of Henry Frankland of Ald
wark. Aldwark appears to have been the residence of the Frank-
lands two centuries ago as the following epitaph in St. JMar-
tin's Church, York, testifies : —
Gulielmus Brown, armiger omni literarum genere instructus juris pre-
cipue consultissimus, qui obiit 6 die Aprilis an. Dom. 1654, setat suae 42.
Uxorem habuit Franciscam filiam Henrici Frankland de Aldwark in
com. Ebor. militis, quae duos Alios totidemque filias peperit. Francisca
natu maxima jam sola superstes, et hseres nupta Johanni Reresby de
Thriburgh in dicto com. bart. charse memorise patris, et ejus virtutum,
hoc impar dicavit monumentum. Vicesi. secundo die Julii anno" 1681.
No remains or ruins of the family mansion are left but the
site with the bowling-green and a wide moat now nearly filled
up, near to the house occupied by Mr. Thomas Eshelby, for
merly called Aldwark Hall.

398 ALDWARK.
One relic of this ancient edifice however, is preserved by
Mr. Eshelby. It is part of a carved stone which appears to
have formed a portion of a pillar belonging to a chapel. A
field adjoining the site of the mansion is still known by the
name of Chapel-garth. A short distance from Chapel-garth
in a hollow place, is a large stone called the "conjuring stone."
In the days of superstition and witches, a troubled ghost sup
posed to be " Doom'd for a certain time to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires ;
Till the foul crimes done in his days of nature
Were burnt and purged away,"
frequented this lonely spot and the neighbouring road and so
terrified the natives, that it was deemed necessary for the peace
of the town and the comfort of the "poor ghost" to ease it
of its troubles by the aid of the priest, who after various ceremo
nies, exorcised the spirit and fastened it down with what is
now designated, the " conjuring stone" which remains to the
present day.
The Chapel, erected by Lady Frankland Russell from a
design of E. B. Lamb, Esq., Architect, consists of a nave,
chancel, north and south transepts, with semi-octangular ends,
and four recesses, — which can scarcely be designated aisles,
at the junction of the nave, chancel, and transepts; these
recesses are formed by piers placed in the same line as the
main walls of the building, the piers forming the intersection
of the cross. From these piers spring the four timber arches
of the nave, chancel, and transepts, and also the eight smaller
arches connecting these parts of the building with the four re
cesses. The entrance porch is placed between the nave and
tower, and the lower portion of the tower is appropriated to
the robing room ; on the south side of the porch is the en
trance to the nave and body of the building. The nave is
principally lighted by the large west window. There are also
small windows on the north and south side of the nave, one
in each. The recesses have each a small window, and there
are three windows in each transept. The chancel arch is of a
massive character, of stone; the east window is circular, and
filled with rich tracery. The chancel is raised one step above

ALDWAHK. 399
the nave, and the communion two steps above the chancel.
There are also two other small circular windows in the chancel,
one on each side. The building will accommodate about 220
persons, including children, ample space is however allowed
for further accommodation if required. The roof is of open oak
timber framing, with arched trusses springing from moulded
stone corbels.
Externally the building is erected with pebble-rubble and
bricks, the bricks laid in diagonal or herring-bone courses,
alternating with the rubble ; the windows, mouldings, arches,
and all ornamental work is of magnesian limestone, from
West Hartlepool. The roofs are covered with plain tiles in
terlaced with ornamental tiles; at the eaves, the covering is of
Bradford slate. The height of the west front is 25 feet, the
tower and spire 60 feet.
The building is in the style of architecture which prevailed
about 1490, (Henry VII.,) but freely applied in order to make
the principal materials of the district available for its con
struction ; the object being to erect a building that shall meet
all the requirements of the place at a small cost, and at the
same time to give it the stamp of ecclesiastical character. With
this object in view, the large internal space obtained by the
cruciform plan and recesses was adopted as most convenient,
and by the combination of piers and arches productive by
their variety of the most simple and plain, though pictorial
effect. Nearly the whole of the town is the property of Lady
Frankland Russell, of Thirkleby Park, to whom the baronial
rights belong. It is pleasantly situated on the banks of the
river Ouse, which is navigable, and previous to the opening of
the York and Newcastle Railway, a good business was carried
on here in coals, lime, &c.
Aldwark is six miles from Easingwold, ten from York, and
one mile from the Aldwark bridge, which crosses the Ouse
and its banks by 27 arches and culverts, five of which are of
wood. Population 177, being a decrease in the last ten years
of 35.

2c

Cjjaltfjnrpt.

(Tumlfestorp — Domesday. Thoraldthorpe. Tholthorp. Tholthorpe.)
i HOLTHORPE from chol a resting place, and chopp
a village. It appears to have taken its name from
the circumstance of its being a resting-place for
cattle on their route to and from York, for it was
then a wide and spacious common, a short dis
tance from the road by Myton to York. Houses or mud plas
ter huts were built for the accommodation of these drovers or
shepherds, and in process of time it became a village assuming
the above name. It is situate on the banks of the small rivulet
of Linton in the baliwick of Kyle, and on the borders of the
great Forest of Galtres. At the time of the Domesday Survey,
it belonged to the soke of Helperby.

COTTAGES AT THOLTHOP.PE.

There are no antiquities in the town worthy of particular
notice. __Some of the houses are very ancient, especially near

NEWT0N-0P0N-0USE. 401
to the bridge or ford, and some rare specimens of antiquity
have come down within the last few years.
About one mile on the north side of the town is a hill which
goes by the name of Ten mile hill, out of which large quanti
ties of-human bones have been dug at different times. It has
no doubt been the scene of some terrible slaughter, but histo
ry furnishes no particular account thereof.
Part of the township belongs to W. F. Webb, Esq., who
is lord of the manor and proprietor of the Raskelfe "estates to
which it lays contiguous; but a great portion of the land is
freehold and belongs to the inhabitants.
Tholthorpe is four miles n.w. of Easingwold. The com
mon was inclosed in the year 1800. The Wesleyans have a
neat and commodious chapel and a sabbath school connected
therewith. Population, 303.

3tatnMtpfltt-(tot
(Neawtun. Neuton. Newton.)
EWTON from neap, of modern construction, and
con, a town, or the new town, is a pleasant and
attractive village, situated on an elevation on the
banks of the Ouse, in the Wapentake, and Dean
ery of Bulmer, and Archdeaconry of Cleveland.
In the reign of William the Conqueror, Ralph Paganel,
who. came over from Normandy, and was High Sheriff of York
shire 1 about 1075, held the manor of Newton-on-Ouse and
More-Monckton, and forty-five lordships in this country. He
founded the abbey of St. Martin, majoris monasterii in Tou-
rain, in France, and for the due sustenation of the monks, he
granted them with various other property in Yorkshire, two
parts of the demesne tithes of Newton-super-Ouse.
1 Leland's Col.
2c2

40^ NEWTON-UrON-OUSE.
Torr says, "the town of Newton-super-Ouse, or the greatest
part of it, was given by Richard de Holthorp to the Hospital
of St. Leonard's York. And one oxgang more by Juliana de
Plaize, wife of Hugh de Gernewic.
The Church consists of a nave, north and south aisle with
south porch, western tower and spire, chancel and vestry.
With the exception of the lower portion of the tower which is
of very high antiquity, it replaces a church of very plain con
struction erected in the present century. The bells were pre
served and are re^hung. The present church, rebuilt at the
expense of the Hon. Lydia F. C. Dawnay, Beningburgh Hall,
is of the style of the 1 4th century, and is built of stone and
covered with slate. The lich gate is covered with the same
material. The roof is of open oak timber framing. The pul
pit, chancel, seats, and screen, are of foreign oak. The body
of the church is stalled with stained fir. The font is a beau
tiful piece of sculpture. The east window is spacious and
filled with stained glass in the best style of Willement, con
taining an epitome of Scripture history, at the foot of which
is the following, in old English character : —
in {portm <pi A m wmtism pmttrai qss MItttontm
tram thusiram prat % $rfe f . C $Ktonag am M. pg

On the south side of the chancel are two sedilise, adjoining
to which is a recess resembling a piscina; on the north of the
chancel is a credence table. In the chancel is a fine brass ta
blet containing the full length effigies of Lord and Lady Downe,
with hands clasped, the former in clerical robes, his feet rest
ing on two lions couchant gardant, the feet of the lady resting
on a cushion with a dog reposing thereon. The effigies are
surmounted with shields of arms — 1 Argent, on abend cottised,
three annulets of the field, sable. — 2 Ditto, impaling Ermine,
three roundels vert, each charged with a cross, or. Around
the effigies, in a fillet, is the following inscription: —
Here lieth the body of William Henry, Sixth VISCOUNT DOWNE,
sometime Rector of the Churches of Sessay and Thormanby, in this coun
ty, who departed this life on the XXIII day of May, in the year of our Lord
MDCCCXLVT, in the Ixxiv year of his age. Also the body of LYDIA, his

NEWTON-UPON-OUSE. 403
beloved wife, who deceased on the XVIII day of March, in the year of
our Lord MD.CCC.XLVIII, in the lxxv year of her age.
In the angles of the above are representations of the Evan
gelists. On one of the chancel windows is the following : —
In memoriam Margarettse Earle qua? obiit 8 die mensis Octobris Anno
Domini, 1827.
On the entrance to the chancel are brass plates commemo
rating some branches of the Bourchier family.
But we must not pass without remarking the splendid
and graceful spire, which cannot fail to make an impression
on every one whose heart is at all open to the beautiful and
noble in visible objects, and which more entirely satisfies the
eye and elevates the mind than any other part, even of a Go
thic church, unless it be the first view of the eastern interior.
Who can stand on the banks of Ouse just opposite, and not
feel the touching beauty of the poet's language! —
"Watching, with upward eye, the tall spire grow,
And mount, at every step, with living wiles
Instinct — to rouse the heart and lead the will,
By a bright ladder to the world above." *
We are glad that these spire steeples, which are such an
ornament to a flat country, are becoming more and more nu
merous in this portion of the vale of York. It is to be regret
ted however that in removing the upper story of the tower to
make way for this valuable addition, an important feature of
the original structure was removed, namely, a window on each
side with double semicircular-headed lights, supported in the
centre by a deeply receding cylindrical shaft, which belonged
to the very earliest period of Norman architecture, if indeed
it might not have aspired to a still earlier date. The western
doorway of the tower which still remains, and its elevation in
comparison with the general character of Norman towers, which
were usually low and heavy, indicated an approach to Saxon
antiquity. The spire is 150 feet high.
The first rector of Newton was instituted 6 Non. Oct. 1229,
Dom Rad. de Gaylenton. After the Dissolution, the .patron
age and impropriation came to the Bourchiers, from whom it
2 Wordsworth. 2c3

404 I.IXTOX-I.TON-OUSE.
passed to the Earles, and now to the Lords Downe. The Rev.
John Gatenby is incumbent.
Previous to the opening of the York and Newcastle Railway,
a large amount of business was transacted at Newton in coals,
lime, and other agricultural produce, but the trade on the river
is nearly extinct, and the soft gliding waters of Ouse are of
little use to the inhabitants except to convey a market boat
every Saturday to and from York.
The parish of Newton, including Beningburgh and Linton,
consists of 4590 acres of principally rich and fertile land, the
greatest part of which belongs to Lord Viscount Downe, who
is lord of the manor. The tithes, moduses, &c, were commu
ted for in 1812. Charities, £18 9s. lOd. for particulars, see
Lawton's Collectio Rerum Ecclesiasticarum, Vol. II. p. 450.
Newton is 7 miles from Easingwold, and 8£ from York.
Population 588, being an increase since 1841, of 65.

Iratntt-ti]ran-<Dtt0t
(Lintune — Domesday. Lynton, Linton.)
INTON from line or lin, being a celebrated place
for growing line and spinning, and con, a town.
Along with Youlton it belonged to the Ros family
in the reigns of the Edwards. In 1708, Doctor
Radcliffe purchased the estate and manor of Lin
ton, consisting of 2030 acres of fertile land, most of which is
now the property of University College, Oxford.
At the lower extremity of the town considerable improve
ments have lately been made by the erection of several new
cottages with overhanging roofs, in the place of others that
were scarcely tenable. These, with other improvements, seem
to give a new character to the place.
The Roman Catholics have a chapel here; and there is a

BKNtNGUUKGH. 405
school, to the master of which, University College allows a
salary of £20 per annum.
The upper level of the river Ouse on which Linton is situ
ated, has of late years undergone considerable improvement.
A self-acting waste board has been constructed at Naburn-
lock, at an expense of £300, by means of which, the height of
the water between Naburn and Linton locks has been raised
about 18 inches; and vessels drawing seven feet of water are
enabled to pass at all seasons, from York to Boroughbridge, a
distance of 20 miles. Population, 273.

Swhtghtrgjj.

(Benniburg— Domesday. Benningburg — Drake. Beningburg.
Beningburgh.^

IjENINGBURGH, from bupjh, a fortified town, and
bene, prayer ; this place or a great part of it hav
ing been given to the hospital of St. Leonard's
York, by Athelstan, the famous Saxon monarch,
in 966, to pray for the souls of the donor and
his ancestors. Here the Romans had a fortress, and Drake
supposes that the Roman military way mentioned in Anto-
ninus's Itinerary passed through Beningbingh. There is rea
son to believe that Beningburgh was the summer residence of
the kings of Northumberland.
At the period of the Norman Survey, in the manor of Ben
ingburgh, Asford had three carucates of land to be taxed. There
may be one plough and a half. Radulph had, and Hugo has
now there five villeins with two ploughs, and six acres of mea
dow land. Wood pastures, three quarentens long and one
broad. The whole manor six quarentens long and three broad.
After the Conquest, among the grants to St. Mary's Abbey,
York, were the following: — Two oxgangs of land in Beningburc
by Maud, late wife of John Nuvill. Six oxgangs of land in

406 BKSINGBU110H..
Beriniriburc by John, son of Walter de Marisco. One oxgang
by Walter Fitz- Walter, of Benningburc. Nine oxgangs by Pe
ter de Bruse. Three oxgangs by Walter Fitz- William. Three
acres and three roods by Robert de Usegate, Rector of St.
Crux Church, York. Robert de Beningburg gave all his land
in Beningburg lying between the new garden of Richard de
Malbysse and the east end of the town. In a charter of King
John which was confirmed in the 22 Henry VI., and preserv
ed in the Tower of London, that king for the health of
his soul and the souls of his predecessors did give to this
abbey the woods of Overton and the park of Beningburgh as
anciently devised which lay between the aforesaid woods and
town of Beningburgh.
From the above extract it will be seen that a great part of
the property of Beningburgh belonged to the Abbey of St. Mary.
Drake says "the nobilitie and others seemed to vie with one
another in their extraordinary liberality to the monks of this
convent. The abbot had the honour to be mitred and had a
seat in parliament, whence he was always styled lord abbot;
nor were there any but this and the abbot of Selby, in the
north of England who had that privilege. Whenever he went
abroad either by water or land, his retinue was numerous and
grand, and it was little inferior to that of the archbishop of the
province. He had several country houses and a fine park, well
stocked with game at Beningburg. But the park of Beningburg,
&o. is now part of the possessions of John Bourchier, Esq.,"3
a descendant of the ancient and honourable family of Bour
chier, who came into England with William the Conqueror,
and held considerable lands in Essex as well as in Yorkshire.
Robert, who was a great warrior, was Lord Chancellor in 14,
Edw. III., and in the 20th of that reign was in the famous bat
tle of Cressy, in the same part of the army as the Black Prince.
William Bourchier married Anrte, daughter of Thomas of Wood
stock, Duke of Gloucester, (6th son of Edw. III.) widow of Ed
mund, Earl of Stafford, and Humphrey Bourchier, third son
of Henry, 1 st Earl of Essex, married Joane, daughter of
Richard Stanhope, niece and co-heir of Ralph Lord Cromwell.
He was summoned to parliament in the 1, 2, 6, & Oth, of Edw.
3 Drake's Eboracum, p. 578.

SUTT0N-0X-THE-F0REST. 407
IV. under the title of Lord Cromwell. It is probable the es
tate of Beningburgh came to the Bourchiers from the Paganels
between whom there appears to have been a matrimonial con
nexion. From the Bourchiers, the estate of Beningburgh passed to
Mrs. Earle, heiress of the Bourchiers, and thence to the Downes.
It is now the seat of the Honourable Payan Dawnay, and is
distant half a mile from Newton, in which parish it is situate,
7 miles from Easingwold, and 8 from York.

(Sudtune — Domesday. Sutton.J

1HIS rural village is situated nearly on the line of
the Roman road from York to Crayke Castle and
thence to Tees Mouth, the agger of which may still
be traced in this neighbourhood. When the
Domesday Survey was taken, Ligulf had in Sut
ton five carucates of land to be taxed. There was land to two
ploughs. Gerard, a vassal of Hugh the son of Baldric, had
there one plough, and eight villeins with two ploughs. There
was a priest and a mill; wood pasture one mile and a half long
and five quarentens broad. The whole manor two miles long,
and five quarentens broad; value in King Edward's time, twen
ty-six shillings, but then twenty shillings.
The manor of Sutton afterwards came to the possession of
Bertram de Bulmer, who held considerable possessions in
this neighbourhood. Geoffrey de Nevil, son of Gilbert de
Nevil the Norman, who accompanied William to England,
married Emma the daughter and heir of Bertram de-Bulmer,
by which marriage Sutton came to the Nevilles. The great
Ralph Nevil had the manor of Sutton, and on his death, Alice,
his widow, had for her dowry Raskelfe, Carleton, &c, and £40

'K >s sl'TTOX-OX-lTIE-KOKKST.
6s. 8d. rent, issuing out of the lordship of Sutton in Galtres.
In the 14 Richard II., this Ralph obtained leave from the king
to enfeoff John de Nevil, his son and heir, and Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, in all her lands at
Sutton in Galtres, to them and their heirs. The estate re
mained in the possession of the Nevilles till the attainder of
that house, when along with the rest, it reverted to the crown.
SUTTON HALL,
the residence of William Charles Harland, Esq., is situated
in the village opposite the church, in which place the Harland
family have been seated for about two centuries. Charles
Hoare, who assumed the surname and arms of Harland, 26
May, 1802, married at Easingwold during that year, Anne,
only daughter and heiress of Philip Harland, Esq., of Sutton
Hall, and widow of the Rev. Henry Goodricke. He was sub
sequently created a baronet, but died without issue, when the
title expired. His widow, Lady Hoare Harland, the heiress of
Sutton Hall, survived until 24 June, 1826, when she was suc
ceeded by her nephew, William Charles Harland, Esq., who
married in 1827, Catharine, only daughter of Robert Eden
Duncombe Shafto. Esq. of Whitworth Park, county of Durham,
and is a deputy lieutenant for the county, and was member of
parliament for the city of Durham.
Arms — Quarterly, 1st and 4th argent, on a bend, between
two eottises, three stags' heads, caboshed, azure, for Harland:
2nd and 3rd, quarterly, sable and gules, over all an eagle dis
played, with two heads, argent, within a bordure invecked,
counterchanged, for Hoare.
The Church, dedicated to All Saints, consists of a nave,
chancel, north aisle, vestry, which appears to have been a
chantry chapel, and tower. It was given to the prior and con
vent of Marton, to which it was appropriated, and a vicarage
ordained therein, 12 Kal. March 1223; and 7th Id. October
1372, a new ordination was made by Archbishop Thoresby.
At the Dissolution, the patronage came to the Crown, and
King Henry VIII. granted the advowson to the sec of York

SUTTON-ON-THE-FOREST. 409
in exchange, and the Archbishops of York have presented ever
since. The east window is a fine specimen of curvilinear tracery,
with some remnants of [stained glass. A small window of
similar architecture on the east end lightens the vestry, and
on the south side is one of similar character. The rest are
square tops.
On the south side of the church is a marble monument
surmounted with a vase and bearing the family arms, with this
inscription: —
Near this place are deposited the remains of
PHILIP HARLAND, Esq., and ELIZABETH his wife,
He died November 26, 1766, aged 59, and she died May 5, 1762, aged 52.
On the south side of the east window is a marble monu
ment surmounted by armour, bearing this inscription, —
To the memory of
RICHARD HARLAND, Esq.
who died in the year 1689, aged 97. He was a truly brave and honest man.
He first engaged himself in the troop of noblemen and gentlemen associ
ated to guard their sovereign's person at York, and had the honour to serve
as lieutenant to that body. The civil wars increasing, he adhered to the
royal cause, in many battles and skirmishes, particularly in that fated one
of Marston Moor, he greatly distinguished himself : during the usurpation he
with many others of the unfortunate, suffered fines and imprisonment until
the year 1660, when monarchy, religion and liberty were again restored.
A white tablet surmounted by the coat of arms commem-
JOHN HARLAND, Esq.
youngest son of Captain Richard Harland, who died May 9, 1730, aged 90.
Also Mary his wife, who died July 28, 1703, aged 59.
On the north side surmounted by a vase is a white marble
monument: — Sacred to the memory of
The REV. HENRY GOODRICKE,
youngest brother of the Right Honourable Sir John Goodricke, Bart., late
of Ribston in this county. He was twice married and his remains are de
posited near those of the relatives of his second wife, Anne daughter of the
late Philip Harland, Esq. He died Oct. 24, 1801, in the 82nd year of his

410 HUBY.
There are several other monuments commemorating Hie
several branches of the Harland family.
Sutton-on-the-Forest, or Sutton Galtres, is situated in the
centre of the now enclosed Forest of Galtres, in the wapentake
and Deanery of Bulmer and Archdeaconry of Cleveland. The
church is a vicarage ; the rectory belongs to the Archbishop;
incumbent, the Rev. C. Hawkins. The celebrated Lawrence
Sterne was vicar here, but removed to Coxwold after the par
sonage house had been destroyed by fire. The Wesleyans have
a neat chapel. The parish also includes Huby. Wm Charles
Harland, Esq,, of Sutton Hall, is lord of the manor and owner
of most of the soil. The poor have the interest of £35 1, left
by the Harland family, and 57s. per year left by Ann Cobb,
John Sturdy, and Robert Parkinson.
Sutton-on-the-Forest is 5 miles s.e. of Easingwold, and
contains 618 inhabitants, being an increase of 51 in the last
ten Years.

iubtj.
(Hobi— Domesday. Hebi — Dugdale. Hobey. Hubi. Huby.)

UBY from hu and bi, a Danish settlement, probably

Jof hu or Hugh a Dane, from whom the town takes
its name.
In the time of the Norman Survey, Huby con
stituted a part of the soke of Easingwold and be
longed to the royal demense of the Forest of Galtres. Edw.
III. gave to the monks of Marton 40s of land in the town of
Hebi (Huby), and he also gave 480 acres of land " quadraginta
solidatas terra;" in Hobey to the nunnery of Molesby (Moxby.)
After the battle of Evesham in 1265, it was granted along
with other places to Edmund Plantagenet, the first Earl of
Lancaster 4 and thence to Thomas the second Earl who was
* Rotuli Hundred, Edward I.

HUBY. J I 1
executed at Pontefract after the battle of Boroughbridge.
Henry, his brother, succeeded to his forfeited honours and
possessions and held the manor of Huby, from whom it de
scended to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and afterwards
by the marriage of Joan his daughter, to Ralph Neville, the
great Earl of Westmoreland. It continued in this family
till the forfeiture of their estates in the time of Elizabeth, when
it reverted to the crown and remained a royal demesne till
Charles I. granted it with the manor of Easingwold to Tho
mas Belasyse, first Lord Fauconberg.
About the middle of the town are some few remains of an
old chapel, which was built before the year 1223. The place is
still known by the name of Chapel Garth, near to which is Tein
Garth where stood a large barn, called tein barn or tithing barn,
the present tein being a corruption of the word tithe.
The lord of the manor of Huby is said to have formerly
exercised the right of granting probates and letters of admin
istration. On the east end of the town are the fish ponds, garden
walls, venerable trees, and antique ruins of Huby Hall, the
seat of William Wakefield, Esq., the celebrated architect.
In the church of St. Michael-le-Belfry, York, is the follow
ing inscription: — Here lyeth the body of
THOMAS WAKEFIELD,
the son of William Wakefield, of Huby, Esquire, who departed this life,
1st April,. 1717. Also Dorothy, wife of the above William Wakefield, and
mother of Thomas who departed this life March 25th, 1722.
Arms — On the stone quarterly: 1st and 3rd, a chevron
inter three water budgets ; 2nd and 4th, three bars on a chief
three martlets.
" Here lies also," says Drake, "as yet without any memorial,
that worthy gentleman, William Walcefield, Esq., whose great
skill in architecture will always be commended as long as the
houses of Duncombe Park and Gilling Castle shall stand."5
When that terrible scourge, the plague, visited England,
its desolating influences swept the town almost of its inhabi-
5 Drake's Eboracum, p. 341.

4 1 'i NEW PARKS.
tants except Gracious-street, so called from the circumstance of
the plague not entering that street. In every house with this
exception, the cry of lamentation was heard, and the destroyer
entered. So fatal was the pestilence that the rest of the village
was entirely deserted, and the inhabitants took up their abode
in tents pitched upon the common, now known by the name of
Cabin-lands. Huby is one of those solitary instances in Yorkshire which
still retains its tall aspiring May-pole, though now, alas, bare
and ungarlanded. It is a long lingering relic of merrie old
England, which speaks so emphatically of the state of feeling
among our ancestors — the glow and sunshine of genuine na
tional happiness, when, as Chaucer says, "they reared the
May-pole, painted with variable colours, and having set up
summer halls, bowers, and harbours, hard by, they then fell
to banquetting and feasting, to leaping and dancing about it."
About half a mile from Huby, near the road leading to
Tollerton, are the fragments of a ruined mansion or monastery,
called the Mote, presenting an area of about 600 square yards,
surrounded by a deep dyke or fosse, twelve feet in width and
seven deep. It is now overgrown with oak and ash, and for
the last four years has been the solitary but favourite retreat,
where in summer evenings the nightingale
il Sings darkling; and in shadiest covert hid,
Tunes her nocturnal note."
History and tradition are both silent as to the origin of
"the Mote," but it has most probably from its secluded situa
tion, been a Saxon monastery, destroyed by the Danes on
their incursions into this neighbourhood.
Huby is a neat village and township, 4 miles s.s.e. of
Easingwold, containing 4790 acres of land, mostly the proper
ty of Sir George Wombwell, Bart, and W. C. Harland, Esq.
It contains a good sized Wesleyan Chapel, and a Primitive
preaching-house. Also a Friends' meeting-house, now closed,
and burial ground. Population 528, — being an increase of 28
since 1841.
NEW PARKS
appears to have been a royal hunting seat in the central part

NEW TASKS. J I •'!
of the royal Forest of Galtres. In the time of Edward III.
the king granted to his faithful servant Ade de Walton and his
heirs, a piece of waste land called West-More, in the king's
Forest of Galtres, containing 120 acres with common of pas
ture and all other appurtenances, by service of carrying a bow
when the king was hunting in the same forest, with leave to
inclose the same.6 Westmore is only a short distance from
New Parks.
The mansion is one of those quaint gabled houses on a
large scale, of which there are many of a similar character in
•the country, and though not possessing all the comforts and
conveniences of modern times, yet exhibiting many of those
picturesque beauties so agreeably associated with our country
and its verdant scenery.
It is now occupied as a farm house,, in the parish of Sutton-
on-the-Forest, and is approached by roads at a short distance
to the right either of the York or Easingwold sides of Blue
Bridge, in coming from the former to the latter place.
It is said to have been a hunting seat of James I., but a
considerable portion of it has been taken down, and the prin
cipal front of the remaining part completely modernized, and
much of the woodwork and other ancient features of the inte
rior very recently removed. What external antiquities remain
are at the back part of the house. The chief internal fea
ture of former consequence is a fine oak staircase, leading
to a richly ornamented entrance to the upper chambers, which
have plastered ceilings and Stuart devices, but no dates or ar
morial bearings. The mullioned windows and painted wood
panels were removed by a late occupant. The cornices in two
rooms upstairs are adorned with escutcheons supported by semi-
dragons or sea horses. In the ceiling of two upper rooms are
diamond shaped compartments ornamented with shields, the
royal crown, eagle, and the royal arms. The plaster work ap
pears to be about the date of James I., and the unicorn in the
royal arms is characteristic of the union with Scotland.
In the garden are several ancient and grotesque representa
tions of human faces in plaster, but it is doubtful whether they
have any connexion with New Parks.
6Rotul. Orig. vol ii. p. 181.

^tillitigfnir.

(Stivelinctjm — DomesdayT Stealington. Stillington.)
j TILLINGTON is supposed to take its name from
jtelan, the stealing town, where tradition says
the original settlers obtained a livelihood by robj
bing the king's forest of its deer, and the pack
men of their merchandise as they journeyed to
the north along the Roman road which passed about a mile
below the town.
At the time of the Norman Survey, Stillington contained
ten carucates of land to be taxed and there may be six ploughs.
St. Peter has and had it with six villeins, and two ploughs,
and one mill, value 3 shillings, and eight acres of meadow land.
Wood pasture one mile and a half long, and half'a mile broad.
In the time of King Edward (the Confessor) worth 40 shillings,
now 10 shillings.
The Prebendary is lord of the whole town, having there his
manor and full jurisdiction; also three carucates of demesne
land, and twenty acres of demesne meadow; and two water
mills and one wind mill ; likewise three messuages and 64 ox
gangs of land, held of him by certain rents: also other tofts,
held of him by annual rents and services.
King Richard I. confirmed to the monks of Selby a certain
mill at Stillington.
The Church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, a rude representa
tion of whom appears above the present entrance, the relic
apparently of a much earlier structure, is an ancient rectory,
belonging to the prebendary of Stillington, in the Cathedral
Church of York, to which Stall it was appropriated and a
vicarage ordained therein about 1520, by the Prebendary with
consent of the Chapter.
The church consists of a nave, chancel, north aisle and

STILLINGTON. 415
vestry, south aisle and tower. The tower and nave were re
built in 1 840, by which means 140 sittings were obtained.
They replaced an erection in the style of the latter part of the
15th century, and accorded in character with the chancel and
north aisle, which are of that period. On the west end is an
ancient octagonal font. The east window contains a few frag
ments of stained glass. In the chancel is a blue stone which
has contained two shields of arms, but the brasses are removed.
Torr says, that Sir Christopher Croft, of York, was buried at
Stillington, the 3rd of April, 1605, in the chancel, under a blue
gravestone. The prebendary of Stillington in York Cathedral is patron
and incumbent; the Rev. Frederick Stewart, curate.
Stillington Hall, the seat of Colonel Croft, is a neat man
sion with pleasant grounds, on the west side of the Foss, and
adjoining the village. The family are descended from a com
mon ancestor with the ancient house of Croft, of Croft Castle,
county of Bedford. Its immediate progenitor, Henry Croft,
Esq., whose grandson, Sir Christopher Croft, knight, of the
city of York, sheriff of the same in 1618, and lord mayor in
1629 and 1641, was knighted by Charles II., upon enter
taining that monarch and suite at his house in Ousegate, York,
the 20th of Nov., 1641.
The present representative is Harry Croft, Esq., who re
sides at the hall. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William
Charlton, Esq., of Apley Castle, county of Salop. He is a
colonel in the army, and a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant
of the county.
Arms — Quarterly, indented, erminois and gules ; in the first
quarter a lion passant guardant, of the second.
Stillington is situated in the wapentake and deanery of
Bulmer, and archdeaconry of Cleveland, 4 miles e.s.e. of
Easingwold and 10 miles n.n.w. of York. In the village is
a school built in 1821, where 36 poor children are educated
free. The Wesleyans have a large and elegant chapel capable
of holding 5 or 600 people. Colonel Croft is lord of the manor.
Population, 788, being an increase of 40 since 1841.
2n

ftlatifltMtt-falte.

(Martun — Domesday. Martun — Speed. Marton.)

ARTON derives its name from the situation in
which the monastery formerly stood, being a low
marshy ground, and not unfrequently covered
with water during the winter season, from the
overflowing of the Foss which runs close by.
At the time of the Domesday Survey, Norman had here one
manor of six carucates of taxable land, there may be three
ploughs. Nigel had then of the Earl (Morton) in the de
mesne half a carucate with twenty villeins and six ploughs,
a church, with eight acres of meadow land, wood pasture half a
mile long and half a mile broad. In the time of King Edward
the Confessor, it was valued at twenty shillings, at present six
teen shillings. 7
It afterwards became part of the possessions of the Bul-
mers, an ancient family from whom the wapentake takes its
name. The first of the name who held these manors was
Ascitee de Bulmer, who purchased them of King Henry I.
He was succeeded by Bertram de Bulmer, a 'great baron and
favourite with the king, called the king's baron, who built
the castle of Sheriff-Hutton in the reign of Stephen, and was
for many years Sheriff of York. He was succeeded by Tho
mas, who was succeeded by Robert, who was succeeded by
another Bertram, who left an only daughter and heir called
Emma, afterwards married to Geoffrey Neville, by which mar
riage the estates of Braneepeth, Sheriff-Hutton, and Raskelfe
came to the Nevilles.
Arms — Gules, a lion rampant, salient, erminois.
The Church bears marks of great antiquity, and is dedicated
to St. Mary. It is a perpetual curacy 8 in the deanery of Bul-
7 Domesday Book. 8 Valued at £52 and augmented with £600 of Q. A. B.

MARTON-IN-GALTEES. 417
mer, the patron of which is the Archbishop of York, and the pre
sent incumbent the Rev. C. Napper. The Register Books
commenced in 1539.
Marton is situated in the Forest of Galtres, (from whence
it is frequently called Marton in Galtres,) on the east side of
the river Foss. It contains about 1 83 inhabitants, and is five
miles from Easingwold, 4 from Sheriff-Hutton, and 12 from
York. MARTON PRIORY.
In the reign of King Stephen, Bertram de Bulmer found
ed here and endowed a monastery, dedicated to St. Mary, of
the order of St. Austin, commonly called Augustine Friars.
It was first established as a double house, both for men
and women, but the nuns were not long after removed to
Molesby or Moxby, about two miles distant from the priory.
It is supposed that Bertram de Bulmer was prompted to erect
this monastery by the pious persuasions of his wife Catharine,
and Speed in his catalogue of the Religious Houses, gives
" Catharine Brawmere" (Bulmer) as the founder thereof. The
original charter is not found in Dugdale's Monasticon Angli-
canum, but there is an epitome of it confirming the original
grant. The priory was situated on the right side of the road lead
ing from Stillington to Helmsley. Little remains of the origi
nal abbey, except a farm house near the mill called Abbey Mill,
which has been built out of the ruins thereof. The place where
it stood may be very distinctly traced, as well as the moat
which surrounded it.
At the Dissolution, the revenues amounted to £183 2s. 4d.
Speed; and £151 5s. 4d. Dugdale. The difference is account
ed for by Speed giving the gross amount, and Dugdale the
nett revenue.
In Burton's Monasticon, there is an account of 18 priors of
Marton. The first was Honorius, instituted in 1194, and the
last Thomas Yodson or Godson, 7 January, 1531.
Upon thevisitation of the monasteries by the commissioners
appointed in 1535, the Prior and Convent of Marton desired
2d2

418 MOXBY NUNNEBY.
to leave their profession and habit, and at the time above-
mentioned thej prior and five monks signed the surrender.
When the priory was finally surrendered in 1536, it contained
15 canons. The site was granted to the Archbishop of York
in exchange for other lands.
In the spring of 1852, a lead coffin was found by a person
while draining a short distance from the priory. It was about
four feet in length and very broad, contained the bones of a
human being, apparently a female, with the exception of the
skull.

Startaj Jtaertj.

(Molzby — Domesday. Melsenby — Forest Rolls. Molesby — Dugdale.
Mollesby — Speed. Molesby. Moxby.)
[|OXBY or MOLESBY, derives its name from the na
ture of the soil on which it is situate. CDobI a
mound; the ground being of a warpy nature and
much frequented by the mole.
At the time of the Norman Survey (1086) as
appears from Domesday Book, the king had three carucates
of land in Moxby, which belonged to the soke of Easingwold.
This nunnery was foimded by the king's ancestors, alias
the Earl of Salisbury.9 Henry the second confirms the " gift
of Molesby to the nuns there serving God," and the convent
appears to have been built either in the reign of Henry or
Stephen. The King gave them 480 acres of land in Huby and pan
nage out of Huby wood. Also the churches of Thormanby
and Whenby, olim Queneby with lands.
The Moxby or Molesby Convent, continued to flourish till
the order of suppression, when it suffered with all the smaller
9 Speed in his Catalogue of Religious Houses.

Moxby nunnery. 419
houses whose revenues did not amount to £200 per annum.
There are scarcely any traces [of the building to be found at
the present day except the foundations, which extend to a
considerable distance, and some part of the stone walls on
which the new buildings of brick have been erected. Some
parts of the moat may be traced very distinctly. The convent
stood within half a circle near the small stream of Foss, on
which was a mill belonging to the nunnery. It was situated in a
low fruitful vale, plentifully supplied with water. The founders
of religious houses generally chose for a situation some solitary,
unfrequented retreat, remote from the busy haunts and noisy
occupations of mankind; and the secluded nunnery at Moxby,
perched in the deep loneliness of a woody glen, was well adapted
for meditation and prayer: —
"Why should we doubt that in this solitude
Of woods, and trees, and brooks, and gentleness,
Full many a pious nun hath loved to brood,
Learning to commune with her heart, and bless
The God who gave her hope and happiness !"
After the Dissolution the monasteries reverted to the crown ,
and were either exchanged for other property or granted on
lease to various individuals. The nunnery of Moxby was con
verted into a family mansion, and the last occupant was Ma
dame Prince. Since then it has been rebuilt and modernized
into a farm house now occupied by Mr. Taylor. Some carved
stones, remains of columns, etc., have been dug up on the spot
where the nunnery stood.
The convent was dedicated to St. John, and the revenues
at the time of the surrender, were £32 6s. 2d. The first lady
abbess we have account of was Euphemia, 12 Dec, 1310. Eli
zabeth de Nevil was prioress about 1350, and Philippa Jenison
was the last, who with nine nuns surrendered the house to the
king. St. JOHN'S WELL.
About a mile distant from the nunnery at the corner of the
wood called St. John's wood, was formerly an ancient build
ing, consisting of a small dome of stone and brick, over a
spring, well known in the neighbourhood as " Saint John's
2d3

420 MOXBY NUNNERY.
Well." There is still discernible the remains of a causeway
leading from the nunnery in the direction of this well. The
water is reported to possess medicinal properties, and there is
a large and convenient stone cistern built on the east [side,
into which the water is admitted for the purpose of bathing.
It was much resorted to in the days of superstition, and
there are still the remains of stone steps for the more easy des
cent thereto. Near the mouth which admits the water into
the bath is a large stone called the wishing stone, and many a
faithful kiss has this stone received from those who were sup
posed never to fail in experiencing the completion of their
desires, provided the wish was delivered with full devotion and
confidence. The small estate of Moxby, consisting of three farms with
other property in the neighbourhood, was the property of the
late Honourable Sir Francis Lawley, the 7th baronet, and 2nd
son of the 5th baronet of that family, by the only daughter of
Beilby Thompson, of Screech, Esq. This noble family is
sprung from Thomas, cousin and heir of John Lord Wenlock,
privy councillor to Edward IV., and knight of the garter. The
6th baronet was created Baron Wenlock, a title which expired
with him, but was again conferred upon his next brother.
Arms — Argent, a cross-formee, chequy, or, and sable.

tytriff-IBttfta.

{Hotun — Domesday.

Shirhuton— ietoid.^Sherry-hutton— Camden.
Sheriff-Hutton.) '

jHERIFF-HUTTON from hone, a tumulus, of
which there are several adjoining the church, or
hufcfce, a cottage ; and con, a town, houe-town or
Hut-town. The term Sheriff was prefixed in
consequence of its owner, Bertram de Bulmer,
the founder of the castle, being appointed Sheriff of Yorkshire
in 1154, an office which he long held, and with much distinc
tion. *
At the time of the Norman Survey, William Malet had se
ven carucates of land which he bought of Sprot in Ho ton, for
ten marks of silver. Nigel Fossard held the land of Turulf
and Turchil, and Turstan, in Hotune, consisting of three ma
nors of four carucates, unjustly, which he gave up. into the
hands of King William. In Hottune, Sprot had seven caru-
eates. Gulbert, a vassal of Hugh's, had there one plough,
and eleven villeins with two ploughs. Ligulf held the manor
of Corlebrog, (Cornbrough,) where he had "nine carucates of
land to be taxed, and there might be six ploughs, Nigel then
had them of the Earl (Morton.) Also one villein with one
plough, and six acres of meadow. The, whole one mile long
and five quarentens broad. In the time of King Edward, (the
Confessor,) worth 20s. then 2s.
In later days the town consisted of sixteen carucates, four
teen of which were held by the Lords Nevil of Peter de Malo-
lacii, who held them of the king in capite.
Cornbrough contained seven carucates of land, whereof
four were held by Ralph Nevil, who held them of Peter de Ma-
lolacu, .and he of the 'king in capite. Robert Hacket held
under the same tenure, one carucate of Marmaduke Thwing,
and the other of the said Ralph. And the prior of Marton

422 SHERIFF-HUTTON.
held three and a half carucates, with a capital messuage and
six tofts, being confirmed to them by Peter de Malolacu.
Cornbrough appears to have been a country house of the
priors of Marton.
West Lilling was held under the same tenure by John de
Farlington, and Welleburne, (Welburn,) Terrintone, (Terring-
ton,) belonged to the soke of Sheriff-Hutton.
Farlington contained three carucates and one oxgang of
land held by John de Farlington of Ralph de Nevil, and he of
Peter de Malolacu, and he of the king in capite. The church
was endowed with two oxgangs of land, and was given to the
Priory of Marton with Sheriff-Hutton, and the prior and con
vent were bound to provide a priest, to celebrate in this chapel
at their own cost.
After the Norman Conquest, the earliest account we have
of the place is, that a castle was built here among the woods
by Bertram de Bulmer, in the reign of King Stephen A.D.
] 140, and in the civil wars between that prince and the Em
press Maud, was seized for the king by Alan, Earl of Brittany
and Richmond. It was afterwards purchased by Bertram, a
descendant of the founder, who gave it in marriage with his-
only daughter Emma, to Geoffrey de Nevil. Ralph de Nevil,
first Earl [of Westmoreland, rebuilt, enlarged, and strong
ly fortified this castle.
It remained in the possession of this noble family until the
death of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, who was slain at the
battle of Barnet, after which his lands were seized by Edward
IV., and this castle and manor were granted (with the confir
mation of an act of parliament) to Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
the king's brother, who had married Ann, the daughter of
Warwick. Richard, after the death of Edward IV. arrested
Anthony Woodville, Earl of Rivers, (who was conducting Ed
ward, the eldest son of the late king from Ludlow in Wales,
to London,) and sent him prisoner to Sheriff-Hutton Castle,
but he was afterwards removed to Pontefract Castle, and there
beheaded along with Lord Grey.
After Richard had accomplished his cruel purpose by mur
dering the two young princes (Edward V. and his brother,) he
imprisoned in this' ^castle, Edward Plantagenet, Earl of War-

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 423
wick, his brother Clarence's son, and also his niece the Prin
cess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV., on her refusal
to marry him, where they both continued in confinement till
the fatal affray of Bosworth-field. Drake thus.records the par
ticulars. " The first thing the victor (Henry, Earl of Richmond)
did, after his conquest near Bosworth, was to send immediate
ly for the Princess Elizabeth, the heiress of the house of York,
whom he had sworn to marry before his invasion. The mes
senger made use of by Henry was Sir John Halewell. The
Princess was conducted publickly to London, and a numerous
suit of nobility attended. But there was another of royal
blood in the same castle, to whom Henry's jealousy would not
allow such pageantry. This was no less a person than Ed
ward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, just then fifteen years of
age. The castle was then in the possession of the Nevilles.
We are told that Henry despatched away Sir Robert Willough-
by, the day after the battle, to take the prince from his keep
ers, and convey him privately to the tower of London; It was
not long after that this innocent youth shared the same fate
with his cousins; the difference only, that the former execra
ble deed is said to have been done in the dead of the night,
while Henry with as much justice caused the young prince to
he beheaded in open day light. In this prince the male line of
the Plantagenets failed. The Princess Elizabeth, then only
nineteen years of age was presently married to the king, by
which marriage, the houses of York and Lancaster were united."
During the time of the insurrections in the north, Henry
VII., who held the castle in his own hands, sent Thomas
Howard, Earl of Surrey, the hero of Flodden, and afterwards
Duke of Norfolk, to quell the insurgents and it appears that
he resided here between the years 1490 and 1500, as well as
probably at intervals in after years.
He had a grant of the castle for life, and dying in the year
1524, it a^ain reverted to the crown and became the residence
of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, (natural son to Henry
VIII. by the beautiful and accomplished Lady Tailbois, daugh
ter of Sir John Blount, and relict of Sir Gilbert Talbois.)
The young duke, though only six years of age, was appointed
by his father to be Lieutenant-General of the north, and warden

424 SHKKIFF-HUTTON.
of the Scottish marshes. He was attended by a council to as
sist him in the administration of public affairs. A letter, dated
Sheriff-Hutton, Nov. 1529, written by him from this place, a
copy of which appears in the 1st. vol. of Dr. Nott's memoirs,
alludes to Doctor Magnus of whom an account has been given
in connexion with Sessay, as the director of the council. The
duke is supposed to have quitted this castle in the following
year, 1530. The castle and manor continued in the possession
of the Crown till they were granted to Charles, Prince of Wales,
afterwards Charles I., who granted the castle and park to the
family of the Ingrams, Viscounts Irwine, and it is now the
property of Lady William Gordon, heiress of the late Countess
of Hertford, who was daughter of the tenth Viscount Irwine.
Leland gives the following description of this structure
while it was yet in its glory : — " The Castle of Shirhutton, as I
learned there, was builded by Rafe .Nevil of Raby, the first earl
of Westmoreland of the Neviles, and I heard that in hys time
he builded or greatly augmented or repaired 3 Castells byside.
There is a base court with houses of office beside the entering.
The castell itself in front is not ditched, but it standeth in loco
utcunque edito. I marked in the fore front of the first area of
the castell three greate and high Towres, of the which the
Gatehouse was the middle. In the second area be five or six
towres, and the statelie stair up to the Haul [is very magnifi-
cient, and so is the Haul itselfe, and all the residue of the
House, insomuch that I saw no house in the north so like
a princely lodging. This castell is well maintained by reason
that the late Duke of Norfolk lay theare ten yeares, and sins
then the Duke of Richmond. Ther is a park by it."
It stands upon a considerable elevation in front of the
village, and presents a quadrangular form, with a large open
court in the centre, and lofty square towers at each angle. A
part of the Warder's Tower is still remaining over the eastern
gateway. The wall of the south front projects several feet,
forming an obtuse angle, and the same peculiarity has existed
in a part of the eastern wall.
The south west tower is the highest part of the ruins, and
measures 100 feet. Underneath is a deep dungeon, 40 feet
by 20, the roof arched over with stone, semicircular, and the

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 425
walls 8 feet in thickness, cemented with very hard mortar.
Over this is an ancient chamber in good preservation, and
arched similarly to the dungeon.
The north-east tower, at right angles, has a very massive ap
pearance, being the strongest of the four. It contains another
dungeon, nearly similar to the former, and a chamber above
with a vaulted ceiling, in good preservation. A subterraneous
passage is said to have communicated with the towers but it
is now filled up with rubbish.
The south-east tower differs from all the rest, being sup
ported outwardly by strong buttresses. All the rooms in this
and the north-west tower are demolished. There have been
circular winding staircases in each tower, but the steps are
quite gone to ruin. The staircase, especially at the south
west corner, is of excellent masonry, and worthy of especial
notice. Indeed the whole of this massive structure still retains
convincing proofs of the feudal grandeur of the middle ages.
The principal entrance to the great court, or inner area of
the castle is on the east side, where is a somewhat low gateway
with a pointed arch, above which are the remains of the
Warder's Tower. Over the gateway are four shields of arms,
in a sunk tablet, each surrounded by a wreath, and exhibiting
the plain saltire of the Nevilles without other quarterings. The
third shield impales the royal arms, viz : quarterly, France (with
three fleurs-de-lys) and England, in commemoration of the
marriage of Ralph Nevil first Earl of Westmoreland with Joan,
daughter of John of Gaunt, son of Edward III. But it would
be difficult to conjecture, in the absence of all heraldic differ
ences, what branches of this great family the other shields
were intended to designate, (Earl Ralph having had no less
than two brothers and seven sons in the peerage;) or why, his
bearings should occupy this unmarked position among the
rest, instead of the place of distinction which we might expect
to have been assigned to the rebuilder of the pile. Possibly
the two former shields may be memorials of the two sons of
the Earl by his first wife, John Lord Neville, a commander
in the French wars under Henry V., and Ralph, who married
the heiress of the Lord Ferrers of Oversley, and bore that title,
the remaining shield to the left of his own escutcheon repre-

426 SHERIFF-HUTTON.
senting the first of his many children by his second marriage,
Richard, Earl of Salisbury, father of Hie king-maker, Warwick;
in which case" it will go far to fix the date at which the work
was completed as not long subsequent to 1426.
The romance of real life connected with Sheriff-Hutton
Castle throws a charm of interest around these frowning tow
ers, as we first enter the portals through which Woodville and
Warwick were led hence to execution, and the king-maker
marched in and out to uphold a Yorkist or a Lancastrian
pretender to the Crown.
After the departure of the young Duke of Richmond from
the castle, the days of its former glory were numbered, and
towards the latter part of that century it was deserted and the
work of demolition commenced.
In the time of James I. the castle was in almost total ruin.
Its walls were dismantled by workmen employed for that pur
pose, and not by the ravages of time or the violence of war.
On the south front of the castle are two oblong moats or
double fosses, each about two hundred yards in length, and six
yards wide; but they do not appear to have surrounded the
building. On the north side is a small ravine, which contains
an old well of excellent water. The grounds around the castle
and town are strangely diversified with dells and hollows, but
whether they are the effect of nature or art is difficult to deter
mine. The "Stately Haul" spoken of by Leland is no longer to
be seen. The festive board is no longer spread, — the min
strel's song no more heard. The Countess of Surrey with the
fair and beautiful damsels of the north, who composed the
Crown of Laurel for the poet laureate (Skelton) at Sheriff-Hut
ton Castle, and a far greater poet, the accomplished Surrey
himself, who was in all probability its inmate either when oc
cupied by the head of his own family or by Richmond, with
whom he was educated and lived in the most intimate friend
ship, all have disappeared ; and we are forcibly reminded of
the period, when " Princes sat where nettles grow."
In December 1 642, at the commencement of the civil war,

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 427
Sir Henry Slingsby, with a part of the royal forces were en
camped at Sheriff-Hutton, but no mention is made of the cas
tle. "We marched," says Sir Henry, "ye first night to Sheriff-
Hutton & there lay 2 nights. Lieutenant King being sent to
view y* place; y" after we had our army drawn up together in
ye park, & so march'd forward to Stamford Bridge & so to
Pocklington."1 The Park formerly connected with the castle, was granted
by James I. to Sir Arthur Ingram, Knt., for the rent of eight
pounds. It was at that time well stocked with deer, and
contained about 4000 decayed or decaying oaks, one of the
survivors which was blown down some years ago, was known
by the name of the "Warwick Oak." Tradition says, that it
was the limit to which the unfortunate young Warwick was
permitted to extend his walks while a prisoner in the castle.
This Sir Arthur built the hall, and Charles I. regranted the
park with "its appurtenances, franchise, and privileges" to
Sir Thomas Ingram, his heirs, and assigns, for ever.
In the reign of Charles II. the estate was purchased by Ed
ward Thompson, Esq., who was seated at the Hall. It is now
occupied by Leonard Thompson, Esq., a branch of the an
cient family of Thompson, of Kilham. He married 2 May,
1831, Lady Mary Wentworth Fitz- William, second daughter of
Charles William, Earl Fitz- William.
Arms — Quarterly; first and fourth, per fess argent and sable a fess
counter-embattled between three falcons counterchanged, belled and jes
sed, or, for Thompson. Second and third, argent three bars gemeles sa
ble over all a lion rampant gules charged on the shoulder with a crosslet
fitchee or, for Marwood, impaling or, ten trefoils slipped vert, four, three,
two, and one, a canton gules for Turton.
The Church, dedicated to St. Helen, was an ancient rectory
belonging to the patronage of the Mauleys, till it was given by
Peter de Mauley third Lord of Mulgrave, to the prior and
convent of Marton, to which it was appropriated, and a vicarage
ordained therein, Id. Oct. 1 332, and a new ordination was
made by Archbishop Nevil, 13th Jan., 1376.
At the Dissolution, the patronage came to the Crown, and
1 Sir Henry Slingsby's Correspondence, p. 88.

428 SHERIFF-HUTTON.
the rectory and advowson were given to the see of York in ex
change. The archbishops of York have presented ever since.
The church consists of a nave, chancel, north and south
aisles, and tower. It appears to have been built about the time
of Henry III. A.D., 1250. The eastern window is large and
composed of handsome curvilinear tracery, with some frag
ments of stained glass, among which may be noticed the head
of a monk bearing a crosier on his shoulder; and in another
compartment, part of the royal arms of England. Some of the
other windows are of a similar style of architecture, but others
are insertions with square heads of about the time of Elizabeth.
In connexion with this church were two chantries, one in
the castle and another at Cornbrough, endowed with rents,
and farms, and a pension. Edward III. in consideration of
the great services done by Ralph Nevil, granted him certain
privileges for the maintenance of two priests, to celebrate
divine service daily in the parish church, for the good estate of
himself during Ufe, and afterward for the health of the souls of
his father and mother, and all his ancestors.
In 1349, Ralph de Nevil or Dame Alice de Nevil founded a
chantry on the south side of the church at the altar of St. Mary,
whereupon were given and assigned to the vicar of the church
and his successors certain lands, for which he was to find one
fit priest perpetually to celebrate mass for the soul of the said
Alice. In the north aisle is an altar tomb supporting the full length
figure of a recumbent knight in armour, with his legs crossed,
and a lion couchant at his feet. His hands are clasped over
his breast, and the shield on the left arm displays these bear
ings. On a fess between three eaglets close, as many escal
lops. On the face of the tomb are five shields, the first and fifth
bearing a fess between three martlets ; second, quarterly a bend ;
third, on a fess between three martlets, as many mullets; fourth,
on a bend three  On a flat stone, beside the monument,
having at its angles grooves for four small scrolls, now robbed
of their brasses, is a shield, bearing three eaglets close, impa
ling the arms already described as on the knight's shield, and
on a larger scroll, the following inscription, by which it ap
pears that Thomas Wytham had built a porch and his wife Ag-

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 429
nes had founded a chapel, and endowed a chantry in the church.
"toiitakm fen jjuiM tt ista allium
fit ratttaraw Mm ptyrtmm
imhnf $pf % jfmiu iftgtfjant miwrm, sotpt
Jptte sjtons*, pi sinral ftic mutant,"
The impalement on the shield above this inscription would
seem to indicate that Thomas Wytham had married the heir
ess of the family to which the cumbent knight belonged, but his
name unfortunately cannot be ascertained. The second shield
on the face of the tomb resembles that quartered by the Nevil
les for Fitz-Richard viz. — Quarterly or and gules, a bend sable ;
and he was not improbably a connexion of that family, and
seneschal of the castle under one of its early lords.
In the same aisle is an alabaster monument sustaining
the recumbent figure of a young person of high rank, his
head resting on cushions, and encircled by a coronet, his hands
uplifted as in prayer, his dress the loose furred robe of the fif
teenth century. The lower part of the effigy has been destroy
ed, and the escutcheons, canopied niches, and other ornaments
of the altar tomb on which it rests are much defaced; but a
shield at the head, surmounted like the effigy by a coronet, re
tains the plain cross of St. George. This tomb must as well
as the former be unappropriated, but it can only have belong
ed to the scion of a noble line, and if of the family in posses
sion of the place, the appearance in so prominent a position,
of St. George's cross instead of the saltire of the Nevilles would
almost point to a Plantagenet as its occupant, after Sheriff-Hut
ton had passed from its ancient lords to the royal house, or at
all events after they had formed those alliances with royalty,
which commencing with the first Earl Ralph, were continued
in "the two following generations.
One very remarkable representation which forms the central
ornament on the face of the altar tomb must not pass unno
ticed. It is that of a venerable figure crowned and enthroned,
doubtless intended for the King of Heaven, having immediately
before him the form of the Saviour suspended on the cross, and
at the right side a kneeling suppliant in armour, from whose

430 SHERIFF-HUTTON.
mouth and uplifted hands proceed a scroll which enters the
ear of the principal object, and is obviously designed to signify
the offering up of prayer for the departed by a surviving friend.
Divested it is to be hoped of all danger as incentives to super
stition or idolatry in our own day, such relics which are occa
sionally found in obscure and unnoticed parts of our ancient
churches are valuable as evidences of what is now frequently
and boldly denied, that representations of the Supreme Deity,
justly liable to the imputation of fostering material and idola
trous conceptions of His spiritual nature and the worship to be
rendered to Him, ever were among the ornaments of our church
es, and the objects of popular veneration, so as to render im
perative the Reformation in these respects which was happily
accomplished in the sixteenth century.2
On the altar-step is a small brass on which are two effigies,
male and female, swathed in grave clothes, much resembling
those of Egyptian mummies, with their heads on pillows, and
at their feet this inscription : —
f it <§axsi\m Jftnjjs mftt %$t piesrit
|n otia iatrar fcwsnjtatg' tiktsat
%\mn gam mimk Tarn
%m& Karaites lite' teaFftaa
firtate fraentes %°. M 1491.
This seems to be meant for Latin verse, and, uncontracted
would read thus : —
Hie Dorothea Henys cum fratre Johanne quiescit,
In cunctis lauro donata utcunque virescit,
Thomas Dacre, carissima consors Anna, parentes
Illorum fuerant, clara virtute fruentes.
Anno Domini 1491.
B A very similar representation occurs at Carlton Church near Work
sop, except that instead of the kneeling suppliant and scroll, two angels
are presenting incense beside the ears of the crowned and enthroned figures
whose hands are raised in the act of benediction, four others receive in
chalices the blood from the wounds of the crucified Saviour, to whom the
Virgin Mary and St. John are looking up on each side of the knees of the
central object of adoration. It was a few years since discovered lying on
its face on the north aisle, and has been removed from the church but is
preserved in the neighbouring manor of Carlton Hall.

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 431
A marriage with the heiress of the Lords Dacre of the
south carried that title to the Ffenys or Fienes family; but the
above, if Collins be correct, must record another connexion
between the same families ; for the heiress of Thomas, Lord
Dacre, who married Richard Ffenys, and in whose right he was
declared Lord Dacre in 1458, was Joan not Dorothy. The
only probable link of connexion between the name of Ffenys
and Sheriff-Hutton which has fallen under our notice is the
circumstance that Sir William Ffenys, Lord Say and Sele,
cousin of the Richard above mentioned, attended King Edward
IV. into the north, and was made Vice-Admiral to Richard
Neville, the great Earl of Warwick and High Admiral of Eng
land, 1461.
A single and frail memorial of another noble family, much
more closely and permanently connected with the place, must
conclude our survey of the relics of fallen greatness in this
structure. It is preserved in a pennon suspended at the east
end of the south aisle. The arms which it displays in faded
blazoning, viz. — Quarterly, first and fourth, barry of eight,
argent and gules, over all a cross-fleury sable for Gower; sec
ond, or, two bends azure for D'Oyley; third, azure, three lau
rel leaves erect, or, for Leveson ; impaling, sable, a chevron
between three leopards' heads caboshed, or, for Wentworth ;
assign it to Edward, eldest son of Sir Thomas Gower, of Stit
tenham, Bart., (1630) by Frances, daughter and coheiress of
Sir John Leveson, of Haling, in Kent. He died before his
father, having married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Went
worth of Elm sal, in Yorkshire. The crest of Gower, a wolf
passant argent, collared and chained, or, appears on the helmet,
which, with gauntlets, shield, and spurs, the usual funereal
trophies, accompany the banner. It hangs from the south wall
of the aisle over a large blue slab which is said to mark the bu
rial-place of the Gowers, but the inscription is effaced.
They were possessed of Stittenham, which is within view of
the church, at the time of the Norman Conquest, when Sir Al
lan Gower their ancestor was Sheriff of Yorkshire, and having
been engaged in the most important transactions, as knights and
baronets, in almost every subsequent reign, attained to the
dignity of the peerage, in the person of Sir John Leveson Gow-
2e

432 SHEKIFF-HUTTON.
er, who was created Baron Gower. of Stittenham, in 1703, and
to its highest rank, on the advancement of the Marquis of Staf
ford, who also bore the titles of Earl Gower and Viscount
Trentham, to the Dukedom of Sutherland, in 1833. But of
all the eminent names which have distinguished its annals,
whether in war or peace, none can claim a higher place than
Sir John Gower, the poet, whom Chaucer acknowledged as his
master, as well as friend and coadjutor, in polishing and adorn
ing the English language, whom he addresses as "moral Gow
er," and whom some regard as the "father of English poetry."
The last of his works is said to have owed its origin to King
Richard II., who, meeting the poet one day upon the Thames,
called him into the royal barge, and commanded him to
"booke some new thing." He was born at Stittenham in
1320; 3 appears to have succeeded his elder brother Sir Tho
mas in the family estate, which continues in his descendants;
and to have died full of years and honours, after having for
some time endured, like other distinguished ppets, the afflic
tion of blindness, in the year 1402. A few mournful lines of
his fixes the date of his affliction : —
"Henry the Fourth's first year, I lost my sight,
Condemned to suffer life, devoid of light.
AH things to time must yield, and nature draws
What force attempts in vain beneath her laws,
What can I more ? For though my will supplies,
My ebbing strength the needful power denies.
While that remained, I wrote ; now, bid and Weak,
What wisdom dictates let young scholars speak.
May those who follow be sublimer still,
My toils are finished, here I drop my quill."
He was buried under a sumptuous monument in St. Mary
Overies Church, Southwark, whichhe had greatly contributed
to rebuild, and it is gratifying to know that his effigy, the head
resting on his three most valued works, has survived the taste
less demolition of a great part of that beautiful pile in very
recent days.
The superior attractions of Trentham have led to the aban-
3 Fuller's "Worthies Of England," ii. 513. See also "Leland," and
" Magna Britannia." VI. 589.

SHERIFF-HUTTON. 433
donment of their parent house of Stittenham, by its modern
owners, and it shares with Sheriff-Hutton, ofwhichitis apart,
in a general air of loneliness aud decline; but spots where
Gower and Chaucer, as well as Surrey and Skelton, may with
out any stretch of imagination be believed to have strayed, to
say nothing of hosts of politic statesmen and redoubted war
riors, can never be other than sacred and classic ground, to the
thoughtful observer.
The first vicar of Sheriff-Hutton Church was Dominus
William de Garton, 16th January, 1281, who was appointed
by the prior and convent of Marton. The present vicar is the
Rev. Thomas Myers instituted in 1848.
The river Foss approaches within a short distance of the
town, and is -navigable from York to Sheriff-Hutton Bridge.
Acts of parliament were obtained in 1793 and 1801 for making
this river navigable as far as Stillington Mill, but this has
not been nor is it now likely to be effected.
In the year 1377 (temp. ¦Richard II.) Ralph Neville the
founder of the eastle, obtained a charter for a weekly market
upon the Monday at his manor of Sheriff-Hutton, and a fair
yearly on the^Eveof the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, (Sept.
14,) the day, and two days following, both which have been
since discontinued.
Sheriff-Hutton is situated in a rich and fertile district, a
short distance from the Howardian Hills, which divide the
Vale of York from Ryedale, in the Wapentake and Deanery of
Bulmer, and Archdeaconry of Cleveland. It is 8 miles from
Easingwold, 9 from Malton, and 11 from York.
The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists have each a cha
pel here, and the former a day school connected therewith.
There is also a national school. For -a list of charities see Law-
-ton's Collectio rerum Ecelesiastiearum, vol. ii. p. 464. Popu
¦lation> about 900.

2j£2

lllilrargj}.

(Iseur. — Brit. Isurium — Roman. Burgh — Saxon. Aldburgh.)

LDBURGH was the Iseur of the Druids and Bri
tons, the Isurium of the Romans, the Burgh, and
afterwards the Aldburgh of the Saxons. It is sup
posed to have taken its original name from Isis,
a deity worshipped here, and "Eurus'' or "Ure,"
the river near which the city stood.
Previous to the Roman conquest it was the seat of the Bri-
gantian kings, and the chief city of this part of Britain. Here
reigned, before the year 50, Venutius and his Queen Cartisman-
dua, who were afterwards subdued by the Roman power, and
by whom, after having defended his country against the Ro
mans for nine successive years, was the brave Caractacus, King
of the Silures, treacherously delivered into the hands of his
enemies. The conquest of Britain was completed about the year 79,
after which Isurium Brigantum became the northern metro
polis of the Romans, previous to their removal to Eboracum or
York. After the departure of the Romans, the city continued for
300 years, namely, till the year 766, when the Danes sacked*
and burnt it to ashes. It is said to have suffered a second de
population by William the Conqueror after the destruction
of the garrison at York. The marks of fiery desolation are '
still evident upon the ruined walls and towers of the city, which
have lately been explored and laid bare by A. Lawson, Esq,,
the owner of the soil.
In the autumn of 1846, the " Archaeological Institute of
Great Britain and Ireland" visited Aldburgh, having caused a
previous survey to be made of the antiquities of this ancient
,4 Higden's Polychron. ¦¦

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ALDBURGH. 435
city. When so learned a body have published an account of
what was discovered at that time, it would ill become the hum
ble author of this short sketch to profess to re-describe what
they have so amply illustrated; but having visited Aldburgh, he
is enabled by the kind assistance of Mr. Lawson, to present to
the readers of the Vallis Eboracensis a condensed account of
the recent interesting discoveries of the place.
The foundations of the city walls have lately been cleared
to such an extent as to enable us to give a correct representa
tion of the city. It is now clearly observable that two of the
angles of the city are in accordance with the accompanying lith
ograph, and this representation is supported by Vitruvius who
says that "cities are not to be formed quadrangularly, or with
projecting angles, for those projecting angles are difficult to
defend, and are a greater security to the enemy than to the
city."8 At the south-east corner, the walls are of increased thick
ness, measuring 16 feet, while the ordinary thickness is but 12
feet. On the south side have lately been discovered the foun
dations of several square towers. The ruined interiors where
once the brave Brigantes defended their homes, are now covered
with shrubs and rare plants.
In the upper gardens of Mr. Lawson are the foundations
and part of the remains of a hypocaust. The heating depart
ment and part of the flues, which are composed of fluted tiles,
are distinctly visible. The descent to the bath is by steps,
the floor of which is composed of thick cement, faced with
minute pieces of red tile. At another place ¦ a small archway
supplied the baths with water, in which were discovered some
jet ornamented mouldings, a large earthenware vessel, suppo
sed to be the "elaio-thesium" or receptacle for oil, used for
anointing after bathing, which opinion is strengthened by
two bronze " strigiles," or " scrapers " being found near it. On
the south end of the bath were discovered a large quantity of
oyster shells and bone's, and amongst them a bronze oyster
knife. These rooms have evidently been the eating rooms, as
it was customary with the Romans always to eat immediately
5 Vitruvius, p. 14.
2e3

436 ALDBURGH.
after bathing. On the side of the bath was a Small room, pro
bably used as a robing room.
At a short distance from the hypocaust are two "molse versa-
tiles " or hand mills,- a variety of which have been found on
these grounds. These mills were used both by the an
cient Britons and the Romans for grinding the "quernse glan-
des," or acorns, which were so plentiful in the adjoining forest
of Galtres. The Saxons called them querns.
Among the more recent discoveries may be mentioned se
veral cinerary urns, which have been dug up on the exterior
of the wall, on the eastern side of the city. This place is
known by the name of " Red hills," and appears to have been
the "ustrinum" or place for burning the bodies on the ppra or
funeral pile. A rogus at the south-west corner, on which the
bodies were burnt, has been found, and still rernains in situ.
It has no doubt taken the name of "Red-hills" from the fre
quency of the red blaze on the funeral pile. At a short distance
from the rogus is a perfect urn, in the place where it was dis
covered. It is twenty inches in diameter at the mouth, and
two feet deep.
One of the most remarkable of the recent discoveries is a
long corridor, which appears to have been open on one side and
supported by oak pillars, the remains of which were found
in the sockets on the low wall. The opposite side was closed
in by a wall built of red stone, and covered with slates, fixed
with iron nails, several of which are still found adhering to the
slates. The part already opened measures fifty feet in length,
but it is not terminated at either end, as there are dwelling-
houses, which prevent further clearing. The corridor presents
various patterns of tessellated pavement, among which may be
noticed, " the Amazonian-battle-axe," as at Pompeii; the dia
mond pattern, which continually recurs; the square border
pattern, &c.
Before we enter upon a general description of the antiqui
ties, we cannot pass without a brief mention, though so frequent
ly noticed, the "Museum Isurianum." It stands upon the
highest point of the grounds, is built with Roman tiles and
Roman mortar, the floor laid with tessella?, and the walls lined
with fine old carved oak from top to bottom. It contains an

ALDBURGH. 437
interesting deposit of rare and valuable antiquities, but our
business is with the more recent discoveries, among which
we may notice an ancient British idol, supposed by some to be
the Dui Civitatis Brigantum, or tutelar god of the city of the
Brigantes, to whom a votive altar was found at Gretland in the
West-Riding. fi
It would fill a volume to catalogue all the curiosities
oollected in this interesting repository. We can but briefly
glance at a few, among which is the stucco from the basilica
(similar specimens to which were found at Pompeii); stucco
found on the newly discovered walls; a silver stylus; bronze
boar's head; bronze stag's head; bronze duck; bronze image
and a bell; bronze phallus; beads of glass and a bronze eagle
broach; thuribule, enamelled; a spoon; lyre-shaped fibulas;
spatulas; remains of an altar; ornamented capital; sepulchral
stone; ornamented base, and an ornamented Samian vase of
so lively a colour as to resemble coral. Several of these vessels
of finer workmanship are unfortunately broken, but some of
them are sufficiently perfect to shew the pattern. A rarer spe
cimen of workmanship is seldom met with than the Samian
vase of the "lily leaf pattern," of which one side, top and bot
tom, are perfect. There is also the entire pattern on the side
of a fine Samian bowl, consisting of an eagle, the acanthus leaf,
and Caryatides. There are two bottoms of patera? of this ware,
one with necres on it, and another with Balrinus. But the
devices on the parts of patterns remaining are truly fanciful.
We may instance those representing "two men cutting off the
head of a woman;" "fox and grapes;" "dogand stag;" "apeli-
can;" "a standard-bearer;" "a lion;" "a wild boar, speared;"
"Hercules and club;" "Cupid;" "a palm leaf;" "an enemy
kneeling with the Roman eagle pecking at his knees," others
with letters on the side as imanni, outside a bowl the vine and
acanthus pattern, and one with a horse, and a child playing
near a woman having a head dress of the noted " Galerus or
helmet fashion," and the inscription C. O. B. (which we venture
to interpret, Conjugi optima? Britannica?,) considering it as a
token of gallantly from a Roman soldier to his British good
housewife. Confirmatory of this, we see on another vase, a fe-
6 Camden's Britannia, vol. ii. p, 851.

438 ALDBURGH.
male with a similar countenance, shape, and gait, having a Bri
tish bascauda, or basket (for which Britain was famous,) on her
head. We may also notice a number of urns-, both plain and or
namented, some of which contain bones ; two white vases of
the "creta figlina," and a flower-pot with a tray attached to
it, having a hole for the water to run through. The pot -is of
a figured pattern, and one of the Editors of the Dictionary of
Antiquities thought it so curious, that he regretted the publi
cation of that work of standard authority before he had seen it.
A most perfect specimen of a large patera of white ware has
also been discovered at the south-east angle of the city within
the walls, in a good state of preservation. On the rim on both
sides, is inscribed MAAAA. It is of superior workmanship
and appears to have been a sacrificing vessel. Pieces of rims
of similar patera? have V. A. on one side ([civitas] Victris An-
tiqua,) on another Q. On the handle of the large amphora is
L. C. F. P. C. most probably a contraction of Lucius Cerealis
fecit Prsefectus castrorum ;) on another is C. I. I. B., a con
traction of (Civitas Indigena Isurii Brigantum.) On another,
R. V. A., (Romana, Valens, Antiqua,) shewing that Aldburgh,
at the most early period to which we can refer, boasted of its
antiquity. We may also notice the gladiatorial combat; a truncated
Hermes, or figure of Mercury, found by Mr. Duncombe, and
presented to the museum ; fragmental pillar; several iron keys
and buckles; knives, one with ring attached; ditto with han
dle; sacrificial knife; bowl with musical figures; ditto with
cupids; jet ring and other ornaments; two silver rings ; beads;
enamelled glass ; spoons ; a die, not unlike the modern, found
near the city wall, gambling no doubt having occupied the
leisure hours of the Roman soldiery; articles for textorial pur
poses; a pair of tongs ; a file; shears, &c, &c.
A large collection of wild boars' tusks from the neighbour
ing Forest of Galtres. "Stags' horns," one of which has been
sawn off with a very fine saw, similar to one found under St.
Paul's, London, where a heathen temple once stood.
Aldburgh contains a larger quantity of the Romano-British
pavement than any other place in the British dominions. Al-

ALDBURGH. 439
most every dwelling can boast its tessellated pavement and its
museum of antiquities. The gardens of Mr. Lawson may truly
be described as classic ground.
Among the ruins of Aldburgh a larger collection of coins,
some of an earlier and some of later date, have been discovered
than even in the Eboracum of the Romans. The following are
from Mr. Lawson's collection, (1) Nero, Vitellius, (17) Vespa
sian, (10) Domitian, (2) Nerva, (22) Trajan, (1 1) Hadrian, (1)
Sabina, wife of Hadrian, (13) Antoninus Pius, (5) Faustina,
wife of Pius, (10) Marcus Aurelius, (3) Faustina (Marci,) (1) Lu-
cilla, (3) Commodus, (5) Severus, (2) Julia, wife of Severus.
These are all prior to Eboracum, after which there are abun
dance of coins of Caracalla, Geta, Elagabalus, Severus, Alexan
der, and the subsequent emperors, down to Maximus, the
murderer of Gratianus Magnus.
At a short distance from Aldburgh are three large obelisks,
commonly called the Devil's arrows. The general opinion of
the learned respecting them is, that they are of Druidical ori
gin. In the time of Leland, in 1 534, four of these stones were
standing: but Camden says that one of them was taken down
with the expectation of finding money, and used for a foot
bridge, and in modern times for the foundation of a new bridge
over the Tut. 7 Those which now remain consist of large solid
rag or mill-grit stones. The central one is 22^ feet high, and
is estimated to weigh thirty tons. The others are very similar
in height and size. These obelisks or arrows are of the same
kind of stone as is found in the quarry at Plumpton, near
Knaresburgh, about 10 miles distant.
Their proximity to Aldburgh has induced many to suppose
them Roman works, raised to commemorate some important
victory; but they bear no marks of Roman elegance or any
traces of inscriptions, and what Drake considered as a convin
cing proof of their Roman origin, that the foundations were
laid with the same clay and pebble as the walls of Aldburgh,
is now considered a convincing proof that they are of British
foundation, the walls of Aldburgh having been originally
founded by the Britons and built upon by the Romans.
1 Tut, a contraction of Tutelina, one of the heathen deities who had the
tutelage of corn.

440 ALDBURGH.
That celebrated antiquary, Dr. Stukeley, says, " Here was
in British times, the great panegyre of the Druids, the Mid
summer meeting of all the country round, to celebrate the great
quarterly sacrifice, accompanied with sports, games, races, and
all kinds of exercises, like the Panathensean, Olympian, and Ne-
masan meetings and games of the Greeks. These obelisks
were as the metse of the races; the remembrance of which is
transmitted in the great fair held here on St. Barnabas'*day."
During the Saxon period Aldburgh continued in the state
of gradual decline which seems to have commenced with the
rise of its rival Eboracum, and other causes subsequently came
into operation which completed the alienation of its ancient
honours. At the period immediately previous to the Conquest
the manor of Burc (Aldburgh), one mile long and one mile
broad, was in the hands of Edward the Confessor. It contain
ed with its three villages, Clareton, Hilton, and Burton, 34
carucates of taxable land. In the year 1085, it was waste in
the hands of the king, who had there six villeins, with five
ploughs. To this manor also pertained the socage of Ellen-
thorp, Milby, Fellescliffe, Killinghall, Clifton, Timble, Wipeley,
and Stainly.
The Wapentake is designated in Domesday Borgescire
from Ald-burgh, the capital, and in another place7 the wapen
take of Gereburg, the prefix being evidently a remnant of the
British name Caer, by which all walled burghs were designa
ted. The place of assembly was in a Berewick belonging to it,
named Clare-tun, about four miles from Burgh, where as usual
an artificial mound or "hoh" was raised, called from the town
clare-hoh, (whence the more modern name of the wapentake
Claro,) and now clare-hill.
In the reign of Henry I. the royal manors of Burg and
Chenaresburgh (Knaresbrough,) were given by that monarch
to Eustace Fitz-John, who accounted for them separately in
the Exchequer Rolls of tb.6 31 Hen. I., which alone have come
down to us. "Eustachius filius Johannis reddit compotum de
xxn." numero de firma de Burg et de Chenardesburg. In
thesauro ix". Et in operibus Regis de Chenardesburg. xiuper
breve Regis. Et quietus est." It is thus certain that the
?F. page 379. a. i.

ALDBURGH. 441
honour of Knaresburgh did not descend to Eustace Fitz-John
as nephew and next heir of Serlo de Burg, the pretended found
er of the castle, but that he occupied it simply as "custos" and
that the works were carried on for the king. The site of
Knaresburgh being more favourable for defence than that of
Burg or Aldburgh, and the building of the castle there by Hen
ry I., having given it a supremacy over the old capital of the
shire or wapentake, had caused it in 1177 to be named
before Burg, in the grant made to William de Stuteville, by
Henry II. The diversion of the main line from Watling-street,
and the erection of a stone bridge over the Ure, higher up the
river than the Burgh, hastened its decay. Before the close of
the reign of Henry III. another town had sprung up at the
new place of crossing the Ure, as appears from franchises hav
ing been granted by that king to the "Homines de Pont-de-
Burc"' about which there seems to have been some dispute
which had led to the payment of a fine of ten marks to the
crown as early as 6 Richard I.
This new town arose to considerable historic note about
fifty years after, as the scene of the conflict in which Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster was defeated by the forces of Edward II. un
der Sir Andrew Harclay. afterwards Earl of Carlisle. The bat
tle of Boroughbridge was fought March 16th, 1321—2, and
the earl having been taken, with sixty-five of the leaders of his
party, was beheaded at Pontefract six days after. The bridge
which gave name to the place, now a handsome stone structure,
was then of wood, for Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford,
one of the insurgent lords, received his death wound while
passing over it, being pierced, from beneath, by the lance of a
Welshman, through an aperture between the beams.
In the reign of Henry VI., (1441,) while John Kemp was
cardinal and archbishop of York, an affray took place between
the king's foresters and the bishop's collectors, which is thus
epitomised from the Plumpton Correspondence, and which we
insert as furnishing some curious particulars as to the state of
society at Boroughbridge and the neighbourhood during that
unsettled period. It appears that the bishop claimed and col
lected toll at Ripon and Otley, and such was the dislike of the
people to these levies that riots and broils were the conse-

412 ALDBURGH.
qu'enee. On the 4th May, 1441, Sir William Plumpton and
others laid in wait at Skit-brig, and another party laid in wait
at Burgh-brig, to beat and slay the officers of the cardinal that
had been at Ripon fair to collect toll. The cardinal's servants
hearing of the ambush, went by Thornton Bridge, but the am
buscade learning their intention, went to Thornton Bridge and
Helperby, where they knew the officers and servants must pass,
and "there fastened a lidyate in the high way at the town end
of Helperby, towards York, with sticks, thorns, and otherwise,"
to stop the cardinal's men there. And when they came near
Thornton Bridge, Sir William Plumpton with a great company
of the foresters from Burg-brig, were in possession of the pass,
whereupon the cardinal's men, to avoid bloodshed, took them
to a ford, half a mile thence, called Brafferton-ford. Having
passed the ford, Sir William and his men followed close upon
them, and the cardinal's men finding the lidyate fastened and
their passage stopped, were compelled by the pursuit and
shote of the rioters to seek other ways, some by a long strait
lane; and some by breaking off an hedge into a field, upon
whom the said foresters followed and drove into a mire near
at hand, noising and crying "Sley the archbishop's carles," and
" would to God we had the archbishop here." In the which
pursuit, assaulte, and shote, there was slaine, Robert Hunter,
a gentleman, and Thomas Rooper, yeoman, and about twenty
dangerously wounded. Several of the cardinal's servants were
also taken prisoners, among whom were two squires — Peres
of Cawood, and Thomas Mayne, and Henry Fox, a yeoman.
Several horses were killed and wounded, and many of the car
dinal's men were dispoiled of their horses, harnesse, gold, and
silver. Such is the cardinal's account of the fray at Helperby, but
the misdoers say that the cardinal kept his town of Ripon at
fair-times like a town of war, so that none of the king's servants
for the term of three years might " utter their caffer " wherewith
to pay his farme at terms accustomed, or durst come into it
for dread of death. And moreover the cardinal's men went
robling up the saide towne and downe, threatening the foresters
and vowing summary vengeance upon them — and when the
men of Burg-brig were informed that the cardinal's collectors,

ALDBURGH. 443
with the watchmen had designed to pass through Burg-brig,
they sent word unto Sir William Plumpton, justice and stew
ard of the said lordship, of this purpose, who aided the said
tenants, with the intent to have arrested certain persons of
the cardinal's servants " that had fairen foule with one of the
aforesaid tenant's wife, of the said forest, at the said towne of
Ripon, on a market day, late afore this last faire."8
Boroughbridge, having attained to equal honours with Ald
burgh as a parliamentary borough, enabled one Yorkshire pa
rish, of no considerable population, to rival the metropolis of
Great Britain in its share in the national representation, and
was long among the favourite themes of reforming oratory as
an instance of the anomalies in our constitutional system, has
now little to boast over the parent whose decline it hastened.
Both have lost their parliamentary distinctions, the memorials
of departed greatness ; and the diversion of the main line to the
north from Watling-street, could not have been more injurious
to ancient Isurium than the recent introduction of railroads
and the consequent changes of route to the towns towards
which Boroughbridge was formerly the great thoroughfare, have
( proved detrimental to its prosperity.
We find the manor of Aldburgh in the possession of a fam
ily deriving their name from the place, and of whom a pedigree
is given in an "Index of Yorkshire families" in the Cathedral
Library at Durham, commencing with William de Aldburgh,
Knight, summoned to parliament as a baron in I. Richard II.
(1377„) and closing with Richard Aldburgh, of Aldburgh, who
represented the borough in parliament, in 1645. The line
seems to have ended in heirs female, about 1727. Their arms
and quarterings as given in this document are: —
First and fourth, Aldburgh, Azure a fess between three crosslets argent;
Second, Mauleverer, Sable, three hounds couchant in pale or, collared ar
gent; Third, Colvil, Or, a fess gules, in chief three torteaux; Fourth Wy-
cliffe, Argent, a chevron sable, between three crosslets gules; Fifth, Eller-
ton, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three stags' heads caboshed, of the field.
Crest— On a wreath argent and azure, an antelope passant or.
The Aldburgh estates passed from the Aldburghs to the
8 " Historical Notices " in the Plumpton Correspondence, printed for
the Camden Society, 1839.

444 ALDBURGH,
Tancreds and Wilkinsons and so to their present representa
tive A. Lawson, Esq., who is lord of the manor, a deputy
lieutenant for the West-Riding, an acting magistrate for the
North and West Ridings, and liberty of Ripon, and is lineally
descended from Sh George Lawson, Lord Mayor of York and
Treasurer of Berwick-on- Tweed, in 1580.
Arms: — Paley of four, gules and vert, on a chevron or, a greyhound's
head, erased sable, between two cinquefoils azure, -a, chief of the third,
charged with an ogress, thereon a demi-lion rampant argent, between two
crescents of the fourth, on each three plates.
The old manor-house of Aldburgh stands a short distance.
from the church, over which is the following quaint inscrip
tion : — " This is the ancient manor-house,
And in it you may see
The Bomans' works,
A great curiositie."
The present manor-house is situated upon the foundation
of the ancient wall of Isu-Brigantum at the west entrance. It
is a neat and commodious structure occupied by A. Lawson,
Esq. The interior of the hall is fitted up in a style corres
ponding with the taste of its owner, and in character with the
antiquities by which it is surrounded.
Mr. Lawson has another handsome mansion-house of the
Elizabethan period, at Boroughbridge, in which also are pre
served some remains of the antiquities of Isurium.
There seems to have been a superior manor to that of the
Aldburghs which after having been granted as we have seen to
Eustace Fitz-John by Hen. I. and William de Stuteville, by
Hen. II., and afterwards to Piers Gaveston, by Edward ,11. is
stated to have remained in the crown till Charles I. sold it to
certain citizens of London, from whom it passed through sev
eral hands till purchased by John, Duke of Newcastle in 1701 ,
whose descendants held it till the disfrahchisement of the
boroughs of Aldburgh and Boroughbridge in 1834, when the
late duke sold it to the present proprietor.
We now turn to the ecclesiastical structures which have
succeeded to the mouldering relics of Pagan worship, Druidi
cal or Roman, at Aldburgh.

ALDBURGH 445
Of these, the Parish Church occupies the site of a temple
dedicated to Mercury, whose image, dug up probably when
the present vestry replaced a more ancient building, rather
incongruously occupies a niche in its eastern wall, beside a
cross-fleury which had been displaced under similar circum
stances. The figure of Mercury is distinguished as usual by
the petasus, or winged cap, and the caduceus, or rod entwined
with serpents, in his left hand.
The church is designated from St. Andrew, and is in the
patronage of the Dean and Chapter of York. It consists of a
nave, with north and south aisles, chancel, and tower. The
architecture of the chancel is of the perpendicular style, which
prevailed in the fifteenth century, but the aisles have in their
windows the flowing tracery of the preceding century. The
nave is divided internally from the aisles by pointed arches
supported by octagonal piers. The east window has lately
been filled with beautiful painted glass by Wailes of Newcastle,
the chief figures representing our Lord and the four Evange
lists. The eastern portion of the chancel has also been re
cently wainscotted with pannelled oak, part of the ancient fur
niture of Brafferton Hall. The pulpit is adorned with carved
oak of still more ancient workmanship, bearing the inscription,
PASCE OVES PASCE AGNOS
and the whole church exhibits marks of care and liberality for
its comely decoration.
Here was a chantry, founded at the altar of the Virgin
Mary, by Richard de Aldburgh and two others. It was proba
bly at the east end of the north aisle, which still contains some
interesting monuments of the Aldburgh family as well as of
their more recent successors.
The chief of these is a beautiful brass effigy six feet in
length, formerly inlaid in a stone on the floor, but now set up,
for its better preservation, against the north wall. It repre
sents a warrior in plate armour, with a pointed helmet, a gorget
of linked mail, and the like material at all the junctures of the
plate from head to foot, his hands uplifted and holding be
tween them a heart, his body covered with a surcoat, bearing
the arms of Aldburgh, a fess between three crosses botony,

446 ALDBURGH.
which also appear on a shield over his left hand, with the re
markable difference of a small annulet on the cross in the
dexter chief, and indented lines within the fess, which on the
surcoat is plain; a diaper of small fleurs-de-lys adorns the ar
mour on the thighs ; the feet rest on a sort of bracket termi
nated by a lion's head and surrounded with foliage, above
which appears on a scroll the name,

Wilte to %Mm$

There can be little doubt from the- style of the armour that
this is the monument of Sir William de Aldeburgh, who was
summoned to parliament as a baron in 1377.
The arms appear with another variation on a stone at the
east end of the aisle, commemorating another William Ald
burgh who died April 15, 1475. The crosses botony have here
become crosslets, but are terminated after the fashion of the
letters of that period.
On a third monument, to the memory of William Aldburgh
who married Anne daughter of Arthur Kay, of Woodham,
about 1585, they appear as ordinary crosslets. The quarter
ings are as already given except that the fess and crosslets of
Aldburgh are coloured or, not argent.
In the windows of this aisle are in modern glass the shields
of Tancred, Mauleverer, Andrew Wilkinson, of Burgh-briggs,
1536, (Azure a fess erminois between three unicorns passant
or) — ; the same, impaling Jessop, Cholmeley, and Lawson as
already described, and other bearings.
In a niche at the east end of the aisle towards the north is
this inscription: — Sacred to the memory of
MARMADUKE LAWSON, M. A.,
of Boroughbridge Hall, in this parish, late Vicar of Sproatty and Preben
dary of Ripon. He died Oct. 10, 1815, aged 65. Beyond this general re
cord, let this sepulchral marble attempt no memorial; — but let the voices
of hundreds who without him would not have been able to read their Bible
bear testimony to his many virtues ; for he was the first promoter of Schools
for religious Education in this parish.
Barbara Isabella his widow placed this monument A. D. 1830.

ALDBURGH. 447
In a corresponding niche towards the south is the fol
lowing : — M. S.
Marmaduci Lawson,
Bev. J'viri Marmaduci Lawson,
Filii natu minimi,
Qui, summis apud Cantabrigienses honoribus
In literarum studiis ornatus,
Deinde ad senatum Britannicum
Pro villa Ponteburgi
Suorum suffragiis ter delegatus,
Cum magnam homiuum opinionem de se excitasset,
Et in legibus administrandis
Et jure civium tenendo strenue integreque versatus esset
Immatura morte prasreptus est.
Vixit annos XXX mens VIII.
Decessit VI Id. Mart. A. S. MDCCCXXIII.
Fratri optimo carissimo
Andreas Lawson. P.
There are other monuments both in the church and church
yard worthy of notice, but we must conclude our account with
calling attention in the latter, to the half length figure of a fe
male, or perhaps an ecclesiastic, with uplifted hands, enclosed
within a quarterfoil, and that within a circle, as a form of mo
nument of rare occurrence and high antiquity. It has no in
scription or other mark by which it can be appropriated.
The Chapel of St. James, Boroughbridge,
is in the parish of Aldburgh, and under the patronage of the
vicar. Till the last year (1851) it occupied its original site, unen
closed, in the centre of Jhe, market-place. It consisted of a
body, chancel"" and tower'; the body had been, rebuilt at no
distant period ; tho chancel contained Norman features, in a
small sernich*cuiar-headed li§ht, and a doorway of the same
form richly ornamented with billet and octofoil flowers on the
weather moulding which -surmounted it. The east end how
ever, appeared to have contained three lancet windows, two of
which had been blocked up, and that in the centre superseded
by a larger one in the decorated style of about 1 320, to which
2f

448 aldbukgh.
period also, or one but little subsequent, the side windows of
the chancel might, with the single exception already mention
ed, be assigned. The tower was a low but substantial and
handsome specimen of the style prevalent1 towards the close of
the fifteenth century, with buttresses at the angles supporting
turrets which rose considerably above the embattled parapet of
the main structure. All have now disappeared, and a new
church is rising on a more eligible site at a little distance, in
the decorated style of architecture, but retaining a marked re
semblance to its predecessor in the general character of its
most prominent feature, the tower, and manifesting, in the cir
cumstances which have attended its erection, a spirit of liber
ality and unanimity on the part of the parishioners and their
neighbours, not to be surpassed in comparison with the doings
of any former period.
A discovery however was made while these changes were
in progress, which places the zeal and skill of the original
founders of the chapel in no unfavourable point of view. A
large mass of Norman sculpture was found embedded in the
walls of the old edifice, chiefly cut into blocks of about one
foot three inches in length, nine inches in height, and from
nine inches to a foot in depth, for the convenience of forming
courses in the walls, in which they had been set mostly with
their faces inwards and covered by the plaster, though here
and there, exhibiting themselves externally. They were prin
cipally found in the south wall of the body, which had been
rebuilt in modern times, and had probably, in other positions,
formed part of its original structure, or of a southern porch
and doorway, on which the Norman architects, even in humble
edifices, were accustomed to bestow a large amount of decora
tion. The most remarkable sculptures represented the cruci
fixion; the descent from the cross; the woman and child
(Rev. xii. 1 — 6.) assailed by the dragon ir the wilderness;
three human figures apparently in flames ; a beggar leaning on
a crutch; a human figure holding up a heart; a warrior on
horseback bearing the long kite-shaped shield which distin
guishes the Norman chivalry on the Bayeux tapestry; a capari
soned horse without a rider, apparently following the beck of a
huge mermaid, the central space between them being occupied

aldbukuli. 449
by a large head surmounted by horns, and another huge face
overlooking the back of the horse ; a pelican pecking at its
breast, while another bird is wounding its back, a human face
overlooking the operation as before ; a bird with large beak
bearing a human head, a small bird pecking at its feet, and
two bearded human heads filling up the space above its back ;
fragments of lions, birds, and serpents; capitals adorned with
foliage and a cow feeding on long grass ; part of a cylindrical
pillar on which is an animal's head, with wide mouth, swallow
ing a twisted snake, and another crossed by bands ornamented
with pellets, the intervals filled up with foliage; several human
heads and full length figures, sitting or in other attitudes, form
ing corbels, or parts of a corbel table; chain and reticulated
mouldings; and many specimens of the beak-head, as orna
ments both of a cornice and an archway.
These sculptures, though rude, had much spirit and power
of execution, and were of a character far superior to that which
generally belonged to the existing portions Of the building in
process of demolition. We trust they will be carefully preser
ved in the new building, in memory of days gone by, though
they cannot form part of it.
A bronze cross, about five inches in length, was found near
the north wall of the old chapel, which was broken at the foot,
but otherwise perfect, probably a relic of its furniture before
the Reformation.
Such also was an old bell which bore the date 1557, and
the inscription —
Srarti Mwhi ratritts prita §ms.nsx wra.
But this, with another dated 1589, and more happily inscribed —
%\tsm te W «!$»,
and a third dated 1609; and bearing the Tancred crest, an
olive tree fructed, were recast in 1842, and a fourth added to
their number by subscription.
There car be no doubt that this was the chapel in which
_ Thomas of 'Lancaster took refuge after his defeat by Andrew
de Harclay, and in which Leland relates that refusing to sur
render himself to Harclay, he said, looking on the crucifix,
2f2

450 aldburgh.
"Good Lord, I rendre myself to thee, and put me into thy
mercy." Little mercy was shewn by man, for the historian
proceeds, after recounting the earl's own fate, — "the residue
of the baron's part were persuid from .place to place, and to
the chirch-hold was no reverence gyven, and the father pursuid
the sonne, and the sonne the father,''
The cross near the gates of Mr. Lawson 's mansion is said
to commemorate this encounter, and accords in style with the
architecture of the period. Its plan is that of a square, on
each side of which is set a semi-cylindrical pillar. It rises in
three compartments, each gradually diminishing in height, and
separated from the other by bases and capitals, which bind
together the whole shaft. Those of the lower portion have
plain mouldings, the upper capitals are elegantly foliated.
The original terminating ornament has disappeared, and has
been replaced in modern times by a nondescript capital, which,
it is to be hoped, the better taste of these days will speedily
remove. This extensive parish has other chapels well worthy of des
cription, but our attention must be confined to the illustration
of the immediate vicinity of Isurium, the importance of which,
and its connexion in many ways with the direct object of this
work, could alone have justified a diversion from the natural
boundary of the Vallis Eboracensis into a new district both
ecclesiastical and civil.

llirUINTKD BY THOMAS (JILL, KASJNGWOLD.

INDEX

Abbot Geve, p. 138
Achilles, shield of, 21
sword of, 22
Adrian, Pope, 208.
Affray at Helperby, 440
Agnus Dei, 239
Ailred, abbot of Eievaux, 207. 305
Alan, Earl of Brittany, 394. 422
Albany, Samson de, 207. 237
Albini, Nigel de, 159. 202. 236
Alcuin, 125
Aldburgh, 434
Aldburgh, family of, 443
Arms of, 443
Alexander the Great, 24. 28
Alexander, Pope, 208
Alne, 386
hall, 391
Alneto, Kobert de, 236
Alwin, Bishop, 132
Amazonian battle axe, 436
Ampleforth College, 276
Ampleforth, 277
Angram Grange, 188
Arbeuvyle, John de, 271
Archdeacons of Richmond, 69
ArchiUagus or Artogal, 37
Archil, 240. 323
Architecture, early Norman or Sax
on, 403
Aristotle, the philosopher, 24
Armistead, John, 87
Arthur's victory, 35. 281
Ascalon, siege of, 345
Athelstan, 405
Augustine Canons, 160
anecdote of, 167
Badgers, 45
Bards, Druidical, 33

Barch, 256
Barton, de Nicholas, 271
Barebone Parliament, 356
Battle of Calater, or Forest of Gal
tres, 50
Stamford Bridge, 62
Bannockburn, 64
Blake a-More or Black Moor, 281
the Standard, 307
Marston Moor, 50
Bosworth Field, 366
Myton, 381
Byland Abbey, 220
Boroughbridge, 440
Baxby, 329
Baynes', Barons of Kilburn, 241
Beacon Banks, 329
Bear Baiting, 45
Belasyse, 1 12. 1 70
Belinus and Brennus, 37
Beningburgh, 405
Bernulf, 364
Birdforth, 324
Boadicea, 31
Bohun, Humphrey de, 440
Boscow Grange, 119
Bolteby, Alan de, 239
Boyle, Honourable Robert, 376
Bourchiers, 403. 406
Bramhall, Archbishop, 241
Brandsby, 142, Hall, 145
Brafferton, 374
Britain, religion of, 27
ancient dress, 29
conquest of, 32
British ornaments, 154
encampments, 281
bascauda, 438
Bruce, Robert, 221. 382
Brus, Adam de, 365

452

index.

Bull rings, 100
Bulmer, Ascitel, 107. 416
Bulmer, Bertram, 407. 416. 421 . 422
Burgh, explanation of, 147
Bury, Richard de, 135
Burgoyne, Judith, 339
Byland Abbey, 201
abbots of, 215
bell of, 216
Byland Old, 239
Byron Lord, 302
Cann.e, field of, 24
Cadmus, 23
Caer, 440
Calez, William de 133
Caractacus, King of the Silures, 434
Cartismandua, Queen of the Brigan
tes, 31. 434
Carlisle, Earl of, 112
Carucate, a, 61
Carlton Husthwaite, 333
Cassiterides or Tin Islands, 19
Celts, 18. 24. 58
Chantries dissolved, 289
Charlton, Martin, 226
Chilbert, 334
Cholmeleys of Brandsby, 144
pedigree of, 274
Christmas carol of the boar's head,
44
Cimbri Celts, 18
Cistercian Monks, 168. 310
Clarendon, Lord, 174
Cnut, a Dane, 107. 142
Cold Harbour, 107
Comites Littoris Saxonica, -H
Complin, the, 389
Conjuring stone, 898
Cornwall, mines of, 23
Count Caylis, 24
Copsi, 186. 334
Courtenays, 380
Coxwold, 185
Crayke and Crayke Castle, 121 — 133
Crequi, Duke of, 176
Crofts of Stillington, 415
Cromlech, 153
Cromwell, Lady Mary, 174
Cromwell, relics of, 178
Cromwell's vault, 182
Cross, ancient, 68. 78
Curious Normal) Sculptures, 447
Dacee, Lord Thomas, 431

Danes, arrival in Britain, 35
Darrell, Marmaduke, 344
pedigree of, 345
David, King of Scotland, 305
Dawnay, ancestors of, 345 — 347
the Hon. Lydia F. C, 362
Deyvill, family of, 196. 241
Devil's Arrows, 439
Dido, Queen, 23
Diodorus Siculus, 26
Downe, Viscount, 349. 361. 402
Druids, 439
Dui Civitatis Brigantum, 437
Duncombe Park, 296
pedigree of, 301
Eadbed, Abbot, vision of, 129
Eadred, King, 364
Eardulf, Abbot, 129
Easingwold, 53 .
how derived, 54
organic remains, 54
Roman roads, 56
Druidical customs, 59
extract from Domesday, 60
a royal demesne, 64
ecclesiastical history of, 67
church, tradition of, 76
armorial bearings, 77
bells, inscriptions on, 79
oak coffin, 79
hall or manor house, 94
worthies of, 98
medicinal waters, 102
population, 104
Ebor or Eboracum, 38
Edwin, king of Northumberland, 374
Egfrid, do. do. 122
Elaio-thesium, 435
Elidure, 37
Ella, a Saxon prince, 35. 126
country house at Crayke, 42
Ellerkers of Youlton Hall, 389
Emma de Bulmer, 108
Eric, King, 130
Espec, Walter de, 284. 288. 804
Etton de, pedigree of, 257
Eustace, Fitz-John, 440
Extract from Byron, 319 ""'•1§ps;;.
Skelton, 366
Faiefax, Sir Thomas, the parlia
mentary general, 258. 262. 286
Fairfax, Charles Gregory, Esq., 208
Edward, the poet, 258. 262

453

Fairfax, Sir Nicholas, 208
Fairies' Parlour, 229
Fauconberg, pedigree of, 171
Feversham, Lord, 296. 301
Fitz-William, 396
Ffenys, 430. 431
Fleming, Nicholas de, 382
Forest. of Galtres, 37
Fosse, river of, 61. 43 3
Fossard, Nigel, 421
Fossard, Adam, 236
Fountains, abbot of, 305
Fossils, 54*"
Frankland Russell, Lady, 33 5. 397.
398
Friar Tuck, 226
Furness, abbey of, 202
Gamel, 294. 323
Gauls, 18
Gerald, abbot of Byland, 202. 207
Giant, legend of, 347
Gildas, 281
Gilling, 256
Castle, 259
Gomer, Gomerians, 18
Gormire, 232— legend of, 233
Gornay, Gerald de, 236
Gospatric, 375
Goultons, family of, 328
Gower, Sir Thomas, 431
Gower, Sir John Leveson, 431
Sir John, the poet, 432
Gray, Dr. Robert, 140
Gregory of Rome, 374
Gregory's stone, 95
Gundrese, Lady, 202
Guthred, King, 129
Haudene, 128
Halton, 375
Hambleton Hills, 223
Happy Valley, 224
Harland, family of, 408
Harclay, Earl of Carlisle, 221. 440
Hardacanute, 130
Hastings, Ralph de, 248
Haxby, John, arms of, 77
Hell hole, 224
Helmsley, 282
Castle, 284
siege of, 286
Helperby, 37H
Hengist, the Saxon general, 35
Herodotus, 26

Hercules, pillars of 19
Herculaneum, ruins of, 24
Himilco, 26
Hinguar, 126
Highthorn House, 328
Hode Priory, 236
Hood Hill, 226
Robin, 227
Hovingham Hall, 249
Church, 250
Spa, 253
Huby, 410
Hugh, son of Baldric, 142. 186.
247. 256. 378. 334
Hunting the stag and wild boar, 42
Husthwaite, 326
Hyenas' den, 295
Hypocaust, 435
Ida, a Saxon prince, 35
Idolatry in Britain, 322
of wells, 420
Infangentheof, 209
Ingram, Sir Arthur, 427
Inscriptions on bells, 79. 216. 367.
380. 333. 346. 390
Isu-Brigantum, 33
Isurium, or Aclud, 37
Ivy-bound Castle, 323
James, St„ chapel of, 447
Japheth, 17
Jephson, Alexander, 140
John of Gaunt, 66
Juliana Berners, 106
Julius CaBSar, 29
Kellington, Robert, 266
Kemp, John, 440
Kendal], T. M. Esq., 152
Kirkdale Church, 294
Cave, 295
Kissing post, 101
Kist-vaen, 155
Knights Templars, 73. 237
Kyle, the stream of, 102. 391
Lambarde, 364
Lancaster, Thomas of, 65. 410. 449
Lawley F., Esq., 420
Lawson, Andrew, 434. 435. 439. 443
Legend of Wyvill, the snake killer,
235 *
Leland, extract from, 51. 424
Ligulf, 395

454

INDEX.

Linton-upon-Ouse, 404
Lockwood, William, 83
Lockwood, Jonathan, 91
Lodbrog, Rayner, 126. 321
death song of, 126
Magna Chaeta, 229
Magnus, Thomas, 350
Maiden Bower, 369
Maisnil, 381
Malbys, Hugh de, 239
Walter, 266
Malet or Mallet, 323. 420
Malolacu, Peter de, 421
Marianus, 364
Malmesbury, William de, 240
Marriage, form of during the Com
monwealth, 356
Marston Moor, battle of, 50
Marton-in-Galtres, 416
Priory, 417
Maxima Cesariensis, 33
Melton, William de, 382
Melrose Abbey, 305
Midgley, Robert, M.A., 332
Mildert, Bishop Van, 137
Military roads, 34
Molse versatiles, 436
Mona, 32
Monasteries, their uses, 213
Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, 62
Morton, Earl of, 371
Mowbray, Roger de, 143. 159. 189.
303. 337. 339. 241. 248. 376. 381
Mowbray, Robert de, 62
John, Lord, 63
Murder, curious discovery of, 112
Museum Isurianum, 436
Moxby Nunnery, 418
Nevil, Ralph, 65. 109. 377. 407. 433,
424
Nevil, Geoffrey, 108. 407. 416
pedigree of, 108
Newby Park, 373
Newburgh, 147
Priory, 157
Charter of, 100
William of, 163
Visit of Princess Margaret, 164
Curiosities found, 167
List of Priors, 170
Hall, 170
Park, description of, 183
Newton Grange Chapel, 275

Newton-upon-Ouse, 401
Newton, Sir Isaac, 27
New Parks, 412
Nigel, 234. 236. 335
Nimrod, 18
Norman, 235
Oakley, Richard Banner, 271
Orm, 247. 294. 323
Osgodby and hall, 234. 235
Oswaldkirk, 270
Oswald, King of Northumbria, 270
Oulston Moor, 150
Oulston, 187
Paganel, Ralph, 401
Paley, Archdeacon, 91
Pannage, 74
Paulinus, 374. 378
field of, 67
cross of, 68
Peg tankard, 178
Percys, 229. 344. 364. 365. 366
tragical deaths of, 367
Percys' cross, 345
Perambulation of the Forest of Gal
tres, 47
Petrilius, Cereales, 31
Phoenician inscription, 19
trade with Britain, 19
Piepoudre, 67
JPlantagenet, Edmund, 65. 410
Plague, ravages of, 392. 411
Pliny, 26
Plumpton, Sir William, 440
Prance, Thomas, 87
Prince, Madam, 419
Princess Margaret, 423
Ptolemy, 30
Pudsey, Hugh, 134
Pyra or funeral pile, 436
Quakers. 141
Querns, 436
Radcliffe, Doctor, 404
Randolph, Thomas, 220
Rashleigh, Wm., Esq., 25
Raskelfe, 105
Hall or Castle, 110
Ravages of the Seots, 63. 366
Raynes? Thomasjfnt., 81. 95
Recent discovenSw&Aldburgh, 437
Religion of the Druids, 32
Reresbys, 3W*-

455

Richard I., anecdote of, 168
Richmond, Duke of, 423
Rievaux Abbey, 302
legend of, 303'
list of abbots, 313
seal of, 314
Rievaux Terrace, 318
Riparias, De, 143. 376
Rivers, De la, 143
Robinson, Sir M., Baronet, 372
Rocliffe, Dr., 91
Roger, abbot of Byland, 201. 203.
205. 306
Rogus, 43 6
Roman coins found, 149. 245. 293.
326, 439
Roman hypocaust, 245. 435.
entrenchment, 150. 329
invade Britain, 29
rule in Britain, 33
Ros, Robert de, 229. 271. 278. 284
Roulston Scar, 224
Rouen, church of, 240
Rufus, William, 240
Rupert, Prince, 49
Rutland, Earls of, 284. 289. 290. 314
Rye, river, 293
Salisbury, Earl of, 418
Salvin, William, 95
Thomas, 96
Sanchematho, a Phoenecian philoso-,
pher, 23
Saxons, arrival of, 05
inscription, 294
law terms, 208
language introduced, 5!)
Sc-otch army at Topcliffe, 369
Scropes of Bolton, 116
•Serlo de Burg, 441)
Serpent stones, 05
Sessay, 342
Hall, 345
Severus, cruelties of, 40
Shaw, the life-guardsman, 99
Shandy Hall, 198
Sheffield, Sir William, 111
Sheriff-Hutton, 421 /
Castle, 422
Siege of Helmsley Castle, jJSO
Singular tradition, 225 j ''
Skaife, John, 103 y*
Jikelton, jpes k)'->~&&
-^toetAtircral?', 426
Solomon, temple of, 20

Soke or Soc, 61
St. Paul's, 438
St. Barnabas' day, 440
Stag's horns found, 42
Stapyltons of Myton, 383
Sterne, Laurence, 1 98
original poetry, 199
Steresby, 143
Stillington, 414
Stone coffins found, 106
Strangwayes, pedigree of, 391
Strabo, 19. 26
Stricklands of Thornton Bridge, 380
Studford's Ring, 280
Stuteville, Lords de, 236. 241. 335.
381
Stuteville, William de, 440
Suetonius Paulinus, 32
Surrey, Earl of, 433
Sutherland, Duke of, 433
Sutton-on-the-Forest, 407
Hall, 408
Tabernacle of Moses, 30
Tancreds, 111. 380
hall of, 111
arms of, 111
Tangiers, 19
Temple, Rev. John, 141
Theam, 209
Theophilus Autiochenus, 17
Thirkleby, 335
Tholthorpe, 400
Thompson, Leonard, Esq., 427
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, 65
Thormanby, 321
Thornton Hill, 187
Bridge, 379
Thor, a pagan deity, 321
Thured, Earl, 131
Tillotson, Archbishop, 723
Tochi, a Dane, 235
Todeni, de Berenger, 271. 394
Tollerton, 393
Tomb of a British King, 151
Topcliffe, 364
Thomas de, 371
Torr's Testamentary Burials, 80.
267
Torques, golden, 24
Touch pieces, 96
Tradition of Easingwold Church, 70
Traditions of Easingwold Hall, 94
Trojan War, 21
Truncated Henna', 438

456

INDEX.

Tumuli, aDcient British, 150
Turchil, 236
Tut, a heathen deity, 539
Ucthed, 283
Ulchel, 333
Ulf, a Saxon, 278
University College, 404
Urns, British, 152 '
Vaids, the Druidical, 33
Valerius Vindicianus, 244
Valhalla, or hall of heroes, 322
Valence, Lord de,, 134
Vanburgh, Sir John, 263
Vaux, de, 391
Vavasour, Sir William, 96
Venutius, King of-tfee -Brigantes, 31
434
Vescy, Ivo de', 357
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, 287
Villein, explanation of, 61
Virius Lupus, the Roman General,
37 - .
Vitruvius, 435
Vortigern, King of Britain, 34
Waite, William, Esq.,1 137
Wakefield, William, Esq., 263. 411
Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland,
131

Wapentake, origin of, 325
Warwick, Earl of, 66. 433. 431
Oak, 427
Wattmg-Street, 440
Webster; Dr., 1L2 '¦
Webb, Sir John, Knight, 113
Well of St. John, 419
Wenlock, Lord,' 4201 , ¦
Westerman, Eleanor, 84
Whitestonecliff; 227
Whytehead,. Margaret, 88
William, 89
Wilden Grange, 189
William, Bishop, 132
William of Newburgh, 63. 162. 163
Woden, 155
Wolves, 44 . ' .
Wombwell,- Sir,. George,, 174
Woodville, Earl Rivers, 422
Worsley, Thomas, 245^ 250. .251
Sir William, Bart., 249, 250:
Wymund, a monk, 311
Wyndham Hall. 138
Colonel George, 369
Wytham, Thomas, .439
Wyvills, Knights, 335
Yates, Henry, 82
Obadiah, 83
Yearsley, 190
Youlton, 394

ERRATA.
.At p. 145, h. 2. for "Hall Co. Kent," read " Cale Hall, Kent.
„ T45, line 26, for " 1716," read " 1767."
„ 336, line 33, for " 1835," read " 1825."

118111

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