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PL'DLi: LI3r.ARY

AirrtM, i.eNOX an*

YlLDEN FOUNDATIONS.

,. <UL"J

^^.^k^

ROMANTIC

EICHM0ND8HIRE.

BEING A COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THE

HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND SCENERY

OP THE PICTURESQUE

VALLEYS OF THE SWALE AND YORE.

HARRY IPEIGHT,

Author of *'Thb Craykw avd Nobth-Wbst Yobkshirv Hiohlaxdb";

" NiDDBRDALB AND THE OaRDXK OF THB NiDD," XTC.

ILLUSTRATED.

• ?••• •

LONDON :

ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.

1897^

Enterei at Statienert' HaU.

[thenewyork
PUBLICLIBRARY

ASTOf^, LENOX AND
TILdfeN TOUNDATIOMa.

1897.

Printed bt
O. F. Sbwbll, 62, Godwin Street, Bradford, Tores.

•• • «
• ••

- •• • •

'•- • •
• •• •

PEEFACE.

[HILST preparing in 1891-2 my book on the Craven and
North- West Yorkshire Highlands, I was persuaded that
some compendious illustrated work dealing with the history,
antiquities, and scenery of the adjoining province of
Richmondshire was greatly needed. Dr. Whitaker^s historical work on
the district, published in 1822, 1 had frequently occasion to consult, and
found it to contain many errors and iiUperfections, while the cost of the
book (copies being rarely obtainable under £12), arising principally from
the many choice engravings after ^ur^er that it contains, restricts its
possession to the hands of but comparatively few. Other books there
are on this romantic and attraptiye poi^oytry it is true, but these are either
purely descriptive or deal with onlf fortibnft of it. Clarkson's History
of Richmond (1821), and Generai Harrison's large folio volume on the
Wapentake of Oilling West (1885), are both valuable and important
works. Of the former it is impossible to speak too highly, and of the
latter, a most laborious and painstaking venture, which I have referred
to in the body of my book, it must be said that it consists almost
entirely of lengthy pedigrees and copies of ancient deeds illustrative of
local manorial history, and the book is also too bulky and costly
for general use. Longstaflfe's little volume on Richmondshire and
Barker's Three Days of Wensleydale are both excellent and now scarce
works, but published forty years ago they may be said to be in great
ipeasure now out of date.

If therefore I have established a raison d^etre for this present
undertaking, I may say that I have not attempted to compress into a
single volume a history and description of the extensive archdeaconry of
Richmond, as originally constituted, and embraced by the labours of
Dr. Whitaker, above referred to, but have limited my observations to
that romantic portion of the old baronial liberty of Richmondshire,
which was granted, as explained in the text, out of the great Saxon fief
of Earl Edwin to the succeeding lords of Richmond. This comprises
all that territory lying within the watersheds of the upper Yore and
Swale rivers, and extending in a southerly direction from the great
military way of the Romans known as Leeming Lane, to the east of
Bedale, and northwards and westwards to the parish of Gilling and the
mountain-wilds of Stainmoor and Mallerstang, every portion of which I
have personally and carefully explored.

Upon the civil, military, and ecclesiastical history, natural history,
antiquities, customs, folk-lore, &c., and of many recent and old-time
worthies belonging to this interesting province, I have endeavoured to
discourse in a popular and entertaining manner. The beautiful and
romantic scenery, which forms so striking and attractive a feature almost
everywhere in Richmondshire, I have also endeavoured to illustrate by
pen and picture as fully as the limits of space would admit. Both the
Swale and Tore valleys, it must be granted, contain some of the finest
scenery in England, and they had a rare fascination for the artist, Turner.
The valley of the Swale, with its turbulent, rapid river, presents in places
almost an Alpine wildness, being deeper and more rugged and confined
than that of the Yore, which is altogether of an ampler and more luxuriant
character. The district is an ideal one to the tourist and stranger in need
of a thoroughly recreative holiday, — a mild but bracing air, many objects
of historic and antiquarian interest, and attractive scenery. It is, indeed,
beginning to draw large numbers of visitors from all parts, who find
homely accommodation at one or other of the inns, farms, or private
houses to be met with about the moors and dales. Everywhere, it may be
said, there is a copious supply of very pure spring water, and the air, in
spite of the heavy rainfall, is particularly free from humidity and fog. In
Wensleydale, for example, according to the meteorological returns there
are on an average only two (out of some thirty-five) stations in the British
Isles where the air is drier than about Aysgaith. This is to be attributed,
no doubt, to the remoteness of any great population, to a moderate
elevation of site, also to the strata being composed of shale and limestone,
which soon absorb the rains, and last but not least to a generally
excellent drainage.

The greater part of the area I have dealt with ranges in altitude
from about 500 feet to 1200 feet above normal sea level, whilst many of
the hills and peaks ascend to 2000 feet and upwards. The higher parts
of the dales consist of wide sweeps of heathery moorland — comprising
some of the best grouse tracts in England — and from many a neighbouring
summit are to be had wide and magnificent prospects. In the Io\rer
grounds are the villages, farmsteads, and mansions of the gentry, the
land being usually rich and pastoral, also abounding in flowery glades
and rocky glens musical with laughing rills or resounding with the
thunder of crashing cascades. Much else, too, will be found to interest
the visitor, especially the lover of antiquities. The district is peculiarly
rich in mediaeval architecture, apparent in many an ample fortress,
parish church, ruined abbey, and other religious edifice, about which
much that is new and interesting has been related in the work. An
instance may be cited of the old Knights Templars' Hospice and Chapel
on the slopes of Penhill, whereof nothing hitherto has been recorded.

bat the interesting history of this romantic institution will be found
detailed from its foundation onward for many centuries. Likewise all
the ancient camps, cairns, tumuli, house-steads, roads, dykes, and other
evidences of prehistoric occupation are described from the author^s own
observations made on the spot.

The historic narrative claims special notice, having been derived
from a great many sources, from local archives as well as from the usual
channels of information in the Record Office and British Museum.
Many hundreds of letters, documents, and packages have also been
received during the preparation of the work, and where so much help
has been rendered it is almost invidious to mention names. Many of
these I have acknowledged in the text. Nearly every clergyman, I may
say, in the area embraced by the work, has rendered me assistance in
some form, while many other residents have been equally obliging in
their communications of particular facts. For this courteous help I am
indeed truly grateful. To the Earl of Wharncliffe I owe a special
tribute of thanks for the trouble incurred in searching records for a
history of the Hardraw and other of his Wensleydale estates ; to the
Hon. W. T. Orde-Powlett (now Lord Bolton) I am also indebted for
various help, both literary and in the artistic embellishment of the book.
To the Editors of the Metcalfe Records I am sensible of the service they
have rendered by giving me the unreserved use of these valuable
collections, compiled wholly from original and authentic documents, and
which have enabled me to correct many old errors and furnish much
new information about one of the most numerous and important families
in Richmondshire. The chapter on Nappa Hall and the account of the
Raydale Riot may, I think, be accepted as the most reliable records of
these subjects that have appeared. The Rev. R. V. Taylor, author of
The Churches of Yorkshire^ &c., has also placed unreservedly in my
hands his varied collections relating to Swaledale, which I gratefully
acknowledge. Mr. J. Norton Dickons, President of the Bradford
Historical Society, has kindly favoured me with the use of many rare
volumes, engravings, &c., from his valuable library of Yorkshire books.
To Mr. Wm. Home, F.G.S., of Leyburn, I am obliged for much useful
help, rendered not only on the occasion of my visits to Wensleydale, but
also by the loan of books, papers, &c. Several of the chapters have had
the advantage of revision by him. Mr. Joseph Raine, of Richmond,
has also shewn much interest in the work, and to his companionship and
guidance I owe many interesting facts and discoveries. Among others
who have been particularly helpful in various ways I must mention
Mr. John Henry Metcalfe, Easingwold ; Mr. John C. C. Routh, Wood
Hall, Aysgarth ; Dr. J. A. Fothergill, Darlington ; Mr. Hector Christie,
Jervanz Abbey ; Mr. J. H. Hutchinson, Catterick ; Lady Clive Bayley,

Ascott ; Mrs. Hutton, Aldburgh Hall ; Mrs. Tyzack, Abbeydale
Mr. William Porter, Fairfield ; Mr. John Yarker, West Didsbury
Mr. John Jas. Stead, Heckmondwike ; Mr. Herbert Wroot, Bradford
Messrs. N. J. Hone and Archibald Head, London.

The illastrations have been provided from a numerous collection of
drawings, rare prints, photographs, &c., the greater part of which have
been kindly remitted by persons interested in the publication. Many of
these have been drawn or, in the case of photographs taken specially for
the work. Several are reproduced from scarce engravings and from
only known originals. I have also to note a new departure from my
previous works by the introduction of a number of excellent portraits,
including some well-known names as well as two or three recent
centenarians. This is a feature, however, limited strictly to deceased
worthies identified with the district. It is indeed to be regretted that
from an assortment of several hundred pictures, most of them conspicuous
for their excellence or rarity, more could not be used, but the volume
as it is exceeds by over one hundred pages what was announced. Most
thankfully have I on another page acknowledged the sources from which
the many views and portraits have been furnished.

I should observe that the beautiful view of Semerwater (the only
lake in Richmbndshire), which forms the Frontispiece to the Large
Paper edition, has been engraved from the charming picture by
J. M. W. Turner, R.A., which is one of the great artist's mastei-pieces.
It has been specially executed and printed for the work by the Swan
Electric Engraving Company, who it is evident have taken great pains
to reproduce in an efficient manner the spirit and technique of the
original. All the other illustrations, by various engravers, have been
printed at the works of Mr. George F. Sewell, in Bradford, the printer
of this and the two companion volumes of Craven and Nidderdale, and
to whom I think a word here will not be misplaced in acknowledgment
of the care and skill evidenced in the execution of the work.

In conclusion I have to thank the large and influential body of
subscribers (whose names are printed at the end of the volume) for the
encouragement so liberally accorded in the production of the work.

HARRY SPEIGHT.

BUigley^ Yorkshire,

SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS.

Part I. — Swaledalb.

CHAPTER I., RiCHMONDSHiRB : ITS Origin, Extent, and

History ... ... ... ... ... 33

UDique position of Richmond — View of the castle, churches, monasteries, &c. —
Romantic aspects scientifically explained — Rock section in the Museum —
Ancient British and Roman occupation of Richmond — Whitaker*s theories
refuted — Old roads and lead mines — Celtic folk-speech — Midsummer Bel-fires
at Richmond — Richmondshire at the Conquest— Who was Earl Alan ? — The
Conqueror's grant questioned — Origin and extent of Richmondshire — The
Conqueror visits Richmond — Local government — Ecclesiastical jurisdiction
— The shire in 1281 — Lady Godiva in Richmondshire — Remarkable
resemblances between Coventry and Richmond — Meaning of Richmond —
Story of the Earldom — The Dukes of Richmond.

CHAPTER II., The Town of Richmond. ... ... 49

Richmond in the sixteenth century— Route for seeing the town — View from the
Castle Walk— The Castle— Aspects in the time of Henry VI I. — Legend of the
great Keep— Present uses of the Castle— The Parish Church — The Hinderlages
of Dotneiday— The celebrated baptism in the Swale by Paulinus — The registers
of the church — A martyr burnt in Newbiggin — Local plague — Marriage
customs during the Protectorate — Holy Trinity Church— Singular trans-
formation— ^Ancient chapels — Hospital of St. Nicholas — Monastery of the
Grey Friars — The Grammar School — Local trades — Market-tolls in the time
of Edward II. — Trade-tokens — Appearance of the Market Place a century ago
— ^The pillory and whipping-post.

CHAPTER III., Richmond Worthies ... ... ... 79

Canon Tate — Some of his pupils — Memorial in Edmonton Church — The Rev. John
Brasse — Herbert Knowles and his poem written in Richmond churchyard —
The Rev. Joseph Edleston — Early worthies of Richmond School, &c — Lord
Lawrence — Some Richmond M.P.'s — The two Cuitts, artists — Thos. Harrison,
architect — Christopher CI ark son, historian — " Sister Dora " — ** The Lass of
Richmond Hill '* — Miss Milbank, afterwards the wife of Lord Byron.

CHAPTER IV., Whitcliffb Woods, Willancb'b Leap, and

THE Race Ooursk ... ... ... ... 89

Environs of Richmond — Sunshine and storm — Anecdote of Dr. Miller — Some
butterflies and wild-flowers in Whitcliffe Woods — Prehistoric housesteads,
hitherto unnoticed — Willance's Leap — ^A terrible accident — ^View from the top
of the Scar — Beacon Hill — Hill-fires at the time of the Spanish Armada, &c.
The Race Course— Some old-time horse-races — ^Whitcliffe Pasture.

CHAPTER v., On the Banks op the Swale. ... ... 98

Meaning of Billy Bank — Bargate Green and the Yorke family — Temple Lodge—
River-side walk — ^Arthur's Oven — The Round Howe, its phenomena explained
— Through the woods — Race Course lodge — The new cemetery — Convent of
the Assumption.

CHAPTER VI., Easby and the Vale op St. Agatha. ... 102

St. Agatha, the martyr — Beauty of Easby Abbey vale — ^Scots' Dyke— Its character
and extent — The purpose of its construction — Early British law — Meaning of
Easby — Founders of the Abbey — The Abbey Coucher Book — Manor of Easby
— Family of Jaques — Brompton-on-Swale — Brompton als. Catterick Bridge—
Chantry Chapel — Coaching days.

CHAPTER VII., Round about Hipswell ... ... 115

Windmill Fields — St. Martin's Priory — Its possessions and importance— Pleasant
situation of Hipswell — Hipswell Church — Manor House — Families of Fulthorpe
and Wandesforde — Was Hipswell the birthplace of Wycliffe, the Reformer?
— Colburn, its old hall and chapel — Brompton Hospital.

CHAPTER VIII., The Roman Camp at Catterick ... 122

Surmises on the meaning of Catterick — Catterick, a British city — Its importance
in Brigantian times — Caer Caratauc, al$. Catterick named in honour of
Caractacus — The Mint at Catterick — Coins of Caractacus — Erroneous
conclusions of Akerman — Catterick in Roman times — An astronomical
observatory — Camden's account of the Roman station and discovered relics —
Bede's opinion — The camp excavated and examined by Sir Wm. Lawson, Bart.
— Catterick Race Course — Catterick Bridge and its ancient chapel — The old
George afui Dragon Hotel.

CHAPTER IX., Catterick and Brough. ... ... 129

The parish of Catterick — ^Village aspects — The Manor House — Old inns — Ancient
assize of bread and ale— Local bow and arrow practice — Catterick Church —
The oldest building-contract extant in the English language — Description of
interior of church — Sir Walter de Urswick — Memorial of the author of
Drunken Bamaby — Chantry-chapels — Ancient sun-dials — An old post-office
— Local trades — Brough Hall — Family of Lawson — Roman Catholic Chapel.

9
CHAPTER X., On the Rokan Watling Street ... 141

Watling Street in Richmondshire connecting three Brigantian cities — Meaning of
Watling Street — Its original course — ^Leeining Lane— Discovery of gold
bracelet — A skeleton found bearing Scandinavian fibulae — Other local
discoveries — The Danegeld — Bolton-on -Swale — Notes on Henry Jenkins, aged
169 years — Bainesse — Discovery of a Roman weighing-yard — Killerby and
Oran — Castle Hills—Leases Hall and local families — Relics of the Battle of
the Standard — Leeming Bar — Turnpike trusts — Scruton.

CHAPTER XL, Around Bedalb. ... ... 151

Meaning of Bedale — Early history — The church — A valuable living — Old aspects
of the town— The Bedale Hunt— Crakehall— The Rev. Thos. Milville Raven—
Bedale Beck — A remarkable accident — Patrick Brompton — Hunton— Mrs.
Lanchester, aged 106— Hornby — The castle and its owners — The church —
Its ancient monuments — ^Vicars of Hornby — Hackforth — Ainderby-Myers—
Hauzwell — Some notable families — The church — Ancient cross — The Rev.
Edward 0. Topham — Through Scotton to Richmond.

CHAPTER XII., Round about Askb ... ... ... 162

Oliver Ducket — The Barracks — Anecdotes of former Swaledale Volunteers — Local
geology — Aske Hall — ^A beautiful OKtate— The late Earl of Zetland — Story of
the manor — Tor, the son of Odin — Meaning of Aske — A Scandinavian legend
— ^Aske Beck — Royal visits to Aske Hall.

CHAPTER XIII., Ancient Gillinqshire ... ... 171

The Giliing valley — Local aspects of Scots' Dyke — Ice-borne rocks — The village
of Giliing — A capital-town in Anglo-Saxon times — Site of Anglo-Saxon
monastery proved to be at Collingham and not Giliing — Giliing at the
Conquest — Extent of Gillingshire — " Castle Hill/' a Saxon stronghold —
Manorial history — The church — Ancient relics — Local characters — Old
customs — Morris or sword-dance — Song of Hagman-heigh.

CHAPTER XIV., Around Gilling ... ... ... 179

Sedbury — King George III. and Gatherley Moor — Diderston, a possession of
Jervaux Abbey — Some old roads — Hartforth and its ancient families — Field
walk to Whashton — A village that gave name to the family of General
Washington — General Plantagenet Harrison — His remarkable career — A
wonderful pedigree— Harrisons in the West Indies — A lost Chancery case.

CHAPTER XV., In the Land of the Vikings ... ... 186

Eirkby Ravensworth — Fine prospect — Extent of parish — Local longevity —
Amusing anecdote — Meaning of Ravensworth — The church — Interesting
memorials — ^The Free School — Ravensworth Castle and the Fitz Hughs —
Description of the castle — The village of Ravensworth — An old law — Gayles
and the Wycliflfes — Prehistoric evidences — A curious ancient tenure — Broghton
Newsham, and New Forest — Bounds of the New Forest — Hergill — A tramp
over the moors — Ancient wolf preserves — A wide, wild country — Down the
Clapgate Pass into Marske.

CHAPTER XVL, Marskb ... ... ... ... 195

Romantic situation of Marske — A ** Sleepy Hollow " — Meaning of Marske and
Marrick — Early manorial history — Pride of ancestry — AcQuisition of the
manor by the Huttons — ^Archbishop Hutton — His family antecedents — The
original home of the Huttons — Descent of the Marske estate — Matthew
Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury — Mr. John and Mr. Timothy Hutton —
Marske Hall — The church — Manor of Clints — A romantic site— Lost on the
moor.

CHAPTER XVII., Marrick Priory and its Romantic

Surroundings.... ... ... ... ... 207

Walk from Marske to Marrick — Skelton — The Roman lead-mines at Hurst —
Manorial history of Marrick — New church and Wesleyan chapel — Beautiful
view of the Priory — Its history — Will of one of the nuns — The present church
— Memorials in the church-yard — The Rev. J. Wharton Mason.

CHAPTER XVIII., Richmond to Grinton ... ... 218

A romantic highway — Wild birds — A driving incident — Hudewell — A great snow-
storm— History of Hudswell — The church — Hudswell Moor — Supposed
extensive coal-field — Downholme and its history — Ancient deer-park — The
church — ^An old chapel or oratory — Walburn Hall — Ellerton Priory — A house
of Cistercian nuns — A raid on the Priory by the Scots — Some tomb-slabs of
the Prioresses — Family of Ellerton — The road to Grinton.

CHAPTER XIX., Grinton 221

Extent and character of the parish of Grinton — The aborigines — ^A prehistoric camp
— Meaning of Grinton — Local commerce and fairs — Population and acreage —
Swaledale and its ancient owners — East and West Grinton — Sale of the manor
in 1865 — Family of Swale — Meaning of Swale — Will of Sir Solomon Swale
— Tea first drunk in Swaledale at Swale Hall — Anecdote of tea-drinkiug
at a Richmondshire village — Description of the church at Grinton — Roman
Catholicism in Swaledale — The Quakers — Grinton and Reeth Bridges —
Fremington and its old families — Ancient earthworks — Meaning of Fremington
— Local discovery.

CHAPTER XX., Reeth ... ... ... ... 236

A long tramp — The old Buck hotel — ^" Tales of a wayside inn " — The parson and
his breeches — Meaning of Reeth — Larfce tracts of wild juniper — Mount
Calvey — Local markets and fairs — Decline of the lead trade — Court of Pye
Powder — Selling on the Lord's Day — Public buildings at Reeth — The Free
School — Manor of Reeth.

CHAPTER XXL, Through Arkbngarthdalb ... ... 2^2

A glorious day — An Easter walk — Aspects of Mount Calvey — Forest of Arkendale
— Manorial history — Extensive postal district — An Arkendale postman
becomes a millionaire — Hurst Moor — Booze — The parish church removed
from Arkletown to Langthwaite — Description of the church — Its history —
Scar House-^Windegg cross — Local lead-mines — Roman roads — Whaw — A
moorland road — Tanhlll — The highest-situated public-house in Yorkshire —
Snow in August — A night adventure.

CHAPTER XXII., Up the Swalb from Rebth ... 24^

Dr. Johnson •* deviating " — Hark aside — Family of Barker — An ancient mill —
Maiden Castle— Crackpot — Whitaside and the Close family — Poet Close —
Over the moors — John Wesley " bogged " — Oxnop and George Kirton —
Hunting at the age of 80 — A remarkable gathering — Gunnerside Bridge —
Local scenery and wild-flowers.

CHAPTER XXIII., Under the Scars around Helaugh... 255

Antiquity of Helaugh — A decayed town — Meaning of the name— A hunting-seat
of John of Gaunt — Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet, in Swaledale— A grand
wolf-hunting country — The last wolves in England and Scotland — Origin and
objects of horn-blowing in the Forests of Si^aledale and Wensleydale — The
lure in Norway— Manor of Helaugh>-The family of Wharton— Incident in
Swaledale— Fateof the Duke of Wharton— Helaugh near Tadcaster— Melbecks
and the Rev. R. V. Taylor — Mr. Edmund Knowles, C.C. — The church-
Discovery of Skeletons — Traditions about trees— Fee thara, a Roman ford —
Low Row and the Parke family — Smarber Hall and Lord Wharton — A curious
bequest — Local Nonconformity— Anecdotes of Wesley — Gunnerside— Burial
in woollen — Ivelett Beck and waterfalls — Crackpot Hall and Swinnergill
Kirk — Grand scenery.

CHAPTER XXIV., Muker Parish and its Wild Scenery 267

Extent and character of Muker parish — Geology and natural history — A flamingo
shot — Remote hamlets and transport of corpses — Muker church — Meaning of
Muker — A customary market— School and Institute — Proposed railway —
Local possessions of Rievaulx Abbey — Old local families — A suggestion to
ethnologists — Swaledale longevity — Nancy Harker — Manor of Muker —
Thwaite — Wild-flowers — Buttertubs Pass — Heaviest rainfall in Yorkshire —
Lovely seat — Great Shunnor Fell — ^Antiquity of Angram — Romantic scenery.

CHAPTER XXV., At the Head of the Swale... ... 275

striking situation of Eeld— A Viking settlement — The Cat Hole inn — Romantic
surroundings — Uses of literature — History of Keld — The church and the
Dissenters — indictment for uttering seditious words — The Independent Chapel
and the Rev. Edward Stillman — Sources of the Swale — ^Wild scenery — Local
fruit culture— Catrake Foss — A curious musical instrument — Eisdon Foss —
Magnificent rock and water scenes — Local wild-flowers — Geological aspects —
A wild road — Prospect over the Eden valley — Concluding reflections.

Part II. — Wbnslbydalb.

CHAPTER XXVL, Middlbham ... ... ... 285

Ancient importance of Middleham — The Windsor of the North — Life of the
Nevilles at Middleham~£arl of Warwick, last of the Barons — Richard III>
— Death of the young Prince of Wales at Middleham — Past and present aspects
of the Castle — Some old local customs — Roman settlement at Middleham —
Conjectured meaning of the name — Discovery of a Roman hypocaust — Roman
roads — William*s Hill — The Conqueror at Middleham — Descent of the manor
— The Constables of the castle— The castle last occupied — Proposed destruction
of the castle, temp. Queen Elizabeth — Description of the castle — The church
— Origin of tithes — The ninths — The church made collegiate by Richard III.
—Description of the church*— Who was St. Alkelda? — A leper hospital —
Markets and fairs— Ancient crosses — The whipping-post at Middleham —
Present aspects of the town — Local worthies— An old horse-rearing centre
and training-ground.

CHAPTER XXVII., Through Covbrdalb ... ... 308

A romantic coaching-route — The pack-horse days — Miles Coverdale, translator of
the Bible — Family of Loftus — The Coverdale bard — A Coverdale man made
the coffin of Napoleon Buonaparte — Coverdale and the ancient Danes —
Cover ham Abbey — The old monks* herb and flower gardens — Some ancient
effigies — The church — Famous racing establishments — The Topbam family —
Melmerby — Scrafton — Carlton — Upper Coverdale — The dissolution of
monasteries, and riots in Coverdale — Government proclamations.

CHAPTER XXVIII., Around East Witton ... ... 821

Delightful situation of East Witton — Domesday record — ^Ancient market — ^Village
feast — St. Simon*s well — Cast-away well — Diana*s well, a Roman tutelary
spring — A curious fountain — Past and present aspects of East Witton — The
old church— The present church — A local historian — Cover bridge — An angler's
paradise — Coverham Abbey fish preserves — Other's cave.

CHAPTER XXIX., Jbrvaux Abbby ... ... ... 827

A beautiful scene — History of the abbey — Depredations by wolves — A perfect
ground-plan of a Cistercian monastery — Description of the abbey — An ancient
effigy — Family of Fitz Hugh — Arms of the abbey — The story of the last
abbot — Reflections on the Dissolution — Subsequent history — Local wild-
flowers— Some survivals of the monks* herb and flower gardens.

18
CHAPTER XXX., On the Richmondshirb Borderland.... 835

Boundaries of Richmondshire — West Tanfield Bridge — Kilgrain Bridge — Its
Satanic origin — History of the bridge— Payments for watching the bridge
during the cattle-plague — Thornton-Steward — The ancient church of St.
Oswald — Manor House — Family of Allen — Sir Edward Banks — Newton-le-
willows — Aysgarth School — Fingal in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles — Constable
Burton — The Wyvill family — The former and present mansions — Incident
during the Civil Wars — Interesting trophies.

CHAPTER XXXI., Danby and the Scropes ... ..- 848

Danby Hall — The ancient house of Scrope — Its connection with Richmondshire —
Lord -Scrope at Flodden — A bead-roll of illustrious names — The family*s
adhesion to the Catholic faith — Description of Danby Hall — Incident during
the Jacobite rebellion — The late Major Scrope— Remains of an ancient chapel
— Ulsbaw Bridge — Roman Catholic chapel — Discovery near Fleet's farmhouse
— Meaning of Ulshaw.

CHAPTER XXXII., Spbnnithorne ... ... ... 850

The Piedmont of Richmondshire— An interesting yillage— Pre-Conquest aspects —
What means Spennithorne 7— A supposed Roman station— The manor —
Description of the church— The family of Burgh— Local families— John
Hutchinson, the eccentric philosopher and naturalist— Richard Hatfield of
Spennithorne attempts the life of George III.

CHAPTER XXXIII., A Ramble about Harmby... ... 856

Early history of Harmby — The family of Harcla — The old mill at Harmby —
Local possessions of St. Nicholas* Hospital — Manor house — Coaching-days —
Harmby Gill — An ancient heronry — The Fairies' Well — A famous quarry —
Palaeontological discoveries of Mr. William Home, F.G.S.

CHAPTER XXXIV., Leyburn... ... ... ... 859

Modern aspects — Situation and general health — Glacial evidences — Discovery of
prehistoric human skeletons and reindeer bones — Last mention of living
reindeer in Britain — Proof of ancient habitations about Leyburn Shawl — An
ossiferous cave — Meaning of Shawl — Early history of Leyburn — Family of
Leyburn — Descent of the manor — Family of Yarker — Dr. Goldsmith — Leyburn
Hall — Supposed Priory at Leyburn — Ancient and modern buildings — The
markets — Bull-baiting — Church of St. Matthew — Catholic church — Dissenting
chapels — Local ministers — Mr. William Home, F.G.S.

CHAPTER XXXV., On the Moors around Bbllerby ... 372

The moors between Leyburn and Richmond— Bellerby— The old hall — A tradition
—Family of Bellerby— The Metcalfes— The church— Wesley an chapel— Old
toll-bars— Halfpenny House— Over the moors— Hart Leap well— Descent to
Richmond.

CHAPTER XXXVI., Wensley 377

A model village — The village gives name to the whole valley — Scandinavian
irruption — Meaning of Wensley — Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon interment —
Some Anglo-Saxon stones — Manor of Wensley — The Scropes — Heart-barial —
The church— Its archaological attractions — Remarkably fine old brass ^
Comparison between it and the brasses at North Mimms and St. Albans
Abbey — The De la Meres related to the Scropes — ^Arms, monuments and
inscriptions in the church — Thomas Maude — Rev. John Wesley at Wensley —
Old churchwardens* accounts — The iate Hon. and Rev. Thos. Orde-Powlett —
Copy of ancient market-charter for Wensley — The markets suspended by
a pl«gue in 1568— Former aspects of the village— Why the large elm-tree was
planted on the green.

€H AFTER XXXVII., Bolton Hall, Rbdmire, and

Preston-under-Scar ... ... ... ... 394

Bolton Park — A remarkable gravel-hill — Bolton Hall — The Orde and Powlett
families — The late Lord Bolton — Redmire— Meaning of the name— An old
sulphur-spring — Former aspects of Redmire — The church — Parson Calvert —
Local Wesleyanism — A blind guide— On the moors — Preston-under-Scar —
Game of fives — Prehistoric dwellings— Preston mill — Keld Head lead-mines
— Scarth Nick — Magnificent view.

CHAPTER XXXVIII., Oastlb Bolton... ... ... 402

Numerous Boltons in England — Origin and meaning of the name — The Wensleydale
Boltons acquired by the Scropes — Local possessions of Rievaux Abbey —
Bolton Castle — Some account of its erection— Description of the building —
Mary, Queen of Scots, a prisoner in the castle — Her attempted escape and
removal — Letter written by the Queen in the castle— Museum of local and
other relics— The church at Bolton — Water supply— A bread famine.

CHAPTER XXXIX., Round about West Witton ... 409

Wensley Bridge — Lavinia Fen ton, Duchess of Bolton — Early history of West
Witton — Ancient archery practice — Local trades — West Witton church —
Family of Whaley — Memorial to Mr. John James, F.S.A. — Catteral — Chantry
— Swiuethwaite and the Metcalfe family.

-CHAPTER XL., The Knights Crusaders in Wensleydale 417

Temple buildings on Penhill — A romantic site — Object of the Crusades — Lands on
Penhill given to the Knights Templars— Erection of houses — Timber brought
from Nidderdale — The Templars' possessions in Richmondshire— Lands given
to maintain lights burning in the Chapel on Penhill— Charges against the
Templars — The master of the house on Penhill a prisoner in York Castle —
Tragic deaths of Templars — Dissolution of the Order— Inventory of Templars'
cattle, goods, and chapel contents at Penhill in 1307— Comments thereon —
The Knights Hospitallers— Grant to Sir Geoffrey le Scrope — Purchase of the
Penhill estate by the Robinsons — Sale to Oswald Metcalfe— Purchase by the
Pilkingtons — Temple farm — Description of ruins — Penhill beacon.

15
CHAPTER XLL, Aysgabth 428

Extent of the imrish— Etymology of Aysgarth— " Castle Dykes "—The bridge and
waterfalls — Threatened spoliatioii of scenery — Aysgarth Defence Association
— Letter from Sir Fredk. Leighton— The Middle and Low Forces— Magnificent
scenery— Wild-flowers— J. M. W. Turner at Aysgarth— Story of his drawings
— Description of the church — Some memorials in the church-yard— John
Drummond and the old Yore Mills Academy — The present school— The May-
pole^The annual Feast— A chat with the centenarian Mrs. Betty Webster —
Congratulations from the Queen.

CHAPTER XLII., Pleasant Paths around Aysgarth ... 442

Carperby and the Society of Friends — ^Local families— Thoresby— An ancient
chapel — Important discovery of Roman coins— The birthplace of an Arch-
bishop of York — Bear Park — The Metcalfe family — Some corrections — A
curious carved stone — Interior of the house — An old Wensleydale clock.

CHAPTER XLIIL, In and About Bishopdalb.... ... 447

Meaning of Bishopdale — Palmers^ Flatty anciently a hospice for palmers — Burton
in Bishopdale — Waldendale and its wild game in old times — Important grant
of Free Chase — Some notable residences— Thoralby and its ancient chapel —
May-pole and inns — Prehistoric evidences on Addlebrough— Thornton Rust.

CHAPTER XLIV., Askrigg ... ... ... ... 451

Extent of the township and parish — Manor of Askrigg — Railway and coach-roads
— The markets — The Old Hall — The church — Description of the interior —
The churchyard—" An honest lawyer" — *' A bad show for Askrigg," an incident
— Local longevity, a wonderful record— Clock-makicg, an old local industry.

CHAPTER XL v., Around Askrigg ... ... ... 456

Charming scenery— Garland Pasture — Fors Abbey— Discoveries on the site — Bow-
bridge— Dale Grange almshouses— Woodhall Park, a royal chase— Mill Qill
and Whitfield Forces — The highest native wood in Yorkshire — Maze Holes.

CHAPTER XL VI., Nappa Hall and the Metcalfbs ... 460

A famous family — Origin of the name of Metcalfe — First notice of the family in
Wensleydale— Captain Metcalfe at the battle of Agincourt — Chancellor Thos.
Metcalfe — Other distinguished members of the family — Sir Christopher
Metcalfe enters York with 800 horsemen all of his kith and kin — His luxurious
life — Decline in the family fortunes — Supposed visit of Sir Walter Raleigh
and King James I. to Nappa — The last Metcalfe at Nappa — Acquisition of the
property by the Weddells — Description of the Hall — Relics of Mary, Queen of
Scots — Did the Queen of Scots, while a prisoner at Bolton Castle, pass two
nights at Nappa Hall 7

CHAPTER XXXVL, Wknslby 377

A model village — The village gives name to the whole valley — Scandinavian
irruption — Meaning of Wensley — Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon interment —
Some Anglo-Saxon stones — Manor of Wensley — The Scropes — Heart-burial —
The church— Its archaological attractions — Bemarkably fine old brass ^
Comparison between it and the brasses at North Mimms and St. Albans
Abbey — The De la Meres related to the Scropes — Arms, monuments and
inscriptions in the church — ^Thomas Maude — Rev. John Wesley at Wensley —
Old churchwardens* accounts — The iate Hon. and Rev. Thos. Orde-Powlett —
Copy of ancient market-charter for Wensley — The markets suspended by
a pkgue in 1563— Former aspects of the village — Why the large elm-tree was
planted on the green.

€HAPTBR XXXVII., Bolton Hall, Rbdmirb, and

Preston-under-Scar ... ... ... ... 394

Bolton Park — A remarkable gravel -hill — Bolton Hall — The Orde and Powlett
families — ^The late Lord Bolton — Redmire— Meaning of the name— An old
sulphur-spring — Former aspects of Redmire — The church — Parson Calvert —
Local Wesleyanism — A blind guide — On the moors — Preston-under-Scar —
Game of fives — Prehistoric dwellings-- Preston mill — Keld Head lead-mines
— Scarth Nick — Magnificent view.

CHAPTER XXXVIII., Oastlb Bolton... ... ... 402

Numerous Boltons in England — Origin and meaning of the name — The Wensleydale
Boltons acquired by the Scropes — Local possessions of Rievaux Abbey —
Bolton Castle — Some account of its erection— Description of the building —
Mary, Queen of Scots, a prisoner in the castle— Her attempted escape and
removal — Letter written by the Queen in the castle— Museum of local and
other relics— The church at Bolton — Water supply— A bread famine.

CHAPTER XXXIX., Round about West Witton ... 409

Wensley Bridge — Lavinia Fenton» Duchess of Bolton — Early history of West
Witton — Ancient archery practice — Local trades — West Witton church —
Family of Whaley — Memorial to Mr. John James, F.S.A. — Catteral — Chantry
— Swinethwaite and the Metcalfe family.

CHAPTER XL., The Knights Crusaders in Wensleydale 417

Temple buildings on Penhill — A romantic site — Object of the Crusades — Lands on
Penhill given to the Knights Templars— Erection of houses — Timber brought
from Nidderdale — The Templars' possessions in Richmondshire— Lands given
to maintain lights burning in the Chapel on Penhill— Charges against the
Templars — The master of the house on Penhill a prisoner in York Castle-
Tragic deaths of Templars — Dissolution of the Order— Inventory of Templars'
cattle, goods, and chapel contents at Penhill in 1307— Comments thereon —
The Knights Hospitallers— Grant to Sir Geoffrey le Scrope — Purchase of the
Penhill estate by the Robinsons— Sale to Oswald Metcalfe— Purchase by the
Pilkingtons — Temple farm — Description of ruins — Penhill beacon.

CHAPTER XLL, AYsaAKTH 428

Bztent of the imrish— Etymology of AyBgarth— " Castle Dykes '*— The bridge and
waterfalls — ^Threatened spoliation of scenery — Aysgarth Defence Association
— Letter from Sir Fredk. Leighton— The Middle and Low Forces— Magnificent
scenery— Wild-flowers — J. M. W. Turner at Aysgarth — Story of his drawings
— Description of the church — Some memorials in the church-yard— John
Drummond and the old Yore Mills Academy — The present school— The May-
pole— The annual Feast— A chat with the centenarian Mrs. Betty Webster —
Congratulations from the Queen.

CHAPTER XLII., Pleasant Paths around Aysgarth ... 442

Carperby and the Society of Friends — Local families— Thoresby— An ancient
chapel — Important discovery of Roman coins— The birthplace of an Arch-
bishop of York — Bear Park — ^The Metcalfe family — Some corrections — A
curious carved stone— Interior of the house — An old Wensleydale clock.

CHAPTER XLIII., In and About Bishopdalb.... ... 447

Meaning of Bishopdale — Palmers' Flatty anciently a hospice for palmers — Burton
in Bishopdale — Waldendale and its wild game in old times — Important grant
of Free Chase — Some notable residences— Thoralby and its ancient chapel —
May-pole and inns — Prehistoric evidences on Add lebrough— Thornton Rust

CHAPTER XLIV., Askriqg ... ... ... ... 451

Extant of the township and parish — Manor of Askrigg — Railway and coach-roads
— The markets — The Old Hall — The church — Description of the interior —
The churchyard-" An honest lawyer" — ** A bad show for Askrigg," an incident
— ^Local longevity, a wonderful record — Clock-making, an old local industry.

CHAPTER XLV., Around Askrigg ... ... ... 456

Charming scenery— Garland Pasture— Fors Abbey— Discoveries on the site — Bow-
bridge — Dale Orange almshouses— Woodhall Park, a royal chase— Mill Oil!
and Whitfield Forces — The highest native wood in Yorkshire— Maze Holes.

CHAPTER XL VI., Nappa Hall and the Metcalfes ... 460

A famous family — Origin of the name of Metcalfe — First notice of the family in
Wensleydale — Captain Metcalfe at the b.attle of Agincourt — Chancellor Thos.
Metcalfe — Other distinguished members of the family — Sir Christopher
Metcalfe enters York with 800 horsemen all of his kith and kin — His luxurious
life — Decline in the family fortunes — Supposed visit of Sir Walter Raleigh
and King James I. to Nappa — The last Metcalfe at Nappa — Acquisition of the
property by the Weddells — Description of the Hall — Relics of Mary, Queen of
Scots — Did the Queen of Scots, while a prisoner at Bolton Castle, pass two
nights at Nappa Hall 1

16
CHAPTER XLVII., In the Forest of Wenslbydalb ... 471

Bainbridge the capital of the Forest — A centre of ancient highways — Strategical
importance of Bainbridge in Koman timeB — Camd^n^s concIuBions questioned
— The Koman camp constructed of stone between a.d. 205 and 208 — ^The
ancient Forest in the custody of twelve foresters, &c. — Objects of horn-
blowing — The village of Bainbridge — An ancient inn — The stocks — Qrammar
School — Excursion into Raydale — Description of Semerwater — Wild birds. &c.
— Local legends — Prehistoric lake-dwellings — Counterside, an old Quaker
settlement — Dr. John FothergiIl,F.R.S. — Jessie Fothergill, authoress — Stallen
Busk — Ancient vaccaries — An old chapel — Romantic aspects — Waterfalls and
wild flowers.

CHAPTER XLVIL, Around Hawbs ... ... ... 481

The Ha»se of Domesday not Hawes— The town of Hawes not existing in Korman
times — Enclosure of wastelands — Chapel-of-ease erected by King Richard III.
— Dues paid to Askrigg till the reign of Charles II. — The Nonconformists —
The pack-horse days — Hawes as a visitors* resort— Romantic scenery— Ancient
camp at Gayle — The Routh family — Burtersett — A wonderful dog — Great
snow-storms.

CHAPTER XLIX., Scenes and Adventures in Upper

Wenslbydalb ... ... ... ... ... 486

Hardraw Scar — Simonstone— History of the Wharncliffe estates in Wensleydale —
The chapelries of Hardraw and Lunds— Hardraw church— Climate and rainfall
— Storms and floods — Forty years* experiences of the vicar of Hardraw — Lost
on the moors— A narrow escape — Snow in June— A struggle in a snow-drift —
Storm in January, 1895— Roads and passes snow-blocked — No markets at
Hawes for nearly eight weeks— Scene in the Buttertubs pass — Cotterdale —
Thwaite Bridge — Mossdale — Around the Moorcock — Snow-blocks on (he
Settle and Carlisle railway— Fatal accidents — A singular coincidence.

CHAPTER L., Through Mallerstang... ... ... 498

The old pack-horse road by Hell Gill— Dick Turpin avoids the Sheriff's WHrrant
by leaping the chasm on "Black Bess"— Hell Gill bridge— Hell Gill fair-
Drovers and their bagpipes — ^Lunds and the Vikings — ^Lunds church — A local
worthy — Through Mallerstang — Pendragon Castle, its origin, history, and
traditions— Old Forest boundaries— Lammerside Castle— Approach to Kirkby
Stephen — Conclusion.

UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FULL PAGE VIEWS.
In the Labob Paper Edition only.

Semerwater, drawn by J. M. W.
Turner, R.A.

View of Bichniond two Centuries ago
Burton Constable Hall in the 17th
Century ...

Engraved for this work from the original
supplied by

Brit is fi Museum

Frontispiece

Faoepage.

... 49

... 841

In Both Editions. FULL PAGE VIEWS.

Richmond

Arms formerly in Richmond Parish Church

Grey Friars Tower, Richmond ...

Rev. Canon Tate

Plan of Environs of Richmond

Easby Abbey ...

Ground Plan of Easby Abbey ...

Brough Hall a Century ago

Scandinavian Fibulae found near Catterick

Bedale in the Coaching Days ...

Oilling Church

Marske Hall ...

Marrick Church and Remains of Priory ...

Grinton Church

Muker

Middleham Castle in 1780

Ground Plan of Jervauz Abbey

Kilgram Bridge

Wensley

Brass in St. Albans Abbey

Brass in Wensley Church

The late Lord Bolton ...

Askrigg Church

Mrs, Rmithf Wood Hall, AysgaHh 33
Gale's " Honoris de Richmond *'

Mrs, Routh, Wood Hall

Ingham Riley, Richmond

C. E. Cookes, Richmond

Mrs. Routh, Wood Hall
Yorkshire Archaeologieal Stfciety

J. Norton Dickons^ Bradford ...

J. Yeoman, Bedale ...
Mrs, Routh, Wood Hall

Do, do.

F, Brundrett, Clayton
J. Norton Dickons, Bradford ..
Yorkshire Archaeological Society
Hector Christie. Jervaux Abbey
Geo. Hepworth, Brighouse
Herbert Wroot, Bradford I
Wm. Home, Leybum I

Mrs. Routh, Wood Hall

Richmond from the South

William I. granting Richmondshire to

Earl Alan ...
The Castle Walk, Richmond ...

OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.

... Lord Howard of J^ngham

Valentiiie, Dfindee

68
71
79
88
104
109
129
144
151
171
198
211
221
267
285
327
335
377

384

396
451

89
51

Plan of Richmond Castle

Keep of Richmond Castle early this Century

Richmond Parish Church and Grammar

School
Friars Wynd, Richmond
Market Place, Richmond, a Century ago...
Interior of the Old Grammar School,

Richmond ...
Dorothy VVyndlow Pattison (* Sister Dora')
Lady Noel Byron

View from Willance's Leap, Swaledale ...
Bargate Green, Richmond
Richmond from the River Side...
Easby Abbey from the River ...
Hipswell Church

Hipswell Hall

John Wicliffe denouncing the Grey Friars
Remains of Chapel on Catterick Bridge ...
Catterick Church
Sir Wm. Lawson, Bart.

Mrs. Lanchester

Hornby Church

Hornby Castle

Aske Hall

Rt Hon. Thomas, Earl of Zetland

Hauxwell Cross

General Plantagenet Harrison ...

The Old Hall and Mill at Marske

Seal of Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of

York

Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury
Timothy Hutton, Esq....
The Old Church, Hudswell

Walburn Hall

Rev. Sir John Swale, Bart.

Gunnerside Bridge

Mr. Edmund A. Knowles, C.C. ...

Muker Beck ...

Mrs. Nancy Harker

Gunnerside ...

Keld

At the Head of the Swale

Hoggarth*s House

Plan of Middleham Castle

South-west angle of the Keep, Middleham

Castle
Middleham Church

The Old Church, Horse House, Coverdale
Inscribed Doorway, Coverham Abbey ...
South Doorway, Jervauz Abbey
Danby Hall ...

Yorkthire Arehteologiodl Society
J. Norton Dickons, Bradford ...

Valentine, Dundee ...
Inghavi Riley ^ Richmond

64
70
76

101

107

116

118

120

127

136

139
154
156
159
164
166
170
182
196

200
202
204
214
218
224
25S
261
269
271
273
277
279
... 283
Yorkthire Archteological Society 295

Rev, E, B. Smith, Kippax ... 297

Do. do. ... 302

Mrt. Dene, Leedt ... ... 309

F. Brundreit, Clayton ... 314

Rev. E. B. Smith, Kippax ... 329

Mrt. Scrape, Danby-on-Yore ... 346

Cfiat. 0. Tate, Richmond

R. Fenton, Richmond
Auty, Tyjiemvnth
F, BrundretU Clayton
R. Fenton, Richmond
Rev, H. A. Anneiley, Hiptwell
Do. do.

Sir John Laivton, Bart., Brough

Hall

J, B. Suiithton, Ley hum

Rev. H. Travis Boultbee, Hornby

J, Yeoman, Bedale ...

TJiot. Spencer, Richmond

Mrt. Rovth, Wood Hall
IVm. Home, F.Q.S., Leyburn ...

J. Xorton Dickont, Bradford ...
T. Brear ^ Co., Ltd., Bradford
Mrt. Hutton, Aldburgh Hall ...

John Stantfeld, Leedt

Mrt. Tyzack, Abbey dale

F. Brundrett, Clayton

Rev. R. V. Taylor, Melbeckt ...

F. Brundrett, Clayton

Jat. Harker, Harrogate

F. Brundrett, Clayton

Do. do.

Major Simon Thomas Scrope ...

Leyburn Shawl

Leyburn

Old Cottage, Leyburn ...

Anglo-Saxon Skeleton...

Ancient Parclose in Wensley Church

Bolton Hall ...

Bolton Castle...

Mr. John James, F.S.A.

Remains of Knight Templars Chapel on

Penhill

Aysgarth Bridge

Above the High Force, Aysgarth

The Low Force, Aysgarth

Aysgarth Church

The Middle Force, Aysgarth

Thomas, Marquis of Wharton ...

Mrs. Betty Webster ...

The Alpine Garden, Bear Park ...

Carved Stone at Bear Park

Wood Hall Park

Mill Gill, near Askrigg
Nappa Hall a Century ago
Bedstead of Mary, Queen of Scots
Bainbridge ...
Counterside ...
Dr. John Fothergill, F.R.S.
Miss Jessie Fothergill ...
Moorcock, near Hawes Junction
Lunds Church

Mr9, Scrope, Danhy-on-Yore ... 348

Valentine y Dundee ... ... 361

Frith 4* Co.y Reigate, Surrey ... 368

Wm. Home, F,G.S., Leyburn ... 371
Hon,W. r. Orde-PoioleU.Wensley 380

Do. do. 387

•/. B, Smithson, Leyburn ... 395

Geo, Hepworthy Brig house ... 405

IVm. Seruton, Bradford ... 411

Hon. W. T, Orde-PowlHt
Chat. A. Hou/ef Aysgarth
Rev. E. B. Smithy Kippax
Rev. F. W. Stow, AytgaHh
Chas. A. Houfey Aysgarth
Fi-ith 4" Co., Reigate, Surrey

J. B. Smithson, Leyburn
Thos. Bradley, Bear Park

Do. do.

John C. C. Routh, Wood Hall
Frith ^f Co., Reigate, Surrey
J. Norton Dickons, Bradford
Robert Vyner, Newby Hall
F. Brundrett, Clayton
IV7H. Home, F. G.S., Leyburn

Do. do.

Miss S. Fothergill, Bowdon
F. Brundrett, Clayton

Do. do.

424
429
431
433
435
437
439
441
443
445
457
459
462
468
472
474
477
479
490
495

CENSUS TABLE FOR RICHMONDSHIRE.

Civil Pariah or Population.

Township. 1881 1891

Abbotsidb. High 493 412

Abbotside, Low 130 143

Agglethorpe, with Cover-
ham 211

Aiskew 881

Arkengarthdale 999

Aske 211

Appleton 104

Askrigg 624

Aysgarth 370

Population.
1881 1891

Bainbridob 683

Bedale 1046

Bellerby 311

Bishopdale 87

Boltou-on-Swale 77

Brompton-on-Swale 360

Brough 120

Burton-cum-Walden 454

Burton-on-Yore 147

Caldbergh, with East

SCBAFTON 72

Carlton 252

Carlton Highdale 247

Carperley, with Thoresby 298

Castle Bolton 169

Catterick 660

Colburn 102

Constable Burton 213

Crakehall 484

176
847
761
145
106
552
235

595

1090

814

435

105

425

126

75
199
204
244
149
681

97
189
444

Civil Parish or
Township.

Hudswell 181 223

Hunton 411 322

KiLLERBY 59 41

Kirkby-on-the-Hill 77 69

Leyburn 972 982

Mabrick 307 246

Marske 268 222

Mashain 1071 1063

Melbecks 1165 600

Melmerby 110 102

Melsonby 532 499

Middleham 818 782

Middleton-Tvas 640 474

Moulton 273 235

Muker 837 615

Newbiggin 104 lol

New Forest 49 36

Newsham 275 211

Newton-le- Willows 838 478

North Cowton 283 266

Patrick Brompton 178 163

Preston 362 298

Ravbnsworth 241 264

Redniire 347 243

Reeth 988 667

Richmund 4502 4216

Dalton 206 167

Dowuholnie 112 73

Easby 123 147

Ellerton Abbey 44 48

EUerton-on-Swale 172 149

Eppleby 417 366

Fearby 222 228

Finghall 99 82

Firby 84 95

Garriston 30 29

Gatenby 61 40

Gayles 61 61

Gilling 872 764

Grinton 377 280

Hackforth 158 121

Harinby 182 171

Hauxwell, East 96 116

Hauxwell.West 40 26

Hawes 1890 1615

Healey, with Sutton 311 264

Hipswell 269 208

Hornby 90 91

St. Martin 79

Scorton 407

Scotton 116

Scruton 359

Skeeby 169

Spennithorne 200

Stainton 41

Stanwick St. John 56

Thoralby 206

Thornton Rust 143

Thornton Steward 277

Tunstall 244

UCKERBY

Walburn 30

Wensley 322

West Layton 76

WestSciafton 106

Whashton 134

Witton, East (within) 269

Witton. EaHt (without)

(including Jervaux) 121

Witton, West 660

69
615
113
383
148
197

45
112

202
121
240
219

30
261

66
106
184
267

183
404

HEIGHTS OF TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND HAMLETS.

Feet Feet Feet

Appersett (Bridge)... 774 Counterside 1020 Muker 780

Arkengarthdale Coverham Abbey' ... 600 Oughtershaw 1180

(St. Mary's Church) 871 Eaaby 350 Outhgill 850

Askrigg 726 East Witton 370 Preston-urider-Scar 700

Aysgarth 660 Grinton 675 Kedmire 620

BaiDbrigge 709 Gunnerside 760 Reeth (Market Place) 668

Bedale 140 Hardraw 790 „ (Lane Foot)... 728

BeggarinoDds 1 100 Hawes (Church) 808 Richmond 460

Bellerby 700 „ (Market Place) 788 „ (Race Course) 847

Bowea lUnicom inn) 914 Hudswell 670 „ (Beacon) 1047

Burtersett ( Wesleyan Keld 1080 Scotton 540

Chapel) 947 Kirkby Stephen 660 Sedbusk 1000

Carperby 720 Leyburn (Mkt. Place) 652 Spennithorne 551

Catterick 180 Marsett 860 Stallen Busk 1200

Catterick Bridge 208 Maaham 339 Thornton Rust 800

Castle Bolton 800 Middleham (cross)... 489 Wensley 400

HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS. EOADS, HOUSES, &c.

Feet Feet Feet

Addlebrough 1564 Haws Bnd (Seiner- Nine Standards 2158

Bear's Head (Semer- water) 1600 Pendragon Castle ... 810

water) 2019 Hell Gill Bridge 1200 Penhill 1680

Beck Crooks Bridge 1257 High Seat (Mailer- Penyghent 2273

Birkdale Tarn (Swale stang) 2328 Punchard Toll Bar... 1178

Head) 1620 Horse House (Cover- Reeth Bridge 616

BleaMoor 1753 dale) 850 Rogan's Seat 2204

Bow or Baugh Fell... 2226 Kilgram Bridge 300 Scarth Nick (top) ... 1040

Buttertubs Pass Ingleborough 2373 Semerwater 820

(summit) 1682 Keasdon (Swaledale) 1636 Shaw Piiddock (inn) 1137

Calvey 1599 Keld to Kirkby Ste- Shunnor Fell 2351

Cam Fell 1890 phen, high road ... 1680 Spence Intake House 1181

CamHouses 1502 Lady's Pillar 2267 Stags Fell 2213

C.B. inn (Arkendale) 970 Langthwaite Bridge Stake Pass (summit) 1822

Cocker Top 1626 End 841 Tanhill(inn) 1727

Cosh House 1400 Leyburn Shawl 800 Tavlor Rigg 1620

Danby Moor Wood... 555 Little Fell (Hawes) 2186 Ten End (Hawes) ... 1919

DoddFell 2189 Lovely Seat or Luna- Water Crag 2186

Gavle Bridge 861 sitt 2213 Watson Ho. (Swale-

Qiiibon Hill (Wens- Lunds Fell 2186 dale) 967

leydale) 1781 Lunds School 1130 Wetherfell 2015

Great Bell (Mailer- Mickle B'ell 2.591 Whaw (Lane Head) 1075

stang) 1230 Mile House (Hawes) 846 Whernside 2414

Great Shunnor Fell 2351 Mirk Fell 1800 Whitfield Fell 1750

Halfpenny House ... 820 Moorcock (inn) 1050 Widdale Fell 2203

Harland Hill (Cover- Muker Edge 2213 Wild Boar Fell 2323

dale) 1758 Xewby Head 1421 Wood hall Greets 1721

The highest inhabited building in Yorkshire appears to be the inn on Tanhill
(Arkengarthdale), 1727 feet. The statement on page 247, I am informed, applies
to Taylor Rlgg. The highest inliabited house in England is Rumney's House
(1980 feet), south of Alston, in Cumberland. The highest inhabited building in
Europe is the Alpine Club House (12,000 feet) on Monte Rosa in Switzerland.

RAINFALL IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

Height
Stations. Authorities. above ssa->leveL Depth of rain in inches

Feet. 1883. 1894. 1896.'

Aysgarth Vicarage...., Rev. F. W. Stow 644 84-85 4437 41'14

„ „ 659 3086 42-50 39'30

Baldersby W. Gregson 101 2011 27-33 30-91

Bedale (Thorpe

Perrow) W. Culverwell 170 21-85 28-08 2905

Bolton Hall F. Scrivener 420 26-30 34-90 3868

Bowes G. J. Symons, F.R.S 950 2480 4180 36-90

Carperby J. Willis 720 80-86

ForcetfcPark J. Michell 360 22-72 31*48 31-91

Guisborough (Button

Hall) Sir J. W. Pease, Bart.... 400 22-81 27-79 33-29

Guisboroagh (Lock-
wood Beck Res.).... W. FAnson, C.E 632 26-43 32-13 33-52

Hardraw Vicarage Rev. R. Pinck 790 4662 4824

Hawes Junction The Meteor. Council 1185 66-46 6247 65-80

ff (Luuds

School) Mr. Masheter 1100 ... 61-97 55-18

Ingleby Greenhow

Vicarage Rev.J. Hawell 448 2738 28-89 8264

Ingleby Manor The Hon. H. Sidney 440 29-04 32-29 34-48

Leyburn (Grove

House) G. W. Wray 660 2697 36-70

Masham (Aldburgh

Hall) Miss Greenwood 200 23-88 86-54

Middlesbrough

(Albert Park) J. M. Parnaby 30

Northallerton The Meteor, Council 130

„ (Rounton Grange) The Royal Meteor. Soc.. 250

Osmotherley T. Yeoman 660

Pickering (Rectory)... Rev. G. H. Lightfoot 150

Richmond (The Grove) G. Roper. 430

., Mrs. Davidson 463

Saltburn W. W. Stainthorpe, M.D. 160

Scarborough (South

Cliff) Dr. Monk 160

Stanwick Park W. Higgle 300

Thirsk (Sowerby) C. M. Swarbreck 106

Whitby (Royal Cres-
cent) T.Newbitt 150 23-87 24-43 3022

19-29

24-66

29-44

22-10

25-22

28-38

20-53

25-71

28-42

20-95

23-78

26'69

2319

27-19

27 02

23.51

31-63

32-88

...

32-64

32.63

19-31

22-78

...

2213

29-02

21-92

3097

35 48

23-32

23-87

25-17

According to Symons* Brituh Rainfall^ from which the above abstracts are
made, the heaviest recorded rainfall in the British Islands in 1895 was at the Stye,
in Cumberland, and amounted to 127*65 in. At the Ben Nevis Observatory it
was 117 93 in. The least rainfall was at Abbots Court, Hoo. Rochester, Kent,
which was 14*88 in. At Seathwaite, in Cumberland, the records have been kept
for more than 50 years, and the average annual rainfall is 135 inches. In the wettest
year it has exceeded 182 inches, and in the driest it has fallen to 88 inches.

THE RAYDALE RIOT.

(^Prepared, by ptmnUiion^ frovi the Mttccdfe Records.)

|HE subject of the three days' siege of Raydale House, near
Semerwater, is one of peculiar interest It has been discussed
or referred to by several writers, but in every case either
inaccurately or imperfectly. Dr. Whitaker, in his History
of Whallef/y in referring to Nicholas Assheton's account of it, as set forth
in his Diary ^ remarks that ''the origin of this petty war is not explained,"
&c., and that " Sir Thomas Metcalfe seems to have been a man bi-utal
and ferocious," — ^a most unwarrantable inference, which one would
hardly have expected the learned historian to have drawn, after his tacit
admission of ignorance of the circumstances which led to the '' petty
war.*' Yet the editor of the Chetham Society's edition of the Diary
repeats these statements, and Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, in his story of
Th€ Lancashire Witches, alludes to the same reprint as "exhibiting an
extraordinary amount of research and information," which may be taken
for granted, but unfortunately the " research " does not go to the root
of the subject, and the explanations are for the most part vague and
one-sided. Mr. Ainsworth also falls into the common error of making
Mrs. Edith Robinson aunt to Sir Ralph Assheton and Mr. Nicholas
Assheton, whereas she was aunt to the wife of the latter, and no relation
whatever to Sir Ralph.

The particulars, as set out in the Metcalfe Records, compiled from
the Proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber, <&c., are briefly these.
By letters patent, dated at Westminster, 24th February, 7th James I.
(1609-10), written in Latin, the King, for a fine of £38 19s. and for
other good causes, &c., granted and to farm let to Sir Thomas Metcalfe, of
Nappa, Et., then the King's tenant and farmer, the tenement of Raydale
and other tenements described by the names of " Esti-adale and Westra-
dale, otherwise Radale and Cragdale, parcel of our manor of Bainbrigg
within the Archdeaconry of Richmond, Ac, formerly in the tenure of
Christopher Metcalfe, Et., deceased, or his assigns, &c.," likewise the
tenements with appurtenances in Thoralby, Marsett, Woodhall, Biindsike,
and Gayle, (as set out in the fine), to have and to hold the said several
tenements, lands, and other premises for the term of forty years, rendering
annually for the whole of the said tenements, <&c., the sum of £19 9s. 6d.

of lawful English money, &o. ; and also at the renewal of every lease
from time to time of the premises or any of them to be made whenever
it should happen, two years' annual value of the premises in the name
of a fine or entry.

I have made some mention of Sir Thomas, and his financial
embarrassments, in the notice of Nappa, and it appears by an indenture
dated 8th July, 1610, Sir Thomas, in consideration, as therein expressed,
of £1000 to him paid by William Robinson of Worton, in the county
of York, gentleman, the receipt whereof he acknowledged, assigned to
Robinson the Raydale and other properties comprised in the lease of
1609-10, with the exception of Woodhall and Gayle, to hold the same to
him, his executors, and assigns, for the residue of the term of years
thereby granted, with a covenant by Sir Thomas (who had a desire to
occupy the lands for six years) to pay Robinson for the premises a rent
of £100 per annum, half-yearly as therein mentioned ; and a further
covenant that if Sir Thomas paid such yearly rent during those six
years, and at the end of the six years £1000, then Robinson should
reassure all the said lands with his interest therein to Sir Thomas. Had
Sir Thomas met these obligations the quarrel that followed would not
have occurred ; as it is he failed to pay Robinson the rental of £100 a
year for the six years, nor did he pay the £1000 at the end of that time.

The trouble then began. William Robinson at once took proceedings
for recovery of possession, and for this purpose he on 15th April, 1616,
executed upon the premises a lease thereof to his son John Robinson
and his assigns, from the 26th March then last for the term of five
years. Under this lease John Robinson entered the premises and was
thenceforth possessed until 20th April, when one James Wetherall, who
was Sir Thomas's bailifP, entered and ejected him therefrom. Where-
upon John Robinson brought an action against Wethemll in Easter
Term, 1616, in the Court of King's Bench. Wetherall pleaded not
guilty, issue was joined, and process was afterwards respited for the trial
of the action at the York Assizes in the July following. Immediately
afterwards, and in the same term. Sir Thomas exhibited in the Court of
Exchequer a bill against William Robinson, John Robinson, James
Wetherall. and Henry Moore, for redemption, and for an injunction
restraining John Robinson from proceeding with his ejectment against
Wetherall in the meantime. In this bill Sir Thomas enters at great
length into the circumstances and position of the case, explaining the
reasons for and conditions of the grant made by William Robinson, to
which the latter makes full answer, sworn 17th June, 1616, shewing his
version of the case.* The result was, at the Assizes held at York Castle

• Ercheq. Q, 7?., No. 1462

on July 15th, before Sir Edward Bromley, Kt., one of the Barons of
the Excheqaer, and Sir Augustine Niccols, Kt., one of the Justices of
the King's Bench, John Robinson appeared by his attorney, but James
Wetherall did not appear, and a jury being sworn (four out of the panel
and eight de circumstantibtu) found Wetherall guilty of the trespass and
ejectment complained against him, and assessed the damages at 2d., and
for disbursements and fees 40b.

Further orders followed, all disastrous to Sir Thomas, reinstating the
said Robinson in possession of the said tenements with the appurtenances,
a proceeding which was very keenly felt by Sir Thomas. Nor did he
make any efPort to disguise his injured feelings. On the contrary his
anger grew, — he became desperate, and resolved, at any rate, to let
Robinson know that he should have no peaceable holding of his coveted
possessions. The loss of Raydale, (at all events until the expiration of
the lease in 1649, and probably, too, the right of renewal) which had been
for so many long years in his family, was undoubtedly a grievous blow to
Sir Thomas. And conscious of the little hope of ever regaining his
rights to the old family patrimony, like the impulsive man he was,
intoxicate with grief, thereupon added more fuel to the flame which
helped on his ruin.

On Wednesday, June 4th, 1617, or just 22 days after Robinson had
been put in possession by the Sheriff, Sir Thomas went to the house,
accompanied with forty to sixty men armed with guns, swords, pikes. &c.,
and called upon those within to give up possession. This they refused
to do, whereupon the house was fired at many times, and the siege was
continued until the following Saturday afternoon, when assistance
arrived. On the previous evening (Friday) James Hodgson, one of
Sir Thomas's — the attacking — party, was killed by a shot fired from the
house by one Dent, Dr. Whitaker enlarges upon this untoward event,
but it is evident there were no other " wounded persons " and only one
person was killed. However it were folly to say anything in extenuation
of the conduct of Sir Thomas, who had become desperate by the failui*e
of justifiable resources, and was determined to harass and annoy his
opponent by every means in his power, foul or fair. He even went so
far as to bribe the local coroner, named Bell, whose duty it became to
hold an inquest on the body of James Hodgson, to empanel a packed
jary of Sir Thomas's own nomination, to return a verdict not only of
wilful murder against Dent, who fired the shot, but also, as accessories,
against all others who were in the house at the time, as well as William
Robinson, who was then in London, the motive for this is stated in the
Star Chamber minute, hereunder. But although Bell the coroner acted
as he had been bribed to act, and the inquisition was held and the
desired verdict was obtained, there is nothing to shew that any of the

parties were actually put upon their trial at the ensuing Assizes, and as
will be seen presently the charge was ultimately withdrawn.

Both Mr. Raines in the Chetham Society's volume (xiv.) and the
editors of the fourth edition of Dr. Whitaker's History of Whalley
" fear there are no records extant of the Court of Star Chamber to prove
what was* the event of this suit." Had they, however, made proper
search the following explanation would have been found :

The Ratdale Riot. The Charge and Sentence.
(^From the Minuten of Proceedings in the Court of Star Chamber.^*

The King's Attorney, by the relation of (John) Robinson, pit. aginst Sir Thoinaa
Metcalfe and divers others for a rebellious and warlilce riott and for conspiracfe.
The riott was, that a certaine piece of land and a house having bin ejected from
Metcalfe to Robinson whereof he was put in possession by the Sheri£fe ; about
three weeks after the said possession, Sir Tho. Metcalfe assembled to the number
of 60 men, armed with musquitts, calivers, pikes, javelins, long-bowes and arrowea
(and) came before the house in the evening, they discharged their gunns as soone
as they came, and presently sent a sumons to those within to deliver upp the
possession, to which they answered, that if they had authority for it they were
ready to doe it, otherwise they would wast their lives ; hereupon they began to
besiege the house ; they gave many assaults upon it, discharged their peices against
it, and in one hour of one of their assaults shott through the house 17 tymes ;
continued this sieze with many assaults from Wednesday night till Satterday in
the afternoone that a serjeantt att armes came from Torke with the mother of
(John) Robinson, who in the beginning of this siege got forth, of the house with
some danger and abuse offered her, being thrown to the ground, beaten, and after
carry ed and layd in a ditch for dead by two of the riotors. These riotors also
gave forth they would recover by the club-law what was lost by the comon law ;
said, upon refusal of yeelding, they were all but dead men ; and upon the death
of Hodson, one of their riotors company, who was slayn by a shott which waa
made from the house, being the only man they did shoote, they rejoyced and said
all was their own, that was worth all the rest ; they within the house should all
be hanged. During the siege also, the Ladie Metcalfe came thither and encouraged
the riotors and would have hired a woman to sett fire in the house promising to
bear her out in it.

For this offence Sir Thomas Metcalfe was fined att a thousand pounds ; those
of his riotors company complayned against, being to the number of about 30, at
five hundred markes apeece ; and if any of them proove insufficient. Sir Tho.
Metcalfe to answer the whole. His lady fined at 500 li alsoe. Sir Tho. Metcalfe
to be imprisoned in the Tower att his owne charge during the King's pleasure, and
all these riotors complayned of for a yeare and a daye.

The decree of the Court to be sent to the Assizes to be publickely read and
some of the riotors to be set on a high place there to aske forgiveness for their
offence and that enquiry should be made of the neglect of Justices of Peace for
not taking knowledge of this rebellious seige during the tyme thereof.

Sir Tho. Metcalfe and Bell the Coroner are charged of a conspiracie seeking
unjustly to take away by coulor of law the lives of some of the King's subjects,
namely of Dent, that slew the above Hodson, and of the rest of those that were

* 8. P. Domestic Series, vol. cdii., page 6.

then in the house. The circumstances were, that Bell did send a warrant to the
constable for sundry persons which he knew not, which were named to him by
Sir Tho. Metcalfe, that he did empanell a jurie that were every one of them either
of kindred to Sir Tho. Metcalfe or his tenants, or his servants, or the brothers of
the riotors ; that when the jury did only find the said Dent to be guilty of th&
death of Hodson, the said Bell told them they were very favorable and that h&
would help them and soe took the verdict from them which they had written and
went and drew one himself, whereby the said Dent was found guilty of the murder
of Hodson, and all those that were in the house, together with one of the
Robinsons, who was then in London, ayding, assisting and accessory to the murder ;.
and for this, his proceeding, he received 10 li reward, besides his ordinary fees, of
Sir Tho. Metcalfe, who by this meanes thought to have endited and convicted of
murder both the said Dent and all the said Robinsons ; by which meanes they
should be all hanged, their lands and goods forfeited, and then he would to the
court and gett a grant thereof from the King, and thereof reward his riotors. Sir
Tho. Metcalfe was fyned att 2000 li ; the couronner at 1000 li ; and one of the
jurors also was fyned, but their whole company besides him were freed because
they were not charged neither with corruption nor malice.

There were damages adjudged to Robinson against Sir Tho. Metcalfe for both
offences 1000 markes, and ordered that the appeal which lay against Dent and
Robinson should be withdrawn.*

Sir ThomaB having lodged legal proceedings against Robinson in the
Court of Chancery, touching the question of bonds,! he took the
precaution to mortgage his only unencumbered estate, viz. : that of
Clotherham, thinking it mighc prove disadvantageous to his opponents
if he did so. Accordingly, by an indenture dated 25th March,
16th James I. (1618), he mortgaged to John Muscott, citizen and
vintner of London, his manor or lordship of Clotherham alias Cletherom
in the county of York, and lands in Clotherham, Studley Roger, and
Grantley, with a proviso for redemption on payment of £735 on the
25th September then next. This precautionary step put another bolt in
the hands of Sir Thomas to fling at his adversary, whom he regarded aa
a vile usurer, and a Shylock determined to have his pound of flesh.
Here is the sequel. In Trinity Term 17th James I., an extent was
awarded for levying the damages and costs which had been adjudged to
him Robinson, by virtue of which an inquisition was taken at York
Castle on October 17th of the same year, when the manor of Clotherham
was found to be of the yearly value of £100, and on the 20th of the
same month, Robinson was put into possession of the manor. At this
time, however, Robinson could not have been aware that the manor was
then in mortgage to Muscott, but when he applied to the tenants they

* The zneaningr of this probably is that the trial of the coroner^s inquisition, whereby these'
two were f onnd gvdXty of murder, was not to he proceeded with ; and it would further shew that
none of the others in the house were included in the inquisition.— Jfc(c<i(/e Record».

t M.M. 72, No. 829, Chancery Bills and Answers, Charlee I.

refused to pay him their rents unless he would enter into bonds with
sufficient sureties to save them harmless from encumbrances, and this he
did. Thereupon Muscott, no doubt with the connivance, if not at the
instance of Sir Thomas, entered and executed a lease of the manor to
one Vaux, and in his name commenced upwards of twenty actions
against the tenants for their rents, and an action of ejectment against
Rowland Fawcett, Robinson's tenant of part of the manor, in which
last action he obtained a verdict by default at the Spring Assizes for
Yorkshire of 1621, and in Easter Term in that year signed judgment
and obtained and henceforth held possession. To add to Robinson's
difficulties the tenants who had to pay Yaux brought actions against
him on his bonds, and he was put to great expense on this ground alone.

The end of it all was that Sir Thomas made good his complainings,
and by petition obtained a full pardon and release for himself, his
sureties, and other defendants in his suits. This release was delivered
by privy seal dated 10th and letters patent dated 18th March, 1621-2,
whereby each and all of the fines and penalties imposed upon them by
the Court of Star Chamber were pardoned and remised, with a release
of all their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeited to his
Majesty, extended, seized, or taken in execution by reason of the said
recognizance or sentence.

It need only be said in conclusion that neither William Robinson nor
his son John lived long to enjoy their hard-obtained possession of
Ray dale ; for the latter died at Raydale on or shortly before 13th Feb.,
1627-8, on which day an inventory was taken of his personal estate,
consisting of £41 worth of cattle, but no will of his or administration
to his estate is forthcoming. William Robinson died at Worton, in
Wensleydale, a few weeks after, for on March 20th an inventory was
taken of his pei*sonal estate, consisting principally of cattle, valued at
£151 Ss. 4d.

This William Robinson, by the way, who died in 1627-8, was no
relation whatever of the William Robinson of Newby, who in 1627
married Sir Thomases daughter Frances. The editors of the fourth
edition of Dr. Whitaker's Whalley say that the son of William Robinson,
of York, merchant, "died about 1618, and the aflFray here recorded
appears to have taken place upon that event.^' They are also mistaken
in affirming the Robinsons to be tenants of Raydale, which they never
were, as the narrative shews. Furthermore it may be requisite to observe
that the house called Raydale is not a ruin, but in good repair, and if
not of the period of the riot, cannot be many years short of it.

GLOSSAET OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

There are certain historical words and phrases employed in this and
similar works, which are not always intelligible to the ordinary reader.
It is therefore believed that the few pages here allotted will form a useful
reference on the subject. The particulars are copied, by permission,
from the Yorkshire Arch(zological Journal (Record ISeries).

Advowson of a church. The ri^ht of patronage, i.e.y the power of presenting
some fit and proper person to the Bishop or Ordinary for institution into a
vacant benefice. Seti Kennett, Glossary, also Ayliffe's Parergon, pp. 410 — 17.

Advowson of a religious house. The right of patronage acquired, sometimes by
the founder of the house, and sometimes by a powerful neighbour, who was
chosen by the house as advocate, patron, or champion. Sometimes the patron
had the sole nomination of the abbot or prior, and sometimes he granted a
conge d' Hire or licence of electing to the members of the house. See Eennett,
Glossary^ also Freeman, Gorman Conquest, vol. v., p. 501.

Agist, agistment. " The taking in the beasts and cattle of every person being an
inhabitant within a forest that may for their money have common of herbage
there for such beasts as are commonable within a forest ; and this manner of
taking in of cattle to pasture or feed by the week or by the month or otherwise
is called agisting of beasts or cattle, and the common of herbage that they
have there for their beasts is called agistment. But it is to be understood
that agistment is most properly the common of herbage of any kind of ground
or land or woods, or the money that is received or due for the same."
Man wood, c. 11, s. 1.

Almoigrne or frankalmoigne. libera elemosina, free alms. The tenure by which
religious corporations in almost every instance held their lands. It was
subject to no service except that of praying for the soul of the donor and
those of his ancestors and heirs, and except up to the date of the Norman
Conquest or thereabouts, the trinoda neeessitas, i.e., the duty of rendering
military service, and the building and repair of castles, bridges, and high roads.
This tenure could not be created by a subject after the Statute of Westminster
the Third, Quia Emptores, 18 Edw. I. It dififered from tenure by divine
service in that lands held by the latter tenure were subject to fealty, &c., and
also to distress in case of breach or neglect of the service under which the
land was held.
Ameroement, amerciament. The pecuniary punishment of an offender against
the king or other lord in his court, that is found to be in misericordid, i.e., to
have offended and to stand at the mercy of the king or lord. An amercement
differed from a fine in that it was arbitrarily imposed at the discretion of the
court, but a fine was fixed and certain.
Assise or Assize. Jacob (^Law Dictionary^ says, that according to our ancient
books, assize is defined to be an assembly of knights and other substantial
men, with the justice in a certain place and at a certain time appointed. This

word is properly derived from the latin verb asHdeo^ to sit together, and is also
taken for the court, place, or time when and where the writs and processeB of
assise are handled or taken. And in this signification assize is general, as
when the justices go their several circuits, with commissions to take all
assizes ; or specialf where a special commission is granted to certain persons
(formerly oftentimes done) for taking an assize upon one or two disseisins
only. There were five several commissions for a general assize, viz. : (1) Of
Oyer and Terminer, directed to the judges and many other gentlemen of the
county by which they were empowered to try treasons, felonies, &c. (2) Of
Gaol delivery, directed to the judges and the clerk of assize associate, which
gave them power to try every prisoner in the gaol, committed for any ofifence
whatsoever, but none but prisoners. (3) Of Assize, directed to the judges
and the clerk of assize, to take assizes and do right upon writs of assise
brought before them, by such as were wrongfully thrust out of their lands and
possessions. (4) Of Nisi Prius, directed to the judges and clerk of assize, by
which civil causes grown to issue in the courts above, were tried in the
vacation by a Jury of twelve men of the county where the cause of action
arose. (5) A Commission of the Peace in every county of the circuit, and all
justices of the peace of the county were bound to be present at the assizes,
and the sheriff also, to give their attendance on the judges, or they should be
fined. The term assize was likewise applied to a jury where assizes of novel
disseisin were tried. The term assize also was used for a writ for recovery of
possession of things immovable, e.g., assize of novel disseisin. It also
signified a Statute or Act of Parliament, e.g., Assize of the Forest, Assize of
Bread and Ale, &c.

Bailiwick, halliva. Under the term was comprised any oflSce, jurisdiction, or
territory, committed to the care of a subordinate official.

Bovate or Ozgang. Half a virgate, or yard land of varying measurement.
The following measurements appear, viz. : 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and
24 acres, A bovate appears to have been the holding of a tenant who
contributed one ox to the manorial team of eight oxen. See Vinogradoff,
p. 238

Garuoate, carvcata. A ploughland or hide was of uncertain extent, but said to
be the extent that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen in the course of
a year. The size varied in different parts of the country and according to the
nature of the land. The normal size is said to be 120 acres, but in Kirkhy''s
Inquest (Surt.), p. 446, are several examples, varying from 106^ acres to 27|
acres, and in the Register of Worcester Priory (Camd.), a carucate appears to
have contained 180 acres. Seebohm ( VUl. Cominun.^ p. 37) gives instances of
hides varying in area from 240 to 120 acres. Coke (i. Inst.^ 69 a.) says that a
plowland may contain a messuage, wood, meadow, and pasture. See also
Elphinstone, Interpretation of Deeds, s.v., *• Measures of land."

Demesne, to hold lands in, was to hold the same as the demesne lands of the
manor. To be seized in demesne, was said of one who held lands for the term
of his life. But he who held the same to him and his heirs, or to him and
his successors, was said to hold in his demesne as of fee. Demesnes were in
common speech the lord's chief manor place, and the lands belonging to it
which he kept in his own hands. The king's ancient demesnes are the lauds
and manors which were in William the Conqueror's hands, and in Doniesday
book stated to have been in the possession of Edward the Confessor. See
Elphinstone, Interpretation of Deeds^ and the authorities there cited.

Forest. '* A forest is a certain territory of wooddy grounds and fruitful pastures
privileged for wild beasts and fowls of forest, chase, and warren to rest and
abide in, in the safe protection ,of the kinR for his princely delight and
pleasure ; which territory of ground so privileged , is iiieered and bounded
with unremoveable marks, meeres, and boundaries, either known by matter of
record or else by prescription ; and also replenished with wild beasts of
Tenerie or chase, and with great coverts of vert for the succour of the said
wild beasts to have their abode in. For the preservation and continuance of
which said place, together with the vert and venison, there are certain
particular laws, privileges, and officers belonging to the same, meet for that
purpose. .... The wild beasts of the forest are five, and no more, that
is to say, the hart, the hind, the hare, the boar, and the wolf. The beasts of
the chase are also five, the buck, the doe, the fox, the martin, and the roe.
The beasts and fowls of warren are the hare, the coney, the pheasant, and the
partridge. All these have privilege within the forest." Manwood, c. I. "A
Forest doth consist of eight things, viz. : of Soil, Covert, Laws, Courts,
Judges, Officers, Game, and Certain Bounds." Coke, lY. Ifut., 289. *' The
next in degree unto it (a forest) is a liberty of a frank-chase. A chase in one
degree is the selfsame thing that a park is, and there is no diversity between
them, save that a park is enclosed, and a chase is always open and not
enclosed, and therefore the next in degree unto a frank-chase is a park. The
last and next in degree unto a park Is the liberty and franchise of a free

warren Every forest is a chase, a park, and a warren, but a chase

is not a forest, but a part of it ; and in the like sort of a park and a warren."
Manwood, as above. The owner of a wood within a forest or chase might
not fell timber or cut wood therein, except under certain restrictions. Coke,
lY. Inst., 297-8 ; Manwood, 0. 8. Manwood further states that although it is
a common opinion that a forest may not be held by a subject, yet there are
instances of forests being held by subjects (tf.^., the Earl of Lancaster, tewp,
Edw. IL and Edw. IIL), who executed the forest laws therein, (c. 3, sees. 2,
3 and 4.)

Forester. An officer of the forest, sworn to preserve the vert and venison of the
forest, to attend upon the wild beasts within his bailiwick, to watch and keep
them safe by day and by night, to apprehend all offenders there in vert and
vension, and to present them at the courts of the forest. Termes de la Ley,
See also Coke, lY. Inst,, 293, for the oath of a forester, setting out his duty.

Hall and Goart. The lord's court was originally held in his hall, and so was
called hallmote or halimote,as well as court baron. The receipts from hall
and court would be the fines and amercements imposed at the court.

Manor. Latin, nuinerium. French, manoir. Formerly meant an extent of land
granted to some person, for him and his heirs to dwell upon and enjoy, and
which was divided into three parts, viz. : (1) The demesne lands, which were
reserved for the lord's own use, and cultivated to a certain extent by his own
teams and servants, and to some extent by the tenants of the manor who held
by praedial services, i.^., by the service of agricultural labour ; (2) The assised
or tenemental lands, or lands granted or let out by the lord to tenants in
consideration of rents or services, or both, and varying in tenure from the
freehold of a free tenant to the uncertain tenancies of the various classes of
servile tenants, which uncertain tenancies, however, eventually developed into
a tenure which, under the name of copyhold, is now practically fixed and
certain ; (3) The waste lands, which also belonged to the lord, but subject to
the common rights of the tenants.

Both the free and the servile tenants were of varioas degrees. The free
tenants included lords of inferior manors held of a superior manor or honour,
tenants by knight service, and other classes of free tenants, all of whom were
liable for some rent or service to the lord of the manor under whom they held.
The servile tenants were also of many classes, and were not the same in every
manor. Another class of tenants was the sokemen, who were sometimes free
and sometimes villein.

Every lord of a manor exercised a jurisdiction over his tenants in the
court of the manor, called the court baron ; and in some manors was also
held a court leet, which had jurisdiction over crimes committed within the
manor ; the court baron dealing with civil business, especially with matters
relating to the freehold. In later times arose the customary court, which
dealt with the interests of the copyholders of the manor, and is now frequently
called a court baron. Owing to the gradual changes in the position of the
tenants of manors, and to the greater security and fixity of their tenures, also
to the sales of demesne lands and other possessions of the lords within the
districts of their manors, the term manor is now more generally understood
to mean the jurisdiction and privileges belonging to and exercised by the lord
than the land comprised within the district of the manor. The term had, and
still has, a very comprehensive and varied meaning. In some instances it was
synonymous with honour or hundred, and in one instance, at least (viz. : the
Manor of Taunton Dene), a manor comprised five hundreds ; other manors
comprised large districts and several towns, while in other cases there were
three or four manors in one township. The term manor was also sometimes
applied to a messuage or mansion house only. See further on this subject,
Seld., vols. ii. and iv. ; Vinogradoff*B Villainage in England ; the Custuwals
of Battle Abbey; the 'Bomesday of St. PauVs; Cruise on Dignitie$, c. 2 ;
Digby's Real Property^ q. 1 ; Scrut ton's Commons and Common Fields; and
many other authorities.

Prebend. A several benefice rising from some temporal land or church appro-
priated towards the maintenance of a clerk, or member of a collegiate church,
and commonly named from the place from whence the profit ariseth. Blount,
Law Diet.

Service, knight. Tenure by knight service was esteemed the most honourable
species of tenure. For this tenure a quantity of land was necessary, the area
of which was uncertain, but the annual value of which was fixed at £20 at
an early period, probably in the reign of William the Conqueror (^see p. 18S
ante,'). This holding constituted a knight's fee, and he who held it was bound
to do homage and fealty to his lord, and to attend him to the wars for forty
days in every year if called upon, which attendance was his redditns or return,
his rent or service for the land he claimed to hold. In lieu of personal
attendance, however, a money payment called scutage or escuage was
eventually accepted. Under the provisions of the Assize of Arms passed in
1181, the holder of a knight's fee must possess a coat of mail, a helmet, a
shield, and a lance, and every knight was to have as many of these arms and
weapons as he had knight's fees. A tenant by knight service might hold
either of the king or of a subject, but in either case he was liable to do
homage and fealty to his lord. The tenure drew to it seven Incidents, viz. :
aids, relief, primer seisin, wardship, marriage, fines for alienation, and escheat.

Soke, sora. Jurisdiction. A liberty, privilege, or franchise granted by the
king to a subject ; also the area or territory within which that franchise is
exercised.

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

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ROMANTIC RIOHMONDSHIRE.

PART I.— SW^ALEDALE.

CHAPTER I.

RiCHMONDSHIRB : ITS ORIGIN, EXTBNT, AND HISTORY.

Unique position of Richmond — View of the castle, churchesi monasteries, &c. —
Romantic aspects scientifically explained — Rock section in the Museum —
Ancient British and Roman occupation of Richmond — Whitaker's theories
refuted— Old roads and lead mines — Celtic folk-speech — Midsummer Bel-fires
at Richmond — Richmondshire at the Conquest — Who was Earl Alan ? — The
Conqueror's grant questioned — Origin and extent of Richmondshire — The
Conqueror visits Richmond — Local government — Ecclesiastical jurisdiction
— The shire in 1281 — Lady Godiva in Richmondshire — Remarkable
resemblances between Coventry and Richmond — Meaning of Richmond —
Story of the Earldom — The Dukes of Richmond.

HERE is probably no town of the same extent
in the North of England compai*able with
Richmond in the bold, impressive grandeur
of its situation. Rising, as it does, upon
an abrupt slope from the banks of the
surging Swale, there is something peculiarly
fascinating in its picturesque iniggedness,
combined with an airiness and magnitude about
the whole place, that does not belong to either
Knaresborough, Durham, or any of the strikingly
situated points of habitation on the coast.
Swinburne compares Richmond with Toledo in Spain, that stern ** proud
city on her royal eminence," but very much to the advantage of the
former, which, he rightly maintains, is more beautiful by reason of the
luxuriant woods that surround it. But the site of the old Spanish
capital, with its ruined fortress and noble promenade beneath, greatly

resembles that of Richmond. Approaching the latter bj train there is,
indeed, something quite un-English in its remarkable position and
grand amplitude and bristling array of ancient and modern architecture,
where mediaeval tower and spire are mingled promiscuously with erections
of modern date. As you leave the station and step on to the massive
stone bridge that spans the quick-flowing river, you look up to the castle-
crowned height, — stem, majestic, and impregnable — while around you
are wide, swelling sweeps of forest and precipitous field-pastures which
remind one not a little of the sunny green alps of Switzerland, or seem
to want only the familiar vines to call up memories of some old Rhine
town. Below you courses the broad and noisy Swale, with its long white
belt of foam pouring over its rocky ledge like a miniature Schaffhausen.
and reflecting here and there on its bosom the mossy crags and rich
foliage on its banks.

From whichever direction you approach the gmnd old town the view
is pleasing and romantic, but more particularly so from the south and
east or Easby road. From both these points of view you command the
whole of the southern and eastern acclivities from the river-cataract,
just mentioned, to the most dominant feature of the town, the sturdy
old Norman castle, with its lofty, stalwart, and almost perfect stone keep,
towering one hundred feet from its foundations, and upon whose storied
walls the storms and rigours of eight long centuries seem to have had
but little effect. How the heart must have leapt at the very sight of it,
in the old feudal days, when from its guardian towers and battlements
floated the inspiring banners of Scolland, Marmion and Fitz Hugh !
A short space from this rises the tall column of the Market Place, and a
little to the right is the handsome, mediaeval tower of the Grey Friars,
with its monkish memories of fallen splendour. Near it stood a 12th
century Nunnery, now long vanished, of which we might say with
Longfellow in the song of the poet Basselin :

Once a convent, old and brown

Looked, but ah ! it looks no more
From the neighbouring hill -side down
On the rushing and the roar
Of the stream
Whose sunny gleam
Cheers the little Norman town.

Lower down upon a humbler and more sheltered site stands the time-toned
Parish Church, and opposite is the famous Grammar School with its
church-like, Gothic windows. In the distance, piercing the blue ether,
is reared the graceful spire of the new Roman Catholic Church, while
away beyond spread the lofty moore of Hudswell and the green heights
and purple wastes of upper Swaledale. The accompanying general view

of the town is from a photograph kindly supplied by Lord Howard of
Effingham.

The eminently picturesque physical aspects of the site of Richmond
are mainly due to a fault or downthrow of the strata which runs through
the town in a north-easterly and south- westerly direction, cutting off the
Bed Beds from the Main Limestone, the latter being repeated in the
river opposite the Friary. The Main Limestone may be seen forming
walls of rock at the bend of the river about 200 yards below the railway-
station bridge, while the Red Beds, covered with earth and gravel, are
on the opposite side of the fault. The fault, as stated, runs south-east

Richmond from the South.

below the Parish Church ; the Castle standing high up on the Red Beds.
These Red Beds Limestone, I may observe, are usually the most purely
calcareous of all the Swaledale limestones, containing sometimes as much
as 97 per cent, of carbonate of lime. They range above the so-called
Yoredales of Professor Phillips, and are of greater thickness here than
in the higher parts of the dale. The Main Limestone, which is the
uppermost bed of Prof. Phillips' Yoredales, may be seen just north of
the Richmond Race Course, and the beds having a general southerly dip,
nearly all the limestones and sandstones of the series can be seen to out-

crop one after another, forming a set of escarpments overlooking the
Oilling valley. South of the Swale, on the line of this fault, are some
old workings, said to have heen copper mines, and there are old copper
and lead workings on the opposite side of the river near the town.

A capital section of the Mountain Limestone of Swaledale is
preserved in a case made up on a scale of three fathoms to an inch in the
Natural History Museum at the Mechanics' Institute, Richmond, which
no geologist or interested person should neglect to consult, as the actual
series of rocks along with their position in situ and relative thickness
are seen at a glance. In this museum is a large and varied collection of
fossils and other curiosities, local as well as from distant parts of the
world, including many examples of great rarity, which may be profitably
inspected. In the staircase is a large and excellently-preserved tomb-
slab of an ecclesiastic, bearing the device of a cross and chalice, which
is believed to have come from Easby Abbey. For many years it served
as a flagstone in a house at Richmond, but having fortunately been laid
with the carved side downwards it suffered no injury. This peculiar
circumstance reminds me of a story I heard many years ago at Richmond.
A local baker it seems stole an old tombstone for the hearth of his oven.
Once a week he was in the habit of making a large kind of oven-cake
or flat-loaf, and one of his customers discovering a death's-head very
clearly impressed on the bottom of the cake ran in terror to a church-
warden friend and neighbour, fearing that the unwelcome device was
sent as a warning of some evil or disaster that threatened himself or his
family. As those were days of wide-spread ignorance and superstition
the churchwarden was equally dismayed, especially when on examining
his own loaf he found the impress of maiTow-bones. In their alaim the
two men at once flew to the parson, who however could afford them no
consolation, inasmuch as the ominous word "Resurgam" was legibly
set forth in bold relief upon his own loaf I How the mystery was solved
or what became of the portentous hearth-stone my informant did not
explain.

But to turn to the story of Richmond. Of its earliest occupation
and inhabitants we have but little positive evidence, though we may
safely infer from the strength and position of the site afterwards occupied
by the Normans that this particular spot was a centre of population and
well defended at the time of the Roman conquest. In the peaceful era
preceding the Roman invasion, so elevated and exposed a situation was
doubtless not peopled, excepting perhaps as an occasional watch or look-
out post. The natives of that period chose more obscure and sheltered
sites, in caves where accessible, or in housesteads constructed of turf and
stone, with spacious enclosures for their cattle, which at that time
constituted the chief wealth of the people. A number of these primitive

housesteads aud enclosures, which strange to say have been entirely over-
looked by every topographer of the district, lie about a mile west of the
town, and which I shall describe in an ensuing chapter. That Richmond
was occupied as an outpost of the Roman camp at Catterick is not
improbable, in spite of Whitaker's conjecture to the contrary. That
historian bases his conclusion on the assumption of there being no
diversion from the great road to the north from Cataractoniumy and that
the site of Richmond would be of no service to the Roman conquerors.
To the latter assertion I would answer that the lofty and unscalable crag
on which the castle stands would be of value to any contending army
holding it, while the northern and eastern sides, protected by a moat and
rampart, would render the position pi*actically unassailable. Indeed,
from the discovery of Roman pottery and of a bronze ring with seal
bearing a Roman device, as well as a large hoard of Roman coins
concealed in the crag, and centuries afterwards found at the foot of the
hill and but a short distance from the cataract in the river, which is
supposed to have originated the name of the camp near Catterick Bridge,
I conclude that the Richmond rock was secured by these warlike invaders
before or during the construction of the said camp. Moreover, that
Swaledale was accessible by no branch from the trunk road through
Catterick is an obvious inaccuracy, as we have positive knowledge of the
Romans having worked the lead mines far west of Richmond, and a
properly kept road would be necessary for the conveyance of the un forged
metal to the mining station or dep6t at Richmond or Catterick for
subsequent transportation. Indeed there is a reasonable probability that
Richmond, from the natural strength and convenience of its position,
was an outpost of the Roman garrison at the camp near Catterick, and
whence assistance might be given and guides obtained for the escort of
persons commissioned to the mines situated amidst the intricate solitudes
of upper Swaledale,

A very ancient thoroughfare passes the town on the north side and
westward under the Beacon, whence it divides, one branch going north-
wards over the High Moor to Ravensworth and the camp at Gayles, and
another westward to Marske and Reeth. These ancient roadways
continued in use until the pack-horse days, when the present highway
was made up the valley, and it is most probable they were begun by the
early British inhabitants and possessors of this district. A road of very
primitive construction, which is described by Warburton, the Somerset
Herald, in a letter dated at Bedale, in 1717, to Roger Gale, the eminent
antiquary, passed by the noilh side of the Friary wall at Richmond to
the top of Richmond Moor, where, he adds, " I lost it, but I believe it
shoots north-west, and meets with that which goes north from Ethelburgh
[Addlebrough] near Askrigg, to some where about Barnard Castle."

The remains of this road were visible in the Whitcliffe Pasture till the
enclosure of the Common Fields at the beginning of this century.

Evidence of the old Celtic presence is also furnished in local folk-
speech, and particularly in the Celtic numerals by which the flocks and
herds, gathered in the surrounding pastures, were always counted.
Moreover it is extremely probable that the place called Hindrelaghe in
Domesday stood upon or near the site of Richmond, a circumstance
which prescribes an even higher antiquity to the settlement than the
name of Richmond, which I shall discuss hereafter. For I take it that
this word, as written in the 11th century, will bear a truly Eastern
interpretation, derivable from the Sanscrit hindur, water, and laga or
laya, an abode, indicative of an Aryan-Celtic community formed here
perhaps after the Roman secession, and affording an interesting instance
of the survival of a Celtic town-name down to the Norman period.
In support of this belief we have the local Beltane fires, which have been
lighted from time immemorial at Richmond, and even within the
recollection of persons still living these Midsummer fires, attended with
feasting and dances, were celebrated annually in the Richmond Market
Place. It is possible, however, they may have had their origin on the
Breton immigration in the eleventh century. They are still kept up
at Penzance and a few other places in Cornwall, as well as in Celtic
Ireland and Britauy at the present time. The fires were originally
sacred festivals of the primitive sun-worshippers, and were offerings to
the god of light and warmth at the return of length of days and the
life-restoring energy of the earth. Though in an altered form the
custom is still retained in our churches by an annual thanksgiving to
God Almighty for the bounty of the earth's harvest.

On the Roman evacuation the country, we are told, was devastated
by the Picts and the Scots and eventually fell a prey to the Anglian and
Danish tyranny. Some have supposed the celebrated Scots' Dyke, which
runs northwards to the east of Richmond, is an earthwork of this period,
but I shall shew this to be otherwise. Following shortly upon the death
of Tosto and the Norwegian king in 1066, came the Normans' "crimson
conquest *' and the loss of England to the Saxons. Before the iS^orman
accession Richmondshire, or that portion of the North Riding of
Yorkshire now so called, formed part of the great northern fee of the
Earls of Mercia. The great and powerful Earl Edwin, the last of the
Mercian rulers died, it is commonly recorded, in open revolt against the
Conqueror, but if we are to trust the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he was
treacherously slain by his own people in 1071. At any rate, before this,
the Conqueror had seized his vast estates and gave them immediately
and unreservedly to his kinsman, Alan Rufus, whom he also created
Earl of Richmond. This Earl Alan has been confused by some of the

earlier genealogists with another of the same name, Alan Fergeaunt,
Duke of Britany, but the latter had no interest in Richmond. He had
a brother Eudo, who had six sons, all of whom except Geoffrey, the
eldest, appear either to have accompanied the Conqueror in his expedition
to England, or being then too young, subsequently partook of his bounty
or that of their elder brethren. Alan Rufus was probably the second
son of the above Eudo, Count of Penthievre in Britany,* who dying
without issue, was succeeded in the Earldom of Richmond by his brothers
Alan Niger (the Black) and Stephen. The fifth of Count Eudo's sons

Fr^>m an early I6th century drawing preserved among the Harleian JUSS,

William I. granting Richmondshire to Earl Alan.

was Brian, Earl of Cornwall, and the sixth and youngest Ribald, who by
the bounty of his brethren became possessed of the great fee of Middleham
and was primogenitor of the lords of that place.

The brief grant by which the extensive and beautiful province of
Richmondshire was obtained by the first Alan, is if genuine, curious and
remarkable. It exhibits none of the clauses, conditions, or reservations
which characterise legal documents of the kind at the present day, but

• See VArt de Verifier les Dates, xiii., 245.

shews with what freedom and simplicity — with almost one dip of the
pen — vast ten-itorial properties were given and transmitted by family
inheritance from generation to generation, acquiring with the progrees
of time an enormous and ever-increasing value. The Conqueror's bequest
translated is this :

I, William, surDamed the Bastard, do give and grant to thee Alan, my nephew.
Earl of Britany, and to thy heirs for ever, all the towns and lands which lately
belonged to Earl Edwin in Yorkshire, with the Enight*s Fees, churches, and other
priTileges and customs, in as free and honourable a manner as the same Edwin
held them. Given at the siege before York [i^. A-D. 1069—70.]

The authenticity of this document has been severely questioned, for
inasmuch as it is not likely the Conqueror would describe the grantee as
" my nephew " when it is proved that he was not ; neither was he his
son-in-law, as some authorities affirm. Their common ancestor and
great-grandfather, as set forth in their published pedigree, was one
Conan Tortus, as then called ; consequently they wei*e second cousins.
In the next place Dugdale is wrong in attributing the marriage of
Constantia, the Conqueror's daughter, with this Earl Alan. She was,
indubitably, the wife of a second Alan Fergeaunt, son of Hoel, Earl of
Cornwall, as is proved on the authority of a chai*ter originally produced
by Lobel and afterwards quoted by Gale.*

But on whatever prescription the original grant may rest it is certain

that Earl Alan Rufus was in possession of the great Earl Edwin's fee of

Richmondshire soon after the Conquest. And he brought with him his

brothers and cousins, and hosts of his countrymen, who gave to

Richmondshire a strong Breton tincture which it has preserved to this

day. Many of these Bretons brought their horses and dogs. An old

rhyme says each of the men

Came out of Britany
With his wife Tiflfany,
And his. maide Manfras,
And his dog Hardigras !

and a lively and astonishing time it must have been to the native
population on this Breton immigration of man and woman and dog !
The precise time when the shire itself was formed is not ascertainable,
but Alfred the Great, we know, divided England into counties,
hundreds, and tithings, though that may have reference only to the
southern parts of the kingdom. In the north counties and shires do
not appear as such until about the middle of the 11th century, and
in the Conqueror's survey we find '* Richmundeseire " a definite area
included among the divisions of the great kingdom of Northumbria.f

• Addituw.Jiio. 1, page 269.

t See Dr. Stubb's C^ruttitut tonal History of England, I., 108—118 ; Kemble*s
Saxons in England, I., 72 — 87.

Ft embraced the older Saxon wapentakes of Oilliug East, Gilling West,
Hang East, Hang West, and Halikeld, all in the North Riding. But
this grand territory, I may observe, was not a moiety of the wealth
obtained by our Breton warrior from his triumphant master at the
Conquest. Altogether he owned no fewer than 440 manors and 140
Knights' Fees, besides enjoying many other bounties and privileges,
which earned for him sometimes the title of Prince of the East Angles.
His territorial possessions alone were probably not far short of 100,000
acres, and they were amongut the fairest in England. It is, however, not
quite clear why the Conqueror should bestow all this wealth on a single
one of his followers, and we can only suimise that some arrangement
was made between William Duke of Normandy and the martial Count
of Britany, his cousin, or perhaps with Count Eudo, his father, that in
the event of victory attending the .invasion of England, and for the aid
rendered by the Count of Britany, whose well-drilled regiments are said
to have numbered fully one-third of the Conqueror's army, these lands
and honours were to be bestowed. During the building of the Castle,
William the Conqueror, it is said, and with much probability, visited
his great kinsman, and remained some time at Richmond.

The Honour of Richmond then comprised 199 manors, situated in
various parts of England, of which 108 were waste, shewing what fire,
slaughter and famine had done in places where only a little time before
all had been fruitful and prosperous. Of these 199 manors the Earl's
dependants held 133, while the total number of carucates subject to the
King's geld was 1153. The land was declared for 853 ploughs, and was
assessed for £80. In addition the castle ward had 43 manors, of which
four were then waste, leaving 161 carucates and five bovates of land to
be taxed, for 170 ploughs and a half. Of these the Earl's vassals, who
were mostly Bretons, held 10 manors, which were assessed for
£110 lis. 8d. In a few cases the old nobles were allowed to retain
their estates, but subservient to the new lord. Thus did Gospatrick,
the son of Arkil.

With regard to these particular assessments which became the
universal fiscal law, I may point out how different was the position of
the Norman chiefs and their feudatories to that of their predecessors
the Anglo-Saxon landowners. The latter were absolute proprietors of
their own particular family properties or communities; these were
formed into tithings and hundreds, and were governed by their own
self-regulated laws and methods, as local circumstances required, and
they owed subjection only to the King or chief who had been chosen by
them as their lord or ruler. The law of primogeniture did not exist ;
on the death of a monarch it was the prerogative of the Witan to
choose the man who seemed most worthy to be his successor. It was

therefore under the Saxon shire-gemot that the above lands of !EarI
Edwin were subject to various taxes and custom-dues, which were either
modified or abolished by the necessities of the feudal system. When
the Domesday Book was completed, counties were divided into manorB
and manors into farms, and these lands of Richmondshire being
constituted an Honour or Liberty, were held immediately of the King
in capite, that is by military service and free of all other incumbrance or
taxation. For a long period, however, after the Conquest the internal
government of the English boroughs was left to their ancient customs^
and the modifications of these customs which each community voluntarily
made ; all the earliest charters of the Norman Kings and great lords
merely giving or conferring as "privileges," which they had now in
great measure really become, the very common law-right of which these
free communities had long been in the enjoyment.* The change was
therefore not near so revolutionary and destructive as many imagine
it to have been, for not only did the surviving tenantry remain on the
land and retain many of their ancient privileges, but the Conqueror,
who had done no more than deprive those nobles who had taken up
arms against him of their great fiefs, really took nothing from the under-
tenants holding of these fiefs. Even so late as the reign of Edward
IV. the tenantry claimed to hold their estates by a tenure, which can
only be regarded as the direct resultant of the old free communities.
So averse were they to the evils of feudal slavery and arbitrary taxation
it was enacted that the will of the lord could only be exercised with
certain reservations according to the ancient custom of the manor. And
this is a bearing of wide significance, for it leads us back along the
archaic path of manorial history to the two important diverging points
of lords' rights on the one hand and tenants' rights on the other.

As with the civil, so with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of our
division, we must go back to those obscure days of Christianity when
all lived together *' joint in food, worship, and estate," for evidence of
that local religious authority and dominion which has come down to us
through many changes to the present day. As at present constituted
the Archdeaconry of Richmond can be traced by actual historic
sequence back almost to the Conquest, when in the year 1090 Conan
de Ask, the first recorded Archdeacon of Richmond, was living. Before
that time, as we gather from the Visigothic and Anglo-Saxon codes, the
Archdeacon was a judge having jurisdiction within a tithing, for every
hundred consisted of ten districts, called tithings, and in eveiy tithing
was a constable or civil dean. This no doubt was evolved from the
original inception of the office of deacon, which on the rise of monachism

• See Statistics of Mvnicipal Institutions in the Statistical Society's Journal,
vol. 98.

seems to have been applied to a monk placed in charge of ten others^

for whose discipline or execution of appointed tasks he was held

responsible.* Before the foundation of the See of Carlisle in 1183, the

Archdeaconry of Bichmond extended even so far west as to embrace the

Bnral Deaneries of Alerdale and Cumberland, Fumess, Coupland, Kendal,

LoDsdale, and Amunderness (which at the tiniie of the Conqueror'a

survey included the Deiran portions of modem Westmorland and

Canaberland, Lancashire north of the Ribble, and the wapentake of

Ewecross, then all in Yorkshire), besides Kichmond, Catterick, and

Boroughbridge (the last-named being now included in the lately-formed

Archdeaconry of Ripon). To the same dignity were appropriated the

churches of Easingwold, Clapham, Bolton -on -Sands, Arlekden in

Cumberland, and Thornton Steward. The whole of these, together

with other revenues of the Archdeaconry, were included in the

Archdeaconry of Bichmond and See of York down to 1537, when

Henry VIII. founded the See of Chester, to which they were transferred.

By the restoration of the See of Bipon in 1886, the Archdeaconry of

Bichmond, now embracing six Deaneries — a considerable reduction in

point of acreage though not in population — has since been included in

the Diocese of Bipon.

As specific of the various properties held of the Earldom and

Honour of Bichmond it may be mentioned that these included the

Castle and Lordship of Bichmond, with the manors of Gilling, Aldeburgh,

Bowes, Forcett, Danby, Multon, Catterick, Arkengarthdale, and New

Forest ; two cow-runs called Esthorpe and Westhorpe, and the bailiwicka

of Gilling East and Gilling West, Hang East, Hang West, and Halikeld ;

the advowson of the Church of Danby-on-Wiske and the advowson of

the Hospital of St. Nicholas, near Bichmond, together with 58^ Knights*^

Fees comprehending various bailiwicks. According to a return made

10th Edward I. (1281) the several possessions of the Earldom were

valued as follows :

The Borough of Richmond, with all appurtenances

Gilling do.

Forsett do.

Molton do.

Bowes and Bolron do.

Arkilgarth with the Forest do.

Aldeburgh do.

Lead Mines with the produce of the Garden and perquisitep

of the Great Court

Baynbrigge, with the Vaccary in the Forest

Caterick

Ward of the Castle of Bichmond

Total yearly value

• Vide St. Augustine, Dtf Mor, Ecel. Cath., I., 31.
t See General Harrison's History of GiUing Wett,

213

lOi

£668

iOit

The earliest owner of Richmondshire of whom we have any record
was Leofric, first Earl of Mercia, who lived in the time of King
Ethelbald. His descendant, Leofric, fifth Barl of Mercia, had for his
wife the celebrated Lady Godiva, daughter of Thorald, Earl of Lincoln,
both of whom, we may not unreasonably assume, had by occasional
visits a personal knowledge of their Yorkshire possessions. They lived
however in Warwickshire, where the Earl died in 1057 and was buried
in the Priory at Coventry, of which he was the founder. The family
was long resident in Warwickshire, and the ancient castle of Warwick,
occupying a similar position to that of Richmond, on the north bank of
the river, was their favourite seat, as it became subsequently of the
great Earls of Warwick, whose connection with Richmondshire I have
elsewhere pointed out. The castle at Warwick is traditionally held to
have been built by Ethelfreda, daughter of Alfred the Great, and wife
of Ethelred, third Earl of Mercia. She or her husband is believed to
have founded the monastery wrongly supposed to have been at Gilling,
near Richmond, which was afterwards destroyed by the Danes. Able
and generous themselves, their descendants, the powerful Earls of
Mercia, were among the foremost benefactors of their time, and
promoted many noble and charitable works. They founded, as I have
just stated, the Priory at Coventry, from which establishment that city,
then called Conventre, is said to have taken its name.

There are some rather curious and noteworthy points of resemblance
between this old Warwickshire city and our Yorkshire Richmond,
oonjointly the property of these Earls of Mercia. The remarkable old
Church of the Holy Trinity at Richmond may be said to be represented
by the equally ancient Church of the Trinity at Coventry. In the latter
is a window containing a painting of the above-mentioned Earl Leof ric
and his wife the Lady Godiva, beneath which is the legend :

I, Luriche, for love of thee
Doe make Coventre tol-free,

in allusion to Lady Godiva's traditional nude ride through the city in
order to obtain from her lord certain remissions and favours on behalf
of the oppressed citizens, a story which most historians agree is a base
fabrication that arose out of a garbled tradition in the pageant-loviug
days of the " Merry Monarch." The old King^s Head at Coventry,
adjoining which is the eifigy of ** Peeping Tom " (another little
invention to spice the festival of Lady Godiva), has its counterpart in
the old King's Head^ the principal inn, at Richmond. Then there is
the lofty and handsome old tower of the Grey Friars, as at Richmond,
one of the most conspicuous ornaments of the town, which at Coventry
occupied a proud and all-seeing position till the modern church was

built. Then again Goventrj, like RichmoDd, was surrounded with a
strong wall, both of like age and design — early fourteenth century, and
at each place there are only some odd portions of the wall now standing,,
with two of the bars or postern-gates.

These singular resemblances must of course be regarded as purely
accidental, as the Earls of Mercia, lords of Warwick and Richmondshire,.
flourished long before these erections came into existence. Indeed Lady
Godiva appears as one of the greatest landowners in Domesday,

How or when the name of Richmond was first introduced has
afforded much scope for speculation. It is perfectly certain that the
division which after the Norman Conquest became the Liberty or
Shire of Richmond existed as a political dominion severed from and
independent of Celtic authority long before the stubborn troops of the
Conqueror set foot upon the soil. We have seen that the Saxon Earl
Edwin belonged this " little kingdom " or shire of Richmond, cut oflT
from the encompassing territory, as the Anglo-Saxon word sciran^ to
shear or separate, implies. This, therefore, I suspect was the reich or
kingdom of its pre-Norman possessors {vid$ Goth, rekh, A.S. ricey
Scand. reich\ just as France was the Frank-reich, or kingdom of the
Franks, or Austria, called Oester-reich, the eastern kingdom, Surrey,
anciently Siid-rice, the southern kingdom, &c. So Richmond was the
rice-munt ah reich-mont of the Anglo-Saxon or Danish rule or
government — a name which, singularly, has preserved its original
lingual sound in the place called Rikemundike, near Barforth or **' Old
Richmond," on Tees.* Not as Whitaker opines from the exceeding
richness or fertility of the dominion, for at that period the great bulk
of the land must have been wild moor and waste ; nor yet as Gale and
Clarkson suppose from a castle of the name of Richmont in Britany,
of the existence of which history and tradition are silent. Nor yet
again can we possibly identify it with Rougemont, the red-hill, as at
Exeter, with its castle stored like that at Middleham with memories of
the chivalrous Richard TIL, whom Shakespeare makes exclaim :

Richmond ! When last I was at Exeter,

The Mayor in coartesy show'd me the castle,

And call'd it Rougemont : at which name I started,

Because a bard of Ireland told me once

I should not live long after I saw Richmond.

Premonitory of the ill-starred monarch's untimely fate on the blood-
stained field of Bosworth.

* The Surrey Richmond, originally a hamlet of Kingston, took its name from
Henry VII.'s former title of Earl of Richmond, in Yorkshire, which he inherited
from Edmund Tudor, to whom it had been given by his half-brother Henry VI.

For several centuries after the Conquest the Honour of Richmond
-was held by the Dukes of Britany, who bore also the title of Earls of
Richmond. Following the first three lords of the Honour already
mentioned came Alan III., who succeeded to the title on the death of
his father, Stephen, in 1142. He like his predecessors generally styled
himself Earl of Britany and England (i.e. Gomes BritannuB et AngUoi)^
and it was left to his son Conan to adopt the specific title of Earl of
Richmond, by which title the subsequent lords were known. He was
created Earl of Cornwall by King Stephen, but forfeited it by his
reversal at the battle of Lincoln. By his wife. Bertha, who was co-heir
of her father, Conan III., Duke of Britany, he had issue two sons,
Conan, the eldest, his successor, and Brian, founder of the noble house of
Fitz Alan, lords of Bedale. Conan lY., in spite of his time-serving
humility to the English King Henry II., was one of the wealthiest and
most powerful men of his time. He added to the strength and grandeur
•of the castle at Richmond by erecting the great tower or keep, which
was finished about the year 1160. He was a great benefactor to the
monks of Jervaux, whose establishment he caused to be transferred from
Fors to the more favourable site at East Witton. He gave the monks
•extensive pasture lands in Wensleydale, likewise pasturage throughout
his New Forest, near Richmond, for all their cattle, and he allowed
them to keep mastiff dogs for chasing wolves and wild beasts out of
these domains, a very great privilege in those days, when every hound
or mastiff was obliged to have three claws cut off each forefoot to
prevent it from hunting the King^s deer. He also gave the tithes of
his mills at Richmond to the Priory of St. Martinis near Richmond.

Earl Conan died in 1170 and was buried in the Cistercian Priory at
Beyard in Britany, founded by Earl Stephen, his grandfather, and
where he and his son Alan (father of Conan) were also interred ; the
former in the ides of April 1187 (not 1144 as Clarkson states), and the
latter in 1146. Earl Conan left by his wife Margaret, sister to William
the Lion, King of Scotland, an only daughter, Constance, who became
the wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II., King of England,
who thus acquired, in the right of his wife, the Dukedom of Britany
and the Earldom of Richmond. Frequently after this period it happened
that the Earldom of Richmond became a fief of the Kings of France,
owing to the circumstance that the Dukes of Britany were subjects of
the sovereigns of that country, and by virtue of their titles as Earls of
Richmond were also subjects of the Kings of England. Thus when the
two nations were at war with each other the Earldom of Richmond
passed for the time being to the conquering party, though what would
be the precise effect of these transfers, beyond the loss of honour and
an appropriation of Crown dues, on the internal management of the

province of Richmond, it would be difficult to determiue. Concerning
no donbt chiefly the leadei-s of the two governments, little, we
imagine, wonld the peasantry of that age trouble themselves on the
score of political largess ; their lives would be the same, their daily
avocations unaltered, and little would it matter to them whether the
fruits of their toil were dropped into the cofFera of France or of
England. This strife continued till the close of the fourteenth century,
although it was not till the reign of Henry VII. that the Duchy of
Britany finally passed to the French Crown, and in 1582 was formally
united to France.

It is needless to describe the many ware and various civil and military
events appertaining to the Earldom of Richmond subsequently, these
being largely a recapitulation of English history, and have been already
sufficiently dwelt upon by previous historians of the province. Nothing
paiticular is recorded of Richmond in the era following that which I
have described, save the visit of King John to the town and castle for
two days in February 1206, and again in 1209 and 1212. Edward II.
ordered the town to be enclosed with a stone wall and fortified, as a
protection against the irruption of the Scots. In the next reign the
King, Edward III., advanced his son John of Gaunt to the dignity of
Earl of Richmond, and gave him all the castles, manors, lands, <&c.,
belonging to the Honour of Richmond, making it thereby an annexe of
the Dachy of Lancaster. John of Gaunt died in 1399, and shortly
after the castle and Honour of Richmond reverted to the Crown. It
was then granted by Henry IV. to Ralph Neville, first Earl of
Westmorland, for the term of his natural life, and the same monarch
did also grant to his third son, John, Duke of Bedford, in tail male, the
said Honour, Castle, &c., together with the title of Earl of Richmond,
but subject to the life intei*est of the said Ralph, Earl of Westmorland.
The latter died 4th Henry VI. (1425), when the Duke succeeded,
and on his death without issue, in 1485, the Honour of Richmond, with
all its members and appurtenances, was inherited by his nephew and
next heir, the young King Henry VI.

The remainder of the story may be briefly told. Henry VII., who
had usurped the title of Earl of Richmond, gave the Honour and
profits of the estate to his mother for her life. She was the celebrated
Mai^aret Beaufort, the friend of Caxton and patron of the new art of
printing.* From her proprietorahip the county of Richmond then
continued in royal hands till the year 1618, when Ludovic Stuart, Duke

* Among the earliest specimens of printing extant is *' Waltere Hylton's Scala
PerfectionU, Englished and printed in William Caxton's house by Wynken de
Worde, anno Salutis 1484, by desire of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and
Derby."

of Lennox, in the peerage of Scotland, was created Baron Settrington
and Earl of Richmond (being the last of a long line of illustrious men
who bore that title), and in 1623 Earl of Newcastle and Duke of
Richmond. He died the following year, when all his honours expired
except the Scottish Dukedom, which passed to his brother, Esm^ Stuart.
James Stuart, second Baron Clifton and Earl of March, and fourth
Duke of Lennox, son of Esm6 Stuart, third Duke and Lord d'Aubigny
(France) and nephew of Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Richmond, of the
creation of 1618, succeeded his father in 1624 in the Barony of Clifton,
Bromswold, the Earldom of March, and the Dukedom of Lennox, and
was created Duke of Richmond in 1641. In 1672 the Dukedom of
Richmond again became extinct.

Charles Lennox, a natural son of Charles II. by Louise de Queronaille,
Duchess of Portsmouth in England, and Duchess d^Aubigny in France,
was born in 1672, and in 1675 was created Duke of Richmond and at
the same time Earl of March and Baron Settrington of Settrington in
the county of York, all in the peerage of England ; also in the peerage
of Scotland Duke of Lennox, Earl of Darnley and Baron Methuen.
The Lennoxes also hold the French Dukedom of Aubigny, registered in
the Parliament of Paris in 1777, inherited by Charles, second Duke of
Richmond, from his grandmother. Charles Gordon Lennox succeeded
as fifth Duke in 1819. He was at the battle of Waterloo and was
aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington at the latter end of the war.
The name of Gordon, it may be added, was assumed in addition to and
before Lennox by his Grace in 1836. He was succeeded by his son
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox as sixth Duke of Richmond, &c., in
1860, who was further created Duke of Gordon and Earl of Kinrara in
the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1876. He is the present owner
of the castle of Richmond and of the ground upon which it stands,
while the Corporation of Richmond holds the manorial rights of the
borough besides other ancient privileges. Thus while the burgesses of
Richmond by virtue of their own industry and legitimate grants are in
complete possession of these valuable titles, the dominion of the present
lords is restricted to within the castle walls, a striking example of the
futility of the argument that the history of feudal landlordism has been
one of oppressive growth and encroachment upon the rights of the
people. At Richmond we see it has been just the reverse.

Having now surveyed the origin, extent and history of the county of
Richmond, let us turn our attention to the town, with its ancient streets
and buildings and various other features of interest.

CHAPTER II.

The Town of Richmond.

Bichmond in the sixteenth century— Route for seeing the town — ^View from the
Castle Walk— The Castle- Aspects in the time of Henry VII. — Legend of the
great Keep— Present uses of the Castle— The Parish Church — ^The Hinderlages
of Dotnesdajf — The celebrated baptism in the Swale by Paulinus — The registers
of the church — A martyr burnt in Newbiggin — Local plague — Marriage
customs during the Protectorate — Holy Trinity Church— Singular trans-
formation— ^Ancient chapels — Hospital of St. Nicholas — Monastery of the
Grey Friars— The Grammar School — Local trades — Market-tolls in the time
of Edward II. — ^Trade-tokens — ^Appearance of the Market Place a century ago
—The pillory and whipping-post.

HAVE spoken of the romantic beanty of the situation of
Richmond, and there must be few if any towns in England
of the same size that can boast of so many and various
buildings of historic interest. In addition to the castle
and its belongings there are two very ancient churches, several
monasteries, chapels, chantries, crosses, guilds, colleges, schools, and
hospitals, besides other secular and religious institutions, now or in past
times existing, lying within or about the town. These I shall describe
in some detail with such facts and incidents as belong to their
foundations and career. The town anciently appears to have been
enclosed with a strong wall and entered by three bars, viz^, in French-
gate, Finkle Street, and Bargate or Briggate. The two former were
removed more than a century ago in order to widen the streets for the
passage of waggons, &c., these avenues of public trafSc having been
constructed for horse and foot passengers only, long before the present
type of wheeled vehicles came into use. There was in addition a coeval
postern-gate in the narrow lane called Friar's Wynd, which gave
convenient access in passing between the Market Place and the church
of the Grey Friars. A portion of the town wall is still in evidence here,
yet there are writers who have doubted the existence of this wall, and
who have affirmed that no protective enclosure besides the three gates
mentioned was ever erected. But, I ask, of what value would the gates
have been without the connecting wall ? The grant of murage obtained
in the 6th year of Edward II. (1312) affords of course no evidence of

the wall having been then built, but that it was constructed appears
certain, for among Dodsworth's MSS. in the Bodleian Library is an
inquisition of the time of Edward III. wherein distinct mention is made
of the ruinous condition of this wall. . Moreover that painstaking and
usually exact antiquary, John Leland, who visited Richmond about the
year 1538, tells us that the town was walled, and from his remarks we
infer that the wall encompassed little more than the area of the Market
Place, which agrees with the position of the several gates in it. The
old antiquary's description of the town about the time of the fall of the
monasteries is so interesting that I give it in full :

" Richemonte towne is wauUed and the Castel on the river side of Swale is as
the knot of the cumpace of the waul ; in the waul be three gates, French Gate on
the northe parte of the towne, and is the most occupied gate of the towne ; Finkel
Streate Gate ; Bar Gate ; al three be downe. Vestigia yet renuiyne. In the
Market Place is a large Chapel of the Trinites. The cumpace of the ruinus waallis
is not half a mile abowt ; so that the towne waul cumpasith little but the Market
Place, the howses abowt hit, and gardens behind them. There is a suburbe
without French Gate, Finkel Streate suburbe strayt west from the Market Place,
and Bar Gate suburbe. But French Gate suburbe is almost as bigge as bothe the
other suburbes. In French Gate suburbe is the Paroche Chirche of al the hole
towne. A little beyonde the end of French Gate Streate is or was a late Chapel
of a woman anchorette. Bar Gate suburbe commith downe to the bridge end of
Swale, the which bridge is sumtime chaynid. At this side the bridge is no
buildinge. In this suburbe is a Chapel of St James. At the bakke of the French
Gate is the Grey Freres, a little without the wauUis. Their howse, medow,
orchard, and a little wood, is waullid yn. Men go from the Market house to hit
by a Postern gate. There is a conducte of water at the Grey Freres, els there is
none in Richemont. Not far from the Freres waul is a Chapel of St. Anthony.
Al the towne and suburbes be on the farther side of Swale. The Castel is nere
hand as much yn cumpace as the circuite of the towne wall. But now it is in
mere ruine. The Celle of St. Martin is on the hither side of Swale, little more
than 1000 fotte from the French Gate suburbe. There is a Chapel yn Richemont
with straung figures in the waulles of it. The people there dreme that it was ons
a Temple of Idols."

The reference to strange figures in the concluding portion of the
description led Clarkson to suppose that these must have been the basfio-
relievos at Trinity Chapel, which caused Leland to remark that the people
thought them to have belonged once to a temple of idols. It is however
hardly credible that so observant an antiquary as Leland would have
made, after his protracted topographical survey of England, particular
allusion to these figures if they had been nothing more than the relief-
carving so frequently to be met with on the doors, &c., of mediaeval
churches. As I have elsewhere explained, there is every probability
that the site of Trinity Chapel was occupied by an earlier Christian
temple afterwards destroyed by the Danes, and there is good reason for
supposing the " strange figures " alluded to by Leland were relics from
this heathen temple which are now lost.

Before I enter upon a particular description of the historic buildings
at Bichmond, I may for the benefit of strangers point out the readiest
way in which a survey of the town may be made. The route described
may be covered in a couple of hours, more or less, with such additions
for closer observation as the time at the disposal of the visitor will
allow. Leaving the railway station at Richmond and crossing the bridge
jou pass the Parish Church on the right, and the Grammar School
on the left. Keeping forward the street called Frenchgate, hereafter
mentioned in early charters, is passed, with the Mechanics' Institute
and Natural History Museum. Now you ascend into the Market Place,
where is the Town Hall, Market House, <&c., surrounded with many

The Castle Walk, Richmond.

good shops, inns, and dwelling-houses. Opposite the Old Bank stood
the May-pole of merry memory. In the centre of the Market Place is
the very ancient Trinity Chapel, with houses and shops built into its
walls — a most singular arrangement of uniting a religious edifice with
offices of trade. Opposite is the King^s Head inn, and just above is the
alley called Friar's Wynd, which you enter and pass through the 14th
century postern-bar. There are some remains of the old town wall here
(above-mentioned), being about six feet thick and built of rough undressed
material, but the arch and jambs of the gate are of large hewn stones.
On the right stood an old Meeting House of the Society of Friends,
which in recent years was converted into a warehouse. It was burnt

down three years ago and the present boilding erected on the site.
Now cross the road and enter (by permission) the beaatifnily laid-out
grounds of the School House, in which stand the ruins of the church of
the Grey Friars. Next turn on Rosemary Lane, past Finkle Street
(Dan. tnncl, an angle or corner, a short winding street) into Newbiggin.
Here John Wesley preached to a great multitude from the steps of the
house now occupied by Mr. Joseph Baine, and here the Protestant
martyr Snell suffered death by burning on account of his religion (see
hereafter). Opposite is the Freemasons* Hall and the beautiful Roman
Catholic Church, and at the top is the entrance to the attractive Temple
Grounds, where is the Cumberland Temple or Culloden Tower, built to
commemorate the defeat of the Scots under the ** Young Pretender " in
1745. It stands on the site of an ancient fortified mansion called
Hudswell Peel. The grounds with their beautiful walks and curious
caves, &c., are the property of Major John Smurthwaite, and are
accessible only by permission. Now go down Bargate, at the top of
which is the Working Men*s Hall, built by the Earl of Zetland in 1875.
Near the bottom of this very steep thoroughfare you may turn up
Cornforth Hill and pass under the ancient gate or bar, erected in the
time of Edward II. Built on the slope it looks threateningly out of
the perpendicular, but it is well buttressed with mortared stone on the
west or low side. Now you are on the Castle Walk and have a level j
view of the country riverwards, which George IV. when he was Prince
of Wales stoutly declared was the noblest prospect he ever beheld. The
Culloden Temple stands out picturesquely away on the right, and
opposite are the Billy Bank Woods running westwards towards the
Round Howe. Eastward down the river is Clink Bank under which in
a paddock was fixed the old Ducking Stool ** for curing scolds." Turn
up Millgate, behind which is the Corporation School, erected in 1851 by
the then Mayor, Leonard Cooke, Esq., but originally founded by the
Corporation in 1812. Now passing the Post OflBce yon are back again
in the Market Place, having completed the survey of the interesting old
town.

To advert now to details of these historic buildings, the first object
that demands attention is the Castle. It is mentioned in the
Domesday survey of a.d. 1086, and was doubtless in the preceding era
a non-military residence never intended for defence, and probably
maintained as a hunting-seat of the Earls of Mercia, who would obtain
sport to their hearts' content in the wild and extensive forests of
Swaledale. On the subjection of the country by the Normans, Earl
Alan Rnfus, already mentioned, began the erection of this huge castle
of stone, to which the great keep was added about a century later.
The Saxons had made Gilling, three miles to the north of Richmond,

their stronghold and capital, but there were no natural advantages of
situation there such as appealed to the warlike Normans, and so the
rock-girt height on the north bank of the Swale was chosen by the new
conquerors, and every vestige of previous occupation was levelled and
removed. Norman and Breton masons were chiefly employed in the
work of constructing the castle, which was completed about the year 1 100.
In external outline the walls of the castle are an irregular triangle
with a projection at the northern angle formed by the Keep and
barbican, the whole space covered being about five acres (see annexed

ei ttf_

0A8TLC

A, K«tp.

B. Bat*ttmm,

e Stdtarndt HmU.
O.Grral CMapd.

Plan op Richmond Castle.

plan). The southern face, which rises above the cliffs of the Swale,
and was in consequence the main protective work of the castle, extends
about 160 yards, while the eastern and western fronts, naturally less
strong, are about 130 yards in length. A broad and deep moat
extended along the northern and eastern sides, but was long ago filled
up. From its position on an acclivity it can never have held water. In
the early part of last century while digging in this moat opposite the
barbican the old draw-bridge was found. It was afterwards re-buried
and a house built on the site. At the weakest point of the castle which

lay towards the town was built the great tower or Keep. It resembles
other Norman keeps, says Mr. G. T. Clarke, F.S.A., the well-known
military architect, in its rectangular plan, its pilaster buttresses, its^
well, its angle turrets, and its entrance on the first-floor level. It is-
peculiar in its enormous archway in the basement, in the absence of any
original spiral staircase or fireplace, or visible garderobe. '^The main
ward of the castle,'' observes Mr. Clarke, ** seems always to have been,
clear and open in itfl centre. The buildings were placed against the
curtain, probably along all three fronts, and certainly along those to the
east and south-east. The curtain abuts upon the Keep and its ramparts^
are on the level of the first floor. Proceeding westward from the Keep,
the curtain, though mutilated, is tolerably perfect for about 25 yards»
Then, along the west front follows a breach of 40 yards, and thence the
wall is tolerably perfect to the south-west angle, and has a thickness of
above ten feet in the part nearest to the Keep. Though much altered
and repaired there are traces of flat pilasters outside, and inside are two-
rather peculiar features, one a large opening, the arch of which is nearly
a half-circle, and which may possibly have been connected with the-
principal or garrison chapel of the Castle, which there is reason ta
believe stood near this point.

Whether Earl Alan began the Keep is uncertain. Mr. Milward in^
an excellent account of it in the ArchcMlogical Journal^ volume 52^
supposes its date to be about 1170, and it is usually attributed to Earl
Conan, who died in that year. This may very possibly be the correct
view, but the lower part of the Keep appears earlier, possibly the work
of Earl Alan Fergaunt.* The Keep is small [about 54 feet by 46 feet,,
and 108 feet highf] compared with the importance of the Honour and
fortress, the walls are very thick,^ the ornaments few and simple, and so
far as can be seen, there is no trace of fireplace, sewer-vent, or portcullis.
The straight staircases are somewhat similar to those seen at Chepstow,
Ludlow, Carlisle, Bamburgh, and Prudhoe, — Keeps of various dates^
though all Norman. By whom the Keep was raised a story is also-
unknown. The work is of the Norman period, but scarcely by the
original builder of the Keep, being of inferior quality. If Earl Alan
built the Keep, Earl Conan probably raised it, but if Conan was the^

* Dugdale in his visitation of Richmond in 1665 asserts the tower to be of the
time of Henry I., as the doors and windows are like the body of the west part of
St. Paurs Church in London, which are of that date.

f Formerly 99 feet as Clarkson gives it, but some years after he wrote about
nine feet of rubbish was removed from the base of the tower, which was theA
accurately measured 108 feet 7 inches.

X The stone of the external walls of the Keep evidently came from Coalsgartb
qtiarry in Whitcliffe pasture, as there is no other stone in the neighbourhood like it

builder, the addifcion mast be dne to Geoffrey, or the Earl of Chester,
his next saccessors.

The Boath-west angle is capped by a rectangular turret of moderate
size, and of Norman origin, with later additions. It stands upon the
cliffy which here commences* From hence, along about three-quarters
of the south front, the curtain appears to have rested upon a revetment
wall, filling up the natural irregularities of the rock, and crowned

Kbep op Richmond Castle early this Century.

probably by a low parapet, a high wall here being scarcely necessary.
Part of this wall has fallen down the cliff. This seems to have been
apprehended, for other parts of the wall have buttresses which savour of
the Decorated period.

The principal domestic buildings, hall, kitchen, and chapel, stood
near the south-east comer of the ward, and were built against either

wall. They extended about forty-five yards along this soathem front,
the curtain being raised to support them. Of these buildings the most
perfect is the great hall, *' ScoUands Hall *' [so-called from Scolland,
Lord of Bedale, a great feudatory of the Earl of Richmond, whose
entertaining room was here]. This is an oblong of about two squares,
the curtain forming its south side. The basement, probably a store, has
a door near the middle of the north side, and is furnished with a line of
loops along the south side, six from the main store room, and two from a
compartment walled off at its end. The upper floor, being the ball,
was entered by a large round-headed doorway, with flanking Norman
columns, in the north side, near the west end. This was approached by
an exterior stair. The hall, 26 feet by 79 feet, was lighted by two ranges
of coupled round-headed windows, five in the outer or south wall, and
four in the north wall, of which the easternmost has been partially
enlarged and replaced by a round-headed recess and window, probably of
Decorated date. In the west end are three windows, the central long
and narrow, the lateral ones shorter and lower down, the whole forming
a triplet. The piers between them have been replaced in modem times.
In the north-west corner is a well staircase ascending from the hall-floor
level to the roof. There is no fireplace.

The floor was of timber, and the roof probably flat. Along the top
of the south wall is a Norman corbel table, composed of small round-
headed arches springing from either heads or corbels of a Roman pattern.
On the north side this table is gone. At the floor level of the hall, but
outside the south wall or curtain, about 30 feet above the ground, is a
range of square holes, probably for the support of a timber balcony or
hritasche^ for the defence of this important quarter. The hall is
certainly of Norman date, but its triple west-end windows have decidedly
an Early English character. There are traces of buildings west of the
hall, and the curtain there, between its Norman pilasters, seems to have
been rebuilt."

In addition to the offices and apartments already enumerated were
others, including the building known from time immemorial as " Robin
Hood*s Tower." The basement room of this tower was a small chapel
or oratory, dedicated to St. Nicholas. This chapel was a cell to
St. Martin's, on the farther bank of Swale, and was given to the Abbot
and Convent of St. Mary's, York, by Stephen, Earl of Richmond, soon
after its foundation in the eleventh or early in the twelfth century. A
more spacious chapel was afterwards erected on the west side of the
castle, of which parts of the jambs of a large west window remain. By
a convention made in the year 1275 (?) between John, Earl of Richmond,
and the Abbot and Convent of Eggleston, six of their community were
to have residence and celebrate divine service within the castle of

Richmond in perpetuity. In time of war they were however to perform
their servioes at Eggleston, unless by special appointment of the lord
of the honour of Richmond or his bailiff. This charter was further
ratified by John, Earl of Richmond, in the time of Edward III.

The castle, as before stated, has never withstood any siege, but it
was probably dismantled in the time of King Stephen. In 1171 William,
King of Scotland, was confined a prisoner within it and only liberated
by the payment of a ransom of £100,000. Also David Bruce, King of
Scotland, was conveyed here after the battle of Neville^s Cross in 1846,
and taken hence to Odiham Castle in Hampshire, where he lay eleven years
and then only obtained his freedom by payment of 100,000 marks. The
ill-starred monarch Charles I., was also brought here in February, 1646,
when a prisoner on his way to Holmby House.

Many interesting particulars relating to the castle and its various
parts are furnished in a schedule prepared at the instance of Lords Scrope
and Conyers, commissioners appointed to view the same in the time of
Henry YII. From this schedule it appears ruin had gone apace by
process of natural decay and that the castle walls had become thickly
overgrown with ivy, ** whiche must be cutt downe and the walle newe ;'*
the builders of that day properly believing that vegetable growth of
that kind, now so much admired on old ruins, did not lend stability to
the masonry. It is also stated that the ^' mantill wall from the utter
yate- house to the est part of the inner yate is in decay of maisone wark,'^
and that ^' the hall is in decay and wanttes a greysse and a porche and
corbelles and spouttes of stone, and must be new refresshede. And the
mff and floures thereof, with all the doyers, wyndoys, and other necessaries,
is in decay and will take by estymacon c. oakes. Also the thekinge and
coverynge thereof will take xvi. foder of leide." The paystre, brewhouse,
bakehouse, and horse-mill, were also declared decayed ; likewise the great
chamber wanted windows, and the chapel next the great chamber was in
decay in walling and a window of three lights, and the roof, floor, and
porch, with other necessaries would take 20 oaks for repairs. Adjoining
the said chapel were pieces of old walls which were supposed to have
been houses ; also upon the west side of the dungeon was an old wall,
bnt what house had been there was not known. Finally it was stated
that there were no guns within the castle nor artillery for its defence.

Before concluding this somewhat extended notice of the castle I
must not omit a reference to the legend which appertains to the great
keep. It is traditionally asserted that deep below its foundations the
famous King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are held in
slumber by some mysterious charm. The story is current that upon an
ancient stone table lie a great horn and sword, and whoever shall blow
the one and draw the other, indescribable wealth and fame will speedily

attend him. Many jeare ago, a man who was known by the name of
Potter Thompson is said to have penetrated this vault, where he saw the
slumbering king and his band of valiant knights, and beside them laj
the wonderful horn and sword. He at once began to draw the sword,,
but the eyes of the sleepers slowly opening he desisted, and fled with all
possible speed, a voice calling after him r

Potter, Potter ThompBon
If thou hadst either drawn
The sword or blown the horn,
Thou'd been the luckiest man
That ever yet was born 1

Perhaps this story originated through some underground vault now
filled up, or what is more probable from an imported legend current among
the Breton soldiers garrisoned at Richmond in the Norman centuries,,
for I remember when in the wild region of the Morbihan and Western
Britany many years ago, hearing a similar story of Sang Arthur, whom
the Breton folk firmly believe is buried in the small island of Agalon off
the coast of Britany. At no great distance is the historic castle of Brest,
which was originally built by the family of Dreux, who were Dukes of
Britany as well as Earls of Richmond in the ISth century.*

In Speed^s Plan of Richmond made in the year 1610, an opening i&
shewn in a large field on the south side of the castle, called the EarVs
Orchard, and which he says is connected with a passage ^' that goeth
under the river, and ascendeth up into the castle." No such passage
exists, but it seems that the common belief in underground passages is^
no new invention and had got a footing even so long ago. This Earl's
Orchard was sold by the Buttons last year to Mr. Joseph Raine, of
Richmond, who is about to erect a good house upon it, and lay out the
grounds. The estate comprises some 17^ acres, and lying on the south
side of the river it commands a noble view of the castle and town, and
the picturesque far-reaching vale beneath.

The lower story of the Castle Keep is now used as a Guard Room of
the 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, while the apartments above are
fitted up as an armoury, where arms and accoutrements are kept for
about 700 men. Some forty years ago the area within the walls waa
levelled for a parade ground, and a number of dwellings were built in
keeping with the castle, to accommodate sixteen of the staff-sergeants of
the Regiment. The terrace-walk outside the walls was also constructed
and laid nearly 120 feet above the Swale, commanding a fine view of its

* Was it the peculiar gilt-hilted sword and cnrious horn (now in possession of
the Duke of Richmond) referred to by Clarkson, which had to do with this
mysterious legend ? The horn was found when part of the west end of the castle
fell down about a century ago.

banks and the snrronnding connfcrj, and affording a cloee view of the-
walls, on which masses of iry Inxuriate along with many species of
plants. See the engraving on page 51.

After the Castle the next monament of greatest interest is the Parish
Church, which stands on the sonthem slope of the hill as we pass to and
from the railway station. Of the precise date of its origin the records
are silent ; it is however most probably a foundation of the first Earl of
Richmond^ and contemporary with the building of the Castle, but the
Church of the Holy Trinity, in the Market Place, to be presently
described, is situated much nearer the Castle and is in all probability the
older of the two, for it is generally believed to occupy the site of an
Anglo-Saxon edifice or Danish pagan temple. If Richmond be the site
of the Hinderlage* of Domesday one or other of these churches certainly
existed before the Norman Conquest, and had an officiating priest. But
St. Paulinns, the great Christian missionary in the north, always blessed
his converts in the name of the Holy Trinity, a fact which lends some
probability that the chapel of the Trinity at Richmond was originally of
his foundation. Some writers have maintained that it was in the river
Swale in Kent where St. Paulinus performed his celebrated baptism of
10,000 pagans in one day, but this exploit in the Kentish Swale has
reference to the ministrations of St. Augustine in the south, whereas the
great baptism in the Yorkshire Swale was directed by St. Paulinns, and
it is therefore not at all unlikely that a Christian temple would be^
erected by him at Richmond in commemoration of the event. According
to Stukeley, this sainted apostle Paulinus (who became Archbishop of
Tork in a.d. 625) built many churches in Yorkshire in celebration of
his conversion of the Northumbrian king and people to the Christian
faith, and amongst them was doubtless the seventh century chapel at
Catterick, near Richmond, which was dedicated to St. Paulinus. Pope
Gr^ory the Great in his Epistle to St. Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria,
writing on the conversion of the Britons, says : " On the day of Christ's^
nativity he (Paulinus) did regenerate by lively baptism above ten
thousand men, beside an innumerable multitude of women and children.
Having hallowed and blessed the river, called in English 'Swale,^ he^
commanded by the voice of criers and masters, that the people should
enter the river confidently two by two, and in the name of the Trinity
baptise one another by turns. Thus they were all borne againe, with no
less a miracle than in tymes past the people of Israel passed over the sea
divided, and likewise Jordane when it turned back, for even soe they

^ There appears to have been two places of that name ; one on the south bank
of the Swale, near Hudswell, and the other on the north side. Both are mentioned
in an extent of 80th Henry II., but have disappeared before the next extent was-
made 15th Edward I.

were transported to the bank on the other side, and notwithstanding so
•deepe a carrent and channel, so great and divers differences of sex and
age, not one person took harme.'*

The Parish Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, appears to have
been granted by Alan Rnfas, first Earl of Richmond, who died in 1089,
along with that at Catterick, and the tithes of all his demesne lands, &c.,
•to the Abbey of St. Mary (then called St. Olave's) at York, which he
restored. This wealthy monastery retained the patronage till the
Reformation, when the pension of £5 a year, payable out of the revenues
•of the church, was given by Henry VIII. to Trinity College, Cambridge.
The right of presentation to the rectory is now held by the Bishop of
Ripon, and the annual value of the living is about £800.

The church has undergone a good many restorations and alterations,
and little save the massive piers near the doorway has been preserved of
the original building. The tower, which is 80 feet high and bears six
ponderous bells, was built in the early pai*t of the 15th century and on
'the centre battlement displays the arms of Neville, along with those of
Scrope and Aske, ancient benefactors. The south porch has been entirely
rebuilt, but the porch on the north side, which has been restored, has a
groined roof of the same age as the tiower, and over it is a niche, which
no doubt at one time contained an image of the Virgin. Within the
interior are several interesting monuments and inscriptions and some
curious examples of carved work. The stalls which are now appropriated
•to members of the corporation, the choir, and the officiating clergyman,
were brought from the ruins of St. Agatha's Abbey, at Easby, diortly
■after the Dissolution, and have been retained here ever since. Their
•design is somewhat unusual and resembles those in the abbey church at
Selby. AH have misericordes and canopies and part of the fronts also
xemain. Over the mayor's stall is a shield also from the abbey, bearing
the rebus of Abbot Bampton (inst. a.d. 1515), a crosier fixed in a tun,
4;he latter inscribed ' b a,' while a label surrounding it contains the word
' abbas.' There is also an inscription on a filleting above the stalls,
which reads :

Becum sunt abustones claustraltutn, bictus precfosus, ctbns exqnisittus,
Tumor in claustra. Its in capitulo, titssuilutio in cboto negligent tiscipulus,
inobelJims jubmis, ociosus sitntx, obstinatus monacf)tt0, curialis reltgtodns.

A text which carefully enjoins the good conduct of the monasteries, and
forbidding the abuses to which they were addicted. The most striking
monument in the church is one erected to the memory of Sir Timothy
Hutton, of Marske (ob. 1629), and his wife and children. The family
lived at the Friary and were buried here. There are other memorials in
tablets and stained glass to the families of Hickes, Robinson, Clarkson,

Croft, Cloee, Tomlin, &c. Within the church was the chantry of
St. Anne and St. Catherine, of the foundation of William Stenall, clerk,,
licensed 27th March, 7th Henry YII.. to pray for the souls of the founder
and all Christian people and to help the curate in the ministering of
sacraments. All that remains of this chantry is the entrance and piscina
in the south wall. At the Dissolution in 1585 the chantry was returned
as of the annual value of £4 lOs. 8d. ; John Brokeholle being then
incumbent, and there were stated to be in the parish " one thousand two-
hundred houseling people," or a total population of about 2400.*

The church underwent a complete restoration by Sir Gilbert Scott in
1858-59 ; its original features having been as far as was practicable
judiciously preserved. It includes a nave, with side aisles extending
beyond the chancel arch, and a chancel now much improved. The
tracery of two of the east windows was unaltered, but that of the third
was made to correspond with the lancet lights in the south aisle. All
the windows were formerly filled with richly and curiously-painted glass,,
some designed with figures and others with armorial bearings of founders
and ancient benefactors. Much of this was destroyed at the Reformation,
as "gaudy exhibitions of the appendages of Popery," and what remained
suffered a further extinction at the hands of the Puritans during the
Commonwealth. It is however of exceeding interest to remember what
arms and devices have been illustrated within the historic fane, and the
accompanying plate copied from the original in Gale's Honoris de
Richmond (1722), will help to picture to us the ancient glory and family
pride concentrated in these various devices belonging to former
benefactors and patrons of the church and parish. Dugdale in his
collection of arms in Yorkshire churches, copied from William Flower,
Robert Glover, and Sir Thomas Fairfax, of Denton, says that there were
formerly placed in the east window of the northern aisle, the arms of
Fitz Hugh, Neville, and Scrope of Bolton ; in the. north windows of
the same aisle those of Neville, Halnathby ; in one shield the Nevilles,
Fitz Hughs, Marmions, and Montagues, quartered ; those of Tibetot,.
Scrope of Bolton, and John of Gaunt. In the east window of the
southern aisle were those of John of Gaunt, John of Britany, Earl of
Richmond, Neville, and the aims of France and England quartered.
In a certain southern window were the bearings of John of Gaunt, and
in another those of Fitz Hugh. In the highest windows of the north
part of the church, were the shields of Fitz Hugh and Coniers ; in the
high windows of the southern part were those of Scrope of Bolton
quartered with Tibetot. In the windows of the belfry were the
Marmions and Scropes of Masham. Besides the Fitz Alans and Fitz

* There were also certain lands and tenements given to the finding of other
priests and obits in the said church.— ^« Surteet Soc. Pub., xci. 140, xcii. 617.

SnEccl^d^afy?cAta/o€ie Richsiund

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Arms formerly in Richmond Parish Church.

Haghs, there were engraved upon the wall in the chancel towards the
-east, the arms of Neville and those of the Duke of Britany.

In 1892 the chancel underwent some further marked alterations, from
designs supplied by Mr. C. Hodgson Fowler, of Durham. Previously
it was very inadequately lighted and to remedy this defect a large window
was made in the south wall ; old engravings showing such a south light
to have formerly existed. The levels of the chancel floor, which were
extremely low, were then altered and towards the eastern end much
raised. The sanctuary was enlarged by the removal of the altar-rail and
the erection of a new one some feet westward ; it has been paved with
marble mosaic, and provided with steps of red Irish marble. The
memorial reredos to the late Canon Ottley has been practically re-made,
though retaining some of the old mouldings ; it is now a beautiful object
framed in a cornice and side-shafts of carved Caen stone. A retable of
citron-yellow marble replaces the former stone shelf, and the arches are
filled with alabaster panels (the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roper) carved in
relief by Mr. Milburn, of York. The sanctuary pavement and choir
pavement are both memorials to the dead, the former the gift of the
Misses Ryder, in memory of their mother, brothers, and sisters ; the
latter the gift of Mr. Edward Elliott, in memory of the late Richard
Bowers, r.R.C.S., E., and J.P. The oak of the former holy table has
been incorporated in a new one, handsomely panelled and carved, the gift
of the Rev. E. Bickersteth Ottley and Mrs. Ottley, in joint memory of
Canon Ottley and Bishop Hamilton, of Salisbury, (Mrs. Ottley 's father).
By these several memorial offerings and by the liberal donations of
Miss Easton, Lord Zetland, and Captain Gerald Walker, in addition to
the general fund contributed by members of the congregation, has the
interior of the chancel been so efficiently restored and made pleasing for
the service of God. It need only be added that the beautiful altar-
coverings, frontals and super-frontals, which are of exquisite embroidery,
have been worked and presented by the Countess of Zetland and by
Mrs. and Miss Walker, of the Hill House.*

The old 15th century font of Teesdale marble has been retained in
the church. The bowl is octagonal and supported on a pedestal of the
same shape, and around it are eight shields, on one of which appears an
abbreviated inscription : Jhesi Johannis Baptists^. On the old step are
the initials of John Metcalfe and Robert Robley, churchwardens, and
the date 1661.

The registers of the church begin in 1556 and contain some curious
and interesting entries, such as : '' 1558, Sept. 9th, Richard Snell brent
in Newbiggin, almost opposite to the goal." How this person met his

* Additional particulara will be found in the Ripon Diocesan Church Calendar
ior 189S.

fate is not explained here. Bat this was the last year of the sad reign
of Queen Mary, when many a brave-souled victim was still being led to
a martyr's fire in many an English market-place. Worthy old Puller
does not appear to have known of this case of burning alive, as he speaks
of only one Yorkshire martyr during the reign of Mary, by name Leaf.
But such a tragic spectacle would seem to have been actually witnessed
at Richmond, for in Foxe's Book of Martyrs it is stated that there were
two persons of the name of Snell who were apprehended and thrown into
prison for their religion. One of them lay in abject confinement, and
whether by neglect or the dampness of his cell suffered so acutely that
" his toes were rotted off,'' and on his liberation he was obliged to go

Richmond Parish Church and Grammar School.

on crutches. At last, by order of Daykins, the Bishop of Chester's
Commissary, he was constrained to go to mass, and had a certain sum of
money given him by the people, but repenting of his action within three
or four days he threw himself into the Swale and was drowned. The other
one remained steadfast in his faith and liis godly spirit was freed by
the "glorious fire of martyrdom."

In the same important i*egister, under date of 1611, is the entry
of one Francis Beckwith, a recusant, buried at Langhill. The old
pre-Reformation faith still continued to cling to numerous families m

the north, and on the accession of James I. to the English throne, when
an Act was passed for the dne execution of the statutes, it was ordered
to take the names of all those who still abided by the old religion. The
following were then declared Papists at Richmond : Lady Oascoigne,
wife of Sir William Gascoigne, Et. ; Robert Atkinson, glasier ; Robert
Oibson, Nicholas Bacon, cordwainers ; William Atkinson, yeoman ;
Bridget Atkinson, spinster, his daughter ; the wife of Leonard Beckwith,
gent. John Johnson, a recusant, not a Papistical recusant ; Marie, wife
of Arthur Hutchinson, mercer ; Marie Heighington, widow ; John Olose,
Sadler, recusantes for a year. Annie Taylor, widow ; Marie Hutchenson,
Marie Heighington, and John Close. It will thus be observed that it
was not those only who occupied a high position in life who were
recorded, but the humblest inhabitants were watched (sometimes secretly),
how and where they attended the service of Ood.

A melancholy interest attaches to one portion of the register, where
it is recorded under the year 1597 that the pestilence here began, and
that one Roger Sharp, who first died in the time of the pestilence, was
buried 17th August, 1597 ; the last victim being one Cuthbert Oliver,
who was buried 15th December, 1598. It is stated that the sum total
who died was 1050. But this number, large as it is, represents those
who succumbed within the parish only, and it must have exceeded
one-third of the total inhabitants. According to an ancient ^ns'^ription
preserved in the parish church at Penrith it is recorded that the total
number of fatal cases in 1597 — 98 in the rural deanery of Richmond
was 2200 ; in Penrith, 2260 ; in Kendal, 2500 ; and in Carlisle, 1196.
So dire was the extent and malignancy of the outbreak that nearly all
public business was suspended, the law-courts were closed, and the
assizes at Durham could not be held. The West Riding Justices
compelled every constable of a division to set two or three persons to
keep watch and ward within his constabulary, and that henceforward
householders themselves were to keep watch and ward to prevent the
passing of strangers, and that no hirelings or strangers were to be
employed.

Of entries relating to the Civil War are a few, as — ** Oswald Metcalfe
slain by a soldier, bur. 7 Apr. 1644 ; William Ibbeson, a soldier slaine
on Gatherley Moore, 8rd Sept., 1644.^' It must be remembered that
Richmond Castle was never subjected to a siege, otherwise the number
of fatalities here during the war would have been more conspicuous.
During the Protectorate when marriages were performed by magistrates,
after the banns had been proclaimed in a public market-place as well as
in the church, we find that in the period during which this method of
wedding prevailed, viz., from Nov. 9th, 1658, to March 8rd, 1659, or
about 5 years and 4 months, 828 marriages were solemnised. One or

two abstracts from the registers will suiBoe to show the nature of the
compact :

1655, May 14, William Todd of Sedbuske, his own guardian, and Elizabeth
Whiteheele of the said parish, were married by John Kay, Alderman, the same day,
and were published three several Lord^s days in the chapel of Askrigg, that is to
say upon the twenty-second, twenty-ninth of April, and sixth of May by Henry
Janson, registrar of Askrigge, and no objection at all by anyone. Witnesses, ^.
Age of the man twenty-five and of the woman twenty-eight.

1659, Thomas Chumley, Esq., of the parish of Brandsby, and Mrs. Katharine
Tonstall of the parish of Wicklifife, were published three market-days at the
market-cross in Richmond, in three several weeks, according to Act of Parliament
made and provided in that case, and married the 25th day of June, 1G69, by
Thomas Smith, Alderman, Justice of the Peace, and Quorum, before these
witnesses, &c., and no objection made.

It has long been matter of doabt where this scion of the old knightly
family of Cholmley was married. The family was long seated at
Brandsby Hall, Easingwold, and Gilling Castle, co. York., and were large
landowners ; after the dissolntion of monasteries they acquired all the
lands and possessions belonging to Whitby Abbey. The Tanstalls of
Wycliffe and Scargill were also a noted family, and one Marmadake
Tunstall of WyclifFe bequeathed to his coasin, Cuthbert Tunstall of
Richmond, the sum of £25 a year for life by his will in 1755. The
above Thomas Cholmley, married at Richmond, had by his wife Catherine
a family of three sons and three daughters, whose descent is given in
Burke's Landed Gentry,

We might linger long and profitably in the very ancient "God's
Acre" that surrounds the church, culling from its many tombs and
headstones recollections of former inhabitants, of rich and poor, humble
and great, poet, artist, and divine, each in life pursuing diverse thoughts,
aims, and aspirations, but ever with advancing years seeming feeble and
vain compared with the might of God, until all have become alike,
companions united in that silent Garden of a better Hope I

Then shall the good stand in immortal bloom

In the fair garden of that second birth ;
And each bright blossom mingle its perfume

With that of flowers which never bloomed on earth.

The church of the Holy Trinity in the Market Place, was as before
remarked, probably the original church of the parish, but as the town
extended and population increased became subservient to the Parish
Church, above described. Both formed part of the endowments, in the
12th century, of St. Mary's Abbey at York. According to the Certificates
of Chantries, 1st Edward VI., it is stated that the Trinity Chapel was
resorted to as a safeguard in time of plague, being distant from the
Parish Church 1000 feet, and that the inhabitants find at their own

charge three priests, at sach wages as they agree upon, having no lands
or tenements to their sustenance. There were also in the Parish Church
two other priests receiving in like manner their wages of the inhabitants,
whereof the schoolmaster was one« In 1380 license was granted to
Nicholas de Eirkeby to endow a chantry at the altar of St. Thomas the
Martyr in the chapel of the Holy Trinity of Richmond to pray for the
souls of the same Nicholas, Henry le Scrop, and Peter de Richmond.
After the dissolution of St. Mary^s Abbey the patronage of the church
became vested in the Corporation, and continued with that body until
the passing of the Municipal Corporation Reform Act in 1885, when it
was purchased by Leonard Cooke, Esq., some time Mayor of Richmond.
Subsequently the advowson was purchased by Thomas, late Earl of
Zetland, who presented it to the Trustees of the Grammar School.

The church, outwardly, presents a most singular aspect, by reason of
the insertion of a dwelling-house and tobacconist's shop between the
steeple and nave ; likewise other shops, including a tobacconist's built into
the south wall beneath the gallery — an odd eiLample of desecration
probably unique. The anti-church party may deem this a seeming satire
on the external forms of religion being held up by no more solid
buttress than that of '^ smoke '* — evanescent as the aromatic vapour in
the greater creed of God's Holy Word, wherever it may be preached I
It seems from documentary evidence that the tenements occupying the
site of the south aisle were built as long ago as 1740, when the inhabitants
b^^n to repair the fabric for renewal of public worship, since which
time services have been regularly held in it. The ancient curfew-bell,
which is traditionally believed to have been placed in the tower in the
reign of the Norman Conqueror, is still rung every night at eight and
every morning at six o'clock, as of old, when the inhabitants of Richmond
were obliged to put out their fires and lights, bolt their doors, and go to
bed at that hour of the evening, to be up again next morning at six, as
by law enacted. On a bell at Coventry (a comparison with which city I
have elsewhere drawn) dated 1675, is engraved a similar injunction to

be up at six :

** I ring at six to let men know
When to and fro* their work to goe."

The house of the town-crier at Richmond being near the base of the
tower, singularly enough he or his wife may, as they frequently do, ring
the morning curfew from their bed, as the bell hangs immediately above.
The age of the bell is unknown, but it is inscribed : *' ®mne super nomen
3tmsi est benerabtle notnen."

Outside the walls of the town were several other ancient chapels.
One of these, dedicated to St. James the Apostle, stood in Bargate, and
was possessed of a chantry, founded by John Copeland. The remains of

this chapel were used in the erection of a cottage, still standing. Another
called the chapel of St. Edmund, (king of the East Angles), stood on
Anchorage Hill, and is now replaced by Eleanor Bowe*s Hospital, an
almshouse for poor widows, founded in 1607. A third, dedicated to
St. Anthony, was at the corner of Pinfold Green, near to Quaker Lane.
In addition to these there was the corporate Guild or Brotherhood
dedicated to the praise of God and honour of St. John the Baptist.
The object of this body was to encourage religious observance in all the
pursuits of daily life, and out of a common fund relieve the aged and
infirm and give succour to deserving strangers. They enjoyed certain
immunities while in the town, and when they travelled obtained exemption
from the payment of certain tolls, &c. This ancient society, being not
fundamentally a trade guild, was dissolved by act of Henry YIII. and
its property confiscated. The house of the fraternity stood originally on
the site of the present Town Hall, but was afterwards removed to
Frenchgate.

A few remarks must now be offered about the ancient Hospital of
St. Nicholas, of which only a small portion is left, built into the present
mansion of St. Nicholas, on the Easby road. It was founded in the
reign of Henry II., probably by one of the Breton Earls of Richmond,
for the relief of poor and sick people, and for the entertainment and
lodging of pilgrims and of lost and distressed travellers, its use being
similar to the Hospices still existing abroad. In 1292 a demise was
made by Mary Neville, Lady of the manor of Middleham, to Alan, Master,
and the brethren and sisters of the Hospital of a plot of land in Frenchgate
[probably the earliest mention by name discovered of this ancient
Richmond street] with gardens and rents and the hill towards the
Hospital ; reserving the right of her fold on Fuller's Green during
Richmond fair, and the forge held by Elias de la Greue ; for 20 years
for 208. yearly rent. About the middle of the 14th century the Hospital
had fallen into decay by reason of poverty and ill management, but was
restored and augmented by William Ascough, of Ascough near Bedale,
who also founded within a chantry for one priest to say mass in the chapel
of St. Nicholas the Confessor for ever. Sharing the fate of the dissolved
monasteries, it was in the 37th Henry VIII. thus surveyed :

Thospitall of Skynt Nicholas wtthyn the Pabtsshe of
Rtchmonde.

Richard Baldewyn, iDcumbent, chaplen to my lady Maryes Grace. Havyng no
foundacioD to she we, but the inhabitantes sey that there is a pry ate that doth say
masse i!j dayes in the wek, and other iij dayes at the chappell of Seynt Kdmonda
in the sayd towne, and doth fynde a pore body in the same. And the fermer of
the sayd hospital! doth say and affirme that he fyndytk the forsayd pryste at hie
wyll, and the sayd inhabitantes do affirme that the incumbent is bonde to fynde
the sayd priste to say masse, as is aforesayd.

The nyd hospitall is dystaant from the said parysshe churche halffe a myle.
The necessetie thereof is ased, as afore is moDsioDed. There is no landes, ten. sold
ne alyenatyd sythe the statute.

Goodes, ornaymentes, and plate perteynyng to the aforsayd hospital], as
•pperyth by iuTentory, that is to say, goodes valued at nd., plate, nil.

Firste, the scyte of the howse with edifices therto belonging, one orcharde, ij
liile gardens, and a chappell yarde, envyroned with a stone wall, conteyneth by
ettimacion ij acres ; and one lytell closse therunto adjoynyng, conteynyng by
estimaoion ij acres. In all, worth by yere, vji, yiijd.

Item, one closse called the Brode Inges, conteynyng by estimaoion iij acres ; the
Well Closse, conteynyng by estimaoion ij acres ; the Cote Wall Closse, conteynyng
by estimaoion j acre ; one close lyeng betwene the Bst Felde of Richmonde and
the More, conteynyng by estymacion ij acres ; in tlie West Felde of Richmonde
z acres ; in the Gallowe Felde of Richmonde x acres ; in the Bste Felde of
Richmonde xlvj acres. In all, Izziiij acres rentyd at xvji. the yere, in all, iiij/i.
ZTiijt. viij<2.

Item, the Eylne Close, conteynyng by estymacion iij acres ; the Hye Closse,
eontenyng by estymacion viij acres, lyeng in Richmond. In all, xj acres, rentyd
at XTJ<2. the acre. In all, xiiij«. yii]d. Item, the cotages in Rychmonde, lyeng in
Aldbyggyog Strete, payng by yere, x«. ; one cotage lyeng in Bargate, xij«. ; one
wast pece of grounde where an olde smythe stowde in French Gate. vji. : one fre
rente yerely goyng furth of Hudswell landes, v«. In all, xxTij«. \]d. Item, in
Newsome certane erable lande by yere xij«. ; in Hudswell, one cotage with
certayne land by yere xi2. ; certen lande with a frounte without a house, lyeng in
Skebye, xxt. ; one wast pece of ground in Harmebye, x.\]d. ; certen landes in
Jolbye by yere, xiij«. ii\}d. ; certen landes in Skorton by yere, xx<2. ; one cotage in
Burton Counstable by yere, xviij<2. ; one pece of grounde in Cattery k,xij<2. ; certen
lande in Lemyng by yere, vg. In all, Ixvf. vjd.

Some of the sayd hospital!, xH. xiij«.
Payable yerely to the Kynges Majestie for a tenthe, xx<2. ; to Richard Bowis for
certen lande wythyn the Hye Close, iiij<2. ; to the Eynges Majestie for suet of
courte in Richmonde Castell, xij^f. ; for suet of the burrowe courte in Richmonde
towne, xiji. In all, xxvjf.

And so reinayneth, ixZi. vij«.

Memorandum : — That the after cropi>e of Brode Inges, Well Close, one close
lyeng betwene the Este Felde and the More, Westefelde, Gallowe Felde, and of
the Este Felde, dothe belonge yerely unto the burrowe of Richmond, after sithe
and sikkell, and frome the feaste of Seynte Mychaell, th*Archangel], unto the
feaste of th*Annunciacion of our Lady.

Memorandum : — That there is a chappell wythin the sayd hospitall, havyng a
fiatte rouffe, beyng coveryd with leede, conteynyng in length Ix fote, and in brede
zriij fote, by estimaoion.

Having been for some time occupied bj the family of Wickliffe* it
was purchased by the family of Norton and subsequently came to the
Yorkes, by the marriage in 1660 of Mary, daughter of Malger Norton,
of St. Nicholas, with John Torke, Esq., of Gowthwaite Hall in Nidderdale.
He sold it to the Blackbumes, and the Rev. Francis Blackburne in 1813
re-Bold it to the late Lord Dundas of Aske. The house underwent

* See Wickliffe of Hipswell ; also Harrison's Oillitig Wetty page 43.

nnmerouB repairs and alteratioDs, of which it stood in mach need, about
fifty-five years ago, and while excavating on the north side a great many
hnman bones were turned up along with a stone coffin (being the second
there found), containing a skeleton and small chalice. As coffins of stone
fell into disuse about the middle of the 15th century this was in all
probability the sarcophagus of one of the early Masters of the Hospital,
who held ecclesiastical rank.

Friars Wynd, Richmond.

Turning now from the Market Place through the old Friars Wynd,
before described, we arrive at the tower of the Grey Friars, time-toned
yet beautiful in decay. This house was of the foundation of one
of the great lords of Middleham, Ralph Fitz Randolph, in 1258. He
died in 1270 and was buried at Coverham Abbey, but his heart, enclosed
in a leaden urn, was interred in the choir of the church of the Grey

Grey Friars Tower, Richmond.

Friars at Kichmond. He was a feadatory of the Earls of Richmond,
and whose place in the castle was over the chapel of St. Nicholas on the
east. In Gale's Registrum Honoris de Richmond there is a quaint old
bird's-eye view of the Castle, and over the oratory of St. Nicholas is
portrayed a banner displaying the arms of Fitz Randolph, <7r, a chief,
indented, azure. The house, established for the order of Franciscan
monks, originally consisted of a warden and fourteen brethren, and np
to the Dissolution received from time to time grants of lands and houses
for its maintenance. The Franciscan Friars belonged to one of the
Mendicant Orders which had been founded by St. Francis of Assissi and
sanctioned by Pope Innocent III. They suflFered severely on the dispersion
of the monastic property by reason of their refusal to owe allegiance to the
king, and owing to their dwelling in the midst of towns their houses
were speedily demolished and the materials absorbed in the surrounding
buildings. The brotherhood had sworn to follow the rule of the holy
St. Francis and in it " they would live and die." Many of them suflFered
death in consequence, and others lingered long in damp and unwholesome
prisons, until death put an end to their misery.* The house of the Orey
Friars at Richmond was surrendered by Robert Sanderson and fourteen
brethren on the 19th of January, 1538, and was afterwards granted to
John Banastyr and William Metcalfe for a term of years. The site of
the monastery along with some 80 acres of land adjoining is now the
property of Edward Robinson, Esq., whose family acquired the same in
the year 1713. The original edifice appears to have been demolished for
the purpose of erecting a larger church on the site, of which the tower
end only was begun shortly before the dissolution of monasteries. It is
an admirable composition of late Gothic design, the structure being
supported by four very beautiful pointed arches, springing from clustered
cylinders, and at each side of the upper story is a handsome window of
two lights ; the whole being well-proportioned and finished with an open
ornamental parapet, having crocketed pinnacles at the angles. From
its great height, the tower appears from all points a beautiful and
commanding object. A short distance to the west of it there appears to
have been a Nunnery situated in a plot of land called the Nun's Close,
but nothing is known of it beyond the bai-e mention of such a convent
in the Pipe Roll of a.d. 1171.

Among other of the notable institutions belonging to Richmond
mention must be made of the long-established Free Grammar School.
The offspring of an earlier foundation, it was reorganised and endowed

* A good deal of curious information reBpecting this order of Begging FriarB
will be found in the Aittiquities of the English Franeiicans or Friers Minors^
commonly called the Gray Frier s^ with Appendix on the English Nuns of Saint
Clare, 4to, published in 1726.

by the Corporation early in the reign of Qaeen Elizabeth, and for nearly
three centuries was condncted in an unpretentious stone building in the
parish church-yard. Many of the old Grammar Schools in the dales, I may
observe, were originally located in proximity to the church, as it frequently
happened in former times that the duties of schoolmaster were combined
with those of parish clerk. Whitaker gives a list of the schoolmasters
from 1696, and to these I may add the name of John More, priest, who
was master of the school in 1548. He^ received a yearly stipend of
£6 13s. 4d. (10 marks), which was granted to him by the burgesses
and bailiffs of the town of Richmond out of the revenues they appropriated
at the late Dissolution.

In 1849-50 a new spacious and handsome building was erected on
the opposite side of the road to the old edifice, as a memorial to Canon
Tate, who was head master of the school from 1796 to 1888, when he
was succeeded by his son, the Rev. James Tate. Of the learned and
estimable Canon Tate, whose successful labours at Richmond are amongst
the most notable in local annals, I shall have more to say in the next
chapter. The good work begun by him continued to prosper so that it
became necessary about the year 1866 to make further extensions, and a
large school-room, with class rooms, &c., was added at a cost of nearly
£2000, raised by public subscription. The school has been thoroughly
reorganised and now ranks as one of the best classical seminaries in the
north. The buildings have accommodation for about 200 boys, and the
subjects taught include Latin, Greek, Mathematics, English, French,
German, Science, and if required. Commercial subjects, such as Book-
keeping, &c. In the higher forms boys are prepared for the Universities,
the Indian Civil Service, the Army, London Matriculation, or other
public examinations. There are numerous scholarships and exhibitions
tenable at the School and at the Universities. A gymnasium has recently
been built near the school-house, and classes are formed in gymnastics
and carpentry. The new school-house consists of the Friary House and
Lodge. The old school premises in the church-yard were, I may add,
pulled down in 1856 and the materials used in the construction of a
house for the master of the National School, in the vicinity of where
it stood.

I will now oonolude with some remarks on the former aspects of the
town, its trade, and commerce. Shortly after the erection of the Castle,
when the affairs of the town began to assume a more settled condition,
markets and fairs were held under the protection of the reigning Earls :
all cattle or goods exhibited for sale being subject to certain specified
tolls, an arrangement that prevailed till the year 1 145, when in order to
prevent fraud and establish a more equitable method between the lord
and his tenants. Earl Alan, son of Stephen, granted for ever to his

burgesses of Richmond, his borongh of Richmond, and manor called the
Land of Fontenay (probably the site of Richmond and part of its
environs) in fee farm under a yearly rent of £29, to be paid by equal
portions at the feasts of St. Martin in the winter and Pentecost ; and
directed that ^' they should well, freely, and honourably possess and hold
the same, in plains and in woods, in pastures and in waters, in meadows
and in all places, and that they and their heirs should hold it from him
and his heirs for ever.'* This was a great advance from the position of
servitude to which the inhabitants had been hitherto subjected, and was
as Mr. Clarkson properly observes, the first dawn of the institution of
municipal corporations, which afterwards proved so favourable to general
liberty. The burgesses had now the power to rent tolls, have fairs and
markets, choose their own municipal officers, make bye-laws, and in other
ways enjoy the rights of freemen both as regards their persons and
their property.

The earliest trade would be that in com and cattle, and such
necessaries of daily existence ; accompanied no doubt by some local
enterprise in the tanning and dressing of leather. This is apparent
from references made to the trade in early Richmond charters, and in
1827 I find one Peter the Tanner at Richmond paid 4s. subsidy. In
the reign of Edward II. the king granted certain tolls to be levied for
five years on all goods and articles exhibited for sale in the Market Place.
This was intended as a contribution towards defraying the expenses of
constructing the town wall, and as the various commodities to be taxed
are separately named in this 14th century grant I quote it in full, as it
affords a lively picture of the appearance of Richmond on market-days
at that time. The imposts were these :

For every eight bushels of corn was taken one halfpenny.

For every horse, mare, ox, and cow, one halfpenny.

For every hide of horse, mare, ox, and cow, fresh, salted, or tanned, one

farthing.
For every cart-load of salted or fresh meat, three halfpence.
For five fat hogs, one halfpenny.
For every salmon, fresh or salted, one farthing.
For every hundred mulnells, conger and stikar eels (some kinds of dried

fish from the North Sea), salted, one penny.
For ten sheep, goats, or pigs, one penny.
For ten fleeces, one penny.
For every hundred skins of sheep shorn, goats, stags, hinds, bucks, and

does, one halfpenny.
For every hundred skins of lambs, kids, hares, rabbits, foxes, cats, and

squirrels, one halfpenny.
For every hundred (each containing one hundred ells, and every hundred

ells six score) of linen web, canvas, Irish cloth, Galewith and

worsted, one penny.

For every horie-load of oloth, one halfpenny.

For every whole piece of oloth, one halfpenny.

For every piece of silken cloth without gold, and chef (ten ells) of sendal

imported, one farthing.
For every lamprey sold before the Passover, one halfpenny.
For every tan of wine and potashes, three halfpence.
For every horse-load of ashes, one halfpenny.
For every horse-load of honey, one penny.
For every tun of honey, two pence.
For every sack (twenty-six stone) of wool, two pence.
For every truss of cloth brought in a cart, two pence.
For every horse-load of cloth or of divers other minute articles coming

to the town, one halfpenny.
For every cart-load of iron, one penny.
For every horse-load of iron, one halfpenny.
For every cart-load of lead, two pence.

For every cart-load of tan to be sold during the week, one penny.
For every quarter of woad, two pence.
For eight sheaves of garlic, one farthing.
For every thousand herrings, one halfpenny.
For every horse-load of sea fish, one halfpenny.
For every hundred boards, one halfpenny.
For every quarter (eight bushels) of salt, one farthing.
For every weigh (fourteen stone) of cheese and butter, one halfpenny.
For every cart-load of brush-wood or coals in the week-days, one

halfpenny.
For every thousand faggots, one penny.
For every weigh of tallow and lard, one penny.

The corn-market at Richmond continued to be one of the largest in
the Riding, until the eatablishment of the toll-free markets at Lejbnm
and surrounding towns when it declined. Formerly a good trade was
done in yam stockings and woollen knit caps for seamen, and large
quantities made here were also shipped to Holland and the Low
Countries. In later times when the Swaledale lead mines were in full
work there was a large commerce done in this article, but the large
importation of Spanish lead has put a stop to the profitable working of
this industry. The Paper Mills, formerly carried on by Mr. Cooke and
now by Messrs. Pearson (nephews of the late proprietor), were once the
most important local industry, but competition with more fortunately
situated places has greatly crippled the firm's operations, and now only
some thirty persons are employed.

There were also at one time no fewer than thirteen guilds or
trading companies, such as the Mercers, Grocers, Cappers, Tunners,
Fullers and Dyers, &o., belonging to Richmond and enjoying many
peculiar privileges, which are now obsolete. During the scarcity of
copper coinage in England in the reign of Charles II., several Richmond
tradespeople issued their own pence and half-pence, and these trade

tokens, as thej were called, continaed in use till 1672, when the country
was supplied with a copper coinage from the Royal Mint. The following
are some that are remembered belonging to Richmond : (1) Ob.^ Francis
Allen in (tVi the field) Richmond, Rev. God save the King, the hinges
head; (2) Ob. Richard Campian 1668, The Tallow Chandlers' ArmSy
Rev. Of Richmond, Talow Ohanlr (in thefisld\ His Half Pent ;
(3) Ob. Luke Chynnal, A Windmill^ Rev. In Richmond 1667, (m the
field) L c E ; (4) Ob. Robert King at the, the King's head, Rev.
Ferry in Richmond 1666, (in the field) His Half Pent r e k ;
(5) Ob. Robert Loadman, a Crown, Rev. Richmond Carrier (in tlie
field) a true lover'^s knot dividing R L ; (6) Ob. William Marsham, The
Bakers' Arms, Rev. In Richmond 1668 (in the field) w m s. Wardell

Market Place, Richmond, a century ago.

describes twenty examples of Richmond tokens in Bowman^s Yorkshire
Antiquities, and doubtless there have been others which are now lost.
But the number preserved serves to illustrate the respectable position of
the local tradespeople and their various callings at that period.

Ample, well-built, and convenient as the Market Place now is, we
must, apart from these trade tokens, have recourse to old prints and
writings to picture its appearance in former days. The annexed cut is
from a drawing of the Market Place executed at the beginning of the
century by Julius Csesar Ibbetson, who was a native of Masham. He
was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and Benjamin West

called him '*the Berchem of England/' He had a somewhat chequered
life and eventually returned to Masham where he died in 1817, aged
58 years. Clarkson, who was his friend, tells us that opposite to the Town
Hall, a long range of houses, rebuilt in the year 1761, occupies the site
of the old Toll Booth, where the weights and measures belonging to the
town were kept, and which also was the place appointed for the officers
employed in collecting the tolls. Above the place where it stood was
fixed the present com or toll-bell, purchased by the chamberlains in 1754,
and near it was the Wool House, now (1821) a grocer's shop, where all
wool, '* in any manner sold within the liberties of the Corporation," was
weighed, it being the staple commodity of this place. Below this are
the Shambles, ranging backwards from the street, and to these and to
the open stalls erected before them the country butchers have now free
resort at all times. This range of shops was erected in 1764 at the
expense of the Corporation in place of the ancient ones which stood
between the Consistory Court and the King^s Head inn. On the north
side of the Market Place was a large quadrangular building called the
College, which is thought to have been the ancient habitation of the
chaplains or priests who officiated at the various chantries and free
chapels in the town.

A handsome Market Cross formerly stood in the middle of the Market
Place. Upon a high flight of steps was raised a square platform, in the
centre of which stood a large pillar of stone placed in a sole or bottom-
stone of large dimensions and weight. At the top was an ornamental
cross enclosed by a square wall about six feet high, and at the four corners
were placed buttresses, on the top of each appeared a dog sitting made
of stone, and on the sides were carved the arms of Fitz Hugh, Scrope
quartering Tibetot, Conyers, and Neville. As the line of Fitz Hugh
ended early in the reign of Henry VIII. this cross must have been erected
before then ; in all probability when the charter of Henry YI. (1440)
was renewed. This ancient and picturesque relic was removed in 1771.
On the north-west side of the pillar criminals were held to some iron
rings and then publicly flogged, as ordained by the Act, until '' the bodie
be bloodie by reasone of such whipping." The whipping had sometimes
its humorous side. On one occasion a Scotchman and an Irishman were
ordered to be flogged for some indictable offence, when the Irishman
stoutly maintained that the Scotchman was to blame for having led
him into the misdemeanour. Both however were condemned. The
Scotchman begged as a favour that he might have a piece of canvas on
his back while the flogging was being administered. The magistrates
granted the favour, then turning to the Irishman they said, '' We must
give you some favour, — what do you ask ? " *'Och, glory to ye'r ahnors,"
replied Pat, "If it plaze ye'r ahnors, I'd loik the Scotchman on my

back ! '' The Coart was convulsed, but needless to say Pat's request was
not conceded.

Not far from the cross stood the Pillory, and near by were three other
old stone Crosses, called respectively the Wheat, Barley, and Oat Cross,
no doubt from the circumstance that corn of that kind was sold there.
The pillory is a very old instrument of punishment used in this country
before the Norman Conquest and known at that time by the significant
name of "stretch-neck." It was applied in various offences. In 1687
an order of the Star Chamber forbade any book or pamphlet to be printed
without proper license, and all offenders were to be set up in the pillory
and whipped through the city of London. An early instance of the
use of the Richmond pillory may be cited from the records of the
Quarter Sessions held at Thirsk in April, 1693, when a Grinton man
was sentenced to " stand in the pillory at Richmond on Saturday next
in open market for the space of an hour," for inasmuch as he had been
convicted of stealing Sir Marm. Wyviirs deer. This ancient machine fell
into disuse early in the present century, but was not actually abolished
by Act of Parliament until 1887.

Such were the former methods of punishment in vogue locally, yet
neither the pillory nor whipping-post were aught compared with the
capital torture of committal to the flames, the fate of at least one
unfortunate victim at Richmond, as already related.

I THE NEW YOKK.I

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS,

The Rev. Canon Tatk.

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' A NOV I AT'

CHAPTER III.

Richmond Worthies.

Canon Tate — Some of his pupils — Memorial in Edmonton Church — The Rev. John
Brasse— Herbert Enowles and his poem written in Richmond churchyard —
The Rev. Joseph Edieston — Early worthies of Richmond School, kc. — Lord
Lawrence — Some Richmond M.P/s — The two Cuitts, artists — Thos. Harrison,
architect — Christopher Clarkson, historian — " Sister Dora " — ** The Lass of
Richmond Hill '* — Miss Mllbank, afterwards the wife of Lord Byron.

|OREMOST among those of a past generation of workers who
have added lustre and renown to the ancient glory of
Richmond must be placed the late Canon Tate. He was the
Earl Alan of modern local life, a chieftain and conqueror in
the field of intellectual chivalry, and a man of whom any town or country
might well be proud. Bom at Richmond in 1771, he became Head
Master of the Free Grammar School at the early age of 25, a position
which he held for the long period of thirty-seven years, when, through
the recommendation of Lord Grey, he was presented with a Cauoniy in
St. PauPs Cathedral, London, and eventually with the valuable living of
Edmonton, (of John Gilpin renown), which he retained until his death
in 1848. During his many years* life at Richmond he did perhaps more
than anyone else to advance the social and intellectual well-being of its
inhabitants, leaving behind him the permanent influence of his example
of goodness of heart as well as of mental worthiness. His academical
attainments were undoubtedly of a high order and ranked him among
the first scholars of his time. His courtesy, genial kindness, and
simplicity of manner endeared him, moreover, to all his scholars and his
friends. Many of those who had the happiness to be his pupils rose to
distinction in after life, for the devotion to his work and his patient
nobility of purpose seemed to inspire confidence in his pupils and
strengthen their powers for new efforts. It is said, indeed, that the
scholars at Richmond School, during his tutorship, gained more honours
at Cambridge than the pupils of any other master. Where others failed
the Richmond scholars won easily. Among his pupils were the learned
Dr. Musgrave, Bishop of Hereford, and afterwards Archbishop of York ;
Rev. Charles Musgrave, M.A., Archdeacon of Craven ; Dr. Peacock,
F.R.S., &c., late Dean of Ely ; John Netherwood, Head Master of
Appleby Grammar School ; the Rev. Wm. Sidgwick, Head Master of

SkiptQn Grammar School, whose daughter Mary became the wife of
Dr. Edward White Benson, the present Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tn theology and classics he' was the rival of Archdeacon Paley, and
like that famous divine was possessed of a rare fund of humour. No
one better enjoyed a good joke than the worthy master of Richmond
School. Sydney Smith, himself a merry wit, first met him in a country
coach, telling a friend afterwards that he had been travelling with a
man who had been " dripping Gi^eek ! "

Canon Tate, though not a prolific writer, contributed a number of
papers to the classical reviews. It is however, in his Horatius ResiitutuSy
illustrative of the life and works of his favourite poet, and in his
Continmus History of St, Paul that the tone and language of the master
are seen at their best. Canon Tate during his life received several
valuable testimonials of gratitude and esteem from his old pupils and
friends, while the present large and costly Grammar School, at Richmond,
described in the last chaper, was erected in 1850 as a permanent memorial
of his name and worth. As before stated he resided in his latter years
at Edmonton, near London, and died in 1848. The following excellent
and deserving memorial to him is copied from a tablet in the church of
All Saints, Edmonton :

" Id Memory of the Rev. James Tate, M.A., formerly Fellow of Sidney Sassez
College, Cambridge, and for xzxvi. years of pre-eminent success the learned master
of Richmond School, Yorkshire. He was appointed a.d. 1833, Canon Residentiary
of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, and became Vicar of this parish
A.D. 1838. His mind was vigorous, discriminating, and ingenious, his discourse
eloquent, his knowledge rich and exact, with simplicity, cheerfulness, and winning
courtesy, and with a temper naturally generous and humane. In him were
combined the higher graces of Christian faith. He was humble, patient, and
charitable towards all men. After long and well-merited distinction as a scholar,
his later years were devoted, amid congenial friendship with a godly jealousy alike
of profaneness and superstition, to the illustration and defence of gospel truth-
Born at Richmond June xi., A.D. 1771, he died at Clifton, near Bristol, Sept. ii.,
A.D. 1843, and was interred in the vaults of St. PauPs Cathedral. This monument
was erected by his sons James and Thomas, his successors respectively at
Richmond and Edmonton."

Through the courtesy of Chas. G. Tate, Esq., J.P., of Richmond, a
grandson of the worthy Canon, I am enabled to present the accompanying
portrait, photographed from the excellent copy by the celebrated engraver,
Samuel Cousens.* A sketch of the interior of the old school is also

* Samuel Cousens, who executed the portrait from the painting by Pickersgill
presented to Canon Tate by his pupils, was a native of Exeter, and as a mezzotint-
engraver has had few equals. He was a born genius, and at the age of ten gained
the silver palette of the Society of Arts for a drawing after a print by James Heath
representing '- The Good Shepherd," painted by Murillo. He amassed great wealth
by his profession, and gave £16,000 to the Royal Academy (of which he was the
first elected academician-engraver) in trust for the benefit of deserving and poor
artists.

annexed, shewing the master^s desk and a tablet above it, whereon was
inscribed the names of all the masters down to the removal of the school
in 1850. Bade and simple as it appears, beneath this humble roof was
trained some of the leading minds of the time. The windows depicted
in the sketch look southwards into the valley,— :a charming prospect of
hill and dale.

The Rev. John Brasse, B.D., was the son of a Richmond stonemason
and was one of Mr. Tate's first pupils. The youth shewed considerable
promise while under Mr. Tate's tuition, and the latter possessing the

Interior of the Old Grammar School, Richmond.

happy faculty of detecting precisely where a lad's talents lay educated
him accordingly. The boy's parents were not, unfortunately, gifted with
too many worldly goods, — as believers in a name may be inclined to
judge — and so the good man, his tutor, set about to collect money enough
to maintain the lad at Trinity College, Cambridge. Thither in due time
he went, and acquitted himself so honourably that after taking his B.A.
degree as a high wrangler in 1811, he was awarded a Fellowship, and
was eventually presented by his College to the living of Stotfold in

Bedfordshire. Here he lived occupying his leiBure with translating and
pablishing the classics, and he also became famous as the editor of a
Oreek Chadus^ based upon a translation of Dr. Maltby's improved reprint
of Moreirs Thesaurus Poeticus. He died greatly respected in 1888.

The youthful genius, Herbert Enowles, was also one of Mr. Tate*s
pupils. He commenced writing poetry at an early age, and on submitting
a specimen of a volume, which he had hopes of publishing, to Southey,
who was afterwards Laureate, the latter declared it to be '' brimful of
promise and power," and offered to send him £10 and to get a like sum
each from Earl Spencer and Samuel Rogers. Southey seems to have
judged his protege an orphan wanting the means to advance his education,
for in reviewing the Three Tabernacles^ or Lines u^ritten in Richmond
Churchyard^ October 7th^ 1816, he says, ** The reader will remember that
they are the vei'ses of a schoolboy, who had not long been taken from
one of the lowest stations in life, and he will then judge what might
have been expected from one who is capable of writing with such strength
and originality upon the tritest of all subjects."* The remarkable poem
may be found in many Yorkshire collections and need not be quoted here.
Southey, however, is wrong in attributing poverty to its author, who was
the son of a Gomersal woollen merchant in comfortable circumstances,
and a gentleman possessed of ample means for the education of his
family. One of his sons, James Enowles, was articled to the Law, and
became an eminent barrister and Q.C. He was connected with the
Northern Circuit for a long period and died in 1868. Herbert, the poet,
was of a delicate and more meditative turn, and died in 1817 at the age
of 19. A stone to his memory may be seen in the burial-ground of the
Upper Chapel, Heckmondwike, where he was interred.

We might go on multiplying instances of genius developed under the
fostering care of Mr. Tate, but one more case must suffice. The late
lamented Rev. Joseph Edleston, M.A., LL.D., who died at Cambridge in
November, 1895, aged 79, and was interred at Sowerby, near Halifax,
was a worthy pupil of Mr. Tate. He graduated at Trinity Collie,
Cambridge, and became senior Fellow and Bursar in 1840. He held the
valuable living of Gainford, near Darlington, of which his college was
patron. He was a refined scholar, excelling in philosophy, and possessed
of a good critical acumen. In 1856 he edited the Correspondence of
Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes, and was also author of other
works.

An earlier generation of pupils at the Richmond School produced
such men as the Rev. Thomas Taylor, the eminent Elizabethan author
and divine ; Fletcher Norton, Chief Justice in 1769, and created a peer
in 1782 by the title of Lord Grantley ; Dr. Conyers Middleton, author

♦ Vide Quarterly Review, xxi., 397.

of the Life of OicerOy &c. ; Dr. Chapman, Master of Magdalen College,
Cambridge, &c. The celebrated Archdeacon Blackbnrne was also a native
of Richmond, having been born here in 1705, and where he was a
constant resident for more than forty years. He held the living of
Richmond and for some time was chaplain to Dr. Matthew Hntton,
Archbishop of York, who installed him Archdeacon of Cleveland in
1750, and also gave him the prebend of Bilton in York Cathedral. He
died in 1787, and his collected works have since been published in siz
or seven volumes by his son. .

The celebrated Lawrence family settled at Richmond in 1809, and
here it was some two years later that Sir John Lawrence, afterwards
Lord Lawrence, the hero of Delhi, and " saver of India " first saw the
light. A man of many and varied parts, and a born soldier, he has left
a name alike distinguished and imperishable in English military annals.

Among a past generation of Parliamentary representatives mention
may be made of the Bathursts, an old local family who sat for Richmond
in many Parliaments in the 17th and 18th centuries. John Bathurst, M.D.,
of Richmond, lived duiing the troubled era of the Commonwealth. He
went to London and amassed a fortune, which at .his death in 1658 was
said to amount to £2000 a year. He married at Marske in Swaledale,
January 27th, 1635-6, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Brian Willance
of Clints, by whom he left several sons, one of whom, Theodore Bathurst,
resided at Leeds and was M.P. for Richmond in 1690. He was an
author of good repute, of whom Thoresby speaks with affection.* He
left a son Charles, whose son Charles was M.P. for Richmond in 1727
and died in 1743, some say partially deprived of his i*eason. He was of
a rather hasty temperament and on one occasion is said to have '^chucked"
a waiter down the staircase of the King^s Head inn at Richmond. The
fall, unfortunately, resulted in a broken leg, and when the landlord
went to complain to Mr. Bathurst of his violent conduct, the latter
abruptly walked off, telling the landlord '* to put it in the bill ! "

Among the earlier noted M.P.^s for Richmond was William Walsh

(1663 — 1708), a knight of the shire, courtier, and man of letters. He

was the friend of Dryden and Pope, and the latter mentions him in one

of his compositions among those who had encouraged him in his juvenile

studies :

Granyille the polite,
And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write.f

Dryden declared him "the best critic in the nation/' and wrote the
preface to one of his prose works : Eugenia^ a Defence of Women. His
poetical writings shew him to have sided with the Revolutionist party,

* See Duoatus Leodensis^ pages IS, 16, &c.
f Su alflo Pope's S»*ap on OrUieism,

and in the reign of Qaeen Anne he was made Gentleman of the Hone
nnder the Dake of Somerset. James Howell, the friend of Ben Jonson,
was another old-time literary M.P. for Richmond. He seems to have
obtained his election chiefly through the influence of Emmanuel, Lord
Scrope, Lord President of the North, (afterwards Earl of Sunderland)^
whose secretary he became about 1626. Howell was descended from
the ancient Kings of Wales, and among the various public offices that
he filled was that of Clerk of the Privy Council to King James I. He
was a splendid linguist, an accomplished and industrious writer, and is
said to have been one of the earliest Englishmen who made a livelihood
by his pen. His principal work, Familiar Letters, first published in

Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison ("Sister Dora").

1645, contains some racy anecdotes of his travels, as well as a portrait
of himself. He died in 1666, aged 72, and was buried in the Temple
Church, London.

Of artists and architects who have added no little honour to the
neighbourhood of Richmond must be mentioned the names of Cuitt and
Harrison. George Cuitt was born at Moulton, five miles from Richmond,
in 1743, and evincing a marked talent for drawing at an early age he
was sent to Italy at the expense of his patron. Sir Laurence Dundas.
This good fortune enabled him to pursue his studies with no anxiety
save that to excel, which indeed was permitted him, for he had, on

retnrDing to England, attained such skill that his drawings and etchings
began to attract attention and were soon eagerly sought after. He
settled in London but ill health obliged him to come north, and at
Richmond he continued to reside until his death in February, 1818*
His paintings and etchings of portraits, as well as of local buildings
and scenery, are both numerous and good, possessing as they do a
freedom and delicacy of treatment and refinement of feeling eminently
characteristic of a true artist. Many of these have long been in
possession of families at Richmond, while others were sent away to the
order of private collectors living in remote parts of the country.
Mr. Cuitt married and survived his wife only four weeks (see the tablet
in Richmond Church), leaving an only child, George Cuitt, also an
artist, who lived at Chester, and afterwards settled at Masham, where
he died. The work of the latter, however, is inferior to that of the
father, but bearing the same name is often confused with it. Thomas
Harrison, of Richmond, the architect, who won laurels for himself at the
castles of Chester and Lancaster, was the friend of the elder Cuitt, and
with him shared the beneficent patronage of Sir Laurence Dundas.
For some time he studied at Rome, and on his return home acquired a
reputation second to few in his profession.

One whose name will always be identified with the literary annals of
Richmond is Christopher Clarkson, F.S.A., author of the History of
Richmond^ and a gentleman — to quote the words upon his tombstone in
Richmond churchyard — respected not more for his antiquarian researches
than for his private worth. He died in 1888 in the 75th year of his
age, bequeathing a lasting monument in the great work on his native
town. It displays wonderful research and painstaking effort in the
marshalling of facts, besides an insight, knowledge and perspicuity of
expression rarely equalled and never excelled. It is said that he grieved
much at the feeble reception accorded at the publication of this noble
work in 1821, but since that day public taste and enlightenment have
greatly increased, and his book is now one of the most sought after and
valuable of Yorkshire county histories. His son the Rev. Christopher
Olarkson became possessed of his valuable MS. collections, but where
these have since been placed I have not been able to discover.*

In Clarkson^s younger days there was but one bookseller in Richmond,
and that a woman, who was quite a character in her way. Her real
name was Isabella Tinkler, but she was always known as '^ Tibby," and
few in her trade knew more of books, their histories, mysteries, prices
current, &c. George Cuitt, the artist before mentioned, etched her
portrait in a characteristic attitude in her shop. She is depicted sitting

* See alio Oentleman's Magazine for 1838, Part I.

on a low buffet by her shelves of books, with a pipe in her mouth, a
walking-stick close by, and a half-knitted yam stocking with ball of
wool on the counter. Tibby had a heavy masculine face, and but for
her garments might have been mistaken for a man. She attained a
good old age and died in 1794. The successor in the business was
Mr. Matthew Bell, a son of Captain Stephen Bell, Adjutant of the
North York Rifles, who I believe came from Bowes. Matthew's eldest
son was George Bell, another pupil of Tate, who made great headway in

Lady Nobl Byron.

London and became principal of the well-known publishing firm of
Oeorge Bell & Sons, at one time Bell & Daldy. He died in 1890,
aged 76.* John Bell, another son, succeeded to the Richmond business,
and was the originator of the Richmond and Ripon ChronicU.

* For biographical notices of Mr. George Bell (with portraits) see the
PuUUhert' Circular ^ Illuitrated London News, &o., for December, 1890.

I have now made record of some of the principal characters of
former times at Richmond, a record that might be almost indefinitely
extended, for Richmond indeed can claim among her sons distinction in
almost every walk of life : in divinity, history, and literature, the arts
and sciences, in politics, and in arms ; while among her worthy daughters
the qualities of charity and of beauty have been scarcely less notable.
Among those whose nobility of heart and charitable example have earned
undying esteem may be mentioned the celebrated Dorothy Wyndlow
Pattison, or " Sister Dora," who was bom at Hauxwell, near Richmond,
iu 1882, and whose self-sacrificing labours and thoughtfulness for
suffering mortals really only ended with her death. She died at Walsall
in the "Black Country," on Christmas Eve, 1878, where a public
monument has been erected to her memory. Her grandfather, Mr. Wynn,
built the well-known Prior House at Richmond, now about a century
ago, which was subsequently occupied by Mr. Thomas I* Anson,
Mayor of Richmond in 1780, and sister to Miss Fanny I' Anson
(Mrs. MacNally), the beautiful heroine of the well-known song, " The
Lass of Richmond Hill." Many persons and particularly those living
in the south of England, have always presumed that Richmond Hill in
Surrey was alluded to in the name of this famous old song. But there
can be no question that Richmond in Yorkshire was the place where the
heroine lived when the song was penned, and whom the author,
Leonard MacNally, a London barrister, shortly afterwards married. In
Sir Jonah Barrington's Personal Sketches of his oum Times it is stated
that Mr. MacNally wrote the song on a Miss I* Anson, daughter of
Mr. William I^Anson, a rich attorney, of Bedford Row, Bloomsbury,
who had a country house on Richmond Hill.^ He was a King's Bench
solicitor, and owner of various estates in Yorkshire. Their old family
seat at Richmond, still known as the Hill House, stands on the highest
point of ground above the town, and in later years was occupied by
Sir Ralph Milbank, whose only daughter became the wife of one of the
most celebrated poets of modern times. Lord Byron. Many of the
poet's letters and verses were addressed to Miss Milbank at the Hill
House, Richmond, and in one of his epistles he speaks of her as " a
poetess, a mathematician, a metaphysician, and yet withal very kind,
generous, and gentle, with very little pretension. Any other head would
be turned with half her acquisitions and a tenth of her advantages."
She had quite a hattue of lovers, and Byron says she refused six suitors
before accepting him.

• See Notes and Queries, January, 1879, p. 68.

Plak op Environs of Richmond.

CHAPTER IV.

Whitcliffb Woods, Willancb's Leap, and thb Race Course.

I love the seaion well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell

The coming on of storms.

When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again.
*Tis sweet to visit the still wood, where springs

The first flower of the plain. — lAmgfelhm,

Environs of Richmond — Sunshine and storm — Anecdote of Dr. Miller^ Some
butterflies and wild-flowers in Whitcliffe Woods — Prehistoric housesteads,
hitherto unnoticed — Wil lance's Leap — ^A terrible accident — View from the top
of the Scar — Beacon Hill — Hill-fires at the time of the Spanish Armada, &o.
The Race Course— Some old-time horse-races — Whitcliffe Pasture.

ROUND Richmond the country is not less romantic
and attractive than the history which envelopes the
wonderful old town. The walks, indeed, are so many
and 80 various, abounding in archsBological and
scientific objects of interest, and lying amidst the
most enchanting scenery, that it is difficult to know
where to begin. But atmospherical conditions have much to do with
the enjoyment thereof. Blue skies and golden sunshine are always
welcome to the holiday rambler, yet there are times too, when even the
non-enthusiast cannot fail to enjoy a real moantain-storm or the effects
of a rainy sunset, albeit attended with some personal discomfort.
Perchance you are overtaken by such a storm and have to seek shelter
or a temporary lodging at the nearest cottage. You may be generally
sure of a welcome from the good-hearted house-wife, who in due course
will regale you with the best of her provisions, good home-fed ham,
fresh eggs and milk, and the sweetest of home-made bread and butter,
fare simple enough but never more acceptable than to the travel-tired

and huDgry pedestrian. Some of these fanners* wives however, are very
jealous of strangers, (or shall we say afraid of a little extra work ?) but
this is much oftener the exception than the rule. It is related, for
instance, of the late Dr. Miller, the well-known Congregationalist
preacher, that one night being caught in a violent thunder-storm on a
North Riding moor, and getting thoroughly wet, he was invited to accept
the hospitality of a generous-hearted dalesman. They descended to the
farmhouse together when the worthy minister was shewn upstairs and
equipped with a suit of clothes, while his own were taken into the kitchen
to dry. Presently the doctor came downstairs in the borrowed clothes
just as the farmer's wife was coming out of an opposite room. She had
the family Bible in her hand with the intention of inviting the minister
to read a portion from the Scriptures before retiring. Being dusk and
mistaking Dr. Miller in his borrowed garments for her husband, she
lifted up the good book and gave him a sound whack on the head as he
walked in front of her, exclaiming with emphatic but subdued voice,
^' Sitha, tak that for askin' him to staay all 't neet I " The mistake was
of course, at once discovered, apologies followed, and the worthy pastor
took the affair with good humour, the housewife explaining that she had
the house full of haymakers, but if the doctor would take things as he
found them [he had done that with a vengeance I] he was as good as
doubly welcome. May you, gentle reader, always be the same !

A fine day we must have at anyrate for our first trip, which will be
up Whitcliffe Lane to the famous Whitcliffe Woods, so well known for
the abundance and rarity of their moths and butterflies as well as of
their shrubs and wild flowers. Among the former are the very rare
Anesychia funerella and Gradllaria imperialella, which have been
captured only in one other locality in England, viz., in the fens near
Oambridge. Likewise that h&ndsome and largest of all the fritillaries,
the Argynnis Faphia, may sometimes be seen sweeping through the trees,
or alighting perchance on some favourite wild-flower. Mrs. Davidson,
of Richmond, supplies the following interesting list of plants which she
has found in these woods and their immediate vicinity under the hills :

Lathroea ttquaitiaria, Ranuneulus flammida^ R, aurieomus^ HfyosotU sylvatiea^
Afelampyrum sylvatieumy Orchis Tnaseula, Hieraeium syl^aticuw^ H. pUosella,
Hypericum pulchrum^ Draha vema, Poly gala loulgarU, ArahU hirgtUa, Valerian'-
dla olitoria, Thymus serpyllum, Helianthemum vulgarCj Lychnis diurna^ Stellaj-ia
holottea^ S, graminea^ Sedum acre^ Conopodium denudatum, Galium eruciatum,
Eupatorium cannahinum, Oarduus nutans^ Tragopogon pratensis, Leantodon
hispidutf Crepls virenSf Lapsana communis^ Jasione montana^ Omalis acetosella^
Vaeeinium myrtillus^ Campanula rotundifolia^ Linum oatharticum^ Calamintha
clinopodium, Geranium sylvatieum, O. pratense, G, Rohertianumy G, lueidufn.
Origanum vulgare, Vicia sepium^ Fragaria vesea^ Potentilla tormentillaf Lathyrus
maerorrhizuSf Agritntmia eupatoria^ EpUohium montanum^ Primula vulgaris^

P, writ, P, elatior, P. farinoso^ Lyiimaehia nemcrum, Stachyt hetoniea, Lonieera
eapri/olium, Cartw praeox. Below the WMtcliffe Woods and nearer the river
Swale grow Cardamine amara, Mentha aquatica, Pedicularia palugtriky Veronica
hteeahunga, Arenaria vema, Cochlearia offieinalii. Primula farinosa grows
in a wet spot below the woods, and TroUius europceui grows near hedges on the
opposite side the river and has also been found in Coalsgarth Wood. Another
rather nnoommon flower has been found in woods on the opposite side of the Swale.
▼is. : — Oagea lutea. Amongst he shrubs in Whitcliffe Woods are Vihumum opului,
F. lantana^ and Pruntu padtu,

Bnt atfcractive and rare as are the butterflies and wild flowers, there
are other things in these romantic woods that claim our vigilance and
attention. Beneath the spot known as Willance^s Leap (of which more
anon) are some remarkable enclosures coveriug an extensive area, and
which do not appear ever to have been described. They are not noticed
in any topographical survey of the district, nor are they marked on the
ordnance maps. Their discovery was made some years ago through the
intelligent explorations of Mr. Joseph Baine, of Richmond, who kindly
took me to view them. It was generally supposed in the neighbourhood
that they were old sheep folds, but their general plan, with entrenchments,
and the great thickness of the walls preclude the possibility of their
having been constructed for such a purpose, or that they are erections of
such date as that supposition might imply. They are altogether beyond
the requirements of a recent civilization, and most probably belong to
an era anterior to the Roman Conquest, for both Csesar and Strabo tell
us that the houses of the Britons were built in woods, in conjunction
with folds for their cattle and enclosed with a trench and a rampart.

The contour of the enclosures is oblong, and consists of a main
dwelling area, moated, and two wings, along with what looks like a
oemetery at the east end. A modem roadway runs east and west right
through the encampment, and is probably formed on the original path.
Near the western entrance is a round mound like a tumulus, but upon an
examination of this it was found to be barren, and was probably a pagan
mortuary reminder as the cross afterwards came to be to Christians on
entering a Saxon or Norman town. The westernmost enclosure is about
88 yards or 100 feet square ; the next to it is much larger, being about
70 yards long by 80 yards wide, and it was probably within this well-
walled area that cattle were kept at night protected from the attacks of
wolves, &c., which at that time infested the forests of Swaledale. On
the eastern side of this enclosure and separating it from the one occupied
by the huts of the owners, is a deep, well-fashioned trench or fosse,
50 feet wide, which has also extended along the south side of the area,
and is here still very perfect. The walls of this dwelling-area are of
great thickness, measuring on the west side 18 to 14 feet through, with
an average height of about 5 feet. The stones of the inner courses are

in many places well-faced and laid on, and display some knowledge of
the use of metal tools ; in othere they are rough and undressed and have
been built up anyway.

A curious feature in connection with these archaic enclosures is the
fact that a gallery or passage with several apartments has been constructed
in the thickness of the walls. One of these remains tolerably perfect
and is at the east entrance to the moated enclosure where the wall is
18 feet thick. It is entered from the outside like an Esquimaux dwelling
by creeping along a short low passage 8 feet wide, the jambs and lintel
of which are still in situ. The apartment entered is of the usual horse-
shoe pattern, but wider than it is long, being 8 feet 2 inches one way
and 6 feet 10 inches the other. The present depth is 6 feet, but the floor
is filled with stones and rabbish, detracting somewhat from the original
height. Inside on the left of the passage upon entering is a sitting
recess, 80 inches wide, or it may have been used as a pantry or open
cupboard for the placing of vessels or cooked meats. A careful examination
of the walls disclosed a fine rubbing or grinding-stone, much worn by
pounding in the middle, a substitute for the primitive quern. The stone
is somewhat oval in shape and 15 inches across at its greatest diameter.
It is now in the York Museum. At the south-eastern angle of this
apartment is a rude staircase of two steps connecting a smaller upper
apartment, probably a sleeping-room. It is approached by a low passage
12 inches wide, the roof or lintel of which remains. The external wall
at this point is about 7 feet high and has probably not been much higher,
both apartments having been roofed with the branches of trees covered
with turf and sods, to match the other parts of the wall, so that complete
concealment would be ensured.

At the east end are apparent indications of a cemetery, where a
number of mounds of earth and stone, and huge unhewn fragments of
rock are piled cromlech-fashion on the ground. The latter have no
doubt been denuded of their coverings, but some of the mounds do not
appear to have been disturbed. Nothing that is remembered has ever
been found on the site, and only careful spade work can reveal their
origin and true age.

The site of the camp has been well chosen, being at a sufficient
elevation above the valley to protect it from damp and the effects of
frequent river-floodings, while on the north a magnificent wall of rock
rises to a considerable altitude and forms a grand natural defence on
this side. " Here," observes Mr. Olarkson, writing in the ignorance of
his times, *' we see the violent convulsions which the surface of this
globe must have received at the great Deluge, when the earth was torn
from its centre, and rocks, water, and woods separated from their old
habitations, were removed to a distance." But the rocks here display

no each signs of convulsion, although a fault extending along the
summit of the hill for about a mile in a north-easterly and south-
westerly direction separates the siliceous shales, cherts, and limestones to
a small extent, yet it does not interfere with the general westerly trend of
the Underset and Main Limestones, which here form grand escarpments
towards Richmond. These lofty perpendicular faces are entirely due to
the slow process of denudation, by the widening and deepening of the
valley, and the abrasion of their angularities by the grinding action of
ice in the Glacial Period.

At the summit of these bold cliffs is a spot known as '^ Willance's
Leap," which makes one shudder to think of the marvellous exploit of a
hunter at this place in the year 1606, the truth of which is vouched for
in local records. Robert Willance was a member of a family who came
into Swaledale from Dent in the 16th century, and through success in
trade acquired considerable wealth and became owners of the manor and
estate of Clints. Harrison afiBrms that Robert Willance was the son of
one Richard Willance, a draper, of Richmond, who married and left two
sons, Robert and Nicholas, the latter of whom succeeded to the
Richmond business. Robert was a successful lead miner, and his
adventurous spirit led him not only to enterprise in the depths of the
Swaledale hills, but he loved also to explore on foot and on horseback the
wildernesses of their rugged summits. On the occasion above referred
to he was out hunting with a party when a fog coming on he galloped
unawares to the verge of this tremendous cliff. Before he had time to
withdraw his horse it sprang fractiously forward and bounded over the
cliff, its rider half paralysed on its back, to the valley below, a fall of
over 200 feet ! The animal was killed outright, and it is marvellous to
think that Willance escaped with but a broken leg. The leg however
had to be amputated, and tradition affirms that it was interred beneath
a large stone in Richmond churchyard. Willance afterwards became an
Alderman of Richmond, and lived till 1615, when on the 12th of
February in that year he was laid beside his leg. To commemorate his
extraordinary escape at Whitcliffe he caused three stones to be erected at
the places where his horse had taken the fatal leap. Each stone is
24 feet apart, and two of them are inscribed : " 1 606. Olory be to our
merciful God who miraculously preserved me from the danger so great.'*

The view from the top of the Scar, of which I give an engraving, is
singularly wild and beautiful, combining a wide reach of moorlands to
the west, with the winding river flowing between luxuriant banks in the
valley below. The view is further enhanced by crossing the depression
to the west of Willance^s Leap, and climbing the opposite bank you look
up the romantic little valley of Marske with the beautifully-seated Hall
and village in the foreground. A short walk from Willance's Leap to

the north side of the trainlDg-ground and adjoining the old '^jagger
road" to Reeth is the Beacon Hill, which likewise commands a
wonderfully-extensive prospect. On a clear day it is possible to discern
the towers of York Minster, over 40 miles away to the sonth-east, while
the Cleveland Hills, the tower of Hartlepool Church, and the country
surrounding the estuary of the Tees, are also visible. This old beacon

View from Willance's Leap, Swalbdalb.

is nearly 1000 feet above the sea, from which it is distant about 80 miles,
and being the highest point of land betwixt it and the sea has been a
signal for giving alarm from very early times. Fires were kindled on
its summit, which could be seen for many miles round, and by this
means in times of war when any danger was imminent the people knew

to prepare themselves for the fray. At the time of the Spanish Armada
(▲.D. 1580) the government issued orders for the lighting of certain
beacons, and amongst them was Richmond, *^ which," says the mandate,
"receiveth lighte from Omsbary Topping, in Langbarge, and giveth
lighte to all the north-western parts of Kichmondshier and the Bishoprige
of Darham." We all know Maoaulay*s stirring poem on these incidents.
Again dnring the threatened invasion of Napoleon in the early part of
this century guards were stationed at most of the beacons to watch and
kindle fires immediately the occasion arose. How admirably does the
old Scotch song of *' Symon and Janet " describe the sensations of seeing
a beacon blaze in a remote country hamlet at such an eventful time :

She, seeing our Bignals B-blazin*,

Came runnin* and rivin* her hair :
** 0, Symon ! the Frenchmen are landit 1

Gae, look mon, an* slip on your shoon,
Our signals, I see 'em eztendit

Like red-risin* blaze o' the moon.'*
** V^hat plague, the French landit ?" quo' Symon,

And clash gaed his pipe to the wa',
" Faith, then, ther's be loadin' an' primin'/*

Quo* he, ** if they're landit, awa' 1 "

A species of surprise and preparation that must have roused the quiet
dulness of these sequestered dales, not only during the great Napoleonic
wars, but on many a previous occasion when armies and bands of
big-boned Scots came down from their northern fastnesses with the
rapacity of wolves, destroying or carrying oflF everything they could
seize.

From the Beacon cottage we may follow the old road down to the
well-known Race Course, for Richmond has an old fame for its horse-
races which were only suspended some dozen years ago. As many as four
or five thousand people would congregate here on a single race-day, and
many a noted steed has been put upon its mettle on this classic ground.
It was not however till about the year 1765 that the present race-course
was adopted ; the contests previously having been held on the High
Moor, and there is a reference in the Coucher Book belonging to the
Corporation, of a cup for the horse-race being in possession of the
Alderman so early as 1576. In 1765, when the races began to be held
on the new ground, several important meets here took place. I gather
from Reginald Heber's Historic Matches, (vol. xv., a.d. 1766) that on
September drd, 1765, £50 was run for and won by Mr. Cornforth*s bay
mare Dido, 5 years old ; Mr. Alcock's roan mare Miss Peeper, 6 years old,
being second. Next day £50 was run for by 4 year-old colts, and was
won by Mr. Fenwick's bay, Dux. The day following, September 5th,
a cup value £80 was ran for, carrying weight for age, one four mile heat,

and was won by Mr. Penwick's bay horse, Le Sang, 6 years old. The
same day a sweepstakes of 20 guineas, ** play or pay," was run, and won
by Mr. Shafto's bay colt ; Mr. Fenwick's bay filly being second. I may
add that in the same year, 1765, Mr. Fenwick's celebrated horse. Dux,
won a £50 match, to which was added 65 goineas, at the Newcastle
meeting on Jnne 27th ; the odds at starting being 6 to 1 on the winner.
The same horse also secared the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Great
Subscription of 50 guineas each at the York Races on August 19th of
that year, and on the 28rd August the Great Subscription, to which was
added 50 guineas by the city of York, was likewise won by this famous
Richmond competitor.

Many very good horses visited Richmond about this time, particulars
of which may be gathered from Heber's Annual Racing Booh, first
published in 1751. Such was the horse Bosphorus, which stood at
Mr. Robert Kay's at Low Gatherley, near Richmond, in 1752, and when
five years old won several £50 prizes, beating all the capital horses of
that year. At six years old he won seven Royal Plates, and afterwards
won other matches and several £50 prizes. Cade, the property of
Sir William St. Quintin, was another celebrity, which stood at Easby,
near Richmond, in 1752, and was the sire of some notable runners. At
the York Races held in August, 1752, a subscription purse of £94 lOs.,
to which was added £50 by the City of York, was run for, and won by —

1 Sir William St. Quinton's brown h., Cade.

2 Mr. William Fenwick's ches. h., Trunion,
S Mr. Scroop's bay h., Danby Cade.

The sire of all these great runners being the above horse, Gade^ which
was accounted by all acknowledged judges at that time as one of the
fleetest and best horses in England. A long and interesting history
might be compiled of the victories and achievements of this and the
other old-time racers above named. The most famous local horse of
modem times is without doubt that wonderful animal VoUigeur, owned
by Lord Zetland, which was bom and reared on the Aske estate, and
whose celebrated contest with the Flying Dutchman in the Spring of
1851 is still the theme of sporting men.

The large pasture at WhitclifiFe was at one time largely ovei^rown
with scrub and trees, as appears by a petition of the burgesses of
Richmond in 1440. When the common fields were enclosed in 1802 it
was enacted " That that part of the Common Field or Pasture called
Whitley, which has been for several years past used as race-ground, and
whereon the stand for viewing the races was erected, and also so much
of that part of the said Common Pasture which had been used as
training-ground for horses, not exceeding fifty acres in the whole for
such training-ground, were to remain in the same state and condition as

before." Thus it was that a fine open tract of 82 acres of racing and
44 acres of training-groand were secured. The Grand Stand, originally
erected in 1775 at a cost of £1200, commands an excellent view of the
course, and from it, too, on a clear day an uninterrupted prospect of
many hundreds of square miles of surrounding country is obtained,
extending as far as Roseberry Topping and Darlington eastwards, and
southwards to York Minster.

After an exhilarating walk over these open breezy uplands you will
return with fresh zest to an exploration of the peaceful vale beneath, —

" Whose verdant arms enfold each village fair, —
Afar from towns where passions stern prevail,
Afar from commerce and her sons of care 1 "

CHAPTER V.

On the Banks of the Swale.

Meaning of Billy Bank — Bargate Green and the Torke family — Temple Lodge—
RiTer-side walk — ^Arthur's Oven — The Round Howe, its phenomena explained
— Through the woods — Race Course lodge — The new cemetery — Convent of
the Assumption.

|R0M the broken character of the vicinage of Richmond the
viewB in every direction are wonderfully varied and romantic,
and few places, as I have already remarked, can boast such a
diversity of short moorland and woodland walks. A very
pleasant little trip is that through the Billy Bank Woods to the Round
Howe and back by the high road, — a round tour of about five miles.
You go down Bargate to the old bridge over the Swale. Leland, the
king's antiquary, who journeyed hither about 1587, says that " Bargate
suburbe cummith downe to the bridge end of Swale ; the whiche bridge
is some time chayned." The present stone structure was erected in
1789. Originally the bridge was of wood, and before that the river here
was doubtless forded. I conjecture that Billy Bank is but a corrupt
form of the Celtic Bel-y-ban, meaning the ford at the hill or ?isight.
Ballyshannon, i.e., the ford of the Shannon, is of similar origin ; there is
also at Bingley in the West Riding an extensively wooded height, like that
at Richmond, called from time immemorial Bell Bank Wood, and which
skirts the river Aire where it has no doubt once been forded.

On the west side of Bargate Green was formerly a good house, called
The Hall, where the ancient family of Torke long resided. They were
of the knightly family of Yorke of Gowthwaite in Nidderdale and
represented the borough of Richmond in Parliament for nearly a century.*
The house was pulled down in 1828, when Mr. Jaques of Easby Hall
purchased the estate. The Temple Lodge was built by John Yorke in
1769, and for some time was used as a menagerie. Subsequently it was
bought of Messrs. Gill and Allison by George Smurthwaite, Esq., father
of the present proprietor, who considerably enlarged the house and
improved the grounds ; these are beautifully wooded and fall to the river,
and contain some curious grottoes.

* See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd^ pages 452, 467, &o.

Prom the Swale bridge you turn to the right along the river-bank and
proceeding some little distance there is a charming view of the castle
and town with the bridge below {see engraving.) You now follow the
wood-path up a half-mile when an open field is crossed under picturesque
crags of broken limestone, at the extremity of which is a large natural
opening called from some forgotten tradition " Arthur's Oven." It has
probably to do with King Arthur and his famous knights, the legend of
whose mysterious incarceration beneath the keep of Richmond Castle I
have elsewhere explained. Arrived at the so-called Bound Howe you
have here presented a scene of very singular aspects that cannot but

Bargatb Green, Richmond.

arouse in the beholder a curiosity to know how such a place can have
been formed. No satisfactory explanation has, I believe, been offered as
to the cause of the phenomena. A vast amphitheatre of wood-crowned
hill opens suddenly from the river, and in the middle of this great gap
is an immense conical hill, somewhat oval in outline, and several hundred
yards round at its base. It is covered with trees and verdure and had
formerly upon it an ornamental summer-house built in the form of a
Chinese Temple, by Cuthbert Readshaw, Esq., in 1756. At first sight
the hill looks like a huge gravel mound, or the work of man, but that it
is neither is apparent upon an examination of the material of which it

100

is composed. This in places consists of solid rock in sitUy corresponding
exactly with the strata on the opposite banks, a fact which has led some
authors to suppose that the hill has been detached from the surrounding
cliff by some tremendous convulsion of Nature. But the definite lie of
the rock betrays no such convulsion. The explanation seems to me to
be that at a remote era the opening has been formed simply by a
curvature of the river, dammed at this point and following the course of
least resistance, that is by washing away the softer and looser portions
of the strata the ** round howe " became in time an island, which was
left high and dry when the obstruction was removed and the river-bed
became deeper. The reason why the ground now slopes so much towards
the river arises from the fact of the denudation of the precipitous strata
enclosing the hill which has filled up the area. The river flows now at a
much lower level, and has, I am told, deepened its bed at this point
four or five feet within the last fifty years.

We now climb the forward path and penetrate the wood once more.
Around as are beautiful flowers and shrubs and overhanging foliage in
great variety. The showy wood geranium, wood-betony, yellow pimpernel,
lesser stitchwort, &c., are spread gaily among the bright clumps of giant
bell-flower, while many another less common shrub and flowering plant
frequently attracts attention. This woodland walk extends to the bridge
over the Swale, or nearly a mile, but the path being narrow and thickly beset
with rasps, thistles, burdock, and masses of sweet cicely, in places shoulder
high, cannot be recommended, especially in wet weather, to gentlemen
attired in a black suit or ladies in silk. In dry weather however the
walk is full of delight. At the bridge you may, by pursuing the Richmond
road a short distance, ascend a green lane to the Race Course lodge,
where perchance you may hear something of the fearful snowstorm that
happened in March, 1886. The lodge was nearly buried in snow, and
the drifts reaching as high as the bed-room windows almost shut out the
light for several days. But keeping along the highroad towards Richmond
you pass^n a little time the new Cemetery, which is formed on the slope
of the hill, the top of it being 86 feet higher than the main road, — a
rather steep gradient. Here I may correct an error which has been
circulated in proof of the salubrity of Richmond, that no burial took
place within the parish for two months after the cemetery was opened.
This is a mistake ; interments took place in the church-yard at Richmond
as usual every week for some time after the cemetery was opened on
March 1st, 1886, yet it is true that the first burial did not occur here
until April 27th, 1886, or seven weeks after the cemetery was opened.
The headstones are now pretty numerous, and better evidence of the
general health and longevity of the dalesfolk might be derived from a
perusal of the inscriptions upon these, as in other local burial-grounds,

101

rather than from mere numbers. Among them may be seen one to the
memory of John Todd, who died in May, 1893, aged 85 years, and of
his wife Dorothy who died aged 82, having survived her husband but
two months. They were a much respected couple and well-known in
the Richmond district ; on their tombstone it is recorded that they ^'were
married 61 years, and led an exemplary life." The Todds were a long
lived family, and the John, here commemorated, was I am told a
descendant of old Mrs. Todd, who died in 1790, aged 108.

Richmond from the River Side.

Keeping along the high road, with the Swale on our right, we pass
the old-established Paper Mills and then the noble range of buildings of
the ^' Convent of the Assumption,** erected through the generous
patronage of the late Duchess of Leeds, as a boarding and day school
for young ladies. The mother house is at Auteuil, Paris, founded by
Archbishop Affre, who had the misfortune to lose his life at one of the
barricades in Paris during the Revolution of 1848. The various
apartments of the convent are well arranged, and include study, music,
and recreation rooms, large dormitories, infirmaries, chapel, <&c. ; the
west wing being set apart for the Sisters.

Our road is now straight into Richmond.

102

CHAPTER VI.

Easby and the Vale of St. Agatha.

St A^tha, the martyr — Beaaty of Eaaby Abbey vale — Scots' Dyke^Ite character
and extent — The parpose of its construction — ^Early British law — Meaning of
Easby — ^Founders of the Abbey — The Abbey Coucher Book — Manor of Easby
— ^Family of Jaques — Brompton-on-Swale— Brompton als. Gatterick Bridge —
Chantry Chapel — Coaching days.

DELIGHTFUL short excursion from Richmond may be
made to that pictaresqne little valley so long held sacred to
the memory of the Christian martyr St. Agatha, who for
refusing to sacrifice to Pagan gods, was put on the rack,
burnt with hot irons and mercilessly tortured to death. To her honour
the humble church at Easby was first built, and afterwards arose the
glorious pile in its vicinity, ei*ected by the holy brotherhood of monks as
a further memorial of her piety and sufferings.

Beautiful almost at any season is the retired and sheltered spot where
the old Abbey lies, to reach which we may either take the low road by
the Parish Church or go up Frenchgate and along the Terrace, high
above the Swale, proceeding as far as Sandford House (Mrs. G. Harrison)
where the road divides. By taking the one on the right you descend to
the rustic village of Easby, where the old church and monastic ruins
repose in seeming oblivion of the world and its busy ways.

While near Sandford House it is worth while inspecting the famous
Scots* Dyke, one of the most remarkable earthworks in the whole country.
A gate on the left leads through a shady lane to Whitefield Farm,
whence the great embankment or dyke is observed running in a northerly
direction through the pasture. It can be traced from the North Riding
through the counties of Durham and Northumberland to the very
confines of Scotland, a distance of more than 70 miles. It consists in
some part of its course of a central fosse or ditch with a bank or
rampart of earth and stones, being the upcast of the ditch, and raised
parallel on either side. In some places the bank or banks are obliterated.
In the old boundary-rolls of the borough of Richmond it is called the
Road Dyke ; indeed it is not improbable that the banks were used at an
early period as a roadway for travelling through the country, at that time

103

largely marsh and moor, and the discovery in its vicinity of many
decayed iron hoops of ancient chariot-wheels seems to countenance this
belief. The dyke appears to have extended southwards in the direction
of Bipon, and northwards by Easby, Gilling, and across Gatherley Moor
(keeping almost parallel with the great military road of the Romans,
Watling Street) ; thence to the extensive earthworks at Stanwick, and
northward to Barforth-on-Tees,* whence it passed through the counties
of Durham and Northumberland, crossing beneath the great Boman
walls of the Emperors Hadrian and Severus, and intersecting the famous
Four Dykes at a point about two miles east of Housesteads, where it is
known as the Black Dyke. Thence it pursues a north-westerly course,
crossing the border into Scotland by Wheel Fell, between the rivers North
Tyne and Bead.

By whom and for what purpose this extraordinary earthen rampart
was constructed has given rise to much discussion. That it could be due
to any military requirements of the Anglo-Saxons, Danes, or Normans,
is wholly improbable. The comparative shallowness of the ditch, and
the ramparts above it, even if paled, would offer but a feeble defence,
and be of little strategic value to any great body of men among those
nations properly equipped for combat. It could serve but as a temporary
hiding place, and then would be equally available for an invading army
as for the original possessors of it. That it was constructed by the
Bomans for a similar strategic purpose is a plea likewise indefensible.
No such gigantic labour would be undertaken by these invaders, for
furnished as they were with eveiy requisite for the conduct of war, both
offensive and defensive, such an earthwork would have impeded rather
than have advanced their contests with the hordes of impetuous Britons,
who careless of life and inured to every species of danger, would just as
surely have taken advantage of such an entrenchment to hamper the foe.
Indeed it is not too much to afSrm that no nation could ever have formed
a work of this character with a military object. As to the Boman
invaders they appear to have utterly disregarded any strategic value
that may be supposed to have belonged to it, for their great walls in
Northumberland were built over and through it, and both there and in
Yorkshire the Boman military and vicinal roads crossed it, apparently
as an obsolete and effete work. There can in fact be but one explanation
of the origin and object of this remarkable construction, extending as it
does in one continuous ridge through portions of three counties, namely,
that it was primarily made a defining line or boundary, separating one

* It is noteworthy that many places compounded with Bar lie on Boman
roads, such are Barbon, near Eirkby Lonsdale ; Bare, on Morecambe Bay, &c.
I may say that bar was the old war-cry of the Teutonic races, from haren to raise
the Toice. (^8ee Collingwood^s Mana Names in Cumbria,')

104

105

commnnity or tribe from another. The names of these tribes and the
motive for this compact is left to conjectore. Caesar and other early
historians of Britain tell ns that the Brigantes of the northern provinces
were constantly at war with each other before the Romans came hither,
and there is no doubt that the great Brythonic invasion, or late Celtic
wave which spread over Britain, had the effect of dislodging the native
races and causing much bloodshed and commotion. The older settlers and
indigenous tribes took refuge in the north, leading a half-savage life
among the mountains, making frequent incursions however into their
old dominions, and harassing the new comers at every assailable point.
Numerous forts, camps, and earthworks are still to be met with scattered
in wild places over these northern parts, which remain almost alone to
attest the constant wars and internecine strife between these primitive
contending tribes. Does not Juvenal, a contemporary of the warlike
Brigantes say, in alluding to the storming of the British camps :

Dirae maurorum attegias. et castra Brigantum 7

Tacitus tells us the same ; also how the stalwart Britons fought with
darts, slings, and large swords, being skilled in the use of these weapons.
Also knowing no danger, they rushed with such deadly ferocity
against their opponents, that given equal fighting weapons, the Romans
who were in stature inferior, could never have held out against them.
According to Ptolemy the native tribes who occupied the most northern
part of the country took the name of Scottendeni, a name that seems to
have got corrupted to Ottedenoi, and their dominion extended as far
south as the two Tynes ; the region to the west being occupied by the
Selgovse, while the territory of the Brigantes proper extended from south
Yorkshire noi*thwards to those of the foregoing, and eastwards to the
region of the Parisii, which included a large portion of the East Riding
stretching towards Flamborough.* It seems to have been by some of
these primitive tribes that the great ** Scots^ Dyke " was constructed, to
define the bounds of their respective territories before the northern
incursion of the Romans in the first year of the Christian era. How it
got the name of Scots* Dyke I do not know ; perhaps from its having
served as the partition line between the great tribes of the Scottendeni
and Selgovse, and some clans of the Brigantes. The strictest vigilance
would be kept by watching that no member of a tribe encroached without
authority upon the territory of another. When a man was caught
trespassing and could give no satisfactory account of his action or of
his identity with the tribe to which he belonged, he was at once brought
before the chief of the offended clan, and put to death. Sometimes, as

* The well-known Danes* Dyke at Flamborough is now definitely ascertained
by General Pitt Rivers to belong to the Bronze Age of the ancient Britons.

106

in the case of Offals Dyke, extending from Flintshire to the Bristol
Channel, capital punishment, it is said, immediately followed the trespass
without trial or question of any kind. Whether this summary method
of the Mercian kings* dealing with the lives of culprits obtained in this
neighbourhood at the same or a later period than the time of Offa we
have no means of knowing. Yet the daughter of OfiFa, we are told, on
the excellent authority of Bede, was married to King Ethelred at
Catarractontum (Catterick), the principal of the southern forts adjoining
the Scots* Dyke, and it may have been that the same laws that governed
the borderlands of Mercia prevailed here too.

In early British times it was a fundamental principle of the constitution
that every member of a clan was bound to support and protect the chief
under whom he lived. It was also important that he knew something
of his family antecedents, and could he prove his kindred to some
community through nine descents, and the like number of collateral
affinities, he was considered a freeman, and eligible for the leadership of
a tribe. But as our knowledge of the native government of Britain
before the advent of the Romans is, unfortunately, extremely meagre, I
shall offer no opinion with respect to what was the law at that era on
either side of the Scots* Dyke in Richmondshire. I may however observe,
that as a civil boundary of the ancient Britons, it has continued as the
demarcation of many townships and parishes down to the present day.

As we stroll down to Easby from the Scots' Dyke I should remark
the error of some writers in attributing the name of Easby to its situation
east of Richmond. But when Easby was first so named Richmond had
no existence, according to the testimony of Domesday^ and in that recoi-d
Easby, which constituted a separate manor, is spelled Asebi. This I
take to be a derivative from the Scand. aas^ meaning a ridge, in allusion
to the proximity of the place to the Scots* Dyke. The prefix aas^ asj
enters frequently into place-names in Norway and Sweden, and also in
parts of Britain known to have been colonised by these intrepid Northmen.
Yet another meaning may belong to it, for eas^ aia^ means a waterfall, as
in Aisgill, Easegill, and perhaps Aysgarth, &c. Also of a river, from
the Scand. aeSy A.S. eas ; thus Easby may signify the by or village
beside a river. Certain it is that the name contfiins no component of the
situation east

Now we are at Easby, a lovely nook, with its handsome manor house,
close by the way, one of those stately homes of old England standing
amid tall ancestral trees, which Mrs. Hemans so happily writes about.
The gardens are bright with many flowers, and the retired and umbrageous
character of the pretty spot must soothe the fevered mind and cool the
travel-stained tourist on a hot summer's day. Here we come to the grey
old church and overspreading abbey, still beautiful and majestic in decay.

107

The Abbey owes its origin to the liberality of Boald, Constable of the
Castle of RichmoDd, in 1152, who endowed it with lands in Hadswell, &c.
It was erected for the body of Premonstratensians or White Canons, an
Order that was introduced into England from Picardy about a.d. 1140.
In the reign of Edward II. the posterity of Roald having disposed of a
large share of their lands to the great house of Scrope, this loidly family
rebuilt and considerably extended the structure of the monastery, assigned
to it the manor of Brompton, and otherwise increased its endowments,
so that they came to be regarded as the second founders. Leland even,
from information derived on the spot and from observing their arms in

Easby Abbey from the River.

the abbey, speaks of the Scropes as the founders, but this, obviously, is
not historically accurate, while the employment of different arms at
different periods was by no means unusual in conventual establishments.
Unfortunately very little is known of the life and conduct of this
important monastery, a leading element of its proceedings being contained
in the ancient Abbey Coucher Book which was kept among the manuscripts
at Burton Constable, but at the dispersal of these extensive collections
in 1892 this valuable repository could not be found. Among the ancient
charters, however, now in London, may be traced many interesting
particulars of the management of the Abbey and of the troubles and

108

difficaltiea which the Abbot, in his capacity as landlord, had with his
numerous tenants. That he, through his servants, did not always act
wisely or exceeded his obligations, is patent by an indictment contained
in the Assize Rolls for 1284, when one John de Hellebeck and John de
Bellerby entered a complaint that John, the Abbot of St. Agatha along
with seyeral brethren of the house, had unlawfully deprived them from
the use of a mill at Bolton-on-Swale. The Abbot however maintained
that he was entitled to a yearly rent of 2s. out of the said mill, which
he had by gift of Robert of the Hellebeck, and that he distrained for the
rent, which was then in arrear. A jury was empanelled and found that
the Abbotts servants had gone to the length of stripping the irons and
other instruments of the mill, so that it could not be used, they therefore
found for the plaintiffs, damages 10s., — equal to nearly as many pounds
of present money.

The Abbey continued its office of ministering to the religious and
social needs of the community till 1535, when it was surrendered to the
kiug's deputies, who broke the seal of the monastery and received a
written confiscation. From that time these superb buildings— once the
great pride of Swaledale — have gone to decay. About ten years ago the
Council of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, out of a special fund,
commenced to excavate the Abbey ruins, and theur praiseworthy action
resulted in a plan of the church being for the first time made out, along
with a complete disclosure of the plan of the infirmary buildings, a most
interesting section situated on the north side of the church. The work
was carried out under the superintendence of Mr. W. H. St. John Hope,
the able church antiquary, who furnishes the following description of the
principal features of the ruins : " The church — which is cruciform in
plan — as originally laid out consisted of a short aisleless choir ; north
and south transepts, each with an eastern aisle containing three chapels ;
and a nave of seven bays, with north and south aisles. There was also
probably a low central tower. Although the foundation of the Abbey
is assigned to 1152, there are no traces of any buildings of that date
with the exception of a round-headed arch, with a double row of beak-
heads, now re-erected on much later jambs at the foot of the dorter stairs.
The church appears to have been begun quite a quarter of a century
later, when the Norman style was giving way to the Early English.
Unfortunately the remains of the original church are but small, the
lower parts of the north and south choir walls, the south transept aisle*
and the north and west walls of the north transept with a fragment of
its aisle, being all that is left. No portion of the nave exists except part
of the plinth of the north wall of the north aisle. Imperfect as the
remains are, they are yet sufficient to show that although the church was
appai^ntly fully laid out, its erection was somewhat slow. The earliest

THE NLW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN F0UNDATI0N8.

109

part completed was the soath transept, which was of transitional-Norman
work, ca. 1180. The choir was probably of the same date. The next
work was the north transept, bnt it was not built until the Early
English style had come into fashion, its date being ca. 1190. The tower
over the crossing, and the nave and aisles, would follow. The outer
wall of the south aisle was usually an early built work, to enable the
north cloister alley to be placed against it. The original church was
about 170 feet long and 88 feet 9 inches across the transepts."

Clarkson laments the fact that the Abbey was not allowed to remain
*'as a specimen of how religious houses were constructed," but the
general design of the buildings is by no means orthodox and affords no
example of typical arrangement, the apartments of the monastery are
not always in the usual positions, and there is scarcely a room in it that
is constructed at perfectly right angles, the walls inclining more or less
out of a straight course. It is particularly noticeable in the main walls
of the infirmary, which are not at coiTect angles to the axis of the church,
but turn slightly eastwards. The great cloister-court also, assumes the
form of a trapezium instead of a square or rectangle as is usually the
case in a monastery. The side on the north, the wall whereof is gone,
measures 98 feet ; that on the east 63 feet ; the south 82|^ feet, and the
west 100 feet. The irregularity, observes Mr. Hope, probably began by
the Canons setting out a smaller square cloister for their temporary
buildings, but having a mind to make it larger in the permanent ones,
they were thrown out by the parish church, and perhaps by the river ;
but chiefly by the church, which by limiting them on the east side, made
necessary the thick block of buildings on the west, but for which there
is room enough for the usual plan. On the east of the cloister-court
were the chapter-house and the sacristy, the former a beautiful vaulted
apartment, where the processionals were formed and the chief business
of the Abbey was transacted. It had formerly three windows, two on
the south and one on the east ; the latter having been sometimes
mistaken for a doorway. Over the chapter-house and part of the sacristy
is a long room, containing a large open fireplace, with a locker for a lamp
opening in its west jamb. On the west side of the cloister was the
monks* dormitory and the guest-houses, while the south part was bounded
by the frater-house, which was reached by a flight of steps from the great
door in the cloister. Throughout the abbey it is observable that all the
doors have raised and chamfered sills, by which draughts and cold air
were prevented from entering, as the doors were made to shut against a
frame all round.

Although the original extent or dimensions of the choir are apparent
it is not now possible to determine its features and arrangements. There
are two sepulchral recesses in the north wall, too small for effigies, which

are supposed to mark the resting-places of Boald, the founder, and his
wife. The Scropes were interred here too, but there was no " Scrope
Chapel,*' properly so called, as some writers contend belonged to the
chapel on the north side of the nave. Among the witnesses in the famous
Scrope and Grosvenor controversy (1885 — 1890) was John, Abbot of
St. Agatha, who made no mention of such a chapel, but deposed that
Sir Richard le Scrope*s father, Henry Scrope, who died in 1886, was
buried in the abbey precincts, ^^ above the choir higher than their choir
in a part of their church buried under high stones, and upon the stone
a knight graven of stone and painted with these same arms, azurey a
bendy or ; " and that Sir Richard's elder brother. Sir William le Scrope,
who died in 1844, *^ lies on an high altar-tomb, all armed, and the arms
graven on a shield represented upon him without painting or colours."
The Abbot also stated that many other of their lineage were buried here
under flat sculptured stones. No traces of these ancient graves are now
apparent.

The original gate-house of the Abbey is in good preservation, with
its main middle entrance and greater and lesser doorways, of the same
age as the earliest parts of the monastery, but the upper story, or Abbot's
court-room, which was long used as a granary, is of somewhat later date.
Close by is the old " Abbot's Elm."

The Parish Church, founded long before the monastery, occupies a
sombre yet picturesque situation on the south-east side of the Abbey
cloister. It is a quaint structure, bearing some resemblance to the old
church at Heysham on Morecambe Bay. The site of the Abbey was no
doubt chosen by the monks in proximity to the church of the parish as being
convenient for them while the monastery was building. Subsequently
it formed part of the Abbey endowments, and was served by the Canons.
The interior arrangements comprise a nave with south aisle, a chancel,
south porch, and a chapel on the north side. The prevailing style
shews that the building underwent considerable alterations and enlarge-
ments in the early part of the 15th century, probably before 1424, as in
that year Nicholas, Bishop of Dromore, Suffragan of York, received a
commission to dedicate it and the area for the churchyard, and to constitute
it a parochial church. But structural traces of the original Norman
building are still apparent, while the old Norman font, with its richly,
sculptured exterior, is happily preserved. On the north side of the
chancel is a low, arched recess, which is conjectured by some writers to
mark the resting-place of Richard Scrope, Chancellor to Richard II.,
who died in 1421. By his will. Lord Scrope ordered his executors to
found a college for a certain number of priests and clerks, a circumstance
which seems to have persuaded Camden that the church was made
collegiate, but no writings can be found to give credit to such foundation.

Ill

The probability is that Lord Scrope intended it to be collegiate, but died
while the charcli was being repaired. On the porch are carved the arms
of Scrope ; shields of the arms of Aske appear on the west and of
Conyers on the east side of it. There is also a mutilated effigy of the
patron saint Agatha in the wall near the chancel door.

When the church was restored in 1868-9 by Lord Zetland and
Leonard Jaques, Esq., patron of the living, some curious Scriptural
paintings of the eleventh or twelfth century were uncovered on the walls,
and which have been renovated, but their subjects are difficult to trace.
In the chancel are three sedilia and a piscina. A brass plate near a
smaller piscina, marking apparently the site of an unrecorded chantry,
mentions the burial here of Eleanor Bowes, the heiress of the Musgraves
of Barclay Castle, who died in 1623, aged 76, but was debarred from
her inheritance by composition and entails. She became the wife of the
eminent Robert Bowes, Esq., of Aske, Queen Elizabeth's treasurer and
ambassador to Scotland, and after being his faithful consort for more
than 81 years, she remained his widow at Aske for about 25 years. She
was the founder of the Bowes Charity at Richmond, before mentioned.

About a century ago a singular discovery was made in the church
of an epitaph ** pon the death of Richard Swale, gentleman,** written in
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, extolling his many virtues and
bequests to the poor. The epitaph, which was beautifully written, was
pasted between a double oaken board, which had always been mistaken
for one whole piece and had long been used for cutting bread upon for
the communion. The date of it is stated to be 1588,* and Whitaker
even ascribes its composition — an eminently Protestant/ur(?r6m exultarUem
— ^to no less a personage than the great Reformationist Miles Coverdale.
But among the wills at Richmond is to be found one of Richard Swale,
dated December 1st, 1577, which from its benevolent tone and style
compares remarkably with the laudatory record on the old communion-
board. The testator orders his body to be buried in the church at Easby.
He gives to the church 10s., and to the parish church of Bolton-on-Swale
6s. 8d. He also gave to every house within the parish of Easby the sum
of 4d., likewise to the poor of Richmond 20s. These and similar bequests,
public and private, seem to indicate that he is the Richard Swale of the
epitaph, and that the date, 1588, ascribed to the latter is wrong.

With regard to the manor of Easby it was held before the Conquest
by one Tor, a Dane ; afterwards it passed to the Constables of Richmond
Castle, and then, as explained, to the Abbot and Convent of St. Agatha,
with whom it remained till the Dissolution, when it became vested in the
Crown. Henry VIIL, in 1587-8, leased it with other estates in the
neighbourhood to John, Lord Scrope, of Bolton, and his assigns for a

* Vide Oents, Magazine for 1799.

112

term of 30 years at an annual rent of £283 13s. lid. Its subsequent
history has been traced by Clarkson to 1729, when Juliana, Viscountess
Dowager Howe, descended from the last Scrope of Bolton, and her son.
Viscount Howe, conveyed in fee to William Burton, Esq., of North
Luffenham, co. Rutland, ''all those manors, or reputed manors of
St. Agatha, St. Trinians, Easby, Uckerby, and Bolton-on-Swale, with
lands in Hudswell and Richmond, and a farm at Barton,*' for the sum
of £14,605. In the same year, 1729, William Burton sold the manor
of Easby with the abbey, mill, and several closes, to the Rev. W. Smith,
rector of Melsonby, for the sum of £5700. Mr. Smith soon afterwards
built the present mansion. From the Smiths the estate passed to
the Knowsleys and Johnsons, and in 1816 was purchased from
Cuthbert Johnson by Robert Jaques, Esq., for £45,000, with whose
descendants it still remains. This family has been long seated in
Richmondshire, and traces its descent to one Jakes or Jaques of
Bainbridge, forester to Earls Alan and Conan in the time of King Stephen.
Richard Jakes, of Bainbridge, had lands in Thornton Rust, in right of
his wife Alicia, who was a daughter of James de Baynbrigge, chief
forester to the Earl of Richmond, in the time of Edward I. They
resided at Thornton Rust for a long period, and also at Spennithorne.

We may continue our walk from Easby by a pleasant road to
Catterick Bridge, for a view of the famous Roman Gamp, described in
the next chapter, returning to Richmond by rail from Catterick station.
The road runs through the straggling village of Brompton-on-Swale,
anciently Brunt on, where in the 12th century the romantic fraternity of
Knights Templars had a small possession. Subsequently, in the reign of
Edward II., the whole manor, with the mills, &c., was purchased by the
Scropes, who presented it, 44th Edward III., to the Abbey of St. Agatha
at Easby. Old charters mention a bridge as being here, but this has
reference, unquestionably, to the bridge over the Swale situated some
distance to the east of Brompton, and now called Oatterick Bridge. In
the 30th Edward I. (1301) the following persons paid subsidy at
"Brompton Brigg : " William at the Cross, 6s. b^d. ; Hugh fil Alexander,
2s. Id. ; Elizabeth, 9s. 2^d. ; John Orype, 2s. 2^d. ; Imania, Is. 6d. ;
Walter Gill, €s. 3d. ; Robert Clerk, 2s. lOd. ; Galfred Piscator, 8s. 9id. ;
William Attetounend, 4s. ; Richard Rymour, 4s. ; the Abbot of St. Agatha,
for his grange, 30s. Id., and a few others. This population hardly
tallies with Leland's account of the Bridge in 1535. '^ Katerikbridge
selfe hath but one house as an yn." But what was popularly known as
Brompton Brigg included probably a scattered population, if not the
hamlet of Citadilla.

When the Monks of St. Agatha got possession of Brompton it was
subject to an annual payment by them of 106s. 8d. for a chantry priest

113

to pray for the soal of the donor, Richard, Lord Scrope, 22Dd Richard II.
Nothing remains of this old chantry-chapel, bat there are two or three
fields at the north-east of the village still suggestively called Steeple
Fields. The present church, or chapel-of-ease, was built in 1887 on a
site given by the vicar from the glebe land. It is a neat stone structure
close to the road leading to Richmond. The interior was improved with
new choir seats and a light chancel-screen three or four years ago, when
a beautiful little organ, built by Messrs. Forster and Andrews, of Hull,
was also erected, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. F. W. Dodd,
foreman at the Catterick Bridge Nurseries, who collected upwards of
£100 towards the cost.

The National School was erected about the same time as the church.
There is also a neat and well-built Wesleyan Chapel, erected about three
years since. The village otherwise possesses no special features of interest,
but in the hey-days of hoof and wheel, when the coaches from London
to Edinbro", &c., clattered over Catterick Bridge there was a good deal
of cross traffic through Brompton, which has now greatly declined since
the introduction of the railway. There were then three inns in the village,
the King William upon entering, the Crovm in the middle, the Phanix at
the west end. The two latter still exist. Early last century it would
also appear there were other inns within the constabulary of Brompton-
OD-Swale, and two of these, kept respectively by Thomas Shipley and
Elizabeth Ramshaw, were ordered by the Court of Quarter Sessions,
assembled at Thirsk, October 6th, 1730, to be suppressed.

It appears from the same Sessions* records that Brompton Bridge
was repairable by the inhabitants of Brompton, but on the plea of poverty
they were frequently assisted by grants from the county rates. Thus in
July, 1682, it is stated that '^ by the late violent floods ** the bridge had
collapsed, but " being of general use to the country, though to be repaired
by the inhabitants of Brompton, yet they being poor and not able to
build the same again at their own charge, this Court being credibly
informed that the building the said bridge again and making it a bridge
for cart and carriage (at the least) will cost £60, doth order that £30 be
estreated and given as a gratuity towards building the said bridge.*'
Again in April, 1690, it was ordered that ^' £40 be estreated as a gratuity
for Brompton Bowe Bridge, the inhabitants of Brompton undertaking
to get the said bridge well and sufficiently repaired, and to be at all
charge of such repairs beyond the said sum, the same being no county
bridge."

The effect of floods at this point was sometimes very disastrous, and
was not thoroughly remedied till about the year 1780, when a cut and
dam was made through the batts, or low shore-lands, adjoining the
bridge. In 1672-3 we read that the parish of Brompton had not only

to repair the bridge, &c., but were wholly responsible for any loss or
damage sustained by the floods within their territory, the latter
circumstance being of course applicable to other parishes as well. Thus
a violent flood in the winter of 1672-3 carried off a dwelling-house
which stood near the river at Brompton, and the parish oflicers there
were forthwith ordered to provide ''a convenient habitation for the poor
man, his wife and children,*' unless they can shew good cause to the
contrary to the two nearest Justices.

It may be interesting to give the names of some of the inhabitants
of Brompton-on-Swale four hundred years ago :

Yeomen.
William Bishopric
Miles Wedyrhead

Husbandmen.
John Bishoprio
Robert Walker
John Huntyndon
William Perte
Richard Jakeson
William Stodehyrd

Husbandmen.
Thomas Bishopric
Wm. Symond
Christ. Johnson
John Jakeson
Ingelram Carter
John Smyth
Thomas Taillour
Adam Porter
Wm. Smyth

Husbandmen.
Thos. Stapylton
Thos. Pykebasske
Thos. Smyth
Wm. Stirkeland
Gandewinne Fauset
Thos. Rawe
Wm. Watson
Edmund Watson
John Tailloar.

These were all summoned 21st Edward lY. (1480) for cutting down
trees and underwood, value £10, declared to be the property of the Abbot
and Canons of the monastery of St. Agatha at Easby. How the dispute
terminated does not appear. With the exception of the family of Garter,
I believe none of these names are now found in the parish.

At Brompton was born in 1762, the Rev. John Carter, M.A., F.S.A.,
who died at Lincoln in 1829. He was for 80 years head master of
Lincoln Grammar School, and contributed several papers on Lincolnshire
antiquities to the ArchcBologia.

115

CHAPTER VII.

Round about Hipswbll.

Windmill Fields — 8t. Martin's Priory — Its poBseBsions and importance — Pleasant
situation of Hipswell — Hipswell Church — Manor House^Families of Fulthorpe
and Wandesforde — Was Hipswell the birthplace of Wycliffe, the Reformer 7
— Golburn, its old hall and chapel — Brompton Hospital.

|£ HAVE by no means exhausted the objects of interest lying
within a short radius of Richmond. There is still the south
side of the Swale to explore as far as Catterick Bridge, a
circuitous tour of some six miles. We again cross the Old
Bridge and proceed up Sleegill. On the left are the Windmill Fields, and
upon an eminence, commanding a fine view over the Swale and the lovely
country beyond, are some old ruins of a thick-walled edifice locally
known as the Windmill, though the building apparently bears no
indications of having served such a purpose. Here is the historic EarFs
Orchard, now the property of Mr. Joseph Raine. A turn tq the left
down Theakston Lane will bring us through some fields and across the
railway to the farm-house at the ruins of St. Martin's Priory.

The remains of this ancient foundation may also be reached by
descending past the Parish Church and crossing the Swale near the
railway-station, whence it is but a few minutes* walk. The monastery
appears to have been used as a convenient quarry for later erections after
its dissolution in the 16th century, and little now remains to show its
original extent, style, and plan. A kind of square tower, with a pointed
west doorway, which may have been the porter's lodge, forms a conspicuous
feature of the buildings, and there are some portions of the original
chapel, with two good windows of later date. The doorway remains, a fine
example of Norman work, bearing a zig-zag moulding, which is perhaps
the oldest bit of architecture in the district of Richmond now extant.
It seems a sad reflection on the vanity of life and the instability of all
the loving works of man, to see the interior of this once-honoured temple,
sacred to prayer and praise, converted to the base uses of cows and hens I
Let us hope that public taste will rise some day to the more appropriate
care and preservation of such classic monuments of the past.

116

The interesting monastery is one of the very oldest foundations in
Richmondshire, dating almost to the era of the Conquest, when
Wihomarca, a prominent Breton, who became. chief steward to Earl Alan
after the building of Richmond Castle, gave the chapel of St. Martin
with certain lands in Edlinthorpe, Thornton, Forcett, Scotton, &c., to
the Abbey of St. Mary, York, which monastery had been previously in
the time of the Danish Kings, known as St. Olave's. This wealthy
establishment thereupon founded the Priory here in honour of St. Martin,
for some nine or ten monks who were attached to the Order of St. Benedict
and who received a confirmation of the grant by Pope Eugeiiius III. in
the year 1146. Subsequently the little community received much temporal

Hips WELL Church.

aid and many splendid bequests, which considerably raised its authority
and influence in local ecclesiastical affairs. Though always subordinate
in spiritual matters to the parent Abbey at York, the monks of St. Martin
in most other ordinances acted as an independent society.* At the
Dissolution the house was in possession of a Prior and nine monks.
Their lands were returned as of the yearly value of £49 19s. 9d. (equal
to nearly £500 of present money), but their gross annual revenues from
all sources must have greatly exceeded that sum. They possessed the
churches of Richmond and Catterick, the chapel of the castle, the tithes

♦ See also Yorks, Arch, Journal {Bee, Ser.^j xvii., 174.

117

of the castle mill and castle garden, besides the village of Gilmonby,
near Bowes, and lands in Hndswell, &c.

From the Priory Farm the tourist may make his way to the snug
little village of Hipswell, situated between two merry streams that come
coursing down from southern moora and sing their song of peace by
many a cottage home. The surrounding scenery is picturesquely
diversified by hill and dale ; a fault running about east and west to the
south of the village cuts off the millstone grics from the Yoredale rocks
on the south, while a more extended dislocation passing from the north-
west to the south-east breaks up the same measures from West Wood
across Pleasant Dale to Tunstall.

There are many things of interest belonging to Hipswell. The
church first claims our notice. It is a small but tasteful building, rebuilt
in 1811. The previous church stood in a field some little distance away
called Chapel Garths, (the foundations whereof still exist) but of its
origin nothing is known. Before the Reformation it would appear to
have been served by the monks of St. Martin's Priory. The registers
date from 1664. Previous to 1811 the chapelry was held with that of
Hudswell by the Rev. Ben Enowles, and at the latter place the burials
took place. The following memorandum is copied from an old book of
christenings, dated 1797 :

St. John's Chapel. J. Robinson, LL.B., a.d. 1811.
The old chapel at Hipswell haying become ruinous, and there being no burial-
ground, a piece of land was granted in a more convenient situation by the Lady of
the Manor, the Countess Dowager of Ormond and Ossory. The new Chapel was
built at the expense of the Freeholders, and with the burial-ground was consecrated
by the Bight Rev. B. E. Sparl&e, Lord Bishop of Chester, 15th July, 1811.

Our view of the church prior to the restoration and before the grove
of poplar trees was cut down, is from a drawing kindly supplied by the
late incumbent, the Rev. H. A. Annesley. In 1892 the church was
restored at a cost of about £1000, towards which Mrs. and the Misses
Stevenson of Scotton Hall and Hedgerley Park, Bucks., contributed
upwards of £350. A new chancel roof and vestry were then added,
the interior was reseated, two small windows were inserted at the west
end, and a stained glass window erected by the Misses Stevenson to the
memory of their grandfather, the late John Hodgson, of Scotton. The
vicarage house was erected in 1884 at a cost of about £1300. The
present incumbent is the Rev. F. B. A. Williams, B.A., late curate of
Holy Trinity, Bingley.

In addition to the church Hipswell possesses a charming old manor
house (now a farm), one of few examples of 15th century architecture
in Yorkshire that have retained their main features unaltered to present
times. It was probably built by Alan Falthorpe, who owned eight

118

messuages and three carucates of land, with appurtenances, here in the
time of Richard III. On the south wall, above a beautiful Tudor oriel,
is the cross moline of the Fulthorpes. The central porch-tower and the
ample window-bays are particularly characteristic. Originally the house
seems to have been moated and was enclosed with handsome gardens and
terraces, traces of which can still be recognised. John Fulthorpe was the
last male heir of the ancient family who resided here. He married Jane,
daughter of Thos. Wharton, Esq., and sister of the first Lord Wharton.
He died in 1557, seized of the manors of Hipswell, Startforth, Bolron,
&c., leaving two daughters, his co-heirs, Anne, the eldest, then aged
27 years, being the wife of Francis Wandesford, Esq., of Eirklington ;

Hipswell Hall.

the property was thus acquired by the Wandesfords, and has since
remained with them. Over the door of the hall are the initials 6. W.
(George Wandesford) and date 1593.*

Apart from its manorial history, the interest of this little place is
unusually important if we dare claim for it the reputation of being the
birthplace of John Wickliffe, the " Morning Star of the Reformation."
Dr. Whitaker and others have expressed grave doubts as to the village of

* For Pedigree of Wandesford tee Whi taker's Richmondshire, Vol. II., p. 140 ;
also SuHtet Socy. Pub., Vol. 86, p. 100, and Vol. 40, p. 50.

119

WyclifFe on the Tees having been his birthplace. Leland, who was
deputed by the King to enquire into these matters, was informed that he
was born at Spreswell, " a poore village a good myle from Bichmond."
As there is no such place as Spreswell now existing, probably Hipswell
is meant. In early charters I find the name written Hirpeswell als
Ipreswcll, which in utterance approximates near to Spreswell ; but it is
not improbable that Leland wrote the word Ipreswell, and having been
misread by Hearne has since been printed Spreswell. Moreover, there is
a place near Richmond called Whitcliffe, from the whiteness of the rocky
scar that hangs over the Swale, and this place may be the original of his
family name.* At any rate it has the merit of being pronounced like the
great Reformer's own name, which Wycliffe (the Wy long) on the Tees
has not.f

A descent may now be made to the rustic hamlet of Colburn (i.e. cold
stream) situated on the beck of that name which drops into the Swale a
little lower down. Here is an inn, the Hildyard Arms, kept by one of
the clan of Metcalfe. John Hildyard was Master of St. Oile's Hospital
at Brompton in 1888. The old Hall was the seat of the D'Arcy family,

* The oldest dated docament in which the name appears is a paper referring
to his embassy in 1874. It is there spelled Wiclif,

t Since the above was written the rector of Wycliffe, the Rev. John Erskine,
informs me that there was a place called Spreswell or Speswell close to Thorpe
Hall, about a half-mile from Wycliffe. But the name at this day only lingers as a
tradition, and beyond some foundations of ancient buildings in the neighbourhood
of Thorpe Hall there is now no knowledge of any such village. Yet that it did
exist I find confirmed by some correspondence which appeared in the Athencmm
in 1861. Therein it is related that this Spreswell had a small Roman Catholic
chapel, and that one John Yarker, of Whorlton, and Penitent Johnson, of the
same place, were married in it early last century. They were the last couple
married there, for the chapel soon afterwards fell down, and the ploughshare has
since passed over the site ; all being now level. The signaturn to ihis statement is
that of John Chapman, a great-grandson of the above couple, and **a gentleman,"
adds Dr. Vaughan,** of respectable position in Gainford, a parish adjoining the spot
called * Old Richmond,* and whose ancestors, as the above statement indicates,
have been resident in that district through several generations." Mr. Chapman
further states that Francis Wycliffe, who died at Barnard Castle 30 years ago, and
who was the last descendant of the Wycliffes bearing that name, always spoke of
the Reformer as being in the belief of the Wycliffes of Wycliffe, a member of
their family and born at Spreswell. When, therefore, Leland speaks of Spreswell
as ** a good myle from Richmond," he must have referred to " Old Richmond " on
Tees, although this place is fully two miles from the Spreswell indicated as at
Thorpe, half-a-mile from Wycliffe. The chapel in question seems to have been
dedicated to St. Tilde [St. Hilda?], for in the 14th Elizabeth (1571), Percival
Gunston had a grant from the Crown " to him and his heirs of the free chapel at
Thorpe-on-Tees, called St. Tilde*s Chapel, with a garden and two rods of land in
the tenure of Bartholomew Carus, clerk." The present rector is in possession of a
piscina which, he tells me, was saved when the above church was pulled down.

120

and near it stood a small chapel dedicated to St. Anne. All that remains
of this ancient place of worship may be seen in some stables belonging
to the farm premises. This portion of Swaledale is a veritable Holy
Land of temples once sacred to the praise of God, proving how great
was the religious zeal and wealth of the inhabitants, and monks and
priests must once have been as common as blackberries in the
neighbourhood of Richmond. If, as stated above, the great champion
of English Protestantism, John Wickliffe, was bom near Richmond, it
was probably this exuberance of religious houses in his midst that

iUMuyiuaiMaiiuiiiinHiti

John Wicliffe denouncing the Grey Friars.

provoked his marvellous hostility to them with voice and pen. Especially
severe was he with the mendicant order of Grey Friars, whose noble
house at Richmond, in spite of all the declamations of its great opponent,
betrays it at this day to have been a monument of aspiring and lavish
effort.

Proceeding from Colburn in the direction of Catterick Bridge you pass
the site of another old-time hospital with chapel, which is said by Clarkson
to have been founded by Henry Fitz Randolph, lord of Ravensworth, in

121

the time of Henry III. But as the arms of Marmion are on the Hospital
Seal it is not unlikely that some member of that family was the true
founder.* The extent of its possessions we nowhere gather, but in the
15th Henry III. (1230) a fine was levied at York between Stephen fil
Simon de Bmmton, claimant, and Simon, Master of the Hospital of
Saint Egedi, of Brumton, detainant, of two bovates of land with the
appurtenances in Brumton ; and the said Stephen quitclaimed to himself
and his heirs the said lands to the said Master and his successors, and
the said Master received the said Stephen into the benefits and prayers of
the said Hospital of St. Egedi, alias Giles. The hospital stood by the
banks of the Swale, opposite Brompton, the site being now occupied by
a farm-house.

♦ See also Nates on a Selection of ancient Charters, Jj'c., at Brough Hall^ (1878).

122

CHAPTER VIII.

The Roman Camp at Catterick.

Surmisea on the meaning of Catterick — Catterick, a British city — Its importance
in Brigantian times — Caer Caratauc, 0X9, Catterick named in honour of
CaractacuB — The Mint at Catterick — Coins of Caractacus — Erroneous
conclusions of Akerman — Catterick in Roman times — An astronomical
observatory — Camden's account of the Roman station and discovered relics —
Bede's opinion — The camp excavated and examined by Sir Wm. Lawson, Bart.
— Catterick Race Course— Catterick Bridge and its ancient chapel — The old
George afui Dragon Hotel.

HAVE now to discuss that celebrated ancient site, once one
of the most strategically valuable of its kind in Britain, near
to Catterick Bridge, which for a long period afforded a secure
harbour to an important section of the Roman conquerors
of our island. • We may either take the train from Richmond to Catterick,
or continue the walk from St. Martinis and Colburn, as described in the
last chapter, which by-and-bye leads past the extensive Thomborough
Pasture and farm-house, the property of Sir John Lawson, Bart., of
Brough Hall. Although little remains to be seen here now, this pasture
marks the site of a famous Brigantian city, afterwards occupied by the
Romans, and called by them in the Itinerary of Antoninus Cataractonium^
by Ptolemy Caturacton, and by the geographer of Ravenna Cataroctonium,
Camden thought it might derive its name from the cataract on the Swale
at Richmond, suggested by Bede's designation of it, vicum juxta
cataractum, an opinion and supposition upheld by most subsequent
writers. Phillips, however, derives it from the Celt, catkair rigd (fortified
city), while another etymologist furnishes in the Archeeological Journal
(vol. vi.) the ingenious definition caer-dar-ich, 1.^., the camp by the
water.

It appears, however, to have been strangely overlooked that this was
one of the great stations of the Brigantes, seized by the Romans, who,
as frequently happened with the camps and stations of their predecessors,
Latinised their names, as was the case with the British Caer Ehrauc (York)
afterwards Eboracum ; Iseur (Aldborough) afterwards laubrigantum and
Isuriuniy and apparently our Goer Caratauc (Catterick) afterwards

128

Cataractonium. All oar best old authorities, including Camden, maintain
that the Romans did not frame a new name for every place they
conquered, but generally contented themselves with the name they found ;
only filing off the roughness, and giving it a Roman termination ; so
that in truth the names and places mentioned in Britain by Latin
authors, as easy and elegant as they sounded, were generally barbarous,
and of a pure British extraction. Such an important station of the
early Britons as Catterick admittedly was, must therefore have had a
British name, and this may be reasonably assumed to be Caer Caratauc,
Indeed such is the assumption of Dr. Giles, the learned editor of the
ancient historian Nennius, who flourished sometime in the Anglo-Saxon
period of the occupation of Britain, and whose Historia Britonum was
first translated in 1819 from a manuscript then lately discovered in the
library of the Vatican Palace at Rome. The station at Catterick, or
rather Thomborongh, lay a little to the east of the Scots* Dyke, a
contemporary erection of the Brigantes, as I have already shewn in a
preceding chapter. Their station here, one of the principal cities of the
Britons, according to the best authorities, was doubtless so placed as a
watch-guard to this tribal boundary, and whose jurisdiction must have
extended over a considerable tract of the surrounding country. And
this dyke is again suggestive. Had we not got the British name of the
place, as recorded by Nennius, I should have judged the etymon
Catterick to be derived from aUh rigg, i.e., the Scots* Dyke, corresponding
with the well-known Cat Rail or Fossa Oalwensium^ a similarly ancient
boundary dyke extending for a considerable distance beyond the Scottish
border.

According to Richard, of Cirencester, who devoted the greater part of
his life to the study of British and Anglo-Saxon history, Catarracton
(Catterick) was one of the ten accredited cities of the Britons governed
by the Latian laws, that is, they had the right to follow their own laws
and customs, enjoying exemption from the edicts of the Roman prsetor,
and had the option of adopting or rejecting the laws and customs of
Rome, a politic concession of which no doubt the fullest advantage
would be taken, as domestic and national customs are almost inalienable
among half-civilized peoples. Only two cities in Britain at that time, I
may add, were empowered with municipal government, possessing all the
rights of Roman citizens, and those were St. Alban's and York. The
social and administrative position of Catterick, however, was scarcely
inferior, and it must have been before the Roman Conquest a place of
considerable magnitude and note. How strange that events so old should
survive in a tradition at the present day, for I have heard old inhabitants
of the district speak of " Thomborough City," where now stands but a
solitary house I

124

Are we to interpret the Brigantian Caer Caratauc (assuming the
ascription of Nennius to be correct) as the seat or city of some unrecorded
tribe at t\iQ ford of the Swale ? For in the final avc there is a suggestion
of the Goidelic-Celtic auch^ augh^ i^e.y a ford. Or shall we rather say
that it was the seat of some British chieftain famous in deeds of war ?
There is no less a personage than the redoubtable Caratog, King of the
Silures, whom the Romans called Oaractacus, and whose name, which
Mr. Walker (vide Camden) spells Garadavc^ lends a probability to this.
A chief and warrior of extraordinary skill and prowess in the field, he
successfully withstood the Roman arms for a period of nine years, when
through the perfidy of the Queen Carthismandua he was delivered up to
the Roman legate, Ostorius, who had subdued many of the northern
tribes before the year a.d. 45, and reduced a great part of Britain to a
province. As this lady had married Yenutius, King of the Brigantes,
this large and important station by the Swale may have been named in
honour of her distinguished captor Caratog, who was eminent above all
the commanders in Britain. And as Tacitus tells us it was the policy of
the Romans to honour their chief prisoners *' that kings themselves might
be their tools to enslave others." Moreover, do we not learn from
Geoffrey of Monmouth that Goer Ebrauc (York) was founded in honour
of EbraucuB, son of ^neas ; then why not Caer Caratauc (Catterick), of
little inferior note at that era, in honour of the illustrious prince Caratog ?*
Upon a coin of this Brigantian chieftain, figured in Camden^s Britannia^
the name is spelled Cearatic. It does not appear improbable that the
mint at Catterick, referred to by Bede, was in existence during the reign
of this monarch.t That it existed a century or so later is certain, as
owing to the importance of the station as a trading-capital for the
Swaledale mines, visited by merchants, license to make money here would
be a most useful privilege. The Catterick mint-mark, " C," was impressed
upon the coins. Akerman in his valuable work on Roman Coins is
undoubtedly wrong in stating the letter " C " to indicate the mint at
Camolodunum, in^ad of Cataractonium ; the " cxxi.," moreover, upon
the exergues of the Roman admiral Carausius, certainly stand for
Collegium Catarractonii undeviginitiy and have nothing to do with
Camolodunum.^

Of the importance of Catterick in Roman times we have abundant
testimony in the writings of contemporary authors, as well as in the

* It should be noted that there are other ancient works known as Caer Caratauc
in England ; some were mere extempore fortresses raised by Caractacus during his
prolonged war with the Romans in various parts of the island. See *' Caer Ebrauc **
in YorU, Arch. JL, v., 360—60.

t See Sir John Evan's Notet on the coins of Caraotacut,

X See Gent.' 8 Magazine^ 1836, part ii., page 155.

125

actual discoveries made on the site, also by reason of its proximity to the
divergences of the great military thoroughfare, Watling Street. That
it was a city of great note, observes Camden, may be inferred from
Ptolemy, because an observation of the heavens was made there. For
in his Magna Conslructio he describes the 24 th parallel to be through
Cattarractanium in Britain, and makes it to be distant from the Flquator

57 degrees. Yet in his geography he defines the longest day to be 18
equinoctial hours, so that according to his own calculation it is distant

58 degrees. Tt is not improbable that the Palet Hill, the Mom PakUinus
of Gale, at Catterick, was the site of these astronomical observations.

Camden, who was Richmond Herald, and who visited Catterick about
the year 1582, when preparing his admirable topographical survey of
Great Britain and Ireland, says that " hard by the river he saw a huge
mount with the appearance of four bulwarks cast up with great labour to a
considerable height,** and Bishop Gibson in the second edition of his
Camdmi adds the following :

Tho* the name of the old Caturaetoniumhe left in Catarick, yet are the remains
of it met with about three flight-Bhots from the bridge, at a farm-hoase called
Thornburgh, standing upon a high ground, where as well as at Bramptou-upon-
8 wale on the other side of the river, they have found Roman coins. Upon the
bank of the river (which here is very steep), are foundations of some great walls,
more like a castle than a private building, and the large prospept makes it yery
convenient for a frontier-garrison. It is credibly reported, that about a hundred
years ago, these walls were dug into, out of hopes of finding some treasure, and
that the workmen at last came to a pair of iron gates. Overjoyed at this, and
thinking their end compassM, they went to refresh themselves, but before their
return, a great quantity of hanging ground had fallen in, and the vast labour of
remoTing the rubbish discouraged them from any further attempt.

The level plot of ground upon the hill adjoining to the farm-house may be
about ten acres, in several parts whereof Roman coins have been ploughed up ;*
one particularly of gold, with this inscription : Nbro Imp. Caesab, and on the
reverse, Jupiteb Custos. Within this compass also, they have met with the
bases of old pillars, and a floor of brick with a pipe of lead passing perpendicularly
down into the earth ; which is thought by some to have been a place where
sacrifice was done by the infernal gods, and that the blood descended by those
pipes. Likewise heretofore in ploughing the plough-share stuck fast in the ear of
a great brass pot, which, upon removing the earth, they observed to be covered
with flat stones, and upon opening found it (as it is received from our ancestors by
tradition) to be almost full of Roman coins, mostly copper, but some of silver.
Great quantities have been given away by the predecessors of Sir John Lawson
(to which family the estate came by marriage), and he himself gave a good number
to be preserved among other rarities in King Charles* Closet. This pot was
redeemed at the price of eight pounds from the sequestrators of Sir John Lawson 's
estate in the late civil war, the metal being an unusual sort of composition. It
was fixed in a furnace to brew in, and contains some twenty -four gallons of water

* They still continue to be picked np on the site ; one of brass was found in the Spring of the
present year, bat the inscription is too much corroded to be deciphered.

126

Further, very lately (a.d. 1708) some of the inhabitants digging in the ground
to make a lime-kiln (on the higher bank of the river, scarce a hundred paces
below the bridge) met with a vault, filled with five arns, viz. : a large one in the
middle, encompassed with two on each side which were less. And to this place
also belongs the following inscription :

DEO QVI VIAS
ET BBMITAB COM
MENTVB EBT.T.IB
DAB.8.0.F.y.L.L.M.
Q VAR IV8. VITA
LIS BTE COS ABAII

BAORAM RE8TI
TVIT
APRONIANO ET BRA

DVAC08.*

Now from all this, why should we not conclude that Thornborough, belonging to
Brough Hall, was the vieui jnxta eatarraotum ; since Catarick Bridge and the
grounds adjoining, belong not to Catarick, but to Brough? In this place we will
also add the following inscription : iiavb hebaolb bat bt filfbab....

To this I may add Bedels opinion that Brough was the quarter of the
mint ; Thornborough the station, and the limits of the city from the
station to the bridge. Clarkson (1821) remarks that the iron gates
referred to by Bishop Gibson, were given to a blacksmith, who found
upon heating them and beating them out that they emitted a strong
sulphureous smell, and flaked so that they could not be made into nail-rods
as was intended. The same author says that on digging the foundation
of the farm-house, a square arched vault was found, on each brick the
letters b s a r, and on the floor much glutinous matter like coagulated
blood. In 1851 Sir William Lawson had the site of the camp examined
and measured, when it was found to include an area of about nine acres
— affording some indication of the numerical strength of the forces
stationed here. Certain foundations of Roman walls 7^ feet thick were
come upon, and these have been carefully restored, and may be seen to
the left of the wooden gate, a little beyond the iron gates leading from
Catterick Bridge to Brough. The wall extends for about 90 yards, is about
five feet high, and composed of stones beautifully squared and laid level
as a die along each course, the whole being supported by a substantial
set-off bevelled down to the ground-surface. One of the stones bears part
of an inscription, harg. an ... , and another has upon it . . . its.

The varied collection of relics found from time to time upon and in
the vicinity of the great camp are preserved at Brough Hall.

Adjoining the site of the great camp is the Oatterick Race Course,
the scene in former days of many an exciting run, and where, too, that

* ThuB extended : Dso qui vias st bsmitas coxmbktub bbt Tbrsntiub Ibdab f Sivoularis

OOVBULARIB nCYT TOTUM LOCTUB LIBKD8 MRRITO Q. VaRIUB ViTAUB BBITS (f ) PIOIABIUB OOBSULABIB
ABAM BAORAM RB8TITUIT ApROKIAVO Bf BrADUA COVBUUBUB.

127

immortal jockey, whom Punch bo humorously depicted, entered the lists
of a famous race ; when the other horses were off he held his own back
to the surprise of the onlookers, and on being asked the reason thereof,
replied that he had received orders to make '^ a waiting race of it,*' and
he might as well wait there as anywhere else I A little to the north of
this level tract, which appears to have been the bed of the old river
expanse, now left high and dry, the road crosses the Swale by a
substantial stone bridge of four arches. Anciently the river was spanned
by a bridge of wood, a short distance to the west or Brompton side of
the present one, and it was doubtless the " Brompton Brigg ** referred to
in early charters. The bridge was rebuilt in the 15th century, shortly
after Catterick church, the original contracts for both structures being

Remains op Chapel on Catterick Bridge.

preserved at Brough Hall. The compact for building the bridge was
made in 1422 between seven of the neighbouring gentry and three
masons, who were to erect it between " the olde stane brigg, and the new
brigg of tree, quilke forsaide brigge, with the grace of God, sail be mad
sufficiant and workmanly in masoncraft accordand in substance to
Bamacastell brigge."* The bridge was to be completed in 1425, the
neighbouring quarries to be at their service, and the cost to be
£178 6s. 8d., equivalent to nearly £2000 of present money. The
bridge has since been made double the width of the original structure to
meet the increased traffic of this important highway in the coaching-days
between London, Leeds, and Scotland. Before the widening took place
a small chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, stood on the east side at the south

♦ See North Riding Records^ Vol. 8, pp. 38 — 37, where a full transcript of the
original deed is giren.

128

end of the bridge. It was served by a priest from the neighbouring
hospital of St. Giles' for the benefit of travellers, who were expected to
contribute to the alms box kept to aid in the repair and maintenance of
the bridge. Vestiges of this old chapel may still be fonnd in the
premises adjoining the inn. The accompanying engraving depicts the
appearance of the chapel and bridge about the middle of last century.

The old inn just named, the Oeorge and Dragon^ at Oatterick
Bridge, is a large and famous hostelry, and the very ample stabling
behind tell of the days when the yard and stables were none too
commodious, for in the old coaching era there was a big traffic on this
Oreat North Road and a constant bustle of in-and-out-going vehicles.
The inn is mentioned as such in the time of Henry YIII. (vide Leland),
and has doubtless been a public resting-place for man and horse from
the first building of the bridge, if not earlier. '

A story is told of a man who was once driving a horse and cart
through the old Catterick toll-bar, wheb a lad who was standing by
remarked to the bar-keeper : ''That- fellow has a face longer than his
life ! '' The man overheard the peculiar observation, and stopping his
horse asked : " How do you mack that out,' you young scamp ? " The
youth ran off, exclaiming : '' l^^by a man's life is nobbut a span long,
and thy face is two spans I" The man endeavoured to catch hold of
him, but the lad was too sharp. Many another tale of the old coaching-
days might have been told, too, had space permitted.

i^^:

'0^it!iifi>:'i

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D
O

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• 'I • • • ^ .•..■!• I. f «\ t II. t

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I tMt(« .• h I .. - I .. .

ill *ii».' ^ u "■!) .r', i:- • • •
vi!lni;e^ I lunv •.' .; liU'l >'>]-:• -

Tli^' vai!-!i i- h v -rv extiiiv - . ..
^'ji:.-:i('l\, Ajjp'i't'Mi, Hoiton-'ir- ^- ...
."^v.-iiL*. Hii)-'>\«^II, Hi:.isweil, Kii-'i '.;^ ;•, .
f'' KC'in, ami WIlI^-.^mI ; th- w'loic .• .
'<T» s. 'J'li^' lo'\l (jf tl:" manor «i i [i.''
i.awN>;>, r»art., of ]\\.;/h ]i:M

KnUriii*; tii«» v*:I!a':»' !n Ih'l ,* an-; i «.• r*/ \\< /j '•, .»
upon its an ;«le lir-M* -^h-iii )\n rli* ?,^"i d }•.-.. ■» . . , , >
fol;a •■" : tlip ci^ar .ixri-jt ooiL ■ '.c « ' ^^' v'« t i i :• ' .

■/ uui.KP ; the red-til-a pmcJ i.l i.-s':.\.i roo:^ .f ;},.. ;
tow 1 uf tin- old oi.n'vi. T.^ih^' .^^iVc ♦.} • :ji ; a d'.•I:^•U'n^ s«
and re;)(>^'i fi'lihi,' tL*- wl- .m» ju'n.n^j K.-i' , u;.h t'L* l>r , . •
h'L'li ov.;r all, vt.u (^aniiol l-ijt be fa- •iijul^ «i > , li • ^H-au'v^ul and
'•L««ti'.; asj'fcts of rli- |%a •••.

TLe Manor Hon-', tlu iv.<:d.;nc- of Mr. I., lat^; II Ui-.

one oi its iiK'St not.;l)Ie lions -5. ii'««^n:ii'*h a< tlic k t»,.i r i. »^.

I'ot I'lily as one of tli'.* lar. ♦>(■ I 'it a« (iije "*' Ll:- •; --.i ;«.. .
:h<' north of Kt,,;ian(l. 'I'!uj Manor Hon^o farip n . •
uf "'sof cor'i and j^i.^^'in^ land, and tlu: i^uiivlii^i < a. d a;
■.vrjj tli«' )ioin''>t,(.{'d u^'c of tl.tsjs/ Mfsastmiy a: •! a r* «t. *
^': '» s*; on a laii^c S( ale. '"''h**"rr)ihpr]«»» a • . jtM-ovrr'd ^ •
"• .1 Frui\ S, t'Ti'M'Mc-liou- J, r! aS^:r':-<h«;d, i o"ii-l, ii-r., ^ . ;.

■■yjT^^rr •.

:-y

129

CHAPTER IX.

Cattbrick and Brough.

The parish of Catterick — Village aspects — The Manor House— Old inns — Ancient
assise of bread and ale — Local bow and arrow practice — Catterick Church —
The oldest building-contract extant in the English language— Description of
interior of church — Sir Walter de Urswick — Memorial of the author of
Drunken Bamahy — Chantry-chapels — ^Ancient sun-dials — ^An old post-o£Sce
— Local trades — Brough Hall — Family of Lawson — Roman Catholic Chapel.

IaYING in the last chapter written somewhat at length on the

British and Roman oocupation of Catterick, the story of this

ancient and well-established city, (Bede, however, who wrote

in the 8th century, never designates it anything more than a

village), I may now add something of its history and appearance

subsequent to the Norman Conquest.

The parish is a very extensive one, and includes 15 townships, viz. :
Catterick, Appleton, Bolton-npon-Swale, Brough, Golbum, Ellerton-upon-
Swale, Hipswell, Hudswell, Eillerby, Eiplin, Scorton, Scotton, Tunstall,
Uckerby, and Whitwell ; the whole embracing an area of about 22,600
acres. The lord of the manor and principal landowner is Sir John
Lawson, Bart., of Brough Hall.

Entering the village in bright and genial weather, when the fine trees
upon its ample green shadow the sward beneath by their wealth of
foliage ; the clear rivulet coursing athwart it and plashed by the whitest
of ducks ; the red-tiled and blue-slated roofs of the houses, with the
tower of the old church rising above them ; a delicious sense of stillness
and repose filling the whole atmosphere, with the bright blue sky
high over all, you cannot but be fascinated by the peaceful and thoroughly
rustic aspects of the place.

The Manor House, the residence of Mr. Teesdale H. Hutchinson, is
one of its most notable houses, inasmuch as the occupant is well known
not only as one of the largest but as one of the best all-round farmers in
the north of England. The Manor House farm comprises some 600
acres of corn and pasture land, and the buildings and appliances connected
with the homestead are of themselves a study and a pattern of agricultural
fitness on a large scale. They comprise a large covered yard, sheep-sheds,
food stores, engine-house, thrashing-shed, corn-bam, grinding-mill, &c.,

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each admirably fitted up and adapted for its own particular use. A writer
in the Agricultural Oazette for July 6th, 1891, observes that there are
'^ few breeders who have had the same run of success with stock of his
own breeding during the past twenty years, nor, speaking personally, are
we acquainted with any agriculturalist, landlord, or tenant, — and this is
saying a great deal — who can claim the same measure of success for the
farm he cultivates.'* This is assuredly high praise. As a breeder of
Shorthorn cattle, horses, and sheep, Mr. Hutchinson has achieved
considerable fame, and the prizes he has won from time to time are many
and valuable. His brother, Mr. John H. Hutchinson, also resides in the
village. He takes great pleasure in antiquarian pursuits, is well versed
in local archsBoIogy, and to him the author of this work is under many
obligations.

The village of Catterick is situated on the great North Road, and its
several ancient hostelries, notably the Oak Tree, kept for many years by
Miss Elizabeth Hayes, recently deceased, and the Angela with its sign-
board fixed between posts on the green, like what is seen in south country
towns, were once busy places indeed, but their palmiest days have long
since depaited, and they must now take their chance as ordinary wayside
inns.

That there have been public inns here from the Saxon days there is
little possible doubt, not only from the acknowledged importance of
Catterick at that era, but also from its position on one of the leading
and most ancient thoroughfares in England. The old-fashioned diet of
cheese and bread and ale is one which must have been dispensed at these
inns from remote times, and from their very situation upon an important
high road, such inns must formerly have been subject to special
surveillance, and have been closely watched by the representatives of the
law. In the Norman centuries the prerogative belonged to the lord of
the manor of seeing that the public were served with the right quality
and measure in food and drink, so far at any rate as bread and beer
were concerned ; a duty that was afterwards transferred to the local
Justices. Such for example was the father of the immortal Shakespeare,
who successively filled the posts of ale-taster, assessor, burgess, constable,
chamberlain, alderman, and high sheriff, at Stratford-on-Avon.

In the reign of James I. it was enacted that ^' if any inne-keeper,
alehouse-keeper, or victualler shall at any time utter or sell lesse than
one full alequart of the best beere or ale for a peny, and of the small
two quarts for one peny, then that every such inne-keeper shall forfeit
for every such offence, &c., the sum of xxs." This law was strictly
enforced, yet in spite of it transgressions were not infrequent. Two
Catterick innkeepers, viz., Sam Bamford and John Eidson, were at the
Quarter Sessions held at Richmond in October 1607, both fined 20s

181

each for '' breaking the assize of ale/* a large snm at that time for such
an offence.*

Another old-time law, which finds a local illustration in Catterick,
was that every male inhabitant, excepting only spiritual men, Justices of
the two Benches of Assize, and Barons of the Exchequer, between the
ages of seventeen and three score, should possess and keep ready in
his house a bow and arrows, and that he should engage in regular
shooting practice, in default thereof to be fined. This Act, which was
passed 38rd Henry YIII., remained in force long after the introduction
of gunpowder, when the old long-bow gradually fell into disuse. In
1607 we find it recorded that several youths living at Catterick with
their parents were, when the king's officers called, discovered to be
without the stipulated bow and two-shafts, and they were accordingly
each fined 6s. 8d. ; the fines in each case to be paid by the fathers of the
lads.f Every place at that time had its archery-butts, and the bowmen
used generally to meet in the churchyard or other convenient place when
assembling for practice.

Catterick is now included in the Deanery of Richmond West, of which
the Yen. Archdeacon Danks, M.A., Rector of Richmond, is Rural Dean.
The church at Catterick is remarkable in many respects. Its foundation
dates most probably from the time when Bishop Paulinus baptized the
hosts in the Swale more than 1200 years ago.{ It is even stated, on
the authority of the venerable Bede that James, the deacon of Paulinus,
had his residence here. The present church, dedicated to St. Anne,
occupies a site on the south side of an earlier structure pulled down in
1412, and which doubtless was the building recorded in Domesday.
The contract for taking down the old church and erecting the present
one is preserved at Brough Hall, and it is perhaps the oldest document
of the kind extant written in the English language. Although English
was coming into more general use, Latin was still the current speech
and form of written address among the educated classes at this period,
and the reason for this agreement being written in English arose
doubtless from the contractor, who was a local mason, knowing none but
his native tongue.T The paper is endorsed " Endb' tub* bcclesib db

* Vide North Riding Records^ vol. i., page 9.

t Ibid,, Yol. 1. page 93. % See page 69.

^ Wycliffe had traoBlated the Bible iDto English in 1382, yet the necessity for
translations of the Scriptures in the vulgar speech seems to have been felt before
then, for in the words of John Foze, author of the Booh of Martyrs (contained
in an epistle to Queen Elisabeth in Arehhithop Parlter't Tratulation of the Saxon
OoepeU^ printed in 1671), we read : " If histories be well examined, we shall find
before John Wickliflfe was born, as since, the whole body of the Scriptures was
by sundry men translated into our country tongue," — testimony corroborated by
other personages of equal authority in these matters.

132

Oatrik/* and begins : ^^ This endento' made atte Burgh the aghtende
day of the Moneth [note the pure Saxon of this word] of Aprill the
yere of King Herry ferth after the Conquest of Ingland thrittende
betwix dame Katerine of Burgh somtyme the wife of John Burgh
William of Burgh the sonne of the forsaide John and dame Katerine of
the ta ptie [the one part] And Richard of Cracall [near Bedale] mason
on the tothir ptie," &c. It then goes on to recite all the various details
of the complete building which the said Richard shall make of good
" werkemanschippe and mason crafte," and finish it, "war, &o,, excepted,"
in about three years ; the price to be paid, 170 marks in money, and a
mason's gown (a customary allowance), amounting together to £114
sterling.

Dr. Whitaker, who quotes the contract,* unfortunately assigns a
wrong date to it, having apparently misread the word " ferth '* for
" fefth," but as Henry V. reigned only ten years, it is evident that the
words of the contract are " Henry ferth." Moreover it is recited that
the " forsaide Richarde sail gette or garre gette att the quarell atte his
awen coste alle the stuffe of the stane that misters [is wanted] more fer
the makyng of the kirke cf Katrik than that stuffe that is fonne within
the kirke yerde beforsaide." By this is clearly meant that the contractor
was to have the use of the material of the old church, and what he was
to get from a certain quarry at his own cost. Whitaker must have
taken but a hurried glance at this portion of the document to have
interpreted " quarell " as " squared stones," instead of quarry from which
the stones were obtained. He has also misread, omitted, or misinterpreted
many other words and important technicalities in this most interesting
and instructive writing, but these have been pointed out and fully dealt
with by Mr. Raine in his admirable brochure.!

The sum of £114 for the building of a church may appear small,
even at that day, but when it is remembered that the patrons found the
stone, lime, sand, water, and scaffolding, it seems to be merely a question
of labour which the contract price involved. Mr. Raine assumes from
the average rate of wages cited in the Durham Dormitory Contract,
dated in 1401, that the sum of the contract would be equivalent to
about £684 of present (1884) money. Longstaffe repeats this assumption.
I do not however believe that the wages paid at Durham, viz., a mason
7d., a carpenter 5d., and a quarryman 3|d. per day, would be identical
with those paid to the country workmen engaged at Catterick. The
work throughout is only of a middling character, and in some places,

♦ Vide Richmondskire^ vol. II.

t Sec the Correct Copy of the Contract for Ut Building, fc^ by the Rev. James
Raine, M.A. (London, 1834).

183

where the boilders might have shewn particular taste and skill, is
distinctly mean and poor. It cannot have been that the lack of better
ornament and superior finish was due to the fear of sustaining a pecuniary
loss, by the terms of the agreement, (certainly a not uncommon occurrence
among modern contractors), as there can be no excuse, pecuniary or
otherwise, for such an offence to the laws of architectural symmetry as is
manifest in the great east window, which is glaringly out of all proportion.
The west end windows of the aisles are, among other features, likewise
deficient. Durability (the walls are about double ordinary thickness) and
practical commodiousness would seem to have been the chief objects
aimed at by these rustic church-builders, whose average wages, 1 should
say, would not have exceeded 5d. or at most 6d. a day for masons, or say
3s. 6d. per week, which is about one tenth of the average wages of the
same class of workmen at the present time.* Consequently I conclude
that the £114 paid to Cracall for the erection of Oatterick Church would
be worth at least £1100 of present money.

The interior of the building, as at present existing, presents a good
many objects of general as well as of archaeological interest. Some of the
stained glass is particularly beautiful. The large east window, a memorial
to Mr. John Booth, depicts in rich and well-contrasted colour the story
of the Last Supper ; the handsome west window, which is a memorial to
the wife of a late vicar of the parish, the Bev. John Croft, M.A., is an
illustration of the gospel according to St. Mark, chapter i., verse 9,
" Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptised."
Another beautiful window commemorates Mr. John Hutchinson, of the
Manor House, Catterick, who died in 1878, aged 78, and Lucy, his wife,
who died in 1885, aged 71. On the south side is also a memorial window
erected to Ellen, wife of Wm. C. Booth, of Oran, who died in 1864.
Adjoining the latter is an arched recess containing a plain altar-table
bearing the effigy of a famous knight who won his laurels fighting for
the Black Prince at the disastrous battle of Navarre, where many an
English sword was lost and many a helmet cracked, on that memorable
winter's day in the fortieth year of the reign of King Edward III. (1367).
For his services this valiant soldier. Sir Walter de Urswick, received an
annuity of £40 per annum out of the manors of Catterick and Forcett ;
he was also made Chief Forester of the New Forest, an extensive tract
between Swaledale and the Tees, and was Constable of Richmond Castle
in 1371. Mr. Raine suggests, from a calculation of his age at the time
of the Spanish wars, that the effigy may never have occupied any other
position than its present one. But his estimate of 25 years old is I,

* About the end of the 14th century the wages paid on account of Whitby
Abbey for masons ranged from l^d. to 6d. a day. Vide North Biding Becordt^
Tol. vi,, page 4.

184

consider, much too young for one who must have held an important
command to have earned the valuable grant he did. Moreover, the
monument I may say, shews that it was sculptured from forty to fifty
years before the present church was built, and also it is evident that it
originally lay but little above the ground-level ; the existing support
being patently a later work. There is no doubt it was brought from
another place, {ergo the previous church), and suffered perhaps something
by the removal. The lower portions of both legs are missing, but in
spite of this mutilation and the careless regard for such monuments in
Puritanical ages, the effigy, which is wrought in a very durable stone, is
still good, and save the absence of sword is characteristic. The knight
is represented in the usual position, cumbent ; the head resting upon a
helmet encircled by a wreath (the crest being a ram's head) and the
hands are uplifted in prayer. The bascinet is plain, pointed, and laced to
the tippet of link-mail ; the jupon, covering the mail-shirt, rcrxhes to
the hips, and is fringed and also ornamented with a rich band, 1^ inches
wide, finely worked in a pattern of raised quatrefoils, &c. The epaulets
consist of three overlapping pieces, and these and the brassarts, coutes,
and vambraces, all indicate the fashion of the Camail period. The
canopied niche is Cracalfs work, but it is bald and characterless ; at its
apex is a shield bearing the arms of Urswick, on the dexter side the
arms of Scrope of Masham, and on the sinister, an impalement of both.
Whitaker, in his Richmondahire (vol. II., p. 42) furnishes an illustration
of the figure, but its details are inaccurate, and Clarkson*s print of it
{Richmond^ p. 62) is archsBologicaliy worthless.

The ancient brasses, monuments, and window heraldiy in the church
have been fully particularised by Whitaker. The oldest of these existing
is a slab in the vestry bearing a strip of brass inscribed to John de
Burgh, who died in 1412, and Catherine his wife, who was the daughter
of Roger Aske. It was this lady, then a widow, and her son who were
parties to the contract for building the present church. The tomb has
borne two shields of arms, but only one now remains, engraved with a
plain saltire, indicative of a matrimonial connection with the family
of Neville or Olervaux. A peculiar interest attaches to one of the
monuments in the chancel, inasmuch as it commemorates a famous
personage equally noted for his eccentricities as for his scholarly aptitude.
This was Richard Braithwait, armiger, author of Drunken Bamahy^ &c.,
whose amusing skits upon our Yorkshire villages I have ofttimes had
reason to quote. He was Westmorland bom, and served as a captain on
the Royalist side in the Civil Wars. His first wife was a Lawson of
Nesham Abbey, near Darlington, of whom he affectionately wrote :

Near Darlington was my deare darling borne,

Of noble house, which yet beares honour's forme, —

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and his second was Marj, daughter of Roger Crofts, of East Appleton,
in the parish of Oatterick. He died in 1673.* The 15th century font
is also worthy of notice. It bears the initials of William Burgh (the
donor), with the arms of Burgh, argent upon a saltire sable, five swans
of the field, between them ; likewise the arms of Fitz Hugh of Ravens-
worth, Neville or Olervaux, Scrope of Masham, and two other coats. On
the shaft are the old French words dar fern, meaning clear or pure
fountain, and on the base appear the same initials, probably of three
churchwardens.

There were two chantries in this church. That of Our Lady was of
the foundation of William Burgh, and as appears by the Certificates of
Chantries prepared at the Dissolution, '' the said Burghs enfeoffed one
James Atkinson and others of certain lands, as shewn by a deed dated
20th Henry VII., to the yearly value of £3 18s. 4d., for the purpose of
finding a priest to sing for the said founder^s and all Christian souls.
Also every Friday to say mass at a chapel at Tunstall, a mile distant
from the parish church, which the said incumbent used in his life-time,
and now the said chantiy remains void because Sir Ralph Bulmer, the
younger, in right of his wife, heir general to the said Burghs,t pretendeth
title to all the lands belonging to the said chantry." % ^^ ^^^ return
dated 11th August, 1548, John Nicholson is stated to be the incumbent
of this chantry, and the clear annual value thereof is put down at
69s. 9d. The chantry of St. James, at the east end of the north aisle,
(marking the burial place of the Lawsons, as it was formerly of the
Burghs), was of the foundation of William Burgh, Esq. {oh. 1492) and
Richard Swaldale, yeoman, which at the Dissolution was declared of the
clear yearly value of £4. It was formerly separated from the rest of
the church by a screen. John Gregge was the last incumbent, then of
the age of 37 years, " of indifferent learning, of honest conversation and
qualities, having no other promotion but the revenue of the said chantry ;
also there is three other priests at the finding of the vicar there." In
this certificate it is stated there were then (a.d. 1548) 1120 "howselyng
people" in the parish, by which we may conclude that the total population
was at least double that number.

The church has undergone many alterations and improvements since
1412, when it was built by Cracall. The north and south aisles have
been lengthened, with the arches opening into them from the choir ; a

* Some amusing Bnecdotes of Braithwait, who was called in V^Testmorland
** Dapper Dick," will be found in Green's Guide to the Lakes, 1. page 138.

t He had married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Tempest, and Elizabeth his
wife, who was the daughter and co-heir of William Burgh (^oh, 1508).

J Surtees Soo. Piib„ vol. xci., IIR, vol. xcii., 497.

186

vestry, south porch, and tower have also been added. Whitaker says
that the tower is not mentioned in the original contract, which is hardly
correct, as it distinctly specifies that the contractor shall leave tosses or
projecting teeth-stones " for makyng of a stepill in the west end ; "
likewise tosses for a vestry, &c. Among the recent additions to the
church may be mentioned an admirably carved altar-chair presented by
Mr. and the Misses Garter Sqnire. It is constrocted from selected pieces
of old oak timber taken oot of the tower in 1891, when the new peal
of bells was placed there. The six bells were erected as a memorial to
John Bainbridge Booth, Esq., of Killerby Hall, by his numerous friends,
as is recorded upon a neat marble tablet over the sediliss in the choir.

Catterick Chuboh.

About two years afterwards two more bells were added, these being the
gift of John J. Mowbray, Esq., of Naemoor, Rumbling Bridge. The
stalls, called " prismatories *' in the 1412 contract, exhibit, I may say,
additional proof of the lack of generous treatment at the hands of the
humble craftsman from Crakehall.

Under the middle partition is a brass to the memory of an eccentric
lady, by name Grace Lowther, who died in 1594, and who appears to
have been so sensible of the uncertainty of life that for full seven
years before she died she always carried her winding-sheet with her
wherever she went I About three years ago when the beautiful mosaic
was laid down at the altar this brass was removed, and under the

187

flagstone beneath was found a vault, in which was a very fine leaden
coffin, inscribed with the simple letters, '' I B." There had also been
another interment here, but all had crumbled to dust, saving a single
tress of a woman*s hair I Perhaps this was the remains of the mortal
body of the above Orace Lowther, who had been interred in her
winding-sheet alone (a fashion not uncommon at that period), for there
was not as much as a single nail left to indicate that the body had been
enclosed in a coffin.

Over the porch was an old sun-dial inscribed Fugit hora, ora [the
hour flies, pray], which got broken when the church was restored ; but
an excellent facsimile of the original plate has been erected in its place
through the kindness of Mr. William Booth, of Oran. The Rev. A. J.
Scott, D.D., the friend and chaplain of Lord Nelson, who died in his
arms at Trafalgar, was, I may add, vicar at Oatterick from 1816 to 1840,
and his daughter, Mrs. A. Scott Oatty, has compiled an admirable work
on sun-dials, &c. It is an interesting subject strangely overlooked, but
teeming with quaint and instructive information. A great many old
Yorkshire dials still exist, and some of these bear singularly appropriate
mottoes, such as " I only mark the bright hours " (would that our lives
did the same !), which may be found inscribed on one sun-dial in the
garden of Eiplin Hall, near Catterick, and said to be the invention of
the late amiable Countess of Tyrconnel.

In the churchyard under the east window is an altar-tomb to the
memory of David Batie, the first postmaster of Catterick, who died in
1610, and of his son and successor to the office, also named David Batie,
who died in 1681, aged 58. This is peculiarly interesting as shewing
the importance of Catterick as a post-town at a period when very few
and even much larger places possessed the advantages of a post-office.

What were the oldest trades here, outside the vocations of agriculture,
it were almost idle to guess, but on such an important highway as that
at Catterick it is certain that smithies were established here, most
probably so far back as the Roman and British occupation of the place.
In an extent of lands belonging to the honour of Richmond, made 10th
Edward I. (1280) it appears there were two forges at Catterick which
then yielded a rent of 6d. ; there were also a pond and a mill for which
a rent of 33s. 4d. was paid ; likewise 56 acres called Plusweynlondes (sic)
charged at 16d. an acre, yielding for the whole 74s. 8d.*

From Catterick it is but a short and very pleasant walk to Brough,
going through the well-wooded park attached to Brough Hall, the large
and handsome ancestral seat of the Lawsons. They succeeded to the
surrounding estates at the end of the 16th century, when Elizabeth,
daughter and heir of Roger Burgh, was married to Sir Ralph Lawson,

♦ Turks, Record Series, xii., 126.

188

son of Edmnnd Lawson, of Newcastle, gent. ; the family of Bargh or
De Burgh who took their name from the Roman fortress, having been
seated here from an unknown period. There was a Thomas de Burgh
one of the sureties of Roald fil Alan, Constable of Richmond Castle, and
holder of seven-eighths of the vill of Burgh in a.d. 1207.* The other
eighth was held of Avicia de Marmion, by the Abbot of Jervaux. The
family of Maunsell, however, acquired lands here about this time.
Adam Maunsell was lord of the manor of Sedburg-juxta-Gilling, 50th
Henry III. (1265), and had a eon Stephen, whose daughter and heir.
Eve, received from him at her marriage with William de Burgh, 21st
Edward I. (1292), six tofts and seven bovates of land in Bnrgh-jnxta-
Caterick.

The manorial history of the Burghs of Brough may therefore be said
to start with an Adam and Eve, which calls to mind an incident on the
occasion of my first visit to Catterick, now a good many years ago. I
asked a man how long the family he named had lived at Brough Hall.
" Hoo lang ? " said he with alacrity, " Why, sure eneuf they've bin here
ivver sin' t' time o' Noah's Flood." " Come," I said, thinking to cap a
joke, '' Tou don't mean to say they have been at Brough since the
creation of the world ? " " Yea, a' do," he replied, " some fowk says
they've bin here sin' t' time o' Adam," an avowal which it appears is
literally correct, though the Adam, as I have pointed out, is unquestionably
post-diluvial !

The Hall, of which I give a view from an engraving by W. Angus
of Cuitt's painting, executed a century ago, occupies a position in the
park at once secluded and picturesque. It consists of a centre and two
wings, the latter having been added by Sir John Lawson in the 17th
century. The interior apartments are spacious, and superbly adorned
with family pictures, statuary, shields of arms, &c. ; there is also a large
and valuable library, and a fine collection of Roman and other relics
found on the estate. Sir Henry Lawson, the sixth baronet of his family,
who died in 1834, aged 84, leaving no issue, was a gentleman of many
and varied attainments. He was excellently versed in antiquities,
and beiug well known as the owner of one of the most important
archaeological sites in the country, did not a little to advance its reputation.
His successor. Sir William Lawson, Bart., was the second son of
John Wright, Esq., of Kelvedon, Essex, by the daughter and co-heir of
Sir John Lawsou, of Brough Hall, and in 1884, upon succeeding to the
estates of his maternal grandfather, assumed by royal license the name

* For Pedigree of Burgh and LawsoD see Whitaker*B Richmond$hire^ ii., 86 ;
SurteeM Soey, Pub., vol. 86, p. 90 ; Burke's Landed Gentry, ii., 105 ; Hodgson^s
Northumberland, ii., 161. For Will of the above Roger Burgh, the last male
representative of his family at Brough, $ee SurteeM Socy. Pub., 26, pp. 243 — 6.

189

of Lawson in lieu of his natural patronjm ; a baronetcy was also
conferred in deference to his maternal descent. Sir William was a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and like Sir Henry, took much
interest in unravelling the past history of the ancient earthworks on his
classic estate. He it was who, as I have before stated, caused the
excavations, &c., to be made here which led to the discovery of the

Sir Wm. Lawson, Babt.

Roman wall, then permanently restored. He died 22nd June, 1865^
and was succeeded by his son. Sir John Lawson, Bart., D.L., J.P., the
present owner of Brough.

On rising ground a short distance from the Hall is the superb Roman
Catholic Chapel, which was built in 1837 of materials wholly derived
from the estate. The cost, which was entirely defrayed by Sir William

140

Lawson, is unknown, but it must have involved an outlay of many
thousands of pounds. It is dedicated to Ood and St. PauUnus, whose
Christian ministrations during the Anglo-Saxon occupation of the
district, I have elsewhere referred to. This beautiful and worthy
memorial to the glory of Him and His earthly apostle, who was the first
Archbishop of York, is designed after the ancient chapel at York, now
appropriated for the library of the Dean and Chapter of that city. It
is in the Early English or Transition-Norman style, the interior being
lofty and imposing, and lighted by clustered lancet windows of great
beauty. The large coloured east window is the work of Willemont, and
is a sumptuous example of the stainer's art. Beneath the altar is a
sarcophagus or stone shrine containing the relics of St. Innocent, (found
in the catacombs at Rome) and inscribed in antique Latin, which may
be translated thus :

InNOCBNT, WeLL-DeSBRVING, who lived VIII. YEARS AND XXXII.

DAYS IN Peace. Balbntinian oii Eibaiinteii [names unknown]
Consuls.

This precious trophy was presented to the before-mentioned Sir William
Lawson by Pope Gregory XVI.

By following the road to the north side of the chapel, a mile-walk
through the tree-shaded park will bring the visitor back to Catterick
Bridge, passing the site of the Roman camp, and on his right, close to
the last wooden gate, the vestiges of the Roman wall above described.

^^^^^^^^^^^' (^oM^H

141

CHAPTER X.

On the Roman Watling Street.

Watling Street in Richmondshire connecting three Brigantian cities — Meaning of
Watling Street — ^Ita original course — ^Leeming Lane — Discovery of gold
bracelet — A skeleton found bearing Scandinavian fibulas — Other local
discoveries — The Danegeld — Bolton-on-Swale — Notes on Henry Jenkins, aged
169 years — Bainesse — Discovery of a Roman weighing-yard — Killerby and
Oran — Castle Hills— Leases Hall and local families— Relics of the Battle of
the Standard — Leeming Bar — Turnpike trusts — Scruton.

|S WE are at Catterick Bridge I will now make some observations
on that ancient and wonderfully interesting highway connect-
ing the three great Brigantian cities of Caer Ebranc (Tork)»
Isenr (Aldborongh), and Caer Caratanc (Catterick), known
to this day as The Street. The longest if not the most important of
the military passage-routes of the Romans, it divided England in length,
extending from the port of Rntupia (Richborongh) in Kent to the
Roman Wall on the Tyne. Upon it were many great military stations,
and from it branched other roads leading east and west into the interior
of the country. Many are the conjectures as to its etymology. Hoveden
thinks it was called Watling Street from Wathe or Wathla, a British
king. Camden supposes the name to be derived from an unknown
Yitellianus, but that the root of the word is to be found in the Saxon
Wadla, a beggar, because this road was the resort of such people for the
charity of travellers. Another says that it was planned by Vespasian
after the various stations through the kingdom were finished, and that
he named it in compliment to the Emperor Yitellius, Vitella-Strata-Viaj
i.«., WatUng Street Way. Professor Wright says that King Wsetla was
no doubt a personage in Anglo-Saxon mythology, and that this road was
connected with one of their own mythic traditions and called WaBtlinga-
street, the road of the Waetlings, or sons of WaBtla. Various and
contradictory as these opinions are it may be after all that the original
constructors of it, conscious of their marvellous achievement, exalted it
above their mundane affairs and attributed to it some sacred or celestial
appellation drawn from their perpetual obeisance to the heavens. For
inasmuch in Chaucer^s House of Fame we learn that in mediaBval times

142

the starry ** milky way " was popularly called Watling Street, a name
that may have arisen from some astronomical beliefs of the ancients.

That it was primarily British and constructed on an old chariot-path
as far back perhaps as the introduction or manipulation of iron, five or
six centuries before the Christian era, I think there is little room to doubt.
In spite of the contrary opinions of older authorities it is unmistakably
of pre-Roman age. The fact of it connecting three undoubted British
cities within a distance of less than forty miles, is sufficient proof of this,
but the road, moreover, is so irregular in its course, twisting and turning
so frequently, that it distinctly opposes the Roman method of road-
making, which was usually a straight line. These divarications are more
particularly noticeable between Isuiium (Aldbro*) and Cataractonium
(Catterick), which are described in the Fourth Iter as being distant from
each other 24 mills passus. From the village of Leeming it zig-zags
according to the best ground-surface, avoiding some old swamps in this
neighbourhood, and crossing the beck makes a sharp turn to Bridge
House (formerly an inn) and thence curving over the muddy flats to
Leeming Bar. Here the direction is about north-west and south-east,
through Mr. Mattison's garden, near his reaping-machine works, where
an old cobble pavement is met with about a yard below the present
grassy surface. From Leeming station it turned by the Sportsman's inn,
along the existing old road by Killerby and the Castle Hills, joining the
present turnpike near Catterick Beck, close to the village of Catterick,
and thence to the station at Thornborough. Thence it pursued its north-
ward direction in an equally devious course, joining the present highroad
about a mile above Catterick Bridge, but not always keeping the line of
the present road, till it reaches the Tees at Pierse Bridge. It was a
cobbled way, with here and there large stepping stones where the ground
was low and wet, and this seems to have been particularly the case about
Leeming Bar, where there is a thick bed of clay overlying gypsum. I
am told that large numbers of small horseshoes of an antique pattern
have been dug up in this locality, likewise a stone quern, and it is not
unlikely that at this point of Leeming Lane there was a public resting-
place and a forge where horses could be shod, and perhaps hired or
exchanged. Situated at the junction of a branch way from Northallerton
to Bedale, joining the old road to Brachium (Bainbridge) it thus lay at
four important cross-roads.

Mr. Ecroyd Smith {Reliquic^ IsuriancB, p. 4) thinks it not improbable
that this portion of the Watling Street called Leeming Lane, derived its
name from the second Roman appellation it received of Via Heleniana^
in honour of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great.
Other and similar explanations have been advanced. But if this road
be as old as the earliest foreign occupation of north England, and

148

contemporary with the so-called Druids, which it is hard to believe, the
name may be pure Gadhelic, leamhanj meaning an elm-tree, though it is
difficult to conceive what elm-trees can have to do with denominating a
highway. Dr. Wilkes, however, says that Watling Street was originally
constructed of wattles, and as the elm is well suited for such a purpose,
being remarkable for its durability under water, (having been in mediseval
times largely used in the making of water-pipes), can it be that the elm
was the tree so employed ? If so, we have in the native elm a probable
elucidation of the meanings of both Watling Street and Leeming Lane.*

Many interesting discoveries have been made on this portion of the
road during this and the last century. In the Arckmologia jEliana (1884;
is described an Anglo-Saxon or Danish bracelet of the purest gold and
most exquisite workmanship, found near Catterick. A skeleton of the
same period was also dug up about two feet from the surface of the road
near Leeming. The body had evidently never been disturbed from the
time of its being deposited at this place. On each of the shoulders was
a large and beautifully-designed fibula, by which the garments of the
deceased had been fastened. They are said to be of bronze, oval in form
and convex, with delicate interlacings of silver-twisted threads. In the
breast of the skeleton lay a rusty spear-head, which seems to betoken a
death by foul means.

These relics are vaguely described as of Saxon date, which may mean
anything between the fifth and eleventh centuries. But I have throughout
this work advanced the predominant hold which the Viking warriors had
in Richmondshire over the Anglian possessors of Deira, which included
the present county of York, and there is no doubt that the two brooches
or fibtdoR found with the skeleton in Leeming Lane belong to the so-
called "Later Iron Age" of Scandinavian art. The design of these
brooches so closely resembles those found in Sweden, and preserved in the
Royal Historical Museum of Stockholm, that I venture to present an
engraving of the Yorkshire find (fig. 1) beside a Swedish one (fig. 2), as
represented in Mr. Hans Hildebrand's Industrial Arts of Scandinavia
in the Pagan times. The resemblance is so striking that there can be no
possible doubt about the contemporary and common origin of the two
articles. The Yorkshire one is in the Edinburgh Museum. Mr. Hildebrand
Bays that the fibulae characteristic of continental Scandinavia is oval-
shaped, vaulted, and very large, and that " the oval brooches were, as a
rule, worn in pairs, and only by women, they were placed on the upper

* Perhaps the name ia of much later origin, derived from the wet and muddy
character of the ground which I have spoken of as present about Leeming, Leem
(Norse), loam (A.S.), lehm (German), means clay, mud ; thus Leamington, the
town on the muddy river, ^c. I may point out that the Roman road by Denholme
Gate from Manchester to Ilkley passes the hamlet of Leeming.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 3.
Scandinavian Fibulae found near Catterick.

part of the breast, and each attached to the cloak or mantle/' This
agrees exactly with the character and position of the fibulae found in
Leeming Lane, from which we may reasonably suppose this woman to
have met her death during an incursion of Scandinavian pirates marching
to Catterick ; this Anglian stronghold, we are told by Bede, was partly
destroyed by the Danes in the eighth and again in the tenth century.
Two other bronze fibulae are also represented on the annexed plate.
Fig 8 is a beautiful object of exquisitely symmetrical design. It
measures 6^ inches long, and was found near Catterick Bridge. Fig. 4
is plainer and smaller (5 inches long), and was found on the site of the
camp at Thomborough. Both are in the possession of Sir John Lawson
and are undoubtedly of Scandinavian origin.

These war-loving Vikings came over to England to wrest the Danegeld
from the earlier possessors of the land, who were glad to purchase peace
at the price of what must have been in those times a bnrthensome and
not always forthcoming levy. Some idea of the amounts of money they
obtained on these bullying commissions may be gathered from the
immense quantities of Anglo-Saxon coins that have been turned up in
various parts of Sweden. In the Royal Cabinet at Stockholm there are
probably not less than 20,000, consisting chiefly of the reigns of
Ethelred II., Canute, and Harold I. ; likewise a few of William the
Conqueror, shewing as I have elsewhere pointed out, that Danegeld was
paid or transmitted to the old Vikings, at any rate to near the end of
the 11th century.

Opposite Catterick, on the east bank of the Swale, is the ancient
little village of Bolton, so well-known as the resting-place of the patriarch
Henry Jenkins, who, if published accounts are to be relied on, attained
the remarkable age of 169 years. Upon his grave in the church-yard
at Bolton is an obelisk of freestone, 11 feet high, standing on a square
pedestal, and in the church is a large tablet of black marble, both erected
to his memoi7 by subscription, in 1743. The epitaph on the tablet was
composed by Dr. Thomas Chapman, Master of Magdalen College,
Cambridge. The following epitome of his life will be read with interest :

" Henry Jenkins was born in 1600, and followed the employment of fishing for
HO years, and at no period of his life could he read or write. At the time of his
birth parish registers were not in use, but Bishop Lyttleton communicated to the
Society of Antiquarians, on the 11th of December, 1766, a paper copied from an
old household book of Sir Bichard Graham, Bart., of Norton Conyers, the writing
of which says, that upon his going to live at Bolton, Jenkins was said to be about
150 years old, that he had often examined him in his sister*s kitchen, where he
came to beg alms, and found facts and chronicles agree in his account. He was
then 162 or 163 years old. He remembered the dissolution of the monasteries,
and said that great lamentation was made on that occasion ; and he was often at
Fountains Abbey during the residence of the last Abbot, who he said frequently

146

visited his master, Lord Conyers. He said that he went to Northallerton with a
horse load of arrows for the battle of Flodden Field, with which a bigfrer boy
went forward to the army under the Earl of Surrey, King Henry being at that
time at Tournay, and he belieyed himself then eleven or twelve years old. When
he was more than 100 years old, he used to swim across the Swale with the greatest
ease, and without catching cold. Jenkins attended the Assizes at York as a
witness, in the years 1655 and 1657, in the first case to prove an ancient road to a
mill 120 years before. Four men, each about 100 years old, were also witnesses,
and on the Judge objecting to the evidence of Jenkins, they positively declared
he had been called * Old Jenkins * as long as they could remember. Jenkins died
in the beginning of December, 1670, at Ellerton-on-Swale ; and, 'as his epitaph
says, * he was enriched with the goods of nature, if not of fortune, and happy in
the duration, if not the variety of his enjoyments ; and though the partial world
despised and disregarded his low and humble state, the equal eye of Providence
beheld and blessed it with a patriarch's health and length of days, to teach
mistaken man these blessings are entailed on temperance, a life of labour, and a
mind of ease.* Jenkins was contemporary with Thomas Parr, the patriarchal
Shropshire man, of whom it is recorded that he was born in 1483, and lived in the
reign of ten monarchs of England. At the age of 180 he is said to have been
able to do husbandry work ; and at the age of 106, it is stated in 01dy*s MS. notes
on Fuller*B Worthies, that he did penance in Alderbury Church, for lying with
Eatherine Milton and getting her with child. He died in 1636, aged 152 years and
9 months, and it is said that his remains rest among the eminent dead in
Westminster Abbey."

It may be noted that in the interval between the years 1664 and
1684, when old Jenkins died, the register of burials at Bolton-on-Swale
appears to have been carefully kept, and is in the handwriting of the
Rev. Charles Anthony, vicar of Catterick. No fewer than 65 persons
are entered as " aged " or '* ancient," and three as " very aged." Among
the latter is recorded the burial of Jenkins : ^' 1670, Dec. 9. Henry
Jenkins, a very aged and poore man of Ellerton." In the same year
there are 14 other persons noticed as ''aged," but the exact age is never
given for about a century after this time. The only other entry of this
family in the registers is of the wife of Henry Jenkins, who died in
1668.

Coming down the High Street from Catterick we pass the large and
well-managed farm at Bainesse (the site probably of ancient baths),
which forms the subject of a special paper in the quarterly Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society for October, 1895.* At this place about
seven years ago was found a very well-preserved Roman weighing-yard,
made of bronze, and almost identical as regards form with the steel-yard
in use at the present day. The bar was very plainly graduated and
marked in Roman numerals on three sides. The hooks and chains for

* In 1850 this farm comprised 460 acres, of which SO acres were permanent
grass, and paid £1200 a year rent. Vida Beport of Agriculture in England by
the * Times* ComvtiMiion in 1850-51.

BuspeDsioD were also quite complete, but the weight, which had evidently
been made of a corrosive metal, unfortunately was missing. Very
similar weighing-yards have been found in Herculanenm. In addition
to this interesting object a quantity of pottery, including a few pieces of
Samian ware, were excavated at the same time. Three of the pieces
bear the makers* names. A few coins were also found, including a
silver one of Julia Msesa. Some of these relics are in possession of
J. H. Hutchinson, Esq., of Catterick. Hitherto the excavations have
been made over a very small area, and there is little doubt that a more
extended search would bring to light other and perhaps important traces
of the original purpose of the site. Several stones dug up bear signs of
having been burnt, and it seems probable that the place was destroyed
by fire at the time Catterick was burnt by the Danes.

On the Low Street, or old road I have before spoken of, is Killerby
Hall, the property of Mrs. Booth, and a little to the north of it is the
hamlet of Oran. On one occasion while travelling in this district I had
the following traditional (sic) explanation given me of the meaning of
these places. From the number of ancient remains and skeletons found
in this locality it would appear to have been a battle-ground at an early
period. The popular belief is that a body of soldiers being surprised by
the enemy at the site of Oran they aVan as far as Killerby, when
suddenly stopping and facing the enemy they determined to stand and
fight, that is kill-or-be killed ! Such is the plausible interpretation of
the bucolic mind. But considering that Killerby is spelled Chelwordby
in the 11th century, the folly of this later fiction is patent. The affix
Chel is most likely a corruption of the A.S. c(bIc in allusion to a calcareous
outlier of Magnesian Limestone at the undermentioned Castle Hills.*
In the second syllable word is probably preserved the Scand. wardj
A.S. tvard^ meaning a watch, beacon, or place-guarded ; whilst Oran may
involve the A.S. ofer^ Scand. ore^ cognate with the Latin (wa, meaning a
border or shore, in allusion to its position near the old shore line of the
Swale. The final n may be a curtailment of fw, noe^ signifying lowland
habitually overflowed with water. Killerby Carr formerly reached as far
down as Kirkby Fleetham, and was profusely covered with bulrushes and
various aquatic trees. To the north of Killerby and close to the Swale
is a large artificially-constructed earthwork in the form of a parallelogram,
called the Castle Hills, — the ward or watch, probably, I have just alluded
to. Clarkson gives a plan of it, and says that from its lofty situation
and the circular bulwarks cast up to a great height at each angle, it may
have been a castrum exploratuniy or observatory and guard of the Romans.

* Kelso, anciently CheUo and CalehoUy 1b bo called from a calcareous cliff at the
confluence of the Tweed and Teviot, now broken down. Vide Blackie's Pltiee
Naine$.

148

But from the absence of any certain discoveries on the spot I should
judge it to be a later work. Mr. S. T. Clark assigns all such ramparted
and moated mounds to the Anglo-Saxon period. The mounds with
enclosing rampart cover about three roods of ground, and the whole,
including the ditch, an acre and a half. The river here formerly ran
about 120 yards east from its present course, so that it cannot be
determined with certainty whether the ditch or moat completely environed
the area. The site, long known as Castle Hills, from its proximity to
Killerby Castle, is now planted with trees.

On the partition of his estates after the Conquest, the Earl of
Richmond granted Killerby to Scollandus, lord of Bedale. By the
marriage of Agnes, his granddaughter, with Brian Fitz Alan it passed
to this knightly family. The said Brian, in the 19th Edward I. (1291),
had a licence to fortify his manor of Kilwardeby^ and the site of this
long-decayed castle is now occupied by the present Killerby Hall.
Whitaker thinks that Killerby has a fair claim to be considered the
birthplace of Robert de Kelwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1272.
as the place gave name to an important family in the Norman and
succeeding ages.

Since the pleasant road we are traversing was constructed last century
for the increased traffic of coaches, &c., it has been several times lowered
and levelled and its gradients thereby reduced. Being cut in the belt of
Magnesian Limestone which extends through the country in a north and
south direction, the banks in some places are as much as twenty feet
deep, while on each side of this limestone escarpment the country is
comparatively level ; many objects at a considerable distance being
visible, including, when sufficiently clear, the round boss of Roseberry
Topping.

About five miles from Catterick we pass on the left the extensive
park belonging to Leases Hall, (Captain Wilson-Todd), which last
century belonged to the family of Smelt, memorials of whom are in
Kirkby Fleetham Church. William Smelt of Kirkby Fleetham and
Leases, was M.P. for Northallerton from 1740 to 1746, when he was
appointed Receiver-General of Revenues in the island of Barbadoes.*
His daughter Anne married Thomas Metcalfe of Northallerton and Sand
Hutton, CO. York, who was rector of Kirkby Overblow from 1762 — 1774,
and a descendant of Chancellor Thomas Metcalfe, of Nappa Hall,
Wensleydale (which see f). In the park, not far from the road, are some

* See J. H. Metcalfe's Royal Descent^ pages 11 and 12.

t Mr. John H. Metcalfe informs me that very considerable research has been
incurred in tracing the heritage of Anne, mother of the above Thomas Metcalfe,
which is omitted from the pedigree prepared by him for the third edition of

149

mounds and trenches in which, dnring the process of draining, large
quantities of human bones, fragments of armour, spurs, &c., have been
dug up, which are supposed to be relics of the battle of Northallerton,
A.D. 1138. Old Roger Gale, the learned antiquary (who by the way was
born and died at Scruton, near Bedale), made this district his life-long
study, and he tells us that some of the trenches were known in his day
as '^ Scots* Pits," in allusion to the interred Scotch who to the number
of more than 10,000 were slain. The great contest however, took place
as is well established, at Standard Hill.

In the neighbourhood of old Leeming Bar are grown some of the
finest exhibition roses in England. This excellence is said to be due
mainly to a peculiarity in the constituents of the soil and situation.
Hereabouts a great many changes have taken place. Less than half-a-
oentury ago, before the present railway-station was built, there were only
some two or three dwelling-houses, where now the population is probably
not less than 400. The old cobble-road of pre-Roman date was, as
previously explained, laid past here and turned at the Sportsman's inn.
It was doubtless the original Roman road of the time of Antoninus Pius.
When Leeming Lane was improved for coaching traffic last century, the
toll-bar house stood on the plot of ground behind the present guide-post,
opposite the Leeming Bar hotel. Some fifty years since it was taken
down and re-erected at Leeming village, as from its situation near the
cross roads to Northallerton and Bedale, no toll could be claimed on
vehicles passing between these places, as the bye-laws enacted that no
cart or wheeled vehicle was liable to toll unless it had travelled upon such
road a distance of not less than 150 yards.

Whilst speaking of this famous turnpike road through Yorkshire to
the north, I may remark that thirty years ago there were no fewer than
1047 turnpike trusts in England and Wales, with 20,189 miles of road
supported by tolls. The last of all these fiscal highways was a section
of the Shrewsbury and Holyhead turnpike which traversed the island of
Anglesea, and this trust was continued by a special Act until Nov. Ist,
1895, when the tolls were abolished. All our highroads are therefore
now toll free, being repairable by the country at large.* We need not
here pursue this Roman highway further south, but I may mention one
other unrecorded discovery, namely, of a fine stone battle-axe with
hammer, which old Thomas Harker, now of Whashton, told me he found

Whitaker*B Craven, It is now ascertained that the said Anne, was daughter of
John Greene, Junr., of Liversedge Hall, in the parish of Birstall, eldest son and
heir of John Qreene, lord of the moiety of the manor of Liversedge. She was
baptised at Birstall 14th August, 1670. and was married to Thomas Metcalfe at
Birstall 18th April, 1699.

* See the Local Government Journal^ September 21st, 1895.

150

some fifty years ago while plonghing in a field at Butcher Bar, near
Sinderby.

At Leeming Bar we are but two short miles from the ancient market-
town of Bedale, and also aboat the same distance from the pleasant
village of Scraton, the old seat of the Gale family, hereafter mentioned,
and it also gave name to the Norman family of Scraton. The hall
was for several years np to his death in November, 1895, the residence
of Sir George W. £lliot, Bart., M.P. for the Richmondshire Division of
the North Riding.

The ancient family of Markenfield, of Markenfield, near Ripont
held the manor of Scraton from the time of Edward II., to the reign
of Elizabeth, when it was forfeited through participation of Thomas
Markenfield in the Catholic insurrection of 1569.

In an extent of the honour of Richmond, taken temp. Henry YII.,
Sir Thos. Merkynfeld, Et., was found to be seized of six messuages and
six bovates of land (about 72 acres), with the appurtenances in Scruton,
held of the King in capite of the said honour as half one Knight's fee, of
the yearly value of ten marks. He died 12th Henry YII., and Ninian
Merkynfield, his son and heir, was then aged 24 years. See the author's
Nidderdale and the Garden of the Niddj page 241, <&c.

The church, dedicated to St. Rhadegrund, is an ancient and interesting
edifice which is supposed to have been rebuilt some little time after the
destructive ravages of the Scots into the district, consequent upon their
victory at Bannockburn in 1814. A chantry was founded in the church
about the same time. In 9th Edward III. (1885) William de Scurueton
[Scruton] obtained licence to grant land in Great Langton-upon-Swale
and Scurueton to a chaplain to pray for the souls of the said William
and Maud his wife, in the parish church at Scurueton. This chantry
was at the east end of the north aisle, and was separated from the rest
of the church by a handsome partition of wainscot.

The church was restored by the patron, Henry Ooore, Esq., in 1865.
It contains some neat monuments, including one to the Gale family.
The living is a rectory, at present held by the Rev. Thomas Rigby, M.A.

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151

CHAPTER XI.

Abound Bedale.

Meaning of Bedale — Barly history — The church — A valuable Hying — Old aspects
of the town— The Bedale Hunt— Crakehall— The Rev. Thos. MiWille Raven —
Bedale Beck — ^A remarkable accident — Patrick Brompton — Hunton— Mrs.
Lanchester, aged 106 — Hornby—The castle and its owners — The church —
Its ancient monuments — ^Vicars of Hornby — Hackforth — Ainderby-Myers—
Hauzwell — Some notable families — The church — ^Ancient cross — The Rev.
Edward C. Topham — Through Scot ton to Richmond.

I ED ALE is another of the many places in Richmondshire
which apparently owe their origin to the Viking Conquest.
For in the prefix " Be " we have perhaps the Scand. Jy, W^,
(pronounced be) meaning a town or dwelling, a word that
enters largely into the composition of place-names in the north and east
of England known to have been peopled by the ancient Danes. But if
the little valley was characterised in ancient times by an abundance of
flowers,* attractive to bees, it is very likely the old Norse or Danish
settlers would make this a kind of emporium for the production of honey,
in which case the locality would be known as Bi-^l from the Dan. hi
(pronounced be) a bee. Such spots were always carefully selected by the
old Viking rovers, who set great store on honey because of their national
drink of mead.

In the time of Edward I. the Fitz Alans held 6 fees and the sixth
part of 1 fee in capite of the Earl of Richmond, in Bedale, Aykesforth,
Burel, Fritheby, &c., and the advowson of the church of Bedale, then
worth £100. Each tenant in capite of the Earls of Richmond had to
serve two months at Richmond Castle, and had his appointed quarters,
the Fitz Alans* of Bedale being, as I have before pointed out, in the Hall
of Scolland. Of their great stronghold at Bedale not a vestige remains
above ground, but there are extensive foundations to be met with near
Bedale Hall, in a field north-west of the church, which no doubt marks
its site. The Castle, like that at Killerby, is said to have been founded
by Brian Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel and Viceroy of Edward I. for
Scotland, who died in 1801, and whose effigy in link-mail is in the
parish church.

* I have already pointed out that the district has long been known for the
production of some of the finest roses in England.

152

The spacious interior of this fine old church (St. Gregory) is
interesting and contains several other ancient and modem monuments
and effigies, besides much beautiful stained glass. The large east and
west windows are especially noteworthy, and there is also a handsome one
erected to the memory of the Rev. J. J. T. Monson, M.A., rector, and
chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen, who died in 1861. The tower of the
church is one of the largest and strongest in the north of England, and
its staircase was formerly defended by a portcullis, the grooves of which
still remain. Having been built during the unsettled time of the Scottish
wars, in the reign of Edward II., it was doubtless used as a place of
refuge when the Scots invaded England after the battle of Bannockbum.
Before the Reformation there was a chantry in this church, dedicated to
Our Lady, and served by two priests, the clear annual revenue of which
was declared in 1548 to be £8 8s. 8d. At this time the population of
the parish was not less than 2000, or about the same as at present.

• The living of Bedale is a valuable one, being of the gross yearly
value of £2200, including 173 acres of glebe, with residence, and is in
the gift of Sir H. Monson de-la-Poer Beresford-Peirse, Bart., of Bedale
Hall, who is lord of the manor and chief landowner. For 85 years
(1855—1890) Mr. Albert Speight, now of Harrogate, was (blind)
organist of this church.

The town has undergone many alterations, and many of the older
houses have been rebuilt or removed during the present century. Our
view of the principal thoroughfare leading to the church, shews the old
market-cross and toll-booth (removed in 1845) on a market-day. It is
from a photograph of a contemporary painting kindly supplied by
Mr. Yeoman of Bedale.

A good deal of interest centres in and around Bedale, not the least
of which is the reputation the place has long enjoyed as the capital of a
grand fox-hunting country. Indeed nowhere in ^' Merrie England *' is
the love of sport more strongly developed than in Richmondshire, where
fox-hunting finds ardent supporters in every quarter. Prom the beginning
of the century, when Lord Darlington (afterwards 1st Duke of Cleveland)
hunted this country from Sunderland Bridge to Boronghbridge, the Raby
fox-hounds had established a great reputation, celebrated in song by
Squire Sutton of Elton :

** Let Uckerby boast of the feats of the Raby,
And Raventcar tell what the Hurworths have done."

The northern half of this vast country was hunted during alternate
fortnights from Raby Castle, and the southern portion from that famous
old posting-house, the Oeorge and Dragon at Catterick Bridge, where
ample accommodation was afforded for horses and hounds, and the off days

158

were sometimes passed in running four-mile heats on the race-course
there. The country was divided in 1832, when Mr. Mark Milbank, the
popular squire of Thorpe Perrow, and son-in-law of the noble Duke,
started the Bedale hounds, the northern boundary being the road running
eastwards from Richmond to the border of the Hurworth country,
rendered famous by Sir Ralph Lampton and the Wilkinsons. Mr. Milbank
held the reins with brilliant success, and was supported by a most
influential field, as was evidenced in the celebrated picture of the Bedale
Hunt presented to him in 1840 ; he was succeeded by the Hon. W. Ernest
Duncombe (now Earl of Feversham), who took over the country in 1856,
showing excellent sport until the death of his father summoned him to
Duncombe Park. Towards the close of his career as Master the country
was again divided, when Mr. Christopher Cradock came forward, and
with the assistance of (Billy) Mr. Williamson, a Past Master in hound
lore, formed a pack and hunted the northern or Raby portion of the
country with great credit, retiring in favour of Lord Zetland, who with
characteristic generosity took the horn, and hunts this fine country at his
own expense. Mr. John Booth, of Eillerby, filled the gap caused by the
retirement of Lord Feversham in 1867, and added renown to his well-
known reputation as an ardent sportsman and a first flight rider, though
handicapped by weight. To him succeeded Mr. (afterwards Sir) George
W. Elliot, during whose popular reign the new kennels at Fencote were
built, but pressure of Parliamentary duties, together with extensive
business engagements, and the declining health of his remarkable father,
compelled him to place the horn in the hands of Major Dent, a thorough
sportsman and a finished horseman, who undertook the duties of Master,
and now for a second time succeeds to the post after an interregnum of
eighteen years, during which Captain Wilson Todd has added fresh lustre
to the fame of this gallant pack.

Now we will direct our steps again to the north, referring to such
other things as do not appear hitherto to have been noticed. Crossing
the Bedale Beck, which separates the townships of Bedale and Aiskew,
we come to the village of Crakehall, divided into Great and Little
Orakehall. At the latter place, before the Reformation, was a three-acre
field, which paid yearly the sum of 3s. for the finding of a light to be
kept burning on the altar of the chapel of St. Edmund, Hunton, in the
parish of Patrick Brompton. Crakehall gave name to an ancient family
of note. John de Crakehall was Chancellor of Cambridge from 1846-8,
and Canon of Ripon in 1344. The quiet little village of Crakehall will
be remembered as the home of the Rev. Thos. Milville Raven, F.R.S.,
Scot., who after a day's illness died on March 30th, 1896, having been
the respected vicar of the parish for nearly thirty years. He was well-
known as a fii-st-rate amateur photographer, and one year he won the

154

first prize medal of the British Photographic Society. Some years ago
he bnilt, entirely at his own cost (about £3000), St. Mary Magdalene's
Church at Langthorne, which he also maintained at his own expense,
besides meeting part of the expenditure in connection with St. Michaers,
Crakehall. He took a great interest in historical and antiquarian lore,
and only a few weeks before his death had written to the author desiring
to subscribe to this work.

Mrs. Lanchester.

The Bedale Beck, just alluded to, is now spanned by a substantial
bridge of three arches connecting the town with the railway-station ; it was
the scene of a singular accident in the early part of the present century.
During the passage of a cavalcade belonging to Wombwell's menagerie
the bridge gave way, and a caravan containing a large and very powerful
elephant fell into the bed of the stream and was completely overturned.

155

Every available means were employed to extricate the van and its occupant,
bat owing to the bellicose behavioar of the imprisoned monster the efforta
of man and horse alike were fatile. Bat at last a capital idea saggested
itself. A pail of ram and ale was fetched from a neighbonring tavern,
and this was administered to the furious and distressed elephant, which
evidently enjoying the draught, soon rolled over in a helplessly drunken
state, when by the renewed efforts of all engaged the huge vehicle and
its slumbering inmate were brought safely to bank. The animal it is
said, appeared in no way disconcerted by its strange experience, and
resumed its journey as if nothing had happened.

Proceeding through Patrick Brompton, which has an interesting old
church, the hilly road may be pursued through Arrathorne and Scotton
direct to Richmond (8 miles). The village of Hunton is left a little
distance on the west. At Hunton died Mrs. Lanchester in the 107th
year of her age. She was a tall sprightly woman, who retained all her
faculties up to the time of her death, which happened somewhat suddenly
on New Year's Eve, December 31st, 1889, and was interred in Manfield
churchyard. Our portrait of her, from a photo by Mr. J. B. Smithson, of
Leybnrn, was taken only a few weeks before her death. She was bom
at Gallow Hill, near Bowes, on the 29th of May, 1783.

About a mile east of Arrathorne is the village of Hornby, the centre
of a somewhat extensive parish, and near which is Hornby Castle, the
palatial seat of the Duke of Leeds, standing upon a commanding site in
a noble park of about 500 acres. The mansion, which contains some
magnificent paintings by the old masters, was of the foundation of the
Norman family of St. Quintin, and it passed by marriage in the 15th
century to the noble house of Conyers. Some portions of the building
are said to be as old as Richmond Castle, but it was considerably altered
and rebuilt by William, Lord Conyers, who married Anne, daughter of
Balph Neville, third Earl of Westmorland. This great nobleman died
at Hornby in 1523, and is buried in the parish church here.

The late George Godolphin Osborne, 9th Duke of Leeds, who died
December 28rd, 1895, was a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and waa
the only nobleman of such high station who derived his descent from a
Lord Mayor of London, Sir Edward Osborne, who filled that ofiice in
1582. His Grace was of a retiring disposition, taking but little active
part in public business, finding pleasnre among his own family and
domains, in the exercise of field sports, and in literature, of which he
possessed a wide and cultivated knowledge. He was benevolent without
ostentation, and was recognised by his tenants as a good and fair-dealing
landlord. He is succeeded by his eldest son George Godolphin, Marquia
of Caermarthen, who represents the Lambeth Division of Brixton in
Parliament as a Conservative. Upon his coming of age in September^

156

1883, he was presented with a handsome timepiece by the Hornby tenantry.
Like his father he is an English Churchman and is patron of five livings.
The ancient chnrch at Hornby is supposed to have been reconstructed by
Sir John Conyers about 1418. It is noteworthy for its handsome Norman
arches, its sepulchral monuments, brasses, and other relics of archseological
interest. There were also several inscriptions in the church which have
now disappeared. One of these was in the east window of the south
aisle commemorating Sir John Conyers and Margaret his wife ; this aisle
having always belonged to the Castle. In it were interred the lords of
Hornby and their families. There were two chantries within the church.
On the south side was the chantry of St. Cuthbert founded in 1882 by

Hornby Church.

Thomas St. Quintin and Margaret his wife, and Christina, widow of
Robert de Hornby, to pray for their souls, &c.* In the north aisle was
the chantry of Our Lady, of the foundation of Thomas Mountforth.
In an ogee niche in the wall are effigies of a knight and lady of early
14th century date. There is also a niche in the same wall which has
contained an image of the Virgin. This division of the chnrch anciently
belonged to the De Burghs in right of the manor of Hackford, and in
succession from them to the Mountfords. In the registers of the church
• Pat. Rolls, 6th Edward III., part 8, m. 9.

157

nnder date March 16th, 1672, it is stated that Lord D^Arcy granted the
right to Mrs. Robinson and her family " to sit in the pew behind the
pulpit over the Monntford tombs, dnring the pleasure of the aforesaid
Lord D' Arcy and no longer." The reason for this privilege does not appear.

There are also two other effigies of a knight and lady in the church,
which have formerly been laid upon an altar-tomb, but now remain in a
mutilated state on the floor. There are two words in black letter upon
the knight's helmet, which have been construed into Jhesu Marie, but
Mr. Tiongstaffe, who took a rubbing of the inscription some 45 years ago,
(it being then much abraded) says it reads Johan Mare, and supposes
on the authority of Clarkson, that the monument may commemorate
John de Mawre, seneschal to the Earl of Richmond about 1285. But
these surmises of Clarkson and Longstaffe, nor yet that of Dr. Whitaker
(based on local tradition) can be regarded as correct. In the first place
the sculptures of the knight (with inscribed l\elmet) and lady clearly
belong to the latter part of the reign of Edward III. Several local
families, as the St. Qaiutins, De la Mares, and Daltons, who had lands
in this neighbourhood, came from Holdemess, in the East Riding, where
they had been seated from the period of the Norman Conquest. The
family of St. Quintin is said to have received its name from the capital
of Picardy in France, and to have attended the Conqueror on his invasion
of England. The connection between the families of Fitz Hugh and
De la Mare, Mere, or More, has been sufficiently set forth. Catherine
Parr, sixth and last wife of Henry YIII., married for her second husband,
John Nevile, second Lord Latimer, and had one son, John Nevile, Lord
Latimer, who by Lucy, daughter of Henry Beaufort, Earl of Worcester,
left four daughters and co-heiresses, of whom Lucy Nevile married
Sir William Comwallis, Kt., and from a daughter of this Sir William
are lineally descended the Ferroors of Tusmore, in Oxfordshire ; and
from the Fermors the present families of Towneley of Towneley, Tempest
of Broughton, and Maire of Lartington.

There must consequently have been some relationship between the
contemporary families of St. Quintin and De la Mare, but none of the
printed pedigrees or visitations shew this. Their names are frequently
found together in ancient charters, but how or when the family of
De la Mare came to be established at Hornby, and a De la Mare
monument erected in the Holderness chapel at Hornby, I have not been
fortunate to discover. Sir James de la Mare was witness to a deed of
William St. Quintin touching lands in Brandsburton in Holdemess,
temp, Henry III.,* and at the end of the 14th century the manor of

* This document bears the seal of William St Quintin, a crescent in the centre.
It is also noteworthy that in Lobineau*s //7>f0tr<^ de Bretagne (1707) the seal of
Jean de Maure (1298) is given as a orescent vaire. See Ellis's Antiq. of Heraldry
(1S69), p. 192.

158

Brandsbnrton was transmitted by Lora, daughter and co-heiress of
Sir Robert St. Quintin to her husband Sir Robert Grey, Kt., brother
of John Marmion. Sir John Grey, grandfather of Sir Robert, married
the heiress of the lord of Bedale, and Elizabeth, daughter and
co-heir of the said Sir Robert Grey, married Henry Pitz Hugh, of the
family of Fitz Hugh of Ravensworth. John, Lord Grey, brother of
Sir Robert Grey, died, without issue, in Spain, on a voyage with the
Duke of Lancaster in 1886. Tbe St. Quintins and De la Mares likewise
served under the same Earl, taking part in the wars in France and Spain.
I have elsewhere referred to Sir Walter de Urswick, who was at the
battle of Navarre in 1867, and whose effigy is in Catterick Church. It
is not unlikely, too, that John de la Mare, whose effigy, of similar age, in
the church at Hornby, took part in the same engagement. At any rate
I find his name enrolled among those knights and squires who were to be
considered from the nature of their tenure responsible for their quota of
supplies on the preparatory invasion of France by King Edward III.
The writ is dated at Westminster, 2nd of May, and the 12th year of his
reign, and among the names of those knights so commanded are WilFs
St. Quintin and Joh'es de la Mare.* There can be no doubt that this is
the personage whose effigy is in the St. Quintin chapel in Hornby
Church. Of the same family was William Maire, an archer with Sir
Gilbert Umfreville, Kt., at the battle of Agincourt.

John St. Quintin, who served under the Earl of Lancaster, and died
in 1897, was grandfather of Margaret St. Quintin (living 1426), the
heiress of that family, who married John Conyers, of Hornby, and who
thus carried the manor of Hornby to the house of Conyers, as before
related. There are in the church at Hornby some ancient but defaced
brasses of the Conyers, one of which is dated 1448, also a good one
(dated 1489) with effigies, of Thomas Mountford, his wife, sons and
daughters.

At the Dissolution of Monasteries the parish of Hornby is stated to
have contained 800 "houseling people,*' that is persons of full age.
Whitaker supplies a catalogue of the vicars down to the Rev. Cuthbert
Allen (1684-1716), who was succeeded by James Hayton, for 54 years
vicar (to 1770). Then came John Pigot (1770-88), Thomas Kirby
(1788-1800), William Alderson (1800-1809), and Jonathan Alderson
(1818-19). It was during the vicariate of the latter that the Rev. Jas.
Mark Pattison acted as curate-in-charge ; he was also chaplain to the
Duke of Leeds. He was the father of the eminent litterateur^ Mark
Pattison, and of the immortal " Sister Dora,'' of nursing fame, whose
statue adorns the town of Walsall, and to whom the beautiful Memorial
Convalescent Hospital was erected at Milford, and opened by the Bishop

• Vide Rot Scot., 12th Edward III., p. 629.

159

of the Diocese on April 19th, 1884.* Tlie old parsonage at Hornby was
situated in the Castle grounds ; the present vicarage having been erected
in 1828-9. Mr. Pattison removed to the neighbouring parish of
Hauxwell in 1819. The Rev. George Alderson succeeded as vicar of
Hornby, and held the incumbency for fifty years, being followed by the
Rev. kenry Dawson Moore (1879-94), and the present vicar, the
Rev. Henry Travis Boultbee. From 1849 to 1896 it may be remarked
there have been 31 vicai*s, presenting an average service of 17^ years in
that long space of time.

Hornby Castle.

A little east of Hornby is Hackforth, the birthplace of Dr. Cuthbert
Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, and brother of Brian Tunstall of Thurland
Castle, who was slain at the battle of Flodden a.d. 1513. At Ainderby
Myers, also within the parish of Hornby, there was a house, a toft, and
a croft given for the finding of an obit within the parish, of the yearly
value of 8s.

West of our road through Scotton stands Hauxwell on the southern
slope of the hills overlooking Wensleydale. Mark Pattison's sister in

* See the Life of Sitter Dora by Margaret Locsdale, a biography that has been
translated into most of the European languages. See also p. 84 of this work.

160

her sympathetic biography of " Sister Dora," who, as I have elsewhere
related, was born at Hanxwell, gives a pleasant account of this quiet
little place. Their father, the Rev. Mark Pattison, wlio died in 1865,
was rector of Hauxwell, having removed thither from Hornby as
previously related. He married a Miss Winn, the daughter of a Richmond
banker, and at Hornby parsonage their eldest son, Mark Pattison, was
born in the year 1818. They had a numerous family, and in this
neighbourhood the clever children spent their early days. Young Mark
was of a somewhat shy and retiring disposition, and delighted in rural
retirement. He was a good naturalist, and a devoted follower of the
gentle craft, there being hardly a stream for miles round his father's
home with which. he was not familiar either as an angler or as an earnest
student of the many natural objects about them. His subsequent college
life and career in the busy arena of letters are matters of common
knowledge. He died at Harrogate, (where he had gone to recruit his
health,) in 1884, and was interred in the neighbouring churchyard at
Harlow Hill. He left no issue, and his widow, a daughter of Captain
Strong, H.E.I.O.S., afterwards became the wife of the Right Hon. Sir
Charles W. Dilke, Bart., M.P.

The ancestor of another distinguished literary personage was also
rector of Hauxwell, namely the Rev. Elias Thackeray, who died here
unmarried in 1737. His nephew Thomas Thackeray, was trained by him
at Hauxwell and became Archdeacon of Surrey. His youngest son was
the well-known and eminent litterateur and novelist, William Makepeace
Thackeray, who died at Bayswater in 1868. The family was numerous
in Nidderdale, and can be traced there as early as the 14th century.*
Hauxwell was formerly the seat of some members of the Gale family, of
whom the Rev. Thomas Gale, D.D., Dean of York (1697—1702), and
his son Roger Gale, M.P., F.R.S., &c., the antiquaiy and Treasurer to
the Royal Society, who died in 1744, were its most prominent members.
The valuable Registrum Honoris de Richmond of the latter I have
frequently had occasion to quote in this work. The Hall is now the seat
of Col. Hamlet D. Wade-Dalton, who is a family connection of the
Gales, and lord of the manor of Hauxwell. This pleasant country spot
is indeed a " literary shrine ** of no inconsiderable interest, and it has
produced, too, a noteworthy centenarian in the person of the late
Mr. Thomas Nicholson, who was born here on March 12th, 1777, and
died in September, 1878, aged 101. He was the second son of the
Rev. Thomas Nicholson and Elizabeth Farrer, his wife, and was many
years town-clerk of Hertford. He afterwards became a commissioner
for investigating claims to grants of land in Tasmania, and a barrister
of the Supreme Court of that colony.

* See the author's Xidderdalc and the Garden of the Nidd^ page 385.

161

The antiquary delighted with his visit to Hornby, will also find much
to interest him in the neighbourhood of Hauxwell. In the ancient
chnrch here, dedicated to St. Oswald, are two recumbent eflSgies of a
knight and lady ; there are also several antique sculptured stones,
including a stone-coffin lid, of unusual design, which is figured in
Boutell's Christian Monuments, The Saxon cross in the churchyard is a
fine example of 7th century knot-work, with tablet perhaps once bearing
the name of the dedicatee (not improbably Jacob, the emissary of St.
Paulinus), and is undoubtedly one of the oldest ' Christian monuments
remaining in the country. See the tail-piece on page ] 70.

Before the Reformation there was a certain meadow at East Hauxwell,
called Lamp Ing, which yielded an annual rent of 3s. for the finding of
a lamp in the church at Hauxwell. This was doubtless to burn at the
altar, for strange to say we have no evidence that prior to the Reformation
lamps or candles were used by the minister or congregation for the
purpose of reading by. There was also a chantry of the De Burgh
family in the north aisle of the church, but no particulars of it are to be
found in the Certificates of the Commissioners appointed to survey the
chantries, hospitals, &c., at the Dissolution.

Before I leave Hauxwell a word is due to the memory of a former
rector, the Rev. Edward Charles Topham, M.A., who died in January,
1892, at the ripe age of 78. He was a gentleman well-known and
respected, not only in his own parish but throughout the Archdeaconry of
Richmond. Educated at the University College, Durham, he graduated
B.A. in 1847, and M.A. in 1850. After serving some time as rector of
Ladbrook in Warwickshire, he accepted in 1866 the rectory of Hauxwell,
and three years later was appointed by Bishop Bickersteth as rural dean
of Catterick West. He was ever considerate and attentive to the members
of his flock, and equally indefatigable in promoting the well-being
of his fellow clergy, being a generous benefactor to the North Riding
clergy fund, and for upwards of twenty years acting as secretary to the
Wensleydale Clerical Society, which he founded soon after becoming
rural dean in 1869. Mr. Topham was also an accomplished student in
theology, and published some years ago a meditative and able treatise,
entitled The Philosophy of the Fall and Us Remedy.

Our road now descends through Scotton, across the picturesque
Scotton Beck, whence an hour^s walk brings us back again to romantic
Richmond. Scotton, I may observe, was for many generations the
property of a branch of the knightly family of Fitz Hugh of Ravensworth,
one of whom, John de Scotton, went out to the Christian garrison at
Rhodes, and died there 19th Edward III. (1345).

162

CHAPTER XII.

Round about Askb.

Oliver Ducket^ — The Barracks — Anecdotes of former Swaledale Volunteers — Local
geology — Aske Hall — A beautiful estate^The late Earl of Zetland — Story of
the manor — Tor, the son of Odin — Meaning of Aske — A Scandinavian legend
— Aske Beck — Royal visits to Aske Hall.

I HE driving road from Richmond to Aske and Gilling passes
the gazebo of Oliver Ducket (an old beacon or signal-tower
to Richmond Castle which is supposed to have got its name
from a bygone family of watchers called Ducket), and this
upland highway commands a wide prospect of the country eastward in
the direction of the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills. In a clear
atmosphere Scarth Nick in the Hambletons, Eston Nab, and the mound-
like eminence of Godfather's Hill, near Middlesborough, are plainly
discernible. But a pleasanter foot-route to Aske is to leave the market
place by King Street and Queen's Road, then up Gallowgate and past the
reservoir to the Barracks. Or from the Queen's Road go up a narrow
lane past a quarry in the Red Beds before mentioned, which here dip at
an angle of about 15 degrees south-east towards the town. Hereabouts
the lover of wild plants will find a few good things, including luxuriant
specimens of the fumitory and wild mignonette. This lane brings yon
out to the same point.

The Bari'acks, which were built in 1877, cover about 15 acres, and
are now occupied by the 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. In a former
age, when wars were much more frequent than they are at the present
day, many were the young men of Swaledale who joined the scarlet-coated
regiments at Richmond, willing to stand by their king and country. If
not over elastic in their mental understandings these milk-fed dalesmen
were withal brave and stalwart fellows, who could shew a bold front
when the occasion demanded. When in the early part of this century
there was a threatened invasion of England by the French under
Napoleon Buonaparte, no difficulty was experienced in obtaining recruits
from the dales, who came into Richmond from distant moor and glen
and lonely farm, where many of them had followed the occupation of

163

labonrers or ehepherds from early yonth. Few of these, it turned out,
knew the names by which they had been baptised, having all their lives
been known by some personal peculiarity or sobriquet of kinship or
locality, such as " Fightin' Tom," " Bullock Jamie," " Aygill Jack," &c.
The sergeants indeed found so much difficulty in obtaining the real
names of the men that they were obliged ultimately to give up the quest,
and enter only those pseudo-names by which they were familiarly known.*
Consequently in the Volunteer Roll-Oall at Richmond for the year 1804
we find such remarkable names entered as Butter Owordie, Katy Tom
Alick, Mark Jamie Toss, Matty Jwoan Ned, Nettlebed Anty, Kit Puke
Jock, Screamer Tom, Docken Jammie, Rive Rags, Cotty Joe, Slodder,
Bowlaway, &c.

It seems also that such nicknames were in vogue in very early times,
for in a compotus of Ralph, Lord Neville, 15th Richard II., the free-
tenants are designated as Ric. Gretehed, Rob. Hardlad, Johanna Watwyf,
&c. Down to comparatively recent days many of the Swaledale folk did
not know their right names, or were so accustomed to these by-names
that they had forgotten them. Thus we are informed by the Rev. John
Ward (1865) that '^ Some time ago the postman took a letter to a person

addressed to a Mr. C , not a hundred miles from Gunnerside, but on

enquiring for such a name he was told by the one enquired of that he knew
of no such person. After considerable exercise of thought he ascertained
that it was for himself, whose real name had been forgotten for the
moment under the more familiar designation of Assy Will Kit." It appears
also that the drill-sergeants found it impossible to make most of the men
understand the difference when marching of the ordinary step and
evolution, right and left. This ignorance of a common descriptive epithet
led to the greatest confusion when on the parade-ground, and the
difficulty was not overcome until one of the officers thought of the
following ingenious and decidedly eflFective method. Every man before
going to drill had tied upon his right leg a narrow band or girdle of hay
and on the left a similar one of straw. Instead, therefore, of the sergeant
calling out, ''right, left, right, left," &c., as the step or movement
required, he shouted out, " hay-band, straw-band, hay-band, straw-band,"
&c., a visible sign which was at once underatood, and until the men had
been long enough to get versed in the proper language of the parade-
ground continued to be adopted.

Another ludicrous story I have heard relates to the same place and
period. Orders were given to ascertain the religious persuasion of each
of the men, and for this purpose the drill-sergeant placed them on parade

9 It is said that half of them really bore the old Swaledale patronym of
Alderson, but through generations of intennarrying of these families their identity
could not be established.

164

and then in a tone of command exclaimed, " Church of England men
step to the hay-band side ; Roman Catholics to the straw-band ; all
fancy religions step to the rear." The confusion that followed is better
imagined than described, for hay-banded legs got mixed up with the
straw-bands, the men not knowing exactly to which sect they belonged
or if they did belong to any sect at all, and to save themselves from utter
disgrace the bulk found a convenient refuge by falling into the rear.

But a truce to such tales. Just above the Barracks' gates you enter
a nan'ow lane on the right or " hay-band " side of the road, which leads

AsEE Hall.

through the fields, passing the Gingerfield farm-house to the left. In
this lane is a large gritstone erratic or ice-borne boulder, where the chert
beds crop out, and near the farm is a fault running east and west which
throws down the shales against the Main Limestone oxi the north, the
dip of the beds being as usual southerly. The scenery about here is
picturesquely broken into hill and dale. Presently you drop into a wood
and after crossing the musical Aske Beck continue along the path, which
leads in front of Aske Hall and thence through the beautiful and extensive
park in the direction of Gilling.

Aske Hall, the old family seat of the noble house of Zetland, is one
of the stateliest mansions of its kind in the land. Upon a site elevated

165

above the road, its broad, solid centre, with massive projecting wings and
castellated towers, all Inxariantly covered with ivy, presents a grand and
imposing picture. Yet these purely visual attractions play but a secondary
part in the abiding strength and design of the whole building, which
anconsciously reminds us of the days when civil war was rife and the
stout and stubborn dwellings of the barons of old bade seeming defiance
alike to the assaults of man and of time I A feudal pre-eminence,
indeed, seems to cling about the old place yet, and if we take up any
recent directory of the neighbourhood we find that the bulk of the
inhabitants appear in one way or another dependants, as they have been
from the remotest times, of the noble head of the estate. Yet there is
none of the squalor and poverty we usually associate with Norman
feudalism ; the estate everywhere is a picture of cleanliness and content,
the houses though small look neat and comfortable and have pleasant
gardens attached, the roads are well kept, the fences, trees, and plantations
are evidently well looked after, and the whole place has the appearance
of being carefully and judiciously managed.

The late Earl of Zetland took a great pride in the estate, and nothing
pleased him more than a quiet stroll about his beautiful domain, or to go
out on a fine morning to the moor and see his horses gallop. He was
an inveterate sportsman of the old type, who ran his horses for sport,
not for gain. He had reared and was owner of some magnificent racers^
including Vedette^ Bivouac^ and that wonderful flyer, VoUigeur, winner
of the Derby at Epsom, and conqueror of the invincible Flying
Dutchman at Doncaster. The latter race is one of the most memorable
on record, and the scene, we are told, will never be forgotten by those
who witnessed it, as it far transcended the excitement with which the
subsequent victory of the Flying Dutchman, in the great match at York,
was welcomed by its countless spectators. Never in the annals of racing
had there been greater enthusiasm manifested, or had a louder and lustier
cheer rang out from the thousands of voices than on the occasion when
Voltigeur won the Doncaster Cup. The animal was taken to Aske, and
given a right royal welcome, for large crowds gathered to witness his
arrival, and a special train of North Riding fanners, who had gone up to
see him run, accompanied him back. A proud moment was that in Lord
Zetland^s life, yet prouder still no doubt was it to the victor's trainer*
Robert Hill, whose affection for the horse was most conspicuous when
he hung caressingly round the animal's neck, while tears of joy streamed
down his cheek I

It was not however as a sportsman only that the late Thomas Dundas,
Earl of Zetland, will be remembered. As a politician he had entered
Parliament at the early age of 23, as M.P. for Richmond. That was in
1818, and he held the seat without intermission for 12 years. Subsequently

166

he represented York, and again was member for Richmond. He became
a prominent Freemason and held the position of Grand Master of the
Freemasons of England from 1843 to 1869, in which latter year he was
succeeded by the Marquis of Bipon. He also held up to within a few
months of his death the office of Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotnlorum
of the North Riding, the duties of which he discharged with characteristic
impartiality. As a friend to the church and education his lordship
behaved with a most liberal yet unostentatious hand. He erected in
1867 at his sole expense the beautiful church at New Marske, where he
is interred, and which cost upwards of £6,000 ; he was also a liberal

Rt. Hon. Thomas, Earl op Zetland.

benefactor to religion generally, no matter to what denomination
belonging. Tho schools at Richmond, Skeeby, Brompton, New Marske,
and Saltburn, were also handsomely assisted by him. He took a warm
interest in everything that concerned the district, and his death was
universally deplored. He was born February 5th, 1795, and died at
Aske on the 6th of May, 1873. His nephew and successor, the present
able and energetic owner of Aske, Ijaurence Dundas, Marquis of Zetland,
is too, I need scarcely remark, deservedly popular. He has done much

167

not only to improve the home estate, but also to advance the social and
material welfare of the inhabitants of the surrounding district. At
present (1895-6) he is the honoured Mayor of Richmond.

The old Hall, of which I give a view, came with the estate, into
possession of the ancestors of the present noble Marquis in the year
1760. Sir Laurence Dundas, the purchaser, made numerous additions
to the hall and out-houses, but the ancient tower of the former owners
was left, as it still is. In its original and uninjured state. Many other
improvements have since been made, including extensive work in the
gardens and in the erection of new conservatories, hunting stables, &c.
The latter are of themselves well worth a visit, being admirably designed,
light, lofty, and airy, and well adapted for the housing of the valuable
class of animals kept ; the monetary worth of the horses alone must be
reckoned by thousands of pounds. In the saddle or gear-room is
preserved the tail of the famous racer, Voltigeur^ which I have above
spoken of as an animal that stood almost alone in its day. The tail
is raven-black, in excellent condition, and measures about forty inches
long.

The manor of Aske had previously belonged to the ducal house of
Wharton ; Philip, third Lord Wharton, having purchased the property
from the family of Bowes in the reign of James L At this time the
manor, with its appurtenances, consisted of ten messuages, ten cottages,
one water-mil], one dove-house, ten gardens, ten orchards, 500 acres of
arable land, 200 acres of meadow, 500 acres of pasture, 100 acres of
wood, 1000 acres of juniper and brier, 2000 acres of moor and common
of pasture and common of turbary with the appurtenances in Aske,
Schalles ah. Scales, Gingerfield, Askmore on the south part of Ask Beck,
Coalgarth, Newclose, Heuitts als. Yewetts, Richmond, and Gilling.

Prior to its acquisition through the marriage, in the time of
Henry VIIL, of Richard Bowes, Esq., of Cowton, with Elizabeth,
daughter and co-heir of Roger Aske, Esq., of Aske, the manor had been
a possession of the family of Aske for nearly 500 years. Wihomarc, a
Breton, who was seneschal and chief servant to Alan, Earl of Richmond,
being the first grantee after the Conquest, his descendants took the name
of De Aske, and continued lords of this place till, as I have said, the
extinction of the line in co-heiresses in the reign of Henry VIII. In
Domesday Book the manor is declared to be a possession of Tor, or Thor,
a Danish nobleman, the owner of some score manors, all of which were
forfeited to Earl Alan, who granted nearly the whole of them to his
follower, Enisan (Musard). Tor, however, was permitted to retain one
of the manors under the Earl, namely that of Hutton Magna, or Hutton
Longvilliers, where he had about a hundred acres (one carucate) in
demesne, and seven villeins and four bordars with two ploughs. Tor,

168

according to the above Survey, is said to have resided at his manor of
Barningham, some two miles south of Greta Bridge — ^a lovely district^
celebrated in the poetry of Sir Walter Scott.

This Tor was honoured by being named after the great Scandinavian
god Thor, who is placed in the Edda among the moat valiant of the sons
of Odin. He was considered the defender and avenger of the gods, in
whom the old pirates put implicit trust, and they worshipped him as the
destroyer of their enemies and chief guardian of their liberties. But
this exalted divinity suffered much on the Christian irruption in
Richmondshire, albeit he has left the weight of his imperishable name
here in such places as Thoresby and Thoralby, in Wensleydale, and
Thormanby, near Easingwold, besides in many places abroad. And
thus I suspect that Aske, too, was called after the supposed lineal
progenitor of Thor, Ash^ the first man, although the name is softened to
Hasse by the Normans in Domesday, Yet this is no objection as
we have combinations of as^ asse^ asa^ frequent in Scandinavian
topography, which have the same meaning and refer to the pagan deities.
It was common to dedicate the names of particular places to such deities,
which were supposed to be then under their immediate dominion and
protection ; such were Asgard ; in Wensleydale Aysgarth, in old charters
written Asgarth, the place of gods ; near to it are Thoralby and over the
water Thoresby, dedicated to Tor or Thor ; Forcett, the Judge's seat ;
Yordas Cave, consecrated to the Norse earth-god, Ac, while in the name
of Wensleydale itself, a great stronghold of the Danes, may possibly lurk
the appellation of the mighty Odin, the supreme god of the Northmen
and their ruler and guide in council and war. To him almost all the
northern nations owed some manner of obeisance, and to him they
dedicated the fourth day of the week, called in old Norse, Odinsdagr ;
in A.S., Wodenesdffig ; I)utch, Woensdag ; English, Wednesday. In
ancient charters the name of Wensley is very variously and corruptly
spelled Wendeslaga, Wandesley, and the like, which renders it not
improbable that the village of Wensley, which gave the dale its name,
was sacred to this principal and all-powerful genius.*

But to return to Aske. Tor, the son of Odin, is traced in the Voluspa
of the Scandinavian mythology, to the first man Ask, and the belief as
I have said, bears reasonable weight that Aske, the sole possession of this
great Danish nobleman, was dedicated for all time to the ascribed
primogenitor of the race of Tor. As the Norse version of the creation
of man is extremely interesting, and pertinently illustrates the subject of

* Due note should be taken of the old Bpelling of the initial syllable In Wensley
as compared with Woden, though it is noticeable the Dutch omit the *'d," a
significant elision, shewing how authenticated names are corrupted.

169

this contention, I will transcribe the passage relating to it from a
translation of the prose Edda of Rask :

One day as the sons of Bor were walking along the sea-beach thej found two
stems of wood, out of which they shaped a man and a woman. The first, Odin,
infused into them life and spirit ; the second, Vili, endowed them with reason and
the power of motion ; the third, Ve, gave them speech and features, hearing and
vision. The man they called Ask, and the woman Embla. From these two
descend the whole human race, whose assigned dwelling was within Midgard.
Then the sons of Bor built in the middle of the universe the city called Asgard,
where dwell the gods and their kindred ; and from that abode work out so many
wondrous things, both on the earth and in the heavens above it. There is in that
city a place called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin is seated there on his lofty throne
he sees over the whole world, discerns all the actions of men, and comprehends
whatever he contemplates. His wife is Frigga, the daughter of Fjorgyn, and they
and their offspring form the race that we call the ^sir, a race that dwells in
Asgard the old, and the regions around it, and that we know to be entirely divine.

Wherefore Odin may justly be called All-father, for he is verily the father of
all, of gods as well as of men, and to his power all things owe their existence.
Earth is his daughter and his wife, and with her he had his first-born son, ASA-
Thor, who is endowed with strength and valour, and therefore quelleth he
everything that hath life.

To hypothesize npon Asa-Tbor having to do with the ascription of
Tor's manor of Hasse (Aske), may at first thought seem ridiculous, but
the whole evidence, historical and philological, is distinctly in favour of it.
At any rate Dr. Whitaker's assumption of its allocating an ash tree pure
and simple is vague and meaningless, and can only be correlated with the
cosmogonic tradition I have cited that the first man and woman were
fashioned from an ash-stem. Ash in this sense came to stand for a man,
hence ^sc, the name of Hengist's son.

Numerous charters relating to the manor have been transcribed by
General Harrison and need not be i-epeated here. One, however, may be
noted, of date 21st Edward I. (1292), which relates that Eudo de
Staynwigges (of the ancient family of Stanwick St. John) while crossing
Aske Beck fell from his horse and was drowned, and that William the
miller of Ask recovered his body. This premises a greater flow of water
at that era than the beck ordinarily contains, unless, as was probably the
case, the said horseman was attempting to ford the brook in a time of
excessive flood.

When King James I. visited Scotland in 1617, he journeyed by way
of York and Ripon to Bishop Auckland, staying one night (April 16th
— 17th) at Aske Hall, which was then the property of Philip, third
Lord Wharton, who sat in Parliament for more than forty years (1581 —
1625), and whose second wife was a daughter of Henry Clifford, second
Earl of Cumberland. The king, moreover, on his return from Scotland
in August, journeyed by way of Carlisle and Appleby, and stayed a night

170

at Wharton Hall, near Kirkby Stephen, at that time his lordship's old
family seat. In recent times the fine old mansion at Aske has also been
the scene of a Royal visit, when Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales were the guests of Lord Zetland on the occasion of
the opening of the Middlesbrough Town Hall in January, 1889.

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171

CHAPTER XIII.

Ancient Gillingshirb.

The Oilling valley — Local aspects of Scots' Dyke — Ice-borne rocks— The village
of Gilling — A capital-town in Anglo-Saxon times — Site of Anglo-Saxon
monastery proved to be at Collingham and not Gilling — Giliing at the
Conquest— Extent of Gillingshire—" Castle Hill," a Saxon stronghold-
Manorial history — The church — Ancient relics — Local characters — Old
customs — Morris or sword-dance — Song of Hagman-heigh.

0MIN6 throagh Aske Hall park from Richmond we
drop down into the pleasant Gilling valley, where is
the quiet old village of Gilling, the ancient capital of
" Gillingscire," as it is called in mediseval charters, with
its time-honoured parish church, mentioned in the
Norman Conqueror's great survey. There are several
old inns here, one of which has been in the Hedley family for about a
century. The late landlady, Mrs. Hedley, who died January 10th, 1896,
aged 77, was mother of Mr. Ralph and Mr. Johnstone Hedley, who have
both made excellent reputations in art circles, especially in Newcastle,
where the senior brother was recently elected President of the Berwick
Club.

The tourist approaching Gilling may see some portion of the wonderful
Scots' Dyke, or ancient British boundary-work before described {see
p. 102), which is traceable in a field called Cow Pasture or Gore Field,
whence it probably followed the direction of the present road through
Gilling, and still winding was continued to the spot a little on the south
of the farm called Kirklands. At the instance and bounty of the late
Duke of Northumberland this great excavation was carefully examined
and described, and a few plans taken (of little value however) by
Mr. Henry Maclauchlan, about fifty years ago, and he mentions several
spots where the ramparts and ditch are now all but obliterated. '' On
crossing Gilling Beck," he observes, "the dike exists well preserved,
having been planted with trees by the vicar of Gilling, to whom on the
enclosure of Gaterley Moor this portion was allotted. Thence following
the line beyond his house for about 400 yards, we cross the Roman way
from Greta Bridge towards Catterick," where the levelled ground seems

172

to shew that the dike was cut through and removed for the making of
this famous highway of the Romans. The elevation is here about 600
feet above the sea.

The old village through which the broad highway to this Roman
road passes is partly paved with cobbles, derived mostly from the beck,
and here and there stones of foreign origin may be detected, including
fragments of whin-sill (Teesdale basalt) which have been brought down
hither during the Ice Age. There is, I should say, a boulder of Shap
granite lower down at Easby, and none other has been recorded either in
Swaledale or Wensleydale. This appears to prove that the Tees and
Oilling valley glaciers were continuous, and that while the Shap and
Teesdale boulders have been carried far eastward, the ice has not been
of sufficient depth or thickness to overtop the Swaledale hills, and
discharge its burden of debris in that valley. The Easby boulder has
therefore in all probability come down the Gilling valley.

Oilling, as I have remarked, was a capital town, and a flourishing
centre of an Anglo-Saxon community long before Richmond had a place
in history. It was the principal town in the great northern fee of the
Earls of Mercia, and gave name to the two extensive wapentakes of
Oilling East and Oilling West. The district appears to have been the
scene of many martial conflicts, particularly in the seventh century,
between the reigning kings of Mercia, Deira, and Bernicia. Penda, the
pagan king of Mercia, was sent by Cadwallo, king of the Britons, with
an immense force into Northumbria with the object of attacking Oswald,
who had assumed the entire dominion in a.d. 635. Several engagements
ensued, but Oswald the Christian, proved victorious. Soon afterwards a
dissension having sprung up between Oswi king of Bernicia, and Oswin
king of Deira, the latter finding himself unable to engage in battle with
the great armies of his opponent, dismissed his men, and retiring with
a single soldier named Tonhere, was almost inunediately afterwards
treacherously slain (a.d. 651) by order of Oswi, at a place called by the
venerable Bede Ingetlingum. This place has been hitherto erroneously
declared to be Gilling. Dr. Whitaker, evidently following the assumption
of Camden, has even fixed upon a site for the monastery at Gilling, and
supposes that Wilfare's-dun or Wilfar's Hill (vide Bede), whither Oswin
told off his men is Wulshaw or Ulshaw Bridge, below Middleham, which
he says answers to Bede's delimitation of the distance, — ten miles south-
west of Catterick. Unhappily, with that oft-observed haste or impaired
vision manifest throughout the great historian's work on Richmondshire,
he has misread the words recorded by Bede, which are " ten miles distant
from the village called Cataract, towards the north-west^ We must
therefore look for this Wilfare's-dun somewhere in the neighbourhood of
Dunsley Bank or Gayles. Cade, however, conjectures that it was the

173

remarkable hill at Diderston, about three miles to the north of Gilling,
between which and the well-known Black Hill runs the Roman military
road from Scotch Comer to Greta Bridge, and this ascription he believes
may be interpreted by the British name, Wylfa-dun, t.0., watch-hilL But
the probability is that the name given by Bede is Anglo-Saxon, and one
that was adopted during the campaigns of Penda, Oswi, and Oswin. In
fact the name of Wilfhere or Wulfhere, — wherever the hill may be, —
occurs at the very period of which I write, in the person of that redoubtable
prince who in 657, or six years after the founding of the monastery at
Gsetlingum, succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians, of which the
southern part had been granted by Oswi to Peada, the brother of Wilfhere.
Gilling has always been supposed by historians to be the site of the
monastery founded by Eanfled, the beloved wife of the murdered king
Oswin, where according to Bede, prayers were daily offered up to God
for the repose of his soul as well as for that of Oswi the murderer. This
Christian queen Eanfled was the daughter of the great and good king
Edwin, whose seat or stronghold was at Barwick-in-Elmete, and in which
locality he fell in battle with the pagans a.d. 684. But Whitaker,
copying Camden, as I have said, is wrong, as it was not at Gilling, but
actually within six miles of Barwiok that this expiatory monastery was
erected, for the very dedication stone, inscribed in Anglo-Saxon runes,
has been turned up beneath the foundations of CoUingham Church. The
interesting stone was discovered some two feet below the surface, during
repairs to the church, and was laid on one side for a long time as a curiosity
merely and unintelligible. It settles however, beyond question, the site
of this famous monastery, which was established shoitly after the
introduction of Christianity into Northumbria ; the stone being therefore
one of the most precious and valuable historic relics preserved to us from
these early times. The inscription is still fairly good, and reads :

.SONFLBD THIS SSTT^ ^FTER GISIB^ TMB AUSWINI
CTNING GICBG^^rrH THiEB SAWLE.

Which may be interpreted : j^nfled this set up in memory of her cousin
[Oswi] and Oswini King. Pray for their souls. The stone, which is
33 inches in height, has probably never been far away from where it was
found, and it seems to be of the same material as the tower of the present
church, but being discoloured it is rather difficult to identify without
breaking it to see the grain. The place, moreover, is one well suited for
the site of a monastery, being on the warm magnesian limestone, and
there is an old quarry near at hand.

It may be argued that the site is too remote from the neighbourhood
of Gilling in Richmondshire, where Oswin led or assembled his men, but
considering that one of the most important thoroughfares in England at

174

that time, Watling Street, ran contignons to Gilling and ColliDgham, it
may reasonably be supposed that a ready and facile escape would be
made by Oswin from Gilling before he was overtaken in Gaetlingam*
{i,e, Collingham), as narrated by the venerable Bede. Bede lived but a
generation after the founding of this monastery at Collingham, and his
history of the place has after the lapse of twelve long centuries received
this singular corroboration of its accuracy.

But to return to Gilling. The whole of the surrounding country
was teiTibly devastated by the , troops of the Conqueror led by the
Breton Earl, who received this province from the king in part reward
for his assistance, which was considerable, as related in the account of
Richmond. In the Domesday compilation it is called Ghellinghes, and
it is stated there to have then had (a.d. 1086) a church and a priest :
the whole manor with its dependent berewicks, being declared to be
worth in the time of the Confessor £56. But after fire and sword had
done its worst it was returned as worth £4. Such of the population as
was left gradually withdrew to Richmond, which became the capital and
chief stronghold of the Norman earldom, and Gilling for a time being
thus deserted went to decay. In an extent of lands made 30th Henry II.
(1183) Richmondshire was then divided into three wapentakes, viz. :
Gilling, Hang, and Halikeld. In Gillingshire, as it is called in this
survey, there were 25^ ienemmtales, or tithings, and 2| camcates, which
offers a very poor comparison with the prosperous state of the division
prior to the advent of the Breton swordsmen. In the preceding era the
Saxon Earl Edwin had in Gilling above four good carucates of land, and
probably 16 ploughs. He had a fixed residence hei*e and it was also the
seat of State.t The " wide waste of all-devouring years " has however
left but scant traces of this important stronghold, but the site is generally
identified on the so-called Castle Hill, an eminence some 300 yards
north-west of the farm-house at Low Scales.

In 1278 the Earl of Richmond had a capital mansion-house in
Gilling, which may have been the survivor of the Saxon Earl^s stately
seat, the rent of which was an acknowledgment of 2s. Around it were
183 acres of arable land which paid a yearly rent of Is. an acre, and
there were also 13 acres of meadow, which paid yearly 5s. 2d. per acre,
and a valuable water-mill worth yearly £10, the soke of Gilling extending
northwards to the Tees. These with various other minor possessions at
Gilling then yielded a nett annual income to the Earl of £43 12s. 6d.

* Prounced Gatlingum (Bede'a ob representing a), t becomes asBimilated to 2, as
in Gillamoor and Rillington (in Donufsday^ Gedlingesmore and Bedlinton). Vide
the Rev. Daniel H. Haigh's Runic Monuvients in the Yorkshire Arch, JL, vol. ii.

f Forcett, a few miles to the north of Gilling, was as its name implies in Dan.
and A.S., Judges' Seat, the place where the courts of the tithing or hundred were
held. Here are some ancient earthworks probably of this era.

175

In the 9th Edward 11. (1315) John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond,
and John de Hertford were returned as joint lords of the manor of
Gilling. In the time of Henry VIII. it was granted to Sir John
Norton, Et., and remained with this family till the attainder of Richard
Norton in 1569. He is the daring hero of Percy's famous ballad, ^^ The
Rising in the North;" likewise the poet Wordsworth celebrated the
events of this tragic rebellion in his pathetic poem, " The White Doe of
Rylstone."* Norton, who was lord of Norton-Conyers, Gilling,
Hartforth, &c., was High Sheriff of Yorkshire at the time of the
insurrection. He eventually got to Flanders, and died there, but one of
his sons was executed. The Crown afterwards granted their possessions
at Gilling to Anthony Radcliffe and William Gerrard, gents., who sold
them to Robert Bowes, Esq. The manor next passed, 7th James I.
(1609) to Humphrey Wharton, Esq., son of Nicholas Wharton, Esq.,
of Kirkby There. He also purchased the manor of Aldburgh in
Richmondshire, lands in Eppleby, &c., and built Gillingwood Hall,
which became the family seat. The mansion unfoitunately took lire in
1750, and with all the furniture, books, documents, &c., was burnt to
the ground. The descendants of this family continue to hold the
manor. John Hall, Esq., of Skelton Castle, who was born in 1765 and
became M.P. for Beverley, assumed the name of Wharton upon
inheriting the Gilling estates in right of his wife. He died in 1843.
His nephew, John Thomas Wharton, Esq., of Skelton Castle, is the
present manorial owner, and the Rev. G. H. Laurence Wharton is the
present vicar, who, in virtue of ancient prerogative, has the right of
presentation to the livings of Barton, Forcett, South Cowton, Hutton
Magna, and Eryholme.

The mother church at Gilling, which was appropriated at an early
period to St. Mary's Abbey, York,t has a history that takes us far back,
like that at Catterick, doubtless to the time of the first preaching of
Christianity in Northumbria. The present building contains some
traces of the Domesday structure, but is on the whole of much later
date. The ancient consecration to St. Peter seems to have been quite
forgotten. It is now dedicated to St. Agatha. The vestry has a finely-
groined roof and contemporary doorway, while to the south of the vestry,
against the north wall, is a round-headed doorway, with a Norman
opening now blocked, forming part of the north wall of the aisle. The
chancel was restored in 1845, and has some modem deep-splayed windows,
in the Norman style, but the work is obtrusively poor. • As the choira in
the Richmondshire churches were never constructed with chapels or side
aisles, such private foundations were formed out of the terminations of

* See the author's Through Airedale from Goole to MaVuim^ page 248.
t See Surtees Soc, Pub,, vol. 26, pages 136-7.

176

the existing aisles of the church. Here the north aisle was reserved as
the burial-place of the Boyntons, lords of Sedbury, and there is a
magnificent tomb-slab to the " last heir of Sydbery of that name/* who
died in 1581. It is sculptured in black marble, of great hardness, hence
the excellent state of its preservation. The floor of the aisle is, however,
not a deserving place for so perfect a monument, which I understand is
not its original position, but was placed there when the church was
restored. The slab bears carvings in relief of the knight and his lady,
with their respective arms at the head. She was the daughter and heir
of Bertram Lumley, Esq., lord of Ravensworth. Their only child and
heiress was Elizabeth, who married (1) Sir Henry Oascoigne, Kt., and
(2) Sir Thomas Hilton, of Hilton Castle, co. Durham. Around the
margin of the tomb is inscribed :

f^tc tacet. I1V0. f^ettcu0. bosnton, msles. ulttm' i)ere0 lie dptibrTg, tstt' no'ts
et essabella luor eiu0. qui bii** ft' ianuarii obiit an'o li'ni in* ccccc^njf P quor
ant'b'. p'pictctur. Iieu0 ante'.

And at the corners of the slab are cut the symbols of the Evangelists.

This chantry of St. Nicholas was of the foundation of Richard
Bamingham and Sir Henry Boynton,* and in 1536 was returned as of
the annual value of £4 18s. 4d. Robert Galer was then incumbent, and
in the certificate of 1548 Robert Wilkinson was declared incumbent.
There was also a chantry priest at South Cowton, in the parish of Gilling,
besides six other priests belonging to the same parish, all at the finding
of the vicar of Gilling. As the population of the parish was in 1548
stated to consist of 1200 ''houseling people,'* these ministers to their
religious needs cannot be said to have been overburdened with work.

The beautiful glass in this church is worthy of notice. The fine east
window is a memorial to Mre. Georgina Jane Abercromby Gradock, wife
of Christopher Cradock, Esq., J.P., of Hartforth Hall. She was the
daughter of Major Duff, of the 98rd Regiment of Foot, and died in
1865. The large and very chaste west window was erected by parishioners
and personal friends to the memory of George Gilpin Brown, Esq., of
Sedbury, who died in 1889, aged 74. This beautiful window is the work
of Mr. Alfred 0. Hemming, of London.

Lying within the church are some fragments of Anglo-Saxon crosses,
or pillar-stones, — the earliest form of Christian monument erected after
the introduction of Christianity into Northumbria. In the porch are
two tomb-slabs of early date. One bears an ornamental cross and shears,
a kind of memorial-stone rarely or never found except in the great sheep-

* For notes on the Boynton family sfe Turner's Yorkshire County Mag. (1898),
pages 143 — 5.

177

rearing districts of the north. The other bears a sword and a shield
containing the device of three bears rampant.

Oilling has given name to a family whose lineage Is exhibited by
Harrison from the time of Henry I. None of them however appear to
have attained any special distinction, unless it be Walter de Oilling, who
was in the king's service daring the turbulent reign of Edward I. In
recent times there was bom here James Gordon, author of 8( Ouide to
Orofi, Dvnsdahy Darlington^ Jkcy and for some time assistant secretary to
the Surtees Society. He practised as a solicitor at Richmond, but
removed to Durham, where he died in 1837, at the premature age of 84.*
Oilling may also be remembered as the birthplace of a totally different
character who for many years was well-known in the dales in the busy
and diverse capacities of '^hardware dealer, knife, razor and scissors
grinder, minstrel-piper, conjuror, educator, and magic-expositor/* His
name was ''Billy Bolton,'' and he was born at Oilling in 1796,
afterwards following the occupation of whitesmith. There are many
persons now living who can remember seeing Billy trudging his knife-
machine to some village or sequestered dale-hamlet, where, after he had
done such work as could be obtained, he would collect a crowd, and sing
or pipe or recite to them in a loud and sonorous voice some favourite
ballad or ditty, or perchance with book in hand endeavour to edify his
rustic audience with a chapter or so from a tattered and evidently much-
fingered History of England. The reading was copiously commented
upon, and occasionally when point was to be given to any particular
passage he would bring down his fist upon the book with such emphasis
that the volume sometimes fell in fragments to the ground. There is
reason for supposing that his discourses were appreciated, for I have
heard some old folks declare that the best history they ever learned was
from '' Old Billy " on the occasion of these visits. In his old age he
found a generous patron in a London merchant named Pattison, whose
father, the Rev. W. J. Pattison, rector of Oxwell, had long known our
village minstrel and expositor, and who gave him what encouragement
he could, so that when the old man settled down at Burnsall in Wharf edale
he received a weekly allowance from Mr. Pattison, which kept him in
comparative comfort till his death in 1881.t

While we are at Oilling, full of recollections of minstrelsy and history,
we may as well set out on a tour of exploration, as the district abounds in
remains of things storied with events of the far past ; and among the old
customs too, now fast disappearing, are some that recall even the long-
vanished era when the Roman legions beleaguered this impoitant vantage-
ground between the Tees and Swale. Such is the ancient Morris or Sword
Dance, which used to be carried on with spirit and enthusiasm iu most of

• See Genfs. Mag,, 1838, ii., 556, &c. f ^^ Craven Pioneer, Sept. 17th, 1881.

178

the villages about Richmond and Oilling. Olarkson describes the custom,
which he says can be traced to the Romans, and Wallis affirms it to be
a survival of the ScUmatio Armata of the Roman Militia on their Festival
Armilustrium, when *' the young men march from village to village, with
music before them, dressed in an antic attire and before the vestibulam
or entrance of every house entertain the family with the moius incpmpositus^
the antic dance, or chorus armatus, with sword or spear in their hands,
erect and shining. This they call the Sword Dance. When they
receive a gratuity their gratitude is expressed by the firing of a gun, &c.**
Another peculiar local observance of undoubted antiquity was the
Hagmena Songs or Song of the Hagman, or Hagman-heigh, which was
celebrated annually on New Year's Eve. In recent times it was usually
the pinder of the village who went round, followed by a troop merely of
onlookers, and at each house he approached, sang out this rhyme :

To-night it is the New Year*B night, to-morrow is the day,
We are come about for our right, and for our ray,*
As we us'd to do in old king Harry's day.
Sing, fellows, sing, Hagman-heigh I &c.

The spectators would then join in the chorus. Many conjectures have
been made as to the origin and meaning of these Hagmena songs, which
used to be common in England, Scotland, and in some parts of France.
Some suppose them to be '^ Holy-month *' songs, having special reference
to Christ's nativity.! There can however be little doubt that in this
district the so-called Hagman is simply another word for Hedge-man
or Wood-man, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon and Scand. hag,
JiageUy meaning a hedge, fence, or paled enclosure, and cognate with the
Celtic cae. In former times when wood was a staple necessity of life,
being largely used for constructive purposes as well as for fuel, the
vocation of wood-man must have been one of indispensable and peculiar
importance, to which every community was more or less indebted. As
some recompense, over and above his salary, the head wood-man (whose
place in later times, as I have said, was taken by the pinder or cattle-
tender) came round annually at the end of the year, announcing his
presence and object by pronouncing the Wood-man's song, which meant
in modern usage a " Christmas Box." The word hag locally means a
wood, and entera into the composition of both place-names and personal-
names, as Haigh, Haywood, &o. At Fremington, for example, was one
Richard of the Hegges or Hagges, who paid subsidy in the time of
Edward I.,{ and the name of the Haggs, and Hagg Cottage exist at
Fremington to this day.

* Bap or rei, a Portuguese coin ; 100 reia are worth about 6d.
f See Chambers's Book of Days, vol. ii., page 787.
+ See Harrison's Oilling Weit^ page 260.

179

CHAPTER XIV.

Around Gillikg.

Sedbury — King George III. and Qatherley Moor — Dideraton, a possession of
Jervaux Abbey — Some old roads — Hartforth and its ancient families — Field
walk to Whashton — A village that gave name to the family of General
Washington — General Plantagenet Harrison — HiB remarkable career — A
wonderful pedigree— Harrisons in the West Indies — A lost Chancery case.

|R0M Gilling it is a pleasant walk of about four miles by
Sedbury Park to Middleton Tyas, or from Gilling by Sedbury
to Skeeby and Richmond. Sedbury, sometimes written
Sedburg, was formerly the home of the ancient family of that
name, one of whom, Adam Sedbury, was the last Abbot of Jervaux, and
who for '' conscience sake " joined in the revolt against the suppression
of monasteries, and died "a martyr" at Tyburn in 1537. Sedbury
afterwards became the property of the Boyntons, Gascoignes, and
Darcies. In 1826 the estates were purchased by the Rev. John Gilpin,
vicar of Stockton-on-Tees, whose family are still the owners.

Proceeding northwards out of Gilling we soon come to the road
striking westwards to Greta Bridge. The forward road goes to
Melsonby and Aldbrough, over Gatherley Moor, and in a short mile
crosses the Roman military way, above-mentioned, from Scotch Corner
to Bowes. It is through an open, fresh, upland country, which inspired
no less a personage than King George the Third to exclaim on his death-
bed, " Oh, for a gasp of Gatherley air." This was the route the king
generally took on his journeys to and from Scotland. The road to
Bowes cuts through the Scots' Dyke and runs between Diderston Hill
and Black Hill, passing on the right an entrenched piece of ground,
with traces of a large building upon it, locally known as Grange Castle.
It marks no doubt the site of Diderston Grange, a lodge and store-house
belonging to Jervaux Abbey. In the 14th century Diderston consisted
of upwards of a score tenements with their appurtenances, besides the
Grange. I am persuaded from the name Diderston, which in Domesday
appears Didreston, Dirdreston, that the hill here was an exploratory

180

fort, fifst of the Britons and afterwards of the Romans, guarding the
pass between it and Black Hill on the sonth. If the name bears a
Gadhelic meaning, deir (an occupation or dwelling), dres or drws (a
gate or pass), and dun (a hill-fort), it does seem likely that this Roman
way was formed upon a trackway of the earliest Celtic immigrants to
this part of England. The spot has been undoubtedly of great strategical
importance, commanding as it did a busy thoroughfare of the Roman
troops at no great distance from its junction with Watling Street. Here
again another old road crops up. Between Diderston Hill and the
highway to Melsonby is Jagger Lane, a narrow old road which runs from
Marske north-east by Hartforth and over Gatherley Moor, joining the
main road a half-mile south of Melsonby. This particular lane is
however more recent, and seems to have been made in historic times for
the convenience of transit of lead from the Swaledale mines to Stockton,
Darlington, and other places in this direction. It runs through Barton,
where a singular custom obtains of presenting the lord of the manor
with a horse-shoe studded with its complement of nails. Whether this
service or recognizance had anything to do with the lord's maintenance
of the road at an early period, is apparently not known.

Hartforth, above mentioned, must have been a place of some note in
former days. Harrison cites upwards of a hundred charters, fines, and
feoffments respecting it, in addition to extended pedigrees of its lords
and occupiers, the Hertfords, Tempests, Nortons, Serjaunts, and
Cradocks. There is now no village proper, and the Hall, situated in a
retired spot in a large and finely-timbered park, is now the seat of
Christopher Cradock, Esq., J.P. The manor was purchased in 1720 by
William Cradock, Esq., of Gilling, who built the Hall. The monasteries
of Jervaux and Coverham had lands in Hartforth. The weaving,
dyeing, and fulling of cloth seems to have been carried on here at an
early period, and the old water-mill is mentioned in deeds of the 13th
century. In 1341 it is recorded that one John le Walker fell into the
mill-dam at Hartforth and was drowned, and at the inquest upon the
body a jury of twelve men was summoned from Gilling, Hertford,
Ravensworth, Wassyngton, Aske, and Skitheby.

Apart from the ancient roads and camps above mentioned there is
nothing particularly noteworthy about Hartforth. The tourist may
therefore, by following the Greta Bridge road about a mile, turn to the
left along the old " jagger lane," and passing within view of Hartforth
Hall, take through the open fields by Hartforth saw-mill and over the
trout-beck up into Whashton.

Whashton possesses no visible attraction, but it has the pure air of
an elevated situation to recommend it. One of its two inns bears the
uncommon sign of Hack and Spade, The village occupies an edge or

181

plateau of limestone extending from Whashton Hag to Eirkby
Ravensworth, and commands a noble view of the Hambleton and
Cleveland Hills, Eston Nab being on a clear day very conspicuous. But
if there is nothing much to be seen in the village itself there is a good
deal to be learnt, for Whashton, anciently spelled Whassyngton, and
Washington- juzta-Ravensworth, has the distinction of having given
name to the family which in the 18th century produced the celebrated
Ueneral George Washington, first President of the United States of
America (pb. 1799). He was descended from Leonard Washington, of
Warton, co. Lancaster, recusant, who died in 1657, whose son Laurence
emigrated to America in 1659, and settled in Virginia. Leonard's
ancestor was Robert Washington, lord of Milbume, co. Westmorland,
temp, Henry IT I., whose descent is traced by Harrison to Bonde, lord of
Washington-juxta-Raveusworth, to whom his father, Akary fil Bardulf,
lord of Ravensworth, gave the manor of Washington in the time of
King Stephen. This Bonde de Washington gave half a carucate of
land in Washington and one toft and one croft belonging thereto to
Marrick Priory in the reign of Henry II.

Bat besides General Washington having descended from this humble
and insignificant Yorkshire village, another soldier General and famous
historian and antiquary to boot, claims it as his native place. General
Plantagenet Harrison, author of the large folio volume of the History of
Gilling Westy &c., states that he was born at Whashton on the 14th of
July, 1817. The family came from Stubb House, co; Durham. The
GeneraPs father, Marley Harrison, having been disinherited by his'father
Cornelius Harrison in 1806, he Marley removed to Whashton, and died
by a fall from his horse, while returning from Richmond in July, 1822.
General Harrison, the historian, though a man of bold and eccentric
character, had undoubted abilities whether regarded as a soldier or
warrior in the field of battle, or as such in the field of historical and
antiquarian research. He was entirely self-taught, and through his own
efforts and industry succeeded in winning for himself a remarkable and
decidedly unique position. Although his great book has been severely
handled by many critics, and its accuracy over and over again tmduced,
especially the pedigrees, yet it must ever remain a monument of wonderful
painstaking, and in respect to its exhaustive catalogues of charters, an
invaluable reference on questions of manorial-title, and such subjects as
concern the legal transmission of land.

When I visited Whashton I remember having some little difficulty in
ascertaining which was the old home of the Harrisons, but the house was
at last found at the lower end of the village.

The General died in July, 1890, aged 73. Time and the vicissitudes
of life had considerably assuaged and modified his manner to a degree

182

even of gentleness and affability, yet he never entirely relinquished his
eccentricities. In his pedip:ree, which fills five folio sheets of bis

General Plantagbnet Harrison.

published book, and is emblazoned with the arms of nearly every
European nation, besides those of numerous kings and princes, his

188

ancestral allies (!), he traces his descent to the great Scandinavian
mytho-god Odin, 76 B.C., and then coming down with astonishing
lacidity he enters himself in the following style, remarking that all his
ancestors in the direct male line have stood upwards of 75 inches in
statare, — a remarkably interesting piece of information not without
significance, at any rate, in early Scandinavian ethnology. Although
his family, I may say, strongly objected to these extraordinary deductions,
and thereby incurred his displeasure, yet the pedigree is a masterpiece of
ingenious manipulation, which it is impossible to let pass unnoti(>ed.

" George Henry de Strabolgie Neville Plantagenet-Harrison, born 1 4th July,
1817. By the providence of Almighty God, in right of blood, Prince of Plantagenet-
Skioldungr (which means legitimate prince of the legitimate blood-royal of
England and Scandinavia) ; Duke of Lancaster, Normandy, Aquitaine and
Scandinavia ; Count of Anjou, Maine, Guienne, Poictou, &c. ; Earl of Lancaster,
Chester, Richmond, and Kent, &c. ; Baron Plantagenet, Neville, Percy, &c. ;
Hereditary Knight of the Orders of St. George and of the Garter ; General of
Brigade in the armies of Mexico in the war of Yucatan, 1843 ; Brigadier-General
in the army of Peru, 1844 ; Brigadier-General in Monte-Video, 1845, and same
year Marshal-General of the army of "God and Liberty *' of Oorrientes in the
Argentine Republic ; General of Cavalry in the Danish army during the Schleswig-
Holstein war, 1848, and afterwards, same year, appointed Lieut-General of the
German Confederation by His Imperial Highness the Archduke John of Austria,
at that timti President and Vicar-General thereof. Was appointed a Marshal in the
Turkish army by the Sultan Abdul Med j id Khan in 1858, but was not permitted
by the British Government to serve either in the Turkish or any other army.
Petitioned Parliament for summons to Parliament by his title of Duke of Lancaster
in 1858, as heir of the whole blood of King Henry VI. Has compiled the first six
volumes folio of the Hittory of the County of York entirely from the Public
Records hitherto unknown, and is the translator of Domesday Book, &c. Has
travelled through nearly all the countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America,
north, south, east, west, and central.**

Assuredly an eventful and most extraordinary career I Our portrait
of him is taken from a painting in'oil done in 1844 (then aged 27), and
shews him in the uniform of a Peruvian General. He married and left
an only child, Blanche Plantagenet, who was married at Islington
April 27th, 1892, to John 0. C. Routh, Esq., of Wood Hall, Ajsgarth.

The Oeneral's father, Marley Harrison, resided many years in Jamaica
and other parts of the West Indies, and in the will of his father,
Oomelius Harrison, of Stubb House, co. Durham, dated January 2ud,
1806,* he is stated to have ^^at all times refused to go into or set about
any useful employ," and that he ''spent in idle rambles of pleasure
various sums of money he has received from me, and has moreover
unjustly seized upon the effects of his poor brother, Peter Harrison, in

* 8te Harrison's OUling West^ pages 344-6.

184

the West Indies, for a very considerable amount, although the said
property and effects, by his dying without a will, wholly belonged to
me,** &c.* In consequence he was disinherited with the exception of an
annuity of £50 for life, bequeathed by the terms of the said will.

I have vainly endeavoured to trace their connection with the family
of Harrisons of Skipton-in-Oraven, one of whom went out to the West
Indies about the time that Peter and Marley Harrison were there. This
Harrison (who had a brother Elijah Harrison, a cattle dealer living at
Oononley about 1830) married there a wealthy coloured lady, and during
a voyage to a neighbouring island the vessel was wrecked and they were
both drowned. Leaving no will their estates, consisting of extensive
sugar-plantations, worth many thousands of pounds, were temporarily
retained by the Government, and an effort was made by advertising in
several Yorkshire and Lancashire newspapers, to ascertain the next-of-
kin of the said Harrison. In answer to this advertisement there were a
great many applicants, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Rochdale, where
the Harrisons were most numerous. Meetings were held, and a
subscription was got up with the object of sending out a party to
investigate and report upon the case. Among the subscribers interested
wei*e the Harrisons, Moorhouses, Glaphams, Milligans, &c., who lived
chiefly about Skipton, Keighley, and Bradford. The party in question
went out, but nothing, I understand, was ever heard from them ; then a
second party was despatched, one of whom was young Mr. Roundell of
Oledstone, probably Mr. Septimus Ward Roundell, who died unmarried
in 1865, aged 70. This party in due time reported, and stated that the
estates in question were of very great value, and that certain authenticated
certificates of the parentage, baptism, &c., of the Harrisons would be
required before the estates would be transferred. Whereupon a search,
which continued many years, was made among the registers in numerous
parishes in Graven and the adjoining parts of Lancashire, but without
the desired success. The present writer's great-uncle, John Moorhouse,
who narrated these facts to him about twenty years ago, and who was
then living at Elslack near Skipton, said that he, being then a young
man, went with Mr. Henry Clapham, familiarly known as '* old Harry
Clapham," to many towns and places, in Yorkshire and Lancashire in
quest of the needful information, which to his knowledge was never
found. Therefore what became of these valuable West Indian possessions
or who may now be the owners or holders thereof, it is impossible for me
to say. The above Henry Clapham had married a sister of Elijah Harrison
of Cononley (who was prominently interested in the case), and the

* Our historian denies this, and says that Marley Harrison was abroad for
fifteen years, and his father did not know where he was.

185

latter were coasins to the above John Moorhouse, who died in 1891,
aged 81. His father, Thomas Moorhouse, died in 1863.*

Whether these Harrisons were any connections of- the North Riding
or Dnrham Harrisons, I have not, as stated, been able to prove, yet the
coincidence is remarkable and I have thought noteworthy, that two men
of the same name should emigrate about the same time (a not very
ordinary occurrence at that day) to the same far-distant West India
islands, and both dying intestate, leave valuable possessions there.

* See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd, page 394. For notice
of John Harriflon, son of a Yorkshire carpenter, who invented the timekeeper
which procured for hira the reward of £20,000 from the CommissionerB of the
Board of Longitude, tee R. V. Taylor's Yorkshire Anecdotes. This Harrison died
in 1776, and his sons made two Yoyages to the West Indies.

186

CHAPTER XV.

In the Land op the Vikinos.

Kirkby Bavensworth — Fine prospect — Extent of pariih — Local longevity —
Amusing anecdote — Meaning of Ravens worth — The church — Interesting
memorials — The Free School — Ravensworth Castle and the Fits Hughe —
Description of the castle — The village of Ravensworth — ^An old law — Oaylee
and the Wycliffes — Prehistoric evidences — A curious ancient tenure — Brughton
Newsham, and New Forest — Bounds of the New Forest — Hergill — ^A tramp
over the moors — Ancient wolf preserves — A wide, wild country — Down the
Clapgate Pass into Marske.

|E are still wandering in the old Vikings* land, a mgged and
picturesque district teeming with an almost inexhaustible
interest. Coming to the old church of Kirkby Hill, which
I doubt not stands upon the site of a pagan temple, a
glorious prospect opens out to the north, west, and east, while the well-
weathered castle-like tower of the sturdy edifice rising proudly from the
rocky promontory on which the church is built, is a notable object for at
least a hundred square miles round, and forms I am told a prominent
landmark for mariners at sea.

The elevated band of limestone which runs through Whashton to
Eirkby Hill is cut off by a north and south fault a little beyond the
church, and this limestone forms a fine escarpment looking down upon
the spreading plain below, where stand the few sturdy remains of the
old feudal castle of the Fitz Hughs, with the ''pratty village" of
Ravensworth, as Leland quaintly calls it, close by.

The parish of Kirkby Ravensworth includes the townships of Kirkby
Hill, Ravensworth, Whashton, Gayles, Dalton, Newsham (part of), and
New Forest, and covers an area of about 25,600 acres, having a resident
population of little short of 1000, or roughly speaking allowing about
25 acres for every soul ! No complaint can be made of the want of
elbow-room, or of impure air on the score of overcrowded population,
and the district consequently abounds in instances of longevity. One of
the most notable cases that has come under the writer's notice is that
of the late " Dolly Horsman," of Kirkby Hill, who was an exceptionally
vigorous and hearty woman up to within a short time of her death. At

187

the age of 99, however, she accidentally fell over the door-scraper beside
her house, and the injuries she received by the fall ultimately proved
fatal. Her granddaughter, a sprightly, nimble woman of 78, now
occupies one of the alms-houses in the village.

There is an amusing side to th^se instances of longevity. Not very
long ago an Irish family, I am told, was living in this district, when the
head of the house having been taken ill, the doctor was sent for. After
examining his patient the physician remarked, '^ I should like to know,
air, if your family, which I understand is strange to this neighbourhood,
has been long-lived ?'* The patient appeared a little nonplussed by this
interrogation, but at length, looking wistfully into the doctor's face,
replied, " Long-lived, did yo' say, sir ? Well if I must tell you all about
it, our family comes from the province of Munster, and the age of my
ancestors depended entirely on the judge and jury who tried them I "
That was certainly a candid avowal, but in ancient times when war was
perpetually raging, the length of a man's life did not depend so much
on ^^ judge and jury," but greatly on the number and skill of the enemy.

Ravensworth (in Domesday Ravenswet) was, as I have said, the centre
of a Danish or Scandinavian colony ; the personal name, Hrafen, being
one renowned in history and is specially distinguished by its emblematic
cognizance of the raven, which was prominent in all the bold and
hazardous exploits of the Viking hosts. Their battle-flags had upon
them figures of the boding bird, and numbers of ravens were brought
from Scandinavia to this country, where for ages they were looked upon
with superstitious dread and fear.* But the old northern warriors loved
to hear their grim croaking and see them skirmishing in the air, for
where the raven flew or settled, there the old Viking knew success would
follow his daring enterprises.! In the suffix worth we have the Scand.
ward^ wart^ A.S. waerd^ meaning a watch-tower, beacon, or place-guarded,
and a very suitable spot this is too for such a station and observatory,
where we may confidently believe the ensign of the usurping northmen
would long fioat in the breeze I

The church at Eirkby Hill was built about the middle of the 14th
century, but there are many evidences of an earlier structure still visible
on the site. Within the church is a Longobardic (early 14th century)
inscription to one Oerard de Homebie,^ evidently from the previous
church. Built into the outside walls are several Norman carved stones,

* They built among the crags of Swaledale and at one time were very numerous.

t The tail-piece on page 186 illuBtratee an old Danish galley with ravens flying
in its wake.

X The local family of Mare. Maure, or De la Mare, appears to have assumed the
name of Homeby. In Hornby church is the Hth century effigy inscribed
Johan Maure, already noticed.

188

with, cnrionsly enough, parte of a sepalchral slab (18th century) bearing
the device of a cross and sword with a misericorde or smaller weapon on
the sinister side, which has been broken in order to use it for a building
stone. The porch, with ite crocketed pinnacles, is noteworthy. Above
it in front is a niche which once held an eflSgy. Over the stone seat to
the right upon entering is an example of carved panelling, shewing the
interlacing or transition of the semi-oironlar arch, which led to the
adoption of the pointed sweep, and may be said to give proof of the
original incidental cause of the introduction of the pointed arch. Over
the centre of the doorway is a defaced shield of arms, and on the upper-
most string-course at the angles of the great tower are four other shields
of arms.

The church which is cited as a taxable property in 1086*, was given
with the tithes of the lordship of Ravensworth, shortly after this date,
by the then lord of Ravensworth to St. Mary's Abbey, York. In the
reign of Henry II. this wealthy monastery presented the tithes to
Marrick Priory, saving payment to the monks of St. Martin's, near
Richmond, of 4s. yearly. An inspection of the interior of the church
is not without interest. There is a tablet to the memory of Thomas
Wycliffe, Esq., of Oayles, who died in 1821, and who is stated to be the
last male descendant of the ancient Richmondshire family which in the
14th century produced the reformer Widiffe. Harrison gives his
pedigree shewing the connection with the family of Wycliffe, of Wycliffe-
on-Tees. This Thomas Wycliffe's father, John Wycliffe, of Gayles,
was a barrister-at-law of Oray's Inn, who died in 1769, and was also
buried in the family resting-place at Eirkby Ravensworth. Beneath the
communion-table is the vault of the family of Robinson, with their
arms and crest pourtrayed upon the burial-stone. They purchased the
manor of Kirkby Ravensworth and Whashton from the citizens of
London in 1638, but the estates were sold again by their heirs to the
Whartons of Edlington some forty years later. Another noteworthy
memorial in the church is the monument of the Rev. John Dakyns, LL.D.,
the last rector of Eirkby Ravensworth. He founded the free school and
alms-houses here in the time of Queen Mary. A zealous Papist, he is
said to have taken a strong part in the religious persecutions of that era,
and he it was who was commissioned to see to the burning of the prison-
worn martyr, Snell, at Richmond, in the last year of that sad and direful
reign. Fortunately no doubt for his own position and safety he died
within a fortnight of his short-lived Queen and patron.

The above-mentioned Free School and Hospital of the foundation of
Dr. Dakyns, was for ''the instruction of boys and youths and the
sustentation and relief of the aged poor and indigent born within the
parish of Eirkby Ravensworth." At this rural seminary was educated

189

the celebrated Matthew Hntton, some time Canon of Windsor and
Westminster, afterwards Archbishop of York, and in 1757 Primate of
all England. At the time this disting:nished scholar went to Eirkbj
Hill the little school was taught by a Mr. Lloyd, who in 1704 was
jHromoted to the Free School at Ripon. Young Button, then a promising
boy of 12, went with him and continued his pupil for about six years.

Among the original statutes regulating the appointment of the
schoolmaster were the peculiarly characteristic ones requiring him to repeat
the Kyrie Eleiaon and other prayers ou entering the school, and to say
mass at least twice every week, at the altar of St. John the Baptist,
where he was to pray for the safety, while living, of John Dakyns, their
Majesties Philip and Mary, and others, and after death, for the repose of
their souls, &c. But the ^* joy-bells *' which rang in the ascension of
Elizabeth to the English throne, and made England the '' central rock *'
and refuge of Protestantism, annulled these pious decrees of the devoted
Catholic benefactor within a very short time of his death.

The old Orammar School adjoins the churchyard, and on the spacious
and pleasant green close by is a copious and beautiful spring, which many
a thirsty traveller must remember as a blessed landmark, or should I
rather say watermark^ in his pilgrimage I

But we must now descend the steeps of Eirkby Hill to the equally
ancient village of Ravensworth, observing on the way the solitary
fragments of the widespread castle — but a few bones, as it were, left of
the skeleton of a once mighty stronghold where the lords of Ravensworth
terrorised over every invader for nigh 600 years ! The Fitz Hughs,
whose ancestors are said to have lived heriB from the time of King Canute,
were lords of Ravensworth as well as of many other lands and manors.
They were men of might and renown in a stormy period of our history,
sometimes enjoying the friendship and close confidence of their sovei'eigns,
holding many important offices ; they were also great benefactors to the
religious houses, and founded the Abbey of Fors in Wensleydale, after-
wards translated to Jervaux, where many of them are interred. They
were moreover leaders in various capacities and participants in most of
the great events of their time. The last heir-male of this noble race
was Oeorge, 8th Lord Fitz Hugh, who died without issue in 1512. His
estates were then divided between his aunt Alicia, wife of Sir John Fienes,
and his cousin Sir Thomas Parr, lord of Kendal in Westmorland, the
latter taking Ravensworth in part share of his inheritance. His son,
William Parr, created Lord Parr and in 1548 Earl of Essex, died without
issue in 1571, when his estates were escheated to the Crown. After
various transmissions, cited by Harrison, the manor of Ravensworth was
sold in 1814 to Sheldon Cradock, Esq., of Hartforth, whose family are
the present owners.

190

The castle has been in ruins for upwards of three-and-a-half centuries,
as we gather from Leiand. Its position, in such a flat and low-lying
situation (Leiand calls it a '' maresground ") without any natural
advantages, is i-emarkable, but it has been encompassed with a necessarily
broad and deep moat, which is still in parts perfect, particularly on the
north and east sides. The buildings have covered a considerable area
and were of stout proportions, both stone and mortar being of astonishing
durability. Had Telford, the engineer, ever set eyes on this venerable
stronghold, his heart would have rejoiced, for lime and cement were his
'^ daydream and delight," and whenever his friends waxed warm on social
or political subjects he would suddenly exclaim : '^ 0, bother the question,
let us talk about lime I" The cement with which the castle was built
possesses indeed a wonderful tenacity, and seems to have been composed
partly of pounded oyster-shells, bits of which can be picked out. I have
heard that when the castle was used as a geneml quarry for building
purposes, the masons often found it more remunerative to obtain and
dress fresh stone, rather than labour in separating the adhesive mass
composing the old castle walls.

The castle was enlarged in the reign of Richard II. by Baron Henry
Fitz Hugh, who had a licence from the king to empark 200 acres, in
other words to more than double its former area. The wall of this
baronial enclosure, which is three miles in circuit, is still in great part
perfect, composed of massive stones, and is now about a yard in height
and the same in thickness. Of the few remains of the castle now standing
are two ruinous towers and a gateway, where the large square bolt-holes
of the old draw-bridge are still visible. At the south-west angle there
is also a fragment, enclosing a small apartment, known as the Bell Tower,
and looking up you can see where the bell-ropes have hung, used in
calling the good folks to mass. On the outside there is a black-letter
inscription, now almost defaced, but it seems to have been :

ipc t*nfi tfi'c fata fau0 tc ortgo alpfja tc oa

(ue,^ Christus dominits, Jhesus viafons et origOy alpha et omega). Within
the castle was a chapel dedicated to St. John the Apostle, and a chantry
dedicated to St. Egidii, where two priests were engaged to sing daily for
the welfare of the founder, Henry, Lord Fitz Hugh, and Alesia his wife,
whilst living, and for their souls after death ; likewise for the souls of the
founders and benefactors of the Hospital of St. Egidii near Brompton-
on-Swale. This chantry was founded in 1467 by the 6th Baron Fitz
Hugh, a famous personage, who in 1460 was appointed steward of the
honour of Richmond and chief forester of the New Forest of
Arkengarthdale and Hope. He was engaged in most of the wars of the
time, and shortly before his death went with Sir Thomas Tunstall and

191

others on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His wife, and co-fonnder of the
chantry, was a daughter of Richard Neville, the great Earl of Salishnry,
and sister of the powerful Warwick, the king-maker, a nobleman whose
character and actions are drawn with so much vividity by Lord Lytton
in his Last of the Barons.

The pleasantly-situated village of Ravensworth contains a very ample
green, almost large enough for a shooting-match, but in a parish where
25 acres is the average recreating-ground for every individual, this is
perhaps not to be wondered at. It has a fine sycamore tree upon it ;
formerly there were several trees here, also some old stocks, now broken
ap, but the base of what is called the Old Cross is still preserved near
the tree. There are several inns, and various houses ; some of them were
old and thatched, and have been re-built, and the place has now quite a
modern appearance. In Harrison's lengthy catalogue of local charters is
one of Edward I. (1278) relating that a certain Richard Hulk, of
Eirkby, killed William Stellyng with a club in this village, and that he
was in consequence outlawed. Whether Hulk was a regular resident in
the village we are not informed, but the law was very strict about
harbouring strangers or lodgers at any time, and in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth an Act was passed whereby no house or cottage was to be held
by more than one family, and that every owner of such house, &c.,
suffering any additional inmate or lodger to dwell for the space of a
month within such house, &c., should forfeit to the Lord of the Leet the
sum of 10s. per month so long as the transgression continued. These
lodgers were locally designated " undersettles," and were often tramps or
pedlers moving from place to place, but frequently respectable men or
women who were temporarily hired out, and were necessarily obliged
to return to their homes or shift their quarters within the legally-
stipulated month. Acts of transgression were not unfrequent, and one
such case is recorded of Ravensworth, when one Leonard Marshall, John
Ramsbawe, James Foster, and Richard Dunn, all of Ravensworth, were
each fined 10s. for keeping '* undersettles " a month, contrary to statute,
at the Richmond Quarter Sessions, held October 8th, 1607.

At Ravensworth we are only about a mile from Oayles Hall, the old
home of the Wycliffes, before mentioned, and now a farm-house. The
village is scattered and is in a semi-moorland district. It is called in
Domesday Aiia-Dalton, and in subsequent deeds, &c., Dalton-Gales,
Dalton-le-Oaills, Dalton-Gayles, Oales, and Oayles. Dalton the adjoining
township is also mentioned in Domesday, and about half of it and the
whole of the manor of Oayles were the property of Oospatric, a noble
Dane, prior to the Norman seizure. I suspect these were alien territories
occupied by Celtic Oauls (whose language, manners, and religion, were
identical with the Oauls of France,) on the Danish irruption and seizure

192

of Eirkbj Ravenswoith, as already explained. Oayles really seems to
possess the same meaning as Gallia, the Celtic equivalent to Galatia,
signifying the country or district of the Oauls, from the Celt, ta, a land
or territory, and gaily a stranger, applied to the Gaulish immigrants who
settled here before the birth of Christ. The affix gall enters into several
place-names within our territory, as in Galicum, one of the principal
towns of the Brigantes, and wherever it occurs there we always find more
or less distinct evidence, in the shape of fortifications or earthworks, of
prehistoric possession. Moreover, what we in this country denominate
caimsy are in some parts of France called galgaU^ a word which has
probably its origin in the same root, signifying foreign or strange heap.*
Between Gayles and Dalton, and not far from Dalton Beck, is a large
earthwork and enclosure covering about 80 acres, marked on the Ordnance
maps " Camp," which has apparently been a stronghold of "the stranger "
we are speaking of. Harrison affirms, but I know not on what authority,
that it was the seat of Gospatric, yet when we consider that this wealthy
landlord, who was possessed of not less than SO manors, of which Dalton
was one of the least important, it is more than probable his residence
was elsewhere.t The general outline of the camp, unfortunately, afiFords
no clue as to who were the originators of it, and nothing is known to have
been dug up on or near to the site of it. The form of the camp is an
irregular quadrangle, suited to the nature and configuration of the ground
it occupies, in the fork of the Dalton Beck on the west and the Gayles
Gill Beck on the east. An earthen rampart extends along the south side
with an entrance-way admitting to the main camp and enclosure.

What tribute these "strangers" paid the conquerors of their dominions,
or by what tenure or service they were permitted to retain their lands,
will probably never be known. Yet I may mention a curious local
imposition or acknowledgment which may have some bearing on the
subject that has come down from the long past to present times.
At Dalton a certain field is let on consideration of the tenant finding a
grindstone for ever for the use of the inhabitants of the township. This
primitive arrangement was doubtless a very useful and acceptable dischai^e
in an era when the land belonged not to the individual but to the
community, and is no doubt a custom which has survived from very
remote times.

Of other ancient places within this parish, but possessing no special
features of interest, are Broghton, where the Knights Templars had a
large estate ; Newsham, which in a.d. 1086, is stated to have belonged

* Such a stone heap formerly existed some little distance to the south of Gayles,
which many years ago was examined and found to contain a skeleton. The spot
is known as ** Stone Man."

t See the author's Xidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd, pages H6-7.

198

to two thanes, Ulchil and Sport, who had their '* halls " there ; and the
township of New Forest with the hamlets of Helwitn, Hallgate, and
Casey Green. The latter division is frequently referred to in this work ;
it adjoins Arkengarthdale, and was annexed to that manor and forest.
In 1607 the bounds of the New Forest were thus defined : *^ Beginning
at the riverlet near Slapewache near the standing-stone, and so ascending
the said riverlet as far as Skalegreen, and then ascending by the Long
Green side, as far as the Wham, called the Mearesike-head, and so direct
as far as the stone called Pinhill, upon the hill called Frankeshowe, and
so direct towards the west as far as the spring called the Skegg Arundell
Well, and then descending the riverlet called Arundell Becke, as far
as the riverlet called the Forest Becke." The township now comprises
some 8000 acres, of which about 2000 are wild moor and fell. The neat
Mission Room in this out-of-the-way moorland spot, where services are
held once a month, has lately been completely renovated through the
generosity of the lord of the manor, Mr. Gilpin Brown.

We may as well now tramp back over the moors into Swaledale, and
as we pass through Ravensworth up to Kirkby Hill, let us try the echo
against the old castle, which is excellent, but only heard when immediately
opposite the large ash-tree, which stands alone by the way-side.
Proceeding up the hill, on your right is a deep gully, bounding a line of
fault, and having limestone on the west side and freestone on the east,
with presence of coal. This gully is supposed to mark a line of road
which led to the old castle ; it goes forward up the hill, where it is known
by the name of Hergill, either from the Teut. haer, an army, or from
the Celtic argel^ a covered way, or perhaps from the Celt, oirgael or
oirirgael,^ the dike or boundary of the Gaels (see Gayles).

From Kirkby Hill we mount the stile near the alms-houses, and
follow the field-path up in a north-easterly direction to Sturdy House
Farm, a tenement, one would think, which ought to justify its name in
so high a situation. Close by runs the road between Richmond and
Marske, and aiming for the latter place we take the turn right and cross
the elevated land with Feldom Moor to the right, a grouse-range
belonging to Mr. Hutton, of Marske, and the large fir-woods belonging
to Lord Zetland on our left.

In pre-Norman times this high tract of ground, as well as most of
the secluded gills around, literally swarmed with wolves, but when the
country at a later period became more populous, and the forest laws were
in full force, these savage creatures were not so numerous, and special care
was taken by the lords of the forests to preserve them. Thus in 1171
the monks of Jervaux, who owned the farm and lands at Feldom,
received a grant from Earl Conan, of Richmond, of free pasturage

* Oliver Gill, in the Scots' Dyke, seems to be a modern corruption of this word.

194

within his domain of New Forest, stipulating however that no hounds
or mastiffs were to be kept there, and that the wolves were not to be
driven away from the pastures. If we had all the records, what horrid
stories we should have of children and others attacked and devoured by
these blood-thirsty creatures. The laws were very strict at this time ;
no one even being allowed to keep any large dog without its being
properly expeditated, that is, to have three claws cut off each fore-foot
to prevent the dog from hunting.

Pursuing our road through this former wolf-haunted dominion,
presently we get a very comprehensive view of the wild, far-reaching
Arkengarthdale Fells, with some of the lofty points of Swaledale
conspicuous westwards. As we begin to descend, the tall stone pillar on
Gallop End (the old deer-park belonging to Marske Hall) comes
prominently in sight. The monument was erected in 1814 as a memorial
and index to the burial-place of Captain Matthew Hutton, a son of the
squire of Marske, who had always loved this romantic spot for the
magnificent prospect) it commanded.

We now come down into Marske by the steep Clapgate Pass, having
on our left the Applegarth Scars, once part of the old chase belonging
to the Fitz Hughs, of Ravensworth. Away to the right runs the wild,
bare Clapgate Gill, by the side of which an old ^* jagger-road *' can be
traced under the line of trees on the upper ridge. It ran by Marske to
Bowes and Barnard Castle, crossing the beck in the bottom where now
is a picturesque stone bridge. In November, 1771, as is recorded in the
Marske registers, two brothers, William and Joseph Rokeby, were
drowned in this Clapgate Beck while returning from Richmond, and lay
there undiscovered from Saturday till the Monday following. They
were found locked in each other^s arms. A neat headstone in the
churchyard at Marske is erected to their memory, whereon it is stated
they were the sons of William and Jane Rookby, of Greta Bridge,
descendants of the gentle family of Rokeby, of Mortham, whom Sir
Walter Scott has immortalised in his world-known poem of Bok$hy.

195

CHAPTER XVI.

Marbke.

Romantic situation of Marske — A " Sleepy Hollow " — Meaning of Marske and
Marrick — Early manorial history — Pride of ancestry — Acquisition of the
manor by the Buttons — Archbishop Button — His family antecedents — The
original home of the Buttons — Descent of the Marske estate— Matthew
Button, Archbishop of Canterbury — Mr. John and Mr. Timothy Button —
Marske Ball — The church — Manor of Glints — A romantic site — ^Lost on the

I HE situation of Marske is highly romantic, and canflot bnt
fill the most blase of travellers who is a stranger to it with
pleasurable feelings, as from whichever direction it is
approached, the snug and retired aspects of the place are
singularly striking, and moreover come upon you with somewhat sudden
surprise. A quiet nook it is in a huge, cauldron-like dell, where the
only break upon the all-pervading tranquility is the perpetual ** boiling"
of the peat-brown beck in its bottom-most depths. Dr. Whitaker
declares there is no scene in Richmondshire which bears any resemblance
to this ; ^* it is," he says. '* one of those Alpine valleys, which though
nature has not adorned, she has furnished with features capable of being
adorned by the hand of man." This defect has since been removed and
the encompassing heights are now richly clothed with woods, due in most
part to the energetic care and taste of a former lord of Marske,
Mr. John Hutton.

I shall not readily forget my last visit to this remote and romantic
village, which I had not seen for many years. It was a beautiful autumn
eve ; the sun*s heat had been unremitting throughout the day, and a
drowsy stillness brooded over high moor and lowly dell. As I descended
by the Skelton Moor road and looked down into the quiet glen, how
apposite seemed those lines of Longfellow :

'^ A region of repose it seems,
A place of slumber and of dreams,
Remote among the wooded hills, —
For here no noisy railway speeds."

196

The thought came, too, of that *' Sleepy Hollow " wherein old Rip van
Winkle rose after his long years' slumber to find the self -same hills and
cots and stream around him, while himself alone had changed ! The
houses on the hill-side, the quaint old church close by, the handsome
manor-hall on the opposite side of the dell, the rustic stone bridge
(mentioned in 1582*) and circling high-road in the bottom, all — all
remain the same I The old corn-mill alone is gone ! This picturesque
building was removed some years ago when the hall-grounds were
improved and drained. I give a view of it. Ponnerly there was a
small inn here, known by the perhaps not inappropriate sign of the

The Old Hall and Mill at Marske.

Dormouse; it is now a temperance house, where perchance a belated
traveller might obtain a shelter for the night.

The poor and meagre account of Marske which Dr. Whitaker
furnishes in the History of Rkhmondshire is in striking contrast with
the learned and exhaustive treatise supplied by Canon Raine to the
volumes of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. It will be unnecessary
for me here to do more than outline this history and correct a few
apparent errors. Marske, says Canon Raine, is not mentioned in
Domesday, but General Harrison says it is. The latter is undoubtedly
wrong, for " Mange " which he cites under the title of Marske, refers to
Marrick. I suspect the proper word is " Marige," and was misread or
miscopied by a Norman scribe. The name of Marske seems never to

• See North Riding Records, vol. iii., page 21.

197

have suffered sach a corraption as the adoption of this word wonld
imply ; the Marske in Langburgh wapentake being spelled in Domesday
Mersc and Mersch. Marrick, on the other hand, is written in early
charters, Marige, Marrig, Marrynge, Maryck, and the like, having the
Teutonic meaning of either meery a lake or marsh, and ing^ a meadow,
thus vjotery meadow ; or of Old Dan. meer^ A.S. mare or gemtBre^ a
boundary, and trie, a town or village community, which may also apply
to Marsk, which adjoins Marrick ; thus Merse, another name for
Berwickshire, is no doubt so called from its being the boundary county
between England and Scotland. Marske, anciently Mersk, is, however,
I think simply a literal rendering of the Scand. mersk^ Anglo-Saxon
merscy meaning a marsh, or hollow subject to inundations.

Harrison cites Oospatric as the ancestor of the family of Mersk, but
gives no proof. Dr. Whitaker says that the first lord of Marske on
record is Ardulph de Oleseby, a.d. 1808, but Canon Raine has perspicuously
shewn after some research that this is not so, although he labours under
some difSculties respecting the first descents, which do not seem to be
very clearly elucidated by Harrison's later work. The facts, however,
appear to be these. Bobert de Mersc, who was lord of Marske in the
time of Henry II., had a son Roger, father of Robert, who was living
36th Henry III., and was father of Robert, lord of Marske, who
dying without issue, the manor of Marske went to his younger
brother Roger de Mersc. The latter married a sister of Roald fil Alan,
lord of Constable Burton, &c., who had lands in Marske, and by her
left an only daughter and heiress, Alicia, who became the wife of
Harsculphus de Cleseby.*

The manor of Marske was thus inherited by the family of Cleseby
by marriage in the time of Edward I., and not by purchase as has been
stated. With this family it remained about a century and a half, when
Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Robert de Cleseby carried it by
marriage to the Conyers, of Hornby Castle, co. York. The forfeiture of
the estates by the Clesebys does not seem to have been suffered without
strong manifestations of disappointment by the male members of that
family, for as our author points out, on the 12th of June, I486, the king
issued a writ to enquire into the circumstances of an assault said to have
been made upon the house at Marske by Harsculph Cleseby, late of
Marske, gent., and others. They appear to have armed themselves some-
what after the manner of the Raydale rioters, described elsewhere, and
to have attacked the house and driven out the adherents of the Earl.
Canon Raine advances the reasonable supposition that the Clesebys were
the original owners of the manor or had lands there at a much earlier

* That she was the sister, and not the daughter, of Roger de Mersc, is an
obTioas misprint in Harrison's descent of the Clesebys.

198

199

period than is suppoBed, and that the Marske branch eventually assumed
the name of Marske. Thus they felt the sequestration of the family
estate keenly after having held it so long. Naturally, one might think,
proud of their ancestiy and of their time-honoured connection with
Marske they perhaps felt some concern for its future descent, yet the
Conyers were a gentle family soon to be ennobled, while they, the
Clesebys, seem at that period to have had nothing much to boast of but
pride of ancestry. To retain a feeling for and honour of one's ancestors is,
I grant, an excellent and praiseworthy thing, but pride of ancestry alone
is certainly a very poor basis upon which to build one's whole life. And
this reminds me of a story of a certain personage who had never done
any thing particular for himself, but who was boasting one day in the
presence of a self-made man of the distinction of his ancestors. ''There
is nothing," he added, '* like knowing who you are and having proper
respect for your ancestors. The feeling helps to raise one and keep one
out of degenerate ways."

'' It is a very good motive," replied the self-made man, '* and you do
well to be proud of your ancestors ; but I think that my respect for my
descendanti9 is about as good a motive." *' Bespect for your descendants !
What do you mean ?" " Why, you see,", answered the self-made one,
" I want them to be proud of their ancestor."

But I am delaying the subject in hand. The Conyers by this marriage
obtained a large property, including the manors of Marske and Pathnell
in Craven, and a messuage, four bovates, and 215 acres of arable land
in Cleseby, Thornton Steward, Horton-in-Craven, Remington, Newsom-
in-Oraven, Swinden, Amcliffe-in-Craven, Settle, Horton-in-Bibblesdale,
and Thomton-le-Moor. By the death of William Conyers in 1556 the
family possessions again became vested in a heiress : Johanna, who
married Arthur, second son of James Phillip, of Brignall. The latter
individual appears to have been a rancorous, aggressive, self-seeking man,
without much character or position, and this forced alliance with the
house of Conyers led to a great deal of ill-feeling and unhappiness
between the two families.* But they did not retain their ill-gotten
possessions very long ; the family soon got broken up and dispersed, and
there is probably now not a Phillip remaining in Richmondshire.

In 1596 Arthur Phillip of Marske, Esq., and Francis Phillip, his son
and heir-apparent, Talbot Bowes of Richmond, Esq., and Anth. Besson
of Gray's Inn, gent., agree to sell the demesne of Marske for £8000 to
Timothy Button, Esq. ; and in 1601, at the solicitation of Matthew
Button, then Archbishop of York, the manor was finally conveyed to the
said Timothy Button, Esq., the Primate's eldest son. The adjoining

* See the account (with engrayings) of the so-called '* Magical Tables ** foand
on Gatherley Moor, in Whitaker's Riohmandthire^ and Clarkson's Richmond,

200

estate of Marrick Priory had been purchased by the Buttons a few years
previously, and continued their property till 1680, when it was sold to
the Blackbumes for £8800.

Marske, however, has remained the patrimony of the Huttons ever
since its purchase by Archbishop Button now close upon three centuries
ago. Many foolish stories have got into circulation respecting the origin
of this eminent old family ; some have stated that the first Archbishop
(there have been two Archbishops in the family) was a foundling, a poor

Seal op Matthew Button, Archbishop of York.

boy, in fact little better than a beggar, and the legend of his crossing
Cam Fell and removing a cow in order to warm his bare feet on the
spot is a literary bonne-bouche that has gained wide currency and has been
served up in various ways. But the Archbishop^s father, also called
Matthew Button, was a man of very respectable standing, who lived at
Priest Button, in the parish of Warton, co. Lancaster, a parish wherein
his ancestors had resided from at least the time of King Stephen. It is
almost certain they were members of the noted family of Button, of
Button Ball, Penrith. Adam de Boton, living at that place in the

201

reign of Edward I., appears as one of the witnesses to Walter de
Ljndesay's charter of liberties to Warton at this period. Fuller, the
church historian, who was an intimate of the first Archbishop Button,
says that the family was of Button Ball, but expresses a doubt as to
where the house was situate. As no Button Ball has ever been known
to exist in the parish of Warton, the inference is reasonable that the
Penrith homestead is implied. Barrison affirms that Priest-Button took
its name from Matthew Button, a Priest of the Order of St. Benedict,
who resided at Boton-juxta- Warton, temp. Benry YI. (three generations
before the Archbishop), but as Barrison's pedigrees are notoriously
untrustworthy, the statement may be doubt^. An inspection of the
parish registers at Warton (commencing in 1568) shews in fact that all
the entries relating to the Buttons of Warton appear as of Button only
up to the time of the founding of the school in 1594 by the Prelate,
then Bishop of Durham, when the name Priest-Button occurs for the
first time.

Young Button (afterwards Archbishop) in 1546, then, as some say,
seventeen years of age, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1557
became a Fellow of his college. In 1561 he was made Regius Professor
of Divinity, and in June of the same year he was selected by the Yice-
Chanoellor of Cambridge to be one of the twelve preachers to be yearly
chosen by the University with the Queen's permission. Be could not
then have been much above thirty yeai-s of age, and progress so rapid
could hardly have been expected of a ^^ foundling ** or ^' beggar.** In
1564, Canon Raine tells us, Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to Cambridge,
and Button kept the Divinity Act before Ber Majesty with so much
ability and learning, that his promotion to still higher honours became
almost certain. In 1567 he was advanced to the Deanery of York,
where his capabilities and zeal were so conspicuous that in 1589 he was
installed Bishop of Durham, an onerous position in that eventful era of
the church, yet one which he occupied with wisdom and dignity until
1594-5, when he was elevated to the archiepiscopal See of York. This
** worthy prelate," as old Fuller describes him, died at York, January 16th,
1605-6, and was buried in the Minster, where a handsome monument
commemorates his extraordinary and fruitful life. The annexed cut
depicts his seal as Archbishop of York, the original being appended to
a deed dated 12th of January, 1603.

The worthy Archbishop was the founder of the Marske family, and
bequeathed the estate to his eldest son, Timothy Button, who was bom
in 1569, and received the honour of knighthood in 1605. Be married
a daughter of the celebrated Sir Oeorge Bowes, of Streatham Castle.
Queen Elizabeth was her godmother, and was present at her baptism and
gave her her own name and a cup of gold, which is still in possession of

202

her descendants. She is buried in the chancel of Richmond Church.
Sir Timothy held varions public oflSces, being High Sheriff of Yorkshire
in 1605, and in divers capacities was a useful and prominent connty
gentleman. He died at the Friarage, Richmond, in 1629, leaving a
family of sons and daughters.

Matthew Hutton, his son and successor, was a noted Royalist, and
suffered like many others for his loyalty. The family however eventually

Matthew Hutton, Archbishop op Canterbury.

recovered their position, and also by fortunate alliances added considerably
to their wealth and influence. A grandson of this Matthew was John
Hutton, bow-bearer in the New Forest of Arkengarthdale in 1693, and
M.P. for Richmond in 1701-2. His eldest son, John, became the squire
of Marske, and the second son, Matthew Hutton, who was bom at
Marske January 8th, 1692-3, and whom I have already mentioned,
entered the church and became successively Bishop of Bangor in 1748,

208

Archbishop of York in 1747, and Primate of all England in 1757.
Much has been written abont this distinguished prelate which it is
unnecessary here to repeat.* It may be noted however that a few months
before his translation to York he visited Marske and preached twice (on
different days) in the old church.

The above John Button, who was bom in 1691, married twice, (1)
Barbara, daughter of Thos. Barker, Esq., of York, by Barbara, daughter
of the Rev. Wm. Mason, rector of Wensley, and father of the poet Mason,
(2) Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of James, Lord D'Arcy of Navan.
By his second wife he left three sons and three daughters ; the eldest of
whom, John Button, succeeded him. The latter died in 1782, aged 52,
and was followed by his eldest son, John Button, who was lord of Marske
up to his death in 1841, when his only surviving brother, Timothy Button,
succeeded to the Marske estates. Be died in 1868, aged 84, and was
buried at Downholme Church. " To Mr. John Button," observes Canon
Baine, '* Marske is under very great obligations. Be planted and improved
the estate, he restored the church, and supported every attempt to foster
and encourage agriculture, not only on his own estates but everywhere
around him. Be enriched the hall with a very splendid library, which
does credit to his judgment and his taste ; and his gifts, in private as well
as in public, were numerous and large." If, as Lord Beaconsfield said,
learning is better than houses and land, Mr. Button was richly endowed,
for he had not only great intellectual gifts, but was possessed of a liberal
rent-roll. In his brother, the late Mr. Timothy Button, a portrait of
whom accompanies the text, he left an able successor. Be was a gentleman
fond of rural retirement, plain, homely, and simple in his tastes and
habits. Be also took a deep interest in antiquarian pursuits.

On only one occasion, we are informed, was he drawn out of his
wonted retirement, and the circumstances of the interesting event are
worthy of being repeated. It was upon his election to the position of
Bigh Sheriff of York in 1846. ''Be was heartily welcomed at York,
and was greatly pleased on one occasion, when after his health had been
given at an entertainment in the Mansion Bouse, the minstrcls began
the song of The Fine Old English Gentleman. At another time a some-
what ludicrous incident occurred. As Mr. Button was getting into his
carriage one night after dining at the Residence, being veiy short-sighted,
he sat down by accident and broke his sword on Baron Alderson's knee.
* What a weight you are, Mr. Bigh Sheriff ! ' was the judge's patient
remark. Be had gone through many trials in his time, poor man, but
none like that."

* See his biography by Dr. Ducarell ; Nichols* Literary Anecdotes ; Raine's
Fatti EboraeetiteMy &c.

204

John Timothy Darcy Button, Esq., J.P., late of the Boyal DragoonB,
is the present owner of Marske Hall, which is now in the occupation of
Col. J. W. Cameron, J.P. It is a plain, well-built mansion occupying
the site of a former house pulled down in the early part of last century.
The mansion is admirably situated on a sheltered slope amidst the most
romantic surroundings ; but the well-kept grounds, with their smooth
grass-plots and fine arboreal growth, including a specimen of the silver-

TlMOTHY HUTTON, ESQ.

fir of almost unrivalled beauty and size, greatly assuage and tone down
the otherwise almost alpine wildness. In the house is a magnificent
collection of family and other paintings, &c,, including portraits of the
two Archbishops Hutton ; Sir Conyers D'Arcy and Dorothy Bellasis, his
wife ; Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham ; Queen Elizabeth (probably
an original) ; Charles I. ; Henrietta Maria ; Charles II. ; a full-length
portrait of the widow and son of Sir Walter Raleigh, &o. Lady
Raleigh^s ring is also preserved at the Hall.

205

The Church (St. Edmund) stands on the opposite side of the glen to
the Hall, and is a plain little structure, without tower, only a turret,
with ancient bell ; the whole time-toned, and in keeping with the
surroundings. The building is of no great antiquity, although there are
traces of Norman work in the nave wall and south doorway. Over the
modem porch are the arms of Button, and in the windows of the nave
are two shields of arms : (1) Button and (2) Button impaling Conyers.
The old font, though distinctly " rustic," is rather remarkable in design.
It is octagonal, resting on a circular fluted shaft supported by a square
base, with simple ornament. It was the gift of Timothy Button, of
Leeds, a younger son of Sir Timothy, at the time of the Restoration.
It bears his initials and the date 1668, the year in which Oeneral
Lambert, the great Oromwellian leader, was banished to the island of
Guernsey. There are several interesting monuments to the Button
family, and one to a former rector, the Rev. John Fisher, who died in
1808. Before the church was restored, there were several ancient grave-
slabs, now no longer existing. On one of these was caiTed a floriated
cross (engraved in Whitaher\ with stem bearing vine branches, and the
emblems of a chalice and book ; being doubtless the work of a local
mason as these were not pourtrayed in the usual positions on either side
of the cross. It probably commemorated a 18th or early 14th century
rector. Other memorials, cited by Whitaker, have also been removed.
About 1880 the church underwent a thorough renovation, and again in
1889 many improvements were effected. The registers, which contain
nothing unusual, begin in 1597.

On the north side of Marske, and clinging as it were to the high
wooded cliffs that rise abruptly from the deep and narrow valley, is the
little hamlet of Glints.* Formerly this was a separate manor, and had
an old hall, but the latter has come down, and the whole is now merged
in the Marske estates, the property of the Buttons. It is a most
romantic spot, strikingly picturesque at any season, but to see the
glorious summer sunshine flood the verdant slopes, towering scars, and
overhanging woods is to awaken memories of those perched-up out-of-
reach chalet-homes in the flower-spangled Alps of Switzerland or the
Tyrol. It is secluded but not dreary, and if you wish to feel the impress
of pleasurable solitude, without its dullness or barrenness, walk up this
winsome valley on a sunny day, —

" And where blue egg-shells on the groand were strewM,
And golden king-cups shone,
I went, and thought how seldom in my life
I had been quite alone ! "

* There is a Clint in Nidderdale, and another in Dentdalo, a name derived from
the Scand. klint^ a rocky brow.

206

The manor of Clints anciently belonged to the family of that name, and
afterwards to the Beckwiths. In 1590 it was purchased of William
Beckwith by Richard Willance, of Richmond. It was Robert, a son of
this Wil Lance, who accidentally leaped on horseback down the Whitcliffe
Scar, and had a marvellous escape which I have elsewhere recorded. A
grand-daughter of this Robert Willance married John Bathurst, a
London physician, and the Clint estate then went to this family. John
Bathurst was M.P. for Richmond in 1655 and 1658» and another, Charles
Batburst, was M.P. for the same borough in 1727.* From the Batharats,
Olints passed to the Turners, a Cleveland family of good standing, who
in 1767 disposed of it to John, Viscount Downe, for the sum of £7000.
Shortly afterwards it was sold for a like sum to the Stapletons, wboae
kinsfolk, the Erringtons, retained it till 1842, when it was sold to
Timothy Hutton, Esq.

There is some wild country to the north-west of Marske, — the old
forest chase I have mentioned — and an incident that happened there may
be worth recording. It is entered in the Marske registers under da^e
May 8th, 1786. A farmer named Tiddeman, who had just removed
from Jingle Pot to Orgate, lost his child, between three and four years
old, on the moors. The family searched all night, but saw nothing of it
till daylight next morning, when they found it dead from exposure.
The little thing, child-like, had taken its clogs off and then laid down
and cried itself to sleep.

* See page 88. For lengthy notices of the Bathursts, 9ee Thore8b7*B Ducatue
Leodensit.

207

CHAPTER XVII.

Mabeick Priory and its Romantic Subroundings.

Walk from Marske to Marrick — Skelton — The Roman lead-mines at Hurst —
Manorial history of Marrick — Kew church and Wesleyan chapel — Beautiful
view of the Priory — Its history — Will of one of the nuns — The present church
— Memorials in the church-yard — The Rev. J. Wharton Mason.

[LIMBINO out of Marske it is a pleasant upland walk by the
old deer park to Marrick (8 miles), where one may visit the
reposeful ruins of its ancient Priory. Just beyond the Hall
gates the ways divide, but we keep straight up to the cottage
at the top. The road to the right leads to Skelton, an ancient manor
which belonged to a family of that name from the eleventh century to
the latter part of the reign of King Henry III., when it passed by
marriage to the Hanlathbys. After various transmissions it was purchased
in 1842 of the Erringtons by Timothy Hutton, Esq., of Marske Hall
and Clifton Castle, for the sum of £17,250.

Opposite the cottage a path crosses the middle of the field, with the
Hutton memorial monument visible on the left, and on coming to a gate
you take the middle field-path and descend to Hellas Farm, whence the
path goes up and over the hill to the grey old village of Marrick. It
stands high up and commands a wide view. Behind us we have left the
wild moors and rugged glens that run up towards Helwith, Shaw, and
Hurst, which lie in the midst of a productive lead-mining district. The
mines at Hurst are of great depth and have been worked from remote
times. They are said to be the oldest lead-mines in the kingdom.
Originally in a badly-accessible and trackless district they are believed
to be on the site of a Roman penal settlement, to which the Roman
commanders sent their convicts to labour. A piece of lead bearing the
name of *^ Adrian " was discovered in one of the oldest workings about
fifty years ago, and is now in the British Museum. The find yields
substantial evidence of the antiquity of the mines, but it does not prove
them to be the oldest in England. On Hayshaw Moor, in Nidderdale,
two large pigs of lead were discovered, each weighing upwards of eleven
stones, stamped with the name of the Emperor Domitian and the date

208

of the consulate, a.d. 87.* As the Emperor Adrian reigned from
A.D. 117 to 138, the Nidderdale lead mines may be presumed at any rate,
to be as old as those at Hurst, if not older. The mines at Hurst belonged
to the late Major-General Francis Morley, lord of the manor of Marrick,
whose territorial boundary joined up to Marske, the two being separated
by the Bradhow Beck as far as a hole called Hell Pot. Marske Moor
was enclosed in 1809, when it contained 1238 acres, and Marrick Moor
was taken in some two or three years later.

The name of Marrick, written Mange in Domesday^ I have explained
a few pages back. The township for five centuries belonged to the
family of Aske. Roger de Aske, who founded the Priory here, married
a grand-daughter of Qospatric, the first grantee after the Conquest, whose
descendants continued to hold the manor till the reign of Henry YIII*,
when Anne, daughter and co-heir of Roger Aske, carried it by her
marriage to Sir Ralph Bulmer, Et. Subsequent owners were the families
of Sayer, Swinburne, and Powlett. In 1817 the manor of Marrick, with
the rectory and advowson of the church, was sold to Josias Morley, Esq.,
descended from the Morleys of Wennington and Olapham, whose famil j
are now the owners.f

Passing the Manor House let us descend the grassy lane to the old
Priory deep down by the surging river, —

— ^in that wild and Alpine vale,
Through which the Swale, by mountain-torrentB sweird,
Flings his redundant stream, —

as the poet Mason describes it. It is a delightful walk when the day is
fine, but you will probably not appreciate the climb back, which is by a
staircase of stone (probably as old as the Abbey) extending up the
face of the hill for a good hundred yards. For the convenience of the
parishioners living on the higher ground there is a neat chapel-of-ease.
The building is only small (36 feet by 20 feet), but is nicely fitted up.
It was purchased by public subscription in 1898, and was originally a
Roman Catholic Church, erected about thirty years ago. Just below is
the little Wesleyan Chapel re-erected in 1878, also a neat, plain structui^
of about the same dimensions.
According to a local poet,

Marrick Church is seen the best
Just as the sun withdraws to rest,

and this is quite true. After you emerge from the wood, and look down
into the peaceful dale, the few remains of the venerable monastery

* See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of tlu Sidd^ page 417.

t For Pedigree of Morley of Marrick tee Burke's Landed Gentry ; also the
author's Craven and North' Weft Yorkshire Jlighlandt^ page H8, &c.

209

appear before yon, bathed in the soft evening light ; its eastern wall and
once magnificent window, now verdurous in decay, make deep shadows
on the rich greensward beneath. The church, with its sturdy Norman
tower, likewise dark and time-weathered, is close by, while in the ample
background, fading by distance, are thick, bowering woods, aspiring
hills, winding scars, and lone, heathery moors. Beautiful are they in
autumn with manifold bloom, upon which the glittering day-god and
flaunting clouds cast a lambent and ever-changing radiance. But alas !
this visible glory, as of all things worldly, soon wanes, — the day and
the scene vanish — ^yet the soul mayhap has caught the divine spell,
and, forsooth, memory *s lyre may be struck to ecstacy in the far-off after
days I Says the gentle Herbert :

*' Sweet day, so calm, bo bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky,
The dew ihall weep thy fall to-night.
For thou mast die ;**

True ! yet the memory of a happy day can never die !

The much-reduced Priory was founded by Roger de Aske about a.d.
1150* for nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. They had a splendid and
commodious establishment, and must have enjoyed considerable comfort,
for the monastery was richly endowed. The founder gave them the
already existing church of St. Andrew at Marrick, and about a hundred
acres of land there ; in addition they had the Hospital with lands at
Rerecross on Stanemoor, and property in Ravensworth, Cowton, Barkby
Fleetham, Marske, Richmond, &c., particulars of which will be found in
Burton, Dugdale, and Harrison. Conan, son of the founder,t gave them
the vaccary of Ulvelunds, within the territory of Marrick, and the nuns
also held the fine estate of Bear Park, near Aysgarth. This was the
property of Brian Metcalfe (one of the heroes of the 16th century ballad
of the Felon Sowe of Rokeby) in 1458-9, and a kinswoman of whom,
Cecyle Metcalfe, was Prioress of Marrick for 34 years ; she died in
1502. Harrison gives a list of the Prioresses, but there are some
omissions. Prioress Agnes occurs in the Rievaulz Chartulary ; Margaret
de Hertelpole occurs in 1827, and is mentioned as "late Prioress "in
1332, when Elizabeth de Berden was instituted. The latter could
therefore not have been principal in 1326, as stated by Harrison. The
gross yearly revenues of the house at the Dissolution in 1539-40 are put
down by Speed at £64 18s. 9d., but the nett income was £48 13s. 2d.

• See Chartalary in Coll. Tt»p, et. Gen,, vol. 5 ; also Pipe Roll, 82nd Henry I.
(1131).

t The pedigree of Aske in Gale's Honour of Richmond erroneously states him
to be son of Warner instead of the son of Roger de Aske.

210

illli/'!||>itlf!t':iii«'i;!''ffl

211

The last Prioress was Ghristobella Cowper, and there were sixteen nuns,
all of whom received pensions varying from lOOs. (the principal) down
to 20b. Of Dame Anne Lademan, one of the nans, we have a little
interesting information. She retired to Gatherley and died there in
1559. Her will has been preserved, and as it furnishes us with some
little insight into the belongings of a former inmate of a local monastery
at this period, it is here reproduced :

Inventort, 11 March 1559. Imprimis, a basing with an ewer, ij s. viij d. —
iij. candlesticks, xvj d. — iij. potigers and a salser, zliij d. — a brasse pott and
a fyer chawfer, ij s. iiij d. — a morter of brasse with a pestell, zij d. — ij.
kettells and ij pannes, iiij s. — a spete, ij. cobyerones, a resting yeron and a
recking croke, ij s. iiij d. — ij. chists, xij d. — one lyttell goblet of silver,
xxxvj 8. — V. silver spoones, xvj s. viij d. — iiij. lyttall ryngs of silver with a
gymmer of golde, ij s. vj d. — one crusyfixe of silver, ij s. — one paire of almes
beads with a lyttell crusyfixe of silver, ij s. — one paire of geate beads with
lyttil beads of currell, xvj d. — ij. peces of velvett, xvj d. — viij. vailes, iij s.
iiij d. — money, viij s. — one old ryall of gold, xv s. — iiij®* quyssings and
a counter clothe, ij s. — a fether bed, ij<> materesses, one covering, i]^ coverletts,
iij. blanketts, iij. codds and one paire of shetes, zxiiij s. x d. — iiij. gowenes, iiij.
kyrtells and a cloke, xxxiij s. iiij d. — one hoode of course saye. xvj d. — in
nappary ware, xxx s. viij d. — a smale gyrdell of velvett with a heade and a
pendent of silver, and gilted, xvj d. Summa ix li. xvij s. x d. Debts that is owen
to her. The executors of Doctor Daykins, xx s. Summa, x li. xvij s. x d. Debts
that she oweth. Thomas Smythson, Iviij s. iiij d. And so remaneth vij li. xix s.
vj d.

The site and possessions of the Priory were granted in 1542 to John
Uvedale, one of the king's council-men in the north, and after various
transmissions they were sold to James Piggot Ince, a native of Marrick,
who died in 1829, and whose descendant, the Rev. Edward Gumming
Ince, M.A., of Bournemouth, is now the owner.*

As before stated there are few remains of the abbey left standing ;
the ground has also been much filled up, inasmuch as the canopies of the
sedilia on the south side of the choir now appear little more than a foot
above the surface. Fragments of tracery remain in the large east
window, which has been a noble light, 13 feet wide and proportionately
high. Once no doubt it was filled with stained glass, and when it is
remembered that stained glass in the 14th century cost from 12d. to
15d. a square foot some idea may be formed of the mere money value
of this magnificent window. The Priory nave Wtas used for public
worship down to 1811, when it was pulled down, with the exception of
the tower, and the present church erected on the site out of the material.
It has evidently been built with a careless disregard for the beauty of
the old stone-work or of architectural fitness; indeed, everything
apparently having been sacrificed to meet a present and purely practical

• See Turner's Yorkshire County Magazine, 1891, pages SI 8- 14.

212

ueed. Some fragments of old glass from the now rained abbey window
have been inserted in several of the window-heads. Some of the
monastic grave-slabs have also been preserved. One of these is inscribed
in black letter :

Sub jacet fttm tnontaless Ssabella soror SCome ^uDdag De Barfort.

The Pudsays were lords of Bolton-by-Bolland at an early period, and
afterwards (temp, Edward III.) acquired the manor of Barforth-on-Tees.*
Another stone is incised with a floriated cross patiie^ quartered with foar
hearts and supported on a calvary of three tiers ; on the dexter side of
the shaft appears a chalice and beneath it a pax, while on the sinister side
appears a book, and beneath it a square paten charged with a quatrefoil.
The design is uncommon and is apparently of the 14th century.

The buildings here form a singular group, the priory, church, and
farm-house all adjoin ; in fact the church itself may be said to stand in
a farm-yard. In the church-yard I have noticed a stone to the memory
of Mr. George Ohalders and his wife. He was agent to the several Hurst
Mining Companies for the long period of 66 years, and died in 1859,
aged 88. And speaking of length of seiTice I may respectfully observe
how few ministers of religion can claim unbroken connection with a
single parish or community so long as the present vicar of Marrick, the
Rev. John Wharton Mason, B.A., who this year (1896) completes the
50th year of his pastorship of this isolated and mountainous parish. In
congratulating him upon this event may I express the hope that his
declining yeara be full of peace and trust in the all-wise and beneficent
Parent whom he has so long and faithfully served !

The tourist who has come to survey the interest of this romantic spot
may continue his walk to Fremington and B^eth (8 miles), or return by
the *' staircase " route to Marrick (inn) ; thence through the fields and
lane (a sufferance path for foot passengers only), by Marrick Park to
Downholme Bridge, where the river and cliff scenery may be compared
with some of the most romantic road passes in Wales. The route hence
on the south bank of the Swale, to Richmond (4 miles) or Reeth (6 miles)
is very fine, and being comparatively level constitutes an agreeable walk
or drive.

* The lineage is given in Whitaker's Craven^ and in Harrison's GUling Weft.

213

CHAPTER XVUI.

Richmond to Grinton.

A romantic highway — Wild birds — A driving incident — Hudswell — A great snow-
storm— History of Hudswell — The church — Hadswell Moor — Supposed
extensive coal-field — Downholme and its history — ^Ancient deer-park — The
church — ^An old chapel or oratory — Walbum Hall — Ellerton Priory — A house
of Cistercian nuns — ^A raid on the Priory by the Scots — Some tomb-slabs of
the Prioresses — Family of Ellerton — The road to Grinton.

I HE ordinary route from Richmond, through Grinton, to Reeth
is by the very romantic highroad along the south bank of the
Swale, passing Downholme Bridge. It is one of the finest
nine or ten mile drives in Yorkshire, and combines the merit
of interest and picturesqueness with accessibility ; the road being well
laid and level, in striking contrast with the old mountainous highway on
the opposite side of the river. The whole of this beautiful country has
been rendered classic by the unique productions of Turner, the artist.
The river and cliff scenery is at times impressively grand, and the
objects of interest on either side of Richmond are so numerous that one
cannot wonder they provided so many subjects for the charmed pencil of
this great master. Towering hills, sweeping moors, and ranges of native
woods appear in view, while in Hudswell Scar and the lofty, impending
cliffs of the neighbourhood there is an added interest in the various wild
birds that frequent their rocky and umbrageous recesses ; formerly the
raven used to build there in some numbers, and doubtless at no very
distant period the golden eagle, too. The peregrine falcon, I am told,
still occasionally breeds in this district.

But if you are driving let me warn you to take proper care that your
horse, trap, gearings, or other belongings of the expedition are in safe
and sound condition, as the attractions of the scenery may keep your
attention constantly withdrawn. An accident, which might bave proved
rather disastrous by reason of this diversion, occurred I am told some
little time ago, to a West Riding man and his wife who were touring
along this pleasant highway. They had been making some purchases of
farm produce and had stowed them away in a hamper packed with straw.

214

etc., at the back of the conveyance, when apparently by a spark from the
man's pipe the packing got ignited, and continued to smoulder unobserved
by them for some time. At last as the fumes increased, the tourists
looked round and noticed at the same time a farmer's man driving bat
a short distance behind them. The gentleman called out '^ Didn't yon
see we were on fire ?" " On fire I" said the man bluntly, " why a' nivver
thoot it, for aw've beean watchin' t' reek an' it's beean t' seeam this mile
or twea." " Well, why the hangment didn't you tell us ?" answered the
first somewhat sharply, " we might have b^n burnt alive." " Ea !"
came the rustic's answer, ** there's soa mony new-fangled machines aboot
noo, aw' thoot ye'd happen getten a patent conveyance 'at were pairtly
gooin' by steam I"

The Old Church, Hudswbll.

The tourist, however, not dependent on a trap, whether driven by
steam or otherwise, may climb the steep and somewhat formidable incline
to the little Alpine village of Hudswell, and thence proceeding through
Downholme regain the road this side of Ellerton Priory. I remember
mounting this eminence shortly after the great snowstorm in the first
week of March, 1886, with the object of viewing the snow-wreathed
" realm of mountain, forest haunt and fell," which this elevated point is
known to command. In fact the view from the churchyard at Hudswell
is, I consider, one of the very finest in Richmondshire, and seen in its
winter vestments may be said to approach the sublime. The good people
of Hudswell did not however view it in quite the same light during their

215

terrible experiences upon the occasion referred to. Some of the houses
were completely buried in the drifts, and their inmates after some delay
had literally to be dug out. At one cottage I was told that after the
ordinary firewood had been exhausted the occupants had been obliged to
break up and barn some of the household furniture, as it was impossible
to get out of the house. For four or five days there was no communication
with Richmond. Eventually an attempt was made by the district postman
to reach the snow-bound village ; a head bearing the ofiBcial cap was seen
coming up the hill, when a brawny native went to the rescue, and the
plucky but breath-spent ofiBcer was delivered of his important little charge.
What rough experiences these rural postmen must have at times. Several
of the Richmond postmen have daily rounds of fifteen to twenty miles,
tramped in all weathers and at all seasons of the year. You meet them
sometimes with bag and hands full, crossing hill and fell in out-of-the-
way spots, doing their rough rounds apparently with as little fatigue as a
town postman does his circumscribed area of a few streets.

At Hudswell (inn) there is little to note but the church and the
magnificent prospect, above alluded to, from the church-yard. Of its
early history much is obscure. It is called in Domesday Hudreswell, and
was bestowed by the Conqueror, no doubt through the recommendation
of his kinsman. Earl Alan of Richmond, on Emsant Musard, Constable
of Richmond Castle. Roaldus, his successor to the lordship of Hudswell,
gave part of the estate to the Priory of St. Martin's, a cell, as elsewhere
related, to the Abbey of St. Mary's at York. Subsequently, upon the
foundation of St. Agatha's monastery at Easby, the same Roaldus
bestowed five bovates of land, with the appurtenances in Hudswell, upon
that house. In Kirkby*s Inquest (1277) and in the Nomina Villarum
(1281), Hudswell appears in the first-named as belonging to the Abbot
of St. Mary, and in the second to the Abbot of St. Agatha and the
Abbot of St. Mary. At this time (1279) we find Robert de Hertford,
attorney for the Abbot of St. Agatha, and others, entered a plea at the
suit of Emma de Bereford, touching common of pasture in Huddeswelle,
and in a further plea touching an obstruction by the defendants of a
ceitain road for carts and cattle, leading from the plaintiff's land in
Haddeswell to other lands belonging to her at Thorpe-upon-Swale. The
jury in both cases gave their verdict for the plaintiff ; and in the latter
case they say that the said Abbot did obstruct the said road, and he is
ordered to remove the said obstruction, and the plaintiff recovers her
ancient right of way. A clear case of attempted encroachment by a
superior authority upon the rights of a private subject. After the
Reformation the lands passed to various owners, and the present manorial
proprietor and chief landowner is R. H. Prior-Wandesforde, Esq., of
Kirklington Hall, Bedale, and Castle Comer, co. Kilkenny.

216

The Charch at Hndswell is a very old foundation, but of the precise
time of its origin nothing is known. Some cnrions ancient stone-work
has been preserved in the present fabric, which was erected on the site
of the former charch twelve years ago. The old building, of which I
give a view, consisted simply of a nave and chancel, a rude south porch,
(of uncertain date) and the remains of a bell-cot at the west gable. An
early small piscina and holy-water stoup also formed interesting adjuncts,
and these have been retained in the new fabric in the same comparative
positions. The first sod of the new church was cut by the wife of the
late energetic vicar, the Rev. James E. Torbett, on St. James's Day, 1884 ;
the same day on which the present Bishop of Ripon, Dr. Carpenter, was
consecrated in Westminster Abbey. Soon afterwards the foundation
stone was laid in the presence of a large gathering by the Earl of Zetland
and the building was completed and opened by the Bishop of Bipon in
November of the following year. The church, which is built of stone
from the parish quarry at Coalpit Hill, is in the Early English style, and
comprises nave, chancel, south porch, and octagonal bell-turret at the
south-west angle. There is accommodation for 150 worshippers. The
interior is neatly fitted up, and it is not without interest to remember the
firat donors to the furniture of the church as follows : the font, by
Mr. Wheelhouse, the architect ; the lectern, by Mr. Harwood, the
contractor ; the organ, by subscription ; Mrs. Maltby, a handsome set of
altar-linen ; the Mayoress of Richmond, kneeling-mats for the altar ;
Mrs. Roberts, kneeling-mats for the altar-rails ; Mr., Mrs., and Miss Tate,
a beautiful silver paten for the communion ; Miss A. Miller, altar
cloth and chalice ; the Rev. T. C. H. Croft, an excellent collection of
hymn-books (Hymns AncietU and Modern) ; Miss Coates, Richmond,
alms-bags ; and Mrs. Miller, book-markers.

The extensive tract to the south of Hudswell, called Hudswell Moor,
was enclosed in 1808, some 24^ acres being apportioned for the benefit
of the Free School. Recently an attempt has been made to open up the
extensive coal-field, which is known to exist on Hudswell Moor. It
evidently corresponds with the coal-seam on the top of Leybum Moor,
which lies about 120 feet above the Main Limestone. Eight years ago
borings were commenced, and at 70 feet from the surface a seam of good
coal was come upon, but owing to the presence of springs, which greatly
impeded the work of sinking, further investigation was discontinued
until the present year. A skilled inspection has now been made and the
opinion expressed that there are at least 60 acres of first-rate coal on the
moor. During the borings a thin streak of copper was met with, and
also a foot or two of ironstone, nearly resembling that which in some
places further up the dales lies so near the surface that it may be
uncovered by fraying the soil with a pick. At different depths, too, the

217

borers found some of that excellent kind of free-stone which is quarried
in the neighbourhood, and a bed, about two feet thick, of *' seggar," of
which the best fire-bricks are made. Altogether the search proves the
ground to be peculiarly rich in minerals, especially in coal, and should
the field be developed it will, from a commercial standpoint, prove a great
boon to the inhabitants of Swaledale and Wensleydale, who are dependent
upon the supplies from Durham, and who have as a rule to pay more for
the carriage than for the coal itself. At Hudswell, for example, which
overlooks the town of Richmond, 5s. a ton has to be paid for leading
coals up from Richmond station.

We now skirt the western flanks of this high moor on our way to
Downholme, the lofty Redscar (to which the chapelry of Hudswell and
parish of Catterick extends), being a prominent object in the view. The
parish of Downholme comprises an area of nearly 6000 acres, and includes
the townships and hamlets of Downholme, Ellerton Abbey, Walburn, and
Stainton, with a total population of less than 200. The ancient family
of De Hertford were large landowners in this parish in the 18th and
14th centuries, and the family of Downholme or Dunnum also had
property here at a very early period ; five acres and half a carucate of land,
with the appurtenances in Downholme, were given to the neighbouring
monastery at Marrick. In the reign of Henry YI. the manor of
Downholme came to the Scropes,* who had a fine deer-park here in the
time of Queen Elizabeth. Lord Bolton is now lord of the manor and
principal landowner.

Downholme (inn) is called in the Domesday Book Dune^ an evident
clerical misspelling by some Norman scribe, for in all subsequent deeds
I have met with the suffix ham^ uniy om^ and the like, appears as a
terminal to the name. Thus in 1290 it is written Dounoum ; in 1800,
Dounhom and Dounholm ; in 1320, Denom ; in 1838, Dunum ; in 1480,
Dounnm ; meaning, no doubt, the ham^ home or hamlet on the hill,
Downholme, by the way, is not mentioned in Kirkhy's Inquest

The church, dedicated to St. Michael, was given by the Scropes to
Coverham Abbey, and remained a possession of that house till the
Dissolution. It was thoroughly restored in 1886 at a cost of £400. In
1894 the floors were laid with concrete, and other improvements effected.
A new altar-table, at a cost of £26, and designed by Mr. W. S. Hicks,
has also been placed in the church to perpetuate the memory of the late
Mr. E. Wood, who was a warden of the parish. The font bears the
arms of Lord Bolton, T. Hutton, Esq., S. T. Scrope, Esq., and
J. S. W. Drax, Esq. In the church is also a monument to the Rev. Ed.
Ellerton, D.D., a native of Downholme, who was one of ^he founders of
the Free School here, which he supported and maintained at his own

* See YorJti, Areh, Journal, 1893, page 245.

218

expense till the year 1851, when he invested, instead of that support, the
snm of £513 6s. lOd. in stock three per cent, consols, for the henefit of
the school.

In a field in front of the vicarage are the remains of a small chapel
or oratory, but of its origin or history nothing is known. The walls are
massively built, being four to five feet thick, and one of the windows, a
small lancet, is quite perfect. The building is now used as a coop for
poultry.

Walburn Hall.

The few houses that constitute the township of Walburn in this
parish bear the rather odd names of Boston, Crowbills, Halfpenny
House, and Coldstorms. Walburn gave name to a family of respectable
standing in Norman times. Wymer de Walburn held 10 oxgangs of
land at Walburn, in the parish of Downholme, in 1286, and a family of
this name has been settled at Exilby for several centuries.* Walburn
Hall, now a farm-house, retains traces of its former strength and
importance in its ancient court-yard with battlemented walls, thick
arched doorways, pre-Reformation chapel, &c. The accompanying
sketch is from Buckler's beautiful drawing of it done in 1817.

Descending to the New Road we are soon at the Lodge and Ellerton
Abbey, so-called, but in reality the few remains that are left of this

* See Memorials of Fountains Abbey (Surtees Socy. Pub.)i page 368.

219

ancient and sacred fane represent a small establishment of Cistercian

nuns. Its origin is wrapped in obscnrity. Dngdale, says Dr. Whitaker^

has wholly overlooked this obscure foundation, but in the subsequent

editions of the MonasHcon it is briefly described.* Bishop Tanner

supposes it to have been founded by Wamerius, son of Wihomar, lord

of Aske and Marrick, and dapifer to the Earl of Richmond, or his son,

Wymerus, in the reign of Henry II. It is somewhat singular that

during excavations made on the site of the Priory in 1827 a stone coiBn

lid was found, inscribed in Lombardic characters Hie jaeet Wimerus — ,

which seems to confirm the opinion that he was the founder, and was

interred here. Harrison gives no account of Ellerton or of the Priory,

but in his notice of Melsonby he cites a deed of 8th Edward I. (1279)

wherein Roger fil John and Wymarca his wife were reputed owners of

two messuages and eleven acres of land with the appurtenances in

Melsonby, also in an assize taken the same date the Prioress of Ellerton*

in-Swaledale was found to be seized of a tenement in Melsonby yielding

an annual rent of 4s. Furthermore, in the pedigree of the family of

Melsamby dU, Melsonby, Sir Simon de Melsamby, who was in the

Scottish wars, temp, Edward I., is said to have had for wife one Petronilla,

who was living a widow at Melsamby, 28rd Edward I. (1294). As one

of the Prioresses of Ellerton, hereafter mentioned, was named Petronilla,

A.D. 1251, there is no doubt the family of Melsonby was closely identified

with the monasteries both of Ellerton and Marrick, and were benefactors

to them. Alan de Melsamby was one of the witnesses to a charter of

grant to Marrick Priory, temp. Henry II., and Matilda de Melsamby was

Prioress of Marrick in 1376. Ellerton Priory is mentioned in Kirhhy^s

Inquestj and also in a document of the date 21st Edward III. (1848),

wherein we gather that the Scots, after their great victory at Bannockbum,

made several raids into Swaledale, and on one occasion they entered the

Priory at Ellerton, committed many violences, and destroyed or carried

off amongst other things several chartera and writings.

At the Dissolution in 1535-6 the Priory was surrendered ^' without
murmure or griefe ^'f by Johanna, the last Prioress ; its clear annual
value at that time being £15 10s. 6d. The site, with the demesnes^
was demised to one Ralph Closeby, and in 1601 came to the family of
Drax, the present owners. Of unrecorded Prioresses of Ellerton the
name of Petronilla occurs in 1251, Ellen in 1268, and Sibil in 12994
The stone coffin-lids, inscribed in Lombardic characters, of the two first-

* The seal is not known to Dugdale.

t Vide Commissioners' letter in Whi taker's Craven^ 3rd edition, page 478.

t See Yorkshire Record Series, xvii., 56.

220

named of these Prioresses, have been found on the site, and are preserved
here.*

Ellerton gave name to a local family of some standing in the en
succeeding the Norman Conquest. They were landowners here and in
the neighbourhood, but none of the members appear to have attained
any particular dignity, saving perhaps the Rev. Dr. Ellerton, whom I
have already noticed in connection with Downholme Ohurch.

Our road to Grinton now traverses the picturesque ravine of Gill
Beck, and passing Cogden Hall (E. 6. Whitelock, Esq.) — ^a romantic
estate that once belonged to Bridlington Priory — and Grinton Lodge
(Col. A. H. Charlesworth, M.P.) we enter the grey old village of Grinton,
the ancient capital of Swaledale.

Engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine^ 1827, page 598.

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

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221

CHAPTER XIX.

Geinton.

Extent and character of the parish of Grinton — ^The aborigines — ^A prehistoric camp
— Meaning of Grinton — Local coDiinerce and fairs — Population and acreage —
Swaledale and its ancient owners — East and West Grinton — Sale of the manor
in 1855— Family of Swale— Meaning of Swale— Will of Sir Solomon Swale
— Tea first drunk in Swaledale at Swale Hall — Anecdote of tea-drinkiug
at a Kichmondshire village — Description of the church at Grinton — Roman
Catholicism in Swaledale — The Quakers — Grinton and Beeth Bridges —
Fremington and its old families — ^Ancient earthworks — Meaning of Fremington
— Local discovery.

RINTON and Reeth hold pretty mnch the same relative
positions to each other as Giggleswick and Settle ; the
first of each couple being the mother-towns and
ecclesiastical capitals of their respective parishes,
while Reeth, like Settle, is the trade-mart, head of
the poor-law union, &c., and the '* Mecca** of visitors.
The parish of Grinton is of great extent, being over 20 miles in length,
and comprises more than 49,000 acres, of which about two-thirds, or
upwards of 80,000 acres, are grouse-moor, scar, and mountain. It includes
the townships of Grinton, Melbecks, Reeth, and Muker, with their
several hamlets or manors of Harkaside, Whitaside, Cogden, Helaugh,
Fremington, Crackpot, Feetham, Eearton, Low Row, Angram, Thwaite,
Gunnerside, Eeld, &c. The landscape throughout the parish is eminently
wild and romantic, being rocky and mountainous and little sheltered by
woods. Consequently the country is much exposed to the brunt of
storms, and snow in winter often accumulates, in many places, to an
enormous depth. Indenting the high, open, and rugged moorlands are
numerous gills and ravines, these having been amongst the last refuges
of the wolf, boar, and wild deer in Yorkshire, — spots that are now quiet
and pleasant enough in dry sunny weather, but during the violence of
floods oft inaccessible and resounding with the thunder of boisterous
waters, which, rolling impetuously into the valley below, frequently play

222

sad havoc through inandationB. Out of the valley there is bnt little
level ground ; in some parts an altitude of over 2000 feet is reached, and
from many of the solitary peaks there are grand and uninterrupted
prospects.

This wild, once-trackless and secluded country was no doubt occupied
by those hordes of brawny and hard-natured Celts who were unwilling
to submit themselves to a foreign yoke. They built their houses in
sheltered spots on the mountain side, or in the midst of woods, which
are now no longer existing. Some of their housesteads I have elsewhere
pointed out. On the south side of the Swale at Orinton are traces of an
ancient camp, where rude stone implements and fragments of pottery
have been found ; and at other spots in the parish are remains and
•evidences of entrenchments, earthworks, and tumuli. In the Anglo-
Saxon period, when Paulinus the Christian missionary* visited Swaledale
and the church was founded at Catterick, there is no doubt that the
whole of Swaledale was included within the ecclesiastical province of
Oatterick. Communities of both Christians and pagans would be, as
already explained, established at different times at Grinton ; the former
having a small Christian place of worship, on which the existing
•church was no doubt afterwards grafted, and the latter a temple of gods.
The place takes its name, I suspect, from its occupation at this era, the
Teut. groriy grun,\ meaning green, and toriy tun, an enclosure or town,
indicative of the fact that before the Norman inroads there were green
■and fertile meadows at this spot, conspicuous amid a waste of brown and
heathery moor.

Anciently, too, Grinton must have been a place of some commerce,
for then the only place of worship in the district stood here, and people
coming from long distances would be able to do their marketing and
attend the services in the church on one and the same day. There was
■at one time, T am told, as many as five inns in the village, and the fairs,
ivhich in later days (as now) were held on Good Friday and St.
Thomas* Day (Dec. 21st), were numerously attended, almost every
kind of household and domestic wares being offered for sale, including
brass, pewter and iron utensils, tin, cloth, millinery, &c. Since the decay
-of the lead-mining industry, and the lack of railway communication (the
nearest railway station being at Richmond, nearly ten miles distant) the
population has greatly declined : the ecclesiastical parish of Grinton, for
•example, which is the most populous in the parish, numbering bnt 700
souls with a land acreage of 8000; while at Muker, which comprises
some 38,000 acres, the population at the last census was only 615.

* See page 59.

fin deeds as late as the 17th century the name is spelled both Oronton and
•Qruntoii

228

Soon after the building of Richmond Castle, Stephen, Earl of
Richmond, gave the whole of Swaledale in dowry to his daughter at her
marriage with Walter de Oaunt, a kinsman of the Conqueror, and this
royally-descended family held the bulk of the lands, as hereafter appears,
till 1297, when on the death of Gilbert de Gaunt, without issue, the
property passed in three portions to his sisters, Nichola, wife of Peter de
Malolacu ; Juliana de Gant, who died unmarried, and Roger, son of
William de Eerdeston, and nephew of the said Gilbert de Gaunt. Half
the manors of Reeth and Helagh-in-Swaledale was the portion obtained
by Peter de Malolacu, who in 1315 was declared seized of the whole or a
part of the townships of Reeth, Helagh, and Fremington in Swaledale,
as well as of the castle and manor of Mulgrave and various other
townships and lordships in the county of York. The above Roger de
Kerdeston married a daughter of Edmund Bacon, by whom he left a
daughter and heiress, Matilda, wife of John fil Henry Burghersh, lord
of East Worldham, Hampshire. His son. Sir John Burghersh, sold
Helagh together with his moiety of the manor of Swaledale to Sir
Robert de Plesyngton, by fine, 5th Richard II. (1381).

That portion of the manor containing the parish church, called East
Grinton, was given by the above Walter de Gaunt {oh. 1138) and Matilda
bis wife to the Priory which he founded at Bridlington, and the Prior
and Convent of that establishment continued to hold it to the Dissolution.
West Grinton, and all the lands belonging to the town of Reeth, were
given about the same time by the same Walter de Gaunt to Alured de
Swale, his nephew and chief chamberlain, from whom is descended the
noted family of Swale, long seated at Swale Hall, in this township. In
1315 Robert de Swale and the Prior of Bridlington were returned as
joint lords of Grinton in Swaledale. After the dissolution of monasteries
the estates, distinct from the manorial title, passed through various
hands, but West Grinton, with Swale Hall, remained in possession of the
Swale family till the reign of Queen Anne, when Sir Solomon Swale, third
baronet, of Swale Hall, became involved in several lawsuits touching
lead mines in Swaledale, all of which were decided against him, and he
died ruined and broken-hearted, 30th December, 1733. He left no issue,
and was buried near the altar in Paddington Church. In 1786 Swale
Hall, consisting of a messuage, corn-mill, and other buildings, with
twenty acres of meadow and pasture land, was sold by auction at the
King^a Heady Richmond. It is now a farm-house. The manor of
Grinton was purchased in 1855 from the late Mr. Wentworth, of Woolley
Park, Wakefield, by the father of the present proprietor, Col. Albany H.
Oharlesworth, M.P., of Chapelthorpe Hall, near Wakefield.

The above old family of Swale has been settled in Swaledale since
the time of the Conquest. Obviously they derived their patronym from

224

the name of the river, which locally is pronounced Swaul^ and some
branches of the family I have met spell their name that way or Swall. I
should judge that owing to the great Scandinavian irruption in Swaledale,
so often alluded to in this work, the old British name of the river had
been lost or had found a substitute in that of the Vikings* sval or svaul^
meaning to cool or refrigerate, in allusion to the coldness of the waters
or to the climate of the high-lying region through which they run.*

Rev. Sir John Swale, Bart.

The first historic personage of the name seems to have been the above-
mentioned Alured de Swale, whose grandparents came to England with
their valorous uncle, William the Conqueror. Harrison traces their
descent down to the last generation, observing that after the family
reverses and the death of Sir Solomon Swale in 1788, the title remained

* There is a Svaledal als, Suledal, and a Svalestad (Stavanger) in the province
of Christiansand in Norway.

225

in abeyance and was not resumed till 1877, when the Rev. John Swale,
of Birtley, co. Durham, a priest of the Order of St. Benedict, succeeded
as heir-male to his eldest brother, and assumed the title of 7th Baronet.
He died at Douai, in France, in 1887, aged 80 years. I give a portrait
of him. He was a tall, handsome man, albeit slender, he had a large,
well-knit frame, in figure and countenance a type of the old Swaledale
rac^. He was gentle and scholarly, and was naturally of a happy mood.
His successor was Sir John Swale, Bart., of Knaresborough, who died in
1888, when the honours descended to Benjamin Swale, brother of the
Rev. Sir John, also of Knaresborough, who died in 1889, and was
succeeded by his brother, James Swale, of Rudfarlington, the tenth
and present baronet.*

Through the courtesy of Mrs. Jane Tyzack, of Abbeydale, Sheffield,
a grand-daughter of Frances Swale, of Swaledale, and a cousin of the
above Rev. Sir John Swale, I am enabled to publish the singularly
interesting last will and bequest of Sir Solomon Swale, first Baronet,, of
Swale Hall.

It is a somewhat lengthy document, but assuredly is one of the
most beautiful compositions of the kind ever penned. Its elevated and
deeply religious tone, its strict, judicious, and loyal sentiments, its
magnanimity and spirit of forgiveness towards a disobedient daughter
that marks one portion of the writing, must commend the same to every
just and thoughtful reader :

Will of Sib Solomon Swale, Babt.

*' In the name of the Father, and the Sonne, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
I, Sir Solomon Swale, of Swale Hall and South Stainley, in the County of Yorke,
Baronet, being in perfect health, memory, and understanding, God be praised, but
considering how necessary 'tis to provide for death in the time of health, doe
therefore ordaine and make this my last will and testament. First, I resigne my
poore and precious soule into the hands of my dear and blessed Saviour Jesus
Christ, beseeching him by His bitter passion, death, and merits upon the Cross
that when, by His pleasure, death shall seize upon my body, He will be pleased to
embrace my soule in the arms of His mercy, and translate it to the joys in heaven,
there to sing Hallelujahs with the blessed saints and angels for ever. And I bless
God by His grace for making me a member of His Roman Catholique Church
militant, hoping that I may be of the church triumphant in heaven. And I bless
God that myselfe and ancient family have been constantly loyall to the Crowne,
although I have suffered much therefore in the late rebellious times, and I charge
my children and posterity that they be and continue to be loyall as they expect
God's blessing, and I have impaired my health, and much my estate, by waiving
my good practice in the law and serving constantly the Crowne and my country
in Parliament, being the first that moved in the then House of Commons, the 7th
of May, one thousand six hundred and sixty, to proclaim His Magesty King, the

* See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd^ pages 2S1, 232,
362, &c.

226

next day, which was performed the next day by the Parliament in great pomp and
state in the cities of Westminster and London, for which motion His Sacred
Magesty was graciously pleased to make me the first baronet in Yorkshire of his
creating.

** If it please God that I die in the north, I desire my body may be decently
interred with my worthy ancestors in South Stainley Church, if in the south, in
the Church of Paddington, as near my first dear wife as conveniently may be,
with torchlights, wine, biskett, cakes, and rosemary, and twenty black Cypress
scarfs, and no more to be then given to kindred and friends and my children and
hopeful grandson Solomon Swale, and two men servants to have mourning, and no
more, and five pounds to be given to the poore for me the day I am interred.

'* I charge the heirs of my family succaisively for ever that they pay to the
poor the thirty shillings yearly, given out of Poor Folks Close according to
the last will of my grandfather, Solomon Swale, Esquire, and I charge the heirs
of my family successively for ever that they give thirty shillings yearly every
eleventh day of February for ever, twelve half-crowns for ever in Stainley Hall to
twelve poore people of Stainley, Beeston Leonard, Brereton, and Wallerwaite, to
pray for me and my first dear wife and family on the eleventh day of the monthe
of February, in the then yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty-
three. I took to wife Mistress Mary Porey, of Poreys, in the county of Norfolke,
Esquires, who was a most deare, virtuous and loving wife unto me, and a very
indulgent mother to our seven sonnes and three daughters, and her great portion
piety and prudence, and her kind uncle, Mr. John Chapman, his great kindness to
us and ours, with God*s blessing was a great means to support my ancient loyal!
family, and therefore her memory is most dear and precious unto me, and so
ought to continue in my family. I much love my hopefuU grandsonne, Solomon
Swale, and I hope and pray to God so to bless him with His grace that by piety
and prudence he may support our family, but I give him nothing more than all
my plate, his father having the use of it so long as he liveth, and what I have
entailed upon him, upon the marriage of his father with his mother, because I
would have children to depend upon their luirents, for I have too often seen
children disobedient to their parents by being possessed of present estates before
marriage in the lifetime of their parents, and not having it from their parents.
But I charge my son and heir apparent, Henry Swale, Esquire, that he spare not
his purse in the good education of my said grandsonne, but that he will breed him
abroad at school to be a good scholar by God's blessing, and about his age of
twenty -one years to admit him to the Inner Temple to study the common laws,
and after to marry him to a virtuous gentlewoman of an ancient family with a
good portion, but principally have the respect to the prudence, piety, humility,
and virtues of the gentlewoman, and estate a present good maintenance apon
them, that they may not wish you in heaven before you die, and soe and soe,
intangle the estate, as I have entailed it upon you that your sonne or his sonne
cannot sell any before he be of full age, that by God's blessing it may long continue
in our family, for our ancient estate at Swale Hall and South Stainley were never
out of our ancestors, God be praised, and continue it to His glory.

"I give to my now second sonne, Robert Swale, good education in England
and beyond the seas, where he tooke the degree in Doctor of Physick, which was
a great charge unto me which I did freely bestow on him, the better by God*8
blessing to know his duty to God and me his father. By reason of hit
disobedience to me I have therefore often said I would not give him a groat more,
and therefore I give him but three pence in full of all demands, but I give to his
children, sons and daughters, five hundred pounds of lawful money of England,

227

to be paid by mj heir and ezecators, by odo hundred pounds per annum in five
years, and during that time the said children to have the interest of the said five
hundred pounds for their maintenance. And whereas my third son, Solomon
Swale, has not managed his estate so well as he might have done if he had
followed my advice, therefore I give unto my said sonne, Solomon Swale, one
hundred pounds in money to be paid him within a yeare next after my decease,
and I do likewise give my said sonne, Solomon Swale, thirty pounds per an. for
his life, to be paid to him half-yearly next after my decease, and for nonpayment
at any time to distrain for the same in all or any the lands I leave to descend to
my heirs, and I further give my said sonne, Solomon Swale, three hundred pounds,
part of the principal monies which my brother, Robert Swale, oweth me in full of
all demands. And I give my kinsman, John Swale, sonne of my nephew,
John Swale, sonne of my dear deceased brother, Mr. John Swale, one hundred
pounds, which my brother, Robert Swale, giveth me in full of all demands, and I
give my kinsman, John Swale, sonne of my nephew, Mr. John Swale, sonne of my
dear deceased brother, Mr. John Swale, one hundred pounds which my brother,
Robert Swale, oweth me, and the rest of the monies which my said brother, Robert
Swale, oweth me, besides the said four hundred pounds, I give to his sonne and
my nephew, John Swale, hoping that my said brother, Robert Swale, in discharge
of a good conscience, will pay the said three hundred pounds to my sonne Solomon,
and one hundred pounds to my said cousin, John Swale, and to his said sonne,
John Swale, the rest of the monies he oweth me, which I paid for him to Thomas
Lin thai 1 and others to my great loss and damage.

"And whereas I evidence much love to my said daughter, Anne Swale, in
bestowing much money on her in good education, and intended her a good portion
to have preferred her in marriage, because she several times promised to me before
several persons of worth that she never would marry without my approbation and
privity so long as I lived, and therefore with my owne money in the late rebellious
times I purchased several lands at Stainley Rise and elsewhere in her name, but in
trust for me and my heirs. I intended that if she had been married with my good
liking and privity, then she should have had the said lands so purchased in her
name or the value of them, or if I had died before she had been married, she
should have had the said lands or the value of them from my heir. And whereas
I was endeavouring to have married her to my great content. She, my said
daughter, Anne Swale, did bestow herself in marriage without my privity, to my
great grief and her so great impoverishment, that if I had not relieved her with
money, she might either have begged or starved, therefore I charge my daughter
upon my blessing that within six months next after my decease, she release and
will convey all her colourable rights in the said Stainley Rise and other lands so
by me purchased in her name in trust for me and my heirs as aforesaid to her said
brother, Henry Swale, and his heirs aforesaid for ever, which if she my said
daughter perform and do. then I charge my said sonne, Henry Swale, and his
heirs, that they or their assigns pay unto my said daughter Anne twenty shillings
a week to her own hands during her life, and the life of her now husband, for the
maintenance of her children or child, and that my will and meaning is that if her
husband and she shall go about to tell the same that then the said payment of
twenty shillings a week shall cease, and if this her now husband shall die before
her, thereafter his decease I charge my said sonne, Henry Swale, and his heirs that
he and they pay to my said daughter Anne, to her own hands twenty shillings a
week more, in all forty shillings a week, during her life, to be paid out of the said
Stainley Rise and other my lands repurchased in her name as aforesaid, and out of
my copyhold lands in Clynt mortgaged to Dr. Hitche and his sonne for seventeen

228

handred and fifty pounds, which I leave to descend to my sonne, Henry Swale,
and his heirs ; and I do give to the child or children which my said daughter
Anne now hath or shall have two hundred pounds of lawful money of England, to
be paid within seven years next after my decease, but to pay interest for the same
to the said child or children from the time of my death for their better
maintenance. But my will and meaning is that if my said daughter Anne or her
husband or any in their names shall enter into my said lands called Stainley Rise,
or other lands or sue for any my said lands so purchased in her name as aforesaid,
that then the said several payments of twenty shillings a week and twenty
shillings a week more as aforesaid shall cease to be paid to my said daughter Anne
and never be paid unto her, and also my said former devise and gift of two
hundred pounds to her child or children shall be void ; and I charge my son.
Henry Swale, and his heirs, that if my said daughter or her husband or any other
husband or any other on her or their behalf shall presume to enter into or sue for
the said Stainley Rise or any other the said lands so purchased with my monies in
my said daughter's name, but in trust for me and my heirs as aforesaid, that then
my said sonne, Henry Swale, and his heirs, defend the same lands by suit in law
equity to the uttermost cost, so as neither my said daughter Anne or her husband
or any other claiming under her receive and have one foot of the said lands or the
value of one penny in lieu thereof, for it is better for a disobedient and undutiful
daughter Bu£fer than my heir or his heirs.

"I do give and devise unto Sir Miles Stapleton, Knight and Bart., and to
Thomas Gascoyne, Esquire, one hundred pounds, to be paid within two years, and
interest for the same until it be paid, to discharge the trust reposed in them, and
I charge my sonne Henry and his heirs that his now youngest brother be freely
welcome to dyett and lodging at Stainley Hall, so long as he liveth and pleaseth.
And I charge my said sonne, Henry Swale, that he spare not his purse in the
virtuous, pious, and good education of his children, by God's blessing, and
industry, to be a good scholar, and to put his younger sons to good callings, and
not to give above one thousand pounds in portions to his daughters or daughter.

*' And whereas His Sacred Magesty by reason of my great suffering for my
constant loyalty to the Crowne, and my faithful service in Parliament, hath
graciously pleased to give and order me two thousand pounds to be paid out of
the monies arising by stoves and hearths. I most humbly beseech His Magesty
that the said two thousand pounds may be paid to my said sonne, Henry Swale,
and his heirs, towards the support of our ancient loyal family.

" And whereas my dear wife's brother, John Pory, Esquire, doth sue me upon
a bond of eight hundred pounds dated the twelfth of May, one thousand six
hundred and fifty-two, for the payment of four hundred and twelve pounds, taken
in the names of his said two daughters. Mary and Anne Porey, when young
infants, which four hundred and twelve pounds I paid to my said brother Pory,
and doth not owe him one penny of the same or any other monies, more than
some old household goods which he left in my house at Paddington, which my
then servant, Godfrey Beaumont, sold without my privity, therefore I charge my
heir and executor that he defend the said suit and doe not pay a penny upon the
said bond because nothing is due, but that he pay five pounds for the said goods
which is more than they are worth.

*'I give and devise to my cousin, Richard Swale, two shillings and sixpence a
week and a peck of mastling during his life, and a suit of clothes yearly, and
after his death I give to his wife two shillings a week during her life. I give to
his two sons and daughters forty shillings apiece. I give and devise to my
nephew, Mr. William Pinkney, and my niece. Mistress Elizabeth Piukney, sonne

229

and daughter of my dear sister, Mistress Elizabeth Pinkney, ten pounds apiece.
I give to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the best horse or gelding I shall
have at the time of my death. I give to my much honoured kind friend the Earl
Marshal of England, my second best horse or gelding I shall have at the time of
my death.

*'A ring of gould, worth twenty shillings, I give to Sir Oodfrey Copley,
Bart.

'* A ring of gould, worth twenty shillings, I give to Charles Allenson, Esquire,
and his wife, each a ring of gould worth twenty shillings apiece.

** I give to my worthy brother-in-law and sister Crashorn each a ring of gould,
worth twenty shillings apiece.

" I give to the children of my late dear wife^s brother, Br. Bobert Porey, each
a ring of gould worth ten shillings apiece.

'* I give to every one of the children and grand-children of my dear deceased
brother, Major John Swale, a ring of gould worth ten shillings apiece.

'* I give to my much honoured cousin, Mr. John Gascoyne, who is most loving
to my Sonne, Allured Swale, a ring of gould worth twenty shillings ; and to my
loving and kind friend, Mr. Henry Latham, a ring of gould worth twenty
shillings.

'* And to my kind cousin, Mr. Philip Swale, and his good wife, a ring of gould
worth twenty shillings ; and to Sir Henry Gooderick, Knight and Baronet, a ring
of gould worth twenty shillings ; and to my loving cousin, Henry Atkinson,
Esquire, and Mr. Peter Ingelby, each a ring of gould worth twenty shillings. I
give to my ancient clerke and faithful friend, Mr. Vincent Tilling, a ring of gould
worth twenty shillings, and my will is that he have meat, drink, and lodging at
Stainley Hall during his life, and I desire him to continue his love and kindness
to my family.

*' I give to my now trusty servant, George Yates, ten pounds, and I charge my
heir that he enjoy the lease of Parke Close, which I formally made him.

** I give Mr. Richard Wright, minister, of Stainley, a ring of gould worth
twenty shillings.

** I give and devise to the poore near Swale Hall in West Grinton in Swaledale,
twenty shillings a year for ever, to be distributed to them in Swale Hall on Good
Friday yearly, to be paid out of my lands in Swaledale. I give to my ancient
servant, Henry Beane, a ring of gould worth twenty shillings ; and to John
Blayders a ring of gould worth twenty shillings ; and all the said rings to have
engraven my crest, the cross, with my motto (Jesus e$te miJii Jesus).

** And whereas my most kind uncle, Mr. John Chapman, did give unto my
Sonne, Henry Swale, eight hundred pounds legacy, I have bestowed the same in
the purchase of Mill Farm of Richard Hutton, Esquire, and of lands in Stainley
bought of William Craven, for both which I gave much above two thousand
pounds.

" And I beseech Christ Jesu to bless and prosper all my children and grand-
children, that they may live and die God's servants.

** And I beseech sweet Jesus to bless us all with the joys of heaven, and I
charge my sonne and heir apparent, Henry Swale, Esquire, whom I make my sole
executor of this my last will and testament, that he pay all my just and true debts,
and be careful in the same for that I have several debts upon bonds, the parties
alleging that they are lost and could not find them.

** And I charge my heir and executor that he pay all my legacies, and justly
and faithfully perform this my last will and testament.

"In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and scale the third day of

280

July, in the seven and twentieth year of our Sovereign Lord King Charles 11., and
in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and seventy-five/*

Solomon Swalb.
Signed, sealed and published as the last fvill and testament of Sir Solomon
Swale, in the presence of

Sublet Finn, Geoboe Yates,

RiCHABD Thomas, Robebt Matebs.

ExamiDed by u.. JNO. Shabph. / ^lert, to Shawe.
Geo. Enapp, )

Sir Solomon Swale died December 4th, 1678, aged 70 years.

It is said to have been at Swale Hall that tea was first dmuk in
Swaledale, but how or in what fashion it was prepared is not stated.
Many ludicrous stories are related of the first use of tea in the dales.
Thus at Cotherston we are given the following well-authenticat^ account
of the first pound of tea which reached this remote little Richmondshire
village, by the grand-daughter of the recipient, Mr. James Baine, who
died at the age of 100 years in the early part of the century, and whose
consumption of tea, leaves and all, would not appear to have affected
his longevity. Mr. Raine, who was a comfortable farmer, had married
a wife of equal respectability from London ; and, as a wedding present,
the lady's friends sent them a pound of tea, and a new brass tea-kettle
from London, tea being then only just introduced in Cockaigne, with a
recipe for the use of the tea ; namely, *^ That it be boiled with cream
and sugar/' The tea was thus duly poured into a new kettle, and a
goodly portion of sugar and cream added, to the delight of a party of
friends who had met to celebrate the wedding. After this process the
contents, leaves included, were poured into a large earthenware bowl,
and placed on the middle of a table, and the assembled guests, each
provided with a spoon, set to work to sip this new beverage, which, on
account of its novelty, we opine, more than its excellence, was duly
consumed, tea-leaves and all !

The large and lately-restored parish church of St. Andrew at Grinton
is, as I have stated, a very ancient foundation that formed part of the
original endowments of Bridlington Priory, and was retiained by that
monastery until its dissolution, temp, Henry VIII. In the east window
is some old painted glass, depicting the figure of St. George, and a
black-letter inscription : iWarta 13rel)Iingtone. inserted no doubt by the
conventual proprietors.

Of the original Norman church some traces remain in the present
structure. The north pillar of the chancel arch is a Norman one with
scallopped capital, while to the same period must be assigned the bowl of
the font, and a small west window now looking from the church into the
belfry. The tower arch has a late Norman look about it in spite of the
adjacent stone-work showing it to have been an insertion. Small slit

231

windows in the sacristy claim equal antiqaity^ being splayed within and
without, and a few fragments of Norman moulding are built into the
outer walls here and there.

Largely through the unwearied exertions of the present vicar, the
Rev. David Walker, a complete yet conservative restoration, costing
£3000, has been effected, and the church was re-opened in Easter week,
1896, by the Bishop of Ripon. The architect, Mr. W. Searle Hicks, of
Newcastle-on-Tyne, has produced an extremely good instance of what a
restoration should be. The building is a broad oblong, the width of the
nave (59 feet) being continued by north and south chapels, formerly
belonging to the families of Swale and Blackburn respectively. The
length from the sanctuary to the tower is 119 feet. During the work of
restoration several early features were brought to light. The tower arch
was cleared of the rubble with which it had been filled up, and which
had obliterated everything save a mere suggestion of its existence. A
holy-water stoup in the vicinity of a newly-disclosed north doorway, a
good-sized piscina in the south aisle and a small one in the Blackburn
chapel were found ; also a hagioscope in the south wall. A recess in the
sanctuary was seen by excavation to have been part of a sedilium, in use
when the floor was lower than at present. The whole floor of the church
has been taken up and given a foundation of concrete, in doing which
several of the old bench ends were found. These were used as a pattern
for the new oak seats which have replaced the high deal pews that were
erected in 1830.

The inside of the building was covered with plaster and many coats
of wash, freely disfigured with mould and rot. This was examined for
traces of fresco, and several samples of rude stencil patterning were
bared. It was found impossible to exhibit more than fragmentary
portions, and as they presented a very mutilated appearance it was
resolved to remove the plaster altogether and point the stone, the effect
of which is exceedingly good. During the operation a stone staircase
was discovered winding through the north pier of the chancel arch. Of
the rood loft to which it was the approach there is no trace, save cavities
in the arch into which it was morticed.

The tower is devoid of windows save some narrow slits ; it has been
thought to have been used for purposes of defence. The church in
general seems to be of the 13th century. Two of the windows are Early
English, the rest Perpendicular, with a few Debased. The east window
under the restoration scheme has been filled with stained glass of unusual
beauty, the work of Mr. C. E. Eempe, and the gift of Miss Close, of
Leeds, the subject being the Atonement. Another in the Blackburn
chapel given by Miss Garth, of Driffield, contains St. Peter, St. Paul,
and St. Andrew ; Mr. Milner, of London, being the artist. While a third

282

by Messrs. Powell, of Leeds, was presented by Mr. Barker, of Beeth,
and pourtrays Christ blessing the little children. These two windows
are of excellent colour and design. There are also fragments of ancient
glass which will repay careful examination, amongst them being a head
of St. Catherine with a portion of her symbol, the wheel ; a pilgrim's
scrip, once attached no doubt to St. James the Great : a head of St. Peter,
a half-face of the Mater Dolorosa ; the arms of Gaunt, Fitz Hugh, and
others. The Decorated porch is well moulded. It contains groovea
simUar to those produced by the sharpening of arrow-heads to be seen in
some of the Northumbrian churches. See page 131.

The font, canopy, the Jacobean pulpit (with canopy of later date),
and the chancel side screens, are all old oak, and should be noted by the
visitor. The font is remarkable, and its handsome oaken cover, supported
by four clustered pillars and reaching to the roof, is not unlike the
canopy of the ancient font in Durham Cathedral. For a long time this
interesting appendage of the font at Grinton was stored away among
some lumber, but at a vestry meeting held April 9th, 1844, it was
resolved to restore and re-erect it. In the church registers for July 21st,
1844, we read : " The first child baptised after the erection and restoration
of the oak canopy over the baptismal font, — ^Thomas Richard, son of
Thomas Birkbeck, Feetham, yeoman and churchwarden."

The vessels for holy communion are of silver, and include a chalice
of quaint design, the hall-marks of which show it to have been made in
1678 by Peter Payne ; a paten of 1720 given by Thomas Lightfoot,
vicar, and a flagon subscribed for in 1833. There is also a larger pewter
flagon or ewer, and an alms dish of latten metal, with an embossed
representation of Adam and Eve and the serpent.

The six bells are dated and lettered thus : 1. Gloria in Altissimis
Deo. 1750 in band of scroll work ; a second band below formed of small
bells with shield at intervals, on which G. Dalton Ebor. 2. T. Mears,
OF London, Fecit. 1826. 3. Gloria in Altissimis Deo. 1768 in
band of scroll work. 4. Geo. Dalton York Fovnder 1779 in band
of scroll work. 5. Jesvs be ovr speed, 1623. 6. ^ Sancta [shield
containing three bells] Caterena ®ra pro nobis. Rich lettering with
Lombardic capitals, ornamented and surmounted by a crown. This bell
had a large piece cut out of the sound bow ; it was during the restoration
recast in careful facsimile by Taylor, of Loughborough, as were also
Nos. 1 and 4. The parish registers are not of special interest ; they
begin in 1640.

The large number of monastic houses, with their territorial possessions,
in Swaledale, naturally made a deep impress upon the lives and affections
of the inhabitants, numbers of whom remained unchanged in their
religious belief for many generations after the Reformation. Those

238

contrary inflaencea which prevailed in Wensleydale do not appear to have
reached the more remote and secladed parts of this valley, where cases
of recusancy are considerably more nomeroos than in the neighbouring
valley of the Tore. Measures were passed, not only in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth but also in that of James I., making it penal for any
adult to absent himself or herself from the services of the reformed
church, yet in spite of these enactments we find, at the latter period, a
very large number of residents in Swaledale defying the law and avowing
themselves adherents to the ancient faith. In 1604, a large number
were proclaimed recusapts in the parish of Orinton, (printed in Peacock's
book) ; similarly long lists for this and other districts of Richmondshire
are to be found among the Quarter Sessions Records for the North Riding
right away down to the introduction of Quakerism into the Dales, when
the teachings of Fox got a strong hold of the people. The latter sect
likewise su£Fered a terrible persecution, and by the last Act against
Conventicles, passed in 1670, the Quakers, we are told, were completely
given up to the informers. '' Any five persons convicted of being present
in one house, over and above the ordinary family, were to be fined 5s. for
the first offence, lOs. for the second, £20 for preaching, £40 for a second
offence, and £20 for the building in which the meeting was held, the
whole to be levied by distress ; and if any one person could not pay his
fine, it was to be levied on any one or more who could, the informer
receiving one-third of the amount. Under such temptations to low
cupidity, loss of their property and imprisonment of their persons spread
throughout the country. Their property was at the mercy of constables
and informera, who wrenched open their doors with sledge hammers and
screws, and carried off everything, to the very children's food, often
leaving not a tool to work with or a horse to plough the land. In many
instances these fellows, where the Quakers were in prison, carried the
keys of their houses in their pockets, went in and out as they pleased,
declaring they would ' eat of the best and drink of the sweetest, and
those rogues of Quakers should pay for all.* " After such a time of
trouble, doubt, and unrest, the natural consequence of a great revolution
affecting the consciences of the people, a spirit of toleration began to
prevail, and although the Acts against Papacy and Jesuitry were not
repealed by statute till 1844-5, they had long before this event fallen into
desuetude ; individual liberty in matters of religion being now happily
enjoyed by all.

From Grinton we are soon at Reeth (1 mile). We go over Grinton
Bridge, which according to the Sessions Records above referred to, was
in October, 16S1, found to be in decay. In April, 1659, the sum of
£40 each was allowed for the repair of Grinton and Reeth Bridges, and
in April, 1675, a further £80 was estreated for Grinton Bridge. On the

284

north side of the water we come under the scars of Fremington and pa»
Draycott Hall, (Sir Francis C. E. Denys, Bart.), beautifully situated
among fine trees. The mansion was formerly known as Fremington
Hall, and the name was afterwards changed to conmiemorate Miss Anna
Maria Draycott, who had inherited from Lady Jane Coke, sister to the
unfortunate Duke of Wharton, the royalties of the mines in the manors
of Helaugh and Muker. In the grounds is a statue of Saturnus seated
upon a pedestal of lead, commemorative of these circumstances.

The manor of Fremington anciently belonged to the Gaunts, and in
1315 Peter de Malolacu, his nephew Roger de Eerdeston, Juliana de
Oaunt, aunt to the latter, and Henry Fitz Hugh were returned as joint
lords thereof. The estates subsequently passed to the Fitz Hughs,
Covells, and Whartons, and about a century ago were purchased by
Peter Denys, Esq., of Hans Place, Chelsea, who married in 1787 a
daughter of the Earl of Pomfret, whose descendants are now the owners.
The families of Nowell, Douglas, Layton, Wales, Smythe, &c., were also
possessed of lands, &c., at Fremington at different times. In the Sessions
Records for 1663 we have a curious note respecting one Simon Douglas,
of Fremington, who complained of one James Arundell, yeoman, uttering
these opprobrious words against him, and for which the said Arundell
was indicted : '' Thou and thy father art rogues and traitors, and all is
traitors that doth fight for the king."* This treasonable talk had
reference to the wide-spread feeling of discontent at the failure of
Republicanism and the enthronement of the son. of the ill-fated Charles I.,
who as some said was murdered by Cromwell. Sir Solomon Swale, M.P.,
of Swale Hall, suffered greatly for his loyalty to this king, and proposed,
in a pointed and eloquent speech delivered in the House of Commons,
17th May, 1660, the restoration of his son, a proposition that was passed
amid acclamation, and he was proclaimed King of England on the
following day. Splendid was the pageant that followed when on the
29th of May the young king entered London through streets decorated
with flags and banners, and carpeted with oak-boughs and flowers, while
from many an English church-tower the bells rang joyous peals I Proud
and prominent was Sir Solomon Swale — then in the prime of life —
during these memorable celebrations, and the king and court shewed
their appreciation of his courage and assistance by bestowing upon him
the honour of a baronetcy, along with a present of £2000 granted from
the Hearth Money. See his will, page 228.

* How the fates change I During the Commonwealth we find the parish
officers at Grinton charged in 1653 to provide for a woman of Fremington and her
three small children, her husband having died in the service of the Parliament,
and in default thereof a gentleman to see right done. —North Biding Records^
vol. v., page 141.

285

The family of Moljnenz bad also important interests in this
neighbourhood, and in the reign of Elizabeth were the Crown farmers of
certain lands in Fremington, &c. In 1575 John Molyneux, Esq.,
complains of one Henry Headlam and others entering his close at Calf
Baule and High Close and depasturing cattle therein. To which answer
was made that the said Henry Headlam was seized of one tenement, &c.,
in Castle Fremington, and that he and those who have held the said
tenement, &c., from time immemorial, have been accustomed for
themselves, tenants and farmers of the same, to have common of pasture
in the fields of Castle Fremington, and right of way to and from the
said tenement by and over the said close called Calf Haule to the common
of Castle Fremington, &c. ; that William, Marquis of Northampton,
was seized of the manor of Fremington, and that upon his attainder it
was forfeited to the Crown.

There are traces of an ancient dyke or entrenchment crossing the valley
at Fremington, and pursuing a direction parallel with the earthworks on
Harkaside. This may have been an incompleted tribal boundary, as I
have explained in describing the Scots' Dyke near Richmond, perhaps
separating the Roman mining province from the old Brigantian territory
on the west. The name Fremington rather suggests the Tent, fremedj
strange, foreign ; and /r^m/Aian, to make alien, to cut off ; while ing ton
signifies the toun or enclosure of the descendants or sons of the race of
strangers. Mr. Maclanchlan, writing on behalf of the Duke of
Northumberland, in 1848, thinks the object of the work to have been
the enclosure of a large space by taking advantage of the confluence of
the stream with a small affluent, a little above which point the
entrenchment is finished ; the rest of the plan seems never to have been
carried out. No tradition, he observes, exists respecting the age of the
remains.

Since this was written I may state that Mr. 0. A. Robinson, of
Reeth, had a Roman coin (now in the York Museum) which was picked
out of the soil of this entrenchment where it crosses Fremington Edge^
and a few miles higher up the dale, at Crackpot, fragments of ancient
armour along with several battle-axes have been discovered, but the age
of these is uncertain.

236

CHAPTER XX.

Ebbth.

A long tramp — The old Buck hotel—'* Tales of a wayside inn " — The parson and
his breeches — Meaning of Reeth — Larire tracts of wild juniper — Mount
Calvey — Local markets and fairs — Decline of the lead trade — Court of Pye
Powder— Selling on the Lord's Day— Public buildings at Beeth— The Free
School — Manor of Reeth.

||ANT years ago, after an exploratory tour from Hawes Junction
over Stags Fell and by the "winding scars" of upper
Swaledale, I entered the quaint old town of Reeth beneath
the " dark and starry firmament." Welcome after that long

day's pilgrimage seemed the cheerful lights of the houses surrounding

the broad and silent square ! —

At the windows wink the flickering fire-light ;
Here and there the lamps of evening glimmer ;

Social watch-fires
Answering one another through the darkness 1

as saith the poet of The Golden Milestone. The Buck inn was not then
the ample and comfortable haven that it now is, and well do I remember
being put into a sleeping-chamber where the wall-paper hung in ribbons
from the dampness, and there was an unwholesome clamminess about the
whole apartment that did not presage a healthful repose. But youth and
tired limbs overcame any scruples, and I was soon in slumber deep, and
up betimes in the morning. On another occasion I went to the same
place (then much improved) and arriving somewhat late found the house
in possession of a number of jovial tourists hailing from various parts.
One of them was relating the irresistible amusement he had experienced
on coming along the road when a stone-breaker who was deaf and dumb
hit himself on the thumb with a hammer as he passed. He sympathised
with him, but the agonised expression of the poor fellow was too much,
he thought, at not being able to swear aloud, so he gave him a few
coppers, which seemed to appease him. '^ How do you know that it was
not a case of deception ?" observed one of the company. '^ Perhaps it
was, but I do not think so." " Well, I remember once being at a

237

Lancashire watering-place when a man who had gob a crowd ronnd him
declared that he had got a cherry-coloured cat in his bag which he would
shew when a sufficient number of pence had been collected. When he
had gathered as much as he could he produced the cat, which, to the
consternation of the onlookers, was an ordinary black one. One of the
crowd was going to lay hands on the man, and upbraided him for the
imposition. ' Nay, gentlemen,' said he, smiling serenely, * I have not
deceived you, for you know there are black cherries as well as red ones.' "
The story was received with a good deal of merriment, during which a
good-humoured native entered the room, and the conversation turned
on various local topics. By-and-bye the dalesman related the following
amusing tale :

** Well, now, ge*men,'* said he, as he laid down his glass ; " talkin' aboot
parsons — it reminds me of a comical thing that happened to one a long time ago,
at a little church not more than fifty miles from Richmond. Some o*t* deeal parsons
war yance varra badly paid, an* it seems that this owd parson war as poor as a
craw, an* he*d nobbat yan suit o' oloas for both Sunday an' waur day. Well, yan
Setterda' neet, when t*owd man war undressin* his sen fo* bed, he fan that his
breeches were getten so sadly aht o' gear that they wadn*t be decent for him to
wear at service next mornin*. So he flang *em dahn t* stairs, an* called aht to his
son to run with *em to t' taylior, an* tell him to be sure an' mend 'em t' same neet,
BO as to be ready for him to put on first thing i' t' mornin*, as he hed nae other.
An* so away he went wi* t' breeches. Well, as it war Setterda* neet, t* taylior war
sittin' drinkin' amang his cronies at t' ale hoouse ; an' when they browt t* breeches
to him he said, * All right ; 1*11 attend to *em. 1*11 do *em afore I gan to bed ; an*
he shall hev *em back afore he's up i' t' mom' I '

"Well, what does t' taylior do, after that, but he goes an' gets blin' drucken
amang his mates, an' away he gans home, an' reet off to bed, withaht touchin' t'
parson's breeches at all. When t' taylior wakkened up o' t' Sunda' mornin' it war
gettin' lateish on, an' he hed a sair heead ; an' as he lee i' bed yawn in' an' gruntin'
an' considerin' what hed ta'en place t' neet afore, all at once he bethowt him aboot
t' parson's breeches, an' he bounced oot o' bed.

** ' By t' mass,' said he, ' I've forgetten t' parson's breeches ! T'owd chap has
nowt but these to cover his sen wi' I An' he*ll never go to service aboot breeches,
sure-ly ! That would be a bonny seet ! *

** Wi' that t' taylior jumped upo' t' bench, an' stitched away like a two-year-
owd, till he'd getten t'owd ]ad*8 breeches put reet, an* then he called of his lad,
Simeon — a little careless cowt, ye knaw, as lads are afore t' world begins to
straddle upo' their shoothers.

** * Here, Simeon,' says he, * thoo mun run off to t' parson's wi' these breeches
as hard as thoo can pelt ! They're all 'at he hes to put on, — an' it's getten hard
upon sarvice time, as thoo sees 1 Away wi' tho' noo, like a good lad ; an' dunnot
stop a minute upo' t' road, or thoo'U be too late, an' there'll be sic a scrowe as
nivver. If thoo doesn't get theer i' time for t' parson to go in wi' his breeches on
1 nivver dar' set my face i' t' church again ! Noo off wi' tho', an' mak' sharp I'

** An' away t' lad went, at full scutch, wi' t' parcel under his arm, till he'd
getten oot o' seet — an' then he began to slacken a bit, d*ye see, an' as it war a fine
summer's mornin', t' parcel under his arm cleean slidder'd aht of his mind. He
hedn't gone far afore he happened to bob his stick intul a bit of a hole where there

238

war a wasp nest. At after that, 1*11 awarnd ye, it wasn't lana^ afore t' Hie dirul war
wakkened up, to some f^auge I His boany dream war all over, fra that blessed
minute ; an' he hed to begin o* stirrin* hissen I Oot they cam* — ten thoosan'
Strang — an' at him they went, tickle-but, — buzzin' aboot his head, like little fiery
dragons I Well, t' lad was a pluck't un,— an' he shouted, an' fowt wi' t' parcel to
keep 'em off — till t' parcel flew loise — an' then he fowt on wi' t' parson's breeches
till they gat full o' wasps. But while t' lad an' t' wasps were hard at it, i' t' very
heat o* t' battle — hammer an' tongs — up strikes t' church-bells. So, wi' that t' lad
bethowt him it war sarvice time, an* let t' feight go as it might, he must quit the
field ; so he rolled t' breeches up in a hurry — wasps an' all — an' he took to his
heels up t' road, as hard as he could leather at it — ^wi' t' enemy after him i* full
wing ! There war nae grass grew under his feet till he got to the vestry door, I'll
awarnd ye. Well, d'ye see, by this time t' owd parson hed aboot gan t' breeches
up, an' he stood i' t* vestry buttonin' his lang coat up, to see if he could manage to
•cover his legs wi' it as far down as t' top of his stockins, when a loud rap came to
t' door. It war t' taylior's lad wi' t* breeches, an' as soon as t* parson opened t'
door he shot into t' vestry like a bullet frae a gun.

** ' Ah, Simeon, my boy,' said t' parson, * it's you, is it ? I'm glad you've come.
So they're all right, are they ? '

'* * Yes, sir,' said Simeon, for he was just beginnin' to get his breath.

" * Well, you're only just in time, my lad,' said t' parson ; ' I ought to be in the
-church now.'

** Simeon needed nae mair tellin' — ^for he'd just sin a wasp come in at t' lock-
hole ; so he bowlted into t' church, an' pulled t' door to behind him. Then t'
parson pulled his breeches on in a hurry ; an' t' minute he'd gotten 'em on, he
darted off into t* church an* up into t' pulpit, an' he began o' readin' t' sarvice : —
* When the wicked man turneth away from his—* He stopped suddenly, an' he
changed colour ; an' then he gave a bit of a cough, an' began again :— * When the

wicked man turneth ' He stopped again. * Oh, by ! What's that ? ' (It

was a wasp.) He wiped his face with his handkerchief, and began again. * When

the wicked man turneth away f A>m his wick Oh, God — bless us all — ^there it

is again.' Well, t' folk stared like mad, ye know ; for they thowt t' owd man
war gettin' wrang i' t' cockloft. However, he at it again. * When the wicked man
turneth away from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and — a-«-h 1 '
(Another wasp.)

" * My friends,' said he, addressin' t' congregation, * I've been suddenly seised

with a-a-h !' (Another wasp.) * It's no use, my friends, no mortal man can

stand this. I must oh !' (Another wasp.) An' he flang down his book, an*

ran back into t' vestry, ezclaimin' to t' clerk wha'd followed him, * For God's sake
go at once to farmer Alderson's for some cart-oil, as I'm swelling like a pea.' "

And BO bhey went on telling tales, laughing and joking, and
recounting the adventures of the day. And surely it is good to throw
off occasionally habits of reserve and become, like things of Nature,
joyous and free-hearted. Laughter, says Dr. Stalker, is a gift of God.
It is a kind of spice which the Creator has given to be taken with the
somewhat unpalatable food of ordinary life. It is a kind of sunshine
to enliven the landscape, which is otherwise too dull and sombre. The
power of seeing the amusing side of things immensely lightens the load
of life, and he who possesses the gift of invoking hearty and innocent
mirth may be a true benefactor of his species.

239

Perhaps yoa may laugh now when I mean to be serious. Who would
think that Reeth has anything to do with the juniper-tree, under which
the prophet Elijah, wearied with his journey through the wilderness sat
down to rest ? May not the name be derived from the Goidelic reethe^
juniper, cognate with the Hebrew rotheniy and Arabic reihem* a name
imported by the earliest race of Celtic immigrants in Swaledale ? The
juniper has been very extensively grown in this part of Swaledale from
time immemorial, and down to the beginning of last century there were
many hundreds of acres of juniper and brier in the townships of Reeth,
Helangh and Muker. The chips at one time were extensively used for
fumigating, and during seasons of plague and sickness no house was
without them. The berries, moreover, were used as a spice and were also
employed medicinally. The plant grows best on open elevated limestone
country, and consequently flourished amazingly in the thin limey soils of
upper Swaledale. It still appears more plentiful in this part of Yorkshire
than anywhere else. There are acres of it scattered about Harkaside,
above Maiden Castle, and it grows upon the limestone scars in several
places in the dale, and ascends to the Main Limestone of Gunnersidc
Gill, Punchard's Gill, and Booze Moor. In Wensleydale it occurs but
sparingly.!

Whether this occuiTence of the juniper tree at Reeth be the true
origin of the name may of course be questioned. Perhaps a more
reasonable interpretation may be found in the Gad.-Celt., ruUh^ Greek,
reo^ Latin, ruOy Sansc., rt, meaning a flowing stream or river. The Anglo-
Saxon rithe also means a ford. Doubtless before Reeth Bridge was
built, the broad and stony Arkle Beck was forded a little above its
junction with the Swale. The name formerly was written Rythe, Rethe,
Rithe, &c., and originated a family so called, while the Norman scribes,
not accustomed to the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon consonantal idiom th^
curtail the name in Domesday to Rie.

The old town, which is commonly spoken of as the mining capital of
upper Swaledale, stands at an elevation of about 600 feet on the skirts
of Mount Calvey (1599 feet), which forms the long tongue of land
between the Swale and the Arkle. This spreading hill constitutes a fine
background, and its bare yet picturesque summit stands out boldly by
reason of the scars of Main Limestone that encompass it. The name is
no doubt derived from the A.S. calOy Scand. kael^ synonymous with the
Latin calvus^ meaning bald or bare. From the top there is a magnificent

* Some have supposed that this is not the British type of juniper eomviunU^
bat a species of broom (^GenUta monotperma) which is found in the deserts of
Arabia and the south of Palestine.

t See Prof. Baker's North Yorkshire in Tratuaetiom of Yorkt, Nat. Union,
part zvii., page 874.

240

view in all directions, the hill, though by no means the highest, being
one of the most central and prominent points in Richmondshire. Reeth
itself commands a fine look-out over the country southwards. Some few
years ago, when the lead mines were in full work and the population
nearly double what it is now, the large square on market-days presented
a scene of much interest and activity. The Friday market and four
fairs annually are held by charter granted to Philip, Lord Wharton, in
1695 (being the year that he died) for " buying and selling all, and all
manner of cattle, goods, things, and merchandise,*' together with a
Court of Pye Powder at the time the fairs are held. This peculiar
institution originated as a kind of court of appeal, whereby all cases of
commercial injury were heard and summarily determined by the lord's
steward, to whom the tolls were paid, on the day or days of the said
market or fairs. Before these markets were established at Reeth, the
cattle fairs were held at Grinton, and the markets for merchandise, as
was common in old times, took place on the Sabbath. But during the
Commonwealth the law against Sunday trading was very strict, and I
find in the Sessions Records in the year 1654, one Reeth yeoman got into
trouble on this account, and was indicted before the Justices for selling
oatmeal, pease, and tobacco on the Lord's Day.* In 1666 a Reeth man
was summoned for allowing divers persons to remain tippling in his
house on the Sabbath.t The fair held on St. Bartholomew's Day was
one of the great events of the year in the dale. It was known as Reeth
Bartle Fair, probably from its being held on the day just named.

Formerly there were more inns than now exist. Owing to the closing
or only partial working of the lead mines of the district, which not long
ago, used to yield as much as 8000 tons of lead ore annually, the
population, as I have said, has greatly declined, and the markets and
fairs have as a consequence followed suit. Many of the miners, with
their families, have gone abroad, and not a few to Spain, where valuable
lead- workings have been opened out, the ore being not only very abundant
but more easily worked, and what is important yields a greater percentage
of silver than the Yorkshire lead. The yield of silver in fact is such,
I am told, that it pays the whole working cost of the mines. Spanish
lead is therefore exported at a price that has rendered competition in this
country almost useless. Where the Swaledale mines continue to be
worked, this is done at wages fully one third less than was paid about
a dozen years ago.

Reeth possesses that necessary adjunct of this striving age, a Union

Workhouse ; a Mechanics' Institute with a library of over 1000 volumes,

an Independent Chapel, erected in 1783, and a Wesleyan Chapel that

. commemorates its centenary this present year. The Friends' School was

• North Riding Records, Iv., 163 ; f ^^^^ vi., 99.

241

founded and built in 1780 by Oeorge, Leonard, and John Raw, three
brothers, for boys and girls of all denominations. I am told they made
a curious condition, that the school was to be built near where they were
accustomed to bathe, within sight of Marrick Abbey. The old school -
house is still standing. There are now new handsome schools on the
hill at the west end of the village. There are three inns, the Buck^
(usually full in the shooting-season) which has lately been enlarged and
improved ; the Half Moon j Black Bull^ and several private lodging-houses
— these constitute the resources of Reeth during the visitors' season.
There is a post and telegraph office, and also a printer and stationer's
shop, &c., kept by Mr. Jabez Raisbeck, who as he modestly affirms,
** dabbles in rhyme," contributing occasionally to north country news-
papera, and whose buoyant muse finds wing in a rocky nest high up in
the scars of Fremington, known to the dalesfolk as ** Jabez's Cave."

From the De Gaunts, before mentioned, the manor of Reeth, I should
state, passed through various hands, and in the 17th century was
purchased by Lord Wharton, who owned the adjoining manor of
Helaugh, &c. The whole of these estates, as elsewhere explained, were
confiscated on the attainder of Philip, Duke of Wharton, in 1728.
Reeth subsequently came into possession of Mr. Thomas Smith, of
Muker Hall, whose daughter and co-heiress, Frances, married Mr. Charles
Lyell, from whom the manorial title has descended to the present owner.
Captain Lyell.

242

CHAPTER XXI.

Through Arkbngarthdalb.

A glorious day — An Easter walk — Aspects of Mount Calvey — Forest of Arkendale
— Manorial history — Extensive postal district — An Arkendale postman
becomes a millionaire — Hurst Moor — Booze — The parish church removed
from Arkletown to Langthwaite — Description of the church — Its history —
Scar House — Windegg cross — Local lead-mines — Roman roads — Whaw — ^A
moorland road — Tanhill — The highest-situated public-house in Yorkshire —
Snow in August — A night adventure.

EULL grey clouds and a misty vapour that looked like rain
hung over Eeeth one summer morning as a party of tourists
hesitated about entering upon a day's exploit among the
stubborn fells of Arkengarthdale, or Arkendale as it is
common to curtail the name. One of the party appeared at the door of
the inn as I stood in conversation with an elderly dalesman. ^* Shall we
have a fine day ? " he asked, " we are thinking of a long walk.'* '^ I think
we sail," replied the man, "ther's a lile yerd o' blue sky ower Fremington
Scar, an' that's a good sign, — I think yo' ma ventur'." And venture
they did, the yard of blue sky broadened, the hot ascending sun dispelled
the mountain-mists and the day proved gloriously fine. One section
ti*aced the dale to Eskeleth and thence took the solitary moorland road
over to Barnard Castle ; another crossed Stainmoor by Tanhill to Brough
and Eirkby Stephen, both of them grand upland routes abounding in open
and expansive prospects, where wildness seems unconquerable and the
god of silence reigns supreme. Man is truly the child of Nature, and is
not his inmost heart in unison with her freedom and her solitude ? —

Come, let us to the hills, where none but God
Can overlook us, for I hate to breathe
The breath and think the thoughts of other men
In close and clouded cities, where the sky
Frowns like an angry father mournfully ; —
I love the hills, and I love loneliness.

Yea, it is good to escape the city's din and feel the reviving influence of
these quiet, everlasting hills ! I remember on the occasion of an Easter
walk from Barras over Tanhill down to Reeth, there was hardly a hill

243

top visible until the deep glen of Low Arkendale was descended when
the welcome sunlight streamed from showery clouds, and a brilliant
rainbow arched the rifted hill beyond the slopes of gloom-shadowed
Langthwaite. The spectacle of scudding clouds, sudden gusts of rain
with snatches of refulgent iris, and the momentary lights and shadows
on the hills, was a wonderful revelation : here and there a lofty peak,
patched with snow, or stretch of russet moorland broke through bands
of white mist ; once again a gleam of sparkling sunlight from heaven's
darkened cope fell athwart Mount Oalvey, engirdling its rocky crest as
with a golden aureola. What thoughts this Easter time did not that
scene evoke of the passing of that One Life — transient as those heavenly
beams — which raised a whole world to the certainty of everlasting glory !
O! miracle-making mountain, ' with thy heart of stone, melting in
tenderness at His touch ; faithless is he who heeds not thy teachings
through the symbols sent from God I These, surely, are meaningful to
the poet who says, —

" Oh, what a glory doth this world put on
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes fortk
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks
On duties well performed, and days well spent !
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves
Shall have a voice and give him eloquent teachings ;
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go
To his long resting-place without a tear."

Spring-time, indeed, seems to be the best for witnessing the miraculous
alternations and pageantry of cloud and rain in such a land as this ; yet
how we long, bnt in vain, to preserve their wondrous colours and
transitions in a more permanent way than that of the human memory I
So, too, with the pen, for language fails to describe what the heart
sometimes feels.

The old Forest of Arkendale anciently belonged to the Lords of
Ravensworth. It was, as I have before remarked, part of an extensive
chase that abounded in wolves, boars, and wild deer. The family of
Arkilgarth, who took their name from this territory bore for arms a stag,
statant. They were some time foresters of the Earls of Richmond. In
1314 there belonged to the manor of Arkilgarth thirty cottages which
paid by the year 30s., and one house which paid by the year 6s. 8d.,
and one close which Robert de Applegarth held by the year 408. ; and
agistment pasture in Helwith, Hellgate, and Eexthwayte, worth by the
year £13 6s. 8d. ; in Langwaithe £4; in Exkerlod £3 68. 8d. ; in
Stickthwayte £4 ; in Kiwawe £4 13s. 4d. ; and in Fagardgile*

* Now called Faggergill, the site of one of the most productive lead-mines in
the dale.

244

£6 8r. 4d. ; and one enclosure 26b. 8d ; and Specchohaes 608. ; and
in Hep [Hope] £6 ; and pleas and perquisites of the Court are worth
by the year 40s. Total £55 13s. 4d.*

Anciently Arkengarthdale was parcel of the earldom and honour of
Richmond. After various transmissions the manor with all its members
and appurtenances, including the mill of Arkengarthdale, and all the
lands and tenements in the New Forest and Hope, was granted by letters
patent, 4th Charles I. (1628), to Edward Ditchfield and others, in trust
for the citizens of London, at the annual rent to the Crown of £53 5s. 6^d.
In 1683 the manor, &c., was purchased by the Robinsons, who in 1675
sold the same to Sir Thomas Wharton, Et., of Edlington. Subsequently
the estates came to the family of Bathurst. In 1814 Oeo. Brown, Esq.,
who died in that year, was the proprietor of two third parts of the
manors of Arkengarthdale and New Forest, foimerly the estate of
Charles Bathurst the elder, and Charles Bathurst his son, in Arkendale
and New Forest, Kirkby Hill alias Kirkby Ravensworth, co. York, and
being so possessed he devised the same to certain trustees upon trust for
the benefit of his sisters, — Jemima, the wife of the Rev. John Gilpin,
and Klizabeth, the wife of Sir Robert Preston, Bart., and others. The
other third of the manor was purchased in 1821 by Lady Elizabeth
Preston, who dying without issue, bequeathed the whole of her estates to
her nephew, George Gilpin, Esq., son of the above Rev. John Gilpin,
who thus became sole lord of Arkendale and New Forest. In 1854 he
added the name of Brown to his own surname, and his son, George Thos.
Gilpin-Brown, Esq., J.P., of Sedbury Hall, is now manorial lord.

The parish of Arkendale comprises 14,256 acres, and the population
is .760. Forty years ago it was nearly double that number, but has
declined for the reasons already stated. An excellently-kept turnpike
road traverses the dale throughout its length, crossing the Roman road
to Barnard Castle, at Eskeleth. There were formerly two toll-bars
between Reeth and Barras (18 miles). The road in question runs
through an extensive postal district, and in times of storm and flood the
postman's lot is assuredly not a happy one. Reeth is the old post-town,
but there is now a post and stamp office kept by Mr. G. Stubbs, grocer,
at Langthwaite. Letters come by rail to Richmond ; thence by road to
Reeth, and some of the houses within the postal delivery of Arkendale
are 15 to 20 miles from Richmond station. The late Mr. William
Barningham, of Pendleton, near Manchester, who died in 1882, worth
it is said considerably over half-a-million of money, was when a lad
letter-carrier between Reeth and Arkendale, and used to walk on an
average 20 to 25 miles up and down dale every day, Sundays excepted.
Afterwards he worked as a blacksmith with his brother John at

• Yorks. Record Series, xii., 224.

245

Middlesbrough, but being a man of great industry and pei-severance,
and excellent business aptitude, he rose step by step, becoming eventually
proprietor of extensive iron- works at Darlington and at Pendleton, where
he died at the comparatively early age of 56. The family of Barningham
was originally of Barningham in Richmondshire, being in the Norman
centuries lords of that place, and formed alliances with the best local
families. Harrison gives their lineage.

Pursuing the road up the valley between the eastern skirts of Calvey
on our left, and the gritstone summit of Fell End on our right, we come
shortly to a deep and bleak gill — an offshoot from the main valley, —
running northwards under Hurst Moor, one of the most prolific grouse
moors in Britain, and by which we may reach the famous old lead mines
at Hurst, once worked, as elsewhere related, by the Romans. West of
Hnrst is a celebrated iron spring called Roan Well, a popular resort at
one time. Clinging to the opposite hill, like a tipsy man to a lamp-post,
is the little hamlet of Booze, which like Helaugh, anciently called Hale,
on the other side of Calvey, rather suggests tippling propensities, but
rest assured, whatever may be their true derivatives, there is nothing at
all bibulous in their composition. There is no inn at Booze, nor could
I ascertain that there ever was one.

We now go through Arkletown and Langthwuite (inns) which are
only a short distance apart. The old Parish Church with burial-ground
was formerly at Arkletown, but was re-erected through the liberality of
the late Oeorge Brown, Esq., in 1818 at Langthwaite. He also built
the schools. The old edifice was something like the previous churches
at Hudswell, Horsehouse in Coverdale, &c., pictured in this work, having
a bell turret on the west gable, but no west window. Many of the stones
of the former burial-ground of the parish were, I am told, broken up ;
some were used for walling, &c., and the site appears now like an ordinary
field. The church has undergone many improvements since it was built
on the present site. A large clock, with two faces, has been put in the
tower, and a new pulpit and choir stalls have been erected, likewise a
beautiful font inscribed to the memory of the late respected lord of the
manor, George Gilpin-Brown, Esq. In 1892 a two-manual organ (built
by Messrs. Conacher, of Huddersfield) was placed in the church at a cost
of about £250, raised by subscription, in memory of the late worthy
pastor, the Rev. John Hayton, who was vicar of the parish for 82 years.
The late vicar, the Rev. John Tinkler, M.A., was collated to the vicarage
of Caunton, Newark, a living long held by Dr. Hole, the very able Dean
of Rochester; and the present vicar, the Rev. Joseph Baker, was instituted
in 1891. In 1895 a neat brass cross was given to the church by the Hon.
H. B. Portman ; a pair of brass vases and flower holders, the gift of
Mrs. Stanyforth, and a brass altar-desk was presented by Miss Johnstone.

246

The church was appropriated in the time of Henry II. to Egleston
Abbey, and continaed a possession of that house till the Dissolation. In
1628 Sir John Lowther, Et., purchased the manor of Egleston, with
the advowsons of the churches of Arkendale and Startford, and his
descendant, Sir 0. H. Lowther, Bart., is now patron of the living.

What a fine position for a country residence is Scar House, while it
is quite romantically situated in the shelter of thick fir plantations on
the opposite side of the valley 1 It is a shooting-lodge of O. T. Gilpin.
Brown, Esq., and occupies the site of the old manor house. As before
stated he is lord of Arkendale, and has also the picturesque ivy-covered
house over the water at Eskeleth, on the Barnard Castle road. High
above here, on the summit of Windegg, is a conspicuous oaken cross,
bearing an inscription now almost obliterated. It was erected about the
year 1860 by Miss Horrocks, then governess to R. M. Ja(][ues, Esq., of
Eskeleth Hall. The point commands a wonderfully grand view.

Hei-e by the way-side is the well-known " C. B. inn," the chief
hostelry in the dale, so called from the initials of Charles Bathurst, Esq.,
lord of the manor, as before stated, in last century. He opened out some
of the valuable lead-mines in the neighbourhood, and all the pigs were
stamped with his initials. There was an old smelt-mill on the south
side of the Arkle, replaced some 70 years ago by a new and more
commodious place better adapted for the smelting of the ore, which was
being obtained in increased quantities, and at that time the mining
was carried on by one firm trading under the name of the Arkengarthdale
and Darwent Mining Company. The annual output of the mines from
about 1820 to 1880 was estimated at fully 2000 tons, while the total
yield of these and all the other mines in Swaledale was some thirty years
later probably not less than 5000 to 6000 tons of lead ore annually. It
is not easy to account for such extraoixiinary metalliferous deposits in
the Swaledale strata, and various theories have been propounded as to
their origin. Mr. J. G. Goodchild, F.G.S., regards the lead-bearing
veins as due to a deposition from thermal water rising through pre-
existing fissures (faults, &c.) at a time when the rocks were undergoing
their last principal upheaval in Miocene times.*

The Romans, as I have said, worked these Arkengarthdale mines
probably soon after the conquest of the Brigantes in the first century.
Thej transported the lead by the old road, elsewhere described, to
Richmond, and also by the road which skirts the north shoulder of
Windegg to Barnard Castle, crossing the present turnpike near the (7. B,
inn, and following the Askrigg road from here (9 m.) along the west
flank of Calvey to Feetham, where it forded the Swale opposite Maiden

• 8ee Trans, of Cumb. and Wtstmld, Amoe., vii. (1882), pages 107-110, and
Genesis of Metalliferon$ Dejwtitt^ in Proc, Geol. Asioo.^ xi., No. 2, page 49.

247

Castle and thence traversed the present moor-road direct to the Roman
camp at Bainbridge. Thns a direct through route was established
across country between the Roman garrisons at Lancaster, Bainbridge,
Bowes, and Oreta Bridge, communicating with the great camp on
Watling Street, near Bishop Auckland.

Holding up the Brough road we pass on our right a curious round-
topped eminence, not unlike a raised pie, called Eitlaw Hill, and down
in the ravine below is the little hamlet of Whaw, — in the busy lead-
mining days a much more populous place than now, boasting two inns-
Fifty years ago there were nearly a dozen inns in the dale between Reeth
and Whaw, where now there are but three. A stout three-arch bridge
crosses the beck at Whaw, looking absurdly large for so petty a stream
but the good folk of this sequestered village can tell many a tale of
fearful floods at chis spot, when their bridge has been none too big for
passage across the rush and spread of waters. From this point to within
a mile of the lofty inn at Tanhill, it is a somewhat desolate walk over
high moorland tracts without much feature. A white *' stoop ** here by the
road indicates the boundary of the liberties of Arkengarthdale and
Bowes. Then the Teesdale and Westmorland hills come in sight, and
you can plainly descry the high up white house of Hudeshope, at
Middleton Head, some fifteen miles distant.

The inn at Tanhill is the highest situated public-house in Yorkshire
(upon the Westmorland border), and is reputed to be 1620 feet above
sea-level, or about 150 feet higher than the well-known inn on Eirkstone
Pass. It is an old licensed house, lately belonging to Sir John Cowen,
recently deceased. This little weather-beaten '^ travellers* rest '' stands
in as wild and as bleak a situation as is to be found anywhere in
England. On the occasion of ray last visit, September 28th, 1894 — a
warm summer-like day in the valleys — I found water frozen here and
the ground white as winter with hoar-frost ! Showers of snow not
infrequently fall as late as June, and again in September snow has been
known to cover the surrounding moors with more than a mere sprinkling.
There is even one well-remembered instance, namely, the first week of
August, 1889, when Tanhill, Water Crag and Shunnor Fell were capped
with snow. The house, in spite of its yard-thick walls, suffers most
from the high winds and beating rains which sometimes rage with
tremendous fury about these desolate moorlands. The old weathered
signboard on the house front bears the name of the keeper of the inn,
John Pounder, who from his long experience in this exposed and
stormy solitude must no doubt feel the appositeness of his patronym
to the situation ! His good wife told me several tales of misadventure
to travellers in this wild region. Not long ago a couple of horsemeo
were lost in tracing the road over Bowes Moor to Eirkby Stephen, and

248

being dark when they got to Barras, turned up the Tanhill road and did
not discover their mistake until some miles had been travelled. They
were obliged to lead their horses, the night being wet and stormy, and
believing they had got on to some mountain road that led to nowhere in
particular, and not being sure of retaining the same way back, they
determined to keep forward, and at last reached the inn on the misty
heights of Tanhill, of course wet to the skin. What a blessed haven
this must have been on snch a wild, dark night ! The men declared
they were strangers to the district, and might never see the place again,
yet they would always remember the kindness of the innkeepers in
finding them and their horses a lodging, and for drying their clothes.
As I sat by the comfortable hearth-nook enjoying a plate of good bread
and butter and some excellent Appleby ale, the woman told me that all
the milk they got had to be carried some miles ap from the valley, so that
they were often without, and her bread (which I had been praising) was
baked with water. From such bread and ale (if you are not an Adam's
wine man) you can make a capital repast — this being the oldest form
of pablic I'efreshment mentioned in English history — and if I might
suggest a rhyme for the inn-sign it would be this :

At this high place within a vault,

There is such liquor fixed.
TnuMI say that water, hops, and malt

Were never better mixed.

The inn appears to have been originally built for the convenience of
miners, as a seam of good coal has long been worked on Tanhill,
which at one time supplied the domestic wants of the greater part of
Arkengarthdale and Swaledale. At present there are only about a dozen
men employed.

The inn stands at the summit of the waters-parting of the Tees and
Swale, and from it there is a most extensive prospect, reaching from the
Lake Mountains westward to the Tees mouth on the east, and on a clear
night the fires of the coke ovens about Bishop Auckland are distinctly
seen. From Water Crag (2176 feet) about a mile to the south, I am
told that the whole breadth of England is traversed by the eye, even
from the Irish Sea to the German Ocean ! This may be questioned.
Bnt from Shnnnor Fell, a higher point more west, the North Sea is
certainly discernible, as was evident upon the eve of Her Majesty's
Jnbilee, when the light on Roseberry Topping, with the sea beyond, was
very plain. Tanhill, I suspect, was anciently a sort of beacon, and the
Celtic word tan (fire) rather favours the idea. But whether these tan or
tein fires were beacon fires, or whether they referred to the Beltane fires
kindled by the ancient Celts on May Day, cannot be positively stated.*

• See Blackie*B Place Names , page 188 ; Joyce*8 IrUh Names of Placet, vol.i.,
page 187 ; Chambers's Eneyelapadia (Beltane).

249

CHAPTER XXII.

Up the Swale from Reeth.

Dr. Johnson *' deviating " — Harkaside— Family of Harker — An ancient mil) —
Maiden Castle — Crackpot— Whitaside and the Close family — Poet Close —
Over the moors — John Wesley " bogged " — Oxnop and George Kirton —
Hunting at the age of 80— A remarkable gathering — Gunnerside Bridge—
Local scenery and wild-flowers.

|R0M our deviation ap Arkengarthdale we will now return
to the Swale. When Dr. Johnson was travelling in the
Highlands of Scotland, he came up to a peasant who was
employed in paring turf to cover his hut, or what is called
*' casting divots." ** Pray, sir," exclaimed the lexicographer, " we
approach to enquire if you can indicate the way to the most contiguous
village, for we are dreadfully fatigued, having deviated from our road
these two hours ? " " Tired wi' divotin' twa hoors I " replied the rustic,
with scornful surprise. '' I*ve bin divotin* sin* four o'clock this mornin*,
au maun dae it as lang as I can see, tired or nae." Whether the learned
doctor ultimately made himself intelligible to the bucolic laddie, history
does not recount, but had he " deviated " up Arkengarthdale by the route
described in the last chapter, he would have had to do so a good many
hours, for after passing Langthwaite (locally Lanquit) and Arkletown,
there is no semblance of a village till Barras is reached, 18 miles from
Reeth.

From Reeth or Grinton we may take the south bank of the romantic
river-course, passing the before-mentioned Swale Hall on our left, to the
fell-side hamlet of Harkaside. This out-of-the-way spot I have little
doubt has given name to the ancient family of Harker, which is known
to have been seated in this locality from time immemorial ; in fact from
the Norse conquest of Swaledale. Although we find Thorir Akrakarl
in the Scandinavian Sagas, yet this Akr does not of itself supply
sufficient evidence for a personal name. It was in all probability that
on the Norse settlement, the land here was converted to tillage for the
growth of oats, &c. Oatmeal was then the staple food-product, and we
have knowledge of an ancient water-mill which stood at the bottom of

250

Crackpot Gill, near the Melbecks Vicarage, before the new one was boilt^
which is called Haverdale Mill. Oats are known to have been rather
extensively cultivated in this district in former times, where the land ia
now all in pasture, and the Scand. name Melbecks implies the existence
of a meal-mill here from the old Viking days, or for a period of fully
one thousand years. Harkaside, as I have said, would then be arable
land, as signifies the Scand. word akr, A.S. (Ecer^ modern Oerman acker ^
acre, or open-field, in contradistinction to tun^ the home-field or enclosure.
The family living beside such a field would take the name of Akr, Akar,
Arkar, Harker, as the name would be variously pronounced and ultimately
assume, and which in all probability gave name to the famous Akar Fitz
Bardolph, the founder of Jervaux Abbey in the 12th century, who was
descended from Gospatric, Lord of Ravensworth in the time of King
Canute. Nothing has been more common in old Scandinavian custom
than the appropriation of the place-name or land-characteristic to the
family abiding there. Thus Akr-side, or as it sometimes appears,
Harca-side, Harkerside, &c., would be well applied to a large, open,
cultivated sloping area, such as here exists, and the personal name would
follow.

Among the earliest records of the family in Swaledale is one of 21st
Henry VI. (1448), when Constantia Bygod claimed damages against
Wm. Aldehousson [Alderson] of the parish of Beeth, yeoman, Richard
Harca, Robert Harca, and other yeomen of the said parish, for cutting
down her trees, value £40. The family was formerly very numerous in
this parish. In 1662 the following paid hearth-tax in Reeth : Symon
Harker, Edmond Harker, William Harkey, John Harkey, George Harker,
Edmond Harkey, Addam Harkey ; and in 1674 we find that in Muker
there were no fewer than twelve families of the name, all separate
householders, who severally paid for their hearths. Some members of
this old pre-Norman family settled in Wensleydale, Nidderdale, and
adjoining districts, and one of its most influential representatives,
William Harker, Esq., J.P., ex-M.P. for the Ripon Division, now of
Harefield, Pateley Bridge, is descended from a family living at Reeth at
the beginning of this century.

On Harkaside are good evidences of a somewhat remarkable earthwork
or camp, which I have already referred to in connection with the
entrenchments on Fremington Edge. The camp or site is known as
Maiden Castle, a name which some derive from the Celtic mat-dun,
meaning great ridge, but I think it probable that the various ancient
camps known by this name are of Celt.-Roman appellation, found in the
Celt, meadhoriy Latin medius, middle, for wherever these Maiden Castles
occur we find them midumy between two or more important stations ;
thus Maiden Castle on Stainmoor stands midway between the stations of

251

Bowes and Broagh, and Maiden Castle on Harkaside stands midway
from the camps at Bainbridge and Greta Bridge.* The encampment at
Harkaside appears from its position, outline, and arrangements to have
been originally British, and afterwards occnpied as a guard and resting-
station by the Soman troops, but not as a permanent camp. The
defences consist of an irregularly-circular rampart, following the natural
contour of the ground,. and enclosed by deep and wide ditches, the whole
apace covering about 140 yards by 90 yards. The encampment is
approached on the east by an avenue of stones about 100 yards long,
and on the north side of this passage-way near the west end is a large
mound like a tumulus. Further south, some 300 yards, is another
mound, of oblong form, and west of this are the remains of several cairns.
Most of them appear to have been tampered with, but I can obtain no
satisfactory account of these examinations. On the surrounding moors
several flint arrow-heads have been found.

Beyond Harkaside are the moorland hamlets of Whitaside and
Crackpot, the latter place being so named from a curious and extensive
cavern, which is entered by a narrow crevice, or crack in the limestone at
the top of Crackpot Gill. The term '' pot *' is not always applied to a
deep hole, or ground-chasm, but sometimes, as in the case of Goyden Pot,
to a longitudinal fissure opening horizontally into the rock.f Some have
supposed this name to be a corruption of Crag-port, and in a single deed
of 3rd and 4th Philip and Mary, the name appears Crake Cote. John
Wycliffe, of Langthorne, a descendant of Wycliffe, the Reformer, had
lands in Crackpot in the time of Henry YIII.

Whitaside gave name to an ancient family holding lands here in the
Norman centuries. The yeoman family of Close were also seated here
at an early period, but have got dispersed. A few of the name however
still reside in the neighbourhood. The late eccentric poet, John Close,
author of The Satirist ; The Wise Man of Stainmoor^ &c., was of this
family. He was born at Gunnerside, on the estate of the late Lord
Wensleydale, in 1816, but removed to Bnterber Cottage, near Kirkby
Stephen, where his first volume was written,, and published in his 16th
year. His improvised '* study *' consisted of a small apartment some six
feet square, immediately under his bedroom, and from which he could
descend by means of a trap-door. Often in the " silent watches," he
tells us, when all the family were asleep, he would secretly let himself
down into this modest sanctum ; then with pen in hand, weave those
" immortal fancies" which were to earn for him an undying name ! But
his father, who was a well-to-do butcher, and a practical man of business,
had marked objections to this nocturnal behaviour of the ardent aspirant

* See also lioteM and Queries, toI. ii. (1880), tkudpott, Middleham.

t See the author's Tramps and Drives in tJie Craven Highlands^ page 128.

252

to poetic honours. Tet in spite of it the yoath pursaed his bent,
and became a prolific writer, both in prose and verse, although he
fared badly at the hands of his many critics. It was, however, as
much the peculiar strength and originality of the man's character as the
frequent absurdity of his rhymes that provoked the many criticisms and
taunts of merciless scribes, many of whom adding insulc to injury made
a mock-hero of the unfortunate poet. He has certainly been much
ridiculed, but let us give the man his due for at least honest efforts. If
he has amused many, his foibles have been understood, and he can have
offended none. It may not be generally known that he wrote an elegy
on the death of the Prince Imperial, which so far impressed the kindly
instincts of Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Eugenie, that she
ordered a solatium of 500 francs to be sent to the astonished author,
accompanied by a note. The poet died February 14th, 1891, and was
interred in Kirkby Stephen cemetery.* In St. Mary's Church, Hornsea,
is a memorial to John Close, Esq., of Beeth, who died 15th June, 1799,
aged 29.

From Crackpot there is a fine walk of about five miles over the moor
to Askrigg. Above Askrigg Town Head the road joins another one
crossing the same wild moorland tract by High and Low Oxnop to
Muker (5 m.). The grassy lane is known as the Streets, indicative of
the Roman way before-mentioned, which crosses the moor, part of the
old Wensleydale Forest, to Feetham and Arkengarthdale. The Roman
camp at Bainbridge is directly opposite, on the south side of the river.
It was while riding over this high moor up Whitaside from Low Row in
Swaledale, in the spring of 1774, that John Wesley got his horse bogged,
as recorded in his journals. John Willis was his guide. Wesley wrote :

'* We croBsed over the enormous mountain into lovely Wensleydale, the largest
by far of al) the dales, as well as the most beautiful. As I rode through the town
of Redmire the people stood staring on every side, as if we had been a couipaoy
of monsters. I preached in the street, and they soon ran together, young and old,
from every quarter."

Wesley seems to have been a man possessed not only of a bold and
fearless spirit, but of a refined temperament, and his appreciation of the
beauties of Wensleydale is noteworthy at a time when the charms of
scenery found but scant recognition.

Oxnop formed part of the Swaledale possessions of Rievaulx Abbey,
which belonged the township of Muker, and particulars of its several
lands and tenements will be found in the chartulary of that monastery .f
At Oxnop lived Greorge Kirton or Eearton, who for the greater part of
his long life was a most ardent and devoted sportsman. He is said to

* For a long sketch of the poet's life and career see the Penrith Observer for
February 24th, 1891. f Published by the Surtees Society.

253

have followed the hounds till the age of 80, and ^' went in a chair to the
unkennelling of the hounds until 100, and made very free with the bottle
till 110." He died July 15th, 1764, aged 124.» Concerning local
longevity I may mention that on the occasion of the funeral of the late
Mr. James Sunter, who died in 1891, and who had been steward and
gamekeeper for Messrs. Tomlin ever since the erection of Thimswood,
seven very old dalespeople had tea with Mr. Edmund Ooates, of the
QueerCs Arms, Low Row. The combined ages of these seven old
dalesfolk totalled over 520 years. There was formerly a small Roman
Catholic Chapel to the west of Gunnerside, built and chiefly supported
by the Duchess of Leeds — ^the Duke of Leeds being then Crown ranger
of Swaledale.

Gunnerside Bridge.

The beck which rises above High Oxnop farm flows into the Swale
near Gunnerside Bridge. The trout in this stream are described by Day
as distinct, under the name of Salmofario Swaleiialensis, The river and
beck at this junction in times of flood cause sad havoc, and Gunnerside
Bridge has been swept away several times within the present century.
The present one was erected some five years ago, in place of the bridge
that succumbed to a flood in Januaiy, 1890. It had been set up and
completed only in the preceding October ; the previous one, constructed
at a cost of £107, having stood for 46 years. The re-building of this

* Vide Annual Register^ where he is stated to be of Oxnop Hall, near Leyburn,

254

bridge has involved an expenditure of many hundreds of pounds, but
this represents only a fraction of the various losses sustained by floods
throughout the dale. On several occasions the dale has been a complete
wreck from end to end, presenting almost the appearance of an Alpine
valley desolated by glacier and avalanche. During one of the floods a
few years ago it was estimated that in many places in the dale fully 1000
tons of debris covered each acre of land, while scarcely a bridge and
wall for 20 miles were left standing.

The river is exceptionally rapid, falling from an altitude of 1050 feet
at Eeld (one of the highest-situated villages in Yorkshire), to about 300
feet at Richmond, a distance of 22 miles, which is equal to a fall of
about 34 feet per mile. The rapidity of the river is supposed by some
to explain a probability of its name being derived from the A.S. swcUew,
to flow swiftly. I have expressed my opinion on this matter in another
place.

As you descend the Oxnop pass the mountains and scars around the
Swale head appear finely grouped. The romantic solitudes of the two
Stonesdales, with Eisden Fell and Water Orag, in Autumn purple with
heather-bloom, sweeping boldly downwards towai*d8 the ravine in which
lies hidden the Alpine village of Keld, make a wondrously striking
picture. Then opposite us the woody recesses of Gunnerside Gill appear
on the further side of the Swale, with the far-reaching valley of
Arkendale climbing to the wastes of Stainmoor. Wild flowers and
mosses begem grey rock, crystal stream, and grassy marshes, as we
saunter slowly along ; with here a bit of round-leaved sundew, and it&
consort the equally cui'ious fly-feasting butterwort, and there blossoming
patches of the little white-flowering sandwort (Arenaria trinervii) and
the stately-stemmed' star of Parnassus. Coming to the Orake Trees
farm we spy the cairn on the lofty summit of Lovely Seat, while away
bounding the western horizon are Great Shunnor Fell, Lady's Pillar,
High Seat, and other peaks of the nigged Pennines. The grey, old
village of Muker, with its plain little church, stands under the precipitous
scars of Eisdon, while the shining river flows swiftly below.

A field-path from Crake Trees leads to Muker, but nothing is to be
gained by deviating from the main road unless the latter be flooded.

255

CHAPTER XXIII.

Under thb Scars around Helaugh.

Antiquity of Helaugh — A decayed town — Meaning of the name— A hunting-seat
of John of Gaunt — Thouiaa Chaucer, son of the poet, in Swaledale— A grand
wolf-hunting country— The last wolves in England and Scotland — Origin and
objects of horn-blowing in the Forests of Swaledale and Wensleydale — The
lure in Norway— Manor of Helaugh— The family of Wharton— Incident in
Swaledale— Fate of the Duke of Wharton— Helaugh near Tadcaster— Melbecks
and the Rev. R. V. Taylor — Mr. Edmund Knowles, C.C. — The church-
Discovery of Skeletons — Traditions about trees— Feetham, a Roman ford —
Low Row and the Parke family — Smarber Hall and Lord Wharton — A curious
bequest — Local Nonconformity— Anecdotes of Wesley— Gunnerside-Burial
in woollen — I velett Beck and waterfalls— Crackpot Hall and Swinnergill
Kirk — Grand scenery.

I HE romantic highway from Reeth to Maker (9 miles) runs
through the rninoaB and conspicaouBly-fallen, old-world
village of Helaugh. A native wiseacre once informed the
writer that this place was built by the Romans, but judging
from its present neglected and tumble-down condition it might have
been built by the ancient Britons. Like most of the villages and
hamlets in this part of the valley, the place, which is fondly believed by
many to have been as important and populous as Richmond, has suffered
contraction from the abandonment of the lead-mines, and there are now
little more than a score inhabited houses. It had once, I am told, as
many as half-a-dozen inns, a circumstance of more than bibulous
interest, as the fact might be supposed to have given the place its ancient
name of '* Ale," or '^ Hale,'* as it appears in Domesday,

Some strange guesses have been made as to the origin of this name,
which is variously spelled Hele, Helay, Helah, Helagh, &c. There can
however be no doubt that it is so called from its having been the site of
a stone hall or capital mansion in pre-Norman times, the word being
cognate with the A.S. heal^ Tent, hal^ alh^ meaning a palace or mansion-
house. The great John of Gaunt is even said to have had a ^' castle "
here, and to have made it his occasional residence. It was probably a
hunting-seat of the Oaunts during the time they held the important
manor of Helaugh, which was one of the best wolf and boar tracts in
the north.

256

The GauntB, as I have recorded in my observations on the history of
Orinton, held these estates from the time of King Stephen, until the
descent through co-heiresses in the reign of Henry III. Sir John
Burghersh, who was descended from the Oaonts by marriage of Nichola,
daughter of Gilbert de Gaunt (ob. 1274), with Peter de Malolacn, sold
the manor of Helaugh and half the manor of Swaledale to Sir Robert
de Plesyngton in 1381. A daughter and co-heir of this Sir John
Burghersh married Thomas Chaucer, son of the famous Geoffrey Chancer,
one of the fathers of English poetry, and author of the CanUrhwry Tales.
Thomas Chaucer held the ofiSce of Constable of the Castle and Forest of
Enaresborough under his kinsman, the celebrated John of Gaunt.* It
is quite possible that Chaucer was the guest of John of Gaunt at his
secure and well-stored lodge at Helaugh, and that after hunting the
adjoining Forests many a feast and revel took place here. John of
Gaunt is usually accredited with having slain the last wild wolf in
Yorkshire at a spot near Leeds, but it is more than probable that these
fleet and cunning marauders had taken refuge, and continued to harbour
in the more secluded ravines of upper Swaledale and the North Riding
centuries after this time.f In fact we have written records that as late
as A.D. 1488 the district known as Wolf-huntland so far south as
Nottinghamshire, was held by the winding of a horn and the chasing
and frightening of the wolves in the Forest of Sherwood ; while Taylor,
the water-poet, writing of a visit to the Forest of Braemar, in 1618,
tells us that during the space of twelve days he saw *' neither house nor
corn-field, or habitation for any creature but deer, wild horses, wolves^
and such like creatures." We gather from Pennant, too, that wolves
lingered in Scotland till last century, and there is a tradition that the
last wild wolf was actually killed in Glenurchard, in Morayshire, by a
vassal of the Laird of Macintosh in 1748, leaving little room to doubt
that odd animals harboured in the wilder nooks of the North of England
till a much later period than is usually supposed.

In 1252 Gilbert de Gaunt had an action entered against him at the
suit of the Abbot of Rievaulx, who claimed all the customs of hunting
in the Forest of Swaledale by virtue of the gifts of the ancestors of the
said Gaunt, and he pleaded the right also to keep hounds and horn in the
said Forest, and to have all necessaries for the maintenance, &c., of
houses, lodges, folds, and fences. The Abbot's mention of the prerogative
of his men to blow the horn calls up an old Forest custom which is still
retained at Bainbridge in Wensleydale. The practice is a very ancient
one and can be traced back to Roman times, when each company or
troop on march carried a horn to raise an alarm in case of danger, and

♦ See the author's Xidderdale and the Garden of the Aidd, page 263, kc,
t See the author's Airedale^ pages 43 and 68.

257

this was responded to by the guards or watchers at certain known
stations. When the Forest Laws were introduced by the Saxons their
foresters were charged to blow the horn for a similar purpose, also that no
man might commit a felony, and on such taking place every able-bodied
person within sound of the horn was to come to the assistance of the
forester and help in the identification and detention of the offender.
The punishment for convictions of this description was of a very severe
though uncertain character, but in 1016 when Canute introduced a new
and dearly-defined code of forest laws matters were much less rigorous,
at any rate almost every man knew what to expect for his trespasses.
Four verderers or chief officei*s were appointed for each forest, and they
were also the responsible judges of the offenders therein. They held
three times a year a Court of Swanimote, and punished all the lesser
offenders. If a gentleman chased a deer which took flight and ran away
he should pay 10s. to the king, but if he was not a gentleman he should
be doubly fined ; if a slave he should be ^' flayed.'* If a gentleman
molested one of the verderei*s, he forfeited his liberty and his effects, but
if a villain or slave should do so his right hand was to be cut off, and
for a second offence he should lose his life.

In Norman times the Forest Laws underwent further changes, but
the practice of horn-blowing was still kept up, with various prescribed
additions. One was to sound the horn when certain animals were
removed to other than their known quarters, as when swine were turned
into a forest in the Autumn. In fact every thing not of secret import,
or touching the public interest in relation to the forests, seems to have
been proclaimed by the blowing of a horn. By the charter of
Henry III. any great man, such as an Archbishop, Earl, or Baron, going
to the king by his command, and passing through a forest, should be at
liberty to kill one or two of the king's deer "by the view of the forester,"
but if the forester was not present he should blow a horn so that he seem
not to steal, and so likewise on returning. It was not the licensed
foresters and watchers only who were horn-blowers, but pilgrims and
travellers in the wilder parts of the country also carried these useful
instruments, which they sounded when they had lost their way or were
in any danger. A certain kind of horn or trumpet was also blown in
early times every evening in some upland districts to call the cattle home
out of reach of the wolves. The use of dogs was substituted in later
times for this method. But in some of the mountainous districts on the
Continent it is still kept up, and at the peculiar dull, loud blast the
conscious cattle raise their heads and then slowly make their way to
their accustomed folds. Visitors to the remoter parts of Norway may
have noticed a peculiar kind of wooden trumpet, called a lure, which is
often as much as five feet long, slung across the shoulders of native

258

travellers who are strange to the district they are going through. When
any danger arises, or they have lost their way, they blow the Ittrey and the
signal, if not too violently interrupted by echoes, can be heard, and the
direction whence it proceeds found out at a considerable distance.
Formerly at Gam Houses, in the Forest of Langstrothdale, a gun was
fired as a signal to belated travellers, this being perhaps a more effective
method of proclaiming the whereabouts of a watch or hospice than the
older one of horn and trumpet-blowing, as in the Forests of Swaledale
and Wensleydale.*

In an inquisition post-mortem of Gilbert de Gaunt, the last male
descendant of the hereditary heirs of Swaledale, taken 2nd Edward I.
(1278-4), he is stated to have held the manors of Helage in Swaledale,
of the grant of John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, by the service of
one pair of gilt spurs. There was t^en in demesne there a '^capital
messuage ** worth 4s. This was the old hall or mansion-house in the
Hall Garth, afterwards re-built or enlarged into a handsome fortress-like
hunting-lodge in the time of John of Gaunt. There were also 100 acres
of arable land worth 100s., a meadow in a place called Fytun (Feetham)
and Skalefoot containing 27^ acres at 8s. per acre, beside other meadows,
tenements, and a water-milLf The heirs of the said Gilbert were
Peter de Malolacu, Roger de Eerdeston, and Julia de Gaunt, who with
Hugh fil Henry were declared to be joint lords of Helaugh in Swaledale,
9th Edward II. (1315). The division of the proprietary led to the
transfer of the estates through various owners. In 17th Henry YI. (1438)
we find the family of Bigod claiming against Sir John Salvage, Et.^ in
a plea touching the division of the lands of the inheritance of Sir Peter
de Malolacu, Et., and in 5th Henry YIII. (1518) Sir Francis Bigod was
found to be seized of the manors of Birdsaulland, Helagh, in Swaledale,
with 60 messuages, 40 cottages, 1000 acres of arable land, 1000 acres of
meadow, 1000 acres of pasture, 40 acres of wood, one water-mill, one
dove-house, and £8 rents, with the appurtenances in Birdsaull, Helagh,
Raynsett, Sateron, Hyvelett, Gonersett, Wyntryngarthes, Brokholebsnk,
Pottyng, Bladys, Folehouse, Westonesdale, Wildose, Fenton, Bereton,
Harkaside, Helagh Park, and Bethe, in Swaledale. This Sir Francis
Bigod, who was descended from the great Earls of Norfolk, hereditary
Earls Marshal of England, was attainted for participation in the

* Although the horn of ordinary pattern was the most commonly adopted
method of ready signalling there were other and sometimes curious means
employed. The gun and bell were occasionally used. The *' camp-horn ** of King
Alfred at Uffingdon, in the Vale of the White Horse, is said to have consisted of
a large stone, about a yard in diameter, with a peculiarly formed hole through it.
A lusty blower in this stone could make himself heard a great way off.

t Torki. Ree. Ser.y vol. xii., page 187.

259

rebellion known as the " Pilgrimage of Grace/' wherefore his life and
all his lands were forfeited, 28th Henry YIIT. He had some years
previously bestowed the oflSoe of bow-bearer in the lordship of Swaledale
upon Sir William Conyers, of Marske, and his son William Conyers,
with an annuity of 40s. for their lives.

Subsequently the estates were sold and transmitted to different
persons. In 1635, Philip, Lord Wharton, gave 90s. for license to
concord with Sir Thomas Yachell, Kt., and Tanfield Yachell, Esq.,
touching divers lands, &c., and the free chace and half the manors of
Swaledale and Helagh, with the appurtenances in Helagh and Grinton.
In 1719 the following fine was entered :

Philip, Duke of Wharton, and Martha, his wife, Bu£fered a recovery to the use
of Thomas Gibson, Esq., and John Jacob, gentleman, at the suit of William Lee,
gentleman, of the manors of Swaledale, Helaugh-in-Swaledale, Reeth and Mewcre
with the appurtenances, and 250 messuages, 4 water-mills, 3 dove houses, 1000 acres
of land, 600 acres of meadow, 1000 acres of pasture, 50 acres of wood, 6000 acres
of juniper and brier, 3000 acres of moor, £12 rents, free ehacef, free warren, tolls
of fairs and markets and view of frankpledge with the appurtenances in Swaledale
ah, Swadale oIm, Swandale, Grinton, Helaugh alt. Helaw aU Heley, Helaugh Park,
Beeth als, Rithe, Harkeyside, West Grinton, Roucroft, Ravenseate, Westondale,
Bast Stonesdale, Ivelett, Gonersett, Pottinge, Wintringarth, Bland s ah. Blades,
Brokesbanke, Heley a/«. Healey, Fithane ali, Fytham, Burwanes, Kirton, Crackpott,
Sateron, Cullerton, Howsen, Tawdhipp, Petringlawe, Rawkipling, Mewacre,
Weddale, Aiscarth, Grisdale, Garsdale, Uldale, Sedbergh, and Wensladale.

This important transfer took place almost immediately after
Lord Wharton was elevated to the rank of Duke of Wharton by
Oeorge I. The Whartons were large landowners in Swaledale, and were
intimately associated with afPairs of State. Thomas, fifth Lord Wharton,
was created in 1702 Viscount Winchendon and Earl of Wharton, and
in 1715 Marquis of Malmesbury and Wharton, and in the same year
he was created Baron Trim, Earl of Rathfarnham and Marquis of
Oatherlough, in Ireland. He was also Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He
was a nobleman excessively generous in his mode of living, and spent
enormous sums in electioneering, and this reckless extravagance was
inherited by his son (the last heir male) Philip, 2nd Marquis, created
Duke of Wliarton in 1718. Vigorous in manner and speech and liberal
in dispensing his bounty, this young noble added not a little to the early
successes of the ^^Toung Pretender,*' whose cause he espoused with
the utmost energy and zest. His luckless career, however, was cut
short by his attainder in 1728, after which he retired to the Monastery
of St. Bernard, near Tarragona, where he died in 1731, at the early age
of 32, leaving no issue. His lands in Swaledale, by a decree in Chancery,
had some time previous to his death been vested in trustees for the
payments of his debts. Among the Lonsdale Manuscripts at Lowther

260

Castle, is a carious epistle relating how the perfervid jonng Dnke and
Sir Christopher Mnsgrave visited Swaledale during this Rebellion, and
after liberally treating the folk of the country side, made them all go
down on their knees and drink the Pretender*s health by the name of
James the Third of England and Eighth of Scotland ! The letter in
question is written by Viscount Lonsdale to his cousin, James Lowther,
and is dated Sept. 26th, 1728. It says that the Duke and Sir Christopher
even pulled off their coats and waistcoats and with much gusto and
enthusiasm drank to the Pretender's health and success in his contest for
the throne. The news of this quickly spread, and "the wives and
daughters of the people who were in company came immediately crying
to fetch their husbands away. Some of the men being frightened,
themselves went to make information of this to a Justice of the Peace,
but the Justice, in all probability not caring to meddle with so great a
man, told the people who came to him, that if they would bring the
offenders before him, he would do as the law directed, but he would
grant no warrant."

The writer adds, " Whether any part of this story be true or no, I
can't pretend to say, but as I am told it was brought into this country
by several people of that neighbourhood, and many of them were snch
as said they were present themselves."*

I have spoken of the extraordinary career and attainder of this able
but eccentric nobleman, whom the poet Pope chastises as

The scorn and wonder of our days,

Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise.

And again,

Poor Wharton ! nipped in folly's broadest bloom,
Who praises now ? His chaplain on his tomb.

From being a prominent and pronounced Whig he suddenly became a
rabid Tory and Jacobite, and then an apostate to his king and country
by accepting a commission in the Spanish' expedition against Gibraltar.
Seldom indeed has a man so prominent in the world's affairs been mixed
up with such opposite causes and experienced such extremes of fortune,
and strange it is, too, that one who was once so staunch an advocate of
Presbyterianism, and the son of, as well as himself, a liberal help-meet
to Nonconformists, should ultimately join the Roman Catholics and die
in a Spanish convent !

To pay his debts his estates were conveyed to trustees, and in 1723
a decree in Chancery was obtained to carry into effect the settlement of
his affairs.

• Historical MSS, CovimUiion^ Thirteenth Report, Appendix Part vii. (1893),
page 123.

261

Helaugh in Swaledale, which formed part of the Whartons* extensive
possessions of the dissolved monastery of Rievaalx, must not be
confounded, as Plantagenet Harrison has done, with the Helaugh near
Tadcaster, where was a Priory of Canons regular, and a church (anciently
dedicated to St. Helen), in which is a fine tomb with efiigies, bearing a
long inscription to the first Lord Wharton, and his two wives. He died
both wealthy and honoured in 1568, having served in the wars against
the Scots ; having been also Governor of the Castle of Carlisle, and

Mr. Edmund A. Knowlbs, C.C.

afterwards in the reign of Philip and Mary, Warden of the Middle
Marches towards Scotland, and Governor of Berwick. He purchased in
1545 the valuable manor of Eirkby Stephen, in Westmorland, and was
also possessed of other and extensive properties in Westmorland,
Cumberland, and in Yorkshire.

From Helaugh we cross the Barney Beck bridge and enter the
extensive and romantic township of Melbecks (10,106 acres), which was

262

formed in 1841 into a separate eoclesiastical parish, oat of the mother
parish of Grinton. The Rev. R. V. Taylor, B.A., F.R.HiBt.S., the well-
known author and antiquary, whose innumerable and varied contributions
to several Yorkshire newspapers under the signature of " R. V. T." will
be familiar to many of my readers, has presided over the spiritual affairs
of this parish for the past 16 years. Mrs. Taylor, his wife, was sister
to the late respected Mr. Edmund A. Enowles, the first elected County
Oouncillor for Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, who died at Gorton Lodge,
Low Row, December 80th, 1895. He was prominent in many ways,
being Chairman of the Board of Guardians, President of the Swaledale
Athletic Club from its commencement, and also Master of the Swaledale
Hounds. No man was better known or more greatly respected in the
dale, and by his death the district loses one of its most honoured friends.
His position as County Councillor has been filled by Mr. Francis Garth.

The township of Melbecks (there is no village of that name*) includes
the hamlets of Barf End, Blaides, Eearton, Low Row, Feetham, Lodge
Green, Gunnerside, Wintring Garths, and Smarber. The church (Holy
Trinity) is at Feetham, and is a neat and convenient edifice (restored in
1886) in the later English style. It was consecrated by Bishop Longley
in 1841. The parsonage house is about 1^ miles west of the church and
was erected in 1846 at a cost of about £900. In 1847, whilst digging
a mound in a field at the rear of the house, for gravel for the garden
walks of the parsonage, the remains of seven human bodies were
discovered, which are supposed to have belonged to some of the followers
of the Pretender in 1745. It is traditionally believed that a skirmish
took place in this neighbourhood between the Scots and the dalesmen .t

There is also a tradition in the family of Birkbeck of Melbecks, that
after the defeat of Prince Charles in 1745, two brothers, James and
George Birkbeck, fearing to return to their native parish of Orton, in
Westmorland, wandered into Swaledale. James purchased lands in the
townships of Melbecks and Grinton ; and following a clannish custom
planted two Scotch firs at Feetham, as a mark that if any of the
adherents of the Stuarts should be in need, they would be secretly and
hospitably entertained there. At that time there were no roads into the
Dale, except for pack-horses and sheep-tracks. The Broderick family,
living at Spring End, have a somewhat similar tradition that an ancestor

* The ancient ScandinaTian possession of Swaledale, bo often adverted to in
this work, is further abundantly testified by the pure Norse and Danish names of
the places about here. Thus there is a Melbecks in Luneburg, on the border of
Denmark ; a Meldal in Norway ; a Raven and Rogan in Sweden and Norway ;
Gunnerstorp in Gothland ; Hala or Ala in Gothland ; Arkel in West Prussia, near
to the Netherlands ; and a Harkendal and river Harkan in Sweden, Ac. There is
by the way, an Arkendale in Enaresborough parish, which was given to the Abbey
of Lilleshuil, in co. Salop, by Hillaria Trussebut, temp, Henry II. Set Dugdale's
Mon, Ang,, vol. i., page 146. t ^'^^ Melheeke Parochial Mag,, No. 9 (1878).

of theirs planted Datch elms adjoining his hoase to shew his adherence
to the Orange family.*

At Feetham there appears to have been a foot-ford for the Roman
infantry passing between the camps at Bainbridge, Harkaside, and Greta
Bridge, as previously explained. The camp at Harkaside opposite
Feetham would be a useful and comparatively safe place of lodgment
when the river was swollen, for the Roman militia who lay in the north,
knowing that most danger came from that quarter, almost invariably
constructed their camps on the south bank of a river or other natural
defence. The Roman ford or '^ stepping-stones *' was doubtless used for
many centuries down to and beyond Norman times ; the name, I suspect,
indicates as much, being probably explained by the A.S.f6t (foot) -pl.fet,
vrhencefithe^ a person on foot, cognate with the Latin peditatus^ a foot-
soldier, infantry (vide Cicero, ^c), wherefore this was the ham^ home or
hamlet reached hj persons onfooty or it may mean the hamlet at the hilU
foot

Adjoining Feetham is Low Row, which is notable as the home for
many generations of the Parke family. The eminent lawyer, Sir James
Parke, Et., who in 1856 was created Baron Wensleydale of Wensleydale,
CO. York, was the son of Thomas Parke, a Liverpool merchant, and
grandson of John Parke, of Low Row, who died in 1796. Much bitter
feeling arose at the time against the elevation of this self-made plebeian
to the Upper House, but a law-lord of good repute being wanted to hear
appeals, and there being no one in point of knowledge and experience
better able to grasp the intricacies of such cases, it was decided to make
Judge Parke a peer for life. Subsequently this action was modified on
account of the opposition to the creation of life peerages, and the worthy
lawyer was made Baron Wensleydale of Walton, with remainder to his
heirs male. The title, however, became extinct at his death in 1868.

It was at Low Row, too, that Philip, Lord Wharton (see above)
founded and endowed a Presbyterian Chapel some two centuries ago. It
was attached to Smarber Hall, and was replaced by a Congregational
Chapel erected on another site in 1809, and rebuilt in 187 4.t Lord
Wharton occupied Smarber Hall as a shooting-lodge at one period of his
life, and when he left it transformed part of the house into a chapel. That
was during the time when no Dissenting chapel was allowed to be built
within five miles of a church, and Smarber Hall was the exact distance.
By his will, dated July 12th, 1692, Lord Wharton appointed that 1050
Bibles, with the Psalms bound up therewith, should be distributed yearly,
and of these 100 (or the largest number) were apportioned to Richmond
and Swaledale. They were to be distributed as follows :

* Vide MelheeJu Parochial Magazine ^ No. 10.
f See Miairs Congregationaliem in TorJuhire,

264

In DoDcaster, 20 ; Pontefract, SO ; Leeds, 80 ; Halifax, 40 ; Bradford, 40
Wakefield. SO ; Sheffield, 50 ; Northallerton, 10 ; Bedale, 10 ; Boroughbridge, lO
Thirsk, 10 ; Tadcaster, 10 ; Wetherby, 10 ; Knaresborough. 10 ; Richmond, 40
and Swaledale, 60, now 70, yis., Orinton, 20 ; Muker, 20 ; Low Bow Chapel, 15
and MelbeckB, 15.

It will be seen that Nonconformity obtained a firm footing in this
part of Swaledale thus early. The Quakers, who were a strong body in
the dales, had a meeting-house here also of early foundation, which was
afterwards taken by the Independents. Methodism also sprang into
great favour in Swaledale soon after the first visits of John Wesley in
1761. It was at Blades, on the hill above Low Row, where Methodism
first took root in the dale, and Mr. William Spensley, the head of a local
family of that name, fitted up a cottage here adjoining his house for
divine worship. Preaching was also held at Pick Hill under a thorn-
bush which formerly Btbod at the east end of the row of houses bearing
that name, and most likely in some house at Low Bow, which cannot
now be ascertained. Wesley, when he visited Swaledale, always made
his home at the house of the Spensleys up at Blades, and some traditionary
stories abouc him are still current amongst the inhabitants. Mr. Ward
tells us that on one occasion he arrived at Low Row an hour before the time
of service, and being weary with his journey he requested the old lady
of the house to procure him a pillow and a sheet ; with these he threw
himself upon the table, telling her that she might go about her usual
work as it would not disturb him, and he would take care to wake up at
the proper time. Upon this hard bed he slept soundly for an hour, and
woke up to the minute to meet his congregation when it arrived. The
great preacher, it was said, could command sleep at any moment he
desired. He has been known to catch a few moments slumber in the
pulpit during the interval of singing a hymn.

The late Mr. Joseph Smith, of Reeth, possessed an old table upon
which Wesley used always to stand when he preached out of doors at
Blades. This table belonged to a little girl, one of the Spensley family,
which she had purchased out of the proceeds of her knitting. Something
being required to stand upon when preaching was held in the open air,
she asked as a favour that her table might be used for that purpose.
The famous preacher was evidently pleased with the girl's disposition,
and always on subsequent visits asked, with a little playful fuss, for his
young friend's table. This old relic of these bygone days has been
preserved with great interest by the descendants of the family, and on
the occasion of the opening of the chapel in 1841 when a tea-meeting
was held, several of the ministers present, including Dr. Newton and
Dr. Beaumont, drank tea from off this old table. The chapel it may be
added, was erected under the architectural management of the Rev. John
Rawson, who died at Reeth in 1850, aged 78. He was a man of varied

265

parts and served the ministry for over 40 years, He possessed a good
knowledge of building and architecture, and the chapels at Barnard
Castle, Low Bow, Helaugh, Muker, Whaw, and other places were built
nnder his supervision.

At Gunnerside the followers of Wesley were particularly numerous,
and they can claim one of the oldest Wesleyan chapels in the dales. The
first sermon ever preached by a Methodist in Gunnerside was, says
Mr. Ward, delivered out of doors on the west side of the beck, near to
the house now (1865) occupied by Mr. Michael Calvert, but who the
preacher was is not known. The first house in which divine service was
conducted was Deborah Waggott's, now in the occupation of Mr. Leonard
Metcalfe, and afterwards in the one in which Mr. John Brunskill
now resides. The chapel was erected in 1789, when the whole of
Richmondshire was included in the Thirak Circuit. In 1795 when the
Middleham Circuit was formed there were about 100 members belonging
to this denomination at Gunnerside, about 60 at Low Bow, and 88 at
Reeth. As the total numerical strength of the Circuit was at that time
only 578, all told, these three contiguous villages in Swaledale, it is
noteworthy, contributed one-third of the entire number. Beeth built
a chapel of its own in 1796, and in 1806 both it and Bichmond were
made the heads of separate Circuits. The members' roll was then for
Middleham 408, and for Bichmond and Beeth 548. Swaledale long
continued one of the principal strongholds of Wesleyanism in the noith,
as it was of Dissent |;enerally, owing no doubt to the early influence of
the Whartons.

The beck at Gunnerside,* which comes down a deep and romantic
gorge on the north side of the highway, rises some three or four miles
up in the hills between Bogan's Seat (2204 feet) and Water Crag (2186
feet). In it are the Old Gang lead-mines, one of the oldest and most
profitable lead-workings in the country. An ancient tenement called
the Level House, near this mine, may be mentioned in connection with
a curious and now obsolete statute, whereby all deceased persons were
required by law to be buried in woollen instead of in linen as was
formerly the custom. This arose through an abnormal depression in the
woollen industries in England during the Commonwealth and subsequent
Stuart period, when an Act was passed in order to improve the trade.
One of its clauses stipulated that no person was to be buried in linen as
heretofore, but in home-made woollen cloth, the penalty for infringement
being £5, half of which was .to be given to the informer and the other
half to the poor of the parish where the person died. The following
copy of a warrant from the High Sheriff supplies an interesting instance

* The personal name Gunnar occurs in the Sagas, and has its origin in the
Koria ^Mfiar, meaning battle or combat, thus ffunnr'/ani signifies war-flag.

266

of a local transgressor, and from the date, 1692, it is probably the last
recorded case of the kind in England* :

To THE Overseers of the Parish of Grinton.

Whereas information has been given to me by Ralph Elliot, of Healey, that
Ann Barker, daughter of Adam Barker, of Level House, near the Old Gang, was
buried in Linnen contrary to the statute in that case provided. Those are therefore
to will and require you to levey upon the goodes and chatties of the said Adam
Barker the sum of Five Pounds, half whereof is to be distributed amongst the poor
of the said parish whare she the said Ann Barker dyed, and the other half to be
given to Ralph Elliot, the informer. Faill not at your perill.

Given under my hand and seal the second day of May, in the year of our
Lord God, 1 692. John HuTTOH.f

The tourist inclined for a rough scamper may trace the Gunnerside
Gill upwards to Blakethwaite, and after climbing Water Crag for the
sake of the magnificent prospect, cross the moorlands a couple of miles
into the Arkengarthdale road for Tanhill and Brough, or back to Keld.

From Gunnerside to Muker it is only about an hour^s walk, leaving
the rustic hamlet of Ivelet about a mile to the west of Gunnerside. A
picturesque bridge spans the Ivelet Beck, and in the ravine above,
darkened with foliage and in places thick with a luxuriant undergrowth,
there are some capital waterfalls. The highest comes over a limestone
escarpment and in three quickly-succeeding leaps falls with a loud and
sullen roar about 100 feet against an immense fragment of rock detached
at some time from the impending cliffs. In a time of flood the secluded
scene from the contracted and densely-wooded dlaracter of the glen,
looks doubly grand and impressive.

The scenery in this locality is especially inviting to the hardy and
industrious pedestrian who is not afraid of the Yankee's " mole-hill,"
that is of an occasional rise of a thousand feet or so. A romantic road
skirts the western flanks of Gunnerside Fell through East Stonesdale for
Tanhill, passing Crackpot Hall, perched like a falcon's nest on the
mountain face, and on the site of an old deer-keeper*s lodge belonging
to the Lords Wharton. About a half-mile north-east of the house there
is a cavern called Swinnergill Eirk, which is accessible for about 70
yards. Here the early Nonconformists used to assemble for worship so
long as the reign of religious intolerance lasted, when everyone was
obliged under penalty to attend the services of the Established Church.
There are some remarkable dislocations in the strata in the vicinity of
the cave. Down below is the gorge of Eisdon, where the sublime water
and crag scenery here, amongst the finest in the county, may be
conveniently visited, and accommodation, if needed, found at the old
Cat Hole inn at Keld.

♦ S^e North Riding Records, vi., 18.

t The original warrant is in poasession of John Barker, Esq., of Reeth.

I3RARY

ASTO(^. LENOX AND
TILDLN FOUNDATIONS.

CUM

MUKKR FAl'Mi .■

Exl^^ui a»id character of Aink'^r paii-'
^I iker — A ru>ton)..r\ n- i\»'t- "■•■

Lor.il ^>0*^ses^i^Tl-« of !{:»•. »« A. Air *
et::u)lo^lst.s — Suftle-uile '• i ^' vit\
Ti.vjtitt- — Wild-tlo'Vfi >•- )' I ► •"• . ! •
I. 'vely seat — Gro ;t SI..." ■ r ! . - • » ,. .

|llE s^jnil vi]]<.pM)f

township and chai .
Trfe! ?i^ilj Ciriuton, aii.l co:u]m

wbnr»j<)f njiwan's of :ll
f lis. The j'l'vsi^'al (.-I'o^rijihy anJ i.
!:.., r-^f ; i ^^^ cor:.siKi.'n«.' f)riiici}^Jiy of f.'
h'i\.. hiH'ii so f»"j!]!hi"<ji!y hiiu:;>i:it« -1 nva
and more receiitlj ]?y Uic ii'l"'."r> o^ the <^'
anfi ?.'K>iOLy of t:i.' district »r«- MOiic the Kn-
• iiinii ius<J Hrid ;:roal cxrCit o' '. • n'u^uiri^a-'
v.-.»»'i; arntive fr-od'»:n fn.m n(\»-' ...:., njJiny im-
a:»j st'll to he foini*!. Ifj ia sfat'Mi i'. tohlj; bn\l^ :
raV'.'Ji, and ]H;rti;rint^.-fah.'M bruMi n^ c .oarnonly oi:
.- -ars and inoo'*s.t A Hainliuo — a vc\ it nirity— •

:^,\'n](t early tl.is year (l.sOr.j juid h'ls h(*»- d and hi'- .

^*)\'r'A attempts liave h -en luu le to accIiiiK. -'[h pi.iu.

K; ''land, hut have failed. Tii!? is proi'nhl\ : • ''♦•(•.

sT'ciinen liaving \h' ■}] st^m in t]\i« Ih'itilsh Isl.ii- • *

♦!:-.-*• >'".a1eihde n)^OI•^, Wliit.nhtr says, down i •
Mi. John Ifutton, of Marske, renu-nfoi red th»'»»!
V. • !g a^:--r this.

-I'ton. formerly an inh-.litaut «»f .'!•. ••'

267

CHAPTER XXIV.

MuKBB Parish and its Wild Scenery.

Extent and character of Muker parish — Geology and natural history — A flamingo
shot — Remote hamlets and transport of corpses — Muker church — Meaning of
Muker — A customary market— School and Institute — Proposed railway —
Local possessions of Rievaulx Abbey — Old local families — A suggestion to
ethnologists — Swaledale longevity — Nancy Barker — Manor of Muker —
Thwaite — Wild-flowers— -Buttertabs Pass— Heaviest rainfall in Yorkshire —
Lovely seat — Great Shunnor Fell — Antiquity of Angram — Romantic scenery.

I HE small village of Maker is the capital of a very extensive
township and chapelry carved out of the old parish of
Grinton, and comprises an area of about 84,000 acres,
whereof upwards of 27,000 are wild, unpeopled moors and
fells. The physical geography and geology of the district are extremely
interesting, consisting principally of the varied Yoredale measures, which
have been so graphically elucidated and classified by Professor Phillips,
and more recently by the oflScers of the Geological Survey.* The botany
and zoology of the district are none the less attractive, as owing to the
remoteness and great extent of the uncultivated lands, and consequent
comparative freedom from molestation, many rare and primitive types
are still to be found. It is stated that among birds the buzzard, merlin,
raven, and peregrine-falcon breed not uncommonly on the surrounding
scars and moors-t A flamingo — a very great rarity — was shot on the
Swale early this year (1896) and has been cured and stuffed at Bedale.
Several attempts have been made to acclimatise this remarkable bird in
England, but have failed. This is probably the first record of a wild
specimen having been seen in the British Islands. Native deer ranged
these Swaledale moors, Whitaker says, down to 1725, but the late
Mr. John Button, of Marske, remembered them running wild many
years after this.

* See also Woodward's Geology of England and Wale$, 2nd edit. (1887).

t See Yorks. Naturaliett' Union Circular, August 4th, 1890. A book on Birds,
and Birdi Negts and Eggt, published by Cassell & Co. in 1890, is by Mr. R.
Kearton, formerly an inhabitant of Muker.

268

The township includes the hamlets of Thwaite, Angram, Eeld, East
and West Stonesdale^ Birkdale, Ivelet, Satron, Oxnop, Kavenseat, dbc.,
situated on both sides of the Swale. Some of the places and habitations
lie in the most remote spots, rarely visited save now and again by passing
tourists, or packmen on their accustomed rounds. Before the consecration
of the present burial-ground at Muker, interments within the parish had
to be made at Grinton, and the corpses were to carry sometimes far out
from the hills, and frequently through deep snow. This transport was
usually made on the stalwart shoulders of the dalesmen, who bore their
melancholy freight sometimes a distance of ten or twelve miles. The
body was encased not in an ordinary stout wooden coffin, but in a light
wicker basket of rude construction.

The old chapel-of-«ase at Muker was erected in 1580, but before then
there was a chapel at Eeld, which was demolished or closed after a riot,
never fully explained, but it seems to have arisen from some disputes
among the inhabitants upon the dissolution of the monasteries (see page
277). The church (St. Mary) was restored a few years ago, and is a
neat stone building having a west tower containing two bells. Daring
the restoration some interesting frescoes were uncovered. Within the
interior there are also several memorials to local families. The Rev. Jas.
Cook, who was curate of St. Augustine's Church, Bradford, from 1887
to 1892, is the present vicar. A new vicarage is about to be erected at
an estimated cost of £1500, the foundation-stone of which was formally
laid by the Bishop of Ripon on October 8rd, 1895.

Muker, or as it is written in ancient charters, Mewacre, Muacre,
Meucre, and the like, is probably a derivative of the Scand. and A.S.
muWy muwe, a mow or hay-cock, and acer, a field, cognate with the Latin
ager^ a field, plain, or open country. The name has come down to us as
an apparent indication of the time when prior to the Norman Conquest
there was a piece of profitable meadow-land here belonging to the theu
owners. It was not all wild waste before the Normans came, as we know
there had been some clearances made for cultivation at the same time, or
perhaps a little later, higher up the dale at the next village of Thwaite,
that name being plainly indicative in the language of the old Vikings
of such having taken place. Grinton, as already explained, has the
same meaning, betokening some amount of cultivation in this part of
Swaledale in pre-Conquest days.

It has been several times stated that a market was established at
Muker by charter, but this is not correct. It is an old but merely a
customary market, and there is besides an annual fair held on the
Wednesday before Old Christmas Day. There is a small Grammar
School, founded by Anthony Metcalfe in 1678, and endowed with 16
acres of land at Whitaside, producing about £20 a year. The premises

269

were rebuilt in 1849, and enlarged in 1870, as a public Elementary
School for boys and girls, of whom not more than ten are to be taught
gratuitously. The Literary Institute, erected in 1867, chiefly through
the munificence of the late Mr. Wm. Tarn, of London, contains a
saitable reading-room and library of about 600 volumes. There are
several inns, shops, and a post-office. The nearest railway-station is at
Richmond, 19 miles distant, but there is a talk of extending the line or
constructing a light railway up the dale, which will help to relieve the
depressed state of agriculture and the lead-mines of the district, with

MuKBR Beck.

little apparent intrusion upon or spoliation, we are told, of the scenic
attractions of the dale.

Anciently the manor or lordship of Muker belonged to Rievaulx
Abbey, and particulars of the various farms and names of the tenants, i&c,
will be found in the chartulary of the monastery, a very valuable
volume that has been published by the Surtees Society, and which I have
often referred to. The compotus for Muker is of the time of Henry VIL
The families of Alderson, Metcalfe, Coates, Barker, &c,, mentioned in
these early accounts are still represented in the dale, and as regards the
Aldersons there is scarcely a village that does not contain one or more
families of this ancient Swaledale stock. Harrison traces their pedigree

270

down to the reign of Henry II., and mentions a William Alderson of
Orinton, who bad lands at Gilling in the time of Richard II. This
should be a capital exploiting ground for the Ethnological Society, as
most of these upper Swaledale families are the lineal and uncorniplied
descendants of the original Norse settlers, some of whom formed
alliances with the families of Breton immigrants who accompanied
Earl Alan on his accession to Richmondshire after the Norman Conquest,
and who, as civilisation advanced and cultivation extended, settled in
the higher reaches of the dale, where many of them have continned
marrying and intermarrying with the native stock and blood for the
past 800 years. This has not proved so deleterions to longevity or the
general health as one might have expected, owing no doubt to the free,
simple, and open-air habits of the people. It is needless to cite past
instances of longevity, which might be enumerated by the score. Of
recent local examples I may mention Widow Betty Webster, whose
maiden name was Alderson, lately living at Aysgarth. She was bom at
Thwaite,and well remembers walking to Muker Church to be christened
at the age of three. She died at the age of 106. The next oldest living
native of Swaledale is, I believe, Widow Nancy Harker, who was bom
at Muker, October 6th, 1800. She was a daughter of Henry Spensley,
of Muker, and was married at Muker to James Harker, of Whitaside,
in 1882. She has had a family of four sons and a daughter, and has
been a widow since 1850, and now resides at Ripon. She is a hale and
hearty body (of medium height and fair complexion), who rises eveiy
morning at seven o^clock, makes her own breakfast, and busies herself
about the house until dinner time, when in the aftemoon she sits and
sews. Her portrait is annexed.* Both the Harkers and Spensleys are
old Swaledale families, of whom we have records down to the earliest
periods of recorded history. Hrafen, Rogan, Gunnar, and Harca, were
Danes, whose names are all represented in the topography of the district.
In 1544, after the possessions of Rievaulx Abbey had been confiscated
to the Crown, the manor of Muker, and other properties in Yorkshire,
were granted to Thomas, first Lord Wharton. In 1618, Philip, thud
Lord Wharton, and Sir Thomas Wharton, his son, for the consideration
of £1654 18s. 4d., granted and executed a deed wherein they ^^ ratified,
confirmed, established, and assured to the tenants their estates which
they and their predecessors from time immemorial had held, used, and
enjoyed without violence, disturbance, or intenruption of the said Lord

* Since the above was written 1 regret to have to record the death of thli
wonderful old body, who had never a day's iUnesB up to within two days of her
death. She was busily baking her bread, when probably from over exertion she
became indisposed, and taking to her bed, died suddenly the following day,
March 2nd, 1896, in the 96th year of her age. The portrait was taken only a few
months before her death.

271

Wharton, Sir Thomas Wharton, or any former lord or lords." In 1628
the same Lord Wharton, (his son. Sir Thomas, being then dead) suffered
a recovery of the manors of Helaugh and Muker to the use of
Sir Timothy Button, Kt., and Talbot Bowes, at the suit of Roger Gower
and Thomas Wharton. All right and interest in these manors were, as
before stated, forfeited by the Whartons through the attainder of
Philip, Duke of Wharton, the sixth Lord Wharton, in 1728. Captain

Mbs. Nanct Harker.

Francis H. Lyell is the present lord of the manors of Helaugh and
Muker, but the mineral royalties of the same are the property of
Sir Francis C. E. Denys, Bart., of Draycott Hall, and Sir Stewkley F.
Draycott Shuckburgh, Bart., of Shuckburgh, Warwickshire.

A mile above Muker we come to the retired hamlet of Thwaite
(Scand. thveit^ a clearing) where is a small inn. Close to the road, in
Cliff Gill, is a pretty waterfall called Scar House Foss. It falls over an
edge of limestone in a rocky amphitheatre picturesquely overhung with
elm and fruiting ash. The stream descends from the famous Buttertubs

272

Pass, and upon its banks some good plants may be noted, inclading
Rubus saxataliSy Oalium sylvestre^ Hieracium anglicumy Crymnostmium
rupestre, Amphoridium Mougeotii^ Bartramia CEJderi, &c. From tbe foot
of the pass it is 6 miles to Hawes, 18 miles to Eirkbj Stephen, 10 miles
to Reeth, and 2 miles to Eeld. The road to Hawes goes over the
Bnttertubs Pass (1682 feet), and on the Swale side tbe contracted defile
and stupendous character of the hill scenery is very striking ; the fells
gashed and gored with rills, descending in some places with almost wall-
like precipitousness. Hereabouts we have the heaviest recorded rainfall
in Yorkshire, which averages about 70 inches a year, while the mean
annual rainfall for the whole of the North Riding is not more than
28 inches. Sometimes there are long droughts, especially in the Spring
months, when weeks together of uninterrupted sunshine may be enjoyed
— the tourist's carnival, — but such droughts are noc an unmitigated
blessing to the farmer, inasmuch as they are very injurious to the thin
sweet verdure of the hills, upon which large numbers of sheep are
browsed. They reckon, however, on an average, upon rain falling on
200 days in the year and snow on about 80 days. I shall have something
to say about the enormous snowdrifts when describing the other side of
the pass.

This romantic pass of the Bnttertubs is a very old highway connecting
Wensleydale with Swaledale, and was doubtless a foot-track in pre-
Norman days, becoming a cart-road upon the introduction of wheeled
traffic many centuries afterwards. It runs between Great Shunnor Fell
(2851 feet) and Lovely Seat (2218 feet) ; the true name of the latter
seems to be Luina Seat or Lunasit, as locally pronounced, consequently
Lonely Seat would be a nearer approximation to the original name, whose
meaning I cannot determine except by the Scand. /wn, A.S. hluin^ a
sound, alarum, or trumpet-call, but wherefore the necessity of this is not
very obvious. The hill-summit is some two miles distant from Thwaite,*
and I am not sure that any trumpet-signal could be heard well enough
to act as a warning to the old Norse possessors of Thwaite, even if such
a warning were required. The situation, however, was undoubtedly a
dangerous one, being at the junction of three dale-outlets, and especially
so must it have been in winter time, when swarms of wolves, coming
from all quarters, lurked about the farm-steads, so that the lot of the
Thwaite farmer cannot at that era have been a particularly enviable one.

The " Bnttertubs " (so called from their churn-like form) are at the
very top of the pass, and of peculiar interest, as they do not lie in
hollows or depressions, but are on a level with the flat ground-surface,
sunk in the Main Limestone down to where the insoluble Main Chert

* There is a shooting-house on the eastern edge of Lovely Seat, at about 1800
feet elevation, which is probably the highest erected tenement in Yorkshire.

273

comes in. As the rock wastes, the places where the water enters the
limestone recede radially from the starting-point, so that the limestone
is eaten away to every point of the compass, provided the water enters
on all sides. Of course the limestone ceases to be fretted away along any
direction where the water ceases to flow.* Some of the holes are pretty
deep, one being nearly 100 feet, and can only be descended by ropes.

From the summit of the pass, overlooking Wensleydale, there is one
of the grandest panoramic views of the peaks of the Pennine chain and
surrounding moors to be had in this pai*t of England. The flat top of
Ingleborough (2878 feet) stands out boldly against the blue ether on a
clear day at a distance of fifteen miles.

GUNNERSIDE.

Prom Thwaite the huge summit of Great Shunnor Fell (2351 feet)
can be ascended in about 1^ hours. The best way is to follow the
Thwaite Beck upwards past Moorclose farm and out by the beck head on
to the moor, and thence strike westwards for the cairn. The view is
more extended than from the Buttertubs Pass, as it embraces the
Swaledale mountains and the romantic valley in the direction of
Richmond ; northwards along the rugged Pennines as far as Cross Fell,

• The NaturalUt, 1891, page 207.

274

and westwards over the grand mountainous region of the Lakes to
Skiddaw and Helvellyn. On the night of Her Majesty's Jubilee,
June 21st, 1887, a large bonfire was lighted on the top of Shunnor
Fell, and there was a goodly gathering of dalesfolk who came up from
Angram to witness the marvellous aritty of fires visible from the top.
The night, as will be remembered, was exceptionally calm and bright.

Pursuing the road up the valley in the direction of Eeld we pass
through the village of Angram, which is over 900 feet above sea-level.
A quiet spot it is, the good folk passing their lives rustically and
peacefully, excluded from the business and excitement of the world. An
old man here once told the writer that he had never been any further
than Eendal in his life, and had never seen the sea except from Shunnor
Fell top. Happy he I But ho, ho I when the railway-whistle rouses
the echoes on Shunnor Fell — as there are prophets who say it will — then
there will be much travelling, heart-burning, and unrest ; away it will
be with you Aldersons, Metcalfes, Fawcetts, Peacocks, Harkers, Rukins,
and the rest, you will stride out into the wild, wide world of " civilisation,"
and Swaledale, the home of your ancestors for a thousand years, will
know you not I Keld may then have its Town Hall and municipal
ofiices, suits of broadcloth and gloved hands be the outer marks of
" progress," and the brave and strong dalesmen who have stood up for
England's glory in the hour of her threatened humiliation sink into a race
of ink-pads ! May this never come to pass I Bring the railway if you will,
but never may its din and screech frighten the old birds from their nests !

Angram was the seat of a settled comiliunity a good thousand years
back, perhaps when Eeld was not, for its very name tells us as much.
In explaining the meaning of Muker a few pages back I referred to the
pre-Conquest cultivation of that part of the dale, and here, too, from
the Scand. and Teut. aiiger (a meadow or field) and ham (home or
hamlet), we may infer that there was some farming going on at Angram
long before the broad swords of the Conqueror secured the land for
themselves. Here aft<er that it went to waste, and those who were
willing went down to Richmond, and under the shadow of the mighty
castle walls led the lives of serfs.

The situation and surroundings of this little place are most striking
and picturesque. On the other side of the valley there are fine ranges
of seal's, covered with vegetation interspersed with many a floral rarity
and native yew and juniper. These scars, which are in the Main
Limestone, run along the edge of the peculiarly-insulated hill of Eisdon,
now in view, at an elevation of 1550 feet above sea-level, while deep
below the massive Scar Limestone is exposed in the bed of the river.
Our road now ascends and descends to Eeld, passing through the hamlet
of Thorns, where are some notably fine ash-trees.

275

CHAPTER XXV.

At the Head of the Swale.

Striking situation of Eeld — A Viking settlement — The Cat Hole inn — Romantic
surroundings — Uses of literature — History of Keld — ^The church and the
Dissenters — Indictment for uttering seditious words — The Independent Chapel
and the Rev. Edward Stillman — Sources of the Swale — Wild scenery — Local
fruit culture — Catrake Foss — A curious musical instrument — Eisdon Foss —
Magnificent rock and water scenes — Local wild-flowers — Geological aspects —
A wild road — Prospect over the Bden valley — Concluding reflections.

IJELD (Scand. keld^ a spring) is the last haven for travellers
passing out of Swaledale into Westmorland, and a most
romantic and out-of-the-waj place it is. With the exception
of Clovelly on the coast of Devon, where the houses are
piled one above another, and jou require almost the use of ropes to let
yourself down the principal street, I know of no place in England more
singularly or astonishingly located than is the remote little village of
Keld. Hanging upon the brink of a precipice, anciently formed by the
denuding power of a great river torrent, now running deep down in a
stony hollow, sombre and weird-like by the shadow of overhanging
foliage, and enclosed by up-sweeping breadths of trackless moor, the grey
and green roofs of the rustic dwellings are almost hidden from public
gaze. The old Vikings from Scandinavia, who were the probable
founders of this place, may well have lived here in the most perfect
security, for no enemy or passing wayfarer would ever be likely to suspect
the presence of a human community in such a secluded spot. The old
Cat Hole inn (the only hostelry in the village) is, however, perched in a
more reasonable and conspicuous position close to the highway. The
present building is comparatively modern, having supplanted the former
antique "single-decker^' which stood below it, and is now occupied as a
stable and workshop. When the lead-mines were in full work the inn
was known as the Miners' Arms, but the old name has been restored,
and suggests, what is not unlikely, a site that was in former times a
stronghold and accustomed refuge of the wild cat, as it had undoubtedly
been before of the wolf, boar, and red deer. It surprises me why in a
place of such commanding interest as this, situated amid some of the

276

finest and most romantic scenery in the kingdom, there is no large hotel
or boarding-hoose, which one might think would be filled with gaests the
summer through. But this desideratum is perhaps explained bj the fact
that the spot is so little known to travellers and the tourist-public, who
now-a-days provide themselves with one of the hundred books on
Switzerland or Norway, fly away on fatiguing journeys to those distant
lands, leaving scenes of almost equal grandeur and interest in their own
country unvisited. Eeld, however, it must be admitted, is an awkward
place to get to ; it is 22 miles from the railway-station at Richmond, or
10 miles if you travel by the mountain passes (which are drivable roads)
from Askrigg, Hawes, or Eirkby Stephen. At present, beyond a spare
bed for a belated traveller there is no accommodation at the Gat ffoie^
and visitors who usually come here for the day put up at the inns and
lodging-houses in the lower parts of the dale. A wholesome and
substantial meal of the regulation ham and eggs can at any time be
obtained here, as at any of the dale inns, and there is also generally a
plentiful supply of home-made bread, butter and cheese ; with a pot of
jam, perhaps, if you are there at the right season. The Oat Hole boasts a
clock that keeps Greenwich time — the necessity for which is not very
apparent, — and a barometer, — an understandably useful instriiment in a
region where the caprices of meteorology are amongst the most conspicuous
of its marvels. A few odd books lie about, the occasional uses of which
remind me of a certain Yorkshire farmer who was not a great reader, and
who used to say that the value of literature to him generally depended
on the make and binding of a book. If it has a calf-skin cover it is
valuable as a razor-strop. If it is thick it comes in first-rate to put
under the corner of a chest of drawers which has lost a leg. If it has a
clasp on that will keep it closed it cannot be surpassed as a missile to
fling at a dog, and if it has a large cover like a map-book or geography
it is as good as a piece of tin to nail over a broken pane of glass, and
so on. The old Arab proverb which says, if thy fortune be twopence
spend one penny in bread and one penny in flowers, for the one is good
for the body and the other good for the soul, would be lost on the wholly
practical mind that regards the fruitful revelations of philosophy and
nature wholesomely stored in books, simply as a cheap, handy, and
convenient kind of domestic furniture ! Happily such creatures are
rare.

The history of Keld is partly that of Muker, it being included
within that extensive manor. The place gave name to an old family
resident in the neighbourhood many centuries. In 1807 William de
Keld was one among five others summoned by John, Earl of Richmond,
for hunting without leave in the New Forest and Arkengarthdale, &c.
In 1415 William de Keld, of Welburne, yeoman, was defendant in a

277

plea at the suit of Sir William de Hilton, Et., and in 1435 there was a
Nicholas Eeld, clerk, claiming a debt of £12 13s. 4d. from William
Bernyngham, gentleman. I have elsewhere referred to the ancient chapel
at Keld, which is mentioned by Leland about 1530. There is also in
the village a useful Literary Institute, with library, a Day and Sunday-
school, post oflSce, and one or two shops. The original chapel no doubt
belonged to the Establishment, but when the Whartons obtained the
manor and became inexorable Dissenters the old building seems to have
fallen into neglect. In 1695 when Philip, Lord Wharton, built the
Presbyterian Chapel at Smarber, the local churchwardens' accounts

Ebld.

contain this entry : " For walling up Eeld Chapel door, £0 Is. Od."
From this we may infer that his lordship's tenantry, biassed by his own
religious belief, neglected all further use of the building at Keld, and it
was allowed to go to decay. The restoration of Charles II. to the
English throne in 1660 had been far from wholly welcomed in this part
of Swaledale, where the Puritanical spirit, accentuated by the influence
of the Whartons, was all-prevalent. In the Quarter Sessions Records
for 1661 I find that a certain yeoman of Eeld, whose name is not given,
is charged with uttering seditions and defamatory words to another
yeoman. He had said, ^' Thou had best be quiet, for those that thou

278

buildest upon, I hope they will not last long, and that I lived as well
when there was no king, and I hope to do so again," &c. The marvelloas
revolution wrought by Cromwell had left its impress deep in the hearts
of many, but it had missed its chief aim in controlling thought and
directing the consciences of the people. As Green well observes, " The
attempt to secure spiritual results by material force had failed, and
always fails. It broke down before the indifference and resentment of
the great mass of the people, of men who were neither lawless nor
enthusiasts, but who clung to the older traditions of social order, and
whose humour and good sense revolted alike from the artificial conception
of human life which Puritanism had formed, and from its effort to
force such a conception on a people by law." And so the great mass of
the people were really glad of a return to the old order of things.
Saintliness compelled by force of arms was not to be trusted. They
rejoiced to turn again to their old ways and customs. During the
Protectorate it had really been considered *^ superstitious to keep Christmas
or to deck the house with holly and ivy. It was superstitious to dance
round the village May -pole. It was flat Popery to eat a mince-pie. The
sport, the mirth, the fun of * merry England ' were out of place in an
England with so great a calling." In Swaledale, however, the Whartonian
influence never abated, and the local ministrations of Fox, and at a
later day of Wesley, led to Nonconformist doctrines becoming firmly
established and more and more widespread in the dales.

In 1745 — ^the year which witnessed the ruin of the Jacobite cause
so warmly supported by the last Lord Wharton, — the old Keld Chapel
was partially restored as a Calvinistic place of worship, and continued
in use till it was rebuilt in 1789 for the use of the Independents. The
Rev. Edward Stillman was in that year installed minister, and in that
capacity continued to labour among his people for the long period of
48 years. He was a most earnest and industrious worker, and a man of
remarkable mental and bodily vigour. It is said that owing to the sheer
inability of his parishioners to provide the amount, required for the
erection of the chapel and contiguous dwelling-house, — a matter of some
£700, — he set off on a begging expedition to London, walking the whole
distance and back, and accomplished his purpose in collecting the money
without having spent more than a single sixpence ! In 1820-1 he had
the satisfaction of seeing the sacred building enlarged, and a small plot
of land adjoining was then purchased. The chapel was opened on
June 27th, 1821, and Mr. Stillman, who had been a Moravian in his
younger days and had always a strong affection for that body, invited a
Mr. Rampher from the celebrated Moravian establishment at Fulneck to
preach the morning opening service, which he did. The afternoon
service was taken by Mr. Allison, of Feetham, and the evening one bj

279

Mr. C. Oollop, of Darlington ; on each occasion there were overflowing
congregations. The chapel was again rebuilt and enlarged in 1861,
while ander the ministration of the Rev. James Wilkinson, founder of
the Literary Institute, &c., and a gentleman widely respected and
beloved wherever he was known. Mr. Wilkinson succumbed to a
Ungering illness in December, 1866.* The present minister is the
Rev. W. Crombie.

Around Eeld the extensive open moorland scenery is wild and sterile,
but in the ravines and by the banks of the river there are grand scars,
picturesquely wooded, while the air is resonant with the voices of cascades

At the Head op thb Swale.

and rushing waters. The Swale really commences here, for higher up it
branches into a sort of cat-o*-nine-tails formed by various becks, which
sometimes whip up the river below into mighty and almost inconceivable
proportions. In 1883, for example, these streams poured such a volume
into the main current that the river rose upwards of 30 feet at Eeld,
and the accession of waters in the lower reaches of the dale rushed over
the surrounding land with such impetuosity that more than 500 sheep,
cattle, and horses were swept away, and all the bridges in the upper part
of the valley were either wholly or partially destroyed. The loss and

• See the Wett Riding Congregational Register, 1867, pages 90-98.

280

damage to stock and property caused by this flood was estimated at fnllj
£100,000.

The farthest of these upland tributaries, and the usually accepted
source of the Swale, rises at Hollow Mill Cross in Yorkshire, close to the
county border, but the Whitsundale Beck, springing from the south side
of Nine Standards, and the Little Sleddale Beck coming from under the
High Seat and the Lady's Pillar (which is the source of the Yore and
Eden) are equally remote from Eeld ; in fact the latter, uniting with
the Hollow Mill Gross stream, and forming the Birkdale Beck under
Crook Seat, may be said to be the most important source of the river.
The Oreat Sleddale Beck coming down from the north shoulder of
Shunnor Fell, runs into the Birkdale Beck at Lonin End, when the
united streams (shown in the accompanying picture) after a course of
about a mile join the Whitsundale Beck, near Hoggarth*s House, and
thence take the name of Swale. A hundred nameless minor rills empty
themselves into these main streams, and to see them all in flood with
their white tails galloping down the mist-screened hills and cra^y
steeps, and the amber-foamed cataracts leaping madly in the valley
below, is to witness a scene truly Alpine in its wild and forbidding
grandeur. In the well-watered Whitsundale there is an extensive opening
in the limestone known as Brian's Cave, as well as some other caverns of
unknown extent, which have been only partially explored.

Several weeks might well be passed in exploring the health-breathing
hills and hoary ravines around Eeld, while few places offer such varied
attractions to the scientific enquirer. It has been said that gooseberries
will not ripen in this elevated region, but this is quite erroneous ; at
Keld, which is 1050 feet above the sea, not only gooseberries, but even
strawberries, cherries, and apples have been successfully grown, although
the two latter do not, as can hardly be expected, fruit as freely as in the
lower and warmer parts of the valley. Much depends, too, on the
character of the season, whether it be hot, cold, or wet and unsettled.
In genial, open weather the district, with its wondrously-romantic
scenery, is most enjoyable, especially in August, when the scars and
water-sides are gay with the conspicuous bloom of the great willow-herb,
giant bell-flower, sweet cicely, and the pink and purple cmnesbills, and
the high moors beyond are bright and fragant with heather-flower.
Here and there a clump of white heather may be come upon, and good
fortune is said ever to attend the flnder of this moorland rarity, be he
prince, peer, or peasant. To be sure it was, as we are told by our beloved
Queen, that with a sprig of white heather in his hand the Prince Imperial
of Germany went to learn his fate from the Crown Princess of England I

Our first peep at the wonders of Eeld will be a visit to the romantic
Catrake Foss, which is reached through a gate behind a house near the

281

post-office. There you deecend a rude staircase formed by about sixty
steps, which brings yon into a majestic glen. Here the river, about
thirty yards wide, will be seen foaming in a broad sheet over a rocky
ledge to a depth of about twenty feet, and not unlike the falls of the
Yore at Aysgarth. The sides of the ravine are well clothed with trees
and shrubs, and the whole scene is pre-eminently picturesque. It is
worthy of mention that in the house we pass near the entrance to the
Foss there is living a man who possesses a very remarkable musical
instrument, said to be of his own invention. It is, I should think,
unique, and its maker, who has never seen anything like it before, must
be a person of a peculiarly inventive turn. The curious-looking
instrument consists of the trunk of a stout hazel-tree obtained from the
wood near, and from which spring two thick horizontal branches. To
these are fixed about a score old dock-bells on steel pegs or supports,
each of them chromatically tuned, and the bell-tree, if I may so describe
it, is attached to a small harmonium, and as the player fingers the keys
of the harmonium he at the same time strikes the accordant bell with a
thin stick held in his left hand. The combination of the bells on the
tree and the harmonium is extremely musical, and with a violm
accompaniment, the ingenious inventor, who plays his instrument
admirably, and sings too, many a pleasant hour is passed in the long
evenings of winter.

But the great attraction of the district to visitors is the grand
Kisdon Foss, and to see and enjoy this properly some hours should be
occupied in viewing it and the romantic glen in which it lies. The
singularly-formed Eisdon Hill (1686 feet) rises terrace upon terrace
most picturesquely above it, in some places bordering so near upon the
river that a road has had to be cut through the rock on its side. Kisdon
derives its name from the Celt, kis (little) and dun (a detached hill —
usually fortified), vrhile/oss (Swaledale) and fors or force (Wensleydale)
are pure Norse for a waterfall, such being the names given to waterfalls
in Norway and Sweden. The Eisdon Foss and its surroundings present
one of the grandest combinations of rock and water scenery to be found
in the kingdom. I think I have seen all the best water scenery in the
United Kingdom, and perhaps in Western Europe, but I know nothing
exactly like this elsewhere. The falls at Schaffhausen, in Switzerland,
may be compared with it, but while these are, of course, superior in
point of volume, the Swale cataracts are infinitely more picturesque by
reason of the broken and rugged character of the river-bed, the
contrasted coloura of the rocks, and the delightful accompaniments of
abundant foliage, fern and flower. Ton cannot take a boat and plunge
into the midst of the cataract as you may do at Schaffhausen, neither
can you get the lovely and expansive scene illuminated with Bengal

282

lights, &c., as you do there, unless it be at your own trouble and expense.
Nature here is supremely beautiful, yet there is a sternness and sublimity
about the place that would make any such artificial presentations
distinctly objectionable and discordant.

From the Cat Hole inn a good hour is the least that can be reckoned
for even a view of Eisdon Foss. Never does the scene appear to better
advantage than on a fine summer evening, when as you stand among
the huge tumbled rocks, (proof in some examples of the power of floods),
in front of the tempestuous torrent, watching the soft lights of departing
day steal over the grand break of waters, while ever-expanding ^adows
shroud the soaring forest on the opposite hill with deeper gloom, the
scene at such an hour is one that no painter could limn nor pen adequately
describe. In Spring-time primroses, orchids, and other early-budding
flowers grow about the grassy banks, while the place is not^, too, for
many a botanical rarity which will rejoice the heart of the student and
lover of these lowly gems. On and near the scars opposite the old
smelting-mill the following rarer species of plants have been observed :
BUnda acutay Trichostomum crispulumj T, nitidum, Barhula intermedia^
Amphoridium Mougeotii^ Bartramia itht/phylla, Flagiothecium pulchellum.
Hypnum stramineum. At Catrake, Eisdon Foss, Eisdon Scars, East
Stonesdale, &c., may be found Andr(ea dlpina^ OymnosUmum commu-
tatum IHcranella Schreberi and var. elata^ SeUgeria Doniana^ 8. pueilla^
&\ acuUfoliay var. longiseia^ S. tristicha, Didt/modon eylindrictiSj D.
einuosusy &c.*

Mr. J. G. Goodchild, of H.M. Geological Survey, who has surveyed
this district, observes that at Eisdon, Catrake, Hoggarth*s Leap, Currack
Foss, Rain by Foss, &c., the scars left on both banks of the river, by the
recession of the fosses, can be distinctly traced back to their post-glacial
starting-point. From these indications it is evident that Eisdon Foss
has cut back more than half-a-mile since the close of the Glacial Period.
As this in North Yorkshire happened, as is now ascertained, some 10,000
years since,t the rate of retrogression must have averaged about niue
yards in a century or say 3^ inches per annum, which seems remarkable.
Interesting and instructive experiments, like the glacier-tests in
Switzerland, &c., might be made here and at similar places, by notiug
the actual present position of the falls with a view to making comparisons
with the present and past rates of recession, for of course climatic
influences and heavier rainfall, involving increased volumes and greater
erosive action on the rocks, would not always be the same as now.

• See YorkB. Nat. Union Circ, Aug. 4th, 1890 ; also Baker's NoHk TorUhire.
For list of conchological Bpecimens tee Naturalut, I860, pages 229 — 288 ; 1891,
page 202.

t See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd, pages 469-70.

283

From Keld there are two romantic outlets to the north, one by way
of Tanhill to Barras, in Westmorland, (previously described), and the
other by an equally wild and solitary upland road through the hills,
crossing the backbone of England, dividing the watersheds of Swale and
Eden, the first draining into the Oerman Ocean and the latter into the
Irish Sea. The last mentioned route is, perhaps, the wildest and most
lonesome ten or twelve mile walk in Yorkshire and the borderland ; only
two or three farm-houses (which are among the highest situated in
England) being seen on the way. I have tramped this bleak and desolate
pass in sunshine and in shower, — in Spring when the turf is elastic and

the air brisk and clear as a bell ;
in Autumn when the roads have
been washed with floods, in some
places barely passable, and the
measureless sweeps of misty fell
and ravine-like breaks in the hills
have been filled with stalking
bands of rain, and the leap and
rush of many waters could be
well heard but not seen, — when a
blinding hurricane of icy sleet
wet you to the very bone and
rendered enjoyment of the sur-
rounding scenery well-nigh im-
possible. The road is open to the
north-west all the way, there being no hill-ridges or walls to afford the
least protection. This was a route the old pack-men used to take in
passing between Swaledale and Westmorland, and some rough experiences
they and their poor wood-saddled beasts must have had.

But in dry, open weather it is a grand and exhilarating walk. About
a half-mile after leaving Eeld the road to Tanhill (4 miles) strikes the
hills to the right. After a spate there are some rather fine falls in the
river near this point, where the Whitsundale and West Stonesdale Becks
join the Swale. The river-bank scenery, with its picturesque scars and
its sweeps of heather, brushwood and wild-flowers, is also very attractive.
Presently the two-arched bridge at lonely Hoggarth's farm is crossed in
as lonely and romantic a spot as could be found for a human habitation
{see sketch). It stands at the bottom of a deep, shaly ravine, washed
by a tumultuous beck, which sometimes overflows the road so that it is
next to impossible to get past on foot. Hence our solitary road goes
up between storm-guttered hills for several miles, when a descent is
commenced between Mallerstang Fell End (1698 feet) on the left and
Brigg End Fell on the right. In clear and genial weather you really

HoooABTH*s House.

284

feel tempted to olimb up to the stone cairn on the latter eminence for
the better enjoyment of the glorious and expansive view that opens out
on every side. The lovely far-reaching vale of Eden, seeming verily in
the warm sunlight fair and beautiful as the traditional Paradise of our
first parents, while far beyond, peak on peak, stretch the stony summits
of Cumberland, terminating in Saddleback and Skiddaw, with Musgrave
Fell and Warcop Fell finely intervening. Behind us are the wild wastes,
towering heights, and lovely dells we have made familiar in our survey
of Swaledale, and to which we must now bid adieu I Here indeed on this
lonely hill-top we seem for awhile to dwell with saints, to stand aloof
from worldly temptations, and court communion with Ood, —

'* Where is Thy favourite iiaunt, Eternal Voice.

The region of Thy choice,
Where, undisturbed by sin and earth, the soul

Owns Thy entire control ?
Tis on the mountain's summit, dark and high,

When storms are hurrying by ;
'Tis 'mid the strong foundations of the earth

Where torrents have their birth.**

Ay, and this purifying spirit penetrates the whole world of created
things ; the hills, and valleys, and flowing waters are not so much dead,
implacable, and objectless matter, but are full of noble lessons of God*s
own choosing. He has sanctified them through the divine faculty that
is part of our being's essence, so that it should be our longing and duty
to understand and love them as things meant for our own good and
exaltation, to the honour and glory of His name for ever I

PAR'T 11

c:-\^

M.'

Nfv.-iMes at Mi-lil'.-V.ini— 1 ur. •»' \

— J'esjth of tn»j To'w.i: rriii'.-eof a v.-
I'f tlie TaMie — Son.** •>; i 'n'-a' ««.-!
C'W'ject.'.red in^Miiini; o' •• i

ri»j» irt — \Vii;mii'*rt HiJi—

— . he ('<':i^t:ir>les of tli'^ca i •
o.' the cast'.e, tt')hp. (.Mi^en 1- .
--(>rig'n of tithC' — Tlu' niuti. •

— n»i*" riulion of t'le chur(;h--\.
Miiriiftj* and fau-? — Aacif»»t or •.• .
l"res«»'ut a-pectH of the towi — Ia»<
ami tr;iini'ig-:r''oui.'l.

It \A to uPur the iiinc *■•' ct a • ••
To liear th-'ir mur;). ; •*. !•■♦-' tl t'l-
An. I ^ii K hon*iMth a I* n.' «'f <;^ .t. •
T'> I i^ »; yo<ir h^'t -U'- •» •^^ :i"' •/ « fi i"
AiiJ bo/tuiit' ii* fjt. 'I'f- .1.! 1 f : ' ! to ;.
It IS to sit upon :i jov 1»- )h '_'ij*.,
r » every >'''i"t wf «:i'.i>.i'ir'v' i ue e>p<)!-«:
r.>! li'.i. f'«»- I. ))»»» . t<»'' . •■•It f«)r l':i])j'-

; jjn- ir 'u.'l st.irri'Ji, i! <• :. )r't;s. f'-
. sacl' . • ■ I'^heil 111 • • . '•>' .IS "*'

have ki: • - • h I'-J: ■ ■ . •"
; La\t' wif ..^ .' - • i .. ■ •• •

» iA ... 4 *

> ^ '••.' ■ ' \ '• \'. ! . .'.r iirrt:

•r.H U.d. TIk'U it was tlu* |v'. * \-" ■:

285

PART II.— WENSLEYDALE.

CHAPTER XXVI.

MiDDLEHAM.

Ancient importance of Middleham — The Windsor of the North — Life of the
KevilleB at Middleham— Earl of Warwick, last of the Barons— Richard II L
— Death of the yoang Prince of Wales at Middleham — Past and present aspects
of the Castle— Some old local customs — Roman settlement at Middleham —
Conjectured meaning of the name — Discovery of a Roman hypocaust — Roman
roads — William's Hill — The Conqueror at Middleham — Descent of the manor
— The Constables of the castle — The castle last occupied — Proposed destruction
of the castle, temp. Queen Elisabeth — Description of the castle — The church
—Origin of tithes— The ninths— The church made collegiate by Richard III.
— Description of the church — Who was St. Alkelda? — A leper hospital —
Markets and fairs— Ancient crosses — The whipping-post at Middleham —
Present aspects of the town — Local worthies— An old horse-rearing centre
and training-ground.

A crown 1 what is it 7
It is to bear the miseries of a people !
To hear their murmurs, feel their discontents,
And sink beneath a load of splendid care I
To have your best success ascribed to Fortune
And Fortune's failures all ascribed to you !
It is to sit upon a joyless height,
To every blast of changing fate exposed !
Too high for hope I too great for happiness ! — Hannah More.

I HE ancient capital of Wenslejdale is a place of
great and stirring memories. Few places have
snch distingaished heritages as Middleham, few
have known such high-placed chiefs and heroes^
have witnessed such pomp and magnificence^
such scenes of state and revelry, snch princely
festivities, snch gorgeoos retinnes, as this
" Windsor of the north," during that eventful
era of the strife between the White Rose and
the Red. Then it was the powerful house of Neville were lords-regnant
of Middleham ; they held, too, many another broad-acred province.

286

lordship, or manor, ever increasing by their fortunate alliances with the
proudest and wealthiest ladies in the land. When, as I have narrated in
the records of Richmond, Ralph Neville, the great Earl of Westmorland
woo*d and won for his second wife the king's half-sister, he had a grant
of the whole honour of Richmond for life. Mighty and potent was
their name and fame in England then I One need only sound their
name and the country responded to their bidding. It ^vas the trumpet-
call from Middleham that drew the bone and sinew of Richmondahire
together in the memorable year 1457, when 5000 of Yorkshire's bravest
sons mustered under the banner of Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and
marched through the Craven glens to the Battle of Bloreheath ! When
the son of this great nobleman, Richard Neville, the historic Earl of
Warwick, the last of the feudal Barons, a master in camp and in court,
*^ the setter-up and plucker-down of kings," made the old castle here his
home and safe-abiding place, it was not Windsor, nor Shene, nor
Westminster, nor the Tower, as Lord Lytton pertinently observes, that
seemed the Court of England, but it was Middleham in Yorkshire. It
was then the home and assembling-place of mighty men and dames, of
England's beauty and the flower of all her gallantry. The noble Warwick
ruled with no sparing hand, and when sojourning at Middleham, his
retinue of armed retainers, all wearing his badge of

The rampant bear chained to the ragged staff,

(as Shakespeare describes it), was one of the largest and most splendidly
equipped in the kingdom. His feasts were prepared in the most lavish
and sumptuous manner, and quite regardless of cost. Every morning
^' six oxen were eaten at breakfast, and every tavern was full of his meat
for who that had any acquaintance in that house he should have so much
sodden and roast as he might carry upon a long dagger."

But, if he acted a conspicuous, he played a dangerous and thrilling
pai*t in English affairs, and amid all the pomp and splendour surrounding
his person and his court, the conscious cast of sorrow and doubt always
seemed to darken his brow. He knew full well that with all the
glory of a great name, that with all his prestige and his mighty influence,
his will was not entirely his own, that he was like all such men placed in
high estate but a tool in the hands of others, to be cast down if it so
pleaseth, — ^'a holiday show for the crowd to hiss or hurrah as the
humour seizes." How he triumphed and how he fell may best be
gathered from a perusal of Lord Lytton's engrossing stoty : The Last
of the Barons ; for in truth he was the last as well as the greatest of those
puissant chiefs who formerly controlled the empire and destinies of kings.

But is it not a strange reflection upon the vicissitudes of human
greatness when we remember that of all the spreading and fruitful

287

branches of this potential family, — which produced (besides six Earls of
Westmorland) two Earls of Salisbury and Warwick ; an Earl of Kent
a Marquis Montacute ; a Duke of Bedford ; a Baron Ferrers of Ouseley
Barons Latimer ; Barons Abergavenny ; one Queen ; five Duchesses
to omit Countesses and Baronesses ; an Archbishop of York,* &c., &c.,
— ^the house of Abergavenny, ''not distinguished in modem peerage
either by superior titles or splendid fortunes,** alone remains ?

The fiery Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., having
married Warwick's daughter, the Lady Anne Neville, whom his falchion
had made a widow,t he was glad to escape from Pontefract to the
^* home of his domestic affections '* at Middleham, which had been the
inheritance of his wife. He was probably sojourning at the castle when
the news reached him of the death of his brother, Edward lY., in April,
1483. On the 6th of July following he was crowned at Westminster.
It was in an apartment since called the " Princess Chamber/* in the round
tower at the south-west angle of the castle at Middleham, that Edward,
Prince of Wales, the much-loved son of Richard III., was born.
Tradition says that the little lad, in whom his father had centred all his
fondest hopes, met with an inexplicably-suspicious death at Middleham
in the Spring of 1484. His father and mother were then staying at
Nottingham, and when the sad news was conveyed to them, it is said
they gave way to the wildest fits of despair. The king would not be
comforted, and the queen-mother completely broke down under the
sudden and crushing sorrow. They lost no time in repairing to
Middleham to gaze on the '' cold, dear face *' of their only loved son, at
sight of which, old Croydon, the historian, tells us, '^ you might have
seen the father and mother in a state bordering on madness.** The
mother never recovered, and died, it is said, of grief, within twelve
months of her son, at the early age of thirty-one. Some had said that
the death of the young prince was the judgment of Heaven sent for the
crime imputed to the king of the murder of the two young princes —
sons and rightful heirs of King Edward lY. — in the Tower. It is
certainly remarkable, not to say suggestive of murderous premeditation,
that the boy prince should expire at Middleham during his parents*
absence, and on the very anniversary (April 9th) of the death of his
ancle, Edward lY. But the earthly crown he was to have worn,
weighted with a world's tribulations, was, we trow, exchanged for one
of a more bright and enduring lustre I

After the loss of his son the king seems to have lost all hope and
confidence in the future, and by his fall soon afterwards at the battle of

* See Camden'i ffittory of Elizabeth, page 804.

t See Hfthted's Richard III., vol. i., page 298 ; Shakespeare's King Richard
III.

288

Bosworth, the brilliant old chivalrous race of the Plantagenets ended,
and the castle at Middleham was no longer the scene of kingly pageantry
— ^the home of the great actors on the stage of English history. Now
we behold its roofless chambers, crumbling walls, and deserted courts,
still majestic in their decay, left to remind us of those immortal heroes
and of those fateful transactions that once took place within them, which
influenced so mightily the highest affairs of this great England of ours,
to the shaping and directing even of our own destinies.

Of the exalted and powerful house of Neville — the long-time lords
of Middleham— every visible sign and belonging has disappeared from
the old town, saving a rude sculpture in stone, which everyone who has
written on the subject seems to have mistaken for a peacock. It was
originally inserted in the wall of a dwelling-house, opposite the principal
front of the castle, and is supposed to have been the badge of that
haughty and gallant knight, Robert, Lord Neville, who generally wore a
plume of peacock's feathers in his helmet. He was known as the
" Peacock of the North," and fell in a border fight, to which he had
dared the Earl of Douglas. But this assumed " peacock " is nothing
more or less than a portion of heraldic carving, shewing only the helm
and a bit of the mantling, which has some faint resemblance to the tail
of a bird. On this mantling is outlined plainly enough the well-known
Neville saltier.*

An interesting glimpse of the early customs prevailing at Middleham
and of the foibles of its princely owners, ia obtained from the records in
the Middleham Household Book of Richard III., the original of which
is preserved among the Harleian MSS. We there learn that the king
had his court-fool, a merry fellow, doubtless, who could risk a jest at the
royal expense and yet keep his head withal. A payment of 4d. is entered
opposite his name : '* Marty n the fole.** Then we find the sum of 6s. 8d.
entered for ^^chesing of the king of Middleham"; the said ^^king"
being doubtless one of " those playful dignitaries who figured in the
customary pastimes of our ancestors." Then again the large sum of 58.
is paid " for a f ether to my Lord Prince" (the young son of Richard III.)»
and 6s. 8d. to Metcalfe and Peacock *' for running on foot by the side of
my Lord Prince ;" no doubt for his amusement and protection. Also
15s. appears for my Lord Prince's offering "to our Lady of Gervaux,
Coverham, and Wynsladale." The cost of a royal pack of houndsf {for

* To this historio fragment I may add the discovery in the castle some years
ago of a magnificent antique (15th century) gilt spur, which must have been worn
by a man of high rank, if not by the redoubtable Richard III. himself. The relic
is in possession of Miss Topham and was exhibited at the conversaxione of the
Ley burn Literary and Scientific Society in November, 1887.

t Shakespeare alludes to hunting at Middleham Park in the Third Part of
Xing Henry F/., Act iv., Scene v.

hunting was kept up with much vivacity in the neighbourhood) and
the wages of their keepers was only £10, or not more than double the
wages of Jane Colyns, who was apparently the housekeeper of the castle.
Of other local sports and pastimes indulged in at a later period may be
mentioned bull-baiting and cock-fighting (now happily things of the
past), otter-hunting and horse-racing ; Middleham being, as I have
elsewhere pointed out, an old and famous centre for the training of race-
horses.

As to when Middleham first became the centre of a stationary
population no attempt as yet been made to solve the question. It is
however to the Roman period of English history that we must turn for
the answer, when after the conquest of the Brigantes in the first century
of the Christian era the great trunk roads were laid down in and through
Yorkshire. Subsequently, when the vicinary and by-roads were formed,
Middleham had apparently its first recognised position as a place of
more or less note. A branch road was then constructed, or an older
road adopted, by the Roman conquerors from their great station at
Aldborough (Istmum) by way of Well to Middleham and up the Yore
(or as some spell it Eure) valley to Bainbridge {Brachium), whence there
were divergences into Swaledale northwards, and southwards along the
Cam to Ingleton and Lancaster. The station or mansion at Middleham
was evidently intended to guard the passage of the river and to stop
passengers and examine their diplomata or passports. On the west
bank, looking towards Ulshaw Bridge, there is a large camp-like platform,
oblong in shape and having well-defined ramparts ; the summit area
being about 800 feet by 180 feet. A little to the west of it there are
very apparent indications of the foundations of walls, now grass-covered,
which lead one to suppose that this was the site of Roman habitations.
Some years ago a discovery of no small importance was accidentally
made during the course of draining on the north-west side of these
foundations. Upon further excavation and examination of the site
splendid evidence of a curiously-formed heating-chamber was disclosed.
This I believe has never been fully explored or described. Mr. William
Home, F.6.S., of Leyburn, whose local antiquarian researches I have
elsewhere alluded to, took me to view the place in August, 1895. I
found to my delight unmistakable remains of an ancient Roman
hypocaust, the arch in the foundation of the walls communicating
between the outer flues and those of the excavated chamber being still
intact, along with other portions of the interesting structure. What is
now visible consists of an oblong apartment, about 14 feet by 10 feet,
walled on all sides to a depth of about 5 feet. The entrance is on the
east side and has had folding doors placed above two steps, the uppermost
stiep being formed of an immense block of Peuhill grit, five feet long,

290

one foot wide, and one foot thick. There are pivot-holes and curved
grooves at the ends of the upper surface of this large stone, which prove
that the folding-doors have moved upon pivots of iron fixed to wooden
balks at the ends. The floor consists of flags overlaid with a bed of
concrete, and beneath this is a system of flues along which the hot air
from a furnace on the north side entered by a low archway, which as I
have said is still perfect. The outlets of these heating flues were set np
about 15 inches above the concrete floor, so that the air could circulate
freely all around and warm the whole apartment. This was the usoal
mode of warming the houses of the ancient Romans, and never, I
believe, have any traces or evidences of fire-places been discovered in the
interior of rooms. A similar hypocaust was uncovered some years ago
at Well (distant ten miles to the south-east), where portions of a tesselated
pavement were also found, and are now preseiTed in the church there.
The warming-chamber at Middleham, I may point out, is situate on the
southern side of the supposed camp and foundations ; the entrance
facing the east ; which was the customary position for such rooms.
Being of course for winter service, they were generally built on the south
or warm side of a Roman station, while the summer apartments were
ranged on the north or cool side.

There is an element of probability that these evidences of Roman
occupation not only establish Middleham as of that antiquity but are at
the root of its name. The camp, indeed, may originally have been one
of those '^ Maiden Castles,** the object and meaning of which I have
suggested in another place (see page 250), for the mansion^ station, or
whatever we may call it, lay midway between the Roman posts at Well
and Bainbridge, not exactly equi-distant because of the strategical value
of the position beside the river and as a guard to the dale. Access by the
north side seems to have been guarded against by an outpost on the east
bank of the river, for adjoining the Roman Oatholic Chapel at Ulshaw
Bridge — opposite the west camp — there are indications of another bat
smaller camp, so that there would be a double guard. Unfortunately
for our enlightenment only the principal itineraries of the Romans
relating to this country have come down to us, otherwise we should have
had the Roman name of the camp or station. The earliest recorded
spelling is that to be found in the Domesday book, where it is written
Medelai, though subsequently the sni&x am^ ham almost invariably
appears, as Medelam, Medleham, &c. If the prefix Meds be a purely
descriptive term, signifying middle or central, it is not very clear what
is meant, as there were towns, hamlets, and communities of people
established in the Anglo-Saxon period in every direction for an indefinite
number of miles around. To describe it therefore as situated in the
middle of an indefinite number of other places seems vague and

291

meaningless. It might, however, have reference to its position midway
between the rivers Yore and Cover.

Yet in deference to the Roman presence in the immediate vicinity of
Middleham, I am mnch inclined to regard the Domesday spelling of the
name as a corrnption or contraction of the one it had borne during and
subsequent to the Roman occnpation. ^Such a name is found in the
ancient Mediolanam, which the Romans gave to many of their towns
and stations in England and on the Continent. Some of these are
doubtless lost. There was a Mediolanum, the chief town of the Aulerci
Ebnrovices, or Mediolanium as it appears in Ptolemy^s text. The name
also occurs in Antonine*s Itinerary. In the Notitia of the Gallic
provinces it is named Civitas Eboricorutn, and in the Middle Ages it
was called Ebroas, whence the modem name Evreux, a town in the French
department of Eure. To the south-east of Evreux are remains of an
ancient Roman temple, baths, &c. Mediolanum was also a town of the
Ordovices in Britain. It occnrs in the Itinerary of Antonine between
Deva (Chester) and Uriconum (Wroxeter), and its site has been placed at
Chesterton in Staffordshire. Another Mediolanum was in North Wales,
sitnated where the road crossed the river Tanad. In every case, it should
be noted, where a place of this name occurs it is in a district or conntry
inhabited by Celts. The Celtic meadhoUj middle or midway, whence
perhaps the names of our Maiden Castles, &c., being cognate with the
Sansc. madhyas and Latin medius.

In addition to these Roman evidences at Middleham we have not far
from the Castle, on the south side, perhaps the most perfectly-preserved
example of an Anglo-Saxon burh to be found in Yorkshire, the co-eval
fortifications at Barwick-in-Elmete alone excepted. It consists of a
doable earthen fortification surrounded by a deep and broad ditch, the
central summit area being sunk in the form of an irregular quadrangle.*
Here the Anglo-Saxon mansion stood, subsequently occupied by the
Danes, and perhaps, too, by the Normans before the Castle was built.
Bits of flint, Mr. Home informs me, and a fine flint scraper have been
found on the site, but these, whilst quite typical of early British times,
must not be accepted as proof of the ancient British occupation of this
earthwork, such earthworks being usually on the tops of hills. Both
fiint and stone implements, moreover, were in use in Yorkshire many
ages after the introduction of metals. The Romans used both metal and
stone tools indiscriminately, although they were well acquainted with the
arts of working in iron and bronze. The Saxons and Danes were equal
adepts in the manufacture and use of metals, yet we find it recorded
that in their battles, even as late as the Norman invasion of England,

* See Mr. O. T. Clarke's Moated Mounds in the Tork$. Arch. Journal.

292

they fought with weapons of stone and flint, and used flint knives in
ordinary domestic service.*

This fine old earthwork has been known from time immemorial as
" William's Hill," and is supposed to be so named from Ghilpatrick, the
pre-Conquest owner of Middleham, but I think it more probable (if the
name be not of much more recent origin) that it was called after the
Conqueror himself, who wrought such exceptional havoc in this district.
The ancient manor of Middleham, consisting of five taxable camcates
of substantial value in the time of Edward the Confessor, was in 1086,
after King William's slashing victory, declared to be all waste. Ribald,
the brother of Earl Alan, who received Richmondshire after this great
Conquest, had Middleham bestowed upon him, and it is not at all
unlikely that the Conqueror was at Middleham during the occasion of
his visit to Earl Alan, his great kinsman, at Richmond, who had
contributed so mightily (Earl Alan's troops numbering one-third of the
invading army) to William's success.f

This Ribald, though he did not receive such a valuable extent of
property as another brother, Bodin, yet became a very rich man. All
the estates of Ghilpatrick were ceded in his favour, and these comprised
the manors of Middleham, Bolton, Spennithorne, Thornton Watla8S,and
four others. In his old age he entered the Convent of St. Mary's, York,
and died after 1181,^ leaving three sons, Ralph, his heir, Hervey, and
Henry .f Ralph, who appears in the oldest Pipe Roll (ca. 1140), married
Agatha, daughter of Robert de Bruis, of Skelton, in Cleveland, and to
him his uncle Stephen, Earl of Richmond, confirmed Middleham and
all other lands his father possessed at the time he became a monk. This

* The io-ca11ed " witch-stones ** which used to be picked up at one time pretty
plentifully in Richmondshire, are no doubt ancient hammer-stones such as are
described by Prof. Sven Nilsson in his Primitive Inhabitantt of Scandinavia (•<'<'
Third Edition, edited by Sir John Lubbock, Bart, F.R.S. (1868), pages 15, 199, &c.).
The stones have sometimes two or more round indentations in order that they may
be held more securely between the fingers while being used ; sometimes the holes
or indentations go quite through the stones. About Middleham they used to be
hung up, like the fabled horse-shoe, against house or stable-doors as charms against
evil and the wiles of witches and witchcraft, a superstition that was held by many
primitive peoples, and allusions to which will be found in the ancient Scandinavian
Sagas.

t An alternative suggestion is that " William '* may be a modem refinement of
" Willie," the name by which the hill may have been originally known ; if so, it
is of Aryan-Celtic birth, for " Willie" is the name given to certain hills, eminences
and secure places in Palestine and the East, and was introduced into this country
by the Celts. In Yorkshire we have Willie How, Brown Willy, &c.

X Vide Old Man., vol. i., page 394.

^ Their lineage is given by Gale in the Honour of Richmond^ page 284.

298

was ratified by charter and the delivery of a Danish hatchet. His son
Robert, snrnamed Fitz Banulph or Fitz Randolph, to whom Earl Conan
gave the Forest of Wensleydale, was the founder of the Castle at
Middleham, begun in 1190.* After his death, his widow, Helewisa,
daughter of Ralph de Granville, founded a monastery of White Canons
at Swainby, near Pickhall, and her son, Ranulph Fitz Robert, translated
the monks of Swainby to Coverham in 1214, where they remained to the
Dissolution. He died in 1251, and was buried at Coverham.

This noble branch from the Conqueror's kinsman, Earl Alan,
terminated in a heiress, Marie, called "Mary of Middleham,'' who
married Robert de Neville, lord of Raby, &c. She died in 1820, having
been nearly fifty years a widow, and was buried at Coverham. I have
before spoken of the various members of this princely house connected
with Middleham. Ralph Neville, who was created Earl of Westmorland
by Richard II., was one of the wealthiest and most prominent men of
his time. For his services in the Lancastrian cause he was rewarded by
Henry lY. with the Earldom of Richmond (though he never assumed
the title) and the office of Earl Marshal for life. He greatly altered and
enlarged the castle at Middleham, but only occasionally resided there.
Raby Castle was his chief home. He is interred at Staindrop Church,
which he restored. Among some recently-calendered documents in the
Public Record Officet I find a grant, dated 18th Richard II. (1894), by
one John Hawthorn, of Snape, and Katherine, his wife, to tbis Lord
Neville, of a messuage, garden, and meadow in Middleham, in exchange
for a cottage, a toft, and a croft in Snape, and land in Eelbargh, in
Snape.

Subsequent to its possession by the Crown, the manor or lordship of
Middleham belonged to the citizens of London, to whom it had been
sold by Charles I. in 1628. In 1662 the castle and five acres of curtilage
were sold by Lord Loftus to Edward Wood, Esq., of Littleton, Middlesex,
and in 1670 Edward Wood, Esq., his son and heir, purchased the whole
manor and lordship of Middleham. With this family it remained till
the year 1889 when it passed by purchase to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, Esq.
(now Lord Masham), of Bradford and Swinton Park, who is the present
owner. The plate of the castle which prefaces this chapter is a
reproduction of the fine old painting by P. Sandby, R.A., and engraved
by Woodyer in 1780.

With regard to the Constableship of the Castle, a most ancient and
honourable office, which had formerly a salary attached, the following
notes, based on information obtained some time since from the Treasury,
have been kindly furnished by Mr. John Henry Metcalfe, late of
Leyburn :

* See Gale, App., pages 233-4. f ^i^ Ancient Deeds, toI. ii., B 2462.

294

** Middleham Castle was granted away by the Crown in fee, temp. James I. It
is true there is still a Constable of Middleham Castle, appointed on behalf of the
Crown, but his duties as such are nil, it being merely an honorary title connected
traditionally with some existing rights of the Crown in the Honour of Richmond.
The Constable appears from this to have no * duties * with regard to the preaerrfttion
of what remains of the Castle, but he has the right of hawking in the Forest of
Wensleydale, and elsewhere within the Honour of Richmond, on lands over which
the Crown has certain rights— rights which in these days might well be waived.
No gentleman holding the office of Constable would for a moment think of
insisting upon the exercise of certain ancient privileges which now, in a changed
order of things, would be resented as obnoxious by many of the landowners in
Richmondshire. But this is no reason why the ancient office of Constable should
be abolished. Is it well that any historic building, any old-world title, or office,
which may serve to link the dull, prosaic, materialistic England of to>day, with
the art-loving, chivalrous England of the past, should be allowed to pass out of
sight and out of mind ? ** From the time of Henry VIII. until quite recently the
office of Constable has been filled by the noble house of Conyers, now represented
by the Duke of Leeds. William, first Lord Conyers, who was made Constable of
Middleham in 1509, married Alice, daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoriand,
and his father. Sir John Conyers, K.O., married Alice, daughter of William Neville,
Lord Fauconberg, so that the Duke of Leeds is maternally descended from the
noble family of Neville, the ancient lords of Middleham, and is by right hereditary
Constable of Middleham.

When the Castle last ceased to be inhabited is not vety clear.
But by the death of Bichard III. we may be sure that his foe and
successor to the throne, Henry Tudor, held the venerable building in no
great respect, and it was suffered to go out of repair and ultimately to
ruin. Indeed at a subsequent period it had a narrow escape of being
wholly pulled down in order to be reconstructed into a mansion-house
for temporary occupation as a royal residence. The following interesting
letter, written in 1579 by Lord Huntingdon, and addressed from York
to the Lord High Treasurer of England, explains the circumstance of
this proposed demolition of the castle, and of the suggested new building
to be occupied by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, during one of her
" royal progresses." I have copied it from the Lansdowne MSS. :

LOBD HUKTINGDON TO BUBOHLET.

Your Lordship's letters of the 15 I receavyd yeaster nyght by ye poste, by
which I do understand of hyr Majestye's intention to see thease partes this next
sommer, which will be no small comforte to all hyr good subjectes, and no less
terrour to ye others. God graant hyr Majestye may have no lette to hynder thys
hyr purpose. And for that hyr Lodgynge in this housse myght be betteryd, I have
thought good to offerre your L. a denysse, which I thynke with small chardge to
hyr Majestye's coferrs, maye bryng this housse in soche order as shall bee to hyr
hyghnes lykynge. Howe fytte yt ys for hyr hyghnes to have a good housse at
thys place above all other placys in thys north, I thynke your L. wyll easelye
resolve. And by thys meanes which I wylle heare offer to your consy deration, as
I have sayde thys may bee don with smalle chardge to hyr Majestye, ye meanes ys
thys, hyr hyghnes hathe heare ye Castell of Mid ham, which ys in greate ruyne.

295

and daylye wastyth, ye place wheare yt Btandjth ys soche as for no purpose weare
yt, to mayntayne soche a housse theare, as yt hathe been but ye tymber ye stone
ye lead and ye iron yt ys theare wold make a fayre housse heare, and as I gesse
with good husbandrye paye all ye chargys. I am sure if your L. dyd see ye place
wheare thys housse standyth, and ye state y* nowe yt ys in, you wolde thinke yt
most convenient to bee pullyd downe, rathyr then yt shuld stande and waste
daylye as yt dothe ; and surely in my mynde a better alteration of yt cannot bee
made. I dyd thynke to have deferryd thys motion tyll my selfe myght have
spokyn with your L., tho I have longe had yt in mynde, but now syns I see hyr

IMranu

Plan of Middleham Castle.

Majestye's purpose to com hyther, I thynk good to advertise you ho we meete yt
ys y* sum thynge shulde bee don heare, and if your L. shalle lyke of my denysse,
I durst almost undertake to performe so muche as I have wryttyn yf in ye dooynge
of yt for oversyght, you please to commytte any ...» to me. I humblye
thanke your L. for ye postscrypttes of your owne hand. And so for thys tyme I
take my leave, and commytte you to ye Lord Jesus, ^orke thys 19 of Febr., 1579.

Tour L. assured,

H. HUNTTNODON.

To ye right honorable my verrye good lord ye lord Treasourer.

296

The proposed destruction does not seem to have been approved ; at
any rate nothing was done. Indeed after remaining a good many years
tenantless a portion of the castle was put into habitable repair for the
family of Loftus who occupied it in the 17th century, and a son of
Lord Loftus, was bom in it in 1644.* Two years later, when the
Parliamentary Cogimittee was sitting at York, it was ordered to be
rendered untenable and no garrison kept or maintained in it. But
some considerable time elapsed before the order for its destruction was
carried out. A portion of the castle walls was then blown away, and
the ruins for a time became a public *' quarry ** for the whole town and
neighbourhood. It was said that half the town of Middleham was built
of stones from the castle after the Oivil War. But the pile, even yet,
after such desecration, remains one of the largest and most majestic
historic ruins in Yorkshire. Though a mere skeleton of its former
grandeur, it is now strictly preserved. Wild birds flit about its once
stately halls, where in the hey-day of feudal pomp gathered the beauty,
greatness, and chivalry of England I —

Tima, Time, his withering hand hath laid

On battlement and tower,
And where rich banneri were displayed

Now only waTes a flower.

The keep is the oldest portion of the building, and was of the foundation
of Fitz Randolph about the end of the 12th century. The exterior
parts of the castle are 14th century work, built by the Nevilles, the
whole forming a grand parallelogram 210 feet by 180 feet, flanked by a
tower at each angle. It was encompassed by a broad and deep moat fed
by natural springs, and portions of this remained tolerably perfect up to
about 1830, when the space was filled up. The gateway of the castle,
on the north side is almost perfect, and is of the same age and design as
that at Easby Abbey. The large banqueting-hall and the chapel also
remain interesting features of the interior. The drum-tower of three
stages at the south-west angle of the castle, containing the *' Prince's
Chamber'* (see above), was in 1878, says Mr. J. H. Metcalfe, in imminent
danger of falling, and long ere this would have been a shapeless mass of
fallen masonry had not the late owner of the castle. Captain Wood,
commissioned him (Mr. Metcalfe) to rebuild the angle within the ward,
which was entirely gone, leaving the dangerous upper portion overhanging
without any support from below.

The tenacity of the mortar in nearly every part of the castle is
something to remark upon. Huge masses of masonry, tons in weight,
stand out from the main structure with the most threatening aspect,

* See the author*! Nidderdale and the Garden of the Niddj page 88.

297

having no other support save their own inherent cohesiveness. By the
coartesy of the Rev. E. B. Smith, late of Bingley, I present a view of
one such impending mass, from a photograph recently taken by him,
which shews the south and west walls of the keep, with the garde-robe
turrets, the underparts of which have been removed. According to old
engravings of the castle, these immense' hanging towers have been in
much the same condition for probably near two centuries, and yet they
exhibit no apparent signs of giving way. I have referred to the
similarly-marvellous strength of the grout-work at Kirkby Ravensworth
Castle, shewing the perfection of the old masons* art, and which one

South-west angle of the Keep, Middleham Castle.

would think might form object-lessons of no little value to builders at
the present day. The accompanying plan of the castle is reproduced by
permission from the excursion programme of the Yorkshire Archaeological
Society (1891) from a drawing supplied by Capt. Leahy, R.E., made for
the recent Ordnance Survey.

The Church at Middleham is an ancient and most interesting
structure, which is supposed to be of the foundation of Robert Fitz
Ranulph, the builder of the castle, a.d. 1190, but there are architectural
evidences of a somewhat earlier date than this. Dr. Whitaker observes
that ^* there can be little doubt that it was the work of one of the first

298

lords, who endowed it with an ample glebe, and as usual with the tithes
of the town.'* The first reference he finds to the church is of the reign
of Henry lY. (1405-6), but not only, I may say, is the church mentioned
in the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV. (1291) but also in the Nonet
Rolls of 14th Edward III. (1840) ; and a translation of the latter
relating to Middleham I append :

The same [i.d,, the jurors who made the inquiiition] render account of iiii'' of
the ninths of the same parish committed to Richard del Parsons, John General!,
Richard de Mangeby, and Richard de Waynbrigg, And so less assessed for
iiii^ because iiii carucates lie uncultivated [fallow] which if they were in culture
the ninths would be worth Iiii<iiii<2 where the Rector is accustomed to take xii
stones of wool, price xzzvjt, and zz Iambs, price y\]*yid, as is computed by the
oath of the aforesaid men. Summ. iiii Zi.

It may be only needful to remark here with respect to the origin of
the tithe that every church founded after the Conquest had its proper
tithe endowment ; the owner of the manor building the church, and
giving for the endowment of the parson either a tenth part of the
manor under the name of glebe, or a tenth part of its produce under the
name of tithe. The lord then continued to possess only nine-tenths of
the manor, the remaining tenth — a free and irrevocable gift — being
dedicated in perpetuity to the maintenance of the priest. Thus it is
that we have an account rendered of the nintJis of the parish, which bj
the statute of Edward III., above mentioned, meant a ninth of all cofd,
goods, and chattels of cities and boroughs granted to the king for two
years, &c. Other previous statutes relating to the ninths had been in
force, and a further commission was issued and directed to the Assessors
and Venditors on the 26th January, 15th Edward III., whereby they
were instructed to levy the ninth of corn, wool, and lambs in every
parish according to the value upon which churches were taxed (Pope
Nicholas's valuation), if the value of the ninth amounted to as much of the
tax, and to levy more where the true value of the ninth should be found
to exceed the tax ; but should the value of the ninth be less than the
tax, they were directed to levy only the true value of the ninth and
disregard the tax ; and to gain correct information of these facts they
were directed to take inquisitions upon the oath of the parishioners of
every parish. In these records it appears that the parishioners of every
parish found upon their oath the true value (sometimes separately) of
the ninth of corn, wool, and lambs, then the amount of the ancient tax
of the church was stated, and afterwards the causes of the ninth not
amounting to the tax or value of the church were assigned, and when
the ninth did not exceed the tax it was assigned for cause thereof that
within the valuation or tax of the church there were other articles
included besides corn, wool, lambs, such as the dos or glebe of the church.

299

There were in some counties and parishes local causes which reduced the
ninth very much in the 14th Edward III. ; manj parishes in the
northern counties were at the time exposed to an invading army, and
totally or nearly laid waste.*

Richard III., though the greater part of his life had heen devoted to
warlike enterprises, did a great deal in the cause of religion. He
worthily helped many charities and religious houses by gifts of lands
and money, and he repaired and aided in the repair of many conventual
and parish churches, notably those at Ooverbam and Skipton. At
Skipton Castle he frequently resided.f Within five weeks of the
marriage of Edward lY. with the heiress of the house of Norfolk, he
then Duke of Gloucester, obtained a licence from the king for erecting
the church of Middleham into a Oollege.^ This was a most important
advance in the history of the town, and it seems to have been one of the
great ambitions of the princely founder to raise Middleham — the chief
scene of his domestic and private life, with all its memories to him of
joys and sorrows — into a place of ecclesiastical note. Middleham was
then in the Archdiocese of York, for Chester and Ripon, within each
of which it has since been successively situate, were neither of them
in that day episcopal Sees. Chester was erected into a See on the
dissolution of monasteries, and Ripon was restored on the union of the
Bishoprics of Gloucester and Bristol in 1886. The death of the bold
king on the field of Bosworth, a.d. 1485, put an end, however, to the
f nil fruition of his designs.

At this period the parish church of Middleham was a rectory, the
advowson of which was vested in the founder, Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, — ^in right of his heiress wife. The then rector was William
Beverley, who became the first Dean under the new ordination, and
retained that position until he was made Residentiary Canon of York.
Subsequent to the foundation of the College we find a grant of the
advowson of the parish and certain lands from the founder, and several
named feoffees to the said Dean Beverley, and his successors, but any

* See the Preface to the Nonarum InquisU,, Bee. Com., 1807.

t I may here note the discovery, lately, at Skipton Castle, of an interesting^
fragment of MS. of the time of this monarch. It consistB of a portion of Chaucer's
Jf^anklin*$ Tale, written, according to Prof. Skeat, about the year 1480. Bichard,
Duke of Oloucester, was then chief seneschal of the Duchy of Lancaster for the
north parts, an office that had been previously held by William, Duke of Suffolk,
son-in-law of Thomas Chaucer (son of Geoffrey the poet) who himself had held
the post of Constable of the Castle of Knaresborough about a.d. 1390. See West
Yorkshire Pioneer^ January 24th, 1896.

X A copy of the original Letters Patent is printed in the Camden Soe, Pub,,
volume 38, page 61.

800

property that may have been legally conferred on the new college seems
to have been forfeited npon the accession of '^ the enemy, Henry Tndor."
It is generally believed that the College was to have been erected in a
field nearly half-a-mile from the chnrch, which was afterwards known as
^'Foundation Close.** But by the death of the royal founder and
conseqaent political changes, the bnilding was never commenced. Tet
the chnrch continued to be called collegiate, and the minister, who was
exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary and metropolitan,
retained the title of Dean. The title, however, with the canonries and
peculiar privileges and immunities belonging to the original corporatioD,
was abolished, in common with others, at the death of the last Dean
some forty years ago. The celebrated author, Charles Eingsley, some
time rector of Eversley, Hants, and domestic chaplain to Viscount Sidney,
was one of the titular canons of this ancient body-corporat^ under the
Yery Rev. P. S. Wood, LL.D., who was installed Dean of Middleham
in 1814. Canon Eingsley has left some charming delineations of local
scenery in the well-known letters to his wife. The late Dr. Ryan, some
time Bishop of Mauritius, and vicar of Bradford, Yorks., from 1870 to
1880, was rector of Middleham from 1881 tu 1883.

The church is not cruciform after the usual collegiate pattern, bat
consists of a nave having north and south aisles, chancel, and embattled
(Perpendicular) tower at the west end. There are some few fragments
of Norman work,* but the prevailing style of the building is Early
English, with Decorated (14th centry) introductions. The original
edifice appears to have been much smaller, having consisted of a simple
nave with a high-pitched roof, a bell-turret, and narrow aisles. The
aisles were afterwards widened, a clerestory erected, and a tower and
chancel added. The present interior of the church, which underwent
a thorough restoration in 1878, contains many neat memorials, stained
lights, and other features of interest, as follows :

East Window of four lights erected as a memorial to Christ. Topham, armiger,
Middleham HbII, 1849.

West window in memory of Alice Anne, only child of Thomas and Anne Other,
of The Grove, Middleham, who died in 1867, aged 17.

Tablet under west window to John Breare, Esq., of Middleham Hall, who died
in 1830. In 1824 he presented the present excellent peal of six bells to the church.

A small brass plate at west end inscribed Mary Fogerthwalte, 1784. [The dsto
is graven in a heart].

Window in north aisle in memory of the Rev. John Cockroft, 40 years curate
of this parish, who died in 18S4, aged 70. Erected by his grand-danghter Margaret
Midgley Rimmer, 1877.

* Whitaker says there is no trace of a Norman building existing, hot the
chevron moulding in the north aisle (outside) is at least one example of that sgt

801

East window of south aisle, in memory of the Rev. James Alex. Birch, ]0 years
rector of Middleham, who died December 26th, 1866. Erected by his widow and
children.

West window of south aisle to the family of Thos. Topham.

Sooth window in memoriam of the family of Lamb. Another south window
to the memory of Jane Swale, who died October 16th, 1871, aged 80. Ttiis window
was '* erected by public subscription as a testimony to her many virtues.'*

Georgian tablets to the families of Bulmer, Spencer, &c., and another on south
wall to Qeorge Hobson, surgeon (pb, 1808), and Bliaabeth, his wife {ob. 1811), who
was the daughter of John Buckle Esq., of Burton-in-Bishopdale.

A tablet on the north wall of choir to the Rev. Edward Place, M.A., Dean of
Middleham for 80 years, ob, April 27th. 1785, aged 58. He is Baid to have died of
a broken heart at the death, in the previous year, of his only son, Edward, who is
also commemorated on this monument.

Window on south side of chancel to the Rev. Miles Galloway Booty, M.A.,
7 years rector of the parish. He was bom in 1801 and died in 1874. This window
was erected to his memory by his parishioners and friends.

A plate on the south wall of chancel to the Rev. Christ. Colby, nearly 4G years
Dean of Middleham, who died in 1727, aged 83 ; also of his widow and children.
He was the son of John Colby, Esq., of Bowbridge Hall, near Askrigg.

A brass under the altar-steps bearing an almost obliterated black-letter
inscription to "Thomas Byrnham,/rfl<. MCCCC ,"

At the west end of the church there is an espeoiallj fine tomb-slab,
which mast have come from Jervanx Abbey. It commemorates Robert
Thornton, 22nd Abbot of Jervanx (a.d. 1510). The diapering of the
field is composed of thorn leaves, which with a cask or turiy forms a rebus
on the name. Out of the tun springs a pastoral staff, behind which is a
mitre, and at the sides are the initials *^ 3&.SC.'* At the top are two
shields suspended, one bearing the sacred monogram, and the other an
M with spear and sponge. The inscription round the border of the slab
reads :
®rate pro aTa tsomjmt IBiobttti tlTfiomrton, abbot tut tsomt JorebauHs

fatcesttmi 0c'lii.
There are also several other old inscribed slabs, one of which bears two
keys, and another the base of a cross and sword, and the name " ]Sobert

Beneath the east window have been two small square openings (now
walled up), about which there has been a good deal of wrangling. Some
have supposed them to have been the windows of a former crjpt ; others
have concluded they were leper windows, through which those ill-fated
beings watched the services, they not being admitted to the church. But
lepers were not allowed outside the hospital, which was at the east end of
the town, and had its own chapel. Leland speaks of it as '' a chapel of
Jesus," but not a vestige of the building remains, although the site is
identified in an enclosure called ^' Chapel Fields.*' The most reasonable

802

explanatioD of the uses of these openings is that in pre-BeformatioD
times they were a convenience for ringing the Sanctos bell, to let those
know who were not present at mass that the host was elevated. Similar
openings have been recently discovered at Orinton Charch in Swaledale.
A chantry chapel, which formed the east portion of the south aisle,
was founded in this church in 1470 by the Rev. John Cartmel, who was
some time rector of the church. At the Dissolution it was returned as
of the clear yearly value of 108s., and there were goods, ornaments, and
plate thereto belonging, of the value of 72s. Sd. Robert Ambler was
then incumbent.*

MiDDLEHAM ChURCH.

There is one more point of interest that remains to be discussed in
connection with the sacred edifice, and that is the dedication of it to
St. Alkelda. There are but two churches, viz., Middleham, and the
equally-ancient one at Oiggleswick, dedicated to this peculiar name.
It does not occur in any of the Christian martyrologies, nor is anything
recorded of the saint, excepting the well-known story (evolved in a
remote and eminently superstitious era) of her supposed assassination hj
the Danes, on account of her Christian fidelity. The stoiy has been
pictured in stained glass, a portion of which is still in the church,

• See Lawton's Coll,, ii., 668 ; Surtees Soe. Pub., xcii., 502.

808

shewing the martyr in the act of being strangled by two females, who
have twisted a piece of cloth round her neck. Bat there is in troth a
considerable amount of improbability about the whole story. I have
elsewhere referred to the important Breton influence on the people of
Richmondshire, with all its accompanying rites, customs and superstitions,
introduced by the Breton army contingents after the Conquest. Many
local customs and legends can be clearly traced to them, and some find a
parallel in the miraculous origin of numerous churches, shrines, feasts
and pardons in Britany. This story of St. Alkelda is probably a poet-
Conquest invention. There might have been some Christian hermit or
religious personage seated near the spring to the west of the church,
which bears the name of St. Alkelda*s Well ; a not uncommon
circumstance at that era when the teachings of St. Paulinus in these
parts found many a devoted votary, withdrawn from the world's vortex
to a simple and saintly life. Whether the said recluse met his or her
death by the irruption of the Danes in the neighbourhood will of course
never be proved. But the post-Conquest victors having settled here, and
finding by its development the necessity of a church, would gladly seize
npon any current story on which to base a pious motive for its foundation
and dedication. This was an almost indispensable principle among the
Bretons, who, as I have said, settled in Richmondshire in large numbers
under the Breton Earl Alan, and his brother, the owner of Middleham.
We need go no further than Coverham Abbey for an illustration of this
kind, which has its exact counterpart in the origin of many a Britany
shrine. There we are told, with all the olden solemnity of a Bi*eton
legend, the pious benefactor was much perplexed as to where the Abbey
should be built, but at length the difficulty was solved by the appearance
of the Blessed Virgin herself, who not only indicated (premonstravit) to
the founder the exact site for the new monastery, but also described its
shape and character even to the kind of garments its inmates were to
wear. The abbey was accordingly established on the site chosen by the
divine intervention. I may here remark that the ohurch at Middleham
is dedicated not only to St. Alkelda but to the Virgin also, and that the
latter takes precedence. It is therefore quite probable that the church
was founded here on some similar tradition, and that a hermit or saint,
living in the Anglo-Saxon era beside the holy-well I have named, was
afterwards known as the saint of the holy-well. Holy-well in Anglo-
Saxon is hcBUg-held^ whence it seems to me we arrive at the meaning of
St. Alkelda. The argument will not hold good that the Saxon name
haHg-lceld would have been lost and would not have been known to the
subsequent Norman and Breton invaders, whose language was quite
different, as we have innumerable instances in this district of the survival
of pre-existing place-names in the mouths and language of aliens. A

804

case in point may be cited in the name of a spring near Melmerby, in
Bichmondshire, which in Anglo-Saxon days bore the similar name of
hcBlig-keldj a compound which has survived in the name of Halikeld*
given to the Wapentake at this day. Hence, again, Alkelda.

In the nave of the church at Middleham is a tablet recording the
discovery on the site, so recently as 1878, of the supposed body of
this legendary St. Alkelda. The grounds, however, on which the
assumption is based, are, I am compelled to say, extremely inadequate.
That certain fee-farm rents were required to be paid on " St. Alkelda's
tomb " in the church, or that the feast-day of St. Alkelda is commemorated
in old charters, is no solid proof that any such saint has been buried in
the church, or that the said feast-day was not a late ordination. The
fact, too, that a female skeleton was found enclosed in a stone coffin on
the site indicated by the tablet, leads one to suppose rather that this Y^as
the tomb of one of the Norman ladies of the parish, not a particularly
great one either, for the body of a founder or prominent patron wonid
probably have found a resting place close beside the altar. It is more-
over extremely unlikely that a person who, in the estimation of her
assassins, was thought to be worthy of no better fate than hanging or
strangulation, would be honoured by interment in a stone coffin. The
old Danes who mercilessly murdered and butchered eveiy Christian, and
pulled down every church, cell, and monastery they could lay hands on,
are not likely to have handed over the perfect body of their victim to
the enemy for such distinguished interment.* The whole circumstances,
as I have said, of the dedication of this church to St. Alkelda, as like-
wise of that at Giggleswick, (which also is nigh unto an old holy-well) is
baaed on some such tradition as I have here suggested.

The charter for Middleham market and fair was granted by Richard II.
to Ralph Neville, (" my cousin Westmorland," as he is described by
Shakespeare), in 1387-8. It enacts that there shall be a weekly market
on Monday, and a^air every year on the Feast of St. Alkelda, the virgin
(originally October 25th, now November 5th). This annual fair used
to be reckoned the largest cattle fair in the north of England. The fact
that it took'fllBhe on St. Alkelda's Day is a pure survival of a pagan
custom that cari^^s us back to the time when the ancient Danes in this
country commemorated their gods and their conquests by the holding of

* Yet Barker in his l%ree Days of Wensleydale (page 18), says it U eertain
thai the remains of St. Alkelda repose somewhere in the choroh at Middleham,
but he hazards no reasons for such a positive assertion. His statement, indeed,
stands self-condemned, as on a preceding page he quotes Lingard, who affirms that
so completely annihilating were the Danish ravages, it was a matter of difficulty
afterwards to trace even the tite of a church or monastery, much less that of a
single body.

805

great feasts. Pope Gregory the Oreat deemed it wise policy when
sending his missionaries to onr shores, to permit the converts to the new
faith to hold their festivals on days that had a similar import. With
them, however, it was the conquest of Christianity over paganism that
was celebrated, it was the Christian martyr or person renowned for
special and eminent virtues that they honoured, and to whom their
new temple was usually dedicated. Thus it happens that most parochial
fairs and feasts are held on the day commemorated by the festival of the
patron saint of the church. At Middleham, as I have said, the patronage
or passion of St. Alkelda receives no historic credence till we come to
the foundation of the church in the 12th century. And this applies
also to the church at Giggleswick.

The old holy-well referred to, where the saint in question is supposed
to have lived, is in a field about 300 yards west of the church. It is
now covered in ; the water having been piped off to a trough by the
road-side below. The water was formerly resorted to as a specific for
weak eyes, and it was usually wells of this character, renowned for some
medicinal virtue, that were cherished and held sacred by the people.
Occasionally we find them presided over by some guardian spirit, or they
were dedicated by name to some saint or deity. At the Richmond
Quarter Sessions held in July, 1640, 1 find the inhabitants of Middleham
were indicted for not repairing the street or way that led from the Market
Place to " St. Awkell's Well," a fact which shews that there was at one
time a good deal of passing to and fro between the town and this famous
well. The water would doubtless be used on the occasions of certain
stated festivals ; fresh spring-water being ever regarded as a symbol of
purity, and in early Roman Catholic times any notable or particular
virtue possessed by a well received the special protection of the Church.
But the canons of Auselm (a.d. 1102) lay it down as a rule that no
provincial priest could make his protection absolute,^ inasmuch as no one
may attribute reverence or sanctity to a fountain or well without the
separate sanction of the bishop.

The town of Middleham is in the summer months much frequented
by strangers, and there are several inns possessing every convenience for
visitors requiring accommodation for any length of time. Many people,
however, prefer to make Leybum their head-quarters, which stands a
couple of miles to the north, and has a railway-station, which Middleham
has not. It is also higher up the dale, and nearer the moors. Both are
centrally and conveniently situated, and are within short walking or
driving distances of the abbeys of Jervaux and Coverham, besides much
beautiful and romantic scenery, celebrated in art and story.

The once famous markets at Middleham are now almost things
of the past. An old plain stone cross on four tiers yet remains to

306

remind one of the bosy and picturesque crowds of buyers and sellers that
gathered round this *^ symbol of honest dealing " in the days when kings
and princes and high-born dames dwelt in pomp and state at the
adjoining castle. At the upper end of the town is another mediaeval
monument probably of similar origin, intended to indicate the site of
the old swine-market, for Middleham was once a great mart for the sale
of these animals, which were bred and nurtured in the surrounding
forests in great numbers. The monument consists of a flight of double
steps, bearing the recumbent effigy of a boar (some say it is a bear),
which, apart from its real significance, was the well-known badge or
cognizance of the chivalrous Richard, Duke of Oloucester (afterwards
Richard IIIO^ lord of Middleham, and patron of its ancient markets.

In the vicinity is an elegant modem Fountain, erected as a memorial
of Her Majesty's Jubilee (1887), but many people may regard this as a
little out of keeping with the antiquity and traditions of the historic
town. It is, however, a well-finished and really beautiful object. Close
beside it is the old bull-ring. The old parish stocks are also still in
existence. Another instrument of punishment was the whipping-post,
but probably here, as at Richmond, this was substituted by the use of
iron rings attached to one or other of the crosses in the market-place,
and to which the criminal was fastened. Both male and female were
publicly flogged here ; they were stripped to the waist, and beaten until the
body bled by reason of such whipping. The practice has been common
among most nations from ancient times ; Solomon, we know, was a zealous
advocate of its use as '^ a corrective in education** (see also Proverbs
XX., 80). Yet how little delicacy must our forefathers have had to
allow such a disgraceful method of public chastisement on women to
continue in force almost within living recollection ! But with feelings
dulled by such brutal *' sports" as bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and
constantly-recurring dog and man battles, what shame could be felt ?
At the Quarter Sessions held at Richmond by adjournment, Jan. 17th,
1739-40, 1 find that one poor unfortunate named Phillis Pepper, was
ordered to be ^^ continued in the House of Connection until Monday
next, and then to be sent to Middleham to be whipt in the public market
at twelve of the clock ;" that is in the broad light of day and at an hour
when most people would be at liberty to witness the shameful sight.
John Story was at that time public flogger, and he received 80s. for his
trouble and expenses in administering the cat to this offending woman
at Middleham.

Formerly there were some very old houses in and about the town, but
the most ancient of them (15th or 16th century buildings) have been
pulled down within living memory. The excellent school at Middleham
was built by subscription in 1869, as a memorial to the Rev. James A.

807

Birch, late rector of Middleham. I may mentioD that it was in a house
at the bottom of Kirkgate, in Middleham, that the indefatigable author
and antiquary, Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith, breathed his last. He was
interred in the burial-ground of the Society of Friends at Carperby, in
Wensleydale, January 27th, 1889, aged 66. Neville Hall, another
residence bearing a historic name, was for some time the seat of the late
Mr. Thomas Maughan, who for many years acted as steward of the local
estates of the Marquis of Ailesbury, now owned by Lord Masham.
Mr. Maughan, who was widely known and respected throughout the
district, died here June 16th, 1896, aged 88.

Numerous elegant and well-built modern residences, amongst them
being the seats of many professional and independent families, may be
seen in and around the quiet old town, which give to it an air of
afi9aence and respectability. As a place of trade, Middleham was never
of much circumstance, but it has an old reputation for horses, and is
known as one of the principal training-centres for race-horses in England.
On Middleham Moor many a noted winner has '^ taken his gallops " and
been made fit to achieve a '* name and fame." That the district has
long been recognised as a great horse-rearing centre is evident from the
following interesting excerpt from a letter written in the year 1687 :

The king's highness (Henry VJII.) is at great charge with his studs of mares
at Thornborough and other places, which are fine grounds ; and I think that at
Jervaulz and in the granges incident, with the help of their great large commons,
the king's highnes by good overseers should have there the most best pasture that
should be in England, hard and sound of kind. For assuredly the breed of
Jervauiz for horses was tjie tried breed of the north ; the stallions and mares so
well sorted that I think in no realm should we find the like to them, for there is
high and large grounds for the summer, and low grounds to serve them.

808

CHAPTER XXVII.

Through Covbbdalb.

▲ romantic coaching-route — The pack-horse days — Miles Coverdale, translator of
the Bible — Family of Loftus — ^The Coyerdale bard — ^A Coverdale man made
the coffin of Napoleon Buonaparte — Coyerdale and the ancient Danee—
CoYerham Abbey — The old monks' herb and flower gardens — Some ancient
effigies — The church — Famous racing establishments — The Topham &mily —
Melmerby — Scrafton — Carlton — Upper Coverdale — The dissolution of
monasteries, and riots in Coverdale — Goyemment proclamations.

I HE fifteen miles' jaunt between Middleham and Eettlewell,
through the grand pass of Coverdale, is full of varied interest.
In the middle of last century the London and Richmond
coaches came this way, which was perhaps as wild and as
rugged a coaching-trip as existed anywhere in the kingdom at that day.
It ran for a great part of its course through a very elevated and exjMMed
region, and the road being also stony and hilly, it was a rider's *^ bone-
shaker " of the genuine old-fashioned type. No traveller of circumstance
would ever have thought of undertaking such a journey as this without
having previously arranged his worldly affairs, and he must have felt
much inclined, too, to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving npon the safe
completion of each successive stage of the route. From Halifax the
coaches went by Illingworth Chapel, and then at an elevation of more
than 1000 feet ascended Swill Hill and proceeded by Denholme Gate to
Eeighley and Skipton. Thence by Cracoe and the Tarn (now drained)
below the Catch-all inn, up Wharfedale to Eettlewell, whence a climb to
about 1600 feet was made to Cover Head, and so down through Carlton
to Middleham ; the distance hither, according to Dodsley's Road-book
(published 1756), from London is stated to be 251 miles 6 furlongs.
This romantic road between Wensleydale and Wharfedale is no
doubt a very old one, probably having been roughly constructed as far
back as Roman or British times, as there are many evidences of very
early occupation in the dale, noticeably a large artificial mound at Carlton,
and a long entrenchment, consisting of an earthen dyke and rampart
(similar to the Scots' Dyke near Richmond) extending for an indefinable

809

distance from Scale Park westward towards Coverdale.* The same old
road continned to be ased bj the pack-men down to within present
recollection. They used to rest and bait their horses at a point in the
dale some three miles above Carlton, and whence called Horse House.
Here is an old chapel-of-ease dedicated to St. Botolph, the curacy being
annexed to the vicarage of Coverham. Before 1867 the church was a
plain, almost bam-like structure ; in that year it was entirely rebuilt with
the exception of the tower. It is marked on Saxton*s Map of Yorkshire^
A.D. 1677. The accompanying view of the ancient building is sketched
from a photograph on glass kindly lent for the purpose by Mrs. Dene, of

Thb Old Church, Horsb Housb, Covebdalb.

Leeds, wife of a former vicar of Coverham. There is also a Methodist
Chapel here and an endowed school, over the door of which is a poetical
inscription composed by Mr. Ralph Rider, of Deer Close, who was then
blind and in the 90th year of his age.

Coverdale, as all the Christian world knows, or ought to know,
produced the family that gave birth to that worthy and learned divine,
Dr. Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, whose translation of the Bible
was the first ever printed in the English tongue. Copies of the first
edition of Coverdale's BihUy published in 1535, are exceedingly scarce.

* See the author's Craven and the North'Wett YorkMhire Bighlande^ page 386.

310

One was sold at Sotheby^s in 1886 for £120. No perfect copy, I believe,
is known to exist, and the one just noticed had the title, first few leaves,
and the map in fac-simile. An edition of Coverdale's New Testament
was printed in Antwerp in 1588, and a second edition appeared in the
following year. They are quite profusely, though of course crudely,
illustrated, some of the pictures being of a very grotesque character.
Thus over the seventh chapter of St. Matthew a man is curiously
depicted with a large piece of wood like a plank obtruding from his eye,
which is meant to illustrate our Lord's monition to cast the beam from
our own eye, ere we find the mote in our brother's. Coverdale, I may
add, was appointed almoner to Queen Catherine Parr, who had many
and close relationships with Richmondshire families, particularly with the
Nevilles and Conyers. The youthful Margaret Neville was a maid-of-
honour at the marriage of her step-mother, Catherine Parr, with
Henry VIII., in 1548.

Coverdale has produced many another family or man of note ; indeed
a separate volume might be written on these, and the history, tales, and
traditions of this secluded and romantic upland valley. A residence of
a few months in the dale — finding the opportunity to converse with some
of its knowing inhabitants, bred and bom in the dale — like sturdy
Robert Lofthouse (now over 80) of Carlton — would produce much of
entertaining and instructive interest for such a volume. For instance,
the said Mr. Lofthouse will tell you that he is of the old family of
Lofthouse which was seated at Swineside, in Coverdale, several centuries,
and from whom the Marquises of Ely trace their descent. It is veiy
probable this distinguished house took its name from Lofthouse in
Nidderdale, where one local magnate, Pam de Lof thus, was living in the
reign of Henry II.* Sir Edward Loftus, afterwards Lord Loftus, was
occupying Middleham Castle, as I have already related, up to the time of
the great Civil War. This name is frequently met with in the
Middleham church books up to the time when Edward, son of Lord
Loftus, was baptised, the 14th day of April, 1648, after which entry
their name does not occur in these registers. Branches of the family
have, however, continued to reside in the neighbourhood ever since.
When, after the introduction of Methodism into the dale, Middleham
became the head of a Circuit, and was divided in 1806, Ralph Loftus
was appointed leader of that body at Horse House, and there were also
other families of the same name and persuasion then living at the same
place.

Mr. Henry Constantine, of Carlton, has also many old deeds, &c., in
his possession relating to the district. His uncle, the late Henry

* 8ee Burke's PeercMe, art, Marq of Ely ; alBO the author's Nidderdale and
the Garden of the Nidd, page 483.

811

CoDBtantine, who was born and died in the house next door, was a poet
and writer of some standing, who not nndeservedly earned the title of
** The Ooverdale Bard." Perhaps we might say of him :

True, his songs were not divine ;

Were not songs of that high art
Which, as winds do in the pine,
Find an answer in each heart.
But the mirth
Of this green earth
Laughed and revelled in each line.

As Longfellow thus tunefully phrases it, yet our rustic poet, although he
never received anything better than a village education, had a good gift
for penning both in prose and rhyme. His best work is Rural Poetry
and Frose^ in two volumes, printed at Beverley in 1867. He also wrote
7%# Farmer^s Vicissitudes^ or the Adventures of Tom Random and his
Family^ printed at Richmond in 1862 ; likewise two amusing pamphlets
in the dialect (1858), and an Essay on the Best Method of Reclaiming
Heath Land, He died in July, 1870, aged 79. There is a large apple-
tree in front of the house where he lived and died, and above the door is
a slab bearing these flattering lines :

He wrote from knowledge, genius kind
Opened the casket of his mind,
Poured out the essence to his worth,
Endurance followed from his birth.
Hope, that blessed gift of Heaven,
Hope, to every mortal given,
Hope, which soothes the inward breast,
Hope for Heaven's eternal rest.

Another local character of yeoman descent, conspicuous in the annals of
the past, was James Metcalfe, who was bom at Coverhead in the year
1785. He was brought up to the trade of a carpenter, and after many
and various services and promotions, he sailed in Lord Amherst^s
celebrated embassy to China in 1814. Afterwards he went to St. Helena,
and being employed frequently at Longwood, he had on the death of the
exiled Emperor Buonaparte, the honour of making the coffin of this
redoubtable monarch, which bore his remains to their final resting-place
in the sacred vault of the Invalides at Paris.

Coverdale seems to have been a green and flourishing valley in the
Anglo-Saxon period, and was doubtless occupied by people of that race
and afterwards by the Danes. The name seems to be derived from the
A.3. cofa-^ly t.0., cave-dale, from the existence of several remarkable
caverns in the higher part of the valley.* The names, too, of three

* Dr. W hi taker derives it from Ko/vr^ an arrow, from the swiftness of the
stream ; tee Riehmondthire vol. i., page 14.

812

important chiefs of this period are perpetuated in places high np in the
dale : Oammersgill, doubtless so-called after the great Domeadaj
landowner, Oamel ;* UlferHgill, named after Ulf, the son of Thorold,
who in the time of King Canute, governed in the western part of
Deira ;t and Harkon Fell, from the powerful Viking, Earl Hakon, who
as we learn from the Jomavikinga'Saga^ offered his son in sacrifice to
obtain of Odin the victory over the Jomsburg pirates, a.d. 9944 Hit
name may be commemorated too in Arkengarthdale. At this time there
were six principal places in the dale having settled communities, and
called in a.d. 1086, Covreham, Carleton, Oaldeber, Melmerbi, Aoolestorp,
and Scrafton, all of which were burnt or destroyed, and the bulk of the
people massacred, by the armies of Earl Alan, who after the readjustment
of affairs by the Norman conquerors settled at Richmond. Local tradition,
as well as mounds of the dead, tell of many a sanguinary contest in
Ooverdale, and terrible fighting there must have been here for the mingled
blood of Saxon and Dane was hard of conquest ; the Normans being held
in peculiar detestation by the hardy owners of this fair northern territoiy.
Ooverdale lay wholly waste for some time after the Conquest, until
Ribald, the brother of Earl Alan, took up his abode at Middleham, when
his followers, mingling with those natives who had survived the Norman
onslaught, began to recover the lands cultivated in a previous era.

Coverham township includes the hamlets or houses of Coverham,
Agglethorpe, Cotescue, Tupgill, Ashgill and Bird-Ridding. At Coverham,
on the north side of the river, are the few remains of the historic Abbey,
or as it seems to have been erroneously called by some authorities a
Priory. It was originally founded in 1190 at Swainby, near Bedale, as
I have before noted, by the heiress of Ranulph de Glanville, wife of the
lord of Middleham. In 1215, owing to some disputes with the canons
of Swainby, the establishment was transferred to its present retired site
beside the peaceful Cover. At the Dissolution the lands, tenements,
tithes, &c., belonging to the abbey were set down as yielding a clear
yearly income of £160 188. 8d. In 1557 the lands occupied by the
monks were sold to Humphrey Orme, for the sum of £419 15s., being
thirty years* purchase at the rent of £18 19s. lOd. The following
particulars I have transcribed from the HarJdan MSB. (vol. 606, fo. 46) :

Paboel of the Possessions of the late Mokastbbt of Coverham,
IN THE Co. of Yobk.

Farm of the site of the Baid late monastery within the Archdeaconry of
Richmond, in the Coantj of York, with all houses, buildings, barns, stables,
gardens, lands and ground within the site of tlie said late monastery, together

* There is a Gamelsgill near Steeton, in Airedale.

t Ulf*s horn is preserved at York Minster. % See the Heifntltringla^ ri., 8S-47.

818

with all the lands belonging to the aaid demesne, via., one close called Morehead,
containing xviii. acres ; one close called Brekangill, containing iii. acres ; ii. closes
called Bzecloses, containing xx. acres ; one close called le Hiefeld, containing xx.
acres of arable land ; one close of meadow called Thavayleclose, containing iiii.
acres ; one close of meadow called Pudsey close, with Lawbrether logs containing
T. acres ; one close of meadow called Jobclose, containing iii. acres ; one close
called Smythegarthe, containing half-an-aore ; one close called Gills Inges, contg.
▼i. acres ; one close of pasture called John Ryding, with Kirkebank, contg. ix.
acres ; one close called BrobiUthiwayte, contg. iii. acres ; one close called
le Groves, contg. an acre ; one close called lea Asshes, contg. iii. acres ; one close
of arable land called Huggestedes, contg. xii. acres ; one close called Brodriding,
contg. vi. acres ; one close called Westsighfeld, contg. xii. acres of arable land ;
one close of arable land called Cristeroft, contg. yii. acres ; one close called
Solegarth, contg. i. acre ; one close of meadow called Cote ings, contg. xx.
acres ; one close of meadow called Conyhowe, contg. xiiii. acres ; one close of
meadow called [ne] viii. acres ; one close of meadow called Clapham close, contg.
iii. acres ; one close of meadow contg. v. acres ; one close called New Ings, with
Tirnclose, contg. iiii. acres of meadow ; one close of meadow called Selestall and
Huttocke, contg. iiii. acres. And the herbage of two closes of wood there, via,,
ii. parcels called Pillidod and Akehowsewood : one close of wood called Hippers-
leigbt and lea Mires ; and one close called Bankes. Also one grain mill there ; so
together demised to Ralph Crofte by Indenture, under the seal of the Court of
Augmentations, bearing date at Westuiinster, xxvi. May, the xxxviii. year of the
reign of the late King Henry, to bave and to hold to the said Ralph and his
assigns for the term of xxi. years from that time following and fully to be
completed ; paying therefrom per annum xiii^ xixj. xd, at the terms of the
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangel in equal
portions. Repairs at the charge of the farmer, as in the said Indenture appears.

Mbm. : The premises are no parcell of thauncient demeanes of the Crown, the
duchyes of Lane, or Cornewall, and they lye not nigh eny of the king & queue's
majesties castells, honors, manors, or howses whereunto their highnes have usuall
access. Item. : The premises ar well wodded, which is to be considered by your
honors. What mynes of cole or lede is within the premises it is unknown to
thauditor. And toching other the comodytes thereof otherwyse then is before
declared, the Record maketh no farther mention.

Examined by me Antho. Rone, Aud.
xiii. day of May, 1557. Rated for Humphrey Orme.

The clere yerly value of the premises, xiii^ xix#. x^., which rated at xxx^ yeres
purchase amounteth to ccccxix^ xv«.

The mony to be pd. before the xxvi. of May, 1557.

The king and quene*s majesty to discharge the purchaser of all things and
incumbrances made or don by their majesties, except leses.

The purchacer to discharge the king & queue's majestyes of all fees & Reprises
goyng out of the premisses, the tenure in chief.

The purchacer to haue thissues from the fest of thannuncyation of our Lady
last past.

The purchacer to be bound in a thousand poundes for the woods.

The leade & belles & thaduowson to be except.

William Petbb, Fbattncib Inolefeld, John Bakbb.

814

The site of the monastery, with adjoining lands, passed to the
Bainhridge family, from whom it went to the Atkinsons, who were
originally located at Newstead, in the parish of East Witton, and from
them it was purchased hy the Listers.

Of the much mutilated remains of the Abbey may be noted the old
Norman gateway, and some Decorated arches of the nave. It is also
still possible to trace the outline of the cloister quadrangle. Bat the

Inscribed DooRWAy, Covbrham Abbby.

buildings have sufiPered much from the covetous hands of stone-seekers
after the initial destruction of it by the King^s Commissioners in the
16th century, and it is therefore difficult to obtain a correct idea of its
original extent and character. One looks also with dismay on parts of
the sacred enclosure, which have been partially converted into farm-folds
and stables ; in the choir, where the great lie buried, and where many a
requiem has been chanted and hymn gone forth to Ood, lie heaps of

815

rubbish and mannre — ^a sad reflection on the uses to which our noblest
fanes may descend I

In the enclosures adjoining once grew in plenty the figwort, gentian^
agrimony, hemlock, and many useful plants in the old monks' herbal.
For about their sacred houses there was besides the well-tended orchard
nsnally the herb and flower garden, in which, in those unclouded days of
monastic happiness, the monks took especial pride. If we could only
see one such perfect abbey-garden now-a-days, it would, doubtless, be a
revelation of old-world interest and loveliness in the many valuable
medicinal plants, and in the charming mixture of colour displayed in
the homely flower-beds, some of which were as old, perhaps, as the
foundation of the abbey. A fair idea of the things that were grown
and the prices paid by the monks for them is obtained from the Hampton
Court Books, written about 1529. There we find mention of the old-
time wallflower and rosemary, and that the various sorts of sweet-william
were purchased at 4d. the bushel ; gillaver-slips, gillaver-mints, and
other sweet flowers at the same price ; primroses and violets the same.
Woodbine and thorns cost 5d. the hundred. Apple and pear trees cost
6d. apiece, cherry trees 6d. a hundred, and so on. What an abounding
interest is there not in these old-world gardens, lingering traces of which
we may sometimes come upon in some half-neglected ruin. Yerily we
feel with Scott when he says :

The rude stone fence with fragrant wall -flowers gay,

To me more pleasure yields

Than all the pomp imperial domes display.

Turning about the ruins there are several effigies and inscribed stones
to be seen, rescued from an oblivious neglect in which they appear for
a long time to have lain. Several of these are statues of ancient knights,
dug up while constructing some outhouses in the early part of the
century. They are of the snrcoat period, sculptured in Crusading panoply
of the time of Henry III. to Edward II. They are much mutilated,
but are worthy of the best care being taken of them ; two of them
being probably the oldest sculptures of their kind extant in Yorkshire.
There can, I think, be little doubt that one represents the powerful
Ranulph Fitz Robert, who translated the monks of Swainby to Coverham
in 1215. He was great grand-nephew of the Conqneror*s kinsman.
Earl Alan, first lord of Richmondshire after the Conquest, and died in
1251. He was interred with great pomp in the chapter house at
Coverham, along with his mother, whose remains had been brought
hither from Swainby where they had lain since her death in 1195.
Another effigy (a mere torso, — ^a ruthless destruction due perhaps to the
Scottish raid on Coverham after Bannockburn, in 1814) may possibly
represent his son, Ralph Fitz Ranulph, founder or co-founder of the

816

monastery of the Grey Friars at Richmond, who died in 1270, and whose
heart was buried in the chnrch of the Grey Friars, and his bones at
Goverham. A thkd effigy of a knight in mail armour has carved beside
it three dogs, two of which are represented in the act of chasing a stag
into a wood, while the third is playfully biting his master's scabbard.
These portraitures may be considered to indicate that the knight was
celebrated in the arts of the chase, and they may be also intended to
illustrate the greyhound badge of the Nevilles, in which case we have,
perhaps, in this monument a memorial of the great Robert de Neville,
who married the heiress of the Fitz Ranulphs, or what is more probable,
his son, Ralph de Neville, who was interred at Goverham in 1880, as the
effigy is shewn beneath a Gothic canopy of the time of Edward II.

The mansion adjoining, called Goverham Abbey, is the seat of
Christopher Other, Esq., J.P. Near the ruins of the abbey is the church
(Holy Trinity), an ancient fabric rebuilt in 1854, with its sturdy tower
standing four-square to all the winds that blow. A singular circumstance
may be mentioned in connection with this site. Although the churchyard
covers less than two acres, there is one part of it where the buUding
cannot be seen, nor are the bells in the toWer always audible. This
arises from the ground falling abruptly on the south-east side, towards
the abbey ruins, and at the bottom of the descent the church is quite
invisible, while the noise of a rapid stream propelling the corn-mill
wheel prevents the bells from being heard. The church contains some
beautiful stained glass, and there are also some modem brasses bearing
peculiarly-amusing inscriptions.

Gotescue Park (Charles J. Burril, Esq., J.P.)> in this township, was
formerly the seat of the Croft family, to whom the lands, &c., of Goverham
Abbey were demised, 1546, and who about the time of Charles I.
held no fewer than seven ancient halls or manor-houses in this district.*
Agglethorpe, now consisting of a few houses which are passed on the way
from Goverham to West Witton or Wensley, had once a handsome old
hall belonging to the Crofts. It was afterwards divided into farm-
cottages, and eventually pulled down some forty-five years ago. Just
below is the extensive racing establishment of Ashgill, which has long
been in possession of the Osbornes. The late Mr. John Osborne, who
settled here in 1887, turned out some wonderful horses in his time, and
his deeds on the turf are matter of common history. He died in 1865,
aged 62, and was buried at Goverham Church, leaving a fortune of
£40,000, besides being lord of a manor and patron of a church living.
Breckongill, a similar but small establishment, lies down on the right,
and is now occupied by one of his sons, Mr. John Osborne, who has
ridden in some famous races. In 1892, on his retirement from the

* See Barker's Three Day$ of Wemleyddle, pages 146-7.

817

profession, he was presented with a cheque for 8600 guineas, together
with an address expressing a sense of the conspicuous fidelity and
rectitude which had always marked his career. Tupgill is another of
these famous training-houses, which has an extensive frontage occupying
a charming position overlooking the beautiful valley of the Cover. For
over thirty years (from 1848) Mr. Thomas Dawson had charge of this
well-known establishment. Among the many noted horses trained by
him may be mentioned the redoubtable Blue Bonnet (winner of the
St. Leger), Rapid Rhone^ Pretender^ and BothtvelL Mr. Dawson died in
February, 1880, aged 70, and was interred in the churchyard at Coverham,
where a handsome monument to his memory has been erected by his
only daughter, Mrs. Bates. There are also two stain-glass memorial
windows to Mr. and Mrs. Dawson in the church. I may also mention
that many valuable paintings of celebrated race-horses are preserved at
Tupgill. Yet another of these famous training-places is Spigot Lodge,
so called after the winner of the St. Leger in 1821. The house is now
occupied by Mr. Harry Hall. During the time (some twenty-five years)
that this establishment was controlled by the late Mr. John Fobert, many
famous animals passed through his hands, notably Underhand^ Van
Trompf and Flying Dutchman — the latter, owned by Lord Eglinton,
beating the celebrated VoUigeur in what is described as " the great match
of the century *' at the York Spring Meeting on May 18th, 1851. It is
said that Mr. Fobert ''in ten years won for one single patron of his
stables £80,000 in stakes alone.'*

The township of Caldbergh or Caldbridge, which includes the hamlet
of East Scrafton, has belonged with other property in Coverdale to
the family of Topham for fully four centuries. The late Sir William
Topham, K.C.H., who died at Noirmont, Weybridge, in June, 1895, at
the age of 84, was the last lineal owner. He was brother to the aged and
esteemed lady, Miss Topham, now of Middleham House, being the eldest
son of Mr. Lupton Topham, of Middleham and Caldbergh, by the only
daughter and heir of Mr. Edward Clongh, of Acomb. He was twice
married, (1) to Lady Mary, youngest daughter of the fourth Duke of
Portland (she died in 1874), and (2) in 1879 to Anne, daughter of the late
Thomas Harrison, Esq., one of the Commissioners of Excise. Sir William
received his knighthood in 1858. He had in 1858 been appointed
lieutenant of the corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, when he was made a
Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Onelphic Order. He also
held the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1874 was appointed
Hon. Lieutenant of the Royal Naval Reserve. By his will he bequeathed
the Coverdale property to the family of his second wife, providing that
they assumed the name and arms of Topham in addition to their own
name of Harrison.

318

Melmerbj (inn, the Topham Arms) the head of an apland towoRhlp
which includes part of the fells of Penhill, and West Scrafton, on the
east side of Coverdale, are small places of no particular interest. At
Scrafton, however, there was once a grange belonging to Coverfaam
Abbey, and the monks had over a hundred acres of land in the township.
The place gave name to an ancient family resident here before the
Reformation. Scrafton Lodge is now the seat of Lady Chaytor, lady
of the manor of Caldbridge with Scrafton, and widow of the late
Sir Wm. R. Carter Chaytor, Bart., who died in 1871. He was M.P. for
the City of Durham from 1881 to 1884.*

I referred a few pages back to the introduction of Methodism in
Coverdale, and at Scrafton an incident is remembered, which may be
mentioned in order to shew the kind of opposition the sect encountered
while attempting to obtain a footing in the dale. The members first
assembled for worship in a room hired for the purpose in a public-house
at Scrafton. The room was directly over the beer-cellar, and the
minister who had conducted the service for a little while, gave out the
hymn, " Vain, delusive world, adieu !" when suddenly the floor gave
way, and the whole congregation was precipitated among the broken
beams and ale-casks in the cellar below. Many of the older folks got
rather badly hurt ; others escaped with a scratch or bruise. It was
afterwards ascertained that the roof -beam of the cellar had been nearly
flawed in two. The " lark " fortunately did not prove very serious, and
had its desired effect, for many years elapsed before the Methodists
iurned up again at Scrafton.

Carlton, which is the principal place in Coverdale, climbs ^'up-bank*'
for nearly a mile. You pass some good houses on the way, including
the neat parsonage, which is a perfect picture of rusticity. The front
is completely immured in well-trimmed ivy, and every window is a nose-
gay. The straggling little town possesses a small chapel-of-ease (used
also for a school) erected in 1855, a Wesleyan Chapel built in 1885, and
in Roman Catholic times there was a chapel here dedicated to St. Thomas.
The Quakers were also established here at an early period. The old
Hall has been partly rebuilt, and is now only occupied as a dwelling at
one end, the other portion being used for farm stores. A stone in the
building bears the initials and date W. F. S., 1659, the letters and
figures being raised, instead of, as usual, cut into the stone. The estate
adjoining, called the Flatts, formerly belonged to Coverham Abbey, and
fiome 80 acres of it appear to have been enclosed at one time for the
keeping of deer. It is still known as Deer Park. Deer of course were
once plentiful in a wild state in Coverdale, where they found a
comparatively secure retreat in the wide, unpeopled forest tracts which

* See Burke^B Landed Gentry, art. Chaytor.

819

then prcvailed. Large immbers of pheasants, partridges, hares, &c.,
were also kept in the warren belonging to the family of Pjgot, at
Melmerby and Scrafton, in the 15th centnry. In a volume of ancient
deeds in the Record Office,* I find a grant made by Mary de Neville —
the pioDS '^ Mary of Middleham,'* heiress of the founders of Goverham
Abbey, — to Geoffrey, son of Geoffrey Pygot, for his life, of land in
Melmerby by the mill of Grif, and in Landriding (? Birdridding), also
a certain mUl called Milnebank. He was to be free from all suits of
court, and also if his cattle at Melmerby should trespass in her Forest of
Coverdale, beyond the bounds of the pasture of Carlton, in which there
was right of common, the same should be returned without impounding,
and lastly he was to have the right of pasture in Coverdale Forest. This
deed was sealed at Middleham in the year 1286.t

Carlton Highdale township includes all the higher and wilder parts
of Coverdale, and embraces an area of over 10,000 acres. It includes
the hamlets or houses of Horse House, Swineside, Arkleside, Gammersgill,
Blackrake, Bradeley, West Close, Woodale, Flensop, Hindlethwaite,
Pickhill, and Coverhead. The land is held principally by Amias C. T.
Orde-Powlett, Esq., the trustees of Henry T. Robinson, Esq., and the
Rev. E. C. Topham, M.A. Some of the dwellings in this township are
situated at a high altitude, notably Grouse House, which stands about
1600 feet above sea-level, and is probably the highest inhabited house in
the county.

Now we will leave the tourist to ramble at his leisure through
this picturesque and romantic valley. There has always been a good
deal of traffic along this road, and in the olden times, when the traveller
might have seen the wild deer about the hill-tops, and the ancient wains
and waggons yoked with sinewy oxen fetching loads of meal, timber, &c.,
from the granges ; when the sweet bells of Coverham Abbey pealed
forth their sonorous chimes, or the well-trained voices of choristers could
be heard beyond the abbey walls (old Leland praises the singing at
Coverham), we can imagine the Coverdale of ancient days. When the
monasteries were dissolved, which brought about a disastrous revolution,
the bulk of the population being more or less dependent upon these
institutions, which served as colleges for the education of youth,
infirmaries for the sick, and asylums for the poor, the roads became filled
with homeless and beggared people of both sexes and every age, whose
callings were gone, and who had not the wherewithal to maintain a
respectable existence. Thousands of honest folk were ruined, and many
died of famine and neglect by the waysides. The roads were filled with

* Ancient Deedi, vol. ii., B2516.

t For Pedigree of Pygot $ee Harrison's OUling Wett^ page 519.

820

freebooters, idlers, gipsies, pipers, &c., intent on ekeing out a living as
best they could. This loose and evil life filled the country with alarm,
and it became necessary to issue proclamations and warnings to travellera,
along with injunctions prohibiting, under heavy penalties, all idle and
specious wandering. The road through Ooverdale became a comparatively
safe refuge for sham-pedlars and highwaymen, and I find in the Quarter
Sessions .Records for January, 1607-8, one Anthony Yeoman, of Horse
House, charged with harbouring rogues, and at the same time, the
unfortunate chaplain or reader of Horse House, one Thomas Jenkinaon,
of Hindlethwaite, was indicted for suffering piping and other disorders
in the chapel there on St. Symond^s day. The chances are there was a
boisterous and motley gathering here celebrating in a riotous manner
the old Catbolic feast, and the said chaplain was powerless to prevent the
intrusion. In 1676 the ministers of parishes in Richmondshire received
orders to publish the statute respecting idle persons once a month after
morning service, and the constables were also ordered to apprehend all
rogues, wandering or sturdy beggars, and that a reward at the rate of
2s. per head should be paid to any person who shall seize and secure such
wanderers. All tinkers, too, pedlars, and petty chapmen, Bedlam
common players of interludes, gipsies, fiddlers, and pipers, wandering
abroad, be apprehended by the constables and watchmen where they shall
so pass, and be carried before some J.P., to be dealt withal according to
law. A busy, not to say an anxious time, must it have been for the
magistrates of that unsettled period, — who sometimes were called upon to
commit their own kinsfolk and servants — and especially in Richmondshire
where monasteries were so numerous, and monastic life influenced so
mightily both the affections and interests of the people.

821

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Abound Bast Witton.

Delightful situation of East Witton — Domeiday record— Ancient market — ^Village
feast — St. Simon's well — Cast-away well — Diana's well, a Roman tutelary
spring — A curious fountain — Past and present aspects of East Witton — The
old church— The present church — ^A local historian — Cover bridge — An angler's
paradise^Coverham Abbey fish preserves — Otter's cave.

[ROUND East Witton the country is very beautiful, and its
open, luxuriant and park-like aspects seem to breathe of rest
and peace. Lovely it is in Spring, when the hedges are white
with May, when the song of the lark is heard pouring from
the serene blue depths of the sky, when the pastures wear the liveliest
green, and the delicious purling of waters is soothing to heart and mind.
The village is charmingly situated beneath the well-wooded acclivities
of Witton Fell, and lies about midway between historic Middleham and
the far-famed ruins of Jervaux Abbey. The place must not be confounded
with the village of West Witton, to which it anciently belonged, and
which lies some five miles to the north-west under the shadow of Penhill.
Both are of Saxon origin, and are probably so-called because they were
built of stone (».«., white-toum) when other places round about were
built of wood. The Domesday record tells us that the manor of Witton
contained but little wood, that is in a.d. 1086, and it is very likely the
houses were originally built of stone got from Witton Fell or Penhill.
Witton belonged, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, to one Glumer ;
it was then in an advanced state of cultivation, but on the Norman
accession its value was reduced by one fourth, owing to depopulation
caused by fire and sword. The district, however, soon recovered from
these ill effects, and its natural fertility began to draw fresh and ever-
increasing numbers of people, so that by the time of King Edward I.
the place had attained to the importance of a market-town, with a fair
annually, and hirings for servants. From the time that this charter
was granted to the Abbot of Jervaux in a.d. 1806, until the outbreak
of the great plague in 1568, which wrought such disaster in Wensleydale,
the markets continued to be held at East Witton. That unhappy event,

822

however, seems to have put a stop to these promiscnoas gatherings here,
and there are no records of markets having been held here since. But
the old village feast was kept np with much zest until within the last
forty years, it being made the occasion of a general holiday. Races
took place, and there were games and amusements of all kinds, (the
present May-pole was erected in 1887), but it not infrequently happened
that some poor hilarious wight found his way into the village stocks
for a short respite to reflect upon his excesses and consider his better
behaviour in the future.

Old customs die hard, and consequently in a district like this, once
in the midst of monasteries, and almost wholly monastic propei-ty, many
of the old Catholic festivals were unfailingly observed down to within
quite recent times. An old well or bath, called St. Simon's Well, which
is still in existence beside the sparkling Cover, in the township of East
Scrafton, is said to have been the site of an oratory dedicated to
St. Simon, whose anniversary was observed as a holiday by the dales-
people from very early times. I have referred to the feasting and riots
which took place at Horse House in Coverdale on St. Simon's day, and
the Rev. James Law, who was curate of Coverham in the early part of
this century, tells us in some verses descriptive of the locality, that
although the ruins of St. Simon's cell are forgotten,

— Still one day in honour of the saint

In feasting yearly, through the dale Is spent.

Very near the summit of Witton Fell is a beautiful spring and grotto
called Cast-away Well, which is much resorted to in the summer months.
On a hot day it affords a delightful retreat from the scorching rays of
the sun, while the visitor will be amply rewarded for the fatigue of
climbing to it by the grand and uninterrupted view that reaches over
the spreading vale below away eastward to the Cleveland Hills. The
name of the well betrays a suggestion of its having been the scene of
votive offerings, when some small article of value such as a pin was cast
into the water, as an offering to the spirit of the well, and in token of
luck. Such holy-wells were sometimes known as Pin Wells. Another
oopious and pellucid spring on this Fell has been known from time
immemorial as Diana's Well, and it supplies water to the rock-fountain
in the village below. The spring is of exceptional purity, and the
following old rhyme about it has almost passed into a local proverb :

Whoever eats Hammer nuts, and drinks Diana's water,
Will never leave Witton town while he*s a rag or tatter.

Some of the excellent nuts out of Hammer Woods and a cup of Diana's
water would, doubtless, provide a feast fit for the gods ; at anyrate,

323

whatever may have indaced the liking, the Witton people are said to be
particularly attached to their native place. There is much in favour of
Mr. Barker's supposition that the spring was dedicated by the Romans
to their goddess of the chase. The name of the well is unquestionably
of high antiquity, and as we know the Romans were stationed at
Middleham, it is not unlikely that they hunted and stalked the wild boar
and deer on Witton Fell, and had a temple dedicated to their tutelary
deity of the chase close beside the beautiful spring. In Camden's time
an old ruin at Levens, beside the river Kent, was traditionally believed
to have been a temple of Diana, and it lay but a short distance from the
Roman road passing between Lancaster and Bowness. The old diarist,
Abraham de la Pryme, also tells us of a famous spring at Kerton-in-
Liudsay in his time (1671-1704) called Diana's Head, but now not
known by that name.

The fountain in the .village of Witton which is supplied from this
fine spring is curiously formed out of a large glacial boulder, measuring
about fourteen feet round and five to six feet high, and weighing upwards
of three tons. It was transferred hither, I am told, in 1859 from a field
a quarter-mile to the north of the village, and sixteen horses were
employed in its removal. On the south side of the village are several
mounds of post-glacial origin, similar to others in the Yorkshire dales
which occur down to a certain point.

East Witton has been wonderfully altered, almost within present
recollection. At the beginning of this century there were many very
old houses, and most of them had roofs of thatch. Thomas, Earl of
Ailesbury, the then owner of the estate, had the whole place remodelled,
and all the houses built anew. About the same time he erected the
present handsome church in commemoration of His Majesty King
George III. entering upon the fiftieth year of his reign (1809), when
there was a public celebration throughout the country. There were then
two or three inns in the village ; the present picturesque-looking
temperance hotel being a full-licensed house called the Fox and Hounds.
Several public coaches passed through the village, including the London
and Eirkby Stephen coaches which travelled by way of Nosterfield and
Cover Bridge through Wensleydale and Mallerstang. One of the branch
London and Richmond coaches, as I have said, came up Wharf edale and
through Coverdale, but did not touch East Witton, passing through
Middleham and over Bellerby Moor.

The site of the old church of St. Martin, anciently belonging to
Jervaux Abbey, is near the hamlet of Lowthorpe, and the old vicarage
house is passed on the way from Witton. Of the origin of the church
there are no records ; neither in the grants of Stephen, Earl of Richmond
(ob. 1131), or of Earl Conan (ob. 1171), is any mention made of the

824

church, Dor does it appear how it came into possession of the monks of
Jervaux. But portions of the ancient stonework prove it to be a
Norman foundation. By inquisition taken at Richmond 6th Henry YI.,
the Abbot and Convent of Jervaux were declared seized of six carucates
of land with the appurtenances in East Witton, held of the king in capiie
as of the honour of Richmond, in pure and perpetual alms, and worth
yearly £20. At the Dissolution the village was returned as yielding a
yearly revenue of £32 10s., and in addition there was a water corn-mill
within the township worth 20s., and a fulling-mill worth 10s. annually.
The tithes, oblations, and Easter offerings in the rectory were valued at
£11 15s. 6d., but from this amount the abbot had to pay £5 to the
rector of East Witton, and £1 18s. 4d. to the lord of Bedale for the
rents due from East Witton for maintaining three chaplains and two
clerks in the chapel at Bedale, founded by Brian, Lord Fitz Alan.

The old church was taken down when the present edifice was erected
in 1809, on a site some 800 yards distant from the old one.* The burial-
yard, however, continued to be used long after the destruction of the
church, and I have heard a tradition that in the old Catholic days it
was the custom on the occasion of a funeral to carry the cofSn once
round the church-yard, sprinkling it with holy-water from an ancient
stone bowl that is remembered to have stood on the east side of the
sacred enclosure. Several stone coffins have been found here. Mr. Barker,
referring to a curiously-shaped tombstone in the church-yard, says it is
traditionally reported to cover the body of a child with two heads, and
in this township within the last thirty years (that is about 1825) a child
was bom having the perfect head of a hare.

The present church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, contains
some magnificent examples in stained glass. The spacious east window,
which fills almost the entire width of the chancel, and is proportionately
high, consists of five lights depicting Our Lord's Ascension (in the
centre light) and the four Evangelists. It was the gift of the Marchioness
of'Ailesbury in 1859. The next window is a memorial to John Raymond
Garrett, Lieutenant 60th King's Royal Rifles, who was bom at East
Witton vicarage in 1858, and met his death at the battle of Ingogo,
South Africa, February 8rd, 1881. There is a very beautiful brass under
this window. A memorial window in the baptistery was presented by
the Rev. William Perkins Garrett, a former curate of the parish, and
others in the south wall were the gift of Lady Ailesbury, and Lord and
Lady Byng in 1873. The font is modern. Whitaker gives a list of the

* The material was used in part construction of the new church and in some
of the houses in the village. One stout oak beam from the old church formr the
roof-beam in the parlour of the house now occupied by Miss Williamson.

825

vicars down to the present century. The piisent vicar is the Rev. David
Wilkie, who is a nephew of the late eminent painter, Sir David
TVilkie, R.A.

Mr. William Oideon Michael Jones Barker, locally known as Gideon
Barker, author of the Three Days of WmsleydaU, was born at East
Witton in 1817, and died on Easter Tuesday, April 10th, 1855 (his
death having occurred four days after the birth of the author of this
present work). He was the only son of Mr. Thomas Barker, an East
Witton farmer, who also combined the trades of a joiner and builder,
and during the last years of his life had retired from business. His
mother, Mrs. Sarah Barker, was a Miss Offer, of Endford, Wiltshire, who
was some years in the service of the Rev. Wm. Jones, vicar of East Witton,
for whom he had a more than ordinary respect. Mr. and Mrs. Jones
adopted our author when an infant, and he was brought up and educated
at the vicarage, and they also left him a small fortune. Singularly
enough, whilst under the roof of this Protestant vicar, Mr. Barker imbibed
in 1848 the principles of the Roman Catholic religion, and remained ever
afterwards strongly attached to this faith. His book above mentioned,
published in 1854, and now difficult to obtain, is unquestionably the
best contribution to Wensleydale history that has yet appeared, in spite
of the marked religious bias that permeates the whole work. Mr. Barker
had two sisters, one of whom was married to the late Mr. Wm. Marsh,
of Middleham.

Before we turn eastward to survey the pride and loveliness of Jervaux
let us saunter down by the pleasant Cover side to the old bridge, which
spans it on the highway to Middleham and the north. Some little
distance below the bridge is the '' meeting of the waters," a quiet rustic
spot beloved of anglers, for is there not here some of the very best
fishing in the whole of this great county of ours, famous for its trout
streams ? It was not unknown to that prince of the pen as well as of
the rod and line, Canon Eingsley, who has taken many a finny beauty
from its rocky deeps and shallows ; while another eminent scholar, Mark
Pattison, on similar pleasure bent, rarely missed a summer visit to this
favoured spot. Trout are plentiful, and fish of larger growth occasionally
come up, and evidently thrive in such a paradise. A year or two ago
Mr. Flintoff, of Spennithome, caught here a large pike, which was sent
up to London for preservation. It measured just a yard in length, was
17^ inches in girth, and scaled 14} pounds.

That the Cover fishing has an old and valued renown is apparent
from an indictment* made by the Abbot of Coverham so far back as the
year 1888, when one John Colyn and William Colyn were charged with

* Vide De Banco, 11th Richard II., m. S65 d.

326

unlawfully fishing in the Abbot's domain at Caldbridge in Coverdale,
and taking fish therefrom of the value of 100s., an extraordinary sum,
equal to at least £70 of present money. The monks of Goverham had,
doubtless, some well-stocked preserves there, for fish formed a very
important dietary by the austere rules of the Premonstratensian Order
established at Coverham.

Close to the old bridge already named is the well-known Caver Bridge
inn, where, perchance, you may while away a pleasant hour in turning
over the pages of the visitors* book, and if you cannot altogether agree
with the writer who says

There ib not in the wide world a valley bo sweet,
As that vale in whose bosom the wild waters me<it,
Where the swift sparkling Cover in its flight from the moor.
Finds its rest like a child on the calm breast of Tore,

yet the truth of the last couplet you will admit, for the rapid, child-like
hilarity of the little Cover is in striking contrast with the calm composure
of the broad and ample Yore. On the banks of the Cover is an opening
in the rock called the Otter's Cave, which can be penetrated for nearly a
hundred yards, and a few years ago was rich in stalactites.

'k:ifi

'^■•:P--

lOX AND
4DATI0NS.

827

CHAPTER XXIX.

Jbrvaux Abbey.

beautiful scene — History of the abbey — Depredations by wolves — A perfect
ground-plan of a Cistercian monastery — Description of the abbey — An ancient
eflSgy — Family of ITiti Hugh — ^Arms of the abbey — The story of the last
abbot — Reflections on the Dissolution — Subsequent history — Local wild-
flowera—Some survivals of the monks* herb and flower gardens.

||0W we will sauntyer down beside the stately Yore to the old
ruins of Jervaux* — a lovely walk — to linger awhile in that
beautiful historic domain, a spot honoured and beloved by
mighty barons of old, and by that holy brotherhood of
Christian men, whose bones have long since mingled with its sacred dust.
The tombstones of founders and abbots may still be seen within the abbey
enclosure, but where once was the paved aisle and covered wall is now
green grass and waving foliage. The buildings have suffered much from
the rapacity of those seeking a convenient quarry for various uses, in the
after-days of the dissolved monastery, so that what remains is but a
mere shell or bare outline of this once magnificent pile. Numbers of
stones, including many beautifully-carved specimens, may be found in
walls and buildings for several miles around.

The Abbey, as I have elsewhere related, was originally founded at
Fors, higher up the valley, and was translated hither in 1156,t but
Selden, in his introduction to Twysden's Decern Scriptores^ fixes the date
of removal at about 1 160. Abbot Thorold, it is noteworthy, witnessed the
charter of the Abbot of Savigny granting the jurisdiction over Jervaux

* This name has been spelt in at least twenty different ways. The original
Latin name of the monastery was Jorevallis or Yorevall, from its situation in the
▼ale of Yore, and it was Frenchified by the Normans into Jorevauz, Jorvaulx,
Jorevase, Gervase, &c., just as they did Rievaux Abbey, which was in Latin
Bievall, because it lay in the valley of the Rie or Rye. Sir Walter Scott writes
Jorvaulx in Ivanhoe^ and the first syllable certainly comes nearer to the original
Yore than does Jervaux, but the insertion of an * 1,* as frequently appears, is quite
unnecessary, although in Norman-French deeds the word for valley is commonly
written vaidw. In English it is purely and simply Yore- vale Abbey.

t Mon. Ang,, volume i., page 875.

828

to Byland, along with Archbishop Mardac, who died in 1158, bat he had
ceased to be the Abbot of Fountains before 1159. The situation of Fors
was at that time too densely wooded and confined for the position of a
flourishing monastery, and was not to be compared with the more open
and luxuriant lower parts of the valley. The monks had not the natural
advantages, nor the best conveniences for the pasturing and bousing of
their cattle and goods ; moreover they were much troubled with wolves,
which were very numerous in the adjoining forests, and were constantly
found lurking about their houses and folds.* A happier site for the
new monastery could not have been chosen, as may at once be perceived
from any good standpoint, particularly from the hill within the private
grounds behind the Hall at Jervaux, the beautiful seat of Hector
Christie, Esq. Here are comprehended at a glance the whole entourage
and compatibility of situation and aspect, where the fine old abbey was
raised. The buildings must have taken quite fifty years to complete, as
we find traces of architectural design reflecting the changes of the
period, from Transitional Norman to Early English. No similar ruin in
the kingdom affords a clearer idea of the plan of a Cistercian monastery
than does Jervaux Abbey, as the whole of the foundations had been
happily preserved beneath accumulations of rubbish and vegetable
growth until the year 1805, when the first Marquis of Ailesbury had the
site cleared. The whole ground-plan was then brought to light, along
with much that was interesting, historically and architecturally, including
many tomb-slabs, effigies, altar-stones, columns, &c., and in the church a
very perfect tesselated pavement of great beauty was also found.! On
the occasion of the visit of the Yorkshire Archaaological Society four
yeara ago, a provisional ground-plan of the abbey was prepared by
Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, and is here reproduced.

The church, including the choir, is 270 feet long, and one of the
many altars it contained is still in situ at the east end of the north
transept. The upper slab bears the five crosses, symbolical of our Lord's
wounds, and it has also a recess for relics. The south doorway is of
beautiful late Norman design, and in good preservation {see illustration).
There are numerous grave-slabs, in the church and chapter-house, ranging
in point of date from the 12th to the 14th centuries, and inscribed to
various abbots and other dignitaries. Most of these have been figured
and described by Dr. Whitaker. There is also a much-mutilated effigy

* In one of the founders' charters, temp 12th century, we gather that deer
were being constantly attacked and killed by these ferocious brutes, and that the
monks had the privilege of taking all deer thus destroyed or half-devoured by
wolves.

t Some of the patterns have been engraved by Mr. Shaw in his work on
Encaustic Tilet,

829

of a knight in link-mail, which from the armorial bearings on the shield,
has hitherto been regarded as a memorial to Henry, 4th Lord Fitz Hugh,
who died in 1424. But from the character of the sculpture this is
impossible ; the monument is more than 100 years older than this date,
and in all probability represents one of the Fitz Ranulphs, ancestors
of the Fitz Hughs, who was buried at Jervaux in the time of Henry III.
This effigy and the one before mentioned at Coverham, are I ^ould
judge, the oldest monuments of the kind remaining in Yorkshire. The
interlaced chevronels and chief, carved upon the shield, may still be
indistinctly traced. Dr. Whitaker remarks that there was another

South Doorway, Jervaux Abbby.

monumental fragment here, bearing the same arms impaling Marmion.
This was most probably a memorial to the above Henry, Lord Fitz Hugh,
who married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir Robert de Orey, Et.,
who adopted the name and arms of Marmion, and was brother and heir
of John Marmion, who died in Spain a.d. 1885, leaving no issue.* This
Lord Fitz Hugh was a celebrated diplomatist and warrior. He was at
the siege of Harfleur in 1416, and was sent by the Duke of Clarence to
treat with those within the town ; and being then Lord Chamberlain of

* See page 158 ; also Courthope*8 NicoliWt Hist. Peerage^ art. Marmion,

880

the king's household, was sent to the great Coancil of Constance in
Germany, then held, for which important service, upon the attainder of
Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, he obtained a grant of all the lands of
the same Lord Scrope lying in Richmondshire, to hold daring the time
they should be in the king's hands. Upon the surrender of that grant,
the same year, he obtained another of the manors of Masham, Clifton,
Watlass, Thirn, Nosterfield, Burton Constable, Norton, Oarston, Bellerby,
Coverham, Ainderby Steeple, Bamingham, and Newsham, all which
belonged to the said Lord Scrope, and devolved to the Crown by reason
of that forfeiture, to hold for t^e term of his life. He was one of the
heroes of Agincourt, and in 1418 was present at the siege of Rouen.
He travelled twice to Jerusalem, and also to Orand Cairo, where the
Souldan then resided, and on his return fought with the Saracens and
Turks, and by the help of the Enights of Rhodes he built a castle there,
then called St. Peter's Castle. He died at Ravensworth and his body
was brought to Jervaux and there interred within the abbey choir with
all the solemn pomp and glamour of monastic ritual due to a great
chief. By his will he directed 1000 masses to be said for his soul, and
he also had the king's license to give one messuage, four acres of arable
land and five acres of meadow in West Tanfield, for the celebration of
divine service for the health of his own soul, and the souls of his father
and mother, and all his ancestors.

The chapter-house of the abbey has been a noble apartment. It is
of Early English date, divided into three aisles by arcades of three bays
on either side, and three of the columns, apparently of Nidderdale
marble, remain entire (see plan). North of the chapter-house, and
adjoining the vestry, was a small apartment (r) in which the books were
kept, and over it was the safe-room for storing the church-plate and
other valuables belonging to the monastery. From the cloister-court a
long passage led to the infirmary buildings (bb, &c.) or "farmery *' as it
is called in ancient deeds. These in Cistercian monasteries are always
in the same position, on the east side of the conventual buildings.* On
the south side of the undercroft adjoining the Infirmary hall is the
kitchen, in the form of a spacious quadrangle, and on the south again is
the chapel (bb) containing a nearly perfect altar. The great kitchen (k)
with its three immense fire-places, and immovable stone fenders, still
remains tolerably perfect, an object of interest and wonderment to the
inquisitive visitor. Here the cooking for the whole establishment was
done, and testifying to the huge fires that have roasted many a great
beeve and haunch of venison, are the still reddened funnels of the ancient

* An interoBting comparison may be made between these and the infirmarj
buildings at Fountuns and Kirkstall. See the Builder for January 1895, and
January 1896, for plans, kc.

881

chimney-places. The wide range of each fire would have afforded space
for at least a dozen joints in a line ; besides which, as Whitaker observes^
there is reason to believe that several spits were placed perpendicularly
over each other. The office of cook was one of no small importance in
any religious house, for the monks lived on the best that their rich
pastures and gardens could produce, and they were also the constant
recipients of goods, spices, wines, and other dainties from abroad.

The arms of the abbey are stated to be those of the founder, viz.,.
guleSy three escallop shells argent (the same as Egleston Abbey) ; but in
a collection of heraldic MSS. preserved in the library of Davington
Priory, Kent, they are given as : Quarterly (1) Or, three water bougets,.
sable (De Ros). (2) Argent^ two bars azure^ with a bordure engrailed,
$ahle (Parr). (8) Azure^ three chevronels interlaced, and a chief, all or
(Fitz Hugh). (4) Vairey a fess, gules (Marmion). These arms are also
given by Torre, and still remain cut in stone about the abbey walls.

With what dismay the news reached the hapless monks of the
contemplated loss of their old and thrice-loved homes, which were not
only to be taken from them, but the sacred piles also torn to the ground, i»
a story that has been often told. Though not unexpected, the suddenness
of the fall, when it did come, led to open rebellion, for it was certainly a
revolution in the lives and habits of the people such as England had never
before experienced. After the rising of Robert Aske had broken out in
Lincolnshire in the Autumn of 1586, several other risings took place
about the same time in Yorkshire, and among others a motley force of
some two or three hundred strong gathered in the moorland country ta
the west of Masham. Poor Adam Sedbergh, the last ruler of Jervaux,
foresaw the consequences of this ill-starred revolt, and leaving the
precincts of the abbey fled to the crags on Witton Fell, and there passed
some uneasy days. The insurgents, however, found him out, and he was
forced unwillingly to join them. He was subsequently made a prisoner
of the Crown, and lodged in the Tower. While he lay there feeling, as
a man may feel, the pangs of remorse and despair, he gave the following
bitter account of this unhappy affair :

It was on a Wednesday about Michaelmas day then last passed [the 29th
of September, 1636] there came to the garth or court of the abbey of Jervaux—
about five miles from Middleham — two or three hundred of the inhabitants of
Mashamshire and Kirkbyshire, and among them the captains Middleton and
Staveley. When he heard that they were there, he conveyed himself by a back
door to Witton Fell — a lonely eminence above a mile from the abbey — having
with him another person or more (for the MS. here is defaced) and a boy called
Martin Gibson ; bidding his other servants get them every man to his house and
save their goods and cattle. He remained upon this fell — which commands^
immense prospects in all directions, and beacons that in a moment could have lit
signals across the kingdom — for the space of four days, returning to the convent

«very night. Daring this time the commons wandered about the sarrounding
country and went to Coverham abbey ; then to Wensleydale, and thence to
Bichmond. At length, having heard that he, the abbot, had said thai '* no servant
of his should ever after do him service, nor tenant dwell of no land of his that
ehould go with them," they therefore turned back to Jervauz, and enquired for
him. They were answered that he was absent. Then said they, '* We charge yoa
the brethren to choose you a new abbot" Upon this, the brethren rang the
Chapter bell and went towards making a new election, though certain among them
aaid they would in no wise aid to make a new abbot. Half an hoar's respite was
then given to the monks for compliance, with the threat that if they continued to
refuse they would burn the house over their heads. The brethren sent several
ways to seek the abbot ; and at the last one William Nelson came to the place —
fltiil to be identified — where he was upon Witton Fell " in a great cragge," and
shewed him that the commons would bum the house unless he returned home.
Through fear of this being done he went back. When he came to the outer gate,
he was torn among the people and almost killed, they crying, ** Down with that
traitor." At last, by means of some of his friends, he was carried in from them-
When he arrived at the hall entry, Leonard Burgh, one of the ringleaders, drew
his dagger and would have killed him, but for them that stood by. Then he came
further, where one William Asleby, chief captain of these parts, was, who said to
him, " Howson traitor where hast thou been 7" and cried, ** Geate a block to stricke
of his headde upon." There, the abbot was commanded to take the oath, which
he did ; the said Burgh ministering it to him. Upon this, they took him with
them, allowing him no respite, but compelled him to mount the horse on which he
had come to them. On their journey they met the Lord Latimer and Mr. Bowes,
of whom the abbot asked leave to return home, but his neighbours would not
assent. Thence they went to Spennymore, where they divided company, and he,
by the entreaty of Mr. Cowes, obtained permission to return to Jorevaux, where
they appointed Dr. Dakyns, Mr. Sickesworthe, Matthew Witham, and William
Oatterick to receive such letters as should be from the commons that way.

Shall we then condemn the misgnided chief of this noble boose,
whose safest anchorage was Ood, not man ? It was the greatness and
splendonr of his position alone that led to his dishonour and death.
Rank and riches are chains of gold it is trae, but yet they are chains,
and it was fetters of this calibre that bound the unfortunate Abbot to
participate in the disastrous rebellion recorded above, and the same
fateful chains also drew him to the gallows at Tyburn I*

The splendid pile of buildings at Jervauz was not destroyed until
the Spring of 1589, for in November, 1588, we find the superintendent
of the work of demolition, one Richard Bellyseys, writing to his
employers that owing to the shortness of the days and *' the ways in that
counti*e are so foul and deep that no caryage can pass in wyntre,** it
would have involved double charges to have done it then. The same
writer also tells us that he had taken down all the lead of Jervauz,
amounting to 865 fodders, besides 84 fodders he found in store, at the

* In the cell where he lay within the Tower his name appears inscribed in
contemporary characters, with the date 1687.

883

date of his letter, and that this had all been made into pieces of half-
fodders, for its better removal. What an enormous quantity of this one
valuable material from a single establishment is here represented ! Yet
this was but a fraction of all the lead so appropriated, which one might
suppose would be sufficient to supply the needs of the whole country for
a generation to come. For by the mandate which went forth from the
stubborn king there were no fewer than 645 monasteries and 90 colleges
suppressed, besides 2874 churches and free-chapels disendowed and
disestablished, and more than 100 hospitals and alms-houses providing
food and lodging for the poor were closed.* This sudden and peremptory
shutting-up of the wealthiest and for a long time the most useful
institutions in the land, upon which a large proportion of the people had
been dependent, filled the roads, as I have said, with rogues and thieves,
and the slums and homes of the rural poor with the aged dying. Parish
registers were not inaugurated until some years after the Reformation,
or doubtless one aspect of those fearful times might have been gathered
therefrom. There can, however, be no doubt that the feeling against
monasteries was not one of sudden growth ; the bulk of the people, at
any rate among the ruling classes, had long been getting tired of the
exclusive austerity and domineering power of the abbeys, which, whatever
good they were doing, were admittedly the foster-parents of much
poverty and indolence. As education advanced, too, and the light of the
gospel became more clear, the people became more self-reliant in mattei-s
of religion and conscience, and the forms that had served the spiritual
needs of preceding ages were regarded now as useless, and the monasteries
at last fell into disrepute, and even into contempt. Thousands, however,
clung to the old forms, preferring to die rather than forsake the ancient
foundations of their fathers, however unfashionable these might have
become, and in remote Swaledale, as elsewhere explained, much more
than in the Yore valley, do we find such friends to the old faith abounding
long after the Reformation.

The site of the abbey, together with the manor of East Witton, was
granted by the king to Matthew, Earl of Lennox, father of the celebrated
Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, whose imprisonment
in Wensleydale is one of the most memorable events in her annals.
After various transmissions the Abbey estates descended to Ernest
Augustus Charles, third Marquis of Ailesbuiy, whose trustees in
February, 1887, sold them to Samuel Ounliffe Lister, Esq., now Baron
Masham, of Swinton Park, Masham.

This very beautiful and fertile property, famous, as we have seen,
in history and romance, comprises about 10,000 acres, for which it is

* The doles of money and goods at Jenrauz alone amounted to £24, or about
£240 of present money, per annum.

884

fiaid the sum of £810,000 was paid, exclasive of the timber. Fonr jearB
before, Mr. Lister had purchased the adjoining Swinton Park estate,
embracing an area of 22,678 acres, for the sum of £457,000. More
than three-quarters of a million of money has thus been expended on
this magnificent property, which consists of almost every kind of land
from the rich river-side meadows and luxuriant woodlands to the
spreading purple grouse-moors on the west. The two estates join for
about six miles, and taking them together there is perhaps no better
farmed and better managed agricultural land in England. The district,
as I have before observed, has an old reputation for its horses, and this
is still to some extent maintained. The country all round Jervaux is
most beautiful and of park- like aspect, fertile, and abounding in luxuriant
timber. The lover of wild flowers, too, will find much to interest him
in this attractive neighbourhood, and in the immediate vicinity of the
old abbey a great number of interesting species may be found. Many
of these, no doubt, are the survivora in a wild or semi-wild state of the
plants and medicinal herbs grown by the monks in centuries long past.
To the courtesy of Mrs. J. E. Little, sister of the present steward, John
Maughan, Esq., of Jervaux, I am enabled to present the following list
of about 80 species growing in and around the abbey ruins :

ClenuUis vitalba. Anemone nemorota, Ranunculut fcaria^ RanuncuLv^ bulharut,
R. arventU Eranthis hiemalU^ Hellehorut viridis^ AquUegia vvlgaru^ Fumaria
cffioinalit, Cheiranthut clufiH^ ArahU hinuta^ Viola odorata^ Viola eanina,
Cardamine pratenHt^ Malva motehata (white and pink), Maha iylvestris.
Geranium Rohertianum, Geranium prateme^ Geranium lucidum^ Hypericum
perforatum^ Owalit acetoiellay Lotus cornundatus^ Anthyllis vulneraria^ Lathyrue
pratentis, Geum urbanufn, Geum rivale, Potentilla Fragariattrumy Frag aria v«yra,
PotentiUa reptang^ Alchemilla vulgarity Rota eanina^ Sedum acre, Rihes
{froitularia^ Saxifraga tridactylitet^ Chrytotplenium oppoiitifolium^ Pimpinella
Saxi/raga, Bunium Jlexuotum^ Hedera Helix^ Adoxa Moiehatellina, Lonicera
Periclymenumy Chrytanthemum Parthenium, Chrytanthemum Leuoanthemuw^,
Achillea millefolium^ Galium verum^ Seneoio vulgarity Doronieum pardalianckee^
Leontodon hispidus^ Lactuca muralit^ Lactuca virota, Taraxacum dem-leonie,
Hieracium Pilosella^ Campanula latifolia^ Campanula rotundifolia^ Primula verity
Primula vulgarity Vinea minor, JSekium vulgare^ Myototie tylvatiea^ Myotvtie
collina. Antirrhinum me^ui^ Linaria Cymbalaria, Veronica liederafolia^ Veronica
eluimcedryt, Thymui Serpyllum. Origanum vulgare, Prunella vulgarity Nepeta
gleohomay Plantago lanceolata^ Polygonum Bittorta^ Mereurialit perennit, Parie-
taria officinalU^ Arum maculatum^ Gal ant hue nivalis ^ Ornithogalum umbellatum.
Orchis maculata, Scilla nutans, Trollius EuropceuSf Actcea spieata, Viola tricolor^
Primula farinosa^ Co?ivallaria majalis^ Paris quadrifolia, Colehieum autumnaU,
Listera eordata, Armeria vulgaris^ Pinguicula vulgaris.

Of these such plants as hellebore, leopard*s bane, and mallow were no
doubt cultivated by the monks, and many others of medicinal value were
set in the fields and hedges, and left to spread in a wild state. Such
were the yarrow, cuckoo-pint, &c.

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885

CHAPTER XXX.

On the Righmondshire Borderland.

Boundaries of Richmondshire — West Tanfield Bridge — Kilgram Bridge — Its
Satanic origin — History of the bridge — Payments for watching the bridge
during the cattle-plague — Thornton-Steward — The ancient church of St.
Oswald — Manor House — Fanaily of Allen — Sir Edward BanlLs — Newton-le-
willows — Aysgarth School — Fingal in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles — Constable
Burton — The Wyvill family — The fonndr and present mansions — ^Incident
during the Civil Wars — Interesting trophies

T Kilgram Bridge, a little below Jervaux Abbey, let ub
cross to the north side of the river. This point is
usually accounted the beginning of Wensleydale,
although to pursue our journey to the boundary of
the wapentake of Halikeld, and of the ancient
Liberty of Richmondshire,* as well as to limits of
the North Riding, we must go to West Tanfield Bridge, some eight or
nine miles lower down the river. The bridge at Tanfield was rebuilt by
order of the North and West Riding Justices, dated in April 1784, and
the contractors were Robert Dee of Ripon, mason, John Midleton of
Bishopton, and Francis Earle of Boroughbridge, mill-wright. The
building of the bridge extended over the best part of two summers, and
when nearly completed a sudden and violent flood came down the river
and swept away a great part of the material so that the contractors were
obliged to petition the authorities for relief. It was then ordered, at the
Sessions held at Thirsk, October 14th, 1787, that £86 be estreated on
the North Riding and paid to the said petitioners ; a like sum being
allowed by the West Riding Justices. The structure was then, no doubt,
duly and safely completed.

* As now constituted, the Archdeaconry of Richmond embraces all that part
of Yorkshire lying westward of the eastern boundaries of the parishes of Great
Smeaton, East Cowton, Danby Wiske, Ainderby Steeple, Eirkby Wiske, Pickhill,
Wath juxta Ripon, Button Conyers, Ripon, Cundall, Kirkby on the Moor,
Aldborough, Great Ouseburn, and Little Ouseburn, except part of the parish of
Sockburn. The total area of the Archdeaconry of Richmond is 785,960 acres ;
that of Craven, which adjoins it, being estimated at 598,512 acres. These combined
form the Diocese of Ripon.

336

The river scenery about Eilgram Bridge is exceedingly pictoresqae,
and one is tempted to linger about its cool and inviting shades, and enjoy
the murmur of the trout-dappled waters in the hot summer days. The
accompanying view of the bridge is engraved from a photograph supplied
through the courtesy of Hector Christie, Esq., of Jervaux. The structure
is of unknown antiquity, and is said to owe its origin, like the Devil's
Bridge at Eirkby Lonsdale, to Satanic agency. But at Eilgram the
bridge is one stone short, as any one may see by looking at it, and no
one ever seems to have been disposed to complete the work begun by the
crafty builder. Perhaps his sable majesty thought that by this single
fault there was a possibility of his making booty by the evil oaths of
those who might be crossing when the structure collapsed. The bridge,
however, is kept in excellent repair, and there has never been any fear of
a breakdown saving during the violence of exceptional floods. In the
time of Queen Elizabeth it was agreed to spend £30 on its repair, bat
as appears by the Quarter Sessions Records for 1585, the sum of 100
marks was eventually expended upon it, of which amount Richmondshire
contributed £22 4s. 6d. In 1611 it was again needing repair, and the
Justices ordered that ** if the inhabitants nigh to the same will disborse
so much as will sufficiently repair the same, the Justices shall, upon
receiving a just accompt of such disbursements, take order that a rate
shall be made to levie such somme of money of the County with the
convenient spede that may be, as shall be reasonably disbursed about the
same."* The bridge is usually believed to lie on the route of a Roman
diverticulum^ or by-road leading through Newton-le-Willows and Hornby,
then crossing the Roman road from Aldborough to Bainbridge, and
connecting the camp near Nutwith Common with that at Catterick.

Eilgram Bridge is also particularly interesting as one of the avenaes
of traffic that was watched day and night during the terrible and perhapB
unprecedented prevalence of cattle-plague, which raged more or less
virulently for fully six years in the middle of last century. History
records no more fearful and anxious time to North Riding farmers, and,
indeed, to everyone who dealt in cattle. The outbreak, which spread
almost throughout the whole kingdom, resulted in immense losses to
Yorkshire, and although most of the owners of infected animals destroyed
were reimbursed by the county, many small farmers and country
butchers were completely ruined. The plague got so bad that in October,
1748, all the fairs, markets, and other public places of resort for the
buying and selling of horned cattle in the North Riding were suspended,
and no one was permitted to expose any cattle for sale in any fair or
market-place^ &c., until the next Sessions. On December 5th, 1748, the

• North Riding Records^ i., 284.

887

Justices took further steps to prevent the spread of the malady by
commanding warning-boards to be immediately erected on the highways
in the infected districts, as appears by the following writ :

Ordered that the Chief Constables do immediately measure a mile upon every
road leading from each infected place in their respective divisions, beginning to
measare at the outside of each of the towns infected, and that they set up a post,
four inches square and seven feet above the ground, at the end of each of those
measures, nailing to each a board with the names of each of the towns infected,
and renew the same as often as it shall be obliterated or effaced by the weather or
any other accident, &c.

At Bedale on December 9th, 1748, it was further ordered that in
consequence of some farmers and others having lately exposed cattle for
sale in certain villages and fields adjacent to a market-town on the day
of the fair, —

That no cattle shall be exposed to sale in any adjacent villages, &c., of any
market town in the North Riding, and that all farmers and others offending
contrary to this Order be carried &c., and that this Order be publickly proclaimed
at Richmond to-morrow, at Midleham on Monday, and Bedale on Tuesday next ;
Ordered that the Parish OflBcers and constables, or some, or one of them, that shall
be nearest to the bridges upon the rivers Tore and Swale be Inspectors to hinder
horned cattle from coming over the said bridges without legal certificates (except
such town and places as have been provided for by a former Sessions), and that
such persons as shall presume to drive cattle shall be &c., and that the said parish
0£Qcers and Constables shall be allowed for watching the said bridges and confines
in manner following — lOd, a day for one man watching in the day time, li. 8^. for
two men watching in the night time, which payment is to commence as soon as
the said Officers shall attend the said bridges and confines, and this Order to
continue in force until otherwise Ordered ; Ordered that all butchers and others
shall have certificates for the sale of their hides or skins before such hide, kc,,
shall be removed from the place of slaughter, and also that no person do presume
to bring any carcase, or part of a carcase, of any horned cattle to be sold at any
market unless such cattle has been legally certified for before slaughter, and that
the Chief Constables be Inspectors and see this Order executed within their
several divisions.

For watching Edlgram Bridge from December 19th, 1748, to February 4th
following, the sum of £8 10s. was paid by order of the Justices sitting
at Northallerton, July 2l8t, 1749, and similar amounts were also
sanctioned for watching other Richmondshire bridges. The plague
appears to have broken out, or at least to have been first recognised by
the local authorities in the Spring of 1747, and it was not until July 12th,
1758, that the Justices assembled at Northallerton ordered that the
fairs, Ac. J within the North Riding be from henceforth opened, and so
continue until otherwise ordered. We hear nothing more of this terrible
malady after this time, which seems to have been one of the most
disastrous of the kind on record.

838

Passing over the famoos bridge we at onoe enter the parish of
Thornton-Steward, or locally Thomton-Ie-Steward, so called from the
fact that anciently it belonged to the stewards of the Earls of Richmond.
They had here two knights* fees, which in the reign of Edward I. were
held by Humphrey de Bassyngbarne in capite of the Earl of Bichmond.
The manor subsequently passed into the hands of the Scropes, and in
1892 Richard le Scrope, of Bolton, obtained the king's licence to give
to the Abbot of St. Agatha a rent-charge of £150 sterling out of the
manors of Brignall, Oaldwell, Thornton-Steward, &c., for the support of
ten additional canons and two secular chaplains, to pray for the good
estate of the founder and his heirs while living, and for their souls when
deceased, as well as those of their ancestors.

The village, which formerly boasted two inns, occupies an open and
healthful site on the brow of the hill overlooking the beautiful vale of
Jervaux, and the spectator turning towards the woods of Witton beholds
a delightful prospect. The little church of St. Oswald stands about a
half-mile west of the village, in the same peculiar isolation that is to be
observed in regard to many other ancient churches in Richmondshiie.
A former vicar advocated its demolition and re-erection on a more
convenient site, but the parishioners were so strongly opposed to any
such interference that the church still stands, — unrestored and enclosed
by its equally time-honoured *' Ood's acre,'*— one of the simplest and
most ancient edifices of its kind in Richmondshire. It is mentioned in
Domesday (1086) and doubtless occupies the site of one of the many
temples of Christianity founded under the ministrations of Paulinus in
this district in the 7th century. Afterwards the place, including Danby,
came under Danish rule, and at the Norman Conquest it was held by
Gospatric, ancestor of the founder of Jervaux Abbey.

The church has no aisles, consisting simply of a nave and chancel,
with gallery at the west end, and on the west gable is an open belfry
containing two bells. The Norman porch at the west end was removed
from the south side of the church about 1880. Adjoining it on the
outside is an interesting example of a stone coffin, with its lid sloped
and ridged. The interior arrangements of the church are of the
simplest character, and appeal to antiquarian taste by their ancient and
thoroughly rustic simplicity. A simple pointed arch separates the
chancel from the nave. The east window is of two plain lights set in
deep splays. All the windows are of plain glass. In the north wall of
the chancel is the usual low nichelntended originally for the performance
of the paschal tragedy, but at a later day it may have been the receptacle
of a burial. Herein are laid some fragments of ancient sepulchral
crosses, one of which bears the curious design of (apparently) a female
head in its uppermost limb, and on the other side the head of Oor

889

Saviour. It is obviously a Christian relic, and perhaps illustrative of
the text, John xix. 26, " Christ [on the cross] saw his mother [Mary]
and the disciple [John] whom he loved, standing by/' In the opposite
or south wall is a piscina in a square-shaped recess. On the chancel floor
are several memorials to members of the Shillito family, one of which
is a brass (dated 1748) inscribed with the following curious couplet,

Sic priuB Infantes Attingunt Atria Geeli
Ut prompt! Matrem ducere in Eljalum.

beneath which appears a winged hour-glass.

From the lawn of the Manor House there is a beautiful view. Here
are kept some old tomb-slabs, &c., from Jervaux Abbey ; one of these,
which formerly served the singular purpose of an embankment-stone
of the river, has inscribed upon it : Gbrnkgan P'sona db Tanifeld.
Although the present building possesses no great antiquity it, doubtless,
occupies the site of the manor house of ancient times. Some two
centuries ago it was in the occupation of a Roman Catholic family
named Allen, and in the register of Papists' estates for the year 1717,
one James Allen was in possession, and he furnishes the following
required statement of his belongings, including the manor house and its
appurtenances :

James Allen of Thornton Stewart, Gentleman ; in Thornton Stewart the capital
messuage or chief mansion house with a maultkiln, barnes, stables, outhouses,
calf -garths, orchards, gardens, courts, and yards, with one close called Browneclose,
about six acres ; a close called Low Pasture, about nine acres ; a parcell of ground
called the North Fields, thirty acres ; two closes called the Hull-closes, seventeen
acres ; a close called Moor-close, nine acres ; a close called Craythorn Ings, eleven
acres ; a close called Burny Spotts, three acres ; one rood of ground in Thornton
Ings with the appurtenances thereunto belonging, all in my own possession, of all
which I am seized in fee simple subject to the yearly outgoings following, vis. —
a modus of Ss. to the Rector or impropriator of Thornton Stewart ; a free rent of
8#. Sd. to the Duke of Bolton ; a free rent of 7t. to Dr. Mendors, or the purchasers
thereof ; and also subject to the other charges upon the same herein after
mentioned.

At Highgill in the parish of Aisgarth a messuage or tenement, farm with lands,
&c., let to John Hudson at £26, subject to a modus of St. ^d,per annum to the
Rector or impropriators, and 6s. Sd. to the Viccar of the parish of Aisgarth.

In Aisgarth a close let to John Spence at £3 17t. 6<2., subject to a free rent of
6t.per annum to the Duke of Bolton, of all which messuage, &c., in Aisgarth and
Highgill aforesaid I am seized as tenant for life, remainder to Mary my wife for
life, remainder to the heirs of our two bodies ; all which messuages, &c., are by
the last will and testament of Will. Allen, my late father, subject to the payment
of £300 and interest to Mary now wife of Anth. Metcalfe, and daughter of the said
Will. Allen, and also to an annuity of £5 per annum now payable to Will.
Freeman, gentleman. Witness my hand this 17th day of April, 1717.

By indenture dated April 29th, 1780, the said James Allen granted,
in consideration of £120 paid by Joseph Ryder, of East Witton, three

840

closes of pasture ground in Thornton Steward, called Bancks, Hall Close,
and Hull Pasture, together 44 acres, with all ways, waters, &c., for three
thousand years, with power of redemption by payment of £120 od
November 11th next.

The mention of Bancks or Banks in this agreement suggests the
question did the local family of Banks give to or take their name
from this place ? Here was born the eminent contractor Sir Edward
Banks, who starting life as a farmer^s lad eventually went to London,
and by dint of natural talent and hard work achieved considerable
distinction in building construction, and by his many services in the
erection of public works acquired great wealth. Ampng his numerous
undertakings may be mentioned the contracts for building the present
London, Southwark, and Waterloo Bridges. He died at Tilgate, in
Sussex, in 1885, aged 65. Although his practical abilities led him to
spend much time amid the dry and unenchanting materials of bricks and
mortar, yet he possessed a fine appreciation of the beauty of natural
objects, of woods and fields and flowers, engendered perhaps by the
recollection of early days spent in the neighbourhood of the beaatifnl
vale of Jervaux. It is said that when he was working as a day-labourer
on the Merstham tram-road he was greatly impressed with the simple
rustic charm of the neighbouring hamlet of Chipstead, and before his
death, some forty years later, he expressed a particular desire to be baried
in its quiet churchyard.

Leaving Thornton Steward we will take the road northwards to
Newton-le- Willows, crossing the railway near Jervaux station, which by
the way, is some five miles from the abbey, the latter being also a similar
distance from the terminal station at Masham. Making a short ascent
from Jervaux station, we observe an extensive and commanding range of
new buildings, specially erected by the Rev. Clement T. Hales, M.A., as
a college for the education of gentlemen's sons preparing for the public
schools. The situation being elevated and dry is certainly well chosen ;
the grounds around are also laid out with beautifully-kept gardens,
greenhouses, &c., which add not a little to their attractiveness. There is
a conspicuously-lofty tower at one end of the enclosure, ascended by
nearly one hundred steps, and from the top it is possible to view a very
large part of Bichmondshire, including several ancient castles, abbeys,
and upwards of a dozen parish churches, extending to Darlington, and
in favourable weather even to the estuary of the Tees. There is a
beautiful little chapel attached to the school, which contains an old
carved pulpit from Easby Abbey. The organ, which was built by
Messrs. Abbot & Smith, of Leeds, from a specification drawn up by the
late Mr. Walker Joy and the Hon. A. L. Orde-Powlett, is also noteworthy,
as very few parish churches possess such a fine instrument. The chapel

841

was formally opened by the Bishop of Bipon on Jane 9th, 1891. The
school, it should be added, is known as Aysgarth School, Newton-le-
Willows, as the proprietor before coming here was established at the
well-known School at Aysgarth, higher up the valley, and the old name
has been retained.

At Newton-le- Willows we may proceed to Bedale (4 miles), Patrick
Brompton (1^ miles), or Hornby (4 miles), as described in the first part
of this work. The ancient village of Finghall (in Domesday Finegala*)
is two miles west of Newton-le-Willows, and has a station next to it on
the Bedale and Leyburn branch of the I«Jorth-Eastem railway. Here is
the old church of the parish dedicated to St. Andrew, and valued in the
Liber Regis at £18 18s. 4d. The interior contains, among other features
of interest, memorials of the Wyvill family, who have long been patrons
of the living. The Fitz Hughs were anciently the manorial lords and
patrons. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles it was *' at Finghall,
in the land of the North-humbrians, that a church synod assembled in
the year 788."

Burton Constable, in this parish, the old home of the Wyvill family,
possesses a handsome manor-house, doubtless occupying the site of a
capital dwelling erected by the Constables of Richmond Castle soon
after the Conquest. It is encompassed with beautiful grounds, and by
one of the largest parks in Richmondshire. The former spacious
mansion, erected early in the 17th century from designs by Inigo Jones,
is said to have been demolished through the importunity of an architect
in the owner's absence and contrary to his instructions. An engraving
of it, reproduced from the scarce original by Eip, executed about a.d-
1700, forms one of the extra plates in the best edition of this work. At
the date named the mansion was in the occupation of Sir Marmaduke
Wyvill, Bart., who died in 1722, and was some time M.P. for Richmond.
In 1645, during the Civil War, the whole house was taken up with
troopers, both English and Scots, who had quartered themselves upon
Sir Marmaduke Wyvill. At that time, we are told, the worthy owner
was suffering from the infirmities of age '* and unable to travel."t

In the reign of Edward I. the Burton estate belonged to Sir Geoffrey
le Scrope, the famous Chief Justice, of Masham, who in the succeeding
reign obtained a grant to hold a market and annual fair here, along with
free warren of all his demesnes of this manor. The estates descended
to Ralph Fitz Randolph of Spennithome, by his marrriage to Elizabeth,
one of the three daughters and co-heiresses of Thomas, Lord Scrope of

* William Black, in his novel, WhUe Wingt^ derives Fingal from the Gaelic
Fionn gall, meaning fair stranger. See page 192.

t See Royalist Composition Papers, Yorlts, Areh, Joum. (^Ree. Ser.), vol. zviii.,
page 165, &c.

842

Masham. As the family of Fitz Randolph expired in heiresses, the
manor and advowson, together with the manor of Spennithome, passed
by marriage, in the reign of Edward VI., to Marmaduke Wyvill, Esq.
The late owner, Marmaduke Wyvill, Esq., who died in June, 1896, aged
81, was M.P. for Richmond from 1847 to 1864, and again from 1866
to 1868 ; he was also on the commission of the peace for the North and
West Ridings. He married in 1845 a daughter of the late Sir Charles
Ibbetson, Bart., of Denton Park, and his son, Marmaduke D'Arcy
Wyvill, Esq., of Denton Park, is the present Parliamentary representative
of the Otley Division. The late Mr. Wyvill, I may add, claimed the
baronetcy of Scrope of Masham, which was in abeyance between his
family and that of the late Mr. Wm. Danby, of Swinton Park, who died
without issue in 1884.

In the family mansion at Burton Constable are many notable paintings,
portraits, and curiosities, including a handsome marble table presented
by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, likewise the skin of a
lion, which was shot by Captain Wyvill, of the 85th regiment, during a
critical moment while out hunting in the wilds of Africa. The king of
the forest had seized a man and was bearing him off in the grip of his
huge jaws, when the gallant officer rushed up and instantly despatched
the animal before it had done more than cause some slight lacerations to
its would-be victim.

843

CHAPTER XXXI.

Danby and the Scropes.

Danby Hall — The ancient house of Scrope — Its connection with Richmondshire —
Lord Scrope at Flodden — A bead-roll of illustriouB names — The family*s
adhesion to the Catholic faith — Description of Danby Hall — ^Incident during
the Jacobite rebellion — The late Major Scrope — Remains of an ancient chapel
— nisbaw Bridge — Roman Catholic chapel — Discovery near Fleet's farmhouse
— Meaning of Ulshaw.

IeTTJRNINO to Thornton-Steward we take the pleasant road
along the south side of Danby Hall, the Yore flowing
noiselessly below, to Ulshaw Bridge. The beautiful old
mansion at Danby is another of the historic homes of Old
England, and for upwards of three centuries it has been the seat of the
illustrious house of Scrope, represented by the eldest male branch of the
great family of Lords Scrope, of Bolton, Masham, and Upsal. We
have all heard of Lord Scrope^ Ohancellor of England, Keeper of the
Great Seal, who built Bolton Castle. He was the first *' law-lord " ever
created in England in the time of Richard II., and took part in nearly
every war and prominent transaction of his time. Many of his
descendants have also achieved a name in English historic annals, not
to forget the great Lord Scrope, who led the gallant army of stout-
hearted dalesmen against '* the dark and impenetrable wood " of Scottish
spears, as the author of Marmion describes it, on the eventful field of
Flodden, in 1518 :

With him did wend all Wensleydale,

From Morton unto Mosdale Moor ;
All they that dwelt by the banks of Swale,

With him were bent in harness store.

From Wensleydale warlight wights did wend,

From Bishopdale went bowmen bold,
From Coverdale to Cotter End,

And all to Kisden Causeway cold.

844

From MallerstaDg to Middleham,

And all from Manke to Melsonby ;
And all that climb to mountain Cam,

Whose crown from frost is seldom free.

With lusty lads and large of length,

Which dwelt on Semerwater side,
All Richmondshire, its total strenf^th,

The valiant Scrope did lead and guide.

A memorable day for old Surrey, Scrope, and mtany another English
knight was that blood-stained victory I King James, his illegitimate son,
twelve earls, fifteen lords and heads of clans, and many thousands of
other soldiei-s — the flower of Tweeddale and the Lothians — fell before the
pikes and arrows of the English conqnerors. I might go on citing
instances of the chivalrous spirit characteristic of this ancient house
down even to the present generation, when the young son of the late
owner of Danby, Mr. Gervase Scrope, took part in the memorable though
unfortunate ride of Dr. Jameson, against the Boers in South Africa, in
the winter of 1895. Frequent references are made in this work to many
members of the family, which on its own account and by reason of
alliances with some of the best families in the land, has for centuries
been identified with the civil and religious life of Richmondshire. I may
here observe that during the three centuries up to the time of the Civil
Wars, when the Scropes espoused the Royalist cause, the family produced
two Earls, twenty Barons, one Lord Ohancellor, four High Treasurers,
two Chief Justices, one Archbishop, two Bishops, five Knights of the
Garter, and numerous Bannerets. The family has always been attached
to the Roman Catholic faith, and from 1788 has had its own burial-
ground adjoining the Catholic Chapel, at Ulshaw Bridge. When the
Papists were required to give an account of their possessions during the
Jacobite rebellion and religious reaction, at the beginning of last century,
when *' chapels were robbed of materials to make bonfires and all London
was lighted up with the blaze of pews and pulpits,*' the following was
the declaration of the owner of Danby :

Simon Scroop of Danby upon Yore, Esq., an annuity of £100 charged upon the
Mannours of Danby upon Tore, in the parish of Thornton Stewart, Spennitbome,
and Stainton in the parish of Downholm, and diverse lands, kc^ in Thornton
Stewart, Danby upon Yore, at Ulshaw In the parish of Sast Witton, of which said
annuity I am possessed of and intituled unto for the term of ninety-nine years, if
I shall so long live, by force and virtue of an Act of Parliament of 13^. Anne
intituled an Act for the sale of some Outparts of Simon Scroop, Esq., in the
counties of Yorke and Nottingham, for payment of his debts and for other
purposes therein mentioned, which said mannours, &o., are by force of the said
Act vested in and settled on Henry Peirse and Will. Sheldon, Esquires, their
executors, &c., for and during the full end and term of ninety>nine years, if I shall
so long live, upon trust and confidence, and for the intent and purpose that theyi

845

and the sumvor of them, hiB executors, &c., by and out of the rents, &c., of the
said premisses, in the first place raise and pay the yearly sum of £S0O to Frances,
then and now the wife of me the said Simon Scroop, duering so many years of the
said term and estate as she shall happen to live, for the maintenance of herself
and children, and wherewithal! I am not to intermeddle or to have any power to
grant, forfeit, or incumber the same ; and if the said Frances shall happen to dye
in my lifetime, then upon trust to pay the said annual sum unto Nath. Pigott, Bsq.,
for the maintenance and education of my children ; and to pay to me the said sum
of £100 ; and upon the further trust, after payment of the Said sums, that they,
the said Henry Peirce and Will. Sheldon, should pay and apply the residue of the
rents, &o., of the said premises vested in them for a stock or f unde for the younger
children of me the said Simon Scroop, in ease of the real estate charged with
£6,000 for my said younger children's portions, in and by my marriage settlement,
made by me on my marriage with the said Frances my now wife, and the said
Henry Peirse and Will. Sheldon are now in perception of the rents, &c., of all and
singular the said premisses subject to the trust aforesaid, witness my hand this
17th day of April, 1717, Simon Scroop.

The family mansion, Danby Hall, occupies a beantif al situation upon
a gentle and verdant elevation on the northern acclivity of the Yore, —
its principal front looking eastwards in the direction of Jervaux Abbey.
For about twenty years previous to 1855, the house was not occupied,
but in that year the owner, Simon Thos. Scrope, Esq., father of the late
proprietor, returned to the ancestral home, where extensive alterations
and improvements were carried out. The south end was then rebuilt
with two commanding spiral towers at its east and west angles. In the
centre of it appears the arms of the family with the initials of the builder
and date 1855. The older portion of the mansion is comprised at the
back or west side, and is in the domestic style of the time of Queen
Elizabeth. In 1658 the east or main front was altered and refaced ; the
gables, which formerly extended through to the west side, were then
removed and the present stone baluster parapet erected. At the north-
east corner is a large, square embattled tower, with strong foundations
of projecting course-work. This is evidently the oldest part of the
existing buildings ; originally, no doubt, a single peel tower, like many
such in the northern parts of England, erected as places of refuge and
security during the wars with Scotland, and against the devastating raids
of the Borderers in the 14th and 15th centuries. It will be remembered
that in the time of Henry Bolingbroke, Archbishop Scrope, who had
sided with old Percy in a renewal of the Civil War, was arrested by the
king, and suffered a public death, and soon afterwards (1405) the Scottish
Prince James, afterwards James I., was taken a prisoner off Flamborough
Head, — the whole of North Yorkshire being at this period in a state of
turbulent unrest.

The interior of the mansion presents a beautiful and imposing
appearance. The Elizabethan staircase, forming a stately approach to

846

the upper rooms, i9 of handsome black oak, and on the window of it
and the entrance hall are the armorial devices, in stained glass, of the
heads of the family from the first Lord Scrope to the present proprietor
of Danby. The spacious dining room, with its handsome gilt wood
mantel-shelf of the time of the Stuarts, contains many family portraits,
some original and some copies, including Lord Scrope of Flodden Field
renown, and his lady ; likewise their son John, Lord Scrope, who took
part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. The beautiful drawing room in the
east front originally formed the chapel of the house, and service was
regularly held in it for the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the district

Danby Hall.

down to the year 1882, when the house ceased to be occupied. The
Scropes, as already stated, having never renoanced the ancient faith, a
Catholic priest was almost always resident at Danby Hall, and there is a
small room in the tower where services formerly were secretly held during
times of persecution. According to the Quarter Sessions Records for
1744 (the year preceding the Jacobite rising), all Papists were required
to give up their arms in the townships of Wensley, Askrigg, Jjeybum,
and Thornton Steward ; these were delivered and kept by Mr. William
Brown, Chief Constable of Hang West. At the time of this rebellion
the king's soldiers came to Danby and searched the Hall for arms and

847

rebels. Their search for weapons, however, wonld seem to have been
defeated by strategy, for when the south end of the mansion was rebnilt
in 1855 a secret closet was discovered fall of old swords and armoor,
supposed to have been hidden there in case of need. One of the old
weapons, a 17th century claymore, minus handguard, is now in the
Bolton Castle Museum.

The lineage of Scrope of Danhy is given by Dugdale in the Visitation
of the County of York (1665-6), by WTiitaker in the History of
Richmondshirey by Sir Bernard Burke in Royal Descents and Pedigrees
of Founders' Kin (1858), and by Wilcox and Metcalfe in Royal Desc^
(1892).

The late owner of Danby, Major Simon Thomas Scrope, J.P., who
died at Danby Hall on March 4th, 1896, aged 73, was a gentleman well
known and greatly respected in the district with which he and his
ancestors have been so long and prominently associated. A liberal
landlord and of a charitable, kindly nature, ever ready to help in any
good cause, his cheery and encouraging presence will be much missed.
He was a thorough out-of-doors man, being an expert all-round spoilsman
and in his younger days there was no better rider to hounds, while he
was also known as a splendid shot. Later in life he spent a good deal of
his leisure in angling ; indeed he came to have few equals either as a
salmon or trout fisher. For many years he was an active member of the
Yorkshire Fishery Board. In the early days of the Volunteer movement
he likewise came to the front, being for several years Captain of the
Leyburn Rifles, and was promoted to be Major of the 1st Volunteer
Battalion Princess of Wales' Own Yorkshire Regiment.

About half-a-mile east of Danby Hall, and within a short distance
of the church at Thornton Steward, is a field called Chapel Garth, where
the turf -covered foundations of an ancient chapel or oratory are still in
evidence. Of its origin or history, however, nothing is known. Formerly
there were some stepping-stones over the river below, leading apparently
to Jervaux Abbey.

A pleasant walk by the river, passing the old Danby Mill, brings us to
Ulshaw Bridge, where is the Roman Catholic Chapel before mentioned.
How long there has been a bridge here it is impossible to say, but it is
mentioned in the will dated October 18th, 1424, of Ralph Neville, Earl
of Westmorland, then lord of Middleham, who left £20 towards the
erection if it was not finished in his lifetime. As appears from the
Quarter Sessions Records for 1608 it was then constructed of wood. At
Middleham, on November 6th, 8rd James I., before Sir Thos. Metcalfe,
Adam Midleham, Esq., Fr. Scrope, of Spennithome, gent., and Ralph
Atkinson, of Jervaux, gent., surveyors of the above bridge, it waa
declared that the structure was in such a rotten and unsound condition

848

that they " do verllie thinke " it can " scarcelie be restored and amended
with £40, partlie for the timber and carriage of wood and for labourers
wages, with manie other thinges necessarie therennto. And for the
better certaintie whereof we hare had there present the opinion of some
carpenters and maisons skillful in those and such like affairs.** At
Thirske in 1607 a further sum of £20 was allowed for its repair.

Ulshaw Bridge does not appear to have been built of stone till 1673,
when the sum of £800 was oidered for its reconstruction, to be estreated

Major Simon Thomas Scbopb.

on the whole of the North Riding. In April, 1674, a sum of £200 was
ordered to be paid on finishing the same. While the building was in
progress the river would appear to have been diverted from its natural
course, and the tenant of the mill, one Elizabeth Watson, being enable
to carry on work, petitioned the Justices for the loss she had sustained
by having the water turned from the mill. The matter was referred by
the Court for adjudication by Sir Chr. Wyvill, Sir Will. Dalton, and

849

Simon Scrope, Esq., out of the £200 ordered to be estreated for the
repair of the bridge. This was one of the bridges watched day and
night during the great cattle-plague in the middle of last century, already
described, and in July, 1749, the sum of £8 lOs. was ordered to be paid
for such watching.

A little distance to the south-east of the bridge, near Fleets Farm
house, there is a large mound, which about twelve years ago was being
excavated for gravel, when a perfect adult skeleton was come upon, laid
with face to the east, along with three bronsse buckles, two beads of
coloured glass, and a curious antique knife having a wooden sheath.
The whole are no doubt of late Anglo-Saxon date. The relics may be
seen in the Bolton Castle Museum.

I have already referred to the evidences of a small camp at Ulshaw
Bridge, where the Roman road from Oatterick to Middleham appears to
have crossed the river. What may be the correct meaning of Ulshaw it
is not easy to say, but historic light may perhaps be found in the name.
There are upwards of a score variants of the spelling, such as Oulsey,
Hulsey, Owsay, Owshay, Housea, Hulshaw, &c. In Eirkby's Inquest
(1278) it is written TJlveshowe, and as there is an Ulfesgill on the
opposite side of the valley in Coverdale, the probability is that in the
prefix Ulve or Ulf a personal name is implied. The word ulph^ meaning
help, aid, defence, is often used both at the beginning and end of
personal names, and occurs frequently during the Anglo-Saxon and
Scandinavian occupation of Deira and Northumbria generally ; for
example Ulphric or Ulric (signifying rich or powerful in help), Osulf
(the helping hero, a warrior), the first Earl of Northumbria (a.d. 951),
&c. Thus it is not unlikely that the howe or burial-mound in this
neighbourhood, just described, was raised over the body of some chief or
hero, whose name has been perpetuated in the locality we know now as
Ulshaw Bridge.

850

CHAPTER XXXII.

Spennithorne.

The Piedmont of Richmondshire— An interesting village— Pre-Conquest aspects—
What means Spennithorne ?— A supposed Roman station— The manor —
Description of the church— The family of Burgh — Local families — John
Hutchinson, the eccentric philosopher and naturalist— Richard Hatfield of
Spennithorne attempts the life of George III.

I HERE is a rural charm and delightful retirement about the
village of Spennithorne that at once arrest our sympathies.
Dr. Whitaker speaks of it as the pleasantest village in the
Piedmont of Richmondshire, and perhaps such praise is
deserved. But Piedmont, to mention one thing, is overrun with touristSy
whilst here we are not so much on the track of tourists as places higher
up the dale. Yet those who like to seek out-of-the-way comers of
Yorkshire village life, or are fond of philosophizing on events and
traditions of the past, will find here much to their taste. The village
boasts a ^^re-Domesday church, and although little remains of that early
structure, yet much of varied and exceptional interest will be found
within its time-honoured walls.

Even before the Oonqueror^s great survey was made in 1086, the old
free community of Spennithorne was a place with a history. It acquired
an important standing, and having been cultivated from a very early
period it had become a valuable possession at the time it was wrested
from its then superior chief, Ohilpatrick, who also ruled over Middleham.
With Middleham it passed to the powerful lord Ribald, brother of Alan
the first grantee of Richmondshire after the Conquest, and his posterity
the Fitz Randolphs, continued to hold the manor as of the honour of
Richmond by military service. They made Spennithorne their home for
several centuries, and the foundations and part of the walls of their old
manor-house, since converted into cottages, are observable at the east end
of the village.

In the Domesday book the place is written Speningtorp, the final torp
being probably an error of the Norman scribe whose duty it was to
render the pronunciation of the name as nearly as possible in the writing

851

of his own tongne. This was often a matter of great peiplexity, as the
language of the Norman-French was quite different to that of the Saxon
or Dane, and the consequence is this great national survey contains
numerous similar, and occasionally very obvious, errors. In subsequent
documents the name is spelled, as it appears always to have been
pronounced, Spennithome, a derivative probably from the Latin spina,
A.S. spenasy a prickly thorn, owing to the place having at an early period
abounded with thorn-trees. It may also be noted that places compounded
with this affix, spm, are frequently to be found upon or adjacent to
Roman roads, which suggests the inference that the Romans were the
original namers of such places, being upon or contiguous to their lines
of march, and characterised by the presence of native thorns ; such,
for example, as the Spen Valley in West Yorkshire, traversed by
a Roman road, and where are many traces of the Roman presence ;
Spene, in Berkshire, anciently Spinas, mentioned in the Roman
itineraries ; Spennymoor, near Bishop Auckland, on Watling Street ;
while Thornborough (Catterick), the site of the great camp elsewhere
described, may have its origin in the same root. It is moreover claimed
by Cade, but I know not on what authority, that Spennithome was a
Roman station.

The manor of Spennithome was acquired by the Wyvill family
through the marriage of Marmaduke Wyvill, Esq., of Little Burton,
with Agnes, daughter of Ralph Fitz Randolph, in the time of Edward YI.,
as related a few pages back in the account of Burton Constable. It is
still, with the patronage of the living, held by this family.

The interesting church (St. Michael), already alluded to, is naturally
the first object to engage attention, as about such venerable fabrics
we must look for the concentrated history of a parish. The building
occupies a sheltered yet elevated position, and from the top of its well-
weathered tower is one of the loveliest views of the dale imaginable, the
eye ranging over purple heath and wooded fell, and following for many
miles the silvery windings of the Yore by abbey and castle and stately
hall, while many a peaceful village, hill-side hamlet, and tree-shaded
farm can be discerned under the cheering influences of a bright sky.

Upon entering the church one is stmck with a fine, large fresco of
Father Time, who is depicted as an aged two-winged pilgrim, demure of
visage, and head bald except forelock. He holds in the left hand an
hour-glass and in the right the shape of a scythe, on the sharp edge of
which his toes are lasting. Being placed at the entrance to the church
the representation is doubtless intended to remind all who pass of the
fleeting hour of life, for he who has mown down former generations is
ready to cut down others, — aye with uncertain warning, therefore be
ever ready for death ! Horafugit, memmto mori (Time passes, remember

852

death) is a motto saggested by the figure, which appears to be of 16th
century work. On the opposite side there was a similar mural portraiture
of Our Saviour on the Cross, painted, rather curiously in green, but
owing to the desecration caused by the erection of a gallery the stone-
work had to be removed, and of the two Father Time now alone remains.
A friend of mine, to whom I had suggested a reduced drawing of this
figure, responded by sending, to my no little surprise and amusement, a
representation of the bald-headed patriarch holding a mowing machine
instead of the orthodox scythe. Upon remonstrating with him for so
perfidious a license he replied : '* Your book, you said, was to be * up to
date,' and I have sketched the Old Man with the latest patent, for as
you know the scythe is fast going out of use, and we must of course
keep up with modern inventive progress I*' That may be passable logic,
but as there is no rule without exception, I think we must concede that
the venerable father of the ages, with his old-world scythe, comes safely
within the permanent class of such exceptions.

The internal parts of the church present a complete epitome of the
various periods of architectural design from early Norman to the late
Tudor styles. There are no structural remains of the original Saxon
edifice left, but in the east wall of the chancel are two antique stones
having a Runic ornament, and when the church was restored in 1872 a
Saxon monument was found beneath the flags in the chancel, and it has
been placed in the walls of the vestry. These appear to be the only
objects preserved from the Saxon church yet brought to light. In the
sacristy is an ancient stone altar-table bearing the symbolical five wounds
of Christ.

The north aisle is separated from the nave by three Norman arches,
and the south aisle is divided from it by Early Pointed arches. When
the chancel was lengthened to its present dimensions, with a stone altar,
credence table, piscina, and sedilia, another arch was added to the north
side of the nave, terminating in a tower with singularly characteristic
gargoyles. According to a memorandum in the registers for the year
1716, it appears that " Wm. Appleton, of Harmby, about 100 years ago
(as ancient inhabitants there relate) did of his proper cost and charge
build the north aisle of the church, and likewise bestow the second bell
in the steeple, as his name upon seems to import." This restoration
would appear to have taken place before 1681 and after 1662, as the first
bell is inscribed in 1662 and the third bell in 1681. When in the 15th
century a more lavish ornament was introduced into our public buildings,
further alterations were effected at the east end of the church. The
geometrical and flowing traoery of the east window, and the two windows
and two lights in the chancel, also (externally) the east window of the
south aisle (adjoining the Scrope chapel), and the windows under the

858

tower are all fashioned after the Perpendicular style. In 1772 the
interior was ''beautified" by a plentiful application of whitewash on
the walls ; ^' Father Time/' above mentioned, who had been previously
well coated with a like unsparing brush, was wiped out of sight more
completely than ever. An unsightly gallery was erected in 1819, which
at the last restoration in 1871-2 was removed, and the tower arches
opened out. The whole of the church was then re-roofed ; the nave,
chancel, and vestry with Westmorland slate and the tower and aisles
with lead. The seats in the chancel were adapted from old oak found in
the building, and in the nave and aisles were placed new pews of pitch-
pine, designed after an ancient seat in the church. The pulpit, lectern,
and prayer-desk are of old oak. The font is of Caen stone and has a
handsome cover executed by Mr. John Winsby, of Leyburn. Several of
the windows are filled with beautiful examples of stained glass, and there
are also various memorial tablets to the families of Scrope, Wyvill,
Yan Straubenzee, Ohaytor, Oookson, &c.

The south aisle of the church was for a long period the burial-place
of the Scropes of Danby, and the north aisle (where the organ has been
erected) appears to have been the burial-place of the Fitz Randolphs.
There remains here a single memorial to them in the form of a 16th
century altar-tomb of freestone, without any inscription, but in all
probability it is to the last of the family, John Fitz Randolph, who died
unmarried. Upon it are a number of armorial designs, emblazoned in
their proper heraldic colours. When the church was restored, the white-
wash, by which the shields were concealed, was judiciously removed and
the colours renewed. The arms are these : (1) Fitz Randolph ; (2) Scrope

of Masham ; (8) Neville ; (4) Hylton ; (5) Fitz Randolph ; (6) ;

(7) Scrope of Bolton ; (8) Fitz Randolph ; (9) Fitz Hugh ; (10) Fitz
Randolph.

The registers of the church begin in 1578. In 1548 the population
of the parish was declared to consist of 220 '^ houseling people," that is,
presumably adults. The total population could therefore not have been
much more than 500, or little less than at present.

A branch of the ancient family of Burgh of Brough Hall was long
seated at Spennithome. John Burgh married Margaret, daughter of
John Fitz Randolph (pb. 1474), of Spennithome, and had issue Peter
Burgh of Hawkswell. The will of Francis Burgh, of Spennithome,
which was proved 22nd March, 1601, is a brief but singularly interesting
document. By it he bequeaths :

To mj Bister Anne Burgh and my nephew Robert Durham the lease of my
farmhold in Oarriston ; to my sister Anne Burgh £100 ; my brother William, his
wife, and two daughters, my sister Margaret Durham and my sister Dorothy, my
cousin Christopher Crofte of Coteskew Park, "to the powryste of kynrede and

354

most honeste of Sir Thomas Plewes dlssysed, sometymes iMirsonn of SpeDithoni,
fourtye shillinges, to be distrybuted at ther dyscretion of ther wyBsest fry tides.**
I give to Mr. Henry Scrope of Danby, a drynknge glasse of whyte berrall
depaintyd ; to Barbara Crofte my goddowther a Scottysche merk of gold.*

There are several large modern houses at Spennithorne, built upon
positions that command excellent prospects over the valley. Spennithorne
Hall is one of these and is the seat of the Chaycor family. Another,
Spennithorne House, is in possession of the family of Van Straubenzee,
the two families being related. Mary, daughter of Lieut.-Col. and the
Hon. Mrs. Van Straubenzee (who was a daughter of the first Lord
Wrottesley), of Spennithorne, having married in 1866, Wm. Chaytor, Esq.,
of Croft, who on the death of his father, Sir W. R. Garter Chaytor, Bart.,
in 1871, succeeded as third baronet. Sir William died August 8th, 1896,
aged 59. The late owner of Spennithorne Hall, Clervaux Darley
Chaytor, Esq., died on his own estate December 23rd, 1895, from a
gunshot wound in the head, the result apparently of an accident. He
was born in 1844 and in 1878 married a daughter of the late rector of
Middleham, the Rev. Jas. A. Birch, by whom he leaves a family of sons
and daughters. He was a prominent and useful member of the county
gentry and much respected. He was a D.L. and J.P. for the North
Biding, and had been for some time Chairman of the Leybnrn Bench of
Magistrates. Thorney Hall, another attractive mansion, is the seat of
the Hon. Amiaa Charles Orde-Powlett, J.P.

Spennithorne was the birthplace of that gifted and eccentric
philosopher, John Hutchinson, whose peculiar doctrines attracted a good
deal of attention in their day. He was the son of a yeoman, and
eventually became steward to Charles, sixth Duke of Somerset, who,
when Master of the Horse to George I., gave him a sinecure appointment
of £200 a year, with a good house in the Mews. Hutchinson then
passed the remainder of his life in study and retirement. Having been
brought up a close student of the Bible, with a natural taste for
philosophy and science, he in 1724 published the first part of a treatise
entitled Moseses Prineipia^ being an attack on the wonderful system of
gravitation long irrefutably established by Sir Isaac Newton. Hutchinson
based his arguments upon the literal interpretation of Scripture,
maintaining, among other peculiar theories, that because the '*foar
corners ** of the world are named in the Scriptures the earth must be a
cube, and not a spherical body as commonly understood. It is impossible
here, nor would it profit, to explain other vagaries of this extraordinary
controvertist, suffice it to say that in those days when the natural sciences

* Surteta Snc. Pub., xxvi., 246 : see also the will of Rofcer Burgh, dated 10th October, 1G74, who
was father of an only daughter and heir, married to Sir Ralph Lawson, ancestor of the present
owner of Brough.

355

were but feebly understood, many of bis arguments seemed indisputable,
and many able and well-known men wei'e to be counted among his
supporters. It is said that the severity of his studies hastened his death,
which took place in 1787, at the age of 62. In 1748 his collected works
were published in twelve octavo volumes. Although of little practical
value now they possess a curious interest, and as the production of a
native of Wensleydale are worthy at any rate of local remembrance.
Their author, it is deserving of mention, was ever a most diligent student
of the wondrous phenomena of Nature. At an early age he was drawn
to study the '* lesson of the rocks," and became an assiduous collector of
fossils, in which objects there are few districts more prolific than
Wensleydale. When Dr. Woodward presented his magnificent collection
of fossils to the University of Cambridge it was affirmed that the bulk
of the specimens had been collected by John Hutchinson, and amongst
them were many rare and valuable species hitherto unknown to science.
Another native of Spennithorne was the notorious Richard Hatfield,
who fired a pistol at George III. in Drury Lane Theatre, the king
naiTowly escaping the shot. Hatfield proved to be a lunatic and was
confined for life in St. Luke's, where he died at an advanced age. Some
little time before his mad act he had been in the army, in which he was
promoted, and served with conspicuous gallantry in Holland under the
Duke of York. On one occasion he even saved the Duke's life, and
fortune would doubtless have smiled upon him but for the unhappy
sequel. What a strange reverae and how uncertain is earthly fame I
Is it not to-day we are conscious of victory, but to-morrow we are not
our own masters ? Non sum qualis eram. And true also one vile deed
outlives a thousand good.

356

CHAPTER XXXIII.

A Ramble about Harmbt.

Early history of Harmby — The family of Harcla—The old mill at Harmby —
Local possessions of St. Nicholas* Hospital — Manor house — Coaching-days —
Harmby Gill — An ancient heronry — The Fairies* Well — A famous quarry —
PalsBontological discoveries of Mr. William Home, F.G.S.

|ELLERBY and Harmby are villages within the parish of
Spennithorne. The first-named lies on the moor roate from
Leybam to Richmond and will be described in that section.
Harmby is passed on our way hence to Leybarn, from which
it is distant about a mile. In Domesday it is spelled Hemuebi, meaning
probably new placBj from the A.S. ern, an inhabited place, and niwe, new.
On the Danish conquest in the 10th century, the suffix by, which means
much the same as the A.S. ^m, seems to have been added in ignorance
of the original etymology. At the Conquest it was in possession of the
Dane Tor (see Aske) and was subsequently given to the Breton Wihomarc
chief steward to the Earl of Richmond. The place gave name to a local
family of note, of which Lawrence de Hernebi occurs as a signatory to
a charter of grant of lands, &c., at Bolton in Wensleydale, in the time
of Henry I. In the 14th century the estate passed to the redoubtable
Andrew de Harcla, the first Earl of Carlisle, of whom history has so
much to record. This mighty nobleman turned traitor, and siding with
the Scots he assisted in the ignominious defeat which King Edward II.
sustained near Byland Abbey. Thus it was that from a position of great
power and influence he was degraded to that of a plebeian traitor, being
deprived of all his honours and offices, and finally hung, drawn, and
quartered, (a.d. 1828), in accordance with the precedents of the time.
Much interesting information respecting this ancient family will be found
in the Close Rolls and Patent Rolls of the 18th and 14th centuries.
Thus in the Patent Rolls for 18th Edward I. (1285) it is recorded that
Michael de Harcla was appointed during the pleasure of the king to the
custody of the castle of Carlisle. Also in 1816 by precept of the king
the taxors and collectors of the 16ths of every man's possessions in the

857

North Riding of Yorkshire are ordered to pay £82 lOs. lOd. out of the
money of the seoond payment to Andrew de Harcia, which the king
specially desires to be paid to him, as the said Andrew has to pay a
considerable amoant beyond the sum of £582 10s. 2d. owing to him by
the king for his ransom from the Scotch rebels, &c.*

After his execution the Harmby estate was granted to Henry le Scrope
and has since continued part of the possessions of the heirs of this
family, now represented by Lord Bolton. By what grant the Hospital of
St. Nicholas held land and the mill at Harmby I have not been able to
discover, but at the dispersal of its revenues, at the Dissolution, the
Hospital was in possession of a piece of waste ground at Harmby, worth
by the year 12d. The inhabitants of the parish also owed service to the
master and brethren of the said Hospital, for in 1380 I find one John
Hartan, of Hemeby and Henry de Haroun, of Spenyngthom, were
summoned to answer the Master of St. Nicholases Hospital, juxta-
Richmond, to do suit at his mill at Hemeby, on pain, &c.t The right of
presentation to the Hospital having been retained by the Earls of
Richmond in all probability the grant in question was made by one of
the early lords of Harmby.

The manor-house, situated at the low end of the village, is now a
farm-House. It has been much modernised but still retains some of its
old features, including an antique trefoil-headed doorway. The walls
are about a yard thick. Formerly there was a chapel, dedicated to
All Saints, attached to the house. It was subsequently converted into a
barn. There was a similar chapel, with a Norman door, at Studhow,
some two miles to the north of Harmby, and the old fish ponds there
and at Harmby are still to be seen. The new buildings on the south
side of the Harmby manor-house were erected on the site of the
old byre and stable which were destroyed by fire some thirty years ago.
The fire broke out in the night time and before it was discovered a horse
and five calves had helplessly perished in the flames.

The quiet little village occupies a pleasant site overlooking the valley
towards Middleham. It has one inn, but when the Ripon coach was
running by way of Masham and Harmby to Leybum it had two. There
is a very pretty waterfall in the Harmby Gill near the main road in the
village. After a good rainfall it makes a fine picture ; the broken waters
leaping into the sparkling stream below to pursue their still downward
course through a deep and romantic glen. A path leads direct to the
waterfall from a stile about 100 yards down the road. In the season of
wild fiowers may be observed such plants as figwort, the delicate little

♦ Clo$e Rolls, lOth Edward II., m. 23.

t J)e Banco, Trin. 4th Edward III.

858

rock-rose, and patches of pink-flowering rose-bay, which add colour and
variety to the shrabby nndergrowth surrounding the cascade. Anciently
there was a large heronry in the gill, and Barker thinks this circumstance
gave the place its name. Besides a beautiful spring of water here, called
the Fairies' Well, there was formerly to be seen attached one of those
antique iron cups, mentioned in the old chronicles, for providing the
thirsty pilgrim with a refreshing draught. Even so long ago as the
days of the good Saxon King Edwin it was ordained that " cups of iron
or brass be fastened by such clear wells or fountains as did run by the
wayside, which cups no man durst touch, further than to his own present
use and necessity, for the love and good-will they bare to their Prince/*
It is scarcely beyond living memory when such a useful vessel was known
to have been kept from time immemorial attached to the old well at
Harraby.

Going now forward to Leybum we pass on the right, and just over the
railway-line at Harmby, a quarry in the main chert, or upper portion of
the Main Limestone, which is rich in fossils, particularly in fish remains.
Mr. Wm. Home, F.G.S., of Leyburn, has made many valuable und
interesting discoveries in this fruitful hunting-ground, and many of the
specimens obtained here are now in his museum at Leyburn. The rock,
which is very massive and crystalline, is locally known as the Red Beds,
from the reddish tint presented by the limestone in many places. The
fossil remains consist largely of fish-teeth, with occasional spines, and are
scattered over the surface when newly exposed in large numbers. They
occur principally on an horizon about 80 feet below the summit of the
quarry, but owing to the hardness and fractionary nature of the rock
perfect specimens are difScult to obtain. Perhaps the most common
species is Lophodus refieulaitis, but no specimen has yet been found with
all its parts sufficiently clear for description. Examples of the genus
Cladodus are also pretty common, including C. mucronatuSy C Hornet,
C. sttiatus, &c. One species discovered here, Cladacanthus paradoxus^
had hitherto only been found in the Armagh limestone in Ireland, and
another, Pleurodus Woodi^ had never been met with in the British Islands
except in the coal measures. The few examples from the Harmby
limestone consist entirely of teeth ; no spine of the genus having been
fouud. Many of the specimens in Mr. Home's collection have been
figured and described by the late Mr. Davis in the Quarterly Journal of
the Geological Society for November, 1884. About 600 specimens have
been placed in the York Museum, and about 400 are in the British
Museum, while several thousands still remain in Mr. Horne*s museum at
Leyburn.

859

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Lbyburn.

Modern aspects — Situation and general health — Glacial evidences — Discovery of
prehistoric human skeletons and reindeer bones — Last mention of living
reindeer in Britain — Proof of ancient habitations about Leyburn Shawl — ^An
ossiferous cave — Meaning of Shawl — >Early history of Leyburn — Family of
Leyburn — Descent of the manor — Family of Yarker — Dr. Goldsmith — Leyburn
Hall — Supposed Priory at Leyburn — Ancient and modern buildings — The
markets — Bull-baiting — Church of St. Matthew — Catholic church — Dissenting
chapels — Local ministers — Mr. William Home, F.G.S.

Exalted Leyburn next, with open arms,

Due north our moving observation charms ;

Where from its rocky verge and sylvan side.

Most aptly ranged in gay theatric pride,

We view a lower world where beauties spring,

Tempting and fair as classic poets sing ;

Woods, streams, and flocks, the vale's sweet bosom grace,

And happy culture smooths her cheerful face. — Maudt.

jJEYBUBN is now the principal place in Wensleydale, and since
1855 has had a station on the Bedale branch of the North-
Eastern railway from Northallerton. Although always a
dependent township included in the ancient parish of Wensley,
it has in matters temporal taken the lead, and having retained its market
it has become a place of no inconsiderable resort and importance. The
town, consisting chiefly of modern stone buildings, occupies a pleasant
and airy site on the gentle acclivity which extends westwards in the
direction of the famous Leyburn Shawl. Of late years it has grown in
favour as a resort for visitors in summer-time, and the numerous inns
and lodging-houses are in the season usually well taken up. The situation
of the place, combined with the pure air and excellent quality of the
water, has unquestionably established its reputation, and in the statistics
of mortality it ranks among the most favourable in the kingdom. The
annual death-rate is about 15 per thousand, while the proportion of
deaths among old people is very remarkable ; thus in 1892, which is by

860

no means exceptional, 28 persons within the parish died aged from 70
to 80 years, 20 between the ages of 80 and 90, and two were over 90
years. Centenarians are also not uncommon, and the longevity of
Mrs. Webster, who died at Aysgarth, a few miles higher np the dale, in
Jane, 1896, in the 107th year of her age, may be mentioned as a recent
instance.

To trace the history of Leybarn from the beginning, by relics and
by documents, we have to go back almost to the very dawn of life, so far
as it is known in Yorkshire. From that remote era when the last
glaciers in the Yorkshire valleys began to retreat, we have undisputed
evidence of the presence of man in our midst. The Wensleydale glacier
seems to have followed the general direction of the valley, and good
evidence of its movement and operations is to be met with in many
places. For example, in the railway-station yard at Leyburn there was
uncovered some years ago a block of hard limestone, highly polished and
striated by the passage of ice over it, which shewed by the position of
the groovings the easterly trend of the ice-mass. The stones in the
boulder-clay above have also been carried hither chiefly from the higher
parts of the dale, but it is noteworthy that no ice-borne rocks, foreign to
the district, have ever been found in the dale.

That the eye of man witnessed the retreat of the ice in the highlands
of Yorkshire is sufSciently proved by the discoveries of implements and
animal remains that can have belonged only to a race inhabiting a
severely cold climate, and living under conditions such as prevail among
the Esquimaux at the present day. A discovery of exceptional interest,
which seems to point to the existence of man in Wensleydale at this
period, was made at the eastern extremity of the Shawl at Leyburn some
twelve years ago. Mr. William Home, of Leyburn, who took me to
view the site, says that while geologising in the Spring of 1884 he
observed a piece of bone obtruding from a slip of shale at the edge of
the terrace which forms the Shawl promenade, and about two-and-a-half
feet below the surface. Upon a close examination it was found to be
part of a human foot, and eventually the finder, in company with the
Hon. W. T. Orde-Powlett (now Lord Bolton), made a careful excavation
of the site, when a complete adult skeleton was uncovered. It was in a
very soft and fragile state, and fell to pieces, not however before the
observers had been enabled to determine the position and character of
the interment. The skeleton was that of a female, and was laid on the
left side with the knees slightly drawn up, and the head lay to the north.
The skull was crushed quite flat, the jaw broken, and the teeth nearly
all lying loose. Near the left shoulder was observed a primitive little
bone object about two inches long, fashioned out of deer's horn.
Nothing like it appears to have been found anywhere else in England,

361

and the coDclusion is that it was used as a sunple bmce for fastening a
cloak or vestment of skin across the shoulders. It is now in the
Bolton Castle Museum. In March, 1885, another skeleton of the same
type, and laid in a similar position, was found about ten feet west of the
first one. In the case of this last discovery nearly all of the teeth were
in the jaw and quite sound and hard, although much worn, in some
cases down to the base of the crown, yet perfectly flat, the individual
evidently having been accustomed to food containing some hard or
gritty sabstance like pounded bones or sand. If the latter it must have
been due to the abrasions of the pounding-stones mixing with the food

Lbybuen Shawl.

whilst being prepared. Near to this skeleton was picked up a pear-
shaped pebble worn smooth. The relics are all at Bolton Castle.

An important circumstance in connection with the finding of these
remains was the discovery, in proximity to the skeletons, and at the same
depth, of a number of reindeer bones. Some of the bones were broken
and some had evidently been gnawed and split by artificial means. These
finds taken in conjunction with the fact that the skulls of the skeletons
resemble those of the Esquimaux at the present day, certainly point to
the presence of life here at a vastly remote epoch. It is, however,
impossible to prove that the primitive race represented by the discoveries

862

named was actaallj coeval with the ri<^orous climatic conditions that
prevailed at the close of the Ice Age in Britain. This, according to
General Drayson, happened about 8000 years ago, although it was not
till aboat 8000 years b.o. when the Arctic Circle extended between
26 and 27 degrees from the Poles, that Central and Noithem Earope
possessed a climate suitable to the human race.* That reindeer
continued to inhabit the Yorkshire moors and dales long after the
disappearance of the glaciers is abundantly proved, but as the climate
amelioi-ated and the lichens and other food products deteriorated, the
reindeer gradually withdrew northwards. The people, being dependent
upon these migratory animals for an existence, and unaccustomed to
any other mode of life than that which appertained to them, were
obliged to follow the reindeer on their northward retreat. Thus it is
evident that the Esquimaux and frozen Laplanders of the present day
are the lineal descendants of the race once occupying the glacier-ridden
valleys of Britain and northern Europe. In the extreme north of
Scotland reindeer are known to have survived down even to the Norman
Conquest of England, and an old Norse Saga relates how the Earls of
Orkney used to go over to Caithness to hunt the reindeer in the time of
our first King Henry, and this is the last ascertainable reference to the
animal being alive in Britain.

There is little doubt that when these interments in the Shawl took
place the edge of the plateau extended much further out to the south,
and that the cliff has worn backwards with the lapse of time. In various
other places upon this elevated terrace the ground has been tested and
bits of charcoal, split and broken bones, burnt stones, and pot-boilers
have been found, proving the early occupation of the site. In the wood
at the western extremity of the Shawl, about 1^ miles from Leybum,
there was also discovered a cave, about 20 feet deep, which yielded bones
of the red-deer, fox, sheep or goat, wild ox, &c., and there was also turned
up portions of a human lower jaw, being the only evidence of man here
that was found. The lower part of the cave was filled with clay, and the
upper part with cave-earth and stones, and whilst removing the debris
from the entrance, a quantity of charcoal, broken-bones and burnt stones,
along with a piece of Roman Samian ware, were picked up just outside
the cave, shewing apparently that the cave had b^n filled up in Roman
times. The conquerors must have borne away everything useful, for to
except several gritstone pounders or rubbing stones, no implements, either
of flint or metal, were discovered in the cave. This interesting repository
of prehistoric remains has been named the Lady Algitha Cave in honour
of Lady Algitha Orde-Powlett, who was the first lady visitor. The

♦ See the author's Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd, pages 468-70.

863

yarious objects found in it, and in the locality, have been deposited in
the recently-formed mnsenm at Bolton Oastle.

I mast also remark that in the wood jnst below the Shawl promenade
are the remains of a well-defined horse-shoe shaped habitation, with
opening or doorway to the south. Mr. Home informs me that he has
found on the site several stone-pounders or rubbing-stones for grinding
corn, substitutes for the primitive quern, along with burnt and cracked
cooking-stones and pot-boilers. A little to the west of these ruins is a
large cairn of loose stones, comprising probably not less than three
hundred cart loads. A critical examination of the cairn has not been
made, and beyond the discovery of several charred stones, nothing
particular has been noted.

These discoveries lead me to a possible explanation of the word
Shawl, which h'es, I think, at the root of all these primitive habitations.
There is not the smallest doubt that the beautiful and elevated terrace
known by this name, which commands such an admirable and distant
prospect, as well as the escarpment immediately below, facing the south,
was the site of the original settlers in this neighbourhood down almost
to the Norman Conquest, when an advancing civilisation tempted the
settlers to occupy the eastern slope or site of the present town. We
must therefore look for some word that will explain the present use of
the word Shawl as applied to the locality where the inhabitants were
first settled, and this is not difScult to find. In the Scand. scale, skali,
we have the huts or dwellings of the Viking conquerors of Wensleydale,
a word that was adopted by the Scotch in their sheals or shealingsy
meaning the same thing. For example, Larbert in Scotland was
anciently called Larbert-Scheills (the huts of a man called Larbert),
and Oalashiels as well as North and South Shields, in Durham, were
originally a collection of fishermen^s huts. Again in Richmondshire I
find the same word spoken and written in the several forms of Shalle,
Shales, Scales, Scalles, <&c. Thus in a registration of Papists* estates
taken in 1717, one Wm. Allen, of Thornton Steward, makes declaration
that he is seized of the capital messuage or chief mansion-house in
Leyburn, with a work-house, stables, &c., and a grass garth and close
called Skalbanck, let to Geo. Pickadike at £8. Again in a fine touching
the manor of Aske, 8th James I., amongst the places comprised in the
property is Schalles alias Scales, Gingerfield, Uewetts alias Yewetts, &c.
There is little doubt, therefore, that the Schall (now written Shawl) at
Leyburn has the same meaning, and merely indicates where the huts or
dwellings of the early settlers here were first situate.

At the Conquest Leyburn was in the hands of two owners, Aschil
and Audulf, and in Domesday it is written Leborne, evidently from the
brook which runs by the Cattle Market at the back of the town. The

864

open field or lea implied in the prefix is affirmed by many writers to
indicate not merely a piece of cultivated land, bnt that the ground so
denominated was arable and appropriated to the growth of com. Thus
Leyburn, like Burnley, which is the compound reversed, means the
brook or bnm flowing through corn-lands. Com has undoubtedly been
extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood of Leyburn at an early
period, and many of those primitive appliances for grinding it, the
quern and pounding-stone, have been turned up from time to time.
Mr. R. D. Home discovered a remarkably fine mbber or pounding-stone
of millstone grit while some workmen were clearing away the foundation
of an old cottage at Leyburn in 1875. It is now in the Bolton Museum.

By the Domesday account we find the chief steward of the Earl of
Richmond, Wihomarc, a Breton, in possession of Leyburn, and it seems
likely that he resided here, and was progenitor of the family that took
the name of Leyburn. Wihomarc de Leyburn occurs in a Yorkshire
charter of the time of King Edward I. In the Watson MSS. is a
pedigree which makes Roger fil Wyomarc the father of Robert de
Leyburn, the crusader, whose descendants settled at Leybum Castle in
Kent. But this statement is inaccurate, as will be found below. From
this Yorkshire house there is little doubt descended the Barons Leyburn,
of Kent, although Dugdale and others make no attempt to connect the
two families. The arras borne by the 'i'orkshire licybums were or, six
lions rampant, sa., while the Kent family bore azure, six lions rampant,
arg. How these bearings originated has never been ascertained, bnt
according to the roll of Henry III., 1240-5, Sir Roger de Leyburn bore
the last-mentioned coat, which seemed to have been borne also by Edward
of Salisbury at the Conquest. This Roger de Leyburn was great-grandson
of Philip de Leyburn, who is stated to have married Amy, sister and
co-heir of Ralph Fitz Ceroid, who though not found in the pedigree was
doubtless a member of the house of Fitz Ceroid, descended from Ceroid
Dapifer, brother or uncle of Edward of Salisbury.* It may further be
remarked that upon the seal of William Longsp^e, Earl of Salisbury,
who died in 1226, appear six lions rampant, and the same arms are also
on his effigy in Salisbury Cathedral. Ela, wife of Thomas de Newburgh,
Earl of Warwick, and of Philip Basset, also bore the same device.

The first apparently to assume the name was Michael de Leyburne,
who in 1103 paid taxes for land in Leyburn, Downholme, Walburn, and
Harmby. He was the son of Robert, son of Odo, who held in 1086 the
mauors of Fleetham, Langthorpe, and half of Hackforth. This Odo
was like Wihomarc, lord of Leyburn, one of the chief servants of Alan,
the great Earl of Richmond, and the two were probably either brothers,

• See Ellis's Antiquities of Heraldry^ page 183.

865

or Odo was son of Wihomarc. Sir Roger de Leyburn, brother of the
above Michael, was also possessed of land in Leyburn, and he was one
of those knights who joined in King Richard's crusade to the Holy Land
in 1191. We likewise find that a Kent Leyburn, one Robert de Leyburn,
took part in the same crusade, and returned home from the Holy Land
in the escort of Queen Bei'engaria, in October, 1192. This Robert was
the son of Philip de Leyburn, who married the Kent heiress Amy Fitz
Gerold, and who built Leybourne Castle, near Maidstone, in the time of
Henry IL Roger de Leybm'n, of Kent, who married a daughter of
Robert de Vipont, hereditary Sheriff of Westmorland, and died in battle
in 1283-4, was seized of lands in Yorkshire, viz. : the manors of
Kynworth, Maltby, Bawtry, Oesterfeud, and Doncaster, which all reverted
to his wife as a portion of the Vipont inheritance. From this time the
Kent Leyburnes nowhere appear as landowners in Yorkshire. The
Yorkshire Leybums, who were benefactors to St. Mary's Abbey, York,
Rievaulx Abbey,* and Marrick Priory in Swaledale, held land in the
neighbourhood of Leyburn up to the early part of the 14th century,
when the main line seems to have terminated in heiresses. A branch of
the family, however, continued to reside in Yorkshire, and produced
several individuals of position and note. One of these was William
Leyborne, a captain on the Royalist side in the Civil Wars, who was
slain at Sheriff Hutton in 1647. He is said to have been a man
of particularly bold and unfearing nature, but by his daring he unluckily
fell into the hands of the enemy. On being asked for whom he was, he
tore open his jacket, bared his breast, and replied, '* I am for God, my
holy Church, and the King," whereupon he was instantly shot dead.

A Westmorland branch of the ancient lords of Leyburn can be
traced from about a.d. 1200, when Robert de Leyburn obtained lands
there, down to the middle of last century, at Skelsmereserg, Yewbarrow
Hall, Cunswick, Ashton Hall, near Lancaster, i&c. In 1741, Ralph, son
of Ralph Leyburn, of Eamont Bridge, bequeathed his estates in trust
for his only child, Mary, who married in 1738 Richard Speight, and
died in 1754 without issue. Speight married thrice, and died in 1778
childless. There is a brass on his tombstone at Barton, near Penrith.
The Driffield Leyburns date back to the Reformation, and they were
landowners at Nafferton until quite recently.

Gale observes that in 1318 Leyburn consisted of two parts, of which
one was held by military service, and one without, of the Nevilles. The
whole manor of Leyburn subsequently came to the Scropes by marriage
with Margaret Neville, and by inquisition, 14th Henry VII. (1498),
taken on the death of Sir John Scrope, Kt., the jurors affirm that this

* 8ee Rievaulx Chartulary, Surteet Society Publications^ vol. 83, page 98.

366

and other of his possessions are held of the king as of his Castle of
Richmond, bat by what services they are ignorant. After the Catholic
insurrection in the North (1569), which Henry, Lord Scrope, assisted to
suppress, the manor was in the hands of an old Richmondshire family,
named Atkinson, as appears by the following fine :

Mich, Terffii Idth-iyth Elizabeth. Between Charles Atkynson, plaintiff, John
Wayte, gentleman, and Mary hie wife, deforciants, of the Manor of Laybounie,
and of 6 messuages, 2 cottages, 8 gardens, 3 orchards, 120 acres of land, 60 acres
of meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 10 acres of wood, 60 acres of furze and heath, 60
acres of moor, and 12 denariates of rent, with appurtenances in Lay borne, Harnebye,
and Wensley. Whereupon, &c., the aforesaid Manor to be the right of him Charles.
And for this the said Charles hath given SOZt. sterling.

At Westminster, Morrow of All Souls.

There had been some suspicion that the Scropes were not to be trusted
as guardians and promoters of the new religion, and Henry, Lord Scrope,
in a letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Lieutenant from the Trent
northwards, complains of this doubt, declaring himself to be most sincere
to the Queen's Majesty, and " as ready and willing to serve to the utmost
of my power as any subject that her grace hath, according as I shall be
commanded/' Although the petition seems to have taken due effect,
the noble lord being entrusted with several important commissions
including the custody and safe keeping of Mary, Queen of Scots, in
Bolton Castle in 1569, yet the fact that Lord Scrope was brother-in-law
to the Duke of Norfolk, the head of the Roman Catholics in England,
was a source of constant fear and uneasiness to Queen Elizabeth and her
advisers.

The manor of Leybnrn, with other of the Scrope estates, descended
by marriage to the Powletts, now represented by Lord Bolton, who is
one of the principal landowners. Others are Mrs. Riddell, the trustees
of Henry T. Robinson, Esq., and Chas. Braddyl Yarker, Esq. The family
of Yarker is a very old one in this district, having held lands and resided
at Tjeyburn for many centuries. The name occurs in Yorkshire in the
Poll Tax Returns for Otley and Bingley, 2nd Richard II. (1878), and
in Cambridgeshire as far back as the reign of Henry IV., when William
Yarker, armiger^ obtained a lease from the Crown of 60 acres of land at
Gamlingay. In Wensleydale the earliest references to the name occur
in the parish registers of Wensley, viz. : of the burial of Thomas Yarker,
28th April, 1549 ; and of Anna Yarker, 14th April, 1541 ; and from
these all of the name now existing descend. William Yarker, who was
born at Ley burn in 1601, held lands at Redmire and East Bolton, subject
to the heirs of Emanuel, Lord Scrope. Some of the Yarkers were also
seated at Middleham ; John Yarker built Grove House there, and had a

867

SOD, Wm. Luke Yarker, registrar of Middleham, who died in DerbyBhire,
and was buried at Fairfield, Buxton, June 27th, 1802.*

I have already on page 187 referred to one Richmondshire worthy, the
Rev. Dr. Scott, vicar of Catterick, who was on board the Victory in the
capacity of chaplain, at the great battle of Trafalgar. The ship's
surgeon was Dr. Peter Goldsmith, who at that time resided at Leybum,
and it was in the arms of these two men that the immortal Nelson
expired. Dr. Goldsmith returned to Leybum, where he died in 1886,
and was interred in Wensley churchyard.

Leyburn Hall and all the demesne lands, with common of pasture,
turbary, woods, &c., and several closes called the Crabtree, Lanmure,
Shall, Tallow Bank, Ac, in Leyburn, &c., were granted by William
Thomborough, of Selside, co. Westmorland, Mary his wife, and Francis
Thornborough, of Leyburn, Esq., his eldest sou and heir, to William
Radcliffe, of Hatton Garden, co. Middlesex, gent., and Thomas Barnard,
of Lincoln's Inn, gent., in trust for the use of the said Francis
Thornborough for life, and to raise portions for younger children as set
forth in the indenture enrolled January 28th, 1784-5.t By indenture
enrolled September 20th, 1740, between the said Francis Thornborough,
of Leybum, and William Janson, of the same, in consideration of
yearly rent reserved, was made this grant by the said Fr. Thornborough :

A dwelling-house or site of a dwelliag-house, with the garth and garden
thereunto belonging and adjoining (wfiereon a new dwelling -hmse u intended to
he erected by the taid Wm. Janton) in Leyburn, adjoining upon the late demolished
dwelling-house of the said Win. Janson on the east, upon a house and garth lately
purchased by him of one Henry Janson on the west, upon the street or towngate
GO the north, and upon a grass garth in the possession of Henry Janson belonging
his Grace the Duke of Bolton on the south, with all houses, &c., to be holden of
the chief lord of the Fee of the premises at the rents and services therefore due
and accustomed, and also paying therefore to the said Francis Thornborough 12b.
yearly.

In the following year, 1741, Luke Yarker, gent., exchanged the house
with garden then owned by him at Leyburn for the messuage in Leybum
with the shop, barn, stable, helm or carthouse, &c., and one grass garth
and foldyard, belonging to Francis Thomborough, Esq., the latter
receiving £8 from the said Luke Yarker as satisfaction for the difference
in the value betwixt the premises exchanged. This Luke Yarker is said
to have been concerned in the rebellion of 1745, in which year he made

* See the Genealogy of the surname Yarker, with the Leyburn and several
allied famUies resident in the counties of Yorkshire, Durham, Westmorland, and
Lancashire, including all of the name in Cumberland, Canada, America, and
Middlesex, by John Yarker. 4 to wrapper, privately printed, 1882.

t Vide North Riding Record*^ vol. ix., page 128.

868

his will and died, and his extensive estates at Leyburn, Barrowford,
Goverdale, and Bishopdale, in co. York, and Carryhejs, co. Lancaster,
narrowly escaped confiscation.

Adjoining Leyburn Hall is an outhouse with an old pointed doorway
and several carved stones built into the walls. They are evidently the
remains of some ecclesiastical foundation, the materials of which have
been distributed in buildings in the neighbourhood. Barker goes so far
as to affirm that there was a Priory at Leyburn, and that Dr. Collier,
Catholic Bishop of Port Louis, in the Mauritius, informed him that he
once possessed an impression of the community's seal. It is, however.

Leyburn.

most likely that the Priory in question was nothing more than a mortuary
or chantry-chapel erected through the beneficence of an early lord of
Leyburn, similar to those at Tanfield, Thornton Steward, Downholme, &c.
On the west side of the town is an enclosure significantly known by the
name of Chapel Flatts, which in all probability was the site of the said
chapel.

The aspects of the Market Place have been much altered in recent
times. The old Town Hall was pulled down in 1856-7 and the present
neat substantial building erected on the site. The cost, about £8000,
was defrayed entirely by Lord Bolton. It contains a magistrate's room,

869

in which the Petty Sessions are held, and there are also other apartments
appropriated to various purposes. Two large old elm trees stood in the
open space to the south of the Town Hall, and between them was the
stocks, while the market cross occupied a position nearer the hall
buildings. Barker speaks of one elm only, but there were two, and both
of these were removed in 1821 ; the wood being afterwards used and
sold for the manufacture of souvenirs.

The first charter for a market at Leybum was granted in the reign of
Charles II. to the Right Hon. Charles, Marquis of Winchester, afterwards
Duke of Bolton ; the market to be held upon Tuesday in every second
week. James II. in the second year of his reign (1686), confirmed and
enlarged the former grant, the markets theuceforward to be held on
Friday in every week, as they have continued to the present. The com
markets here and at Richmond were at one time among the largest and
best attended in the north of England, but the conversion of large areas
of corn-land into meadow and permanent pasture, and a general
re-arrangement of trafSc since the introduction of railways, have very
considerably affected the corn-trade at these places. The corn used to
be ground in the dale mills, and large quantities were on stated days
conveyed in waggons to Eettlewell and to Oearstones, at Ribblehead, and
the dalesfolk for many miles round used to meet at these places and make
their purchases. It may be noted that the specially-paved com market
at Leyburn was put down in 1800.

Bull-baiting was one of the most popular of sports in the market-
towns of Richmondshire up to the end of last century, and in the
Market Place at Leybum may still be seen the old iron ring to which
the animals were tethered. We are told that on the last occasion when
a bull was baited at Leybum (now about a century ago) the infuriated
beast broke loose and upset two of the bystanders ; it then bolted up
the dale but was overtaken at Wensley, where it was with difficulty shot.
Sometimes prizes were offered at these festivities, when a collar was
presented to the dog that proved the best and fairest fighter. An attempt
was made to put down the cruel sport in 1802, but the bill was rejected
by the House of Commons, and it was not till 1885 that it was finally
abolished by Act of Parliament.

Of other buildings at Leyburn mention must be made of the
beautiful Church of St. Matthew, consecrated by Bishop Bickersteth on
September 16th, 1868, as a chapel-of-ease to Wensley. It supplants a
smaller stracture erected in 1886, and occupies a site given by Lord
Bolton. The cost of the building was about £8000. The foundation-
stones of a new Sunday School and Church Institute have lately been
laid in connection with this church. There is a handsome Roman
Catholic Church situated on the north side of the town. It was erected

870

partly by Bobscription in 1885 at a cost of about £2000. The interior
adornments are exceptionally beaatifnl and interesting, the decorative
work of the sanctuary being particularly noteworthy. On the altar are
two obelisk-shaped reliquaries, one of which is said to contain a small
portion of the true cross. Before the altar hangs the sanctuary-lamp,
which was presented by the late Chas. G. Fairfax, Esq., of Gilling
Castle. The east window is filled with stained glass, admirably designed
by Miss L. C. Bolton, a niece of the late pastor, the Rev. Richard J.
Bolton. In 1870 a set of stations of the cross was given by various
members of the congregation in memory of the same pastor, Father
Bolton, and in 1875 a font of marble and Caen stone was erected in
memory of the Rev. Thomas A. Loughran. In the vestry are some
curious antique marbles representing the Crucifixion, Resurrection,
Ascension, &c., which are stated to have been discovered in the ruins of
Furness Abbey. They are in a good state of preservation.

The Dissenters were established at Leyburn more than two centuries
ago, the Quakers having a meeting-house here in 1689, and in 1795 the
Independents had erected a chapel in the town. In 1815 the first
Wesleyan Chapel was built, and is now represented by the existing
spacious and handsome building. The Rev. John Wesley had visited
the dale as early as the year 1743, but it was not until 1812 that
Methodism was properly inaugurated at Leyburn, when the Revs. Arthur
Hutchinson, Thomas Gill, Charles Radcliff, and James Fowler were
appointed ministers in the Middleham Circuit. Mr. Fowler laboured
most industriously in the furtherance of religious work in the district,
and it was mainly through his efl^orts that the debts on the chapels at
Leyburn, Redmire, and Bainbridge were paid off. It had been his
intention to settle as a missionary in the Republic of St. Domingo, but
during the outward voyage, accompanied by his wife, the vessel was
wrecked in a storm on a French island, and his wife having suffered
much at sea, the couple were constrained to return to England.
Mr. Fowler subsequently laboured in the Middleham Circuit, and
afterwards settled at Bristol.

I might go on enlarging on old local families and worthies did space
permit, but before concluding this notice of Leyburn a word is deservedly
due to the services which Mr. William Home, F.G.3., has for many years
rendered to the town. Few of the many visitors to Leyburn neglect cdling
upon him and viewing his interesting museum of local antiquities and
other relics, which is always open to the public. His genial courtesy and
willingness to impart information to those who consult him as to where to
go and what to see in the beautiful valley where he has passed the greater
part of his life, render it a subject of congratulation that the town should
possess so useful a guide and friend. The son of a Thoresby farmer

371

Mr. Home has from his earliest days taken a genuine and commendable
interest in science and antiquities, and no one in Wensleydale is better
acquainted with its varied physical and archaeological features. As a
lecturer too, and as a leader of scientific parties he is widely and
favourably known. In 1881, when the British Association visited
Wensleydale, he accepted the leadership of that distinguished assembly ;
he has also conducted the members of the Yorkshire Naturalists* Union,
and the Yorkshire Geological Society, as well as many local societies, on
the occasion of visits to the district. In December, 1887, Mr. Home
was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society in recognition of his
valuable discoveries in the Yoredale rocks, particularly in fossil fishes,
many of which he has found being quite new to science. Reference to
these has already been made on a preceding page.

872

CHAPTER XXXV.

On the Moors around Bbllbrby.

The moorB between Ley burn and Richmond— Bel lerby— The old hall — A tradition
—Family of Bellerby— The Metcalfes— The church— Weeleyan chapel- Old
toll-bars— Halfpenny House— Over the moors— Hart Leap well— Descent to
Richmond.

)YELY is the sight of the heather-bloom in the August prime.
Away then let us go, for the season is but short, and enjoy
the new-born glory of the purple moors I Let us drink in
the invigorating draughts that sweep the wild, wide heather-
lands, clamber to where the bilberries, cranberries, and cloudberries grow,
where the red grouse and curlew have their boundless dwelling ; we will
mark the noiseless flap-flap of the pewit's wing, or listen to its plaintive
call as it follows, perchance, in our wake, — ^a monotone that adds to the
impressive solitude of these unpeopled fells, —

Such sounds as make deep silence in the heart
For thought to do her part !

A fine walk or drive it is over the moors from Leybum to Richmond by
way of Bellerby and Hart Leap Well. The distance is about nine miles,
and the highest point reaches nearly 1000 feet, about a mile beyond
Halfpenny House.

Two miles from Leybum is Bellerby, and on the moors to the west
Mr. John Hutton, of Marske, I am told, shot the last native wild deer a
little over a century ago. The moors, as well as the manor and other
property at Bellerby, now belong to Mr. John Osborne, the well-known
jockey of Middleham, who purchased the property in 1858. He has also
a deer-park here of about 150 acres. The old hall (now farm-dwellings)
is a spacious picturesque-looking building, and about it cling many
associations of peculiar interest. There is a tradition that Mary, Queen
of Scots was to have hidden here on her way to Richmond, and that a
band of Scots guards was stationed at the house to receive her and assist
her escape from Bolton Castle. But as we well know, her attempted
escape proved futile. In the reign of the unfortunate monarch Charles L^
the hall was the seat and property of an influential family called Scott.

878

The family gnfiFeied severely for their attachment to the Royal caose ;
the estates were sequestered, and for some time the mansion was occupied
by the Parliamentary soldiers. Two sons of this Bellerby house served
with great gallantry as officers during the wars, and both died on the
field of Naseby in 1645. Subsequently Miss Agnes Scott, their only
sister, along with her widowed mother, escaped to Eirkdale near Eirkby
Moorside, where they had a small estate, and where Miss Scott entered
the bonds of matrimony with a Cavalier officer named Barker. Close
to the roof of the house are the initials 0. S. and date 1699. There are
many voided windows behind, which tell of the time when the obnoxious
window-duty was first imposed in 1695, and although reduced in 1828
was not repealed till the year 1851. Upon the ample green in front of
the hall is a large sycamore-tree, planted in 1818, and a deliciously clear,
full brook courses rapidly through the village, in summer-time affording
a tempting play-ground for the rising generation of Christmas ducks and
geese. The stream rises in a pasture a short distance to the west of the
village, and drives a corn-mill lower down:

** Belgebi,*' as the place is written in Domesday ^ gave name to an
ancient and honourable family, which produced in early times several
men of note. Among the sureties of Boald fil Alan, Constable of
Richmond, a.d. 1216, appears Elyas de Belcherby. Thomas de Bellerby
was Master of the Penhill Preceptory at the dissolution of the Order of
Knights Templars in 1809, and was one of the principals imprisoned in
York Castle. John Bellerby gave to St. James's Chapel, Richmond, a
messuage and close adjoining the said chapel, temp, Henry YI. In 1822
a fine was passed between Galfred le Sorope, plaintiff, and John fil
Thomas de Hertford, defendant, touching the manor of Bellerby. In
the reign of Henry VII., Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberknd, was
declared seized in his demesne as of fee, of four carucates of land with
the appurtenances in Bellerby, held of the king of the honour of
Richmond as the third part of one knight's fee, and worth yearly twenty
marks.

• A branch of the family of Metcalfe was also seated at Bellerby, and
for some time they were lords of the manor. In 1882, one Adam
Metcalfe, is defendant in a suit in an action brought by Thomas de
Bellerby. Lucas or Luke Metcalfe was owner of Bellerby in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, and he died in the lifetime of his wife, Catherine,
whose will is dated 8rd May, 1588. In the Richmond parish registers
is the entry, I believe never before published, of the birth in 1610 of
Theophilus, son of Matthew Metcalfe, of the Bellerby family, the well-
accredited inventor of shorthand, whose ** system *' is supposed to have
been published in 1685. He was the ancestor of the eminent Lord Chas.
Theophilus Metcalfe (1785-1846), Govemor-Oeneral of India, and for

874

some time also Governor of Jamaica and of Canada. His branch of the
family have always borne the name of Theophilns in all snooeeding
generations since 1610, and the family is now represented by Sir Charles
Theophilus Metcalfe, Bart.

The visitation made by William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, in
1584-5, gives a Brian Metcalfe, of Bere Park, as being a son of Miles
Metcalfe, and father of an eldest son Richard (with the descent from
him of the Bellerby branch), and a second son Thomas, of Nafdy
[Nappa], and another son Reginald. It is, however, erroneous to describe
Thomas as of Nappa, as it is also to give him, as the entry does, a son
Sir James Metcalfe, Et., who as is well known, was son of Thomas, son
of James, son of John, and not a son of Thomas, son of Brian, son of
Miles, as this entry would make him. The Rev. Mark Metcalfe was
also of this branch. He was vicar of Northallerton in the reign of
Qaeen Elizabeth, and his tomb-stone, with arms and date 1598, is the
oldest monumental slab in the venerable church of All Saints at
Northallerton.*

The church at Bellerby, a chapel-of-ease to Spennithome, is a very
old foundation, and was rebuilt in 1801. I have been told that before
that time the church stood at the foot of Richmond Hill in Bellerby ;
it was then re-erected on the site of the present churchyard, and
remained there till 1878, when the existing edifice was built. The old
church was a plain, simple, unpretentious structure like that at Horse
House, Hardraw, &c., elsewhere described. A burial-ground was
consecrated in 1847 ; before then all interments were made at the parish
church at Spennithome. Bellerby became a separate ecclesiastical parish
in 1858, and in 1890 a fund was commenced to increase the endowment
and to make some necessary additions to the vicarage. The living is in
the gift of the Rev. G. Osborne, and is now held by the Rev. Horace
Rimington. Within the church is a small but neat brass commemorating
Francis Walker, of Bellerby, who died Sept. 4th, 1878. He bequeathed
in perpetuity the interest on the following sums : To the National School,
£1200 ; to the Church, £800 ; to the Wesleyan Chapel, £800 ; and to
the Poor, £800.

The Wesleyan Chapel was erected in 1889, and enlarged in 1853.
Methodism made a bad start at Bellerby. The people would have none
of it, and the first preacher, a Mr. Manners, was mobbed out of the
place. Subsequently a society was formed but did not prosper until
Mr. Robert Home, father of Mr. William Home, F.G.S., took up his
residence in the village, and it was mainly through his active efforts that
the chapel and school were established.

* See the Rev. J. L. Say weirs History and Annals of Northallerton.

875

Proceeding on our road to Richmond, at the next junction, branching
to Askrigg, an old toll-bar house stood, and there was another at Holly
Hill on this road, above Sleegill. Presently an old wayside homestead
called Halfpenny House is passed, the house standing on the boundaries
of the parities of Hauzwell and Downholme. Thirty years ago it was
an inn, and in bygone times was a stopping-place for the coaches, being
near the junction of four cross-roads, one going westwards to Beeth and
Downholme, and another east to Hauzwell, Scotton, &c. It was also
a meeting-place during the making of the turnpike road in 1751-2.
Now we commence a gradual ascent to the moor, which in August is a
picture of beautiful colour, stretching away mile after mile with the
freedom and Immensity of the sea I How freely we breathe now and
how we inhale the fresh, sweet air I Far away, half obscured in cloud-
land, are the tops of the everlasting hills, — no voice of cataracts here or
even of purling waters ; no sound, indeed, save the strong whirr of
grouse, or the sudden scream of the curlew I

Just before reaching the summit a small solitary elm tree will be
observed on the left of the road. It marks a site memorable in a local
tradition and celebrated by one of England's greatest singers, Wordsworth,
in the poem of Hart Leap Well. The story is that '^ once upon a time "
a hart of exceptional size and strength led horse and hounds a chase of
unwonted difficulty and duration. Away they went over hill and dale
until, exhausted by the long pursuit, one by one both horses and hounds
dropped to rise no more. At length a single horseman remained, and he
kept up the chase over Hauxwell and Barden moors as far as the declivity
adjoining the present road at the well. Here the animal, worn out by
the unnatural pursuit, made a final effort, giving three extraordinary
leaps down the bank, and falling dead close beside this well. Wordsworth
thus apostrophises the incident :

—Sir Walter found
Three separate hoof-marks which the hunted beast
Had left imprinted in the verdant ground.

Sir Walter wiped his face, and cried *' Till now

Such sight was never seen by living eyes :
Three leaps have borne him from the lofty brow,

Down to the very fountain where he lies.
• • » • •

A cunning artist will I have to frame

A basin for that fountain in the dell ;
And they, who do make mention of the same

From this day forth, shall call it Hart Leap Well.

And, gallant brute 1 to make thy praises known

Another monument shall here be raised ;
Three several pillars, each a rough-hewn stone.

And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed.''

876

The stoneB referred to were formerly conspicnooB, but appear to have
been removed when the present fenoe-wall was boilt. The well-basin in
winter usoallj gets choked with peat and weeds, but in summer is
cleaned out and is easily found. A small upright stone with the name
inscribed on it would, however, give an additional interest and at once
lead to the identity of the spot. On these moors, as I have elsewhere
pointed out, the last wild red deer in Richmondshire were shot, about
the middle of last century.

Our road now continues straight over the elevated and breezy moor,
leaving the ancient village of Hudswell away on the left ; then we have
a grand uninterrupted prospect of the Swaledale peaks and the great
plain beyond, stretching eastwards to the Cleveland Hills. Hence the
romantically-built town of Richmond looks uncommonly well in the
red rose of sun-down, with Willance's Leap and the luxuriant woods of
Whitcliffe sweeping upwards along the same bank of the Swale, and in
whose recesses lie buried the remains of those primitive housesteads,
elsewhere described, which sheltered the hard-faring natives of Swaledale
long centuries before the bold Norman castle rose upon the adjoining
rock.

LlBRAR'^l

i/rup*i«)T. — M»*»!iiti<of Wo' '. v
Sfttj;." AM^io Hal. .11 t.t!^.!it"» — M'l » ■ -
Tho rhurcb - I*^ U'l h.". ''ij^um; at.
♦ pii«;»fir's.)tj iM'tw»tTi it a; ! t:i« J-ra"-- « .'.
AnKov — 'Ihh J»f» ia Merej jelatcd to tr.t* -
in"*'"-i;.ti' ijs i" the chii-ch — Th«>Mris M.i:i«i*<- •
« >.(i rlMir *'.\T'iiUr»s' arrrmut.N — 'i ho into h in.
Oo[iy of ,r.<:i*«rt n.^.k^l-chartt.. inr \Ve:.^!"
a T»jftgue in j'o3 — Fwru »*- a^^p'*' t<* o* ; '• \iil t
p-ipN"! (,n the green

vi.:. . , : :• ..
oili-v ... ■•

i.j«ieii, tiio voji».'raL;cf'l:nr','li .1

of the hJiInloL" sIo-']\ tilO plj'U^. ••

-*oiie l»rid<:-. and river WawUv^ it.
/•/:iiil..ii:^> tu make Uut weU-kept. pn.
vii]a,ro of the ol'len time.

Al^r•uM^h Wen-l -y I; is ;j::vi/i 1
io was at tin? time (>. /'<■'/<' ^-/...v
H: ;^uded mt:n']j && li 1»; .• '.'
iri'T'iM-taiice dnr'ULr t\ir \
'V. a.- I i^Mnll slit.'W, toU -
i'-Miiehda} siirvt-y, yet \\»i .
i ci'e that a plpce of w-'i -••
.'-le .:it^* f>f the prcsviic '•'. ' ♦

'//lo-Saxou set*:ei*s v\ ■ .
•"lu.t'Ml Hssuinj)liuii, 1>.--

it iL« Vikiriir h{>^^^ ' . .

"PI:

-i 2i

. -.IT -♦'

vVjfei

.-^

.■(»*- •* '- ^"•wv"^ . - .

877

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Wenslby.

A model village— The Tillage giveB name to the whole valley — Scandinavian
irruption — Meaning of Wensley — Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon interment —
Some Anglo-Saxon stones — Manor of Wensley — The Scropes — Heart-burial —
The church— Its archisological attractions — Remarkably fine old brass —
• Comparison between it and the brasses at North Mimms and St. Albans
Abbey— The De la Meres related to the Scropes — ^Arms, monuments and
inscriptions in the church — Thomas Maude — Rev. John Wesley at Wensley —
Old churchwardens* accounts — The iate Hon. and Rev. Thos. Orde-Powlett —
Copy of ancient market-charter for Wensley — The markets suspended by
a plague in 156S— Former aspects of the village— Why the large elm-tree was
planted on the green.

I HERE is a rural charm about Wensley truly captivating.
One sees in the trim, clean, cosy little place all the
elements that make up a type of an old English
village : the baronial home in its spacious park, the
ofSces and cottages of the lord's servants, each with
its pretty garden-plot, the grand old elm on the ample
green, the venerable church and God*s acre, wherein the **rude forefathers
of the hamlet *' sleep, the pleasantly-placed home of the pastor, the sturdy
stone bridge and river flowing unheeded on its course beneath, — all these
combine to make the well-kept pretty spot the perfection of an English
Tillage of the olden time.

Although Wensley has given name to the whole valley of the Yore,
it was at the time of Domesday of no greater consequence than to be
included merely as a bailiwick of Witton. But that it had a higher
importance during the Anglo-Saxon and Norse occupation of the valley
is, as I shall shew, tolerably certain. The church is not recorded in the
Domesday survey, yet we have sufScient testimony from the relics found
here that a place of worship did undoubtedly exist upon or adjacent to
the site of the present edifice. That the Christian temple erected by the
Anglo-Saxon settlers was destroyed on the Danish irruption is a well-
founded assumption, based on the fact so often advanced in this work
that the Viking hosts had possession of the North Biding dales for a

878

long period before the Norman conquest, and in the eighth century, as
we gather from the excellent historian Bede, many of the North Yorkshire
churches had been plundered or destroyed, the sacred vessels of the altar
and other valuable booty borne away on these predatory excursions.
The number of church ornaments and the immense quantities of Anglo-
Saxon coins preserved in the museums at Stockholm, Copenhagen, &c.,
yield ample proof of the desperate character of these invasions. When
the Vikings had become firmly established in Wensleydale, and had
destroyed the Christian churches and erected pagan temples on their
sites, it was then, as I have before remarked, that many of these places
were named in honour of their deities. Or, as Sir Walter Scott, in his
poem of Bokebt/y aptly puts it :

Beneath the shade the Northmen came,
Fixed on each vale a runic name,
Reared high their altar's rugged stone,
And gave their gods the lands they won.

Thus it came about that such places as Thoresby and Thoralby were
named after the god Thor ; Fryton, near Hovingham, probably after the
god Prey, progenitor of the Tngling race ; Aysgarth, perhaps from the
Scand. a«, asa^ ».«., gods, therefore the place or enclosure sacred to the gods ;
and Wensley from its having been the chosen centre and capital of the
Viking hosts in the dale dedicated to Odin, the chief deity of the ancient
Scandinavians.* In Domesday the place is written Wendreslaga, and in
charters of the 12th and 13th centuries it appears in the various forms
of Wenslagh, Wencelagh, Wenslaw, Wendesley, &c. How it comes to
be a derivative from the name of the ruling god Odin is exactly as we
derive the name of the fourth day of the week, Wednesday, which was
dedicated to the same god (see page 168). Wensley, or Wendreslaga,
was therefore the Vikings Odinslag aU. Wodenslag als. Woenslag, for as
I have pointed out the Dutch have omitted the primal ' d Mn the fourth
day of the week, which they call Woensdag. It is moreover significant
that in Wensleydale the native pronunciation of the name is Wensidal,t
and of Wednesday it is Wensda\ and I have no doubt that Wensley
being the place deified by the name of the chief god and guiding spirit

* The three gods, Odin, Thor, and Frey are popularly supposed to have died,
and to have been buried like ordinary mortals. Their graye-mounds are still
shewn at Upsal, — not the Upsal near Thirsk, formerly belonging to the great
Lords Scrope, — but Upsal near Stockholm, which in ancient times was the chief
city of the sovereigns of Sweden, and where they held their supreme tribunal.
The Upsal near Thirsk was in the Viking era also a place of high religious note,
and a heathen altar-stone is still preserved there.

t Leland, who visited the district, temp. Henry VIII., writes it Wensedale, and
Camden (1586) Wentsedale.

879

of the ancient Scandinavians, was the prime caose of its becoming the
principal place and ruling name of the dale.*

A terrible day in Wensleydale was it when these daring Viking hosts
fell with sword and brand upon the peace-abiding Saxons in the green
and wooded valley, and the old timber villages and moated burhs were
fired or mercilessly wrecked. The treacherous slaughter of Bayner
Lodbrog, the valiant Danish sea-king, by the Saxon Ella, excited the
vengeance of his sons Hinguar and Hubba, who came over to England,
and in the words of the old Norse hero-song, Lodhrohar-Quida^ or Death-
Song of Lodbrog, '^ hewed their way,** sword in hand, through the Saxon
ranks, killed and destroyed all the Christian saints, monks and monasteries
they could lay hands on, and planted the standard of the pagans in
places which before had been sacred to the gospel of Christ. Said the
dying Lodbrog :

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 foeman's skull ;
Glad I wait my summons near, —
Who, when Odin calls, should fear ?

And thus the mighty hero, happy in the expectation of drinking mead
out of the hollow skull of an enemy, passed to the great Valhalla !

An Anglo-Saxon interment of an interesting character was discovered
some years ago in Wensley Park, about 150 yards west of the church-
yard. From the crouched position in which the skeleton was found, and
the absence of relics, there is no doubt of its belonging to the period
named. Whether the individual met his death through the incursion of
the Danish pirates, above alluded to, it is impossible to say, but neither
the skull nor bones, though in a very decayed and crumbled state betray
any marks of violence. It is evident, however, that the deceased had
received Christian burial from the careful placing of the body with face
to the east. By the courtesy of Lord Bolton I am enabled to present
an engraving of the intei-ment from a photograph taken by him when
the skeleton was uncovered. Tt was not disturbed but was immediately
afterwards covered up and a small stone erected to mark the site.

* Since the above was written I find my deductions further confirmed by the
fact that in Derbyshire, about five miles north-west of Matlock Bath, is a
village called Winsley or Wensley, and which in Domesday bears the explicitly
characteristic name of Wodnesleie. In Dovedale, too, is Witton, and a cavity in
the rock known from time immemorial as Thor's Cave. In the Pipe Bolls for
11th Henry II. I find also mention of Wodnesbi [Wednesbury] in Staffordshire.

880

Among other evidences of the Saxon occupation are several enrioas
inscribed stones now preserved in the north aisle of the church. One of
these is a fragment measuring 16 inches by 9 inches, and bearing the
device of a cross, 10 inches high and 7 inches wide to the extremity of
the limbs. In each of the two upper angles is a bird, and in the lower
ones a dragon-like figure. Beneath, in Saxon characters, appears the
name Domfbid« Another stone which for a considerable period, up to

vvT!fe^.

> \

j'/

K^'^^

ANGLO-SiJCON SkELBTON.

1846, when it was observed by the Rev. Daniel H. Haigh, the Bunic
scholar, had lain in the flagged pavement of a path in the churchyard,
exposed to the wear of every passing foot. The cross and lettering on
this interesting fragment are in relief, but now almost obliterated. The
whole probably read : Orate pro Eatbereht bt Aritni. From Simeon
of Durham, and the chronological notes appended to the Historia
Eeclesiasticay we are enabled to fix the date of the sculpture, about a.d.

881

740.* Bnilt into the onter walls of the chnrch there is also another
fragment of Saxon carved work.

The manor of Wensley for a long period after the Conquest was held
of the Earls of Richmond,! and in 1277, as appears from the retnrns of
Kirkhy*8 InqtMit^ the lord of Wendesley (Wensley) and Ulveshow
(Ulshaw) was Nicholas de Wendesley. A little later, by inquisition
taken 11th Edward I. (1282) we find that the same Nicholas de
Wandesley held in capiU of the Earl of Richmond half one knight's fee
in Wandesley by homage, &c. Also Roger de Ingelby held in capita of
the said Earl half one fee in Wandesley, and the advowson of the chnrch
of Wandesley, valne £70. At this time we also find that the Scropes
had obtained a footing here, for by the same inquisition it appears that
William le Scrope held in eapite of the said Earl, the twelfth part of one
knight*s fee in Wensley by homage, &c., but not the advowson of the
church. Subsequently, as I have elsewhere explained, the Scropes came
into sole possession of Wensley, as well as of other manors, by marriage
with the heiress of Neville in the reign of Henry YI. Ralph Neville,
first Earl of Westmorland, devised to his brother-in-law. Sir Richard
Oholmeley, several Yorkshire manors, and in the 2nd-8rd Philip and
Mary (1554-5) I find the following fine entered :

Final concord between Henry Scrope, Knt., Lord Scrope, plainti£f, and Richard
Cholmeley, Ent., and Dame Eatherine his wife, deforciant, of the castle of Bast
Bolton, with the appurtenances, and of the manors of Estbolton, West Bolton,
Wensley, Bllerton, Bolton super Swayll, Caldwell, Downholme, and Brignell, with
the appurtenances, and of 200 messuages, 100 cottages, 60 tofts, 200 gardens, 100
orchards, 6 water mills, 1 fulling mill, 4 dovecotes, 2000 acres of land, 1000 acres
of meadow, 2000 acres of pasture, 300 acres of wood, 2000 acres of moor, 1000
acres of moss, 1000 acres of marsh, 200 acres of turbary, 2000 acres of furae and
heath; and 6 librates of rent with the appurtenances in Bst Bolton, &c. Also the
advowson of the Church of Wensley whereupon a plea, &c., the aforesaid Richard
and Eatherine acknowledge the aforesaid castle, &c., to be the right of him Henry,
&c. And for this, &c., the said Henry hath given to Richard and Eatherine
2006^ sterling. At West. Oct of St. Hilery.

It was this Lord Scrope who was one of the tilters before Qaeen
Elizabeth at her coronation in 1558. His portrait is at Bolton Hall.
He was the 11th Lord Scrope of Bolton, and died in 1590. Thomas,

* An engraving of it will be found in the Torkihire Arehaologieal Journal^
vol. vi., page 46.

t In the reign of Richard I., Hugh Malebisse had inherited lands at Wensley
and EUerton from Weimar, son of Warner, whose widow Helewisa brought an
action against him in 1204 for her dower in these places. In 1208 he had for wife
one Beatrice, in whose right he possessed half a knight's fee in Boelton and
Tezton, now Bolton in Wensleydale and Theakston. — Vide Ouubro' Chartulary^
page 8 n.

882

the 12th lord, died in 1609, and Emannel, the Idth lord, who died in
1630, left a daughter, Maria, who became the wife of Charles Powlett,
Marquis of Winchester, created Duke of Bolton in 1689. It was by
this marriage that the Powlett family obtained their portion of the great
estates of the Scropes. Henry, the 6th and last Duke of Bolton, died
without male issue in 1794, when the title became extinct.

A curious fact is connected with the burial of the above lady Maria,
Marchioness of Winchester. Within the vault of the Powlett family in
Wensley Church her cofSn is placed upright and kept in position by
iron bands fastened round it. On the top of the cofSn lies a leaden
heart-shaped casket, containing the heart of the deceased lady, bat
neither this nor the coiBn bear any inscription. Considering that there
was ample room on the floor of the vault for the coffin to be laid down
in the ordinary way, it seems strange that it should have been placed in
an ei*ect position in the vault. The burial is recorded in Latin in the
registers of the church :

1680. Maria, wife of Charles Pawlett, and daughter of Emanuel Scrope, who
died at Moulins in France. She died November let, and her body was conveyed
to Wensley and there buried, November 12th, 1680.

Her husband, the Duke of Bolton, died in 1699, and was buried in his
family tomb at Basing in Hampshire.

The church (Holy Trinity) at Wensley has perhaps greater attractions
for the archaeologist than any other in Richmondshire. It is rich in
heraldry, monuments, and carved work, and it possesses, undoubtedly, the
finest existing mediaeval brass in the whole county of York. The choir
appears to be of the 13th century, but the nave and fabric generally have
evidently undergone restoration in the church-building era of the first
quarter of the 16th century. The priests^ stalls and the lancet windows
have hatched mouldings, and the north doorway, which has a pointed
sweep, is surmounted with a very unusual pediment moulding like a
tomb of the same period. The nave is supported by eight octagonal
columns, and on the buttresses of the nave and choir are the following
arms, sculptured on stone shields : (1) Scrope, (2) Fitz Hugh, (8) Scrope
of Masham, (4) Neville, (5) De Ros, (6) Scrope of Masham impaling
Montacute, (7) Neville), (8) De Ros, (9) Scrope, (10) a fess between
three roses, (11) De la Pole.

The east end of the north aisle was the chantry of Our Lady,
founded by Richard Lord Scrope, High Chancellor of England, &c.,and
furnished by the Abbot of St. Agatha, at Easby, with a priest to say
mass daily for the founders and for all Christian souls. At the Dissolution
this chantry was declared of the clear yearly value of 106s. 8d. It had
been the intention of the same noble founder to make the church

883

collegiate, for in 1398-9 he obtained a license from the king to grant
lands to the valae of £150, free of the statute of mortmain, in order to
provide one master or warden for the said college, one chaplain, and as
many fellows and other ministers as may seem expedient to the said
Richard liord Scrope. The college was to find a chaplain to serve daily
in the chapel of St. Oswald in Bolton, and another to serve daily in the
chapel of St. Anne in the Castle of Bolton.* This designed foundation
was probably never effected, although on the death of Richard II., a
farther attempt to carry it out appears to have been made by Lord Scrope
on the accession of Henry lY., as a second patent was granted to him
by that king.f He it was too who began the building of Bolton Castle
in the year 1400, but died three years later, before it was completed.

In the choir is the magnificent brass before alluded to, depicting an
ecclesiastic {ca. 1370) in full eucharistic vestments, as he wore them at
the altar. The engraved figure is five feet four inches in length, and is
a superb example of the limner*s art. There is no doubt of its Flemish
origin : the size of the plate (although this is in two pieces), the breadth
and boldness of the main lines, the exquisite diaper-work of the apparels,
and the delicate freedom and finish of the whole design down to the
minutest details, all betray its Anglo-Flemish origin. There is indeed a
strong probability that this brass emanated from the same artist or from
the same workshop that produced the well-known Flemish brasses of
Abbot Thomas de la Mere, in St. Albans Abbey {ca. 1870), and of
a parish priest at North Mimms in Hertfordshire (ca, 1360). The
designs are very similar ; both are described in BoutelFs Monumental
Brasses. I give an engraving from a rubbing of the St. Albans Abbey
brass {Fig. i), along with one of the Wensley brass (Fig. 2)^ from which
some interesting comparisons may be made. The former is known
to have been executed in the Abbot's lifetime and under his own
superintendence, a practice not uncommon at that period.:^ It may be
observed that in both the engravings the hands are crossed downwards
in an attitude of humility, and do not, as is almost invariably the case,
hold the chalice.

At the head of the Wensley brass there has unfortunately been placed
a plate recording the burial here of a former rector of Wensley, one
Oswald Dykes (1587-91), who died in 1607. A reference to the will of
this Protestant rector shews that the original occupant of the tomb was

* Pat. Rolls, 22nd Richard II., part 2, m. 10.

t Ibid, let Henry IV., part 8, m. 2.

X An interesting memoir of Abbot Thomas de la Mere will be found in Gibson's
▼aloable illuminated Histitry of TynemotUJi Priory (1847), quarto, vol. ii., pages
40.54.

384

Fig. L
St. Albaits Abbey,

Fig. 2,

Wknslky OttimoH.

385

one " Sir " Simon de Wenselawe, who was instituted to the living of
Wenslej in 1861. The will ordains that the said Oswald Dykes shall be
bnried '^ under the stone and brass of Sir Simon de Wenselawe/* which
apparently shews that at the date of the will the original inscription on
the brass was perfect. Sir Simon, who is stated to have been a near
relative of Richard, Lord Scrope, was one of the witnesses in the
memorable suit between this Lord Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor,
ancestor of the present Marquis of Westminster, touching their respective
rights to bear the armorial coat, azure^ a bend or. As is well known,
after protracted litigation, the suit terminated (a.d. 1368) in favour of
Scrope, whose arms, as above, were declared to have been graven on
stone and wood, and painted on glass in many of the Richmondshire
churches and monasteries then "time out of the memory of man."
Sir Simon de Wensley also deposed that certain ancient slabs and tomb-
stones at Wensley bore the same arms with Lombardic inscriptions.
These have long ago disappeared.

That such a splendid memorial should have been placed in Wensley
church to this ancient rector, similar as I have said, to the one in
St. Albans Abbey, commemorating Abbot Thomas de la Mere, lends,
with the evidence here following, strong presumption of a relationship
between these two priestly characters. It must be remembered that the
name borne by any mediaBval ecclesiastic affords little or no clue to his
descent or family, for in at least nine cases out of ten it was derived
from his birthplace or the place of his adoption. We do not actually
know that Simon de Wensley was of the family of Wensley, but he may
properly have assumed the W&me from the place of his birth, or even
perhaps after he became rector of Wensley. Thus for example did
Dr. Thomas Scott, Bishop of Rochester, and in 1480 Archbishop of York,
assume the name of Rotherham, from the town in which he was bom.*
The suspicion that this Simon de Wensley was of the family of De la Mere
is confirmed not merely by a comparison of the two brasses engraved,
but from the fact that this family had important possessions in Yorkshire,
and in Richmondshire I have elsewhere shewn them to be located.

The Abbot of St. Albans was the second son of Sir John de la
Mere, Kt., by his marriage with Johanna, daughter of Sir John de
Harpsfield, and his family had been long seated in Hertfordshire.
He was related both on his father's and mother's side with several great
families having Yorkshire connections, notably, says Newcome in his
History of St. Albans (1795), on the father's side with Sir William
Montacute, Earl [of Salisbury], Sir William de la Zouch,t lord of

• See Campbell'B Lives of the C/Mneellort, i., 893, ch. 23.

t For Pedigree of Zouch of Harringworth see Whalley's Northamptonshire
(1791), vol. ii., page 818.

886

Haryngworth, Sir Thomas Orandison, Kb., and Master Thomas
Qrandison, Bishop of Exeter, &c. It is noteworthy that a daughter of
Conan, Duke of Britanj, grandnephew of Alan, Earl of RichmoDd, and
of Ribald, lord of Middleham, Bolton, &c., in Wenslejdale, married
Alan de la Zouche, ancestor of Sir William de la Zouche, a kinsman as
above of the Abbot of St. Albans. Moreover, as noted a few pages
back, on the buttresses of the nave and choir are several shields of arms,
including one of Scrope of Masham impaling Montacute, likewise akin
to the said Abbot.*

The heraldic visitation made in 1665 shews that there were several
armorial emblazonments in the church, which have since got destroyed

* The Abbot was born about the year 1308, and in 1841 was appointed, probably
from the northern origin of his family or from family relationship with the north,
to the position of Prior of the Priory of Tynemoath, in the diocese of Durham,
which was a dependency of the Abbey of St. Albans. It is noteworthy that at
least four of his predecessors in the o£Bce of Prior were of North Yorkshire
extraction : (1) Akarius, " mature in years " when elected Prior in the time of
Henry II., had been a true and generous benefactor of the house. It is commonly
asserted that he was the same who founded the Abbey of Fors in Wensleydale,
afterwards translated to Jerrauz, where he was interred in 1161 (Dugd. Baron, I.,
681) ; (2) Wm. de Barton, Prior in 1223 ; (S) Adam de Tweng, Prior in 1296 ;
(4) Simon de Waldea, Prior in 1801 ; his Yorkshire origin may be doubted ; (5)
Richard de Tweng, Prior in 1820. The Prior Thomas de la Mere retained his office
at Tynemouth nine years, when he was elected to the Abbotship of the parent-house
of St. Albans, a position which he filled with wisdom, prudence, and devotion for
a period of forty-eight years, entering into rest a.d. 1896, at the age of 88. While
he was Abbot he undertook many expensive works for the benefit of the Abbej,
and he also effected a great increase in the revenues of the Abbey. He likewise
improved the value of several Yorkshire poBsessions, including Appulton, in
Ryedale, from £20 a year to upwards of £200 ; and further "a purchase of a moiety
of the manor of Norton-in-the-Clay, in Yorkshire, for £50, was much applauded **
itfide MSS. vi., 7, in Ben. Coll. Liby., Cambridge).

It may be observed that while Prior of Tynemouth he had a generous and
indulgent friend and patron in the noble Lady Mary Percy, sister of Henry, the
illustrious Duke of Lancaster, and wife of Henry Lord Percy. Matilda, daughter
of Henry Percy, married John, Baron Neville, lord of Middleham, &c., who died
in 1388. His sister, Eleanor Neville, was married to Geoffrey Scrope, aod
afterwards became a nun in the Minories, London. The taltire of the Nevilles
may still be seen in Wensley Church.

Dugdale gives several families or branches of De la Mere ; one in Wiltshire,
another in Somersetshire, a third in Herefordshire, and a fourth in Oxfordshire.
But he does not mention the Hertfordshire or Yorkshire families, although the
latter was resident in the county for centuries, and occurs in the oldest Pipe Boll,
Blst Henry I. (1180), whilst the Hertfordshire branch is found as far back as io the
Rolls of Assizes taken at Hertford 10th Richard I. (1198). The De la Meres built
Noney Castle in Somersetshire, which descended by marriage in the reign of
Henry IV. to the family of Paulett ^Collins* Peerage^ ped. Marq. of Winchester),
who by their marriage with the heiress of Scrope, temp, Charles I., succeeded to
the estates at Wensley.

387

or lost. In the windows were (1) Fitz Randolph of Middleham,
(2) Mowbray, (8) Crescy, (4) Fitz Hugh, (5) De la Pole, (6) Scrope.
In the east window of five lancet lights, are three ancient coats,
(1) Marmion and Fitz Hugh, quarterly, impaling Tiptoft and Scrope,
quarterly ; (2) quarterly, first and fourth, cheeky, or and guka (Warren),
second and third, gulesy three escallops, argent (Dacre of Gilsland),
impaling Tiptoft and Scrope, quarterly ; (3) France and England,
quarterly.

Ancient Parclosb in Wbnsley Church.

The triple sedilia in the choir are Early English, having pointed
arches with characteristic ornament, supported by two short detached
circular columns rising from the stone seat of continuation, and having
simple moulded bases and capitals. The oak stalls are of later date, and
display wonderful skill in craftsmanship. They were brought from

388

St. Agatha's Abbey, Easby, most probably by John, tenth Lord Scrope of
Bolton. The black letter inscription upon them reads :

3^enrtcu0 36licf)n))0on i)uju0 ecclte rector no0 fecit 0uptu0 TSni
tn''ccccc°xx^° Soil Beo J^onor et ffilona.

Accompanying the inscription are the ever-conspicuous arms of Scrope,
azure, a bend, or, along with the arms of Tiptoft, with helm and two
Cornish choughs as supporters ; also a lion and a shield bearing Scrope
and Tiptoft quarterly impaling Dacre and Warren, &c. One of the
principal attractions in the church is the superbly-carved panel and
lattice-work which formed part of the parclose of the Scrope chantry at
St. Agatha's, and was brought from that Abbey at the Dissolution in
1536. It occupies the east end of the north aisle, and is now the private
pew of Lord Bolton. Beneath it is the family vault, and above the pew
is an old flag, appropriately inscribed, of the Loyal Dales Volunteers.
The parclose has been richly gilt and blazoned, good evidence of which
remains. As the inscriptions, however, are incomplete, they may be
given from the original copy preserved at the College of Arms :

f^ere Igetf) J^enrg Scrope, IBtntglit, tlje fatttf) of tijat name, t{)e ixtt) fLorte
of ISolton, anise fHabell ^ia Inife, baugijter to tlje Eorl) IBaktxa tt (Srq^s.

J^ete Igetf) J^enr^l Scrope, IBtnfgbt, t{)e ii^itbt of ti)at nagme, an)) ti|e
ng{)te ILortie Scrope of ISoUon, an)3 (SItjabeti) i^isi inifSt, tjaugt^ter of J^enrg,
Sari of i^ortf)umberIanti.

The eighteen panels composing the sides of ^his elaborate work exhibit
the names and arms of a long succession of the chiefs of the noble
house of Scrope, witli'many distinguished alliances. One displays Scrope
and Tiptoft quarterly, impaling Fitz Hugh and Marmion, quarterly ;
another large shield ^ews Scrope and Tiptoft impaling Dacre, with five
quarterings, and supported by two Cornish choughs. The whole of this
beautiful piece of carving, of which I give an illustration, is in the
Tudor style of the early part of the 16th century.

Of similar age and di^n is a large mural tombstone in the north
aisle bearing two full-length effigies of children. The stone measures
six feet four inches by four feet four inches, and extending along its
margin is the following black-letter inscription :

Super lapftiem marmoreum.
f^oc tegentur i)umo f^enrie'st Scrop, 36ltcart) usque, Wni J^enrict tt
ISolton et fHabellse uxortd ssuee minored natu Itfaert, ®uor. alt. xxb"" T)ic
ffiBxtii t)ece00tt, alt. xxbtit iluitt, 9nno Bommt tnt)i3Cb.

The nave is separated from the chancel by an old open screen of
wood, and in the centre aisle, filling its whole width, is a limestone-

389

marble slab commemorating two brothers, Richard and John Glederow,
who were both rectors. On this stone have been celebrated from an
unknown period the first part of all marriage rites in the church, which
were afterwards completed at the altar. At Ripon Minster a similar
custom obtained ; the first part of the marriage service took place ^* on
a blue stone *' in the fioor of the choir, near an entrance from the south
choir aisle at the end of the stalls ; the second part was at the altar
rails.

The font (except the base) and beautifully-carved poor-box are also
ancient. The font is octagonal, and bears this singular inscription, oddly
cut, some of the letters being wrong side up : ^' Chvbch Masters
LOCKE WELL AFTER YOUR CHARGES,'* with initials of the churchwardens
and date 1662. On the south wall is a mural stone inscribed ;

Matthew Bateman { k,,,:^^ April 12. 1677.

Thomas, his sod | '^^"•^ Oct. SO, 1686.

They gave £10 to the Poor's Stock of Wensley.

Live well and Die well.

Reader imitate their sublime Charity,

And after death thou'It find Kternity

Amongst y* Blessed. (felicitie.*)

Matthew Bateman, junior, gave Five pounds to the poor of Wensley, 1718.

Upon the same wall is a Georgian sculpture inscribed to Peter
Hammond, who died in 1771, his wife, son, daughter, and grandson.
There are also the following memorials :

On the south wall a tablet in memory of Peter Goldsmith, M.D., who died
June 16th, 1836, aged 64. Erected by his numerous friends. Dr. Goldsmith was
charitable and kind of heart, and attended the sick and needy of t«n gratuitously.
He was surgeon on board the Victory at the battle of Trafalgar.

Over the south doorway a marble tablet to Edward Tennant, Esq., who died
October 18th, 1860, aged 84, and was interred at High Harrogate. Also of the
Rev. Ottiwell Tennant, rector of Upton, who died March lOth, 1868, aged 82, and
was interred at Molesworth, Huntingdon.

A stained glass window in south aisle, erected by Emma Button in memory of
her parents and brother : Thos. March Lamb, who died 2Srd October, 1855, aged 69,
Elizabeth, his wife, died 15th March. 1876, aged 89 ; and Richard Charles Lamb
(of Middleham), only son of the above, who died 18th September, 1814, aged 31.

A marble tablet on the north wall in memory of , the Honble. Thomas Powlett
Orde-Powlett, who died at Bolton Hall, January 31st, 1843.

Underneath the above a brass tablet commemorates Algitha Alkelda Brenda
Orde- Powlett, born 29th June, at rest 3rd November, 1871. Also of Rhoda Leila
Alice Orde-Powlett, born 8th June, 1875, at rest 15th July, 1890. Beloved
daughters of the Honble. W. T. and Lady Algitha Orde-Powlett.

* The word '* felicitie " appears to have been an afterthought

890

A Btained-glass window at the west end of the north aisle, erected by Willum
Bowntree in 188S in memory of his father and mother, Richard and SaiBh
Bowntree, of Leybum, and of his brothers Thomas and Richard, and others of his
kin who rest in the churchyard. This window was executed by Mr. J. H. Metcalfe,
of Leyburn, and Mr. Bentley.

The large, fine-toned organ was erected in memory of Letitia,
Baroness Bolton, who was bom Feb. 8th, 1824, and died Jan. 4th, 1882.

Over the sonth doorway is a sundial dated 1848, and appropriately
inscribed : *' As a shadow, such is life." The tower, rebuilt in 1719,
contains three bells, two of which have Latin inscriptions and the date
1725 ; the third was re-cast in 1847, and has no inscription. In the
churchyard may be noted the tombstone of Thomas Maude, a poet of
considerable merit and the first topographer and historian of Wensleydale.
He had been surgeon on board the Harfleur when commanded by Captain
Lord Harry Powlett, who on succeeding to the title of Duke of Bolton,
appointed him agent for his northern estates. He resided at Bolton
Hall, and in 1771 published his Wensleydale, a poem, with copious
historical annotations, — penned with much taste and judgment, — a
valuable composition that is now seldom met with. He spent the latter
part of his life at Burley House, near Otley, and died there Dec. 28rd,
1798, in the 81st year of his age.

The Rev. John Wesley preached in Wensley Church, October 80th,
1748, and he again visited Wensley in the following year ; the Rev. J.
Clayton, the rector, and Mr. Wesley having been college friends together
at Oxford. Mr. Clayton was of an extremely charitable disposition,
often denying himself for the benefit of others, so that in spite of a
large income he died in comparative poverty. At his funeral many of
the parishioners shed tears, ''he having been a father to the poor.'*
Mr. Wesley writes most feelingly of him in his Journal.

The registera of the church commence with the year 1588, and are
amongst the oldest in the country. Excepting the allusion to the plagae,
hereafter mentioned, they do not contain anything of special interest.
The churchwardens* accounts begin with an entry of a payment in 1726
of 5s. for '' ringing on Gunpowder Treason.** Other interesting items
are as follows :

1726. Reshes getting [for strewing the church floor], 2b. 6d.
„ Brooms and cleaning church, 98. 6d.

1727. For bell-ropes, ISs.

„ Carrying and bringing the bell-ropes from Bedale, 6d.

., Spent at the coronation [George II.], 5s.

„ Exchange betwixt the pewder dish and the brass dish, 4s. 2d.

„ Christmas Day candles, 2s. 2d.

1728. Pilling ye oak for ye church-y<^ stoops, 4b. 2d.

1732. Thos. Furnass for whitening the church and marbleing the pillarsi £8 Is.

891

17S2. John RobinBon for an iron rod for a stay for je pulpit, 9d.
„ John Willis, extraordinary whilst the church was whitening, &c., from

time to time cleaning the seats in the church, 2s.
„ Court charges at Richmond at the yisitation, lOs.
1746. Four orders of Council relating to je distempered cattle, 4s. [see p. SS7].
1760. Spent on a review of the church, 28. 6d.

„ Cleaning the church of cobwebs, 2s.
1769. A form of prayer on the taking of Quebeck, Is.

[A conflict that resulted in the annihilation of the French power in
Canada, and its annexation by the English.].
„ A form of prayer for the victory gained by His Majesty's fleet under

Sir Edward Hawke, Is.
„ Agreed with John Rodham for a pulpit, reading-desk, and clarke pew,

£10 16s.
„ Spent when the agreement was made, 2s. 6d.
1778. Two loads of Bishopbridge coals, 2s. 2d.

[At this time coal was carted regularly into Wenaleydale from the
coal-fields about Bishop Auckland, a distance of about thirty miles.
This expensive coal was usually mixed with the thin, poor coal got on
Leyburn Moor to make it go further. The introduction of the railway
has, of course, altered this condition of things.]

In these accounts is a list of subscribers with their i-espective donations
towards erecting a gallery in the church in the year 1748. The sums
total collected were as follows :

£ s. d.

Wensley 17 18 0

Leyburn ... ... ... ... ... 9 9 0

Preston ... ... ... ... 8 18 6

A stranger schoolmaster, a lover of Psalmody ... 0 2 0

£81 7 6

The living at Wensley is a rectory valued in the Liber Regis at
£49 9s. 9^d., and now worth about £650 per annum. The patron is
Lord Bolton. The late rector, the Hon. and Rev. Thomas Orde-
Powlett, M.A., who was born in 1822 and died in 1894, was a brother
of the late Lord Bolton and was raised to the rank of a Baron's son by
Boyal Warrant in 1850. He held the living of Wensley for the long
period of 44 years, having previously been curate for five years to the
then rector, the Rev. Mr. Orde. He was a gentleman of generous
sympathies, being very charitable and kind to the poor, while in the
pulpit he had the reputation of being a plain but earnest preacher.
He married in 1846 the youngest daughter of the late Marmaduke
Wyvill, Esq., of Burton Constable, and is succeeded at the rectory by
his eldest son, the Rev. Ernest Orde-Powlett, M.A.

At this day it seems a strange reflection upon its wonted quietude that
the little village of Wensley was once a bustling market-town, with its

892

motley gathering of buyers and sellers coming from far and wide. Bat
such was the case in centuries long past, and a merry and picturesque
scene it must have presented when the neighbouring castles and
monasteries were in all their glory, and crusading knight, monk and
friar, steward and cook to the rulers of the land, (who by law had the
pick of the fair), moved among the booths, stalls, and baskets, stored
with poultry, fruit, vegetables, vessels of pewter and wood, homespnn
goods and yarns — an endless variety of wares. The family of Wensiey
or Wendesley, were, as I have said, lords of the manor in the 18th
century,* and it was to James de Wandesley that King Edward I. in
the 35th year of his reign (1306) granted the right to hold a weekly
market and annual fair, as well as the privilege of free warren within his
manor of Wensiey. The charter has never before been printed, therefore
the following translation of it is here given :

Gbakt of Mabkkt and Faibs and Pbbe Wabbbn at Wenslbt.

The King to the Archbishops, &c., greeting, know ye that we for the good
service which James de Wandesley in the parts of Scotland hath discharged
towards us, have granted, and by this our charter have confirmed, to the said James
that he and his heirs may for ever have a market every week on Wednesday at his
manor of Wandesleye, in the county of York, and a fair there every year, lasting
three days, to wit, on the vigil and on the day and the morrow of Holy Trinity,
unless such market and fairs be to the damage of neighbouring markets and fairs,
and that they may have free warren in all their demesne lands of the manor
aforesaid, while, however, such lands are not within the bounds of our forest, so
that no one shall enter such lands to hunt in them or to take anything which
belongs to the warren without the license lind will of the said James, or his heirs,
upon forfeiture to us of ten pounds. Wherefore we will, &c., that the aforesaid
James and his heirs [may have] the aforesaid markets and fairs for ever, unless
such markets and fairs, &c., and that they may have free warren, &c., while,
however, &c., so &c. These being witnesses, the venerable fathers, W. Archbp. of
York, Primate of England, W. Bp. of Coventry and Lichfield, R. Bp. of London,
J. Bp. of Carlisle, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,
Hugh le Despenser, Robert de Clifford, and others. Given by our hand al
Lanrecost, xx. day of ffebruary. Bt Wbit of Pbivt Sbal.

It will be seen that the above James de Wandesley was prominent in
the wars with Scotland, and after the battle of Bannockbnm (1314)
when the Scropes held Wensiey, we find the grant to hold fairs, &c., at
Wensiey confirmed to Henry le Scrope by Edward II. in the 11th year
of his reign (1817). As the terms of the charter are almost identical

* There was a family of Wensiey or Wencelagh possessed of estates in the
township of Brandsburton in Holderness in the reign of Henry lY. (where also
the Richmondshire families of St. Quintin and De la Mere were seated), and there
is a Pedigree of Wencelagh from A.D. 1400, in Poulson*8 Holdemeu^ vol., i. page
277. The arms of Wencelagh were vert, four escallops, in cross, head to head,
argent.

393

with those quoted above it is not necessary to reproduce it. The markets
appear to have been held with regularity till the reign of Elizabeth, when
a dreadful plague or sickness broke out in 1563, and the terrified
inhabitants never afterwards recovered their old prestige, and the
markets consequently fell into desuetude. The following explanatory
record appears in the parish register :

1663. The reason as some think that nothing is found written in the Register
in the year of our Lord God 1563. Because that in that yeare, the visitation or
plague was most hote and fearfull so yt many fled and ye Towne of Wensley by
reason of the sickness was unfrequented for a long season. As I finde By one old
write! ng dated 1669 Byrne Jo. Natlor.* [Vide Chaytor ArchivesJ]

The adult population of the parish in 1548 numbered 640 (probably
half the total population) as is recorded in the Certificates of Chantries
at the Dissolution. At this time the houses were low and thatched (as
we gather from Leland) and each, doubtless, had its cesspool and refuse
lieap close to the door, a common practice in our villages down to a late
period, — the very fermentors of sickness and evil. Doubtless the place
had its taverns and ale-houses too, but of these only one survives, the
Three Horse Shoes, a very old hostelry, and probably the one noticed
in the Itinerary of ** Drunken Barnaby."

Much fanciful writing has been published from time to time about
the fine old elm which graces the village green. It is said to be centuries
old, and that it was the original scene of Frith^s Old English Merry
Making ;*' the artist, by the way, having been born at Aldfield, near
Ripon, in 1819, and brought up in the neighbourhood. Barker, too,
speaks of it as the sole survivor of the " forest monarchs *' which
anciently adorned almost every hamlet in Wensleydale. The tree is
certainly a noble specimen of its kind, measuring eighteen feet in
circumference at a yard from the ground, and by its far-extending
branches and excellent proportions, presents in the season of full foliage
a rare and attractive object. As a matter of fact, however, it was
planted when a sapling in the year 1690 by one John Coates, the day
before his marriage. He was then in the 23rd year of his age, and he
lived to see it become a large tree. As to the assumption of its being
the subject of Frith^s famous painting, above mentioned, we have the
artist's own statement to the contrary. Indeed, the tree of the picture is
an oak and not an elm. He says, in referring to the Old English Merry
Making, that '' the oak tree is a portrait of a patriarch of Windsor Forest,
which I recognized the other day unchanged in the slightest degree "
(vide My Autobiography and Reminiscences, by W. P. Frith, R.A., 1888).

* Local pl&gues at this period were not infrequent, due in great measure to bad sanitation. In
1670 a plague occurred at Knaresborough, and again at the same idaoe in 1687. See the author's
Temarks on the Plague Stones at Settle and Bentham in the Craven and Nurth-toest YarkMre
Hiffhlandt.

894

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Bolton Hall, Redmibe, and Preston-undek-Scar.

Bolton Park— A remarkable gravel -hill— Bolton Hall— The Orde and Powlett
f ami lies — The late Lord Bolton — Redmire— Meaning of the name — ^An old
sulphur-spring — Former asiiects of Redmire — The church — Parson Calvert —
Local VVesleyanism — A blind guide — On the moors — Preston-under-Scar —
Game of fives— Prehistoric dwellings— Preston mill — Eeld Head lead-mines
— Scarth Nick — Magnificent view.

[eAVING now the charming little village of Wensley, a
beautiful walk of about two-and-a-half miles through Bolton
Park leads to the picturesque old-world village of Redmire.
The path passes a short distance south of Bolton Hall, and
a little beyond a notable gravel-mound is encountered, which extends np
and down the valley for nearly a mile, in some places being upwards of
one hundred feet thick, and forming one of the largest glacial moraine
hills to be seen in Yorkshire. It is of the usual character, and there is
little doubt that the flat and low-lying expanse below, though now
beautifully verdant and wooded, was anciently a great lake. The road
rises over the mound, and from it lovely views of the river and hill-
bound valley are obtained.

Bolton Hall, the seat of the Right Hon. Lord Bolton, stands on a
warm and sheltered spot, commanding a flne view of the park and the
hills and moors that range upon the southern side of the vale. The
mansion, which consists of a centre and two wings, was built about 1678
by Charles Powlett, Marquis of Winchester, afterwards created Duke of
Bolton. It has been much modernised and improved during the present
century. The interior fittings and decorations are of great elegance,
while the paintings and portraits include many interesting and valuable
examples. Among the portraits preserved here are those of Henry, ninth
Lord Scrope of Bolton, and Lord Dacre's daughter, his wife. He was
one of the heroes of Flodden Field. John, tenth Lord Scrope, and
Henry, eleventh Lord Scrope, and Mary, his wife, daughter of Lord

895

North. Likewise Emannel, thirteenth and last Lord Scrope, who died
in 1630.

The Wensleydale property was conveyed by marriage of a daughter
of the last-named nobleman to the above Charles Powlett, Marquis of
Winchester, with whose descendants it remained until the extinction of
the Dakedom of Bolton in 1794. Thomas Orde, Esq., of an old
Northambrian family, having married Jane Mary, natural daughter of
Charles, the fifth Duke of Bolton, the Bolton estates were inherited by
him. He had been Secretary to the Treasury in 1 782, and afterwards
Secretary to the Duke of Rutland, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
and upon his accession to the Bolton property assumed the name and
arms of Powlett, and was created Baron Bolton, of Bolton Castle,
October 20th, 1797. He was succeeded in 1807 by his son William
Orde-Powlett, who died in 1850.

Bolton Hall.

The late Lord Bolton, William Henry Orde-Powlett, third Baron
Bolton, of whom I give a portrait, was one of the best known personalities
in the dale, with which he had throughout his long life been prominently
and intimately connected. He was the son of the late Hon. Thomas
Powlett Orde-Powlett, (second son of the first Baron), by his marriage with
Miss Letitia O'Brien. His lordship was born in London in 1818, and
married in 1844 his cousin, the youngest daughter of the late Col. Crawford
of Newfield, Ayrshire. He succeeded his uncle in 1850, since which
time he has been identified with most of the public movements tending to
the advancement and welfare of the dale. Outside the district he took

896

bnt little active part in public life. He was a J.P. and D.L. for the
North Riding, and for the long period of 45 yeara acted as Chairman of
the Leyburn Bench of Magistrates. That position he filled with rare
ability ; his impartiality, courtesy, and large-heartedness were ever
conspicuous traits of his character, and he was always known to
administer justice tempered with mercy. He took a great interest in
local agriculture and was President of the Wensleydale Long Wool
Sheep Breeders* Association, and at the time of his death he was a
prominent member of the Wensleydale Agricultural Society. In all
matters relating to the agricultural, religious, and educational interests
of the dale he proved himself a generous friend, and his charities
necessarily for one in his position, requiring judgment and discrimination,
were always distributed without reference to sect or creed. He took
much interest, too, in the local Volunteers, having himself been the
originator of the Company, which forms part of the 1st Volunteer
Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. The old colours of the Regiment
still hang over the family pew in Wensley Church. His lordship,
indeed, neglected no opportunity of doing good, and his coui-teoas
bearing and kindly presence in the dale will assuredly long be missed.
He died on the 7th November, 1895, aged 77, and is succeeded by his
eldest son, the Hon. William Thomas Orde-Powlett, who is Lieut.-Ool.
of the Yorkshire Hussars, and Deputy Provincial Grand Master of
Freemasons of the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire.

Redmire appeara in Domesday as Ridemare, and in the reign of the
Confessor constituted two manors belonging to Ghilpatric and Gamel.
Osbert de Redmire occurs in the Pipe Rolls of 12th and 13th Henry II.
(1166-7). The Abbot of Jervaux and the Abbot of Coverham had
each one carucate of land with appurtenances in the township, which
were held of the king »>i capite as of the honour of Richmond, in pure
and perpetual alms. John Marschall, canon of Redmire, was a monk in
Coverham Abbey, and in 1494 he was vicar of Downholme. The manor
of Redmire eventually came to the Scropes, as elsewhere related, and is
now owned by Lord Bolton.

The name of Redmire is probably derived from the A.S. ried^ a reed,
and mere, a lake ; anciently, no doubt, the low land on the south side of
the village was a lake, afterwards a reedy swamp ; and there are several
glacial hillocks on its boundary. Some have supposed the name originated
from the presence of a small iron-spring in the neighbourhood, but the
compound Ride-mare opposes the sense of such a theory. Redbridge, in
Hampshire, by the way, was anciently written Reidsfordy that is,
reedy ford.

There was formerly a very good sulphur spring near the river at
Redmire, which was reputed to be equal in medicinal properties to the

A J*>^^

li a t.vc |Kirt i!i ]niMi'j lite. Ho was a .I.P. ni.d !>,L. :-
. : ; !; . •. ^ f»uJ t'.^r the !ol_: jn-'ri/J uf 40 vmiis .iciod as C»j>i:-' • .
1. .11 Hvuoh of Ai r,^s;-r;it.:.s. /riiat pofiit'on ho tiileu \:' "
• . • ..is n.']).'vLia]iry, courtt-sy, ami iHrL'L-ht'Uitedn'jss wx,--. ■'

■ .■ • . 1^ !::!ifft of his ch"r.\CL<jr, and h(' wa< ahYa}8 kix.*' '.
:.. - •• Mjvjjoi! tuijpv..-(id ^\.Iil itKirry. He took a L;'\at inrci-
. » L-ir*' and ^vm» Pn^iiiMiL of the WeIl^'loy•i{:le Loi:2 V
• I I »'.'.!• iV A-'oOi'iatiun, and at ti»e Liint5 of his death l-* ^^
■ •».'!» Hle^l^or of the \\'«;ir<l('yda!e A-.-'icuit'iral Socit-ry. 1'
: . .t : .i • lun;: Lo ihe aL'*''l''ni'ural, ivlijiioiis, aiid edncallo.; tl 'ri*' ' ■
'i :•«: (liv!" h" j-.rnv.Hl hiirself a ceTu-rous friend, and h"b r] :. •
I'. •; - ' Ay for (»ne in h;> jK-tion, iv«[nirinfr judi:nient and di?')rin:'. ..

. iVHv-* tl"^rriiHiied w'H.out- i'-!"ei\ii.ce to sect or cr<.'ed. fl- t-.
■ •. • '. jper .'. too, in the local Vo'unt'-ers, havi' l*" himself h- • :

.••M-:r « •" fju- ('■. i[v'!iiy, wL'irh \.Lru^Si part of the ]st Vnlu. i
'. ' li.'.n o' liai V 'v.-ii.-'^' u- u-.n^t-nr. Tlie oM colours of t!.t^ K- i .•
»' / o" -: t,. • fjuniiy p«;\T in Wensley Cnnrch. H:s !.•:•..«
♦•<!, n<'.". 'I • i;o o| ponuinly of (ic'i^ir iroo-i, and his •• .
'..arinir •■• : Muly p'-'S'-.i'-e in the <hile w'll assnn dly loni: h^ . --
ll'div'ii ' .0 7'h No.-'nil" r, l.-^'ij, aired ^77, and is sncct" i'-d • ■ •
K'-l—'i /'.•,'i.M iiun. William llionias l>rdc-Pou'.-^tt, who is L:v:i' -
ol uii 1 )rlvsiii''i JI -Invar's, and lH*r.nty Provin<M:d Grand ^^^- -r
hVt MP..- r;,< nf the. Xo.-^lMi.ul K;i>t [{i.hni:.s of Ynikshire.

\i ■ ''lire api)e;iis in I'(),.>'S(i,:u as Jwdeinnn'. aiul in th' iv''ji " '"
( <i-)**"*;v(»r '•>i>ti(nr d two ri/m )rs hol'-U'rh^t: to (il''!])atri<' 'Md <»
<>^: rf- de ]I«-.liiiir»« occnis in '!je PijKj lU 'b of I'Jth and \[\\\v II' • ^ ;

'I .'-7;. Tlie Al>h()f, of d^'vaiix nnvl the Aohot of <'o\«r!.iii •
f I '• •.•■• .'ii-.icatf' i^f hi d w;t*; appi»:'tenan<'cs in the town-' j]\ w'
• ■ i of tL" kin'^^ i,i r(tf.:fr as of the hon<».n' of llic);m. >:!•!, I. »■
. :.'• ;•. f .al aihjS. .h.-hn Marschall, caium of Rvdndni, Wii^ : .n. •'.
<'.^ A:-t»'y,and in ] rj4 he was vicur ol I»ownho'nie. 'In- n. .
''. 'r»5 even' ■'ally came to the Scropes, as ♦'ls»'\vhciV rjltitMi, j-^-i '-
■.'. T)' d hy l.n.-d Bolton.
1 • n m: . i,{ \\ '.In.i'-e is i^rohahly deriA. d fmui t"::e A.S. /.' ^ a !• ■
/w... ' \. ; a'ii-i(Mii:y, no donht, tlie !<j\'^ lan.d on !he S' ;.:]' -* i .
■ ' « ,» la'x'v, afl rna!(i^> a ; ^''''// .sv' ..» ■/» ; ai'd the'v n/f :•■•

vn i:.s ht.ni..'arv. Son.e havi .-iijipo^'d I'.'Mianir '. ." ;
« - . • 1 ■ y of a s'liall iron-vjM'ir.:' in lit, r."m'j'"»'i'"ij^Hj«I, 1 -^

' .. •- ','//t (.}.'|k;vs tiic hense of su. Ii a fli»*ory. li- ihii ..••
•V lilt; w;i>\ w.t.-t arrifjiitly wi.fC'i /.'/ IforL i! ■*

, ^." ; »•;•; a vei; -j:* ••] su'.»:inr S]""!!!^' \\*"\\' 'h*^ r •
< »\art r'.^j'.ted to h? e niil i.: ni-.-iioo.al ]»"oi,-.r' i</ « : ■ '

The late Lord Bolton.

BoRX Fbbruart 24th, 1818; died Novimbir 7th, 1896.

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY!

ASTOn. t.ENOX AND
TILOLN FOUNDATIOHS.

897

well-known Harrogate waters. The well ceased to flow about twenty
years ago, owing it is believed to mining operations at Eeld Head, bat
an attempt is to be made to recover the spa, and a meeting was lately
convened with that object. The village is attractively situated, with
plenty of open spaces about the houses, and behind it rise grand,
heathery moors. It is conjectured that the village originally stood on
Redmire Scar, where remains of several old houses are still remembered,
and that as in the case of Leybum, it shifted lower down as the valley
lands became better drained and cultivated, and the tide of civilization
advanced. The old 12th century church, however, has never occupied
any other position than that where it now stands, an isolated spot about
a half-mile east of the village. Entering the village from the church
was a very old thatched house, which about a century ago was an inn
called The Three Legs of Man ; it was rebuilt and is now owned by
Mr. David Calvert. Opposite this house stood four other old thatched
cottages. Another very old, low thatched dwelling stood on the north
side of the green. It was pulled down in 1898, and the present good
house erected on the site. An old homestead which stands on the east
side of the cross, and now occupied by Mr. John Stringer Calvert, was
the residence of the nonagenarian vicar of Redmire, or '* parson Calvert,*'
as he was familiarly called. He and his clerk were said to be the oldest
parson and clerk living in England. Mr. Calvert died in 1856, and waa
buried in Redmire churchyard, where his tombstone may be seen. He
was a strict old bachelor, and is well remembered for his bluff, outspoken,
yet honest ways. No one dare be seen loitering about the village before
the services on a Sabbath, for he would go up to them and if they could
give no satisfactory account of their idleness he would almost compel
them by his admonitions to go to church. He had a very good notion
of melody, and on one occasion when the choir, aided by various
instruments, were rendering an anthem in the church, he suddenly
stopped them by exclaiming with quite infuriated voice, '^ Stop that
nonsense I'' and stop they instantly did, to be set right by the wise old
parson's cultivated ear.

The cross, or rather the steps of the cross, are now surmounted with
an oil lamp. Formerly they supported a lofty May-pole, but during"
a thunderstorm in the summer of 1849 it was shivered by lightning and
has never been replaced. The stocks, which have disappeared, also stood
here. The population was in 1861 420, but owing to the closing of the
lead mines it is now about half that number.

The church at Redmire, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is an ancient
and quaint little structure, standing as I have said, some distance away
from the village, like many of the Richmondshire churches. It is in a
sweet, sequestered dell, which cannot but impress one with a sense of the

898

appropriateness of the spot with the qaiet, pictaresqne old-world look of
the building. Here, surely, we may say with the poet :
How beaatiful they stand,
These ancient churches of our native land !
Amid the pasture fields and dark green woods,
Amid the mountain clouds and solitudes ;
By riyers broad that rush into the sea ;
By little brooks that with a lisping sound

Like playful children run by copse and lea I
Each in its little plot of holy ground —

How beautiful they stand,
These grey old churches of our native land !

The little edifice was restored in 1894, and re-opened on the 10th of
October in that year by the Bishop of Richmond, who expressed great
pleasure at the way in which the work had been carried out. It has a
fine Norman south door, and the walls of the nave are about four feet
thick, with narrow splayed windows. There are no windows in the north
and west walls. The chancel is Early English and has an east window
of two lights, in the head of which are the arms of Scrope and Neville
(see page 881). The font, octagonal, is of the same period. The roof
is of oak, apparently of Tudor age. A west gallery has been removed,
and the whole of the walls have been newly plastered, the interior now
presenting a very clean and neat appearance. The burial-yard enclosing
the sacred edifice is, it appears, in need of extension. Forty years ago,
I am told, there were not a half-dozen tombstones to be seen here, and
those only date in this and the last century. Under the east wall is one
to the memory of Hannah Mason, of Bolton, who died in 1812, aged
105. Another notable case of longevity was that of Mrs. Beatrice Clarke,
who died at Redmire September 27th, 1841, in her 97th year. She was
grandmother to Mr. J. W. Clarke, of Wakefield, coach-builder. She left
118 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had been
much attached to her husband and family, and at her own request the
bones of her husband, who had been buried 54 years before at Winksley,
were taken up and placed in her cofBn.

Redmire lays claim to be the birth-place of Wesleyan- Methodism
in Wensleydale ; the Simpsons, who lived here about the middle of
last century, and were the friends of John Wesley, were the leading
promoters of the new sect. Wesley preached in the church on May 20th
1744, and his last visit to Redmire was made in June, 1774. The
Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1817, the laud having been purchased of
Mr. Thos. Other, of Elm House, who generously gave back the purchase
money to assist in building it. Among the earliest members wei-e the
families of Walker and Willis. William Willis was known far and wide
.as a wonderful blind man, rivalling in many ways the famous '^ Blind

899

Jack of EDaresborough.'* He used to act as guide in the dale, and
many strangers whom he conducted never suspected his infirmity. He
would lead them sometimes by the rough path over the moor, putting
them on the right road into Swaledale. He could also go into the Town's
Pasture and select his own cow, among seventy others, for milking. He
could turn himself to almost any kind of ordinary handicraft, and was
particularly adept as a cobbler ; he could sole or repair boots and shoes
as quickly and as well as one with the best sight. One of the early local
preachers had a great reputation for sanctity and humility. His name
was John Wood, of Woodhall, and his humble-mindedness was such
that he would asually attire himself in his poorest garments and preach
in his clogs. The old man was very charitable, so far as his means would
allow, and he was greatly respected in the dale. He died soon after the
chapel was built. Redmire was also the birthplace of another worthy,
Jeremiah Willis, the poet, whose work. The Beauties of WensleyddUy
contains many admirable lines. There is excellent provision for
visitors at the principal inn in the village, the K%ng*8 Arms^ and good
accommodation may also be had at the Bolton Arms,

From Redmire we may ascend the road about a mile to the gate
which opens on to the moor, when a turn to the left is made and another
moor-gate is opened at the guide-post to Reeth. This is a grand, open
walk into Swaledale, the views of mountain and fell on all hands being
superb. In the evening light, as you proceed, the distant shadowed
defile of Arkengarthdale looks particularly wild and weird. The visitor,
however, not intending such a long walk may cross the Bolton Grill Beck,
to the west of Redmire, a picturesquely wooded ravine abounding in
choice wild plants, and ascend to Castle Bolton, described in the next
chapter. Or he may return to Wensley or Leyburn by way of Preston-
ander-Scar, which stands high up and commands lovely views of the
valley and noble Penhill.

Preston-under-Scar is within the parish of Wensley, and here a
chapel-of-ease to Wensley was erected during the pastorate of the late
rector. A spacious high-walled court will be observed at the western
extremity of the village, which was built some forty years ago at the
expense of Lord Bolton for the young men of the village to play the
game of fives or hand-ball. This old-fashioned pastime was at one time
very popular, and where there was no proper fives-court, the game would
commonly be played against the churchyard wall, often on the Sabbath.
The Rev. Elias Owen, the Welsh antiquary, remarks :

Ancient men have told me that it was customary for the parson to act as scorer
in important matches, and that when the time of divine service arrived, he would
say, '' Oome lads, it is time to go to church," and immediately the game was
suspended, one and all followed the clergyman to church, and the game was
resumed after service. Vide The Reliquary, vol. i., page 140.

400

The fives-court at Preston was erected chiefly with stones of buildings
from an adjoining pasture, which were popularly supposed to be the
ruins of old sheep-folds. But Mr. Wm. Home, of Leyburn, long ago
recognised their significance. There is no doubt whatever that they were
the foundations of primitive dwellings and enclosures erected long
before Preston had a name in history. There is indeed hardly a mile of
land on the north side of the valley between Leyburn and Hawes that
does not yield some trace or evidence of such prehistoric housesteads ;
yet strange to relate they have been entirely overlooked by every
topographer, and the Ordnance Survey maps do not note them. In
some places the foundations and walls of these ancient dwellings may be
found of a thickness of ten to fifteen feet, being altogether beyond the
needs of a recent civilization.

Many of these ancient enclosures may be seen in a pasture between
Preston and Leyburn Shawl, and where the entrances can be distinguished
they are on the south or south-west sides, that is on the sides facing the
sun, where the inmates could sit and do their work. No thorough
examination has yet been made of them, and nothing has been found
save occasional fragments of charcoal mixed with the soil. About one-
and-a-quarter miles west of Leyburn an ancient British road crossed the
river at Wensley and ascended this pasture by a noticeable gully on to
the moor, in the direction of Grinton, and although now grassed orer it
can be distinctly traced for several miles.

There is now no inn at Preston, but several of the houses have
accommodation for visitors. The low house in the village now occupied
by Mr. John Emmett, was forty years ago an inn kept by the family of
Armstrong. They were, I believe, the last tenants, and afterwards
removed to Preston Mill. This old mill has long ceased its ''toiling and
moiling,'' and the beck which turned the mill-wheels now capers
unobstructedly down into the valley. On the beck are some pretty
waterfalls, but the wood in which they are situate is private.

At Eeld Head, near here, are some extensive lead-mines, now
abandoned like many of the Swaledale mines. The Eeld Head mines
have yielded as much as 100 tons of lead a week, but operations were
suspended some four or five years ago, owing to depreciation in the price
of lead. The levels extend into the hill, under Preston Scar, more than
two miles, and at this distance chimneys have been constructed to carry
off the fumes. The mines have been much subject to flooding from
natural springs, a circumstance which at one time led to considerable
expense in pumping. The limestone here contains numerous fine, large
specimens of Productus and other fossils. Between this limestone and the
Main Limestone of Leyburn Shawl there are three beds with intermediate
shales and grits, together with coal-partings from one to six inches.

401

The celebrated mountain-pass, Scarthe Nick, on the road between
Richmond and Askrigg, is just above Preston, and it is worth while
making a special detour to it for the sake of the magnificent view that
opens out from it. It is accessible to any kind of vehicle, and the
prospect on a clear day is one of the most beautiful in Richmondshire.
From it no fewer than eight villages and seven churches are discernible,
besides the castles of Middleham and Bolton, and a wealth of mountain,
forest-haunt and fell, forms a noble background to the verdant, far-
reaching valley, through which meander the silvery waters of the Yore.
The hanging woods and scars below the pass yield many beautiful and
rare plants.

The summit of this upland road is over 1000 feet above sea-level.
Mr. Barker tells us that during a mining riot last century, forty-seven
armed horsemen were despatched from Richmond into Wensleydale.
Coming down Scarthe Nick they were met by sixty horsemen of the
Duke of Bolton's tenantry and others, and the united forces then
marched to Askrigg, where they succeeded in restoring order and
capturing the ringleaders.

402

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Castlb Bolton.

Numerous Boltonsin England — OriKin and meaning of the name — The Weneleydale
Boltons acquired by the Scropes — Local poBsessions of Rievauz Abbey —
Bolton Castle — Some account of its erection— Description of the building —
Mary, Queen of Scots, a prisoner in the castle — Her attempted escape and
removal — Letter written by the Queen in the castle— Museum of local and
other relics— The church at Bolton — ^Water supply— A bread famine.

low many BoItoDS there are in England coald not easilj be
ascertained, but there are at least ten in Yorkshire, and most
of these appear in Domesday as Bodelton or Bodeltune. This
denotes the toUy or enclosure, containing a homestead, which
when the name was originally bestowed was usually constructed of timber.
It is derived from the A.S. hotly Teut. huttel^ Scand. hol^ signifying a
house or dwelling. Some may suppose from the occurrence in Domesday
of the name of Bait, whose four sons were lords of Bolton before
the Conquest, that the place-name is derived from such proprietorship.
Bait, however, is simply a contraction of Baldur, a chief who gave name
to Balderby in Richmondshire, and who, like Thor, appears in the
Scandinavian mythology as a son of the mighty Odin. Sir Walter Soott
in describing the possessions of the Northmen in Teesdale, observes :

Then, Baldur, one bleak garth was thine,
And one sweet brooklet's silver line ;
And Woden's Croft the name did gain,
From the stern father of the slain.

In addition to the four manors in Alia Bolton owned by the four
sons of Baldur, there were in Bolton lands held by Ghilpatric, which
afterwards came to Ribald, brother of Earl Alan, lord of Richmondshirey
and from him descended the Fitz Randolphs of Middleham. The
possessions of the sons of Baldur were retained by Earl Alan at the time
of the Norman survey. Opposite the names of Bodelton and Alia
Bodelton, which appear in Domesday y are given in the index locorum to
the Kirhhy Inquest volume, published by the Surtees Society, the names
of Castle Bolton, Low Bolton, and West Bolton, with the four mediseval
forms, Parva Bolton, East Bolton, West Bolton, and Boulton-in-

403

Wendesdale, all bracketed together, as in close connection with each
other. East Bolton appears the same with Castle Bolton, and now with
West Bolton and Low Bolton constitute with Redmire a chapelrj under
the designation of Bolton-cum-Redmire. The Scropes, who had acquired
lands in Bolton as early as the 13th century, succeeded, as I have stated
in the history of Wensley, to the whole of the formerly divided manors
of Bolton, which are now held by Lord Bolton.

Rievaux Abbey had possessions at Bolton at an early period, and
many interesting details illustrative of the times and local customs may
be gathered from the published Chartulary of the monastery. Among
the earlier deeds is one of about a.d. 1150, wherein Acharius de Tunstall
gives the monks a house at Bolton, with a toft and croft by the spring
which is called Birkelde, also pasturage for cattle, goats, and 400 sheep,
the latter to be counted by the '^ long hundred," that is of six score.
There was undoubtedly a manor-house at Bolton before the present castle
was built, and it is believed to have been incorporated in that part of the
castle forming the base of the north-east tower, now in ruins.

The Castle at Bolton is celebrated in song and story as the only
English prison of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, now standing.
It is memorable for its connection with the great house of Scrope, the
most prominent family in Bichmondshire after the royal Earls of
Bichmond and the Nevilles. But after the downfall of the Nevilles at
Middleham the Scropes became all-powerful in Wensleydale. It is said
that the Nevilles, who built Middleham Castle, scanned with envious
displeasure the great pile at Bolton rising with impregnable strength
above the fair and 8p)*eading valley over which they pnce ruled as sole
lords of the honour of Richmond. But Richard, Lord Scrope, who
built the castle, was a man high in power and estate. He was Lord
High Chancellor of England in 1379, when the building was begun,
having previously held the office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. He
was also Keeper of the Great Seal, which appears at that time to have
been a distinct office. He was a gi*eat statesman and a man of firm and
intrepid character, who chose on one occasion to be deprived of the
custody of the great seal rather than affix it to an improvident grant of
his youthful and inexperienced sovereign. He had sprung from a family
who, as Whitaker observes, had raised themselves from a plebeian rank
rather by their intellect than by their valour. The researches of
Dugdale have first traced it to Robert le Scrope, who in the 12th
Henry III. certified for three knights' fees in the county of Gloucester.
This Robert was grandfather of William le Scrope, who in 1284-5 held
a sixth part of a knight's fee in East Bolton.

The castle, we are told by Leland, took 18 years to build, and the
expenses every year came to 1000 marks, or in all £12,000, an almost

404

incredible amount according to the value of money in those days. MoBt
of the timber was brought from the Forest of Engleby [Englewood] in
Cumberland, and draughts of oxen were kept at different places on the
way, which were used to convey the timber to Bolton. It would appear
from this that there was an insufficient quantity of heavy timber in
Wensleydale at that time, or why go so far as Cumberland ? We also
gather from Leland that there was a fine park attached to the castle,
walled in with stone. The old antiquary interests us also by his quaint
comment on the chimneys within the castle hall :

One thinge I much notyd in the haulle of Bolton, howe chimneys were conveyed
by tunnells made on the syds of the wauls bitwyxt the lights in the hawll ; and
by this meaneSf and by no covers, is the smoke of the harthe in the hawle wonder
strangly convayed.

Chimneys, although found in our oldest monasteries, did not become
general in the halls of the gentry until the end of the 15th or the
beginning of the 16th century ; previously the fire was made in the
centre of the hall, the smoke ascending from an open hearth, and escaping
by means of a louvre lantern in the roof. Another peculiarly fortunate
contrivance in the castle was the water supply. This was so arranged
that the well-top was in an upper room, therefore had the basemeut floor
been in possession of an enemy, the defenders of the castle would still have
had a free and uninterrupted supply of water. Little chance was there,
however, of such a catastrophe happening. The four square towers, one
at each angle, 96 feet high, are enclosed with a proportionately high
curtain wall, seven feet in thickness. Only at the east end, near the
south tower, is there an entrance, and this has been defended by a strong
and massive portcullis. The grooves are still perfect, and the holes at
the top of the arch may also be seen through which moved the chains
that raised or lowered this huge defence. Even if this barrier had been
penetrated the besiegers would have found themselves in a spacious
courtyard, and only four doorways visible, each well bolted and protected
with a double portcullis, whilst any attempt to force them must have
been made under a shower of arrows and other deadly missiles from the
windows above.

The dungeon is on the north side of this courtyard, and is hewn out
of the natural rock, with not a ray of light to cheer the unhappy
mortals whose fate it was to languish in this gloomy prison. In one
corner is the iron bolt to which the condemned were chained. The cell
is 18 feet by 9 feet, and 8 feet high, and the entrance was by means of a
hole at the top, 30 by 24 inches, secured by a heavy stone. The great
banqueting hall is on the south side, and the kitchens are below it.
There was also a chantry in the chapel of St. Anne within the castle,
founded by Richard, Lord Scrope, in 1393, for six priests, one of whom

405

was to be warden, theirduties being to say mass daily for the king and
the said Richard, and the said chantry was to be endowed with rents
from lands in the counties of Herts and Cambridge.*

A peculiarity in the constmction of the castle is that no two sides
are equal. The curtain wall, which is in form quadrilateral, measures on
the south side 184 feet, and on the north 187 feet, while the west is 181
and the east 125 feet. The same irregularity also applies to the towers,
neither their faces nor flanks being equal. During the Parliamentary
wars the castle was besieged by the forces of Cromwell, and stoutly
defended by a party of Richmondshire Cavaliers, commanded by Colonel

Bolton Castle.

Scrope, and afterwards by Colonel Croft, who was commissioned to be
its governor. The garrison after suffering great privation, being Qompelled
to subsist on horse-flesh, capitulated on the 5th November, 1645 ; the
men then marched to Pontefract. The artillery of the besiegers had been
levelled principally at the north-west tower, and a great part of this
tower succumbed to a storm on the night of November 19th, 1761.
The castle otherwise remains one of the most perfect baronial edifices in
England, and for many miles round its lofty, massive walls form a

• Pat, RoUs, 16th Richard II., part 2, ra. 4.

406

notable landmark. The Bonth-west tower commands a magnificent view,
and is frequently ascended bj visitors, yet strange to relate, from no part
of the castle is the river Yore visible along any part of its conrse.

The apartment in which the unfortunate Queen of Scots spent a portion
of her long captivity is on the south-west side of the castle. Greater
interest attaches to this room than any other in the building, and the
walls, which are now whitened, were formerly covered with names and
dates of countless visitors. When old Mrs. Shields had the custody
of the castle she kept a visitor's book, in which there must have
been entered several thousand names. I remember writing my name in
it on the occasion of a visit, now nearly twenty years ago— I believe in
1877. The volume was as large as an ordinary family bible, and yet she
always amusingly called it her *' little book.** The loquacity of this old
dame was prodigious ; she waxed eloquent on the power and greatness of
the Scropes, from the first of them to the last she had got the story ofiF,
and did not forget to wind up with a word of praise of her own master,
the late Lord Bolton, who she maintained was *' a born nobleman,** by
which we suppose she meant he was noble in deed as well as in name.
Some few years afterwards when I was at Bolton again I heard the old
lady had been called to her account. The good old body, she served her
visitors well, may she rest in peace I

The ill-starred Queen was brought from Carlisle Castle, but as there
were great fears lest she might escape to Scotland from there, she was
removed to Bolton in 1568, arriving on the 13th of July by way of
Appleby and Mallerstang. She was accompanied by six *' faithful ladies,**
and her cortege consisted of 20 carriage horses, 23 saddle horses, and
4 light cars. At Bolton she was in the custody of Lord Scrope and
Sir Francis Knollys, and remained there until the 26th of January
following. Her retinue numbered 40 persons, half of whom were
lodged and boarded in the village. Why she was ordered to be removed
so far away as Tutbury in Staffordshire, in midwinter weather, history
does not recount, but there is a tradition in Wensleydale that the
unhappy Queen, weary of guards and confinement, attempted to escape,
but was recaptui*ed on a part of Leyburn Shuwl, yet pointed out as the
'^ Queen*8 Gap.** Did the necessity for immediate removal in the short
days of January arise from this circumstance ? The probability is that
Queen Elizabeth had become alarmed upon hearing of the Duke of
Norfolk*8 visit to Bolton Castle, where he made those fatal proposals of
marriage to the captive Queen, which eventually led to his arrest and
execution. The Duke was Lady Scrope's brother, and enjoyed the
highest title of nobility, being also the head of the Catholic party in
England. Although there had not been any suspicion of a breach of
trust or vigilance on the part of Lord Scrope, yet the relationship

407

between hun and the Duke of Norfolk, who had formed a design of
moanting the throne bj marrying Mary, was most probably the cause of
the Queen^s nrgent removal to Tutbary Castle, there to be placed in the
keeping of the Protestant Earl of Shrewsbury.

There are several exaggerated traditions of the Queen's life at Bolton,
some of which will be discussed in the account of Nappa Hall. On one
of the windows of her room in the castle she is said to have scratched
her name with a diamond ring, but during repairs to the castle, ordered
by Lord Bolton, about 50 years ago, the pane of glass got damaged. For
its safer preservation it was to have been placed in Bolton Hall, but by
some mischance in removal it was irretrievably broken. The following
letter was written by the Queen in her apartment in the castle. It is
interesting as being the first she ever wrote in English ; all her previous
correspondence having been in Latin or French, or in the vernacular
Scotch :

The Queen of Scots to Sib Fbancis Enollts.

Master Knoleis, I heve Bum neas from Scotland ; I send you the double off
them I writ to the quin, my gud siBter, and pres you to du the lyk, conforme to
that I spak yesternicht vnto you, and aent hasti ansar. I refer all to your
discretion, and will lifne beter in your gud delin for mi, nor I kan persud you,
nemli in this langasg : excus my iuel writin for I neuur vsed it afor, and am hestet.
Ye schal ci my bel yhuilk ib opne, it is sed Seterday my unfrinds wil be vth you.
I sey nething bot trests weil, and ye send oni to your wiff ye may asur her schu
wnld a bin weilcom to a pur stranger, huar nocht bien acquentet vth her, wil nocht
be ouer bald to wriet bot for the acquentans betwixt ous. I will send you little
tokne to rember you off the gud hop I heuu in you, gucB ye find a mit mesager I
wnld wysh ye bestouded it reder upon her nor any vder ; thus affter my
commendations I prey Ood heuu you in his kipin.

Your assured gud frind,

MARIE R.

Bxctts my iuel writin thes furst tym.*
(Bolton, Sept. 1st, 1568.)

One of the rooms in the castle has been set apart for a museum of
local and other relics, and in it is preserved a fac-simile of the original
warrant for the execution of the unhappy Queen of Scots. Everyone
who takes an intelligent interest in the past history of Wensleydale will
be glad of an opportunity to inspect the varied and valuable collection
that has been so industriously and carefully brought together. Among
the exhibits are the following :

The old forest horn from Bainbridge ; Roman mill-stone from the camp at
Bainbridge ; bullets found (1887) in the court-yard of Bolton Castle ; old coin
found (1847) in the castle dungeon ; curious glass burnisher used in Wensleydale

* The greatest vigilanoe was exercised in the despatch and receipt of all Queen Mary^s letters.
Lord Burleigh, in one of his epistles, desires Lord Shrewsbury to be on the watch for a boy who
was brinf^ng letters from Scotland for the Queen, adding that he might be known bj a cut on his
left cheek, and that the letters were sewed up in tiie seams and buttons of his coat.

408

for smoothing linen in the 17th and 18th centuries ; ancient shepherd's crook aaed
in Wensleydale ; piece of lead pipe from Fors Abbey, found when the railway-
bridge was made in 1876 ; Roman-British comb found with skeleton near
Woodhall, 1876 ; ancient British and Anglo-Saxon skulls ; bone brace and reindeer
bones from Leybum Shawl ; Roman Samian ware and human and other remains
from Lady Algitha's Cave ; Ancient swords found at Carperby in 1818 ; flint arrow-
heads from Freeholders* Wood ; a fine collection of fossils from the local Yoredale
rocks, presented by Mr. William Home, F.G.S. ; a number of interesting objects
from Australia, sent by Mr. William Rowntree, a native of Leybum.

The ancient church of St. Oswald stands bj the wayside oppoeite
the castle. As to when or by whom it was founded there do not appear
to be any records, but the name of. Nicholas, parson of Bolton, is
appended to the deed of grant by Acharius de Tunstall about a.d. 1150,
which I have mentioned on page 403. The present edifice is evidently
of the same date as the castle. It is a plain building, retaining most of
its original features, including the sedilia. Upon the lowly aspecta of
the sacred structure the following admirable lines were written many
years ago on the east window :

Let the proud fane on lofty columns rise,
Spread wide its base, and pierce superior skies ;
Let Rome or Mecca costly incense bring,
'Tis from the heart oblations grateful spring ;
Be mine the task, nor fear I flaunting scorn,
To guide the rustic and the lowly-bom.
Then start not, reader, at my humble state,
If at this altar zeal and truth await.

The visitor will be struck with the copious and excellent supply of
water in this as well as other of the upland villages in Wensleydale.
The springs appear to be very numerous, and sometimes flow with
considerable volume ; even in dry seasons the inhabitants have generally
a good supply of water. The water is drawn from the shales and
sandstones of the Yoredale measures, and runs very clear, and free from
all impurities. Formerly a good deal of land in the vicinity was arable,
and corn was also grown in many places in the dale, now laid down in
permanent pasture. During the French wars in the early part of this
century, when the usual supplies of foreign corn could not be imported,
bread became very dear, and tracts of land where obtainable, even up to
the moor edges, were ploughed and sown with wheat. As seed, however,
was scarce it was sown thin, and when it came up watchers were
appointed, who remained in the fields day and night until the young
corn grew sufficiently strong to resist the attacks of birds. A hard time
it was for the poor rooks, and especially too for growing children, and in
many a cottage home in the dales the scene might have been witnessed
of the mother of a family filling each little pot with milk or fresh spring
water, saying as she did so, " Now, bairnies, ye mun tak lile [little] bites
but gurt [great] sups."

409

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Round about West Witton.

Wensley Bridge — Lavinia Fenton, Duchess of Bolton — Early history of West
Witton — Ancient archery practice — Local trades — West Witton church —
Family of Whaley — Memorial to Mr. John James, F.S.A. — Catteral — Chantry
— Swinethwaite and the Metcalfe family.

IE will now return to Wensley, and cross the river by the large
old stone bridge, which was originally built at the expense
of the Rev. John Alwent, a rector of Wensley, who died in
1430. It has since been altered and widened. In 1586 it
was repaired at a cost of £60. Some forty years later it was reported
to be in decay, and by order of Quarter Sessions in 1637 the sum of
£100 was granted for its repair. In 1673 £30 was further estreated, in
1682 £12, and in 1746 one Henry Oill received final payment in discharge
of his bill for £55 as per contract for the repair of the bridge. It was
enlarged to its present width in 1818. The bridge was one of the passes
I have spoken of in the account of Eilgram Bridge that was watched
day and night during the cattle-plague in the middle of last century. In
July, 1749, the sum of £7 17s. 6d. was paid for watching this bridge.

On our way to West Witton we perceive the ruins of an old summer-
house up on the hill below Capple Bank, which was built for the
accommodation of the celebrated Lavinia Fenton, Duchess of Bolton.
Slie was the original ** Polly Peachum " in Gay's famous Beggar*B
Opera, a piece written in ridicule of the musical Italian drama, and
which for a time ^* drove out of England the Italian opera, which had
carried all before it for ten years.** Miss Fenton enjoyed a remarkable
popularity during the run of this favourite piece ; her portrait was
engraved and sold in great numbers ; her life was printed and pamphletted
with equal success ; and she became the theme of every lip. Her person
was agreeable and well made, observes Dr. Josh. Walton, a contemporary,
though, he says, she could never be called a beauty. He had once the
pleasure of being at table with her, when her conversation was much
admired by the first characters of the age, pai*ticularly by old Lord
Bathurst, Lord Orenville, &c. She married the third Duke of Bolton,

410

being his second wife, and tradition says that ofttimes in the calm of
summer evenings her singing at the rustic tower could be diatinctij
heard at Bolton Hall, about a mile distant, a proceeding that seems to
have suited the whim of her noble spouse. The tower had a leaded roof,
and the windows in it were entire half-a-century ago, but the place being
of no essential service has since been allowed to go to decay.

West Witton appears to have been a place of importance in early
times, and to have been built of stone, probably from Witton Fell {see
page 321). Other Wittons in England doubtless derive their names
from the same circumstance, when most places in the Saxon period
consisted of houses formed of wood and thatch. These stone-bailt
Wittons were generally the heads of manors in the Domesday record, aa
in the case of Witetune on the banks of the Lune, in Lancashire, which
had 15 villages belonging to it, and our Wensleydale Wittone (as the
name is written in Domesday) which had the villages of East and West
Witton, Thoresby, and the important one of Wensley comprised within
it. When the latter was separated from Witton is not very certain, bat
the '' villata de Witton'* is returned in the Pipe Rolls of ISth Henry II.
(1166), without any reference to Wensley. Probably they were then
united. Both places were anciently heritages of the Earls of Richmond,
afterwards descending to the Scropes, and are now held by Lord Bolton.
Witton, says Whitaker (1823), is thought at some time to have been
part of the parish of Wensley, because they bring their dead to be buried
in the churchyard at Wensley, and pay yearly at Easter an offering of 3d.
a house for twenty known ancient houses. But the reason for such an
assumption is not correct. Burials from Witton to Wensley continued
only to the latter part of last century, and this was simply owing to the
rocky nature of the churchyard at West Witton, but a quantity of soil
having been brought into it, the site was consecrated for burial purposes
about 1780. The payment referred to was therefora long ago suspended.

In former times every village was obliged by law to set up butts for
archery practice, and in 1612, 1 find that the inhabitants of West Witton
were indicted for neglect of this duty {see page 181).* Among early
trades that of wool dyeing seems to have been carried on at West Witton,
for during the scarcity of copper coinage in the reign of Charles IL,
one Henry King issued his own trade-token, inscribed with his name
and place, along with the dyers' arms and date 1667. We also gather
from an incident that happened in the year 1681 that the making of

• The Rev. Wm. Whaley, vicar of West Witton, tells me that the scene of this
practice must have been at a place called Gunnery Plain, near what is known as
Oswald Pastures. The plain has been divided into several fields, l)ut was used
many years ago for sports, races, and the like, and butts are said to have been
there in former times.

411

batter-tube, <&c., was at that time a rather large business in West Witton»
It is stated in the Quarter Sessions Records, on the certificate of the
minister and all or most of the inhabitants of the place, that a disastrous
fire broke out and burnt down a firkin-maker*s house, and that all his
household goods, together with a quantity of firkin-wood, perished in
the flames. The whole loss amounted to £50 or thereabouts, and unlesa
prevented by the benevolence of Christian-like and well-disposed persons,
the unfortunate owner would be utterly ruined. The Court therefore
appeals to public charity and desires that " all parsons, vicars, and curates

Mb John James, F.S.A.

in Bichmondshire will recommend the said petitioner's condition to their
respective parishioners,** with the object of compensating him for his
great loss.

Turning to the church, this is a very ancient foundation, but owing
to its separation from the parish of Wensley, sometime probably in
the 12th century {see ante), the church never attained the dignity and
importance of that of Wensley, although it was dependent on no other
church and remained fully parochial. In an ancient (undated) taxation

412

•of the Archdeaconry of Richmond it is classed among, the free chapels,
and subjected only to the payment of 8s. for Peter Pence. In 1420 a
•chaplain was institated to what was described as the free chapel of West
Witton, by the vicar-general of the Archdeacon, on the presentation of
the widow of Stephen, Lord Scrope, of Masham. It is noteworthy, also,
that while the manor of Witton was early leased to Jervaux Abbey, the
-church was never appropriated, and at the Dissolution the rectorial tithes
were demised to Sir James Metcalfe, of Nappa, the manor being rated
for Ohristopher Ascough. The manor, as stated, with the patronage of
the church, now belongs to Lord Bolton, it having been purchased in
1858 from the trustees of Sir Wm. Chaytor, Bart. The present vicar,
the Rev. William Whaley, was instituted in 1866. He is of an old
Wensleydale family which traces its descent to one Thomas de Whalley,
who paid 6s. 4d. subsidy for his lands in Bainbrigge, 80th Edward I.
(1801). The family sprang from Whalley, in Lancashire, but its
•connections with Richmondshire extend back to at least the time of
Xing John, when Hugh de Wally was one of the sureties of Roald fil
Alan in respect to his claim to the Castle of Richmond in 1207.

The church (St. Bartholomew) is an unpretentious building, having
neither tower nor aisle. It contains little of particular interest, save
flome fragments of Saxon work discovered when the church was restored
in 1876 ; but the situation of the sacred fabric is ceitainly admirable, if
not unsurpassed by any church site in the dale. The expansive and
beautiful view from the churchyard is one that should on no account be
tnissed. Perhaps the most notable monument within it is that to
Mr. John James, P.S.A., who wrote the history (published in 1842) of
the busy, populous West Riding town of Bradford. Mr. James was a
native of West Witton, having been born in the Fold, just below the
Vicarage, in January, 1811. He entered the office of Mr. Tolson,
solicitor, of Bradford, with whom he remained a faithful and trusted
servant many years, and had it not been for that gentleman's generous
disposition and encouragement, the very valuable history above mentioned
would not have been written. Mr. James was also a careful and
painstaking writer on topography generally, and contributed the article
•on Yorkshire in the Eiicyclopc&dia Britannicaj <&o. His residence in
Bradford was also peculiarly suited to him in the acquisition of material
for another work displaying consummate labour and research, namely
the History of the Worsted Manufacture in England from the Earliest
Times, with introductory notices of the manufacture among the ancient
nations, <&c. This was published at Bradford in 1857. Mr. James
•eventually removed to SheflSeld, where he died, a bachelor, in July, 1867,
aged 55. The beautiful memorial -stone in West Witton chnrchyard
was erected by Bradford friends, the initiative having been taken by

418

Mr. George Ackrojd, J.P., an old and well-known patron of Bradford
authors, and Mr. Samuel Wright, solicitor, of Bradford, with the result
that a very neat and chastely-designed monument was made and
dedicated to his memory in 1885.* The family of James have been
long resident in the parish, and a cousin of the author also called
John James, is still living there. Miss James, who had a house at
West Witton a few years ago, possesses a good portrait in oil of the late
historian. There is a Wesleyan Chapel in the vill^e, erected in 1842.
Formerly services were held in a house fitted up for the purpose by
Mr. Mark Leadman, who was a man of property, and a class-leader at
West Witton and Aysgarth. A Beading Room has recently been erected
in the village. It is a very neat stone building and does much credit
to the place. The old dyeworks of the King family, mentioned above,
stood in a field to the south of this edifice, and the same family had also*
similar works at Askrigg.

Oatterall, in this parish, was for a long period the home of a family
of that name, which terminated in co-heiresses, and Chantry, another
old house here, was probably a cell to Jervaux Abbey. Formerly it
belonged to the Ascoughs; subsequently it was the home of the Clarksons,.
and is now occupied by Major Gamett. The house contains a great
many curious and interesting objects collected by the Major in his travels-
in Eastern countries.

A mile west of Witton, and approached by a pleasant road, is the
hamlet of Swinethwaite. Here is a beautiful mansion which doubtless
occupies the site of a capital messuage standing here since at least
Norman times. The name is usually stated to indicate a clearing made in
the old forest tracts for the purposes of breeding and rearing swine in
the days when Saxon and Dane had possession of these lands. But
the local pronunciation has always been '' Swinnywhit," which suggests
a possibility of the place being named after the god Swiatowit, th&
principal deity of the ancient Wends, which was worshipped by all the-
Sclavonian tribes. The manor of Swinethwaite was held in the 15tb
centnry by Ralph Neville, the great Earl of Westmorland, and the deed of
conveyance in the original Norman-French, has been printed by Whitaker. f

As appears by the privately-printed Metcalfe Records Swinethwaite wa&
also a seat of a branch of the family of Metcalfe for many generations,,
but the precise date of their accession to this estate is not ascertained.
Ottiwell Metcalfe, second son of Thomas Metcalfe, Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, was living here at the time of his death in 1500,
when by letters patent dated 10th July in the same year, the office of

• See Bradford Observer, May 3rd, 1884.

t See Richwondshirey vol. i., page 440.

414

Parker in the park in Wanless (part of Swinethwaite) was granted to
fais elder brother, James (afterwards Sir James) Metcalfe, of Nappa.
The keepership of this park, with the wa^es and fees ancientlj
4ippertaining to the office, had been granted in 1484 to a Ohristopher
Metcalfe, and afterwards, in a.i>. 1496, it was held bj the said Ottiwell,
probably through the inflnence of his father, the Chancellor, who at that
time had full control and supervision of the Middleham lordship.
James, the only child, as far as is ascertained, of Ottiwell, was bom
abont 1490, the exact date not being known. But from 1503, when the
Chancellor Metcalfe, his grandfather died, to the birth of his cousin
Christopher in 1513, this .Tames Metcalfe was the sole male representative
of his generation of the family. He succeeded his father as leaseholder
of Beckards, a site no longer remembered by that name, but it must
have been in Swinethwaite and have included a mansion house, for in
the Minister's Account of 1st and 2Dd Edward YI. (the last occasion on
which his name is to be found on the Middleham Rolls) is an entry of an
allowance for repairs to the '^ mansion house of James Metcalfe, of
Swinethwaite.'* He was a man of more than local fame and standing,
and in 1535 held the responsible office of steward of all the Abbey
lands in Wensleydale. In an action brought against him in 1541, to be
found in the De Banco Roll of Easter Term, 33rd Henry VIII., he is
described as James Metcalfe de Swynethwaite, generosus. Ottiwell, his
eldest son, born about 1514, succeeded him, and in 3rd Edward YI.
(1550) obtained a renewal of his interest in Bekards, which is described
as '^ all that messuage or tenement and all lands, meadows, and pastares
called Bykard's lands, then in the occupation of the said Ottiwell, and
situate in the town or fields of Swynethwaite and West Witton within
the Archdeaconry of Richmond." Ottiwell had three brothers, George,
Oswald, and Christopher. The two latter, it is desirable to mention, are
omitted in Slingsby's additions to Glover's Visitation in 1612, probably
because the recorder of the pedigree, George Metcalfe, of Pirby, near
Bedale, grandson of George, deemed it unnecessary to notice more than
the descendants of these two sons, from the second of whom he derived.
But Oswald and Christopher are both mentioned in their brother
George's will. This George, of Hood Grange, had four sons, Gilbert,
John, Richard, and Anthony. Richard settled at Northallerton, bailt
the Porch House there (his initials and the date 1584 appear on an oak
beam), and became the founder of the line of Metcalfe now seated at
Busby Hall in Cleveland. Oswald married Margaret, widow of Richard
Lascelles, of Brackenburgh, co. York, but the date of his death does not
appear, though his brother Christopher was living in 1588.

George Metcalfe, son of Ottiwell, succeeded his father at Swinethwaite.
He married, had a family, and died in 1610 ; his body being interred at

415

West Witton, where other members of his family were baried. Ottiwell,
eldest son of George, was born about 1567, and at the age of 25 married
Katherine Shepherdson, at West Witton Church. His wife may have
been either daughter or sister of Christopher Shepherdson, of Jervauz,
for in 1605 Ottiwell entered into a bond as co-surety with Sir Roger
Savill, of Angram Grange, Kt., for the due performance by Christopher
Shepherdson of covenants in a lease of a messuage and land at Jervauz,
granted by Edward, Lord Bruce. He resided at the old house at
Swinethwaite, and in 1617 both he and his son Henry aided Sir Thomas
Metcalfe, of Nappa, in his attack upon Raydale House, hereafter noticed,
for which conduct they were subsequently summoned to the Star Chamber
and fined, but received a pardon some time afterwards.

That these membei-s of the Swinethwaite family entered into Sir
Thomas's quarrel with such enthusiasm as they did, is another proof of
the strength of the relationship that existed between them and the
parent house of Nappa, and shews that in taking precedence of all others
of the name in Wensleydale in upholding Sir Thomas, right or wrong,
in his contention with the Robinsons, tney were true to their family
instincts, and did but follow the example of their ancestor, Ottiwell, who
in 1542 was prepared to go the length he did in siding with Christopher
Metcalfe, of Nappa, in his contention with the then Lord Scrope,
" because he was the head of his kin."*

Ottiwell Metcalfe died in 1629 and was also buried at West Witton,
leaving a family, but it does not appear that any of these descendants
attained a higher social position than that of fairly prosperous yeomen,
whilst many dwindled down to the level of mere labourers. It is to be
noted that neither Ottiwell nor any member of his family were identified
with the Roman Catholic religion after the Reformation. The comparative
absence of recusancy throughout Wensleydale is particularly noteworthy,
and stands in marked contrast with its prevalence in the neighbouring
valley of Swaledale, and other parts of Richmondshire. This is certainly
remarkable considering the number and importance of local monastic
institutions, the valuable interest they possessed in Wensleydale, and the
influence they were bound to exert on the resident population. But a
very reasonable explanation may be sought in the fact that Sir Christopher
Metcalfe, then the head of his clan, who was living at Nappa,
had undoubtedly conformed to the Established Church when the
recusancy Acts were in full force, and his great inflQence, conjointly
with that of his wife, who was a daughter of the Protestant house of
Clifford, would unquestionably operate upon all those who were in any
way connected with him, whether as relatives or neighbours. With

• Vide Metcalfe Records,

416

regard to his own relatives it is tolerably certain from an examination of
the North Riding Quarter Sessions Records for the latter half of the
17th century, when all Papists and non-communicants were most
vigilantly watched, that not a single member of the Swinethwaite and
West Witton branch of the Metcalfes was ever convicted.

Swinethwaite in later times belonged to the Law and Anderson
families, but was purchased in 1849 by J. Pilkington, Esq., the present
owner being Sir George A. Pilkington, Kt. Beyond is Temple, and the
remains of the old chapel, &c., of the Knights' Crusaders, described in
the next chapter, while beyond the hall is a Grecian tower commanding
a beautiful view of Aysgarth Force and its surroundings.

417

CHAPTER XL.

The Knights Crusaders in Wensletdale.

Temple buildings on Penhill — A romantic site — Object of the Crufuides — Lands on
Penhill given to the Knights Templars— Erection of houses — Timber brought
from Nidderdale — The Templars' possessions in Richmondshire — Lands given
to maintain lights burning in the Chapel on Penhill — Charges against the
Templars — ^The master of the house on Penhill a prisoner in York Castle —
Tragic deaths of Templars — Dissolution of the Order— Inventory of Templars'
cattle, goods, and chapel contents at Penhill in 1307— Comments thereon —
The Knights Hospitallers— Grant to Sir Geoffrey le Scrope — Purchase of the
Penhill estate by the Robinsons — Sale to Oswald Metcalfe — Purchase by the
Pilkingtons — Temple farm — Description of ruins — Penhill beacon.

I HE remains of the very interestiog chapel, &c., on the north
side of Penhill, above the Temple Farm, near Swinethwaite,
call for special exemplification, as hitherto no attempt has
been made by any writer to elucidate the history or purpose
of these ancient and once famous buildings. Barker, writing forty years
ago, remarks that " all record of this Preceptory is lost ; even tradition
is silent,** and little or nothing has been added to this observation since.
It is a fortunate circumstance, however, that the records are not lost,
and a little research would have enabled any investigator to propound
many interesting facts appertaining thereto.

That the great military-religious Order of Knights Templars should
have established itself in so romantic and out-of-the-way a locality as
the one referred to is somewhat inexplicable, unless it was that the house
might serve the double purpose of providing not only for its own special
objects in aid of the Orusades, but lying adjacent to one of the highways
to the hostile kingdom of Scotland, and on the borders of a wild and
intricate Forest, it would afford a safe and welcome haven to pilgrims
journeying to or from the north. At any rate I find that by the bounty
of the family of Akar or Acharius, the founder of the Abbey of Fors
in Wensleydale, afterwards translated to Jervaux, that the Templars
were in possession of lands on Penhill shortly after the introduction of
the order into England in 1146. A Council had been held at Troyes in

418

Ohampagne in 1128, at which the Order was formally established, and
the rales sanctioned which the celebrated St. Bernard had originally
drawn up. Then there rose the might and chivalry of Europe, which
continued for nearly two centuries to spend itself in blood and treasure
on those trying marches and conflicts in the East, which had for their
object the promotion of Christianity among the nations of the world.
Upon the adventures, heroism, and devotion of the participants in these
extraordinary Crusades I need not dwell ; it is enough to remark that
the power and influence of the Order became such that in a little time
the rank and title in England and abroad vied with each other in
lavishing lands and wealth on the fraternity for carrying on this great
enterprise.

Of the noble family of Akar was Hervey Fitz Akar, who is cited
among the benefactora to Marrick Priory, &c., and it was probably his
son, William Fitz Hervey who gave the lands to the Templars on Penhill,
for in the Inquisition of Temple Lands, taken by Jeffrey, Master of the
Temple in England, in the 82Dd Henry II. (1185), mention is made of
land on Penhill of the gift of the said William Fitz Hervey, which it is
stated the Templars have in demesne. Having got the property the
brotherhood presently began to think about the erection of suitable
premises, and in this enterprise they found a generous friend in the
powerful and wealthy Crusader, Roger de Mowbray, whose immense
territorial possessions extended eastwards from the Hambleton Hills to
the confines of Westmorland, and included the rich and beautiful Yale
of Mowbray and the extensive Forest of Nidderdale. To the Knighta
of the Temple on Penhill he gave timber sufficient, out of his Forest of
Nidderdale, <&c., wherewith to build their houses, a bequest which seems
to proclaim the fact, also elsewhere alluded to, that Weusleydale was
deficient in heavy timber suitable for the construction of defensive
buildings. The following is Mowbray's charter :

Grant of Timber for Building the Templars* Houses
ON Penhill, &o.
To all the sons of Holy Mother Church as well present as to come. Roger de
Moubray, greeting. Know ye that I have given, and by this my present charter
have confirmed to God. and the poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, which
is in Jerusalem, the timber in my forest of Nidderdale and of Malessart, and of
Masham, for the building of their three houses, to wit of Fennel, and of Couton,
and of Reinhou, wherever it shall seem good to them, and for making their
ploughs and carts, wherefore I will, and firmly command, that none of my men, or
of my heirs shall presume to do violence or disturbance on them, or their
carpenters, upon this donation. This I have given to them to possess in pure and
perpetual alms, for the health of my soul, and those of all my ancestors. These
being witness : Nigel de Moubray, Robert Chaplain, Peter de Biling, Alan de
'* Limesi,*' Robert de Beauchamp, Philip de " Munpicu," William Chamberlain,
Peter Clerk, William Qrammary, Simon Fits Roger, Robert Fits Roger.

419

This grant was probably made before 1172, as in that year began the
protracted dispute between the Mowbrays and the Abbot and Convent of
Fountains concerning their respective rights in Nidderdale. One of the
signatories to the charter, it is interesting to note, is Nigel de Mowbray,
son-in-law to the grantee. His real name was Nigel de Albini, but on
his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Boger de Mowbray, he
assumed the name of Mowbray and eventually succeeded to his father-
in-law's vast possessions. He died in 1191.

The Templars, who were honoured and aided as I have said by
everyone who had the power, acquired a good deal of property in and
about Wensleydale, and from various sources it is found that they held
lands, houses, or other hereditaments in Leyburn, Harmby, Carperby,
Hawkswell, Scruton, Leeming Bridge, Patrick Brompton, Hunton,
Crakehall, Eirkby Fleetham, Burrell, Brough near Catterick, Bichmond,
Appleton-on-Wisk, and Lunds in upper Wensleydale.

As to when the Templars built their chapel on Penhill I have no very
exact knowledge, but the following interesting grant of lands to maintain
a light perpetually burning in the chapel of the Temple of Penhill,
shews by the signatories that it was existing in the early part of the
13th century.

To all the sons of Holy Mother Church who shall see or hear these writings.
William, son of Arkel le Torp [probably of Thorp, near Barniston], Health in the
Lord. Ye shall know that, for the health of my soul and those of all my ancestors.
I have given, &<:., to God and Blessed Mary, and to the light of the Holy Rood, in
the chapel of the Temple of Penhill, five roods of land in the territory of Torp,
which lie between Roger, son of Utting, and Richard Smith, to the western field
of the hill of Torp, and one rood under Tunstalhou, by the land which was of
Alan, son of William, and my whole meadow in Mulehou, and half an acre of
land by Alan, son of William, in pure and perpetual alms. To have, &c. These
being witnesses, Jocelin de Baywayt, Robert Noel, Alan his brother, Henry, son of
Henry, John, son of Walter de Torp, William de Craven, and many others.

In the next place by the terms of another very interesting deed we
learn that the old Templars^ chapel on Penhill was dedicated to God, the
Virgin, and St. Catherine. St. Catherine, the martyr, I may say, was
the ancient patron saint of the linen weavers, and an important
personage to the Templars, for their garments were largely of this
material. From Easter to All Saints the rules of the Order obliged
them to wear shirts of linen, while woollen was worn during the winter
months. The outer garments of the knights were also of white linen,
upon which was sewn a blood-red cross (a symbol of martyrdom), while
those of inferior rank wore material of a dark colour. The knights
also wore upon their heads a white linen coif. No furs were used, but
lambs* or sheep's skins might be worn in winter. The Nicholas de
Sicklinghale mentioned in this deed was one of the witnesses to a gift of

420

Agatha Trasaebat to the Knights Templars at Ribston in the reign of
Henry III., and Robert de Stapilton was a witness to a beqaest of Sir
Nicholas of Middleham Oastle to Mowbray's Abbey of Byland in 1244.

Robert Fitx Robert of Sicklinghale. To God and Blessed Mary and St
Katherine of Penhil .... to sustain a light there, one bovate of land in
Aserlaye, which Nicholas de Sicklinghale my brother gave me, and two tofts . .
. . . and with all the land which I had in the said vill, of the gift of the said
Nicholas. To have .... in pure and perpetual alms. Paying therefrom
annually to the said Nicholas and his heirs, one pound of cumin seed, or two pence
at Pentecost, for all secular services, ko. These being witnesses, Sir Blias vicar of
Whitchurch, Sir Thomas, then chaplain of Neusum, Robert de Stapilton, Robert
Clerk, William de Watlans. and others.

For aboat a half-century following the time of this beqaest, we have
no documents respecting the welfare or conduct of the Templars* honses
on Penhill, but no doubt by reason of the enormous wealth and aocming
power of the Order, and probably too by the declining interest in the
objects for which they were originally founded and maintained, all sorts of
accusations were brought against the brotherhood in almost every place
where they were established. To the bull which Pope Clement addressed
to the English prelates, commanding them to enquire into the offices and
practices of the Templars, no fewer than 87 articles of charge are
appended. These have formed a fruitful theme for discussion by varioos
writers. Certainly some of the charges are of the most extraordinary
and inexplicable character, the obvious inventions in many cases of
maliciously-disposed persons. It is, however, clear that the tide of events
was against the '* poor soldiers of the Cross ;" their fate was sealed,
and they were doomed to dishonour and to ultimate annihilation.
In Wensleydale the charges against the brotherhood must have been
particularly severe, for the Master of the House on Penhill, John de
Bellerby, was one of the score Templars apprehended and locked up in
York Castle. This was in the Autumn of 1809. It was a dismal
confinement, however, from which nearly half of them escaped, or had
their miseries curtailed by death, before the trial came off at York in the
May following.

One of the strange enormities brought against the brotherhood was
that they frequently and openly spat upon the Cross, and denied the
divinity of Jesus Christ, also that their receptions were clandestine
and were accompanied with indecent ceremonies, &c. A local man, one
of the serving brothers, Thomas de Thoralby, was even induced to
confess to the spitting on the Cross, and this forced confession, indeed,
saved the man his life. Many of the Templars, however, resolutely
denied the charges, protesting their innocence till the tortures of the
stake or gibbet put an end to their anguish. On one day alone 56 of

421

the Templars were each tied to a stake, and fire applied first to their feet
and then to their legs, burning them by degrees, and at the same time
giving them notice that any one who would acknowledge his error and
his sins, should be released from his sufferings. In spite of the entreaty
of their relatives and friends not one of them would make confession,
but instead they invoked the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed
Mary, and called the Saints to their aid ; thus all expired firm in the
faith and in the hope of obtaining justice from One higher than all.

The house and chapel on Penhill were then held by the king,
Edward II., who in 1307 ordered an inquisition to be made at South
Gowton before the Sheriff of York, Sir John le Creppinge, with the
object of ascertaining what lands, tenements, and ecclesiastical benefices
the Templars possessed. By this judicial enquiry it appears that the
knighthood had '^at Doueskerr sub Pennehyll, in pure alms, one
messuage worth per annum 2s., and four score acres of land in demesne
of Hered de Oattesel, value per acre dd. Also they had at Doueskerr
9 acres of meadow in demesne, value 6d. per acre."

Sir John le Gras,* who was Preceptor of Ribston, succeeded Sir John
le Creppinge, to the shrievalty of Yorkshire in July 1309, and his
Gompotus of the issues of the lands, &c., of the Templars on Penhill, is
extremely interesting, and affords one of the best insights into the life,
habits, and belongings of the fraternity there that it is possible to give.
The particulars are transcribed from the rolls of the Remembrancer of
the Exchequer, in the Public Record Office :

CoMPOTUS OF John le Oras of the Issues of the Lands

OF THE Templars in the County of York.

Penhill.

The same renders [account] of xziij«. i\]d. of rent of assise in the vills of
Bourton, Eerperbjr, ffegerby, Aldefeld, and Masham, from the term of St. Michael,
as is contained in the Roll of particulars. And of xij^. for one heifer of the issues
sold. And of xd. for 3cxz. doves sold. And of ziijZt. XY]d. for i. sack zix. stone
of wool received of John de Creppiuges sold. And of viij<. iiij^. for zziij. skins
of wool, zz. small skins, and ix. skins of Iambs received as well from the remainder
as from the dead stock sold. And of iij<. for the skin of i. oz dead, sold among
the dead stock. And of zzziijf. for zlv. stone of cheese, and iiij. stone and a
half of butter, as well from the remainder account as from the issues. And of
izjr. vij^. ob. for ij. qrs. iij. bush. i. peck of mixtel [a mizture of wheat and rye]
sold, as is contained there. Sum of receipts, zvij/i. \u]d, ob. Expenses : The

* The family of Le Gras was one of notable standing. John le Gras was rector
of Lin tOD-in- Craven in 1251 , at his own presentation, and several of his descendanta
held the same benefice. John le Gras, who took to wife Isabel le Aleman, was lord
of the manor of Linton, 9th Edward II. See also Surtees Soe, Pub., vol. 42, page
811; 66, page 108; 88, page 218; Yorks. Ree, Ser. zvi., 150, &c. ; Whitaker*8
Craven, 8rd edition, page 587, &c.

422

•ame renders account in iron and steel of iij ploughs, ij. ploughshares, ij. iron feet
[pedates] bought, with the wages of the smith, and the repair of the ploughs in
turn, ri]s. xd. And in axles, bolts, tallow, oil bought, yiijil. And in xi. qrs. ^-bush.
i. peck of corn and fine wheat for livery to the servants, xliij#. n\]d, oh. And in
i. qr. of oats bought for meal for potage of the servants, ii#. And in oil and other
necessaries bought for the sheep, viijjr. And in ij. bush, of salt for the dairy and
for flavouring the pottage of the servants. And j. ell of linen cloth, with the
wages of ij women milking the ewe sheep from the morrow of St. John Baptist
to the feast of the Assumption of Blessed Mary, for vij weeks and iij. days, which
they have taken weekly iij<2., xxijil. oh. And in iij. oxen bought, x1v«. And in
xxxj. acres of meadow, mowed, spread, and carried at Donnesker, xx«. viij<<. And
in xxij. acres of corn, ij. acres and a half of barley, i. acre and a half of drag [an
inferior sort of corn], i. acre and a half of peas, and xlvij. acres of oats, reaped,
carried, and bound, Ivj#. \\i\d. And for the wage of one man being besides the
mower for iij weeks, v«. \\}d. And in wages and stipend of i. chaplain to celebrate
divine service in the chapel of Penhill for xiiij. weeks, with the stipend of i. clerk
serving the same, and in wine bought, xxv#. vi<2., as is contained there.

Sum of expenses, x/t. xvij#. vj<2.
And he owes vj/t. ij«. tlA. oh.
And he pays within.
Mixtel for livery to the servants. The same renders account of iij. qrs. ▼. bush,
and a half of mixtel com and fine wheat received of John de Greppings. And of
xi. qrs. ^-bush. i. peck of corn and fine wheat, of the purchases of which in livery
to vj. ploughmen, ij. shepherds, j. cowherd of the dairy, the kee|)er of the Court,
and in making pottage for the servants from the Thursday on the morrow of St.
John the Baptist to the morrow of St. Michael next ensuing, for xiij. weeks vi.
days, taken four times for xij. weeks xj. qrs. and a half. And in livery to a boy.
Keeping the Iambs from the time of lambing for the whole time aforesaid, taken
four times for xvj. weeks, vij. bush. And there remain ij. qrs. iij. bush. i. peck.
And it is sold on the account. The same renders account of i. qr. of oats of the
purchases as above. And the whole account of meal for the pottage of the
servants.

The same renders account of i. carthorse received by indenture from John de
Creppinges. And there remains i.

The same renders account of i. foal reed, from the same by the said Indenture.
And there remains j.

The same renders account of xxiiij. oxen reed, by indenture. And of iij.
bought, of which among the dead stock i. And there remain xxvj.

The same renders account of ix. cows reed, from the same by indenture. And
there remain ix.

The same renders account of iij. young female oxen reed, by indenture. And
there remain iij.

The same renders account of iij. yearlings received by indenture. And there
remain ij.

The same renders account of iij. calves reed, by indenture, of which L is sold.
And there remain ij.

The same renders account of cxxxix. sheep reed, by indenture, of which iiij.
are among the dead stock. And there remain cxxxv.

The same renders account of cxivij. ewes received by indenture, of which vj.
among the dead stock. And there remain cxlj.

The same renders account of clxj. hogs reed, from the same by indenture, of
which among the dead stock ix. And there remain clij.

423

The same renders account of Ixzxzvij. lambs reed, by indenture, of which ▼
among the dead stock. And there remain Izzzxij.

The same renders account of zy. hogs reed, by indenture. And there remain xv.

The same renders account of yj. porkers reed, by indenture, of which ij. among
the dead stock. And there remain iiij.

The same renders account of xxx. doves forthcoming of the issues of the
dovecote there. And sold as above.

The same renders account of i. sack ziz. stone of wool reed, by indenture. And
the whole of it sold.

The same renders account of i. stone of lokettarium [the dirty, tangled ends or
locks of wool from the fleece], reed, by indenture. And they are sold.

The same renders account of xzzv. stone of cheese reed, by indenture. And of
X. stone of the issues for the time of the account. And sold as above.

The same renders account of ij. stone and a half of butter reed, by indenture.
And of ij. [stone] of the issues. And sold.

The same renders account of i. hide of i. dead oz of the dead stock. And sold.

The same renders account of zziij. skins of wool reed, by indenture. And sold.

The same renders account of the skins of iiij. lambs reed, by indenture. And
of the skins of iiij. wethers, vj. sheep, iz. hogs dead of the dead stock. And all
sold.

The same renders account of the skins of iiij. lambs reed, by indenture. And
of the skins of v. dead lambs of the dead stock. And all sold.

Dead stock. The same renders account of ij. brass pots, ij. jugs, i. dish, ij.
vessels of lead, i. washer with the fleece, i. old cart, i. chalice, ij. vestments, ij.
missals, i. gradual, i. portifer, i. Legenda [a book of Legends of the Saints], and
other ornaments of the chapel, to wit, j. Antiphonar, i. Psalter, i. Book of Collects,
i. Epistolar, j. ordinal, j. martiloge, j. cloth for the altar, ij. towels, ij. phials, j.
chest, j. surplice, i. thurible, reed, by indenture. And all remain in the same
manor.

It will be observed that no mention is made in these particulars of
any war-horses, arms or military equipments, or of charters, writings,
or muniments. It may consequently be assumed that these had
previously been taken possession of when the Templars were arrested,
and therefore no account of them is here forthcoming. One thing may
be specially noted, namely, the relative price of Wensleydale wool at that
era compared with the animals, which seems to have been as five to one,
that is the wool of a sheep fetched five times the price of the carcase.
Thus the sum of £18 Os. 6d. is entered for one sack and 19 stones of
wool, which at the customary reckoning of 26 stones per sack, yields at
the rate of about 5s. 9d. a stone. A shorn sheep ordinarily sold for a
shilling to fifteen pence ; a heifer, it will be noted, is entered at 12d. ; a
working cart-ox fetched 8s. to 10s. ; a pack-horse 7s. A good milk-cow
was worth at this time about 6s., or about the price of a stone of wool.
It is therefore obvious that the wild moors and sheep-walks of the monks
were just as valuable, or even more so, than their richest pastures. The
refei'ence to the wages of two women milking sheep for a certain portion
of the year is interesting, as large quantities of butter and cheese seem

424

to have been made from sheep's milk, for the provision, doubtless, of the
servants and menials of the house. Butter and cheese were also largely
consumed by the elders and knights, as the rules of the Order forbade
the consumption of flesh except on three days in the week, and at
Christmas, Easter, and the Feast of the Virgin. Two dishes were also
allowed on Sundays to the knights and chaplains, but the squires and
servants were to be content with one.

Following the downfall of the Templars, an Act of Parliament was
eventually passed in 1324, by which all their property was transferred to
the kindred Oder of Knights Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem, yet the transactions of this Order, as exemplified in the

Remains op Knight Tbmplabs Chapel on Penhill.

transcripts published by the Camden Society y evidence the great difficulty
the Hospitallers had in obtaining possession. They found it desirable
in many cases to let their preceptories and farms on lease to a local
knight, with a reservation in the lease that it was to terminate if a
Preceptor was desirous of living there. This seems to have been the
case in Wensleydale, for according to the returns of the Hospitallers'
property in England, made in 1 888, 1 find that the houses and lands on
Penhill had been let rent free for life to Sir Geoffrey le Scrope, Chief

425

Jnstice.* From that time to the general dissolution of the religious
houses, things appear to have gone on quietly ; then in the reign of
Elizabeth the manor of Temple Dowskar came to the family of Robinson,
and in 1581 William Robinson, of York, alderman, sold the same to
Oswald Metcalfe for £450 (Vide Close Rolls, 24th Elizabeth). Oswald
Metcalfe had married Mary Meynell, of the old Papist family of North
Kilvington, and in 1585-6 a fine was passed between Richd. Mennell, Esq.
and Thomas Talbott, plaintiffs, and Oswald Metcalfe, gent., deforciant,
whereby the manor of Temple Dowskar and a third part of the manor
of Hornby, with appurtenances, became the right of the said Richard
and Thomas on payment to the said Oswald of the sum of £240. In
1592 a farther fine was levied, when Wm. Gascoigne was the plaintiff.

The statutes against Papists were now beginning to be felt, and
no doubt Oswald Metcalfe considered it prudent in the event of his
being suspected, and perhaps convicted of recusancy, to place his lands
as far as possible in the hands of feoffees or trustees, and thus avoid
forfeiture. This course was generally adopted among Papist landowners
at this period.f

Oswald Metcalfe died at Hornby Castle, near Bedale, in 1604, and
was buried there. After various transmissions the historic property on
Penhill, including Swinethwaite, was purchased in 1849 by James
Pilkington, Esq., M.P., and the present owner is Sir Geo. Pilkington, Et.

Little remains to be seen of the old hospice now, which in bygone
centuries gave aid to the Christian pilgrim in the East, as well as food
and shelter to those brethren passing on their difiicult way through the
wild, lonesome Forest of Wensleydale. It was indeed at one time the
Mecca of the upper dale, all being wild moor beyond. There is an
ancient and suggestive inscription preserved over a doorway of the
adjoining Temple Farm. It is quaintly worded as follows :

WHOSO THAT COM
E TO THIS HOVB O L
OBD DO THEM PROTE
CT AND WHO DOTH P
AS FORTH OF THE PAM

E Jesu there WATE DE

RECT. P. AM A. 1608.

It was one of the fundamental principles of monastic life that a
portion of the revenues of the religious was to be devoted to the relief

* See Camden Soe. Pub., Tol. 65, page 134. Many interesting anecdotes about
Sir Geoffrey le Scrope are given by the deponents in the famous Scrope and
GroBvenor controversy. He was progenitor of the line of the Lords Scrope of
Masham.

f See Metcalfe Records , page 118, &c. ; also North Riding Reeordi, iz, 63.

426

of the poor, and to the sustenance of the sick and oppressed. The tithes
accruing to the religious houses were at one time ordered to be distribnted
in three parts ; the first for the repairs of the monastery or chnrch, the
second to the poor and the stranger, and the third to the ofiSciating
monks and priests. After the Reformation, when the country was over-
run with beggars and thieves (see page 320), it became necessaij to
adopt a different method of distributing relief, and the first Poor Law
was passed d5th Elizabeth (1592). As regards the Templars some of
their lands appear to have been granted absolutely to nobles and gentry,
and in such cases, when they passed into lay hands, the clergy seem to
have recovered their tithes wholly for the benefit of the church.

The ancient badge of the Order was a double cross ; the red cross,
or cross patee not having been adopted till 1146, when the knights were
established in England. Walking from Swinethwaite to "
the Temple Farm there is to be seen, built into the wall, on
the left of the road, a few hundred yards before the farm —
is reached, an old stone, 16 inches square, incised with a
double cross, as represented in the annexed sketch.

About a quarter-mile above the farm-house, on the skirts of Penhill,
stand the few remains of the old Templars* chapel mentioned above, which
seems to have been long lost to sight. Some fifty years ago Mr. W.
Anderson, who was then living at Swinethwaite Hall, being suspicions
of the presence of some foundations beneath an accumulation of earth
and stones, ordered the same to be carefully excavated, with the result
that the chapel of the old Knights* Crusaders, about which so many
interesting particular are now furnished, was brought to light. Further
excavations were subsequently made and the foundations of other
buildings were laid bare, and at the same time various relics were turned
up, such as spurs, horse-bits, and fragments of ancient armour. Leland,
about 1635, mentions the " ruine of a castlet or pill " [peel-tower] on
Penhill, which has doubtless reference to one of these buildings, all
indications of which have long ago disappeared.

Through the courtesy of the Hon. W. T. Orde-Powlett (now Lord
Bolton), I am enabled to present a photographic engraving of the site
and present aspects of this interesting old chapel, with its memories of
the great Crusades and of one of the most stirring and romantic eras in
English history. As we stand within the lowly ruins we think of those
distant days when the little building was perfect and displayed all the
emblems of a vigorous faith ; when the lights were kept perpetually
burning on the altar, and when, as Mr. Addison tells us, the solemn
ceremonies attendant upon the admission of a novice to the holy vows
of the Order, conducted with closed doors during the first watch of the
night ; the severe religious exercises and nightly vigils, all contributed

427

to throw an air of mystery and romance around these sacred buildings,
and to create in the minds of the vulgar a feeling of superstitious awe
and curiosity that gave rise to those strange tales of impiety and crime,
which led to the trial and execution of the holy friars, and to the
ultimate suppression and extinction of the Order.

The form of the Penhill chapel is oblong, measuring inside 58 feet
long and 21 feet wide. The walls are little more than two feet high and
are a full yard in thickness. There is a doorway on the south side and
the step is much worn by the foot of friar and pilgrim. A piscina
remains in situ in the south wall near the altar, represented in the
engraving, and the chancel step is also intact.. Under the east wall,
outside the building, a number of stone coffins were found laid side by
side. Before the altar are two others, but from their dimensions — about
five feet long — the famous persons who have been interred here must
have been of singularly short stature. The coffins have been laid in the
ground but their covers are now missing. When firat discovered they
are said to have contained skeletons, which, though much decayed, were
still entire.

A wild, lonely spot was this for praise and prayer to go forth, but
the faith that is bom in man is heard whencesoever it cometh, on the
mountain summit, the plain, or the sea I High above the lowly temple
rises the massive crown of Penhill, a striking object, particularly from
all the lower parts of the dale. This noble isolated summit overlooks an
immense tract of country on all sides, and in the days before telegraphs,
it was used as a beacon. It is mentioned as such in the time of the
Spanish Armada, when brave Lord Howard of Effingham, assisted by
the beacon-fires on many an English hill-crest, summoned his men and
his ships and saved England from the miseries of invasion. Care was
taken to maintain this old war-signal on Penhill, and in October, 1666,
I iind the sum of £4 14s. 6d. was estreated upon all Richmondshire for
the repair of the beacon.^ The summit commands a wonderfully wide
and interesting view, and from it on a clear day nearly 60 churches can
be descried. Red deer used to run wild over the broad acres of moorland
that encompass the mountain, and fallow deer continued in a wild state
even down to the year 1844, when a part of Penhill Chase ceased to be
vested in the Crown.

North Riding Records^ vl., 107.

428

CHAPTER XLl.

Aysgaeth.

Extent of the parish— Etymology of Aysgarth — " Castle Dykes**— The bridge and
waterfalls — Threatened spoliation of scenery — Aysgarth Defence Association
— Letter from Sir Fredk. Leighton— The Middle and Low Forces — Magnificent
scenery— Wild-flowers — J. M. W. Turner at Aysgarth — Story of his drawings
— Description of the church — Some memorials in the church-yard — John
Drummond and the old Tore Mills Academy — The present school — The May-
pole—The annual Feast— A chat with the centenarian Mrs. Betty Webster —
Congratulations from the Queen.

|HE ancient parish of Aysgarth is the largest in the North

Riding and comprises 12 townships covering about 81,000

acres, a large proportion of which consists of high moors and

fells. The ecclesiastical parish contains 25,150 acres with a

population in 1891 of 1419. The district is well-known throughout

England for its magnificent scenery, and on the Yore, near the chnrch

at Aysgarth, are perhaps the finest waterfalls in the county.

As to the etymology of Aysgarth this is a subject of much interest.
There is ample evidence that this part of the dale was occupied by Celts,
a primitive people who in a part of the Freeholders' Wood (which is old
Common Land) at Aysgarth, appear to have had a flint factory or place
where implements, &c., of this material were somewhat extensively made.
Hundreds of flint chippings have been found on one site, while perfect
arrow-heads, knives, scrapers, <&c., of flint have been picked up in the
neighbourhood. The so-called ^'Castle Dykes" at Aysgarth betrays
a probable connection with the same settlers. It is an irregular circular
rampart, measuring about forty yards across its longest diameter, and
not unlike the earthwork on Harkaside called ^' Maiden Castle'* (s^^page
251). A ditch completely encloses the mound, which, it should be noted,
is unusually low, being little higher than the outer bank or upcast from
the trench. It is totally different from the elaborate hurh at Middleham ;
indeed, from its low and simple form, as well as from its situation in
Celtic territory, there seems little doubt that it was the work of these
early people. It is also possible that the name of Aysgarth may have

429

been transmitted from this remote period, for in the language of the
earliest immigrants to these parts, the Goidelic Celts, we have the word
ais, easj meaning a cataract or waterfall, and garrdj an enclosure or
fortified place, a term having its origin probably in the old Pheen. gadr,

Aysgarth Bridge.

Heb. kariha^ a walled or protected city. Thus the earthwork jqt settlement
situated at no great distance from the waterfalls of the Yore, at Aysgarth,
would enable any wanderer or foreign trader to identify the site ; the

480

primitive settlers almost invariably chooBing the most prominent local
characteristic in the naming of a place.*

Yet in Domesday we find the name written Echescardy which rather
fiaggests A.S. (Bk, Scand. eky an oak, and garty garth, an enclosure. But
no argument is needed here to prove, what has often been done before,
how erroneous and corrupt are many of the Domesday spellings, arising
mainly from the ignorance of the scribes deputed by the Norman
commissioners to record the names of the places by which they had been
longest known. These were in most cases foreign to their own tongue,
and the consequence is many obvious and curious blunders have been
perpetuated in this great national record ; spellings which have but too
frequently led the inquisitive etymologist astray. There is, however,
this to be said in favour of the oak theory, while it is far from being the
•characteristic tree about Aysgarth, it is not improbable there may have
been in pre-Norman days a special enclosure of oaks grown for the sake
of the masty to support the large number of hogs bred and fattened in
the district, and which, too, was often the only kind of vegetable food
the people had to rely on when cereal crops failed. It is assumed that
Swinethwaite, near Aysgarth, obtained its name from being a place
appropriated to the rearing of pigs ; as also Swineside in Coverdale, kc.

Still another idea may be advanced, confirming apparently what I
have said about the Yiking conquest of Wensleydale and the dedication
of many places in the dale to their deities, such as Wensley, Thoresby,
and perhaps Swinethwaite {see page 413), &c. Thus Aysgarth may have
been one of those places where in the old Norse days temples were
erected for certain of their gods, and as we learn from the ffeimskringlay
written about the year 1 200, on the traditions of the ancient Scandinavians,
there was a city called Asgard, which was a great place for worship and
sacrifice. The tradition of the Sagas is that Odin set his brothers Ye
and Yitir to watch over Asgard, while he himself with a great army set
•out to conquer the world. Be that as it may there is no doubt that
Wensleydale fell a prey to the Scandinavian conquest, and as I have
before explained (page 878), Wensley became their head quarters and
ivas dedicated to their mythic hero Odin or Woden, whence the name of
the dale.

But if the old Celts christened Aysgarth they could not have chosen
a better word than ais, or cataract, to indicate the site of a settlement
here. The scene in those days, when a much larger volume of water swept

* Aboat b!x years ago, while digging in the grounds adjoining to the Grange,
Aysgarth, the residence of Jas. C. Winn, Esq., four complete human skeletons were
found. One was only two feet from the surface, the others lay four to five deep.
■One skull had the teeth perfect. Some ancient pavement was also come upon, but
•of its origin or purpose, as of the burials, nothing is known.

481

down the river, must have been one of constant and overpowering majesty.
The aspects still, on all hands, iix one, revealing as they do quite a
number of surprises and of perpetually-recurring beauties ; thus the love
of the wonderful and beautiful in nature, bom in man, may well have
arrested the most primitive wanderers at this site. Whether we stand on
the fine old bridge at Aysgarth and look towards the higher reaches of the
majestic river, which tumbles between breadths of luxuriant foliage, or
wander downwards by flowery banks to the Middle and Low Forces, the
scenery is of the most sumptuous and attractive character. The bridge,
just mentioned, of which, by the courtesy of Mr. Chas. A. Houfe, I give

Above the High Force, Aysgarth.

an excellent view, was built so long ago as 1539. It consists of a single
arch having a span of 71 feet, and is 32 feet high to the parapets.
Various creeping and other plants have inserted themselves in and upon
the stonework, while the bridge, situated as it is in the midst of a thriving
onder-and-overgrowth of shrubs and trees combines to form a truly
charming scene.

It was a little above this old bridge, and right over the High Force,
that the movement was projected some twelve years ago of erecting a
huge brick or stone viaduct on skew-arches for the purpose of connecting

482

the proposed Skipton and Eettlewell railway with the existing line at
Aysgarth. The movement, as might have been expected, was very
strongly opposed. Mr. John Henry Metcalfe, of Leybnm, made an
eloquent appeal for the protection of this beautiful spot from snch
threatened defacement, and his letter in the Fall Mall Oazette of
January 16th, 1884, led to the formation of an Aysgarth Defence
Association, with the Earl of Wharncliffe as President. Mr. RusklD,
Sir Frederick Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, Mr. Alma
Tadema, R.A., Mr. Poynter, R.A., and over one hundred others, including
many of the nobility, clergy, county gentry, artists, authors, and
professional men, all over England, joined hands in helping to defend
this charming spot from the contemplated spoliation. In^ a letter to
Lord Wharncliffe, dated February 5th, 1884, Sir Frederick Leighton
expressed himself as follows :

My warmest wishes follow you in jour endeavour to stay the ruin that threatens
Aysgarth High Force, and I gladly seize the opportunity offered to me of
connecting my name with it.

I cannot doubt that success will attend you, for public opinion is, I think rising
on all sides in anger against those who, there or elsewhere, seek for sordid ends, to
deface the natural beauties of the country ; and however widely the utilitarian
spirit may, in these days, spread its blight, there is still no nation to which the
loveliness of nature speaks with more persuasion, or brings more delight than to
ours. Believe me, sincerely yours,

Fbbdbbick Leiohtoit.

Letters of like import also appeared in various newspapers from the
late Mr. Wm. Morris, author of The Earthly Paradise^ Ac. ; " Ouida,"
the celebrated novelist ; Professor John W. Hales, of King's College,
London ; Mr. J. F. Uttley, Hon. Sec. of the Ruskin Society ; the
Rev. Fenwick W. Stow, vicar of Aysgarth, and others. The bill
promoted by the company went before a committee of the House of
Lords, and was eventually withdrawn, doubtless with consummate
satisfaction to all who prize the loveliness of our dale scenery ; inasmuch
if this railway scheme, as Mr. Stow pertinently observed, were really a
bond fide undertaking and were intended to pay, it would surely have
been wiser to avoid injuring that which many people might come to see.

To have converted Aysgarth into a busy railway- junction, with all
the ordinary accompaniments of sidings, coal and istorage yards, &c.,
would, indeed, have been a sad and irremediable blemish upon the
wondrous beauty of the place, hallowed as it is, too, by the associations
of England's chief genius in landscape art — ^the master Turner, who
found here rare inspiration. Old Drayton called the Yore " the sovereign
flood of the North Riding," and that portion of it comprised between
the High and the Low Forces is assuredly the '^ crown and climax '* of

438

its whole coarse. In the balmy Jane when blossoms the pale eglantine,
and sweet wild roses spread their delicate gossamer of white and pink
profusely over bash and brake,* when in undisturbed freedom the colour-
vested songsters pipe roundelays of joyous meaning, when the fresh and
varied tints of the thick-bowering trees are viewed in contrast with the
dark, moss-covered stones and foam-broken waters of the majestic
river-bed, when the rush of the river is not too strong to overpower the
impression of these happy accompaniments, then it is that the river
scenery at Aysgarth may be said to possess an almost sacred influence.
To have sacrificed all this (for it would not have been partial) by the

The Low Forcb, Aysgarth.

proposed railway-bridge and embankment, would indeed have been a
grievous national loss ; it would have been an insult to our noblest
aspirations, for surely when man wilfully destroys the beauty and glory
of natural things he interferes with the dispensations of God, and no
wisdom profiteth if His quickening spirit be withdrawn !

Following the broad, rocky channel downwards we come to the
Middle Force, where the majestic stream is precipitated over a series of
picturesque shelving cascades, and upon the verdant river banks blooms

* Fully thirty varieties of the wild rose are found in the Ticinity of Aysgarth
Falls.

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485

The Church at Aysgarth, as usual, isolated from the village, is
an interesting fabric of undoubted antiquity, although the present
structure is in the Perpendicular style of the reign of Henry VIII. The
earlier building appears to have been of thirteenth century date, and
probably owed its foundation to the Fitz Randolphs, lords of the manor.
The church was restored some years since at a cost of about £6000. It
has now accommodation for about 600 worshippers. The handsomely-
carved oak rood-loft and reading-desk were brought from Jervaux
Abbey by twenty men, shoulder high. Upon it appears the inscription :

Aysgarth Church.

9.S. 9bba0. anno IB'ni 1536 — the year in which Adam Sedburg, the
last Abbot of Jervaux, was attainted. Formerly there were in the east
window two old shields of arms : Lord Scrope of Bolton and Tiptoft,
quarterly, impaling Neville ; and James Metcalfe of Nappa. Scrope and
Metcalfe were, as elsewhere recorded, companions in arms at the battle
of Agincourt, which proved so disastrous to the French nobility, and it
is very probable these two shields were put in the window of the former
church after their return from France. One of the shields is now

486

preserved in the porch of the little chapel at Ulshaw Bridge ; the other
is in posseeaion of Mr. John Henry Metcalfe, of Eaaingwold, formerlj
of Leybum.

The present beautiful east window is a memorial to the wife of the
late Rev. George 0. Wray, LL.D. There are also other memorials in
the church to the same family, likewise to the families of Buckle, Yarker,
Hobson, Chapman, Winn, Willis, &c. The handsome reredos, of Caen
stone, depicting Da Vinci's Last Supper ^ sculptured by Mr. R. L. Bonlton
of Cheltenham, from designs by Mr. 0. 6. Wray, F.R.I.B.A., was
presented by the daughters of the late Henry T. Robinson, Esq., of
Edgley, and The Cliff, Leybum. The trustees of this gentleman are
the present lords of the manor, and they are also landowners at
Aysgarth. Other local landowners are Jas. C. Winn, Esq., W. H.
Tomlinson, Esq., and Wm. R. King, Esq. Whitaker supplies a catalogue
of the vicars from the time of Edward III., and it is worthy of mention
that Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, and a favourite of the
unfortunate monarch, Richard II., was some time vicar of the parish.*
The present vicar, the Rev. Fenwick W. Stow, M.A., has held the living
since 1873. He has, I may say, several hobbies, not the least useful of
which is photography, which he practices with a skill, indeed, beyond
praise. Our views of the Church, Bridge, and Low Force at Aysgarth
are engraved from his productions.

In the churchyard, which commands a lovely view, are various
memorials of interest. One of these records the death in 1821 of
Francis Simpson, of Aysgarth, aged 82, and who for 48 years was sexton
of the parish. Another mentions John Percival, of Carperby, who died
in 1864, aged 65, and " an acceptable local preacher among the Wesleyans
for nearly 40 years.*' One curious memorial in the churchyard consists
of a large piece of cave-stalagmite inscribed to Joseph Craig, mining
agent, of Eskeleth, in Arkengarthdale, late of Eettlewell, who died in
1883, aged 57. It may also be mentioned that in May, 1898, the
cremated remains of the Rev. Geo. Octavius Wray, LL.D., of Hestholm,
Wensleydale, were interred in a sealed iron box in the family tomb
beneath the east window in the churchyard. He died at Surbiton,
March 18tb, 1893, and was cremated at Woking. He had been a Judge
at Calcutta, where his wife died, and to whose memory the east window
of the church was erected as before observed.

The old mill at Aysgarth Bridge was burnt down in 1854, when the
present large building was erected. In the earlier part of this century
a portion of the mill premises was occupied for school purposes, and ^as
known as the Yore Mills Academy. It was established by John

• See aUo Surtees Si)c. Pub,, vol. 78, page 72

487

Dnimmond, a man of great scholarship, who was lineally descended
from the unfortunate Earls of Perth, who lost their estates through
being implicated in the Stuart rebellion last century. Drummond's
grandfather, I am told, fled from Scotland and secreted himself some time
in Bishopdale, and his family afterwards settled in this neighbourhood.
His father was for many years parish clerk, and he himself, in addition
to his school duties, filled the same position for a long period. As a
schoolmaster his attainments were undoubtedly considerable, and much
in advance of his time ; as a mathematician he was widely known, and had
few equals He was also a skilled land-surveyor, and an accomplished

The Middle Force, Aysgarth.

artist and engraver ; some of his smaller sketches may occasionally be
met with in the form of adornments to the bill-heads of country
shopkeepers. He was a member of the Bristol Mathematical Society,
and three years in succession he won the first prize (what no one else ever
did) for mathematical problems originated by that society. He was a
man of exceptionally robust habits, and it is said that on the occasion
of the last contest he did not undress for three days and three nights, so
earnest was he in the endeavour to maintain the success of his previous
achievements. He lived to a good old age, and was married, but died
childless.

438

Leaving these old-time school premises what a wondeif al transition
it is to mount the hill and view the pleasant, healthful and commodious
school buildings now in charge of Mr. Chas. A. Houfe. The buildings,
which were erected about twenty years ago, and since much improved,
are specially adapted for preparatory-school purposes. They include
school-room, class-rooms, boys' library, gymnasium, a covered fives-court,
chemical laboratory, workshops, &c. The boys have a capital recreation
field between the school buildings and the church, and there is a lai^er
playing-field of about thirty acres, lying along and above the river,
between the Low Force and the Middle Falls. It is beautifully situated »
and besides the level part which is used for cricket and football, there are
hills and slopes in every direction, which provide a very varied and
interesting nine-hole golf-course. The toboganning hill runs up from
the cricket-pitch to a height of fully one hundred feet.

The family of the ducal house of Wharton, who were large
landowners in Swaledale, also held lands in Aysgarth parish, as well as in
Grisedale, Garsdale, Uldale, and Sedbergh. In 1672, Thomas Wharton,
son and heir of Philip, Lord Wharton, suffered a recovery to the use of
the said Philip, Lord Wharton, at the suit of Chus. Hutton, gent., of all
his territoi7 in the parish of Aysgarth, &c. This Thomas, 5th Lord
Wharton, of whom and his unfortunate son I have given some account
on pages 259-61, was created Marquis of Wharton in 1715, and died in
1718. I append his portrait.

The Society of Friends has long been established at Aysgarth, as
appears by the Sessions Records for 1704. There was formerly a lofty
May-pole which stood near where the old parish stocks are now placed.
It is now nearly forty years ago since it fell, and it has never been
replaced. At one time nearly every village in the dale had its May-pole,
and the annual return of the " merry month" was celebrated with great
glee, forming an agreeable diversion after the long winter months.
Welcome came the sport to all ; both young and old, grave and gay,
seemed to catch the spirit of the reviving May, when Nature put on
her hues of health and the woods and hedgerows were alive with song !

*' Come, lads, with your bills,
To the woods we'll away,
WeMI gather the boughs,

And we'll celebrate May ;
We'll bring our load home,
As we've oft done before
. And leave a green bough

At each pretty maid's door."

Alas, for the Queen of the May ! She is too busy and too self-absorbed
now to heed such simple pastimes ; the heart-stirring event is a thing of

489

the past and the olden life of Merry England, with its happy rustic
trains and the music of pipe and tabor, is at last all but gone.

The annual "feast," however, is still kept up with some little
animation truly, yet there is nothing by which it can be associated with
the real merriment and enthusiasm of a country feast of the olden days.
When the author was at Aysgarth on the occasion of the feast held
October 3rd, 1894, he called on that venerable and respected dame,
Mrs. Betty Webster, who was becoming increasingly famous on account
of her great age. She was then in her 105th year. For several years
past she had been living with her married daughter and 8on-in-law>

Thomas, Marquis of Wharton.

Mr. and Mrs. Blades, the former then 85 and the latter 75 years of age.
Mr. Blades died within a few months of my visit.

Mre. Webster, or '' Old Betty," as she was generally called, had been
previous to her removal to Aysgarth, a pensioner in the almshouses near
Askrigg for more than thirty years. There she remained till the age of
100, doing her own housework, cooking, and polishing her pans with all
the vigour and sprightliness of a woman of less than half her years.
For more than 50 years she had been devoted to the weed and in the
opinion of many this ever-welcome solace added to her length of years.
She was, however, of a naturally vigorous and robust constitution,
and at the age of 80 could work in the hayfield with quite surprising

440

dexterity. She came of a long-lived race ; her father, a mining agent,
lived to the age of 100, and two of her aunts attained the ages
respectively of 102 and 104 years. Her only brother also died at the
age of do. She was born at Thwaite, in Swaledale, on February 25th,
1790, and in answer to my enquiry said she well remembered walking to
Muker church at the age of three to be christened. Her marriage, tooy
at Hardraw, eighty years ago was fresh within her recollection, and she

Mrs. Betty Webster.

could chat on events of the time of the Peninsular war, and of the
rejoicings that followed the battle of Waterloo, with wonderful distinct-
ness. *' I well remember," she said, " three o' the men of oor district
wha wer i' t' battle o' Waterloo. There were Luke Tiplady o* Bainbrig,
and John Eden o' Bainbrig, and Ralph Pratt o* Bainbrig, but then
ther all gone noo."

441

Seventy-five years ago she was left a widow with eight children, two
of whom survive fier. On the attainment of her 100th birthday, she
received through Mr. Jas. 0. Winn, the head of a family whose members
have been most kind to her, the following greatly appreciated letter
conveying the congratulations of Her Majesty the Queen :

Windsor Castle, 23rd February, 1890,
DsAB Sib,

I am commanded by the Queen to request that yoa will have the
goodness to say to Mrs. Betty Webster, of Askrigg, from Her Majesty that she
trusts that she may liye to celebrate in health for some years to come the
anniversary of the 25th Inst, which marks her entry on her hundred and first
year. I am, yours truly,

James C. Winn, Esq., J. C. COWELL.

The Grange, Aysgarth.

From this time a more than ordinary interest centred round the old
body, but during the summer season of the past two or three years, the
daily visits of strangers were often very trying to her, yet so far as
her strength permitted she gave a welcome to all comers, whilst intimate
friends were allowed the privilege of a salute. On each of her last six
birthdays, Mr. J. B. Smithson, of Ley bum, made a special visit to
Aysgarth for the purpose of taking her photograph. His last presentment
was taken on April 7th, 1896, and is here reproduced. The old dame,
who was then in her 107th year, seemed in excellent health and spirits,
and though very infirm was still able to converse freely. In appearance
she was short, sturdy and erect, but her early widowhood and life spent
in Bradford and Lancaster factories told sorely upon her, and in late
years the wrinkles were deep on her brow.

Our photographer represents her with stick in hand resting composedly
after life's weary pilgrimage, happy and content with her lot. This last
portrait of her was graciously accepted from the photographer by the
Queen as, so far as is known, the presentment of Her Majesty's then oldest
living subject.* Quietly and painlessly, from pure decay of nature, the
venerable woman passed away on June 14th, 1896, aged 106 years and
Si months ; the old churchyard of Askrigg receiving her mortal remains.
Though she was broup:ht up a Primitive Methodist, and was a regular
attender at chapel and class till the age of 100, yet during the last years
of her life she usually went to Aysgarth church once every Sunday, when
able to do so, and walking there and back.

* This may not be correct, as in April, 1895, there was living at Limavady, the
home of Thackeray's famous *' Peg,'* a Mrs. McLaughlin, who was stated to be
then in her 111th year. Dr. Trelawny Ross, vicar of Paignton, sent an account of
the old lady to the Princess of Wales a short time ago, and Her Royal Highness
very kindly gave him £8 to be spent as might be thought best for her benefit.

442

CHAPTER XLII.

Pleasant Paths around Aysgarth.

Carperby and the Society of Friends — Local families— Thoresby — An ancient
chapel— Important discovery of Roman coins— The birthplace of an Arch-
bishop of York — Bear Park — ^The Metcalfe family — Some corrections — ^A
carious carved stone-— Interior of the house — An old Wensleydale clock.

||IGH up beneath green and craggy fells, and a little above
Aysgarth station, runs the one long street (with its sainted
well and venerable cross) of the respectable village of
Carperby, a place of some note in the annals of the Society
of Friends. George Fox used to visit it on his preaching tours, and
it claims to have one of the oldest meeting-houses of the Society in
Richmondshire. The new meeting-house has a burial-ground attached.
There was formerly here an ancient chapel-of-ease, the porch, &c., having
been built into the present Chapel House, now occupied by Mr. Jno. Willis.
The old chapel, I am told, was a primitive looking little building having
a thatched roof. The Manor House is the principal residence in the
village, and is now in the occupation of Mrs. Willis, widow of Mr. Thos.
Willis, the well-known short-horn breeder. Another notable resident
here was the late Mr. Edward Chapman, the naturalist, to whom more
than to any one else are we indebted for records of bird-life in Wensleydale.
His son is an accomplished botanist, and in the Naturalist for 1888 will
be found a valuable contribution by him of about twenty pages on the
flora of Wensleydale.

About 600 yards south-east of High Thoresby farm, in Carperby
township, there is indicated on the ordnance map (1854) the remains of
an ancient chapel, and the site is still known as Chapel Bottoms. A
number of burnt stones may be found in the adjoining field-walls, and
on one occasion while examining^hem Mr. William Home, as he tells me,
came upon a fragment of a stone cross bearing traces of Anglo-Saxon
scroll-work, and in the same locality he also found many pieces of
ancient pottery and two excellently-preserved hunting-knives apparently
of Anglo-Saxon design. These are in Mr. Home's museum at Leyburn.

443

The Roman road leading to the camp at Bainbridge passes through
Bolton Hall park and Thoresby, and at the latter place, about 200 yards
south-east of this road, there was found, some years ago, an earthen jar
containing about 1800 Roman coins. They were of silver and brass,
mostly the latter. The greater part of them are in possession of the
Chaytor family of Croft.

Thoresby seems to have been named in honour of some Scandinavian
chief rejoicing in the royal patronym of Thor, or what is more probable
it was the site of a heathen temple dedicated to the deity of that name.
Tor and Thor, however, enter largely into Scandinavian topography.
There is a Thereby in Denmark. The Wensleydale Thoresby is thought

.jA

" ' .' l'

. .:'''C>

]

' ^__L_^Bt.

The Alpine Garden, Bear Park.

by many to have produced the family from which descended the eminent
antiquary and historian, Ralph Thoresby, author of the Ducatus
LeodensiSj &c. At any rate no less an authority than Drake in the
Ehoracum affirms that the place was long the seat of the family of
Thoresby, and that here was bom the celebrated John de Thoresby,
sometime Lord Chancellor, and also Ar^{lbishop of York from 1 354 to
1873. He it was who began and nearly completed, at his own expense,
the magnificent choir of York Minster.

There are many charmingly-situated residences about Aysgarth.
Among these, overlooking the High Force, stands the picturesque historic

444

old mansion of Bear Park,* the property and seat of Thos. Bradley, Esq.
Since he purchased the estate some years ago many alterations and
improvements have been effected in and aboat the house and gronnds.
The latter contains an admirable Alpine garden, abounding in choice
botanical rarities, and the whole place is full of beauty and interest. I
may mention that several iron arrow-tips have been found whilst digging
in the grounds, and these, from their shape and character, seem to point
to about the time of the battle of Agincourt, in which liord Scrope and
Captain Metcalfe were engaged, when, as the old historians tell ns,
*Hhe grey-goose tipped arrows** played such havoc with the enemy.
Mr. Longstaffe and those who have copied him state that '* the ancient
house of Beare Park was the residence of the older line of the Metcalfea,
and after their removal to Nappa that of a younger branch ;** and in the
Metcalfe and De Hertlyngton Oenealogy contained in the third edition of
Dr. Whitaker^s History of Craven^ the first James Metcalfe of Nappa
is described as being of Bear Park and of Nappa. Both of these
statements are incorrect, and are probably the consequence of the varioos
mis-statements made by Sir William Slingsby and others, elsewhere
noticed. As to the first statement, Bear Park was until the surrender of
monasteries a possession of Marrick Priory. In an action brought by
Sir Richard Neville against several persons for hunting without license
in East Bolton Park, Richard Wylkynson, yeoman, then of Bere Park^
was one of the defendants, and there is no evidence to support the
suggestion that anyone of the name of Metcalfe was tenant there until
1458-9, when Brian Metcalfe is undoubtedly described as of Bear Park
in the De Banco Roll of 37th Henry VI., and he is the first instance of
any member of the race bearing that Christian name. As to the second
statement, James Metcalfe was clearly never the tenant of Bear Park,
and at the last-mentioned date had been established at Nappa for about
forty years.t

Brian Metcalfe died about 1501, when Cecyle Metcalfe was Prioress
of Marrick, and this lady, bj deed dated 9th January, 6th Henry VII.,
made a lease of Bear Park to one Humphrey Metcalfe and his wife, at a
yearly rent of £6 and 5d. Later Bear Park passed to the holding of
Roger Metcalfe, and then to his son, Leonard Metcalfe, who purchased
the estate in or shortly after 1544. He also possessed lands in
Kirkby Malhamdale, Hanlith, Oulcotes, Hawkeswick, and in Carperby.
Dr. Whitaker states that in the reign of Elizabeth the Metcalfes had

* The local pronunciation of Bear Park is Beaper, and this would appear to be
a contraction of Beau repaire. There is an old manor house near Durham, which
belonged to the Prior and Convent of Durham, anciently called Beau rtpaire^ and
which is now known, like the Aysgarth possession, as Bear Park.

f See Metcalfe Becordi. xxli.

445

incurred a forfeiture of which, he observes, " I can give no account.'*
It is however explained by the fact that the above Leonard Metcalfe
took part in the disastrous ** Rising in the North,'' in 1569, and being
convicted of high treason and sentenced to death, had his lands
confiscated. But ultimately he received a pardon,* and regained
possession, obtaining in 1578 a lease for 21 years of the lands forfeited
by him on his attainder. Many significant allusions to him will be
found in Sir Cuthbert Sharp's Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569^
published in 1840. Leonard Metcalfe must have died before 1592, for
in that year his eldest son, John Metcalfe, of Bear Park, held a Court
Baron at Hanlith in his own name.

The older portion of the house seems to have been constructed soon
after the Reformation, and there is an ancient and very interesting
carved stone slab built into the north wall, which no doubt was brought

Carved Stone at Bear Park.

from Coverham Abbey by one of the Metcalfes. The design is very
similar to other carved stones yet remaining about the ruins of thia
monastery. The Bear Park stone may have formed part of a door-head
(the sacred monogram, Ific, surmounted with a crown, being identical
with that pictured on page 814 of this work), or it may have been a
reredos of a side altar dedicated to the Passion. As it has never been
engraved, I gladly avail myself of the courtesy of the present owner of
Bear Park to present a photo-reproduction of it. The stone, I believe^
is unique, and has been kindly interpreted for me by the Rev. J. T.
Fowler, of Durham. In the centre are depicted the emblems of the
Passion, in this instance with three nails only piercing the cross ;t on

* Vide PaUnt Rollt, 13th Elizabeth, par. 7.

t St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, Ib said to ha?e discovered
the Holy Cross at Jerusalem in the year 826, along with the nails which had
pierced Our Saviour's body. There were originally four nails, but according to

446

€ach side is an angel with a cross standing upon a circlet round the head
(the late survivals of crowns), and the wings are folded hy their sides.
Each is pointing to the Passion-shield, and on the right is the monogram,
Sfir, representing the three first letters in the Greek name Ihcoyc
(Jesous). On the left appears the monogram, 313&, representing Marie,
in both instances crowned, as we frequently find, and ornamented with
fretwork and foliage, shewing the love and 6kill that the sculptor put
into his work. Beneath is cut this inscription :

Zit notnen Iiommt tfiu benclitctutn.

[Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus]. It is also worthy of note
that there are several curious oak roof -beams in the house, which are
fiuted and exactly of the type of those in Coverham Abbey.

The interior of the house contains some fine old oak, and there is
also a quaint " grandfather clock," which the owner purchased from
Mr. Home, of Ley burn, some years ago, upon an agreement that it
should never go out of the dale. It is the oldest case clock in
Wensleydale. It bears the initials of Edward and Margaret Fawcett
(of an old Hardraw family), and date 1681. The works are of the
lantern type, with a large bell and hammer inside, and small dial.
Round the corners are engraved the following lines :

Behold this hand,

Observe ye motions tap
Man's precious hoars

Away like these do slip.

along with the name of the maker, John Ogden, near Bainbrigg. He
afterwards lived at Bowbrigg Hall, the site of the house being now
occupied by the Primitive Methodist Chapel. Ogden forged his own
iron and cast his own brass, and he also made and engraved his dial-
plates. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and a great friend
of the pioneer of the sect, George Fox. There is a note in the Society's
books that he made a lock for the meeting-house door at Bainbridge
<now the Temperance Hall), a pair of clasps for George Fox's diary.

The Bear Park estate, which is in the township of Carperby, was,
as before stated, at the Dissolution a possession of Marrick Priory, and
most probably formed part of the early grants to that house of lands,
with appurtenances, in Carperby, as set forth and confirmed by charter
of Edward III. in 1338.

^t. Gregory of Tours, St. Helena threw one into the Adriatic Sea to lay a violent
storm in which she was in danger of perishing, and immediately the sacred nail
fell upon the boisterous waves, the sea was calm and the storm ceased. — Butler's
Lives of the Saintt^ v., 46.

447

CHAPTER XLIII.

In and About Bishopdalb.

Meaning of Bishopdale — Palmers' Flatt, anciently a hospice for palmerB — Burton
in Bishopdale — Waldendale and its wild game in old times — Important grant
of Free Chase — Some notable residences— Thoral by and its ancient chapel —
May-pole and inns — Prehistoric evidences on Addleborough — Thornton Rust.

||T Aysgarth we are but a short distance from Bishopdale, a
beantifuly secluded valley known from time immemorial by
that name, and perhaps so called from its having been a
private demesne of the Archbishops of York (like Bishopside
in Nidderdale) even so long ago as the Saxon occupation of the district.
It was anciently a valuable game preserve, and old Leland speaks of the
surrounding hills abounding in his time with red deer.

Not far from Aysgarth church, and isolated from the village, is an
old-established hostelry called Palmers^ Flatt. This name also has been
transmitted from a remote period, and there is little doubt that the house
stands upon or adjacent to the site of a pilgrims* hospice attached to the
preceptory on Penhill, described in a preceding chapter.*

Leaving this historic spot and passing the vicarage, a walk of little
more than a mile brings us to Burton, a delightfully-situated old-world
village near the foot of Bishopdale, where the beck from that romantic
valley meets the one flowing down lonely Waldendale. Close to the
village the Walden Beck is precipitated by an east and west fault over a
bed of shelving rock in the form of a double cascade, which looks
<:harraing in its setting of varied greenery composing the little dell. A
wild mountain road traverses Waldendale from Burton to Eettlewell in

* After the first Crusades to the Holy Sepulchre, bands of pilgrims returned
to their native country, and these hospices, founded and maintained by the
benevolent, lodged gratuitously many a travel-worn '* soldier of the cross,** bearing
the token of his pilgrimage— a sprig of palm— until he found a home or settled
occupation. Many such houses were then to be found up and down England. At
Coventry, for example, was the old Pilgrim's Rest, a well-known hostel originally
•established for the maintenance and entertainment of palmers and other visitors
to the Priory of Benedictine monks, which stood some little distance to the east
of it.

448

Wharfedale, passing upwards between Brown How (1904 feet) and
Backden Pike (2802 feet), and there is also another road striking the
hills from Waldendale to Coverdale, coming out above Horse Hoaae.
Grand views of the far-reaching valley, watered by its romantic, swift-
flowing stream, are to be had when you get on to the higher fell-sides.
In the very name of Walden there is a true ring of the lonesome wolf-
haunted forest of the Anglo-Saxon days, and down to quite recent times
the rugged fastnesses of this remote valley were the haunts of red deer
and various other game. Barker mentions the wild cat and pine-marten
as occasionally to be met with in the district so late as forty years ago.
We have evidence that the district was of great value as a game preserve
in ancient times by the grant of the following charter by Richard II.,
which is particularly remarkable for the galaxy of historical names that
attest it.

Grant of Free Chase in Burton, in Bishopdalb, kc.
The King to the same greeting. Enow ye, that of oar special grace, we have
granted and by this our present charter have confirmed, to oar beloved cousin,
Ralph, Earl of Westmorland,* that he and his heirs may have for ever free chase
^in all his lands in Burton, in Bishopdale, Walden, West Witton and Penhill, while
however such lands are not within the bounds of our forest. 8o that no one shall
enter such lands, to hunt in them, or to take anything which belongs to the chase,
against the will of him the Earl, or of his heirs, under forfeiture to us of ten
pounds. Wherefore we will and firmly command for us and our heirs that the
aforesaid Earl and his heirs may have for ever free chase in all his lands aforesaid,
while however such lands are not within the bounds of our forest. So that none
shall enter such lands to hunt in them, or to take anything which belongs to the
chase, against the will of him the Earl, or of his heirs, upon forfeiture to us of ten
pounds, as is aforesaid. These- being witnesses : the venerable fathers, H.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England ; Our beloved uncle Henry,
Bishop of Winchester, our Chancellor, and Thomas, Bishop of Durham ; our
beloved brothers, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, John, Duke of Bedford, and
Humphrey, Duke of Oloster ; and our beloved uncle, Thomas, Duke of Exeter ;
our beloved cousins, Edmund, Earl of March ; Richard, Earl of Warwick ; Henry,
Earl of Northumberland, and John, Earl of Salisbury ; Henry Fitz Hugh, our
Treasurer, Thomas Erpingham, Steward of our household. Master Henry Ware,
Clerk, Keeper of our privy seal, and others. Given by the hand of R., at
Westminster, the second day of January, by the King himself.

Before the Conquest Burton is stated to have belonged to one
Turchi], and mention is also made in the Domesday survey of a village
in Bishopdale called Femton, but of this place the very site seems to
have been forgotten. The^e is a good house called Flanders Hall,
pleasantly situated on the bank of the river. Also in a beautiful part
of Bishopdale, backed by fine old trees, stands the Rookery, long the
seat of the Lodge family. The late Mr. Robert Lodge, who died in
1888, aged 71, was a well-known breeder of short-horns, and one of his

* Ralph Neyille was created Earl of Westmorland in 1S97.

449

animals which he sold to a buyer in Canada realised the large sum of
2500 guineas. He was a prominent agriculturist, and was a magistrate
of the North Riding, and also a director of the Wenslejdale and
Swaledale Bank. Another beautiful mansion called Sorrell Sjkes, stands
at the foot of a steep hill known as Morpeth Gate, and commands a
grand view of the three diverging valleys of Wensleydale, Bishopdale and
Waldendale. At this house resided the well-known essayist, Mrs. Elizabeth
Montague, who at her London home used to meet the members of
the famous '^ Blue Stocking Club." Her nephew, Matthew, fourth Lord
Bokeby, resided at Littlebum Hall, near Thoralby, which is now a
farm-house. Sorrell Sykes was lately in the occupation of Mrs. Hutton,
who died in February, 1896. She was the mother of Mr. J. D'Arcy
Sykes Hutton, of Aldbrough Hall, and was much respected throughout
the district, where her many pious benefactions, especially to the poor,
deserve to be remembered.

It is a nice round walk from Burton by Thoralby to Aysgarth.
Thoralby is an old village mentioned in Domesdat/j and there written
Turoldesbi. It had once a chapel dedicated to All Hallows, which was
founded in 1316 by Mary de Neville, lady of the manor of Middleham.
At the dissolution of chantries it was certified (a.d. 1 548) to be in the
incumbency of Adam Myddelham, and of the yearly value of £4 15s. 4d.
The site of this ancient chapel can still be identified in a field called
Chapel Close. At the west end of the village is the old Wesleyan Chapel,
built chiefly through the exertions of the Pickards in 1823 ; opposite it
is the neat new chapel erected in 1886. There are some old houses here.
One of these has inscribed over the door, 1704, M.S. ; another, higher
up the village, bears the date 1653, and initials, I.B., that is, for John
Butterfield, who left four-and-a-half acres of land for the benefit of the
poor of Thoralby and Newbiggin. At the last-mentioned place as well
as at Thoralby there were formerly lofty May-poles. An old man who
remembers the Thoralby one being set up some fifty to sixty years ago,
told me that it consisted of two tall larches, which the young men of the
neighbourhood obtained from Heanings Oill. Nearly forty men were
engaged in removing the trees, and when the pole was erected there was
a general holiday and fdte in the village. There is now but one fully-
licensed inn in the village, but a few years ago there was another, the
Loyal Dales Volunteers^ now a boot shop bearing over its door, J. and
R. W., 1811.^

* It calls to mind an incident, still talked about, which happened during the
threatened invasion of England by Napoleon Buonaparte. The company of
Wensleydale volunteers which went by the above name had been enrolled as local
militia, and orders had been given that in the event of the beacon on Penhill
being lighted they were at once to muster and prepare for the march. It chanced

450

An upland road from Thoralby skirts the south side of Addleborongh
(pron. Addlebruff), upon which extensive hill Camden, in 1590, noted
some ancient entrenchments, which are supposed to have formed part of
the works of the summer camp of the Romans stationed at Bainbridge.
There are many indications of early occupation upon the wide moorlands
surrounding Addleborough. The ancient name of the hill seems to have
been Ethelburg or Edelburgh, a compound signifying in Anglo-Saxon
noble hill or fortress. On the south side, or about a half-mile south-east
of Carpley Oreen farm-house, is a very large stone '* raise," which was
opened many years ago and found to cover a hist-vaen containing the
skeleton of some ancient chief. The cairn measures nearly one hundred
yards in circumference, and a long stone fence passes over the middle of
it, so that only half its circumference is seen while viewing it on either
side of the wall. There is a tradition in the neighbourhood that the
cairn covers some deep hidden treasure, and the spot has always been
called Golden Chest on Oreenber.

In the hollow to the east of the cairn are a number of ancient walled
enclosures, extending for about one hundred yards in an easterly and
westerly direction. They have no definite shape, but there seems to
have been doorways or passages connecting one apartment with another
throughout the range. From hence a moorland tract descends to a green
lane which winds down to the ancient village of Thornton Rust.

It is very pleasantly situated upon an elevated plateau of hard
limestone, and some points of the road in the vicinity command fine views.
Anciently there was a chapel here dedicated to St. Restitutus, and the
site of it can still be identified in the Chapel Garth, a little above the
Baptist Chapel. The latter edifice was erected in 1827 by Mr. John
Toralinson, a wealthy farmer who lived in the ivy-covered house now
occupied by Mr. Joseph Percival. Thornton House is the old residence
of the Chapman family, who built the Kennels here for a private pack
of hounds. I am told that old John Cockburn, now living here, aged 83,
was once ^' fleet as a fox " and could run a hundred yards in ten seconds.
He has performed many wonderful feats, and once ran a mile on Thornton
Scar for a wager and won it by doing the distance in 4^ minutes.

that a fire had accidentally broken out somewhere in the neighbourhood of
Roseberry Topping, and the warden on Penhill mistaking it for a signal on that
beacon instantly lighted his own. The result created considerable alarm in the
dale, but the men, firm to their trust, went about beating dfums, and aft«r many
farewells and much sobbing on the part of wives, children, and sweethearts, they
gathered together and set out under proper command in the direction of Thirek,
where they were met by the Mashamshire Volunteers. Here the news of "false
alarm *' reached them, but not before the panic had spread oyer nearly the whole
of the north of England, and thousands of the brave had mustered in arms. For
their loyalty and promptitude of action both the Wensleydale and Mashamshire
regiments received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament.

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451

CHAPTER XLIV.

ASKRIGG.

Extent of the township and pariBh — Manor of Askrigg^ — Railway and coach-roadg
—The markets— The Old Hall— The church— Description of the interior—
The churchyard—" An honest lawyer" — *' A bad show for Askrigg," an incident
— Local longevity, a wonderful record— Clock -making, an old local industry.

I HE old market-town of Askrigg occupies a pleasant position
on the north side of the Yore. The township includes the
hamlets of Newbiggin, Nappa, and Woodhall, comprising an
area of about 4000 acres, but the ecclesiastical parish extends
so far west as to contain the village of Bainbridge and the township of
Low Abbotside, the whole embracing an area of nearly 15,000 acres.
There is no doubt that the low-lying land between the town and the
station was once a lake, as such a field-name as the Holmes indicates,
and two large gravel-mounds occupy either extremity of this flat, which
is still much subject to inundations from the river.*

Askrigg apparently indicates the site of a ridge of ash-trees. There
is an Ashridge in Herefordshire. Barker speaks of an adjacent ridge
of land called Eske Rigg over which the old highway passed through
the villages of Helm and Skelgill towards Cotter Rigg. The manor of
Askrigg anciently belonged to the Fitz Hughs.f In the time of
Henry YII. four messuages and three carucates of land with appurten-
ances in Askrigg, were held by the Scropes of the King in capite as the
seventh part of one knight's fee, worth by the year £4. The Crown
now holds the manor, and it is leased to Robert Yyner, Esq., of Newby
Hall, near Ripon, who is also one of the largest landowners in the
parish.

In 1876-7 the North Eastern Railway Company extended their line
from Leyburn to Askrigg, and some two years later it was completed to

* It may be noted that the juniper, a somewhat rare plant in Wensleydale,
grows beside the Yore near Askrigg station.

t In 1465, Henry, Lord Fits Hugh, appointed Abm. Metcalfe, of Askrigg,
yeoman, to do him service *^ next the king and before all other persons."— Yorks,
Arch, JL, xii., 97.

452

Hawes Junction, thus establishing a connection with the Midland on
the Settle and Carlisle line. Askrigg fonnerlj lay on the old coach-road
from London to Eirkbj Stephen, and passengers alighting at Askrigg
could have post-horses or carriages at the Red Lion {vide Cary) to carry
them by any cross-road to their destinations. There was in the early
part of the century no post-office on this road between Masham and
Askrigg, a distance of 23 miles, and lettera, for instance, from Leybnm
or West Witton for Kirkby Stephen would have to be posted at Askrigg,
as the post-office at Middleham was not on the through coach-route to
Kirkby Stephen. Perhaps, however, there may have been some
arrangement for postal despatches between the two offices. The turn-
pike by way of Woodhall and Nappa through Askrigg was opened in
1751, and according to the manuscript diary of Alex. Fothergill, the
surveyor, I find that a new wall was then made at the high end of
Askrigg, and the sum of 9s. per rood paid for constructing 2^ roods of
road to the turnpike gate. The opposition to turnpikes seems to have
spread into Wensleydale, and the surveyors and those engaged in the
work had to put up with a good deal of annoyance and abuse while the
work was going on. Almost immediately the Askrigg bar-house was
opened, one man, named Alex. Tiplady, was convicted for defrauding
the bar-keeper by running his horse through the bar without paying
toll. Other cases might be cited too, both of attempts to defraud and of
personal assault.

The ancient weekly market at Askrigg long continued to be held on
Thursdays, and there are also three fairs still held annually. According
to Owen's Book of Fairs, published by authority to fix the days for
holding markets, &o., since the alteration of the style of dating, it
appears that at Askrigg, in 1756, woollen cloth, pewter, brass, and
milliners' goods were exhibited on May 11th and the first Thursday in
June, while on October 28th and 29th, horned cattle, woollen cloth,
pewter, &c., were bought and sold. In 1641 a local yeoman was indicted
for creating a nuisance by placing his dunghill in the main street close
to where the markets were held. At that time, no doubt, like other
villages in the dales, many of the houses were low and ill-lighted, having
small leaded windows and roofs of thatch, while a cesspool and midden
heap lay opposite each door. Several interesting old buildings still
remain in the town. There is the toll-booth, a small isolated building
on the east side of the churchyard, the lower portion of which was
formerly the town gaol or " lock-up."* Opposite it is an old house with
the initials and date 16 ^^ 87. The market cross is a little above, and

* In 1669 Askrigg had its " wiseman," fvho was convicted for practising
** certain devilish arts called charms and sorceries." The pinfold is mentioned in
1662.

453

near it is a stone which once held an iron ring to which bulls were
formerly tethered and baited for the amusement (sic) of interested
spectators. Facing the site of the bull-baiting area is the old Hall, with
its quaint wooden balcony erected, it is said, as a kind of private box
for the purpose of obtaining a safe and full view of the contests. The
house appears to have been built by William Thornton in 1678, as an
inscription over the door states. It is also noteworthy as the ^' Yorescott
House " of Miss FothergilFs interesting story Kith and Kin.

The Church (St. Oswald) is mentioned in Pope Nicholas* Taxation
(1292), by which mandate a tenth of the fruits of all ecclesiastical
benefices was raised to defray the costs of a further Crusade to the Holy
Land. The present building, of which I give a view by the courtesy of
Mrs. Routh of Wood Hall, is chiefly of 15th century date, with later
additions. The pillars, however, on the north side are distinctly
Norman in character, and are apparently survivals of a former church,
brought hither, possibly, from the adjacent monastery at Fors. The east
end of the south aisle, where the organ now stands, formed a private
chapel belonging to the Metcalfes of Nappa Hall, but its old oaken
screen has long ago disappeared. There remains here two monuments
to the family, from one of which two brasses of half-length figures
(apparently husband and wife), have been removed.*

The south aisle of the church was rebuilt in 1854, and in 1877 the
interior underwent further repair. The beautifully-designed east window,
by Meyer of Munich, was then put in to the memory of Geo. Winn, Esq.,
who was accidentally drowned whilst crossing the river at Aysgarth
Ford, April 23rd, 1876. The reredos and lectern were the gifts of this
family. There are, in addition, various memorials in the church to the
families of Lightfoot, Alderson, Calvert, Lodge, Wood, Thompson, &c.
One of the tablets commemorates John Pratt, Esq., who died at
Newmarket in 1785. He was a well-known sporting character, and
built the King's Arms hotel at Askrigg, and the house (with stables)
adjoining, where he resided. A long and curious epitaph was written

♦ Thig chantry, dedicated to St. Anne, was founded 7th Edward IV. (1467), by
JameB Metcalfe, of Kappa, for one perpetaal chaplain to celebrate daily the divine
office for the good estate of the said James Metcalfe and his sons Thomas and
Miles Metcalfe, during their lives and for their souls after death, as well as for the
soul of Richard, late Earl of Salisbury, and the souls of John Metcalfe and Alice
his wife, father and mother of the said James, and also of the sons and daughters
of the said James, and the souls of all benefactors of the aforesaid James, and of
all the faithful departed, &c. {Pat, Rolls 7th Edward IV., pt. 2). The chantry, it
may be noted, was established in the life-time of the founder, a practice which,
though not usual, was still occasionally exercised at that period. {Ste Dugdale's
Mon.. vi., 23). As appears by inquisition taken at Tork Castle, 8th Edward IV.
(U68), the first chaplain was one Henry Herryson ; the last was Roger Kendall,
when (1548) the clear yearly value of the chantry was put down at £4 4b.

454

upon him and printed in the Torkshire Magazine for 1786. In the
churchyard, against the west wall, is a monument to the memory of
'^ Mr. Myles Alderson,'' of Bainbridge, who died in 1746, and is described
as ''an honest attorney.*' There seems to lurk in this epithet a
proverbial reflection upon the character of attorneys generally ; else^
honest lawyer, why parade thy virtuiBS ? Some wag, however, declared
he never had a case.

Speaking of the churchyard, among many stories and events one
hears of while moving about the dales, the following amusing incident
may be mentioned. There is a flagged path through the churchyard,
and some time ago, on the edge of dark, as an inebriate was making his
way towards one of the exits he accidentally stumbled and fell into an
open grave which had been opened for the reception of one of the
village fathers on the following day. Not knowing exactly where he
had fallen, and not having the power to move much, he lay there in
grim confinement, and must evidently have soon fallen asleep. Some
two or three hours later he had roused himself, whether by the blast of
the Bainbridge horn my informant could not recollect, but at all eventa
he woke up and managed to clamber up the side of the dismal chamber,
when he at once perceived where he was. Fortunately it was fine and
moonlight, but no noise or living object disturbed the solemn aspects of
the scene. Firmly believing that the last great trump had sounded he
looked round in a half-dazed sort of way, saying as he did so, '' Well,
this is a bad show for Askrigg," piously thinking himself alone among
the just. Then he went on to ask where were his old father and mother
and many other deceased relatives and friends, until, getting upon his
feet, better thoughts took possession of his soul and he found that the
" bad show for Askrigg " was in his own imagination only.

It is scarcely necessary to remark that at this day the moral and
intellectual status of Askrigg will compare favourably with any other
place or district in the dales, and its present worthy pastor, the Rev. C.
Whaley, M.A., gives us in an excellent little brochure which he has
written about the parish, many facts and interesting details relative to
the social and general life of its inhabitants. For instance, he tells us
that in one of his burial registers extending from the year 1818 to 1876
and containing 1600 names, there are 466 entries, or more than one in
four, of persons over 70, and about 200, or one in eight, over 80. That
is a splendid record, and perhaps unique. It affords convincing testimony
not only to the healthfulness of the district, but also to the careful and
sober habits of the people, and it would be eminently interesting to
know if the record could be matched by any other locality in England.
Is this longevity in part due to the circumstance of the Askrigg folk
having kept "good hours," for certainly the place has a very old

455

repatatioD for the manafactore of first-rate clocks and time-pieces ?
When the trade was established is not known, but it is more than
probable that the first makers were the descendants of the Dutch clock-
makers from Delft, who were invited over to England under Royal
protection in the time of King Edward III.* From the churchwardens'
accounts for Masham we learn that there was a clock there in 1542, and
also in 1636 one Brian Sweeting was paid £3 ''for making the clock/*
These appear to be the earliest references to such objects in Richmondshire,
although in other pares of England time-keepers of various patterns
were undoubtedly in use long before this time. Canterbury, for example,
is credited with having a clock in 1292, and an old clock, still in
existence at Glastonbury, is said to have been originally constructed in
1335. Watches were a later invention and seem to have been first made
with springs about the year 1550. Mary, Queen of Scots, when a prisoner
at Bolton Castle, had a curious skull-shaped watch, which she is said to
have bequeathed, on the morning of her execution, to her maid of
honour, Mary Setoun. There was also a very old clock in the castle
at Bolton, but of its age or make nothing is known.

The earliest authentic record of a clock-maker about Askrigg is of
the time of Charles II., after which date the trade seems to have spread
into other parts of Wensleydale, and besides Askrigg, such places as
Thoralby, Middleham, and Leyburn, had each its noted craftsmen.
The oldest case-clock of local manufacture known to exist is now, as
elsewhere related, at Bear Park, near Aysgarth. It is dated 1681, and
was made by John Ogden. The dials were at that time of brass, and
had only one hand. Subsequent makers have modified and improved
the old methods of construction, and the business, it is interesting to
note, is still carried on in Askrigg at the workshop of Mr. John Skidmore,
as well as by Messrs. Home & Son, at Leyburn, who can generally shew
a few odd specimens of the original antique '* grandfather^s clock " of
the old Wensleydale makers.

See the aathor*B Nidderdale and the Garden of the Nidd^ pages 86-88.

456

CHAPTER XLV.

Aboukd Askbigo.

Charming scenery— Garland Paetare— Fors Abbey— Discoyeries on the site— Bow-
bridge— Dale Orange almshouseB— Woodhall Park, a royal chase— Mill Oill
and Whitfield Forces — The highest native wood in Yorkshire — Maze Holes.

|H£RE are many interesting objects and much delightfal
scenery in the vicinity of Askrigg. Sweeps of grand moorland
rise behind the town, and in the rugged and picturesque gills
or ravines which descend from them are some of the most
charming waterfalls in the district. The moor walk from Askrigg to
Maker in Swaledale (six miles) has also many attractions for the tourist ;
the views from the summit of the road, looking southwards from the
gate entering upon the moor, are particularly fine, and many well-known
points, such as Ingleborough, Penyghent, and Great Whemside, are
distinguishable, along with all the hill summits from Penhill and
Addleborough to Bow Fell at the head of the dale. On this road, about
a quarter-mile above the Town Head, is a field called Oarland Pasture,*
and another field called the Fair Allotment, covering some 60 acres, is
the site of Askrigg Hill Fair, now held on the Ist of July.

About a mile to the west of Askrigg, on the road to Hardraw, is the
site of the Abbey of Fors, founded for Cistercian monks in the reign of
Stephen, probably about 1145, by Acharius, son of Bardolph, who was a
large landowner under the Earl of Richmond. He gave to the monks
8 carucates of land in Wurton and 1\ carucates in Fors, a range of
territory most probably comprehended in the township known by the
name of Low Abbotside. They did not however flourish long here, for
as stated on page 327 the monks obtained a much better and more fertile

* On the 16th August, St Oswald's Day, being the day of the village feast, a
large garland, woven expressly for the purpose, was run Cor directly up the brow
of a steep hill, on the common to the north of the town, and which since its
enclosure has been known as Garland Pasture. The custom is said to have
originated with a lady some few centuries ago, who left the rental of a field to be
expended on the sports of the day to perpetuate her displeasure at having suffered
a disappointment in love. — Vide Barker's Wen$leydale,

467

site at Jervaux, whither they removed about 1156. Acharins, the founder,
died in 1161, and was baried in the chapel at Jervaox. Nothing now
remains of the original monastery at Fors, although the monks afterwards
maintained a grange here, and established a chantry chapel of which
there are some few remnants left in an outbuilding attached to the Dale
Grange farm. There appears also to have been a burial-ground annexed
to the chapel, for when the railway was being made about twenty years
ago, a great many human bones were come upon while cutting through
the site. Some antique lead-piping was also found, which is supposed
to have been laid from an old spring to the grange. A portion of this
is in the Bolton Castle museum. At the Dissolution the chantry at the

Wood Hall Park.

Dale Orange was in the incumbency of Christopher Dixon, who had a
stipend of £5 per annum.

The hill a little above the old chapel, and by the river, is called
Abbey Heads, and there is a beautiful little waterfall called Abbey Force,
likewise commemorating the site of this old monastery. Near this
cascade is the old Bow-bridge, once half its present width, and one of
the most ancient structures of the kind in Richmondshire. Mr. Scarr,
of Coleby Hall, possesses an old copper token, beanng a representation
of Clifford's Tower, York (built by the Conqueror), on one side, and
York Minster on the other, with the date 1100 upon it. It was found

458

some years ago while repairing the foundations of the bridge. There is
little doabt the bridge was built in the first instance by the monks of
Fors. Along the stream side grows in some abundance the pretty
Armeria maritimay a strange position for this little maritime plant.

A short distance west of the bridge, and dose to the high road, are
the Dale Orange almshouses, which were appointed and endowed in 1807
by Christopher Alderson, Esq., of Homerton, Middlesex. He was a
native of Askrigg, and his family for some time resided at Woodhall
Park. The beautiful domain which surrounds the mansion of Wood
Hall was once the centre of a royal chase belonging to the great family
of Mowbray, who, among other local benefactions, contribated to the
building of the old Crusaders* houses on Penhill, on the opposite side of
the river. In the Norman centuries there lived here a family who took
the name of Woodhall, and in the time of Henry III. they had a grant
of free warren within their manor of Woodhall. The property is now
owned by the trustees of the late Major Metcalfe, of Ings House, Hawes,
and the Hall is leased to John C. C. Routh, Esq., the head of a family
that has been seated in Wensleydale from remote times, and of which I
shall have something to say in the notice of Gayle, near Hawes. The
grounds surrounding Wood Hall are very beautiful, and in one part,
close to where the road runs, there is a fine lake shadowed by luxuriant
foliage. There is also a very old rabbit warren belonging to the estate,
the animals being of a particular breed, having silver-grey fur, which at
one time commanded a good price. Nappa Hall (noticed in the next
chapter) stands a short distance to the west.*

There is, as I have said, some magnificent gorge scenery on the hill
sides to the north of the high road through Askrigg. On Whitfell,
not far from the decayed village of Helm, is Mill Oill Force, a very fine
and voluminous cataract having a fall of nearly 70 feet, of which
Wordsworth wrote admiringly, and a few hundred yards higher up the
same ravine is Whitfield Force, with a fall of over 50 feet, amid noble
cliff and primeval wood scenery on a scale worthy of an American
forest. This is probably the highest native wood remaining in York-
shire. The geologist will be interested in this excursion, as the whole
series of the Yoredale measures are revealed in the course of the ascent
from the Carboniferous or Scar Limestone in the bed of the Tore at
Bowbridge falls (the same bed as at Aysgarth), upwards to the Main
Limestone at the top of Whitfield Oill and Cotter End. The lover of

* A little below Nappa Hall and nearer the river, is Nappa Mill, the scene of a
desperate barglary on New Tear's Day, 1860. In their determined efforts to rob
the house the then occupier, the Rev. John Winn, vicar of Ajsgarth, was brutally
attacked by the thieves with a hay-spade and narrowly escaped with his life. A
window, illustrative of the circumstance, has been placed in Aysgarth Church.

459

wild flowers, too, will find this a delightful trip, as the moist and shaded
sides of the deeplj-cat ravine, in some places densely overhung with
various trees, abound in flowering plants, ferns, and mosses, possessing
an interest either for their beauty or for their rarity. Among the more
remarkable species will be found in some profusion the curious baneberry

Mill Gill, near Askbigq.

{AcUea spicata)^ which seems to be a native here, while such gems as
Saodfraga aizoides, Hahmaria albtda^ Pyrola minor, Bryum cameum,
and Physcia ciliare, among many others, may also be met with. There
is an excellent path to Mill Gill, but the higher fall in Whitfield Gill is,
especially in wet weather, difScult to approach.

Above Shaw Cote are some curious little caverns called Maze Holes.
One of them contains a small cascade. Coming from Hawes they may
be reached by a romantic walk through Sedbusk to Litherskew.

460

CHAPTER XLVI.

Nappa Hall and the Metcalfbs.

A famous family — Origin of the name of Metcalfe — First notice of the family in
Wensleydale — Captain Metcalfe at the battle of Agincourt — Chancellor Thos.
Metcalfe — Other distinguished members of the family — Sir Christopher
Metcalfe enters York with 800 horsemen all of his kith and kin — His luxurious
life — Decline in the family fortunes — Supposed yisit of Sir Walter Raleigh
and King James I. to Nappa — The last Metcalfe at Nappa — Acquisition of the
property by the Weddells — Description of the Hall — Relics of Mary, Queen of
Scots — Did the Queen of Scots, while a prisoner at Bolton Castle, pass two
nights at Nappa Hall 7

|E have now amved at the historic house of Nappa, the chief
seat of the Metcalfes in Wensleydale, and which, next to
Bolton Castle, is the most important of the ancient homesteads
in the dale. Aided by the Metcalfe Records — a most valuable
privately-issued memorial of the family, based wholly upon original and
trustworthy writings — I am privileged to state much that is new and to
correct many and grave errors which, oft repeated, have become almost
crystallized into the history of this famous old house. In the first place
I will dismiss as a simple and convenient but ridiculous interpretation,
the popularly-accepted story of the lion and the calf having anything to
do with the origin or formation of the name of Metcalfe. The earliest
mention of the name of Metcalfe which has yet been discovered, — and
this must be our guide — is contained in the Assize Roll of Yorkshire,
7th Edward I. (1278) from which the following extended abstract is
made :

Ricardus de Staynbrigge de Dent occidit Adam Medecalf de eadem et statim
fagit et malecreditar, ideo exegatur et utlagetur. Catella ejus ziiijt. vjct. unde
idem vice comes respondebit. Primus inventor obiit.

A passage that has been often mistranslated and much distorted, but it
is clear that this Adam Medecalf — I quote the original spelling — ^lived
at Dent and was slain, and at no great distance from Dent is an extensive
mountain called the Calf, where the inference is natural that he lived.
The prefix Mede, als. Med, is simply a contraction of Middle, and there

461

is a tongue or division of the mountain known at this day as Calf
Middletongne, which at a former era may have been called Middle or
Mede Calf, and have given rise to the name of the man then living
there. The name of Medcalf is still borne by some, though rarely, and
in other counties than Yorkshire.

It is not known when the family first appeared in Wensleydale, but
they were certainly there in the ISth century, although it is impossible at
this distance of time and in the absence of authentic records to establish
their relationship with the John Metcalfe, father of James Metcalfe, of
Nappa, who lived in the time of Richard II. After protracted research
it must be stated that whatever pedigrees have been published containing
a connected descent anterior to this period can only be regarded as
conjectural. James Metcalfe, son of John and Alice Metcalfe, was born
in the year 1889, as is shewn on the evidence of James himself, given
on the taking of the inquisition for proof of age of Henry le Scrope,.
son and heir of Richard le Scrope, of Bolton, Et., taken at York Castle
25th January, 1439-40. But who was the father of John has never
been properly proved, and after the most careful search it seems doubtful
now whether it ever will be. In the Herald's Visitation for the year
1530 appear the '* armes of John Metcalfe esquyer, beside Richemont,
and auditoure to the kyng in those partyes " : Argent^ three calves
passant sable, in the fess point a crescent gules for difference. It is not
known how he was related to the Nappa family, but in his will, proved
at Richmond in 1541, he mentions his coushi Christopher Metcalfe, of
Nappa, Esquire, and also his cousin Marmaduke Metcalfe.

James Metcalfe took part in the French campaign in 1415, and waa
a Captain at the battle of Agincourt. His home was then at Worton
in Wensleydale, and there is no doubt that he went out at the instance
of Sir Richard Scrope, of Bolton, who was indented to attend in his own
person in France, and bring 15 men-at-arms and 45 archers ; a small
retinue when compared with others, but representing at that day probably
the whole available fighting force of Wensleydale. Some years after the
great battle Sir Richard was again in France, and died in 1420 during
the siege of Rouen. He had in the interim between the battle of
Agincourt and his return to France, enfeoffed James Metcalfe in a
portion of his estate called Nappa, where he afterwards resided, and was
the ancestor of the long and illustrious line of Metcalfes who emanated
from that house. He was also the founder of the chantry in Askrigg
church, previously mentioned.

Edmund Metcalfe, eldest son of James, was born about 1420, but
died in his father^s lifetime. His younger brother, Thomas, succeeded
to the estate at Nappa, where he permanently resided and married &
daughter of William Hertlington, an ancient and arms-bearing family,

462

-seated at Hertlington in Craven. Sir William Slingsby, in his additions
to the Yorkshire Visitation of 1584 at the College of Arms, states he
was a member of the Privy Council and Chancellor of the Duchj of
Lancaster in the 88th Henry VI. (1469-60). But to have attained to
the Chancellorship at so early an age is probably a mistake, though he
undoubtedly received the latter appointment in 1488, but whether for
the first time is unknown. Many other responsible offices he held besides.
In 1485-6 he received a grant of the office of Surveyor of the Castle
and lordship of Middleham, and of all manors, lordships, &q.^ within

Nappa Hall a Century Ago.

the liberties of Richmond. This was an appointment of considerable
importance, and was probably one of those referred to by Leland when
he said that Thomas Metcalfe ** waxed rich " ; its value to him being
no doubt much greater than the mere amount of salary attached.

The estate or demesne of Nappa, which probably contained no more
than some 400 acres, even with the additions stated by Leland to have
been made by Thomas, descended together with whatever share he had
in the Hertlington lands in right of his wife, to his eldest son, afterwards

463

Sir James Metcalfe, Et. His most exbensive landed possessions consisted
of long beneficial leases of varions portions of the lordship of Middleham,
the Rolls of which shew that he held not only the Raydale lands and
others adjacent, which were afterwards occupied by Sir James and his
immediate lineal descendants for many generations, but leases of other
lands and vaccaries of considerable i*ental and extent, which do not
appear to have been renewed by Sir James, but which in almost every
instance were subsequently occupied by persons of the name. Chancellor
Thomas Metcalfe^s younger brother. Miles, was also a personage of great
note in his time. He resided at York and was a member of the Bar,
and ultimately became Recorder of York and Justice of Assize at
Lancaster. In 1477, 1478, 1482 and 1484 he represented the Oity of
York in Parliament. He was also King's Deputy at the Council of the
Duchy of Lancaster, which assembled at Westminster, and the Duchy
Records contain numerous references to him. He died extremely wealthy
in 1485.

But to continue with the Nappa line. Sir James Metcalfe, of Nappa,
the eldest of the three sons of the Chancellor, was born about 1460. In
early life he served on the Scottish Border under Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, whose chief residence during the latter part of the reign of
Edward lY. was, as before related, at Middleham Castle. He was a
gentleman of high standing, and in point of wealth the possessor of
numerous properties and offices which must have raised him to a position
of considerable power and influence. He held the post of Coroner of
the Marshalsea of the King's Household ; likewise the offices of Master
Forester, or Master of the Game, within the Forests of Wensleydale,
Raydale, and Bishopdale, and Keeper of the Parks of Woodhall, near
Nappa, and Wanless, in West Witton and Swinethwaite. He also served
the office of High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1525, and was knighted by
the king at Windsor in 1528.* In 1528 he contributed to the Lay
Subsidy levied upon the inhabitants of Staincliffe and £wecross. The
account is given in an extremely well-preserved paper book at the Record
Office [Exchequer Q.R. Lay Subsidies, Yorkshire W.R., 14th and 15th
Henry YIILf] and shews that he was chief lord of Hertlington, and
gives the names of his twelve tenants there ; that he had land in Skipton
in the occupation of James Onslow, that Thomas Smythson was tenant

* In the Chapter House Books relating what horses were taken by the
inhabitants off the field of Branxton, i.e,^ Flodden Field, in 1513, mention is made
of *' James Medcalfe of Nappaye," as having received " three grey geldings, a baye
gelding, and a black gelding," which makes it highly probable that he took part
in that great engagement.

t This book is quite the finest specimen of a Lay Subsidy of this or any other
period for Yorkshire.

464

of his land at Grargrave ; that he was chief lord of Hawkswick-cnm-
Halcotts (Oulcotes), and had land at Arncliffe of which Richard and
Thomas Atkinson were his tenants. He was also returned as chief lord
of Hanlith, and the names of a number of his tenants are given. He
had also tenants occupying his lands in Burnsall-cum-Thorp, where,
however, Roger Tempest is returned as a chief lord.

Sir James in 1531 obtained from Sir John Daunce, a member of the
Council, and John Hales, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, a lease
of all lead and coal mines within the lordships of Richmond and
Middleham, '' the which lordships and manors be parcell of the lands
assigned for payment of the Captaine, officers, and soldiours at Berwick,"
(except those in the New Forest and Arkengarthdale, which were already
let to William Conyers, Esq.), for 21 years, rendering a ninth part of
the lead and a ninth part of the coal obtained to the king as rent.*

Sir James also held the post of one of the King's Oommissioners for
the army in the north, and in this capacity held periodical musters of
men-at-arms, archers, and bill-men for the wapentake of Hang West on
Middleham Moor. The last occasion on which he appears as Commissioner
is in 1534, and this Roll is particularly interesting, as it gives complete
lists of men-at-arms, arranged in order of parishes. It includes no
fewer than 96 Metcalfes for the whole wapentake, the majority of them
being described as archers, ** horsed and harnessed " ; of these 62 came
from the parish of Bainbridge alone, which, however, included the whole
valley of Raydale. His eldest son is returned among others for Nappa,
as '' Christopher Metcalfe, Esq.^* Sir James married late in life — when
he was 52 — ^a daughter of Thomas Pigot, Esq., of Clotherham, near
Ripon, a lady then in her 20th year, and by her acquired a large territorial
fortune. He died at an advanced age in 1539, and on November 10th
of that year an inquisition p.m. was taken at Topcliffe declaring the
extent of his various lands and possessions.

Sir Christopher Metcalfe, who was born in 1513, succeeded his father,
and following shortly the death of the latter, John, Lord Scrope, entered
an action contesting the proprietary right of Christopher to the manor
of Nappa. After considerable litigation, set forth in the Proceedbgs
of the Star Chamber, Lord Scrope proved successful, but instead of
insisting upon a verdict, putting him in possession of the Nappa estate,
he was content to receive an equivalent, and apparently more than an
equivalent, in the manor of Healey, which had been assigned to
Christopher on a partition of the Pigot estates.! It was certainly hard
upon Sir Christopher, who after an uninterrupted possession of Nappa
by his family for nearly a century and a half, should have been obliged

♦ PaUnt Rolli, 35th Henry VIII., par. 13.

t See De Banco Rolls, 38th Henry VIII.

465

to bay over again the paternal estate through what was the obvious
neglect of his ancestor, James Metcalfe, to procure the effectual barring
of the entail. Had this been done when Nappa passed from Sir Richard
Scrope, this costly and troublesome suit, with its attendant loss to the
Metcalfes, could not have arisen. Still Sir Christopher remained a man
of considerable wealth, and married a daughter of Henry, 11th Baron
Clifford, created Earl of Cumberland in 1525, and Knight of the Oarter
in 1532. The Earl died in 1541, and by his will, as stated in Burke's
Dormant and Extinct Peerage^ left this daughter Elizabeth £1000 if she
should marry an Earl or an Earl's son ; if a Baron 1000 marks ; and if
a Enight 800 marks. It appears 900 marks was considered due to
Lady Elizabeth on her marriage to Sir Christopher, in the proportion of
800 marks for her marriage portion and 100 marks for her '* child's
part," as is shewn in the Dodsworth MSS. at the Bodleian Library
(vol. 74, page 114).*

Barker in his history of Wensleydale remarks that '' one of
Mr. Camden's editors states that crayfish were introduced into the Yore
from the south by Sir Christopher Metcalfe, of assize display, but
tradition avers that they were put there by the renowned Sir Walter
Raleigh, whilst on a visit to Nappa, probably some years later." But
Camden, who was Sir Christopher's contemporary and may be supposed
to have known the facts, distinctly says :

Hinc citus defertur Urus cammaris fluTitialibuB abuDdans ex quo C. Medcalfe
nostra memoria id ffenus pisoium ex Auatrali Anglise parte hue detulerit.

There is, of course, no reference to Sir Walter Raleigh in this passage,
for what with his early life in Devonshire, his residence in Ireland, and
his exploits abroad, it is not likely that he ever visited Wensleydale. He
was only 22 years old when Sir Christopher died in 1574, and from 1580,
when Sir Christopher's son died, until 1601, when Thomas came of age,
Nappa was either unoccupied or occupied by Popish priests, and after

* Leland, referring to Nappa, in his Itinerary y says that it was in his day
possible to find 300 men of known consanguinity to the Metcalfes, and it seems to
have arisen out of this statement that Sir Christopher Metcalfe, on his appointment
to the office of High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1665, was bent on furnishing very
singular proof of this by attending the Judges at York with 300 horsemen all of
his kith and kin. Both Camden and Fuller describe the interesting event, but do
not say, as is frequently asserted without the smallest authority, that all the horses
were white. It may, however, have been that the greater part of them were
Yorkshire greys, a colour and class that was common and largely bred in the
northern parts at that time. Mr. Longstaffe, moreover, is obviously in error by
stating that " Bishop Gibson has made a curious slip in translating Camden's
equites, knights instead of horsemen," for in point of fact Bishop Gibson in his
edition of Camden*s Britannia, published in 1772, expressly translates the words
treoentis eguitibus, three hundred horse."

466

that time and until two years before his execution Sir Walter was a
prisoner in the Tower.*

Sir Christopher was a man fond of the gaieties of life and ostentation,
and he seems to have maintained his house with almost princely dignity.
With him began the decline in the family fortunes. At the time of his
death in 1574, all had been squandered and lost, saving only the Nappa
estate and some small possessions in the immediate neighbourhood. The
inheritance of his mother was likewise dispersed with the single exception
of the Clotherham estate and land adjoining. Whether he took much
active interest in the Reformation, outside his own neighbourhood, is
doubtful. A Romanist in the time of Queen Mary, he evidently found
it convenient to conform to the Established religion on the accession of
Elizabeth. His wife and children were Protestants, and no doubt to his
and their influence is largely to be attributed the speedy decline of
Papaoy in Wensleydale.f

Sir Christopher left four sons and two daughters, James being the
eldest, who died in 1580, and he was succeeded by Thomas Metcalfe,
who was born in 1579, and knighted by King James I. in 1608.
Sir Thomas was then only 24 years old, and two years later was placed on
the Commission of the Peace for the North Riding. But with a fallen
estate and the troubles he had in Raydale, elsewhere related, he suffered
greatly and was frequently in difficulties. In 1617 he mortgaged the
Nappa estate to Sir Thomas and Sir William Smyth, Knights, and
John Coleby, Esq., to secure repayment of £1400. Clotherham was also
mortgaged in 1618. For a time Nappa was tenanted by the family of
Coleby, but Sir Thomas, being "much befriended in the county of York,"
eventually returned to Nappa, and there his days were ended in peace.
It is scarcely likely that King James I. would visit the fallen knight in
his Wensleydale home, as is so often stated, without apparently the
smallest authority. It is difficult to trace the origin of the statement,
but from the bare fact of his supposed visit the story has gradually
enlarged to one of quite picturesque proportions. We are even told that
the king not merely visited Nappa, but that he, whilst out hunting,
crossed the Tore on the back of one of Sir Thomas's huntsmen ! A

* On page 204 I have referred to some memorials of Lady Raleigh at Marske
Hall, which doubtless got there through the friendship that long subsisted between
Elizabeth, wife of Sir Timothy Hutton, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh,
who were sister maids of honour to Queen Elizabeth (jee page 201). Lady
Raleigh's ring, I understand, was presented by the late Mr. Timothy Hutton to
Mrs. Pulleine (whose grandmother was a Hutton), of Clifton Castle, and it is now
held by her daughter, Lady Cowell.

t See Foley's Reeordt of the EnglUh Province of the Society of Jetfu, (London ,
1877).

467

little investigation will shew how fallacious and improbable is this story.
Of the visits and movements of no monarch do we possess a more complete
record than of this Scottish king, after his accession to the throne of
England. Indeed, King James made but two *' progresses '^ in England
during his reign, the first in 1608 on his ascension of the English throne,
and the second in 1617, on his return from a visit to Scotland. It is
really absurd to suppose that on the first of these occasions he would go
out of his way to visit a young Yorkshire squire who was only just of
age and in possession of a small estate, nor on the second when he was
in financial difficulties. Moreover both progresses are most fully
chronicled, and every place at which the king stayed on his tours is
carefully set down. On no occasion did he come within miles of
Wensleydale, for on the first-mentioned tour he proceeded by way of
Durham direct to York and Doncaster, and on the second from Doncaster
to York and Aske Hall, near Richmond, to Bishop Auckland ; the return
journey being by way of Carlisle to Appleby, thence to Hornby Castle
and through Lanca^ire to Preston southwards.* Mr. Whaley in his
history of Askrigg. has unfortunately been misled too, and has added to
the inconsistency or the story by remarking that it '' was probably on
this very occasion '* Sir Thomas was knighted, whereas a reference to
the Book of Knights^ printed in 1885, explains that it was at Theobald's
on the 7th May, 1603, Sir Thomas was knighted.

Sir Thomas died in 1665 and was buried in the family vault in
Askrigg Church. By his wife Elizabeth, who was a daughter of
Sir Henry Slingsby, of Scriven, he had nine children. James, the eldest
was bom 1604, and during the greater part of his life practised as a
chancery barrister. He continued in sole possession of Nappa until
1657, when by an agreement with his brother Thomas the house was
formed into two tenements, that portion occupied by James consisting of
the hall house or great hall between the towers, the parlour and kitchen,
being the two rooms on the ground floor of the west tower ; the parlour
chamber and the kitchen chamber being the two rooms over them, and
the green chamber and wardrobe chamber being the two rooms above
them. In 1663 James paid in respect of his moiety of the house, hearth-
tax for six hearths, and Thomas paid in respect of his moiety for five
hearths. James was twice married and died in 1671, intestate, when
Thomas got possession of the whole of Nappa and had it at his death in
1684. Henry Metcalfe, their youngest brother, who was born about
1620, then succeeded to it, and by his will dated 19th September, 1697,
he settled Nappa to the use of his wife Mary for her life, and after her
decease to his eldest son Thomas, and the heirs male of his body. His other

* See Niohors Progreeeet of King Jamee, vols. i. and iii.

468

son, Henry, was godson of John Hntton, Esq., of Marske, and at the age
of 18 a half-length portrait of him was painted in oils, which in 1756 was
bequeathed by his brother Thomas to Mr. Hntton*s son John. This
portrait is now in the possession of Mrs. Button, of Marske, and has
been photographed by Mr. J. Raine, of Richmond.

Thomas Metcalfe, son of the above Henry, was the last scion of the
main line of the old house of Nappa. He died in April, 1756, and was
buried in the family vault in Askrigg Church. At his death, Richard
Elcock (then Weddell) became entitled to Nappa for life under the will
of his uncle, Thomas Weddell, and let it to a Mr. Oeorge Dinsdale, who
occupied it till his death. Thomas Metcalfe had, like many others,

Bbdstead of Mary, Queen of Scots.

speculated in the disastrous South Sea Company, which broke in 1720,
and in consideration of a loan made to him by his kinsman, Thomas
Weddell, settled a reversion of Nappa upon himself and Thomas Weddell
for their joint lives and the life of the survivor. This Thomas Weddell
was a son of William Weddell, Esq., of Earswick in Strenshall, by his
wife Margaret, daughter of Sir William Robinson, of Newby, Kt., and
his wife Frances, who was Thomas Metcalfe's aunt. There have been
many speculations as to how the Nappa property, so long a patrimony
of the illustrious line of Metcalfe, passed to the family of Weddell, and
afterwards to Earl de Orey, whose younger daughter and co-heiress»

469

Lady Marj Yyner, of Newbj Hall, Bipon, was until lately the owner.
But the above facts explain it.

The house at Nappa* was built about 1459, and consists of a hall
facing south between two embattled towers, and approached through a
porch, which was probably also embattled. The west tower is about
50 feet high, and the walls are four feet thick ; the east tower being
86 feet high, with walls three feet thick. At the south-east comer of
the west tower a circular staircase in the thickness of the wall reaches to
the top of the battlements, and by this staircase access was gained from
the ground floor, which was the great parlour, to the three upper floors.
The floors of the two upper chambers have been removed.t The hall is
approached from the great parlour by a door at its south-west comer.
It measures inside 44 feet long and 28 feet wide, and the walls are three
feet thick. The usual screen and lobby which probably stood some feet
nearer the east tower are gone, and the hall is now divided by a wall
reaching to the ceiling and supporting the gallery above, so that the hall
is now 28^ feet long, and the remainder, 14^ feet wide, is now a passage
to the staircase in the north-west projection of the east tower. Leiand
tells us that originally there was '* but a cotage or litle better house
ontille Thomas [should be James] Metcalfe began ther to build,^* and
that it was called " No Castel." Part of this old " cotage " is supposed
to be at the south-east corner.

We are told that Mary, Queen of Scots, passed two nights at Nappa
Hall during the time of her imprisonment at Bolton Castle, and that
she left a pair of hawking-gloves and an autograph letter addressed to
one of the Metcalfes. The gloves are traditionally stated to have been
presented by the Queen to Lord Scrope on her leaving Bolton Castle {see
page 406), and that they descended through the Crossfields or Stuarts to

* With the usually accepted etymology of Nappa, which is poetically interpreted
as " the hill of flowers," I cannot agree. The prefix *' Nap or Napp " is I think to
be found in the Scand. knab, cognate with the Celtic onap^ signifying a nab,
projecting point, or obtruding hillock; while the suffix*' a*' is from the Scand.
aa, Teut. a (pron. aA) meaning a stream or river ; thus Rotha^ red river ; Laxa,
salmon river ; Storaa, great river, &c., while Nappa, sometimes Englished Nappay,
is the nab or hillock by the river, an accurate definition of its situation. There is
a Kiiapen Fell in Norway, Nappan and Knapagh in Ireland, Knapp in Sussex, and
Napton-on-the-Hill in Warwickshire, all bearing physiographically this significance.

t Mr. Whaley remarks that one of these chambers bears tokens which lead
him to think that it may have been used as a domestic chapel. But this is not
probable in a second or third floor facing souths although such a chamber in the
outbuildings facing to the east might possibly have been used as such, yet never
should we think of looking for it in any chamber in the west tower. The staircase
in the east tower was formerly of stone, but it was obviously not circular, as has
been stated, like the one in the west tower.

470

George Dinsdale, of Nappa, whose relative, J. M. Barwick, Esq., of
Low Hall, Teadon, now owns them.*

By the courtesy of Mr. Robert Yyner, the present owner of Nappa,
I give a view of the bedstead in which the royal lady is said to have
slept whilst at Nappa.t It does, however, seem strange that the Qaeen
of Scots, a prisoner for her religion, should be allowed to visit Sir
Ohristopher Metcalfe, who was a Protestant and an old man then in
comparatively poor circumstances. Moreover, can it be possible that
the visit took place after her attempted escape from Bolton Castle, and
her traditional re-capture at the ^* Queen^s Oap '* on Leybum Shawl ?
She tells us complainingly in one of her letters that she was '^ closely
guarded,*' and one cannot help thinking that Sir Francis EnoUys and
Lord Scrope, who were answerable for her safe custody by their lives,
would hardly venture to allow her out of their charge for two nights.
It is unfortunate that no inventory is forthcoming of the personal estate
of the last heir of the Nappa Metcalfes, who died a bachelor, as already
stated, in 1756, otherwise this particular bedstead would surely have been
mentioned. He had a great reverence for the place and its belongings,
and leaves a very exact account of articles bequeathed to friends, down
even to some shirt-buttons. The testator's "very true and faithful
friend, Mr. Fothergill, of Carend," appears to have acted as steward
for the estate, and shortly before George Dinsdale removed his furniture
into the house, in April, 1757, we find him (Fothergill) removing several
things and presenting Thomas Metcalfe's walking-stick to Dr. Metcalfe,
of Askrigg, as is recorded in Fothergill's Diary. The bulk of the
household effects and belongings of the testator went, however, to
Richard Weddell, and these, it would appear, were removed from Nappa
before George Dinsdale took possession. Fothergill, in his Diary ^ under
date, March 23rd, 1757, says he wrote to Mr. Weddell and sent him
particulars of his estate, but the particulars are not furnished. The
bedstead, however, was kept at Nappa until about 1880.

* Edward, son of George DiDsdale, married Mary, daughter of Francis
Crossfield, grandson and heir of the Rev. Thos. Crossfield, rector of Spennithorne,
inst. 1649. John Dinsdale, another son of George Dinsdale, married Mary Stnart,
of Simonstone, whose only son, George Dinsdale, died unmarried in 1847.
Mr. Barwick (who, as stated, owns the gloves, along with a small bronze crucifix,
part of a rosary, an altar-cloth, alms-bag, and wafer cover, being part of the
ancient furniture of the altar at Bolton Castle) is a grandson of Julia, daughter of
William Dinsdale, of Otley, youngest son of the above George Dinsdale, of Nappa,
who was the first lessee of Nappa after the death of Thomas Metcalfe in 1756.
Upon a tombstone in Hard raw churchyard it is recorded that the Dinsdales have
lived in the dale for 300 years

f The bed is an interesting object characteristic of the period, and is now at
Newby Hall. It was formerly very low and greatly decayed, but has been restored
and made serviceable by raising the pillars. Originally the pillars were so low
that there was little more than room for the occupant t« crawl into the bed.

471

CHAPTER XLVII.

In the Forest of Wbnslbtdalb.

Bainbridge the capital of the Forest — A centre of ancient highways — Strategical
importance of Bainbridge in Roman times — Camden *b conolusiona questioned
— The Roman camp constructed of stone between a.d. 206 and 208 — ^The
ancient Forest in the custody of twelve foresters, &c. — Objects of horn-
blowing — The village of Bainbridge — An ancient inn — The stocks — Grammar
School — Excursion into Raydale — Description of Semerwater — Wild birds, &c.
— Local legends — Prehistoric lake-dwellings — Counterside, an old Quaker
settlement — Dr. John Fothergill,F.R.S. — Jessie Fothergill, authoress — Stallen
Busk — ^Ancient vaccaries — An old chapel — Romantic aspects — ^Waterfalls and
wild flowers.

. ^^T Bainbridge we are at the ancient capital and meeting-place
mSoM of the lords of the Forest of Wensleydale, which in Norman
times was a wild, wolf-haunted waste, extending from where
the little river Bain falls into the Tore, far up the dale to
Mallerstang on the borders of Westmorland. From Roman and perhaps
British times, it has been the centre of a network of more or less well-
defined highways, and its strategical importance must have been manifest
to those skilful invaders from Italy who overran England, and for a long
period were in undisputed possession of Bainbridge. *

The winter station of the Romans garrisoned at Bainbridge appears
to have been on the hill called Brough, a large gravel-mound near the
village enclosing a camping area of about six acres. The summer station
was on Addlebrough. Camden, in referring to Brough, states (a.d.
1590) that *'not long since a statue of Aurelins Commodus was dug up
here in the habit of Hercules, with his right hand armed with a club,
and under it {as lam informed) this broken and imperfect inscription,
which had been all copied and was lost before I came hither :

CiBSABI AVGV8T0

MABOI AVBELII FILIO

•••••••!••••

SENI8 lOVIS AMPLIS8IMI
VENTS PIVS."

Camden affirms (I have marked the words in italics) that he did not see
the inscription, and it is almost certain that not only is the wording given

472

by him imperfectly recorded, but that his conjecture, which has been
copied by Whitaker and Barker, and repeated in many places, is also
wrong. Mommsen indeed, thinks the second line to be improperly read,
and the third line (obliterated) to have been lycii alfbnii followed by
SENECiONis AMPLissiMi. This IS a much more reasonable interpretation
than that offered by Camden, which makes it evident that the statue
could not have been erected to Commodus, because we gather from
another inscription found in the same place that the camp at Brough
which had been previously built of turf was raised into a permanent
camp of stone by order of L. A. Senecio, who ruled in the time of the

Bainbridge.

Emperor Severns. He is stated to have been legate of the provinces
between a.d. 205 and 208.* The same inscription also tells us that the
fort was called Bracchium, and that the sixth cohort of the Nervii was
stationed here. Cispius or Caspius, the commander of the legion, has,
however, probably been misread Vispius, as it is commonly recorded.

Upon the formation of the Forest after the Norman conquest,
Bainbridge, as I have said, became the head quartera of this extensive
preserve, and as appears by charter of Robert Fitz Ranulph, temp,
Henry II., the entire domain was then in the custody of twelve foresters

• See Bruce*8 Lapidartwi Septejitrionale^ and the Corpm Interiptionum
Latijiarnvi, vol. vii., Nob. 211, 269, 270, &c.

478

and two coDBtables (graamani), whose duty it was to convey all offenders
in the Forest for trial and eventoal imprisonment at Richmond Castle.
Every onstodian of a Forest was provided with a horn, and no stranger
of any consequence who valued his life ever thought of travelling without
such an instrument, not only as a summons to help in case of danger,
but the laws obliged him to sound the horn as occasion required when
passing through a royal preserve or any private domain. The necessity
for this I have already explained on pages 256-8, and there is little
doubt that the present custom of blowing the horn at Bainbridge is a
modification of the practice that originated under the ancient Forest
laws. In the latter days of the monasteries the custom seems to have
been observed more as a signal to lost or belated travellers than as a
guard to the rights of property, and the fact that the horn at Bainbridge
is now blown, as it has been time out of the memory of man, at ten
o'clock at night, and in the winter months only, from Holy Rood
(September 27th) to Shrovetide, proclaims such to have been the case ;
Bainbridge being at one time the first place met with by travellers
descending the dale from the west, originally all the country lying to the
west being wild, uninhabited moor and fell.

The approach to Bainbridge, of which I give a view engraved from
one of many excellent photographs supplied by Mr. F. Brundrett, is
most inviting, and the houses composing the village are ranged round a
spacious and pleasant green. There are several interesting old buildings,
including the Hall, and an ancient and commodious hostelry, the Rose
arid Crown, which is believed to have been an inn since the old Forest
days.* The doorway had formerly a good Norman arch, and above the
porch (a later work) was formerly a stone bearing in raised letters the
date 1445. Adjoining the inn was an old house, which was rebuilt much
in the original style a few yeara ago, and has in front of it a Greek and
Latin inscription. On the green are the remains of the old stocks,
which have not been used for over sixty years. The last occasion, I am
told, on which they were put in use was when a tinker named Jos. Swales
and his wife (a riotous couple), for being drunk and disorderly, were
committed to sit in the stocks by the then parish constable, Mr. James
Mason, who was also master of the workhouse.t The old Yore Bridge

* The " Rose and Crown ** was one of the badges of the House of Lancaster, and
was adopted by John of Gaunt, whose hunting seat in Swaledale, and hereditary
right to maintain hounds and horn in the Forest I have mentioned on page 255.

t Tippling by the wives of Bainbridge would appear to be an ancient offence.
I find in the Quarter Sessions Records for 1667-8 that it was ordered ** if a
Bainbrigge alehouse-keeper suffer any person to tipple or drink disorderly in his
house on the Sabbath-day in the time of divine service, or suffer any man's wife
to drink disorderly against her husband's mind, then he is to be suppressed from
selling ale or beer any more.*'

474

Grammar School, on the way to Askrigg, was founded by Anthony
Bes8on m 1601. The present building was erected in 1849. A long
account of the school will be found in Mr. Whaley^s interesting little
book before mentioned.

One of the most romantic excursions from Bainbridge is into Raydale^
where the visitor may obtain a peep at lonely Semerwater, a beautiful
silvery expanse lying in the bosom of sequestered hills, remote from the
busy world and its tribulations. The lake ordinarily covers a space of
about 100 acres, biit after rains, the banks being low, it sometimes swells
to nearly double that area. Its greatest normal depth is about forty

COUNTERSIDB.

feet, and the walk round it is from three to four miles. The marshy
flats and banks abound in rare plants, and the ornithologist, too, will
find the retired mere the haunt of many a rara avis.* Its waters
abound in fishjf which in former times, as appears by ancient surveys of

• Whitaker, on the authority of Dr. Fothergill, of Askrigg, gives a list of about
30 species of birds frequenting the shores of the lake, remarking that a fine
specimen of the swallow-tailed falcon (^Falco fureatui) was taken alive near
Hardraw, on September 5th, 1806. It was exhibited for a month, when it
accidentally made its escape, and was not afterwards heard of.

t Rudd and bream are particularly plentiful in the lake, and sometimes during
storms numbers of these fish are left high and dry on land, having been blown

476

Bichmondshire, were of considerable valne ; in 10th Edward I. (1281),
being valued at 40s. yearly (abont £30 of present money), though in the
time of Edward III., a.d. 1840, it is returned as of no valne '* because it
cannot be let, nor any profit made of it ** ; doubtless owing to the
devastation caused by the border raids after Bannockbum.

A good deal of interest centres round Semerwater. It was from the
large boulder at its foot, known as the Carlow Stone, that the artist
Turner, the greatest of England's landscape painters, drew his unrivalled
view of the lake, a copy of which forms the Frontispiece to the best
edition of this work {see page 434). The story is that the stone named
(which is said to bear supernatural marks), was one of many hurled by
some despairing genius of this remote valley upon a city that once stood
here, which was renowned for its pride and selfishness. Another legend
of similar import, relates how once on a time a poor but Ood-fearing
man (some say he was an angel in disguise) entered this wicked place,
then overflowing with wealth and abundance, and failing to obtain either
food or shelter at any house save that of the poorest tenant in it, he
after a little deliberation, walked up the hill-side above the poor man's
cottage, and raising his hand heavenwards then exclaimed :

Semerwater rise. Semerwater sink,

And swallow all the town save this little house

Where they gave me meat and drink.

No sooner said than the proud and uncharitable city, with all its
inhabitants, sank out of sight, and a body of water gradually rose and
spread over the site.* As the legend runs :

They tell how once a busy town

Stood where these waves are flowing,
The streets are hidden where far down

The lily roots are growing.

from the shallows about the margins. Rudd sometimes collect about the sides of
the lake in such numbers that it has been possible to rake scores together out of
the water with a hay-rake. There are also thousands of crayfish, and trout are
fairly numerous too among the reeds. The fishing is owned by the Wensleydale
Angling Astoeiationy and day-tickets, 2s. 6d. each, may be had at Aysgarth station
or from the Secretary at Askrigg. The season is from March 16th to October 1st.

* I should think it very likely that the legend of this buried city has some
foundation in faet, for the character and remoteness of the situation make it
extremely probable that the lake was the scene of an extensive settlement in
prehistoric times. It is not surprising that no discoveries of pile-dwellings, &c.,
should have been made, as these may be lost beneath deep accumulations of mud,
the lake most probably being much shallower now than in former ages. These
lake dwellings are found in all parts of the world ; in England and Scotland are
doubtless many yet unexplored ,* in Ireland about sixty of these mid-water villages

476

But the saint's blessing, be it known, rested upon the poor man and
his wife, and they ever afterwards prospered :

Nor did it reach to them alone,

But reached to son and daughter,
Until the land was all their own

Around Lake Semerwater.

Several hamlets and quiet farms are scattered round the margin of
the lake. Counterside, on the north-west, a short distance from the
water, has an old hall which is memorable as the stopping-place of
George Fox, the well-known founder of the Society of Friends, when
visiting Raydale.* There is a very old inn here, inscribed B.H.J. 1667,
the initials being probably those of a Jackson, who were prominent
Quakers in Fox's time. In the reign of William and Mary two meeting-
houses were opened at Counterside, and there was another at Bainbridge
dating from 1668, also one each at Carperby and Hawes. This retired
little valley was a notable haven of Quakers, and one of the most
distinguished members of the sect. Dr. John Fothergill, F.R.S., &c.,
was born at the picturesque old homestead at Carr End, near the lake,
in the year 1712. The family was originally seated in Ravenstonedale,
and came into Wensleydale in 1606. Dr. Fothergill, when a yoang
man, was ardently devoted to botany, and there was probably not a yard
of ground in his native dale that he had not examined for its plant
treasures. In after life he travelled extensively abroad, and his collection
of exotics, obtained from all parts, was probably the finest ever seen in
this country. He was a prolific writer, and became a recognised authority
on botanical as also on medical subjects. On removing to London he
made a great reputation as a physician, and before his death in 1780 his
practice is said to have brought him an income of £7000 a year. He

called cranogei, have been observed, and a legend Bfmilar to that of Semerwater
appertains to Lough Neagh. In Switzerland these lake-dwellings are common,
and at one place, Langen, it is calculated that 40,000 piles were driven into the
mud. not at the same time, but extending over some centuries, and supporting a
platform of several hundred huts. At Ulrome in Holderness, a similar lake
settlement was discovered some few years since, which had not been built up at
one period, but from the implements. &c., dug up on the site it must have been
occupied from the Stone Age of Man down almost to the Christian era. Perhaps
in the present name of Carlow, by Semerwater, we have the Gadh.-Celt eaher,
Welsh easTf and laugh a lake, meaning a city on the lake. The present spelling of
Semerwater may be a modern corruption of an ancient British name.

* George Fox in his Journal for 1677 writes that he spent a night at Bichard
Robinson's house at Counterside where several Friends met him, and next day he
went with some of them over the hills to Widow Tenant's at Scar House in
Langstrothdale, which they managed to reach with difficulty, the snow lying so
•deep although it was February.

477

left property valued at about £80,000, and was succeeded in his profession
by Dr. Lettsom, of Settle, who edited his collected works. Dr. Fothergill
was extremely benevolent, without ostentation, and the extent of his
charities can never be known. He was the principal founder of
Ackworth School, the chief Quaker seminary in the north, where many
a notable worthy has received the firat impulse to success in life.* His
brother, Samuel Fothergill, was born at Carr End in 1715, and is said

Dr. John Fothbbgill, F.R.S.

to have been one of the ablest and most eloquent Quaker preachers of
his time.f

Another distinguished member of the same Wensleydale family was
the late well-known authoress, Miss Jessie Fothergill, author of Kilh

• See Aekworth School Centenary, ed. by J. H. Barber (1879).
t See Crosfield's Memoirt and Letters of Samuel Fothergill.

478

and Kin^ Probationy The First Violin^ From Moor Isles^ &c. She was
the eldest child of Thomas and Anne Fothergill, and was bom at
Obeetham Hill, Manchester, in June, 1851. Although her childhood
was spent within sight and sound of a huge throbbing city, Miss Fothergill
really knew little of town life, and while still young went to live at
Bowden, some ten miles from the city, until her father's death, wheD a
home was found in a quiet, out-of-the-way spot at Littleborough, Dear
Rochdale. This was more to the girl's taste, for all around were wild
moors, rocky dells, and far-reaching woods and hills, affording ample
scope for the contemplative mind, and upon which her imagination loved
to dwell. She was like the Bronte sisters, a true child of the moorlands,
and her feelings and aspirations partook very much of the character of
those famous novelists. Of the productions of the Brontes she was
passionately fond, and Wuthering Heights she used to say was '' absolutely
unique and unapproachable." Often would she set off, book in band,
for a ramble on the wide moors, sitting down perchance upon some
solitary rock to dip into the volume and then cast her eyes over the far-
extending sweeps of purple heather, watching the sunset or the changeful
play of moving clouds, absorbed in the fancy which the expansive and
beautiful scene inspired. There was not a nook in the romantic
Todmorden valley with which she was not familiar, as readers of her
engrossing story, Healey^ may discover. To Wensleydale and the lonely
recesses of beautiful Raydale, stored as these were with memories of her
family and many strange traditions, she was deeply attached, and many
of the places and scenes in the neighbourhood are easily recognised in
her novel. Kith and Kin. Sometimes when on a visit to Wensleydale
she would go to Aysgarth Falls, or walk or perhaps drive into Raydale
for a sight of the old home at Carr End, and the beautiful scenery and
old associations would sometimes even move her to tears. Her stories
are redolent of north-country life, and evince her intense interest in and
olose study of the humour and character of the dalespeople, which are
pourtrayed to the life. Miss Fothergill spent much time abroad, and it
was while sojourning in Italy that she was seized with an illness which
soon afterwards proved fatal. She died on her way home at Berne in
Switzerland, July 28th, 1891, having just passed her fortieth year.

A little above Carr End the road runs up to Marsett and Raydale
House (the latter memorable for a fatal siege and bombardment, explained
elsewhere), and another road from Marsett strikes westwards to the quiet
little hamlet of Stalling or Stallen Busk, which is the head of a parish
of that name, having been separated from Askrigg about the year 1742.
In an Inquisition taken in 1341, in consequence of the reduced value of
property in Richmondshire, caused by the Scottish raids, it appears there
was a vaccary at Scalumbusk then valued at £7 ; others at Moursate

479

[Maraett] value £10 ; Bourcasat [Burtersett] £7 ; Whelpeachoufle £8 ;
and Mosdale £5. These vaccaries and bercaries were granges or lodges
kept by cowherds and shepherds, who tended cattle and sheep ; the
latter at that period being very numerous on the surrounding moors.
The shearing season must have been one of exceptional bustle and
activity, for the animals, no doubt, were to be reckoned by thousands,
wool being a most valuable market commodity, realising at that time
5s. to 6s. a stone, which made the wild fells and desolate moors more
valuable even than the well-tilled pastures in the valleys, where the

Miss Jessie Fotheroill.

cattle browsed. A cow, indeed, sold for little more than a stone of wool,
while a sheep, for its wool, milk,* skin, and meat, was figuratively
" worth its weight in gold."

The ancient settlement at Stalling Busk possesses a church and
burial-ground of some antiquity. The church appears to have been
built in 1602 and restored in 1722.t A glance among the hoary tombs

* Large quaDtities of sheep's milk were regularly made into batter and cheese*
See page 423. f See Ripon Diocesan Calendar^ 1891, page 118.

480

in the graveyard reveals many a household name in Raydale and of
families resident in the district from remote ages. It is in a wild, lonely
spot, while far below stretches the gleaming lake, equally as silent and as
solitary, saving for the whistle or the wing-flap of wild-fowl that skim
above its shining surface. There are several pretty waterfalls in the
neighbourhood, notably Low Force, at Stalling Busk, and Park Scar.
Many beautiful flowers, mosses, and ferns may be found in their vicinity^
whilst among the rarities the sea-side plantain {Plantago mariiima)
grows near Carr End, and the small bistort {Polygonum viviparum) on
the east side of the lake, along with the very peculiar and uncommon
bog-rush {Juncm diffusus).

0 I the glory of these flower-enamelled hills I What memories do
they not awaken of happy holidays spent in hot summer sunshine
among their moss-grown dingles and grassy slopes ? Glorious, too, is
the scene in this upland valley when the stern blasts of late autumn
and winter sweep with relentless fury down the lonely dale. Slowly at
first, until his chains are loosed, doth the Spirit of the Storm speed on !
Soon the echo of his voice is heard. See how the waves leap, breast-
high, from the roused lake, wherein the wings of battling birds dip or
move with difficulty. A strain of weird, wild music sweeps through
bush and pine-tree, even silencing the full cascade, while high above us
along the bare fell tops, struggle the fitful clouds, here and there, as on
the flat top of old Addlebrough, scattered by warring winds, or curling
upwards to heaven^s dome, like incense from earth's altars reared by
God I

481

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Around Hawks.

The Hasse of Domesday Dot Hawes— The town of Hawes not existing in Norman
times — Enclosure of wastelands — Chapel-of-ease erected by King Richard III.
— Dues paid to Askrigg till the reign of Charles II. — The Nonconformists —
The pack-horse days — Hawes as a visitors* resort— Romantic scenery— Ancient
camp at Gayle— The Routh family — Burtersett — A wonderful dog — Qreat
snow-storms.

|N Bawdwen's translation of Domesday^ Hasse, in the Land of
Earl Alan, is attributed to Hawes, a mistake clearly which
should be corrected to Aske {see pages 168-9). In Kirkhi/s
Inquest (1277) Hase or Hasse is undoubtedly Aske ; Hawes,
as a town, had no existence at this time. I have explained that on the
formation of the Wensleydale Forest after the Conquest, Bainbridge, at
the junction of many ancient highways and on a Roman site, was made
the headquarters of the Foresters, and here, doubtless, would be the first
and last inn or posting-house in the upper dale. Above Bainbridge
there were no towns or villages, at any rate in Norman times, — all being
unenclosed moor, infested with wolves, boars, stags and other wild game.
In Saxton^s map of Yorkshire (1577) Hawes is not mentioned, but a
'* travellers' rest " is given close to it in the name of ** Horsehouse.'*
Neither in Speed's map (1620) is the place thought of suflBcient
importance to be mentioned, nor is it given in Sir Henry Spelman's
Villare Ang,^ although " Hawse " in Westmorland is mentioned.

There is no doubt that the land began to be enclosed,* and that a
colony had grown up about Hawes in the 14th century, if not a little
earlier. The necessity for a place of public worship arose in consequence,
the chapel at Askrigg and the mother-church at Aysgarth being too

* The name Hawes implies this. The Anglo-Saxon word for a hedge, or
enclosure, is kagcy and this is sometimes met with in the forms of hay^ hey^ and
haw. In France and Belgium we have La Haye and Les Hayes, and in Yorkshire
the Hawes, or locally th* Hawes, although the previous form of the root is still
preserved here in Hayes Bridge, near Hawes, and in Haye Park, near Enaresbro*
The Anglo-Saxon hag-thttrn is in English haw-thorn, that is the thorn-tree used in
the formation of hedges.

482

distant ; an inconvenience that must have been particularly felt in the
winter season. A chapel-of-ease was established at Hawes by Richard III.,
lord of Middleham, two years before his death ^t the battle of Bosworth
in 1485 (see page 299). Jame& Whalley, of the old local family
mentioned on page 412, was the first priest, and his salary *' for con
yere " was seven marks, equivalent to about £50 of present money.
The chapel, however, paid all dues of marriages, &c., to Askrigg up to
about the time of Charles II., when, after some litigation, it was made
independent. The registers begin with the year 1695. The old chapel
was taken down in 1851, and the present building erected on the site.
A few years ago it was tastefully restored at the sole expense of
Mrs. Metcalfe, of Ings House.

The Quakers are the oldest dissenting body at Hawes, having had a
meeting-house here since 1689. The Independents, Wesleyans, and
Primitive Methodists have also long been established here. Methodism,
Mr. Peacock tells us, met with a hard fate on its introduction into the
town ; some evil-disposed persons having apparently sawn the beams
supporting an upper room over some outbuildings where the first meeting
was held, when crash went the timbers, and parson and congregation
were precipitated into a nether apartment, fortunately happening no
serious injury.

Before the railway extension, twenty years ago, Hawes was one of
the most inaccessible places in the kingdom, being 16 miles distant from
the nearest station. The pack-horse traffic lingered in this neighbourhood
long after it had ceased in other parts of England. Hand-loom
weaving was an old local industry, and when a sufficient number of
pieces were ready, they were gathered up and conveyed by teams of pack-
horses over the mountains to Settle, and thence by the road to Bradford
and other West Riding towns. Discharging their loads they would
return laden with warp, weft, size, and other articles. Occasionally they
crossed by the old Cam pass — ^a wild rough road in misty or wet weather
— but their presence was generally made known by the tinkling of the
bells, which could be heard at a good distance, and at the head of the
pass far down Langstrothdale. When the traffic ceased, hundreds of
these sonorous pack-horse bells were sold for old metal, and the brokers*
shops for a time were full of them. Each bell weighed from I lb. to
2 lb. The mail-coaches from Lancaster to Richmond (56 miles) travelled
by way of Ingleton and Newby Head to Hawes, there being three post-
offices or receiving-houses on the road, viz. : at Ingleton, Hawes, and
Askrigg.

Since the railway was opened Hawes has become a great resort of
visitors. It is in the midst of grand mountain scenery, whilst Hardraw
Scar and other fine cascades are easily reached from it. Good fishing is

483

also obtainable, tickets for which may be had on applying to the Secretary
at the Crown hotel. There is an ample and well-provisioned hotel and
private house accommodation ; Hawes being a great centre for market
produce, and large quantities of excellent butter and cheese are made in
the immediate neighbourhood. The place is essentially one for pedestrians,
for in spite of many level and good driving roads, there are many
romantic hill-paths and much fine gill scenery, only accessible on foot.
The top of the principal street is about 850 feet above sea-level, while
several of the summits in the vicinity reach 2000 feet and upwards.

The ancient village of Gayle is about half-a-mile to the south of the
town, and above the road to the east are traces of an ancient camp,
which has been probably an outpost to the Roman station at Bainbridge
{see page 192). Near the watermill is a picturesque cascade, but the one
in Aisgill is much finer and is reached by following the stream upwards
a good half-mile, by a very pleasing route, and one especially interesting
to the naturalist. Many noteworthy plants may be found round about
here, and amongst them the very rare limestone polypody {P, cakarmm).
The cloudberry used to grow in such abundance on the neighbouring
mountains that its fruit was a marketable commodity at one time, and
quantities used to be sold both at Hawes and Settle markets.

Glints House, Gayle, is a seat of the Bouth family, one of the most
ancient in Richmondshire. They have been landowners at Hawes and
Gayle from the time of Richard II. The family derives its patronym
from the village of Bouth, about four miles from Beverley, in the East
Riding, the first to bear the name in its original form being Amandus de
Ruda, living 20th Henry I. (1119). His lineal descendant Sir Amandus
de Routh, who was living in the reign of Edward I., had four sons, the
eldest of whom. Sir John de Routh, was slain at Bannockbum in 1314,
and his line seems to have become extinct in the person of Sir John Cutts
(first and last baronet) in 1670. Thomas, a younger son of the above
Sir Amandus de Routh, was the founder of the Wensleydale branch of
the family, which is apparently now the only extant branch of it. This
Thomas was father of Sir William de Routh, appointed bailiff of the
honour of Richmond, temp, Edward III., who entered an action against
Adam Metcalfe, of Bainbridge, and William Gigir, of Routh, 22nd
Edward III., to give an account of moneys received by them, which
thus shews that the family had a proprietary interest at Routh as well as
in Wensleydale at this period. Sir William's elder son was Sir Peter de
Routh, who was Chief Forester of Wensleydale, 18th Edward III., and
usher of the Queen's chamber, 31st Edward III. He married Elizabeth,
only daughter of Adam, third Baron Swillington, who was summoned
to Parliament from 1326 to 1332. All the legitimate descendants of
the brothers of this Elizabeth were extinct by 1430, when the right of

484

BuccessioQ to the ancient peerage of Swillington devolved upon
William Routh, of Bainbridge, eldest son of Sir Thomas de Routb, of
Agincoart fame, who was only son of the above Sir Peter de Konth.
From this William Ronth, living in 1461, it is maintained the Roaths of
Grajle descend, represented by the late Mrs. Agnes Ronth, wife of the
Rev. John Oswald Routh, M.A., and mother of John Christopher Cain
Ronth, Esq., of Clints House, Oayle, but now living at Wood Hall,
Aysgarth. Consequently he, as representative of the eldest line, appears
entitled to the dormant peerage of Swillington, which, being a Barony
by writ, descends to "heirs general," that is female as well as male.
Mr. Routh married at Islington, London, April 27th, 1892, Blanche
Plantagenet, only child of the late General Harrison, the historian, (see
page 181).

About a mile to the east of Hawes or Grayle is the hill-side village of
Burtersett, which, as I have said, was the site of an ancient Forest
Lodge in the time of King Edward L The village consists of many
modern houses, and there are a few old ones ; on one of the latter is
inscribed LS.F. 1687. There is a neat Congregational Chapel and a
Wesleyan Chapel, erected in 1870. The place stands high up in a
healthy and open situation, and commands a fine view of the valley and
northwards up to Grreat Shun nor Fell — a giant among the broad and
stalwart Pennines ! There are several very old folks living in the village ;
one aged couple, whose united ages amount to 170 years, being well able
to do all their own housework, even to washing and baking. Most of
the male inhabitants find employment at the excellent flag-stone quarries
owned by Messrs. T. & R. Metcalfe. There is also a nice sprinkling of
small and a few large farms round about, the principal being Willow
House (Mr. Oswald F. Routh), and Hillary Hall, formerly the seat of
Sir Henry Hillary, a large landowner in upper Wensleydale, and now
the property of the Rev. Dr. Parker, of Stevenage, Herts. This farm
is at present tenanted by Mr. Jas. Mason, who, it is worthy of mention,
owns a remarkably sagacious sheep-dog, said to be unique in Wensleydale.
During the great snow-storm in January, 1895, this acute collie
accomplished some wonderful feats. While the storm was at its height,
and the fleecy particles were being piled up in huge drifts along the
mountain sides, Mr. Mason and his son were hard at work in their
efforts to dig out some lost sheep. Wearied out, after several hours*
exertions, they had almost given up the task when the persevering dog,
trampling and scratching about the wide wintry expanse, scented a
number of sheep beneath ten feet of snow. Eventually, the rest of the
flock, numbering several hundreds, was dug out, often from great depths,
through the sagacity of this keen and clever animal. The dog was also
lent out to neighbouring farmers, with the result that buried sheep were

485

discovered in spots where other dogs had failed to scent them. It is
calculated that aboat £400 worth of sheep were saved in upper
Wensleydale through the sagacity of this fine animal within a space of
two or three days. The dog, called " Nellie," it is said during these
days was treated to extra good dinners, and after such fare seemed none
the worse for her rough and difficult experiences. Mr. Mason has had
the same breed for about thirty years, and brings up a couple every year.

I have been told of a curious and interesting circumstance concerning
the mother of the above '^ Nellie," which is a very affectionate animal,
and a great favourite with the family. When the house cat hud kittens,
the dog, who had just been deprived of her own tiny family, took one
of the kittens to her own bed and suckled and brought it up. She
'Seemed quite proud of her novel charge, and when about the house
would always keep her eye on it, and sometimes bring it indoors and
place it on the hearth beside herself, while the cat and her kitten would
occupy another place on the hearth, all agreeing and seeming quite happy
together.

Commenting on the dog*s adventures in the snow, it is worthy of
note that the black-faced sheep (I do not speak of Yorkshire only)
stand the severe weather of the hills much better than the half-breeds.
On more than one occasion the former have been released from a snow-
drift after more than a week^s incarceration, with little apparent injury,
jumping out of their prison as if nothing had happened, while half-bred
hoggs are sometimes so weak after being but three or four days in the
snow that they have had to be carried home and fed on gruel. Sheep,
as is well known, retain a considerable amount of latent heat, assisted
by the thickness of the fleece, and it is noticeable they generally choose
a cold corner or the most sheltered situation for lying in. It is related
of Lord Oockburn that on one occasion after a long stroll, he sat down
on a hill side beside a shepherd and obseiTing that the sheep selected
the coldest situation for lying down, addressed the shepherd thus :

** Mac,*' said he, *' I think if I were a sheep I should certainly have
preferred the other side of the hill."

The shepherd quietly answered : " Ay, my lord, but if ye had been
a sheep ye would have had mair sense ! " Lord Cockburn was never
tired of talking about the incident, and turning the laugh on himself.

486

CHAPTER XLIX.

Scenes and Adventubbs in Upper Wbnsleydale.

Hardraw Scar^ — SimonstoDe— History of the Wharncliflfe estates in WensleydaJe —
The chapelries of Hardraw and Lands — Hardraw church— Climate and rainfall
— Storms and floods — Forty years* experiences of the vicar of Hardraw — Lost
on the moors— A narrow escape— Snow in June— A struggle in a snow-drift —
Storm in January, 1895 — Boads and passes snow-blocked — No markets at
Hawes for nearly eight weeks— Scene in the Buttertubs pass — Cotterdale —
Thwaite Bridge — Mossdale — Around the Moorcock — Snow-blocks on Ihe
Settle and Carlisle railway— Fatal accidents — A singular coincidence.

|LL about the Yore head the scenerj is wild and romantic, and
days, nay weeks, might be spent exploring the rocky recesses
in the hills, in climbing to their summits and viewing the
magnificent expanses of landscape around, in tramps over
the life-giving moors and mountain passes, or in pursuit of the many
and varied objects which the lover of Nature may here enjoy. There
are some fine waterfalls in these parts, too, the most notable being that
at Hardraw Scar, on the north side of the valley, near Hawes, which has
an unbroken plunge of 100 feet, amid an environment of high shattered
cliffs and tumbled rocks that add considerably to its impressiveness. The
poet Wordsworth once visited the spot, and he must have been thinking
of the fabled cascades of the Arabian Nights, when he speaks of the
^'enchanting effect produced by the Arabian scene of colour as the
wind blew aside the great waterfall." Turner, the artist, has also
depicted it, perhaps with greater fidelity to the actual object than most
of his other Yorkshire drawings. The waterfall was frozen from top
to bottom in the winter of 1789-40, and never afterwards was it wholly
frozen until January, 1881, when the cascade congealed and the water
was observed to flow as through a glass tube. Above the falls in the
Fossdale woods and about Shaw Gill is some pretty scenery, and among
the rarer plants the columbine appears to be here truly wild.

Near Hardraw is Simon stone, where is a handsome shooting-lodge
belonging to the Earl of Wharncliffe, who owns the estate as well as a
considerable tract of the surrounding country. In no work does any
history of these estates appear, and I am indebted to Lord Wharncliffe

487

for the following interesting particulars. Originally part of the large
possessions of Jervaux Abbey, they passed after the Reformation, with
other estates formerly belonging to that monastery, (see page 838) to the
noble family of Lennox, and in the reign of James I., Lodovick, Dnke of
Lennox, obtained from the Crown a grant, in fee simple, of the Manor
and Forest of Wensleydale, two-thirds of which he sold to Thomas Smith
and Sir John Smith, and the other third to John Coleby. Subsequently
the property became vested in Greorge Cole of the Inner Temple, London,
two-thirds of it in fee, and the Coleby third by a lease.

Litigation afterwards followed about the Coleby third (in 1621 and
subsequently) in which the Metcalfe family were concerned,* and
ultimately under several conveyances the fee simple of the manor, &c.,
became vested in Henry, Viscount Lonsdale. In 1723 he sold the same
to Edward Wortley, Esq., husband of the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu (see page 449). By this conveyance, dated July 19th, 1728,
was comprised "the seigniory dominion and manor of Wensleydale,*' and
" the manor or reputed manor of Dale Grange,*' and divers farms and
lands in " Cotterdale, Foresdale and Newhonses, Hardraw, Litherscugh
and Holehouses, Lunds, Symonstone, Sedbusk alias Sidebush, Dale
Grainge or Skellgill, Brockle Cote, Yore Scott, Shall Coate, Skellgill and
Helme." Edward Wortley by his will dated 1755 gave all his manor and
estates in the North Riding to his daughter Mary, wife of John, third
ffarl of Bute, who was Prime Minister to George III., for her life, and
afterwards to her second son, James Archibald Stuart, in tail male. In
1777 the Earl and Countess of Bute concurred with their said second
son in barring the entail, and re-settling the estates. Under the
re-settlement James Archibald Stuart became tenant for life, with
remainder to his eldest son, John Stuart Stuart, for his life. The latter
died unmarried in 1797, whereupon the estates devolved for life upon
James Archibald Stuart- Wortley-Mackenzie,t who in 1826 was created
Baron WharncliflFe.

In 1822, James Archibald, first Baron Wharncliffe, concurred with
his eldest son, John Stuart Stuart, in barring the entail created in 1777,

* In lOth James I. (1612) Sir Thomas Metcalfe obtained a lease from the Duke
of Lennox of certain lands called Symondstone in the North Forest, and he
exhibited a bill in the Exchequer against one Wilson, Cuthbert Shaw, Henry
Shaw, and John Metcalfe, to restrain them from intruding upon the said lands,
being part of the lordship of Middleham. Vide Bills and Answers^ James I.,
York, No. 1477 ; tee also North Biding Beeordi, viii., 171.

t He was the second son of the above James Archibald Stuart, who, upon the
death of his mother, the Countess of Bute, in 1794, succeeded to the estates, and
assumed the additional surname of Wortley. Subsequently he inherited the landed
property in Scotland of his mother's uncle, the Right Hon. Jas. Stuart Mackenzie,
and in 1803 he assumed the name and arms of Mackenzie. He died in 1818.

488

and the estates were re-settled on the said James Archibald, first Baron
Wharncliffe, for his life, with remainder to his eldest son, afterwards
second Baron Wharncliffe, in fee. On the death of the latter in 1855
the estates devolved upon the present owner, third Baion Wharncliffe,
who was created Earl of Wharncliffe in 1876.

Within the township of High Abbotside are comprised the chapelries
of Hardraw and Lunds, which were formerly separate, but since 1858
have been united. They were severed from the large parish of Askrigg
about the year 1747, and it was in 1748-9 that the former primitive
little church at Hardraw was built. There most, however, have been
some kind of chapel at Hardraw before this date, as among the parish
records is a paper stating that William Broderick was licensed by the
Bishop of Chester to perform the office of curate in the chapel of
Hardraw, in the parish of Aysgarth, assigning him the full salary and
other perquisites belonging to the said chapel. The writing is dated at
Chester, September 26th, 1743. The present handsome church, dedicated
to St. Mary and St. John, was erected at the cost of the Earl of
Wharncliffe as a memorial to his brother, the Hon. J. F. Stuart- Wortley.
It was consecrated on July 20th, 1880. The vicar, the Rev. Robert
Pinck, who was instituted in 1854, placed in the chancel a neat stained
glass window, depicting Our Lord in the house of Lazarus, with Mary
at His feet, as a memorial of his then more than 25 years' ministry in
the parish. Another beautiful window commemorates the vicar's eldest
son, Robert Hervey Pinck, who was accidentally drowned near Sedbergh,
13th June, 1865, aged 18 years. He was at the Grammar School at
that place, and was senior pupil. The vicarage house was erected by
subscription, &c., in 1864-5 on a site, comprising about half-an-acre,
given by Lord Wharncliffe.

The population of the whole township, comprising over 11,000
acres, mostly wild fell and moorland, is now less than 400. In 1851 it
was 588. The highest census was in 1821, when the number was 641.
The climate is cold but healthy, a great part of the township lying
upwards of 1000 feet above mean sea-level. Lying about the cloud-
capped Pennines the rainfall is heavy, floods are not infrequent, and in
the winter months snow accumulates in many places to an enormous
depth. Mr. Pinck, who has been vicar of Hardraw for more than 42
years, and of Lunds for 38 years, can tell of son^e remarkable occurrences
in times of storm and flood, and he also can recount some strange
experiences and hairbreadth escapes during his long ministry in this
wild, mountainous parish. I remember him telling me that he had
often in his 5^ miles journey to Lunds Church to creep along the tops
of walls when the waters were out, or make great circuits, often by
difficult and well-nigh impassable places, across field and fell, to the

489

remote little church, which is situated at an altitude of 1100 feet above
sea-level. Rarely a year passes without loss of animal life in the parish,
and not seldom of a human being. Some three winters since a young
man perished in the snow in Cotterdale. Another man died from the
severe cold on Cam End, above Hawes, his body being recovered next
morning. The arctic cold that prevails in the more elevated parts of
the district is something to remark upon, and no one who has not
experienced it can fully comprehend its intensity. I recollect being told
by a relative of the Thistlethwaites of Studley Oarth, Dent Head, that
he once crossed the fells from that house to Hawes in mid-winter, when
the cold was so penetrating that his limbs were so benumbed as to have
become partially paralysed, and his jaws froze so that he could not speak
for nearly fifteen minutes after reaching the house. The sensation, he
told me, was that for a time he scarcely knew he was alive, and anyone
might have knocked his head from his shoulders, it seemed so like a lump
of ice. It is no uncommon thing in winter for shepherds, after rescuing
sheep from the frozen or snowed-up heights, to come down to their
houses and thaw their hats from their heads by the heat of a fire. I
have experienced a similar sensation while crossing the snow-bound Alps
in the Bernese Oberland, when my hair, with the snow upon it, has been
frozen fast to the scarf round my neck.

An exact topographical knowledge of the district is what one really
needs in travelling among the upper Yore mountains in winter, or even
in misty weather (which occurs chiefly in winter also), and this is what
the plucky vicar of Hardraw evidently possesses, or he must long ago
have perished in the discharge of his duties in these wild storm-ridden
tracts. At present there are only some half-dozen inhabited houses in
the parish of Lunds, and one of these is near the church ; the rest are
scattered about the fell sides.* In the gullies and under the walls on
the higher lands, snow often lingers until May has well advanced.f
Following the severe winter of 1895, a drift of snow on Beldon Moor
only disappeared in June, when a passing shepherd discovered the body
of a man unknown, which was in a bad state of decomposition, and
must have lain there concealed in the drift for several months. The
poor fellow had evidently missed his way crossing into or from Swaledale.
These snowed-up holes and dikes on the moors are treacherous places.
Mr. Pinck told me that some years ago, whilst endeavouring to get to

* One very high-situated house (about 1600 feet, dow in ruins) was at High
Dike on Cotter Side, and was last occupied bj Mr. Francis Raw, a churchwarden,
who was married at Lunds, to Miss Agnes Slinger, January 27th, 1877. There had
been no marriage in the church since June Srd, 1863, or a period of nearly 14 years.

t After a thunderstorm and flood at Hawes on August 7th, 1889, there was a
mantling of snow on Great Shunnor and Bow Fells.

490

Lunds church after a heavy fall of snow, he had to cross a deep gully,
which in a narrow part was bridged by a long stone slab. This was
wholly covered up, the entire width of the gully being one level plain of
snow. Knowing the spot, he made what he thought an accurate step,
but missed the stone and sank overhead into fully ten feet of snow. It
was a desperate struggle, he said, to get out again, but he managed to
do so after a little time.

At the time of the great and almost unparalleled snow-storm in
January, 1895, none of the roads between Wensleydale and Swaledale
were accessible to wheeled traffic until about the middle of March, or

Moorcock, near Hawbs Junction.

long after every trace of snow had disappeared from most districts. Id
the middle of February gangs of men were employed cutting drifts on
the roads, but what with the winds and fresh falls the cuttings became
almost immediately filled up. Early in March some parties out of
Swaledale managed to reach Hawes on rudely-constructed sledges, but
there was no market at Hawes of any consequence for some seven or
eight weeks. In Langstrothdale some of the houses were half-buried in
snow ; the inmates being without firewood and ordinary provisions, and it
was impossible to get a cart out of the place. The dalesmen cut passages
through drifts as high as themselves, and then struggled over the passes
to likely houses and obtained such necessaries as they could.

491

The Baitertubs presented a grand sight ; walls of snow ten to fifteen
feet high extending for a considerable way over the pass. The stone
fences in this neighbourhood and up the dale towards the Moorcock were
buried and covered for hundreds of yards together with snow three or
four feet deep or more.*

Pursuing the road from Hardraw the village of Appersett stands
away on the left, and a little farther on we pass the way into lonely
Gotterdale, where the beautiful Cotter Force, a little distance from the
high road, is seen. Higher up again the country becomes wilder, and
Thwaite Bridget is reached, from which the stem rock and water scenery
of Mossdale Gill may be conveniently visited. There is a farmhouse
there. A north and south fault crosses the gill, and a good exhibition
of its effects may be seen at the upper falls. Some noteworthy plants-
grow in the vicinity, including Meum Aihamanticumy Viola armaria^ &c.,
as well as several uncommon lichens. Near Sikes Pits Gill, on the
Mossdale Moor, the coarse grit rock overlying the Underset Limestone
appears well-rounded, due most likely to glaciation.

At the Moorcock we are on the backbone of the Pennines, and during
the Ice Age this must have been one vast snow-field and gathering-
ground of glaciers. Along the summit area some streams flow westward
towards the Irish Sea, others course eastward to find their way into the
German Ocean. It is a wild, lonely spot for a collection of dwellings,
the altitude above sea-level being about 1050 feet. Before the erection
of the shooting-box on Mossdale Moor the inn was much resorted to by
sportsmen. The Hawes Angling Club, of which the Earl of Wharncliffe
is President, has some fourteen miles of the Yore up to the Moorcock, a
romantic stretch of the river which is particularly fruitful in grayling.
Tickets for the week cost 3s., or for the day one shilling. All around
one sees vast stretches of purple moorland, the lower levels being rough
pasture where a few cattle are browsed. The Settle and Carlisle railway
is laid across this wild tract, reaching in Blea Moor tunnel an altitude
of 1151 feet, being the second highest passenger line in England. There
have been some memorable snow-blocks on the line about Hawes Junction.
As many as 700 men have been at work simultaneously clearing the line
for traflBc. On October 27th, 1888, a man named William Slinger, of

* Numbers of Arctic birds were in Yorkshire at this time. The Lapland
banting, Arctic redpoll, little stint, brambling, Iceland and Siberian gulls, and
hundreds of little auks from the northern seas, were seen or captured in various-
parts of the county.

t At the Thirske Sessions in 1674 doubt was expressed as to who was
responsible for the repair of Thwaite Bridge, in Aysgarth parish. In 1676 £90-
was ordered to be estreated on the Riding for its repair. This order was soon
afterwards rescinded, and instead a gratuity of £85 made by authority of the-
Court towards its repair by the inhabitants of the parish.

492

the Moorcock cottages, was working on the railway dnring a blinding
finow-storm, when he was knocked down by a passing train and so mach
injured that he died within a few days. Singularly his son was killed
by a train nearly on the same spot about six years afterwards. Both
father and sou are buried in Lunds churchyard.

Speaking of accidents I am reminded of a remarkable occurrence
which befel an upper Swaledale farmer named Iveson, in September,
1894. He had gone with his dog to look after some sheep in the
neighbourhood of Stags Fell, overlooking Hawes, and whilst attempting
to leap across a beck-course, some three miles from home, he dislodged a
large stone. In falling foi'wards to the opposite bank the rock slid on to
his feet and legs and he was unable to move them. There he lay fall
length across the stream, vainly endeavouring to extricate himself from
his awkward position. At last discerning a man some distance away be
oried aloud for help, but the man evidently did not hear, and continued
his way over the moor. Again and again he tried to release himself,
but did not succeed. Then he pulled out an old envelope from his
pocket and wrote down what had happened, tying the message to the
dog^s neck and bidding the animal go home. But the faithful hound
refused to leave its master until long after darkness had set in, when
both man and dog were shivering from cold and exhaustion.

The accident had happened about three in the afternoon, and it was
sometime after ten o'clock when the welcome light of several lanterns
was seen coming up the mountain side. The rescuing party had
oonsiderable difficulty in shifting the stone, and full four hours elapsed
before the suffering farmer found himself safely released. His limbs,
however, were so stiff and chilled from the long and peculiar exposure
that he was scarcely able to walk, and although aided by his companions
it was six in the morning before he reached home. The accident, as
might be expected, caused a great deal of talk in the locality, and the
spot was visited by many people.

498

CHAPTER L.

Thkough Mallerstang.

The old pack-horse road by Hell Gill— Dick Turpin avoids the Sheriff's warrant
by leaping the chasm on**BIack Bess"— Hell Gill bridge— Hell Gill fair-
Drovers and their bagpipes — ^Lunds and the Vikings — Lnnds church — A local
worthy — Through Mallerstang — Pendragon Castle, its origin, history, and
traditions— Old Forest boundaries— Lammerside Castle— Approach to Eirkby
Stephen— Conclusion.

lEFORE the present highway was made in 1825-6 from Hawes
Junction to Eirkby Stephen the only road out of Wensleydale
through Mallerstang was by Cotter End and over Hell Oill,
and this was probably originally a primitive British trackway,
improved by the Romans for communication between their camps at
Bainbridge and Brough, &c. Part of this ancient road is still known
by the name of the Street. The lower bridge which spans the deep and
romantic chasm at Hell Gill is undoubtedly of high antiquity ; of its
origin there are no records, but tradition delegates its origin to Satanic
agency. The ravine, through which flows the infant Eden, separates
Yorkshire from Westmorland, and Dick Turpin is said to have leaped
across it on the back of sturdy ''Black Bess," and then defied his
pursuers to apprehend him by their warrant issued in Yorkshire.

In the old pack-horse days it was a sight worth remembering to
witness the processions of men and horses laden with miscellaneous
goods making their way out of the dales to Kirkby Stephen and the north.
The drovers from Garsdale and Grisedale came over the moor to Shaw
Paddock and thence on to Aisgill and to the old Thrang Bridge in
Mallerstang, where they were met by strings of pack-horses and men
coming from the east country by Hell Gill. It was a busy and picturesque
scene, and Thrang Bridge was well-named. Sometimes on special
occasions, as during Brough Hill Fair, the thrifty wives and daughters
of the dales used to go up to Hell Gill Bridge and spread out stalls and
baskets, stored with cakes, nuts, apples, and bottles of home-made herb
beer and other non-intoxicants, to sell to passing travellers. And a good
business they did, too, for there was a continuous stream of wayfarers,
who were glad, particularly if the day were hot, to linger awhile and
hear the gossip of the country side, cracking many a joke along with

494

many a nut boaght from the baxom stall-women. Not far from the
bridge there was also a very old inn, bearing the ancient sign of the
Chequers^ possibly because these were the arms borne by the Earls of
Richmond, and also by the Cliffords, lords of Mallerstang, &c., hereafter
mentioned. The inn, I believe, was suspended soon after the new road
was made in 1825-6.* Occasionally herds of Highland cattle passed
this way, and when the far-travelled animals shewed signs of fatigue, it
was no uncommon thing to see one of the men who carried a bagpipe
play some lively air as he marched in front of the drove. The animals
seemed to enjoy the music, and evidently appreciated this relief to the
weariness of the journey by walking, as they often would, with a brisker
«tep, while some of them that had lain down in the road would quickly
rise at the novel far-sounding strains, which brought many a cottager
also to his feet from his home in the echoing glen.

Pages more might be written on the history and events that have
happened in this sequestered dale, but this work has already far exceeded
its intended limits. We might even go back to the time when the old
Viking warriors peopled this lonely upland valley, hunting the wild boar
and red deer far into the mountain recesses. Doubtless it was they who
gave the district of Lunds its name, — now an almost treeless tract, but
once, no doubt, abounding in woods and groves, as the Scandinavian
word lund implies.t

The district in which the church is situated is called in old documents
Hellbeck Lunds, in contradistinction to South Lunds, near Moorcock, in
the parish of Hawes, and Hanging Lunds, a mile or two to the north,
within the borders of Westmorland. The interesting little church, of
which I give a view from a photograph by Mr. Brundrett, was thoroughly
repaired in the summer of 1894, and now presents a very neat and
oomfortable appearance, in contrast to the oft-quoted description of it
by William Howitt. A new ceiling of wood has been substituted for
the former lath and plaster roof, and the old three-decker pulpit, which
nearly filled the east end of the church has been removed. In its place
there is a neat reading-desk ; a new lectern and a new font have also
been provided. The total cost has been about £90, raised by subscription ;
the vicar's thanks being especially due to the then rural dean, the Bev. J.
0. B. Enight, rector of Middleham, through whose management and aid
the work was begun and happily completed.

* At Lund Head a man was indicted in 1673 for keeping an ale-house without
license. Vide North Riding Records^ vi., 189.

t Mr. Pinck, yicar of Lunds and Hardraw, possesses oiany interesting trophies
of this old forest in the shape of brackets, letter-racks, picture frames, &c., made
from the blackest of black oak and wild cherry dug out of the bog in Lunds
pastures.

495

It is worthy of note that from one of the old farms at West End, in
Lands, sprang a man of consequence in his time. This was John
Blades, who when a yoath went up to London with no worldly gear save
the clothes on his back. He hired himself out as errand-lad to a glass-
merchant in Ludgate Hill, and when he grew up travelled for orders in
cut and ornamental glass both at home and on the Continent. He
greatly earned the confidence and respect of his employer, and married
his only daughter, (an only child,) and eventually succeeded to his
business. He became a prominent member of the Glass - Sellers'
Company, and was instrumental, largely at his own cost (some £10,000),
in obtaining the alteration in opening out Fleet Street towards St. Bride's
Church, of which he was a churchwarden in 1812. He became SherifiF
of London in 1813, and also Sheriff of Middlesex, and was called upon

LuNDS Church.

to give aid, and exercise his judgment in many other important offices.
Mr. Blades did not forget the scenes of his upbringing, and occasionally
visited Hawes and the romantic neighbourhood where his boyhood days
were spent.

Leaving Lunds and Shaw Paddock (which up to 1890 had a fully-
licensed inn) we continue our way through Mallerstang to Kirkby
Stephen, passing through Outhgill, and then on the left the few remains
of the old Norman castle of Pendragon. The earthworks on which the
structure is erected are obviously older than the latter, and it is not
unlikely they were thrown up by the early Britons, or perhaps by the
Komans, as a guard to the pass between Bainbridge and Brough.
Tradition, indeed, assigns the erection of the fortress to Uther Pendragon,

496

A.D. 500, who was father of the renowned King Arthur, and of whom
Geoffrey of Monmouth gives some account in his history of Britain
after the secession of the Romans. The site was certainly one well
calculated to be valuable at this time, as the pass lay on the southward
road from Scotland, being within the Brit.-Welsh kingdom of Stratbclyde.
Mr. NichoUs thinks it not improbable that King Uther once lived here,
and that during the Saxon invasion the fortress was stormed but the
assailants finding it impregnable resorted to treachery, and, according to
tradition, poisoned the well, when Uther and his garrison having no
other supply, drank of the water and died. The well is still pointed out.

Coming to actual historic evidence, the first notice of the Castle bv
name appeara in an inquisition dated 8th Edward II. (1314), when the
jurors find that in the vale of Mallerstang there is a castle called
Pendragon, with a vaccary held by Andrew de Harcla, of the rent of 6d.
a year. That was the year of Bannockburn, in which conflict Robert,
Lord Clifford, to whose inheritance Pendragon had descended from the
Yetriponts, former lords of Mallerstang, died fighting on the king's side.
He it was who built Skipton Castle after it had been over-thrown by the
Scots. Mr. Xicholls thinks that Andrew de Harcla was invited to take
charge of Pendragon Castle during the minority of Roger, son of the
above Robert, Lord Clifford, at a merely nominal rent. But as appears
by an inquisition post mortem^ 15th Edward II. (1322), Andrew de Harcla
subsequently held Brougham Castle, Mallerstang, Kirkby Stephen, &c.,
which had been granted to him with other lands and rents in Cumberland
and Westmorland, of the value of 1000 marks per annum, besides 500
marks in the marches of Wales, for the great services he had rendered
the King in suppressing the discontented Barons under Thomas, Earl of
Lancaster, and defeating them in battle at Boroughbridge. The youthful
Lord Clifford had been inveigled into the quarrel with the King, and
was taken prisoner and had all his lands forfeited in consequence. The
young man, who had been trained to war and intrigue, died childless in
1327, aged 28. Nor did Andrew de Harcla retain his possessions long,
for, as I have explained on page 356, he took up arms in aid of the Scots
against England, and was soon afterwards degraded and executed
(1322-3). A general restitution of the Baronfi' property was effected by
Act of Parliament, 1330-1, when the Cliffords were restored to their
former honours and estates. Wordsworth, it may be remarked, com-
memorates the event in his Song at the Feast of BrougJiam Castle.

The old castle of Pendragon was finally unroofed by order of the
Earl of Thanet in 1685. It had been several times demolished in war
and rebuilt, and was lastly restored in 1660 by the celebrated Lady Anne
Clifford, Countess-dowager of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery,
Lady of the manors of Skipton and Mallerstang, and hereditary High

497

SherifiFesB of the county of Westmorland. In 1663, this famous lady
when in her 74th year journeyed from Skipton up Wharfedale, over the
Stake and through the wilds of Mallerstang to Pendragon Castle, where
she remained, and caused many improvements to be effected in the
neighbourhood. She repaired the old church in Mallerstang, built a
bridge here over the Eden, and also caused to be erected on Hugh
Morville's Seat, on the boundai7 of her manor, a stone pillar with the
inscription " A.P. 1664." It is noteworthy that with the single exception,
I believe, of the short period it was held by the above-mentioned Andrew
de Harcla, the estate of Mallerstang, with old Pendragon Castle, has
never been sold or granted out, but has descended by inheritance and by
marriages of heiresses, in one continuous line from near the time of the
Norman Conquest, century after century, down to this day. Its present
owner is Lord Hothfield.

Close to the old castle our road joins another running to Ravenstone-
dale and Sedbergh, amidst grand hill scenery. The range on our right
separates the ancient Forest of Swaledale from that of Mallerstang,
which reached to Hell Gill, and eastwards up to the boundary of the
manor of Muker, while westwards it extended across the valley up to
Swarth Fell Pike. From Shunnor Fell to Nine Standards on the one
hand, and from Bow Fell to Wild Boar Fell on the other, there is a
succession of mountain peaks, whose lonely recesses, fretted with
numerous watercourses, harbour the last vestiges of primeval wood, and
which, as I have elsewhere pointed out, were among the last refuges of
the wolf, boar, and red deer in England.

Out of Mallerstang, towards Kirby Stephen, we descend to where the
Eden is spread over a broad and shallow course, having the fine, bulky
eminence of Birkett on our left. The village of Nateby is but a short
distance ahead, and another road ascends by Croup Farm, with the ruins
of Lammerside Castle close by. This is an ancient f ortalice erected during
the Border wars between England and Scotland, and tradition speaks
of certain mysterious vaults and passages beneath it communicating with
the old castle of Pendragon.

But we are now in Westmorland and beyond the limits of our noble
shire. Our journeys must here end. I have taken the reader, as it were,
with me by mountain and moorland, by flood and fell, by green, spreading
valleys, and to many a picturesque old-world village and hamlet, abbey,
castle, and notable building, stored with traditions and memories of the
past. At some length have I dwelt on the abounding scenes and objects
in this enchanting land ; describing here or narrating there the passing
thought or story which each in turn has awakened, so that, perchance,
the reader may be induced to take up the theme himself and follow me
in corpore esse through the twin valleys of " Romantic Richmondshire."

499

SUBSCRIPTION LIST.

The • denotes iubsoribert to the Large Paper edition^ and the figures
after the names refer to the ordinary edition.

•HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN, The Rotal Libbaby,

WlKDSOB.

•The Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. Edwabd White Benson, D.D., Archbiahop
of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, London.

*The Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. William Dalbymple Maolaoan, D.D.,
Archbishop of York, Bishopthorpe, York.

*Aokeotd, Geobge, J.P., 6, North Park Road, Bradford (1).

Ackroyd, John, Airedale Mount, Rodley, near Leeds.

Adshead, G. H., 94, Bolton Road, Pendleton, Manchester.

Ainley, Hefford, The Knowle, Kirkheaton, Huddersfield.
•Airey, Edward, Bradford.

Airton, Robert, West End Avenue, Harrogate.

Allen, Edward G., American Agency, 28, Henrietta Street, W.C. (4).

Allen, John, 24, Queensberry Road, Burnley.

Angus, Dr. Henry, Bingley.
*Annesley, Rev. Henry A., Shepton Montague Vicarage, Castle Cary, Somerset.

Appleby, Edward, High Street, Stockton-on-Tees (2).
*Appleyard, John, F.R.C.S., M.B. Loud., Clifton Villas, Manningham.

Armitage, Wilson, 2, Lapage Street, Bradford.
*Arton, Thomas, Tanfield Lodge, Bedale.

Arundel, C. E., Captain, 24, Albion Street, Leeds.

Ashby, Richard, Argyll Lodge, South Cliff, Scarborough.
♦Asman, D. W., 21, Fairfield Road, Bradford.

Athron, Alderman John, J.P., Avenue Road, Doncaster.

Atkinson, C. M., Stipendiary Magistrate, Newton Villa, Leeds.

Austerberry, Stocks, 65, Curzon Street, Burnley.

Auton, W., Ley burn.

Ayrton, William, 9, Cook Street, Liverpool.

♦Bolton, Rt. Hon. Loed, Bolton Hall, Ley burn (1).
♦Barnard, Rt. Hon. Lord, Raby Castle, Durham.

Barrow-in-Furness, Bishop of. The Abbey, Carlisle.

Bailey, Charles, F.L.S., Ashfield, College Road, Whalley Range, Manchester.

600

Bailey, John, Darlington.
♦Bailey & Co., 7 and 8, Horse Market, Darlington (1).

Barber, John, J. P., Oakerbank, Harrogate.

Barclay, Maria D., Miss, St. Nicholas, Richmond, Yorks.

Barker, Edmund, Cleveland House, West Hartlepool.

Barker, Thomas E., 40, Heath Road, Bradford.
*Barrett, J. H., Four Gables, Horsforth, Leeds.

Barry, Fred W., D.Sc. F.R.S.,E., Downe, Farnborough. R.S.O., Kent.

Barwick, J. M., Low Hall, Yeadon, Leeds.

Bayford, Edwin, 20—24, Eldon Street, Barnsley.

Bayley, Lady Clive, The Wilderness, Ascot, Berks.

Baynes, John, J.P., North Villa, Ripon (2).

Beanland, Rev. J., Calverley, Leeds.

Beckwith, John, 50, Newborough Street, Scarborough.

*Beetham, Fredk., M.B.. CM., Member of the Hon. Soc. Gray's Inn, Common
Room, Gray's Inn, London.

Bell, Q., 46, New Lane, Laisterdyke.

Bell, George, Nappa House, Aysgarth, R.S.O.

Bell, W., Station master, Leyburn, R.S.O.

Benson, George, Nunthorpe Avenue, York.

Berridge, William, 9, Wellhouse Street, Barnoldswick.

Berry, James, J. P., May field, Grimsargh, near Preston.
*Bethell, William, Derwent Bank, Malton.

Bibbs, Ernest J., 3, Athol Terrace, Wolverhampton.

Bilbrough, J. W., Wharfecote, Ben Rhydding, Leeds.

Bilbrough, W, Radford, 15, Beech Grove Terrace, Leeds.
*Binns, J. Arthur, Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, Bradford.
♦Black, J. W. A., Folly Hall, Wibsey.

Blair, General James, C.B., V.C, Thorpe Hall, WycliflFe, Darlington.

Blenkhorn, Chr., Postmaster, Knaresborough.

Blezard, Fred, Church Street, Barnoldswick.

Blezzard, Robert, 1, South Avenue, Barnoldswick.
♦Bools, William Edward, 7, Cornhill, London, E.C.

Boothroyd, Mr., Lark Field, Brighouse.

Borrie, Peter, 17, Hartington Road, Stockton-on-Tees.
♦Bottomley, I. H., Green Bank, Hipperholme.

Boultbee, Rev. Henry Travis, Hornby Vicarage, Bedale.

Boustead, Warwick P., Settlebeck, Sedbergh.

Bowden, Fred, Norton. Stockton-on-Tees.

Bradbury, S. L., Heaton Grove, Bradford.
•Bradley, Thomas. Bear Park. Aysgarth Station, R.S.O., Yorks. (1).

Bradley, Thomas A., F.A.I., The Bottoms, Dewsbury.
*Bramma1I, John Holland, Sale Hill House, Sheffield.

Brayshaw, Mark, Architect, West Bowling, Bradford.

Brayshaw, Thomas, Solicitor, Settle.
♦Brear, Thomas, & Co., Ltd., Kirkgate, Bradford ('S and 6).

Briggs, Rev. A. C, Frenchgate, Richmond. Yorks.

Briggs, Thomas, Park Terrace, Barnoldswick.

Brittain, W. H., J. P., F.R.G.S.. Storth Oaks, Sheffield.

Bromley, Charles, Belle Vue House, Goole.

Brooks, F., Aireville Road, Frizinghall.

Brooks, Robinson, Park Terrace, Barnoldswick.

501

Broughtoa, Harry, 14, Mitchell Terrace, Banioldswick.

Brown, MisB E., Market Place, Richmond, Torke.

Brown, Mrs., Timberhurst, Bury, Lancashire.

Brown, Henry John, 8, Westbourne Terrace, Lancaster.
*Brown, Richard, Solicitor, Stockport.

Brownridge, Charles, A.M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S., &c.. Town Hall, Birkenhead.

Bruce, Samuel, LL.B., St John's House, Wakefield.
^Buchanan, John Hamilton, M.D., J.P., Thirsk.

Burrill, Charles J., J.P., Elm House, Redmire.

Burton, James E., Solicitor, Selby.

Burtt, G. W., 114, Manor House Road, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
•Butterfield, A. W., Retiro Buildings, Oldham.
♦Butterfield, William, S, Pollard Lane, Bradford.

Butterworth, John, 122, Rochdale Road, Shaw, near Oldham.

By water, Matthias, Moorland House, Low Moor.

*CsANBBOOK, Rt. Hon. the Eabl of, Hemsted Park, Cranbrook, Kent.

Carlisle, Rt. Hon. Lord, Castle Howard, York.
^Carpenter, Admiral Hon. W. C, Eiplin, Northallerton.
♦Cameron, Colonel J. W., J. P., Marske Hall, Richmond, Yorks.

Calvert, John, 64, North Road, Darlington.

Calvert, William, Askrigg, Wensleydale.

Camidge, William, Savings Bank, York.

Campbell, Charles, SO, Southfield Square, Bradford.

Carr, Albert Edward, The Willows. Horsforth, Leeds.
♦Carter, F. R., Savile House, Potternewton, Leeds.

Carter, James, Burton House, Masham.

Carter, J. W., 25, Glenholme Road, Whetley Lane, Bradford.

Carter, Thomas, J.P., Richmond, Yorks.

Carter-Squire, Mies S. A., Catterick, R.S.O., Darlington.

Cartwright, Major, P.C., Buckden, Upper Wharfedale, by Skipton.

Chadwick, S. J., Lyndhurst, Dewsbury.

Chambers, Harry W., Sharrow Hill House, Williamson Road, Sheffield.
•Chambers, John E. F., The Hurst, Alfreton, Derbyshire.
♦♦Charlesworth, Col. Albany H., M.P., Chapelthorpe Hall, Wakefield.
•Chesney, P. K., Bradford.

Child, R. E., 181, Fitzgerald Street, Bradford.
•Christie, Hector, J. P., Jervaulx Abbey, Middleham, R.S.O.

Clapham, J. Arthur, Royde Nook, Gilstead, Bingley.

Clark. Mrs., Round Hill, near Bedale.

Clarke, Rev. Alfred, Steeton-in-Craven, by Eeighley.

Clarkson, Miss, Satron, by Richmond, Yorks.
*Clay, Charles, Manor House, Dewsbury.
•Clayton, John, Box Tree House, AUerton.

Cliff, John, Nisbet Hall, Fulneck, Leeds.
♦Close, J. W., Dagmar Lodge, Leeds.
•Clough, Benjamin, 9, Lee Street, Bradford (-2).
•Cochrane, Oswald H., M.A.. Oxon , The Longlands, Middlesbrough.
♦Cockroft, Miss, Catterick, R.S.O., Darlington (1).

Cole, Rev. Edward Maule, M.A., F.G.S., Wetwang Vicarage, York.

Collingwood, W. G., M.A., Coniston, R.S.O., Lancashire.

Collins, F., Grassfield House, Pateley Bridge

502

Cooke, Bey. James, Muker Vicarage, Swaledale, by Richmond.
•Cooke, J. S., LiverBedge, Yorkg. (1).

Cookes, C. E.y Bookseller, Bichmond, Yorks. (3).
♦Cooper, David, Bainesse, Catterick, R.S.O., by Darlington.

Cooper, Bichard, Mole Catcher, Gigburn, Clitheroe.

Cordingley, John B., 10, Melbourne Place, Bradford.

Cotton, T. A., F.L.S., F.Z.S., The Mount, Bishopstoke, Hants.

Cowell, Lady, Clifton Castle, Bedale, Yorks.

Cradock, Joseph, Mayfield, Stockton-on-Tees.

Cradock, Thomas, Leyburn, B.S.O.

Cragg, Bichard B., Solicitor, Skipton-in-Craven.
•Craven, Miss, Bpidford.

Craven, Fred, F.S.A.A., Beckett's Bank Chambers, Bradford.

Craven Herald Co., Skipton.
•Craven Printing and Stationery Co., Ltd., Settle, Yorks. (2).

Cross, Henry M., J.P., Mayor of Scarborough.

Crown, Thomas, Skelton, near Boroughbridge.

Cryer, B. G., 24, Grantham Road, Bradford.

Cud worth, William, Upperthorpe, Darlington.

Cudworth, William, Sawrey Place, Bradford.

CunliflFe, Walter F., 109, Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill, W.

Cuttriss, S. W., 6, Fieldhead Terrace, Camp Road, Leeds.

•Devonshire, His Graob the Duke of, K.G., Devonshire House, London.
Dodsworth, Sir Matthew, Bart., Harrogate.
*Danks, The Yen. Archdeacon, M.A., The Rectory, Richmond, Yorks.
••Dale, John &; Co., Ltd., 17, Bridge Street, Bradford (6).
Darlington, Latimer, Bradford.
Darlow, Stephen, 7, Marlborough Terrace, Bingley.
Darnborough, Rev. John Whitton, South Otterington Rectory, Northallerton.

* Davidson, Colonel H. E., Richmond, Yorks.
Dawson, Percival W.. 101, Westbourne Avenue, Hull.
Dawson, R. F., IS, Derby Street, Great Horton, Bradford.
Dawson, Be v. S. T., Franklin Road, Harrogate.
Denison, R. W., 1, Park View Terrace, Manningham.

•Dickons, J. Norton, 12, Oak Villas. Manningham.
•Dodds, Frederick Lindley, M.A., Stockton-on-Tees.
•Dodg8on« Joseph, 68, Albion Street, Leeds (^4 and 6).

Drake, J., Chellow Dean Cottage, Bradford.

Dyson, George, Argyle Street, Marsden, near Huddersfield.

* Dyson, Hiram, Salendine Nook, Huddersfield.

Effingham, Rt. Hon. Lord Howard of, Tusmore Park, Bicester, Oxon.
•Earle, Mrs., Catterick, R.S.O., Yorks.

Earle, Rev. Francis, Tanfield Rectory, Bedale.
•Edmondson k Co., 24, High Street, Skipton (4).

Eastwood, John Adam, Ashfield, Peel Moat Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport.

Elliott. F. W., Bradford
•Elmhirst, Robert, Farnham Lodge, near Enaresborough.

Elmhirst, Bev. William, Elmhirst, near Barnsley.
♦Emerson, John James, LL.D., J.P., Easby Hall, Great Ayton, R.S.O.

Erskine, Rev. John, Wycliffe Rectory, Darlington.

508

Bshelby, H. D., F.S.A., 80, Shrewsbary Road, Birkenhead.
Evans, Rev. John H., M.A., The Vicarage, Catterick, R.S.O., Yorks.

*Farrah, John, F.R.Met. S., 3 and 5, Crescent Road, Harrogate (2).

Fawcett, E., Lidget Green, Bradford.

Fawthrop, Joseph, 212, Bowling Old Lane, Bradford.
♦Ferrand, William, St Ives, Bingley.

Fleming, Mrs., Bilton, near Harrogate.
^Fletcher, M., 45, Bolton Woods, Bradford.

Foggitt, William, South Villa, Thirsk.

Ford, John Rawlinson, Quarrydene, Weetwood, Leeds,

Fortune, Riley, F.Z.S., Learoyd House, Harrogate.

Foster, Abram, Chemist, Dewsbury.

Foster, John, Douk Ghyll, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, by Skipton.

Fothergill, Miss, Richmond Hill, Bowdon, Cheshire.

Fothergill, J. A., M.R.C.S., L.D.S., Raydaleside, Darlington.
* Fothergill, Mary Ann, Elton Cottage, Darlington.
*Frank, Frederick Bacon, Campsall Hall, Doncaster.

*Gbahav, Sib Reginald, Babt., Norton Conyers, Ripon.
^Galloway, Mrs., Greenfield House, West Bowling (I)

Garratt, Phillip Henry, Dam Head, Barnoldswick.
*Garth, Francis, J.P., C.C., Haverdale House, Swaledale.

Gaskarth, Henry, 11, Sunbridge Road. Bradford.

Gaunt, Arthur, Stanningley Hall, near Leeds.
*Gerrard, John, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Worsley, Manchester.

Gibson, J. P., Battle Hill Terrace, Hexham.

Gill, J. W., 25, St. Andrew's Place, Listerhills, Bradford.
*Gitpin-Brown, Mrs., Sedbury Park, Richmond, Yorks.

Gillott, Mrs. Cecilia, 8, Victoria Road, Penrith.

Glossop, William, Chartered Accountant, Bradford.
•Goldie, J. T., 6, Charles Street. Bradford C4).

Goldsbrough, George Hildreth, Field Head, near Wakefield.

Goldthorpe, B. H., Cleckheaton.

Gomersall, William, Otterburn-in-Craven, Bell Busk, Leeds.

Gradon, John George, Lynton House, Durham.
^Graves, Henry, 16, Marlborough Road, Bradford.

Gray, Thomas, 9, Buckingham Mount, Headingley, Leeds.

Green, Bernard, Glusburn, Crosshills, via Eeighley.

Gregory, John Vessey, 10, Framlington Place, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Gregson, William. F.G.8., F.S.I., Baldersby, S.O., Yorks.

Gunston, Jas., 9, North Parade, Bradford.

•Halifax, Rt. Hok. Viscount, Hickleton, Doncaster.

*Hothfield, Rt. Hon. Lord, Appleby Castle, Westmorland.

♦Haigh, John. York Place, Huddersfield.

•Hainsworth, L., Oak well Cottage, Farsley, near Leeds.

•Hales, Rev. C. T., M.A., Aysgarth School, Newton-le-Willows, Bedale.

Hales, Professor, J., F.S.A., 1, Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill, N.W.

Haley, Charles Henry, Victoria Villas, Stanningley.
*Hall, Edward William, Russell House, Bradford.
•Hanson, C. E., 16, Woodview, Manningham.

504

Hanson, D., Thornleigh, Apperley Bridge.

Hardaker, John, J.P., 2, Ashburnham Grrove, Bradford.

Hardcastle, William, 78, Victor Boad, Bradford.

Hardcastle. William, Catterick Bridge, Catterick, R.S.O.
♦Harding, William, Hollyhurst, Darlington.

Hardwick, James, 51, Ormerod Road. Burnley.
•Hare, Francis S., 24, Cleveland Terrace, Darlington.

Harker, James, Mentone House, Franklin Road, Harrogate.
•Harker. William, J.P., Harefield, Pateley Bridge.

Harland, Henry 8., F.8.A., &c., 8, Arundel Terrace, Brighton.

Harper, Mrs., Wellington Hotel, Harrogate.

Harris, Henry, South View House, Yeadon, by Leeds.

Hart«, Fred J., Vernon House, Broad Oak Road, Worsley, Manchester.

Hartley, William, Bank Terrace, Heokmondwike.

Hartshorn, John, Board School, Leyburn, R.S.O.
'Hastings, Geoffrey, 15, Oak Lane, Bradford.

Hawkesworth, Leonard, Bolton Woods. Bradford.

Head, Archibald, 178, Clapham Park Road, London, S.W.

Henderson, H. G., Allen Park, Stirling, N.B.

Hewgill, William, M.A., Milton Villas, Farnworth, R.S.O.

Hey, Harry, Ash Terrace, Savile Town, Dewsbury.
♦Higson, T. S., Kirkgate, Shipley.

Hills & Co., 19, Fawcett Street, Sunderland (2).
•Hind, William Harley, 26, Swaine Street, Bradford.

Hitchman, J., 46J, Stonegate, York.

Hobkirk, Charles P., F.L.S., &c., Hill House, Park Road, Dewsbury.

Hobson, John Falshaw, South Bailey. Durham.

Hodgson, William, Surgeon, Reeth, Swaledale, by Richmond.
♦♦Holds worth, James Alfred, Fairfield, Heaton, Bolton, Lanes.

Holdsworth, J. J., 30, Ham Frith Road, Stratford, £.

Holdsworth, Alderman William, J.P., 97, Woodroyd Road, Bradford.

Hollings, Robert, M.D., 26, Warwick Row, Coventry.
'Holmes, Rev. Henry Combe, Birkby Rectory, Northallerton (1).

Holmes, William, Bookseller, Lightburne Road, Ulverston (2).
•Hopkins, W. R. Innes, J.P., D.L.. Witton Tower, Witton-le-Wear.
♦Hopper, Chas., Monk End Terrace, Croft, near Darlington.
♦Home, William, F.G.S., Leyburn, Yorks. (2).
♦Howard, Dr., Altofts, Normanton.

Howarth, J. H., F.G.S., The Crescent, Newton Park, Leeds.
•Howell, Edward, Church Street, Liverpool (2),

Howes, Rev. A. P., The Rectory, Bolton Abbey.

Hudd, Alfred E., F.S.A., &c., Clinton House, Pembroke Road, Clifton, Bristol.

Hudleston, Wilfrid H., M.A., F.R.S., &c., 8, Stanhope Gardens, South
Kensington., S.W.

Hugill, Herbert, 19, Barlow Terrace, Keighley.

Husband, Joseph, 4, St. Mary's Terrace, Newton Park, Leeds.
♦Hutchinson, John H., Brookside, Catterick.
♦Hutton, John, M.P., Solberge, Northallerton.
♦Hutton, John T. D*Arcy, J.P., Aldburgh Hall, Masham.

♦INOILBY, Sir Henbt D., Bart., Ripley Castle, Yorks.
•Illingworth, William, J.P , Newfield Hall, Bell Busk, by Leeds.

505

•Itigledew, Mrs. W. Paley. 5, Oxford Terrace, Stockton-on-Tees.
•♦Irving, Rev. R. G., The Vicarage, Rastrick, Brighouae.

Javbs, Philip, Postmaster, Brough, Yorks.
Jenkinson, W., 25, Easby Road, Horton, Bradford.
Johnson, J., 77, Havelock Street, Bradford.
Johnson, Walter, J.P., Rounton Grange, Northallerton.
^Johnston, Jas., M.B., 2, White's Terrace, Manniughani.
Johnston, John, 82, Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough (3).
Jones, George Fowler, F.R.I.B.A., Quarry Bank, Malton.
Jowett, J. S., Xen» Office, Brighouse.

*EiT80N, Sib Jambs, Babt., M.P., Gledhow Hall, Leeds.

Kealey, John, North Eastern Daily Gazette, Middlesbrough.
'Kendall, Richard, Dentist, 2, Sussex Street, Barnoldswick

Kidson, J. R., 116, Albion Street, Leeds.

Killick, H. F., Solicitor, Rawdon, near Leeds.

King, Thomas, 1, Chapel Street, Barnoldswick.

Eirby, R. L., Linthorpe, Middlesbrough (2).

Kirkwood, Stephen, 61, Hough Lane, Bramley, Leeds.
*KnowleB, C. H., 29, Parliament Street, Harrogate.
*Knowles, John, Summerfield, Kirkby Lonsdale.

Knubley, Rev. E. P., M.A , Staveley Rectory, Leeds.

Lancaster, Beth, 48, Wakefield Road, Bradford.
Lansdowne- Roan tree, T. H., Warwick House, Middleham, R.S.O.
Lawson, John, 1, Princess Street, Harrogate.
•♦Leach, R. B., M.A., F.L S., F.Q.S., Appleby School, Westmorland.
Leadman. Alex. D. H., F.S.A., Oak House, Pocklington.
Leonard, F., 26, Fitzwilliam Street, Huddersfield.

LlBHARIBS :

Barrow-in-Furness Free Library (per Thomas Aldred).

Bingley Free Library (per William Green).

Birkenhead Free Library (per William May).

Blackburn Free Library (per R. Ashton).

Bolton Subscription Library (per J. K. Waite).
♦Bradford Free Library (per Butler Wood) (10).
♦Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society (per J. A. Clapham).

Bradford Library and Literary Society (per J. Rhodes).

Bradford Mechanics* Institnte (per A. P. Waddington).

Bradford Naturalists' and Microscopic Society (per B. Spencer).

Bradford Scientific Association (per C. B. Holdsworth).

Buffalo Library, Buffalo, N.Y. (per B. F. Stevens).

Cambridge Public Library.

Cardiff Free Library (per John Ballinger).

Carlisle Public Library (per Robert Bateman).

Oiitheroe Free Library (per Jas. Robinson).

Darlington, Edward Pease Public Library (per B. R. Hill).

Derby Public Library (per William Crowther).

Dewsbury Public Library (per W. H. Smith).

Dublin, Library of Queen's College.

506

LiBRABlBS, continued.

Edinburgh, Library of the Faculty of AdvocateB.
Edinburgh Public Library (per Hew Morrison, F.S.A. Scot.)
Glasgow, Mitchell Library (per F. T. Barrett).
Halifax Public Library (per J. Whiteley) (2).
Harrogate Free Library (per Qeorge W. Byers).
Leeds Church Institute (per G. D. Lumb).
*Leeds Free Library (per James Yates) (5).
Leeds Library (per F. A. Yates).
Liverpool Free Library (per P, Cowell).
Manchester Free Library (per Charles W. Sutton).
Middlesbrough Free Library (per Baker Hudson) (3).
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Library (per B. Anderton, B.A.)
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Literary and Philosophical Society (per Henrr

Richardson)
New York Public Library (per B. F. Stevens)
Oldham Free Library (per Thomas \V. Hand).
Oxford, Bodleian Library.

ShefiSeld Public Library (per Samuel Smith) (6).
Shipley, The Salt Schools (per William Fry).
Wakefield Book Society (per Henry Bennington).
Wakefield Mechanics' Institute (per Henry Bennington).
York, Bootham School (per J. E. Clarke).
•York, Minster Library (per Rev. Chancellor Raine).
York, Subscription Library (per R. Haughton).
*Lingard. A., Bradford.
Little, Mrs. J. E., 33, Bedford Street, Hitchin.
•Liversedge, F. J., 3, Apsley Villas, Manningham.
•Lodge, I. W., J.P., The Rookery, Bishopdale, Aysgarth, R.S.O.
•Lofthouse, John H., 42, Mayfield Grove, Harrogate (1).
Longbottom, D., Bolton Road School, Silsden, near Keighley.
Longtoft, Ralph, Salterforth, Colne.
*Lucy, Charles Frederic, The Bank, Pickering.

Lumby, W., Kelepring, Aysgarth, R.S.O.
*Lupton, Bros., Booksellers, &c., Burnley (*4 and 12).
♦Lyon, J. F., Post Office, Leyburn, Yorks. (^2 and 6).

•*Mabham, Right Hon. Lobd, Swinton Park, Masham.

Mowbray and Stourton, Right Hon. Lord, Allerton Park, Knaresborough
•Meysey-Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., M.P., Kirby Hall, York.
♦Marsham-Townshend, Hon. Robert, M.A., F.S.A., 6, Chesterfield Street,
Mayfair, W.

Monson, Hon. Mrs. T., Leyburn, R.S.O., Yorks.
•Manby, Fred, Skipton.

Margerison, Saml., Calverley Lodge, near Leeds.
^Markham-Tindall, F., 27, Victoria Road, Broomhall Park, Sheffield.

Marriner, A. H., Broom House, Keighley.

Marshall, Rev. J. M., M.A., Croft Rectory, Darlington.

Mason. Mrs. James, Hillary Hall, Burtersett, Hawes.
•Mason, Rev. J. Wharton, The Vicarage, Marrick, by Richmond.

Mason, Philip B., J.P., F.L.S., &c., Burton-on-Trent.
•Mason, Richard, 116, Queen's Road, Liverpool.

507

^Matthews k Brooke, Booksellers. Bradford (*15 and 20).
^Maugkan, Jokn, Jervauz Abbej, Middleham, R.S.O.
*Maw, Wm., Woodlands, Rawdon, Leeds.

Mawson, Joseph, 5, Ravens worth Terrace, Durham.

Metcalfe, Herbert, Piillip Street, Barnoldswick.

* Metcalfe, James, 2, Mosley Street, Barnoldswick.
•Metcalfe, John Henry, Easingwold, by York (2).

Metcalfe, R., M.D.. Leybum, Yorks.

Metcalfe, Richard, 4, Hill Street, Barnoldswick.
*Metcalfe, Thos. Theoph. Secundus, J. P., Roche Court, Salisbury.
^Miles, Jas., S2, Guildford Street, Leeds (12).
'^Miles, Thos., 18, Sunbridge Road, Bradford (1).

Mills, Frederick Wm., F.R.M.S., Thornleigh, Huddersfield.

Millward, Adam, Cambridge Crescent, Harrogate.

Milner, Mrs. River View, Richmond, Yorks.
*Milnes, Eli, Architect, F.S.I., Swan Arcade, Bradford.

Milville-Raven, Rev. Thos., M.A., F.R.S.,E., Crakehall Vicarage, Bedale.

Mitchell, Mrs. Henry, Duchy House, Harrogate.

Mitchell, William, 48, Market Street, Bradford.

Morrell, W. W., J.P., York City and County Bank, York.

Mortimer, Edward, 1, Silver Street, Halifax (2).
*Moubray, John J., Naemoor, Rumbling Bridge, N.B.

Mudd, Miss, Richmond Hill, Bowdon, Cheshire.

* Myers, S. P., Rosse Dune, Heaton, Bradford.

^'NoBFOLK, HiB Graob thb Duke OF, K.G., Earl Marshal^ Norfolk House,.

London, S.W.
•Naylor, E., 48, Market Street, Bradford (1).

Nesfield, George B., 138, Ebury Street, Eaton Square, S.W.

Nesfield, G. S., Auborough House, Scarborough.

Newboult, Alfred, 175, Hollings Mount, Bradford (2).

Newhouse, Richard, Clough Terrace, Barnoldswick.

Newton, William, 3, Dundas Street, Laisterdyke.
^Nicholson, John S., 116, Queen*s Road, Liverpool.
•Nixon, Edward, 6, East View, Pinderfields, Wakefield.

Norwood, Captain, Wakefield.

Nowland, William, Market Place, Richmond.

♦OxFOBD, Rt. Rev. the Bishop op, Cuddesdon Palace, Oxford.

Oddy, John G., J.P., Hallcroft Hall, Addingham.

Oldfield, George, 38, Mannville Terrace, Bradford.
♦Oldfield, Geo. Wm., M.A., F.G.S.,21, Longridge Road, Earl's Court, S.W.

•Powell, Sib Fbanois S., Babt., M.P., Horton Old Hall, Bradford.
♦Pilkington, Sir George A., Kt., Belle Vue, Southport.

Paley, William, M.D., M.R.C.P., Yore Bank, Ripon.

Palliser, J. W., B.Sc, Bradford.
♦Park, George, Bradford.

•Parke, George H., F.Z.S., F,G.S., &c., St. John's, Wakefield.
•Parker, Reginald B., Milford Hall, South Milford, Yorks.

Parkinson, George S., Claremont, Bradford.
♦Parsons, George, 59, Ashgrove, Bradford.
•Patchett, Alfred. Liverpool.

608

Patchett, John, Mildred House, Undercliffe Lane, Bradford.

Parbury, Mrs., Abbeydale, ShefiSeld.
•Pattison, Frank W., 7, Burwood Place, London, W. (1).

PawBon, A. H., Farnley, Leeds.

Pawson, Thomas, 6, Grange Terrace, Undercliffe Lane, Bradford.

Peacock, Frederick G., Solicitor, Crosshills, near Eeighley.

Pearson, George, J.P., Brickendonbury, Hertford (2).

Pease, Arthur, J.P., Marske-by-the-Sea (3).

Percival, John, Wye College, Ashford, Kent.

Petty, Samuel Lister, Queen Street, Ulverston, North Lanes.

Phillips, Theo., Tees Oil Works, Middlesbrough.

Pickering, Rev. Robert, M.A., Cowgill Vicarage, Sedbergh.

Pinck, Rer. Robert, Hardraw Vicarage, near'Hawes, R.S.O., Yorks.

Pitcher, W. N. & Co., 49, Cross Street, Manchester.

Piatt, W. H. Moorhead Villas, Shipley.
*Plews, Mrs. Mackay, Fencote Hall, Bedale.
♦Plews, W. B., Killerby Hall, Bedale.

Pomfret, Thomas, Crossbill Terrace, Burnley.

Poole, Richard, 78, Great Horton Road, Bradford.

Porter, Wm., 7, Stanley Street. Fairfield, Liverpool.
, Powell, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Healey Vicarage, Masham, R.S.O.
^Procter, E., Oak Mount, Burnley.
•Proctor, George, Throstle Nest, Thornton-in-Craven.

* Procter, Richard, Oak Mount. Burnley.

Punch, J. W. R., Cumberland Villas, Middlesbrough.

•RiPON. Most Hon. the Marquis op, K.G., Stud ley Royal, Ripon.

* Richmond, Right Rev. the Bishop of. Stanhope Rectory, Darlington.
*Raine, Joseph, Newbiggen, Richmond (2).

^Randall, Joseph, Bank Chambers, George Street, Sheffield.
*Ratcliffe, Chas. G., J.P., Park House, Colne, Lanes.

Uawe, Mrs.. Hertford Road, Huntingdon.

Redmayne, John, Grove House, Headingley.
•Uiddell, Chas. B., J.P., Leyburn Hall, Ley burn, R.S.O.

Ridley, T. D., J.P., Coatham, Redcar.

Rigby, Rev. T., Scruton Rectory, Bedale.

Roberts, George, Lof thouse, Wakefield.

* Robinson, Arthur, J., Clitheroe Castle, Clitheroe.

- Robinson, Mrs. Wm., Green Bank, Sedbergh, R.S.O.
•Robinson, W. P., New York.

Roebuck, Wm. D., F.L.S., &c.. Sunny Bank, Leeds.

Ross, Percival, A.M. Inst. C.B., North Blerley Urban Council Offices, Wibsey.

Rotheray, Lister, 48, Otley Street, Skipton.

Roundell, Chas. S., Dorfold Hall, Nantwich.
•Routh, John Christopher Cain, Wood Hall, Aysgarth.

Rowntree, Wm., J.P., Scarborough.

Rudd, W. O., Yarm, Yorks.
•Russell, Nathaniel, J.P„ South Parade, Northallerton.

Ryder, the Misses, Frenchgate House, Richmond, Yorks.

•St. Quintin, Wm. Hbbbebt, Scampton Hall, York.
♦Sanderson, Frank, 79^, High Street, Stockton-on-Tees.
Saywell, Rev. J. L., F.R.H.S.. Rosebank, Middleton-Tyas, Richmond.

509

Scorah, John B., 31, Hortoa Lane, Bradford.
^Scott, John, Junr., Skipton.
Scott, Joseph, 98, Albion Street, Leeds.
Scrope, Mrs., Danby-on-Yore, Bedale (2).
Scruton, Wm., The Whitelands, Low Baildon, Shipley.
Semple, Robert J., Westbrook Villas, Darlington.
Senior, Albert, Herald Office, Heckmondwike.
Severs, Dr. George, London.
*Sewell, George F., SO, Grandage Terrace, Bradford.
*Sewell, P. R., Lyndhurst, Lirersedge.
Shaw, Giles, 72, Manchester Street, Oldham.
S heard, Michael, Batley and Harrogate.
Shuffrey, Rev. W. A., Arncliffe Vicarage, Skipton.
•Simpkin, Edmund, C.E., 9, Spring Street, Bury (1).

Singleton, James, 43, Delph Mount, Hyde Park, Leeds.
^Skidmore, Charles, Stipendiary Magistrate, Bradford.
Slater, Henry, Mitchell Terrace, Barnoldswick.
Slater, James, Park Road, Barnoldswick.
SHcer. John, Idle, near Bradford.
Smith, Rev. Emill B., The Vicarage, Kippax, Leeds.
Smith, Henry S., Bradford.
Smith, Rev. Wm. Kerr, The Rectory, Middleham.
Smith. Wm., Staith Cottage, Bingley.
Smith, Rev. W. J., M.A., Dinndale Rectory.
Smithson, J. B., Photographer, Leyburn.

Smithson, Ralph P., Savings Bank Department G.P.O., London, E.C.
Smithson, William, 98, Belvedere Road, Burnley (8).
Solly, Dr. E., F.R.C.S., Harrogate.
Sowden, W. M., 62, St. Mary^s Road, Bradford.
Si)eight, George, Belmont, Park View Road, Bradford.
Spensley, Miss E. M., Feetham, Reeth, in Swaledale.
Stamford, Arthur H., Hall Bank, Bingley.
Stanfield, Thomas, 36, Arbour Street, Southport.
♦Stanyforth, E. W., J.P., Kirk Hammerton Hall. York.
*Stead, John James, Albert Cottage, Heckmondwike.
Stead, Joseph, Ashfield Villa, Heckmondwike.
Steavenson. A. L., Durham.
Stechert, G. E., 2, Star Yard, Carey Street, W.C.
*Stephenson, Alfred, Bolton Grange, Bradford.
•Stevenson, Miss, Scotton Hall, Richmond, Yorks. (1).
Stevenson, Mrs., Dingley Grange, Market Harborough.
Stewart, Rev. W. E., M.A., F.R,A.S., &c., Elcott. Hurworth, Darlington.
Stockdale, Albert, Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield.
Strange, Alfred, J.P., Burnley.
Stuart, Dr. J. A. Erskine, Medical Officer of Health for the Borough of Batley,

Heckmondwike.
*SatcIiffe, Frederic J. Ramsbottom, M. Inst. C.E., Low Moor, near Bradford.
Sutcliffe, John B., Fremington in Swaledale, by Richmond.
Swire Tom, 37, Devonshire Street, Eeighley.
Switheiibank, G. E., M.D.,St. Catherine's, Honor Oak Park, S.E.
Sykes, Arthur F., 3, Henry Street, Horton Lane, Bradford.
Sykes, i^v. John Poulett, Rathmell Vicarage, Settle.

510

'*Tempb8T, Sir Robert Tempest, Bart., Tong Hall, Drighlington.

Tacey. William Q.. L.R.C.P., F.R.M.S., &c., 6, Manningham Lane, Bradford.

Tait, Mrs. LawBon, Peterbrook, Warstock, near Birmingham.

Tate, Thomas, F.G.S., Eldon Mount, Leeds.

Taylor, John, 4, Essex Street, Barnoldswick.

Taylor, Rev. R. V., B.A., Melbecks Vicarage, Swaledale.

Tempest, Mrs., Broughton Hall, Skipton-in-Craven.
^Tennant, Henry, Holgate Hill, York.

Terry, Percival, M.A. (Oxon.), 9, Market Street, Bradford.

Thackeray, Charles W., 4, Easby Mount, Bradford.

Thompson, T., St. Matthew's Terrace, Ley bum.

Thrippleton, John, Burley View, Leeds.

*Tindall, Edward, Enapton Hall, Enapton Station N.B. By., Torks.
♦Tinkler, Rev. John, M.A., Gaunton Vicarage, Newark, Notts.
*Todd, Captain Wilson, The Leases, Bedale.

*Topham, Lupton, Lutterworth House, Lutterworth, Leicestershire.
^Topham, Miss, Middleham House, Mlddleham, Yorks.

Trappes, Charles, J. B., Stanley House, Clitheroe.
^Turner, Benjamin, M.S.A., Architect, 10, Pitt Street, Barnsley.

Turner, Rev. James, Ingleton Vicarage, Eirkby Lonsdale.

Turner, J. H„ Idle, Bradford.

Tyzack, Mrs. Joshua, Wood Lodge, Abbeydale, ShefiSeld;

•Vyner, Robert, Newby Hall, Ripon.
Varley, John, C.E., M.S.A., Skipton-in-Craven.
Vint, Horsfall, Idle, Bradford.

♦Wharnolifpe, Rt. Hon. the Earl op, Wortley Hall, SheflSeld.

Wilson, Sir Mathew W., Bart., Eshton Hall, Gargrave.

Waddington, T. A., Heworth, York.

Waite, Tom, Chapel Street, Barnoldswick.

Waldby, Joseph R., Qrove Road, Harrogate.
♦Waldy, John, Catterick, Yorks.

Wallbank, Nicholas W., Locks View, Bingley.

Walker, Rev. David, Grinton Vicarage, by Richmond, Yorks.

Walker, Edmund, The Grange, Otley.
•Walker, Henry. 37, Briggate, Leeds (2).

Walker, Hinsley A. W., M.D., Station Parade, Harrogate.

Walker, 8., Birks House, Shipley.

Walker, Thomas, Postmaster, Richmond, Yorks.

Waller, Bryan Charles, Masongill House, Eirkby Lonsdale.

Walmsley, Gilbert G., 50, Lord Street, Liverpool.

Walton, F. F., F.G.S., L.R.C.P., &c., 19, Charlotte Street, Hull.
'^Wandesforde, R. H. Prior, J.P., D.L., Eirklington Hall, Bedale.

Warburton, John, 82, Oak Road, Withington, near Manchester.

Ward, Thomas Field, Park Road, South, Middlesbrough.

Watson, Mrs. W. M., St. John's House, Stockton-on-Tees.

Watson, Thomas, Commercial Street, Leeds.

Weeks. W. S., Clitheroe.
♦West, Mrs., M.A., The Field, Swinefleet, Goole.

Whaley, Rev. Christopher, The Vicarage, Askrigg, R.S.O.

VVhaley, Rev. William, The Vicarage, West Witton, Leyburn, R.S.O.

511

*Wharton. John L., M.P., Bramhatn.

Whiteley, Jamee, Russell Hall, Queensbury.

Whiteley, John, Chapel Street, Barnoldswick.

Whitwell, William, F.L.S., 4, Thurleigh Road, Balham, S.W.

Wilkes, Alderman, J.P., Westwood House, Darlington.

Wilkinson, John Henry, F.R.G.S,, Newlay Grove, Horsforth, Leeds (2).

Wilkinson, Thomas, 54, Carlisle Road, Manningham.

Wilkinson, W., Solicitor, Bishop Auckland

Willans, F., 26, Montpelier Park, Edinburgh.

Williamson, Rev. J. E., Holy Trinity Vicarage, Bradford.

Williamson, Robert W., The Croft, Didsbury, Manchester.
*Wilson, Bernard, The School, Sedbergh, Yorks.

Wilson, Harold J., Queen^s Road, Harrogate.

Wilson. John H., J.P., The Enowle, Harrogate.

Wilson, J. Mitchell, M.D., Doncaster.
* Wilson, J. R. Robinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Leeds.

Windle, Darius A., East View, Barnoldswick.
'^Winn, James Clarkson, J.P., The Orange, Aysgarth.

Winser, Percy J., Greendale, Bebington, near Birkenhead.

Woodd, C. n. Basil, M.A., Ou^^hternhaw Hall, Langstrothdale Chase, via
Skipton-in-Craven.

Woolley, Alfred, 27, Burlington Terrace, Bradford.

Woolston. T., 22, Wilson Street, Middlesbrough (2).

Worsley, Lt.-Colonel H. G., Belleisle, Richmond, Yorks.

Wrightson, Rev. W. J., M.A., The Old Hall, Hurworth-on-Tees.

Wroot. Herbert, The Observer Office, Bradford.

Wright, James C, 32, Market Street, Bradford.

Wright, Jonathan, 4, Edmund Street, Bradford.
•Wright, Samuel, Solicitor, 10, Piccadilly, Bradford.

Wright, Samuel, J.P., Fairmount House, York.
•Wurtaburg, John H., J.P., Albion Works, Leeds.

Wyvill, M. D'Arcy, M.P., Denton Park, Otley.

*Yorke, Thomas, E., Bewerley Hall, Pateley Bridge.
Yarker, C. B., Chapel Garth, Wei burn, Yorks.
Yarker, John, West Didsbury, Manchester.

512

INDEX OF SURNAMES.

ACKROYD, 413.

Adrian, 207.

Aflfre, 101.

Ailesbury, 328, 324, 328,

333.
Akan'us,386,408, 417, 456.
Akerman, 124.
Alan Fergaunt, 39, 40, 54.
Alan (RufuB) Earl, 38, 39,

52, 60, 292, 293, 315, 365,

402, 481.
Alcock 95.
Alderson. 168, 159, 163,203,

260, 269. 270, 274, 453,

454 458.
Allen' 76, 158,339,363.
AUenson, 229.
Allison, 98, 278.
Alwont, 409.
Ambler, 302.
Anderson, 426.
Andrews, 113.
Angus, 138.
Annesley, 117.
Anthony, 146.
Applegarth, 243.
Appleton, 352.
Arkel,41.
Armstrong, 400.
Arundell, 151. 234.
Arthur, 57, 58, 99.
ABCOUgh.68, 412, 418.
A8ke,42,60, 111, 184, 167.

208, 209, 331.
Atkinson, 65, 135, 229, 314,

347, 366.
Audulf, 363.

Baoon. 65, 223.

Bainbrigp, 112, 314.

Baker. 239. 245, 282, 313.

Baldewvn, 68.

Bamford, 130.

Bam p ton, 60.

Banastyr, 72.

Banks, 340.

Barber, 477.

Barker, 203, 232, 266, 304,

323,825,398,401.
Barnard, 367.
Barningham, 244, 277.
Barton, 386.

Barwick, 470.

Basset, 364.

Basayngburne, 338.

Bateman,389.

Bates, 317.

Bathurst, 88, 206,244, 409.

Batie, 137.

Beaconsfield, 203,

Beane, 229.

Beaumont, 264.

Beck with. 64, 206.

Bede, 106, 122, 124, 131,

172.
Bedford, 47.
Bell, 86.

Bellerby, 108, 378, 420.
Benson, 80.
Bentley. 390.
Bereford, 215.
Beresford-Peirse, 152.
Besson, 199, 474.
Beverlev, 299.
Bickersteth, 161,369.
Binns, 434.
Birch, 301, 307, 354.
Birkbeck, 2.32, 262.
Bishopric, 114.
Blackburn. 69, 83. 200, 231.
Blades, 439, 495.
Blayders, 229.
Bodin, 292.
Bolton, 177, 217, 339, 357,

360,366,367-70,879,382,

388, 390, 391. 894, 895,

399, 403, 406. 409.
Booth, 133, 186, 137, 147,

153.
Booty, 301.
Boultbee, 159.
Bowers, 63.
Bowes, 68. Ill, 167, 175,

199,201,271.
Boy n ton, 176, 179.
Bradley, 444.
Braithwait, 134.
Brasse. 81.
Breare, 300.
Broderick, 262.
Brokeholle, 61.
Bromley, 25.
Brompton, 121.
Bronte, 478.

Brown, 176, 193,244, 246,

346.
Bruce, 57, 292, 415.
Brundrett, 473, 494.
Brunskill, 265.
Buckle, 301, 436.
Bulmer, 135,208,301.
Burgh, 132,134.135, 137,

156, 161,332, .S53.
Burghersh, 223, 256.
Burrill, 316.
Burton, 112.
Butterfield, 449.
By god, 250, 258.
Byrnhara, 3U1.
Byron, 87.

Cade, 172.

Calvert, 265,397,458.

Camden, 1 10, 122, 287, 471.

Cameron, 204.

Campian, 76.

Canterbury. 80. 148, 448.

Canute, 257, 312.

Caratog, 124.

Carpenter, 216.

Carter, 114. 136.

Cartmel. 302.

Cazon, 47.

ChalderB,212.

Chapman, 83, 119. 145, 226,

229,436,442,450.
Charles worth, 223.
Chester, 55.

Chaytor, 318, 353, 354, 412.
Chaucer, 141.256,299.
Cholmley. 66, 381.
Christie, 328, 3^6.
Chynnal, 76.
Clapham, 184.
Clarke. 54, 112, 148, 291,

898
Clarkson, 45,46,50,54,58,

60, 74, 85, 92, 112. 126,

184. 157, 413.
Clayton, 390.
Clederow, 389.
Clervaux,134, 135.
Cleseby, 197.

Cliflford, 169,392,415,496.
Close, 61.65,231,251,252.
Closeby, 219.

518

Clough, 817.

Coates, 216, 253, 2f)9, 393.

Cockroft, 300.

Coke. 234.

Colby, 301.

Coleby, 466, 487.

Collier, 868.

Collingwood, 103.

Colyn, 325.

Conan, 40, 46. 54, 112, 193,

209, 293, 386.
Constantine, 310, 311.
Conyers, 67, 61, 77, 146.

165, 166. 158, 197, 1991

205, 259, 294, 310, 464.
Cooke, 52, 67, 75, 2G8.
CooksoD, 353.
Coore, 150.
Copeland, 67.
Copley, 229.
Cornforth, 95.
Cousens, 80.
Coverdale, 111, 309.
Cowell, 441, 466.
Cowper, 211.

Cracall, 182, 134, 135, 163.
Cradock, 163,176, 180,189.
Craig, 486.
Crashorn, 229.
Craven, 79, 229, 419.
Crawford, 396.
Creppinge, 421, 422.
Croft,61, 133, 135,216, 313,

316, 853, 354, 405.
Crombie, 279.
CrosBfield, 469, 477. -
Cuitt, 84. 138.
CuWerwell, 22.

Dacbe, 388, 394.

Dalton, 348.

Danby, 348.

Banks, 131.

D'Arcy, 119,157,203, 204.

Darlington, 152.

Dayidson, 90.

Daris, 858.

Dawson, 317.

Daykins, 64,188,189,211,

382.
De laMare, 157, 158, 187,

883, 385< 386, 892.
De la Pole, 387.
Denys, 234,271.
De Bos, 331,382.
Dilke, 160.
Dinsdale, 468, 470.
Ditchfield, 244.
Dodd, 113.
Dodsley, 308,
Domitian, 207.
Douglas, 234, 288.

Downe, 206.

Draycott, 234.

Dray son, 362.

Draz, 217, 219.

Dreux, 58.

Drummond, 437.

Dryden, 88.

Duckett, 162.

Duncombe, 153.

Dundas, 69, 84, 85, 166, 167.

Dunn, 191.

Dykes, 388, 886.

Earle, 835.

Easton, 63.

Edleston, 82.

Edwin, Earl, 38, 40, 42,

174, 358.
Effingham, 35, 427.
Eidson, 130.
Ellerton, 217, 220.
Elliott, 68, 150, 153,266.
Emmett, 400.
Erskine, 119.
Eugenie, Empress, 252.
Evans, 124.

Faibfax, 61, 870.

Farrer, 160.

Fauset, 114.

Fawcett, 274.

Fen wick, 95, 96.

Fenton, 409.

Fermor. 157.

Ferrers, 287.

Fienes, 189.

Finn, 280.

Fisher, 206.

Fitz Alan.46. 61, 138,148.

151, 324.
Fitz Ceroid, 864, 365.
Fitz fiervey, 418.
Fitz Hugh, 34, 61,77, 168,

161, 189, 190, 194, 232,

234, 831, 341, 853, 387,

448, 451.
Fitz Randolph, 70, 71, 120,

298, 296, 815, 329, 341,

350, 363, 887, 436, 472.
Flintoff, 325.
Flower, 374.
Fobert, 317.
Fogerthwaite, 300.
Forster, 118.
Foster, 191.
Fothergill, 463, 470, 474,

476,477,478.
Fowler. 63, 870, 445.
Fox, 278, 442, 476.
Foxe, 64, 131.
Freeman, 339.
Frith, 393.

Fuller, 64, 201, 465.
Fulthorpe, 117,118.
Furness, 390.

Gale, 87. 40, 45, 61, 72,

126, 149, 150, 160, 209.
Gamel, 312, 396.
Garnett, 418.
Garrett, 824.
Garth, 231, 262.
Gascoigne, 65, 176, 179,

228, 229, 838.
Gatty, 187.

Gaunt, 47, 61, 223, 232, 234.
Gerrard, 175.
Ghilpatrick, 295, 350, 396,

402.
Gibson, 65, 269, 465.
Giles, 123.

Gill, 98, 112,. S70, 409.
Gilling, 177.

Gilpin, 176.179,244,246.
Glanville, 312.
Godwin, 44.
Goldsmith, 367, 389.
Gollop, 279.
Goodchild, 246, 282.
Goodrick, 229.
Gordon, 48, 177.
Gospatrick, 41, 191, 192,

208, 250.
Gower, 271.
Grandison, 386.
Grantley, 82.
Granville, 293.
Gras, 421.
Green, 68, 149, 278.
Gregge, 135.
Gregson,

Grey, 79, 158, 328.
Grosvenor, 386, 425.
Gunston, 119.

Haioh, 174, 178, 380.

Hales, 340, 432, 464.

Hall, 175, 317.

Hamilton, 63.

Hammond, 389.

Hanlathby, 207.

Harcla, 366, 496.

Harker, 149, 249, 250, 269,
270, 274.

Harrison, 84, 85, 93, 102,
169, 180, 181, 183, 184,
192, 196, 201, 209, 219,
261, 270, 317, 463, 484.

Harwood, 216.

Hatfield, 356.

Hawell,

Hawke, 391.

Hawthorn, 293.

Hayes, 130.

514

Hayton, 158.
Headlam, 235.
Hebtr, 95.
Hedley, 171.
Heighington, 65.
Helena, 142. 445.
Hellebeck, 108.
Hemming, 176.
Hertford, 175, 180,215,217,

373.
Hervey, 292.
Hick8,60, 219, 231.
Hildyard, 119.
Hilton, 176, 277, 353.
Hillary, 484.
Hitche. 227.
HobBon, 301, 436.
Hope, 108, 328.
Hornby, 187.
Home, 289, 291, 358, 360,

863, 364, 370. 374, 400,

408,442,446 455.
Horrocks, 246.
Horsman, 186.
Hothfield, 497.
Houfe, 431,438.
Howard, 36, 427.
Howe, 112.
Howell, 84.
Hudson, 339.
Hulk, 190.
Huntyngdon, 295.
Hutchinson, 65, 129, 130,

133, 147, 354, 355, 370,

449.
Hutton,58,60,83,]89,193,

199—207, 217, 229, 266,

271, 372, 389, 438, 466,

468.

I'Anson, 87.
Ibbetson, 65, 76, 342.
Ince, 211.
Ingleby, 229, 381.

Jackson, 476.

Jacob, 269.

Jakeson, 114.

James, 412.

Jameson, 344.

Janson, 66, 367.

Jaques, 98, 111,112,246.

Jenkins, 145.

Jenkinson, 320.

John, 47.

Johnson, 65, 112, 114, 119,

249.
Johnstone, 245.
Jones, 325.
Joy, 340.

Kay, 66, 96.

Eearton, 252, 267.
Keld, 276, 277.
Kelwardby, 148.
Kemp, 231.
Kendall, 453.
Kerdeston, 223, 234.
King, 76, 410, 418, 436.
Kingsley, 300, 325.
Kip, 341.
Kirby, 158.
Eirkeby, 67.
Knapp, 230.
Knight, 494.
Knollys, 406, 407.
Knowles, 82, 117, 262.
Kuowsley, 112.

La DEM AN. 211.

Lamb, 301,389.

Lambert, 205.

Lamp ton, 153.

Lanchester, 155.

Lascelles, 414.

Latham, 229.

Latimer, 287.

Law, 322.

Lawrence, 83.

Lawson, 122,125,126,129,

134, 137, 138, 139, 145,

354.
Layton, 234.
Leadman. 413.
Leahy, 297.
Lee, 259.
Leeds, 101, 155, 158, 253,

294.
Leighton, 432.
Leland, 50,301.
Lennox, 48, 333, 487.
Leofric, 44.
Leonard, 241.
Lettsom. 477.
Leyburn, 364, 365.
Lightfoot 22, 232, 453.
Lister, 293, 314, 333, 334.
Little, 334.
Lloyd, 189.
Loadman, 76.
Lodge, 448, 453.
Lofthouse, 310.
LoftUB, 293, 296, 310.
Longley, 262.
Longstaffe, 132, 157, 444,

465.
Loughran, 370,
Lowther. 136. 157.
Lubbock, 292.
Lumley, 176.
Lyell, 241, 271.
Lytton, 286.

Maclauchlan, 171, 285.

McLaughlin, 441.
MacNiilly, 87.
Malebisse. 381.
Malolacu, 223. 234. 256,

258.
Maltby, 82,216.
Mangeby, 298.
Manners, 874.
Markenfield, 150.
Marmion, 34, 61, 121, 138,

329, 331, 387, 388.
Marsh, 325.
Marshall, 191, 396.
Mars ham, 76.
Masham, 298, 307, 333.
Masheter, 22.
Mason, 203, 208, 212. 398,

473, 484, 485.
Mattison, 142.
Maude, 390.
Maughan, 307, 334.
Maunsell, 138.
Mayers, 230.
Melsamby, 219.
Mercia, 88, 44. 45, 52.
Mere, 157. 187, 388.
Metcalfe, 28, 63. 66. 72, 119,

148, 209, 265, 268, 288,

293. 296, 311, 847, 373.

874, 390, 412, 413, 425,

482, 435, 444, 451, 458,

460—70, 482.
Michell,22.
Middleham. 347, 449.
Middieton, 82. 335.
MiJbank, 87, 153.
Mil burn, 68.
Miller, 90. 216.
Milner, 231.
Milton, 146
Mil ward, 54.
Molyneaux, 235.
Monk, 22.
Monson, 152.
Montacute, 287, 382, 385,

386.
Montague, 61,487.
Moore, 73, 159.
Moorhouse, 184, 185.
Morley, 208..
Morris, 432.
Mountforth. 156. 158.
Mowbray, 136, 387, 418

420, 458.
Musard, 215.
Musgrave, 79.

Natlob, 893.
Nelson, 137, 332. 367.
Nennius, 123.
Netherwood, 79.
Newbitt, 22.

516

Neville, 47, 60, 68, 77^134.

155, 157, 168, 286-^8,

298, 804, 316, 347, 386.
Newcastle, 48.
NewtoD, 82, 264, 864.
Nicholas, 298.
Nicholls, 496.
Nicholson, 136, 160.
Norfolk, 258,299,366,406,

407.
Northumberland, 171, 373,

388 448
Norton, 69, 82, 175, 180.
Nowell, 234.

O'Bbien, 325.

Odin, 168, 312, 378, 430.

Odo, 364, 365.

Offa, 106.

Offer, 325.

Ogden, 446, 465.

Oliver, 66.

Onslow, 463.

Orde, 391, 395.

Orde-Powlett, 319, 340,354,

360, 362, 389, 391. 396,

426.
Orme, 312, 313, 434.
Osborne, 155, 816, 372, 374.
Ossory, 117.
Ostorius. 124.
Oswald, 172.
Other, 300,316, 398.
Ottley, 63.
'• Ouida," 432.
Owen, 399.

Palkt, 80.
Parke, 263.
. Parker, 484.
Parnabv, 22.
Parr, 146, 189, 310, 330.
Parsons, 298.
Pattison, 87. 158, 159. 177,

325.
Paulinus, 59, 131, 161.
Payne, 232.

Peacock, 79, 233, 274, 288.
Pearson, 75.
Pease, 22.
Peirse, 344, 345.
Penda, 172.
Pennant, 256.
Pepper, 306.
Percival, 436,450.
Percy, 386.
Perte, 114.
Petre, 313.

Phillips, 35, 199, 267.
Pickadike, 363.
Pickard, 449.
Pickersgill, 80.

Pigot, 158. 319, 464.

Pilkington, 416, 425.

Pinck, 488, 489, 494.

Pinkney, 228.

Place, 301.

Plesyngton, 223, 256.

Plewes, 354.

Porey, 226, 228.

Porter, 114.

Portman, 245.

Portsmouth, 48.

Pounder, 247.

Powell. 232.

Powlett, 208, 382, 386, 390,

894, 395.
Poynter. 432.
Pratt, 440. 453.
Preston. 244.
Pryme, 323.
Ptolemy, 122, 125, 291.
Pudsay, 212.

Queen Elizabeth, 131,

201, 204, 294, 336, 342,

381,406,466.
Queen of Scots, Mary 333,

366, 372, 403, 406,' 455,

469.
Queen (Victoria), 162, 274,

280, 306, 441.

Radclipfe, 175, 367, 370.
Raine, 52, 58, 91, 115, 132,

133,195,203,230,468.
Raizbeck. 241.
Raleigh, 204, 465, 466.
Rampher, 278.
Ramshaw, 113, 191.
Raven. 153.
Rawe. 114, 241, 489.
Rawson, 264.
Reafishaw, 99.
Ribald, 292, 312, 350, 886,

402.
Richardson. 388.
Richmond, 38, 45, 47, 61,

67. 151, 216, 223, 357,

381, 398.
Riddell. 366.
Rigby, 150.
Rimington, 374.
Rimmer. 300.
Ripon, 60. 166, 216, 231.
Roald, 107, 197.
Roberts, 216.
Robinson, 60, 72, 117, 157,

235, 244, 319, 366, 391,

415, 425, 436.
Robley, 63.
Rodham, 391.
Rokeby, 194, 449.
Roper, 63.

Ross, 441.

Roundell, 184.

Routh, 183, 453, 458, 483,

484.
Rowntree, 390, 408.
Rukin, 274.
Rnskin. 482.
Ryan, 300.
Ryder, 63, 309, 839.
Rymour, 112.

St. Quintin, 96, 163, 156,

157, 158, 392.
Sandby, 293.
Sanderson, 72.
Savill, 415.
Saxton, 309, 481.
Sayer, 208.
Say well, 374.
Scarr, 457.
Scollard, 56, 148.
Scott. 137. 168, 194, 367,

373, 385.
Scrivener,
Scro|»e, 57, 60, 61, 67. 77,

84,96, 107,110,112,217,

330, 338, 341—46, 365,

381, 382, 387, 394, 403,

424, 435, 461.
Scurueton, 150.
Sedburg, 179, 331.
Serjaunts, 180.
Settrington, 48.
Shafto, 96.

Shakespeare, 45, 130. 287.
Sharp, 65, 230, 445.
Shaw. 487.
Shepherdson, 415.
Shields, 406.
Shipley, 113.
Shuckburgh, 271.
Siclinghale, 419, 420.
Sidgwick, 79.
Sidney,

Simpson, 398, 436.
Skidmore, 455.
Slinger, 489, 491.
Slingsby, 444, 462, 467.
Smelt, 148.
Smith, 66, 80, 112 114,142,

241, 264, 297, 307. 419,

466, 487.
Smithson, 155,441, 463.
Smurthwaite, 52, 98.
Sinythe, 234.
Snell, 63. 188.
Southey, 82.
Sparke, 117.
Speed, 481.
Speight, 152, 365.
Spence, 339.
Spencer, 82, 301.

516

Spensley, 264, 270.

Sport, 198.

Squire, 186.

Stainthorpe,

Stalker, 238.

Stany forth, 245.

Stapylton, 114,228,420.

Staynwigges, 168.

Stellyng, 191.

Stenall,61.

Stevenson. 117.

Stillman, 278.

Story, 806.

Stow, 482, 486.

Strong, 160.

Stuart, 47, 469, 487.

Stubbs, 40. 244.

Sunter, 253.

Sutton, 152.

Swale, 111, 223, 224, 225—

231,234,301,478.
Swaledale, 135.
Swarbeck,
Swillington,483.
Swinburne, 38, 208.
Symond, 114.
Syaaons,22.

Tacitus, 124.

Tadeuia, 432.

Tanner, 74, 219.

Tarn, 269.

Tate, 73, 79, 80, 82, 216.

Tavlor, 65, 82, 114. 185,

282, 256, 262.
Telford, 190.

Tempest, 135, 157, 180, 464.
Tennant, 889, 476.
Thackeray, 160.
Thistlethwaite, 489.
Thomas, 280.
Thompson, 463.
Thor, 168, 378. 379, 402.
Thoralby, 420.
Thoraton,301.
Thoresby. 83,443.
Thornborough, 367.
Tibetot, 77.
Tiddeman, 206.
Tilling, 229.
Tinkler, 85, 245.
Tiplady, 440, 452.
Tiptoft, 887, 388, 435.
Todd, 66, 101.
Tomlin, 61,253.

Tomlineon, 436, 450.
Topham, 161, 288, 300, 301,

317, 319.
Tor, 111, 167,168.
Torbett, 216.
Torp, 419.
Townley, 157.
Tunstall, 66, 159, 190, 204.
Turchil, 448.

Turner, 206, 218, 432, 475.
Tweng, 386.
Tyrconnel, 137.
Tyzack, 225.

Ulchil, 193.
Ulf. 312, 349.
Umfreyille, 158.
Urswick, 138, 134, 168.
Uther, 496.
Uttley, 432.
Uvedale. 211.

Vachell, 259.

Van Straubenzee, 358, 354.

Vyner, 451. 469, 470.

Wadb-Dalton, 160.

Walburn,218.

Walden, 386.

Wales, 234.

Walker, 63, 114, 124, 180,

281, 374, 398.
Walsh, 83.
Walton, 409.
Wandesford, 118,215.
Ward, 163, 265.
Warden, 76.
Warren, 387, 388.
Warwick, 191.
Washington, 181.
Watson, 114, 848.
Waynbrigg, 298.
Wayte, 366.
Webster, 270. 360, 439, 440,

441.
Weddell, 468.
Wedyrhead, 114.
Wellington, 48.
Wendesley (Wenselawe),

381, 385. 892.
Wensleydale, 251, 263.
Wentworth, 228.
Wesley, 52, 252, 264, 370.

300.
West, 76.

Westmorland. 47, 293,304,

381, 418, 448.
Whaley, 410, 412, 454, 467.

474, 482.
Wharncliffe, 432, 486. 487.
Wharton, 118, 167, 169. 175

188, 234, 240, 244, 259,

263, 266. 277, 438.
Whitaker, 37, 45, 118, 132.

134, 157, 169, 172, 195,

196, 297, 300, 410, 444.
Wheel house, 216.
Whiteheele, 66.
Wickliffe, 69. 118, 119,120,

181, 188, 191. 251.
Wihomarc, 116, 167, 219,

856, 364.
Wilcox, 847.
Wilkie, 826.
Wilkinson, 153, 176, 279,

444.
Willance, 83, 93, 206.
Williams, 117.
Williamson. 153.
Willis, 252, 391, 898, 399,

486, 442.
Wilson, 487.
Wilson-Todd, 148, 153.
Winchester, 369. 382, 394.
Winn, 87, 160, 430, 436.

441, 453. 458.
Winsby, 353.
Wood, 217, 293, 296, 300,

399, 453.
Woodward, 356.
Wordsworth, 876, 496.
Wray, 436.

Wright, 188. 141, 229, 413.
Wymerus, 219.
WyviU, 78, 341, 342, 848,

351,353,391.

Tarkkr, 119,366, 367. 436.
Yates, 229, 230.
Yeoman. 152, 320.
York, Archbishop of, 79,

83, 140, 189, 201, 287,

385, 892.
York, Duke of, 229.
Yorkeby, 98.

Zetland, 62, 63, 67, 96,
111, 153, 165, 170. 193
216.

Zouch, 385, 386.

&i;

GENERAL INDEX.

The figuret %n heavy type denote the page where the place is specially described.

Abbotbide, High, 488. Bainesse, 146. Bowbridge, 801, 446. 457.

,, Low. 456. BaDckB, 340. Bowes, 48, 86, 155, 179, 194,

Accidents, 93, 154, 492. Bannockburn,150,152,315. 247, 251.
Addlebrough, 37, 450. 471. 392. Bradford, 264, 268. 293, 300,

Adventures, 93. 248,342. Barbon, 103. 412, 413. 434, 441.

Agglethorpe, 312. 816 Barden, 375. Braeinar, 256.

Agincourt, 158, 380, 461. Barf End, 262. Breckongill, 313. 316.

Ainderby Myers, 159. Barforth-on-Tees, 45, 103, Brian's Cave, 280.

Ainderby Steeple, 330, 335. 212. Bridlington, 230.

Aldburgh, 43, 335. Barnard Castle, 37, 119, Brignall, 199. 338, 381.

Aldborough, 122,141,179, 127, 194, 242, 246. 265. Bristol, 370, 437.

449. Barningham, 168, 330. Britany, 40. 46, 58.

Ale, assize of, 130 Barras, 242, 244, 249, 283. Broghton, 192.

AmundernesB, 43. Barton, 112, 175. Brokholebank, 258, 259.

Anecdotes, 36.77,90,128, Barwick -in -Elmete, 173, Brompton, 107. 112, 113,

138, 163, 177, 179. 187, 291. 119, 121, 127, 166, 190.

190. 199, 200, 203, 213, Bear Park, 209, 374, 444. Brough, 121, 122, 126, 129,

237, 260, 852, 397, 408, Bedale, 37, 56.68, 142, 148, 132, 187, 353, 354, 419.

454, 485. 149, 151, 215, 264, 267, Burel, 151.

AnglinjT, 253, 325, 465, 474, 312, 324, 337, 425. Burniston, 419.

482, 491. Bellerby, 323, 330, 879. Burnley, 364.

Angram, 221, 268, 274, 415. Bernicia, 172. Burnsall, 177, 464.

Appleby, 79, 169, 248, 406, Beverley, 176, 311, 418. Burtersett, 479, 484.

467. Bingley, 98, 117, 297, 366. Burton Constable, 69, 107,

Applegarth, 194. Bird Ridding, 312, 319. 197, 330. 841, 351, 391.

Appleton, 129, 386, 419. Birds, 187, 267, 296, 442, Burtoii.in-Bishopdale,301,
Archery practice, compul- 474, 491. 447, 448.

sory, 131, 232, 410. Birdsaull, 258. Buttertubs, 271, 272, 491.

Arkengarthdale, 43, 190, Birkdale, 268. 280. Buxton, 367.

193, 202, 242, 244, 249, Birstall, 149.

262, 276, 312, 399, 436. Bishop Auckland, 169, 351, Caldebbergh, 312, 317.
Arkleside, 319. 391. Caldwell. 338

Arkletown, 245, 249. Bishopdale, 368, 447, 463. Calvey, 239, 243, 245, 246.

Arlekden, 43. Bishopton, 335. Cambridge, 81, 82, 145, 153,

Arncliffe, 199, 464. Blades, 258, 269, 262, 264. 201. 355.

Arrathorne, 155. Bolron, 118. Cam Fell, 200, 289, 344.

Ascough, 68. Bolton-by-BolIand, 212. Camolodunum, 124.

Aske, 69. 96, 111, 162, 164, Bolton-on-Sands, 43. Camps, ste " Earthworks *'

180. 219, 467, 481. Bolton-on-Swale 108, 111, Carlisle, 43, 169, 261, 356,

Askrigg, 246.252, 276, 301, 1 12, 129. 146, 381. 406, 467.

346,401, 451, 456, 468, Bolton- on- Yore. 61, 292, Carlton,309,3l0,312, 818.

470, 478, 481, 482. 338, 343, 347, 349, 356, Carperby, 807. 408, 419,
Aykesforth. 151. 364, 366, 372, 381, 383, 421, 436, 442, 444, 446,
Ayrshire, 395. 394, 402, 469. 476.

Aysgarth, 106, 168.209,259, Booze, 239, 245, Carr End, 470, 476. 477,478.

270, 281, 339, 341, 360, Boroughbridge,43,152,264, Castle Dykes, 428.

413, 428, 453. 335, 496. Castle Hills, 147. 174.
Bosworth. 288. Catrake Foss, 280, 282.

BAlNBBIDaE,43, 112, 247, Botany, 90, 100. 204, 239, Catterall, 413.

252, 256, 263, 289, 370, 254, 267, 272, 280, 282, Catterick. 37,43,69,60,106,

407, 412, 440, 446, 454, 315, 334, 434, 451, 458, 116, 120, 146, 147, 172,

471, 476, 481, 483. 469, 480. 222, 336. 351, 367.

518

Catterick Bridge. 112, 113.

122, 126, 140, 145. 152.
Catterick, Roman Camp at,

122.
Cattle Plague, 336.
Centenarians, 101, 154,253.

439.
Chantry, 413.
Chester, 43, 85, 291.
Clapham, 43, 208, 313.
Cleveland, 206, 322, 414.
Clock-making, 455.
Clints, 83, 93, 205, 206,

227, 483, 484.
Clovelly, 275,
Cogden Hall. 220. 221.
Colburn, 119,120, 122,129.
Collingham, 173,174.
Cotescue, 312, 316, 353.
Cotherston, 230.
Cotterdale, 489. 491.
Counterside, 476.
Court of Pye Powder, 240.
Court of Swanimote 257.
Coventry, 44, 46, 67.
Cover Bridge, 325.
Coverdale, 808, 368.
Coverham, 70, 180, 288,

294, 299, 303. 309. 818,

319, 325, 330, 332, 396,

445.
Cowton, 167.175,176,209,

335, 418.
Crackpot. 221, 235, 250,

851, 252. 259, 266.
Crakehall, 132. 133, 168,

154, 419.
Craven, 79, 286, 335,419.
Customs, 38, 42, 65. 78, 94,

163, 177. 178, 191, 192,

194, 256, 263, 265, 268,

288, 292. 306, 322, 862,

369, 399, 410, 438, 453.

Dalton, 186, 191,122.
Danby, 43, 338. 848, 353,

354.
Danby-on-Wi.Hke, 43, 335.
Danegeld, 145
Darlington, 82, 97, 134,177,

245, 279, 340.
Deira, 172.
Delhi, 83.
Dent, 93, 460,489.
Denton, 61.342.
Diderston, 173, 179.
Doncaster, 264, 365, 467.
Downholme, 203, 212, 213,

217, 364, 368. 375. 381,

396
Draycott Hall, 234. 271.
Driffield, 231, 365.

Durham, 38, 68, 65. 95, 102,
132, 169, 176. 177, 181,
185, 282, 318, 445, 467.

BABTHW0BK8,ancient,l 22
147, 180, 192, 222, 235,
250, 289, 291, 808, 349,
428. 450, 472, 495.

Basby, 60, 96, 98, 102,
114, 172, 340, 382, 388.

Easingwold, 48, 66. 436.

Bast Appleton, 135.

East Witton, 314, 821,839.

Edinburgh, 143.

Edlington, 244.

Edlinthorpe. 116.

Edmonton, 79, 80.

Effigies, 134. 151,156,158,
161.815,383,388.

Eggleston, 56, 57, 246, 331.

Ellerton-on-Swale, 129,
146, 214, 217, 218, 381.

Endford, 325.

Eryholme, 175.

Eskeleth, 242, 243, 246,
486.

Eure, «91.

Eversley, 300.

Exeter, 45, 309, 386.

Faqoeboill, 243.
Feetham, 221, 232, 246.252,

258, 259, 262, 263, 278.
Feldom Moor, 193.
Femton, 448.
Fenton, 258.
Finghall, 341.
Flamborough, 105, 345.
FlinUhire, 106.
Flodden, 146, 159, 343, 346,

463.
Floods, 118,247,253.279,

488.
Forcett, 43, 116, 168, 174,

175.
Fors Abbev, 189, 328, 408,

417, 453.466.
Fountains Abbey, 328, 330.
Fremington, 178, 212, 221,

223, 284, 242, 250.
Frithby, 151.
Fryton, 378.
Fulneck, 278.
FurnesB Abbey, 43, 370.

Qainfobd, 82.
Gamersgill, 312, 319.
Gardens, monastic. 315,

334.
Qargrave, 464.
Garsdale, 259, 438, 493.
Garston, 330.

Gatherley Moor. 65, 96,

108,171.179,211.
Gayle, 458, 488.
Gayles, 37, 186. 188. 191.
Geology, 35, 92 100, 162.

164, 246, 267, 272, 355,

358, 400, 458.
Gibraltar, 260.
Giggleswick, 221, 302. 304,

806.
Gilling. 48, 44, 52, 103.

162, 164, 171, 270, 370.
Gilmonby. 117.
Glacial Boulders, 172, 323,

360.
Greta Bridge, 168. 171,194,

247, 251, 263.
Grinton, 78, 220, 221, 240,

259, 262, 264. 270, 302.
Grisedale. 259, 438. 493.
Grouse House, 319.
Gunnerside, 221. 239.251,

253, 258, 259, 262, 266.

Hagkfobth, 156. 159, 364
Halfpenny House, 372,375,
Halifax. 82, 264, 808.
Halikeld, 43, 174,335.
Hambleton Hills. 162, 181.
Hang East, 43, 174.
Hang West, 43, 174. 346,

464.
Hanlith, 444, 445.
Harclay Castle, 111.
Hardraw, 440, 470, 474,

486, 488.
Harkaside, 221 239, 249,

258, 259, 268.
Harmby. 69, 352, 866, 864,

866, 419.
Harrogate, 160.
Hartforth, 176, 180, 189.
Hart Leap Well, 372, 375.
Hartlepool, 94.
Hauxwell, 87, 160, 161,

375, 419.
Hawes, 272, 276, 458, 476,

481, 489.
Hawes Junction, 286, 452.
Hawkswick. 444, 464.
Healaugh. 221, 223. 234,

241, 245, 266, 261, 265,

271.
Healey, 464.
Heart burial, 70, 382.
Heckmondwike. 82.
Heights of Towns, etc., 21.
HellbeckLunds, 494.
Hellebeck, 108.
Hellgate. 248.
Hell Gill, 493, 497.
Hell Pot, 208.

519

Helm, 461, 458, 487. Eiplin, 129, 137. Marsett, 478. 479.

Helwtth, 207, 243. Eirkby Fleetham, 148, 209, Marske, 87, 60. 83, 93, 193.
Hertford, 160, 175. 866, 419. 194, 105,207, 209, 372,

Heysham, 110. Hill, 186, 193, 244. 468.

High houses, 21 , 247, 272, Lonsdale, 836. Masham, 61 , 76, 77. 85, 134,

319. Ma>ham, 444. 380, 338, 340, 342. 357,

HlDdlethwaite, 320. Moorside, 373. 386, 418, 421, 452, 455.

Hindrelaghe, 38, 59. Overblow, 148. Maze Holes. 459.

Hipswell, 116, 117, 118, Stephen, 170, 242, 247, Mediolanum, 291.

119, 129. 251, 261, 272, 276,328, Melbecks, 221, 250, 261,

Historioal terms, glossary 462, 496, 497. 264.

of, 29. ' Thore, 175. Melmerby, 304, 812, 318.

Hoggarth's House, 283. Eirkby*s Inquest, 215, 217, Melsonby, 112, 179, 180,
Holdemess, 157, 476. 349, 402. 219, 344.

Hope, 244. Eirklington, 118. Mercia, 172.

Hornby, 155, 187, 197. Eirkstall Abbey, 330. Milburne, 181.

336. 425, 467. Eisdon, 254, 266, 274, 281. Milford, 158.

Hornsea, 262. Enaresborough, 33, 225, Middleham, 68. 172, 265,
Horse House, 245, 309, 256,262,264.299,399,481 285,325,337,360.354,

310, 319, 320, 322, 448. Enights Templars, 417. 387, 389, 402, 414, 420,

Horse training, 816, 317. 462, 494.

Horton-in-Craren, 199. Lamhebside Ca8TLE,497 Castle, 294.
Horton-in-Ribblesdale, 199 Lancaster, 85, 247, 289,323, Constables of. 294.
Huddersfield, 245. 366, 441, 463, 482. Parish Church, 297.

Hudeshope, 247. Langstrothdale, 258. 476, Middlesbrough, 162 170,
Hudswell. 69, 107, 112, 482,490. 245.

117. 129, 213, 214. Langthorne, 164, 261. Middleton-Tyas. 179.

Hunton, 153, 155, 419. Langthwaite, 243, 245, 249. Mill Qill. 458.

Hurst, 207, 208, 245. Langton-on-Swale, 150. Mines, Coal, 216, 400.

Hutton Magna, 167, 175. Leeds, 83, 127, 205, 231, Copper, 36.

232. 266, 264, 309. 840. Lead, 76, 124, 240, 246,

ILKLET, 148. Leeming, 69, 142, 419. 266, 400.

Ingleborough, 273, 456. Levens, 323 Moorcock, 491. 492, 494.

Ingleton. 482. Leyburn. 166, 288, 293,305, Morecambe. 103. 110.
Inns, old, 130, 171, 323, 346. 853, 358. 850, 390, Mossdale, 479, 491.

397, 494. 396, 406, 408, 419, 482, Moulton, 43, 84.

Ireland, 259, 469, 475. 436, 456. Muker. 221, 222, 234, 241,

Ivelett, 258, 259, 266, 268, Lincoln, 114. 254, 259, 264, 265, 267,

Linton.in-Craven, 421. 274, 466, 497.

Jamaica, 874. Litherskew, 469.

Jerusalem, Holy Cross at, Littleton, 293. Nappa, 148, 374, 407, 412,

446. Liversedge. 149. 414, 415, 435, 444,463,

Jerusalem, Enights of St. Liverpool, 263. 458, 460.

John of, 424. London, 79, 84, 87, 166, Kateby, 497.
Jervaux Abbey, 138. 179, 176,230, 234, 269, 340, Navarre, 133, 158.

189, 193. 250, 288, 301, 386,476. Newbiggen, 449, 451.

307, 321. 323, 827, 339, Loughborough, 232. Newcastle, 188, 171, 231.

345, 347, 396, 412, 435. Lovely Seat, 272. New Forest, 43. 46, 133,

Jingle Pot, 206. Low Row, 221, 252, 263, 186, 190, 193, 194, 244,
Juniper, 239, 451. 262, 268, 264, 266. 276, 464.

Lowthorpe, 323. New Marske. 166.

Eearton, 221, 262. Lunds, 419, 488. Newsham, 186, 192, 330,

Eeighley, 184. 308. 420.

Eeld, 221. 254. 266, 268, MAIDE17 Cabtle, 246, 250, Newsom-in-Craven, 199

274, 275. 290, 428. Newton-le-Willows, 336,

Eelvedon, 138. Maidstone, 365. 340, 341.

Eendal, 43, 189, 274. Mallerstang, 283, 328. 344, Nidderdale, 98, 160, 160,
Eett1ewell,308, 369, 432. 406.408,495,497. 205,207, 260, 310, 330,

Eilgram Bridge, 335, 336, Manchester, 143, 244, 478, 418, 447.

409. Markenfield, 160. Northallerton. 142, 146,

Eillerby, 129, 136, 142, Marrick, 181, 188, 196, 197, 148,264.337,374,414.

147, 161. 200, 207, 219, 418, 444. North Luflfenham, 112.

620

Korthumberland, 103.
Norton Conyers, 145, 175.
Norway, 224, 257, 262, 276.
Nottingham, 287, 344.

Old Gano Mines, 265.
Old Richmond, 45, 119.
Oran, 133, 137, 147.
Orgate, 206.
Orkney, 362.
Ornabury Topping, 95.
Orton, 262.

Otley. 342, 366, 390, 470.
Otter*B Cave, 326.
Ouaeburn, 335.
OuthgilK 495.
Oxnop, 252, 253, 268.
Oxwell, 177.

Palmers' Flatt, 447.
Paris, 311.
Pathnell, 199.
Patrick Brompton, 153,

155, 341, 419.
Pendragon Castle, 495.496.
Penhil],289, 318, 321,373,

417—427.
Penrith, 200, 252, 365.
Pierse Bridge, 142.
Plagues, 65, 336, 393, 409.
Poets, local, 241, 251, 311,

390, 399.
Population, 20.
Post Office, an old, 137.
Pontefract, 264, 287.
Pre-HistoricDwellings, 91,

400, 450.

Earthworks, see *'£arih-
works."

lielicB, 124, 138, 143, 149,
176,349,361,370,379,
380,412,443.
Preston-under-Scar, 399.
Priest-Hutton, 201.
Punchard*s Gill, 239.

Quakers, acts agaip8t,233

Baby, 152, 153, 293.
Rainfall, 22, 272.
Bavenstonedale, 476.
Ravensworth, 158.176,180,

186, 187, 209, 243, 250,

297.
Raydale, 23-28, 197, 463,

464, 466, 478.
Raynsett, 258.
Redmire, 252, 366, 370,

896, 403.
Reeth. 37, 221. 232, 233,

235, 236, 242, 250, 252,

258, 264, 265.

Reinhou, 418.
Remington, 199.
Ribblehead, 869.
Ribston, 420, 421.
Richmond, 33, 40, 79, 93,
122, 160, 166, 177, 199,
209, 264, 264, 811,869,
419.
Archdeaconry of, 42, 43,

161.
Aspects of, 33.
Barracks, 162.
Beacon, 37, 94.
Castle, 52, 65, 133, 151.
Cemetery, 100.
Convent at, 101.
Grey Friars at, 70, 316.
Martyr burnt at, 64
Midsummer fires at, 88.
Plague at, 65.
St. Nicholas' Hospital,

48, 68, 357.
Town of, 49.
Richmond shire—
Agriculture in, 129, 396,

442, 449.
Anglo-Saxons in, 143,
145,148,161.172,291.
Breton immigration of,

4U.
Celts in, 98, 105, 122,
180,193,248,291,428,
429.
Churches, 208.
Constructn. of Churches

in, 175.
Danes in, 44, 143, 145,
147, 151,187,250,268,
275,291,302,304,378,
430, 494.
Extent of, 38, 40, 41.
Grant of, 40.
Hunting in, 46. 152, 153,

165, 255, 262, 288.
Longevity, 101, 154, 182,

253, 270, 439, 454.
Owners of, 44, 46, 47, 48.
Population of, 20.
Romans in, 37, 91, 105,
122,141,146,172,178,
207,244,246,268,289,
836, 443, 471, 495.
Wild animals in, 46, 243,
256,267,318,427,448.
Rokeby, 209.
Roseberry Top pin jr, 148.
Roses, 149, 151, 433.
Round Howe, 98, 99.
Routh, 483.
Rudfarlington, 225.
Rumbling Bridge, 136.

St. Albans, 128, 383, 885.
St. Giles' Hospital, 121,

128, 190.
St. Helena, 811.
St. Martin's Priory, 46 56,

110, 117,188,215.
Salisbury, 63.
Saltburn, 166.
Sateron, 258, 259, 268.
Scarth Nick, 162, 401.
Schaffbausen, 281.
Scorton, 69, 129.
Scots' Dyke, 38, 102, 108,

128. 171, 285, 308.
Scotton, 116, 117,129,155,

161.
Scrafton, 312. 318.
Scruton, 149, 150, 419.
Sedbergh, 259, 488.
Sedbury-juxta-Gilling, 188,

176, 179, 244.
Sedbusk, 459, 487.
Selby, 60.
Selside, 367.

Semerwater, 844, 484,474.
Settle, 199, 221, 477, 482.
Settrington, 48.
Shaw, 207.

Shaw Paddock. 493, 495.
Sheffield, 225, 264,412.
Sherwood Forest, 256.
Shunnor Fell, 247, 248,

254, 278.
Simon stone, 486.
Sinderby, 150.
Skeeby, 69, 166, 179, 180.
Skell Gill, 451. 487.
Skelton, 175, 195, 292,
Skiddaw, 274, 284.
Skipton, 80, 184, 299, 308,

432, 496, 497.
Sleegill, 115,375.
Smarber, 262, 263, 277.
Snape, 293.
Snowstorms, 214, 268, 484,

488, 489.
South Shields, 863.
South Stainley, 225, 226.
Sowerby, 82.
Specchohues, 244.
Spen Valley, 351.
Spennithorne. 112, 292,

325, 341, 342 347, 850,

357, 374, 470.
Spennymoor, 832, 351.
Spreswell, 119.
Staindrop. 294.
Stain moor, 209, 242, 250,

251.
Stainton, 217

Standard, battle of the,149,
Stanwick St. John, 169.

521

Startforth, 118, 246. Trades. 74, 222, 240, 410, West Indies, 183, 184.
Staeton, 312. 452, 482. WestmiDster, 216, 226.

Stockholme, 144, 145, 378. Traditions, 57, 99. 169, 379, West Scrafton, 318.
Stoclcton-on-Tees, 179. 465,467.475,493. West Witton, 316, 321,

Stonesdale, 258, 259. 266, Trafalgar, 137. 400, 414.

268, 283. Tunstall, 129, 135. Wetherby, 264.

Stalling Busk, 478, 479. Turnpike Roads, 149, 375, Weybridge, 317.
Stuart Rebellion, 234, 259, 452. Wharton, 200, 201.

262, 437. Tusmore, 157. Whashton, 149, 180, 181,

Studhow, 357. Tynemouth, 386. 186, 188.

Swainby, 293, 312. Whaw (Kiwawe), 243, 247,

Swale, Baptism in, 59, 131, Uckerbt, 112, 129, 152. 265.

Hall. 223, 225, 230, 234. Uffingdon, 258. Whitaside, 221, 251, 262,

Meaning of, 224, 254. Uldale, 259, 438. 268, 270.

Source of, 280. Ulfersgill, 312, 349. Whitby, 1S3.

Swindt^n, 199. Ulshaw Bridge, 172. 289, Whitclifle, 54, 90,96, 119,
Swineside, 319, 430. 290, 343, 344, 847, 436. 206, 376.

Swinethwaite, 418, 425, Ulvelunds, 209. Whitfield Force, 458.

426, 430, 463. Upsal, 343, 378. Whitsundale, 280, 283.

Swinnergill Kirk, 266. Upton, 389. Whitwell, 129.

Swinton, 293, 334. Whorlton, 119.

VoLUNTEBBS. 347, 388, Willance^s Leap, 91, 98.
Tadcasteb, 261, 264. 396, 449. William's Hill, 292,

Tanfield, 334, 335, 368. Windegg, 246.

Tanhill, 242, 247, 248, 266, Wakefield, 223, 264, 398. Windsor, 189, 285, 286. 393,

283. Walburn, 217, 218, 364. 463.

Teesdale, 63, 119, 172, 174, Waldendale, 447. Witchcraft, 292. 452.

177, 247, 248, 402. Wallerwaite, 226. Witton, 377, 379, 410.

Temple, 416, 417. Walsall, 158. Fell, 321, 331.

Thini,330. Washington, 181. Wolves, last in England,

Thirsk, 264, 265, 835. Water Crag, 247, 248, 266. 256.

Thoralby, 108, 378, 440, Watling Street, 125, 141, VVoodale, 319.

455. 142, 174. Woodhall,27, 399, 408, 451,

Thoresby, 168, 370, 378, Well, 289, 290. 452, 458, 463, 484.

442. Wells, famous, 245, 306, Wool, ancient value of, 423,
Thornborous:h. 122, 123, 322.323,358,397. 479.

126, 142, 351. Wenslev, 168, 203, 316,346, Worton, 27, 456.
Thornton, 116. 359, 366, 877, 409, 410, Wroxeter, 291.

Thornton-le-Moor, 199. 430, WycliflFe, 66.

Thornton Rust, 112,450. Wensleydale Clerical So. Wyntryngarthes, 258, 262.

Steward, 43, 199, 888, ciety, 161.

344. 346, 363. Clock-making in, 455. Yawdhipp, 259.

Watlass, 292, 330, 420. Forest, 252, 258, 293, 425, Teadon, 470.

Thorpe-on-Swale, 215. 472, 481, 487. Yewbarrow, 366.

on-Tees, 119. Ice Age in, 172. York, 56, 60, 66, 83, 92, 94,

Perrow. 163. Juniper in, 239,461. 96, 116, 122, 123, 140,

Thwaite, 221,268,271,272, Knights Crusaders in, 188, 201, 203, 215, 235,

440,491. 417. 292,294,358,420,443.

Tithe, origin of, 298.

Deniy 8vo. 514 pages, cloth^ gilt lettered^ lOj', by post, 1016. Few remain.
Demy 4to. Half Roxburgh, gilt tops, extra plates, SOj-, Out of print.

NIDDERDALE AND THE GARDEN OF THE NIDD.

A YORKSHIRE RHINKLAND.
By harry SPEIGHT,

Author of *' Rotaantie Bickmondthirt,** d:c.

NuMEBOUS Illustrations and Maps.

Near Enaresbokouoh.

The work embraces an original and complete account, historical, sdentiflc, and defleriptive, of
the whole valley of the Nidd from the junction of the river with the Quae at Nun Monktoo to
ita source on the fells of Whemside.

A history and description of every town, village, notable building, monument, Ac, is
furnished, including extended notices of the fine old Priory Church at Nun Monkton, Marston
Moor, Cowthorpe and its great oak, Ribston, Allerton-Mauleverer, Spofforth. the romantic ci«g
scenery of Plumpton, Brimham, &c., Knaresborough, the Castle, Priory, and local life of Eugene
Aram, Harrogate, Scotton Hall and Ouy Fawkes, Ripley Castle, Pateley Bridge, Oowthwaite and
the new reservoirs, Ramsgill^ Middlesmoor, and the Dale Head, &c.

Particular reference is made to the following families: Atkinson, Aram, Balnea, Banks,
Beck with, Benson (including the ancestors of the late Archbishop Benson, ^th pedigrees).
Brown, Chambers, Clarke, Danson, Dambrooke, Dent, De Ros (founders of tiie Knights Templars'
Preceptor>' at Ribston, &c.), Fairfax, Fawkes, Gascoigne, Goldsbrough, Goodricke, Greenwood,
Hammerton, Hard castle (with pedigree), Harker, Hodgson, Hutton, Ingilby, Inman, Kipling,
Lascelles, Mauleverer, Metcalfe, Middleton, Moorhouse, Mowbray, Nevflle, Norton, Parkinson,
Plumpton, Proctor, PuUeyne. Ravner, Richardson, Ripley, Roucliffe, Scott, Simpson, Skaife.
Slmgsby, Smith, Stapelton, Stubbs, Swale, Thackeray (ancestors of the novelist), Thornton,
Thompson, Thorpe, Tnissebut, Vavasour, Walker, Woodd, and many others.

The work also includes a complete record of the Botany of the Nidd valley, by Dr. F. Arnold
Lees, F.L.8., the Mammalia, Birds, Fishbs, &c., by Mr. Riley Fortune, F.Z.8., and the
Mollusc A. V Fauna, by Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.8.

LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

Mr. Speight describes his work on the title-page as **b complete account*
historical, scientific, and descriptive, of the beaatiful valley of the l^idd/' and it
really seems to deserve this description. The author, who has spared no pains,
has undertalsen to give an original and succinct account of each township,
chapelry, or parish, along with some explanation of the geological peculiarities
and natural history productions of the whole valley of the Nidd. He has largely
availed himself of local archives and unpublished papers and documents supplied
by present and former residents in the dale, as well as of the ordinary sources of
archteological information to be found in the Public Record Office, the British
Museum, and elsewhere. The scientific chapters have been contributed by
specialists well acquainted with the locality, and much of the work has had the
advantage of revision by manorial owners and other residents in the dale. The
volume is profusely and very attractively illustrated by drawings, which are
original in many cases, and in others taken from rare prints lent to the author for
the purpose. It contains things new and old in such profusion and variety of
interest that it is difficult to open it even at random without finding something to
excite curiosity and arrest attention. Mr. Speight's work must* assuredly take
high rank as a repository of local history at once popular in form and full of
original matter.— Times.

A really excellent history of a beautiful and interesting district of Yorkshire,
about which, comparatively little has been written. In its compilation Mr.
Speight has exhibited his characteristic industry and intelligence. He dwells
upon every detail with careful fondness, and succeeds in finding something to
interest us at each step we take. Castles, abbeys, and granges are made to tell
their tales with a degree of fulness and accuracy which no mere guide-book would
display, while local stories and traditions about persons and places are not thought
too trivial to be included. Mr. Speight is especially strong in family history, and
the genealogies of the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Eugene Aram, and
Rudyard Kipling are of more than ordinary interest — Academy.

The volume must take a place among the most notable of local topographical
works. The author has done for Nidderdale, in a literary sense, what never was
done exactly in the same way before, and what need not be done again, save the
revision and amplification which lapse of time may call for, Mr. Speight's
" Nidderdale" is of standard value. It is a noble work, thorough and complete.
The illustrations are numerous and uniformly good. — Leeds Mebgurt.

To essay a work of this character must indeed have been the study of a life-
time. Every town, village, and hamlet is graphically dilated upon, every notable
building, every ancient monument, coat of arms, and heraldic bearing is noted
and described in full detail ; the work from commencement to finish is stamped
with the hall-mark of completeness. — Hakbogate Advektiseb.

For the success of a book of this kind three things are absolutely needful —
industry, discrimination, and a sense of proportion^nd Mr. Speight possesses
them all. There is hardly a reader of any taste to whom the author does not
somewhere make a pleasant appeal. Mr. Speight is himself an historian and
antiquary, but to give all needful completeness to his work he has called in the
aid of various scientific specialists, who have compiled most admirable lists,
accompanied by instructive topographical and other notes, of the Flora and Fauna
of the district. The work is well illustrated with maps, genealogical tables, and
process cuts ; the volume being pleasant to the eye as well as good for food. —

Daily Chronicle.

The work has been prepared from original documents, and the histories of
many notable Nidderdale families (with illustrations of their ancient homesteads),
such as the ancestors of the present Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of
Oxford, the Inmans of Transatlantic shipping fame, Eugene Aram, Guy Fawkes,
&c., are given in great detail. — Scotsman.

Demy 8vo, 470 pages, Cloth JOj'. Out of Print.
Demy 4to, superior paper ^ gUt tops extra, Frontispieoe Plate, SOj-, Out of Print,

THE GRAVEN & NORTH-WEST YORKSHIRE HIGHLANDS,

Being a complete account of the
History, Scenery, and Antiquities of that romantic district.

HARRY SPEIGHT.

With Illustrations and Map.

The Academy says ; " The natural features are carefully described, and
considerable scientific information, geological and botanical, is given. Such
specially interesting places as the Victoria Cave, the Ingleton Glens, Malham,
Penyghent, and Dentdale, are treated with great fulness." The Times says :
** With the exception of Whitaker*s History of Craven, published early in the
century, the district has never had a competent historian, but Mr. Speight now
supplies the deficiency in an admirably competent manner." The Daily News
observes that the author has ** omitted no interesting point of topography,
archaeology, genealogy, or of ecclesiastical history, &c.^' The Leeds Mercury
remarks that *' it deals with every asi>ect of the life and conditions of the country
it describes." The Bradford Observer says : *• There is nothing at all comparable
to it in the wealth of its accumulated fact and research." The Craven Herald :
** It is no flattery to say that Dr. Whitaker at the beginning and Mr. Speight at
the close of the present century stand out as the ablest authorities on a district
claiming to be one of the most romantic in England." The Naturalist says : " We
do not remember to have seen a more perfect work of the kind."

Crown 8vo, 214 pages. Cloth Limp, BjO, by post SjB,

TRAMPS AND DRIVES IN THE GRAVEN HIGHLANDS.

ABBANGED FOB THB USK OF ViSITOBS,
BY

H. SPEIGHT.

Is abridged from the author's larger work, but much new matter has been added,
likewise foot-path maps of the country around Settle and Ingleton, besides a
folding map of the whole area embraced by the book. By utilising some of the
illustrations from the larger work, it has been possible to publish the book at a
low price.

The Daily Chroni^fle observes : *' This is one of the most interesting local
histories which we have read for a long time." The Yorkshire Post says : ** The
volume is marked by much originality, many objects and antiquities being pointed
out that have not been before mentioned. All the caves and pot-holes (about 70)
are described, and their exact localities defined." The Leeds Mercury says : Mt
is a bright and interesting guide-book, with admirable descriptions and suflScient
history and folk-lore, topography, geology, &c." The Carlisle Journal observei :
" It covers the whole country from Skipton to Kirkby Lonsdale and northwards to
Dentdale, an area of over 500 square miles, and is as instructive as a Murray^ and
as compact as a Baedeker" The Bradford Observer says : ** It is by far the best
handbook on the district procurable." Mr. J. A. Farrar, J.P. (lord of the manor
of Clapham, Ingleborough, &c.) writes : '* It is an admirable work, and it seems to
be a model of what a guide-book should be."

LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATBRNOSTBR ROW, B.C.

Croxon 8vo, 366 pp.^ Cloth Limp, 5/-, net SjO, by pott, 41',
Only a few copies remain.

THEOUGH AIEEDALE .
FEOM GOOLE TO MALHAM,

Including exhaustive chapters on the

Geoloot, Botany. Ornitholoot, Folk Lobe, a^jd
Anqlino IK Airedale.

JOHNNIE GRAY,

(H. Speight),
Author of " The Craven and North-west Yorkshire Highlands,^* etc.^ etc.

Hitchixostone, Eeiohley Moor.

SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP.

LOCAL AND OTHER OPINIONS.

Yorkshire Poat.—HiB knowledge of the district is complete, his -way of dealing with it admirable.
Luda Mercury.— There is excellent classification, nrhue the objects of interest are succinctly and

thoughtfully described, and not simply glanced at.
Bradford Observer.— K work of topographical value immeasurablT beyond anything previously

attempted in the way of a Yorkshire guide>book. It is like lookmg through a telescope at

the stars, or at a drop of water through a microscope. The printing and get-up of the book

are unexceptionable.
PonUjract Advertiaer.— It is much more than a guide-book, for in its three hundred and odd pages

is ranged a mass of well-digested information which seems to embrace every subject of

interest. We know nothing to equal it, or to pretend to the smallest rivalry with it.
KeighUp News.— The book is very pleasant reading, and for readers in this neighbourhood the

pages devoted to a ramble among the antiquities of Baildon Moor, as well as other allusions

to Roman remains around Kei^hley, must prove very acceptable.
Scotsman.— ^o one going through this part of Yorkshire could have a better companion. It goes

minutely into historical and topographical details, and is well illustrated.
Graphic. — Very useful and well-arranged.

LEEDS : Walker & Laycock. BRADFORD : T. Brear & Co.. Ld.
SKIPTON : Edmondson & Co. GOOLE : Gardiner & Co.

JUL 0 - i^^\

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