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Monday, December 18, 2017

Notebook - England, Canada, Ireland & Scotland No. 2

Allison, K.J. A History of the County of York, East Riding, Vol. II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Map of the Wapentake of Dickering includes towns/parishes Lowthorpe, 
In 1086 the East Riding was the only part of Yorkshire which was divided into hundreds. The transformation of hundreds into wapentakes had already been completed in the other two ridings and was in various stages of completion in the rest of the Danelaw. The change took place in the East Riding during the next 80 years and by the 1160s the 18 Domesday hundreds had been formed into 6 wapentakes. Dickering wapentake, first mentioned in 1166, was broadly coextensive with the three Domesday hundreds of Hunthou, Turbar and Burton.
Burton hundred took its name from its principal township of Burton Agnes. It contained in 1086 the remainder of the townships, mostly in the centre and west, which make up Dickering wapentake. These were Binnington, Boythorpe, Burton Agnes, Butterwick, Carnaby, Caythorpe, Ganton, Gransmoor, Haisthorpe, Harpham, Kilham, Langtoft, Lowthorpe, Octon, Potter Brompton, Rudston, Ruston Parva, Swaythorpe, Thornholme, Thorpe, Thwing and Willerby, together with 'Fornetorp' later depopulated. 
The hundreds of Hunthou, Turbar, and Burton were probably grouped around the large manors of Bridlington, Hunmanby and Burton Agnes respectively. . . . Burton Agnes had 3 berewicks and soke in 5 townships in Burton. 
The wapentake remained in the hands of the Crown until at least the mid 17th century. In 1552 and 1567 the office of wapentake bailiff, traceable from c. 1220 was granted for life to successive holders, the second of whom was rewarded out of the issues of this and other wapentakes.
Wapentake courts are first recorded in the late 12th century. About 1280 the wapentake met after Michaelmas and in 1303 it was said to meet once a year. The meeting-place is not certainly known but as the wapentake met in 1192 at Burton Fleming and in 1298 at Rudston a place near the boundary of those two townships is probable. The place may well have been the oval-shaped prehistoric earthwork known as Maiden's Grave, [Little Argham Henge] which was surrounded by a much larger ditched enclosure into which four tracks originally led. The wapentake name probably derives from the Old English 'dica-hring,' meaning 'dike-circle,' a name which might be applied to that site. Alternatively, Maiden's Grave is close to the large and prominent Argam Dikes and 'dike-circle' may mean the 'ring by the dike.'  The site lies half-way between the two villages, just within Burton Fleming parish. On at least one occasion, however, in 1449, the wapentake met at 'le stane' of Rudston, presumably the prehistoric monolith in the churchyard. In 1651 the wapentake court, described as a court baron, met every three weeks. 
The payment of each township's share of the wapentake fine was from early times part of the court's business. By the late 13th century, however, about a third of the townships paid nothing and were presumably quit of summons to the wapentake court. Such were Bartindale, Bempton, Bessingby, Buckton, Burton Agnes, Caythorpe, Cottam, Filey, Flamborough, Fordon, Gransmoor, Haisthorpe, Harpham, Hilderthorpe, Kilham, Langtoft, Lowthorpe, Newsham, Ruston Parva, Speeton, Thornholme, Wansford and Wilsthorpe. 
Manors & Other Estates - Auburn consisted in 1086 of two estates, the larger of which contained one carucate and belonged to Chilbert's manor of Carnaby. This estate passed soon after the Conquest to the Percy fee and the overlordship subsequently descended in the Percy family: it is last mentioned in 1636. The second estate became part of the Meynell fee and there was later some confusion as to the fee in which certain holdings lay.
In 1086 the smaller estate in Auburn, consisting of 1/2 carucate, was held of the king by Carle. It later belonged to the Meynells and the archbishops of Canterbury. In 1428 4 bovates in Auburn were said to be of the Canterbury fee. The overlordship is last mentioned in 1603. 
These lands were held of the Meynells in the 13th century by the Lowthorpe family, and by 1300 they had been divided between the two Lowthorpe heirs, Margery of Heslerton and Cecily of Heslerton. In 1316 John of Heslerton was returned as one of the three lords of Auburn. The moieties seem to have been reunited by 1371, when Simon Heslerton granted the reversion of 4 bovates in Auburn, held by Euphemia Heslerton for her life, to John Lawrence, of Buckton, John of Gisburn, Thomas of Hedon, and Simon Swanne. In 1381 Henry, earl of Northumberland, licensed Bridlington priory to acquire the reversion of the property from them. The priory seems to have succeeded to the land, which it held until the Dissolution. 
By 1598 the whole manor of Auburn was in the possession of William Strickland. In 1635 Walter Strickland had all 13 1/2 bovates there, and the land subsequently descended with the Strickland estate in Fraisthorpe. 
Manor & Other Estates - In 1086 4 carucates at Harpham formed a berewick of Burton Agnes and were held by the king.
By 1265 a small estate in Harpham was held by Thomas of Lowthorpe and shortly after it passed to the Heslerton family. In 1308 Robert of Heslerton held 4 tofts and 2 bovates there as a moeity of the estate, which subsequently descended with the manor of Lowthorpe in two branches of the family.
The college of Lowthorpe in 1373 acquired the reversion of two houses and 2 bovates in Harpham from Simon Heslerton, then held by his widow for life. 
Lowthrope lies 4 miles east of Great Dirffield and is one of the string of villages at the southern edge of the wolds, between Driffield and Bridlington. The village was probably of Scandinavian origin. LIke its neighbour Harpham, Lowthorpe village lies off the main road to Bridlington and, indeed, the whole of its territory is south of that road. Lowthorpe's southerly situation may be explained by the presence of Ruston Parva to the north-west, in a small valley cut into the wold slopes; Ruston occupies the higher ground which normally belongs to the wold-edge villages. In compensation the elongated parish of Lowthorpe stretches southwards nearly 3 miles across the Plain of Holderness. On the plain the parish boundary almost everywhere follows watercourses; White dike separates Lowthorpe from Nafferton to the west, and Lowthorpe beck (becoming Kelk beck as it flows south) divides it from the Kelks and Foston on the east. At two points the boundary diverges from the beck along minor watercourses, which may mark changes in the course of the main stream or the sites of water-mills. In the north-east Lowthorpe beck forms the boundary with Harpham. The straight north-western boundary, on the wold slopes is aligned upon Fox hill, a prominent barrow on the highest ground in the parish, and the boundary runs around the base of the mound. The area of the parish is 1969 a. Since 1935 Lowthorpe has been combined with Harpham and Ruston Parva in the civil parish of Harpham. 
The level and open landscape of the planin dominates much of the parish. South of the village a large area lies at between 25 ft. and 50 ft. above sea-level; further south still much of the land is below 25 ft. in height, with an 'island' of slightly higher ground known as Cattleholmes. These low-lying grounds were formerly used to a large extent as moor, carr, and meadow land, but in mordern times arable farming has been predominant. North and west of the village the rising wold ground provided a limited area for the open fields of Lowthorpe. In the west this ground rises to little more than 75 ft. above sea-level, but in the north it rises more steeply to exceed 100 ft. near the Fox hill barrow. This again is now largely arable land. Along the eastern margin of the parish there are pastures skirting Lowthorpe beck, and near the village some variety is given to the landscape by the parkland of Lowthorpe Lodge. The only noteworthy area of woodland is a large plantation known as Church wood, which partly surrounds the church.
The village occupies a low-lying site near Lowthorpe beck, around the junctions of roads to Ruston, Nafferton and Kelk. A stretch of road near the beck is called Mill Lane and a back lane Water Lane.  In the Middle Ages roads in the village were known as Little Gate, mentioned as early as 1190 and Nethergate. The road to Kelk crosses the beck and a by-pass channel of the former water-mill by two small bridges, said to have been built in the late 1830s and to have been the first bridges placed there. 
Lowthorpe Lodge is a large brick house built by the St. Quintin family c. 1840 and said to replace an 'ancient mansion' demolished in 1826. The latter may have been a house built by the St. Quintins after they acquired their Lowthorpe estate in the 18th century, or possibly the house of the Pearson famliy. 
There is no record of a medieval manor-house in Lowthorpe, though the Salvin family may have had a large house in the village. 
Lowthorpe had 146 poll-tax payers in 1377. In 1674 there were 29 households, 8 of them discharged from the hearth tax. Of those taxed 15 had only one hearth each, 5 had 2, and one had fifteen. 
It seems likely that in the 12th century all the Crown land in Lowthorpe came into the tenancy of the family that took its name from the village. Walter of Lowthorpe certainly held 2 bovates there in 1234. the last of the family to hold the estate was Thomas, who was in possession in 1270; by 1279 he was dead, leaving his daughters Cecily and Margery as heirs. 
By 1290-1 Cecily and Margery had married respectively Robert and John of Heslerton, each of whom held 2 1/2 caracutes there in right of his wife. The manor of Lowthorpe was held in two moieties by the Heslertons until both parts were granted to Lowthorpe college in the later 14th century. In 1364 Thomas, grandson of John Heslerton, was licensed to grant his moiety of the manor to the college and in 1372 Simon Heslerton obtained licence to grant the reversion of the other moiety, a transaction which was completed the following  year.
Church - A church at Lowthorpe is first mentioned in 1086, when it lay within the larger of the two Crown estates. The neighbouring village of Ruston Parva was a chapelry of Lowthorpe throughout the Middle Ages, later being regarded as a separate cure.  Lowthorpe church was made collegiate in 1333.  The rector and John of Heslerton, as patron, in that year placed the church at the disposal of the archbishop of York, and he ordained that there should be a rector, alternatively called master or warden, who was to celebrate mass at least thrice weekly, and six chantry priests in the church. A seventh chantry was added in 1364. All the priests were to live in the rectory house and to receive stipends. After the dissolution of the college in 1548 the church continued to serve the parish. Institutions were made in 1557 and 1579 on the former occasion Thomas Fugall being presented.  Fugall had been described as curate of Lowthorpe in 1552. 
The advowson of the church belonged to the lords of the manor in the 13th and 14th centuries; presentations were made in right of the heir of Walter of Lowthorpe in 1226, by Thomas of Lowthorpe in 1270, and in right of another Lowthorpe heir in 1281.  Robert of Heslerton presented in 1329 and the Heslertons retained the patronage until 1372, when they made their final presentation. Their right was in dispute in 1312 and the archbishop presented in that year.  The advowson is said to have passed to the Hotham family by the marriage of Agnes, daughter of John Heslerton, to SIr John Hotham (d. 1370). Sir John Hotham first presented in 1393, and his family enjoyed the advowson until 1536, when a presentation was made in right of Francis Hotham. 
At the dissolution of the college the advowson passed to the Crown, which in 1557 allowed nomination to be made by three men to whom Francis Hotham had previously granted his next right of presentation. 
In 1291, the church was worth £16, reduced to £10 13s. 4d. in the new taxation. 
In the mid 16th century the living of Lowthorpe was held together with Hessle and Hull by the notorious Ththe buttomas Fugall, who was deprived of Hull in 1561 for a variety of offences. Lowthorpe was held with Kilham in the late 17th century. 
The church of St. Martin, built largely of stone, consists of ruined chancel, nave, south porch and west tower. Great changes were evidently made to the church after it became collegiate in 1333. The lofty chancel, now roofless and disused, certainly dates from the mid 14th century and the continuation of its moulded plinth around the walls of the nave and tower suggests that there may have been a complete rebuilding at this period. The chancel is of two bays, the north wall having external buttresses and containing two large three-light windows with reticulated tracery. The south wall, which has been partly rebuilt, has a similar window in its western bay and a small doorway further east. There is evidence that the chancel was originally longer, for the buttresses which support its east end are formed from the walls of an additional bay; the buttresses incorporate parts of the jambs and sills of another pair of windows. The structure was probably reduced in length after the dissolution of the college when such an imposing chancel may have been considered unnecessary or undesirable. The present east wall, pershaps of reused medieval masonry, contains a square-headed mullioned and transomed window of post-Reformation date. A trefoil-headed piscina in this wall may have been moved from its original position in the demolished east bay. 
The shortened chancel was probably abandoned in the later 18th century. An inscribed stone in the nave wall, which has now disappeared, is said to have recorded that the church roof was repaired in 1776 and that the building was repaved and repewed and the chancel contracted in 1777.  It was probably in 1777 that a small brick extension to the nave, projecting into the disused chancel, was built behind the chancel arch to accommodate the altar. Other brickwork which may be of the same date includes the belfry stage of the tower and the blocking of all the windows in the former chancel.
A drawing of the church made in 1859 is described as showing the building 'as it appeared prior to the restoration now in progress. The nave is shown with one south window similar to the 14th-century windows in the former chancel; there is a doorway without a porch and a small window further west. The nave then had an embattled parapet concealing the roof and its walls were of the same height as those of the chancel. The restoration of the nave involved a new high-pitched roof with lower eaves, the insertion of new windows throughout, and the addition of a south porch. Internally the chancel arch, which has crudely-carved capitals and may be of the 16th-century date, has survived in an altered form. The medieval font has been retained. 
The west tower almost certainly formed part of the 14th-century church, but a west window in its lower stage appears to be a 16th-century insertion. The upper stage, a mean brick structure with wooden Gothic-style windows and angle pinnacles, probably dates from the later 18th century.
The chief monument is a tomb bearing the figures of a man and woman with the branches of a tree spreading over their bodies, from which it springs; the heads of twelve children appear at the ends of the branches as if fruit from the tree. This monument was formerly in the chancel. It has been suggested that it is the tomb of John of Heslerton, who founded the college in 1333.  There is also a tradition that the tomb came from Ruston. A brass of a knight, attributed to c. 1420 was once in the chancel. It may commemorate George Salvin (d. 1417) and his wife. 
The church contains a Royal Arms of William IV. Part of a carved cross-head, dug up in the churchyard, is said to be pre-Norman. Outside, near the east end of the church, stands a cross which is traditionally believed to have come from the marketplace at Kilham. 
There were three bells in the tower in 1552, but there are now only two, made in 1786 and 1787.  
Allison, K.J. A History of the County of York, East Riding, Vol. IV, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
The village of Cherry Burton lies on the lower slopes of the wolds about 4 km. west-north-west of Beverley, and the parish stretches for 8 km. westwards from the edge of the Hull valley. The parish included the now depopulated hamlets of Raventhorpe, on the lower ground east of the village, and Gardham and Newton in the west. Both Gardham and Newton were recorded in 1086 and it has been suggested that after the former was depopulated its name was transferred to the hamlet of Newton, the new Gardham itself consisted of only two houses in 1977. The Anglian settlement of Burton was known by c. 1200 as North Burton to distinguish it from its southern neighbour and from the 15th century as Cherry Burton, probably from trees growing there, to avoid confusion with North Burton or Burton Fleming. Newton was also Anglian, ,while Gardham, the 'fenced enclosure,' and Ravensthorpe were Scandinavian. The eastern approach to Cherry Burton village is flanked by the parkland and high-walled gardens of Cherry Burton Hall and House, and the main street still contains many older houses and cottages; but to the north, south and west are the large housing estates that mark Cherry Burton's conversion to a commuter village since the Second World War. The parish, long and roughly rectangular in shape, covers 1,404 ha. (3,466  a.)
West of the village the wolds rise to a height of over 120 m. above sea-level near the western parish boundary, where a dozen tumuli are situated. The most prominent of several dry valleys are that in which Gardham hamlet stood, some 90 m. above sea-level, and Deepdale, which forms the southern parish boundary before running north-eastwards across Cherry Burton. The village stands partly in the latter valley and partly on the higher ground on either side at a height of c. 25-40 m. East of the village the ground falls in places to less than 15 m above sea-level; the hamlet of Raventhorpe stood at c. 25 m. on the side of another shallow valley. Open-field land formerly covered much of the parish, though the township of Gardham was early inclosed, along with some ground in the extreme east around Raventhorpe. 
The parish is crossed in the east by the Beverley-Malton road and in the west by the Beverley-York road. Minor roads lead from the village to Bishop Burton, Etton and past Ravnshorpe to Leconfield and in Gardham others frun from the York road towards Etton and Newbald.  Rootas Lane connects the Malton and Etton roads north of Cherry Burton village. 
Cherry Burton village lies just west of the Beverley-Malton road. Until its recent expansion the village lay along a single street (Main Street) running from the church and Hall at its eastern end and across the valley bottom to the higher ground and beyond where the street is known as Highgate. A pond lies beside the street.  
There were 154 poll-tax payers at Cherry Burton and 16 at Raventhorpe in 1377 and 26 at Gardham in 1379. Gardham had evidently been hard hit by the Black Death, for it was relieved of three-quarters of its tax quota in 1354. There were 58 households at Cherry Burton in 1672, of which 13 were exempt from the hearth tax; 40 had a single hearth each, 14 had 2, and 4 had 3-7 each. 
Manors & Other Estates - By tradition Cherry Burton was given to the church of St. john at Beverley by Addi before the Conquest. In 1066 3 carucates at Raventhorpe belonged to the archbishop and were held by St. John's, but at Cherry Burton all 12 carucates and 6 bovates belonged to Ulviet; by 1086 however, the latter estate, too, was held by St. John's. The provost of Beverley was granted free warren in his demesne lands at Cherry Burton in 1314 and the college retained the estate until the Dissolution, when rents of over £5 a year were enjoyed by four of the prebends at St. John's. 
In 1552 Cherry Burton manor was granted by the Crown to John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, but forfeited on his attainder the next year. After being let by the Crown it was granted in 1588 to Edmund Downing and Miles Dodding and evidently passed like Bishop Burton to the Cromptons. Sir Thomas Crompton sold it in 1605 to Sir William Gee and John Brewster, and the latter surrendered his interest to Gee the same year. The site of the medieval manor-house is not known. 
The Hospitallers had a chief house, 10 bovates, and a close at Cherry Burton and a close at Raventhorpe in 1539-40, worth altogether c. £9. The property was briefly granted to the refounded order in 1558 and afterwards let by the Crown, in 1582 for example to Joan and Richard Hodgson. It was apparently the same property, described as Cherry Burton manor, which was granted by the Crown to Edmund Downing and Roger Rante in 1590 and which passed, like the chief manor, to the Cromptons. 
Economic History - In 1086 the estate of St. John's Beverley, at Cherry Burton contained land for 7 ploughs; there were in fact 3 ploughs on the demesne and 12 villeins had 3 more. The estate had decreased in value from £2  10s to £2 since 1066. 
Little is known of the depopulation of the hamlets, though Gardham was evidently hard hit by the Black Death. If they had separate open fields they were early inclosed at Gardham, while those at Raventhorpe were probably added to the fields of Cherry Burton. Some fo the Raventhorpe land was used in the 1540s to enlarge the parks of adjoining Leconfield, an action which may have contributed to or followed the depopulation of Raventhorpe; other land there was known c. 1600 as East or Raventhorpe field. 
Several small closes in both Raventhorpe and Cherry Burton were mentioned in the 16th century, and in 1612 Richard Hodgson had 54 a. in 7 closes in Cherry Burton. 
Local Government - Court rolls and books for the chief manor of Cherry Burton survive for 1661-3, 1665-7, 1670-5, 1678-81, 1698-1703 and 1751-1927. 
Church - By tradition the advowson of Cherry Burton church was given by Addi before the Conquest to Beverley college. A rector was first mentioned in 1199. The church remained in the peculiar jurisdiction of the provost of the Beverley college.  
The advowson of the rectory belonged to the college and after the Dissolution presentations were made by the Crown until 1613. The advowson was nevertheless granted with the manor in 1588 and descended with it to the Gees. 
The rectory was worth £20 in 1291 and £23 6s 8d in 1535. In 1650 the improved value was £147 and in the early 18th century. £120. 
The manor of Cherry Burton in which the rector was licensed to have an oratory in 1309 may have been the parsonage house. In 1685 the rectory was a small house of 3 ground-floor rooms and 2 chambers. 
A chantry of the Holy Trinity was founded in the church by Robert of Beverley and others in 1366; the endowment comprised a house, 6 bovates and 40 a in Cherry Burton and Raventhorpe. The chantry property, worth £4 in 1535, was let by the Crown after its suppression before being granted to Edmund Downing and Miles Dodding in 1588; they sold it to William Fisher the same year. 
Robert of Beverley, rector from 1348 or earlier to 1371, held office in Beverley, Southwell and York minsters during his incumbency. Edmund Bonner was rector from 1532 probably until 1539, when he became bishop of London. The rector was nonresident in 1578 and Samuel Culverwell was presented for not wearing a surplice in 1591 and 1604. 
The medieval church consisted of chancel, nave, west tower, and porch; the steeple was rebuilt in 1786 and the porch in 1800. A new church St. Michael, consisting of chancel with south vestry, nave with north aisle and porch and west tower was built on the same site in 1852-3. 
Nonconformity - A few non-communicants were reported in the parish in the late 16th century and early 17th and one protestant dissenter in 1676. James Deane, buried in 1691, was said to be the 'founder of the separatists' in Cherry Burton and his widow's house was one of two licensed for worship in 1712. 
The village of etton lies along a valley bottom on the lower slopes of the wolds about 6 km. north-west of Beverley. Etton, probably an Anglian settlement, stands near the eastern end of the parish. The parish may also have contained the vills of steintorp and Torp, neither of which was recorded after the 11th century. The village is notable for its regular 'street' layout, stretching for nearly 1 km. westwards from the church and Low Hall, with its wooded parkland. The long, irregularly shaped parish comprised 3,729 a. in 1852 and still the same (1509 ha.) in 1971.
The ground reaches about 110 m. above sea-level on the wolds in the west of the parish and falls to less than 15 m. in the east. The wold slopes are dissected by two main valleys: the dry valley in which the village lies and another, forming part of the northern parish boundary, which is dry in the west but then carries Moor beck eastwards towards the river Hull.  Moor beck is fed by Sandy Keld, which may be the spring called Toraldkeld c. 1170 and in the 14th century. The northern valley is continued westwards from Etton parish as the so-called Market Weighton Gap, a deep glacial meltwater channel cutting through the wolds to the Vale of York. Within the parish Old Dale and Cinder Hole are two small meltwater channels. The western boundary followed a long prehistoric embankment, much of which has been recently ploughed down.  
The open fields lay both east and west of the village in the Middle Ages, when areas to the northeast and on the high wold were occupied by common pastures. By the 12th century there was a park in the east end of the parish, and by the mid 17th century the eastern open field was apparently inclosed.
The road that runs trhough Etton village continues westwards to Gardham and eventually to the York-Hull road, and eastwards to the Beverley-Malton road, which crosses the east end of the parish. Side roads lead from the village north to South Dalton and south Cherry Burton; the former may once have followed a more westerly course parallel to the present road, while the latter was moved westwards at inclosure in 1820 and was called New Road in 1852. 
The village of Etton lies minly along both sides of a long street, overlooked by the church from rising ground at its eastern end, but there are one or two houses, including High Hall, on the South Dalton road, called Chantry Lane by 1820. Earthworks on both sides of the former course of Chantry Lane may mark the sites of other houses. The main source of water was formerly the mere which survives, almost certainly in a shrunken form, south of the street. 
The east end of Etton formerly lay round a wedge-shaped green which extended east of the village, probably as far as the moor. the de la Grene family, mentioned in the 13th and 14th centuries was presumably named from it. The name 'Danaysegrene' was recorded c. 1300. A cottage was built on the common c. 1600 by the consent of the inhabitants, but in 1620 many of the freeholders resisted the building of another on the green.
There were 174 poll-tax payers at Etton in 1377. In 1672 there were 68 households of which 25 were exempt from the hearth tax; 48 had a single hearth each, 14 had 2, 2 had 3, 3 had 4-8 and 1 had 15 hearths. 
Manors & Other Estates - An estate of 6 carucates and 6 bovates at Etton and another of 1 carucate at 'Steintorp' passed at the Conquest from Turchil to Robert, count of Mortain, whose tenant Niel Fossard occupied the demesne in 1086.  The overlordship of most of the fee passed, like Octon, from Robert to the Fossards and then the Mauleys. The Mauleys' estate comprised 4 carucates in Etton, held in the 13th century as 1 knight's fee but later as a 1/2 fee, and 3-4 carucates in Etton and Kiplingcotes (in Middleton on the Wolds), held as 1 fee c. 1280.  The overlordship descended from Peter de Mauley (d. 1415) partly to the Salvin family and in 1522 a manor in Etton was held of Sir Ralph Slavin's manor of Lockington. Estates in Etton, including that manor were later held of Lockington in socage. The rest of the Mauley estate in Etton passed to the Bigod family and was held in the 16th century of its manor of Bainton. One carucate of the Fossard estate, possibly that at 'Steintorp' did not however, descend to the Mauleys but was granted to the Meynell family, probably by Robert Fossard c. 1100, and by 1300 was held as a member of the Meynells' manor of Boynton of the archbishop of Canterbury. Ralph de Killingthorp, the Mauley's tenant in the earlier 13th century, was apparently succeeded by Roger de Freville, who held 1 knight's fee in Etton of Peter de Mauley in 1242-3. James de Freville held the estate by 1279 and in 1288 enfeoffed Roger de Freville with Etton manor. In 1309 James de Freville settled the manor in tail on his daughter Joan and her husband Roger Ughtred, who successfully opposed the claim of Thomas de Freville in 1324. After the death of John son of Peter Ughtred in 1391 property in etton worth £12 a year descended to his sister Alice, who married William Anlaby, and in 1428 their son Richard held 25 bovates of the Mauley fee. The manor, which included 40 bovates and 124 a. in 1522, descended in the Anlaby family. Thomas Anlaby (d. 1642) was granted a court leet in Etton manor with Cotegarth in 1617; he was succeeded by his son John and grandson Thomas, who sold the 34-bovate estate to John Estotft in 1558, when it was said to comprise two manors. 
In the 12th century the Fossards created a knight's fee partly in Etton for Everard de Ros (d. 1182), and Robert de Ros and his tenants held it c. 1280. By 12 88 1 carucate in Etton, almost certainly belonging to the Ros estate, had been granted to Robert of Everingham, and the Everinghams continued to hold a mesne lordship there of the Ros family until the early 15th century. Several tenants held the Everinghams' carucate at Etton by military service in 1288, but nothing is known of its later descent. 
Ralph son of Wimund held 1 knight's fee of William Fossard in Etton and Lockington in 1166. It was possibly in that estate that Emme widow of Ralph son of Ralph claimed dower against William son of Ralph in 1198. It apparently descended to Ralph son of William of Grimthorpe, who in 1241 granted 7 bovates to the Knights Templars. As an appurtenance of Grimthorpe, and later of Nunburnholme, manor, the rest of the estate descended like Fangfoss, in the Grimthorpe (later Greystoke), Dacre, and Howard families, and was mentioned unti lthe 17th century.
Before the Conquest Gam had 9 carucates and 2 bovates in Etton and Toret 1 carucate at 'Torp.' In 1086 Hugh son of Baudry held both estates. Part of Hugh's property, comprising 6 carucates held as 1 knight's fee in 1284-5, descended as a member of Cottingham manor in the Stutville, Wake, Plantagenet, and Holand families until the early 15th century. The overlordship of Etton was afterwards divided between the Westmorland and Richmond shares of Cottingham manor. 
In 1086 Hugh held an estate in Etton of Hugh son of Baudry. Thomas son of Geoffrey of Etton, to whom William Fossard granted land in Etton in the later 12th century, probably also held land there of the Stutville fee, and Maud widow of Thomas of Etton, probably the son of Thomas son of Geoffrey, claimed dower in Etton against Nicholas de Stutville in 1226. By that dat the Etton family had granted land to the Knights Templars, for Maud also claimed as dower a third of a wood and 17 a. from the order. The following year Maud released her dower lands to the Templars for a life estate in part of a wood called the park, possibly that formerly held by Thomas son of Geoffrey of Etton. The order also received 2 bovates in Etton from Oliver, whose son Thomas confirmed the gift in 1226, and 7 bovates from Ralph son of William of Grimthorpe in 1241 and in 1284-5 the Templars were said to hold 21 bovates of the Stutville fee in free alms. After the Templars' suppression the custody of their manor of Etton was granted by the Crown to David, earl of Atholl, in 1312. 
Though their estate was reduced by the grant to the Templars the Etton family continued to hold land in the parish. Maud's husband Thomas may have been succeeded by Robert son of Thomas, described as lord of Etton in the 13th century, and he successively by Henry of Etton, who held 1/2 knight's fee in etton of Baldwin Wake in 1282, and Laurence son of Robert of Etton.  Laurence held 1 carucate in Etton of Nicholas de Meynell in 1299 and 1 1/2 carucate of the Stutville fee in 1302-3. possibly c. 1312 part of the Knights Templars' manor was acquired by the Etton family, for in the 1320s part of a manor-house, 4 bovates, a close called Temple Park, and other property formerly held by the order, were involved in the family's settlemetns. It was perhaps with that manor that Laurence, named as a lord of Etton in 1316, was dealing in the early 14th century. 
By family settlements between 1310 and 1320 the estate of Laurence of Etton, comprising a park and 176 a. descended to his daughter Amanda and her husband Patrick Langdale (d. c. 1350) and later to their son Patrick. The younger Patrick (d. c. 1375) acquired 80 a. in Etton by his marriage with Ellen, aunt and coheir of Edmund of Houghton. His estate in etton descended in the Langdale family until the 18th century. The manor included 18 bovates in the late 16th century, when it was apparently held in socage. William Langdale and his son Philip were dealing with property in Etton in the 1650s, and the latter seems to have inherited the estate by 1678. 
In 1308 the Templars' manor-house included a hall and a chapel. Temple Garth, at the west end of the village, still contained extensive earthworks in 1976. The Langdales' manor-house was mentioned in 1413 and 1620.
While some of the their property in Etton was acquired by the Etton family c. 1312 another part of the Templars' estate passed to the Knights Hospitallers. The Hospitallers had also been granted 2 bovates of the Stutville fee by Richard son of Richard Green (del Vert) by the 1280s. In 1338 the order had nearly 370 a. in Etton. The Hospitallers' manor of Etton passed to the Crown at the Dissolution, but was briefly restored to the refounded order in 1558. During the rest of the 16th century the estate was let by the Crown for 21-year terms. It was later sold and in the 18th century former Templar and Hospitaller property was held by the Gee, Estoft, Legard, and Wallis families. 
Watton priory received 195 a. in Etton from Thomas son of Geoffrey and his wife in the mid 12th century. James de Freville also granted the priory 7 bovates of the Mauley fee before 1285, when Watton held 3 carucates of the Stutville fee. After the Dissolution  the priory's lands in Etton descended with Hessleskew grange until William Gee sold Cotegarth walk, 11 bovates, and other property to Towers Wallis in 1700. 
An estate of 8 carucates at Etton was held under the archbishop of York in 1086 by the archiepiscopal church at St. John at Beverley, which retained it until the suppression of the collegiate church in 1548. By the early 14th century land in Etton had been assigned to the prebends of St. Andrew, St. Martin, and St. Peter and St. Paul in Beverley minster. Adam of Shipton, who leased 4 bovates from the prebendary of St. Peter and St. Paul in 1306, was prebendary of St. Peter and St. Paul in 1306, was returned as lord of the archbishop's estate at Etton in 1316. Property in Etton also belonged to the vicars of St. John's in the earlier 14th century and was worth 16s. a year in 1535, when that of St. Martin's prebend was valued at £1 18s. After the Dissolution some lands in Etton were held of Beverley chapter manor, but most of the estate was bought by Christopher Blakeston (Blaston, Blaiston, Blawster) (d. 1556) and descended in turn to his sons Henry (d. 1560) and William. The Blakestons' estate, comprising c. 35 bovates, was further enlarged in the late 16th century by William Blakeston, who was succeeded in 1630 by his son, also William; it was reputed a manor in the 17th century. 
Several religious houses had small estates in Etton. Haltemprice priory's property there was let for nearly £2 a year at the Disollution and later in the 16th century.  The estate at Etton of Warter priory and of St. Giles's hospital, Beverley, which was appropriated to Warter by 1277, was granted to Thomas Manners, earl of Rutland at the Dissolution. Thomas son of Geoffrey of Etton gave a toft to Meaux abbey c. 1200 to maintain a light there; property in Etton was confirmed to the abbey in 1294 and 1377 but not mentioned later. St. Leonard's hospital, York, received 2s. rent a year from land in Etton at the Dissolution.
Economic History - In 1086 there was land for 5 ploughs on Hugh son of Baudry's Etton estate, but there were then on ly 2 ploughs on the demesne and 1 worked by 10 villeins and 2 bordars. The estate was worth £2 before and after the Conquest. Hughe's estate was worth 10s. and had land for 1/2 plough, was waste in 1086. There was land for 5 ploughs on the Mortain estates in Etton and 'Steintorp,' but there was then 1 plough on the demesne, and 7 villeins and a bordar had 1 1/2 plough.  The estates, which were worth £2 10s. in 1066 but only £1 in 1086, included pasturable woodland 1/2 league in length and breadth. The archbishop of York had land for 4 ploughs at Etton in 1086, when 5 were worked by 8 villeins. The estate was worth 10s. in 1066 and 8s. in 1086. 
By the mid 12th century 195 a. of arable land lay in open fields west of the village and West field was named in 1373. An eastern open field was mentioned in 1323. The arable was improved by marling in the late 13th century. Rough grazing was provided by the moor north-east of the village, mentioned from c. 1300, and on the high wold in the west of the parish. 
Several closes were made in the Middle Ages. Thomas of Etton had a  park there by the late 12th century. It was variously known as the park in etton field, Laurence park and Etton park in the 14th century, and lay, inclosed by ditches and hedges, north-east of the village with the moor to the west. It then included a house, arable land, a meadow and a pasture called respectively 'Mykeleng' and the Holmes, and some inclosed woodland in the east. Two woods called Bishops Thwaite and the park were held by the Templars c. 1225; a ditched close called Temple park and another park known as Temple wood were recorded in the earlier 14th century, when the latter lay south of Laurence park.  In the 16th century Eastwood and the adjoining Westwood, belonging to the Hospitallers, contained some 60 a. and were in the charge of a keeper. They were then let for a mere 12s. a year, and in 1570 were worth only £1 in underwood.  The Langdale manor also included woodland: in 1413 its lessees were allowed to take 100 faggots of thorn a year from the property and in 1577 Langdale wood contained 82 a. Etton Rise wood contained c. 50 a. in the late 16th and early 18th centuries. Other early inclosures were 'Wadmylndam' and 'Wadmillingbrigh' which lay in the east end of the parish in the 14th century, and Broadgate close and New close, both mentioned in the 16th century. 
Large numbers of sheep were kept on the estates of Watton priory and the Hospitallers. The priory had a sheep-walk (berciam) at Etton by 1275, probably managed from Hessleskew grange in neighbourhing Sancton. In the earlier 16th century Watton enjoyed sheep-gates in the open fields and in 1568 60 sheep-gates belonged to former priory property at Cotegarth. In 1308 the Knights Templars had a flock of 270 sheep.
The Hospitallers' estate at Etton in 1338 was worth nearly £14 a year, of which some £7 came from the rents of 263 a. of land, £4 from the farm of 50 a. of arable, meadow and woodland, perhaps constituting the demesne, and £2 10s. from 54 a. of poor ground let as rough grazing.  The same estate was valued at £11 in 1539-40.  Five customary tenants paid nearly £10 for 4 houses, 25 bovates and closes, including Calf park and a meadow called Prayles. Three tenants owed free rents of 9s. for a house and other property, and 3 tenants-at-will nearly £1 for a cottage, a croft, 2 tofts, 2 curtilages, and closes. In 1608 on the Crown estate at Etton 8 leaseholders paid £13 for 297 a. of open-field land, houses and closes, 5 tenants-at-will owed about £1 for their cottages and closes and there were 6 freeholders paying a total of over £3. 
By the 17th century there were three open fields, North, South and Middle fields.  All lay mostly west of the village and presumably included the former West field, which was nevertheless occasionally mentioned in the 17th and 18th centuries. . . . by 1661 the wold sheep-walk, formerly belonging to Watton priory and known as Cotegarth Walk from 1685, had apparently been reduced by 52 a. taken into the open fields. 
Local Government - Etton residents were said to attend the hundred court until Thomas Anlaby obtained leet jurisdiction for his manor of Etton in 1617, although Anlaby claimed in 1620 that such jurisdiction had also belonged to his ancestors.  
Church - As its fabric shows, there was a church at Etton by the 12th century, and c. 1200 a rector was mentioned. In 1247 the rector was apparently a sinecurist and the church was served by a vicar, but the archbishop then ordered that on the vicar's death his portion should be consolidated with the rectory. From at least the early 14th century until 1548 Etton was in the peculiar jurisdiction of the provost of Beverley. 
The advowson generally descended with the Stutvilles' overlordship in the Middle Ages. It was contested by Richard of Cornwall, a prebendary of Beverley minster, in 1233, when the archbishop of York presented by lapse, as he did again in 1247.  In the 1290s Laurence of Etton renounced his right in it. The advowson was divided after the death of Edmund Holand, earl of Kent, in 1408 and it was exercised in turn by his coheirs, Sir Henry Broomfleet presenting in 1421, Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, in 1424, and the Crown for Henry Grey in 1439 and on its own behalf in and after 1467. It was exercised in 1502 by Sir Richard Cholmeley by grant of the Crown, which apparently acquired the entire advowson by 1543, when it was exchanged with the archbishop of York. The Crown presented in 1559 on the deprivation of the rector Cuthbert Scott, bishop of Chester, and in 1660, but otherwise the parsonage remained with the archbishop until 1880, when it was transferred to John, Lord Hotham. 
The rectory was said to be worth £40 a year in 1276 and £33 in 1272 but only £16 in 1291 and £10 in 1410. It was valued at £20 9s. 4d. net in 1535. The improved value was nearly £134 in 1650. 
Most of the income came from tithes, valued at £133 in 1650. In 1685 a composition of 10s. was paid for the tithes of Cotegarth walk, Westwood, and Etton park and in the mid 18th century that modus, for corn and hay tithes, was confirmed for the 'parks.' 
Land called Farthing flat belonging to Beverley minster was farmed by the rector of Etton from at least the 1440s until the early 185h century. The glebe otherwise consisted from the mid 17th century of 3 bovates, or 45 a. certain small closes, and 2 common rights. 
The parsonage house, mentioned in 1650, included a hall, parlour, 2 kitchens, and 4 bedrooms in 1685 and in 1716 consisted of a middle range with cross wings. 
A chantry with three priests was founded c. 1350 by the executors of John of etton, rector in 1331, in a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the Annunciation which John had built in the church. The original endowment, of 5 bovates, 15 a., and other property in etton and Beverley, was increased c. 1370 by grants of 6 bovates and 5 a. in Etton by John of Burton, William Jackling, and Patrick Scott, and of 1 bovate in Cherry Burton by Thomas of Etton. In 1535, when the chantry was worth £5 15s. 10d. net a year, there was only one priest. The chantry property was let by the Crown in the 16th century and parts of it were sold to George Warde and Robert Morgan in 1607 and Francis Morrice and Francis Phillips in 1613. In 1547-8 there was an obit in the church endowed wit ha 1/2 a. close called Ratton Rawe in Etton. Christopher Estoft and Thomas Dolman (Doweman) were granted the rent of it in 1553 and resold it that year to William Daniel. 
The cure of Etton has often been held by non-resident rectors. In 1294 the rector was licensed to be absent for a year to study, and Nicholas of Oxford, probably also a student, held the living in the 1340s. At least two royal clerks were rectors in the 14th century, Richard of Normanby exchanging the living with john of Etton, later Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1331. The archbishop of York frequently presented eminent ecclesiastics to the living. Cuthbert Scott, the Marian bishop of Chester and vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, held it with other offices from 1547 until his deprivation in 1559.  Later rectors included Phineas Hodson chancellor of York (d. 1646) and Richard Robinson, who also held the vicarage of Hutton Bushell (Yorks. N.R.) and a York prebend in the 1740s and later became archbishop of Armagh (Irel.). 
The cure has consequently often been served by others than the rector. In 1525-6 a parish chaplain received a stipend of nearly £5 a year, and in 1575 the church was served by the incumbent of Cherry Burton.  A curate was employed c. 1590, in the mid century, and in the mid 19th century. 
The church of St. Mary is largely built of ashlar and consists of chancel with north vestry and south organ chamber, nave with south aisle and porch, and west tower. The tower, with its west doorway of two orders and its tower arch of four orders, survives from the later 12th century and the south arcade is of the early 14th century. The tower was repaired in 1575. The top was largely rebuilt in brick in the early 18th century and formerly contained a leger stone of Towers Wallis (d. 1719). Repairs to the church were ordered in 1724 and the rood-screen was repeatedly ordered to be cut low in the 1720s.
Much of the surviving fabric, which is predominantly a Romanesque style, is the product of a restoration of 1844-6. Some of the ashlar facing appears, however, to be of the 12th century origin and other early features including the south doorway, were reset in the reconstructed walls. More work in 1867-8 included adding the north vestry, removing a west gallery, reroofing the nave, and rebuilding the tower and heightening it in stone.  Most of the cost was borne by Lord Hotham.  The organ chamber was added in 1892 and the porch in 1927.
Three carved Norman stone panels, depicting among other figures St. Peter, were moved from the largely demolished church at Holme on the Wolds to the south aisle at Etton in 1951. In 1976 the aisle also contained a fragment of a medieval stone effigy, probably that formerly described as of a woman bearing Freville arms; a worn stone carved with arms, reputedly of the Mauley family, was then in the north wall of the nave and a stone carved in the form of the 'Wake knot' at the base of a piscina in the chancel. Royal arms of Victoria are carved in stone above the tower arch. 
There were three bells in 1552 but only two in the mid 19th century; (i) 1662; (ii) n.d.  A third bell, by Mears & Stainbank of London, was given in 1869. The plate includes a silver cup made in London in 1609, a silver paten made there in 1694, and a silver flagon made in York in 1810. The registers of baptisms and burials, beginning in 1557, and those of marriages in 1560 are virtually complete. In 1926 Catharine Grimston left £75 for the maintenance of the churchyard and the upkeep of the graves of her husband and his first wife, and c. 1955 Thomas Gabbetis left £500 and in 1963 Ursula Shaw £150 for the care of the churchyard. The Grimston charity was still applied in the 1970s, and in 1976 the income of the Gabbetis and Shaw charities was £31 and £14 respectively.  [This is the church where Rev. John Lathrop was baptized on December 20, 1584].
Nonconformity - William Anlaby of Etton was executed in 1597 as a Roman Catholic missionary priest, an in 1605-6 Thomas Babthorpe and three others of Etton were fined for recusancy. There were two Roman Catholics there in 1676. 
Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology. Brass Rubbing & Monumental Brasses
Britannia Historical Documents
Browning, Charles. Magna Charta Barons & Their Descendants, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969.
Burke, John. A Genealogical & Heraldic History of the Extinct & Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland & Scotland, London, England: Scott, Webster & Geary, 1861
Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, & Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978.
Burton, John. Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland, London: Chapman & Hall, 1852.
  • Proceedings Against the Clan Gregor
Coldham, Peter. English Convicts in Colonial America, Vol. I Middlesex: 1617-1775, New Orleans, LA: Polyanthos, 1974.
The county of Middlesex, which encloses the City of London, is one of the smallest in England, having an area of barely 280 square miles. From ancient times it was separated from Buckinghamshire on the West by the River Colne, from Essex on the East by the River Lea and from Kent and Surrey on the South by the River Thames. Its northern limit is defined by the parish boundaries. This pigmy county has for centuries been the most densely populated. An official estimate made in the late 18th century was that one in three of all felons in England were convicted in the county of Middlesex.  On the most reliable evidence at present available, the total number of convicts transported from England to the Americas between 1615 and 1775 was about 30,000.  These two estimates provide the reason for attempting a comprehensive listing of prisoners transported from Middlesex throughout the 160 years in which this odious traffic was conducted.
Notes on the Records Used:
Greater London Record Office (Middlesex Records) - A printed calendar, 'Middlesex Sessions Records' in four volumes edited by William Le Hardy, covering the period 1612-1618; and 'Middlesex County Records' edited by J.C. Jeaffreson, covering selected periods up to 1688, are both valuable sources for the earlier period of transportation. The remaining sources used, however, have  all been Ms. Note that records of judicial process are written in Latin until 1733 (except during the Commonwealth period 1651-1660) and in heavily condensed form at that.
Gaol Delivery Registers 1620-1672 - These six large and well-written registers contain a convenient summary of the Gaol Delivery Rolls including the names of prisoners, with shorthand notes of judgments. Periodically there appears a list of prisoners previously sentenced to death but pardoned on condition that they accept transportation to one of the American plantations, usually in the West Indies. Such sentences or reprieves are rare until 1660, but from then until 1672 (with the exception of 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London, when no transportation orders were made) this became an increasingly popular method of disposing of those convicted. An average of 35 felons a year was being shipped to the colonies in this period.
As far as possible, names have been grouped in alphabetical order of surname according to modern spellings and cross-referenced where necessary. The month and year of sentence themselves provide adequate reference to the relevant Sessions Roll held by the Greater London Record Office (Middlesex Records) . . . Occasionally an entry will show a date of transportation but without a date of sentence. In these cases it will be necessary to search the Calendar of Indictments for the preceding quarter to obtain a reference to the Sessions Roll.
The date of transportation and name of ship have been included with individual entries only where it has been possible to find a receipt from the Captain of the ship concerned. 
  • Beezley, John (1733)
  • Beazley, Richard sentenced Dec. transported Dec. 1752 on the Greyhound
  • Beesley, Thomas reprieved Jan. trans. Feb. 1773 Jonathan to Maryland
  • Beasly, William pleaded transportation Jan. 1699
  • Beesley, William sent. Dec. 1735 2 shillings trans. Jan. 1736 Dorsetshire to Virginia
  • Butler, Edward sent. May-July 1773
  • Butler, James sent. Oct., trans. Oct. 1729 Forward to Virginia
  • Butler, James sent. May trans. Sep. 1737 Pretty Patsy to Maryland
  • Butler, John sent. Jan-June, trans. June 1728 Elizabeth to Maryland or Virginia
  • Butler, John sent. July trans. Sep. 1767 Justitia
  • Butler, Richard sent. July, trans. July 1753 Tryal
  • Butler, Thomas sent. July-Sep. trans. Oct. 1739 Duke of Cumberland to Virginia
  • Butler, Thomas, sent. Jan-June 1747
  • Butler, Tobias pleaded transportation July 1680
  • Butler, William, pleaded transportation Oct. 1685
  • Butler, William sent. Jan. trans. Feb. 1719 Worcester to Maryland
  • Butler, William sent. April, trans. April 1725 Lucky to Maryland
  • Butler, also Buckland also Simmonds, William sent. July 1735 for stealing a black gelding; acquitted but, while on trial, stole a watch from the Prosecutor's wife.
  • Butler, William sent. Feb. trans. Apr. 1770 Thornton
  • Butler, William sent. Apr. trans. July 1770 Scarsdale
  • Draper, John pleaded trans. Sept. 1672
  • Draper, John sent. Feb. trans. Apr. 1741 Speedwell or Mediterranean to Maryland
  • Draper, Thomas reprieved for Barbados Dec. 1668
  • Hopkins, James sent. May trans. June 1726 Loyal Margaret to Maryland
  • Hopkins, James sent. Aug. trans. Oct. 1726 Forward to Virginia
  • Perry, Benjamin sent. Aug. 1727 to be trans. 14 years
  • Perry, Edward, sent. Sept. - Oct. trans. Dec. 1752 Greyhound
  • Perry alias Floyd, Henry sent. Feb. trans. Feb. 1719 Worcester
  • Perry alias Norman, John sent. Oct. trans. Oct. 1722 Forward to Maryland
  • Perry, Strongfaith sent. Oct. trans. Oct. 1730 Forward to Virginia
  • Perry, Thomas sent. Jan. - Apr. 1749
  • Perry, William sent. Jan. trans. Apr. 1741 Speedwell or Mediterranean to Maryland
  • Shepherd, John sent. Sept. 1735 stole wooden drawer, trans. Jan. 1736 Dorsetshire to Virginia
  • Shepherd, Richard, sent. Dec. stole cloth, trans. Dec. 1734 Caesar to Virginia
  • Shepherd, Samuel sent. Feb. trans. Mar. 1730 Patapscoe to Maryland
  • Shepherd, Thomas sent. Aug. trans. Oct. 1724 Forward to Maryland
  • Shepherd, Thomas sent. Apr. trans. Apr. 1725 Lucky to Maryland
  • Shepherd, Tobias sent. Aug. 1657 to House of Correction unless he agrees to be transported
  • Shepherd, William sent. Feb. trans. 14 years Mar. 1750 Tryal
  • Spear, Joseph sent. 1718 trans. 14 years Aug. 1718 Eagle to Maryland or Virginia
Coldham, Peter. English Convicts in Colonial America Vol. II, London: 1656-1775, New Orleans, LA: Polyanthos, 1976.
The famous "one square mile" of the City of London was as populous in the 17th and 18th centuries as its area was small.  From 1656 to 1775 it sentenced 6,000 of its citizens to be taken from Newgate Prison to the Americas as punishment for various crimes, mostly of an extremely petty nature. Their names have been assembled from a variety of original records and it may reasonably be claimed that the lists now presented are comprehensive for the period covered.  
Royal Pardons 1662-1693 - These are the originals of warrants (in Latin) engrossed on parchment, and issued in the name of the Sovereign to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex, authorising them to reprieve convicts in their custody, some on payment of sureties for good behaviour and others on condition of their being transported. 
Transportation Bonds 1661-1772 - Originals of the bonds by which transportation contractors and (after 1717) the captains of departing ships bound themselves under financial penalty to embark named convicts for delivery to the colonies. The series is incomplete, especially for the period up to 1718, but from them until 1772 it has been the major source for the compilation of this volume. 
Landing Certificates 1718-1736 - The Act of Parliament of 1717 prescribing the penalty of transportation for a wide variety of offences laid down that a certificate was to be provided by the governor or customs house at the port of arrival to certify the convicts' landing. 
Patent Rolls - The earliest pardon granted on condition of transportation appears to be that dating from 1654; before that date the many pardons recorded in similar form contain no such proviso and it seems likely, therefore, (and occasional notes in Middlesex records and in State Papers lend some colour to the supposition) that poorer prisoners of the early 17th century who were unable to buy their freedom were offered to colonizers as free labour. The pardons copied into the Patent Rolls cover the whole of England and Wales and give the names of reprieved prisoners, their quality and usually their parish of residence except for London citizens. 
  • Butler, Charles sent. Jan. 1757
  • Butler, George sent. Feb. 1754
  • Butler, John reprieved for trans. for Barbados Dec. 1683
  • Butler, John sent. April trans. May 1757 Thornton
  • Cornwell, James sent. Sept. trans. Sept. 1731 Smith landing certificate, Virginia 1732
  • Dunkin, John reprieved for Barbados or Jamaica Feb. 1687
  • Foster, Charles sent. Apr. trans. Oct. 1719 Susannah & Sarah, landing certificate Annapolis, Apr. 1720
  • Foster, Edward, sent. Mar. 1761
  • Foster, Fortune sent. Jan. stole 14 yds. edging, trans. April 1735 Patapsco Merchant landing certificate Annapolis Oct. 1735
  • Foster, George, waterman trans. 1724 Jekyll landing certificate Barbados June 1724
  • Hopkins, John reprieved for Barbados or Jamaica May 1684
  • Hopkins, William reprieved for Barbados Feb. 1675
  • Hopkins/Hoskins, Thomas sent. Aug. trans. Sept. 1727 Forward landing certificate Rappahannock May 1728
  • Perry, Barnaby sent. Feb. trans. Mar. 1731 Patapsco Merchant, landing certificate Annapolis June 1731
  • Perry, William sent. Apr. trans. Oct. 1719 Susannah & Sarah, landing certificate Annapolis Apr. 1720
  • Shepherd, Francis reprieved for Barbados Oct. 1673
  • Shepherd, Thomas sent. Jan. trans. Jan. 1766 Tryal
  • Shepherd, Wililam sent Feb. stole linen hankerchief at St. Mary Woolnoth trans. Apr. 1768 Thornton
  • Wolfe, John reprieved for Barbados Mar. 1677
Documents for Genealogists - Removal Orders - website obsolete
Although it is an easy process to move from one place to another these days because of centralized government, it was not so simple in the day sof our ancestors.  Each parish had to look after their own poor and that financial responsibility usually fell on the shoulders of the freeholders and well-to-do of the particular parishes. Parish clerks, normally an "overseer," would be responsible for assessing the needs of the poor in a particular parish and from there calculating a set of "rates" that would be charged to the members of his community to meet the anticipated expenses.  Many of these Overseers Rate Books still survive and these books given an inventory of the local population [normally, only the head of the household is mentioned] and the amounts paid by them on an annual basis to this central fund. It might be a system that we should consider going back to! The overseer himself would have to pay the same rates as everyone else and obviously took care to see that these costs were affordable. 
Because the local parishes were "self-financing," it was very important to the parish council that they were aware of anyone moving in or out of their locality because such movement could result in additional or less expenditure, depending on the circumstance of the family. There were a whole set of rules relating to movement between parishes that I will not set out here as they did vary from time to time. However, the important thing was that if vagrants or individuals without proper means of support (i.e. a real job) moved into the parish it would be necessary for the Parish Council to immediately assess the particular situation. If the family or individual were / was not desirable as an inhabitant, then immediate steps were taken to have them sent back to the parish from whence they came. 
Sometimes there was a full and official investigation if the case was borderline and the record of this interview was an "Examination as to Settlement" and these examinations were often noted in Quarter Session records.  The actual documents can be extremely helpful for genealogists as they often give a complete and recent history of the individual or family. If the circumstances determined that the individual or family was not financially fit to settle on the parish then a Removal Order would be issued and hte named individuals sent back to their own parish of original settlement. 
There could sometimes be very harsh treatment for women. If a woman married an man from another parish and he happened to die before he had obtained settlement rights in her parish, it was possible that she and any family could be removed to his parish from the place she had lived all her life. A lot might depend on the generosity of the parish council.
Again, these documents were originally kept in the parish chest and were often held for years in case the individuals tried to return at a later date. Having the original certificates could avoid the costs involved in another examination if the person was still not wanted.  Unfortunately, when the system finished many of these documents were thrown away although some do survive.  
Egerton - website obsolete
The Church of St. James is built on the highest point of this village which is supposed to be one of the limits of the Weald of Kent, although the exact definition of The Weald is a little vague. I do have a picture taken from the top of the heavily buttressed tower of the Church which I cannot reproduce because of copyright.  However, it must be one of the finest views anywhere in rural Kent. 
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
GenUki.
This book is an excellent & very readable history of Braintree and Bocking, Essex (nr Chelmsford & Colchester) by the former Deputy head of a Braintree School. Braintree and Bocking were very large villages for their time and were strong in cloth manufacture. 
The book seems to be produced to a high standard and is full of names as the author illustrates his topics with extracts from contemporary records. He appears to have drawn heavily on records held in the Essex County Archives and probably not elsewhere published.  
  • Algar, William - Reported as victualling without a licence 1622, p. 142
  • Clarke, Agnes  - Maldon, hanged for being in food riot 1629, p. 57
  • Clarke, Daniel - in plague list, perhaps survived, p. 95
  • Clarke, Edmund - Petition against clothiers' malpractices 1629, p. 58
  • Clarke, Jonathan - in plague list, probably died + others in family, p. 95
  • Clarke, Nicholas - Bocking 1612, fire danger thru lack of chimney, p. 87
  • Clarke, Ralph - in plague list, probably died + others in family, p. 95 
  • Clarke, Stephen - in plague list, probably died + others in family, p. 95
  • Clarke, Thomas - death recorded in 1531
  • Fitch, Captain - in plague list, probably died + others in family 
  • Ffitch, John - petition against clothiers' malpractices 1629
  • Godwin - Ex Notley, lodging @ Stafford's B'tree in 1622, p. 142
  • Goodwin, Henry - in plague list, probably died + others in family p. 96
  • Goodwin, Jeremiah - 1627, rude in church, struck churchwarden p. 103
  • Goodwin, John - in plague list, probably died + others in family p. 96
  • Goodwin, John - Bocking churchwarden 1620 p. 85
  • Goodwin, Thomas - in plague list, probably died + others in family p. 96
  • Goodwin, William - 1632 absent from church, A'deacons Ct. p. 103 
  • Lovell, Agnes - failed to scour ditches, fined, 1414 p. 22
  • Lovell, Thomas - involved in court case 1414, p. 20
  • Peck, John - 1623 absent from church, Archdeacons Court, p. 102
  • Skinner, Jeremiah - 1622 absent from church, at Little's house, p. 102
  • Skinner, Jeremy - petition against clothiers' malpractices, 1629, p. 58
  • Skinner, Martin - 1622, absent from church (& again in 1623!), p. 102
  • Skinner, Richard - in plague list, probably died + others in family, p. 98
  • Skinner, Richard - churchwarden at Braintree c. 1630
  • Skinner, William - Bocking churchwarden 1620, p. 85
  • Skinner, William - on Braintree 4+20 vestry, buried 1565, p. 122
  • Skinner, William - paid a rent to Vicar of Braintree in 1577, p. 49 
  • Skynner, John - signed plea for Braintree Ho[use] of Correction, 1625 p. 81
  • Skynner, Martin - signed plea for Braintree Ho[use] of Correction, 1625, p. 81
  • Skynner, Richard - signed plea for Braintree Ho[use] of Correction, 1625, p. 81
  • Skynnere, Robert - defaulting on tithes and fined, 1414, p. 20
  • Stacy, William - petition against clothiers' malpractices 1629, p. 58
  • Talcot, John - 1632 absent from church, A'deacons Court, p. 103
The following  list of names in the Bocking clothier trade is quoted by Quin from an mss by T. Rayner: 
17th - 19th century - Goodwin, Stacie, Cooke
Kent Register Offices & Parish References - website obsolete
This is a listing of Kent Parishes and their corresponding Register Offices. It is hopefully accurate but does not include, at the moment, those Kent Parishes that have now been swallowed up into the London area. 
Ashford Register Office - Elwick House, Elwick Road, Ashford, Kent, includes the old Swale office which includes Folkestone & District. - Eastwell, Egerton, Little Chart, St. Michaels (nr Tenterden), Tenterden
Canterbury Register office - Wellington House, St. Stephens' Road, Canterbury, Kent - includes the former Sittingbourne or Shepney area office - Canterbury
Turnbridge Wells Register Office, County Offices, 39 Grove Hill Road, Turnbridge Wells, Kent - Benenden, Cranbrook, Sandhurst 
Map of Kent - website obsolete
North West Kent Family History Society
Phillips, Gervase.  The Anglo-Scots Wars 1513-1550: A Military History, The Boydell Press, 1999
  • Map of the Anglo-Scottish Border Marches in the Sixteenth Century
  • Map of the Battle of Flodden, 9 September 1547
  • Map of the Scottish East March and part of Lothian, September 1547
  • Map of the Battle of Pinkie, 10 September 1547
Powell, W. R. A History of the County of Essex, Vol. V, Oxford University Press, 1966
Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Best Printed Sources for Medieval Forebears of Colonial Immigrants
  • Victoria County Histories
  • The History of Parliament
  • Berry's Pedigrees of Families in the County of Kent
  • Pedigrees of Yorkshire Families
  • 1999 Burke's Peerage
Tenterden - St. Mildred's Church - website obsolete
This is a large church in a town which was a centre of the weaving industry for many years and consequently in the fifteen century became a very prosperous area. However, the origins of this church and the possibility of there being an earlier church on this site date back to shortly after the death of St. Mildred, the daughter of Ermenburga, the great grand daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent and Merewald, the third son of King Penda of Mercia. Mildred died about 720 and there is some written evidence to suggest that there was a Church built and dedicated to her as early as 730. 
The earliest part of the church is the chancel which is pictured.  At the top of  this picture, you can just see the two blocked-in 13th century windows. the roof of the chancel was raised to it's present height in the 14th century and further alterations, mainly because of other additions to the church were made in the 15th and 16th centuries. 
The nave has a magnificent carved wooden ceiling supported by tall posts rising from huge tie beams which span the width of the Nave.  
Turk, Marion. The Quiet Adventurers in North America, Detroit, MI: Harlo, 1983.
  • Maps of Jersey, Guernsey Islands and Channel Islands. 
  • Some Huguenot Surnames: Durell, Roignon, Runyon
Yorkshire Parish Registers - website obsolete
The following Yorkshire Parish Registers transcribed by the Yorkshire Parksh Register Section, Yorkshire Archaeological Society are available on microfiche.  
  • Vol. No. 2 Burton Fleming, East Riding, 1538-1812
  • Vol. No. 15 Cherry Burton, East Riding, 1561-1740 
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