Church Fenton Village – A Short History
- At September 23, 2013
- By David Mason
- In Uncategorized
- 0
FENTON – the word is old English. Fen meaning marshland; Tun or Ton meaning an enclosure or land reclaimed from the Fans or marshes.
KIRK – meaning CHURCH or GREAT. So it is the parish of KIRK (church/great) FENTON with LITTLE (or South) FENTON and BIGGIN.
The parish was originally situated in the Barkston Ash Wapentake (District like the old Hundred; the word means also “weapon shaking” as a sign of consent at meetings) of the West Riding and, of course, in earliest times in the Kingdom of Elmet 963 A.D.
1086 A.D. was the year of the DOOMSDAY SURVEY. Fenton is mentioned but not the Church; but during the same year a survey of‟ the Archbishop‟s Manor at Sherburn-in-Elmet took place and we read, “two churches are there and two priests” As Fenton church was built as a Chapel of Ease to the mother church of Sherburn, we can fairly assume that the second church was one at Fenton, though not this building.
Early 13th Century. At this time Fenton and Wistow were carved out of the large Prebend of Sherburn, and now appear as two independent churches with their own vicars. This fact was confirmed by Pope Honorius 111 in 1218.
1240 A.D. saw the first vicarage, and since 1869 the parish has been in the gift of the Archbishop of York.
The parish registers commence in 1627. It is also quite possible that there was a church in Fenton in the 10th or 11th Century.
TWO INTERESTING QUOTATIONS FROM TWO 18th-century VICARS.
1743 The Rev. William Gill writes, “There are eighty families in the parish, one of which is Papist. There is no Meeting House for the Non-Conformists. I reside in the parish in Ye Vicarage House – I do not know of any who come to church but what are baptized – for the Catechising every Sunday during Ye Season of Lent, the children are sent but rarely ye servants – the number of communicants in the parish I believe to be 120 – Received at Easter 39”
1764 The Rev. James Derbishere writes, “There are 86 families in my parish; 7 Methodists, 1 Church of Rome. There is a meeting of the Methodists once a month at the house of Richard Bean; he has refused to shew his licence. I know not the names of the preachers.”
An interesting note in the York Faculty Book of 1736 – 1768, p.377, tells us that the above – mentioned Meeting House was registered May 3, 1764 on the petition of Richard Bean, William Harrison, Thomas Bean, John Scawbord and others.
THE CHURCH BUILDING
THE CHURCH REPRESENTS A CRUCIFORM STRUCTURE which is rare in this district. It is reputed to be one of the smallest, completely cruciform churches in England carrying so vast a tower.
In its original form it is assigned to the period 1220 – 1250. In 1280 the narrow South Aisle was added and the double lancet window was inserted in the West Wall of the South Transept.
1330 The large East Window appeared together with the large South Window in the South Transept with their flowing tracery.
1390 This year saw a great deal of alteration to the west end of the whole church in the Nave.
1450 THE TOWER WAS ERECTED – on four new pointed arches springing from massive piers without capitals. Also at this time the south wall of the Chancel was rebuilt one foot further out, and the 13th-century piscina (the place where a priest can wash his hands and the sacred containers or in some Christian churches, a sacred container or basin that holds holy water) was reset in the later wall.
1844 In this year the last restoration of our Church took place under George Fouler Jones of York. He re-roofed the Church; re-built the South Aisle and part of the North Transept all for £447 5s 4d
George E. Kirk, St. Mary Kirk Fenton, 1938
THE EARLIEST DOCUMENTARY REFERENCE TO FENTON seems to be in a grant in the year 963 by King Edgar to Aeslac of 20 casati (hides) at Sherburn-in-Elmet (about three miles distant from Fenton), which included “one and a half hides in Fenton”. Aeslac probably bequeathed this land to St. Peter‟s, York, and the archbishop, in whose possession it is found early in the eleventh century. A description of the archbishop‟s estates of Sherburn, Otley, Ripon, etc., about 1030 includes “all Fenton except half a ploughland” (Ibid.).
By the time of the Domesday Survey, 1086, Fenton had become part of the land of Ilbert de Lascy, of whom one Osmund held three bovates to be taxed and land to half a plough, as he had done before the Conquest. In the demesne were one plough and one acre of meadow, and it was worth 10s, as it had been in the time of Edward the Confessor.
It will be noticed that this Domesday record of Fenton contains no mention of a church. That in itself is, of course, inconclusive. But the contemporary survey of the archbishop‟s manor of Sherburn and its berewicks says “two churches are there and two priests”. One of these churches would be at Sherburn and the other (if not at Monk Fryston) may have been at Fenton or possibly at Wistow.
But the original church of Fenton can hardly have been a separate parish church, and was in all probability a chapel of ease to the mother church of Sherburn, which until the thirteenth century was a prebendal church of a large parish. There seems to be no evidence of any special endowment attached at this period to the church or chapel of Fenton. It was probably built by such local contributions as could be obtained and was served by a chaplain appointed at a yearly fee by the prebendary* of the undivided prebend **of Sherburn or by his vicar at Sherburn. A prebendal rectory is in canon law a sinecure (a church office whose holder is paid, but is not required to do pastoral work).
Early in the thirteenth century Archbishop Walter Gray divided the old prebend of Sherburn in the Church of York into those of Fenton and Wistow, leaving the portion of Newthorpe, with which he endowed the treasurership of the Church of York. The treasurership had been held with the archdeaconry of the East Riding. The precise date of this act is not on record, but on 31 August 1218 it was confirmed by Pope Honorius III. To the prebend of Fenton belonged (inter alia) the tithes of corn and pulse of Fenton, Lennerton, Barkston, and the whole altarage and all fees (obventiones) with the whole parochial right of the said vills after the death of Master Peter de Shireburn – perhaps the last holder of the undivided prebend of Sherburn.
At this time the rectorial tithes of the prebend of Sherburn were divided and two new prebends, Fenton and Wistow, formed The chapels of those places formed the nucleus of the new prebends, and thus acquired the rank of independent parish churches with prebendal rectors of their own, and in due course vicarages were ordained.
Out of his portion thus assigned the prebendary of Fenton for the time being would pay a stipendiary priest to look after the parishioners of Fenton, for at first no vicarage was ordained.
* a member of the clergy of a cathedral or collegiate church, either one who receives an allowance from it or an honorary member who receives no payment. **Prebend – an allowance paid by a cathedral or collegiate church to a member of its clergy, or the property or tithe that is the source of this allowance
But in October, 1240, Archbishop Gray, at the petition of Sewal de Bovill, canon of York,(1) ordained that in the churches of Sherburn, Fenton and St. Maurice, Monkgate, York, (2) annexed to his prebend, there should be perpetual vicars having care of the parishes and their churches and chapels. The vicar of Fenton was to have the whole altarage of the same place in the name of his vicarage, paying thence yearly in the manner aforesaid six marks sterling to the aforesaid canon at the terms of Easter and Michaelmas. Of the lands, however, or rents of the same churches or chapels, or tithes of mills, hay, wood, turbary, pannage of acorns or of other fruits arising from agriculture, present or to come, nothing was to belong to the vicar except tithes arising from curtilages.
But the vicar of St. Maurice, in Monkgate, was to receive all the offerings and tithes of the same church in the name of his vicarage, paying thence yearly to the canon four marks sterling at the terms above said. But when the canon [i.e., prebendary of Fenton] should contribute to the relief of the expenses of the Church of York the vicar of Sherburn was to help him in the fifth part of the contribution to be made, and the vicars of Fenton and St. Maurice in the twelfth part.
Also they were to do the same if any other charge were incumbent upon the canon by reason of his prebend at any time. The canon of the said prebend was to be exempt from the payment of all manner of tithe and from every parochial due, and was to be able to erect a free chapel wherever he would in his court in which he might have his own chaplain to celebrate and minister Divine Service for himself and his household, the offerings made thereat to go whenever he would to the use of the same chaplain(3)
- He was prebendary of Fenton and subsequently dean and archbishop of York.
- This church anciently appertained to the prebends of Fridaythorpe and Fenton, until Archbishop Gray united the medieties into one rectory, which he assigned to the prebend of Fenton.
- This free chapel was the domestic chapel for the prebendary and his household within the precincts of his court or prebendal manor house. The chapel might be within the house or anywhere within the ‘curtilage’ (an enclosed area occupied by a dwelling, grounds and outbuildings).
The canon was bound to present to the archbishop, to wit to the dean and chapter, suitable men to the said vicarages to be instituted by “us” in the same, the custody thereof in time of their vacancy remaining in the hands of the canon. Moreover, the vicars were to swear obedience to the canon and to contribute to the charges of the canon or his prebend, as premised, and to pay faithfully to the canon at the terms above written the yearly rent afore assessed. Enacted in the month of October AD 1240.
In the Registrum Magnum Album at York are several undated, but apparently early thirteenth-century, deeds, which refer to “the church of the Blessed Virgin of Fenton,” “the chapel of St. Mary of Fenton,” “the Chapel of Fenton,” “the cemetery of the chapel of Fenton”.
It may be that prior to the ordination of the vicarage in 1240 the church was rather indiscriminately called a “chapel” or “church,” and this may have continued to some extent to a later date. This at any rate suggests that it was some time before the original status of the edifice was forgotten.
From about 1218 to 1240 Fenton would be served by stipendiary chaplains, the last of whom may have become its first vicar. The vicars were presented by the prebendary of Fenton for well over three centuries. But three presentations were made by others between 1580 and the Restoration. Subsequent presentations were made by the prebendary of Fenton until the abolition of peculiar jurisdiction in the nineteenth century. Since 1869 the vicars of Fenton have been collated by the Archbishop of York.
In the Valor Ecciesiasticus, 1535, the value of the vicarage is returned at £6 13s. 4d., and in the Parliamentary Survey, 1650, at £101. A Terrier of the year 1684 (in York Diocesan Registry) says, “There is an Augmentation made to ye vicarage of ifenton of twenty pounds a year, but by whom we do not certainly know, yet it is generally supposed to be ye Reverend Dr Wickham now Dean of Yorke who payes it duely att two times of the year: viz ye one halfe att ye ffestivall of ye Annuntiation ye other at ye ffestivall of St. Michael. The Estimate of ye vicaridge of flenton is Comonly at thirteen pounds per annum.” In 1833 the benefice was augmented with £200 from the Parliamentary grant, to meet the benefaction of £200 from the Rev. Dr. Bull, the patron.
An Order authorising sale by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of property formerly belonging to the Prebend of Fenton in York Cathedral is dated 19 April 1859 (Index to London Gazette, 1830 – 1883). The Benefice was endowed out of Common Fund with £155 per annum and £1,400 for parsonage, 6 August 1869.
Points to Note
A simple renovated Screen, probably of fifteenth-century woodwork, was set up as a chancel screen in 1918 in memory of Mrs. Isaacson (as a brass tablet informs us). The wainscot is formed of thin pieces of oak riven out of the tree with wedges, not sawn. The northern half of the screen retains a good deal of old detail, but on the south there is much renewal – apparently executed in 1844, for the monogram G.F.J. (George Fowler Jones) appears along with others.
Formerly the screen was across the north transept and before 1844 it seems to have been a parclose (a screen or railing that separates or encloses a side chapel, private tomb, or other special area within a large church) in the south transept.
Sir Stephen Glynne, in 1850 says, “The stalls have good carved ends,” but these do not now appear to be in the church. A note by William Boyne mentions, as not far from the effigy of the lady in the chancel, “an ancient piece of carved oak, now forming the end of a pew, on which are the following arms: (1) NEWBY – TWO stilts in saltire; (2) RYTHER: Three crescents; (3) NEWBY – same as the first, with a label of three points for a difference.” Boyne also refers to “portions of the rood loft”, and seats for the priests being “worked up into different parts of the church.” Fenton Church was stated to have no armorials in 1892, but Harry Speight mentions the armorial pew end. Mr. Joseph E. Morris is silent about all woodwork except the screen, which, apart from the vestry table, seems to be the only woodwork of any antiquity now in the church.
CHURCH FENTON: ITS ASPECTS AND HISTORICAL RECORDS.
Lower Wharfedale (Chapters 7 and 8), Harry Speight, 1902
Landscape effects – Wild fIowers – Appleland – The autumn crocus – Name of Fenton – History of the manor – Ancient landowners – Old field-names – Wapentake courts – Ancient charters – Population in 1378 – An unpublished inquisition – The Civil War – The Jacobite rebellion – A diabolical murder.
Flat as the country appears around Church Fenton, there is a pleasantness not to say a genuine charm about the old winding thoroughfares, with their wealth of wild flowers. A certain soothing mellowness there is in the wide spaces of field and meadow-land; while here and there a rising knoll or “rash”covered with trees render the aspects neither wanting in interest or impressiveness.
Under the soft shadows of a summer’s eve, it is delightful to be out here beneath the warm blue expanse of the paling sky; and while scarce heeding the ever-changing aspects of light, form, and colour, your ear perchance catches the long-drawn “coo” of the stock-dove; – a soothing restfulness comes over all, and half-listlessly you perceive the dim distances grow ever fainter with the brightening moon!
How pleasant also to be in this luxuriant neighbourhood in the spring-time, when primroses, orchids, and sweet-violets garnish field and hedge-row, and the snowy orchards, too, are clothed with a bridal charm. Truly this is a “land of apples” and – asks an eminent divine – is there anything better and bonnier, save a bride in her best array, than a round, rosy apple?
Surely it is one of God’s best gifts to man! “Never a meal without an apple, is my motto,” says the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse, and there is a saying in the West country: “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!” which may fitly apply to the dwellers in this orchard-land. Ruddy autumn, too, has its ample delights.
The bright blossoms of the fleabane, which is one of the rarest sights in the Highlands, makes here a common wayside show, while the pretty crimson petals of the wild autumn crocus are among the most conspicuous sights in the neighbourhood of Church Fenton. I cannot make out (for no one seems to know) how long this uncommon plant has spread its humble glory over the fields of Fenton.
Tradition says the bulbs were brought to England in the reign of Edward III by a pilgrim who carried them at the risk of his life from an Eastern land, concealing them in the hollow of his staff. But whether the pilgrim brought them to Yorkshire, or how long the bulbs have grown here, we have now no means of ascertaining.
Church Fenton, Kirk Fenton, or Fenton as it appears in old charters, seems like many other of the surrounding places, as Bolton, Ryther, Appleton, &c., to have had its origin as a settlement, in Saxon times. The prefix fen is obviously the A.S. fen, a fen or marsh, in allusion to the original situation of the ton, enclosure, town, beside some wet, low-lying spot.
Before the land was drained, marshes, with their congregations of wild-fowl, must have been common in the flat-lands about the Wharfe and Ouse, and many field-names of sites now dry and cultivated still bear witness to the fact. The Fleets at Little Fenton may be cited as an example.
In the great Norman survey of 1083-6, the place is first noticed thus:
MANOR. In Fentun, Osmund had three bovates for geld. Land [to] half a plough. Now, the same [Osmund] has it of Ilbert [de Lacy]. In the demesne one plough and one acre of meadow. In the time of King Edward it was worth ten shillings; now ten shillings.
Osmund, the previous Saxon owner, was permitted to retain his land as a vassal of the new lord of the great honour of Pontefract. Though Whitaker, in reviewing the rich manor of Sherburn, with its berewicks and two dependent churches, at this time, suggests that one of these churches was probably at Fenton, there is nothing to warrant the assumption. The manor of Fenton was separately surveyed and was not part of the Archbishop’s fee.
The cultivated area was also small, the population insignificant, and even admitting that the lord’s ploughland in demesne carried, as no doubt it would, a capital messuage with service, there is nothing to presuppose the existence of a separately endowed church, as in the case of Sherburn, with its “four-score and sixteen carucates of land, where they may be sixty ploughs.”
Osmund’s descendants in all probability continued to reside here, taking the name of De Fenton, though it is not under this name that we hear of the next transaction in the history of the manor. This was in the reign of John, when the King’s Justices were holding court at Doncaster on Sunday, August 8th, 1202.
A fine was there entered between Alexander Fitz-Robert, petitioner, and Henry de Camera and Agnes his wife, deforciants, of six bovates of land, with appurtenances in Fenton, and the said Alexander remits all his rights the in the named six bovates, &c., in favour of him the said Henry and Agnes and their heirs. For this quitclaim the said Henry and heirs remit to the said Alexander and his heirs x8 pence of two shillings rent of (etc.) 21 acres of land in the same place, rendering hence only 6d. annually for the same, namely 3d. at Pentecost and 3d. at the Feast of St. Martin, for all services, save foreign services. And the before-named Henry gives the said Alexander 1 mark of silver.
Then again in 1208 there is another agreement between Roger de Brun and Ascelina, his wife, petitioners, and Richard Fitz-Richard de Hudeston (Huddleston), of three-fourths of a bovate of land, and of three parts of twelve acres of land, with appurtenances, in Fenton. Roger and Ascelina acknowledge the said lands, &c., to be the right of him, the said Richard, for which recognizance the said Richard gives to the said Roger and Ascelina four acres of above land, of which one is in the culture of Hesse, another in the culture of Muncaie, a third in the culture of Hille, and the fourth lies near the garden of the said Richard towards the south.
To have and to hold the said lands on a yearly render of 3d. payable at Pentecost, for all services. And the above Richard gives the said Roger and Ascelina a half-mark of silver.
Fenton, in common with many other places in the Wapentake of Barkston Ash, is not returned in Kirlèby’s Inquest (1284-5), but in the Nomina Villarum (1315) it is recorded that Fenton, with its members, is held conjointly by two of the families above mentioned, namely Henry de Camera and John Fitz-Richard, while the township of Barkston, adjoining, was at this time held of the Archbishop of York, John Fitz-Walter and John de Selby. The old Hundred Courts were formerly held in this once important village, to which the men of the Wapentake owed suit.
The parish of Church Fenton includes the township of that name, Little Fenton and Biggin (from the A.S. byggan, to build), the two latter within the liberty of St. Peter of York. A singularly interesting record of the names of the inhabitants, with their holdings, appears in Archbishop Greenfield’s Register of the 4th year of Edward II (1310), under the heading of Fenton:
Johannes fil.. Thomae holds 22 acres of land Constantius Furmin holds 1 toft; Robertus Jolif 1 toft and 4 acres of land; Henry Diker 1 toft and 2 acres of land; Roger Stain 1toft and acres; John de Lumby 1 toft and 8 acres; John Batman; 1 toft and 8 acres; William fil. Hugh de Chater 1 toft and 8 acres; Henry de Houck 1 toft and 33 acres; Thomas Chapelain 1 toft and 1 acre; John de Birne 1 toft and 1 acre; Margeria de Panely 1 toft; John fil. Henry 1 toft and16 acres; Roger fil. William 1 toft and 30 acres; William fil. Galfrid 1 toft and 1 acre; Robert fil. Wilkoc 1 toft and 1 acre; Galfrid del Meiten 1 toft and 1 acre; Jacke 1 toft and 6 acres; Richard Totty 1 toft and 3 acres; William fil. German 1 toft and 2 acres; John fil. Gilbert 1 toft and 6 acres; John fil. Alan 1 toft and 3 acres; Walter Brette 1 toft; Adam Fox 1 toft; Richard fil. Humfrey 1 toft; Alice le Wilde 1 toft; Thomas Sutor 1 toft; Thomas Alli 1 toft and 1 acre.
Whether the Robert Jolif who held a parcel of land at Church Fenton in 1310, is any connection of the Essex family of Jolliff or Jolliffe I have not ascertained. But it is noteworthy that the late John Jolliffe Tuffnell, Esq., D.L., J.P., of Chelmsford, was at his death in 1894, one of the principal landowners at Church Fenton, and by marriage of John Tuffnell, Esq., with Elizabeth, sister of Sir William Joliff, claims descent from the Jolliffs of Leeke and Careswell Castle, co. Stafford.
I have already mentioned the Langtons as owners of the valuable quarries at Huddleston, and in a deed dated at Bishopthorpe in 5373, a grant is made to William Gray and Robert de Wyclif of the wardship and marriage of John, son and heir of John de Langton, of York, he being then a minor, and heir to lands and tenements in Frismersk (one of the lost towns on the Humber), Huddleston and Fenton. These possessions had been held by John, father of the said heir, of the Archbishop of York by knight service.
Following this I find some further charters from which it appears the ancient and honourable Craven family of Altaripa or Dautry, held lands in Fenton. A charter of Thomas de Altaripa, dated at York, 26th March, 1382, assigns and instates Robert de Barkestone, his attorney, to receive full possession of all those lands which belonged to Nic. de Midleton, Kt., within the parish of Church Fenton, according to the terms of a certain indenture to him the aforesaid Richard (sic) thereof made.
Again in 1383 Thomas de Altaripa of Canton-in-Craven, granted Robert de Stillington, parson of the church of Broughton, Robert Dautry, chaplain of Carlton, and Thomas Wode, of Carlton, all his lands in Elslack, Glusburn, Rimington, Bukthorpe, Newthorpe-juxta-Sherburn in Elmet, and Kirkfenton, with all their appurtenances.* This grant is witnessed at Elsiack, where Godfrey de Altaripa had by license of 12th Edward II (1318) erected a castle or fortified manor-house.
Another indenture of the same date, written in Norman-French, and dated at Rest in the parish of Sherburn, witnesses that Thomas Dautery, of Carlton, granted and confirmed to William de Hoghwyk, his heirs and assigns, an annual rent of 26s. 8d., issuing out of his lands and tenements, with their appurtenances, in Glusburn in Craven, during the life of Isabelle, wife of the said Thomas Dautery. By this arrangement the said William agreed to hold and peaceably enjoy all the lands, &c., in Kirk Fenton, according to the form and effect of a charter of enforcement made to the said William by the said Thomas Dautery, without any rent charge issuing from the said lands and tenements, except the services due and accustomed to the chief lord of the fee, and also that the said Isabella, wife of the said Thomas, shall not challenge her dower in the said lands and tenements, underwritten.
Stained Glass. Fragmentary ancient glass is to be noticed in the tracery of the four-light east window of the chancel – but its lower lights contain glass of a modern design – and in the middle one of the three lancets in the end wall of the north transept. “The medieval glass which survives is found in the tracery lights of the east window of the church and in the middle window of the three lancets which pierce the north wall of the north transept. As is far too often the case when only a small portion of the original medieval glass of an ancient church has survived, so here, the glass which is still to be seen is largely fragmentary, and gives no indication of the plan which was followed when the church was originally glazed.”
FURTHER NOTES ON THE MEDIEVAL GLASS IN FENTON CHURCH
Contributed by the REV. CHANCELLOR F. HARRISON. THE EAST WINDOW. In tracery, which belongs to the curvilinear style, there are fragments, such as a few quarries, which are ornamented with sprigs of oak bearing the acorn, and such as examples of yellow stain, which appear to be coeval with the tracery in which they have found a place, together with one or two pieces of ruby glass. Fragments of inscriptions (in the topmost compartment of the tracery), which give no indication of their original context, and of canopies, with figures of two small birds, doubtless belong to tile second half of the fourteenth century. This is all that can be said of the medieval glass in the tracery of the east window, except that here and there holes and cracks appear. THE MIDDLE WINDOW IN THE NORTH WALL OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT. Apart from a belt of modern white quarries, which crosses the middle of the window, this small lancet is filled with glass which is probably of the first half of the fourteenth century. This glass is arranged so as to fill six panels, three above and three below the belt of white glass. The borders are ornamented with architectural designs in the form of narrow panels surmounted by gables, the whole design producing a pleasing effect. A fragment of the summit of a tall canopy in the same style, in white and yellow, occupies part of each of the two topmost panels. The lowest panel has an example of dark brown and white interlacing of uncommon design. The remainder of the ancient glass consists of leaf patterns, some of them fragmentary, though the first panel (counting from the foot of the window) has two good pieces of ruby glass. It is evident that the destroyer of the original glass carried out his work of stamping out every trace of “superstition” only too completely. |
The property of this ancient house was transmitted by marriage of co-heiresses. Elizabeth, daughter of John Dautery, Kt., married Sir John Bold, of Bold, co. Lancaster, to whose son, Brian Bold, she releases all her lands, services, &c., in Carlton and Jolesum, 33rd Henry VI (1454-5).
Before this, however, a fine is entered of the manor of Carlton between Boniface de Bold, plaintiff, and John de Bold and this Elizabeth, his wife, deforciants. About the same time also, Isabella, daughter and sole heiress of a William de Altaripa, married Roger Ferrand, of Skipton, who brought the Hall estate, not the manor, into that family.
The manor of Fenton was, in 1649, purchased by Adam Baynes, M.P. for Leeds in the Interregnum. He was born in 1621-2, entered the army of the Parliament, and died in 1670. He purchased several Royal Forests in Lancashire, likewise the King’s manor of Holmeby in Northants of General Lambert for £22,000 but was compelled to give it up at the Restoration.
The following transactions (not before published) concern the sale of the manor of Church Fenton at this time:
MANOR OF CHURCH FENTON.
We whose names are hereunder written being five of the Contractors appointed by an Act of this present Parliament for the sale of the lands and possessions of the late Deans, Deans and Chapters, Cannons, Prebends, and other persons in the said Act mentioned; doe hereby Certify to the Treasurers in the said Act named, or any two of them; that Adam Baynes who according to a Contract of the 9th day of October last made by the said Adam Baynes for the purchase of the Mannour of ffenton and other things in the County of Yorke was to pay the sum of [blank] in the whole, hath according to an Act of this Parliament of the nineteenth day of June, 1649, payd to John Blackwell one of the Contractors in the said first Act named whom wee and the rest of those contractors have appointed to receive the same; the sum of sixpence in the pound for all his said purchase money which comes in the whole to Nyne pounds two shillings fourepence and hath been received by the said John Blackwell and is by the said Act of the nineteenth June 1649 to be defaulked by the said Adam Baynes and to be allowed to him or such other, to whom the Conveyance is to passe by the said Treasurers, or any two of them, in part of his or their said purchase money.
Dated this 9th day of November 1649. CLEM OXENBRIDGE ROBT. FFENWICKE
J A. RUSSELL. THO. AYRES WILLIAM ROBERTS.
Twenty-two days following the date of the above, I find this certificate of completion of the contract, enrolled by the Deputy Comptroller:
Know all men by theise presents That the wholle purchase money payable by Adam Baynes of Knowstropp in the county of Yorke according to a contract of the munth of October 1649, by him made with the Contractors for the sale of ye late Deanes and Chapters landes for the purchase of the Mannor of ffenton wth the rights members and appurtenances thereof in the said County of Yorke and other things certified by the Deputy Register to have binne by the said Adam Baynes Contracted for Amountinge to the sum of three hundred sixtie ffoure pounds foureteene shillings two pence is by him paid and defaulked in this manner (that is to say) ffoure pounds eleven shillings tenn pence is payd in ready money to the Treasurers And the residue thereof being three hundred and sixtie pounds two shillings and foure pence is defaulked by the said Adam Baynes upon parte of transferred Certificate fixed upon the Creditt of the Act of Parliament for the sale of Deanes and Chapters lands and one Certificate under five of the Contractors hands for sale of the said lands for vid. per pound upon tihe Contract. As is certified to us by the Register Accomptant.
Witness our hands the first day of December 1649.
STEPHEN ESTWICKE. THO. HOES. (?).
The purchaser left a son, Robert Baynes, who died in 1697, but whether the manor descended to him and his heirs I have not ascertained.* The manor subsequently passed to the Gascoignes of Parlington, and is now owned by Lady Ashtown, but the principal landowners are Col. Wm. Nevill Tuffnell, Esq., D.L., and Henry Edward Bull, Esq.
The Fabric Rolls of York Minster shew that many of the male population of the parish of Fenton, in the 15th century, were employed in quarrying and leading stone from the quarries at Huddleston to the banks of the Ouse for transhipment to York. The blacksmith of Fenton, whose smithy is still conspicuous in the village, is also mentioned in 1458. Singularly, not one tradesman or artificer in Fenton is returned in the Poll Tax of 1378.
The named population then consisted of 42 married couples and 26 single adults who are all rated at the agricultural tax of 4d. each. Allowing for men absent in war, &c., and for the exempted poor, the population of the parish was probably not less than 250, in which case it would be safe to assert that it had been nearly 400 a century before. There was no squire or chief lord living there in 1378, though “Isabella at ye Hall,” probably a housekeeper, is mentioned among the then resident ratepayers.
* An account of Adam Baynes will be found in the National Dict, of Biography, but the date of his birth is erroneously given as 1631, and Knowstrop is stated to be in Northants. instead of in Yorkshire. It may also be added that in the confirmation of his arms granted in 1650, he is stated to have ‘anciently come out of Cumberiand and settled himself at Knostrop.’ It is not improbable that his ancestors settled with kindred long seated in the parish of Leeds, and in a long succession of Adams and Roberts, perhaps descended from the Adam and Robert de Knowsthorpe of the Subsidy Rolls of Edward III.
No properties at Fenton are cited in the Monasticon as having belonged to the monasteries, yet it would appear that Selby Abbey had possessions here, for in 33rd Henry VIII (1541), William Bapthorpe obtained a grant from the King of lands and tenements in Fenton and Wistow, late belonging to Selby Abbey.*
Eight years previously he had similarly obtained the manor of Newhay, with tenements in Saxton and Scarthingwell, late the property of Clementhorpe Priory.
From an unpublished inquisition taken at York Castle, 15th Oct., 1672, I find that a parcel of land called the Fleet, in the lordship of Little Fenton, the rents and profits of which, every third year, when a field in the township of Little Fenton, called Sweemunds, lay fallow, were taken by the churchwardens of Kirk Fenton for repair of the Parish Church.
This enquiry elicited the fact that Wm. Hammond, Esq., of Skaldingwell, had been owner of the lands, and he about the year 1660 had sold the said parcel to John Motterhom, of Bishopdyke Hall, who had not paid the above rent for four years past.
Church and poor had suffered greatly during the troubled era of the Civil War, and there appears to have been a great abuse of public charities, as will be seen in the chapter on this subject relating to Cawood.
How many men of Fenton took part in that disastrous broil of the 17th century we have no means of ascertaining, but the Sessions Records of the West Riding shew that one George Buck, of Fenton, had been badly wounded in the war and in 1676 he was lame and blind. He had served the King’s party under Captain Edward Stanhope, in the company of foot, and no doubt fought at Marston, but being now totally unable to work, a petition bearing many influential signatures, seems to have got the old man a pension.
During the Jacobite rebellion in 1715 the men of Fenton were again called upon to provide and set forth foot soldiers for the West Riding militia. Their names are given in a MS. book elsewhere noted, entitled Ye Register of Sir Henry Goodrick, A° 1715 and 1716.The country was in a very disturbed state for a long period and not until the ‘waefu’ day O’Drumossie Muir’ in 1746 sealed the fate of the Stuarts, was anything like a settled order of society restored; though Church Fenton, some two or three years after this, was the scene of one of the most shocking crimes that marked that era of unsettled existence.
Two honest women named Elizabeth Ferrand and Mary Parker, living together, being well-to-do grocers in Church Fenton, were brutally murdered in broad daylight in their own house by a ruffian named Fawthorp, who robbed them of all their money and valuables and then decamped. Afterwards the barking of a dog attracted the attention of some of the neighbours, who broke into the house, and discovered the two lifeless bodies mangled in a most awful manner.
The bloody deed, it is said, had been done with a cooper’s adze, or some other blunt instrument. Fawthorp was eventually apprehended and hanged at the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, York, March 26th, 1749.
* The above grants I find cited in the Coucher Book of Selby Abbey, but the charters are undated.
THE CHURCH, VILLAGE, AND OLD FAMILIES OF CHURCH FENTON.
Antiquity of the church – Its dedication – Description of the church, and architectural details – Singular position of holy-water stoup – Prebendary of Fenton – The vicars – Old families – Old houses – Remains of ancient cross.
TURNING FROM RECORDS OF WAR AND CRIME, let us now seek pleasanter paths. The hoary old church by the wayside in the village is invested with no common interest, and nearly eight centuries of history surround its hallowed walls. Its very dedication is lost in antiquity. Though recorded to have been St. Mary,* there appear good reasons for supposing it to have borne a double dedication in honour of St. Mary and St. John the Baptist. Upon entering the church you take a step down, perhaps symbolical of the Baptist stepping down into the waters to baptize.
This arrangement, however, is common in ancient and unaltered churches dedicated to this saint. Healaugh and Adel in our own district may be cited as examples. Moreover one of the pre-Reformation bells of the church bears a figure of the Baptist, with the inscription fac tibi baptista fit ut acczptabili ista † [Do those things which the Baptist has made favourable (acceptable) to you.]
*There are a number of early charters in the Reg. Meg., Album at York, and in the Cotton MSS. (Claudius B. III.), in which the church of Fenton is thus referred to; (1) Hugh, son of Germanus de Fenton, grants to God and the church of the Blessed Virgin of Fenton, the yearly rent of a penny, which David de Chaucomb used to pay him for a tenement in Fenton ; (2) William, son of Henry de Camera, of Fenton, grants to God, the church of S. Mary and the prebend of Fenton, and Mr. Robert de Winton, prebendary of Fenton, and his successors, an annual rent of 6d. which the said Robert owed me for one part of a messuage near the cemetery of Fenton. Archbishop Grays Register, page 189.
† Anciently St. John the Baptist as a patron-saint was very popular, but in modern times no dedication is so common as St. John the Evangelist. Among the old churches of Worcestershire the proportion of St. John the Baptist outnumbers St. John the Evangelist as twenty to one. See Miss Arnold-Forsters Studies in Church Dedications.
The church is cruciform, having transepts with central tower (as in cathedrals) supported upon four massive 13th century arches. These are discontinuous, there being no capitals, a character most commonly met with in Flamboyant work, though occasionally in earlier styles. The choir is spacious, being forty feet long and nearly twenty feet wide; the arch inclines slightly to the north.
The large east window of four lights is a fine example of late Flamboyant, and contains a beautiful and harmonious composition in stained glass, with inscribed scrolls. The north and south sides of the chancel, as also the west end and the tower, are late Perpendicular.* The south window of the chancel is of three lights, filled with stained glass depicting figures of St. Peter, St. John and St. James, and is a memorial to the Rev. John Bull, S.T.P., prebendary of Fenton in the Cathedral Church at York, who died in 1858. The window was erected by his brother, the Rev. Henry Bull, M.A., rector of Lathbury in Buckinghamshire.
* The wood and plaster-work of the chancel in 1500 was reported to be in a very decayed condition. Surtees Soc., vol. 35 (1858), page 266.
The north transept, now occupied by the organ and vestry, is Early Pointed, having lancet lights, one of which contains some old stained glass. There is also a Perpendicular oak screen in this transept, making a division for the vestry, and a slab upon the floor records the death of one Thomas Birdsall, who died in 1709.
Before 1840, when the new school was built, this transept had been partitioned off for the Sunday School, and subsequently down to the restoration of 1844 a loft was set up in it, in which hay and straw were kept, I believe for the sexton’s donkey!
Indeed old inhabitants tell me that the ass was actually stalled there, and that strangers passing in the night-time fled as for their lives when sometimes they were startled by the sombre bray of the disturbed animal echoing in the aisles, verily believing his Satanic Majesty was endeavouring to call up (it is to be hoped vainly) the spirits of the departed.
The south transept affords an interesting example of the transition that took place in the time of Edward III, when the restricted lancets were giving way to the more spacious lights of the Middle Pointed style. In the east wall are two single pointed windows, and in the west wall a double lancet, with quatrefoil above, combined beneath a hood terminating in bosses of characteristic foliage.
The south side is lighted by a spacious window in four compartments, having ‘Decorated’ tracery in the head. Beneath this window is an ogee niche of the same period, coeval with a female effigy now in the chancel, which was discovered laid upside down and forming part of the chancel pavement when the church was restored in 1844.
It is of good Huddleston limestone and in excellent preservation, and is laid upon a modern base. The lady is represented with hands in prayerful attitude upon her breast, and clad in a long, close-fitting dress, concealing the feet. The sleeves are open at the ends and each a little below the elbow. The head, reclining upon a cushion laid anglewise, is covered with a veil, having a double plait arranged diagonally in front, while a single plait extends down either side of the head, and the usual large wimple or gorget covers both chin and neck.
At the feet is a curious combination of heads, a dog and a talbot or lion apparently contending for the head of some other animal. The effigy may be dated 1320 – 1330, and had probably been concealed during the Puritanical revolution. Some old oak forming the end of a pew bears the arms of Newby (two stilts in saltire); Ryther (three crescents) and Newby again (as named, with a label of three points for difference).
The east end of the south transept has apparently been a chantry chapel, though there appears no documentary evidence of its having been endowed. In the east wall are two stone brackets upon which figures no doubt were placed, and during the alterations in 1844 an ancient stone altar-slab, bearing the usual five crosses, was discovered here, as also another in the chancel. The latter has the usual centre cross marked on the front edge of the stone.
The south aisle is separated from the nave at the vest end by two pointed arches resting upon octagonal columns. A third arch lower and rounder than the others’ is carried upon a small cylindrical shaft, having a moulded capital and octagonal base, and a half-arch at the east end springs from the latter.
There is a narrow pointed entrance into the tower, the step of which is now nearly a yard above the floor of the nave, and about seven feet above this doorway is a small square-headed window.
The tower is battlemented, and has large belfry-windows with sloping sills. The curious buttress-like projection at the south-west angle, shewn in the accompanying illustration is only a thickening out of the wall for the above-mentioned staircase] into the tower.
The second illustration shows the east end with the restored roof-pitch. It may be noted that before the introduction of hammer-beams and flat roofs, the leading timbers of the principals, says Mr. Parker, were often formed into an arch by the addition of circular braces under the tie-beams, the beams themselves being also frequently curved.
The spandrels (the triangular space between the right or left exterior curve of an arch and the framework of another arch) formed by these braces were very usually filled with pierced tracery, and the timbers generally were more moulded and enriched than in the earlier styles. Mr. George Fowler Jones, F.R.I.B.A., who very ably and efficiently restored the church in 1844, tells me that he re-roofed it to the old pitch, which was clearly marked by a weathering against the tower.
As a consequence the roof of the aisle inside looks low, being continuous with the nave-roof above it, but the design undoubtedly carries with it the principle of the original building. The old roof had evidently been lowered three times by shortening the spars and other timbers that had decayed on the wail. The south aisle was also rebuilt and part of the north transept, together with the buttresses at the angles of the south transept.*
The old south porch, which had been many times repaired, † was also rebuilt, and has a very high gable. The doorway is Early Pointed and bears a nail-head impost. The north entrance, now blocked, has a mutilated stone bracket on the east side, and the remains of a holy-water stoup opposite, a somewhat remarkable position for such objects, and apparently so placed from local usage of entering the church by the north doorway and quitting it by the south. The church was originally a rectory but was appropriated to the prebendary of Fenton by Archbishop Walter Gray.
KIRK FENTON CHURCH CLOCK
From the Church Warden’s Book 1780 “Paid Geo. Goodall £3 3s 0p for clock. Going to Aberford with old clock and collect new clock”. No more details about this clock. For many years local Blacksmiths made public clocks crudely in iron. I have a bracket like a peppermint stick which may have come from this early clock? This clock mechanism was situated in the lower part of our church, no known location and housed in a structure known as the Clock House. Darling-Wood of York purchased a new clock dated 1871 from a firm called Evans of Birmingham. One has to assume it was also placed in the lower part of our church? It was moved into the clock chamber in 1971.
The inscription on the clock mechanism count wheel says: New escapement and pendulum. Bevel gears, driving work. New bracket fixed in present position by Mr G Newey, Clockmaker of York who still winds the York Minster clock daily. Earlier in 1919 his Father, Mr G F Newey reconstructed the clock mechanism, no details of the work have surfaced so far. Potts of Leeds, no longer in existence, maybe absorbed by other clock people, serviced the clock for many years. From about 1993 we had the maintenance services of The Cumbria Clock Company of Dacre, near Penrith. In 2000 Cumbria Clocks installed self-winding to replace mechanical winding. Two powerful electric motors operate winding drums for striking and clock works. In 2003, again Cumbria Clocks removed the clock face to be repaired, cleaned and gilded.
In 2010 we await some bevel gears to be replaced. All the work and costs were due to the generosity of Fenton Parishioners. Frank Dean October 2010. Frank Dean has maintained the church clock in Church Fenton for a quarter of a century – and used to wind it up every week until he and his wife eventually raised £6,000 to get it electrified. Now his work for the community and the church in Church Fenton has been recognised when he was selected to receive Maundy Money from the Queen at York Minster.
Frank, 86, said he had only just relinquished his role in looking after the clock at St Mary’s parish church and that for many years, he would climb a narrow spiral staircase in the clock tower every Friday to wind the clock’s mechanisms. In the 1990s, he and his late wife, Heather, launched a fundraising campaign to get the clock electrified, and won overwhelming support from local residents. After that, he was still responsible for routine maintenance to ensure it continued working and to change the time by an hour each autumn and spring. Heather was also a church warden for 36 years, and Frank said he viewed the Maundy Money as much a recognition of her work as his.
Article courtesy of ‘The Press’, York.
A contribution will be made from each sale of ‘Fighting Church Fenton’ to the clock fund.
A vicarage was ordained in 1240 and the prebendaries continued patrons †† The living is valued in the King’s Books (Henry VIII.) at 6 13s. 4d. yearly, and in the Parliamentary Survey at £10 per annum. Torre gives a list of vicars to the 17th century¤. In an inquisition taken at Sherburn in 1310, Adam, clericus, de Fenton, is named as present among the jurors, who say that the manor of Sherburn is held by the Archbishop of York of the lord King, in capite. The present excellent vicar, the Rev. James John Christie, M.A., who is also Rural Dean, succeeded the late venerable vicar, the Rev. James Isaacson in 1899. The registers of the church commence in 1630, but are defective from 1739 to 1750.
* Mr. Jones, the architect and restorer of the church 6 years ago, and now in his 85th year, is still remarkably hale and active. Upon hearing of the author’s project he at once kindly undertook to visit the district, and took several admirable photographs (including the views of Church Fenton) which are engraved in this work.
† In 1472 the porch was reported to be in a bad state owing to decay of plasterwork. Surtees Soc., vol. 3, page 237.
†† Adverting to the conjecture on page 90 as to a Domesday church at Fenton, I may observe that the prebends of the liberty of St. Peter’s, York, were an ordination of post Survey date; nor were the prebends of Fenton and Wistow founded until the time of Archbishop Gray, the foundation being confirmed by Pope Honorius III. (Reg, Mag. Album, III., 56a). The original plan of the canons of York living together, or in common, – a system derived from the Celtic Church, does not appear to have continued after the 11th century, for Henry the Chanter, who wrote about this time, relates that “after the canons had lived together for a few years, Archbishop Thomas, by the advice of certain persons, divided the land of St. Peter (A.D 1090), which was still for a large part waste, assigning a prebend to each, both that the number of canons might grow, and also that each one acting for himself would be more zealous in building on and cultivating his own Share” (History Ch Y, 11., 108). The prebends were called sometimes after the ahars in the minster to which they belonged, and sometimes after the places from Which they derived their dues. The latter was adopted in the case of the prebends of Fenton and Wistow, within the liberty of St. Peter at York.
¤ Vide Torre’s MSS. (Peculiars), page 555. Surtees Soc., vol.49, page 438.
The most ancient local family of which we have any record is that of De Fenton, who took their name from the place, and in all probability descend from the “Richard” of Fenton, whose “garden” I have mentioned as existing in 1208. In 1275 Johannes de Fenton, tanner, was a freeman of the city of York. He is amongst the earliest enrolled, and doubtless obtained his freedom by inheritance. In 1309, Nicholas de Fenton, butcher, and in 1328, William de Fenton, clericus, were also freemen of York.
In 1317 license was granted to Ralph de Fenton, chaplain, to assign rents in Naburn-juxta-Fulford, to a chaplain to celebrate divine service in the cathedral church at the altar of St. William for the souls of the said Ralph and his ancestors.
Members of this family were settled early about Leeds, and they were long resident at Middleton, near Hunslet, from the time of Edward II. Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Kt., Secretary of State, married a daughter of Richard Weston, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, by whom he had a son, William, and a daughter, Catharine, married to Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork, from which alliance several noble families trace their descent. He died in 1608. Richard Boyle, second Earl of Cork, created Earl of Burlington in 1664, was lineal ancestor of the present Duke of Devonshire.
I have also mentioned the family of Dautry, landowners in Fenton, who had a fortified manor-house at Elslack in the parish of Broughton in Craven. Thomas de Fenton was instituted vector of Broughton in 1391 and resigned in 1393. The church at Broughton, it should be observed, was not appropriated to Bolton Priory nor a vicarage endowed till 1442. Fr. Wm. de Fenton, a canon of that monastery, was vicar of Broughton and a man evidently of some substance, for administration of his effects was granted to Gilbert, Prior of Bolton, 22nd April, 1480: There have always been Fentons at Fenton, and they are there still.
After the dissolution of religious houses there were a few families in the parish who resolutely declined allegiance to the reformed church. The Newbys were amongst these, an important landowning family in the 15th and 16th centuries at Church Fenton, whose arms are in the church. Peacock mentions Francis, wife of Gervise Newby, gent., Elizabeth, wife of Edward Newby, and Ambrose and Cicely Newby, their children, as Papists in 1604. Also Robert Halliley, Alice Dalby, Elizabeth Grene, widow, and Clare, her daughter, were avowed non-communicants at the Parish Church.
The lords of the manor of Fenton have for a long period been non-resident, and there is no house now existing that can strictly be called the manor-house. The old moat-house was pulled down about 1885 and the present substantial residence, now occupied by Mr. Joseph A. Walkington, occupies its site.
The commons of the parish were enclosed in 1771-2, when 260 acres were allotted for tithes. A further Enclosure Act was also passed in 1778. The Wesleyan Methodists were established here last century and they erected a chapel in 1807. The National Schools in the village were built in 1840, when Wm. Ammitt was schoolmaster. The buildings were enlarged in 1871. There is also a Board School at Biggin.
There are the remains of an ancient cross on the green opposite the smithy, but for what purpose it was erected or whether it is in its original position no one now appears to know. The base is rudely octagonal and the portion of the shaft that remains is of the same pattern and about a yard high. The village has never been chartered for a market, nor have markets known to have been ever held here, as the ancient chartered towns of Sherburn and Tadcaster are only some three to five miles distant.
Panoramic views of Church Fenton fields at Harvest time (August 2010)
The following pages are taken from Edmund Bogg’s book entitled ‘The Old Kingdom of Elmet’ published in 1904. Although there is some historical ‘overlapping’ from the previous pages I felt that it makes an interesting read and adds further knowledge of the village, not only in the actual content, but also gives us a glimpse of the style of writing of a Victorian author. I have also included the first couple of chapters as it illustrates, and introduces us to, the historical background to the region, including the effects of the Roman invasion.
CHAPTER I.
THE BRIGANTES
ALL EARLY WRITERS OF YORKSHIRE HISTORY agree that the Brigantes, the most important of British tribes at the Roman invasion, and located chiefly within the boundaries of our present Yorkshire, originally immigrated from southern Europe. There are several places on the continent with only slight variations, bearing the above significant name, an appellation formerly given to the hillsmen or highlanders. This does not prove that the districts, either in Britain or on the continent, inhabited by the Brigantes, were strictly mountainous. Brynaich, reaching from the Tyne to the Cheviots, a land of brown heath and mountain, was the northern limit of their possessions. Pliny mentions “the Brigiani, a people dwelling on the western side of the Cottian Alps.”
Between the Brigantes and the tribes located ‘twixt the Humber and the Thames’ was a certain affinity and racial connection; also a great similarity of name and custom. For instance, the Brigante and the Parisi, the latter a semi-independent branch (an offset of the tribe who afterwards gave their name to Paris), occupied the land lying between the Derwent, Humber, and the sea, chiefly the Holderness and South Wold district. The Coritani were a people dwelling in the district lying immediately to the south of the Humber, between the valley of the Trent and the sea. The Iceni, a tribe immortalized for all time in the annals of history, occupied the district between the Pen country, the Wash, and sea coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, to the south of whom, and reaching down to the valley of the Thames, lay the country of the Trinobantes.
* The word “brigand” is not improbably derived from the name of the Brigantes; or, perhaps, from Briga, a border town near Nice. The word “brigant” first appears in the sense of a light-armed soldier, and then it takes the meaning of a robber. Next we find “brigante, a pirate “; and the pirate’s ship is called a brigantine, of which the word brig is a contraction.
These little kingdoms were shut in, on one hand, by immense dark forests, the one to the south, thirty miles or more in width, stretched along the valley of the Thathes, nearly from sea to sea. Another forest ran north across the Fen country, and along the valley of the Trent, remains of which we find in the forest of Arden and Sherwood; whilst further north was the great forest of Elmet, reaching from the Don, over the Aire and Wharfe valleys, to Knaresborough, and, beyond, to the more inaccessible moorland of north-east Yorkshire; and still further, rendering the difficulties of approach more dangerous to a hostile army, were the vast stretches of solitude and fen-land, swamp, morass, and rivers overflowing like a sea at flood-time, inundating the land for miles around. Such were the conditions of the country, and the disposition of the several British tribes, occupying the eastern part of Britain, about the period of the Roman invasion.
We have previously spoken of the Brigantes as a tribe: strictly speaking they were a nation, the most powerful, numerous, and warlike of the whole Celtic people at that time inhabiting this island. Their territory stretched from the Humber’s flood to the watershed of the Tyne, embracing what afterwards became the kingdom of North-Humber-land, which included the counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham, and the hill fastnesses of Cumberland and Westmoreland, the Pennines, from the wilds of Stainmoor to the Peak district. The river Don, in all probability, formed the boundary of the kingdom to the south, to the north of which are still to be traced numerous earthworks, attributed to the Brigantes; but in their great fight with the legions of Rome, the lines of the Aire and Calder were also of paramount importance.
The capital of this great people is considered by all historians to have been on the Ure – “Isuer Brigantum,” built on the angle of land lying between the little river Tut and Ure, and adjoining what afterwards became the Isurium of the Roman, now Aldborough; but the Celtic earthworks above Grassington, and those in Grasswood, adjoining, prove the latter district to have been also a great centre of the Brigantes, probably equal, and of even more strategically importance than Isuer.
Sixteen miles lower down the Wharfe Llecan (British), Olicana (Roman), now Ilkley, another strong station; still further down the river we find Bardsey (Celtic), and the fortified ridge and coomb, now Compton; lower still we have Calcaria. Nine miles east from the latter station, across the Ein-Stiga (Ainsty) stood Eborach (York), situated in the angle, as it remains to-day, at the confluence of the Foss and the Ouse. Sixteen miles southwest from York are the huge earthworks of Barrach (Barwick), from whence runs the long irregular line of entrenchments above the valley of the little river Cock (the Cocru of the Celt), stretching two miles east, beyond Aberford (another strong position), at the confluence of the tiny river Crow and the Cock. Kippax and Caer-Loid-Coit (Leeds) have also been strong positions, guarding the passage of the Aire; and away south-west on the Calder was the important station of Cambodunum; to the south, protecting the passage of the Dun (Don) was Caer-Dune (Doncaster), Caer-Conon (Conisborough).
To the north of those mentioned, and particularly on the wide moorland stretching from the east coast to the Pennine Range, are numerous remains of Celtic settlement and earthworks, this district being the last strong place of refuge for the harried Celt, in his great struggle with the Roman, as it was also in after centuries with the Engle folk. Such were the disposition and chief centres of the Brigantes at the commencement of the Christian era, and at this period, when they appear upon the stage of the world’s history, they were not barbarians, but in a fairly advanced stage of civilisation.
CHAPTER II.
THE INVASION OF THE ROMANS.
LED BY JULIUS CAESAR, the conquering legions of Rome turned their attention towards the subjection of Britain, 55 years before the advent of Christ. This invasion or invasions (there was another attempt the following year) did not penetrate beyond the Thames valley, and was of no great importance. Nearly a century later, Aulus Plautius in command of four legions (40,000), and followed soon by the Emperor Claudius, again invaded Britain, and the task of subduing and bringing the various tribes under Roman domination was seriously begun.
It does not come within our province to relate how the Romans fought their way, step by step, over swamp and desolate moorland, and through the great forest belt of the Thames valley, defeating the Atrabates and the Trinobantes; nor does it belong to these pages to explain the great revolt and swoop of the renowned Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni; how her tribe smote with sudden vengeance the Romans for their cruel slaughter of Druids of Anglesey, and of the swift and terrible retribution which followed – eighty thousand Britons were slain, and Boadicea, who could not survive the disaster, fell by her own hands: by this deed, the Iceni dwell in the pages of history for all time, although passing thence into oblivion as a people.
Apart from the Brigantes, the Silures and the Ordovices were the most valiant and difficult of conquest. Their Caers were situated amongst the most inaccessible hill fastnesses of Wales, and for some years, Caractacus, Prince of the Silures, waged an unequal contest with Rome. From motives of policy, the Celtic prince ultimately withdrew his army from his own country (South Wales), and selected a most impregnable position among the hilly fastnesses of the Ordovices (North-east Wales), a formidable retreat, and there offered battle to Ostorius Scapula. This grand old chieftain did all in his power to resist his adversaries, yet nothing could withstand the onslaught of the advancing legion, who with closed ranks and holding their shields high, forming a roof above their heads, swept aside all opposition, and victoriously penetrated the British camp.
Amongst the captives was the wife of Caractacus and other members of his family, yet the Silures and their allies were not easily vanquished, the bitter conflict was prolonged for many a year in the hilly fastnesses of the west; thirty pitched battles, we are told by the Roman historian, were fought before the Celts, inhabiting Wales and the country bordering on the Severn valley, would yield their independence – in fact, at no period during the Roman occupation of this island, was their power supreme in Wales. Here in this lone, wild mountain land, impregnable by nature, the nationality of the Celt has survived unto our time.
Amongst those who gave assistance to the Silures were a strong force of Brigantes and the Coritina, led by Venutius, probably a prince of the latter tribe, and husband to Cartismandua (of infamous memory), Queen of the Brigantes. This army of auxiliaries surprised and gained at least one complete victory over the Romans. Soon after the latter event, a bitter quarrel arose between Cartismandua and Venutius. The story runs that the false Queen, of Cleopatra type, had taken to herself another lover during Venutius’ campaign in Wales.
Be this as it may, the outcome of the trouble was a split and civil war amongst the Brigantes. With the assistance of other tribes, and the disaffected Brigantes, Venutius made war on Cartismandua. The battle going against her, she craved assistance of the Romans for help to prop up her tottering power; and probably for the first time cohorts of imperial soldiers passed the natural lines of defence – the valleys of the Don, Aire, and Wharfe – and thus gained admission into Isuer, the capital.
Had the Britons been united at this juncture of affairs, determined to resist the invader with their united strength, the legionaries would probably have never penetrated through the strong natural boundaries of the kingdom (the waterways running east and west from the Pennines, making this the northern boundary of their empire; instead of, as afterwards, the Tyne and Irthing valleys), or, at least, would have found the conquest of this strong people one of far greater difficulty, requiring all the strength which Rome would have been able to despatch for that purpose.
It was at this time, when that grand old type of soldier, Caractacus – so long the glory of his nation and the terror of the enemy – fought his last fight and fled north, across the Severn and through the Cannock Forest and over the Pennines to the capital of Cartisinandua, doubtless, longing to have another opportunity of striking, for freedom, the invaders of his country. Sad to relate, his hopes were cruelly dispelled; for the terms of stipulation, made between the Queen and the Romans for the assistance of the latter, was the infamous betrayal of her kinsman – for the prince was a relation of hers – into the hands of the enemy, to enhance the triumph and glory of the victorious army on their return and parade through the streets of Rome.
This took place about the year A.D.51; but the gallant deeds of this brave soldier prince, and his undaunted reply before the tribunal of Caesar, shine out with a brilliant lustre across the gulf of eighteen centuries. For has he not been the model for the historian, the poet, the artist, and the composer, whilst the name of the false-hearted Queen has been branded with infamy?* Her further history can be told in a few words.
* How like her prototype, ‘Cleopatra of the Nile’, was this queen. The three attributes ‘nine distinctiveness’ were lacking in each that which marks the woman, the wife, were cast aside. Spurred on by a sordid, selfish ambition, each could walk complacently over the troubles and ravages of their bleeding country into the arms of the strong one – the conqueror – whoever he might be.
Unable to hold her own against Venutius, even with the assistance she invoked, she fled south with the cohorts of Didius about the year 54, and so passed into obscurity forever. Venutius, who seems to have been a great leader and a worthy representative of Caractacus, now became King of the Brigantes, and successfully maintained his own against the efforts of the enemy, keeping the kingdom intact for a period of sixteen years, until A.D.70, when the conquest of the North British was begun in such earnest, as could only end in subjection or death. Yet for the space of ten years the bitter fight was waged, until the strength of the nation gradually waned before the superior power of Rome.
So much for written history. We must now examine and endeavour to point out the evidences of this great struggle. About the year A.D. 70, Vespasian, having become emperor, sent over into Britain well – equipped armies commanded by Petihius Cerealis, who pressed home the attack on the Brigantes with a firm resolve to bring them into complete subjection. And it is from this date that we catch the echo of the almost ceaseless tramp of the legionaries, with all their military accoutrements and panoply of war rolling north.
Between the hill fastnesses of peak and forest to the west, and the impassable fenland around the mouths of the rivers on the east, ran a strip or neck of land, the only passable road to the north at that period, across which, and to the north of the Don, the Brigantes made a strong line of entrenchments, so formidable as to stay for some time the advance of the invaders; along the valley of the Don and its tributaries, forming a remarkable natural barrier, and the first line of defence, we can imagine the Brigantes waiting in readiness to check the advancing foe.
Many battles were fought; but how the Celtic ‘Caer-Dune’ (Doncaster), enclosed with ditch and rampart, was stormed we cannot say, for no complete story of the bitter fight for possession has been handed down to our time. The struggle at the fords, the gates to the north, would be most protracted and severe.
Slowly, but surely, the Romans pressed back the defenders to their second line of defence, the vales of the Aire and Calder and the high lands, extending like a frontier wall north-east of the Aire for several miles. From Doncaster, the Eagle banner of the legions was planted at Legeolium (Castleford), from hence the Roman road (still to be distinctly traced) runs high and straight above the low-lying lands of the Aire valley, and pierces the bold frontier wall – a defensive boundary and the western gateway into the wolds of Elmet. Here again the British may have taken their position for the defence of the Elmet country; and there are not wanting evidences of the great struggle for existence and supremacy.
From the high vantage ground, the harried Celt would naturally watch the advance of his foes. Here pressing home a charge; now retreating, or lying in ambush; every yard of ground from the river line being bitterly contested.
Through the dim haze of centuries we can almost hear the dire tumult of the struggle. For the Britons fully realized that once the enemy gained possession of this line of defence, it would presage disaster and ruin to their kingdom. Still northward rolled the din of war and strife, until the third line of defence – the valley of the little river Cock – was reached. Along the northern hank of this river there runs, for several miles, a huge rampart and ditch, strengthened here and there by a double line at this day.
From the top of the vallum to the bottom of the ditch is, in many places, from twelve to twenty feet in depth. At the base, in the deep hollow scooped out by the natural process of time, slowly runs the little river; at that period, dammed back by natural obstructions, in addition to the blocking of the waterway with flood-gates, by the defenders, the beck would be swollen in width and depth to a large river, a hundred yards or more across, a formidable retreat with the high rampart added, strong defence all the more dangerous and deadly, was the great forest of Elmet, stretching in one unbroken line from the Don across the valleys of Aire, Calder, and Wharfe, to what, in after centuries, became known as the wide forest of Knaresborough; whilst over the lower reaches of these rivers, from the Trent and along the Ouse valley to the Lower Nidd, there existed a wild trackless waste of marsh, forest, and fen – land, the southern part of which is still known as Hatfield Chase, formerly tenanted by innumerable flocks of wild fowl, and where the aborigines, who understood the intricate mazes, could glide swiftly hither and thither amongst reeds and mud in their light coracles, as much at home and at ease as the wild fowl; forest and swamp forming extensive coverts where the harried Briton could flee for refuge or lay in ambush, ready to pounce on the Roman soldier when at disadvantage. This was the state of Yorkshire at the invasion.
Leaving garrisons to keep the road clear and guard the fords at Danum, Doncaster, and Castleford, the Romans plunged right into the heart of Elmet, following the line of road as it runs today, probably at that period a British track way, direct to Isurium. Just to the left at Kippax are vestiges of a Celtic fort or rath, and other evidences of fortification along the edge of this hill frontier, but not of sufficient strength to arrest for long the progress of an army, only to be brought to bay on reaching the environs of Aberford. The prefix, aber, is Celtic, and means a confluence of two streams which are to be found here, in the angle of which, and on a high sharp ridge, the town stands. Here, guarding the line of road and passage of river, the Britons held a strong position, well chosen, naturally a defensive site; close by, on the north, runs the Cock; and a deep indent or ravine on the east, down which filters a small stream rising on the confines of Hook Moor, known as the Crow or Craw (to crawl).
It is only by examination of this angle of land at the confluence of the streams, that one recognises the defensive advantages of this strong position at Aberford in the past. Two miles west, situated in the fork of two main streams, the river Cock and Eastdale Beck, is the Berrauc of the Briton, and Barwick of to-day; from a natural and strong military point, the position here has been most wisely chosen. The stronghold is composed of a centre mound and double trench and rampart, the outer ditch also enclosing a large space, comprising several acres; at the northern extremity, the ground falls sharply down from the fighting platform to the swampy ground of Eastdale or Rake Beck, nearly 300 feet below, practically forming an impassable barrier on this side.
As Barwick will be again mentioned in the following pages during our description of Elmet, we leave it for the present, and glance at the rampart and ditch which has been continued on the south side along the edge of the bank, high above Eastdale Beck. Here, in the past, existed a large swamp or lagoon. Continuing along this bank for some two or three hundred yards beyond the Potterton Road, the defensive line descends into the valley bottom, crosses the stream, climbs the opposite slope, turns at a sharp angle to the right, and passes along part of the Potterton estate in an irregular line, to the north of the beck.
From thence the rampart enters a woodland ridge, known to-day as Becca Banks, and so on just above the river Cock to Aberford; it crosses the Roman highway at the latter place, and continues a mile or more along the north bank of the river. Whilst three hundred yards east from Aberford, another trench and vallum commences at the beck on the south side; runs up the incline to the brow of the slope, turns a sharp angle to the left, enters Raper Hills, crosses the Saxton road, and terminates abruptly opposite Lotherton. This line of earthworks at the finish points direct to Huddleston, about two miles away, where are still to be seen, in the woods, remains of trenches supposed to have been formed by time Brigantes in this great struggle.
Apart from the above-mentioned, between Lead Mill and Aberford are fragments of other earthworks. The Britons may have protected the shallower parts, and the fords, with stakes shod with iron, as Bede informs us was done at the fords on the Thames, to withstand the Roman advance. It is quite evident that a line of forts and earthworks have extended from the swamps of Aire valley, between Leeds and Castleford, on the west, to Sherburn on the east, and the position of the trench and the fighting platform, in every instance, faces the south; all point to the fact that from that quarter the enemy came. “Were those invaders the Romans?” some may naturally inquire. The question is easily answered. It could not be the Angles, for those people came from the east and spread over the wolds, or extended westwards from the Humber, along the waterways of the Don and the Aire.
The Danes, who came in war galleys, chose for their highway into the county river way and creek. The Romans, on the other hand, were great road builders, and were the only invaders who fought their way direct from south to north, and in less than half-a-century from the second invasion, had practically conquered the island, from the Channel to the wall barrier, raised to protect the northern frontier of their empire; and the great highroad which we find to-day, running over the wolds of Elmet right through Aberford, over Bramham Moor to Isurium and York, is the work of their hands.
From the foregoing remarks I think it will be apparent that the Brigantes have held the valley of the Cock with a tenacious grip, and it has been the scene of the main struggle, in fact, the “Albuera of the campaign.” How the line was broken no record tells. The final conquest was reserved for Agricola, A.D. 78-80. His army marched in two columns, one striking north, the other operating north-east from the borders of Wales. Faithful native guides conducted them by ancient track ways, through the almost inaccessible forest and mountain passes, etc. Thus equipped, he went through Yorkshire with a stern and steady tramp, and probably swept aside the opposition at Becca Banks, and also broke the Bramham Moor camp; then, instead of fighting along the Rudgate to Isuer, turned aside, and gained York by a flank march from Tadcaster, across the Ainsty, and probably passing from thence, both by road and the river way, to storm and capture Isuer, the capital of the Brigantes.*
It would have been some pleasure to have known the end of Venutius, the gallant Celtic prince, but on this point history is silent. He may have fled with those who would not stoop to the yoke of the invader, and found refuge amid the hills and deep ravines of the upper dales, which for at least another generation remained unconquered. The vast remains of Celtic occupation point to such a city of refuge at Grassington, where for some time the Brigantes kept up some state and show of independence. At length, overstepping the limits of prudence, the latter made war on a tribe under Roman protection, and, becoming emboldened by success, cut up a cohort of imperial troops. This deed brought down on their heads the strong avenging arm of Rome, and the Brigantes, as a united and independent people, from this date ceased to exist.
* “At the return of summer,” says Tacitus, “Agricola assembled his army, on their march, he commended the regular and orderly, and restrained the stragglers; he marked out the encampments, and explored in person the estuaries and forests. At the same time, he perpetually harassed the enemy by sudden incursions; and, after sufficiently alarming them by an interval of forbearance he held to their view the allurements of peace and repose. By this management, many states, which till this time had asserted their independence, were now induced to lay aside their animosity, and to deliver hostages. These districts were surrounded with castles and forts, disposed with so much attention and judgment, that none of the newly explored part of Britain was left unguarded.”
THE ROMAN ROADS.
THAT THE ROMANS WERE GREAT ROAD MAKERS requires no further proof than that the remains of such can still be traced after a lapse of 1,600 years. All roads in the north centred in and radiated to and from York. Those which principally concern our subject are immediately to the south and west of the ancient city. Possibly some of these roads were partly built on the line of ancient British track ways, which, however, unlike the Roman ways (which nearly always ran direct from point to point), deviated according to the circumstance and nature of the ground.
One of the four main trunk roads of Roman construction – the Ermine Street* – ran direct through Elmet, crossing the Don at Doncaster, the Aire at Castleford, and the Cock at Aberford. Hereabouts the old road is easily traceable, and still called “Roman Rigg”. From thence, passing through the Hazelwood estates and fringing Bramham Park, a branch diverges sharply to the right, just beyond Hedley Bar, for Tadcaster; passing over the Wharfe, opposite the site of the present church, and across the Ainsty to York.
The other road, the Rudgate, Celtic, Rhyd-a-ford (possibly an early British way), ran by Toulston down to the Wharfe, past Newton Kyme, and crossed at St. Helen’s Ford; thence over the western fringe of Ainsty, leaving Walton (Wheales-tun) to the left, and over the Nidd at Cattal, and forward, by way of Whixley and Little Ouseburn, to Aldborough – the Isuer of the Briton, and Isurium of the Roman.
Another lesser road ran from Mancunium (Manchester) to Cambodunum (Slack), and over the Aire near Swillington, and into the Elmet. This via-road or street can still be distinctly traced running for some distance on, and then parallel with the present road. Thence continuing through a stretch of wood, belonging to Templenewsam estate, and over the fields to the Selby Road. The track is still visible – one of the fields here is called “Roman Rigg” Field. The road line now passes the West Yorkshire Colliery, runs between Old Manston and Stanks, where it crosses the river Cock. Near this crossing, the rigg, or bank, is very high; from hence we have traced it over two fields, pointing in a direct line to Scholes; it is finally lost by the wood, adjoining the Seacroft and Barwick highway. Although the line of road here becomes invisible, there is no reason to doubt that it joined the road leading from Adel over Bramham Moor, remains of which are discovered just to the east of Thorner.
Another military way, which crosses Elmet, ran from the main street, crossing from Deva (Chester) by way of Olicana (Ilkley), over the Blubberhouse Moor to Isurium. Deviating from the above road, the one under our present consideration ran east, from Ilkley, along the high ridge above the Wharfe, over Guiseley Moor, Canton, and Bramhope, past Cookridge, to the Roman camp at Adel, which is still traceable. From hence, the line of road continues along the ridge of high lands of Aldwoodley, crossing the Leeds and Harrogate highway, thence over Brandon and Blackmoor, where many relics appertaining to this way have been turned up of late years; also the debris and remains of furnaces used for smelting purposes.
* Eorme, the Men of Earm or Fen-land, the Ermings, through which this road passes from the south. Thus the name, which at first had been given to a portion of the road, which bordered the Fens, was at length given to the whole line of road.
From Blackmoor to the Leeds and Wetherby road, one can walk on the Rig. Near Scarcroft, the road splits into two branches, one running on the lofty ridge past Eltofts Wood and through Thorner, and beyond, the track crosses the south side of Bramham Park, and hereabouts joins the Ermine Street, three miles south of Tadcaster. The other branch previously mentioned, is clearly to be traced in the meadow, south side of Scarcroft, where it is cut by the present Wetherby Road. From thence it ran north of Wothersome, over Stubbing Moor, and forward to Bramham, joining the Rudgate in the vicinity of Toulston.
An old man, upwards of fourscore, told us that sixty years ago lie assisted in the breaking up of Stubbing Moor, and at that time the site of the road was for some distance laid bare, arid a vast quantity of large irregular blocks of stone were carted away.
At other places on this street, portions of the road, in the shape of paving stones, some even six feet in length, and a foot or eighteen inches broad, have been laid bare by the plough and spade, principally on Blackmoor, Brandon, and at Aldwoodley. These stones, relics of the road, are to be found in several situations, and are objects of various comments to the interested wayfarer.
End of Chapter 2
CHAPTER IX – Church Fenton Village section…
… Men of fourscore years tell us how greatly the flats have changed since their youth, vast reaches of swamp and uncultivated land existed between Ryther, Ulleskelf, Fenton, and Sherburn, tenanted by flocks of wild fowl. It is now nearly all reclaimed and the farmer seems to be a fairly prosperous individual hereabouts.
A thousand or twelve hundred years ago the state of the fenland, between the course of the lower Aire and Wharfe, was strangely different. There hung a wilderness, wild, lonesome, and desolate, darkened by fog and rolling mist, through which the rivers sullenly crept; even at this time in winter the long stretches of lowland wears an uninteresting and gloomy aspect. The Romans had done something in their day by dyke and drain to improve the state of things, and one Roman relates about a curious and strange people who dwelt in the fens partly swimming and partly wading.
Another historian tells how vast flocks of wild fowl nearly darkened the fens; here congregated swans, herons, storks, geese, bitterns, curlews, snipe, ruffs, plovers, godwits, moor buzzards, water crakes and coots, widgeon, teal, sheldrake, pintailed duck, and a host of other birds, many of which have now become extinct or disappeared on the breaking up of the land.
Church, or Kirk, Fenton, about one and a half miles from Barkston, in pre-railway days lay fairly off the beaten track; today it is connected with the busy centres by a good train service. On every hand, in our walk, we note the evidence of a vast amount of labour performed by yeomen in reclaiming the land. The chartulary of the priory of Helaugh, to which a large portion of the lands of Fenton were given, throws some light on the early history of this place.
It was late in the thirteenth century before very much reclamation had taken place, and the church then was very incomplete. About that time Nicholas de Percy, of Fenton, when William, the chaplain, was vicar, gave a rent of one penny out of a toft to find a light to burn before the image of the Blessed Virgin; perhaps there seems no great splendour in such a gift, nor can we ascribe a very high development to the Fenton of that day.
The place from which the rent was derived is, however, interesting. It is the homestead of William, son of Gamel, at Biggan, a township which in after years the Canons of Helaugh always speak of as “New Biggying.”
The land about the church was called the “Aldfeld” (Oldfield), and there the parson was located, dwelling about the “head landis.” We find such names as a John de Brunne, a Robert de Wextow, Henry de Huk, and a Robert Golyff, etc.
Seen from many points the church makes a striking feature in the Fen landscape. Originally a Norman church, it has been added to and considerably altered from time to time, and its architecture is thus varied from transitional to decorated and perpendicular. It consists of nave, one aisle, transepts, chancel, and square tower in the centre resting on four massive early English columns. The lancet windows and transitional arches are noticeable features. In the floor of the chapel, south transept, there were found, at the last restoration, two stone coffins, one containing the bones of an adult, and the other the remains of a child.
The walls of this transept contain an ogee canopied recess, which formerly held the effigy of a lady, now to be seen on the chancel floor; the costume is that of late fourteenth century, the symbolical device at her feet represents a lion and some foul fiend in deadly combat; and here also are two altar slabs bearing the five crosses, and also an early English piscina. One relic denotes the existence of a Norman church, the bowl of the original font resting on the sill of the window at the west end.
EFFIGY OF A LADY
Near the North Wall, is the well-preserved recumbent stone Effigy of a Lady. This was discovered during the repair of the church in 1844, with its face turned downwards and the upper part used as a flagstone. Sir Stephen Glynne, in 1850, noted it as “a fine effigy of a lady with wimple head dress, joined hands and at her feet a dog and young lion who appear to be contending for a cat’s head”. Although Sir Stephen connects the effigy with “Amy Ryder,” no authority is given for the statement and it is not easy to determine the family to which the lady belonged.
The head rests upon crossed cushions and the motif of the ornament at the foot is unusual. If the figures are intended for a lion and a dragon they probably represent good and evil contending for the soul of the deceased. The effigy is not of ‘firstclass’ execution, but may date from the first quarter of the fourteenth century – certainly 1300 – 1350. It may have originally occupied the low ogee niche in the wall below the great window of the south transept.
Fenton forms a most interesting study; around it linger curious survivals, and, primitive ideas and customs still tenaciously cling to it. The rustic porch covered with woodbine, red brick walls, tiled roofs of the same hue resting amidst green surroundings – the footpaths over meadow and cornfield, over which the lark floods the air with melody, and wild flowers grow, the undisturbed antiquity and beauty around the churchyard. Only a small remnant of what has been the village green, locally the “green hill,” on slightly rising ground, remains.
A portion of what appears to have been a market cross is still left standing in the centre of the former market place*; on the opposite side of the street of old stood a substantial hall (in the Subsidy Roll taken 1379 there is mention of one Isabella, at ye Halle, by this we obtain evidence of the existence of the house at that early date); about half of the moat which enclosed a large plot of land, in which the house stood, still exists, to the south of which the fenland for some distance is still known locally as the ‘oad pake’ (park).
During the demolition of the old house a piscina and other relics were discovered in the walls, the latter were of extraordinary thickness. A few other antique features, a font, etc., are in the garden, and the above, with the remains of the moat, are the only mementoes of the old hall. Around the aged walls of the farm adjoining the churchyard, lingers all that peculiar charm and- old-time peacefulness and rusticity; the duck pond is a survival of the moat which formerly surrounded it. Here the ducks and geese disport, birds sing in the trees and hedgerows, the turkey- cock (whose name – Turk – is no misnomer) gabbles defiantly at our intrusion, a swarm of crows wheel and circle high above the roofs and weather-beaten tower, even the implements, strewn about in random confusion amongst the nettles and other weeds, are all characteristic of old time.
Vine Cottage, situated at the east end of straggling Fenton, is another interesting and picturesque feature: a rough-hewn timbered structure, retaining its thatched roof, overhanging eaves, and leaded-paned windows. The grape, from whence it receives its name, ripens under its eaves; trailing plants, fruiting ivy, woodbine, and old English flowers, cling tenaciously about the crevices of its walls.
In springtime, when sunlight gilds and shadows flicker, birds trill their sweetest lays, and flowers shed delicious fragrance, ‘tis, indeed, a charming old-world picture. The structure has undergone slight alterations; the original building dates from Tudor days, evidences of a moat which, in the past, surrounded it can still be traced.
* There appears to be no account of a market held here.
VINE COTTAGE, CHURCH FENTON
The interior, with ingle nook, and primitive posts, beams, and joists, is replete with age and imagery; every object the eye rests upon, in the farmstead and large orchard adjoining, is full of rustic beauty and old- world sleepiness. The weather-beaten gnarled trees, twisting hedgerows, and the obsolete farm domestic utensils, thrown carelessly into such picturesque grouping, are all pregnant with an odour of the past; apart from which is that sweet commingling of vocal sound from bird or fowl arousing pleasant reminisces of other homesteads and days gone by.
A mile or so south-east of Church Fenton is Little Fenton, a small hamlet; Hall Garth, a moated site, is, perhaps, the only remaining vestige here of other days. The village folk say there are ghosts still existing hereabouts: at the house yonder in the fields some unearthly visitant, whose spirit cannot rest, wanders in the lonely hours between night and morning; uncanny noises are heard, pots are at times banged about, doors flung open, and window blinds unwind without visible aid, mysteriously – so the credulous womenfolk assert and firmly believe.
Onward, through fen and dyke-land, down wide green lanes, shut in by deep ditches on either hand, and past swampy patches of unreclaimed ground, where aged trunks of gnarled willows stand forth in the twilight, gaunt and spectre-like, here, by the wayside, is Fenton Grange, built in 1766, on the site of a more ancient structure. Beyond is Fenton Lodge, a very old foundation. Half a mile east we reach Biggin Grange: here we obtain many glimpses and touches of a past age. The house is of two periods, the new portion dates back a little over a century, the other to the Tudor period.
This Grange is also famed for its ghost, in the form of a mysterious lady, attired in the costume of the seventeenth century – rich brocaded silk – which, an occupant informed us, could oft-times be distinctly heard rustling, as the spirit wandered to and fro in the silent hours of night. We were shown into the room where this eerie visitant was usually heard, who, if not disturbed whilst wandering, caused very little commotion; on the contrary, if interfered with, the ghost ‘takes on’ and raves about (for a benighted spirit) most strangely.
Many years ago, the farmer then dwelling at the Grange returned home late from Cawood, in a rather jocular mood, having taken a ‘wee drappie too much speerit,’ and, being thus full of courage, began to mock and imitate the unearthly visitant, but he was so furiously assailed that he never again ventured to disturb the wanderings of the uncanny one…
‘The Old Kingdom of Elmet’, Bogg. E, John Sampson, York, 1904