The manor remained with the Archbishops of York well into the nineteenth century, and is described as such in the White's Trades Directories of 1840 and 1846. However, by 1892, Bulmer's directory gives Wm. Liversidge & Sons of Selby, as the lords of the manor.
The Manor of Bubwith cum Harlthorpe
At Domesday, Gilbert Tison held the manors of Bubwith, Foggathorpe and Gunby, plus six carucates in Spaldington, two carucates in Gribthorpe, and seven bovates in Willitoft as soke of his manor of Wressel. He also held the manor of Averham, in Nottinghamshire.
Gilbert Tison has been repeated described by several authors as the Great Standard Bearer of England under King William, but Clay (Early Yorkshire Charters, XII) says that this description must be discarded, as the only evidence for this title is a single charter which Clay has revealed to be an obvious forgery.
At some time between Domesday and the Lindsey Survey of 1115-1118 Gilbert Tison lost his tenancy-in-chief over all his Domesday lands. Clear evidence is lacking, but it has been suggested by Stapleton that he probably lost it due to siding with Robert earl of Northumberland in his rebellion of 1095.
The tenancy-in-chief of all of Gilbert Tison's manors in the East Riding and Nottinghamshire, Swinton in the West Riding, and South Ferriby in Lincolnshire came to Nigel d'Aubigny, becoming a part of the Mowbray fee through Nigel's son, Roger de Mowbray, although Gilbert Tison's heirs general or descendents held under-tenancies in almost all of these. Gilbert Tison had died definitely before 1130, with some slight evidence that he died no later than 1124.
Gilbert's heir was Adam Tison, and in a notification to Roger, Archbishop of York, dated between 1154 and 1163, of the gift to Nostell priory of land in Swinton, we learn that Adam's daughter was Avice and her husband is Henry Hose. Adam Tison had probably died by 1159 as from this year payments for the lands in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire were being made by Adam's son and heir, William.
Between 1138 and 1143, William Tison confirmed to St. Peter's York (the Dean and Chapter of York Minster) the gift of a moiety (half) of the church of Bubwith, which was founded in his fee, together with 1 carucate of land there. In 1166 William held 15 knights' fees of Roger de Mowbray, and he was dead before Michaelmas 1180, leaving four daughters as heiresses, by his wife, Alice.
One of William Tison's daughters, whose forename is not known, married Robert Constable I of Flamborough, and it is through this marriage that the manors of Bubwith cum Harlthorpe and Holme on Spaldingmoor, among others, came to the Constable family of Flamborough.
The manors remained with the Constable family, until they came to William Constable in the early seventeenth century.
During the 1630s William Constable fell into considerable debt, and was forced to sell off or raise capital from his estates. A life-interest in the manors of Holme and Bubwith cum Harlthorpe were sold in 1633 to Sir Marmaduke Langdale. However, with the outbreak of the English Civil War, with William Constable becoming a Colonel in the Parliamentary army, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale a General in the Royalist army, the manors became something of a political football.
With the help of the Scots, the Parliamentary army won at Marston Moor on the 2nd July 1644, gaining York and the north of England. The following year, in recognition of the services of Constable, the House of Lords' Journal records the following:
Order for 1000l. to Sir W. Constable, out of the Rents due to the Crown and Sir M. Langdale, from the Manor of Holme, in Spalding Moor.
"The House, taking Notice of the great and faithful Services done by Sir William Constable, a Member of the House of Commons, Lieutenant General of the Horse under the Command of the Lord Fairofax, in the Service of the Parliament, in the East Riding of the County of Yorke, and elsewhere, since the Beginning of this War, as also of the great Losses sustained by him, and of the great Arrears of Pay due unto him; and upon Information that these is a Yearly Fee Farm Rent of One Hundred and Thirteen Pounds payable to the Crown, out of the Manor of Holme, in Spalding-Moore, in the County of Yorke, which Manor belongs to the said Sir William Constable; as also that there is a Yearly Rent or Sum of Three Hundred Pounds, payable out of the said Manor, unto Sir Marmaduke Langdale: It is Ordered, That the said Sir William Constable shall have and receive; upon Accompt, the Sum of One Thousand Pounds, out of the said several Rents of One Hundred and Thirteen Pounds, and Three Hundred Pounds per Annum, payable out of the said Manor of Holme, as aforesaid; and this shall be a sufficient Warrant to the said Sir William Constable, and to all and every other Person or Persons whom the same shall concern."
From 1648, following further Parliamentary victories, Constable sat on the Army Council which eventually led to the King's treason trial, and sat as a commissioner of the High Court of Justice during the trial itself, and signed the King's death warrant. After the King had been executed on the 30th January, 1649, Constable served on the Council of State, and one year later he petitioned Parliament for the return of Manors he had sold in the 1630s where the purchasers had fought on the Royalist side. On the 4th January 1650 the House of Commons Journal had the following entry:
Resolved, Upon the Question, by the Parliament, That the Inheritance of the Manor of Holme, with the Appurtenances, the Inheritance of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, wherein Sir Wm. Constable Boronet hath an Estate for Life, and the Lady Constable an Estate for Life, in Remainder, in Part thereof, for her Jointure, be settled upon the said Sir Wm. Constable, and his Heirs; reserving the Fee-farm Rent of One hundred and Thirteen Pounds Four Shillings and Five-pence to the State, in Consideration of Seven hundred and Fifty Pounds, Part of One thousand Pounds granted to him by Ordinance of Parliament, of the Second Day of April 1645, out of the said Manor; as also of the Sum of One thousand Pounds yet arrear unto him the said Sir Wm. being Part of One thousand Nine hundred and Eighty-four Pounds, of his Arrears for Pay charged, by Ordinance of Parliament, upon the Lands of Wm. Middleton Esquire, in North Duffield, he being a Papist in Arms; and in full discharge of the aforesaid Sum, and all Arrears; and that Mr. Stephens do bring in a Bill to that Purpose.
In May, 1650 Constable regained his manors of Holme and Bubwith cum Harlthorpe when Parliament passed An Act to settle the Inheritance, and the present Rents, belonging to Sir Marmaduke Langdale, of the Manor of Holme in Spalding Moore in the County of York, upon Sir Wm. Constable, and his Heirs. William Constable died on the 15th June, 1655.
Langdale distinguished himself during the Civil War, fighting at both Marston Moor and Naseby. In 1648 Langdale was guarding the road into Preston when his forces suffered a surprise attack by Cromwell's forces, resulting in the 3-day Battle of Preston. The Royalists were eventually overwhelmed, but Langdale managed to escape the field, only to be captured in Nottingham a few days later. In October 1648 he managed to escape and make his way to the Continent, joining Charles II's Court-in-Exile. In July 1651, Langdale was stripped of all his remaining lands and manors by an Act of Parliament aimed at punishing Royalist delinquents, An Act for the sale of several Lands and Estates forfeited to the Commonwealth for Treason.
However, following the Restoration, The General Pardon granted by Charles II, specifically excluded the lands and manors etc. of William Constable. Langdale was made Baron Langdale, and regained his lands and manors, including Holme and Bubwith cum Harlthorpe.
With the death of the 5th Lord Langdale in 1777, the Bubwith cum Harlthorpe and Holme manors passed to his daughter Mary, the wife of Charles Philip, 16th Baron Stourton, and then continued with the Stourton family throughout the 19th century.
The Manor of Foggathorpe
At Domesday the manor of Fulcatorp, consisting of 3 carucates, was held by Gilbert Tison. All 3 carucates were given in frankalmoin by Tison, 2 carucates to St. Mary's Abbey, York, and 1 carucate to Selby Abbey. It is not clear which of these gifts carried the lordship of the manor.
The land held by St Mary's Abbey descended in the Meaux family, who were their immediate tenants. The land held by Selby Abbey was tenanted to the Gunby family.
By the time of Kirkby's Inquest, 1277-1307, the land in Folkethorp was held in three fees:
The Ros Fee, of 1½ carucates, held by Galfridus de Cokerington;
The Mortemer Fee, of 1 carucate, held by Roger of Spaldington;
The Mauley Fee, of 1½ carucates, representing the Fossard Fee, held by Alice of Pothow and Robert Northiby.
Burton's Monasticum, quoting the The Nomina Volarum (9 Edward II, 1316), informs us that the Lordship of Foggathorpe is held joinly between the Prior of Ellerton and Jacobus de Millington, and that in 1351 the Abbot of Selby had 1 carucate in Folkerthorpe, and was the chief Lord there.
From the sixteenth century we find the Ackroyd family holding an estate in Foggathorpe, and it could well be that they acquired this estate following the dissolution of the monasteries, when the Foggathorpe lands held by Selby Abbey and St. Mary's Abbey, York, came to the crown. The Ackroyd lands in Foggathorpe never use the word 'Manor' in any of the Ackroyd wills studied. In the White's 1840 Directory, the entry for Foggathorpe states: "The Ackroyds had an ancient moated mansion here, but it was taken down in 1743."
The only other pre-nineteenth century references to the manor of Foggathorpe I have found come from the will of Ramsden Barnard of Beverley, of the Barnard family of Cave Castle, in 1749, in which he leaves the Manor of Foggathorpe to his good friend, William Bethell of Bishop Burton; and a deed in the East Riding Archives, DDRI/13/4, dated 5th July 1766:
Parties: 1) William Bethell, Bishop Burton, esquire 2) Thomas Broadley, Hull, esquire Property: moiety of property as described in DDRI/13/1; as collateral security for peaceful possession by Thomas Broadley of the manor of Foggathorpe with messuage and closes called Firth Close, Great and Little Welt Closes, Blanshard Firth, Nigh and Farr Clemmitt Closes, Pear Tree Close, Ings Close and Farr and Little Thorne Closes; parcel (two acres) all in Foggathorpe Recites will of Ramsden Barnard, 16 Jan 1748, and subsequent transactions.
Although the manor of Foggathorpe is mentioned a few times in the nineteenth century, for example in deeds of the Sotheron-Estcourt Family Estates in the East Riding Archives, (DDSE(2)/3/116 - 1830; DDSE/6/8 - 1839), it is not clear who the lord of the manor is at this time.
The Manorial Documents Register has no references whatsoever of manorial documents relating to this manor, and trade directories of the 1800s which normally name the lord of the manor for each manor, never name any for Foggathorpe. It seems to be the case that this manor never functioned as a manor, and held no manor court.
The Manors of Gribthorpe
Gribthorpe was not a manor in its own right at the time of the Domesday survey, but was soke of two other manors. Gilbert Tyson held the manor of Wressle, whose soke included 2 carucates in Gribthorpe, and Ralph de Mortimer held the manor of Newsolme (in Wressle) which included in its soke 2 carucates in Gribthorpe. Despite the small size of Gribthorpe, it appears that both the Domesday portions eventually became manors. The lordship of Gribthorpe, part of the manor of Wressell under the Percys and the Earls of Egremont, was one; while the manor of Brind and Gribthorpe (later to become separated) under the Dukes of Norfolk was another
Lordship of Gribthorpe in the manor of Wressell
Gribthorpe is listed in Kirkby's Inquest as being part of the Mowbray fee, and held by Clementia de Vesci. However, before 1359 the manor had passed into the hands of Henry de Percy and it was appropriated to the Priory of Drax.
In 1755, A Plan of the Lordship of Gribthorpe in the Manor of Wressell belonging to The Earl of Egremont was revised by J. Crow from an Old Plan drawn in 1613, and in 1819 Leonard Eland of Wressell, was appointed gamekeeper for the Manor of Gribthorpe.
The lordship of Gribthorpe (under the Earls of Egremont) remained a parcel of the manor of Wressell into the 19th century. However, by 1840, he manor of Gribthorpe shows up in a directory of 1840 as being owned by Col. George Wyndham, lord of the manor. The manor consisted of three farms, and the farmers were George & John Eland, and Wm. Penrose. In the 1846 directory, the ownership was the same, and the farmers were now John and Thomas Ealand, and Wm. Penrose. Col. Wyndham was still the lord of the manor in 1857, but in the 1892 directory the manor was then held by Lord Leconfield.
Manor of Brind with Gribthorpe
Gribthorpe is also listed in Kirkby's Inquest as soke of the manor of Newsolme and was in the Mortemer fee, held by John de Vesci.
In the late thirteenth century John Mowbray acquired a group of Vescy manors based on Newsholme, including the manors of Thornton, Gribthorpe and Brind with appurtenances in Loftsome, Wressle, Bubwith and Holme upon Spalding Moor. They were held in dower by Clemence, widow of the bastard William's legitimate brother John (d.s.p. 1295). In 1335 John de Mowbray's son and heir, John (II), agreed to lease those manors from Clemence at £92 a year for her life, and at her death in 1343 it was said that she had a yearly farm of £92 for her life from the manors and that Mowbray held them in fee. In 1397, Thomas Mowbray was created Duke of Norfolk, and in 1440, the Valor of the lands of Katherine duchess of Norfolk in Yorkshire, included the manors of Kirkby Malzeard, Thirsk, Hovingham, Newsholme, Brind, Thornton and Gribthorpe. In 1475, John duke of Norfolk, sent instructions to his stewards, under-stewards, receivers, bailiffs and other ministers and tenants of and within the manors of Kirkby Malzeard, Burton-in-Lonsdale, Thornton, Newsholme, Brind and Gribthorpe.
It is unclear how this manor further descended and more research needs to be done.
The Manor of Gunby
In the Domesday survey the manor of Gunby, consisting of 1 carucate and 3 bovates, was held by Gilbert Tison, and the Count of Mortain held 5 bovates there too. Shortly before 1100 Gilbert Tison gave 2 carucates of Gunby to Selby Abbey in frankalmoin, so it is likely that Tison came by the 5 bovates of the Count of Mortain following the Count's forfeiture.
Selby Abbey tenanted the manor of Gunby to Humphrey of Gunby, who also held lands of the Abbey in Breighton, Willitoft and Foggathorpe. The manor then descended in the Gunby family, until 1293, when Thomas de Gunby was hanged at York for harbouring his two sons, Roger and John, who had been found guilty of robbery and hanged at Reading. The manor then came to Thomas' daughter Alice, who was married to John de Pothowe. John
As the manor was held in its entirely by Selby Abbey in frankalmoin, it does not show in the survey of knights' fees known as Kirkby's Inquest, nor in the Nomina Villarum.
At some time in the fourteenth century the manor came to the de la Hay family, as the will of Peter del Hay in 1426 contained the following bequest to his wife: Elizabethae jam uxori meae omnia bona de mea in maneriis de Gunby et Balne. (To Elizabeth my wife I will all the goods in my manors of Gunby and Baln). The manor remained with the de la Hay family until a de la Hay heiress, Isabella de la Hay (died before 1481) married John Vavasour. She also brought him Spaldington, and John Vavasour made his seat there. John's son, William Vavasour was described as William Vavasour of Gunby when he married Isabel, daughter of Robert Urswick of Badsworth. William died in 1504.
Following the Dissolution, the Selby Abbey interest in the manor of Gunby passed to the crown, and by letters patent dated the 23th Aug, 1545, the crown granted to Sir Arthur Darcy, for £468 17s 6d, the manor of Gonby [Gunby] with fishing in the River Derwent and a wood called Gonishawyth. In 1553 Andrew Vavasour fined with Arthur Darcy and Mary his wife, for the Manor of Gunby and lands in Gunby and Bryghton.
The manor eventually came to the Dolman family, when Elizabeth Vavasour married Thomas Doleman (J.P in 1584). Their son, Sir Robert Doleman (died 1627) was described as Knight, of Pocklington and Gunby. The manor remained with the Dolman family until it was sold in 1652 to John Rogers, Alderman of Hull, and remained with the Rogers family until 1742, when Nathaniel Rogers, without male issue, settled the manor on his daughter and heiress Elizabeth Rogers, who married 1st James Barry, 9th Sep 1742, in Sculcoates, then 2nd Rev. William Welfitt in 1772, who acquired the manor as part of the mrriage settlement. William Welfitt leased the manor and farm of 345 acres, to Robert Hepton of Gunby for 11 years, in February, 1792.
Throughout the 1800s the manor changed hands, was mortgaged, leased and released, many times. Some of the names involved in these transactions were: Rev. William Welfitt, Henry Maister of Hull esquire, Robert Carlisle Broadley of Hull, Arthur Maister, William Schofield, Michael Clarkson of Gunby, gentleman, James Bell of Temple Hirst and James Froggart of Attercliffe, Joseph Richardson, Thomas Bell, William Procter of Selby, gentleman and his trustee Jonathan Burtt of Gunby, gentleman.
By 1836, the manor had been divided, as in that year 10s rent was paid by William Proctor to Charles Robinson, being half a year's rent 'For Part of Gunby Manor'.
In 1892 Bulmer's Directory gave Jonathan Burtt, esq., as the lord of the manor.
Harlthorpe
see The Manor of Bubwith cum Harlthorpe above.
The Manor of Spaldington
Count of Mortain: The manor of Spaldington was held by the Count, and was farmed by Nigel, with 6 sokemen and 1 bordar there. The manor had sokeland, which comprised 6 bovates in Newsholme [in Wressle], 5 bovates in Willitoft, 1½ carucates in Foggathorpe, 2 carucates and 5 bovates in Laytham, 2 carucates and 6 bovates in East Cottingwith. However, 6 carucates of land in Spaldington were sokeland of the manor of Wressle.
In Kirkby's Inquest, 1277-1307, the manor of Spaldington was a part of the Mauley fee, and tenanted by Walterus Bathell and Johannis del Hay, under Germano le Hay del Maulay. The Inquisitions of Knights' Fees, 1303, tells us that 4 carucates and 7 bovates in Spaldington of the Mowbray fee was held by Osbert de Spaldington; 3 carucates and 1 bovate of the Mortemer fee was held by Roger de Spaldington; and of the 2 carucates and 6 bovates of the Mauley fee, Peter de la Hay held half a carucate, as did Osbert de Spaldington, with Johannes Malurer holding 5 bovates, Joannes filius Thomae 6 bovates, and Walteri le Bacheler 4 bovates. The Nomina Villarum, 1316, informs us that the lords of the manor were Petrus de Hay and Jacobus de Bosevill.
The manor of Spaldington descended in the de la Hay family until a de la Hay heiress, Isabella de la Hay (died before 1481) married John Vavasour, around 1431. Through this marriage the manor passed to the Vavasour family, a cadet branch of the Vavasours of Hazelwood, and John Vavasour made his seat in Spaldington.
The manor then descended in the Vavasour family until the last male heir, Thomas Vavasour, Esq., died in 1679, leaving an only daughter and heir, Mary Vavasour, who married Sir Ralph Assheton of Middleton, Lancs, Baronet. Their eldest daughter and co-heir, Anne, married Humphrey Trafford, Esq., 5th Aug 1701, in Manchester. Humphrey and Anne had a daughter and co-heir, Elizabeth Trafford, who married Mail Yates, of Mail, Lancs, and had an elder daughter and co-heir, Anne Assheton Yates.
Anne Assheton Yates married Henry Nooth, a Colonel in a Cavalry Regiment, who assumed the name of Vavasour, and was created a baronet in 1801.
The old Elizabethan Mansion of the Vavasours was pulled down in 1838, and the new hall erected in 1840. Sir Henry Mervin Vavasour, grandson of Henry (Nooth) and Anne, sold the manor around 1872.
The Manor of Willitoft
At the Domesday survey, Willitoft, comprising 2½ carucates, was part of the soke of the manor of Breighton, held by Ralph de Mortimer. Another 5 bovates in Willitoft was soke of the manor of Spaldington, held by the Count of Mortain, and a further 7 bovates was soke of the manor of Wressell, held by Gilbert Tison.
However, by 1298 Willitoft was a manor, as in that year Osbert de Spaldington, a Kings' Justice, and a leading military figure of the time, had his possessions forfeited for trespass, and included in the extents of his lands were the manors of Spaldington and Willitoft. He would appear to have regained his lands and possessions shortly afterwards, as in 1303, he issued a bond to Alice, daughter of Sir William Constable of Flamborough, to pay her 4 marks yearly during her life, out of his manors of Spaldington and Willitoft.
The Inquisition of Knights' Fees in 1303 tells us that the 1 carucate of land in Willitoft of the Mortemer fee was held by: Osbert de Spaldington, 5 bovates; Willelmus Warde, 1 bovate; Petrus filius Margaretae, 1 bovate; and Emma Maresc', 1 bovate. The 2 carucates in the Mauley fee was held by: Isabella de Besingby, half a carucate; Robertus Bataill, half a carucate; Willelmus de harum, half a carucate, Osbert de Spaldington, 2 bovates, Margareta relicta Willelmi Fabri, 1 bovate; Eva filia Walteri, 1 bovate. The Nomina Villarum of 1316 informs us that the manor was held by Clemencia de Vescy.
In the early sixteenth century George Vavasour married Anna, daughter and heiress of Robert Skipwith of Willitoft, and acquired j.u. the Willitoft estate. George died 23 June 1561. By 1586 the Vavasours had established a seat in Willitoft, as in that year George's son, Peter Vavasour of Willitoft was charged with recusancy. Throughout the post-reformation period the Vavasours of Spaldington, Gunby and Willitoft remained staunch Catholics, and while they were persecuted for their faith, it appears that none of them lost their lives for it, but they came close. In 1616 a Catholic priest, Thomas Atkinson, aged 70, was visiting the family at Willitoft, but was betrayed, and he was carried to York with his host, Mr. Vavasour, his wife and children. Atkinson admitted nothing, to save his hosts from a charge of harbouring, but a pair of beads, and the form of an indulgence were found upon him, and on that evidence alone, and his subsequent refusal to swear the oath, he was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, which was carried out on the 11 March, 1616. This close call did not deter the family, as in 1667 John Vavasour, gent, of Willitoft, was also charged with recusancy, and in 1753 the Bubwith parish register records the burial of Mr. Thomas Vavisser, from York, late of Willitoft, Papist fees paid, then to the Curate for the Interrment of the sd corpse in the upper end of the Chancel joining to the Altar wall, £2 6s 4d, to the clerk £0 16s 8d.
The death of Thomas Vavasour was in fact the last of the male line in Willitoft, and the manor passed to his kinsman, Gerald Strickland of York, esq., by his will, which he had made on the 4th August, 1747.
Gerald (Gerard, Jerrard) Strickland Esq was described as 'of Willitoft' when he married Cecilia Towneley, 15 Apr 1779, and he was still the proprietor in the Land tax listing of 1792. Following his death in March 1795 it appears that the Willitoft estate was mortgaged, as in May 1813 his widow, Cecilia Strickland wrote to her legal advisor, T.S. Standish, regarding a plan to call in £3,000 of a mortgage on Willitoft, to give Jerrard (jnr) some of his father's property - this to be arranged by George (Wigan Archives, Ref: D/D St./BundleC17/2/6 - dated: 31 May 1813). It would also appear that the mansion was not occupied following Gerard's death, as in Whellan's History of the East Riding, published in 1857, we are told that the old mansion of the Vavasours was demolishd 'many years ago', and replaced in 1825 with a farm house.
Nineteenth century directories and topographical dictionaries add the following:
In 1840 and 1846 the owner of the manor was William Green, Esq., and in 1848 and 1857 the owner was Col. Wyndham. In 1892 the whole township, with the exception of one-and-a-half acres of glebe, belonged to the trustees of the late Alfred Stopford, Esq., of Manchester, who were also lords of the manor.