The Lost Villages of Worfield

Firstly, a couple of updates on previous items. The scrapbook found at The Wheel has been identified. Yes, there was a link to the pub but a much more recent one than might have been imagined. Gloria Goodson, who with her husband John, was licensee of the pub for nineteen years from 1986 to 2005, was given the book by her aunt, Lily Cooper. I now have the scrapbook so please get in touch if you would like to see it and it will be on show at the next history event.

Gloria’s time at The Wheel would make a fascinating history in itself. Nineteen years of service to the community, what an achievement. Before she and John took over the pub it was managed by a succession of licensees who never seemed to stay long. I think it may have been a managed house. John and Gloria transformed the tired old pub not just by a make-over but by their personal touch. I remember going in not long after they had taken over and it was wonderfully different, very warm and friendly.

Whenever, one hears about people’s family histories, they are always sure to contain surprises. In this instance, Gloria certainly surprised Ron and myself when we asked if she knew about the whereabouts of a poster about a prize fighting match which had taken place at The Wheel. The poster had hung in the pub. No, Gloria didn’t know where it was, but she did share a snippet from her personal history. She told us that she is Lady of the Manor of Beyton, in Suffolk, where her paternal family farmed from at least 1750. The last member of the family farming there was Gloria’s Great Grandfather, who farmed 500 acres of land. In 1913, on his death, the majority was sold but the title remained. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know that Lords and Ladies of the Manor still existed so I learnt something. Unfortunately the location of the poster is still a mystery so if anyone knows where it is we would love to know.

In Manor I have been picking up some local family names from the 1580s. At a view of Frankpledge, each township had to present the misdemeanours of its inhabitants before the lord of the manor (Sir Henry Neville, Lord of the Manor of Abergavenny) or his steward and a jury. Large fines were imposed for what we would see as relatively trivial offences. For not wearing woollen hats on Saints Days as required by law, 3s 6d, a hefty fine. On the other hand, having a punch up with someone might only incur a fine of 12d. The administration of the manor was tightly controlled. The rules, or customs of the manor, were clear and if you failed to adhere to them you would be brought before the court. Thank goodness this was the case because through these petty crimes we learn more of the day to day life of Worfield.

So, back to some names you will recognise. It is the 23rd day of September in 1584 and the Frankpledge Court is being held in Worfield. All the townships are presenting the petty crimes of their inhabitants. One has not cut a tree across the River Worfe, several have played bowls (definitely not allowed), another has allowed drinking in their house at the time of the divine service, and so it goes on, the delicious trivia which is the stuff of everyday life. Ackleton presents its list of miscreants:

John Hytchcokes left wood on the Queen’s highway to at Leggers Wall fine 2d John Shepherde overstocked the common with sheep over his allowed number - 4d John Pratt and Roger Catstrey also overstocked the common - fine 4d John Chester, Roger Smythe, William Billingsley, Richard Chapman, Anna Bradborn widow, and Stephen Smythe, all put their animals in the grain field of Aculton while the grain was being carried and were fined 6d. You can picture the scene. The corn has been cut and left in stooks ready to be taken to the barn. Perhaps someone had not been very quick in getting the job done and others, who were running short of fodder had little choice but to put them in the grain field. Perhaps, John Chester et al were making a point, that whoever was responsible should get out of bed earlier and get the job done. Either way, I bet the cattle and sheep made a mess of the corn and I can imagine that the air was pretty blue in Ackleton that day. Of course we have no way of knowing whether this is the same family as that of the John Chester currently living in the Parish, but the same Christian name may be significant. The fact that the place was Ackleton may or may not mean anything. John Chester appears in the same court roll when Kynglsowe and Stanloe present that Thomas Grainger and John Chester are both fined 4d for not practising archery, as required by law. The Shepherd family are still in Worfield, today, an unbroken presence, and the Hitchcockes have slipped over the border into , I believe. Is this Bradborn family the same line as the current Bradburn family in the Parish? George Bradburn always said this line was no relation to his family, I find that hard to believe, partly because the name is unusual. It is also a fact that George Bradborn is a well-used family name.The family in the Sixteenth Century seems to have its main residence in Chesterton although it held land in other places including Burcote and Yewke. The Lost Villages of Worfield

Worfield, as we know, has two lost villages, Astrell or Asterhull and Yewke, sometimes written as Ewyke or Yowke. One of the mysteries I was hoping to solve from the Court Rolls was where these places were. At the Frankpledge Court a group of villages would present together to the court. Rowghton and Barnley, Kyngsloe and Standloe etc. and, the lost villages are grouped with Sonde, Rowley and Bradney. This means we have at least a vague idea of where they were. In 1578 (5586/1/236 in Archives), John Bradborn held at the time of his death a weir called Yewk Water lying in Yewk, and after his death, Anna Bradborn held the weir for her lifetime. This is the clearest evidence to locate Yewk. There were other topographical references. The first was that Yewk was on the Worfe and the others were that it was near Cross Heath (possibly Crows Heath) and a big hill. John Hoggens lived there around 1576. He is mentioned in the court roll as having some dogs which he is ordered, and fails, to put down, for which, of course, he is fined.

Looking at the Field Names map of 1839, I found, to my astonishment, names such as Yoke Plantation and Yoke Field. One has to be slightly cautious because animals were yoked at this time to prevent them pushing through fences but bearing that in mind I had a look to see if there were other fields similarly named elsewhere in the Parish and there weren’t. The pronunciation is interesting. Was it pronounced somewhere between York and Yoke rather than Ewke as in Ewdness? I am pretty sure that Ewdness Meadow is incorrect. Why would that be here so far away from Ewdness? Ewke Meadow on the other hand does make sense and the transcriber, perhaps never having heard of Ewyke, would write down what he thought was meant. More work to be done but an exciting development indeed. I have marked with an A all those fields and woods which seem to me to point to the lost village and its fields. Of course there are questions. Is there any significance in the tithe barn nearby and what can we find out about weirs and how they were built? Are the stones remaining in the Worfe from the weir at Yewke rather than Rowley Mill as we had previously thought or are they remnants of a bridge at this point? Are there any remains which may tell us more about the township? Having found out the location of Yewke we now need to find out the part it played in Worfield’s history. Was its importance based on the weir and when the fishery declined the township was no longer viable? As ever, more work required. The Lost Villages of Worfield

Tithe Map and Field Names 1839

E S E w l n w M i d n Folly Common o M d e n A ti 1 n a e g 0 e e d s a a s s York Bank t 9 d s o Leasowe n 3 o w 1115 w la 1108 P A C e h The Fidler 1112 o Tithe Plantation m T we 1 1092 U Dog Dale so m 1 ea 1 p L o M p e 4 e 1111 e n e r Yoke Tr B a L ric d W ak kki o O e e ln w e Plantation Flatt w Lea ir so a sow 1 ea rd s 1 1 Leasowe L ya o 07 3 rn d w 8 2 A ba fol Crows Heath e e F 1130 ith n & 1113 loodg T ar ate h b Me wit L In ado L i c Lo w 1 tt lo we 07 A Big Weir e le s r Le 7 a u 10 aso w s C re 74 w New o Leasowe o r o i d 1119 w m Meadow e a e m e 1 W 1128 The Parks o Pr 1075 M A 1129 1 n eece 1 1 's P 1076 8 073 it 1120 Big Hill ow Sawpit Leas 1134 ong Leasowe Far L Big Meadow 1121 w Mazerdine 1072 1135 easo Weir ng L 1 ar Lo 113 1071 Meadow Ne w Ox aso eLe 1133 Leasowe 1122 Elv Cote Meadow The Yoke w o 1070 rl 30 ow a 11 eas l Field e d L o 1127 m B Re o 1123 S ig ay P llow e w Ten Lands S Ho w s o A m so r d 1 ea White Meadow o a 2 e L H e 6 2 a r M 3 L 8 l 1069 1 9 S i o 3 tt w 1 1 m l 1 Hop Yard e rn e 1227 River Worfe a d a r r g B a 0 1124 l n 4 o Lower Meadow 1152 li Y 1 w Crossitt S y 1 le w Leasowe Alldrey Leasow with Rough o ld R ie 7 Rowley 1226 1151 4 F 1 1