Wiganthorpe Hall, Nr. Terrington, N. Yorks
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DM HORGAN WIGANTHORPE HALL, NR. TERRINGTON, N. YORKS: DESCENT OF OWNERSHIP DM HORGAN MA, Ph.D. September 2000 DM HORGAN Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the librarians and archivists of the following institutions: Kew, Richmond, Surrey, Public Record Office, Reader Information Services Leeds, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Chapeltown Road, Sheepscar LS7 3AP London, The British Architectural Library, 66 Portland Place Northallerton, North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road D17 8TB Oxford, the Bodleian Library Sheffield, Sheffield Archives, 52 Shoreham Street S1 4SP Swindon, National Monuments Record Centre York, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, YO1 7PW (abbreviated BI) York, City Archives, Art Gallery Building, YO1 7EW York, the Central Library, Museum Street I do not give a separate bibliography, as all works referred to are given in full on the first occurrence, with abbreviations as used later. DM HORGAN M.A., Ph.D. September 2000. September 2000 DM HORGAN THE STORY OF WIGANTHORPE HALL, nr TERRINGTON, N. YORKS. Descent of Ownership The descent of ownership of the manor of Wiganthorpe is particularly interesting because for the most part it does not concern the great families like the Howards of Castle Howard or the lesser aristocracy of the Lascelles of Harewood House or the Worsleys of Hovingham, but for over two hundred years the merchant venturers and aldermen of the City of York. Considerable light is thrown upon the marriage links between these merchant families of York and the way land and property circulated among them from the mid-seventeenth century into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (see especially Dugdale Visitation of York ed. JW Clay Exeter 1899-19 17, hereafter Dugdale ; J Foster Pedigrees of the County Families of York. 3 vols. London 1874, hereafter Foster; RH Skaife Catalogue of Mayors, ... etc. of the City of York 1895, hereafter Skaife; Burke Landed Gentry 18th ed., hereafter Burke. Where Dugdale, Foster or Skaife differ from Burke, I have followed Burke). The ownership of Wiganthorpe Hall in the earliest years is recorded in the Victoria County History Yorkshire N. Riding, vols. i. and ii (VCH Yorks NR i. and ii) There are three entries in the Domesday Survey referring to WIGGANTHORPE. The ‘manor’ and a carucate were in the hands of the king, the former tenant having been Cnut (VCH Yorks NR ii, 202, 312); the Count of Mortain held 1 carucate (ibid. 222, 312) and Berenger de Toni also held another, once Gamel’s (ibid. 242, 312). The overlordship eventually passed to the Luttrells (VCH Yorks NR. ii, 204). In the time of Henry HI lands in Wigganthorpe were held by Anketin Mallory, descending to his son Nicholas, who died before 1275, his heirs being his four sisters. In 1289, Nicholas de Stapleton, lord of Stapleton, came into possession of Wigganthorpe, followed by Miles de Stapleton who was there in 1304. (VCH Yorks NR. ii, 204, 205). At some point in the latter part of the sixteenth century the manor of Wiganthorpe was sold by the de Stapletons and acquired by the Methams of Metham (ibid.). The Methams were linked to the Stapletons by marriage in the fourteenth century, when Sir Thomas de Metham married Elizabeth, one of the sisters and heirs to Thomas de Stapleton. According to VCH Yorks NR i, 167: ‘In 1373-4 the escheator had orders to deliver the manor of Stapleton ‘with appurtenances in the wills of Dalton Ryall and Melsonby’ to Sir Thomas September 2000 DM HORGAN de Metham kt. and Elizabeth his wife The Methams of Metham held Stapleton until 1585 when Thomas Metham conveyed it to George Pudsey’. The will of Francis Metham (second son of Sir Thomas de Metham of Wiganthorpe) dated 24th October 1595 and proved 2nd Septr. 1596 has been printed by the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal viii, 367ff. and gives us our first insight into the construction of Wiganthorpe Hall: ‘I give and bequeath unto my welbeloved nephew Thomas Metham of Metham, Esquier all those parcells belonginge to the house of Wigginthorpe, viz. All the wainscot, and seelinge in the hail and in both the parlors the glasse in all the wyndowes in and about the house with all the doores, lockes, and kaies, and all frames and shelves fastened vnto the walles, or ground. All the brewinge vessellys theire stande now in the brewhouse, all the stable hecks, mangers, and hayes withal! the Oxestalls and heckes together withal! the pales and rayles about the house and all the stoopes and rayles of stacke garthes in the groundes.’ The building appears to be a single storey hall-house with two parlours - impressive with glass in the windows and paneling of walls and ceiling but possibly unfashionable at that date (1596). It could have been a stone building, as there is a sandstone quarry in Terrington, which is obviously a ‘stone’ area. Further details in the will indicate that Francis Metham was a landowner of some considerable wealth. His heir was his nephew Thomas Metham ‘Esquier’ - a form of address, which ranked him higher than a ‘gentleman’. The next heir was Sir Jordan Metham who was at Wiganthorpe in 1616, when his eldest son was baptised. In turn Sir Jordan was succeeded by his younger son George, who, in 1654, conveyed the manor to Stephen Watson and John Micklethwaite (VCH Yorks NR ii, 205). It is at this point that the manor of Wiganthorpe passes from the great families of the north (the de Stapletons and the de Methams) to the families of prosperous York merchants. According to Aveling (Hugh Aveling OSB, Northern Catholics ... 1558-1790 London 1966, 103) the Methams had to sell most of Wiganthorpe voluntarily as a result of sequestrations, being a family (for the most part) of obstinate Catholics’ - the Terrington Parish Register (Terr. Par. Reg.) records that, in 1632, Jordan Metham excused himself from drinking the communion wine on the grounds that it was undrinkable because it arrived in the parish in beer bottles! Sir George Metham of Metham (the younger son of Sir Jordan Metham) had married Katherine, the daughter of Thomas, 2nd Viscount Fairfax. From his will (dated 1669, probate 1672: BI) it is clear that he remained a Catholic, as the will is headed in the Catholic style: Jesus. Maria. Joseph. and ‘Item I doe giue and bequeath sixty pounds for my funeral! chardges and to such pious use to vertuous good men to pray for my soule ...‘ His legacies amounted to £2000. The Micklethwaites were a family of some substance in York. Elias Micklethwaite was an alderman of the City of York who had links with Puritan clergy (VCH City of York, 202). John Geldart (born 1596, died 1658/9, son September 2000 DM HORGAN of Richard Geldart, butcher, of York) who, after Watson and Micklethwaite, became the next owner of Wiganthorpe, was MP in1656 and raised to the aldermanic bench in the City of York when the Royalists were displaced in 1645 (ibid.). He was Lord Mayor of the City of York in 1645 and 1654. He married Tabitha, daughter of Alderman Elias Micklethwaite in 1630 as his first wife. (His second wife was Alice Twistleton, of Barlow in the county of York, sister of Sir John Twistleton Bt., of Dartford, Kent, of Sir Philip Twistleton, and of Mr. Thomas Twistleton. She became known as Dame Alice Geldart, will dated 14th June 1667, probate July 1667 - demonstrating the upward social movement of merchant class into titled class). Tabitha was born in 1604 and died in 1638 (Skaife, 293, 294, 296). Their son was John Geldart of Wiganthorpe (born 1630-31 and died 1677), Wiganthorpe could have been transferred from the Micklethwaites to the Geldarts either by marriage settlement or purchase. Skaife (ibid. 296) records a different transfer of property between the two families: ‘15 Feb:- 23 Charles I . Mary Geldart, of York, widow, John Geldart, the elder, of the same city, alderman, and John Geldart, the younger, of the same city, son and heir of Roger Geldart dec., convey to Stephen Watson, alderman, and Joseph Micklethwaite, Esq., of York, their heirs and assigns for ever, - a close of meadow at Acomb, heretofore in the several tenures of Richard Geldart, Robert Geldart, and Robert Skadlocke, ... , and now in the occupation of Robert Burdas, or of his assigns.’ During the vaguely defined period of the Great Rebuilding (from somewhere in the sixteenth century to somewhere in the eighteenth century), Wiganthorpe Hall was rebuilt, the old hall-house of 1596 greatly extended. Which family was responsible? It seems unlikely to have been the Methams, who were eventually impoverished by sequestrations. The Geldarts, on the other hand, were both buyers and builders. John Geldart senior is known to have built a fine house at Askham Bryan of which he was lord of the manor (Skaife, 294). His son, also John Geldart (died 1677) a man of property and culture - he left his library of books to his son Robert (see his will: BI)inherited the manor of Askam Bryan from his father, and probably also the manor of Wiganthorpe. Although I have not found the name of John Geldart senior associated directly with Wiganthorpe, the words in his son’s will (dated 24th April 1675: BI) strongly suggest that the inheritance came from father to son: ‘Item: I ratify & confirm my Dear Brother Joseph Geldart’s Anuity, promised upon my fathers Death Bed, wch I appoint & ordain him out of my lands in Wigginthorpe Lordship During his natural! life as followeth...’ I have found no further references to this Joseph Geldart. The reference in the Terrington Parish Register which reads ‘Mr. Joseph Geldart was buryed March ye 19th 1698’ is generally taken to refer to the Joseph Geldart ‘son of Mr.