Parish of Skipton*
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294 HISTORY OF CRAVEN. PARISH OF SKIPTON* HAVE reserved for this parish, the most interesting part of my subject, a place in Wharfdale, in order to deduce the honour and fee of Skipton from Bolton, to which it originally belonged. In the later Saxon times Bodeltone, or Botltunef (the town of the principal mansion), was the property of Earl Edwin, whose large possessions in the North were among the last estates in the kingdom which, after the Conquest, were permitted to remain in the hands of their former owners. This nobleman was son of Leofwine, and brother of Leofric, Earls of Mercia.J It is somewhat remarkable that after the forfeiture the posterity of this family, in the second generation, became possessed of these estates again by the marriage of William de Meschines with Cecilia de Romille. This will be proved by the following table:— •——————————;——————————iLeofwine Earl of Mercia§=j=......... Leofric §=Godiva Norman. Edwin, the Edwinus Comes of Ermenilda=Ricardus de Abrineis cognom. Domesday. Goz. I———— Matilda=.. —————— I Ranulph de Meschines, Earl of Chester, William de Meschines=Cecilia, daughter and heir of Robert Romille, ob. 1129. Lord of Skipton. But it was before the Domesday Survey that this nobleman had incurred the forfeiture; and his lands in Craven are accordingly surveyed under the head of TERRA REGIS. All these, consisting of LXXVII carucates, lay waste, having never recovered from the Danish ravages. Of these-— [* The parish is situated partly in the wapontake of Staincliffe and partly in Claro, and comprises the townships of Skipton, Barden, Beamsley, Bolton Abbey, Draughton, Embsay-with-Eastby, Haltoneast-with-Bolton, and Hazlewood- with-Storithes ; and contains an area of 24,7893. 2r. 38 p. in Staincliffe, and 5,3303. I r. 13 p. in Claro. The population of the parish in 1871 was found to be 8,473, living in 1,721 houses. Enclosure Acts were passed for Tarn Moor ?th George III., for Halton Green 7th George III. and 13* George III.] t Thus Uiicanboctle is translated by Dr. Hickes Aula Wicensis. " Thesaurus Ling. Sept" vol. i. pref. p. 5. J See Dugdale's " Warwickshire," first edit. p. 87. § An Inspeximus Harl. MSS. 2,085 recites, "quod comes Leuricus tenuit feodum mil. in Clyderhow." This is by far the most ancient notice I have met with of Clitheroe, and proves that place, as Domesday proves Skipton, to have been a portion of the demesnes of the Earls of Mercia, PARISH OF SKIPTON. 295 55 In BODELTOXE . comes Eduuin frb . vi . car Irze ad gld. B In Altone . vi . caV . In Embesie . in . car inland . 7 in . car soca. .III.c' .III. c' .IIII.c' .VI.c1 .Xc' 6 In Dractone . Scipeden . Sciptone . Snachehale . Toredderbi. .II.c' .III.c' S Bedmesleia . Holme.* These constitute the present parish of Skipton [which contains 25,755 acres]. The remainder lay in Gargrave, Staintone, Adingham, Otterburne, Scostrop, Malgun, Conistone, Helgefeld, Aneley, and Hangclif; and have been already noticed. Such, therefore, was the fee of Earl Edwin, which constituted, in the next place, the first fee of Skipton, soon afterwards augmented by a moiety of the possessions of Roger de Poitou, which altogether make up the present fee, consisting, in the whole, of n knights' fees, in carucates, n oxgangs; whereof xun carucates made a knight's fee. \. After the forfeiture of Earl Edwin, the first grantee of his lands in Craven was Robert de Romille, t a Norman adventurer of ancient family. In his choice of a situation for the seat of his barony, Romille had nothing but the face of Nature to direct him. There had, unquestionably, been a Saxon manse at Bolton, for the occasional residence of the lord; but it was now dilapidated; and though the sequestration of that favoured place would have attracted a monk, and its beauties a man of taste, yet it wanted two of the first ingredients in the residence of an ancient baron—elevation and natural strength. These Romille found on the brink of a perpendicular rock at Skipton, which furnished an impregnable barrier to the north; while a moderate declivity to the south, equally rocky, and therefore incapable of being undermined, afforded sufficient room for the enclosure of a spacious " bailley," the ramparts of which would command the plain beneath. The erection of this castle elevated the place at once from a poor dependent village to a respectable town. In times of turbulence and disorder, the inhabitants of the adjoining country would crowd for protection under its walls. Many privileges also would be granted by the lords, many advantageous offices enjoyed by their immediate dependents; and all [* Manor.—In Bodeltone (Bolton) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed. Berewick.—In Altone (Halton) six carucates. In Embesie (Embsay) three carucates inland, and three carucates soke. Berewick.—In Dractone (Draughton) three carucates, Scipeden (Skibeden) three carucates, Sciptone (Skipton) four carucates, Snachehale (Snaigill) six carucates, Toredderebi (? Thorlby) ten carucates. Soke.—Bedmesleia (Beamsley) two carucates, Holme (Holm) three carucates.] [f SKYPTON.—Villa cum castro est in manu regis tamquam dominicum suum; et sunt in eadem XII car. terra? quarum sex et di. sunt in dominico regis, et v et di. tenentur de rege ; et qualibet car. prjedictarum-v et di. redd, per ann. ad finem wap. md. ob. q.; unde summa est per ann. xx<£ ob.—Kirkby's " Inquest," A.D. 1284. EMMESAY CUM ESTEBY.—In eadem villis sunt XI car. terra; qua; tenentur de rege, et redd, per ann. ad finem prasdictum vud. ob.—Kirkby's " Inquest," A.D. 1284. STRETTON CUM TORLEBY.—In eadem villa sunt x car. terra; quas tenentur de rege et domino castri, quarum una car. dudum assignata fuit per predecessor' comites albem' ad missas celebrandas imperpetuum in capella castri de Skipton ; et pro residuis IX car. nullum fit servitium de quo fit mentio in praedictis inquisitionibus.—Kirkby's " Inquest," A.D. 1284. SKYBDON.—In eadem villa sunt in car. terras qua; tenentur de rege in bondagio ; quarum quaelibet car. redd, per ann. ad prajdictum finem md. ob. q. Summa ~a.d. q.] t " Romille, Romilli, Rommilly, Romilley, famille ancienne et considerable en Bretagne et en Normandie. Le premier dont en a connoisance par les histoires en Robert de Romille qui se trouve compris dans le catalogue des seigneurs renommes Normandie qui accompagnerent leur due Guilliaume le Batard dans sa conquete d'Angleterre en 1066."—Voyez " L'Histoire de Normandie," par Gabriel de Moulin, p. 48 de la fin du livre. 2g6 HISTORY OF CRAVEN. these causes would account even for a greater increase of population than appears at that time to have taken place. It may be observed, that though Skipton never had a municipal government, excepting that of a reeve, and was never represented in parliament, the town is generally styled in charters a burgh, and its inhabitants burgenses. No reader, I suppose, will feel himself satisfied with Camden's etymology of the word— " In the very middle (of Craven)," says that antiquary, "stands Skipton ; hid, as it were, with steep precipices, lying quite round, like Latium, in Italy, which Varro thinks was really so called from its low situation under the Apennines and Alps." Either this reference to Varro was impertinent, or Camden must be understood to mean that the verb "skip" anciently meant "to be hid," which assuredly it never did. But in Domesday, and in all the early charters I have seen, the word is spelt Sciptone, Sceptone, or Scepetone; evidently from the Saxon " seep," a sheep. Skipton, therefore, is the Town of Sheep; a name which it must have acquired from the vast tracts of sheep-walk which lay around it before its Norman lords appropriated the wastes of Crokeris and Elso to the range of deer. The feudataries holding under the family of Romille at two different periods, first de veteri feoffamento, that is, at the marriage of Matilda, daughter of Henry I., and afterwards in the end of Henry II.'s time, are found in the Black Book of the Exchequer.* " Carta de feodo de Scipton q'd tenet Alexander fil. Gerini. De feodo de Scipton q'd tenet Alex. f. Gerini fuerunt xm f rnilites feoffati temp. Regis H. (primi.) Wil'mus de Wan'vil t. f. mi, et quintum feodum tenet Gervasius de Wan'vil. Joh'es de Argentoen duo feod. mil. Rad. de Chailli duo feod. mil. Wil'mus fil. Clerenbald i feod. mil. et dim. Wil'mus Maleleporar. Steph. de Bulmer I feod. Wil'mus Vavasor dim. feod. mil. Hasc duodecim J feod. sunt de antique feoffamento." With respect to the specific manors held by these persons, who were probably Normans, the companions of Romille, or their immediate descendants, little can now be retrieved with certainty. The fee of Mauliverer consisted of Bethmesley, Hawkswick, and East Malharrt; that of Bulmer included Burnsal and its dependencies, together with Areton; that of Vavasour, Addingham and Draughton. William, son of Clarenbald, I conjecture, and can only conjecture, to have been the first William de Rilleston. Of the rest I know nothing. " De eodem feodo de Scipton q'd tenet Alex. fil. Gerini xm milites post obitum Reg. H. sunt de D'nico feoffati heredes. Ada' fil. Swani tenet i feod. mil. Reinerus Flemenge I feod. mil. et dim. Hereveius de Reineville dim. feod. mil. Osbert Archidiacon. tenet XI carucatas ter. qu. xim car. faciunt feod. mil. Pet. de Martun xn car. * " Lib. Nig. Scacc." i. 322, 323. [Alice de Romilli gave four dwellings in Skipton to the Canons of Bolton.—Burt. "Mon." 119.] t Sic. J Sic. PARISH OF SKIPTON. 297 Walter fil. Wil'mi x car.