The Craggs Line

The Craggs Line is the family associated with Craggs Hall Farm

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The Story of the Craggs Line

The Craggs Line is the family associated with Craggs Hall Farm. Cragg Hall Farm is a Farmhouse, probably late C17 with adaptations and alterations through the C18 and C19. The plan is derived from longhouse tradition, now referred to as 'false longhouse'.

Craggs is the hill which looks over Carlin How, the hill of the witches, where a Saxon princess lay buried for centuries until she was excavated in 2005.

William Farndale (1725 to 1789) (FAR00146), the father of the Kilton 3 Line, was a farmer at Craggs. It is not known whether this was Craggs Hall Farm. But his family were associated with Kilton.

It was Matthew Farndale (1850 to 1927) who bought Craggs Hall Farm. There is a family story that Matthew, the younger brother of three, had been asked by his older brother, Martin, to buy Craggs Hall Farm for Martin, but bought it for himself. They appear to have made up and Martin later bought Tidkinhow Farm. The Craggs Line is the family of six of Matthew. From this family derive the Wakefield Line and the Thirsk Line.

Mary Ann Farndale (FAR00397) had vivid memories of holidays at Cragg Hall Farm. (she knew it is Cragg & not Craggs although it is called Craggs Hall today and on modern maps) Matthew was affectionately called Mattha by Mary Ann who was an elderly widower by then and he appeared to enjoy her fussing over him. Mary remembers a beautiful rose garden hidden at the back of the farm seen only by those at the farm, fruit bushes dripping with berries, taking the farmworkers lunches out to the fields at midday, being allowed to go shopping on her own to Carlin How or Brotton (she was only 5 or 6 at the time) and reading Pilgrims Progress in the rarely used ‘front room’ A special treat was to be taken for rides in the side car of Herbert’s motor bike. Herbert, Matthews’ son was presumably running the farm by this stage. (Record from Judith Bremner).

Mary Ann Farndale in front of Craggs Hall in about 1920 Matthew Farndale and his wife Mary Ann (nee Liverseed) at Craggs Hall in about 1900 Craggs Hall Farm in 2021

The genealogical chart showing the Craggs Line

			The Kilton 1 Line
William Farndale 1725 to 21 February 1789 Married nee Taylor Farmer of Craggs See the Kilton 3 Line FAR00146						Matthew Farndale, Mary Ann Farndale, Robert Farndale and Ruth Farndale, in front of Craggs Hall, about 1920
			Matthew Farndale 25 June 1850 to 27 February 1927 Married Mary Liverseed Farmer Craggs Hall Farm, Skelton, Stockton, Brotton FAR00383
	Robert Farndale 20 August 1885 to 27 March 1972 Married nee Alcock Wakefield, Craggs, Stockton, Brotton, Staincliffe Served in the Labour Corps in WW1 FAR00606	Ruth Farndale 14 December 1886 to 1974 Travelled to Canada in 1929 Married her cousin, Martin Farndale (FAR00571) in Canada in 1932 Craggs, Guisborough, Trochu Alberta, Brotton, Ripon, Harrogate, Northallerton FAR00619		Earnest Farndale 1889 to 30 November 1913 Died aged 24 Craggs, Brotton FAR00633	Herbert Farndale 30 March 1892 to 23 July 1971 Craggs, Brotton Sergeant (and later Second Lieutenant) in WW1 awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in WW1 and whose house at Craggs Hall Farm was hit by a German bomb in WW2 Farmer and Independent Councillor for North Riding County Council FAR00652		William Farndale 14 July 1894 to 16 March 1974 Married Mary Coverdale on 9 December 1916 Farmer at Plane Tree Farm, Maunby. Thirsk, Craggs, Guisborough, Danby, Northallerton FAR00665	Edwin Farndale 23 July 1898 to 30 January 1983 Bank manager of Middleton on Tees (near Barnard Castle) Married Mary Rogers in 1922 Craggs, Wakefield, Middleton ion Tees, Haydon Bridge FAR00691
	The Wakefield 1 Line						The Thirsk Line	Julia M Farndale 1924 to 13 October 2016 Married Ian Parnall in 1956 Castle Ward, Hexham, Northumberland FAR00891

The Ancestry of the Craggs Line

The Craggs Line can trace directly back to 1512 from Matthew Farndale to Nicholas Farndaile as follows:

Matthew Farndale (FAR00383), 1850 - 1927

The Kilton 1 Line

Martin Farndale (FAR00264), 1818 – 1862

George Farndale (FAR00215), 1789 – 1858

William Farndale (FAR00183), 1760 – 1846

John Farndale (FAR00143), 1724 – 1807

John Farndale, (FAR00116), 1680-1757

The Liverton 2 Line

Nicholas Farndale, (FAR00082), 1634-1693

The Kirkleatham Skelton Line

Georgins Ffarndayle, (FAR00073), 1602-1693

George Ffarndayle, (FAR00067), 1570-1606

William Farndale, (FAR00063), 1539-?

Nicholas Farndaile (FAR00059), 1512-1572

You can then follow details of Farndale in the medieval period who were almost certainly earlier ancestors at Volume 1 of the Farndale directory.

You can then explore Yorkshire prehistory to give you a further perspective of the distant ancestry of the people of Farndale.

Chronology of the Craggs Line

25 June 1850	Matthew Farndale was born at Skelton.
About 1879	Matthew Farndale was sent by his brother Martin to take Craggs Hall Farm, and according to a family story, took it for himself.
1884	Matthew Farndale married Mary Ann Liverseed at Stockton.
20 August 1885	Robert Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. Robert was a farm labourer who married Sarah Jane Alcock of Battersby and became a farmer and horseman in Wakefield. He was founder of the Wakefield 1 Line. He died in 1972.
14 December 1886	Ruth Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. Ruth married her cousin, Martin in Trochu, Alberta, Canada, where they lived until Martin died in 1932. She died in Harrogate in 1974.
1889	Ernest Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. He was in poor health and died, aged 24, on 30 November 1913.
30 March 1892	Herbert Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. Herbert joined the 10^th Yorkshire Regiment and the 2^nd West Yorkshire Regiment in the first world war. As a Sergeant, he was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry and he was commissioned in 1918. He farmed at Craggs Hall farm.
14 July 1894	William Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. William married Mary Coverdale in 1916. William and Mary farmed for 40 years at Plane Tree Farm, Maunby, Thirsk where they brought up a family of six sons and four daughters. They moved to Plane Tree Farm in 1921 and retired in 1960. After they retired, the farm was farmed by their sons, John and Donald. William Farndale was for some time a member of Thirsk Rural Council and Chairman for a short period. He was also a member and former chairman of Northallerton National Farmers' Union. He was a foundation governor of the Allertonshire Modern School and relinquished office when a new school opened and the original school became a girl's school. In 1966, at the time of their Golden Wedding, they lived at 41 Ainderby Road, Northallerton. William was founder of the Thirsk Line. He died in 1974.
23 July 1898	Edwin Farndale was born at Craggs Hall Farm. He married Mary Rogers in 1922 and he became a bank manager in Teeside. They had a daughter Julia May Farndale who married and lived in Hexham, Northumberland. Edwin died in Northumberland in 1983.
27 February 1927	Matthew Farndale died at Craggs Hall Farm and was buried at Brotton Old Churchyard.
3 September 1940	Craggs Hall Farmhouse suffered a direct hit from a German bomb. Herbert, then the owner, was away but two people were killed. The house was rebuilt.
23 July 1971	Herbert Farndale died at Cleveland College Hospital and was buried at Brotton new churchyard.