Nicholas de Farndale (Possibly also De Nicholao de Ellrischaye)
c 1254 To c 1335
The Medieval
Inhabitants of Farndale
FAR00006
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1240s
and 1250s (before Nicholas was born)
Farndale was first
cleared for agriculture from perhaps about 1220 (FAR00004A). So although we don’t know about Nicholas’
parents, it might be supposed that they were the hard grafters who first broke
up the forest in the dale and started farming. As Farndale was an extension of
the existing estate of Kirkbymoorside, Nicholas’ grandparents and his ancestors
before them, were likely to have come from the land at the northern edge of the
Vale of York, perhaps in the ancient agricultural lands around Kirkdale. These lands
were part of the same landholdings and estate as Farndale.
c 1254
There is no
record of Nicholas’ birth or of his early life. By 1301, he paid a relatively
high sum in tax, so he might have been in his mid forties.
So we might guess that he was born in about 1254. Perhaps
his parents were the early cultivators of Farndale, who paid high rents to
their Stuteville landlords.
c 1275
We cannot know
when or who Simon married. Given the likely dates of the births of his
children, it seems possible that he would have married in about 1275,
when he might have been about 21.
Walter (de Waltero) de Ellerscaye (FAR00011B) might have been
his eldest son and born in about 1275, as Walter was paying relatively high
taxes by 1301. It is possible that Walter was Nicholas’ brother and not his
son.
1276
By 1276, at the
time of the death of Joan Stuteville, when Nicholas might have been about 22,
about 545 acres of Farndale was under cultivation (see FAR00017). The bonded tenants paid a standard rent of 1s per acre. By that
time there were seven cottars in Farndale and further occupation at Duthenwayt, probably in the area of the Duffin Stone today,
up the western side of the dale. Nicholas’ parents were likely to have been part of a community of
villeins, tilling the land, and paying high rents to the Stuteville landowners.
A medieval cottar was a peasant farmer who occupied a cottage, often with a
small amount of land, in exchange for labour for a lord. They were a
semi-independent class in the feudal system, typically a grade above landless
slaves but below more prosperous peasants like villeins.
His son Adam de Farndale (FAR00022A) might have been born in about 1276.
1278
His son Alan de Farndale (FAR00011) might have been
born in about 1278.
1280
From
sureties of persons indicted for poaching and for not producing persons so
indicted on the first day of the Eyre Court in accordance with the suretieship due to Richard Drye. There follows a long list
of names including,…..1s 8d from Roger son of Gilbert of Farndale, bail from
Nicholas de Farndale, 2s from William the Smith of Farndale, 3s 4d from
John the shepherd of Farndale, and 3s 4d from Alan the son of Nicholas de
Farndale. (Yorkshire Fees, 1280).
This
medieval record from 1280 provides us with a list of names of Farndale in the
Yorkshire Fees of 1280. This particular record was found by my father and I am
still trying to reconcile it. It may be a record from the Yorkshire
Feet of Fines. It is a possible record of bail payments for a group of folk
from Farndale. It tells us that Roger’s father was Gilbert and Alan’s father
was Nicholas. It was Nicholas who paid bail for Roger. The most likely
deduction seems to be that Nicholas was the older brother of Gilbert. The
date may well be wrong for this record.
1282
By 1282, on the
death of Joan’s son, Baldwin Wake, the cultivated acreage in Farndale had risen
to 768 acres in only six years (FAR000020). There were 90 bondmen by this time in
Farndale. This must have represented a planned campaign of settlement and activity in the
dale must have been noisy and constant at this time.
1301
It seems possible
that the person referred to in the 1330s as Nicholas de Farndale, was the same
person as De Nicholao de Ellrischaye
who was listed in the 1301 Lay
Subsidy (FAR00029). He likely
lived in the part of Farndale where Eller House is today, a little way up the
western side of the dale. Nicholas paid 4s 7d in tax. He may have been a tenant
farmer of comparatively comfortable wealth at this time.
The list also
included Walter de Ellerscaye, who was likely part of the same family. Walter
may have been a brother, or a son of Nicholas.
The lands around
Ellers House, 2025
There is
another possibility that he was Nicholao filio Galfridi who paid 5d in
1301. Given his likely age, it doesn’t seem likely that an old man would still
be defined by a patrimonial name. If it was him though, it allows is to go back
one further generation, to Galfridi, who perhaps
farmed around Kirkdale before Farndale was settled.
3 October 1334
An eyre hearing picking up cases from
1288 to 1334 took place at Pickering. (The Duchy
of Lancaster Records, from the North Riding Record Society, The Honour and
Forest of Pickering, Edited by Robert Bell Turton, Volume IV, 1897, page
xiii).
At the hearing on 3 October 1334, after Richard (FAR00016), son of John
the miller of Farndale (FAR00021B) and Adam (FAR00025), son of Simon the miller of
Farndale (FAR00021) had trespassed and hunted in Pickering
Forest, others including Adam (FAR00022A), son of Nicholas de Farndale (FAR00006), and John (FAR00016A), son of John the miller (FAR00021B) and John Wraghby of Farndale (WRA00001)
mainperned (provided guarantees) for their
appearance (The Great Cowcher of the Duchy
of Lancaster, The National Archives, DL42/1 Folio 227, 227v, DL
42/1/35/U7 folios 337 to 338v).
Under medieval forest law, mainpernors
were individuals who acted as guarantors for others, ensuring they appeared in
court to answer for alleged offenses against forest law. These offenses
primarily involved the king's hunting rights and the protection of forest
resources like timber and vegetation. Mainpernors
essentially vouched for the accused's future appearance in court, preventing
them from fleeing justice within the forest jurisdiction.
Mainpernors
(guarantors) were also fixed including for Richard (FAR00016), son of John de Farndale (FAR00021B), indicted of hunting, Alan (FAR00011), son of Nicholas de Farndale (FAR00006) was fined 40d because Richard did not
turn up and Alan (FAR00011), son of Nicholas de Farndale (FAR00006) was also fined 40d as mainpreneur for the hunting offences of Adam (FAR00025), son of
Simon the miller of Farndale (FAR00021). (The Great Cowcher of the Duchy of Lancaster, The National
Archives, DL42/1 Folios 336v and 337, DL 42/1/35/U6, Folio 335v-336v (not on public record)).
A number of individuals from Farndale were fined
following prior indictments for poaching in 1334 and not turning up at the
Eyre. They paid bail or had bail paid for them (North
Riding Records, Volume IV by the North Yorkshire Record Society, the Honour
and Forest of Pickering, 1897, page 23, 28, and 34 not
on line but I have a physical copy).
|
Date of Hearing |
Notional date of Offence |
Payer |
Guarantor (malpernor) |
Poacher |
Amount of Fine |
|
3 October 1334 |
c 1319 |
Nicholas
de Farndale (FAR00041A) |
John son of
Richard de Westgill (WES00004 ) |
Robert Westgyll (WES00005) |
3s 4d |
|
3 October 1334 |
c 1319 |
Nicholas
de Farndale (FAR00041A) |
Nicholas
de Farndale (FAR00041A) |
William
the Smith of
Farndale (FAR00037) |
2s |
1335
Perhaps
Nicholas de Farndale died
shortly after he paid these fines, in say 1335, by which time he must have been an old man.
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How does Nicholas de Farndale relate to
the modern family? It is not possible to be accurate about the early family tree,
before the recording of births, marriages and deaths in parish records, but
we do have a lot of medieval material including important clues on
relationships between individuals. The matrix of the family before about 1550
is the most probable structure based on the available evidence. Nicholas de Farndale was one of the first tenants
who toiled to turn the dale into cultivated land in the early thirteenth
century. He may have been an ancestor of modern Farndales, but the current
model suggests he was an uncle or similar of the direct relatives who left
the dale as ancestors of the family. |
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