The Time Traveller’s Journey through North Yorkshire

The History of the North York Moors, Ryedale, York, Cleveland and the vicinity

Home Page Return to the Home Page of the Farndale Family Website

The Farndale Story The story of one family’s journey through two thousand years of British History

The Farndale Lineages The 83 family lines into which the family is divided. Meet the whole family and how the wider family is related

The Farndale Directory Members of the historical family ordered by date of birth

Themes Links to other pages with historical research and related material

Related Family Stories The story of the Bakers of Highfields, the Chapmans, and other related families

This page uses the local history aspects of the genealogy of the Farndale family to narrate the general history of northern Yorkshire centred on the North York Moors. It will evolve into a stand alone history of the North Riding.

This page is a new project and is currently work in progress.

A Brief Introduction

Fasten your seatbelts, ready for time travel …

The North York Moors	The Vale of Pickering	York	Sheriff Hutton
The South and West Doncaster Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield	Cliff Land	Industrial Revolution	Yorkshire Pioneers

A Quick Key to the Matrix

Please read the short safety briefing before we take off …

The Matrix below is your portal to follow the family journey. Before you scroll down further, a few tips to get best use from the Matrix:

I suggest that you start by reading the Departure Briefing at the top of the matrix. The Numbered Destinations take you on the main journey into the past. You’re best to read them in the numbered order, starting with the Briefing and then The First Destination. However more rebellious readers can travel through time in a more random order if that is what you prefer.	The Local Story Explainers tell of local historical factors, events, and places which provide a little more depth as you visit different eras of time. They reflect the local history of Northumbria, Yorkshire, and the vicinity of the North York Moors.	Further context is provided by the National Story Explainers, which gives a wider perspective to the local history.	The Farndale Folk are a individuals from one family waiting to be introduced to you, to further enhance your journey through time.	The Thirty Objects and Places take you on a geographical tour, and provide directions if you have the chance to visit the area.	All these pages are full of hyperlinks. These will take you to the underlying research if you would like to explore in more depth, or check the source material.
		When the light grey boxes appear, click on the hyperlinked title, to follow the link

The Time Traveller’s Matrix

Now, you are ready for time travel. It’s up to you whether you take a structured journey through the matrix, or leap backwards and forwards across places in time as takes your fancy.

Prepare for takeoff …

The Geology of Farndale Understanding the landscape	The context of the Palaeolithic Period or the Old Stone Age A global context to the prehistory of Yorkshire Before about 10,000 BCE		Departure Briefing – Blakey Ridge - 2026	Kirkdale Cave A portal to the geological past from the heart of the family story	Glossary An alphabetical list of words and terms which you might come across during your travels, which are explained here	A Journey around the North York Moors and Beyond Some preliminary orientation if you visit the area
		The vicinity of The North York Moors in the Mesolithic Period The age of hunting folk in tune with the land 10,000 BCE to 3,000 BC	First Destination – Star Carr – 9,000 BCE	Star Carr The richest Mesolithic suite in Britain, a few miles south of Scarborough, on the edge of the ancient Lake Pickering, only 30 km from Farndale
		The vicinity of The North York Moors in the Neolithic Period, the New Stone Age The age of early farmers who brought early settlement, religious beliefs and new structures to Ryedale 3,000 BCE to 1,800 BCE
		The vicinity of The North York Moors in the Bronze Age The Beaker Folk who introduced metal working 1,800 BCE to 700 BCE	Second Destination – Antofts Windypit – 1,750 BCE	The Ryedale Windy Pits Underground caves, only 15 km from Farndale, which were the home of the Bronze Age Beaker Folk
		The vicinity of The North York Moors in the Iron Age The Celtic Brigantes folk who formed proto kingdoms 700 BCE to 70 CE	Third Destination – Roulston Scar - BCE	Roulston Scar A massive Iron Age promontory Hill Fort only 20 km from Farndale	The ancient routes across the moors Exploring the ancient tracks and roads across the moors around Farndale
Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough) The Roman Regional Capital of the lands around Kirkdale	Hovingham A Roman Villa on palatial scale just south of Kirkdale	Beadlam A Roman Villa only 2km from Kirkdale in the heart of our ancestral lands	Fourth Destination – Beadlam Villa, 306 CE	Eboracum (York) The Roman Capital of northern England where Constantine was proclaimed Emperor York	Roman Yorkshire (70 to 400 CE) A chronology of the Roman association with Yorkshire	The Roman Arm Purse A Roman arm purse which can be seen in the British Museum in London today, found in about the second century CE by a cairn overlooking Farndale, which will transport you back 2,000 years
The Anglo Saxon Period 400 to 866 CE The Beowulf kings of Deira, Bernicia and Northumbria	Northumbria’s Golden Age Sixth and Seventh Centuries CE When Northern England was the European centre of knowledge and learning	The Deira The people who dominated our ancestral lands Northumbria Genealogy The genealogy of the Deiran, Bernician and later Northumbrian Kings	Fifth Destination – Eoforwic – 627 CE	Eoforwic (York) Deirian and Northumbrian York, a political, cultural and educational Hub on the European stage York	Beowulf The Anglo-Saxon saga that transports us to the lives of the post Roman folk of England	Ad Gefrin at Yeavering The sixth century royal tribute centre of the Bernician Kings
The Venerable Bede This life of Bede and the history of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, providing context for the founding of Lastingham and Kirkdale, and the work of Alcuin and the York scholars	Cornu Vallis An exploration of the association of the last resting place of Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow before his journey to Rome and the Horn Ridge which overlooks Farndale		Sixth Destination – Lastingham – 653 CE	Lastingham 653 CE The founding of a Celtic Christian monastery by Cedd, 2 km from the entrance to Farndale Lastingham.	A place of wild beasts and men who lived like wild beasts Bede’s description of the wilderness of Farndale as a place of dragons and wild beasts The village and church of Lastingham, with its Norman crypt	Cedd The Lindisfarne monk and East Saxon Bishop who founded Lastingham	Synod of Whitby 664 CE The momentous agreement at Whitby, 30 km northeast of Farndale, which resolved incompatibilities between Roman and Celtic Christian traditions, and placed Britain onto the European stage
The vicinity of Farndale in the Anglo Saxon period	Introduction to Kirkdale and its Minster For those particularly interested in Kirkdale, this introductory page is the place to start	Anglo Saxon Kirkdale Kirkdale from its founding in about 685 CE to the beginning of the Scandinavian period in about 800 CE	Seventh Destination – Kirkdale – 685 CE	The Kirkdale Saxon Artefacts Ornate sarcophagus lids and Saxon artefacts to be found in Kirkdale Minster and embedded into its walls which will transport you to the Eighth century CE	Carlin How and Saxon Witches The burial ground of a Saxon princess who lay for thirteenth centuries overlooking the Hill of Witches where the Craggs line of Farndales would later make their home		Alcuin and the birth of modern education The world of Ecgberht and Aethelbert, successors to Bede, and their pupil Alcuin, who took York’s powerhouse of knowledge to the court of Charlemagne to pioneer the European educational system
The Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian Period 866 CE to 1042 The Scandinavian influence on Yorkshire after the Viking raids from 793 CE and the assault of the Great Heathen Army	Orm Gamalson The powerful figure at the heart of the aristocracy, who rebuilt Kirkdale and put our ancestral lands firmly onto the national political stage	Earl Siward of Northumberland		Jorvik Museum York A reconstructed journey into Scandinavian Yorkshire and a glimpse of Scandinavian objects which tells its story	Jorvik (York) The Scandinavian centre of northern England York	Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian Kirkdale Kirkdale in the Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian period from about 800 CE to 1066, with a brief summary of its history through to 1500 The vicinity of Farndale in the Anglo Saxon Scandinavian Period	The Kirkdale Sundial A unique treasure whose secrets transport us into the world of the eleventh century upon which you can stare today, imagining direct ancestors who did the same a thousand years ago
	Anglo Saxon Kings immediately before the Norman Conquest 1042 to 1066 The eventful years immediately preceding the Norman Conquest
The Normans 1066 to 1154 Domination from northern France	Norman Domination Regime Change	The Harrying of the North The devastation of Yorkshire and northern England by William the Conqueror		Risings in the North A history of Yorkshire rebellions through time	The Normans and Plantagenets Genealogy The family tree of the medieval kings of England		Royal Family Tree from the Normans The family tree of the lines of royal succession from 1066 to the present
‘Bending the knee’	The Game of Thrones and the Estate of Kirkbymoorside Kirkbymoorside in a game of chess from 1066	The Royal Line and the Noble Houses The relationship between the Royal Dynasties of England and the Noble Houses who directly influenced our family history		House Mowbray The descendants of Nigel D’Aubigny to whom our ancestors owed their allegiance in the twelfth century The House Mowbray.	House Stuteville The descendants of Robert de Stuteville to whom our ancestors owed their allegiance in the eleventh and then from the late twelfth century The House Stuteville.	Joan the Fair Maid of Kent en son temps la plus belle de tout la roiaulme d'Engleterre et la plus amoureuse The most glamorous owner of Farndale Joan of Kent’s Family Tree The immediate ancestors and descendants of Joan of Kent	House Brus The baronial Yorkshire family from whom later Scottish Kings would derive and who dominated the early history of our later Cleveland home The House Brus. Brus Genealogy A family tree of the House Brus, the Lords of Skelton and Annandale, and the family relationship to the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland
The Forest of Farndale as a royal forest and monastic supply base 1128 to 1255 The Crown’s insistence on a Royal Forest and gifts of clearings in Farndale to monastic houses	Agriculture	Law and administration		The feudal system	Trade and commerce		Language and Yorkshire places
The First Reference to Farndale Rievaulx Cartulary, 1154	Rievaulx Abbey This history of the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx, in whose Chartulary the name Farndale was first recorded in 1154	Rievaulx Abbey The breathtaking abbey ruins that must have been held in astonished awe by our forebears when the abbey broke through the soil of Ryedale, adjacent to Farndale, in only a couple of decades before it started to take control of swathes of those lands		Helmsley A History of Helmsley to about 1500		Keldholme
The Plantagenets 1154 to 1399 England in the Middle Ages				Pickering	Pickering Castle The sombre Norman castle of Pickering, where you will be taken to the law court where our ancestors were fined, imprisoned, outlawed and excommunicated Pickering Parish Church Glance up at a remarkable medieval mural, which includes archers who might remind us of our poacher ancestors The Great Yorkshire Forest Drive A drive through Dalby Forest, the modern Pickering Forest, where our forebears took game in contravention of forest laws, or were caught and punished by the verderers and regarders of the forest	Poaching in Pickering Forest A study of the nature of poaching in Pickering Forest The 1334 to 1339 Eyre of Pickering Forest The itinerant court which picked up about 40 years of prior business.	The Duchy of Lancaster and the Honour and Forest of Pickering The surprising association of our early family history with the House of Lancaster The Great Cowcher of the Duchy of Lancaster The Family Tree of the House Lancaster The genealogy of the Lancastrian estate
The Story of Farndale to 1500 The story of the dale of Farndale to 1500, to accompany the family story Meet the Medieval Inhabitants of Farndale We have records of many of the folk who lived in Farndale in the thirteenth and fourteenth century Here you can meet the whole crowd of the medieval inhabitants of Farndale	The cultivation and early history of Farndale c 1220 to 1400 The lay settlement of Farndale	Farndale in 1276 The Inquisition Post Mortem of Lady Joan de Stuteville provides evidence of the extent of cultivated land by the mid thirteenth century Farndale in 1282 The Inquisition Post Mortem of Baldwin Wake provides evidence of a rapidly expanding community Farndale in 1301 Detailed evidence of the inhabitants of Farndale is provided by the 1301 Yorkshire Subsidy, a tax imposed to fund the Scottish Wars Farndale after 1400 The dale in the Late Middle Ages		A Drive through Farndale A journey to places in Farndale which featured in a 1301 tax register, marking out the geography of the place our ancestors settled The Farndale Rim A look down into Farndale to take in its scale and landscape, from the place where the Roman Purse was dropped If you have the energy, a hike to Middle Head, the Lord of the Rings land of Midelhovet, where Edmund the Hermit once dwelled	Simon the Miller of Farndale c 1255 to c 1334 Perhaps the first significant person we can identify who bore the Farndale name He paid the highest rent of 7s 9d in Farndale in the 1301 Subsidy, suggesting as miller, he was the wealthiest inhabitant Simon had a servant, John, in 1301 We know of four sons, two of whom left the dale to seek their fortunes elsewhere, and two of whom became regular poachers, for which they were fined and outlawed	William the Smith of Farndale c 1284 to c 1350 William probably continued a family business at the Smithy which was probably located at Low Mill William and his sons enjoyed a spot of poaching, but his sons took poaching to a new level and were later engaged in violent raiding expeditions	Roger the Miller of Farndale, the “Hard Bear” c 1255 to c 1345 The miller of Farndale who probably worked at High Mill A poacher by 1293 who was probably the person described as burly as a bear
Culture and writing	The Church and religion	Towns		Medieval Farming Rural lifestyles from the Norman Conquest	The Yeoman		John de Farndale, “The Cattle Rustler” c 1315 to c 1390 John Farndale was another of the family poachers. He slew a hart in Leashow in 1331, promised to behave in 1334, but took a hind and calf in Rotemir in 1336. Then, in 1384, having raised his game to a new scale, he took part in a major cattle rustling expedition in Northumberland, assaulting and threatening the landlord’s servants
The Start of the Hundred Years War Tumultuous times in England.				Danby Danby at the turn of the fourteenth century	Egton	John de Farndale “The Saddler” c 1278 to 1372 John left Farndale and settled in Egton for a while, before returning via Farndale to live in Rosedale for many years, where he farmed 6 acres In 1336 he took a loan of £8 and perhaps shortly afterwards set up a business as a saddler in York, of which city he later became a freeman
The History of Sheriff Hutton to 1500 A history of Sheriff Hutton which will take you to the lands of the Nevilles and Richard III during the Wars of the Roses Sheriff Hutton Church The Church of St Helen and the Holy Cross and the Chapel of St Nicholas, the heart of the Neville lands, and place of the alabaster effigy of the young son of Richard III	Plantagenet rivalry The dynastic struggles of the Plantagenets, leading to the Wars of the Roses, the events of which our ancestors were direct witnesses Royal Family Tree from the Normans The family tree of the lines of royal succession from 1066 to the present	The Houses of Lancaster and York 1399 to 1485 England during the reigns of Henry IV, Henry V and the Wars of the Roses		Richard of Gloucester’s Northern Interests The future Richard III’s interests in Yorkshire and northern Britain Middleham	House Neville This history of the family who influenced the Wars of the Roses in whose seat our ancestors lived Neville Genealogy The Family tree of the House Neville and its relationship to the King Makers and royal dynasties of the later Middle Ages	William Farndale of Sheriff Hutton c1332 to c1397 A chaplain of Darley near Harrogate, pardoned for the death of John de Spaldington, he later moved to Sheriff Hutton where his family found themselves in Neville lands during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses	Richard Farndale c 1357 to 20 December 1435 A veteran soldier of the armies of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V who fought in the French and Scottish Wars
York 1066 to 1500 A History of York after the Norman Conquest	The Shambles The street of the Medieval Butchers	York				Johannes Fernedill c1352 to c1425 John Farndale, and his brothers Henry and William, were archers and men at arms called to fight in Scotland in 1389 John was later a butcher made freeman of York in 1408	The Black Death
The History of Doncaster to 1500 The History of pre industrial Doncaster from its Roman inception as Danum to the end of the sixteenth century Doncaster	Doncaster Parish Church Medieval Doncaster and its minster The Victorian Parish church (later Minster) of Doncaster rebuilt in 1853, but on the site of the earlier Parish church of which William Farndale was chaplain and later vicar in the years after the Black Death	Robin Hood The legend of Robin Hood explored for its Yorkshire roots, and the Farndale connection with the legends, first as the class of poachers who gave rise to the inspiration, and later their fifteenth century descendants who lived in the place where the stories emerged Robin Hood.		Campsall and Barnsdale Forest The history of the village of Campsall north of Doncaster, where we find our ancestors in the sixteenth century Campsall	St Mary Magdalene Church, Campsall The church in Barnsdale forest of which the literary character of the Middle Ages, Robin Hood, wrote I made a chapel in Bernysdale, That seemly is to se, It is of Mary Magdaleyne, And therto would I be. Nearby sites associated with Robin Hood including Robin Hood’s Well at the side of the A1	Loversall The history of a small village and church just south of Doncaster, where William Farndale held land Loversall	Sir William Farndale c 1330 to c1415 The Chaplain and Vicar of Doncaster, who held lands at Loversall, of whom we have significant records
The Tudors 1485 to 1603 Sixteenth century England	Kirkleatham Kirkleatham A history of Kirkleatham and Wilton, the place where our family first settled in Cleveland	Skelton A history of Skelton and its old church. The Farndales arrived in Moorsholm in the Parish of Skelton in about 1588 and lived there through the tumultuous years of the Civil War Skelton		Guisborough	Richmond A History of Richmond and West Gilling	Durham	Cleveland
The Stuarts 1603 to 1714 Seventeenth century England	Carlin How	Freeborough Hill		Brotton Brotton Old Graveyard Three generations of Kilton Farndales in one place. A side trip to nearby Boosbeck and Skelton take you to the gravestones two later generations. Take in Wensley and you’ll find two more recent generations. Seven generations of the family in one short drive	Loftus	Moorsholm	Liverton
The House of Hanover and the Victorian Period 1714 to 1901 Eighteenth and Nineteenth century Britain	The Smugglers of Old Saltburn Stories of smugglers, led by my great x3 grandfather known as the King of the Smugglers, and the undoubted involvement of our forebears	Saltburn by the Sea Cats Nab, Old Saltburn Have fish and chips in the Ship Inn, and you will be in the home of John Andrew’s smuggling trade, once connected by an underground passage to the white house on the hill where my great x3 grandfather lived		Kilton, the Lost Village The story of the lost village of Kilton and its sylvan landscape	Kilton A journey around modern Kilton, of farms, a ruined castle and a small village of Kilton Thorpe to capture the essence of the two century home of Farndales	Kilton A chronology of its history
James Cook 1728 to 1779 The association of James Cook with Cleveland, Whitby, Great Ayton, the Farndale ancestral lands, and individuals of the Farndale Story James Cook.	Whitby The History of Whitby to 1850 A history of Whitby at the height of its maritime power in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, home to several large Farndale families. A look back to the Anglo Saxon history of Whitby in the time of Celtic and Roman Christianity	The Sea		A Perspective of Whitby The place of Dracula inspiration where many Farndales have been buried, provides a vantage point over Whitby, and its maritime activity	Scarborough Lythe	Coatham	Redcar
Family self sufficiency	Darlington	Bedale		Yearsley The home from the early eighteenth century of a large section of our family	Ampleforth	Huttons Ambo
Agricultural change How agricultural practices changed over time	Industrial Revolution			Hartlepool	Middlesbrough	Stockton
Women.	Recalling the past Exploring the Cave Peering through chambers to our ghostly beginnings			Saltburn by the Sea, Victorian new town John Farndale focused much of his writing on the new seaside town of Saltburn by the Sea, built beside the Old Saltburn of smuggling repute. It was a place of Victorian optimism and inspiration, driven by the arrival of the railways and the richness of Cleveland’s ironstone deposits	Huntcliff, Saltburn by the Sea Find a vantage point on the towering Hunt Cliffs to look down over Saltburn and Cat Nab, and the alum mines. It was here, John tells us, that when a French Napoleonic ship threatened out to sea, a band of local women dressed in red along the cliffs to make the French believe that an army of redcoats was ready to welcome any attack	Alum The alum trade in Cleveland Alum
Victorian Education The education of our forebears	Children. Children The life of children in Yorkshire from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century	Home Life.		Poverty Our family history includes experiences of high infant mortality in Victorian times, often extreme poverty, and struggle Poverty Our family history includes experiences of high infant mortality in Victorian times, often extreme poverty, and struggle	Ambition A story of aspiration and achievement	Health The evolution of medical care Health The evolution of medical care	Service Opportunities for work as servants in households Service.
Ironstone Mining The engine of Cleveland’s Victorian development was its mineral supply, particularly its ironstone. Individuals in the Farndale Story worked in an extensive network of mines throughout the area Mining	Cooper Corf Rods	Kilton Mine The ruined site of the Kilton mine			Bradford	Leeds	Wakefield
	The Invention of the Tardis	Joseph Farndale CBE KPM 1864 to 1954 The Chief Constable of Bradford who pioneered the use of fingerprints, invented the police box, and played a key role in Bradford’s evolution at the start of the twentieth century			The Crimean War The Crimean War through the perspective of John Farndale, who took part in the long campaign
Stokesley	Great Ayton A visit to Great Ayton where many members of the family lived, and a side trip to the James Cook Monument Great Ayton				Tidkinhow The moorland farm where a family of twelve grew up Tidkinhow	Charlton
The modern period of the House of Saxe Coburg Gotha and the House of Windsor From 1901 Britain in the modern age	Pioneers The pioneering spirit that dominated the family’s story from the mid nineteenth century				Atlantic crossings at the time of Titanic The story of five brothers and two sisters who crossed the Atlantic in the age of Titanic to emigrate to Canada
The First World War The context of the First World War	The First World War Soldiers The story of the many soldiers from the Farndale family who took up arms in the First World War
	The Jarrow March 1936 The story of the Jarrow March of 1936, of which Johnny Farndale, was the youngest member				Religion and ideas Exploring the role of religions of various denominations and the evolution of intellectual ideas on the Farndale Story
The Second World War The context of the Second World War	The Second World War soldiers, sailors and airmen The story of the Farndales who took up arms in the Second World War				Wensleydale	Gale Bank Farm