12. From Alice Wandesford's marriage to the return of the King: 1651-1660

At Hipswell, 23 year old Christopher Wandesford was now head of the family.  He followed the custom of the time – there was a contract of marriage to fulfil and he took his brother's place.  So, on 30 September 1651 at Lowther, Christopher married the 18 year old Eleanor Lowther.  The result for Alice, John and their mother was years of trouble over money, to their lasting detriment.  Christopher, Alice said, was of too good a nature and too inexperienced to realise how he was being manipulated by his new father-in-law Sir John Lowther into denying them their money under their father's Will.  

Alice's brother John was now seventeen.  A pious, learned and quick-witted boy, sweet and affectionate in nature, he had been at Christ's College, Cambridge for two years.  Now, partly from grief at George's death and partly from the grief he felt because Christopher was refusing to pay him his annuity, he fell into a deep melancholy that, said Alice, took away the use of his understanding.  He had to leave Cambridge without taking his degree.  

Over the following years, with infinite care and pains, Mrs Wandesford nursed him back to health but he was very liable to relapses, so she was very anxious when he was persuaded to go and live in London.  Luckily she was able to secure for him the help and care of Dr Bathurst, whose renown had grown since the days when he had treated Christopher – indeed, he had become Oliver Cromwell's physician.  

Meanwhile, Mrs Wandesford grew increasingly anxious to see her daughter married and she really had nobody to advise her – how she must have wished for her brother Sir Edward Osborne.  On the whole, she still wanted the match with William Thornton, even though she was disobliging several wealthy neighbours who had also approached her – Colonel Anstruther and Colonel Darcy, son of Lord Darcy, among them.  And she had her doubts about the real value of Mr Thornton's estate. 

Alice was now 25.  She really wanted to stay single and felt that the money left her by her father should be quite enough for her to be comfortable and useful.  But she also didn't want to disobey her mother and she had been willing to marry Mr Thornton so as to help the family discharge the sequestration.  

Now she had to decide whether to go ahead with the marriage or not.  It was a hard choice and it wasn't just a question of money.  On the one hand and very much in his favour, William Thornton was a quiet, decent man, esteemed in his own neighbourhood.  He was not debauched and irreligious, like so many men that she knew.  (She doesn't say whether these included Colonel Anstruther and Colonel Darcy).  On the other hand, his religious background was not at all like her own.  His half-sisters were all Catholics – strict papists, Alice said – while the other part of his family were strong Presbyterians and Parliamentarians.  

Alice spoke to him frankly.  She said that she was of the true protestant Church of England and they would be miserable together if he wasn't of the same faith.  He was seriously troubled at this, but then he declared that he shared her opinion.  He wanted bishops – suitably reformed – back and he too wanted a King.  And she could bring the children up in her faith entirely as she wished.  And so she decided that the money was of less importance and she would accept his offer.

At last the marriage contract was negotiated and on 15 December 1651 at Hipswell Hall, Mrs Wandesford gave her daughter in marriage to 27 year old William Thornton of East Newton, which lies a little east of Oswaldkirk and about 5 miles SSW of Helmsley.  

Mr Syddall, the vicar of Catterick, took the marriage service.  Alice's brother John was there, and so was her uncle Mauger Norton of St Nicholas, and their kinsman John Dodsworth of Thornton Watlass Hall near Masham, whose son Timothy had been a confidential servant to her father in Dublin.  William Thornton's uncle Francis Darley had come to be a witness from his estates at Buttercrambe, eight miles north-east of York.  Six of her mother's servants saw Alice married, and she listed them: Dafeny Lightfoote, in whose arms her sister Catherine had died; Ralfe Ianson, who was with her when she escaped drowning in the Swale; George Lightfoote; Robert Webster; Martha Richison; and Robert Loftus the elder.

That very day Alice fell suddenly ill with violent vomiting and sickness.  She thought it might have been because she took cold the night before, when she stayed up late to make her preparations for the wedding, but her mother thought it was because she had also washed her feet – quite the wrong time of year for such a procedure.  She made a full recovery and seven weeks later she conceived.

For the first weeks, before the babe quickened in her womb and she could feel it moving, she was very poorly but afterwards she was strong and healthy.  So when she was seven months pregnant, she was content to go with her husband to visit his family and friends.  

At the end of their visit, they set off from Mr Thornton's estate at East Newton to Osgodby Hall at Thirkleby, the home of his brother-in-law Sir William Ayscough.  William Thornton had been advised to take the road across the moors from Sproxton towards Hambleton.  He hadn't been warned that they would come to the top of Sutton Bank and that Alice would have to clamber down it herself – it was about a mile, Alice said, steep down.  Perhaps the path for horses was too steep and dangerous for them to be able to carry riders and especially a heavily-pregnant pillion passenger.  

Narrow steps were cut into the steep bank, but Alice was so big with child that she could hardly find a footing.  She had only her maid to help her – everyone else had gone on ahead – and her maid was having difficulty herself.  Each step strained Alice a great deal.  At last she was safe at the bottom, tired, hot and weary, feeling unwell, and troubled with pain.  She was troubled with pains all the way home and within a fortnight was in a desperate fever and was ill for some time.  The babe within her finally grew so weak that all movement stopped.  On 27 August 1652 her baby daughter was born, and died within the hour before they could get a clergyman to baptise her.  She was buried that night at Easby church beside the River Swale.

And this was the beginning of many griefs and joys for Alice.  She loved her children deeply, breastfed them joyously and looked after them lovingly – but she lost six children at birth or in infancy and only three grew to adulthood.  Her accounts of their illnesses and deaths are heart-rending.

Death & Change: 1651-1660

The first eight years of Alice's marriage were spent at Hipswell Hall with Mrs Wandesford, while extensive building work was being done to the old family manor house of the Thorntons at East Newton.  

So Alice and William were at Hipswell when in 1653 Parliament appointed Oliver Cromwell to be Lord Protector of the Commonwealth for life – he was king in all but name and he was addressed as Your Highness.  

Oliver Cromwell

They were at Hipswell in 1655 when, after failed uprisings by English and Scottish Royalists, Cromwell put England under martial law to bring about a godly, righteous country.  His Rule of the Major-Generals meant a repressive regime of high taxation and moral improvement – no horse racing, stage plays, fairs, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, no drunkenness, sexual licence, blasphemy or swearing.  It last fifteen unpopular months.  

The 1650s passed and everyday life went on.  During those years, Alice bore five children – four daughters and a son.  Only two of her daughters, Alice – who was always known as Naly (which must be pronounced Nallie, like Allie today) – and Katherine survived.  And through these difficult years, she found great comfort in the presence of her beloved mother, who was truly generous to them.  

Mrs Wandesford was a notable housewife.  She kept within her means but she still managed to achieve, Alice said, a noble, handsome manner of living.  She paid all Alice and William's expenses – christenings, burials, nurses, men servants and maids – and she bore the cost of entertaining and welcoming their friends as well as her own.  

She also took care of their medical bills.  These included a trip to Copgrove, a few miles south-west of Boroughbridge, to see if immersions in St Mungo's Well would cure Alice's baby Betty of the rickets.  Sadly, the holy well had no effect and at the beginning of September 1656 little Betty died.  She was, Alice wrote, aged one year, six months and twenty-one days.  She was buried the same day at Catterick by Mr Syddall.  He was buried there himself sixteen months later, having died of a malignant consumption before his fiftieth birthday. 

New upheavals in the country followed Oliver Cromwell's death on 3 September 1658.  Now his son Richard was Lord Protector.  1659 was a year of chaos.  Tumbledown Dick, as people called Richard, couldn't keep the Puritan factions together.  Who would seize control of power?  The country was gripped by uncertainty and fear.

By August 1659, Alice's mother and husband were getting very alarmed by her health.  On the doctor's advice, William took Alice to Scarborough Spa to drink the waters.  The cure worked – which was very fortunate as, after a month, a message came from Hipswell.  Mrs Wandesford was very poorly with her old ailment, the stone, and she wanted Alice home.  So they set off back, stopping at Crathorne on the way to see William's half-sister Margaret, who had married Ralph Crathorne of Crathorne – that side of William's family were all Catholics, as were the Crathornes.  There, to Alice's joy, a servant from Hipswell met them with the news that Mrs Wandesford was much recovered.  The good news was followed by the realisation that she was pregnant again, and her husband and mother began to hope that this time it might be a son.

But on 17 November 1659 Mrs Wandesford fell ill.  They tried all the remedies that they could.  They managed to relieve a pain in her side with poultices of fried oats, butter and chopped camomile, but her condition grew more distressing and she grew steadily weaker.  

On Thursday 8 December, she sent for Alice, William and the children so that she could bless them and say goodbye.  Alice was about five months pregnant.  She was distraught at seeing her mother in such terrible suffering and she couldn't bear to lose her.  They had been companions through so many trials and griefs and she had been able to rely on her mother's strength and support all her life.  Mrs Wandesford said to her, 

Dear child, why will you not be willing to part with me to God?  Has he not lent me to be a comfort to you long enough?  

And she urged Alice to let her go.  

You never have been disobedient to me in all your life – I pray thee obey me in this.  

She blessed them and Alice took "the saddest last leave of my dear and honoured mother as ever a child did."  

Two days later, Mrs Wandesford saw her sister-in-law Anne Norton and her husband Mauger.  There had always been a strict league of affection and friendship, Alice remembered, between the two women.  Now they said their last goodbye.  She commended her children to the care of Mauger Norton and she died later that day, Saturday 10 December 1659.  Dafeny Lightfoote had been beside her through her illness and was among those who were with her at the end.

On the Tuesday, her body was carried out of the house by Conyers, Lord Darcy and Conyers together with his son Colonel Darcy and son-in-law Sir Christopher Wyvill and other kinsmen of the Wandesford family.  Then her tenants took her from Hipswell Green to Catterick, where nine of the neighbouring clergy, men chosen in advance by Mrs Wandesford herself, carried her into the parish church.  After the service and sermon, they laid her in her grave in the south aisle, which was the Hipswell aisle, and a charitable dole was distributed among a very great number of the poor inside the church and at the door.

St Anne's, Catterick.  [By Alison Stamp CC BY-SA 2.0]

Alice and her daughter Naly later had a blue marble slab laid in Catterick church to mark Mrs Wandesford's resting place; it was destroyed in a 19th century restoration.  

Charles II returns & Alice leaves Richmondshire: 1660

By the time of Mrs Wandesford's funeral, the political chaos meant that there was hardly anybody to mind if nine Anglican clergymen officiated at a funeral in Catterick.  General George Monck, the commander of Scotland, had already crossed the border into Northumberland and made his HQ at Coldstream.  And all people wanted was for the uncertainty to stop. 

General George Monck (1608-70)

On New Year's Day 1660, Monck marched his army south.  Within three months, he was in secret negotiation with Charles II in his exile and on 25 May 1660 Charles landed at Dover.  On 29 May – his thirtieth birthday – he entered London to great rejoicing.  To everyone's relief and to the joy of Royalists, the chaotic uncertainty of the last months had ended.  

Charles II in coronation robes

After Mrs Wandesford's death, Alice and William stayed on at Hipswell Hall for a while, kept there by bitter winter weather and Alice's weak and grieving state.  

In March, they took her to her Aunt Norton's at St Nicholas, and in April her baby was born there, after a hard labour.  He was a pretty babe and suckling well but then grew ill and restless and red round spots like smallpox appeared on his face.  He died at a fortnight old and was buried in the same grave at Easby as his eldest sister, Alice's first child. 

On 10 June 1660, when Alice was strong again, she and William and their two little girls left St Nicholas to move to a house that William owned in Oswaldkirk.  And so she left Richmondshire, her own dear country and dear friends and relations, parting from them with a sad heart.

Next:  13. Mrs Alice Thornton of East Newton: 1660-1707

Benjamin Flounders and the Crathorne Bleach Yard, 1743

This notice – really it's an advertisement – in a Newcastle newspaper of 1743, casts an interesting light on the scope of the operation run by Benjamin Flounders (1708-56), who had a Bleach Yard at Crathorne in the first half of the 18th century.

His surname appears in this advertisement as Flounder, but it is clearly a typo.  The notices continue in the Newcastle Courant until we find, on 3 April 1756, a few weeks after his death, that his widow Barbara is now carrying on the business in his place.  By 1765 the notices appear under the name of their son, John.

The family were Quakers. Benjamin and Barbara were the grandparents of the prominent Yarm businessman and pioneer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, Benjamin Flounders (1768-1846).

We can see that Benjamin Flounders in 1743 has a network of collection points across County Durham and the North Riding.  I assume the handloom weavers, who worked from weaving sheds at home, would have their cloth bleached so as to be able to profit themselves from the higher price that it would then fetch. 

The square brackets indicate where I have added letters or given the modern spelling of names and places, to assist people searching online.  (You can see that Staithes was spelled phonetically)

Newcastle Courant, 26 March 1743

BENJAMIN FLOUNDER,

of CRATHORNE, near YARM, hereby gives Notice, 

THAT he continues the BLEACHING OF LINEN CLOTH this Year as usual, to great Perfection.  His Prices are, as formerly, Yard-wide high white at Twopence Halfpenny per Yard, and so in proportion for broader or narrower, and Superfine Cloth at Threepence, which will be taken in at the following Places, viz.  

By Geo. Flower, Grocer, in Sunderland; Barnard Sheal, at the Dun Cow, in the Market-place, Durham; Sam. Dalkin, Roper, in Sedgefield; Mary Ward, Weaver, in Whitby; Rich. Taylor, at Steaths [Staithes]; Rich. Outhard, Weaver, in Guisborough; Joseph Flounder, Butcher, in Northallerton; Anthony Lidster, Dyer, near Bedale; Simon Bickerdike, Dyer, at Laburn [Leyburn]; Robt Hodgshon [Hodgson]. in Darlington; William Bird, Taylor, in Bishop Auckland; Jonathan Wheatley, Dyer, at Staindrop; Wm Hall, Tanner, in Barnardcastle; John Gill, Weaver, in Sockfield; Thomas Allison, in Chester-le-street; and at his own Shops at Stockton, Stoxley [Stokesley] and Yarm.  All Persons may depend on having their Cloth kept strong, and with a good Colour.  Mr Gabriel Hughes, Merchant, at Yarm, with himself, will be accountable for all the Cloth that comes to the above Peoples Hands. 

N.B.  He has made a great many Conveniences in his Yard, so that his Friends may expect to have their Cloth as well done as at Durham, or elsewhere.

Note:  For more on Benjamin Flounders (1768-1846) see Benjamin Flounders, a very useful account of this interesting man on the Stockton-on-Tees heritage site.

Joseph Hill Appleton (1811-80) and the Meynell family

A reader has been in touch and would like to be in contact with anyone who has any information on the family of Joseph Hill Appleton (born in Richmond, Yorks in 1811, died in Attercliffe, Sheffield in 1880).  He was the son of John Appleton (1775-1852) and Margaretta Clare Ann Hill (born in Great Ayton in 1783).  Margaretta was reputed to be the daughter of a Mary Meynell.

Joseph Hill Appleton said that he was the great-grandson of Christopher Meynell of Hunterbanks Farm, Crathorne.

My correspondent would like to know how Margaretta Clare Ann Hill was connected to the Meynell family and would dearly love to make contact with the purchasers of the 18th and 19th century Ephemera relating to the Appleton Family of Sheffield which came up for sale at Tennants of Leyburn in September 2008.

His particular interest is in an album made by Joseph Hill Appleton entitled "Appletonia", showing a connection to the Appleton family of Appleton Wiske, North Yorkshire, and he would be happy to pay for high resolution scans of the contents.

Anyone who can assist, do please contact me and I will put you in touch.

James Wilson of Hutton Rudby (c1775-1865)

An old resident of Hutton Rudby has turned up in Massachusetts, and I think he may like to come home.  You can see him in this fine mid-19th century portrait by Clement Burlison.

Mr James Wilson of Hutton Rudby

James Wilson was born in about 1775 at Woodhouse, a few miles from Alnwick, in Northumberland.  He married Mary Straker in Gateshead on 30 January 1798.  They had a large family – I have found the names of three daughters (Jane, Matilda and Mary) and six sons (William, James, John, Henry, George and Edward) and there were possibly more – and they lived in Newcastle.

We don't know when his wife died, but by 1840 James was living in Hutton Rudby.

The fortunes of his son George (1810-76) had brought him to the village.  George was to be the founder of the Hutton Rudby Sailcloth Mill on the banks of the River Leven.

George had come to Hutton Rudby as a very young man in the 1830s when he was working as a clerk for the linen manufacturers & spinners, Messrs Clarke, Plummer & Co.  

It seems to me now, after looking at the newspaper reports that are now available online, that he had gone into the business in which his father had worked for many years.

This report shows that a Mr James Wilson had worked for Clarke, Plummer & Co for 37 years at their Northumberland Flax Mill at Ouseburn:-

Northern Liberator, 25 May 1839

A dinner was given on Monday last, by the workmen of the Northumberland flax mill, to Mr James Wilson, on the occasion of his retiring from his situation, when a silver cup was presented to him, bearing the following inscription:- "Presented to Mr James Wilson, by the workmen of Messrs. Clarke, Plummer, and Co., of the Northumberland flax mill, Ouseburn, as a token of their high respect for him, he having been agent for thirty-seven years to the said works. - 20th May, 1839."

I think it's very significant that James's daughter Mary, who generally recorded her place of birth in censuses as Newcastle, in the 1881 census was more specific – she said that it was Ouseburn.

There had been a flax mill by the Ouseburn near Newcastle since the mid-18th century (cf. here) and Clarke, Plummer & Co were evidently operating from there from the earliest years of the 19th century.  I assume they began with a water-driven flax spinning mill (cf here) but a steam engine was soon added.  Their first serious fire happened in 1822, when a flake of soot flew from the engine chimney and ignited a stock of flax and tow, and they had a very damaging fire in March 1836, when initial losses were estimated at £4,000.  For the men, women and children working there, the loss was of course of livelihood and means of subsistence. (For more on the lower Ouseburn industrial area, see here).  The fire of 1836 occurred while James Wilson was agent; I rather hope that it was during this calamity that he earned the respect of the workmen who gave him his silver cup on retirement.

Two years before James Wilson's retirement, this advertisement had appeared in the newspapers:

Newcastle Journal, 28 October 1837

ROBINSON & WILSON,

(SUCCESSORS TO MESSRS CLARKE, PLUMMER & CO. AS) 

LINEN MANUFACTURERS,

AT HUTTON RUDBY, YORKSHIRE, AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; 

BEG respectfully to acquaint their Friends that they have REMOVED their Stock from the Warehouse at the Northumberland Flax Mill, Ouse Burn, to a newly erected and commodious one at

No. 79, PILGRIM-STREET,

Where they intend to keep an extensive Assortment of every kind of LINEN GOODS OF CLEVELAND MANUFACTURE, for the accommodation of their Customers in this District, and where all Orders will be received and attended to from this Date.
Newcastle, Oct. 11th, 1837

This was George Wilson's venture, and from this advertisement it seems that he was originally in partnership with a Mr Robinson.  It looks rather as though George has taken over the Hutton Rudby end of Messrs Clarke, Plummer & Co's business.  I know that he continued to keep a warehouse in Pilgrim Street,  Newcastle, as it is mentioned in the Shields Daily Gazette of 11 May 1864, when it was reported that his bookkeeper and manager had absconded after 26 years with the firm, taking with him at least £600 from the till.

By 1840, George's father James had joined him in Hutton Rudby, and was listed there under the

James Wilson (c1775-1865)

description 'Gentleman' in the 1840 White's Directory.  

I suspect that George must have been glad of James's presence in the village to supervise matters when George had to travel to Newcastle on business.  By that time, George was a family man.  He had married Ann Hutton in Newcastle on 9 June 1836, and their son James Alder Wilson was born in 1837, followed by Allan Bowes Wilson in 1839.

The censuses for 1841, 1851 and 1861 show that James lived in the last house at the west end of South Side.  (The house nowadays has a West End address, but the name West End was not used in the 19th century.)

This is a photograph of the house from the 1930s (courtesy of Malcolm McPhie), looking eastward along South Side:

Mrs Sidgwick in her front garden, Hutton Rudby 

The house looks rather different today: it has been rendered, the window glazing has been altered and, most noticeable of all, an enclosed porch has been added to the front door.

James lived there until his death on 14 July 1865 at the age of 90.

The family of James Wilson & Mary Straker

James & Mary's daughter Jane (c1806-77), married John Ingo, a shipowner and ship's captain (1800-77), who was born in Whitburn, Co. Durham.  They had no children, but their nephew John J Brunskill, ship broker's clerk, is with them for the censuses of 1861 and 1871.
In 1861 the Ingos were living in Sawdon House, Gosforth.  In 1871, they had moved to No 1 The Grove, Gosforth, where John died, a few months after his wife, on 30 December 1877.
In the 1851 Census, Jane is to be found in Hutton Rudby visiting her father.

James & Mary's daughter Matilda (1808-96) married a master mariner, Thomas Churnside.  She was a widow by the time of the 1861 census.  They had at least four children:  Matilda (b c1836), Mary, (b c1838), Edward (b c1841) and Jane Ingo Churnside (b c1842).
Young Matilda was to be found in Hutton Rudby in 1851, acting as housekeeper to her grandfather.  In 1861, Matilda and her children were living at 45 Fowler Terrace, Bishopwearmouth.  By 1891, old Matilda was living with her son (a Master Mariner – the census notes that he was deaf) and her widowed daughter Mary Robinson, at Bar Moor, Ryton, Gateshead.

James & Mary's daughter Mary (b c1817) married a Mr Todd (probably John Todd).  Their children were (or included) James Wilson Todd (b c1842), Edith (b c1855) and Mary (b c1852).
At the time of the 1861 census, Mary was staying with her father in Hutton Rudby, together with little Edith, while James Wilson Todd, a ship broker's apprentice, was staying with the Churnsides.  In 1871, Mary (described as a schoolmistress) was living with her daughters at 38 Tatham Street, Bishopwearmouth, and in 1881 she and her son James (then unemployed) were living at 10 Harlow Street, Sunderland.  

So it can be seen that the fortunes of Matilda and Mary were not as prosperous as those of their brother George.  Of the other brothers, William, James, John, Henry and Edward, I have no details.  Perhaps they too had George's entrepreneurial flair.

George Wilson & Ann Hutton lived at Hutton House, Hutton Rudby.  Their children were:

James Alder Wilson (1837-1910), Rector of Crathorne 

Allan Bowes Wilson (1839-1932) of Hutton House
for details of Allan's interest in the works of artist Ralph Hedley, see my blogpost here 

Thomas Bowes Wilson (1845-1929).  He and his wife Maria Hutton lived at Enterpen Hall.  They had three children:  Capt. George Hutton Bowes Wilson (1877-1915), solicitor, who married Nora Dulcie Linney;  Lt Col John Hutton Wilson (1880-1917); and Mary Hutton Austin.
for details of the life and early death of George, see my blogpost here

John George Wilson (1849-c1930) was a prominent solicitor in Durham.  He married Anna Louisa Eade, daughter of the Rev Canon Eade, vicar of Aycliffe, in 1879.  He inherited Staindrop Hall in Co. Durham on the condition that the family surname was changed to Luxmoore.  Their son Allan Aylmer Luxmoore was also a solicitor in Durham. 

Annie Hutton Wilson (1856-1947)

Allan and his brother Thomas took over the running of the Sailcloth Mill on their father's death.  For details of the mill in 1860 see this blogpost.  And for details of the mill in 1877 see this one.

The portrait by Clement Burlison (1815-99)

Clement Burlison was a native of the city of Durham.  A few newspaper clippings serve to track his career, and you can see that it was his bequest that established Durham's first art gallery:-

Durham Chronicle, Friday 27 November 1846

Our talented townsman, Mr Clement Burlison, returned to England a few days ago.  He has been spending the last two years for improvement in his profession in Rome, Florence, Venice, &c, and we understand brings with him a magnificent collection of studies from the Old Masters, &c, which will add materially to the fame which, before he left England, he had acquired as a first rate historical and portrait painter.  He sent home during his travels several excellent pictures, which were included in the last exhibition of the Royal Academy.

Northern Echo, 6 February 1899

DEATH OF MR BURLISON, OF DURHAM. - We regret to announce the death of Mr Clement Burlison (83), which occurred at his residence, Victoria-terrace, Western Hill, Durham, on Saturday.  

Mr Burlison, who was one of the oldest citizens of Durham, was an artist by profession, and his abilities gained for him considerable local reputation.  On many occasions he received commissions to paint the portraits of notable citizens, and many of those now occupy prominent positions on the walls of the Durham Hall, where they are much admired for the lifelike fidelity with which Mr Burlison has invested them.  In other directions beside that of portraiture Mr Burlison's talents were greatly appreciated.  He leaves a widow and one daughter.

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 4 June 1901

ART GALLERY FOR DURHAM
The Lord Lieutenant of Durham (the Earl of Durham) yesterday formally opened the art gallery which has been established in Durham by means of the bequest of the late Mr Clement Burlison, a Durham artist, who left to the city his collection of fifty pictures conditionally upon the city authorities providing a public gallery for their reception within a definite period.

The art gallery premises were in Sadler Street according to the Sunderland Daily Echo & Shipping Gazette of 31 May 1901.

Burlison left a record of his early life in a short book called The Early Life of Clement Burlison, Artist. Being His Own Record of the Years 1810 to 1847.  It was first published in 1898 and, according to the Newcastle Journal of 8 May 1914, "gives interesting information about the artist's methods of work".

You can find other paintings by Burlison online here, on the Art UK website, and also here.  You will be able to see from the Art UK website that Co. Durham still holds quite a stock of his civic portraits.  Other works by Burlison can be found in the online auction house sales records.

James Wilson's fine portrait has been found by Brad Verter of Carpe Librum Books, Williamstown, Massachusetts.  Brad deals in books and art and tells me that Clement Burlison had his creative peak in the 1840s and 1850s, which is when he thinks this portrait was completed.

And how could Brad tell that this grand old chap was James Wilson of Hutton Rudby?  Because he is

helpfully holding a letter addressed to himself.

This seems to me to be rather odd for a portrait intended for family, so I wonder if it was perhaps painted for some association or institution to which James belonged.  I wonder how it made the journey to the USA ...

If you are interested in acquiring James for your own walls (especially if it is a wall that James once knew, in Hutton Rudby or Crathorne!) please contact Brad at brad@carpelibrumbooks.com

The painting is for sale at $1,500 (about £1,125) plus shipping, which will be charged at cost.

And how can you resist, when old James is so finely rendered as this?

Mystery stone structure in field near Crathorne

I was recently asked through the blog whether I had any information on a

"round stone structure that was in a field on the left hand side of the road to Crathorne" 

My correspondent Ian remembered seeing it as he cycled past in the 1970s and once running over the field to explore it – but it had no doors or windows, so it was impossible to tell what it was.

I remembered the structure – in fact, I remembered having a conversation with someone who explained it to me – but I couldn't remember the answer!

Luckily, Malcolm McPhie knew who to ask.  And here I think it's appropriate to remind everyone that his facebook page detailing the history of the Hutton Rudby Choral & Dramatic Society is definitely not to be missed!  It's filled with fascinating information and many videos of performances and of several Village Events and even includes such gems as this – a photograph of the mallet with which Mrs W L Johnson of Crathorne Grange laid a foundation stone of the Hutton Rudby Village Hall on 15 October 1927.

And so, thanks to Malcolm and with very many thanks to Maurice Atkinson, now 90 years of age, I have the explanation of the mystery stone structure.

It stood about half way between Hutton Rudby and Crathorne.  It was about 10 feet high and about 30 feet in diameter, but the outside walls were earthed up for about 3 feet so it may only have looked as thought it was 6 or 7 feet high.

It had been built for water storage, was fed from a windmill-driven pump and was located on raised ground to increase its pressure.

Its function was to supply water to Crathorne Hall and the village of Crathorne.

Maurice was related to the Atkinson family that had the mill at Crathorne and he remembers that they had piped water also fed from that tank.  He thinks its use was discontinued shortly after the Second World War when mains water arrived in the area.  It was demolished several years ago.

Maurice also reminded my friend that in the same field was a dummy WWII airfield, complete with its own entrance and a sign above it – it was called "Seldom Scene" airfield.

Various occupants of the mill at Rudby

These newspaper notices relate to the mill on the Rudby side of the River Leven:

Hull Advertiser & Exchange Gazette, 5 July 1806

Marriages ...

A few days ago, at Hinderwell, Mr Thomas Hird, of Rudby Flour-Mills, near Stokesley, to Miss Moor, of Staithes, near Whitby 

Yorkshire Gazette, 8 November 1823

Robert Robinson's Assignment

Whereas Robert Robinson, of Rudby Mill, in the Parish of Rudby, in the County of York, Miller and Farmer, hath by Indenture, bearing Date the 3d Day of November instant, assigned over all his personal Estate and Effects unto John Millner, of Rudby, aforesaid, Weaver, and Thomas Robinson, of Crathorne, in the said County, Farmer, in Trust, for the equal Benefit of such of the Creditors of the said Robert Robinson, who shall execute the same Deed and accept the Provisions thereby made, in full, for their respective Debts, on or before the 1st Day of January next ... 

York Herald, 22 March 1856

To be sold by Public Auction,

on Easter Monday, without Reserve, if not Sold by Private Contract, or Let for the ensuing Season before, that celebrated Coaching Stallion CLEVELAND LAD.

Cleveland Lad is rising 9 years old, is a rich bay, with black legs clear of white, with great bone and superior action, stands 16 hands 1½ inches high, and has proved himself a sure foal getter.

Cleveland Lad's pedigree may be had on application to Messrs J & M Middleton, Rudby Mill, near Yarm.

March 21st, 1856

(As the name suggests, Cleveland Lad was a Cleveland Bay)

Hutton Rudby between the Wars: in newspaper cuttings

These notes were taken years ago, from a scrapbook that somebody lent me.  I think, as is often the way with newspaper clippings, they were mostly undated (I don’t like to think that I didn’t copy out the dates!) but I think they are interesting all the same …and I have been able to date most of them ...

The funeral took place at Hutton Rudby yesterday of Mr John Barnabas Smith, one of the best-known residents of the parish, and the proprietor of one of the oldest businesses on Teesside.  Mr Smith, who was 73 years of age, had all his life enjoyed excellent health, and as recently as Saturday he spent his leisure hours digging in his garden.  On Tuesday morning he got up at his accustomed time, and after breakfast set off, as was his wont, to walk to Potto Station.  So regular had he been in his habits that many residents of Hutton Rudby have set their clocks by him as he passed to the station in the morning when on his way to business.
Shortly after passing the Village Hall in course of erection in Lodge-lane [it was built in 1927], Mr Smith was seen to fall to the ground.  He was taken into Mr McKinney’s house, and Dr Proctor was called to him …

[Sister: Mrs Scaife.  Niece: Miss Finlayson.  J B Smith worked for Joshua Byers & Co, timber merchants of Stockton, which was taken over by Mr John Wilson Watson, and J B Smith finally became proprietor of the business.  He never married and in the 1911 Census was living at Jubilee Cottage on North Side, near to the (Wesleyan) Methodist Chapel]

Joseph Mellanby Mease

 ---------------------

January 1928
Mr Joseph Mellanby Mease, of Leven Valley House, the oldest inhabitant of Hutton Rudby and the oldest reader of the Northern Echo, has died at the age of 100 …

[He attributed his great age to an open-air life, plenty of sleep and always having been abstemious.  Never smoked until he was over 80, and after that had a cigarette after supper every night.  In early days was chief clerk at the chemical works in Jarrow owned by a member of the Mease family.  Came to Hutton Rudby in 1858 as manager of a corn mill, on the site of which the police constable’s house now stands.  Three years later he lost his arm when his sleeve was caught in the machinery.  When the Northern Echo had its jubilee in 1920 he was one of the 3 or 4 people who proved they had taken the paper from its first number, and he was presented with a silver teapot]

---------------------

Hutton Rudby Bridge
Reporting to the Highways Committee of the North Riding County Council with regard to the Hutton Rudby bridge, the County Surveyor states:-

The property on the south side of the river which obscures the view at the foot of Hutton Rudby bank is offered for sale at £1,750.  The property consists of a mill and 4 occupied cottages.  If the property were pulled down a good improvement would be effected.  The cost of clearing the site and making good would probably be covered by the value of the scrap material from the buildings.  The property adjoins the Bridge road which is maintained by the County Council.  The continuation of the Bridge road in either direction is a district road between Stokesley and East Rounton.
[The Mill and cottages were demolished in the 1930s to widen the road, which was dangerously narrow at that point]

---------------------

People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19: Sigsworth to Souter

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013


Sigsworth

FQ 434:  14 & 15 Apr 1829:  Thomas Sigsworth occupied land belonging to Elizabeth Sleigh


Simpson

David Simpson’s charity: yearly rent charge of 20s, 1783.  B D Suggitt was his grandson.

Yorkshire Poll Book 1807:  Crathorne:  Richard Simpson innkeeper (freehold in Hutton Rudby)

John Simpson was a tenant of James Bainbridge on East Side in 1817
 
EH 212 & EG 295:  relate to the same ppty:  a house which had been divided into two tenements and in 1818 was “lately occupied in four different tenements or dwellinghouses”:  tenants were previously Jane Whorlton & her tenants William Easby, Oliver Jackson & William Honeyman; tenants were in 1818 William Honeyman, Thomas Graham, Robert Walton and Robert Codling:  bounded to E by Christopher Flintoff decd, to S & W by townstreet, to N by David Simpson decd

EC 354:  30 Oct 1817:  James Bainbridge bricklayer (1) William Richmond of Stockton mercer & draper (2):  2 houses with garden behind, occ by James Bainbridge & John Simpson:  bounded by messuage & garden of Roger Bowes to E, by messuage & garden of Edmund Taylor to W, by street to N, by Thomas Passman to S

FC 147:  14 Nov 1825:  James Bainbridge bricklayer (1) Hutchinsons & Place bankers (2) William Richmond of Stockton mercer & draper (3) Richard Nightingale the younger of Middleton St George (4):  2 houses, lately in 3 tenements, with garden behind, formerly occ by James Bainbridge, Richard Wood & Thomas Almond, then by James Bainbridge & John Simpson, now by James & John Bainbridge; and also 2 new erected houses now in 3 tenements lately erected by James Bainbridge in the garden, now occ by George Harker, Alice Pedlar & Ann Rudd:  all bounded by messuage & garden of Roger Bowes to E, by messuage & garden of Edmund Taylor to W, by street to N, by Thomas Passman to S

FL 58:  13 May 1827:  East Side, judging by occupants & boundaries:  2 houses lately used in 3 tenements with garden behind formerly occ by James Bainbridge, Richard Wood & Thomas Almond, then by sd James Bainbridge & John Simpson, then by sd James Bainbridge & John Bainbridge:  and the 2 houses used in 3 tenements “newly created” and “lately erected” by sd James Bainbridge in the sd garden, then occupied by George Harker, Alice Pedlar & Ann Rudd:  bounded by house and garden bel to Roger Bowes to E, by Edmund Taylor to W, by street to N, by Thomas Passman to S:  parties:   Richard Nightingale the younger late of Middleton St George gent and George Stanger of Pickton farmer:  reciting indre of 14 Nov 1825 to which James Bainbridge, George & John & Henry Hutchinson, Thomas Place, William Richmond and said Richard Nightingale were parties

28 Sep 1835:  Will of John Braithwaite:  he left a house occupied by son Robert (except a room built over a coalhouse occ by tenant Richard Simpson) with garden & privy;  a house occupied by Richard Simpson (except the room beforementioned);  house lately occupied by William Mudd and now unoccupied.  [East Side deeds]

Churchwardens’ accounts 1838:  “Thos Simpson Lime & Lead Do. 15s” [ditto=New Window]

James Simpson (15) was a servant at the Barlows’ at Linden Grove in the 1841 Census
1841 Census:  Ann Simpson 50 ag lab, Robert 20 journeyman blacksmith and Hannah 15 flaxspinner, South Side
1841 Census:  Thomas Simpson 40 farmer and family, with John Sidgwick 25 linen weaver and Simon Sidgwick 45 linen weaver, Enterpen

1851 Census:  South Side:  Ann Simpson widow 62 pauper farmer’s widow, b Crathorne
1851 Census:  Enterpen:  Thomas Simpson 52 widower, ag lab, b Potto, and unmarried children Mary Ann 26 housekeeper, Thomas 23 ag lab, Jane 20, Hannah 17,  all born Hutton Rudby;  with son-in-law John Sidgwick 32 hand loom weaver widower [?], brother-in-law Simon Sidgwick single 60 hand loom weaver, both born Hutton Rudby

Oddfellows Board:  Bro:  Robert Simpson, Linthorp, 19 Nov 1874, a57

People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19: Nattrass to Norman

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013


Nattrass

Oddfellows Board:  Bro:  William Nattrass, Hutton, 9 Apr 1880, a21


Nellist

Yorkshire Gazette 12 Mar 1842:  John Nellist: “I am a farmer, and reside in the parish of Seymour …”  He found the bones of the man that was presumed to be William Huntley. 


Nelson

“Nelson my Hind” saw Meek and Jackson trespassing in May 1856 – Barlow’s Notebook

People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19: Mease to Mundale

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013



Mease

Update 29 Feb 2020:  John Mease bought the disused buildings of the Hutton paper mill and installed machinery for a water-powered flax-mill in 1834.  For a full account, see Hutton Rudby 1834-1849: the Flax-Spinning Mill by the bridge

For an account of Thomas Mease and the flax-spinning mills of Stokesley, see the series of articles posted on 29 Feb 2020 beginning The linen mills of Stokesley & Hutton Rudby: 1823-1908

John Mease’s grandfather Solomon Mease (1731-1801) b Great Ayton, married Jane Humphrey and had 4 children.  He was the son of a weaver and trained as a weaver himself.  He inherited money and his wife brought him a good portion, but in the words of his son John, his “love for cards and drink was such that he was sold up in a few years”.  He joined the army and served as a sergeant in the American Wars.  Solomon’s son John Mease (1767-1849) was a grocer in Stokesley.  He married Isabella Turnbull, and they had 5 children:  Thomas, Isabella, John, Rachel and Mary.  His very interesting diary contains many references to the religious problems of the day and to Methodism.

Joseph Mellanby Mease (1827-1928) was the son of Thomas Mease, John's elder brother.  Well-educated and well-read, he had lost an arm in an accident in one of his father’s flour mills – according to a newspaper article written in his old age, it was the Hutton mill.  Joseph Mease was chief clerk at the chemical works in Jarrow owned by a member of the family.  He came to the village in 1858 as manager of a corn mill “on the site on which the police-constable’s house now stands”.  Three years later he lost his arm through his sleeve being caught in the machinery.

Joseph Mease’s wife ran a school, assisted by her daughter Jenny.  Mrs Mease’s school is mentioned in the Hutton School log book in 1879.

1841 Census:  John Mease 40 merchant and Mary Mease 30 and Edward 4 (not born in county) in the household of Thomas Pilter

11 May 1868:  Codling mortgage:  North Side ppty bounded by John Mease to W and Miss Righton and George Davison to E, and occupied by James Stephenson

1872 Post Office Directory:  Rudby:  Joseph Mellanby Mease, registrar of births & deaths

“Given by Mr Mease” 2s 6d “Sacrament Money” in Lent 1873

John Mease died 1876 and his wife Hannah Maria Geldart in 1851:  tablet in church

Joseph Mellanby Mease was the registrar who recorded the death of Mr Barlow in 1878.  
In ‘Northern Primitive Methodism’, there is a reference to a Mr  Mellanby in Greenhow.

EB 38:  1816:  Henry Mellanby of Stockton gent was witness

People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19: Hibberd to Hutton Rudby Association for the Prosecution of Felons

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013



Hibberd

1840 Whites:  Skutterskelfe:  Philip Hibberd, gamekeeper


Hildreth

FQ 249:  13 & 14 Mar 1829:  exors of Wayne to Barker:  the Carpenters Arms with the cartwrights shop and stable on the west end thereof, the garden and the privy on the south & backside of the premises, bounded by road to East Rounton to E, by Mrs Elizabeth Hildreth to W & S, by road to East Rounton, John Robinson and Mr Farnaby to N – occ by Edward Meynell;  the garth occ by Edward Meynell, bounded by Elizabeth Hildreth to E, by John Burdon to W, by Thomas Passman, Elizabeth Hildreth, Mr Kendall & William Spence to N, by road to East Rounton to S; the site where buildings lately occupied by John & Hannah Kay & taken down by Mark Barker stood; the garth now used as garden ground to the E & backside of the sd site;  the new houses built by Mark Barker on the site and part of the garth: some of the houses and the garden ground “at present unoccupied”, the others occupied by Robert Hall, William Souter, George Sanderson, John Kay, Mary Lamb, Jackson Richardson, John Wild and Thomas Shaw:  bounded by house & lands bel to Rev Richard Shepherd to E & S, by Arthur Douglas and townstreet to N & W

FU 487:  16 May 1832:  South Side, tithe map 194-6:  John Passman of Hutton yeoman (1) James Robinson of Whorlton yeoman (2) Robert Pulman of Stockton gent [solicitor] (3):  building with cowhouse & premises adjoining, and garth of 2r adjoining to the N:  bounded by Jane Farnaby to E, by Mrs Hildreth to W, by street to N, by Mark Barker to S:  occ by John Passman & James Harrison & Mary Kingston;  and the house with garden adjoining, bounded by street to E & N, and by above prems to W & S

People of Hutton Rudby in the C18/19: Barker to Blacksmiths

... from my working notes ... accuracy not guaranteed ... for explanatory note, see post of 14 Feb 2013


Barker

Yorkshire Poll Book 1807:  Ayton:  Mark Barker 

Mark Barker benefited under the Will of Thomas Wayne of Angrove Hall (1727-1806). 

EB 102:  11 & 13 May 1816:  Hutton manor & mill:  assignmt to Barker

EX 146:  26 & 27 Nov 1823:  Hutton manor, mill and [Manor House] farm

FQ 249:  13 & 14 Mar 1829:  exors of Wayne to Barker:  the Carpenters Arms with the cartwrights shop and stable on the west end thereof, the garden and the privy on the south & backside of the premises, bounded by road to East Rounton to E, by Mrs Elizabeth Hildreth to W & S, by road to East Rounton, John Robinson and Mr Farnaby to N – occ by Edward Meynell;  the garth occ by Edward Meynell, bounded by Elizabeth Hildreth to E, by John Burdon to W, by Thomas Passman, Elizabeth Hildreth, Mr Kendall & William Spence to N, by road to East Rounton to S; the site where buildings lately occupied by John & Hannah Kay & taken down by Mark Barker stood; the garth now used as garden ground to the E & backside of the sd site;  the new houses built by Mark Barker on the site and part of the garth: some of the houses and the garden ground “at present unoccupied”, the others occupied by Robert Hall, William Souter, George Sanderson, John Kay, Mary Lamb, Jackson Richardson, John Wild and Thomas Shaw:  bounded by house & lands bel to Rev Richard Shepherd to E & S, by Arthur Douglas and townstreet to N & W

FT 30:  12 & 13 May 1830:  East Side:  John Kay of Hutton cartwright & others to Mark Barker & trustees:  house heretofore used as a coachhouse & formerly occ by James Ingledew, Mary Collyerson & Diana Swales, then by Elizabeth Farnaby, then by Charles Hall, then by Hannah Best, & now by Matthew Garbutt:  bounded by street to E, Mark Barker to W & S, Arthur Douglas to N

FU 487:  16 May 1832:  South Side, tithe map 194-6:  John Passman of Hutton yeoman (1) James Robinson of Whorlton yeoman (2) Robert Pulman of Stockton gent [solicitor] (3):  building with cowhouse & premises adjoining, and garth of 2r adjoining to the N:  bounded by Jane Farnaby to E, by Mrs Hildreth to W, by street to N, by Mark Barker to S:  occ by John Passman & James Harrison & Mary Kingston;  and the house with garden adjoining, bounded by street to E & N, and by above prems to W & S

1805:  4 Oct:  murder of Margaret Barker:  a spinster of Hutton Rudby aged about 46, who made a living for herself and her aged parents by travelling in the neighbourhood with housewife cloth for sail, she was staying at the house of Thomas Wilson, journeyman smith, in Stockton, when he murdered her in the night, apparently in mistake for his stepdaughter

1823 Baines:  Hutton:  Joseph Barker, farmer & gamekeeper

Mark Barker leased the site of the National Schoolhouse to the trustees for 5/- p.a [Lease for 999 years 10 Mar 1836]
Mark Barker made his Will on 18 Aug 1838, and was bur 24 Jan 1839 a72 at Stokesley [NBI Beryl] [HR Wills]

Tithe Map:  Edward Meynell occupied the Carpenters Arms, owned by Mark Barker
Tithe Map:  William Meynell and others occupied Barkers Row
Tithe Map:  Mark Barker owned Manor House farm, occupied by James Longstaff

Mark Barker named Edward Meynell the younger, weaver, and William Passman farmer of Carlton as his executors;  Meynell renounced probate.

1841 Census:  William Barker 75 linen weaver and Margaret Barker 30 linen weaver, South Side
1841 Census:  Mary Barker 30 and children, South Side
1841 Census:  Thomas Barker 40 linen weaver and Jane 35, South Side
1841 Census:  Butter Hill:  Dorothy Barker 75 in household of John Garfat

1851 Census:  North End:  Thomas Barker 53 hand loom weaver linen, b Hutton, Jane 50 b Liverton, niece Elizabeth Barker 12 house servant and uncle William Whorlton single 80 hand loom weaver linen, both b Hutton

1859 Whellan:  Hutton Rudby:  Mr Mark Barker is Lord of the Manor and resides in the Manor House, a small farmhouse, situated about a mile west of Hutton
1872 Post Office Directory:  Hutton Rudby:  William Barker, butter dealer

Chapter 9. Mr Barlow & his Neighbourhood

Robert may have already visited his brother James in Hampshire, but it is possible that he had never set foot in England before his arrival in early 1831.

He was instituted vicar of Hutton Rudby on 3 January [1], and arrived in the parish a short while later [2], a young and energetic man dressed in the usual clothes of a gentleman – it was not then customary for clergymen to wear clerical dress. 

There was no parsonage house at Hutton Rudby.

Mr Grice had lived in Hutton and purchased property of his own in the parish, and Mr Shepherd seems to have rented Hutton House from Lady Amherst.  An earlier vicar, George Stainthorpe, had lived in Rudby "in a house which I farm of the Honourable Colonel", George Cary. 

Accompanied by his wife and possibly one of his spinster sisters to keep her company, Mr Barlow settled into a comfortable house a little way outside Enterpen.  This had previously been known as Suggitt's Grove, and had been the home of Benjamin David Suggitt, the gentlemanly yeoman farmer who had built the Primitive Methodists their chapel.  The planting of an avenue of lime trees had given rise to a new and more genteel name, Linden Grove, and it now belonged to Suggitt's nephew, Dr George Merryweather of Whitby.  Merryweather, who was the inventor of the  Tempest Prognosticator, a device using leeches in jars to forecast bad weather, let the property, with some additional farmland, to Mr Barlow.

Chapter 6. 1830: Suspicions of Murder

The summer of 1830 had been an eventful one in the village.  Not only had old Lady Amherst died and the vicar fallen seriously ill, but in August the inhabitants of Hutton had been shaken by the disappearance of one of the weavers.

The people of East Side were absorbed with the affair for weeks – and their memories of the time were to be revived unexpectedly when the discovery of a skeleton eleven years later led to a murder trial.

In the newspaper reports of the trial [1] we can hear the actual voices of the villagers themselves, and their testimonies reveal a vivid picture of life at the time – lived under the scrutiny of close neighbours, often outside the houses, in the street.

The past is brought alive: rising at dawn; shared loomshops in the yards; men drinking late at night in the kitchen of a public house; a labourer breaking stones at the roadside in return for parish relief; the local habit of poaching in the Crathorne game preserves; the little shops run by the women of the village in their own homes; the long distances people were accustomed to walk; the clothes they wore; how the village governed and policed itself; the emigration ships sailing from Whitby.

The missing man's name was William Huntley.  He had a very odd appearance, his head being large and strangely-shaped.  William Jackson, draper and hatter, said of him:

he had rather a particular shaped face, and a large head.  He took a very large hat, and the last time he came to me I had some difficulty to fit him.

Mr Garbutt, the solicitor, gave this description to the court:

Very low between the eyes; very long behind in the head; his head sloped off particularly from the forehead.

A tooth protruded from his bottom jaw and pushed out his lower lip; the village boys used to make fun of him.

Chapter 2. Linen Weaving & the Paper Mill

In 1831 the population of Hutton Rudby was at its 19th century peak of 1,027 and the township was dominated by linen weavers [1].

In the early part of the century there was a significant linen industry in the Cleveland area (though on a minor scale compared to Nidderdale and Knaresborough) and neighbouring villages such as Osmotherley and Brompton were also weaving communities.
   
Linen had long been used for many products from fine fabric to canvas, but it would soon face serious competition from light cottons, which would eventually force linen manufacturers to concentrate on the heavier cloths – in Hutton, this was to be sailcloth. 
   
From the harvesting of the flax to the woven linen cloth lay many stages of production and a great deal of time, and this long interval between the initial investment and the finished product created a natural division between the flax preparation and spinning, and the weaving and finishing.

The Roman Catholic population of Hutton Rudby, c1780 to 1830

After the Reformation, the mediaeval frescoes in Hutton Rudby parish church were whitewashed over and a wealthy parishioner left money in his Will for a pulpit to be installed, in accordance with the new Protestant emphasis on preaching.

Even so, in the late 16th century, Rudby was still known as one of the local centres of Catholicism and we know of two prominent Catholics in the parish: Sir John Ingilby and the Venerable Mary Ward.

Sir John Ingilby of Lawkland owned the manor of Rudby.  He was prosecuted for recusancy in 1604.  A labourer from Crathorne destroyed a seat in a close in Rudby which belonged to Sir John “on which the said John, an old man and lame, was wont to rest himself”. 

Mary Ward (1585-1645) lived in quietly in Rudby parish near the end of her life, after her many hard years of journeying in Europe and her struggle to found the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In 1642, during the Civil Wars, she came back to her native Yorkshire and took refuge at Hutton Rudby with her Ingilby relatives.  During her time there, Mary prayed at the shrine of Our Lady at Mount Grace.

I think we can assume that she stayed in the old manor house of Rudby, which stood beside the river Leven.  (There is nothing of it to be seen today - only a field, across the road from the church).  In this obscure corner of the Ingilby estates it seems very unlikely that the family maintained another house that could be suitable for sheltering an elderly and infirm woman and her companions.

Hutton Rudby was, in those days, a very remote place and in early 1643 Mary decided that she must move to Heworth near York, in order to be in communication with friends and supporters.  She died there on 30 January 1645.  She was the foundress of the Bar Convent, York.

Apart from Sir John and Mary Ward, we know very little of Catholics living in the village - until the baptismal registers for St Mary's in Crathorne provide us with names for the period c1780 to 1830.

The Baptismal Register of St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Crathorne 1777 to 1839

I obtained a copy of St Mary's baptismal register while researching my book on Hutton Rudby in the time of the cholera.  My transcription follows below - please check against the original before relying on it.

The baptismal register book for St Mary’s, Crathorne is held at the National Archive (Public Record Office) at Kew and covers the period 1777 to 1839. 

During this time Parliament restored civil rights to Catholics in a series of Relief Acts beginning in 1778 and culminating in 1829 with the Catholic Emancipation Act. 

The register begins with an introduction by Thomas Ferby:  

“A Baptismal Book belonging Crathorne [sic] in which an account is kept of the children that have been baptized by me Thos Ferby Eng.h Miss. since Novr 1st 1777”

Crathorne in 1840

Crathorne, as described in White's Directory 1840:

Crathorne, a village and parish on the Thirsk road, and on the western side of the vale of the river Leven, 4 miles S by E of Yarm, contains 304 souls, and 2,460 acres of land, mostly the property of Mrs Mary Tasburgh, of Burghwallis, the lady of the manor and patroness of the Church, (All Saints) which is a small ancient edifice, and has in its chancel the recumbent effigy of a crusader, supposed to represent Sir Wm Crathorne, Kt, who lived in 1322, and whose family was long seated here.  The rectory, valued in K.B. at £10 11s 10 ½d and now at £205, is enjoyed by the Rev Ralph Grenside, B A.
Here is a Catholic Chapel, which was rebuilt about sixteen years ago, and was founded by the Crathorne family.  The interest of £74  4s 8 ½d, left by Thomas Baxter, in 1769, is paid to a schoolmaster for the education of poor children.

Crathorne in 1823

Crathorne, as described in Baines' Directory 1823:

Crathorne in the wap and liberty of Langbargh; 4 miles SSE of Yarm.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient plain structure;  in the chancel is an effigy of a knight cumbent in armour cross-legged, with the arms of Crathorne on his shield.  This, it is conjectured, is the monument of Sir William Crathorne, Knight, who lived A.D 1322, near which is a mural monument, to the memory of Ralph Crathorne, Lord of Crathorne.  The living is a rectory, in the patronage of Lord Viscount Cullen.
Here is likewise a Catholic chapel, and a place of worship for the Primitive Methodists.
A mineral spring has been discovered about half a mile from this place.  The village consists of about sixty-six houses pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Leven.  Pop 330.