Thomas Wayne (1727-1806) and the "Mystery of Angrove Hall"

In the 1990s Peter Meadows was working on an article on the subject of a lost Cleveland house called Angrove (also Anngrove or Ann-grove) Hall, which once stood between Great Ayton and Stokesley.  The results of his work were keenly anticipated but, as far as I can tell, it was never completed.  His draft article was the basis of Dan O'Sullivan's piece on Angrove Hall on the Great Ayton History Society pages on wikidot and I was given sight of the draft article many years ago by Dr Geoffrey Stout, but I have not been able to discover whether the draft article itself survives.  Finally I decided to investigate Angrove Hall myself and the account that follows is the result [1]. 

(The Great Ayton History Society's wikidot pages are no longer active, as the Society is in the process of creating its own website.  I will alter my references to link to the new website when it is operational.  In the meantime, my apologies.)

Richard Blakeborough's ghost story

On 11 August 1900 the Northern Weekly Gazette proudly announced that Mr Richard Blakeborough, "the well-known author of 'Yorkshire Wit, Character, Folklore, and Customs' and 'T'Hunt of Yatton Brigg'" would be contributing to the newspaper 

a series of unique complete stories, into which he has woven in his own inimitable way a variety of remarkable

Old Legends, Folk Tales,

and

Ghost Stories of North Yorkshire

under the title "Tales our Grandfathers Told"

On 25 August 1900, Richard Blakeborough's column began with a story of some 3,500 words entitled 'The Mystery of Ann Grove Hall' with the subtitle in brackets '(The Manor House, Stokesley)'.

Blakeborough's story was an exciting tale featuring in swift succession: a master of Angrove Hall who was enraged by the suspicion that his daughter planned to elope with the undercoachman; his allegation that the man had stolen valuables that he was entrusted to take to Stokesley; the disappearance of the coachman and his reappearance as a ghost; the hunt by the man's tenacious sister for the truth of her brother's fate with the aid of the witch Hannah Waugh and the Great Broughton blacksmith; and the exposure by means of magic charms of the master as a murderer.  The man's body is at last discovered and the Hall decays, falling 

into such ill-repute that no one could be prevailed upon to live in it, so it was closed, and never inhabited again, thus fulfilling the prophecy, which Hannah Waugh is reported to have made to the master of Anngrove, one day when she met him in Stokesley town, he being in company with several others at the time.  Said she, brandishing her staff in his face 

Thoo'll a'e thi day,

Bud lambs 'll plaay,

An' loup on t'grund where Anngrov' stan's.

Neea lahm (lime) s'll ho'd

S'all hap up t'deed o'thi tweea han's

Indeed, Blakeborough wrote, Hannah Waugh's prediction had come true and "not a stone" was left of "the ill-fated Manor House, Anngrove Hall".

By the time he repeated the story in his column in the Whitby Gazette on 1 December 1905, he had made the tale still more exciting and lively with the addition of a great deal of the dialect speech for which he was famous.  He also made a small change in the name he had given one of his characters.  In his original version he had given the name Thomas Mease to a groom at the Hall.  Possibly it had been pointed out to him that Thomas Mease (1792-1862) had been a well-known Stokesley business man as he has altered the name to Thomas Moses.

Three farms (Angrove East, Angrove West and Angrove North) preserve the name of Angrove today.  Its gate pillars can still be seen, as they were moved to the entrance to Stokesley Manor House when Angrove Hall was demolished 2.  (The date of the demolition is generally accepted to have been 1832, as given by Peter Meadows and as stated in Dan O'Sullivan's article.)  Richard Blakeborough's ghost story is still retold, and versions can be found online.

So what was the history of Angrove Hall?  And what relation does the ghost story bear to that history? 

Richard Blakeborough informed his readers that details of the murder and Angrove Hall itself were hard to establish.  Some old people believed that the murder happened in about 1840; some said it took place "quite a hundred years (say 1725) before the place was allowed to fall into ruin".  Some said the body was soon discovered; in the version he favours, the action plays out over generations.  Certainly Blakeborough knew little about the house, believing that it was an old manor house and referring to it as the Manor House of Stokesley.

In fact, Angrove Hall was only built in about 1760 and had a lifespan of barely 70 years.  Its owner and builder was called Thomas Wayne.  

An elaborate hoax at Stokesley, 1849

Somebody went to a great deal of trouble to set up this elaborate hoax against a local landowner.  I wonder what can have lain behind it ...

Darlington & Stockton Times, 17 February 1849

STOKESLEY

A HOAX 

We love at heart a jest, but not at the expense of our neighbours: we hope that whoever may have concocted the following will soon find to their cost that it is "above a joke":- 

Last week letters were sent in the name of James Emerson, Esq., to Stockton, Guisborough, Northallerton and Thirsk, requesting the attendance of solicitors, physicians, surgeons, auctioneers, builders, cabinetmakers, and even undertakers, at Mr Emerson's house precisely at one o'clock, besides ordering an open carriage and four greys from the Vane Arms at Stockton, to convey from home Mr Emerson and his family.  The various parties arrived in good time, but only to learn their services were not required.  

We understand that Mr Emerson has, with his accustomed liberality, offered a reward of £100 to be paid on conviction of the offenders, and that a clue to their discovery has already been obtained.

I'm afraid I haven't been able to discover whether the culprit was found or why it happened at all.

Mr Emerson was a man of some importance and became even more prominent in the years that followed this incident.  

According to A History of the County of York North Riding (which can be found on the British History online website) his family had owned a considerable amount of land in the Stokesley area since the 18th century.  In 1853 James Emerson added to this by buying the manor of Easby, presumably from Robert Campion because according to White's Directory of 1840 

Rt Campion, Esq., of Whitby, is lord of the manor, and resides occasionally at Easby Hall, a neat modern mansion, standing near the site of the ancient hall, which was long the seat of the Lords Eyre or Eure, the last of whom died in 1698. 

The County History describes Easby in this rather lyrical vein:

The roads of Cleveland all meet at Stokesley. That running east from the town to Whitby comes after about 4 miles to the little village of Easby.  Here a small stream which flows north from Battersby joins the Leven, and between the two streams is the park surrounding Easby Hall, a large stone mansion built in the 19th century, and the seat of Mr. John James Emerson.  The old manor-house of the Eures was on the other side of the stream, where it is commemorated by Castle Hill, on the summit of which is a memorial to Captain Cook, who was born and educated in this neighbourhood. 

On the outskirts of the park, across Otter Hills Beck, is a private chapel built in 1881 by the late Mr. James Emerson and maintained at his own expense. A little to the west is the Methodist chapel.

At much the same time James Emerson bought the manor of Kirkby-in-Cleveland from Mr John Hindson (the entry in British History online can be found here)

And that is why on 15 April 1854 these notices could be found in the York Herald:

MANOR OF EASBY

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that at the Court Leet and View of Frankpledge, together with the Court Baron of JAMES EMERSON, Esquire, Lord of the Manor of Easby in Cleveland, in the County of York, to be holden on MONDAY, the 24th day of APRIL, in the year 1854, the Boundaries of the MANOR OF EASBY will be perambulated; and that such perambulation will commence at the Bleach Mill, within the said Manor, belonging to the said James Emerson, and in the occupation of Benjamin Claxton, and proceed from thence along the midstream of the River Leven, in a South-East direction to the Boundaries of the Manor of Kildale, at ELEVEN o'clock in the Forenoon of the same day, and proceed from thence round the Moor.

JNO. P. SOWERBY,

Steward of the said Manor.

Stokesley, April 8th, 1854

MANOR OF KIRKBY, OTHERWISE KIRBY, IN CLEVELAND

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Court Leet and Court Baron of JAMES EMERSON, Esquire, Lord of the Manor of Kirkby, otherwise Kirby, in Cleveland, in the County of York, will be holden on TUESDAY, the 25th day of APRIL, 1854, at the MANOR HOUSE, in KIRBY aforesaid, at TWELVE o'Clock at Noon, when all Inhabitants, Resiants [sic], and Freehold Tenants within the said Manor, and others who owe suit and service at the said Courts, or either of them, are required to be and appear, at the time and place aforesaid, then and there to do and perform the same.  Dated this 8th day of APRIL, 1854.

JNO. P. SOWERBY,

Steward of the said Manor.

Stokesley, April 8th, 1854

John Page Sowerby was a Stokesley solicitor.  I think he was probably the solicitor mentioned here, who as a young man found himself increasingly anxious at the conduct of his partner Robert Brigham.