Letters Patent of James VI & I

This is a Licence to Alienate.  These Letters Patent of King James VI & I gave Ralph Stowpe permission in 1616 to sell to Robert Layton a cottage, toft & croft, 2 oxgangs & 19 ½ acres of land in the area of Marske, Upleatham and Redcar.

The Great Seal is a little battered. This is the reverse of the deed and the seal:

At some point this deed came into the hands of Middlesbrough solicitor Thomas Duncan Henlock Stubbs.  He took it to the noted scholar and antiquarian Thomas McAll Fallow at Coatham House.

Mr Fallow was born in 1847 and educated at Brighton College and St John's, Cambridge.  He originally intended to take Holy Orders but instead divided his time between parish work and scholarship.  He acted as layhelper to his cousin the Rev R B Kirby at Chapel Allerton, Leeds between 1872 and 1885, and then moved to Coatham where again he was active in the parish but primarily devoted his time to archaeology.  He was editor of The Reliquary and The Antiquary, and died in 1910.  Here is his letter to Stubbs:

And this is his transcription of the Letters Patent:

Probate of Ralph Day, weaver of Great Ayton: 1704

 Probate of Ralph Day 1704

Thomas Graham of Ayton Hall & his family

More notes on Thomas Graham. 

For this information I am very grateful to Trevor Littleton of the Cumbria FHS:-

The parents of Monkhouse & Thomas Graham were Thomas Graham and Ann Bell.  She was the sister of William Bell of Tarraby Farm.

Margaret Graham, sister of Monkhouse & Thomas, married James Maguire, a cattle dealer from Co Antrim.  In 1841 their daughter Mary Ann married James Forster, who farmed at Tarraby.

When Mary Ann Forster's mother Margaret Maguire died aged 70 in 1850 ("deeply regretted, and most deservedly respected. She was an affectionate parent and a sincere friend to the poor" according to the notice in the Carlisle Journal) she was living at The Beeches, Tarraby.  When Mary Ann Forster writes to her uncle Thomas Graham of repairs to the house, it appears that she is referring to work being done to The Beeches.  The builders were apparently still at work when the house was put up for let:

Carlisle Journal, Friday 8th November 1850

To be LET, and Entered upon immediately , an excellent DWELLING HOUSE &c, situate at TARRABY, the residence of the late Mrs. MAGUIRE; consisting of Parlour, Kitchens, Pantry, and other conveniences with Four good Lodging Rooms, Orchard, and Kitchen Garden – For particulars, apply to Mr. JAS. FOSTER, Tarraby; or Mr. CHAS. ARMSTRONG, Builder, Carlisle.
Rent Moderate.
Tarraby, Nov. 7th 1850.

Mary Ann died only a few years after she wrote to her uncle:

Carlisle Journal, Friday 17th February 1854 

At Tarraby, on the 7th inst., Mary Ann wife of Mr James Foster, aged 43, and the last of the family of the late Mr. James Maguire.

I don't know whether Thomas Graham is remembered in any monument or tomb at Great Ayton, but he is certainly commemorated in his native Cumbria.  There is a monumental inscription to Thomas Graham of Ayton Hall inside Stanwix church.

2 March 2021:  I've just realised that I should have added this information quite some time ago

For more on the Graham family of Knockupworth, see Knockupworth: The story of a family by John Bainbridge (details here)

And for a flavour of this this fascinating story, see this piece in the News and Star

Thomas Graham of Ayton Hall

Ayton Hall stands near the River Leven in the large picturesque village of Great Ayton.  At the end of the 18th century it was the home of the Wilson family; Captain James Cook and his wife stayed there as the guests of Commodore William Wilson in 1771.

Some decades later, the occupants were Thomas Graham and his family.  He was living in Great Ayton by 1811 and was at the Hall for the censuses of 1840, 1850 and 1860.

Thomas was born in Cumberland in about 1777.  He was the son of Thomas and Ann Graham of Knockupworth House near Carlisle (which I assume is the building now called Knockupworth Hall)

In 1805, Thomas's elder brother Monkhouse Graham died, some weeks after making his Will.  He was probably in his late thirties and left neither wife nor child.  His beneficiaries were his mother Ann and his siblings Thomas, Letitia, Mary and Margaret.  They shared the money he had made as a merchant in Liverpool and the property he had bought in Tarraby in the parish of Stanwix, just north of Carlisle.

First page of copy Will of Monkhouse Graham

Last page of copy Will of Monkhouse Graham

The Nunthorpe W.I. Drama Group in action

Here they are performing Paolo & Francesca in 1939:

I wonder if they were performing the 1902 play by Stephen Phillips.

Nunthorpe Women's Institute Drama Group 1952

A jolly crowd!

Nunthorpe WI Drama Group 1952

Nunthorpe Mothers' Union 1957

I hadn't realised we had this photograph - it goes rather nicely with previous posts about Nunthorpe Women's Institute, I think.

Nunthorpe Mothers' Union 1957