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Summary

This article traces the history and ownership of Acomb Grange from the 12th century to the present day. The article was the winner of the 1991 Sheldon Memorial Trust Essay Competition.

Introduction and early history.	Sketch Map of the area round Acomb Grange, showing township boundaries. Based on the 0.S. map of 1852.
Acomb Grange, as a distinct and separate estate since the 12th century,deserves to have its history recorded. It lies on the immediate outskirts of modern York , in the green belt, only 2.75 miles from York Minster, and yet it has remained an entity for 800 years Figure 1

Domesday Book .In 1086, in the Domesday Book, the entry for the vill of Acomb records 16.5 carucates for geld, of which 14.5 belonged to the Archbishop of York and two belonged to the King. The Archbishop's land included wood pasture two furlongs long and two wide, while in the King's land, besides land for one plough, there were 10 furlongs of wood. Woodland plays a significant part in the history of Acomb Grange.

Separation from York Minster By the end of Stephen's reign the Hospital was separated from the Minster and had received an alternative name of St. Leonard's. It acquired more land and set out to maximise returns from its properties to provide income for running the Hospital

Gift of Henry I The history of the Grange as a separate entity starts when Henry I gave two carucates of land in Acomb to the Hospital of St Peter in York by a charter dated between 1123 and 1133.^1This gift of land in Acomb was the first of numerous post-Conquest donations of land outside York to the Hospital by both the King and the Norman barons.

Management of hospital property The records surviving are scattered and show numerous changes in the ways the properties were managed over the medieval period, varying from direct farming to leasing out for a rent and possibly a mixture of the two. Each property has a different history. This essay summarises the material that can be gleaned about Acomb Grange in particular.

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Pre Conquest foundation The Hospital was almost certainly a pre Conquest foundation. An ancient tradition records that King Athelstan gave to 'men of sanctity called culdees a thrave of corn from every plough in Yorkshire' except for those in part of the East Riding which he had given to St John of Beverley as a thanksgiving for a victory over the Scots. This tradition was written down in 1123 and though it may have added the gift to Beverley, which is well attested before the Conquest, to the one to York, it, with the name culdees, which is a gaelic word meaning servant of God, creates a strong probability in favour of a pre-Conquest origin.^2 The culdees survived the Conquest; they cared for the poor and sick and were recognised by the Norman Kings. Grant renewed by William II William II 'renewed' the grant of thraves c. 1090 ^3and gave the land in York where the Hospital was built. Survey of 1280 In a survey dated 1280 the Hospital, sited in its own liberty lying in the north-west corner of the old Roman fortress, the area now' containing the City Library, St Leonard's Place and the Theatre Royal, was described as providing an infirmary for 229 people and orphanage for 23 children. Two hundred and forty seven loaves, 256 herrings and 14 gallons of beer weekly went to the poor at the gate, and a meal a week was given to prisoners in the castle. It housed 434 people altogether, including brothers and servants, so was a very large institution, one of the largest hospitals in the country^.4 Manorial system Some of its properties, such as Heslington and Lead, were initially operated through the usual manorial system. The tenants were bondmen paying rents and doing services and were controlled by manorial courts.

Other properties, such as Heworth Grange and Acomb Grange, seem always to have been run as separate farms, though, despite their names, in the 14th-century accounts they are invariably called 'manors Sometimes part of the income is recorded under Exitus Grangia; this usually means the produce from barns as opposed to stock but may have a double meaning in these accounts. In the early period peripatetic brothers of the Hospital travelled round administering the properties. A keeper (serviens) was resident at the Grange along with some farmhands (famulis). This seems to have been the case at Acomb^.^5 Farm at Rufforth and Acomb The Hospital's two carucates were formed into a farm within a ring fence on the Rufforth edge of Acomb. This may have been an original arrangement but could have been the result of the reorganisation of Acomb holdings at an early and unrecorded date, since there was, in addition to the Grange, at least one rent-paying Acomb free tenant.^6The Grange was described as being in Acomb in the liberty of St Leonard's in 1307. ^7 Holdings in Rufforth The Hospital also held land in Rufforth. There were a number of charters recording gifts to the Hospital from the family of Geoffrey of Rufforth, als Bugthorpe, and Elen his wife. In 1218 he gave St Leonard's the advowson of Rufforth church and, in 1231, 63 acres of land 'lying in Smalwith and Bargate and between the bounds of Askharn and the crosses placed Keldsykeflat, and 50 acres of wood called Moschawe'. This was recorded in a fine.^8The charters give more topographical detail.^9 The bounds of the wood of Mosehaghe were the land given by Fulco de Rufforth as far as the metes and bounds of the culture called Bradale, and from Ackum Hag as far as the bounds of Askham, surrounded by a dyke on which the Hospital could place a hedge.

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Fulco de Rufforth had given a wood called Kartegathehyrste. This extended in length from the river called the Fosse, which runs under the wood of Acomb, as far as the ditch which divides it from the arable fields, and in width from the ditch of the hospital on the north round land previously given to the hospital as far as the land of John his brother, to be marked by stone marks. There was land in Baregarths 39 perches wide, in length as far as the ditch which leads from Kategarthehirst, 20 acres on the west of the meadow of the Hospital called Micklermore from the bridge of the Hospital across the Foss, four acres by the perch of 20ft which lie next to the wood of Mossehawe and 20 acres in Keldsike flat. Jordan, son of Geoffrey, gave a culture called Hag, containing 30 acres to be enclosed by a ditch and a hedge and an acre next to the culture of the hospital called Scalekerflath. There were also grants of meadow in Stubbings, on the bounds of Hutton, and of several tofts and bovates in the village itself. One of these was a toft, with two acres in Ekel and two in Linthwait and 16 outside the hai. The land outside the 'hai' was later described as the culture called Skalcker. These charters probably date from the first 40 years of the 13th century. and appear to have been gifts for being remembered in prayers. The tofts and the open field land were held by separate tenants paying rents. The remainder seems to have been assarted land on the edge of Rufforth township; each 'culture' was surrounded by a ditch and a hedge. Except for the four acres on Bradale, this land does not appear to have included any part of the original Rufforth open fields. It is interesting to note that the local measure was a pole of 20 perches and that there is a hint of an inner area of open fields enclosed by a hedge (c.f. Wheldrake). ^10

Eastern edge of Rufforth The group of properties consisting of the 'cultures' and woods, including Moshawe and Kartgathehyrst, on the eastern edge of Rufforth township, seem to have been run together with Acomb Grange, though there is evidence from a 17th-century deed ^11 that each tenant holding a toft and open field land, formerly the Hospital's property in Rufforth, held around 18 acres of Smalwith. The Grange held a similar amount. By the Middle ages the ditch round it was already looked after by the Grange so there is no way of knowing when this pattern first emerged. Which parish ? Acomb Grange itself became part of Rufforth parish at some date before 1520 and, apart from the name, lost its connection with Acomb. The likely original boundary was along the dyke/river called the Foss; this is marked on the 1852 O.S. map and was mentioned in one of the 13th-century charters. Boundary disputes Several agreements were made with adjoining townships about boundaries. In the reign of Henry II the sheriff of Yorkshire had to make a division between the woods of the Hospital in Acomb and the woods of Alan of Knapton, and a ditch had been made between the land of Acomb belonging to the Minster Treasurer and the land and wood of the Hospital. This may be the ditch that now bounds the Chapelfields housing estate. There had probably been some earlier rights of intercommoning.^12 In 1845 the ownership of this watercourse was shared with Acomb.^13 In 1371 a ditch between the Grange wood and Askham Bryan field, called the Brind dyke, was to be cleaned and dug out by the men of Acomb Grange.^14 According to the Sheriff's court it had been flooding the Askham field. The Lichfield connection Glimpses of the property in action survive in surveys of the Hospital made in Edward I's reign (now in Lichfield Joint Record Offices) and in some accounts from the 14th century (in York Minster Library). Those housed at Lichfield may have gone there with Walter de Langton, who had become master of the Hospital in 1293, when he became Bishop of Lichfield

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 Figure 2

Based on W White's map of the Ainsty of York , 1785

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Walter de Langton was also Treasurer of England. The Lichfield material is very detailed, providing lists of hospital servants, lists of stock, including the cows which provided milk for the orphanage, and surveys of various properties. Acomb Grange was valued in 1287 at 8s. The survey described the manor site as surrounded by a ditch (fossaturn) and a hedge (hayarn). There was another house called Godeshalles worth yearly 2s. There were 300 acres of payable land by the small hundred, worth 8d an acre, and 23 acres of meadow, worth 20d an acre. There were also two woods of which the pasture, husbote, haybote, underwood and pannage were worth 60s. This is likely to have included the property in Rufforth mentioned above.The total amounted to £15 l0s 4d. For comparison, the income in the same valuation from Beningbrough was £19 5s 4d and from Heslington £20 7s 7d. The collection of St Peter's corn (i.e. the thraves) made there from various places was worth £5 4s 7 1/4d. Later evidence indicates that Petercorn collected at Acomb came from Follyfoot, Healaugh, Wilstrop, Marston and Poppleton.^15 14th Century accounts The 14th-century accounts^16show that one of the serviens of Acomb, John de Hemingbrough, received a length of cloth for his clothes. Men of higher status got lambskin trimmings as well. John got the same as the hospital smith, the janitor and the cook. There is no sign of income from Acomb in these accounts, except for £4 3s 4d for 5,000 faggots sold from Acomb wood and 2s for pasture in the wood and grass on three selions next to Mossawe. Hugh de Helmsley, serviens of Acomb, paid 24s l0d for rent in Rufforth and received 65s 6 1/2d as a payment, along with Richard de Foxholes who received £17 16s by tally. The reason for these payments is uncertain but perhaps all the produce of the Grange went straight to the Hospital and the payment provided the working capital for running the Grange. Walter de Langton - Treasurer of England After Edward I died, Edward II arrested his father's Treasurer, Walter Langton, who had been Master of the Hospital, and put him on trial. He invited complaints about his conduct from anyone who had a grievance.

Buried in a long list of complaints from all over England are several relating to Acomb Grange. ^17Walter de Langton seems to have spent some of his time at Acomb Grange, using it in the same way as the Abbot of St Mary's used Overton and the Archbishop used Cawood and Bishopthorpe. He was accused of misappropriating money and property and of using his position to bully people. For example, his servants had ordered £20 to be spent on making a ditch at Acomb Grange [in the reply it was 'the ditch of the said manor'] which they had extorted from one John Sampson who was in prison. More significantly a William, son of Alan of Knapton, complained that while he was in the middle of sueing Master Alan Breton for a writ of right in the court of his feudal overloard, Luttrell of Hutton Paynell, for some property in Knapton, Walter de Langton bought the land. from Alan Breton by a fine levied in the King's court. The court was adjourned and during the adjournment various of Langton's servants went to the house of Robert le Turner, William's attorney, in Knapton, seized him, bound both his hands and tied him on a horse and took him to Acomb Grange where Walter de Langton was living. From there he was forced to go to the court of Hutton Paynell and withdraw the suit. William's son and John of Grantham also complained of being forced to give up their rights in Knapton and of false imprisonment. John also complained that he had 15 score sheep in Knapton common pasture and that they had been taken to Acomb Grange, and when he had asked for his money he had been imprisoned at St Leonard's. Walter de Langton’s defence in this case was that John owed money to the King for fines, which was the reason for his imprisonment, and that he had bought the sheep but had not paid for them. The rights and wrongs of each case are buried in time but the material illustrates the way a powerful man could use the law to his own advantage.

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Langton soon got out of prison and back into favour with the King. He certainly continued to hold a lease of Knapton but not the Mastership of St Leonard's Hospital. His sojourn at Acomb Grange may explain the moat round the site and the tooled stone which is to be found there. Also, if later masters followed the same practice, it would explain why there was expenditure on the Grange but so little income. Inquisition by the Crown An inquisition made by the crown in 1364 into the affairs of the Hospital^18indicated that income from almost all the holdings was much lower than in earlier years. The former value of Acomb Grange was £30 19s 7d. The deficit in 1364 was 72s 5d, but whether this was a short fall on the previous income or an actual loss is not made clear. However, the inquisition does show the Hospital's consumption of wheat, rye, barley and oaten malt, beef carcasses, pigs and mutton, stones of cheese and butter.

In a later account John Day seems to sell the Hospital a cow which he pays for himself and on yet another occasion, when rendering up arrears, part was from the last account and part was for two cows. The significance of this is difficult to understand; it may be a matter of accounting. Certainly the serviens of Beningbrough and the hospital geldhird received cattle bought at Richmond by tally. Another beast was purchased from the Hospital by a woman of Rufforth, but this may be a payment to redeem a mortuary. So, after Walter de Langton's departure, for much of the 14th century, Acomb Grange was probably farmed directly by the Hospital and its keeper accounted by tally. In contrast, two men were employed directly as haiotors of the wood (see below).

It also states how much in total came from the manors and how much was bought. The accounts only show actual cash expenditure, so one finds money spent on bringing cheese from Broomfleet and driving animals to York but not the day to day expenditure at the 'manors'. The properties were supervised by one of the brothers and a seneschal who travelled around taking courts and seeing to harvesting and repairs; in 1343-44 they spent £13 14s 8d on their travels, including journeys to Acomb, but also visited Holderness to buy butter and Ripon to buy cattle! An interesting feature of the accounts from 1375-79 is a hint that the keeper of the Grange was being provided with cows by the Hospital which, in return, received payment for dairy produce. ^19 The accounts are too badly damaged to be certain but '13s 4d rendered by John Day of Acomb for issue of 22 cows farmed by the said servant, for milk and calves per year 6s' may be interpreted in this way.

Letting of closes By 1409 ^20 some of the closes, including a pasture called Somergang, wre let out to York butchers called William Tankerley, John Cundall and John Spynk. Pasturage was always at a premium round York and the City council made strenuous efforts to prevent the butchers driving up the price and monopolising all the nearby pastures. Nevertheless York butchers appear as lessees of other pastures near York, including the Tang Hall fields, the Vicars Leas and Heworth Grange. In the same accounts an ill horse caused great concern and medicines were bought for a foal suffering from the 'farcy'; a woman was paid to cut herbage in the garden of the Grange especially for it. Salve was bought for a little colt and halters were bought for two foals.

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Use of the estate as woodland Far more is recorded about the wood than about the Grange. It was operated as a demesne woodland by the Hospital, which also had a wood at Sutton Grange in the Forest of Galtres and rights to timber and fuel from the forest; but Acomb wood was a significant provider of timber, poles and faggots. The accounts show that the hedgers of Acomb wood were employees of the Hospital in the same way as the smith, the tiler and the feriwoman. The feriwoman was paid 2s a year, the miller l0s, the geldhird 14s and the hayortor circum bosci de Akom 5s each. The hedgers were called Robert James and Roger Day. William Wodhagg of the forest, a more important official, was paid 13s 4d. The 1409 accounts also show that 64 men were paid 4d a day to cut underwood at Acomb for pynnes for the bank of the Humber at Broomfleet, another St Leonard's property. Seventy five cartloads of timber were taken from Mossawe wood to the River Ouse, at a cost of 7d per journey, to build and repair houses belonging to the Hospital in York. Thirty one men were also paid to hedge round the pond. The three gates that they mended for the wood cost 7d. The household and other workmen received 8d for food, at a time when 4d was a day's wage. Rushes were cut for covering houses in the Hospital and the household were paid for driving the animals and pigs in the wood. The Hospital also moved animals from one Yorkshire property to another. Six score sheep came from Lead to Acomb and the boys who drove them received 3d for drink. Others went from Acomb to Broomfleet and from Broomfleet to Beningborough. Timber was cut in Mossawe and carted to the Ouse to be shipped to Broomfleet.. It paid gatelay, a toll, at Middlethorpe. Timber was also squared for the repair of houses in Beningbrough and sales of bark raised l0s from John of Baildon. Two timber trees were bought by the Sheriff of Yorkshire from Acomb wood to make 'engines' at York Castle in 1338-39^21 The wood was mentioned frequently perhaps because cutting wood was outside the normal work of the household at Acomb; most of the agricultural products probably went straight into the hospital granaries and larders without passing through the surviving accounts. For instance, in 1379-80 Roger Kidder and his servants were paid £6 12s ld for cutting and bundling 31,300 faggots in the woods. The following year 24,000 were cut, costing 4s 3d per 1,000. A John de Angrom was paid for 130 days at 4d a day for cutting and trimming fuel but other men working in summer got 5d a day. Perhaps wages rose during the hay harvest The wood sales continued with 200 faggots fetching 8s 4d and l0s coming from the sale of bark.

In 1461~62^22more of the closes were rented out, bringing incomes of £8 5s and £6 9s 8d. The wood continued to be run directly with the 'receiver' travelling to Acomb to inspect the wood and organise repairs. During this year timber from Acomb wood, along with carpenters and carters, went to Heslington to frame a new barn. The men were given beer while they worked at framing and erecting. Much effort went into shipping special long faggots from Acomb to repair the staithe at Morhamwyk. Piles were bought at Carlton and 37 men were paid for 'stuffing' the staithe and binding it with osiers and faggots. Seventeen wagon loads of long faggots travelled from Acomb wood to Bishopthorpe where they were loaded onto boats. Nineteen timber piles were also felled and loaded. It was a major operation with servants from Heslington getting faggots in Moreby wood for the same work, the Hospital having taken a lease of Moreby wood for the purpose. Later in the year, when Acomb wood had presumably been more or less stripped of usable timber and coppice poles, 5,000 faggots were cut for fuel and 24 cartfuls were sold in York. Long faggots were also sent to Broomfleet to repair the Humber bank. The method used can still be seen in action along the Ouse and there may evidence for the practice in Viking York.^23 Stakes are stuck vertically into the edge of the river and bundles of brushwood are stacked behind. During winter floods the bundles of twigs hold the mud and make a firm edge to the river. Six men were paid for repairing defects in the wood and one, John Soule, who seems to have been in charge, was paid a fee for making hedges round the wood. This would be standard practice after coppicing. The hedges would be repaired to make sure that the animals could not get in to damage the 'spring', i.e. the new growth. The Bryneng dyke was cleaned out by nine men and 14 men were paid for cleaning out the moat round the 'manors'. Thirty four men were paid for dredging the ditch round Srnalwith. A gate or door (porta) was made for Armathwaite and Towland and a bridge in Cow Lane. Iron keys were bought for the gates of the manor and the doors of the buttery. Planks were made for repairing the bridge at the gate of the manor and an ash was felled for cart timber. So a picture is given of an actively managed woodland and a building that was being refurbished in 1461-62, but these are just brief glimpses which are difficult to interpret because of the way the accounts were organised.

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Just before the dissolution Just before the final Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, which unfortunately included the Hospital, the master and brethren let the Grange on a 30-year lease to Robert Metham and Anne, his wife. The lease was for the Grange, the Coney Garth (l0s), Grenegarth (l0s), the High Close bounding upon the Grene Garth (53s 4d), and a little close called the Calfe close (13s 4d). 'They were not to strype or waste any maner of wood pertaining to The Grange nor the hagg and were not to fell without licence of the master except it be for the repair of house or hedges.' This is a fairly standard clause, but there was an additional, more unusual clause that 'if the master and brethren during the thirty years are minded to lye and kepe household in the mansion house of the same grange and the buildings appertaining, upon a quarters warning Robert and Anne shal ly clereley from the same during their time of residence there.' The total rent was 43s 4d. The Methams also leased the tithes of corn and hay in Rufforth, and more closes: the Wrangrow closes (53s 4d), the Whynne close (32s 8d). the Yng close (13s 4d)- late of the holding of John Chilton gent- and the Somergaine (66s 8d) . The total rent was £8 6s. They were to pay the parson of Rufforth 8 marks and keep 'the closes adjoining upon the woods competently fenced so that no cattail can enter for the destruction of the Spryng trees.' The master and brethren kept the right to cut open and occupy the close called Somergaine.^24

Two years earlier Isobel Newarke of Acomb had leased a close called Mykelmore for 21 years, which lay next under Grainge Smalwith. She was to repair the hedge using bandes and stakes delivered to her.^25 It is likely that the Grange had been leased out for some time. The will of John Chulton, dated 1520, describes him as 'of Acomb Grange'. He left his best beast as a mortuary and 13s 4d to his parish church; he also left 'a stotte and a wye' to St Leonard's Hospital, a horse and best gown to his brother, a cow and whye to his mother and, to his sister, 40s and a whye. His wife Anne and son were 'to occupy the farmholde together as they do my goodes' and whichever of them should live the longer was to retain the farm.^26 His wife may have been a Snawsell, a family descended from a York goldsmith who had settled in Bilton; John Snawsell, who was described by John Chilton as his brother, witnessed and supervised his will. A Robert Metham, son of a Sir Thomas Metham of Cave, had according to the Heralds' Visitation married Anne Snawsell.^27 If he was Anne's second husband it would explain how the property came into the hands of the Methams. Robert Metham first appeared at Acornb Grange in the 1524 subsidy roll. He is described as gentleman and paid 26s 8d on goods valued at 40 marks. This was a high payment within the Ainsty,being exceeded only by Storey of Bikerton and Stapleton of Wighill. ^28 Robert Metham acted as witness and supervisor of Seth Snawsell's will in 1537. ^29 .

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Robert Metham was resident at Acomb at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace and it is interesting to speculate whether he was involved. His elder brother Thomas is recorded as one of the leaders in the East Riding along with Robert Aske. His father had been hauled from his bed by the pilgrims and nearly had his house burnt. The Ainsty pilgrims certainly mustered near Acomb and at Bilbrough, and several prominent local families, such as the Stapletons of Wighill and Oswald Willstrope of Wilstrop, are mentioned in the records of the Pilgrimage. The assumption is that most esquires and gentlemen joined the pilgrims. When the movement collapsed Sir Thomas Metham, Robert's father, was put on the jury to try those considered ring leaders, and his sons, with most of the rest of the gentry, conformed All that can be said for certain is that in 1539, when a very full list of the militia was made in the Ainsty, Robert Metham esq. is recorded in Rufforth and Acomb Grange as an archer, horsed and harnessed, with a servant called William Wright. A William Metham, probably his son, had a billman servant, horsed and harnessed, and an archer servant with no horse or harness.^30 In later visitations Robert and his son William are recorded in Lockton, Lincolnshire and a brass to William, son of Robert, second son of Sir Thomas Metham of Cave, is at Rand in Lincolnshire. Robert's elder brother Thomas, who died in 1573, was one of the first men recorded as 'a moste wilful obstinate papist' in the aftermath of the Northern Rebellion of 1569.

St Leonard's Hospital was finally dissolved on 1 December 1539 and its property went to the Crown. The first Dissolution Accounts ^31 show an income of 62s 4d from the vill of Rufforth, 106s 8d from the Rectory of Rufforth and £22 8s from the Grange. The collector was Henry Burton. Robert Metham was custodian of the wood of Acomb and received a fee of 2d a day and six cart loads of wood under a lease dated 30 June 1525. Post Dissolution history. The accounts show that the wood was now being managed on behalf of the King. There was a total income of £15 6s 2d from 1,100 faggots of underwood and firewood and the tops of 35 trees were felled for timber for repairs. Another 1,200 faggots had been sold from one of the haggs in Acomb wood in addition to bundles of spines and briars. The coppiced wood fetched 20s per 1,000 and the briars 8s 8d. The payment for cutting was 5s a 1,000 for the first 10,000 and 4s for the next 12,000. Payment was also made for cutting 176 rods of hedge and ditching round the wood at the rate of 2d a rod. Two bridges and three gates in Wode lane were repaired and and the king's way in one venella was repaired for carrying the faggots. The timber trees went to make a post,axletree and sparrs for the Castle Mills in York and for Heslington windmill.

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Acomb Grange by Jennifer Kaner - page 10

A little later, in 1545/6, the receiver of all the money on behalf of the King, Leonard Beckwith, was investigated by the Court of Augmentations for possible fraud. A survey of ex-monastic dernesne woodland was made^32 which included, among others, woods at Poppleton, Healaugh, Beningbrough and Acomb Grange. The wood was described as having 106 acres divided into 14 coppices. These were 'sett with underwood of the kynds of hazzel and sallow of sundrie ages and also well sett with fair timber trees'. One hundred and fourteen trees had been taken since the Dissolution, of which 58 had gone to a new barn in Poppleton and 58 towards the repair of the King's mills, i.e. Castle Mills, and certain tenements in Heslington. Forty seven had been felled by warrant of Leonard Beckwith, of which 37 had gone to repair the King's tenements in York. The arithmetic is shaky and the evidence was angled towards proving that Leonard Beckwith was exploiting his position, but it gives a snapshot picture of the wood.By 1552/3 most of the mature timber must have gone since George Gayle, the new tenant , received six timber trees from Poppleton wood to be carried to Acomb Grange. It likely that these were for repairs by the incoming lessee. ( see below). ^33 But, in 1556, when George Gayle died, he left his wife Mary '3000 wood yerely forth of Acorn Wood to be redy made carryed and layd at her dore'.^34 There is also evidence in the Acomb Manor Court Rolls of theft of wood from Acomb Grange by Acomb tenants.^35

In 1545 Acomb Grange had been leased for three lives to Ralph Bagnall, king's servant, and Richard Mainwaring and Mary his wife, late wife of George Cotton.^36 George Gayle, who had purchased a reversion of the lease in 1553, left it to his son Francis. In 1557 Sir Arthur Darcy purchased a licence from the crown to grant the reversion of the lease to Francis Gayle and Anne his wife. This was all part of the speculation in monastic property. Bagnall and Mary Cotton had also received Foston and Kirby on the Hill and had as rapidly sold them again. George Gayle, the receiver of the trees, a goldsmith and Mas6ter of the Royal Mint , had also obtained a lease of Rufforth rectory and is recorded as a farmer ie lessee of the manor of Acomb, in 1553, as well as the site of Wilberfoss Priory.^37 George was a wealthy man. He had been M.P. for York in 1533 and was Alderman from 1529-56. The Crown found his services as Master of the Mint so valuable that an instruction came from London 'Understandying that ye mynd tellecte George Gaill to the rome of Maryyaltie, the same beyng under tresouer of the mynt shall not be able to supple bothe chargs. .. therefore we requyre that.... ye will forbere telecte hym yeur Maier' .^38 He was endeavouring to set up his son as a member of the landed gentry.

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Acomb Grange by Jennifer Kaner - page 11

Francis Gavle and his descendants at Acomb Grange. Francis Gayle, George's son was described as of Acomb Grange, although when he died, a survey of his lands dated 1561/2,when his son Robert was five years old showed that though he held Wilberfoss freehold, Acomb Grange was still held as a reversion on the original lease to Ralph Bagnall.^39 In his will,he requested that he be buried at Rufforth 'nigh unto his children'.He left his wife silver cups, a nest of bowls with a cover parcel gilt, 'a litle salt and a chayne of gold'. Francis had his pedigree and arms recorded by the heralds in 1563/4 ^40 The arms are described as ‘azure a fese between 3 sawtrells argent on the fece 3 lionsheads erazed Azure. The crest to his armes on a wrethe Argent and Azure an Unycornehede paly of 6 Argent & Or ‘.In 1584 Robert, his son, was one of the gentry whose arms were painted in the frieze of arms in the great chamber at Gilling. ^41.The family is not listed in the muster rolls for the Ainsty. This is a puzzling feature until one realises that as Robert was five years old when his father died and, when Robert died in 1585/6, Francis, his heir, was aged only four years eight months and 15 days, they were too young to have been included in the muster rolls which survive; for example, in 1569 Robert would have been 13 years old. Robert Gayle left this servant William Harrison a £5 a year annuity in 1585/6 and, in 1569. a William Herryson had provided armour from Rufforth in the Ainsty rolls.^42. John Ingleby of the Ripley family is described as of Acomb Grange in 1573.He appears in the Subsidy lists from the 1560s as having the wardship of Robert Gayle. ^43.

It is interesting to note that despite its absence from the muster rolls the Grange does appear on Saxton's map of Yorkshire of 1577. The Inquest Post Mortem for Robert Gayle in 1585/6 records that he held the site of Wilberfoss Priory, Nunpallions in Escrick, Rufforth rectory and Acomb Grange. He held the last from the Crown by 'military service for a rent of 22s 6d. [This rent was still being paid as a fee farm rent to the Earl of Bridgewater in the 19th century.] The military service was a carryover of a feudal tenure that ensured that the heir had to pay a fine to inherit and, if he was under age, the wardship could be granted out by the Crown for a fee. The Grange seems to have continued as a leasehold property into the reign of James I. ^44 . Like the Methams, the Gayle family were Roman Catholic and intermarried with other Yorkshire Catholic families, such as the Mallorys and Thwengs; but they are not as noticeable in recusant records as some of their contemporaries. Perhaps they were more successful at dodging the law by moving from property to property. However, in an undated Elizabethan list of priests and Catholics, 'Mr Gayle of Acame Grangre nere Yorke doth lye sumtymes at Carlton. He hath been eight yeres maryed and yet never came at the church. He was marryed at the masse. He hath vi children who were all christened by the old lawe '. ^45

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In 1581 Tristram Tyldesley, priest at Rufforth and vicar of Acomb, had been in considerable trouble for dancing at a rush bearing at Rufforth church, where he 'very unseemely did dance skip leap and hoighe gallantly'. In the evidence Tristram describes dancing at Mr Gayle's house 'in the times of Christenmas and harvest.. emongst other honest yonge company'. He was suspected of being a papist or 'mislyker' of the established religion. ^46. From 1611 onwards the Gayles were certainly presented for recusancy in a number of Ainsty parishes including Rufforth and Acomb. They also appear in Nether Poppleton, Bilton and Marston.In 1603/4 Barbara Gayle appears in Marston; Barbara , wife of Francis Gayle of Acomb Grange,appears in 1611 and Francis Gayle Esqin 1633/37. Catholics were presented for not attending church or not going to communion or for being recusant. ^47^. The Gayles (or Gales) were in the last category so almost certainly would have had their estates sequestered and would have had to pay two thirds of the rents to the Crown. They compounded for their estates in 1629 when they agreed to pay an annual rent charge of £20 on all their estates in return for not being molested.^48 Life was extremely hard for Catholics; they found it difficult to resort to law, paid extra taxes, were fined for not going to church and the gentry had to provide a light horseman for the militia as well as only keeping a rent charge from their estates. Not surprisingly they found it difficult to make ends meet and were often heavily in debt. Richard Cholmondley's Household Book^49 provides a fascinating picture of the problems of a Catholic family of this period at Brandsby. Much depended on how zealous the local authority was. In this case the authority was York, who seem to have allowed more Catholics to slip through the regulations than in other areas.

Despite their problems, the Gales persisted in their Catholicism. Matthew Gale, son of Francis and Barbara Gale, is recorded as a student at Douai College in 1629. He had been there earlier but had returned home for four years. He was in trouble for not keeping up with his work and refusing to provide a 'discourse for the Ascension’. He was supposed to do a penance in the refectory, i.e., he was to spend an entire lunch time kneeling and also write an essay. He disappeared from the college at that point but returned later, did his penance, completed his studies and returned home having matriculated in logic.^50