A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE
1400s to1641
EDWARD PERCY AND THE MANOR
OF FEATHERSTONE
The manor of Featherstone was run by the "Featherstones" until the early 1400's when Walter Frost married Isobel Fetherston, the
sister of Simon de Fetherston and heiress of the estates. When Simon
died the Featherstone estates passed via Isobel into the Frost family.
One hundred years later the estates comprised of 530 acres in
Featherstone and 340 in Ackton, together with the properties built on
the land.
A
descendant of Walter Frost, also called
Walter, married Anna Ranson, and their only child was a daughter called
Margaret. She married Josceline Percy, the youngest son of Henry the
fourth Earl of Northumberland. Walter Frost died in 1528 and left most
of his property
to Margaret.
The Percys had one son called Edward born in
1524. Margaret Percy died in 1530 and her husband died two years later leaving
Edward too young to take over the manor. King Henry VIII made Edward a ward of
Thomas Waterton of Walton Hall, for which Thomas received an annuity of £10 from
the manor of Featherstone and four properties in Ackton.
This was much to the disgust of Sir William
Percy, elder brother of Josceline. He claimed his brother had been murdered by
three of his servants who then went to Thomas Waterton with his brother's
goods. He also said Thomas Waterton had been quick to marry his daughter
Elizabeth to Edward Percy (this must have been when he was of marriageable
age). "A sorry bargain, his blood considered", was Sir William's opinion on that.
Edward Percy died in 1590 but his burial is
not recorded in the Featherstone parish register, which suggests he did not
live on the manor.
THE PARISH REGISTER
Parish registers began in 1538 when Thomas Cromwell, Vicar General to King Henry VIII, issued an injunction that the clergy of the Church of England should keep records of baptisms, marriages and deaths. This was probably done in a book with paper pages, or maybe even on loose sheets and it was eventually realised such records would not last long. So in 1597 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was decreed each church should provide a parchment register and copy the previous entries into it.
It is unfortunate the Act requiring this new
book said of the copying of previous entries "but especially since the
first year of Her Majesty's reign". The result of this was the
Featherstone clerk, along with many of his colleagues in other parishes, only
copied the entries from 9 November 1558, the first day of Elizabeth's reign. The earlier 20
years are lost for ever.
For hundreds of years the parish of
Featherstone included Featherstone, Purston, Ackton, Whitwood, Whitwood Mere
and Pontefract Park (the area between what is now North Featherstone and the
water tower hill in the present park), so entries for all these places are
found in the register.
It was common practice for the clerk to list
the names and events on pieces of paper and write up the register when it
suited him. This caused problems such as missing dates and names. There was no
agreed form of spelling. The clerk put what he thought at the time and he often
changed his mind. On many occasions the same surname is spelt two different
ways on the same line. They all had their own idioms and it is possible to tell
when a different clerk commenced writing in the register. This is especially
true for the local village names and there are many different spellings. Even
so it is possible to see the gradual change from Preston via Pruston to Purston.
The register is available from the Wakefield
and District Family History Society, but they have done it in name order for the
benefit of people looking up ancestors, rather that a direct copy which is more
interesting for local history.
1546 THE END OF PURSTON CHANTRY
In 1545 King Henry VIII passed an Act to
dispose of all chantries on the grounds many donors of land were attempting to
get their lands back, and some priests were conveying away the lands or making
long leases for their own benefit. The proceeds of the disposal were intended
to help pay for the wars against the French and the Scots. Commissioners were
appointed to survey all the chantries and those in Yorkshire were done in 1546. Henry
died before the chantries were sold, and Edward VI decided the money raised
should go to funding educational institutions. The chantry priest was given a
pension, and where the yearly value of the chantry was less than £6 a pension
to that value was given. The survey for the Purston chantry was as follows.
THE CHANTRY OF SAINT JOHN BAPTIST IN PRESTON JACKLIN
Chapel in the Parish of
Featherstone
Thomas Huntingdon, incumbent. Being of the
foundation of Robert of Preston, to pray for the soul of the founder and all
Christian souls, and to do service four principle days of the year at the
parish church of Featherstone.
The same is within the parish of Featherstone
and distant from the same one mile. The necessity of the same is to pray for
the souls departed and to do divine service in the said chapel for the ease of
the inhabitants being aged and impotent. The same is used and observed
accordingly. There are no lands alienated or sold since the 4th day of February
in the 27th year of the reign of King Henry VIII.
Goods 11s 6d. Plate, none.
First, one capital messuage and six acres of
arable land, lying in Preston, in the tenure of John Saunders, of the yearly
rent of 22s; three pastures and two acres of land and a road in the tenure of
James Woodruffe, 8s 6d; four acres of land in the tenure of Fellingworth's wife, 4s; 12 acres of land in
the holdings of Nicholas Shelet, the younger, 12s; one close in the tenure of
the said Nicholas, 13s 4d; one close with one acre of land in the holdings of
John Hamerton Esq, 14s 4d; one close in the holdings of John Chapell, 9s; one close in the holdings
of William Wilson, 4s; one cottage in the holdings of John Walton, 4s; two acres of land in the tenure of John
Greenwood, 2s 6d; three acres of land in the tenure of James Huntington, 3s;
three acres of land in the tenure of William Simpson, 3s.
Sum of the said chantry, £4 19s 8d. Whereof
payable to the King's Majesty yearly, 8s; and to the
bishop, 12d. In all 9 shillings. And so remains, £4 10s 8d.
The above information is taken from Early
Yorkshire Charters by W Farrar, published in 1916, and the publications of
the Surtees Society volume 92, published in 1893.
So after 400 years Purston lost its chapel,
and Thomas Huntingdon lost his place as the incumbent and received as
compensation a yearly pension of £4
10s
8d (made up to £6). There is no trace of the chapel now and a clue to its position is on an 1849 Ordnance Survey map where what is now called Coach Road was once called Chapel Lane. (Could this have been the road in the tenure of James Woodruffe?)
Also, there is this sketch copied from an old map in 1942 by Alec Alexander which shows a field in Chapel Lane called Chapel Close.
1546 NOT WORTH A MENTION
It is obvious from the 1379 Poll Tax that
Purston was much bigger than the other two villages yet it is not shown on
Christopher Saxton's map of 1577. Thirty-one years earlier John Leland was commissioned
by Henry VIII to check on the libraries at monasteries and colleges. He noted
what he saw on his travels and on his journey from Wakefield to Pontefract he must have
gone through Streethouse because he mentions the head of the River Went. Yet
not a word did he write about Ackton, Purston or Featherstone.
1626 THE DAY KING CHARLES WORKED A FIDDLE
Hundreds of years ago the Kings of England always seemed to be hard up
and they were always looking for ways of raising money. In 1626 King Charles I
hit upon a new idea.
There was an old law that gave the king the
power to invite all those with a yearly income of £40 or more to be knighted at
the coronation of the king, the marriage of his daughter, the dubbing of the
prince a knight, or some other great occasion. Anyone who did not turn up to
receive that honour could be made to pay a fine.
Charles decided to use this old law to make
some money. So he had a list made of all those it was intended to knight as
part of the coronation ceremonies. Of course it would not have served his
purpose if those listed turned up, so the proclamation was published in Yorkshire on January 30 1626, and it called on all persons to appear in London before January 31.
This was clearly impossible, but the local
gentry did not worry too much because no fine had been levied for a
non-appearance for many years. No doubt they got a shock when King Charles
asked for his money. A great many who failed to turn up were fined, the fines
for Yorkshire alone being £16,638. The
locals who had to pay up were John Horncastle (Featherstone) £10, Thomas
Beckwith (Ackton) £15 and John Lee (Ackton) £10.
1638 HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE
In the 16th century the highways were in a
shocking state. The responsibility lay with each parish, but providing the
locals could get where they wanted to be they wouldn't be bothered about the
through traffic. A horse could go round the potholes, or pull its feet out of
the mud, but when wagons, carts and coaches became more commonplace a road
which would just do for a pack horse was no good for a wheeled vehicle. So the
Government passed an Act of Parliament in 1555 which required every parish to
elect two surveyors to be responsible for the roads.
The surveyors had to nominate four days in
the summer (later increased to six) and every man who employed workers had to
send two of them with tools to work on the roads eight hours on each appointed
day. A man who did not employ someone had to do the work himself. Fines were
imposed on those who failed to take part.
The system didn't work because no employer
would send his best workers, and those who had to go themselves would not be
likely to give of their best. Eventually the hand of the law fell on the
defaulters.
At the West Riding Quarter Sessions of
January 1638 a penalty of £100 was laid upon the inhabitants of Featherstone,
Snydale, Purston, Heath and Stanley that they repair the King's highway
between Wakefield and Pontefract before the next sessions after the
close of Easter.
Two years later Messrs Byrnes, Thorp, and
Heather were at the Quarter Sessions saying the King's highway in a place
called Penny Lane within the township of Purston and parish of Featherstone
was now in great decay for lack of repair, and the inhabitants of the parish of
Featherstone ought to repair the same.
Penny Lane was probably what is now Pontefract Road. There is an old map in
Pontefract Library which names the road from where the war memorial used to be towards
Purston as Penny Lane so it is a reasonable
assumption it went right through to Purston.
Human nature being what it is, it is likely
the roads were in a mess until the passing of the Turnpike Act which allowed
the erection of toll bars, and that meant those who used the roads had to pay
for the upkeep of them.
1641
YOU WILL GO TO CHURCH
Attending church on Sunday used to be
compulsory and persons failing to turn up were likely to find themselves in court.
This happened to quite a few Featherstone folk in 1641 when the following were
charged at the West Riding Quarter Sessions.
"Matthew Hamerton, Philip Hamerton gent,
Dorothy his wife, Elizabeth Hippon a widow, Margaret Hipperon, Mary Hipperon,
John Thorpe and his wife Jane, Elena Beckwith, Elizabeth Bilcliffe, George
Pepper, Agnes Barley, Ann Fawcett and Dennis Freeman who on April 1 1641 who
all over 16 did nor repair to their parish church, nor any other church, chapel
or usual place of common prayer, nor were there at the time of common prayer at
any time within one month the next following the aforesaid April 1, but
voluntary and obstinately have foreborne, and each of them hath foreborne the
same, from the said April 1 for the space of one month the next following,
contrary to the Statute of 1 Elizabeth (the statute of Uniformity of Common
Prayer) and against the Statute of 23 Elizabeth,"
The penalty for missing church for a month
was £20, an enormous sum in those days, And if it wasn't paid the Sovereign was
entitled to seize part of the defaulters land. The purpose of such a draconian
measure was to make Roman Catholics attend the Church of England, but some
were evidently prepared to lose everything for their beliefs.