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A HISTORY

OF THE PARISH OF

BARWICK-IN-ELMET,

IN THE COUNTY OF YORK.

By

F. S. COLMAN, M.A..

Rector.

LEEDS:

1908.

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PREFACE.

This book is a collection of the available records relating to a single country parish, gathered both from public sources and from private manuscripts which had not been before accessible. I have tried to arrange them so that they may best illustrate the history of the parish, its antiquities and institutions, classifying them under subjects rather than periods. First there is a view of the whole parish, its topography and history; then an account of the village of Barwick and its ancient earthworks; the Church with the clergy and endowments; the manors and their associated families; an explanation of the disappearance, under enclosure, of the commons, woods, and open fields; some notes on the parochial officers and their accounts; and lastly there are lists of the manorial tenants showing us the inhabitants at different periods for over three hundred years before the registers begin.

The possibilities of this particular parish are unusual. The earthworks, of pre-historic, and the Church, of pre-conquest origin, tell us of its earliest history. We have a rich store of material at the Public Record Office arising out of our long connexion with the Duchy of Lancaster. Nearer home is the remarkable collection of documents at Parlington belonging to Colonel Gascoigne. These last had not been examined for more than two hundred years, but free access was granted to me and I was permitted to transcribe or note whatever might be of interest. This was a privilege for which I am under a real obligation, and the Thoresby Society owes very much to Colonel Gascoigne for his permission. The Parlington collection of deeds covers not only the manors and estates of the family but touches also many other districts in Yorkshire, and a number of the most valuable of them, other than those I have used, have been included, with Colonel Gascoigne's consent, in a volume of Yorkshire Deeds, edited by Mr. W. Brown, for the Yorkshire Archæological Society's Record Series.

The Rev. Bathurst G. Wilkinson, of Potterton, was so good as to lend me a number of documents dealing with his estate and the later history of Kiddal Hall; while for the earlier history of the Ellis family I am much indebted to Mr. A. S. Ellis, who, with a generosity that seems to infect antiquaries, handed over to me a large quantity of notes collected through many years. Mr. Darcy Wilson of Seacroft also allowed me to use many interesting papers relating to the 17th and 18th centuries.

Many friends have been of the greatest assistance. Mr. W. Brown, F.S.A., and Mr. W. T. Lancaster, F.S.A., have given me frequent suggestions and have looked over my proof sheets; Mr. G. D. Lumb, F.S.A., has passed on to me much information he had gathered about Barwick. I am indebted to Mr. T. H. Prater for the courtesy with which he assisted my searches at Parlington, and for a sketch of the agriculture of the district which I have incorporated with the first chapter; to Mr. John Bilson, F.S.A., for notes on the architecture. of the Church; to Mr. H. S. Chorley for the plan of the earthworks; to Mr. H. M. Chippindale for the ground plan of the Church; to Mr. Godfrey Bingley for his beautiful photographs; to Mr. E. Hawkesworth for notes on the geology of the district; to Mr. C. C. Hodges of Hexham for a technical description of the sculptured stones in the Church; and to the Library Committee of the Leeds City Council for permission to reproduce the frontispiece from a water-colour drawing in the Library. From innumerable correspondents I have received the utmost kindness and readiness to furnish information.

The book has been delayed, by the interruption of repeated illness, far beyond the time when I hoped to see it finished, and this may be accepted as an excuse for many shortcomings of plan and execution that might have been avoided by more continuous work. Now that it is finished I cannot help wishing it were possible to write it all over again, to try to do it better, and still to add to it. But even so there would be no finality, for if it be true, as the Preacher told us more than two thousand years ago, that of making many books there is no end, it is certainly true that there is no end to the making of the book of just one ancient parish.

BARWICK-IN-ELMET RECTORY,

March 8, 1909.

F. S. COLMAN.

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