SLINGSBY
Selungesbi, Eslingesbi (xi cent.); Sclingasbi (xii
cent.); Slingebi, Lenggesby, Lengheby, Lengeby
(xii–xiii cent.).
The area of this parish is 2,570 acres, of which
1,043 acres are arable, 994 permanent grass and
226 woods and plantations. (fn. 1) Wheat, barley and
oats are grown. There was an inclosure of 354
acres in 1655 by private commission, and an Inclosure Act was passed in 1755. (fn. 2)
Alluvium, Kimmeridge clay, Kellaway's rock,
Oxford clay, lower calcareous grit and corallian
oolite occur. Sand and limestone are worked and
Slingsby has brick and tile works, but its population
is chiefly agricultural.
Slingsby, a large old-fashioned village, stands 145 ft.
above the ordnance datum off the Roman road from
Malton to Aldborough. The green lies at the south
end of the village, the modern church standing in its
churchyard on the northern side. The houses are
mostly of stone with tiled roofs. The growth of the
village towards the north is due to the railway, which
runs in that direction. Slingsby still possesses a maypole, a mast of fir 85 ft. high; the Mowbray Oak,
a tree of notable size, grows in the Priest's Park.
There is a Wesleyan chapel. South of the village
the ground rises 325 ft., but sinks again on the
borders of Bulmer Wapentake. Upon the line of
the earliest Yorkshire settlements (fn. 3) Slingsby has
British remains and burial mounds; the contents
of thirteen barrows opened by Canon Greenwell
are now in the British Museum. (fn. 4)
The Wyvills had a house here in March 1215–16, (fn. 5)
probably the capital messuage mentioned in 1302. (fn. 6)
Wyville Hall was described in 1619 as an old house
of stone at the east end of the town. (fn. 7) In 1344
Ralph de Hastings had licence to crenellate his
dwelling here. (fn. 8) Again in 1475 William Lord
Hastings had leave to 'build, enclose, crenellate,
embattle and machicolate' the 'castle or manor.' (fn. 9)
Though its moat can still be distinctly traced, no
remains of this building exist. The castle has followed the descent of the manor (q.v.). The present
ruins are those of a house of considerable size and
pretension erected on its site early in the 17th
century by Sir Charles Cavendish. They consist of
a rectangular block of buildings measuring over all
about 100 ft. 6 in. by 65 ft. 11 in., having a central
floorless area divided by a partition wall into two
portions, each measuring at the basement level about
52 ft. 9 in. by 26 ft., and having their greatest
length from east to west, with narrower ranges of
apartments at either end projecting forward slightly
on the north and south elevations, and small square
turrets at all four external angles. There are also
central projecting buildings on the east and west
fronts, the original extent of which it is now impossible to ascertain. A hall and great chamber probably occupied the first floor of the centre part of the
house, and the kitchen the north side of the basement
beneath. The basement alone remains practically
complete; the internal walls above this level, with
the exception of the wall dividing the hall from the
great chamber, have disappeared, though indications
of their positions can still be traced on the inside of
those external walls which still remain. The eastern
wall, small portions of the southern wall at its eastern
and western extremities and the west wall are still
standing to the height of two stories. The north
wall still remains to the height of the former first
floor, while the central portion of the south wall has
entirely disappeared. So far as can be conjectured
from what is at present visible, the entrance front
was on the east, and here, probably, were the principal stairs and also serving stairs from the kitchen.
The hall, which would seem to have been on the
south side of the house, probably extended the whole
of the remaining length of the building from the
western wall of the eastern range of apartments,
measuring about 73 ft. in length, while the great
chamber or withdrawing room was of the same
dimensions as the kitchen in the basement below.
Possibly a second staircase opened out of the hall at
the north-west, contained in the central projection
on the west front. In the basement on the west side
of the house are two vaulted cellars. The larger of
the two, on the south-west, measures about 33 ft.
9 in. in length by 18 ft. in width on the north and
15 ft. on the south. The vault has been supported
by two octagonal columns, the southern of which has
now gone with a portion of the vault above it. The
smaller cellar, at the north-west, is 18 ft. square, and
the vault is supported by a central octagonal column.
The character of the remaining portions of the elevations, which have pedimented mullioned windows,
mostly of two lights, is characteristic of the period.
Early in the 13th century Richard Wyvill's forester
is mentioned, (fn. 10) and William Wyvill had a grant of
free warren in 1255–7. (fn. 11) In 1301 woods called
le Frythe (Frethwode, xv cent.) and Thurkelwode
(now Thortle Wood) were appurtenant to the manor. (fn. 12)
These, the wood of Coulton and 'le Orchard of
Slingsby' Ralph de Hastings had leave to impark in
1344. (fn. 12a) William Lord Hastings was licensed in
1475 (fn. 13) to inclose and impark 2,000 acres in Slingsby.
The effigy in the church is probably of one of the
Wyvills. Dodsworth wrote in 1619: 'The tradition
is that betwixt Malton and this towne ther was
sometymes a serpent that lyved upon pray of passengers, which this Wyvill and dogg did kill, wher
he received his deathes wound. Ther is a great hole
half a myle from the towne, round within and
3 yerdes broad and more, wher this serpent lay,
which doth still show itt self, if any take paynes to
search itt.' (fn. 14) A less famous inhabitant than the
wyvern or its destroyer was Charles Hardwick, Archdeacon of Ely, born at Slingsby in 1821, and a writer
on church history. (fn. 15) John Phillips, Bishop of Sodor
and Man, was rector of Slingsby in 1591, while
Henry John Howard the divine, youngest son of the
fifth Earl of Carlisle, held the living from 1822 to
1833. (fn. 16)
Manor
Wyvill. Gules fretty vair with a chief or.
Hastings. Argent a sleeve sable.
Cavendish. Sable three harts' heads caboshed argent.
Holles. Ermine two piles sable.
Harley. Or a bend cotised sable.
SLINGSBY, where were 14 carucates
in 1086, was then a berewick of Hovingham, (fn. 17) and 8s. 8d. yearly rent was still
paid from the manor to the lords of Hovingham in
1619. (fn. 18) Its 14 carucates, which before the Conquest
had been held by two thegns as two 'manors,' were in
1086 among the fees of the Count of Mortain, (fn. 19)
who is no further heard of here. (fn. 20) Roger of Pont
l'Evêque, Archbishop of York, was tenant in 1167–8, (fn. 21)
but before 1184 Slingsby had come into the joint
tenancy of William Hay (Hai, Haii) and Robert
Chambard, (fn. 22) the Hays' being evidently the manorial
part. (fn. 23) Nicholas de Yeland held two knights' fees
in 'Slingsby and elsewhere' early in the reign of
Henry III. (fn. 24) In the spring of 1222–3 he and
Eustacia his wife granted 2 oxgangs here to Peter
de Toreny and half a carucate to William de
Guttevill, (fn. 24a) but already by 1215–16 the Wyvills, the
parent branch of the Wyvills of Osgodby (fn. 25) and
probably successors of the Hays, (fn. 26) were living here,
for in March of that year the bailiffs of Peter de
Mauley (de Maudlay) were ordered to cause Richard
Wyvill to have his house of Slingsby. (fn. 27) In an undated charter Richard granted to his nephew (nepos)
Laurence his mill of Slingsby. (fn. 28) There was a Eustace
in 1235–6. (fn. 29) In 1253 Henry III granted William
Wyvill and his heirs free warren in Slingsby, Sledmere and Coulton. (fn. 30) William still held these places
in 1284–5, (fn. 31) but in or about 1301 John Wyvill died
seised, leaving a son and heir William, (fn. 32) whose mother
Maud in this year had dower. (fn. 33) He was returned as
joint lord in 1316. (fn. 34) In 1318 William and his men
assaulted a creditor who sued him for debt in the full
wapentake court held at Slingsby this year. They took
away his greyhound, followed him to the church whither
he fled and imprisoned him there until the siege was
raised by neighbours. (fn. 35) No punishment of this lawless
action is recorded. In 1343 William son of William
Wyvill sold two parts of the manor to Sir Ralph de
Hastings, kt., with the remainder of the third part
held by his mother Agnes in dower. (fn. 36) In 1359–60
Agnes quitclaimed her dower to Ralph de Hastings. (fn. 37)
Henry son of William Wyvill subsequently quitclaimed his right. (fn. 38) Ralph de Hastings at once
established himself at Slingsby, (fn. 39) but died three years
later from wounds received at the battle of Neville's
Cross. He had been Sheriff of Yorkshire and keeper
of York Castle. He left a son and heir Ralph,
Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1377, who died in 1397,
leaving three sons, Ralph, Richard and Leonard. (fn. 40)
Ralph was attainted in 1406, perhaps for taking part
in the Mowbrays' and Scropes' rebellion, but Richard
his brother and heir obtained restitution of his lands in
1410. (fn. 41) Richard was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1426
and 1434. He died in 1437, (fn. 42) and was succeeded by
his brother and heir Leonard, (fn. 43) who died seised in
1456, leaving a son and heir William. (fn. 44) 'The
Reader needeth not my dimme Candle to direct him
to this illustrious person,' wrote Fuller. (fn. 45) He was a
prominent partisan of the Yorkist cause, and, after
many other honours, received in or shortly before
1461 the castle, barony and honour of Hastings,
Sussex. After the death of Edward IV, Hastings,
mistrusted by the Protector, was in 1483 beheaded (fn. 46) ;
and in Shakespeare's Richard III his ghost rises to
ban Richard and bless his rival on Bosworth field. (fn. 47)
He left a son and heir Edward, (fn. 48) who died in 1506
and was succeeded by his son and heir George, (fn. 49)
created in 1529 Earl of Huntingdon. George was
succeeded by his son Francis, who died in 1560, and
he by his son Henry Earl of Huntingdon, (fn. 50) who
conveyed this manor in 1563 to Sir John Atherton, (fn. 51)
head of the Lancashire family of Atherton. (fn. 52) Sir John
died seised in 1573, leaving a son and heir John, (fn. 53)
who in 1594 conveyed this manor to Sir Charles
Cavendish. (fn. 54) Sir Charles Cavendish died seised in
1617, leaving a son and heir William, (fn. 55) who after
receiving many other honours was created in 1664–5
Earl of Ogle and Duke of Newcastle as compensation
for his losses in the Civil War, in which he took so
prominent a part on the king's side. 'The loyal
Duke' died at Welbeck in 1676 and was succeeded
in 1688–9 by his son Henry, Lord Lieutenant of
Yorkshire, who died without male issue in 1691. (fn. 56)
John Holles Earl of Clare married Henry's third
daughter and co-heir Margaret and came into the
greater part of the Cavendish estates, (fn. 57) including
Slingsby. (fn. 58) In 1694 he was created Marquess of
Clare and Duke of Newcastle. He died in 1716,
Margaret in the year following, (fn. 59) leaving an only
daughter Henrietta, married in 1713 to Edward
Harley, afterwards second Earl of Oxford, (fn. 60) the
friend of Pope, Swift and Prior. (fn. 61) Edward Harley
and Henrietta held the manor in 1714–15 (fn. 62) and in
1720–1 conveyed it to David Earl of Portmore, (fn. 63)
whose wife, then dead, was the famous Countess of
Dorchester, mistress of James II. (fn. 64) In 1719, however, John (Sheffield) Duke of Buckingham, who
married the daughter of James and the duchess, (fn. 65) had
agreed to purchase the whole estate of Lord Harley
and Lady Henrietta in Yorkshire. (fn. 66) Edmund, the
duke's son and successor, died in 1735, when Sir
Thomas Robinson wrote to the Earl of Carlisle that
the Duchess of Buckingham had sent an express from
Paris to England to secure 'the best council,' and
conveyed the hope that 'this Lord's death will
facilitate any intention your lordship may have as to
the purchase of the woods or estate at Slingsby.' (fn. 67)
The Yorkshire possessions of the Dukes of Buckingham were now claimed by the great-great-granddaughters of Sir John Sheffield, and in 1750 Slingsby,
among other manors, was conferred on Mrs. Daly,
who in 1751 sold it to the fourth Earl of Carlisle. (fn. 68)
His ancestors had held lands in Slingsby from the
beginning of the 14th century. (fn. 69) It has followed
the descent of Castle Howard.
In 1276 William Wyvill's claim by ancient right
was allowed to infangentheof and gallows here, and
to fines under the assize of bread and ale, although
he was found guilty of trying in his court felonies
outside his jurisdiction. (fn. 70)
Robert Chambard's grant in Slingsby to Whitby
Abbey in the 12th century (fn. 71) was confirmed by Masci
de Courcy, Maud his wife and Richard his son and
heir, (fn. 72) but the Courcy family is no more mentioned
in connexion with Slingsby. If their confirmation was
in virtue of a mesne lordship here, their successors
were the Wakes of Liddell. In 1283 one knight's
fee in Slingsby was appurtenant to their manor of
Buttercrambe (fn. 73) ; and this mesne lordship descended (fn. 74)
through the Earls of Kent (fn. 75) to Edmund Mortimer
Earl of March, (fn. 76) and so to the Crown in the person of
Edward IV. By 1202 Robert Chambard had been
succeeded by William, (fn. 77) and in 1284–5 John Chambard held 5 carucates of land in Slingsby as half a
fee of the heirs of Wake (fn. 78) ; but by 1316 the place
of the Chambards had been taken by Ralph Fitz
William, (fn. 79) and in 1428 the Chambard fee in
Slingsby was in the hands of numerous tenants, of
whom the Baron of Graystock, Ralph's descendant, (fn. 80)
was one, others being the Prior of Malton, who held
2 carucates, and the Priors of Kirkham and St. John
of Jerusalem, who each held 1. (fn. 81) This 'manor' of
Slingsby was included in a settlement of the Graystock lands in 1564–5 (fn. 82) and descended with Henderskelfe (q.v.) to the Howards, Earls of Carlisle. (fn. 83)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS was
built in 1869 and consists of a chancel
with a north vestry and north and south
chapels, a nave with aisles, a west tower and a south
porch. Though the site is an old one, (fn. 84) nothing
remains of the structure of any previous building
except, perhaps, some of the voussoirs and a corbel
capital of the north arcade, which appear to be 13thcentury work re-used. The church is built of ashlar
and has lead roofs.
In the north wall of the tower are some fragments
of incised grave slabs of early 14th-century date.
The font and the other fittings of the church are
modern except the communion table, which is of
early 17th-century date. In the south chapel is an
effigy of a knight in armour of late 13th-century
date. The sword hangs from a broad transverse
belt. The hands are joined in prayer and between
them is a heart. The technique is rather crude and
the effigy is a good deal damaged, the lower part of
the legs having disappeared. In the south aisle is a
much worn brass inscription plate which is said to
be to 'Sir John Fons,' rector, 1508.
The tower contains three bells of 1803.
The plate consists of a silver cup and paten and a
pewter flagon. The cup bears the initials 'S. A.,
I. G., C. W., 1615,' and the maker's mark 'P.P.' for
Peter Pearson of York. The paten was presented
in 1832 by Henry E. T. Howard, rector. The
flagon bears no date.
The registers begin in 1687.
Advowson
There was a priest here in 1086. (fn. 85)
The church was given to Whitby
Abbey by William Hay and Robert
Chambard, (fn. 86) confirmed to the abbey by Roger
Archbishop of York before 1184, (fn. 87) and in 1202
quitclaimed by William Chambard. (fn. 88) The Abbot
of Whitby presented a clerk in about 1248, (fn. 89) but in
1292 and at the Suppression Whitby Abbey had
only a pension from the rectory. (fn. 90) In 1549–50 a
conveyance of the advowson was made with the
manor (fn. 91) and from 1618 the lord of the manor has
been patron. (fn. 92)
Dodsworth recorded in 1619 that 'Ther is the
walls of a faire chappell nere as bigg as the church
within the castle walls, where they had service in
tyme of warres within themselves.' (fn. 93)
Charities
In 1712 the Rev. Robert Ward,
by deed dated 4 January, charged a
cottage and land at Stokesley with
£5 a year to be paid to the schoolmaster. The
annuity is paid to the National school erected in
1860.
Poor's Land.—This parish is possessed of 10 acres,
from which in 1906 £8 12s. 6d. was received as
rent. The sum of £1 5s. is also received as interest
on a bond, dated 15 May 1796, made between
Christopher Harper, overseer, in trust for the poor,
and the Earl of Carlisle. The net income is applied
in doles.