Medieval Times to the Abolition of the Monasteries 1087-1540
The Norman Conquest
Following the conquest, Duke William rewarded those who assisted him at Hastings with the granting of land throughout the country. The breaking up of the old government and the trampling of the land under the feet of an alien aristocracy caused much disturbance amongst the inhabitants of Yorkshire, who maintained a spirit of independence. When Sweyn, King of Denmark, sent a fleet of 240 vessels with 10,000 men to the Humber, a multitude of Yorkshire men rode to join it and together they marched to York. The Norman garrison was overwhelmed and massacred. Hearing the news, William the Conqueror marched northwards, but his passage was blocked by the River Aire swollen by violent rainstorms. They were delayed for three weeks at Castleford until the waters subsided enough to be forded. On a long and circuitous journey through the West Riding to York, men, women and children were massacred with ruthless barbarity. So thorough was the devastation that for nine consecutive years the land around Wakefield remained untilled. A new system of feudal government was introduced.
The area covered by the practice appears to straddle the borders of the Manor of Wakefield and the Honour of Pontefract. After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror controlled the area but his son, William Rufus, granted the Manor of Wakefield to the second Earle Warenne, who built Sandal Castle from 1180. This was a large fragmented stretch of land extending from Wakefield west to the Pennines along the Calder Valley. The Honour covered an even bigger area of West and South Yorkshire including land around Bradford Leeds and Barnsley. This was pledged to the De Lacey family who were to build Pontefract Castle. Walton, with Sandal, was part of the Manor whereas Crofton and Sharlston were in the eastern limit of the western part of the Honour.
The Manor of Wakefield
Nostell Priory and Estates
Nostell Priory was founded in 1114, by Ralph Adlave, chaplain and confessor to Henry I. He had fallen ill at Pontefract on the way to a Scottish campaign with the King. Whilst recovering, he hunted in the woods around Nostell where he came across a colony of hermits who had settled by the lake there. The ‘hermits’ were probably monks of a Saxon foundation, and their church was dedicated to St. James. Adlave, impressed by their life, asked the King’s permission to establish them as a regular Augustinian Priory dedicated to St. Oswald, the King of Northumbria killed in battle by Penda in 642. The charter of 1121 licensed the canons of St. Oswald to build a church at Nostell which may have contained a relic of the saint. The Priory held possession of 36 churches and chapels which had been given by its patrons at various times, including Wragby Church. Little is known of the church or monastic buildings during the 12th and early 13th centuries. While it was not enormous as the Cistercian abbeys like Fountains and Rievaulx, it must have been sizeable with its large endowments of land from the Lascy family and royal grant of 12 pence per day from the exchequer at York. The choir was supposed to have been begun by Prior Anketil who died in 1196, and fragments of carving which survive seem to date from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Land in Crofton was given to the priory between 1135 and 1330 and Nostell Priory was recognised as lord of the manor of the village. However it was not the only landowner and some families retained landholding status. Coal mining in the area goes back further than may at first be imagined, with old strip fields in both Crofton and Sharlston being known as coal pit fields from antiquity. Richard de Wombwell, who was prior of Nostell from 1372 to 1385, had a drain dug to convey water from the coalmines. This would suggest that the mines were already of some size and development. Coal was worked from the Birkwood estate and John Leland, the royal antiquary, when traveling between Pontefract and Wakefield in the 1530s reports the presence of ‘Cole Pittes’ on the left hand side of his route, near the source of the ‘Wente Ryver’. The village also possessed a grammar school in 1373. It continues until 1583 when it was amalgamated with Pontefract School. Poll tax returns of 1379 showed 61 individuals were liable to taxation in Crofton, amounting to a total of 13/4d, compared with Sharlston at 25/8d and Walton 8 shillings.
John Leland 1506-1552 Antiquary
Born in London, educated at St. Paul’s School, then Christ’s College Cambridge, and All Souls Oxford. After a stay in Paris he became chaplain to Henry VIII, who in 1533 made him ‘king’s antiquary’, with power to search for records of antiquity in the cathedrals, colleges, abbeys and priories of England.
Cardinal Wolsey stayed for two days at the Priory in 1530 where he held a confirmation on his way to York. However its end was near and with the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, the house was suppressed and the buildings and estates were granted to Dr Thomas Leigh, one of Henry VIII’s appointed visitors. Interestingly the grant includes a coal mine kept in the hands, working and occupation of the former prior.
Cardinal Wolsey 1745-1530 Cardinal and Politician.
Born in Ipswich, he studied at Oxford. He was ordained in 1498. He was appointed chaplain to Henry VII in 1507 and he accompanied Henry VIII to France to conduct negotiations, He became Bishop of Lincoln then Archbishop of York in 1514. Deep in the King’s confidence he controlled England’s foreign policy lending support to France and Germany in turn to England’s advantage. He believed in the absolute power of the monarchy but his downfall was his evasiveness over the question of Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. His haughtiness provoked many enemies and he was eventually charged with treason and died journeying from York to London.
Dissolution of the Monasteries
In the 1530’s, Henry VIII’s advisers organised a remarkably efficient end to all English monasteries and nunneries, confiscating revenues for the crown. The motives remain controversial as most property was sold to pay for government expenditure. The 1939 Act was recognised as a ‘fait acompli’. The lack of opposition is surprising but it’s piecemeal nature made it difficult to focus opposition. The destruction of art, architecture and manuscripts was immense. All monastic cathedrals were refounded as secular colleges and some new cathedrals were set up. Dissolution may have contributed to an increase in poverty because of the disappearance of monastic alms, perhaps leading to the introduction of the Elizabethan poor law.
Medieval Churches
Wragby Church stands within the park of Nostell Priory and is built on the site of the pre Norman Monastery. It is dedicated to St. Michael and our Lady. It is perpendicular in style with embattled walls. It has obvious architectural beauty and consists of a tower, a nave with aisles and a chancel. It houses many treasures the most unique being its collection of antique Swiss glass. Seventeen of its nineteen windows are filled with 489 panels and roundels dating from 1514 to 1745, the largest collection outside Switzerland. The subjects are both ecclesiastical and secular with scenes of contemporary life and beautiful pictures of scriptural stories.
Wragby Church
St. Peter’s Church in Kirkthorpe was built by the Prior and monks of Nostell Priory and consecrated between 1086 and 1221.There is evidence of an earlier wood and stone Saxon Church within the Norman Structure and the present church results from a complete restoration during the time of the Wars of the Roses. The church stands on a slope above the river. It is neat, solid looking and picturesque, consisting of a tower, nave with north aisle, chancel and south porch.
Crofton All Saints’ Church was consecrated in 1430 and founded by Richard Fleming who was born in the village in 1360. He went to Oxford where he became a member of University College and possibly took a degree in Divinity. He became Bishop of Lincoln in 1420. He was proposed as Archbishop of York by the Pope in 1424, but due to a misunderstanding with the King, he never took up that post and remained at Lincoln. The church is built in perpendicular style and cruciform in shape. It has a chancel, nave and two transepts. The walls have buttresses with a gargoyle at the top of each one, draining water from the roof. Some of the windows have carved faces above them. The porch is of massive construction with heavy stone ribs and a stone flagged roof. The tower rises three stories above the church and houses a peel of six bells and a clock mechanism. Access to the tower is by an external staircase. The font is very old and the communion chalice is pre-reformation. The arms of Fleming are carved on a small stone shield placed in front of the south porch.
Crofton Parish Church
In 1860 the decision was made to carry out extensive repairs and alterations to the church and this was carried out over the next 15 years. This included re-roofing and re-flagging of the floors, a new pulpit, altar rails and pews were installed along with new windows. Central heating was installed and the Chancel and Sanctuary were retiled the total cost being £1,500.
Sandal Church lies on the very edge of the practice area. It is dedicated to St. Helen at the time of King Edward the Confessor. There is no sign of the original church which existed at the time of the Domesday Survey, but around 1150 a new church was built in the shape of a Latin cross, which over the centuries has developed into the present church.
The Battle of Wakefield 30th Dec 1460.
In December 1460 the fourth battle of the Wars of the Roses was fought and won at Sandal by a Lancastrian force under the command of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Richard Duke of York was slain, but the Lancastrians victory was a hollow one as 3 months later the Yorkist's got their revenge at the Battle of Towton, where the Lancastrian forces were virtually annihilated.
The Lancastrians advanced from Pontefract Castle towards the Yorkist's at Sandal. It is probable that they traveled along the high ground, passing through the village of Crofton, possibly down what is now Cock Lane, and then along the base of the ridge on which Walton stands. Drawing closer to Sandal they were thus reasonably well concealed from the Castle look outs. This element of surprise helped give them the upper hand in a battle fought where Portobello housing estate now stands, and the castle and Richard Duke of York fell to the Lancastrian forces
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Wars of the Roses 1455-1487. Civil wars fought for the possession of the crown.
This was a series of wars between the houses of Lancaster and York. The first was as a result of Henry VI’s inadequacy as a ruler and the loss of Normandy in 1450. This encouraged the ambitions of Richard of York. Although Richard died at the Battle of Wakefield, Edward IV effectively settled the conflict at Towton. The second war (1469-71) was caused by the discontent of Richard Neville giving the Lancastrians a new lease; however this was ended when Edward IV killed the remaining opponents and ruled in peace until his death in 1483. The third war was triggered by Richard III’s coup, which shattered the Yorkist establishment and allowed Henry VII to ascend the throne.
The Waterton's of Walton
The Watertons of Walton were one of the longest established in the county, claiming descent from the De Burgh’s who owned a deer park in Lincolnshire. John of Waterton as Master of the King’s Horse served at the Battle of Agincourt. Richard Waterton was to marry a Constance Assenhall of the De Burgh family and assume the title of Lord of Walton in 1436. The couple commissioned the building of an imposing, fortified hall for them to live in. All that remains of it today is the ruined gateway, the oldest remaining structure in the village of Walton. Richard held many positions of honour and state during his life. He died in 1479 and was succeeded by his son Robert who was knighted in 1482. He was governor of Pontefract Castle and had charge of Richard II after his deposition by Henry Bolinbroke, later Henry VI. Richard is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Richard II (Act 2 Scene 1) written in 1594.
Northumberland. Then thus: I have from port le Blanc, a bay
In Brittany, received intelligence
That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord Cobham,
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter, His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Quoint,
All these well furnish’d by the Duke of Bretagne
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war,
Are making hither with all due expedience
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore:
Perhaps they had ere this, but that they stay
The first departing for the King of Ireland.
If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,
Imp out our drooping country’s broken wing,
Redeem from broking pawn the blemish’d crown,
Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre’s gilt
And make high majesty look like itself,
Away with me in post to Ravenspurgh;
But if you faint, as fearing to do so,
Stay and be secret, and myself will go.
Battle of Agincourt 25th Oct (St. Crispins Day) 1415
One of the key engagements of the Hundred Years War, fought between the French and an English army commanded by Henry V. The overconfident French launched a frontal attack and suffered appalling losses at the hands of Henry’s archers. The victory opened the way for the English king’s conquest of Normandy.