BROOKSBANK
Yeoman of the Dales(Their Times, Friends and Connections)
by E. M. SHEPHERD
Brooksbank House_001.jpg
This book, now out of print, was scanned from a photocopy byJohn Barker (October 2006)
TRANSCRIPTION OF THE WILL OF JOHN BROOKSBANK OF THORNTON. 1558
In die nomine amen the xiiij day of februarey in the yeare of our lord god a thousand fyve hundrethe fyfti eight. I John Broikysbanke of thornton within the parishe of bradford beynge of good mynde and of hole memory do order and make my last will and testament in this maner folyng first I geve and bequeath my soule vnto god almyghtye my creator and redemer to our blyssed lady and to all the holy company in heven and my body to be buried within the church yeard in bradford beforesaid. Item, I geve and bequeath vnto ellyn my wyff the take and leace of my fermold duringe hir lyf and after hir decease the one half of the said fermold to remayne vnto william broikysbanke my son and to his wyf and his children and the other half vnto Edward my son and to his assignes. Item, I geve and bequeath vnto John my son one whye which shalbe ij yeres old. Item, I bequeath vnto William my son one whye which shalbe ij yeres. Item, I bequeath vnto William Phyllyp my son-inlawe on redd why ofii yeres old. Item, I bequeath vnto Richard broikysbanke on why which shalbe ij yeres old. I tern, I bequeath vnto Agnes my dowghter on cowe or xIs in money. Item, I geve and bequeath vnto the forsaid edward my son all my gere within my shopp whiche he dothe work with. Item, I will that the forsaid ellyn my wyff shall suffer the forsaid Edward my son and Jennett my dowghter to be in my howse vnder hir to help hir to occupie the said fermold. The residewe of all my goodes and cattelles I geve and bequeath vnto the forsaid Edward my son and to Jennet my dowghter whome I do order and make my executor and executrix also I do make Mr Richard latTey, John Mydgelay and gylbert broikesbanke super visores of this my said last will and testament this beinge witnesse Mr Richard laffey & Richard frankland, John mygelay and william broikysbanke with other. Et xij° die mensis aprilis Anno domini millesimo, etc.
(And on the 12th day of the month of April in the year of our lord one thousand five hundred and fifty-nine the Dean of Pontefract has certified that he has approved the said testament by virtue of a commission etc; by the three last-named witnesses having been sworn, etc., and the administration of the goods of the same man was granted to the executors named in the same testament in the presence of the same dean as he certified to us formerly in form of law, having been sworn, etc. Saving the right of whomsoever.)
Transcribed and translated by Christopher Marsden, MA archivist
INDEX
CHAPTER 1 1379 - and All That1
CHAPTER 2 Thornton Grammar School10
CHAPTER 3 Abraham Brooksbank, Vicar of Bradford11
CHAPTER 4 Non-Conformists and Rescue from Raging River 19
CHAPTER 5 Brooksbanks of Great Horton23
CHAPTER 6 "Knighthood for Sale"30
CHAPTER 7 Brooksbanks of Elland and Healaugh Hall and "Brooksbank School"36
CHAPTERS Brooksbanks of Lamplugh40
CHAPTER 9 The Murder of Sir Gilbert Brooksbank42
CHAPTER 10 Dante's Inferno46
CHAPTER 11 Teachers and Tanners51
CHAPTER 12 Northcliffe Farm 55
CHAPTER 13 "My Kingdom for a Horse" 56
CHAPTER 14 "Bonny Brooksbank"67
CHAPTER 15 "Oh For the Wings of a Dove"71
EPILOGUE74
Chapter 11379 - AND ALL THAT
IT WAS a firmly held belief amongst the older generation of Shipley Brooksbanks that they were mentioned in the Domesday Book; this, of course, is nonsense, few Saxons are named. The Domesday entry for Bradford is:
"In Bradford, with six berewicks, Gamel had 15 carucates ofland to be taxed, where there may be eight ploughs. Ilbert has it and it is waste. In King Edward's time it was worth £4. Pasturable woodland half a league in length and half a league in breadth."
For Shipley:
''In Scipleia Ravenchil had three carucates of land to be taxed where there may be two ploughs. Ilbert has it and it is waste. Value in King Edward's time 10s. Wood pasture one mile long and half a mile broad."
Ilbert is Ilbert de Lacie. Gamel was a Saxon Thane and his family can no longer be traced. Ravenchil is a Danish name and nothing more is known of him.
"IT IS WASTE!" Sinister, spine-chilling words. When William the Bastard had done his worst in the "Harrying of the North" Bradford and Shipley were desolate wastes, every living creature exterminated, houses and crops burnt, the whole area devastated.
No one knows how soon it was before people began to drift back into what had once been fertile country. Perhaps it was ten years. Maybe some Brooksbank ancestors had hidden in the woods and on the moors to escape the holocaust, feeding on rats and mice and a few berries in order to survive. It would be pleasing to think so. Later predations by the wild Scots, followed by the plague further decimated the small population. Rumour had it that every family in the Scottish borderlands possessed an English slave - could one have been a Brooksbank? Dreadful thought! One hopes not.
Further research brought to light the fact that the first mention of the name Brooksbank was in the Lay Subsidy of 1379 for the township of WARLEY in the parish of Halifax:
Thomas Brokesbanke and uxor iiijd (4d)
and in ALLERTON in Bradford-dale:
Johannes Brokesbanke and uxor iiijd
(If Thomas was, say fifty years old in 1379, then he would have been born c.1329, and John could be his son).
Thomas Bithebrokebank, (Brooksbank) John Bythewater, Thomas del Oldfield, junior; and Richard de Whitelee were elected in 1371 to supervise the reparation of the palisades of Erringden Park, for a small fee (see page 48).
Pages 2/3
Full page chart 1379 Thomas Brooksbank of Warley
Full page chart Gilbert Brooksbank of Thorton and Horton
Thomas de Brokesbank, John de Murgatrode, and Thomas del Oldfield were in 1379 ordered to supervise the removal of the corn mill at Warley, rebuild it at Luddenden, and dam up the water. l
All of which suggests that it is a West Riding name originating in Halifax, and the evidence indicates that the Brooksbanks spread into Airedale; John possibly being the first one to make the move. They had all departed from Warley before the end of the 17th century.
In many books of English surnames Brooksbank is not mentioned; there are many Brooks and Banks but not a combination of the two. "Brok" is of Germanic origin meaning a stream, and over the years the spelling has varied - Bithebrokebank, Brokebank, Broiklebank, Brockesbanke, Brookesbancke, Broyklebank, and even Brusebank.
Halifax and Bradford are neighbouring towns, and probably the Brooksbanks of Halifax migrated from Calderdale, via Ovenden, Elland, Northowram, Shelf, Clayton, etc., over the moors to Airedale, buying good agricultural land in the environs of Bradford - Shipley, Horton, Allerton, Wilsden, Thornton, Harden, Bingley and Cullingworth. Some settled in Guiseley, Leeds and Adel; John Brukesbank ventured as far as Otley in Wharfedale.
There is in Wakefield a small plot of land by the river called "Brooksbank", but no record exists of a family of that name living there.
In Cumbria there is a district called "Brocklebank" first referred to in 1317 in the register of Holm Cultram Abbey, and in 1641 the Cumberland Protestation Subsidy included the name Brockbank and Brocklebank in Corney and several places in Cumbria, but there does not appear to be any connection with the W R Brooksbanks.
According to Dr George Redmonds, the numbers and situations of the family name were as follows:
West Riding Lancs London Bristol Newcastle
1379 1545 1641 1965 1965 1968 1963 1965
2 6 37 86 30 20 3 3
The documents regarding the Manor of Shipley are missing, but amongst the West Yorkshire Deeds is the will of Edward Brooksbank of Shipley who died in 1599.
Edward, born c.1530, son of John of Thornton, was a clothier, and like other yeomen, he ran his farm of about 36 acres and all members of his family, plus perhaps several apprentices, joined in the spinning, weaving and finishing of the cloth. He bequeathed his soul unto the hands of All Mighty God and his body to be buried in the Church or Churchyard at Bradford. To his son William he left a pair of looms, tenter, sheirs, etc. belonging to cloth making, except the least pair of walker sheirs which he bequeathed to his son Richard. The pewter was to be shared between Alice, his wife, and his daughters, and Alice was to have 20 pounds of wool and yam. His apparel was to be shared between his sons, and everything else to be divided equally between his children. (Bl 28A1F87)
According to "A Particular Note of all the Oxgangs in the Towne of Shipley", apparently written about 1644, William had 2 and 2/3rds and 1/6th oxgangs - nearly three oxgangs, approximately 36 acres, leased from Mr Murgatroyd but purchased from him by John Brooksbank sometime before 1688.
William, born 1580, married firstly Elizabeth Rodley and secondly, Susanah, and he had four sons, Abraham, William born 1607, John born 1610, Edward born 1612, and six daughters including Grace, born 1622. He died intestate in 1644.
William junior, died in 1691, and as his wife Marie was dead, he devised half his house to his mother-in-law and the other half to his sister Elizabeth, and after their deaths to his brother John. To brother Abraham he left £3 and one chest standing in the parlour. Sister Elizabeth was bequeathed the bed and all the bedding in which "I now lye", one cupboard, one table, one chest, two chairs, one range and three pounds in money. Everything else was left to brother John who was sole executor.(BI Pontefract D Sep. 1691)
In 1664 he had sold a messuage and land at West Marton, and in 1677 he received £10 in deed of foeffment from James Ellis of Hackney, London, his brother-in-law.
From the list of freeholders in Shipley's Town Book in 1688 we find that according to the constable's assessment:
Edward Brooksbank had 2 and a half oxgangs of land
assessed at3s 9d
John Brooksbank had two oxgangs, 213rds and 1/6thassessed at4s 3d
making them two of the largest freeholders in Shipley. We do not know when Edward bought his land.
An oxgang was as much land as an ox could plough in a year, i.e. a season. There seems to be a difference of opinion as to how much land this was, possibly about twelve acres.
Mr Preston, the historian, states evidence that the Brooksbanks were a large and prosperous, well-established yeoman family centred in this locality, is to be found in the court rolls of the Manor Court of Crossley Hall belonging to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. It is obvious that the Brooksbanks of Shipley, Thornton and Horton were closely related because their names appear together on the same deeds.
John Brooksbank of Shipley, born c.1640, took an active part in the township's affairs. He was constable of Shipley in 1691, 1692 and 1698, and in 1693 he collected the Shipley tax for the war with France - £52 15s 2d.(note 3). On the 24th June, 1699, the "vigorous war with France" being over, John Brooksbank, together with Jeremy Dixon, was an assessor, and the collector of "An Assessment of £44 3s 7d Charged Upon Shipley for Disbanding the Armie, Providing for the Navi, and other Occasions!" He himself contributed £1 13s 0d.
In 1707 he purchased a messuage and land at Eldwick from Richard Longbottom, being part of the property of the dissolved Priory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Nicholas de Marays, a superior of the Order, had lands granted to him before 1287 and in 1316 he was Lord of the Manor of Shipley. The Knights of St. John held land in Shipley and the surrounding area for several hundred years, and we find their emblem, a stone lantern, on some old surviving buildings, the Old Chapel and The Grange at Idle, being two of them.
In 1709 John Brooksbank and other freeholders of Shipley signed an agreement not to build any more cottages, or let cottages without the major consent of the freeholders, in order to prevent poor people becoming a burden on the town.
Shipley was still held under the Crown in 1709 as parcel of the Honour of Pontefract, and the Court Leet was held at Adwaiton, where the constable was required to summon all the King's tenants and such free holders as were required to do "suit, service and fealty".
John farmed a considerable amount of land, and in the Land Tax levied in 1704 he paid £2 3s 8d for his Shipley lands and 9s 10d for his Idle lands: Also he had a messuage and lands at Heaton Royds. In 1703 and 1704 he was Overseer of Shipley. On the 28th October, 1703, The Manor Court of Crossley, held at Cottingley, presented: "That John Brooksbank must appear at the next court and doe his fealty and pay his releife on paine of 10s" for the farm at Eldwick which he had purchased.He died intestate in February 1716, and administration was granted to his son John, who only survived him by a few months.
This John Brooksbank, born 1665, was buried at Bradford on 28 November, 1716. In his will, black with mildew, he craved pardon for his sins through the death and passion of Jesus Christ his only Saviour and Redeemer. He devised his whole estate to his son John when he reached 20 years of age, and £160 of lawful British money to his daughter Ann when she attained 20 years. Concerned about his children he appointed three trustees for them. (BI)
Ann Brooksbank married firstly, William Booth of another old family, and secondly, Jacob Rawson, yeoman, whose family acquired the manor of Shipley in 1570 when William Rawson of Bradford married the daughter and heiress of William Gascoigne. The Rawsons were also lords of the manor of Bradford. Mr Cudworth goes on to tell us that William Gascoigne was a noted recusant, and a "nourisher and mayntayner of recusants".
Abraham, born 1632, brother of John, was a schoolmaster in Shipley - his own school-before becoming the first Brooksbank Headmaster of Thornton Grammar School. He died in 1712 and after his demise, Abraham, son of John born c.1640, became the second Brooksbank Master of Thornton Grammar School. He was born in 1676 and was buried at Thornton Chapel, 29th May, 1768, aged 92. In 1711 he married Mercy Rushworth of Allerton. The Rushworths were descendants of the Rushworth who was granted land at Horton for which he had to assist in the horn blowing ceremony at the Market Place when John Northrop who killed the wild boar,
[page 5:]
said, "Come, heir of Rushworth, hold me my dog that I may blow three blasts on my horn to pay the Martinmas rent".
Abraham owned land and a well on School Green, Thomton, and land at Eldwick settled on him by his father, for which he did fealty at Crossley Court.
In Round About Bradford, Mr Cudworth says that, in 1715 His German Majesty George 1st was in dread of the Pretender and the Jacobites, and Abraham Brooksbank, schoolmaster, was one of the people of Thomton liable to take the oath of allegiance.
He owned the only house on the upper side of the Main Street in Thornton where he lived for eighty-six years, which was bought, together with a large portion of adjacent land and also land on the low side of the new road, by his father. In Thornton Chapel he had two pews.
Tryphena and Sarah Brooksbank, his daughters, were the executors of his will, and he devised the house, barns, buildings, etc. where he lived to them with instructions to enclose land containing the draw-well and pump, with a way out onto School Green. They had to pay Mercy, their mother, 20s p.a.
Mercy, "His well-beloved" was to have the kitchen, the chamber over it, the back-kitchen, her bed and household goods that she needed. (The new dresser, pewter, clock and spice cupboard excepted).
To his son Abraham, gentleman of Thornton, born 1714, he left a dwelling house in Shipley, formerly a school, (which he sold in 1773) and half his clothes, books and silver.
Previously, in 1746, he had given Abraham messuage and lands in Eldwick, in consideration of which he had to pay Mercy 30s p.a. Abraham sold the land in Eldwick to John Stead for £190.
John, the eldest son, was bequeathed Allerton or Smithy Farm, from which he had to pay £90 to his sisters, Tryphena and Sarah; also building and land in Thornton from which he had to pay Mercy 30s p.a.; one half of the draw-well in Duckerwife Field Close with liberty to water his cattle and horses; bed and bedding in the North Parlour, a large oval table, and half his clothes, books and silver. (BI)
He became the third successive Brooksbank Master of Thornton Grammar School. Besides teaching English and Latin he was a calimancoe maker. Calimancoes and shalloons were types of worsted cloth made in this unique area. He owned messuages and lands at Harrop and Lower Pickedlee in Allerton, plus 9 closes, three closes in Siddall, messuage and closes called Crossley Brook, Allerton, an inherited house in Shipley, and in 1751 he sold two cottages and a croft at Allerton. In 1776 he granted to John Warburton of Clayton, yeoman, a piece of common or unenclosed land near Closehead allotted to the said John Brooksbank by the Commissioners appointed for deciding the waste and common grounds in the township and manor of Thornton in Bradford-dale, which allotment was number 70, containing ten days work.