John Watson
2014-10-13 22:12:46 UTC
Dear all,
This fourth part looks at the descendants of Ellen one of the five sisters of Alexander de Neville (III) who died in 1252.
Please note that many of the dates are estimated and that the pedigree of Mirfield is conjectured. There could well be a generation missing, but it is the 'best fit' to the contemporary (rather than secondary) records.
1. Ellen de Neville (c. 1244-aft. 1281)
At the time of the death of Alexander, son of Alexander de Neville in 1252, his sister Ellen was in the custody of her mother Mateleon [1]. Sometime in or before 1260, Ellen married William de Pontefract.
In or about 1260, there was an exchange of land between Nicholas de Neville and Margery his wife and William de Pontefract and Ellen his wife whereby Nicholas and Margery gave to William and Ellen and their heirs, all their land in Mirfield and Hopton paying 18s. per year and William and Ellen his wife granted to Nicholas and Margery all their land in the town of Redbourne in Lindsey [2]. This is the only notice that seems to exist for William de Pontefract and I am unable to give any more details about him.
William de Pontefract died before 1271 when Ellen had married secondly, Henry le Tyas. In 1271-2, Robert le Gardiner sued Robert Wacelyn and others concerning two bovates of land in Redbourne. Robert Wacelyn and (the others) vouched to warranty Thomas son of John de Heton, who was under age, Nicholas de Neville and Margery his wife, Henry le Tyas and Ellen his wife, Ingram Folenfaunt and Juliana his wife, and Adam de Novo Mercato and Cecilia his wife, by a charter of Alexander Crevequer, ancestor of the said Thomas and the others, which they proffer., and which witnesses that the said Alexander confirmed to William Wacelyn, ancestor of the said Robert Wacelyn, the said tenements. Because Thomas was under age the suit was without a day until his age [3].
Henry le Tyas is said by Dodsworth to have been the son of Sir Franco le Tyas (or Teutonicus) of Farnley Tyas in Yorkshire. In Dodsworth's pedigree of the family, he gives Ellen and Henry le Tyas four sons; Baldwin, Francis, Richard and John [4]. I have been unable to find any contemporary evidence to confirm this pedigree, and because Ellen's heir for her Neville lands was her son by her first marriage to William de Pontefract, I have not considered them further.
Ellen and Henry were still alive in November 1280, when Henry le Tyas and Ellen his wife granted 80 acres of land in Hopton (in the parish of Mirfield) to Thomas de Hopton [5].
2. Adam de Pontefract (c. 1260 - aft. 1307)
The lands in Mirfield that Ellen inherited from her brother Alexander de Neville were inherited by her son Adam de Pontefract. In 1302-3, the return of knight's fees in Yorkshire records that John de Heton, Adam de Pontefract, John rector of Mirfield and Adam de Everingham were holding 2 carucates and 6 bovates in Mirfield [6]. Adam de Everingham was probably one of the heirs of Swain fitz Ailric. The other part of Mirfield had been Alexander de Neville's holding and was now split three ways. John rector of Mirfield was a son of Sir John de Heton, but he may well have been holding the land in trust for one of the other heirs, possibly Cecily de Neville. A few years later, Mirfield appears to have been held jointly by the Mirfields and the Hoptons.
Adam de Pontefract was still alive in August 1307, when he made an agreement with Adam son of Robert de Neufmarché concerning land in Mirfield and Hopton [7].
3. John de Pontefract / Mirfield (c. 1295 - 1346)
Adam de Pontefract was succeeded by John de Pontefract who changed the family name from Pontefract to Mirfield. In fact we can almost pinpoint the date when the change occurred. On 27 July 1326, he witnessed a deed in Mirfield as John de Pontefracto of Mirfeld [8]. One year later on 14 July 1327 he witnessed another deed as John de Mirfeld [9].
John de Mirfield married Avice, grand-daughter and heiress of Henry de Dighton. In Hilary Term 1338-9, John de Mirfield and Avice his wife claimed 7 acres of land in Huddersfield in right of Avice, which John son of John de Dighton had unjustly disseised Henry de Dighton, whose grand-daughter and heir was Avice [10]. In Hilary Term 1344-5, John de Mirfield was one of the sureties for Peter de Kirketon, John de Brereley of Saxton, Nicholas de Kirkby, and many others, against whom an accusation had been laid by John Giffard, Master of St. Leonard's Hospital, York [11].
4. Sir William de Mirfield (c. 1325 - 1380)
John de Mirfield was succeeded by his son William de Mirfield. On 24 July 1347, William de Mirfield promised to support John de Heton in the presentation he had made of his brother William de Heton to the church of Mirfeld and afterwards the presentation was to belong to William de Mirfield [12]. William de Mirfield was one of those pardoned on 4 July 1348 for holding jousts at Wakefield [13]. On 6 July 1351 he was one of those ordered to arrest the murderers of Sir John de Elland and John his son [14].
Flower's visitation pedigree says that William de Mirfield married Isabel, daughter of John de Elland [15]. If this was the case, then she died young, because William de Mirfield married, before 1354, Agnes, daughter of Sir Robert de Beaumont of Crosland (said to have been murdered by Sir John de Elland). On 4 May 1354, Sir John de Beaumont, knight, granted land in Huddersfield to William de Mirfield and Agnes his (John's) sister by a fine at Westminster [16]. On 26 March 1361, William de Mirfeld was appointed as one of the custodians of the lands of Henry Earl of Lancaster in Yorkshire [17]. On 5 April 1362, Robert son of Sir John de Beaumont, knight, quitclaimed all his right in the reversion of lands and tenements in Huddersfield, then held for life by Agnes wife of John Dayville, which Sir John Beaumont his father, had granted to William de Mirfeld and Agnes his sister [18]. On 28 December 1367, William de Mirfeld was going on a pilgrimage beyond seas by the king's licence [19]. He was knighted before 27 January 1370 [20]. In 1370 he was steward of the honour of Pontefract [21]. On 4 March 1377, William de Mirfeld, 'chivaler' was one of those appointed to collect a tax of a tenth and a fifteenth in the West Riding [22]. William de Mirfeld, 'chivaler', was escheator in Yorkshire between 26 November 1378 and 5 November 1379 [23]. On 4 March 1380, he was one of those appointed to collect a tax of a tenth and a fifteenth in the West Riding [24]. He probably died shortly after this date.
He had a son Adam, possibly a daughter Alice, married to Sir William de Finchden (Fynchenden), sometime steward of the honour of Pontefract and chief justice of the common pleas, and possibly a son William who was parson of Bradford.
5. Adam de Mirfield (c. 1360 - 1428)
Sir William de Mirfield was succeeded by his son, Adam de Mirfield. Apparently Adam was granted the manor of Howley in the parish of Batley, Yorkshire by his aunt Alice de Finchden who died without heirs. From his time, the Mirfields resided in Howley Hall, Batley. The name of Adam's wife is unknown.
On 1 December 1401, Adam de Mirfield was one of those appointed to collect an aid in the West Riding [25]. In the 1401-2, return of fees in the honour of Pontefract, Adam de Mirfield and John de Heton were holding 2 knight's fees minus a fifth part in Mirfield, Lepton, etc. once held by Thomas de Heton and Adam de Pontefract [26]. I last find him appearing as witness to a deed in April 1428, so he must have lived to a great age [27].
As well as his son and heir William, he also had at least two daughters; Joan who was the second wife of Thomas Wombwell of Wombwell (died 1452). She mentions her brother William in her will dated 10 July 1454 [28]; and Alice who married Oliver Woodruffe of Woolley (died 1430), she survived her husband [29].
6. William Mirfield (c. 1395 - aft. 1454)
Adam Mirfield was succeeded by his son William Mirfield, esquire, who first appears as a witness to a deed in September 1419 [30]. William, his father Adam, and his uncle, Oliver Woodruffe were granted land in Chevet, Yorkshire in June 1424 [31]. Oliver Woodruffe left a cup to William Mirfield in his will dated 11 November 1430 and appointed him as one of his executors [32]. The name of William's wife is unknown.
William had three sons;
- John who died in his father's lifetime. On 22nd May 1450, administration of the estate of John Mirfield son of William Mirfield was granted to William Mirfield [33].
- Oliver, his son and heir.
- Robert who married in 1441, Margaret Tong, daughter and heiress of Hugh Tong of Tong.
William also had a daughter Elizabeth, who married Richard Thorold, of Marston, Lincolnshire who died in York in August 1439. His will mentions John Mirfield, his wife's brother, who he had enfeoffed with his lands in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and Agnes Mirfield his sister, who must have been another daughter of William [34]. There was possibly another daughter named Alice, a nun, mentioned in the will of Oliver Woodruffe's sister Elizabeth [35].
7. Oliver Mirfield (c. 1425 - 1462)
Oliver son of William Mirfield is said in Flower's visitation to have married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Saville by his wife Alice, daughter of Sir William Gascoigne [36]. He made his will on 7 January 1462. He mentions his underage son William, to whom he leaves his estates, his cousin Robert Neville (of Liversedge?) and his brother John Sothill the elder [37]. I can't work out these relationships. As well as his son, he also left a daughter Jane, not mentioned in his will, who married Thomas Wentworth of North Elmsall [38].
Oliver's widow Isabel married secondly (or fourthly according to some sources), Sir John Ashton. John and Isabel were living at Howley Hall on 6 November 1470 when it was attacked by 200 armed men, led by John Mirfield (of Tong?) and Richard Leeds of Pontefract [39]. The attack may have been incited by William Mirfield to get his mother and her husband to move out of the family home! Isabel died in 1488. It is said that there was once an inscription in Wakefield church "Hic jacet Dom. Isabella Asheton, vidua Joh. Asheton, militis et Mater Gulielmi Mirfield, militis, quae ob. 6 die Maii 1488" [40]. Administration of her estate was granted on 22 November 1488 to William Mirfield of Howley in the parish of Batley, armiger, and Thomas Wentworth of Elmsall in the parish of Kirkby [41].
8. Sir William Mirfield (c. 1450 - 1508)
Sir William Mirfield of Howley, succeeded his father, and married Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Fitzwilliam of Aldwark. In February 1484, he was king's esquire and appointed as custodian of Porchester castle and governor of Portsmouth for life [42]. He was knighted before 14 February 1485 [43]. The will of Sir William Mirfield, knight, was dated 28 May 1508 was proved on 17 August 1508 [44].
9. William Mirfield (c. 1475 -1520)
William Mirfield married Katherine, daughter of Sir James Harrington. He died in 1520, the will of William Mirfield 'gentleman' was proved on 19 December 1520. He left no issue and the Mirfields of Mirfield and Howley became extinct. Their estates passed to Thomas Wentworth of North Elmsall, the next heir, and great-grandson of Oliver Mirfield [45].
Regards,
John
-------------------
[1] Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry III: vol. 7: 1251-1253 (1927), 166.
[2] Alfred S. Ellis, Dodsworth's Yorkshire Notes (Agbrigg), Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 7 (1882), 268.
[3] Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, vol. 9 (1907), 147, citing Lincolnshire Assize Roll, 483, m. 62.
[4] Alfred S. Ellis, Dodsworth's Yorkshire Notes (Agbrigg), Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 7 (1882), 132.
[5] F. H. Slingsby, ed., Feet of Fines for the County of York, From 1272 to 1300, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 121, 1956, 40, No. 75.
[6] Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, 1284-1431, vol. 6 (London, 1920), 128.
[7] A. S. Ellis, Yorkshire Deeds, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 12 (1893), 260.
[8] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 39 (1909), 119, No. 326.
[9] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 39 (1909), 105, No. 287.
[10] W. Paley Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons, vol. 2 (1925), 78, citing De Banco Hil. 13 Edw. IIII, m. 214d.
[11] W. Paley Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons, vol. 2 (1925), 100, citing, Controlment Roll 7, Hil. 19 Edw. III, m. 19d.
[12] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 119, No. 328.
[13] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 8: 1348-1350 (1905), 117.
[14] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 9: 1350-1354 (1907), 156.
[15] Charles Best Norcliffe, ed., The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564 Made by William Flower Esquire, Norroy King of Arms, Harleian Society 16 (1881), 107.
[16] CP 25/1/275/122, number 2.
[17] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 7, Edward III: 1356-1368 (1923), 158.
[18] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 96, No. 253.
[19] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 14: 1367-70 (1913), 38.
[20] CP 25/1/276/132, number 1.
[21] Nottinghamshire Archives, Foljambe of Osberton: Deeds and Estate Papers, DD/FJ/1/279/8.
[22] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 8, Edward III: 1368-1377 (1924), 386.
[23] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 9, Richard II: 1377-1383 (1926), 119, 171.
[24] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 9, Richard II: 1377-1383 (1926), 187,
[25] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 12, Henry IV: 1399-1405 (1931), 148.
[26] Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, 1284-1431, vol. 6 (London, 1920), 603.
[27] West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, Ingilby Records, WYL230/18.
[28] J. Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, Part II, Surtees Society 30, 1855, 177. Ignore Raine's identification of Joan.
[29] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 350.
[30] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 73, No. 206.
[31] Yorkshire Archaeological Society, H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence Collection, MD335/3/1/5/162.
[32] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 5.
[33] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 34, Sheard gives the date incorrectly as 1446.
[34] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 71.
[35] Ibid., 38.
[36] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 275.
[37] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 256.
[38] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 341.
[39] PRO SC8/29/1443.
[40] J. L. Sisson, Historic Sketch of the Parish Church, Wakefield (Wakefield, 1826), 13.
[41] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 300.
[42] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III: 1467-1485 (1901), 425.
[43] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III: 1476-1485 (1954), 1417.
[44] Index of Wills in the York Registry: 1389-1514, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 6 (1889), 119.
[45] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 274.
This fourth part looks at the descendants of Ellen one of the five sisters of Alexander de Neville (III) who died in 1252.
Please note that many of the dates are estimated and that the pedigree of Mirfield is conjectured. There could well be a generation missing, but it is the 'best fit' to the contemporary (rather than secondary) records.
1. Ellen de Neville (c. 1244-aft. 1281)
At the time of the death of Alexander, son of Alexander de Neville in 1252, his sister Ellen was in the custody of her mother Mateleon [1]. Sometime in or before 1260, Ellen married William de Pontefract.
In or about 1260, there was an exchange of land between Nicholas de Neville and Margery his wife and William de Pontefract and Ellen his wife whereby Nicholas and Margery gave to William and Ellen and their heirs, all their land in Mirfield and Hopton paying 18s. per year and William and Ellen his wife granted to Nicholas and Margery all their land in the town of Redbourne in Lindsey [2]. This is the only notice that seems to exist for William de Pontefract and I am unable to give any more details about him.
William de Pontefract died before 1271 when Ellen had married secondly, Henry le Tyas. In 1271-2, Robert le Gardiner sued Robert Wacelyn and others concerning two bovates of land in Redbourne. Robert Wacelyn and (the others) vouched to warranty Thomas son of John de Heton, who was under age, Nicholas de Neville and Margery his wife, Henry le Tyas and Ellen his wife, Ingram Folenfaunt and Juliana his wife, and Adam de Novo Mercato and Cecilia his wife, by a charter of Alexander Crevequer, ancestor of the said Thomas and the others, which they proffer., and which witnesses that the said Alexander confirmed to William Wacelyn, ancestor of the said Robert Wacelyn, the said tenements. Because Thomas was under age the suit was without a day until his age [3].
Henry le Tyas is said by Dodsworth to have been the son of Sir Franco le Tyas (or Teutonicus) of Farnley Tyas in Yorkshire. In Dodsworth's pedigree of the family, he gives Ellen and Henry le Tyas four sons; Baldwin, Francis, Richard and John [4]. I have been unable to find any contemporary evidence to confirm this pedigree, and because Ellen's heir for her Neville lands was her son by her first marriage to William de Pontefract, I have not considered them further.
Ellen and Henry were still alive in November 1280, when Henry le Tyas and Ellen his wife granted 80 acres of land in Hopton (in the parish of Mirfield) to Thomas de Hopton [5].
2. Adam de Pontefract (c. 1260 - aft. 1307)
The lands in Mirfield that Ellen inherited from her brother Alexander de Neville were inherited by her son Adam de Pontefract. In 1302-3, the return of knight's fees in Yorkshire records that John de Heton, Adam de Pontefract, John rector of Mirfield and Adam de Everingham were holding 2 carucates and 6 bovates in Mirfield [6]. Adam de Everingham was probably one of the heirs of Swain fitz Ailric. The other part of Mirfield had been Alexander de Neville's holding and was now split three ways. John rector of Mirfield was a son of Sir John de Heton, but he may well have been holding the land in trust for one of the other heirs, possibly Cecily de Neville. A few years later, Mirfield appears to have been held jointly by the Mirfields and the Hoptons.
Adam de Pontefract was still alive in August 1307, when he made an agreement with Adam son of Robert de Neufmarché concerning land in Mirfield and Hopton [7].
3. John de Pontefract / Mirfield (c. 1295 - 1346)
Adam de Pontefract was succeeded by John de Pontefract who changed the family name from Pontefract to Mirfield. In fact we can almost pinpoint the date when the change occurred. On 27 July 1326, he witnessed a deed in Mirfield as John de Pontefracto of Mirfeld [8]. One year later on 14 July 1327 he witnessed another deed as John de Mirfeld [9].
John de Mirfield married Avice, grand-daughter and heiress of Henry de Dighton. In Hilary Term 1338-9, John de Mirfield and Avice his wife claimed 7 acres of land in Huddersfield in right of Avice, which John son of John de Dighton had unjustly disseised Henry de Dighton, whose grand-daughter and heir was Avice [10]. In Hilary Term 1344-5, John de Mirfield was one of the sureties for Peter de Kirketon, John de Brereley of Saxton, Nicholas de Kirkby, and many others, against whom an accusation had been laid by John Giffard, Master of St. Leonard's Hospital, York [11].
4. Sir William de Mirfield (c. 1325 - 1380)
John de Mirfield was succeeded by his son William de Mirfield. On 24 July 1347, William de Mirfield promised to support John de Heton in the presentation he had made of his brother William de Heton to the church of Mirfeld and afterwards the presentation was to belong to William de Mirfield [12]. William de Mirfield was one of those pardoned on 4 July 1348 for holding jousts at Wakefield [13]. On 6 July 1351 he was one of those ordered to arrest the murderers of Sir John de Elland and John his son [14].
Flower's visitation pedigree says that William de Mirfield married Isabel, daughter of John de Elland [15]. If this was the case, then she died young, because William de Mirfield married, before 1354, Agnes, daughter of Sir Robert de Beaumont of Crosland (said to have been murdered by Sir John de Elland). On 4 May 1354, Sir John de Beaumont, knight, granted land in Huddersfield to William de Mirfield and Agnes his (John's) sister by a fine at Westminster [16]. On 26 March 1361, William de Mirfeld was appointed as one of the custodians of the lands of Henry Earl of Lancaster in Yorkshire [17]. On 5 April 1362, Robert son of Sir John de Beaumont, knight, quitclaimed all his right in the reversion of lands and tenements in Huddersfield, then held for life by Agnes wife of John Dayville, which Sir John Beaumont his father, had granted to William de Mirfeld and Agnes his sister [18]. On 28 December 1367, William de Mirfeld was going on a pilgrimage beyond seas by the king's licence [19]. He was knighted before 27 January 1370 [20]. In 1370 he was steward of the honour of Pontefract [21]. On 4 March 1377, William de Mirfeld, 'chivaler' was one of those appointed to collect a tax of a tenth and a fifteenth in the West Riding [22]. William de Mirfeld, 'chivaler', was escheator in Yorkshire between 26 November 1378 and 5 November 1379 [23]. On 4 March 1380, he was one of those appointed to collect a tax of a tenth and a fifteenth in the West Riding [24]. He probably died shortly after this date.
He had a son Adam, possibly a daughter Alice, married to Sir William de Finchden (Fynchenden), sometime steward of the honour of Pontefract and chief justice of the common pleas, and possibly a son William who was parson of Bradford.
5. Adam de Mirfield (c. 1360 - 1428)
Sir William de Mirfield was succeeded by his son, Adam de Mirfield. Apparently Adam was granted the manor of Howley in the parish of Batley, Yorkshire by his aunt Alice de Finchden who died without heirs. From his time, the Mirfields resided in Howley Hall, Batley. The name of Adam's wife is unknown.
On 1 December 1401, Adam de Mirfield was one of those appointed to collect an aid in the West Riding [25]. In the 1401-2, return of fees in the honour of Pontefract, Adam de Mirfield and John de Heton were holding 2 knight's fees minus a fifth part in Mirfield, Lepton, etc. once held by Thomas de Heton and Adam de Pontefract [26]. I last find him appearing as witness to a deed in April 1428, so he must have lived to a great age [27].
As well as his son and heir William, he also had at least two daughters; Joan who was the second wife of Thomas Wombwell of Wombwell (died 1452). She mentions her brother William in her will dated 10 July 1454 [28]; and Alice who married Oliver Woodruffe of Woolley (died 1430), she survived her husband [29].
6. William Mirfield (c. 1395 - aft. 1454)
Adam Mirfield was succeeded by his son William Mirfield, esquire, who first appears as a witness to a deed in September 1419 [30]. William, his father Adam, and his uncle, Oliver Woodruffe were granted land in Chevet, Yorkshire in June 1424 [31]. Oliver Woodruffe left a cup to William Mirfield in his will dated 11 November 1430 and appointed him as one of his executors [32]. The name of William's wife is unknown.
William had three sons;
- John who died in his father's lifetime. On 22nd May 1450, administration of the estate of John Mirfield son of William Mirfield was granted to William Mirfield [33].
- Oliver, his son and heir.
- Robert who married in 1441, Margaret Tong, daughter and heiress of Hugh Tong of Tong.
William also had a daughter Elizabeth, who married Richard Thorold, of Marston, Lincolnshire who died in York in August 1439. His will mentions John Mirfield, his wife's brother, who he had enfeoffed with his lands in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and Agnes Mirfield his sister, who must have been another daughter of William [34]. There was possibly another daughter named Alice, a nun, mentioned in the will of Oliver Woodruffe's sister Elizabeth [35].
7. Oliver Mirfield (c. 1425 - 1462)
Oliver son of William Mirfield is said in Flower's visitation to have married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Saville by his wife Alice, daughter of Sir William Gascoigne [36]. He made his will on 7 January 1462. He mentions his underage son William, to whom he leaves his estates, his cousin Robert Neville (of Liversedge?) and his brother John Sothill the elder [37]. I can't work out these relationships. As well as his son, he also left a daughter Jane, not mentioned in his will, who married Thomas Wentworth of North Elmsall [38].
Oliver's widow Isabel married secondly (or fourthly according to some sources), Sir John Ashton. John and Isabel were living at Howley Hall on 6 November 1470 when it was attacked by 200 armed men, led by John Mirfield (of Tong?) and Richard Leeds of Pontefract [39]. The attack may have been incited by William Mirfield to get his mother and her husband to move out of the family home! Isabel died in 1488. It is said that there was once an inscription in Wakefield church "Hic jacet Dom. Isabella Asheton, vidua Joh. Asheton, militis et Mater Gulielmi Mirfield, militis, quae ob. 6 die Maii 1488" [40]. Administration of her estate was granted on 22 November 1488 to William Mirfield of Howley in the parish of Batley, armiger, and Thomas Wentworth of Elmsall in the parish of Kirkby [41].
8. Sir William Mirfield (c. 1450 - 1508)
Sir William Mirfield of Howley, succeeded his father, and married Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Fitzwilliam of Aldwark. In February 1484, he was king's esquire and appointed as custodian of Porchester castle and governor of Portsmouth for life [42]. He was knighted before 14 February 1485 [43]. The will of Sir William Mirfield, knight, was dated 28 May 1508 was proved on 17 August 1508 [44].
9. William Mirfield (c. 1475 -1520)
William Mirfield married Katherine, daughter of Sir James Harrington. He died in 1520, the will of William Mirfield 'gentleman' was proved on 19 December 1520. He left no issue and the Mirfields of Mirfield and Howley became extinct. Their estates passed to Thomas Wentworth of North Elmsall, the next heir, and great-grandson of Oliver Mirfield [45].
Regards,
John
-------------------
[1] Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry III: vol. 7: 1251-1253 (1927), 166.
[2] Alfred S. Ellis, Dodsworth's Yorkshire Notes (Agbrigg), Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 7 (1882), 268.
[3] Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, vol. 9 (1907), 147, citing Lincolnshire Assize Roll, 483, m. 62.
[4] Alfred S. Ellis, Dodsworth's Yorkshire Notes (Agbrigg), Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 7 (1882), 132.
[5] F. H. Slingsby, ed., Feet of Fines for the County of York, From 1272 to 1300, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 121, 1956, 40, No. 75.
[6] Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, 1284-1431, vol. 6 (London, 1920), 128.
[7] A. S. Ellis, Yorkshire Deeds, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 12 (1893), 260.
[8] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 39 (1909), 119, No. 326.
[9] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 39 (1909), 105, No. 287.
[10] W. Paley Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons, vol. 2 (1925), 78, citing De Banco Hil. 13 Edw. IIII, m. 214d.
[11] W. Paley Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons, vol. 2 (1925), 100, citing, Controlment Roll 7, Hil. 19 Edw. III, m. 19d.
[12] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 119, No. 328.
[13] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 8: 1348-1350 (1905), 117.
[14] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 9: 1350-1354 (1907), 156.
[15] Charles Best Norcliffe, ed., The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564 Made by William Flower Esquire, Norroy King of Arms, Harleian Society 16 (1881), 107.
[16] CP 25/1/275/122, number 2.
[17] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 7, Edward III: 1356-1368 (1923), 158.
[18] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 96, No. 253.
[19] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 14: 1367-70 (1913), 38.
[20] CP 25/1/276/132, number 1.
[21] Nottinghamshire Archives, Foljambe of Osberton: Deeds and Estate Papers, DD/FJ/1/279/8.
[22] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 8, Edward III: 1368-1377 (1924), 386.
[23] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 9, Richard II: 1377-1383 (1926), 119, 171.
[24] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 9, Richard II: 1377-1383 (1926), 187,
[25] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 12, Henry IV: 1399-1405 (1931), 148.
[26] Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids, 1284-1431, vol. 6 (London, 1920), 603.
[27] West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, Ingilby Records, WYL230/18.
[28] J. Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, Part II, Surtees Society 30, 1855, 177. Ignore Raine's identification of Joan.
[29] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 350.
[30] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds Vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 39, 1909, 73, No. 206.
[31] Yorkshire Archaeological Society, H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence Collection, MD335/3/1/5/162.
[32] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 5.
[33] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 34, Sheard gives the date incorrectly as 1446.
[34] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 71.
[35] Ibid., 38.
[36] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 275.
[37] Raine, Test. Ebor. II, 256.
[38] Norcliffe, Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563-4, 341.
[39] PRO SC8/29/1443.
[40] J. L. Sisson, Historic Sketch of the Parish Church, Wakefield (Wakefield, 1826), 13.
[41] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 300.
[42] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III: 1467-1485 (1901), 425.
[43] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III: 1476-1485 (1954), 1417.
[44] Index of Wills in the York Registry: 1389-1514, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 6 (1889), 119.
[45] Micheal Sheard, Records of the Parish of Batley (Worksop, 1894), 274.