William Stibbing of Farndale
c 1275
to c 1335
The Medieval
Inhabitants of Farndale
FAR00033
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William may have been born in about 1275. Farndale was first cleared for
agriculture from perhaps about 1220 (FAR00004A). So although we
don’t know about William’s parents, it might be supposed that they were the
hard grafters who first broke up the forest in the dale and started farming. As
Farndale was an extension of the existing estate of Kirkbymoorside, William’s
grandparents and his ancestors before them, were likely to have come from the
land at the northern edge of the Vale of York, perhaps in the ancient
agricultural lands around Kirkdale. These lands were part of the same landholdings and estate as
Farndale.
By 1276, at the
time of the death of Joan Stuteville, about 545 acres of Farndale was under
cultivation (see FAR00017). The bonded tenants paid a standard
rent of 1s per acre. By that time there were seven cottars in Farndale and
further occupation at Duthenwayt, probably in the
area of the Duffin Stone today, up the western side of the dale. William’s parents
were likely to have been part of a community of villeins, tilling the land, and
paying high rents to the Stuteville landowners.
By 1282, on the
death of Baldwin Wake, the cultivated acreage in Farndale had risen to 768
acres in only six years (FAR000020). There were 90
bondmen by this time in Farndale. This must have represented a planned campaign
of settlement and activity in the dale must have been noisy and
constant at this time.
1310
A number of local folk had taken draught
beasts into Pickering Forest in the reign of Edward III in 1310 or 1311, where
the draught animals were forbidden to wander. Some pasturages were reserved for the
use of the King where there was no right in common and here, cattle were agisted at a fixed price, to be paid to the bailiff.
These sums were collected by the agisters, of whom there were two in each ward,
men of substance it seems by their assessments in the Lay Subsidies.
Not the least of the profits derived from the possession of a
forest was that arising from the agistment of cattle in waste grounds. (The Duchy of
Lancaster Records, from the North Riding Record Society, The Honour and
Forest of Pickering, Edited by Robert Bell Turton, Volume IV, 1897, page
xxvii).
There was a lengthy list of those individuals from Farndale found by the agisters in about
1310 with their cattle in the forests. Thomas Wake, the Lord of Liddell,
whose tenants they were, said the price had already been paid and the tenants
should be discharged of the matter. Amongst those fined was William Stibbyng
of Farndale (FAR00033)
who had 6 oxen, which were of worth 24s agisted (North Riding Records Yorks Volume III, The Honour and Forest of Pickering, 1894, Edited
Robert Bell Turton, page 61, The Great Cowcher of the Duchy of
Lancaster, The National Archives, DL42/1 Folio 273, 273v, DL 42/1/23/U64 folios 273 to 274v).
See details and research notes.
1335
William might have lived to about 1335.