Act 7

The Poachers of Pickering Forest

Tales of a surprisingly large number of our forebears who were poachers in Pickering Forest. Their archery skills would foretell the legends of Robin Hood and the English army at Agincourt

Having travelled back in time from our contact with first individual Farndales of the early thirteenth century, we now pick up the story from the thirteenth century again, and travel forward in time from there. We will meet the second generation, who were a little more restless than their fathers.

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Within the medieval records are significant number of our ancestors and their fellow inhabitants of Farndale, who were fined, outlawed and even excommunicated, for poaching and illegally hunting, particularly within the Royal Forest of Pickering.

Scene 1 – The Control of the Royal Forests

Royal Forests

The Domesday Book recorded the manor of Pickering as including woodland which covered an area which was sixteen leagues long by four leagues wide, about 55 miles by 14 miles.

By 1168 the formation of the honour of Pickering from the manors of Pickering and Falsgrave, encompassing at that time the parishes of Hackness and Scarborough, had joined the eastern forest of Scalby to Pickering Forest, creating woodland extending from the River Seven to the sea. The original forest of Pickering to the west bordered the forest of Spaunton, at Lastingham, which was in the custody of St. Mary's Abbey, York. To the east Scalby bordered on the forest of Whitby, which in 1086 comprised over twenty-three square leagues of forest in the parishes of Whitby, Sneaton, and Hackness, overseen by the verderers of Whitby Abbey. Most of this land was forested, and it ranged from the rich vale of Pickering in the south to the high moorlands of northern areas such as Goathland, suitable mainly for sheep grazing.

In 1128, Henry I had decreed that a huge area from York to the coast, including Ryedale and Pickering, should be reserved as Royal Forest, where hart, hind, wild boar and hawk were preserved solely for the King. Serious punishments were dealt to those who committed hunting offences, including the removal of body parts for taking of deer.

A hart is a male red deer and contrasts with a female hind. The word comes from the Middle English word hert meaning deer. A soar sometimes appears in the medieval documents and refers to a sow or female pig or boar.

The forests were an important element of the English psyche. Stories of hunting hart in the forest were embedded in English culture.

The King was wedded unto Dame Guenever at Camelot with great solemnity. Just as all were sitting at the high feast that followed the marriage, there came running into the hall a white hart, followed by a whole pack of hounds with a great cry, and the hart went about the Table Round. At a fierce bite from one of the dogs the hart made a great leap, and overthrew a knight that sat at the table, and so passed forth out of the hall again, with all the dogs after him. When they were gone the King was glad, for they made such a noise, but Merlin said, "Ye may not leave this adventure so lightly. Let call Sir Gawaine, for he must bring again the white hart."

"I will," said the King, "that all be done by your advice." So Sir Gawaine was called, and he took his charge and armed himself for the adventure. Sir Gawaine was one of King Arthur's nephews, and had just been made a knight, for he had asked of the King the gift of knighthood on the same day that he should wed fair Guenever.

So Sir Gawaine rode quickly forth, and Gaheris his brother rode with him, instead of a squire, to do him service. As they followed the hart by the cry of the hounds, they came to a great river. The hart swam over, and they followed after, and so at length they chased him into a castle, where in the chief courtyard the dogs slew the hart before Sir Gawaine and young Gaheris came up. Right so there came a knight out of a room, with a sword drawn in his hand, and he slew two of the greyhounds even in the sight of Sir Gawaine, and the remnant he chased with his sword out of the castle.

When he came back he said, "O my white hart, me repenteth that thou art dead, for my sovereign lady gave thee to me, and poorly have I kept thee. Thy death shall be dear bought, if I live."

(From the stories of King Arthur)

Officers were appointed to guard the royal forests and new administrators were appointed such as the fee foresters and serjeantes. Some of these officers were able to hold their land rent free in return for their service as a forester.

Roger de Stuteville was licensed to have hounds for taking wolf and hare throughout Yorkshire and Northumberland. The Mowbrays at Kirkbymoorside had similar privileges.

When Henry I established the Forest of Pickering as a deer preserve he gave Guy the Hunter half the Aislaby estate, in return for training the royal hound. Legend claims that two brothers were given a falcon’s flight of land, for repelling a Scots invasion. Perhaps the other brother was William of Aislaby, who had the other half.

Walter Aspec in Ryedale forest gave three deer a year as a tithe to Kirkham Priory.

King John needed funds to pay for his wars in France. He sold off many of the royal forests and there was significant deforestation in Ryedale. The remaining forests were Galtres Forest, though reduced in size, Pickering Forest and the small forest of Farndale.

Pickering Forest became part of the earldom of Lancaster from Henry Ill's reign. Previously belonging to Simon de Montfort, the honour, castle, manor, and forest of Pickering had been given in fee by Henry III to his younger son, Edmund, in 1267, the first earl of Lancaster. Edmund's son Thomas led the rebellion against Edward II, and following Thomas's execution at Pontefract, Pickering and its adjoining territories were confiscated by the crown. The forest and its appurtenances were not restored to Thomas's brother Henry until the ascension of Edward III.

Various under-tenants and local landholders included Rievaulx Abbey, the Gilbertine houses of Maltón and Ellerton Priory, and the Hospitallers who held lands in the forest confiscated from the Templars.

Pickering was a private forest, but the justices of Lancaster were still compelled to enforce the crown's forest law.

Even within Pickering Forests, parks were allowed for leading nobility. We know that the Stutevilles began a campaign of clearing the land in Farndale for agriculture from the early thirteenth century and after paying a substantial sum, effectively revived their dominion over the Farndale lands. It seems likely that there were areas of the larger Pickering Forest which were predominantly the preserve of royal hunting grounds. The smaller forests in Farndale, and perhaps Spaunton seem to have been used for hunting, but were also places of monastic grant lands and aristocratic economic activity. Initially the great forested estates were of little worth except for hunting, but as the elite landholders started to clear the forest for agriculture, an inevitable tension arose between the landholders, but more particularly their grafting tenants, and the upholders of the ancient rights of the forest.

Forest Law

A complex forest law developed, and large numbers of officials were appointed such as Verderers and Regarders.

Verderers were forestry officials who administered royal hunting areas which were the property of the Crown. The office was developed in the Middle Ages to administer forest law on behalf of the King. Verderers investigated and recorded minor offences such as the taking of venison and the illegal cutting of woodland, and dealt with the day-to-day forest administration. Verderers are still to be found in the twenty first century in the New Forest, the Forest of Dean, and Epping Forest, where they protect commoning practices, and conserve the traditional landscape and wildlife. Verderers were originally part of the ancient judicial and administrative hierarchy of the vast areas of English forests and Royal Forests set aside by William the Conqueror for hunting. The title Verderer comes from the Norman word vert meaning green and referring to woodland.

The royal forests were divided into provinces each having a Chief Justice who travelled around on circuit dealing with the more serious offences. Verderers investigated and recorded minor offences and dealt with the day to day forest administration.

Regarders were generally knights sworn to carry out the regard of the Forest, which preceded the eyre. In old English law, they were ancient officers of the forest whose task was to take a view of the forest hunts. Regarders and agisters were responsible for guarding the royal deer.

Old forest customs were codified in Forest Law, perhaps pioneered by the Assize of the Forest, also known as the Assize of Woodstock, in 1184. Under the Norman kings, the royal forest grew steadily, probably reaching its greatest extent under Henry II when around thirty per cent of the country was set aside for royal sport. The object of the forest laws was the protection of ‘the beasts of the forest’ including red, roe, and fallow deer, and wild boar, and the trees and undergrowth which afforded them shelter. The Assize of the Forest provided that none could carry bows and arrows in the royal forest, and dogs had to have their toes clipped to prevent them pursuing game. Savage penalties for any infringements were often imposed. Discontent with the laws ensured that the forest became a major political issue in John's reign.

The sixty three clauses of Magna Carta in 1215 mainly did not deal with fundamental legal principles but instead related to the regulation of feudal customs and included clauses on the extent and regulation of the royal forest.

Yet forestry regulation culminated in the Charter of the Forest in 1217. Only in the fourteenth century, when large areas were deforested, did the political tension of the control of forests, start to subside.

Officials of Pickering forest used offences to raise income, or raised funds from such as pannage payments for pigs taken into the woods. Ownership of large dogs was controlled.

Customary rights to timber were overseen by the supervision of forest officers. These rights came to be written as forest organisation became more elaborate. The right to wood was referred to as bote. Pickering folk could use green or dray wood for housebote, dry wood for firebote, or haybote for fencing.

Forest offences were numerous. Many saw poaching as a pastime. The nobility took to hunting for sport, whilst more ordinary folk were often simply trying to survive. We have records of large numbers of poaching parties from Farndale, which we will explore soon, in more detail.

The courthouse at Pickering Castle is the place where many of the Farndale renegrades were sentenced for forestry offences.

Poaching in Pickering Forest

This section relies on David Rivard’s The Poachers of Pickering Forest 1282 to 1338, which provides a detailed study of poaching in Pickering.

On 23 March 1334 Nicholas Meynell led an expedition out on Blakely Moor above Farndale, to poach for deer in Pickering Forest. This suggests that many of the records of medieval poaching at Pickering which involved folk from Farndale, may have been to offences committed in the forests in and around Farndale, which might have been administered as part of the larger forest.

Meynell was a nobleman with a band of at least forty men and boys, including tenants and under tenants, clergymen and knights, and the young Peter de Mauley, Baron of Mulgrave. They carried bows and arrows and led gazehounds, or greyhounds, who would track their prey.

The party slew forty two harts and hinds that day. They brazenly left the decapitated heads of nine harts, impaled on stakes on the moor.

Seven months later, the noblemen of the hunting party appeared before the Justices of the Forest, whilst the poorer ordinary folk were outlawed.

Poaching activity cut across class lines. It was a lark for noble gentry, and an act of desperation for those of ordinary rank. The elite ranks produced handbooks for the ritual and practical conduct of hunts and lyrical and epic poetry was composed to describe the chase. For the lower social orders the hunting of deer bore more risk, a breach of the increasingly sophisticated forest law. Fear and suspicion accompanied the expansion of regulation. The laws prevented the control of game when crops were at risk, required the mutilation of dogs prevent them from hunting within the forests, and forbad the carrying of a bow within the forest. Hunting therefore became associated with freedom, feasting, and rebellion against authority. By poaching, the locals around Pickering expressed themselves in competition with the forest administration.

David Rivard studied 509 cases from the eyre records, identifying 399 individuals, 365 poachers and 34 receivers of venison, between 1282 and the close of the eyre in 1338. He identified three subgroups of poachers. The elite poachers included the peerage and higher gentry. The middling poachers included the clergy, servants of clergymen, forest officers, lesser gentry folk, artisans, tradesmen, urban poachers, and receivers. His largest group were the lowly poachers, the peasantry.

Elite poachers included Peter de Mauley, fourth baron of Mulgrave, who was with Lord Meynell in the Blakey Moor raid. Peter had inherited his father's lands in 1309, an estate that embraced at least six knights' fees, four capital messuages, three parks, and the castle and orchard of Mulgrave. A pardoned supporter of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, Peter seems to have been a regular hunter. His expeditions seem to have been large, social gatherings. Another episode recorded him in the company of "many others unknown” taking two harts in Wheeldale Rigg.

Sir John Fauconberg was another knight with a taste for illegally hunting in the royal forests. Having taken three deer in the forest of Pickering and the woodlands of Whitby in 1323, Sir John was arrested by Hugh Dispenser junior, imprisoned, and fined the vast sum of £66 13s 4d. He appealed to the king's mercy from prison and was released after paying a tenth of the fine.

Knights often hunted at the head of poaching parties in Pickering Forest. In 1334, Edmund Hastings, who held four oxgangs in Roxby and the forestership of Parnell de Kingthorpe, went out with members of his household and hunted a hart on Midsummer Eve, perhaps to provide the main course for a seasonal feat. He was caught and forced to present a letter of pardon from the late Earl Thomas to secure his release.

Sir John Percy and his brother Sir William, heirs of the Percy family of Kildale, a cadet branch of the powerful Percys were also present in the expedition of Lord Meynell and the Baron of Mulgrave, for which they were imprisoned and ransomed for £2 27s. Sir Thomas of Bolton, lord of the manors of Hutton-upon-Derwent and Hinderskelfe, went poaching with a large party of the gentry and hounds and killed two hinds.

However Rivard’s review of the lay subsidy records suggests that only a small fraction of the poachers had adequate wealth to tax. Of the 365 poachers he studied, only forty two, comprising 11 percent, paid taxes in the period he studied, so the majority of Pickering poachers were probably too poor to pay the tax. The vast majority of the poachers he studied possessed goods valued at £3 or less.

By 1300 the Crown had set the minimum income necessary for knightly status, the distraint of knighthood, at £40 of landed income. For most of the population a yearly income of £10 seems to have been the benchmark of wealth. The small amount of goods possessed by the Pickering poachers suggests that all but the richest poachers remained not too distant from a very modest standard of living.

The artisans and tradesmen suggested a pattern of family poaching similar to that of the elite gentry. William and Roger Carter, accompanied by Gascon militiamen from Scarborough Castle, hunted hares. William Cooper of Scarborough and his apprentice travelled several miles into the forest in 1307, taking a stag for their friend William Russell, who provided the hounds for the hunt and hosted the feast. Hugh the Barker, of Whitby, hunted a deer in Ellerbeck and was outlawed. Adam the Spicer was indicted for hunting in the company of Nicholas Hastings in 1305 and for the shooting of two deer calves that the foresters managed to rescue for the table of Pickering Castle. Millers, smiths, and coopers were amongst the poachers included in the Pickering records.

Poacher-receivers received the carcasses for resale, but also poached themselves.

Forest officials, especially the lower-class foresters and woodwards, had a reputation for corruption and often took to a little poaching themselves. These included William Vescey, a justice of the forest; William Latimer, who held the officer of verderer at the time of an eyre; and even the Warden of the Forest, Ralph Hastings. Two foresters-turned-poachers were engaged by the abbot of Rievaulx, and were branded "confirmed poachers", suggesting that they were regularly brought before the justices. The frequency of this designation suggests that many officers profited from exploiting their commoner neighbours and their masters at the same time. The foresters John Gosnargh and Walter Smith were both branded "common poachers" and accused of sending venison to John Wintringham, a monk of Whitby. Besides these cases of habitual offenders, there were other officers who took advantage of their privileged position. Richard the Forester accompanied Sir John Fauconberg’s party of 1323. Ingram the Forester found himself charged for an incident in which he resorted to using an axe to slay a young doe but succeeded only in maiming it, until his dog could track it to the ditch where the deer was killed. These activities suggest an abuse of power in Pickering Forest. Although forest officials enjoyed a salary, they also probably benefited from extorting commoners, and were still eager to supplement their diet with meat from poaching expeditions of their own.

Of the 365 cases studied by Rivard, 80 percent or 293 of poachers fall into the more lowly class, most of them leaving no record save their appearances in the eyre rolls.

Amongst these were the garciones, or servant boys who led the hounds in the hunts of the gentry. John Pauling, the lad of Peter Acklam took part in the hunt of a deer on Yarnolfbeck in 1322 and of another on Hutton Moor in 1323. Nicholas of Levisham, lad of Geoffrey of Everley, poached with his master and helped slay three harts and three hinds in Thrush Fen on the Monday before Whitsunday, presumably to provide food for his master's holiday table. Thomas FitzAubrey was part of an expedition in 1311 that was unsuccessful, but were nevertheless seized by the foresters and had numerous possessions confiscated. In all except of the cases involving these twelve garciones, the poaching boy was outlawed. Their loyal service to a local lord did not save them from the full penalty of the law.

Most of the lowly poachers of Pickering were not folk whose names appeared in the lay subsidies, and their poaching activities seem to have been of a seasonal nature. Sixty one percent of these people never paid a fine to the eyre, but were outlawed.

There was a significant time lag, often more than thirty years, between eyre. So non appearance might simply have reflected disappearance for various reasons including death. Many offenders might have simply evaded the eyre for fear of the punishment they faced. Of the 143 poachers studied by Rivard who paid, 61 percent paid fines of 1 mark or less, while a quarter paid fines of 6s 6d or less. Fines were imposed by the eyre operated on an ability to pay scale. The low level fines indicates that most Pickering poachers possessed little wealth.

Edward Miller in his study of northern peasant holdings concluded that 12 percent of the population of Yorkshire might be classed as rich peasantry, possessing holdings of over thirty acres. The majority of the lowly poachers in Rivard’s study fell below that standard. Non appearance in the tax subsidies suggests that most were of very meagre wealth, and likely to have been poverty stricken. Holding lands of comparative small size, much of which may have been recently reclaimed from infertile moor and woodland in the assarting boom of the thirteenth century, these poachers could easily have felt compelled to supplement their meagre diets with the venison of Pickering. Edward Miller felt that the thirteenth and fourteenth century forest dwellers of Pickering were on a "journey to the margin”, so opportunities for venison must have been too tempting to resist.

There was a rise in poaching activity during periods of hardship and political instability. The periods 1315 to 1317 and 1322 to 1323 were disastrous years of torrential rain and crop failure, when the price of grain rose because of the great scarcity of wheat and there was a general scarcity of food across the countryside. Under such desperate conditions, one might expect to see a dramatic rise in the number of individuals poaching for those years. Yet there was no such increase and indeed, there are no recorded incidents for the years 1315, and 1316 and 1317 each saw only five cases per year. However the major crop of the lands around Pickering was oats. Oats seem to have continued their normal levels of production. Bolton Priory estates in the West Riding of Yorkshire produced 80 per cent of their normal yield of oats in 1316 and cropped only 11.5 percent of rye and 12 percent of beans. A crisis that struck primarily at the staple crops of wheat and barley will certainly have caused problems, but may not have provided a strong enough incentive for poaching. Nevertheless other constraints did produce notable increases in poaching. The high rates of 1311 and 1331 to 1332 coincided with the poor oats harvests recorded in the estate records of the bishop of Winchester for those same years. So on analysis there seems to have been a definite link between poaching and the periods when the harvest threatened the livelihood of the farming folk.

Year	Recorded indictments for poaching	Comments	Year	Recorded indictments for poaching	Comments	Year	Recorded indictments for poaching	Comments
1282	5		1314	3		1333	13
1292	5		1316	5	Great Famine and sheep and cattle epidemic (“murrain”)	1334	45	Beginning of eyre
1293	24		1317	5	Great Famine & murrain	1336	32	Scottish campaign ended
1294	14		1321	4	Famine	1337	3
1304	5		1322	20	Famine and political turbulance	1338	6
1305	41		1323	32
1306	13		1324	12
1307	23		1325	11
1308	6		1326	3
1309	6		1328	7
1311	35	Poor harvest	1329	20
1312	17		1330	8	Scottish campaign began
1313	10		1331	15	Poor harvest

(From David Rivard’s case studies)

The famine year of 1321 to 1322 also witnessed a strong upswing in the number of cited poachers. Although the cause of the agricultural difficulties that provoked the famine are not known, bad weather, perhaps caused by drought instead of heavy rains, and the devastating sheep murrain that struck England from 1315 to 1318 must have played a role.

It is likely that the political turbulence of the time also contributed. In 1321 there were only four reported poachers but in 1322, there were twenty. This increase might be explained by the defeat in battle of the master of the forest, Earl Thomas of Lancaster, at the Battle of Boroughbridge, who was captured and executed by Edward II. In the same year Edward was defeated and fled before the Scots at the Battle of Byland. The death of the immediate overlord of the forest must have been an irresistible invitation to poachers to exploit the unprotected deer of Pickering. Indeed, a special commission was appointed by Edward II that year to investigate the rise in forest crime. The defeat of the king, the nominal master of the forest following the death of Thomas, must have increased the temptation to take deer at the expense of an absent, impotent authority.

Political unrest might also have been responsible for the relatively high rates of poaching in the years 1331 to 1336 when Edward III actively pursued his campaign against the Scots from his court at York. This was a period of an increased demand for resources caused by political unrest, and a high incidence of violence in Yorkshire. The disturbances brought about by a resident army and the imminent threat of invasion might have inspired an increase in the rate of poaching. Foraging soldiers and hungry peasants alike would have sought out deer in unstable times, when the risk of detection might seem lessened by the presence of more immediate external threats enemies to occupy the attention of the forest authorities.

Repeated Scottish raiding on the North Riding throughout the last years of Edward II and the early reign of Edward III also probably contributed to high levels of poaching. Constant raids carried off many chattels and destroyed property, so much so that the crown in 1319 found no taxable property in 128 vills of the North Riding. Widespread devastation must have had an impact on the high levels of poaching in the decade of the 1320s, as peasants and lords deprived of their property took to the forest to find food.

The seasonality of poaching offenses in Pickering Forest suggests that the poachers did not simply follow the traditional hunting season during the "time of the grease," the season for the elite stag hunt in which the deer were fattest, which was from 24 June to September. Of 464 dateable instances of poaching in Rivard’s survey, only a third took place in the optimum season for recreational hunting. The Spring months particularly March, when the first break in the upland winter might have occurred, and May, when spring was in full bloom tended to coincide with the final depletion of the winter larder, when high grain prices and hunger might drive poachers to seek Pickering's deer, and were common periods for poaching. Winter saw the least activity, because the harsh northern and moorland weather impeded opportunities for hunting. Poaching was a year round activity, but the pattern also reflected the periods when ordinary folk might have been most driven to supplement their diets.

Pursuing game, often with anonymity, the majority of Pickering poachers from the lower classes and must have sought game because they were driven to do so by their poverty, and the removal of their ancestor’s rights to hunt freely for food. Uncertainty and poverty, during times of war, famine, and disease, and resentment of the new forest laws, were powerful drivers. Ties of family, friendship, patronage, and common need, together with a unified resentment of forest law, bound groups of these poachers together.

This is the context in which we meet the poachers of Pickering forest who came from Farndale, many of whom were ancestors of the Farndale family.

Scene 2 – the Farndale Poachers

The Poachers from Farndale

In 1280, five individuals of Farndale were indicted for poaching and paid bail, or had bail paid for them by their families. From sureties of persons indicted for poaching and for not producing persons so indicted on the first day of the Eyre Court in accordance with the suretieship due to Richard Drye. There follows a long list of names including,…..1s 8d from Roger son of Gilbert of Farndale, bail from Nicholas de Farndale, 2s from William the Smith of Farndale, 3s 4d from John the shepherd of Farndale, and 3s 4d from Alan the son of Nicholas de Farndale.

It seems that a band of sons of the hard working first generation who had cleared new land for agriculture Farndale, including Roger, William the Smith, John the Shepherd and Alan, had gone hunting in the forest, but were caught, and had to be bailed out by Nicholas and perhaps his brother Gilbert.

A little over a decade later, in 1293, Peter de Farndale’s son Robert was fined at Pickering Castle and Roger milne (“miller”) of Farndale, also a son of Peter slew a soar in the forest.

In a separate incident, Roger milne (“miller”) of Farndale, son of Peter, together with Walter Blackhous and Ralph Helved, all of Spaunton on a Monday in January 1293, killed a soar and slew a hart with bows and arrows at some unknown place in the forest. All were outlawed on 5 April 1293. Spaunton is a short distance south of the entrance to Farndale, near Lastingham and Spaunton Moor stretches north and was likely to have been treated as the same vicinity as the Farndale lands. We will meet the restless Walter Blackhous and Ralph Heved several more times. Ralph de Heved is probably the same person as the Ralph de Capite of the 1301 Lay Subsidy levy.

The Forest law impacted on the folk of Farndale even when they did not intentionally pursue game. In 1310, Nicholas de Harland of Farndale was fined because his cattle had strayed in the forest.

Richard de Farndale and Thomas de Farndale were excommunicated in 1316 and the church sought the assistance of the secular authority on 12 August 1316 when the pride and continued contempt of the rebels could not be otherwise suppressed by the church. Sentence was passed at Pickering Castle and this might have been the consequence of an offence under canon law. The sentence of Excommunication must have been devastating.

To the Most Serene Prince, his Lord Edward by the Grace of God, King of England, illustrious Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine, his humble and devoted clerks, the Reverend Dean and Chapter of the Church of St Peter, York; custodians of the spiritualities of the Archbishopric while the See is vacant; Greetings to him to serve whom is to reign for ever. We make known to your Royal Excellency by these presents that John de Carter, William of Elington, Adam of Killeburn, John Porter, Hugh Fullo, Peter Fullo, John of Halmby, Adam Playceman, John Foghill, Thomas Thoyman, Robert the Miller, Adam of the Kitchen, Richard Mereschall, John Gomodman, John Wallefrere, Alan Gage, Henry Cucte, Nicholas of the Stable, John the baker, Adam of Craven, John son of Imanye, Michael of Cokewald, Thomas of Morton, John of Westmerland, Thomas of Bradeford, Adam of Craven, John of Mittelhaue, John called Lamb, William Cowherd, Simon of Plabay, William the Oxherd, Henry of Rossedale, John of Carlton, Peter of Boldeby, Thomas of Redmere, Walter of Boys, William of Fairland, John of Skalton, John of Thufden, Henry the Shepherd’s boy, John of Foxton, Thomas of Farndale, John of Ampleford, John Boost, Roger of Kerby, John of Stybbyng, William of Carlton, Richard of Kilburn, Adam Scot, Peter of Gilling, John of Skalton, Stephen of Skalton, Richard of Farndale, Richard of Malthous, John the Oxherd, Robert of Rypon, Walter of Fyssheburn, Adam of Oswadkyrke, William of Everley, Hugh of Salton, William Robley, William of Kilburn, Geoffrey the Gaythirde, John of the Loge, Robert of Faldington, Nicholas of Wasse, William of Eversley, Robert of Habym, John of Baggeby and William Boost, our Parishioners, by reason of their contumacy and offence were bound in our authority by sentence of greater excommunication, and in this have remained obdurate for 40 days and more, and have up to now continued in contempt of the authority of the Church. Wherefore we beseech your Royal Excellency, in order that the pride of these said rebels may be overcome, that it may please you to grant Letters, according to previous meritorious and pious custom of your Realm, so that the Mother Church may, in this matter, be supported by the power of Your Majesty. May God preserve you for His Church and people. Given at York 12 August 1316.

By the 1320s, poaching offences, involving many Farndale inhabitants amongst large numbers, started to mount in the records.

On 22 August 1323 an edict was declared at Pickering by the forest officials. To the sheriff of York. Whereas it is found by an inquisition taken by William de Ayremynne, Humphrey de Waleden, and John de Kylvyngton, by the oath of the foresters, verderers, regarders, and other ministers at the forest of Pickering, and of other lawful men of that county, that the following persons committed trespass of venison in the forest after it came into the King's hands as escheat by forfeiture of Thomas, late earl of Lancaster... that on Friday the morrow of Martinmas, in the aforesaid year, Robert Capoun, knight, Robert son of Marmaduke de Tweng, and eight unknown men with bows and arrows and four greyhounds came to a place called ‘Ellerbek’, and there took a hart and two other deers (feras), and carried the venison away; and that on Thursday before the Invention of the Holy Cross, in the aforesaid year, Robert Capoun and seventeen unknown men came with bows and arrows and greyhounds to the place called ‘Ellerbek’ against the assize of the forest for the purpose of doing evil, but they took nothing; and that on Friday after the Translation of Saint Thomas last, Adam, son of Simon the Miller of Farndale, Richard son of John the Miller, and three unknown men came to a place called ‘Petrenedle’, and there took two hinds, and when they were proclaimed by the foresters, they left one hind, which the foresters carried to Pykeryng castle and the said malefactors carried the other away with them;... the King orders the sheriff to take with him John de Rithre, and to arrest all the aforesaid men and Juliana, and to deliver them to John de Kylvynton, keeper of Pykeryng castle, whom the king has ordered to receive them and to keep them in prison in the castle until further orders.

In July 1323, Adam, son of Simon the Miller was fined 25s 8d for taking two hinds.

The 1301 subsidy was levied on those who paid as little as only threepence. The list of the taxpayers in Farndale in the 1301 record can be reconciled with some of the poachers, such as Simon the Miller, but not all. Perhaps this suggests that there were tenants in Farndale who, for some reason, or other escaped paying Edward's levy. Perhaps though many were the sons of the Farndale tenants, and so didn’t appear in the subsidy list.

John de Farndale was released from excommunication at Pickering Castle on 23 February 1324. To the Most Serene Prince, His Lord Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, William by Divine permission Archbishop of York, Primate of England, Greetings in him to serve who is to reign for ever. We make known to Your Royal Excellency, by these presents that William de Lede of Saxton, John of Farndale and John Brand of Howon, our Parishioners, lately at our ordinary invocation, according to the custom of your Realm, were bound by sentence of greater excommunication and, contemptuous of the power of the Church, were committed to Your Majesty’s Prison for contumacy and offences punishable by imprisonment; and have humbly done penance to God and to the Church, wherefore they have been deemed worthy to obtain from us in legal form the benefit of absolution. May it therefore please Your Majesty that we re-admit the said William, John and John to the bosom of the Church as faithful members thereof and order their liberation from the said prison. May God preserve you for His Church and the people. Given at Thorpe, next York, 9 April 1324.

The date of the following extract from the Coucher Book, is probably from about 1330. Richard Mosyn, of that part of Rossedale which belongs to the Abbot of S. Mary's (i.e. Rosedale West), William Troten of Spaunton, Roger del Mulne of Farndale, Robert son of Peter of Rossedale, Walter Blackhous of Farndale, went on a Monday in January to some unknown place within the forest and killed a soar and slew a hart with bows and arrows. All are outlawed.

The Coucher Book also tells of how Thomas de Hamthwaite, Robert de Bolton, Richard of Helmsley, John de Skipton, Robert Moryng, Abraham Milner, Stephen Moye, and Peter son of Henry, with others unknown, on Thursday, 7th of March, 1331, went to a place called Hamclifbek, with two leporariis (gazehounds or greyhounds), and belonging to John de Kilvington and Robert Spink, and with bows and arrows, and there slew one soar and one hind and one stag, and were fined, etc. In the same folio we have an account of how Roger son of Emma, John de Bordesden, Robert Moryng, John son of William Fabri (Smith) of Farndale, Robert Stybbing, and William Bullock, about the feast of S. Bartholomew, captured one hind and one calf at Rotemir and Hugh de Yeland and John de Yeland, Thomas Hampthwait, William de Langwath, Peter son of Henry Young, William de Hovingham, forester of Spaunton, William Burcy (or Curcy), Robert de Miton, sergeant of Normanby, and six others unknown, captured at Leasehow, with bows and arrows and hounds, a young hart.

In September 1332, Robert son of Simon of Farndale, in company with four others "hunted a hart and carried it off''. Robert's four companions were fined, he himself being outlawed. Robert Farndale, son of Simon the miller of Farndale and Robert Farndale, son of Peter of Farndale, were both fined for poaching at Pickering Castle in 1332. Pleas held at Pickering on Monday 13 Mar 1335 before Richard de Willoughby and John de Hambury. The Sheriff was ordered to summon those named to appear this day before the Justices to satisfy the Earl for their fines for poaching in the forest of which they were convicted before the Justices by the evidence of the foresters, venderers and other officers. They did not appear and the Sheriff stated that they could not be found and are not in his bailiwick and he had no way of attacking them. He was therefore ordered to seize them and keep them safely so that he could produce them before the Justices on Monday 15 Mar 1335. A long list of names follows including……Robert filium Simonis de Farndale, Rogerum de milne de Farndale, Robertum, filium Petri de Farndale.

Nicholas of Farndale, gave bail for Roger son of Gilbert of Farndale who had been caught poaching in 1334 and 1335.

1334 was the year of the Eyre Court. It was therefore time to catch up with the Farndale misbehaviour of the preceding years. A mainpernor was a person who gave a guarantee that a prisoner would attend court. Westgill is the area of Farndale around West Gill Beck which flows down to the River Dove at Low Mill. The folk of Farndale had clearly been out in significant numbers to engaging in poaching. The hearing dealt with offences of some antiquity, the reference to the seventeenth regnal year of Edward I indicating an offence that took place in 1288 to 1289. So these records were catching up with many years of activity in the forest.

Fines, amercements and issues of forfeitures at Pikeryng before Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby], Robert de Hungerford and John de Hambury, itinerant justices assigned to take the pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pickering … Roger, son of Gilbert de Frandale [Farndale], one of the mainpernors of John, son of Albe, indicted of hunting. … John Alberd, another mainpernor of the same Robert, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. The same John Alberd, one of the mainpernors of John, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. John, son of Walter, one of the mainpernors of Robert, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. John le Shephirde of Farndale, one of the mainpernors of John, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. Alan, son of Nicholas de Farndale, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John de Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same Alan, son of Nicholas de Farndale, one of the mainpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. Nicholas Laverok, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John de Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same Nicholas Laverok, one of the mianpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller, indicted of hunting. John, son of John the miller, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same John, son of John the miller, one of the mainpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller, indicted of hunting. William le Smyth of Farndale, one of the mainpernors of Robert, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. The same William le Smyth of Farndale, one of the mainpernors of John, son of Richard de Westgill, indicted of hunting. John, son of John the miller, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same John, son of John the miller, one of the mainpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller, indicted of hunting. Nicholas Brakenthwayt, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same Nicholas Brakenthwayt, one of the mainpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller, indicted of hunting. Alan de Braghby, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting … Nicholas de Repyngale [Rippingale], one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John, and Adam, son of Simon the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. The same Alan de Braghby, one of the mainpernors of Adam, son of Simon the miller, indicted of hunting. John de Braghby, one of the mainpernors of Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, indicted of hunting. … Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pikeryng [Pickering], held at Pickering before Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby], Robert de Hungerford and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire: People mentioned … Adam, son of Simon the miller of Farndale, and Richard, son of John the miller: It is presented that they and three unknown men, on Friday next after the feast of the Translation of St Thomas 17 Edw I, came in the said forest in a place called Petroneldel, and there took two deer. And when they had been proclaimed by the forester, they sent away one deer, which the foresters carried to the castle of Pikeryng [Pickering], and another deer the wrongdoers carried away with them and thereupon did their will. They do not now come, but it is witnessed that they are staying in the country. Therefore the sheriff is ordered to make them come … John, son of Richard de Westgil of Farndale, and Robert, his brother: On Sunday the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist 18 Edw II, they came in the said forest in a certain place called Soterlund, with one mastiff, bows and arrows, and took there one fawn and carried away the game with them and thereupon did their will. They do not now come, nor were they previously attached, but it is witnessed that they are staying in the country. Therefore the sheriff is ordered to cause them to come.

… Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pikeryng [Pickering], held at Pickering before Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby], Robert de Hungerford and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire: … Richard Moryn of Rossedale [Rosedale] on the behalf of the abbot of St Mary, William Trotan of Spaunton, Roger del Mulne of Farndale, Robert, son of Peter of the same, Walter Blakhous of the same, and Ralph de Heued of the same: On Monday next after the feast of the Epiphany, they came in the forest in an unknown place with bows and arrows and killed one four-year-old buck and hunted one stag and carried away with them the game and thereupon did their will. They have not now come, etc. Therefore the sheriff is ordered to cause them to come … Roger son of Emma, John de Bordesden, Robert Moryng, John, son of William the Smith of Farndale, Robert Stybbyng, and William Bullok: Around the feast of St Botolph 10 Edw [III], they came in the forest in a place called Rotemir [Rutmoor], and took there one deer and one calf, and carried away that game …. Roger Sturdy, Thomas de Hippeswell, Robert, son of Simon de Farndale, John le Caluehird and Peter son of Henry: On Thursday next before Michaelmas 6 Edw III, they came in the said forest in a place called Flaskes and there hunted one stag and took it away with them. They have not now come, nor were they previosuly attached, but it is witnessed that they are living in the country. Therefore the sheriff is ordered to make them come … Richard, son of John the miller of Farndale, and Adam, son of Simon the miller of Farndale: After they trespassed about hunting in this forest, Richard and Adam were sent away by the mainprise of Nicholas de Repynghale [Rippingale], Adam, son of Nicholas de Farndale, Nicholas Laverok, John, son of John the miller, Nicholas de Brakenthwayt [Brackenthwaite[, Alan de Wraghby [Wragby] and John Wraghby of Farndale, who mainperned to have them on the first day of the eyre, and they so not now have them, etc … John, son of Richard de Westgille of Farndale: John was sent away by the mainprise of William le Smyth of Farndale, Richard de Westgill, John le Shephird of Farndale, John Alberd of the same, Nicholas, son of Walter of the same, John del Heued of the same, and Robert de Westgill, who mainperned to have him on the first day of the eyre, and they do not now have him, etc. Robert, son of Richard de Westgill of Farndale: Robert was sent away by the mainprise of William le Smyth of Farndale, John, son of Walter of the same, John Alberd of the same, and Nicholas, son of Walter of the same, who mainperned to have him on the first day of the eyre, and they do not now have him, etc … John son of Abba: John was sent away by the mainprise of Roger, son of Alfred de Farndale, Roger, son of Gilbert of the same, Richard de Beverle [Beverley] of the same, William Kyng of the same, John de Hoton of the same, Thomas Makand, Hugh the clerk of Cropton, William de Birkheued of Hartoft, Henry del Tung, Peter son of Gervase, Hugh Broun [Brown], smith, and William Hare, who mainperned to have him on the first day of the eyre, and they do not now have him, etc.

In 1335, on the Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the said Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby] and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire there was a very long list of names which included Robert, son of Simon de Farnedale [Farndale], Roger del Milne of Farnedale [Farndale], Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, Walter Blachose, regarding whom the sheriff is ordered to cause the aforesaid people to come before the justices here on this day to make satisfaction to the earl about their redemption for trespasses of hunting made in this forest, whereof they are convicted before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and other ministers. And they have not come.

The unbalanced nature of medieval justice is illustrated by the fact that Lady Blanche Wake, whose tenants all these men were, was convicted in 1335 taking a soar and two hinds and carrying them off for her own use. Afterward continued the record, the Earl [the Earl of Lancaster] directed his Justices to stay all further proceedings against the Lady Blanche, wherefore they stayed proceedings.

In 1336 Fines at Pikeryng before Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby] and John de Hambury were imposed on another long list of names which included John, son of William fabri of Farndale. William was the fabri, or blacksmith of Farndale.

John de Farndale was bailed for poaching at Pickering before Richard de Wylughby and John de Hainbury on Monday 2 December 1336.

William, smith of Farndale was reported to have come hunting in Lefebow with bow and arrows and gazehounds (greyhounds) on Monday 2 December 1336.

In 1337 on Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the said Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby] and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire another long list of names was presented including Robert, son of Simon de Farnedale, Roger del Milne of Farnedale, Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, Walter Blachose, Ralph del Heued, and William de Ergom [Argam], chaplain, regarding whom the sheriff is ordered to cause the aforesaid people to come before the justices here on this day to make satisfaction to the earl about their redemption for trespasses of hunting made in this forest, whereof they are convicted before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and other ministers. And they have not come.

In 1338 on the Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the said Richard de Wylughby [Willoughby] and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire, another long list of names included Robert, son of Simon de Farnedale [Farndale], Roger del Milne of Farnedale [Farndale], Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, Walter Blachose, Ralph del Heued, and William de Ergom [Argam], chaplain, regarding whom once again the sheriff is ordered to cause the aforesaid people to be exacted from county to county, until, etc, they are outlawed, if they do appear. And if they do appear, he is then to take them, in such a way that he has their bodies here at this day to make satisfaction to the earl about their redemption for trespasses of hunting whereof they are convicted before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and other ministers.

Clearly efforts were made to apprehend Robert, son of Simon of Farndale, Roger the miller of Farndale, Robert son of Peter of Farndale, Walter Blackhaus, Ralph Heved and apparently even the chaplain in 1335 and 1337 and in 1338 they were outlawed with orders that they be apprehended and brought before the forest officers if found.

In English law, oyer and terminer, from the French oyer et terminer, literally means 'to hear and to determine'. It was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. By the commission of oyer and terminer the commissioners, the judges of assize, along with others also listed, were named in the commission, and commanded to make diligent inquiry into all treasons, felonies and misdemeanours whatever committed in the counties specified in the commission, and to hear and determine the same according to law. The inquiry was by means of a grand jury. After the grand jury had found the bills of indictment submitted to it, the commissioners proceeded to hear and determine by means of the petit jury. The words oyer and terminer were also used to denote the court that had jurisdiction to try offences within the limits to which the commission of oyer and terminer extended.

In 1347, the twenty first regnal year of Edward III, at Westminster, Commission of Oyer and terminer was ordered to Henry de Percy, Thomas de Rokeby, William Basset, William Malbys, William de Broclesby, Thomas de Fencotes and Thomas de Seton, on complaint by the same Peter that Edmund de Hastynges against a number of individuals including William Smyth of Farndale the younger who had broke his park at Egton, Co York, hunted therein, carried away his goods with deer from the park and assaulted his men and servants, whereby he lost their service for a great time. By fine of 1 mark. There was also a reference to Richard Ruttok of Farendale in the long list of names.

The value of a mark was 13s 4d. There is a webpage about the value of medieval money.

Again, on 17 January 1348 at Westminster, there was a commission of oyer and terminer to a long list of names including William Smyth of Farndale the younger and Richard Ruttok of Farendale for breaking in to the park at Egton, hunting and carrying away the property of the owner with deer, and for assaulting the owner’s men and servants causing their inability to work for a long time, for which they were fined 1 mark.

Breaking the close refers to the unlawful entry to another person’s land. It is common law trespass.

In the twenty seventh regnal year of Edward III, on 6 December 1353, Commission of oyer and terminor was ordered to William de Greystok … touching the evildoers who lately broke to closes, houses and parks of William son and heit of William Latymer, tenant in chief at Daneby, co York, while these were in the king’s hands by reason of the nonage of the said heir, entered his free chace there, hunted therein and carried away deer, and assulated his men and servants whereby he lost their service for a great time. The like complaint by William Latymer that John, prior of Gisborne, Robert de Thornton, his fellow canon, Nicholas Rosels … John Colinman of Farnedale … and others broke etc (as above).

William Blakhose of Farndalde, John Cokrell the Younger of Farnedale and Hugh Moigne of Farnedale were all fined 20s for poaching fish in 1366, in the fortieth regnal year of Edward III. On February 10, At Westminster. Commission of Oyer and Terminer to John Mourbray, Thomas de Ingleby … on complaint by Peter de Malo Lacu, ‘le sisme’, that William Birkhead of Wasdale …William Blakhose of Farndale, John Cokrell the younger of Farndale…. broke park at Grenhowe and entered his free warrens at Semar in Clyvelande, Whorleton in Clivelande, Seton in Whitebystrande, Boynton ‘on the Wolde’ and Killyngwyk by Braken, co York, hunted in these, fished in his stews and other several fisheries there, took fish therein, and carried away fish as well as other goods and hares, conies, pheasants and partridges, and assaulted and wounded his servants. For 20s paid in the hanaper.

A hanaper is a drinking vessel, so perhaps there was a collection pot for the fines.

William Blackhous was involved in another incident in 1366 involving Roger milne of Farndale.

Seemingly on something of a rampage, in the following year William Blackhouse and William of Farndale trespassed, hunted, felled trees, fished, trod down and ate corn and assaulted the servants of the complaining knight, William Latimer. In the forty first regnal year of Edward III, on 8 November 1367, at Westminster, Commission of Oyer and Terminer was ordered to John Mourbray, Thomas de Ingleby … on complaint by William Latymer, knight, that whereas the king lately took him, his men, lands, rents and possessions into his protection while he stayed in the king’s service in the parts of Brittany, Master John de Bolton, clerk, Thomas de Neuton, chaplain, William Rede … William of Farndale … William Blakehose of Farndale … broke his closes at Danby, Leverton, Thornton in Pykerynglith, Symnelyngton, Scampton, Teveryngton and Morhous, Co York, entered his free chace at Danby and his free warren at the remaining places, hunted therein without licence, felled his trees there, fished in his several fishery, took away fish, trees, deer from the chace, hares, conies, pheasants and partridges from the warren departured, trod down and consumed the corn and grass there with certain cattle and assaulted and wounded his men and servants. By K And be it remembered that the said William has granted the king a moiety of all the profit which he shall recover for damages by pretext of the said commission.

On 6 March 1370, William Latimer’s complaint was reheard since at Westminster. Commission of Oyer and Terminer was ordered to John Mourbray, Thomas de Ingleby … on complaint by William Latymer, knight, that whereas the king lately took him, then stayed in his service in Brittany, and his men, lands, rents and possessions into his protection, into his possession for a certain time, Master John de Bolton, clerk, Thomas de Neuton, chaplain, William Rede …John Cockerell of Farndale … William Blakhose of Farndale … broke his closes at Danby, Leverton, Thornton in Pykerynglith, Symnelyngton, Scampton, Teveryngton and Morhous, and entered his free chace at the said town of Danby and his free warren at the remaining places, hunted in these, felled his trees there, fished in his several fishery there, carried away his fish, trees, deer from the chace, hares, conies, pheasants and partridges from the warren, trode down and consumed with cattle his crops and assaulted his men and servants.

7 May 1370, at Westminster, a pardon was given to William Farndale of Caleys of the King's suit for the death of John de Spaldyngton, whereof he had been indicted, and he was pardoned of any consequent outlawry. Spaldington is a village about 20 kilometres southeast of York and Caleys is probably a place in that vicinity.

On 20 November 1372 at Westminster, Commission was given to Ralph de Hastynges, John Moubray, Thomas de Ingleby, Roger de Fulthorp and John de Laysyngby, on complaint by William Latymer that John de Rungeton, John son of John Percy of Kildale, John de Grenhowe, chaplain, John de Grenhow, parson in the church of Kildale, John Porter of Farndale, Hugh Bailly of Farndale, Adam Bailly of Farndale, and others, entered his free chace at Danby co York, hunted therein without licence and took deer therefrom, and assaulted his men and servants. By C.

The hapless knight William Latimer was suffering once again at the heart of the reckless folk of Farndale.

Things seem to be getting out of hand when on 10 December 1384, at Westminster, a Commission of Oyer and Terminer related to John Farndale and others who broke their close, houses and hedges at Wittonstalle and Fayrhils, Co Northumberland and seized 30 horses, 20 mares, 100 oxen and 100 cowes valued at £200 and carried them off with goods and chattels, assaulted his men, servants and tenants and so threatened them that they left his service.

£200 in 1480 would have bought 141 horses or 526 cows, the wages of a skilled tradesmen for about 18 years, an equivalent twenty first century value of £140,000.

The scale of the rustling expedition is breathtaking. Perhaps the poaching tradition, initially driven by famine and hunger, had turned into something akin to organised crime, a foretaste of the Border Reivers who were starting to harass the border areas at about the same time.

On 21 August 1385 at Durham, Commission of Oyer and Terminer was ordered to investigate an allegation that John Farndale, and others broke their close, houses and hedges at Wittonstalle and Fayrhils, Co Northumberland.’ John seems to have got a taste for his adventures north.

On 19 April 1396, a pardon was given to Robert de Wodde of Farndale, for the death of John Hawlare of Kirby Moorseved, killed there on Monday, the eve of the Purification in the eigtheenth year. The eighteenth year must have been a reference to the eighteenth regnal year of Richard II, so the death must have occurred on 1 February (the eve of Candlemas, also known as the Purification) 1395.

There was another serious armed robbery on 2 May 1398. At Westminster. Commission of Oyer and Terminer to Henry de Percy, earl of Northumberland, John Depeden, knight, Thomas Colvyle the elder, knight, John Markham, William Gascoigne, Richard de Norton, John de Burgh, William de Nenson, and Miles de Stapilton, on complaint by High Gascoigne, parson of Staynegreve, that Peter de Clay, son of John de Clay of Fadmore, Richard de Thornton of Neuton, Thomas Wolthwayt of Farnedale, William Irpe, John de Bolton, ‘coseur’, Robert de Thornton of Neuton, John del Clay of Fadmore, Richard del Clay, Richard Candy, Thomas de Crathorne the elder, Adam Helmeslay, and other armed malefactors broke his close and houses at Steingreve, assaulted him, fished in his several fishery there, and took away his fish and goods and chattels to the value of 200 marks as well as 1000 marks in money, and assaulted his men and servants. For 4 marks paid in the hanaper.’

This was armed robbery at scale, it seems. Four marks into the collection pot doesn’t quite seem to do justice to the scale of the crime.

On 16 April 1445 at Westminster…..for not appearing before William Babynton and his fellows when impleaded with Richard Coke of Cokewald, Co York…. Lawrence Hoggeson of Farndale and John Farndale of Stillyngton Co Durham, wright, to answer Thomas Bishop of Durham touching trespass.

Robin Hood

There is a Sky documentary, the British, of which Episode 2, People Power, depicts two brothers, called Philips, poaching in Pickering Forest. The Philips brothers in the Sky documentary might as well have been Farndales. The documentary observes that it was stories of folk such as the poachers of Pickering Forest who, a few centuries later, would inspire the tales of Robin Hood.

Whether you perceive these folk as petty criminals or heroic ‘merry men’, you will find plenty of such characters amongst our medieval forebears and in the early history of the folk of Farndale.

We might have some sympathy for our forbears. There were large numbers of landless folk exacerbated by the Great Famine following bad weather and poor harvests in 1315 which gave rise to widespread unrest, crime and infanticide. The Black Death hit Yorkshire in March 1349. The Normans had deprived our ancestors of their traditional forest hunting grounds by which their own forebears had survived by finding meat and subsidence, when they reserved vast areas of Pickering stretching into Farndale, as royal forest.

It happens that descendants of the Farndale outlaws, came to live at Campsall in Barnsdale Forest two centuries later, in the place and at the time when the ballads and tales of Robin Hood started to be formally recorded and written down. So on a separate page we will explore the association of the thirteenth and fourteenth century poachers, with the fifteenth and sixteenth century storytellers of the legends of Robin Hood.

Poachers turned game keepers

Victorian Britain was a place of contradiction. On the one hand there was a cultural emphasis on politeness and cultural achievement. On the other hand, there was ruthless treatment of criminals and the poor. In rural areas, there was harsh punishment of poaching, which was probably still at that time a continued sign of rural inequality in times of enclosure, which deprived the poor of common land for pasture and fuel.

By then however more innocuous signs of desperation were mixed with organised crime, particularly in urban areas. More widely there were violent armed gangs, involved in smuggling, poaching and housebreaking. Dick Turpin, later romanticised, began his criminal career as a gang member in Essex. Most crime however was petty. There were few prisons or police at the start of the nineteenth century. Victims generally had to take matters into their own hands. Local power depended on deference, but by the early eighteenth century, deference had to be earned. There was a growing confederacy between those working on the land who increasingly saw the Squire’s property as fair booty and who colluded to help each other against punishment. Attempts to enforce ancient Game Laws which reserved all game to the lord of the manor, led to serious confrontation.

Descendants of the medieval Farndale family were both associates of the smugglers and enforcers of the law. As farmers in their own right, they often came to encounter their own problems with poachers and had little option but to vigorously pursue poachers, trespassers and damage causers. From the 1870s we find extensive records of Martin Farndale being involved in criminal proceedings against poachers, trespassers and damage causers on his land. Since this was a time of depression, we might have sympathy with those who were acting out of desperation and remember Martin’s ancestors, who had been fined, outlawed and excommunicated, around Pickering Forest, for poaching in the King’s forest. On the other hand, we must recognise the difficulty for farmers in protecting their livelihood. Martin had to rely on the criminal courts to protect his livelihood.

Medieval poaching was certainly a sign of the desperation encountered by many of our forebears. As time went on, the issues behind poaching became far more complicated, but it certainly continued as a component of the historical story, into modern times.

Return to the Contents Page

or

Go Straight to Act 8 - Pathfinders

Before you do that you might like:

· To Explore Pickering Church, with its medieval mural depicting archers amongst other things, visit Pickering Castle, where our ancestors were put on trial, and perhaps drive through the Yorkshire Forest, in the lands of the once vast Pickering Forest where these offences took place.

· To meet some of the poachers themselves including Richard and Thomas Farndale, Roger Milne of Farndale, Robert de Farndale, William Smyth of Farndale and John Farndale.

If you’d like to read some more about poaching in Pickering Forest, there are many articles including

· The Poachers of Pickering Forest 1282—1338, Derek Rivard, Medieval Prosopography, Vol. 17, No. 2, Autumn 1996, pp. 97-144.

· An article about Medieval Forests in North East Yorkshire written in 1988 in the Ryedale Historian.

· The Honor and Forest of Pickering, edited and translated by Robert B. Turton, 4 vols., North Riding Record Society, n.s.,1-4 (1894-97), 2: 60-62.

· Elizabeth C. Wright, Common Law in the Thirteenth Century English Royal Forests [Philadelphia, 1928]).

· Charles R. Young, The Royal Forests of Medieval England (Philadelphia, 1979)

· Raymond Grant, The Royal Forests of England (Wolfeboro Falls, 1991).

· Jean Birrell, Forest Law and the Peasantry in the Thirteenth Century, Thirteenth Century England II: Proceeding of the Newcastle upon Tyne Conference 1987 , ed. Peter R. Coss and Simon D. Lloyd (Woodbridge, Suff., 1988), pp. 149-64.

· Who Poached the King's Deer? A Study in Thirteenth Century Crime, Midland History [1982]: 9-25.

· Hunters and Poachers: A Social and Cultural History of Unlawful Hunting in England 1485-1640, Roger B. Manning, August 1993.

· Forest Laws from Anglo-Saxon England to the Early Thirteenth Century, chapter 19 of The Oxford History of the Laws of England: 871-1216, John Hudson.

· The Extent of the English Forest in the Thirteenth Century, Margaret Ley Bazeley, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 4 (1921), pp. 140-172.

· The Forest Eyre in England during the Thirteenth Century, Charles Young, The American Journal of English History Vol 18 No 4, October 1974

The underlying historical research is at the Poachers of Pickering, with chronological records and references to source material.