Sheriff Hutton Church
The Church of St Helen and the Holy
Cross and the Chapel of St Nicholas, the heart of the Neville lands, and place
of the alabaster effigy of the young son of Richard III
This page
accompanies the History
of Sheriff Hutton to 1500.
Directions
Follow the
A64 from York to Malton. You can either take the minor road which passes
through Flaxton and on to Sheriff Hutton, or, if you’re heading south from
Malton, the minor road that passes through Welburn and Bulmer.
If you drive
through Bulmer, you pass through the lands of Bulmer and Stittenham, adjacent
settlements to the Sheriff Hutton lands, which were also recorded in the
Domesday Book. The ancient house of Bulmer were probably Saxon Thanes and might
have been of Scandinavian origin. At the time of King Edward the Confessor,
Ligulf was Lord of Bulmer. The Anglo-Saxon word bulemaer means ‘famous
bull’. Traditionally the
Bulmer family were descendants of Norsemen and reputed in sagas to have
descended from Odin.
These were
all lands within the Hundred of Bulford which comprised a scattering of
settlements to the north of York.
As you drive
into Sheriff Hutton you will see the ruins of the old castle which is now in
private hands.
You might
find this information sign in the middle of the village.
Sheriff
Hutton Castle
The Castle
is in private hands, but you can walk around the boundary of the castle along a
footpath. This was the castle built by John Neville from 1382 after he had been
granted licence to crenellate. He therefore built this large castle, similar in
design to Bolton Castle in Wensleydale, with tall corner towers and high
domestic buildings around a courtyard. The new castle became the heade and
capitall residence of his heirs and later the dwelling of many key players
in the national story.
Victorian
Plan Sheriff Hutton Castle
This second
castle of Sheriff Hutton, started by John Neville in 1382 was completed by
Ralph Neville in 1398. In that year there was an appointment by Ralph Nevill,
Earl of Westmorland, Lord Nevill, and Joan, his wife, of John Convers and John
de Seton, as their attorneys to receive seisin of the manor and castle of
Sheriff Hutton.
This was one
of the three great castles and seats of the House Neville, along with Raby Castle near Barnard Castle
and Middleham
Castle in Wensleydale.
The Nevilles
were the powerful noble family of Yorkshire, with their rivals, the Percys.
They wielded increasing power as the descendants of Edward III started to form
into two camps of York and Lancaster. The family split into separate lines in
1440 and Raby Castle returned to the branch of the family which was strictly
the senior. However it was Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury
and his son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker who became
the most influential players during the Wars of the Roses, from their seat which
was focused on Middleham and Sheriff Hutton.
The Young
Yorkist Richard of Gloucester was brought up by the Nevilles, mainly at
Middleham, but he would have also come to Sheriff Hutton and in 1473 he was
appointed by his brother, the Yorkist Edward IV, as Lord Lieutenant of the
North of England, from his base in these Neville lands.
In March
1483 Edward IV fell ill on a fishing expedition and died. In a power struggle
with the family of Edward’s widow, the Woodvilles, Richard took control of the
young new king, Edward V, as Protector, appointed by his brother. Before long
Richard’s nephews, Edward and his brother, the princes in the tower,
disappeared and Richard of Gloucester became King as Richard III. Whether he
was a villein or a heroic King will depend on your reading of the history.
Richard III
sent his niece, Elizabeth of York, sister of the brothers in the tower,
and other prominent members of the royal household, to Sheriff Hutton.
Elizabeth was believed to have taken walks at the Neville Oak, a prominent tree
in the deer park, within sight of the castle.
In 1484
Richard III established a royal household at Sheriff Hutton for the young
Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, son of the wine-drowned George, Duke
of Clarence and John, Earl of Lincoln. Although Richard himself preferred to
live in Middleham, in 1484 he made the castle at Sheriff Hutton one of the two
centres that housed the Council of the North. The other was at Sandal, another
property of the House of York. This Council was the administrative structure
that Richard established to govern the north following his accession as King of
England. As an administrative entity, it survived into the seventeenth century.
The
historian P M Kendall described Sheriff Hutton Castle as a stone chalice
holding the royal blood of the house of York.
By 1485
Richard III was dead, killed at Bosworth, the Crown seized by the Tudor
dynasty.
Sheriff
Hutton Church
The Church
of St Helen and the Holy
Cross is at the end of the road which heads east from the castle.
The Sheriff
Hutton lands were at the edge of the royal forest of Galtres. Bertram de Bulmer
built the first castle in the village during the reign of King Stephen, in
1140. The remains of the original castle, with ancient monument status, are
still visible in the south of the churchyard. The earthworks suggest that the
castle was built at a time of technical transition from the motte and bailey
design to the keep and bailey structure.
It was when
Bertram built the first castle that the village adopted its new name. Hutton
stems from the Old English hoh, a projecting piece of land, and tun,
a farmstead. The prefix Sheriff originates in the association with the Bulmer
family, Bertram de Bulmer being sheriff of York in 1115.
The Norman
Church was built in or about 1100. It comprised a tower, a nave and the first
half of the chancel or choir. The earliest recorded reference to the existence
of a church was a gift to St Mary’s Abbey York by Sir Nigel Fossard, who died
in 1120, of the Church of St Helen and the Holy Cross. There is a small window
above the west door that may date from before 1100. The Norman building may
have re-used blocks from York's Roman walls.
The twelfth
century church at Sheriff Hutton was a small aisleless building with a western
tower. The first alteration appears to have been the rebuilding of the chancel
in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Ranulph de
Neville (18 October 1262 to 18 April 1331), the first Lord Neville married
Euphemia de Clavering, and they had fourteen children. Their eldest son, Robert
Neville (c1297 to 1319), the Peacock of the North, died before Ranulph,
so his second son Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville (c 1291 to 5 August 1367)
succeeded to the inheritance.
Ranulph
later married Margery de Thwenge, daughter of John de Thwenge and Joan de
Mauley.
The tomb of Sir
Edmund Thweng, who died at the Stirling, though not the famous Battle of
Stirling Bridge against William Wallace of 1297, in the
Anglo-Scottish Wars in 1344, lies in Sheriff Hutton’s Parish Church. He was
born in about 1280 in Cornborough, near Sheriff Hutton, and was Margery’s
brother. He married Isabel Constable and they had a son, Marmeduke de Thweng.
Sir Edmund de Thwenge of Cornburgh died on 15 October 1344 and was buried at
Sheriff Hutton, where his effigy in mail armour still lies in the North Chapel.
Ralph’s
wife, Alice Neville had the Neville Chancery Chapel built in the parish Church
at Sheriff Hutton to say mass for deceased members of her family, and assigned le
Frith close and other lands for its support.
Victorian
Plan of the Church at Sheriff Hutton
William
Farnedale of Shyrefhoton died on or about 23 February 1397, leaving his
will.
In the
name of God Amen. I, William Farnedale, on 23 February 1398, in good memory,
make my testament in this manner. Firstly, I bequeath my soul to God and the
Blessed Mary and all the Saints, and my body to be buried in the Churchyard at
Schyrefhoton. Item, I bequeath as mortuary payment, the best animal I have. I
bequeath to be burned around my body, as candles, 8lbs of wax. Item, I bequeath
to the High Altar for sins forgiven, 4s. Item, I bequeath to a Chaplain to
celebrate divine services for my soul in the Parish Church of Schyrefhoton for
a whole year, 100s. Item, I bequeath to the fabric of St Peter’s York, 6s 8d.
Item, I bequeath to Sir John Ferriby, Robert Gyllyng and William Barneby, 6s 8d
each (20s). I bequeath to the Church of Schirefhoton for putting lead on the
south roof, 20s. Item, I bequeath to each Canon of the Monastery of Marton 12d.
I bequeath to every Chaplain ministering on the day of my funeral, 6d. Item, I
bequeath to my wife Juliana, 4li and to my son Richard, 4li. Item, I bequeath to
every poor person on the day of my burial 1d. Item, I bequeath to my son
Richard my small sword with all my knives. Item, I bequeath to my daughter
Helen, two cows. Item, I bequeath to my daughter, Agnes 2 bullocks and two
plough beasts. Item, I bequeath to Richard Batlay 2 bullocks, Item, I bequeath
to Margaret Batlay 2 bullocks and 2 plough beasts. I bequeath the rest of my
goods to my wife Juliana, my son Richard and my daughter Helen. And I appoint
Sir John Alwent, Rector of the Parish Church of Midelham, Juliana Farndale,
Richard Farndale and William Huby, my executors. In witness whereof I have set
my seal. Witnesses: Sir Robert de Hoton, Prior of Marton and Sir John de Park,
Chaplain and many others, date as above.
William
Farndale was clearly a wealthy man by his death. He was able to fund a year of
prayers for his soul by paying 100s. He gave 6s to St Peter’s in York and 20s
for re-leading the south roof of the church at Sheriff Hutton. He was able to
donate 1d to every poor person in the parish on the day he died. He gave his
sword and knives to his soldier son, Richard Farendale of
Sherifhoton. He gave two cows to Helen and 2 bullocks and two plough beasts
to Agnes. He gave other animals to Richard and Margaret Batlay. The residue of
this estate went to his wife, Juliana and to Richard.
This was the
time when the focus of the Nevilles was on building their new castle between
1382 and 1398.
In 1473,
Richard of Gloucester, future Richard III, and his wife Anne Neville had a
child, Edward, though he was sickly and stayed within the protection of
Middleham Castle. After Richard became King he visited York in 1483 and held a
ceremony of investiture for his son, Edward, Prince of Wales, his heir.
The young
Edward, Earl of Warwick, Pince of Wales, sometimes called Edward of Middleham,
the son of Richard III and Lady Ann Neville died aged 11 at Middleham in 1484.
Richard and Anne met the young boy’s body at Sheriff Hutton. His alabaster tomb
effigy is in the Neville Chantry Chapel of the Parish Church of St Helen and
the Holy Cross at Sheriff Hutton, though he is not buried there.
The memorial
is a cenotaph, not a tomb, as the body was buried elsewhere at an unknown
place. The present position of the cenotaph in the north east corner of the
church is not where it was intended to stand. From past records, it would seem
that the monument has had several sites within the church. Made of alabaster,
it has suffered over the years and during the twentieth century, it was twice
restored at the
Ricardian Society’s expense.
Edward’s
death created a power vacuum. There was no heir.
Sheriff
Hutton Park
About a
kilometre to the southeast of the church is Sheriff Hutton Park, which has
belonged to the manor since 1335, when licence was granted Ralph de Nevill to impark
his woods of Sheriff Hutton and make a deer-leap therein. It was in the
park that Elizabeth of York, sister of the two young princes in the tower, one
day to be wife to the new Tudor King Henry VII, sometimes wandered beneath the
Neville oak.
In 1615 Sir
Thomas Ingram was appointed to the offices of ranger and keeper of the Sheriff
Hutton park. Sheriff Hutton Park itself, south of the castle, in the Forest of
Galtres, was granted seven years later to Arthur Ingram, for life, with
remainder to his elder son the younger Sir Arthur Ingram, keeper of the castle
and steward of the honour of Sheriff Hutton from 1627. In 1621 he built the New
Lodge there as his country residence, his main house being Temple Newsom near
Leeds
Sir Arthur
Ingram (c1565 to 1642) was an English investor, landowner and politician who
sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1610 and 1642. He was
influential and his financial schemes kept James I and Charles I independent of
Parliament and he grew rich. He has been celebrated for his financial skill
and ruthless self-interest and characterized as a rapacious, plausible
swindler who ruined many during a long and successful criminal career.
In 1637 the
hall went to Arthur’s third son Sir
Thomas Ingram (1614 to 1672), a royalist in the Civil War, who removed
large quantities of stone from Sheriff Hutton castle to build stables and a
brewhouse, the Rangers House. Thus began the final decline of the castle.
In 1649 the
deer and timber contained in the park at Sheriff Hutton were valued at a very
high price. At that date there were two dwelling-places within its enclosure.
One of these was the Great Lodge, a brick messuage
with large and handsome rooms, chapel, gallery and walled court and garden wherein
are severall litle Mounts with Statues thereon placed.
Originally the
house in Sheriff Hutton Park was Jacobean in its architecture. This house
still survives but about one foot inside the present Queen Anne exterior built
in 1732.
The Ingram family,
by way of various marriages, maintained lordship of the park until 1904, when
it passed to the Honourable Edward Frederick Lindley Wood.
The ruins of
the castle are quadrangular, with a large open court in the centre, flanked
with high square towers. A considerable part of the warder's tower, over the
eastern gateway, still remains.
or
Go Straight to the History
of Sheriff Hutton to 1500
Go Straight to Chapter 10 – Medieval
Warfare
There is
also a chronology of Sheriff Hutton,
with source material.