Thornton-le-Dale History

A Brief History Of Thornton-le-Dale
Thatched Cottage 1920
Written by Keith Snowden The Author of
Thornton Dale Through The Ages
ISBN 0951465708 Priced £2.95
We cannot say for certain when Thornton was first founded,
but the high ground to the north of the village was farmed by Neolithic man.
They have left their mark in the shape of tumuli and a cart burail at Pexton has been dated at 300BC.
Roman pottery was found by the late Dr Kirk in Low Hall Garth was dated between 50BC-AD50.
The Angles, who conquered Yorkshire between AD500-540 must have given Thornton its name.
The countryside was thickly wooded so the name suggests a place surrounded by thorn bushes.
The Saxons were called to drive out the Picts, but soon made the country their own.
Ellerburn church is said to be of Saxon origin & it has a Saxon cross.
In 793, the Danes attacked the north & made their mark in place names ending in by.
Farmanby & Roxby could have been named at that time.
The part of the village to the east of the Parish church was known as Liedthorpe;
thorp being Old Norse for a small village.
In the Domesday survey the names are recorded as Torenton, Dalbi, Elreburne, Farmanesbi & Rozebi.
After the Norman Conquest the main Thornton manor was given to the Crown & later William
gave it to his sister Adelaide, whose third husband was Count Odo, the founder
of the house of Albermarie.
Other mamors were granted to Robert de Brus, Berenger de Tordeni, & Torfin, an ancestor
of the Hastings.
Thornton church is said to have been commenced in the 12th century & has a Norman font.
The chancel arch is 15th century, & the whole structure was restored 1865.
In 1281, King Edward 1 granted a weekly market on Tuesdays & two yearly fairs to
John de Eston 'at his manor of Thorneton'. The place was also recorded at that time
as Thorneton in Pickering Lithe.
The Hastings held the Roxby manor until Sir Roger went bankrupt & had to sell it to Roger
Chomley, with whom he was not on the best of terms.
The spinning & weaving of flax was a cottage industry & Ralph Joyner had a fulling mill in 1497.
Numerous mills were operating in the Thornton & Elerburn area; & in the passage of time for
various purposes; fuling, paper-making, down to the Burgess family milling flour.
The main Thornton manor passed into the hands of Richard, first Viscount Lumley,
through his marriage to Elizabeth Sandys, a granddaughter of the forth Lord Latimer.
When her son died in 1656 she founded a charity for the building of alms houses
& a grammar school at Thornton.
The Hill family took over the main Thornton manor in 1661.
They built the Hall on the site of the original manor house & Squire John Hill made
subsequent improvements & enlarged it.
Mathew Grimes, who saw action at Waterloo & guarded Napoleon Bonoparte at
St Helena, is buried in Thornton churchyard.