PREFAc ix 



the other hand, it is very different Although they 

 appear to have been in the neighbourhood of Brandsby 

 for many generations, and to have inherited the 

 manor from the De la Ryvere, an ancient family 

 reputed to have come over with the Conqueror 1 , they 

 seem to have lived a quiet life, if not exactly ' after the 

 manner of the Zidonians.' The cause, no doubt, which 

 prevented them from taking part in public affaire, in 

 which so many of th.ii neighbours, Fairfaxes, Bellasys', 

 or Hot hams, distinguished themselves, was their religion. 

 The wave of the Reformation passed over this remote 

 N rkshire village with little effect, and to this day the 

 family and some of the tenants of the estate maintain 

 their adherence to the older form of worship. They 

 were of course objects of continual suspicion, and the 

 names of two appear in the ' True and Perfect Return 

 of all Papists convicted in the North Riding of the 

 County of York, 1 716 V Indeed, when the manor house 

 was built, thirty years after, not only was one of the 

 rooms designed and used as a chapel, but it was thought 

 necessary to build a secret chamber where a priest could 

 be hidden, should the terrible days of persecution come 

 again. 



The suspicion of the Government was probably well 

 founded, for it is evident that there was a close re- 

 lationship of some kind between the Cholmeleys and 

 the Derwentwater family. There are many documents 

 relating to that family in the chests at Brandsby, and 

 a Rat cliff whose descendants, by the way, are still 

 living on the spot held a farm in the village in the 



1 Gill's Fa//* JftoracwMtf, tab cap. Brandsby. 



Historical Manuscripts Commission. Thirteenth Report, Appendix. 

 Part Yi(C.-7 166). 



