STOCKTON WARD 



ELTON 



Go w E R. Azure a 

 chrveron benveen three 

 talbots argent. 



in 1264." Before 1284 Robert, son and heir of Sir 

 Robert Gower of Faceby (Yorks), released to his 

 father all claim on land which Sir Robert had by 

 inheritance or purchase in the vill of Elton.'- The 

 younger Robert and his wife Christiana had a grant 

 from John Tylliol of the county of Cumberland of 

 a capital messuage with eight tofts and eight oxgangs 

 in Elton, to be held of Robert de Brus as chief lord of 

 the fee." An estate in Elton subsequently descended 

 in the Gower family for nearly three centuries. Sir 

 Robert Gower the younger 

 was dead in I 3 I 5, when there 

 was a dispute between Alan 

 the Chaplain and Adam the 

 reeve of Elton concerning the 

 payment for his obit.'* He had 

 sons John and Laurence,'-^ who 

 are not, however, mentioned 

 in connection with Elton. It 

 seems, however, to have 

 followed the descent of Faceby, 

 which in 1341 was held by 

 William Gower, tenant of 

 Elton in 1 344.'^^ He died 

 before November 1346 when 



the advowson was in the king's hands owing to 

 the minority of his heir.'* Richard Gower of 

 Marton in 1364 released to Gilbert de Wauton, 

 Christiana his wife, and Elizabeth her sister, all 

 his right in the manors of Elton and Faceby 

 (Yorks). Elton did not, however, subsequently 

 descend with Faceby." In I 378 Thomas Chancellor 

 as guardian of Thomas son of William Gower pre- 

 sented to the church, and it was found that Joan 

 widow of Sir William Gower had last presented."* 

 Thomas Gower of Elton appears to have come of 

 age by 1382." He was apparently succeeded by 

 Laurence Gower, perhaps his nephew, who died seised 

 of half the manor. Laurence was the son of Laurence 

 the son of William the son of John Gower of Elton 

 and Agnes his wife.-" 



He had two sons Thomas and Edward. The 

 former left a son and heir Ralph, who was dead in 

 1546, when it was found that his heir was Edward's 

 grandson, Laurence Tregos alias Thorowgood or 

 Strodar, son of Anne the daughter of Edward. The 

 inheritance comprised a moiety of the manor of Elton, 

 with I 2 messuages and 460 acres of land and lands 

 in Little Stainton.-' In 1 552 Richard Stoughton 

 and Margaret his wife conveyed to Henry Wethereld 



" Dtp. Kctprr'i 



Errington. Argent 

 tao bars v;ith three 

 scallops in the chief all 

 azure. 



5 messuagesand 340 acres of land in Elton and Little 

 Stainton. ^^ Later conveyances must have put Weth- 

 ereld in possession of the whole estate of the Gowers, 

 of which he died seised in i 5 59." His son and heir 

 was Roger,** who appears to have sold this part of 

 the manor to Thomas Errington. In 1595 Thomas 

 Errington died in possession, leaving a son and heir 

 John, then nine years old.^'* 



John Errington, being a recusant, took sides with 

 the king in the Civil War, and was a colonel. His 

 son, John Errington the 

 younger, also served with the 

 royal forces, and in 1644 their 

 estates were sequestered by the 

 Parliament.^'' A fifth was 

 allowed to Mary, wife of the 

 elder John.-' Finally theestates 

 were confiscated under the 

 third act of 1652,^' and sold. 2'-* 

 They were recovered at the 

 Restoration, and in 1664 John 

 Errington and Anne his wife, 

 with his son John, conveyed the 

 manor to Henry Lambton.-'* 

 John Errington was probably 



unable to retrieve his losses occasioned by the war, and 

 in 1682 he sold his lands to Sir Robert Shafto, whose 

 descendant John Shafto of Whitworth (q.v.) made a 

 settlement in 1 798.''* He sold it before 1 802, the date 

 of his death, to Thomas Wade.^' It descended to his 

 son, the Rev. Albany Wade, rector of Elton from 1 840 

 to 1855, and by his trustees was sold to Mr. John 

 Stapylton Sutton, who afterwards sold his estate here 

 to the late Thomas Appleby of Hartlepool. Thomas 

 Appleby died in 1909, and was succeeded by his son 

 Mr. John Stanley Appleby, who between 1914 and 

 1926 sold all his lands except one farm mostly to the 

 tenants. The New Hall which he built and two 

 farms were purchased about 1924 by Mr. Robert 

 Ropner (second son of the late Sir Robert Ropner, 

 Bt.), who resides at the hall.'- 



That part of the manor which did not belong to 

 the Gowers was probably held by the Bowes family 

 as early as 1435, when they had two-thirds of the 

 advowson. ^^ How they obtained it is unknown, and 

 the earliest record of its possession is some feoffments 

 ofthe'manor' in 1469 by William Bowes of Dalden,^* 

 whose widow had lands assigned her in this place in 

 1474.^''' There was another feoffment of 'the manorand 

 vill 'of Elton by Ralph Bowes in 1497.'" Again, it was 



1' Hatfiehi'i Surv. (Surt. Soc), p. XV. 

 The name is given as Rowlee in Far. 

 Coll. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 88. 



" Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. Hi, no. 56. 



" Ibid, liii, no. 246. 



" Reg. Palm. Dimelm. (Rcc. Com.), ii, 

 764, Sir Robert was living in December 

 1313 (ibid. 1240). 



'* Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. xxxix, no. 62 ; 

 Cal. Par. 1507-13, p. 603 ; cf. I^.C.H. 

 Torks. N. R. ii, 3 i 3 ; Def. Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxi, App. 72. 



'■''» Ca/. Inq. p.m. (Edw. Ill), viii, 202, 



384. 



'H Ca/. Pal. 1345-8, p. 214; cf. Cal. 

 Fine R. 1337-47, p. 480. 



" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B 3703. See 

 F.C.H. i'orks. N. /!. ii, 313. 



^^ Hutchinson, Hiir. an J Antiif. of Dur, 

 iii, 166, citing Dur. Epis. Reg. Hatfield, 

 fol. 142. 



Rtp. xxxii, App. i. 



304. 



'" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 177, no. 71. 

 Agnes was the daughter of William son 

 of Hugh of Newbiggin (ibid.), that is to 

 say, William Hewctson, one of whose 

 heirs in March i 564-5 was John son of 

 John Gower (ibid. no. 2, fol. 73). The 

 part of the manor held by the Gowers 

 was probably in fact only one-third. They 

 had a third of the advowson (Hutchinson, 

 loc. cit.). 



-■' Ibid. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 1 (i). 



" Ibid. no. 6, fol. 57. 



" Ibid. 



"Ibid, file 192, no. 27; Dur. ffitls 

 and Invent. (Surt. Soc), ii, 253. In 1618 

 John purchased 4 messuages and lands 

 from George Sym, William Stephenson, 



'■Zi 



John Storey and Anne his wife (Dur. 

 Rec. cl. 12, no. 3 [2]). 



-' Roy. Comp. in Dur. (Surt. Soc), 3, 

 7, 66. Details of the lands are given 

 (ibid. 35). The father was described as 

 of Rudby in Yorks. 



-' Ibid. 22. '^ Ibid. p. xxxiii. 



-^ Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2772. 



"a Dur. Rcc cl. 12, no. 6 (3). 



*' Ibid. cl. 3, R. 132, no. 10. 



^' Surtees, Hist, and Aniij. of Dur. iii, 

 209, 295. 



" Inform, of the Rev. H. S. Milner, 

 rector, Mr. J. S. Sutton, and Mr. J. S. 

 Appleby. 



•** Hutchinson, op. cit. iii, 166. 



" Dur. Rcc cl. 3, R. 50, m. lid. 



" Ibid. m. I7d. 



" Ibid, file 169, no. JO. See Streatlam 

 for this family. 



30 



