HOLTBY
Boltebi (xi cent.); Holtebi (xii cent.); Hunteby,
Honteby (xvi cent.).
The parish of Holtby is separated from the East
Riding by the York and Bridlington road, the 'king's
highway' on which its inhabitants were accused of
encroaching in 1275, (fn. 1) whilst more than three centuries
later they were presented at the quarter sessions for
failing to inclose their 'puddell-well' here with a
fence. (fn. 2) A branch from this highway leads into the
little village, which stands on rising ground, and is
composed of the church, rectory and some cottages,
most of them modern. The road bears west and northwest over Holtby Moor into Stockton. Holtby
Manor lies a mile or more south-west of the village,
close to the main road, and near the centre of the
parish; south of the moor is Holtby Grange.
Holtby covers an area of nearly 901 acres, of which
more than two-thirds are devoted to the cultivation
of corn, potatoes and root crops, whilst the rest is
permanent grass. (fn. 3) The soil is sandy on a subsoil of
sandstone. The little stream called Osbaldwick Beck
flows through part of the south of the parish. In
the north and east the land rises to 100 ft. and in
the south to 75 ft. above the ordnance datum. Some
land, within the boundaries of the parish, which was
held of the manor of Holtby but reckoned part of
the township of Warthill, was inclosed in 1756. (fn. 4)
Manor
Six geld carucates in HOLTBY, once
held by three thegns as three separate
'manors,' were amongst the king's lands
in 1086. (fn. 5) At some later date 3 carucates came
to Durham Priory, to which they were confirmed by
Henry II and John. (fn. 6) The whole was probably leased
in small holdings to different tenants by the prior,
who is named as one of the lords of the parish in
1316. (fn. 7) After the surrender of the monastery of St.
Cuthbert of Durham in 1539, (fn. 8) its manor of Holtby,
then valued at 78s. 4½d., (fn. 9) remained in the Crown, the
demesne and other lands being occupied as before by
leaseholders. Between 1541 and 1547 a court was
only once held and the profits of rent and farm
remained substantially what they had been under the
rule of the prior. (fn. 10) The manor was granted by
Elizabeth in 1600 to Richard Burrell, citizen and
grocer of London, (fn. 11) and within twelve years was
sold by him to John Brough. (fn. 12) From John Holtby
descended to Simon Brough, probably his son, who
with his wife Katherine and Elizabeth Brough,
widow, sold it in 1640 to John Agar of Stockton. (fn. 13)
From that time it has followed the descent of the
manor of Stockton (q.v.). The present lord is Mr.
Charles Talbot Agar of Brockfield Hall, Warthill.
The very scanty and scattered records which bear
on the history of the Conqueror's other lands in
Holtby seem to point to the conclusion that these
were gradually absorbed in the manor of Durham
Priory. In the 13th and 14th centuries, however,
some part of them was still regarded as an independent
manor. Exemption from suit at the county court of
York and the wapentake of Bulmer was claimed in
1271 for certain lands in Holtby on the ground of
their connexion with the Honour of Eye, the jurors at
the same time declaring that a similar judgement had
formerly been given in favour of the ancestors of John
de Holtby, the lord at this date. (fn. 14) In 1279 the
manor of Holtby came by exchange for the manor of
Farnham in Kent from Adam de Holtby, probably
John's son, to Alan son of John de Walkingham. (fn. 15) A
later lord, John de Grantham or Graham, bailiff of
York, 1288–9, (fn. 16) who in 1290 acquired from Roger
Newsom and his wife Alice two messuages and 4
oxgangs, the right of Alice, in Holtby, (fn. 17) paid more
than a third of the subsidy levied in this parish in
1301. (fn. 18) As his contribution was made in two separate
sums, it is possible that he held some of his lands here
of the Prior of Durham, who lodged a complaint
against him in 1309 for entering his houses at Holtby
and carrying away from them not only his goods but
also Cicely, sister of their custodian, and certain of
his native tenants. (fn. 19) The return of 1316, however,
shows that in part of the parish John enjoyed equal
rights with the prior. (fn. 20) At John's death, which took
place in or before 1336, it was found that a holding
of seven messuages, 12 oxgangs, and rent of 2s.,
apparently held of the Crown, had been previously
transferred to his son, another John de Grantham, (fn. 21)
whose occupation seems to have ended before 1368. (fn. 22)
This may be the land sold
long afterwards by Christopher
Eltoft to Brian Palmes of
Naburn, and bequeathed by
him in 1519 to his third wife
Anne and their issue. (fn. 23) After
Anne's death it came to her
son Brian, who had been left
by her husband's will to her
'guiding.' (fn. 24) The younger
Brian in later life became implicated in conspiracy and rebellion, and was indicted for
high treason and outlawed in
1570. (fn. 25) His possessions were
forfeited to the Crown and valued on its behalf the
next year. (fn. 26) The lands in Holtby (fn. 27) and other Yorkshire parishes which his father had settled for the use
of his wife Anne and their issue were all described as
'within the Bishopric of Durham.' (fn. 28) In Holtby
itself his possessions were of much the same extent as
the property given by the elder John de Grantham
to his son, (fn. 29) and when Brian died in 1582 they were
declared to have been held of the queen in free
socage as of the hundred of Bulmer and by suit at its
court. (fn. 30) This seems to be the latest mention of lands
in Holtby outside the priory manor, and their
inclusion in 1571 'within the Bishopric of Durham' (fn. 31)
implies an uncertainty of tenure which may have
been ended by their absorption in it.
Palmes of Naburn. Gules three fleurs de lis argent and a chief vair.
View of frankpledge and court leet were claimed as
appurtenances of Holtby Manor in the 17th and
18th centuries, (fn. 32) though they had not been mentioned
in Queen Elizabeth's grant. (fn. 33) There was a dovecot
in the parish in the 14th century, (fn. 34) and a capital
messuage belonged to the manor in 1640. (fn. 35) The
windmill on Brian Palmes's land in 1571 (fn. 36) seems to
be the windmill for grain sold with the manor to
John Agar in the next century. (fn. 37)
Church
The church of the HOLY TRINITY
was practically rebuilt in 1881, when it
replaced a building erected in 1792 and
restored in 1841. It is a small building of red brick
with stone dressings, consisting of a chancel, nave and
western tower. The style is Norman, and the chancel
has an arch of that character and an eastern apse. The
tower contains two bells only approachable by ladder.
The plate includes a cup of 1687 (York) inscribed
IHS and a modern paten and pewter flagon.
The registers previous to 1812 are as follows:
(i) baptisms and burials 1679 to 1812 and marriages
1679 to 1754 (this volume is headed Holtby and
Warthill); (ii) marriages 1755 to 1812.
Advowson
The earliest mention of the church
seems to occur in the charter of
Henry II. It belonged to Durham
Priory and followed the descent of the priory manor
until 1600. (fn. 38) In February of that year the advowson
of Holtby was included in a royal grant to William
Tancred of Great Langton, (fn. 39) and came afterwards to
his only child and heir Dorothy wife of Sir Henry
Jenkins of Great Busby. (fn. 40) William Jenkins, their
eldest son and heir, on whom in 1614 a settlement
of the rectory with the rest of his mother's inheritance
had been made, died without issue, and the patron in
1661 was his younger brother Toby. (fn. 41) The advowson had changed hands before 1684, when Samuel
Howlett presented. (fn. 42) Thomas and Elizabeth Thompson, patrons respectively in 1716 and 1753, (fn. 43) had
been followed in 1756 by the Rev. Thomas Nelson,
rector of Fingall, who held by right of his wife
Catherine, Frances Preston of York, spinster, having
also a share in the advowson. (fn. 44) Thomas Nelson presented in 1774 and his daughters in 1779. (fn. 45) The
living was in the gift of Mrs. Nelson in 1817 and
1822, (fn. 46) but before 1836 it had come into the possession of Lord Feversham, (fn. 47) from whom it descended
through his son William, the second Lord Feversham,
to his grandson William Ernest Duncombe, created
Earl of Feversham in 1868. (fn. 48) By an exchange effected
in 1880 the earl transferred the patronage of Holtby
to the Crown, and since that time it has been exercised
by the lord chancellor. (fn. 49)
From 1224 to 1539 an annual pension of 25s. was
paid to the Prior of Durham from Holtby Church. (fn. 50)
A dwelling-house and 2 oxgangs of glebeland belonged
to the rectory in 1535 and afterwards. (fn. 51)
Charities
John Straker, who died in 1669,
devised to trustees his freehold and
copyhold lands in Holtby in trust to
make certain specific payments, including 30s. for the
poor of the township of Marton, 10s. for the poor
of Osbaldwick, £2 to the Merchant Tailors' Company,
York, £1 to the parish of St. Crux, York, and the
residue for the poor of Holtby. The land contains
12 a. 2 r. 24 p., and is let at £15 a year. The
residue, amounting to £10, is distributed to the poor
of Holtby in money in amounts varying from 2s. 6d.
to 12s. each person.
James Twinam, by will proved at York in 1733,
directed that one moiety of the rent of a copyhold
close called The Ings, in Dunnington in the East
Riding of the county of York, containing 4 acres,
should be given to the poor of Holtby and the other
moiety to the poor of Dunnington. The land is let
at £10 a year, and £5 a year is applied in the distribution of bread to four recipients in this parish.