HUTTONS AMBO
Hotun (xi cent.); Hoton Mainevilain (xii cent.);
Hoton Coleswayn, Colsueynhoton, Hoton Bardolf,
Hoton Mynchon, Hoton Muirthon (xiii cent.);
Nethirhoton (xiv cent.); Low Hutton (xv cent.);
Hutton-upon-the-Hill (xvi cent.); Huttons Ambo
(xvii cent.); Upper Hutton (xviii cent.).
Huttons Ambo is bounded on the east and south
by the Derwent, on the west by the little stream of
the Cram Beck. Of its area of 2,898 acres on a subsoil of Corallian Beds and Inferior Oolite 1,285 acres
are arable land, the chief crops being wheat, oats and
barley, 1,371 acres permanent grass and 166 acres
woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
The high road from York leads north-east through
Huttons Ambo into New Malton, whilst the York
and Scarborough branch of the North Eastern railway
runs through the south of the parish. The land
varies in height from 850 ft. above the ordnance
datum at High Hutton to 50 ft. on the river banks.
In the 13th century Hutton fell into the three
main divisions of Hutton-upon-Derwent (more often
known as Colswayn Hutton), Hutton Bardolf and
Hutton Mynchon. (fn. 2) The first lay in the east and
south of the parish on the banks of the Derwent, its
rich pastures giving tithes of wool and lambs to the
Prior of Kirkham and afterwards to the Archbishop
of York. (fn. 3) In the high ground to the north was the
territory of Hutton Bardolf, with Hutton Mynchon
west of it. (fn. 4) Hutton Bardolf has been succeeded by
the village of Huttons Ambo or High Hutton, which
stands on a branch road with Hutton Hall, a large
modern house, at its west end and the church a little
to the east of the hall. About half a mile south-east
is the village of Low Hutton, where are the school
and vicarage, and the station of Huttons Ambo close
to the river. There is a Wesleyan chapel in High
Hutton and one for Primitive Methodists in Low
Hutton. High and Low Hutton are divided by a
steep hill forming the northern side of the valley of
the Derwent. The valley is here thickly wooded,
and the river is crossed by a footbridge.
The inclosure of the open fields of Huttons Ambo
by its landowners in 1709 was established by an
award of 1712 and a decree of 1716 and confirmed
by Parliament in 1805. (fn. 5)
In the 16th century the parishioners neglected the
repair of their roads and engaged in a long and
fruitless dispute about their assessments. (fn. 6)
Among the place-names which have been preserved
are Verkcroft and Doddecroft in the fee of Mainevilain, Brunhil, Twabuske, Flicheng, Apelgarthes,
Milnesty and Lencroftes, all found in grants to
Malton Priory of the 12th or 13th century, Bolton
Enge of the 15th century, Nuncroft, Coleflat, Skarby
Oxgang and Hilcliff Wood of the 17th century. (fn. 7)
Manors
Two 'manors' in HUTTON or
HUTTON-UPON-DERWENT in the
reign of Edward the Confessor were
held by Cnut and Torchil, and together were
assessed at 8½ carucates. In the Domesday Survey
both are found among the lands of the Conqueror. (fn. 8)
Five and a half carucates afterwards came 'by the gift
of a certain King of England' either to Colswayn or
an ancestor of Colswayn by the serjeanty of guarding
the gate of York Castle. (fn. 9) This fee, properly described
as the manor of Hutton or Hutton-upon-Derwent, (fn. 10)
but occasionally from association with its original
holder styled Colswayn Hutton Manor, (fn. 11) was held of
the Crown from 1270, generally by the service of a
quarter of a knight's fee, until 1579. (fn. 12)
The first tenant of whom any record has been
preserved was the Colswayn, who held it by serjeanty
in the 12th century, (fn. 13) and may himself have been
the original recipient of the royal gift. In 1261,
when the serjeanty was claimed for his descendant
John Bolton, Colswayn's tenure was declared to date
from time immemorial. (fn. 14) Possibly he was the heir of
an earlier Colswayn, from whom both the serjeanty
and Hutton-upon-Derwent were sometimes named. (fn. 15)
Alan de Hutton, his son and heir, alienated his inheritance to his cousin Ralph, son of Colswayn's brother
Bernard, (fn. 16) who held the serjeanty between 1210 and
1217. (fn. 17) His elder daughter Alice brought it and
some part of the land with which it was associated to
her husband John Doget. In the meantime Alan de
Hutton had been succeeded by a son and heir of the
same name, (fn. 18) who in the reign of Richard I retained
a share of Colswayn's lands. (fn. 19) This was probably the
moiety of the vill of Hutton, which, after the death
of Ralph son of Bernard, Ralph the second Alan's son
and heir held of John Doget in accordance with the
agreement made by his grandfather. (fn. 20) From Ralph
son of Alan, whose son, another Alan, seems to have
died before his father, the rights of the descendants
of Colswayn passed to his daughter Eleanor (fn. 21) wife
of Thomas de Bolton. In 1249 Thomas and Eleanor
sued various persons, chief of whom were John Doget
and his wife Alice and Muriel widow of Ralph son of
Bernard, for certain tenements in Colswayn Hutton
which Eleanor claimed as part of the fee of her
grandfather Alan in the reign of Richard I. (fn. 22)
Bolton. Argent a cheveron gules charged with three leopards or.
It was perhaps after this assize that the serjeanty
was seized on behalf of the Crown. About this time
proceedings had been instituted
to change the tenure of serjeanties alienated without
licence, (fn. 23) and an inquiry of
1261 showed that Colswayn's
had been taken into the king's
hands for the same cause as
others and that the rightful
heir was John son of Eleanor
and Thomas de Bolton. (fn. 24) At
the instance of Prince Edward
Thomas received pardon and
a grant of the serjeanty.
Nine years later it was withdrawn, Thomas retaining the
lands thereto pertaining augmented by others in the
forest of Galtres, all to be held as a quarter knight's
fee. (fn. 25) Thomas de Bolton was succeeded in or before
1274 by his elder son John, who died in 1279. (fn. 26)
The next lord, Robert de Bolton, John's younger
brother, conveyed part of his estates in 1297 to his
son Thomas, who succeeded him within three years. (fn. 27)
In 1316 Thomas was returned as sole lord of Huttonupon-Derwent, (fn. 28) and his tenure remained undisputed
until 1323, when he and his wife Clemency were
obliged to pay a fine for having acquired their manor
without licence. (fn. 29) Thomas many years later settled
the fee he held of the Crown in trust for himself and
his grandson Thomas, son of another Thomas de
Bolton, with his wife Agnes. (fn. 30) The younger Thomas,
who had succeeded his grandfather in 1351, (fn. 31) died
in 1375, leaving an infant daughter Mary. (fn. 32) Agnes
his widow took a second husband, John Lokton,
serjeant-at-law, and survived him also, dying in 1391,
four years after John had been impeached for his
support of Robert de Vere and condemned to a
traitor's death, a sentence afterwards commuted to
life-long exile in Ireland and to the perpetual disinheritance of himself and his heirs. (fn. 33) Mary, to
whom her mother left by will one gown of scarlet
with a hood, (fn. 34) was then the wife of William Lokton,
a kinsman of her stepfather. (fn. 35) She and her husband
did not find the recovery of her inheritance easy.
After the death of Agnes Lokton the custody of the
four manors of Hutton, Hutton Colswayn, Hutton
Bardolf and Hutton Mynchon had been assigned to
Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland,
and others, (fn. 36) and though William and his wife lost
no time in purchasing a licence to make a settlement
of the lands they held in chief and in petitioning for
the restitution of all their estates (fn. 37) they had not
recovered them at the beginning of 1398. (fn. 38) An
order which had been issued for their restitution in
1392 was then repeated, and this time seems to have
been effectual. Another difficulty had arisen meanwhile on account of a settlement which had been
made by John Lokton on his father Thomas. (fn. 39) The
annual rent due for Thomas's services as trustee had
fallen into arrears, and his son Gregory on a 'false
suggestion' and 'in deceit' obtained a grant of the
property for his father. This, however, was revoked
in 1392 in consideration of William's services to the
king and for the payment of £50, and the return of
1401 found him lord of the manor of Hutton. (fn. 40) At
his death in 1426 he was succeeded by the daughter
of his son William, Elizabeth, then aged four. (fn. 41) She
died ten years later and her heir was declared to be
her aunt on the father's side, Elizabeth Wandesford. (fn. 42)
A subsequent inquiry, however, transferred her inheritance to her uncle Robert Lokton, who remained
in possession until his death in 1445. (fn. 43) He had then
made two settlements of his estates; the first conveyance in 1440 was to Thomas Gower, Richard
Driffield and John Gower, who in 1445 compounded
by fine for having acquired the lands in Hutton held
in chief without licence, (fn. 44) the second, four years
later, was to Thomas Gower and Thomas Witham.
By the earlier settlement the trustees were to hold for
Robert's use, and they were so doing when he died;
according to the second a life
interest was secured to his
widow Alice and sister Elizabeth, on the expiration of
which the property was to
belong to Thomas Gower and
Thomas Witham. (fn. 45) It was
probably after the death of
these two ladies that litigation
began, first amongst the trustees themselves and afterwards
between them and a new
claimant. Between 1446 and
1456 Thomas Gower and
Thomas Witham sued Richard
Driffield in Chancery for withholding the manors of
Hutton Colswayn, Bardolf and Mynchon, which,
as they maintained, they had bought from Robert
Lokton. Then came two other suits, in which the
complainant was John Mowbray, the great-great-grandson of Hawise sister of the last Thomas de Bolton. (fn. 46)
According to John, Robert Lokton, 'knowing hymselfe seklie and feble of discrecion at certeine tymes,'
had enfeoffed Thomas Gower, Richard Driffield and
John Gower of his Hutton manors, afterwards declaring his will that they should hold them for the
use of his sister Elizabeth with reversion to John
Mowbray at her death. It seems that John had
established some sort of a footing in Hutton at this
time, for he adds that Thomas Witham now claims
the manors and is endeavouring to compel him to
restore them to Thomas and John Gower. (fn. 47) Ten
years or more afterwards, however, he brought another
suit in support of his claims, this time upon the
manor of Hutton-upon-Derwent and against Thomas
son of the elder Thomas Gower. The younger
Thomas was then in possession, (fn. 48) and remained seised
until his death in 1485. (fn. 49) His heirs were lords until
1631. (fn. 50) Sir Thomas Gower, who then owned
Hutton-upon-Derwent, (fn. 51) seems to have transferred
his lands in this parish to the younger members of
his family before 1654, when his second son Doyley,
his daughter Mary and her husband George Mountayne, with Edward, William, Margaret and Margery
Gower, made a settlement of the four manors of
Hutton-upon-Derwent, Hutton Colswayn, Hutton
Bardolf and Hutton Mynchon. (fn. 52) A third of the
manor of Hutton-upon-Derwent with a considerable
amount of land in the parish was owned in 1696 by
Katherine and Elizabeth, the daughters of Mary
Gower and George Mountayne, with their husbands
Sir Thomas Rudston and Francis Foljambe, (fn. 53) but the
whole seems to have belonged to Thomas Gower in
1697 and 1703, when he settled it first on Thomas
and afterwards on Francis Langley. (fn. 54) The name of
Francis Langley, who perhaps held a mortgage on
the estate, is mentioned amongst those of the principal landowners here from 1706 to 1716. (fn. 55) In the
latter year he is associated with
Francis Foljambe, son and heir
of Elizabeth Mountayne and
the elder Francis, and then
apparently lord of the manor. (fn. 56)
His grandson Francis Ferrand
Foljambe held Huttons Ambo
in 1797 in conjunction with
his son John Savile. (fn. 57) Both
were dead in 1821, when
John's son George Savile Foljambe (fn. 58) was lord of the manor
of Huttons Ambo. (fn. 59) Some
part of his rights had been
transferred to Joseph Starkey of Hutton Hall before
1857 and descended to Kathleen daughter of his
nephew Thomas Stanton Starkey, the present lady of
the manor. (fn. 60)
Gower. Barry of eight pieces argent and gules a cross paty sable.
Foljambe. Sable a bend and six scallops or.
Very little is known of the history of HUTTON
COLSWAYN. It would seem that it once belonged
to the royal lands in Hutton, (fn. 61) but no mention of it
as a separate manor apart from the main manor of
Hutton-upon-Derwent (itself not infrequently called
Colswayn Hutton) occurs before 1375. In that
year and again in 1391 it was declared to be held of
John Percy of Kildale. (fn. 62) The royal decrees, enrolled
in 1398, for the restitution of the estates of Thomas
de Bolton's daughter, described the manor of Hutton
Colswayn as held like Hutton Bardolf and Hutton
Mynchon of another lord than the king and ascribed
to it 3 oxgangs and the site of a water-mill in Hutton
Colswayn. (fn. 63) It has always descended with Huttonupon-Derwent.
It is probable that HUTTON MYNCHON was
one of the two manors united in the Conqueror's possession at the Survey and consisted of the 3 carucates
which were not given with the serjeanty of Huttonupon-Derwent. (fn. 64) In the chartulary of Malton Priory
a grant of 2 oxgangs here is described as from 'the
3 carucates,' (fn. 65) and from 1283 to 1428 the territory of
Hutton Mynchon was of this extent. (fn. 66)
The overlordship of this manor, first mentioned in
1284, was in the fee of Brus. (fn. 67) No mention of it
occurs after 1301.
A mesne lordship here belonged to the family of
Percy of Kildale. (fn. 68) In the latter part of the 12th
century the principal tenants of the Percy lords of
Kildale in Hutton Mynchon seem to have been a
family which had given to the manor their own
name of Mainevilain before the accession of John. (fn. 69)
Stephen Mainevilain, the first of their line of
whom mention is made, confirmed his son Roger's
gift of land to Malton Priory. (fn. 70) Roger is said to
have been succeeded by Robert the father of another
Robert, whose eldest daughter Alice with her husband
Alan de Everley in 1272 and 1280 settled land
in Thornton and Hutton Mynchon on their son
William. (fn. 71) By 1375 the manor had come into the
possession of Thomas de Bolton, (fn. 72) and from that time
generally followed the descent of Hutton-uponDerwent. Some rights here, however, belonged to
Sir John Gray in 1428, (fn. 73) and the manor in Hutton
held in 1547 by John Thorp of Sir Edward Gower
as of his manor of Hutton may perhaps be Hutton
Mynchon. (fn. 74)
Another manor here, HUTTON BARDOLF, containing 5½ carucates, and formerly owned by Torbrant,
belonged to Berengar de Toni in 1086. (fn. 75) In 1285
and 1347 its overlordship was ascribed to the Earl
Marshal, but by 1428 this had lapsed. (fn. 76)
Bardolf. Azure three cinq foils or.
A mesne lordship over this fee belonged to Hugh
Bardolf, who was Sheriff of York in the reign of
Richard I and a benefactor from his estate here to the
priories of Kirkham and Malton. (fn. 77) It is possible that
before his death without issue in 1203 or 1204 (fn. 78) he
had transferred his rights over
Hutton Bardolf to a kinsman
Ralph Bardolf, (fn. 79) and that the
Hugh Bardolf who held land
here about 1227 (fn. 80) was the
latter's heir. From 1284 to
1445 the manor of Hutton
Bardolf was held of the heirs
of Hugh Bardolf. (fn. 81)
The principal sub-tenant
in the latter part of the 13th
and beginning of the 14th
century was Sir Alan de Kirkham, (fn. 82) of whose 4 carucates
much seems to have been again subenfeoffed. (fn. 83) Before
1375, however, the manor itself, though apparently
with diminished lands, (fn. 84) had come into the possession
of the Bolton family, (fn. 85) and from that time generally
followed the descent of Hutton-upon-Derwent. In
1428, however, John Lord Greystock had some
holding here, (fn. 86) and his rights remained with his heirs
as late as 1565. (fn. 87) Again in 1649, at a time when
Sir Thomas Gower, his sons and brothers were compounding by heavy fines for their delinquency, (fn. 88) twothirds of the manor of Hutton Bardolf were in the
possession of William and Toby Jenkins. (fn. 89)
Gifts of land to Kirkham Priory from all three
Huttons, but apparently, according to the returns of
1401 and 1428, chiefly from Hutton Mynchon, formed
a considerable estate at the surrender of that house. (fn. 90)
Various leases of this were made by Elizabeth until
1589, when she granted it to Richard Branthwaite
and Roger Bromley. (fn. 91) The principal holding of the
Prior of Malton here consisted of grants and purchases from the serjeanty of Hutton-upon-Derwent
which amounted to a carucate in 1300, but before
that date gifts had been made to this house of land in
Hutton Bardolf and Hutton Mynchon. (fn. 92) The Prior
of St. Andrew of York held land once of the same
serjeanty in the 13th century, and in the 15th and
16th centuries had an estate in Hutton Bardolf. (fn. 93)
Small grants also from the serjeanty had come to the
hospital of Broughton and of the Knights of St. John
in or before the 13th century. (fn. 94)
Thomas Bolton received a grant of free warren in
in Hutton Colswayn in 1304, in Low Hutton in
1309. (fn. 95) Assize of ale had been claimed by his father
in 1293. (fn. 96) From 1297 to 1398 Hutton-uponDerwent had its capital messuage with a garden called
Gaytherskath, (fn. 97) and another belonged to Kirkham
Priory in the 13th and 16th centuries. (fn. 98) A common
bake-house and fishery in the Derwent were appurtenances of the chief manor in 1436. (fn. 99) There were
five dovecots in the parish in 1590, three in 1654. (fn. 100)
Church
The original church of ST. MARGARET was at High Hutton, where its
ancient site is easily discernible in the
middle of the churchyard a short distance to the south
of the existing structure. The old building was pulled
down in 1856 and the present church erected. It is
of small dimensions in the style of the 13th century
and consists of a nave with a north aisle of three bays,
a quire with an organ chamber and vestry on the
north and a south porch.
The modern reredos has four paintings on wood
of Scriptural subjects, probably foreign and dating
from the 18th century. In the vestry are fixed two
monuments from the old church, the earlier a large
mural tablet with a cleft pediment to Sir Thomas
Gower of Stittenham, bart. (d. 1651), with his arms.
On the opposite wall is a well-carved tablet with
terminal female figures at the sides to Margaret
daughter of Sir Thomas (d. 1659) with a quartered
coat—(1) and (4) Gower, (2) Ermine a cross paty gules,
for Grindall, (3) Bendy or and azure. In the nave
aisle are two handsome heraldic ledger stones commemorating Major E. Ward Gower, fifth son of Sir
Thomas (d. 1672), and Marjory (?) Gower, another
daughter (d. 1673 ?), both stones bearing the Gower
arms.
The east window is triple, and on the west gable
is a bellcote containing two bells.
The church plate was presented by Hannah and
Sarah Starkey in 1862, and consists of two cups, a
paten and flagon, bearing the London date marks for
1859 and the two following years. The ancient set
includes a pewter flagon, two patens and a silver cup.
The registers, with the exception of one volume,
are all on loose sheets, and some of these have not
unnaturally been lost: (i) mixed entries 1714 to
1769. The loose sheets include marriages 1754 to
1812, baptisms 1769 to 1778 and 1786 to 1800,
burials 1765 to 1773 and 1776 to 1812.
Advowson
The church of St. Margaret,
situated in High Hutton (Hutton
Bardolt), was in 1202 in the
gift of Ralph Bardolf, who granted it to Kirkham
Priory on condition that it should be served thenceforward by a resident chaplain appointed by the
prior, (fn. 101) and performing all divine offices befitting a
mother church. No vicarage was ever ordained, and
it was described as a perpetual curacy until 1868. (fn. 102)
In 1545 Henry VIII granted it to the see of York, (fn. 103)
a grant repeated by Philip and Mary eleven years
later, (fn. 104) and the archbishop has been the patron from
that time. (fn. 105) The rectory has always descended with
the advowson.
The chapel of our Lady in High Hutton
mentioned in 1391 (fn. 106) was probably in this church, and
here, too, may have been the light and altar of St.
Margaret to which Sir Richard Willoughby, priest,
left candles, his mass book, vestment and chalice in
1525. (fn. 107)
In the 13th century there was also a chapel in
Low Hutton (Colswayn Hutton) endowed with 2
oxgangs of land belonging to the serjeanty. (fn. 108) Mention
is made of the chapel, chaplain and clerk of Low
Hutton in 1391, (fn. 109) and Sir Richard Willoughby, priest,
left 20s. 'to the upholdding bothe the chappels' in
1525. (fn. 110) In 1800 a faculty was obtained for the
removal of the chapel of Low Hutton and for
applying its material to the repair of the parish
church. (fn. 111)
There does not appear to be any endowed charity
in this parish.