BOLTON-UPON-SWALE
Boletone (xi cent.); Bochelton (xiii cent.); Boulton
(xiii-xiv cent.).
This parish in 1831 (fn. 1) contained only the township
of Bolton-upon-Swale, but the townships of Scorton, (fn. 2)
Ellerton, Uckerby and Whitwell, formerly in the
parish of Catterick, were added in 1885. The
height of the old parish (the area of which is
861 acres) gradually rises from about 170 ft., where
the small village of Bolton lies between Bolton Beck
and the Swale, to 200 ft. further east. The tracts by
the Swale are liable to floods. The soil is recent
alluvium; gravel and limestone also occur. In the
present parish there are 3,182 acres of arable land,
3,998 acres of permanent grass and 251 acres of woods
and plantations, (fn. 3) the chief crops being wheat and
barley. The road from Scorton south through
Bolton to Ellerton and Back Lane, which intersects it
at Bolton Cross, are bordered by avenues of trees.
At Bolton, adjoining the hall, is a nursery garden.
A moiety of a water-mill at Bolton was held in the
13th century by the Helbecks of Helbeck Hall,
Westmorland. In 1251–2 Thomas de Helbeck, son of
Robert de Helbeck (fn. 4) and nephew and heir of Guy de
Helbeck, was sued by the Abbot of Byland for arrears
of rent from the mill of Bolton, (fn. 5) and in 1284 John de
Helbeck and John de Bellerby (fn. 6) complained that the
Abbot of St. Agatha had disseised them of the mill.
The abbot, however, said that he claimed nothing
but 2s yearly rent given him by Robert de Helbeck. (fn. 7)
The mill is again mentioned in 1342 and in 1560–1. (fn. 8)
Bolton-upon-Swale was the burial-place of Henry
Jenkins, born at Ellerton-on-Swale, who died in 1670,
aged, according to his own account and to that on
his obelisk, 169 years. The tale is very much discredited, (fn. 9) but this 'very old and poor man,' who
pretended that he remembered the battle of Flodden
and the carousals of his master Lord Conyers with the
Abbot of Fountains in the days before the dissolution
of the monasteries, gives a picturesque interest to the
two quiet villages of Ellerton and Bolton.
Manor
BOLTON-UPON-SWALE was in the
fee of Count Alan in 1086, (fn. 10) and continued
to be a member of the honour of Richmond. (fn. 11) Tor had a 'manor' there before the Conquest,
and this passed, with the rest of his fee, to Enisan, who
held it in 1086. (fn. 12) From Enisan this manor passed
with Constable Burton (q.v.) to Roald the Constable
and his descendants, and possibly to the Rollos, (fn. 13) and
then to the Scropes of Masham, who held it until
the close of the 15th century, when by the marriage
of Alice Baroness Scrope of Masham with Henry le
Scrope of Bolton the mesne lordship seems to have
been lost. (fn. 14)
The fee was divided between two tenants. The
first of these was in 1286–7 Thomas de Bellerby, who
received services from the whole vill and held 1 carucate in demesne. (fn. 15) Thomas de Bellerby enfeoffed
his brother John, whose son Thomas was a minor in
the custody of Roald's successor in 1292–3. (fn. 16) John
de Spennithorne, possibly a member of this family of
Bellerby, paid 7s. 1¾d. subsidy in Bolton in 1301–2. (fn. 17)
In 1286–7 the remainder of the fee of Thomas
de Bellerby was held by four tenants in fee: John
de Bellerby with 1 carucate 1 oxgang, the Prior of
Newburgh with half a carucate, Ralph de Bolton
with 2 carucates 1 oxgang, and John de Helbeck
with half a carucate. (fn. 18)
Of the lordship of the Prior of Newburgh no
further mention has been found. The fourth and
last tenancy in fee was that held by John de Helbeck
in 1286–7. (fn. 19) A tenement in Bolton was given to
Byland Abbey by Guy de Helbeck, (fn. 20) whose nephew
and heir Thomas son of Robert de Helbeck agreed in
the spring of 1251–2 to pay the abbot for 15s. arrears of
rent from the mill here. (fn. 21) Robert, father of Thomas,
gave a further rent of 2s. from the mill to Easby
Abbey, the grant being later confirmed by Thomas. (fn. 22)
John de Helbeck had succeeded by 1284, when he
and John de Bellerby recovered the mill from the
abbot, (fn. 23) who had disseised them. In 1342 John
de Langley and Mary his wife and her heirs conveyed
a tenement and half the mill of Bolton to Thomas
de Thwait. (fn. 24)
Church Tower, Bolton-upon-Swale
Of the history of the fee of John de Bellerby
nothing further is known (fn. 25) ; nor is it easy to distinguish the members of the family of Bolton. Hugh
de Bolton had been succeeded by William his son in
1222, (fn. 26) and Richard de Bolton obtained half the
advowson of the church of Bolton in 1246, (fn. 27) but
there is no record of their relationship to the Ralph
de Bolton of 1286–7. Alice widow of John son of
Ralph de Bolton appears to have parted with lands to
Harsculph de Cleasby in 1292. (fn. 28) Probably this took
place during the minority of John son of John de
Bolton, who in or about 1311 had various dealings
with John son of William de Cleasby. (fn. 28a) Tenements
in Bolton were among those lands granted by John
de Cleasby to Henry le Scrope of Bolton in 1314, (fn. 29)
and the manor (fn. 30) of Bolton was among those settled
in tail-male by Henry le Scrope in 1331. (fn. 31) The
Scropes of Bolton held the manor (fn. 32) until the death
in 1630 of Emanuel Lord Scrope without legitimate
issue. (fn. 33) Bolton fell to the share of his third natural
daughter Annabella, who married John Grubham
Howe (fn. 34) ; their son Scrope Howe (fn. 35) conveyed it in
1700 to Bartholomew Burton. (fn. 36) In 1733 William
Burton conveyed it to Mary Dennye, widow. (fn. 37)
Edward Garthwaite owned the property in 1780,
when he made his will. He left an only child John
Druce Garthwaite, who married Fanny daughter of
William Hancock and had by her five children. To
meet his heavy liabilities the estate was settled on
trustees for sale, and in February 1794–5 the 'manor
or reputed manor' was bought by Robert and George
Crowe. (fn. 38) By 1820 the manor was in the possession
of John Delavel (Carpenter), Earl of
Tyrconnel, and Sarah his wife. (fn. 39) The
present lady of the manor of Bolton is
Mrs. Turnor, daughter and heir of the
late Admiral the Hon. W. C. Carpenter
of Kiplin Hall.
The second fee held under the Fitz
Roalds was that of 2½ carucates in the
possession of St. Mary's Abbey, York. (fn. 40)
Certain lands in Bolton were given to
the abbey by one Acharis and Berner his
uncle. (fn. 41) The abbot was said to be joint
lord of the vills of Ellerton, Bolton and
Whitwell in 1316, (fn. 42) and the abbey received 20s. rent from Bolton at the
Dissolution. (fn. 43) The 'manor' now
known as WOLLAS was granted by the
Crown to Leonard Beckwith and Elizabeth his wife, (fn. 44) and on Leonard's death
in 1557 was inherited by his son Roger,
then a minor. (fn. 45) It was probably this
land that in 1596 was conveyed by
Christopher Duffield and Barbara his
wife to Henry Ward and Henry Sparrow. (fn. 46) Thomas Duffield died in 1626
seised of a capital messuage and lands
here, which descended to Thomas
Duffield. (fn. 47) The later history of this
estate has not been traced.
Church
The church of ST.
MARY THE VIRGIN
consists of a chancel 30 ft.
6 in. by 16 ft. 9 in. with north vestries,
nave 58 ft. by 18 ft., north aisle 15 ft.
4 in. wide with a small north-east chapel, south aisle
13 ft. wide with south porch, and west tower 12 ft.
square.
The church has been much repaired and altered in
recent years. A drawing in the vestry shows the
interior in 1857, the chancel having a low-pitched
roof and a very flat four-centred wooden arch at the
west, the east window being of three trefoiled lights
under a four-centred arch. The nave roof was also
flat-pitched, and in place of a north arcade there
were large wooden posts. The roofs of the chancel
and nave are now raised, a stone arcade takes the
place of the wooden posts, and the east window of the
chancel has been taken out and a new one inserted.
The new chancel arch is of two chamfered orders
springing from moulded corbels. On the north side
of the chancel is an organ with a modern vestry
behind, and at the north-east a 15th-century vestry,
stone vaulted, the ribs springing from the north wall
in a quadrant and butting against the chancel. The
chancel itself does not appear to be older than the
15th century, and has on the south two three-light
windows of that date and a square-headed doorway.
The east window of the vestry is a single squareheaded light, partly old.
The nave has a north arcade of four bays, entirely
modern, and there are no old details in the north
aisle. The north-east chapel has a dado of glazed
tiles and panels of modelled plaster-work above. The
south arcade of three bays is of poor detail, and
evidently of no great age, but the moulded corbels
on its responds look like 14th-century work, and the
south aisle is probably an addition of this date. Its
windows are in 14th-century style, though their
tracery is entirely modern, and there is a trefoiled
piscina at the south-east.
The south doorway has a chamfered arch with a
moulded label of 14th-century detail; it is nearly all
new, but probably a copy of the old. The tower is
of the 16th century, perhaps c. 1550, of three stages,
with an embattled parapet and eight crocketed pinnacles, all modern, square-headed belfry windows,
each of two tall cinquefoiled lights with a transom,
the window heads being enriched with ornament and
shields in low relief. At the south-east angle is a
projecting stair turret, which dies out below the
parapet, and the second stage of the tower is lighted
by square-headed loops. The ground stage has a
stone vault with a central bell-way, and a three-light
west window with clumsy trefoiled tracery under
a three-centred arch, and opens to the church by a
pointed arch of two chamfered orders, the inner of
which springs from corbels. On the south face of
the tower parapet are carved three inverted shields,
the heraldry on which is so badly drawn that it can
only be conjectured that on one shield is Scrope
quartering a lion rampant, while the other two do
not admit of being read according to the rules of
heraldry. All the carved detail of the tower, here
and on the gabled weatherings of the buttresses and
the heads of the belfry windows, is very rough and
unskilful, but the tower itself is saved from insignificance by the beautiful colours of the stone in
which it is built.
In the north aisle is the monument to John
Wastell of Scorton, master in Chancery, 1659, his
wife Anne, 1665, and his son Leonard, 1664. The
most interesting monument, however, is the tablet on
the south wall of the nave, set up in 1743 in memory
of Henry Jenkins, who died in 1670, reputed to be
aged 169, and is buried under a large pyramidal
monument in the churchyard.
The font and all the fittings of the church are
modern, and of the six bells only one, of 1790, is
older than the 19th century.
The plate consists of a silver Elizabethan cup
without any date mark, a cup presented by John
Eden, churchwarden in 1783, a modern paten and
plated flagon, and two plated salvers.
The registers begin in 1656.
Advowson
Stephen Count of Britanny, who
died in 1137, (fn. 48) confirmed the
churches of Catterick and Bolton
to St. Mary's Abbey, York. (fn. 49) One Budes before
1132 granted the abbey the chapel of Bolton, (fn. 50) and
in the latter half of the 12th century Richard de
Rollos granted the church with the assent of Emma
his wife. Roald son of Roald in 1257 quitclaimed
to the abbot the advowson claimed by John son of
Elias de Bellerby, to whom the abbey was to pay
10 marks. (fn. 51) In the same year John himself quitclaimed the advowson to the abbot. (fn. 52) Bolton Church
was, however, a dependent chapel of Catterick,
and as such was confirmed to St. Mary's Abbey
in 1396. (fn. 53) The vicars of Catterick continued to
present until 1891, (fn. 54) when the patronage was
transferred to the Bishop of Ripon, (fn. 55) the present
patron.
The living is a vicarage.
In 1547 a 'chantry or service' of our Lady in
this chapel was maintained by the parishioners and
endowed with lands taken out of the common by
the sufferance of the Lord Scrope. (fn. 56)
Charities
Bolton - upon - Swale.—Duffield's
dole of £2 a year and Bruce's dole
of £2 a year, paid by the lord of
the manor, and the charity of William Browne (deed
dated 1696) consisting of £1 4s. a year, issuing out
of a close called the Holme in the township of
Brompton, paid by Mr. B. I. Stapleton, are distributed
by the parish council, in accordance with a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners in 1887, in meat and
groceries amongst the poor of the several townships,
the number of the recipients averaging twenty.
Elizabeth Jocelyn, by will proved at York 17 June
1895, left a legacy, now represented by £242 11s. 4d.
Midland Railway 2½ per cent. stock, with the official
trustees. The annual dividends, amounting to
£6 1s. 3d., are applied under the provisions of a
scheme dated 16 February 1906, as to one moiety in
the encouragement of bell-ringers either by payment
to the ringers or in augmenting the bell-ringers'
fund, any surplus towards the cost of maintenance of
the bell-tower; and as to the other moiety in subscribing for or purchasing tickets of admission to
the Convalescent Home at Coatham, to be awarded
to deserving and necessitous persons.