CLEASBY
Clesbi (xi cent.); Cleseby (xii–xvi cent.); Cleysby,
Cleesby (xvi, xvii cent.).
This parish, which contains the township of
Cleasby only, is situated by the Tees, its northern
boundary. Its area is 1,204 acres, 564 acres being
arable land, 493 permanent grass and 10 woods and
plantations (fn. 1) ; the chief crops raised are wheat, oats
and barley. The subsoil is magnesian limestone
with recent alluvium by the Tees, the soil is loam,
clay and gravel, and there are limeworks and quarries
south of Cleasby village. The land gradually rises
from 120 ft. to 150 ft. above ordnance datum by the
Tees to 200 ft. south of Cleasby. 'Cleasby,' wrote
Whitaker, is 'remarkable for nothing but a noble
and flourishing elm on the village green.' (fn. 2)
The village lies about half a mile south of the
Tees and is built round an oblong green with a road
running east to Stapleton. To the south of the
village is a line of steep bank about 60 ft. high, suggesting perhaps an early river-bank, for even within
recorded times the winding course of the Tees has
proved very variable. The church is at the west end
of the green and close to it is the manor-house. The
manor-house shows the E-shaped construction on the
south side with some stone-mullioned windows. On
the west wall are several corbel stones with a portion
of a stone course above, but there is nothing to suggest their purpose or origin. Part of the house
would seem to date from the 16th century. Two
lanes run south-east and south respectively from
Cleasby to the Darlington road, and another lane from
Cleasby runs west by the river to Manfield. A
British school built by Thomas Pease is now the
property of the Dean and Chapter of Ripon. John
Robinson, Bishop of London, was born of obscure
parents at Cleasby in 1650. He was Ambassador to
Sweden for twenty-five years, Lord Privy Seal subsequently, and in 1712–13 first Plenipotentiary to
the Congress of Utrecht. (fn. 3)
Manor
Cleasby. Gules two bends argent and a quarter ermine.
Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire. Sable three harts' heads caboshed argent.
CLEASBY was among the lands of
Count Alan in 1086 (fn. 4) and afterwards
became a member of the honour of
Richmond. (fn. 5) Tor had one 'manor' there before the
Conquest, and this passed with his fee to Enisan,
who held 1 carucate there in demesne in 1086. (fn. 6)
The mesne lordship descended from Enisan to the
lords of Constable Burton (fn. 7) (q.v.), passing with that
manor to the Scropes. (fn. 8) Enisan, who lived on well
into the 12th century, held lands here in demesne (fn. 9)
and he was succeeded in these by Harsculph (Hasculf,
Hasquid), the ancestor of the Cleasbys. There is a
charter of Earl Conan, who died in 1171, (fn. 10) among
the muniments at Marske, (fn. 11) which, as it stands,
makes various grants 'to Harsculph Cleasby my kinsman and constable of my castle of Richmond.' The
charter, however, is full of grammatical and other
errors. Rid of accretions it may perhaps represent a
grant or confirmation of Cleasby to Harsculph, (fn. 12) who
is possibly identical with the Harsculph 'son of
Ridiou' who held lands in Yorkshire of Count
Stephen of Britanny in 1130–1, (fn. 13) and with the
'Harsculph Rufus' with whom the Cleasby pedigree
properly begins. Harsculph
Rufus married a daughter of
Aldred de Richmond, and so
was related to the Rollos
family (fn. 14) ; his sister Oriolda
married Ranulf (de Glanville)
the sheriff and had children,
William and Cecily. (fn. 15) His
son Robert Rufus or 'de
Cleasby' is mentioned in
1194, (fn. 16) and had sons Robert (fn. 17)
(heir to his grandfather in
1223–4), (fn. 18) Harsculph, who
succeeded, and John. (fn. 19) A
Harsculph de Cleasby of this
time was seneschal of the Earl of Richmond. (fn. 20) By
1280 Harsculph was succeeded by his son Robert, (fn. 21)
who in 1300 settled the manor of Cleasby on himself and his wife Amabel for life with remainder
to Robert de Hastangs and Emma his wife, their
daughter, (fn. 22) and their heirs. (fn. 23) In 1314 Amabel
de Cleasby, Robert de Hastangs and Emma and
their heirs obtained a grant of free warren in their
demesne lands here and in other places, (fn. 24) and in
1316 Amabel was returned as sole owner. (fn. 25) Robert
de Hastangs paid the subsidy in Cleasby in 1327–8. (fn. 26)
He died without issue and Emma married as her
second husband Henry Fitz Hugh of Ravensworth, (fn. 27)
bringing the manor of Cleasby to the Fitz Hugh family.
A certain James de Cleasby who pretended to be
son of Robert de Cleasby claimed the manor against
Henry Fitz Hugh. Whether or not he was an impostor, (fn. 28) he joined with John de Layton and Christina
of Barforth, his wife, in quitclaiming the manor in
1348 to Christina's father, (fn. 29) Henry Fitz Hugh, (fn. 30) and
from this time the lords of Ravensworth held the manor
of Cleasby (fn. 31) until the attainder of William Marquess of
Northampton in 1553 (or possibly his death in 1571),
when it escheated to the Crown. (fn. 32) In 1583 the Dacres,
co-heirs of the Fitz Hughs, quitclaimed it to the
Crown, (fn. 33) and in 1602 it was granted by the queen
to Peter Bradwell and Robert Parker, their heirs
and assigns, (fn. 34) evidently as
trustees for 'building Bess of
Hardwick,' in whose hands it
was in the autumn of the
same year. (fn. 35) From the
Countess of Shrewsbury it
descended to the Earls of
Devon and Dukes of Devonshire, (fn. 36) who still held it in
1818. (fn. 37) It was in the hands
of John Church Backhouse in
1857, and by 1879 was in
the possession of the present
lord of the manor, Sir Theodore Fry, bart.
Fry, baronet. Party fessewise gules and sable three running horses between two flaunches argent each charged with a horse-shoe sable.
While Robert de Cleasby held 6½ carucates here
in demesne in 1286–7, the remaining 1½ carucates
were held by his tenants.
Harsculf son of William was
holding 1 carucate of Robert
de Cleasby in 1286–7, and
may be the Harsculf mentioned in 1292. (fn. 38) In 1330
a Harsculf de Cleasby held
land in Marske (fn. 39) (q.v.), and
in 1432 Robert Cleasby and
Elizabeth his wife made a
settlement of land in Cleasby
with contingent remainder to
Harsculph Cleasby. (fn. 40) In 1537
Thomas Cleasby died seised
of a capital messuage here, (fn. 41)
and was succeeded by Leonard
his son, who in 1550 (fn. 42) was
followed by his son John, then a minor; John had
livery in 1562. (fn. 43)
A Harsculph Cleasby took part in the Rising of the
North in 1569; his name was put on Cecil's black
list, but his execution was stayed, (fn. 44) for 'he may do
very much,' wrote Lord Hunsdon, the queen's
cousin, to Cecil, 'with one of my Lord Conyers'
daughters and heiresses whom I am about to get for my
son Harry, which will the better be brought to pass
by him, being in great credit with all the sisters. He
is besides no notorious offender . . . and has not
one foot of land.' (fn. 45)
The last mention of the Cleasbys of Cleasby seems
to be in 1624, when Leonard Cleasby died seised of
a capital messuage here, leaving a son and heir John. (fn. 46)
In 1615 a James Cleasby, gentleman, no doubt a
connexion of Leonard, kept an ale-house at Cleasby
and was threatened with the loss of his licence on
account of his wife's recusancy and his own disorderly
carriage (fn. 47) ; four years later the overseers of Cleasby
had warrants to pay poor relief for James's infant
daughter Mary. (fn. 48)
There was another capital messuage mentioned in
the 16th century attached to the manor (fn. 49) and granted
with it in 1602 to Peter Bradwell and Robert
Parker.
Church
The church (dedication unknown)
consists of a chancel 17 ft. by 13 ft.,
nave 36 ft. by 18 ft., and a west porch.
The whole is recorded to have been built in 1828,
but the walling is not all of the same character and
probably not of the same date. The north wall is
of rough rubble and looks as though it might be an
older wall retained.
The details call for little description.
In the middle of the north wall of the nave is a
blocked window which seems to be older than the rest.
There are two west doorways, and on the west gable
is a bellcote with arched openings for two bells, but
only containing one bell.
The font, though a good deal re-tooled, appears to
date from the 13th century. The bowl is square
with rolls at the angles and edges, and on each face
a design of four broken circles forming a cross in a
sunk circle. The stem and base are modern.
The old box pews are still retained. A notice is
affixed on the nave wall that the perpetual curacy was
augmented in 1716 by Queen Anne's Bounty and by
John Robinson, Lord Bishop of London, who was
born in this place.
The plate consists of a cup, paten and flagon of
1713, presented by John Robinson, Bishop of London.
The registers begin in 1712.
Advowson
The chapel of St. Mary (fn. 50) of
Cleasby was in existence in the late
12th or early 13th century, when
Robert son of Harsculph Rufus quitclaimed any right
in it to Easby Abbey. (fn. 51) It seems to have been a
dependency of the mother-church of Stanwick. In
1228 Archbishop Grey deprived Easby Abbey of the
advowson and gave it to the newly formed prebend
of Stanwick in the collegiate church of Ripon. (fn. 52)
The church was despoiled of the prebend at the
Dissolution, (fn. 53) but had recovered the advowson of this
chapel by the end of the 18th century. (fn. 54) The Dean
and Chapter of Ripon are the present patrons. The
living is a perpetual curacy, designated a vicarage
since 1868. (fn. 55)
By the archbishop's award of 1228 Easby Abbey
retained the tithes of Barton, Bretaneby, Layton,
Cleasby and Barforth, (fn. 56) and it held them at the Dissolution. (fn. 57) The tithe appears to have been granted by
the Crown in 1566 to Thomas Blackway and Francis
Barker in fee, but was perhaps surrendered, for in
1613 'the free chapel of Cleasby lately belonging to
Easby Abbey' was granted by the Crown to Francis
Morrice and Francis Phillips, (fn. 58) by whom it was
conveyed in the same month with Manfield Rectory
(q.v.) to Thomas Greenwood. (fn. 59) Thomas Greenwood
held it in 1634, (fn. 60) but it was not mentioned among
the family possessions in 1717. (fn. 61) In 1792 John
Foakes and John Wharton conveyed it with part of
Manfield Rectory to John Munforth and John
Silence. (fn. 62)
There appears to have been a chapel attached to the
capital messuage in the possession of Leonard Cleasby;
on his death in 1624 it was spoken of as waste, and
the chapel-yard was mentioned as being held of the
Crown as of the castle of Richmond. (fn. 63)
Charities
Letitia Cornwallis, by will, 1731,
left £100 for the use of poor housekeepers. In 1784 a scheme was
established by the Court of Chancery. The trust
fund is now represented by £358 15s. 5d. consols
with the official trustees, the dividends of which,
amounting to £8 19s. 4d., were in 1904 distributed
among six recipients.
The Charity School was founded by Bishop Robinson in 1723. (fn. 64)
William Lightfoot, by will proved 1892, left
£146 North-Eastern Railway 3 per cent. stock
(with the official trustees), income to be applied for
the benefit of the poor. In 1904–5 coal was distributed among five recipients.