majesty; but that did not save him, and with hundreds of other priests he was turned out on a pension of £5 per annum.30 An inventory was taken of the goods and plate in the chapel, when the former were found to be of the value of 17s. 2d., and the plate 25s.31 The chantry endowment was chiefly from rents in the neighbourhood, and amounted to £5 14s. 11d., of which a tenth went yearly to the king. In 1391, the chaplain to this chapel received a stipend of £4 5s. Od., which does not look as if the income advanced with the needs of the times.32 The chapel being disused was allowed to fall into decay.

During the reign of Queen Mary, the lordship of Wakefield, with the Castle of Sandal, was transferred to the Duchy of Lancaster by charter dated April 15, 1558. Elizabeth appointed a commission to report upon the condition of this among other castles, and the lords and others who drew up the report state "that it is especially to be meynteyned because it standith in a strong countrie of men amongst whom yf any rebellion shulde happen as god forbid this castle must be the staie of it and therfore wourthie to be kept and meynteyned." The constable of the castle and steward of the manor was Sir John Tempest, who had £17 6s. Sd. as his fees; the park attached to the castle was one mile in circuit.33 On the 30th of December, 1560, Elizabeth ordered Sir John Tempest, constable and steward, to appoint a convenient place for the safe keeping of the Court Rolls and other records and writings belonging to the manor of Wakefield, which were then lying within the church of Wakefield, and that they be conveyed to Sandal Castle, and that three locks and keys be affixed to the door of the place where the records were kept.34 At this period the castle was used as the chief residence for the constable and steward of the manor of Wakefield, and prisoners were committed to the castle for arrears of the king's rent, and for trespassing or poaching, and were under the care of a gaoler, who had a house within the walls. The park

30 Exchequer, Ancient Miscellanea 2. Pensions to Incumbents of Charities. 31 Chantry Certificates. Yorkshire,

No. 65.

32 Bailiff's accounts of profits and expenses of the Lordship of Wakefield,

14 Ric. II., printed in The Rectory Manor of Wakefield.

23 Duchy of Lancaster Records, xxv. K. 25c.

34 Duchy of Lancaster Records, Class XI. No. 97, fo. 28.

adjoining was of forty acres, palisaded round, and contained about thirty fallow deer.35

In 1566, Queen Elizabeth granted Sandal Castle in fee farm to Edward Carey, the son of her cousin, Lord Hunsdon, who came to reside there, and in the disturbances of the North in 1569, raised men and arms to oppose the rebels.

Sir Edward Carey conveyed Sandal to his son-in-law, Sir John Savile, knight of Howley, first Mayor of Leeds in 1662, keeper of the rolls for the West Riding, high steward of Wakefield, Pontefract, and Bradford, M.P. for the county, who was created Baron Savile of Pontefract on July 21, 1628, and died August 30, 1630, in his 74th year. The estate next came into the possession of William Savile of Kirkgate, Wakefield, deputy-steward of the manor of Wakefield, and steward of the manor of Newland, the first spokesman and a great benefactor of the Grammar School at Wakefield, jointly with John Hanson of Woodhouse, who conveyed it to Sir Richard Beaumont of Whitley Hall, born in August, 1574, created a knight in 1603, baronet in 1627; in October, 1617, he petitioned the king for a grant of "Hall Lathes, part of the manor of Sandal," to be impaled with his small park adjacent, which petition was granted. Sir Richard died in 1634, holding Sandal Castle and park of the king (Charles I.), in fee farm by the rent of £1 6s. 8d. per annum, payable at the feasts of the Annunciation and St. Michael the Archangel. By his will, dated Nov. 30, 1630, he left his castle and park of Sandal to his cousin Major Thomas Beaumont, "that he might have a little venison therefrom to refresh his friends with at Whitley, when they came to see him."

THE SIEGE IN 1645.

When the Civil War broke out, Sandal Castle was owned by Major Beaumont, and it was garrisoned for the king, Major Ward being placed in command; he did not, however, long enjoy his position, for, coming down the stairs from the house of office in the castle, he fell and broke his neck, and was buried within the castle grounds. He was succeeded in the governorship by Colonel George Bonivant.

Early in 1645, Lord Fairfax entrusted the siege of Sandal

35 Survey of the Manor of Wakefield, 37 Hen. VIII. in the Exchequer.

Castle to Sir John Savile of Lupset, who, whilst beleaguering the castle, on Thursday, April 10th, caused the drums to beat for prayers. Hearing this, Col. Bonivant also made his drums to beat as if for prayers, so as to let the enemy think themselves secure, and while the besiegers, who are described by a Royalist diarist as "hipocriticall and trecherous Rebells," were "singing psalmes before Sermond," those within the castle "dedicated themselves unto God, with upright hartes and religious praiers in breefe manor," suddenly threw open the gate, made three sallies and fell upon the Roundheads, who, taken by surprise, were totally defeated, with a loss of 42 men killed and over 50 taken prisoners, one of whom was a captain, and the capture of seven score arms. Sir John Saville was so dejected at this reverse, that he "packt up bag and baggage, raised the seidge, and went quite away (to Pontefract), with a small number in comparison of those he brought and lost before Sandall Castle." 37 On the 16th, Col. Bonivant sent news to those shut up in Pontefract Castle of the exploit.

During the first week in May, the soldiers within the Castle, said by a Commonwealth paper 38 to be "desperate fellows," made a sally for the sole purpose of picking Mayblossom, but while thus engaged, they came upon a party of the enemy, who attacked them and beat them back into the castle without their May, but with the loss of eight men killed, several wounded and taken prisoners; 39 the commander of the victorious soldiers wrote unto a friend of his in London, that "the rogues did fight most divelishly." After this defeat, it was thought better to strengthen the garrison at Sandal, and on May 14th, Captain John Benson, who had enlisted in Sir George Wentworth's division of the gentlemen volunteers of Yorkshire, but had afterwards exchanged into Sir John Ramsden's company, left Pontefract Castle, where he had been since the commencement of the war, and went to Sandal Castle, taking his own man and two soldiers with him; here he remained until the siege was

over.

40

36 A journal of the first siege of Pontefract Castle, kept by Nathan Drake, printed in Holme's Sieges of Pontefract Castle, p. 49.

3 Mercurius Aulicus, from April 20 to April 27, 1645.

38 A Diary or an Exact Journal, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 9, 1645.

39 A Diary, or an Exact Journal, from May 8-15, 1645.

40 Drake's Journal.

During the greater part of this time very free communication was kept up between the castle and the outer world, and more particularly with Pontefract Castle, which was also garrisoned for the king and besieged by the Roundheads, for on the 15th May, Thomas Hanson went back to Pontefract with despatches, from which place he had arrived three days earlier, and on the following day he returned to Sandal, going again to Pontefract on the 22nd; thus the besieged would know the course of events in the country, and constantly hear of the defeats of their own party.

On Friday, May 23rd, Captain Washington and Lieut. Wheatley left Pontefract Castle by night for Sandal, where their safe arrival was notified by a great bonfire, which was answered by another from Pontefract, in token that the signal was understood. Bonfires as signals between the two castles were of very frequent occurrence. The two officers remained over Whit Sunday and Monday at Sandal Castle, but on the evening of the latter day, Captain Washington returned to Pontefract. On the Tuesday evening, Lieut. Wheatley left Sandal Castle with forty or fifty cavalry to guard a herd of 120 or 130 cattle, which they wished to convey to Pontefract, according to a plan previously arranged upon; on the way they met with two of the enemy's scouts, who were captured along with their horses. On arriving at Baghill, the Sandal soldiers delivered up the cattle to Captain Joshua Walker and twenty men, and all but ten or twelve of them returned to Sandal; these latter assisted in getting the herd into Pontefract Castle, but owing to some hurry and confusion, only 97 of the cattle were secured. Bonfires announced the success of this expedition to those at Sandal. Towards the end of June, a troop of 300 dragoons, under the command of Colonel Morgan, blockaded the castle, and the besieged were in much distress for want of fodder for the horses.42 On the 8th of July, the dragoons withdrew, whereupon the Royalists sallied out as far as Wakefield, and were surprised on their return by a force under General Poyntz, who took three of them prisoners, with sixteen horses and arms; 43 and on the 18th. he captured 26 head of cattle which belonged to the castle.**

41 Drake's Journal.

41

42 The True Informer, June 28, 1645. 43 The Kingdome's Weekly Intelli

gencer, July 15, 1645.

44 Mercurius Civicus, July 24, 1645.

On July 20th, Pontefract Castle surrendered, and on the next day the following summons was despatched to Sandal Castle:

For the Commander in Chiefe of Sandall Castle, and the Gentlemen and Officers there.

Gentlemen,

You cannot be ignorant that Pontefract Castle is yielded unto us, and the Castle of Sandall having been verie vexatious to these parts of the Countrey, wee are constrained for the preservation of the wellaffected people, who complaine much of their sufferings by it, to sit downe with our Forces before it, intending by God's assistance, not to rise thence till wee have carried that place: yet neverthelesse, because our resolutions are to yeeld honourable courses, to avoyd the effusion of Christian bloud, which if that place be taken by force, must of necessitie be shed on both sides. We have therefore thought it most convenient to send you this Summons, requiring you to deliver up unto us the Castle, with all Armes, Ammunition, and provisions of War within it, to be disposed of by the King's Supreme Councell, the Parliament. And wee assure you, that there shall be such honourable termes given unto the Gentlemen, Souldiers, and others resident in that place, as (your present conditions considered) can be expected by rules and customes of War; unto which we shall expect your present answer, before Wee make any further attempt by force to reduce that place, and remaine

Your humble Servants

Francis Pierpoint, Thomas Maliner,
Wilfrid Lawson, Henry Cholmley,
Henry Darley.

Yorke, 21 of July, 1645.

On receipt of this, the officers assembled at Sandal drew up the following answer :

Right Honourable

You must beleeve, that the taking of Pontefract Castle cannot take away our Allegeance, but shall contract it, and adde vigour to it. For the preservation whereof we are instructed with this hold as it Sanctuarie, and shall maintaine it equally with our loyaltie. And whereas you object the Countries clamour as an argument to condemne us of oppression; we know our justice to have been so innocent, as wee dare appeale to it as an argument of God's protection over us for the future. For our feares of your power against us, they are lesse than when you were remoter from us. This being read, you must credit our resolutions most peremptorie and unalterable, for the maintaining of this Castle against all those who shall summon it from any other authoritte than his Majesties Signet.

God save the King.

Your humble Servants

George Bonivant, Roger Portington, Henry Gascoigne, Richard Horsfall, William Paulden, Tobias Swinden, Henry Ramsden, John Benson, Robert Benson, Timothy Paulden.

Sandall Castle, July 22, 1645.45

45 The True Informer, Aug. 2, 1645.