3 daughter and heiress Jane was eleven years and five months old.' She must have married Sir William Fairfax between 1571 and February, 1573,2 and their only son, Thomas, was born in 1574. In 1572 she would only be sixteen years of age, and her husband must have been her senior by some thirty-seven or thirty-eight years. Sir William Fairfax, like his father, seems to have taken a prominent part in Yorkshire affairs. From two letters among the State Papers we learn how Elizabeth's ministers were led to regard him. The first of these is a letter written to lord Burleigh by Sir Thomas Gargrave, then vice-president of the Council of the North, and dated from Nostel the 18th September, 1572, less than a month after the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Sir Thomas writes that he had conferred with the archbishop "towchynge mete persons to be counsaillors in thes partes," but they have not taken upon themselves to prefer any, but send to Burleigh a list of names of the men "of most wurshyppe and of the grettyst lyvyngs in thes partes." He proceeds "The people be here I thynke as in other places of the Realme, on sorte ys pleasyd with the late facte in Fraunce, a seconde sorte moche lament yt, and become fearfull and moche appaulyd at yt, a thyrde wold seme indeferent as newtralls and thoys are the grettyst nomber and may be termyd dyssemblers and yet many of them obedyent subiects and ar to be ledde by the auctoryte, and by thayr landislords and offycers." In the list of gentry enclosed with the letter, the names are marked in four ways-protestant, the worst sort, mean or less evil, and doubtful or neuter. Sir William Fairfax's name is marked mean or less evil. His brother-in-law and neighbour, Sir William Bellasis, is protestant. Of his other connections, William Hungate, Gabriel Fairfax, and Vavasor are doubtful or neuter; John Sayer and Sir Richard Stapleton are mean or less evil; while Martin Anne and Richard Gascoigne and his brethren are of the worst sort. 5 The second letter is addressed to Secretary Walsingham by Henry, earl of Huntingdon, then president of the Council of the North, and is dated from York the 1st July, 1577. The subject is the same, that of suitable persons to fill vacancies on the Council, and four gentlemen are named as fit to be appointed-Sir William Fairfax, 1 Ing. p. m., 10 Eliz., no. 69. Brian Stapilton, deceased. Nottingham, 4 Dec., 10 Eliz. 2" My Ladye " is mentioned in the steward's account for Ash Wednesday (Feb. 4), 1573. Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report Cd. 982 (1903), p. 75. 3 Thomas Fairfax was 22 years of age and more when his father's Inq. p. m. was taken on April 13, 1598. According to the monumental inscription at Scrayingham (see p. 136 post), he must have been born in 1574. 4 Chapters in the History of Yorkshire, by J. J. Cartwright, p. 64. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Addenda, 15661579, p. 425. 5 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Addenda, 1566-1579, p. 515. Sir William Mallory, Sir Thomas Boynton and Francis Wortley.' The writer says "My lord of Leicester told me there was some suspicion of this last for religion," but as no such doubts are expressed about Sir William Fairfax, we may conclude that my Lord President considered him to be sufficiently sound. At any rate, he was appointed a member of the Council in 1582.2 Although he dated a letter to the Lord Treasurer "from my poor house at Gyllinge," Sir William's hospitality was on a generous scale, as is proved by a fine series of household account books kept by his house-steward, John Woodward, from 1571 to 1582. "The immense amount of food provided for the master's table on guest days betokens Sir William's hospitality. The principal guests at dinner or supper are duly chronicled, but after the names there is usually the note cum multis aliis. The weekly expenses seem to have averaged about seven or eight pounds, but with this must be taken into account the various articles of food supplied on the estate. At festival times the amount was much higher, rising in one New Year's week to twenty-two pounds. In Lent it was about five."5 6 Sir William Fairfax was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1577. In 1588 (December?) his name appears in a list of the Gentlemen of the North Riding "that are fit to lend her Majesty £50 and £25"; he heads the list in Ryedale as being good for £50. In the same year he was thought to be "sick without hope of recovery," for on the 12th October, 1588, Francis Alford wrote to Burleigh to say that his kinsman, John Alford, offered 400 marks for the wardship of Sir William's son, in the event of his death, and to solicit the collectorship of the late monastery of St. Mary, York, which Sir William held. But he recovered, and lived for another nine years. His name appears on certificates of musters for the wapentakes of Rydale and Birdforth in 1595, and he sat for the county in the Parliament of 39 Elizabeth. An interesting inventory of his plate and household stuff at Gilling, dated the 16th March, 1594-5, has already been printed, together with inventories of plate and linen at Gilling in 1590, and of sheep and cattle at Gilling and Walton in 1596. Some of the pieces of plate mentioned in Sir Nicholas Fairfax's will can 1 In Sir Thos. Gargrave's list, Francis Wortley appears as doubtful, and Sir William Mallory as mean or less evil. 2 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 80. 3 Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report Cd. 982 (1903), p. 94. June 1, 1575. Ibid., 5 Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report Cd. 982 (1903), Introd., pp. x., xi. 6 Ibid., p. 104. 7 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1581-1590, p. 551. See also Hist. MSS. Com., Report Cd. 982, p. 97. 8 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1595-1597, p. 167. Archaeologia, xlviii. 121, communicated by Edward Peacock, F.S.A. be identified in the inventories of 1590 and 1594-5. I shall presently have occasion to refer to the evidence of these inventories as to the extent of the buildings at Gilling at this period. Sir William Fairfax died on the 1st November, 1597. An abstract of his Inq. post mortem will be found in the Appendix to this paper.' Sir William was succeeded by his only son, Thomas, who was married twice. His first wife was Catharine, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Constable, knight, of Burton Constable (marriage licence 1594), and by her he had six sons and five daughters. His second wife was Mary, daughter of Robert Ford, of Butley, Suffolk, and widow of Sir William Bamburgh, Bart., of Howsham, co. York (marriage licence and settlement 1626-7). Sir Thomas Fairfax was one of the Council of the North in 1599 and 1602, and Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1627. On the 10th February, 1628, he was created Viscount Fairfax of Emley in the county of Tipperary. He died on the 23rd December, 1636. A memorial slab of black marble, fixed on the north wall of the chancel of Scrayingham Church, bears the following inscription : P. M. S. QVEM PRESENTEM ADMIRATI SVMVS, 2 HORV HENRICVS NATV SECVND NO MŒRore, CONSPICVVM REDDIDIT POSTERITATI PATERNVM MERITVM FILIALEMQ PIETATEM. INSCRIPSIT VICECOMITIS CONSANGVINEVS 1 Appendix XII., post. 2 Drake's Eboracum, 369. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1601-1603, He Thomas Fairfax's will is dated the 22nd October, 1634. wishes to be buried at Walton. He leaves to the poor of Walton and Gilling each 10. "To my deare and loving wife £100, also my best coach and foure of my best coach horses and all the furniture belonging to the same." He leaves bequests to all his sons and daughters, and his servant William Laskew is "to have his dyet at Gillinge Castle during his life." He appoints as supervisors Sir Thomas Layton and Robert Stapleton, his sons-in-law, and John Ibson, his cousin. It was no doubt this Robert Stapleton, the husband of his second daughter Catharine, who was the author of the above inscription. By a codicil, dated the 12th December, 1636, Thomas Fairfax wills that his grandson William (son and heir apparent of his eldest son Thomas) be entrusted to the tutorship of Thomas, viscount Wentworth, his cousin, and Henry Fairfax, his second son. The will was proved on the 2nd January, 1636-7. Thomas, the second viscount, who married Alathea, daughter of Sir Philip Howard, is the last of the Fairfaxes whose arms are displayed in the heraldry of the "great chamber" at Gilling, and the later history of the Fairfax family is beyond the scope of this paper. Charles Gregory, the ninth and last viscount Fairfax of Emley, died in 1772, and on the death of his daughter Anne in 1793, her cousin Charles Gregory Pigott succeeded to Gilling Castle, and assumed the name of Fairfax. His son Charles Gregory Fairfax died without issue in 1871, and was succeeded by his sister Lavinia, who had married the Rev. James Alexander Barnes, the rector of Gilling. At the death of Mrs. Barnes in 1885, Gilling passed to Captain Thomas Charles Cholmeley, R.N., of Brandsby, the younger brother of Francis Cholmeley, who had married Harriet, the younger sister of Mrs. Barnes. On succeeding to the property, Captain Cholmeley took the additional name of Fairfax. His son, Mr. Hugh Charles Fairfax-Cholmeley, succeeded on his father's death in 1889, and in 1895 he sold the Gilling estate to Mr. George Wilson.1 I come at last to the description of the building itself. Gilling Castle occupies one of those commanding peninsular sites which were so frequently selected for castles and semi-fortified houses. 1 Since this was written Mr. Wilson has sold the estate (in 1904) to Mr. W. S. Hunter, who has made some alterations to the building, which have increased its convenience as a dwelling, without de VOL. XIX, tracting from its archæological interest. I have to thank Mr. Hunter for kindly giving me every facility for a further examination of the building. J The road from York to Helmsley, after crossing the low-lying forest of Galtres, ascends the Howardian hills at Brandsby, and, passing over the moors, runs down their northern slope by the side of the tiny Burnt Gill into the valley of the Holbeck, a small tributary of the Rye. The little village of Gilling extends along the road just before it crosses the Holbeck, the valley of which divides the Hambleton hills on the north from the Howardian hills on the south. The castle stands above the village on the west, at the eastern end of the steep bank which here forms the southern side of the valley of the Holbeck. The site of the castle is about 130 feet above the level of the valley, while a mile further west, at the "Temple," the wooded bank rises to a height of some 300 feet above the valley. The eastern extremity of this bank, on which the castle stands, is still further detached by a shallow valley on its southern side. The site is therefore surrounded by steep slopes on three sides, north, east, and south, and is only weak towards the west, where the park with its long avenue slopes gently towards the building. On the maps of the Ordnance Survey,' the height on which the castle stands is called "Moat Hill," but I cannot say whether the name is an old one. It is possible that the house may have been defended on its western side by a dry ditch, which, with its natural defences on the three remaining sides, would have completely isolated its site, but I have not been able to discover any traces of such a ditch. There is an old quarry in the bank west of the castle, and several others to the east of the village. The fish-ponds are on the lower ground, at the foot of the bank, immediately to the north of the castle. Although it is certain that this site has been occupied from a very early period, we cannot attribute any part of the existing building to an earlier date than the second half of the fourteenth century. The great square block forming the eastern part of the present house contains all the medieval work which has survived the many alterations which have so considerably changed the appearance of the original building. The west front of this square building is flanked by two long wings, erected in the eighteenth century, and extending westward on each side of the principal entrance; the southern wing considerably overlaps the side of the original building. From the north-east corner of the northern wing, another wing extends northward, and forms the east side of the irregularly-shaped stable yard. 1 Ordnance Survey, 6 inch, sheet CV. S.E.;, sheet CV. 11. 2 The terrace front of the house actually faces nearly E. N. E., but, in order to simplify the description, I shall refer to this front as east, and to the other sides in like manner. |
