Thornton-le-Dale History
A Brief History Of Thornton-le-Dale
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Thatched Cottage 1920
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Written by Keith Snowden The
Author of
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Thornton Dale Through The Ages
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ISBN 0951465708 Priced £2.95
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We cannot say for certain
when Thornton was first founded,
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but the high ground to the north of the village was farmed by Neolithic
man.
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They have left their mark in
the shape of tumuli and a cart burail at Pexton has been dated at 300BC.
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Roman pottery was found by the late
Dr Kirk in Low Hall Garth was dated between 50BC-AD50.
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The Angles, who conquered Yorkshire
between AD500-540 must have given Thornton its name.
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The countryside was thickly wooded so the name suggests a place surrounded by thorn bushes. |
The Saxons were called to drive
out the Picts, but soon made the country their own.
Ellerburn church is said to be of
Saxon origin & it has a Saxon cross.
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In 793, the Danes attacked the north
& made their mark in place names ending in by.
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Farmanby & Roxby could have
been named at that time.
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The part of the village to the east
of the Parish church was known as Liedthorpe;
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thorp being Old Norse for a small
village.
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In the Domesday survey the names
are recorded as Torenton, Dalbi, Elreburne,
Farmanesbi & Rozebi.
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After the Norman Conquest the main Thornton manor was given to the Crown & later William |
gave it to his sister Adelaide, whose third husband was Count Odo, the founder |
of the house of Albermarie. |
Other manors were granted to Robert de Brus, Berenger de Tordeni, & Torfin, an ancestor |
of the Hastings. |
Thornton church is said to have been commenced in the 12th century & has a Norman font. |
The chancel arch is 15th century, & the whole structure was restored 1865. |
In 1281, King Edward 1 granted a weekly market on Tuesdays & two yearly fairs to |
John de Eston 'at his manor of Thorneton'. The place was also recorded at that time |
as Thorneton in Pickering Lithe. |
The Hastings held the Roxby manor until Sir Roger went bankrupt & had to sell it to Roger |
Chomley, with whom he was not on the best of terms. |
The spinning & weaving of flax was a cottage industry & Ralph Joyner had a fulling mill in 1497. |
Numerous mills were operating in the Thornton & Elerburn area; & in the passage of time for |
various purposes; fulling, paper-making, down to the Burgess family milling flour. |
The main Thornton manor passed into the hands of Richard, first Viscount Lumley, |
through his marriage to Elizabeth Sandys, a granddaughter of the forth Lord Latimer. |
When her son died in 1656 she founded a charity for the building of alms houses |
& a grammar school at Thornton. |
The Hill family took over the main Thornton manor in 1661. |
They built the Hall on the site of the original manor house & Squire John Hill made |
subsequent improvements & enlarged it. |
Mathew Grimes, who saw action at Waterloo & guarded Napoleon Bonoparte at |
St Helena, is buried in Thornton churchyard. |