By June Tingey

The Robinson Family 

The first reference to the family was in the parish register in 1688 when Isabel, daughter of Thomas of Nether Heseldon was baptised. Other children followed and in 1702 his daughter Ann was baptised. Thomas was described as a poor man. In 1730 the death of Thomas, a pauper of Cosh, was recorded followed by the death of Jane in 1736, a pauper of Foxup. Another family was recorded in Arncliffe at this time, that of Ralph with a son Christopher born in 1698 and daughter Ann in 1700.

In 1737 Mrs Sarah Dawson married William Robinson of Chatburn. Although it is unlikely, it is possible William was the son of Thomas of Heseldon, whose son William was born in 1695. In 1764 a John Robinson married Frances Hammond, was he perhaps the son of William? They lived in Litton and by 1778 6 sons had been baptised. No more is heard of the family until the death of Frances in 1804, followed by John in 1811.  In 1805 John married Ann Calvert and had 2 children: Alice baptised in 1808 and John the following year, when his father was recorded as a farmer. Nothing more was found about the family. They do not appear on the Muster Roll of 1803 nor in the 1841 census.

The Stockdale Family

The first record of the family was in the parish register in 1744 when Margaret married William Foster, yeoman. In 1778 the baptism of William son of William and Jane of Haltongill was recorded followed by Anthony in 1780. It was probably this same couple who were living at Owlcotes in 1786 when son Robert was baptised, followed by Michael in 1792 and James in 1795. They were recorded as a poor couple. Jane died in 1798.

The Muster Roll gives William a farmer of Haltongill, single and between 30-49 years, so was this William’s son who was older than his baptism suggests? William senior appears to have moved to Penighent, where he was living when his son James died in 1802. He then married Mary Cooke in 1805 but sadly she died 4 years later.

In 1810 a William married Ann Moor and one year later a daughter Alice was baptised. In 1799 the death of Anthony’s son John was recorded grandson of William and Jane.

The 1841 census gives Michael son of William and Jane a cattle dealer with Henry Knowles. In 1861 he was an agricultural labourer for Henry Knowles. Buy 1871 he was still living at the home of Henry as a retired cattle dealer.

The Tennant Family

Although a well known name in Upper Wharfedale there were not many families in Littondale. The first recorded member of the family in Arncliffe parish was Roger who was listed on the Flodden Roll in 1503. In 1756 Margaret was a tenant of Fountains Abbey.

The first record of the family in the parish register is the marriage of Henry to Ann Metcalfe in 1679. In 1717 James the son of James was baptised.

Miles Tennant son of John of Buckden became curate of Arncliffe church in 1681. In 1689 he married Mrs Judith Lodge at Linton. They had 6 children. Henry the youngest went to University College Oxford when he was 18. He became curate of Carleton and eventually Arncliffe, where he remained for the rest of his life.

In 1679 a Thomas Tennant married Mary Spark and in 1739 a miner married Jane Watson. There is no record of any children from either marriage in the register.

In 1813 James a farmer married Mary Scaife and lived at Arncliffe Cote. They had 3 children baptised between 1814 and 1818. A second James, a farmer of Hawkswick, married Elizabeth Betty Smith in 1828. They had 2 children baptised in 1829 and 1831. Yet another marriage of a James took place in 1835, this time to Agnes Procter.

The 1841 census for Haltongill shows Christopher aged 67 an agricultural labourer at Foxup, with his wife Mary aged 55 and 2 children, Allen age 5 and Mary age 3, it does seem quite possible they were grandchildren. In 1861 Allen was working as a farm servant for M. Stockdale. In 1871 another Christopher was farming 131 acres at Haltongill with his wife Ann and 4 children between 1 and 6 years old. By 1881 only 16 year old Ann was left in the whole of Littondale working as a domestic for Thos Cowen, farmer at Foxup.

The Todd Family

The family was recorded in the C16th when Richard and Lionel were tenants of Fountains Abbey occupying land at Haltongill. There are very few records of the family in the parish register. The earliest was in 1633 when Francis married Ellen Ward of Burnsall.

In 1672 the baptism of Elizabeth daughter of Francis of Haltongill was recorded, followed by baptisms of 4 children between 1673 and 1685. It seems likely that these were the grandchildren of Francis and Ellen.

In 1685 Francis of Haltongill died. It is fairly safe to assume this was Francis the elder as in 1705 a second Francis died at Haltongill. The death of Elizabeth, servant of Mr Lambert occurred in 1675. Possibly she was the sister of the second Francis.

A document in the Raistrick collection no.577 refers to a farm at Haltongill being released from Miles Todd yeoman of Haltongill to Henry Knowles. A second document no.581 concerns the release of another farm with land at Haltongill to Ellen and Jane Todd spinsters and John Armitstead to John Clerk of Heseldon. No doubt these were Miles’ sisters though Jane’s baptism was not found in the register. Miles died in 1734 and Jane in 1776. There are no further records of the family in Littondale.

The Wilson Family

The earliest information relating to the family at Haltongill was found in a document no.568 in the Raistrick collection dated 1681 which refers to John Wilson, gent of Eshton receiving £300 for land in Lower Bargh which was part of the tenement of Nether Heseldon. The parish register records the death of William, son of George in 1688 and the following year the death of Catherine, wife of Adam. In 1695 William possibly the father of George and Adam died.

Another 3 documents relating to George are in the Raistrick collection no.572 dated 1682/3 refers to the transfer of the lease of various parcels of land in Haltongill from John Ellison to George Wilson yeoman of Haltongill. The other documents nos. 574 & 576 are related to the transfer of land from the Hammond family of Arncliffe and others to George. The first dated 1682/3 refers to sheep grazing land on the East Moor and the second was land mainly meadow with barns around Angram dated 1709. George died in 1743 and Frances a widow in 1747. Probably she was the wife of George.

The only other Wilson family at Haltongill was that of Miles who was the curate there. Miles married Dorothy Lambert in 1737. They had 2 children who died in 1743. Dorothy died in 1774 and Miles 2 years later.

Other families were recorded lower down the dale. The earliest was the baptism of Jayne daughter of Thomas of Hawkswick in 1671. Mrs Christopher Wilson died at Hawkswick in 1723. Possibly she was the mother of Christopher who was living at Hawkswick when his son John was born in 1759, followed by Margaret in 1761 and Christopher in 1765. There must have been another Christopher living in Hawkswick at this time as in 1756 Jennet wife of Christopher died, followed by Christopher in 1766.

In 1674 John of Arncliffe had a daughter Ann baptised but she died 2 years later. It is interesting to see that in 1767 John Wilson schoolmaster from Coniston was buried and in 1773 Abraham of Kilnsey was buried at Arncliffe. Presumably they had been brought back to their native parish.

There are no records of the family on the 1803 Muster Roll or the 1841 census. An Edward/Edmund Wilson however, was involved as a witness in a dispute in the early C19th between the Foster family who owned Nether Heseldon and Robert Preston who had a right of way through part of their land. E. Wilson aged 43 was employed for carting lime over a period of 16 weeks in the summer of 1806.

The Winterburn Family

The family must have been in the area for over 300 years. The earliest known record is of Johannes Wynterburn who was recorded in the West Riding Poll Tax Returns of 1739. A document no.555 in the Raistrick collection gives details of the lease for possession from Th. Franckland to John Winterborne of Appletreewick, husbandman of a farm at Haltongill of 20/- ancient rent, dated Jan1667/8. It is not clear where John was actually living at this time as the earliest record in the parish register was in 1675 when Mary daughter of John of Haltongill was baptised. Was this the same John or were there two? Mary was followed by Thomas in 1769. Sadly Mary died when she was 13 years old followed by her mother a year later. It is likely that this was the same John who conveyed land to an older son Anthony in 1689 document no.571 in Skipton library.

In 1692 Anthony had a son John baptised, followed b Margaret in 1695 and Thomas in 1702 when Anthony was living at Foxup. In 1695 another John of Haltongill married Grace Carr. It seems likely that he was another son of John who probably died in 1702 the year before his grandson John, son of John was baptised. However another John died in 1711. There is no reason to think this was the grandson as the father’s name is not given, so is likely to be the second generation.

In 1707 Anthony appears to have financial problems. He mortgaged his farm by lease to Samuel Hardy to secure £130, document no.573 in Skipton library. An addition was made to this in 1711 when he and Leonard Redmaine were described as tenants of the property. By November 1718 the mortgage was repaid but only after Anthony had again mortgaged what was presumably the same farm, this time to secure £200 from Robert Mason of Horton in Swaledale, referred to in another document as Horton in Ribblesdale. The family seems to have left the area in the early C18th.