Some Notes on the Family of Neville of Thornton Bridge

The Neville family of Thornton Bridge in Yorkshire descended from Ralph de Neville, a younger son of Sir Ralph de Neville of Raby, county Durham and his wife Alice de Audley. The Nevilles of Thornton Bridge died out in the male line with the death of Ralph Neville on 24 July 1522.

The arms of Neville of Thornton Bridge
“Gules a saltire argent with a pierced molet sable thereon”

Ralph de Neville

Ralph de Neville the third son of Sir Ralph de Neville (died 5 August 1367) and his wife Alice, was born about 1330. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Alexander de Leeds (Ledes) and his wife Margaret Darell. He died about 1368, leaving a son and heir Alexander.

Ralph had five brothers; John, who succeeded his father and died on 17 October 1388; [1] Robert, who married Margaret de Presfen, widow of Thomas Gray of Heton, Northumberland and died s.p.  shortly before 1 October 1374; [2] William, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen le Waleys [3], appointed Admiral of the Fleet, who died in 1392; Master Thomas, a clergyman who was elected bishop of Ely shortly before his early death on a visit to Avignon in 1361; and Alexander another clergyman, who was elected archbishop of York in November 1373, although removed from office in 1388 and who died a parish priest in Brabant in May 1392. [4]

Ralph also had an older half-brother, William de Greystoke, son of his mother’s first marriage, who in 1343-44 settled land in successive tail on Robert de Neville and his brothers Ralph and William, provided they adopted the name and arms of Greystoke. [5]

Ralph de Neville, the younger, was granted land in Carlbury and Ulnaby in the parish of High Coniscliffe, co. Durham and the manor of Ingleton, co. Durham by his father.  However, he was to come into possession of more land in Yorkshire as a result of his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Alexander de Leeds (Ledes) and his wife Margaret Darell. [6] Alexander’s father, another Alexander, who died about 1330, had married Elizabeth, one of the daughters of John Deiville of Egmanton, Nottinghamshire. Elizabeth Deiville and her husband Alexander de Ledes were granted the manor of Thornton on Swale (Thornton Bridge) by her father in February 1321. [7] John Deivill also granted them land in Leckby. Alexander de Leeds also held the manors of Cundall, Kirkby Hill (Kirkby on the Moor), Leeds and Gipton in Yorkshire which came to Ralph de Neville and Elizabeth after the death of Alexander de Leeds, father of his wife in about 1349.

Ralph de Neville died about 1368. His widow Elizabeth married secondly Sir Henry Grammary. [8] Alexander his heir was underage at his death. Between May 1368 and May 1369 (23 Hatfield) Roger de Fulthorpe had a grant from the bishop of Durham of the custody of the lands in Carlbury, Ulnaby and Ingleton, in the Bishop’s hands by reason of the minority of Alexander, son and heir of Ralph son of Ralph de Neville. [9]

 In Easter Term 1370, the prior of Newburgh sued Henry Grammary, chivaler, for ejecting him from the custody of the manor of Kirkby on the Moor, which belongs to the prior until the lawful age of Ralph [recte Alexander], son and heir of Ralph son of Ralph de Neville. [10] In Michaelmas Term 1371, Elizabeth Deiville was dead and Henry Grammary claimed to hold the manor of Kirkby on the Moor by the courtesy of England. [11]

The Durham inquisition post mortem of Ralph son of Ralph de Neville, taken at Durham on 30 March 1380 when his son was of full age, found that Alexander, aged 21 is his son and next heir. He held the manors of Carlbury and Ulnaby of the bishop of Durham and the manor of Ingleton of John de Neville lord of Raby (his brother). [12]

Sir Alexander de Neville

Alexander de Neville, son of Ralph de Neville and Elizabeth de Leeds was a minor in 1368 and was probably born about 1355-9. He married Margery and died about 1410, leaving a son and heir Alexander.

Alexander was already knighted before January 1379 when he set aside a grant of a yearly rent of 100s. out of land, etc., in Gipton and in the parish of Leeds, made to Sir Robert de Neville of Hornby. [13] In December 1389 Alexander de Neville of Cundall, knight, granted to feoffees, all his lands, etc., in Cundall, Thornton, Thornton upon Swale, Kirkby Hill, Leckby, Milby, Gipton, Leeds, and the parish of Leeds. [14]  In May 1391, Alexander de Neville, knight, granted to Ralph de Neville, lord of Raby, a yearly rent of £20 issuing from his lands in Carlbury and Ulnaby in the bishopric of Durham. [15] Alexander married Margery before October 1392 when the king ordered them to restore land and property in Leckby to the heirs of Margaret Deiville, sister of Elizabeth Deiville. [16]

On 9 January 1401, Alexander de Neville, knight, made an agreement with Sir Ralph de Eure, knight that Alexander, son and heir of Alexander, should marry Katherine, Ralph’s daughter, on April 18 next, at Witton in Weardale; for which marriage Ralph was to pay to Alexander £200, and Alexander was to enfeoff his son and Katherine in the manors of Thornton upon Swale and Milby near Boroughbridge. [17] Sir Alexander de Neville probably died about 1410, leaving a son and heir Alexander, and a daughter Sibyl, wife of William Malbis. [18]

Sir Alexander Neville

Sir Alexander Neville of Thornton Bridge, son of Sir Alexander Neville and Margery his wife, was probably born about 1390. He was married to Katherine, daughter of Sir Ralph de Eure of Witton, Durham and Katherine de Aton his wife on 18 April 1401, when he and Katherine were both infants. He died on 15 June 1457, leaving a son and heir, William. He and Katherine had two other sons, Robert (died in 1447) and Alexander and a daughter Katherine who married firstly William Fairfax, esquire, of Walton (died 1453), and secondly Sir Richard Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, who died at Towton. Katherine survived him, [19] she is said to have married thirdly, Richard Manchester.

Alexander’s father was probably dead before 11 May 1412, when Alexander Neville the younger, alias Alexander Neville, son of Alexander Neville of Cundall, knight, received a general pardon. [20] In 1426, Alexander Neville, esquire was a co-defendant with his sister Sibyl in an assize which came to recognise if they had disseised Richard Fairfax, esquire of the manors of Acaster Malbis and Coupmanthorpe. [21]

On 1 March 1430, Henry earl of Northumberland, William Darell, esquire, and Alexander Neville, were granted the keeping of all the lands late of Thomas Duffield until the full age of Margaret and Elizabeth the daughters and heirs of the said Thomas and Elizabeth his wife, together with the marriage of the said heirs. Thomas Duffield of York died on 10 March 1429, his wife Elizabeth Howme on 23 May 1429 and their daughter Elizabeth on 21 March 1429. [22] It appears that Alexander Neville married Margaret Duffield, the heiress of properties in York and the manor of Skelton near York, to his son Robert Neville.

In December 1431, his feoffees granted Alexander Neville possession of all his lands in Cundall, Thornton, Kirkby on the Moor, Gipton, and Leckby, property in the towns and territories of Leeds and Knoxthorpe and in the parishes of Leeds and Milby, and the manors of Ingleton, Ulnaby and Carlbury. [23]

Alexander Neville was knighted between 10 March 1435, when he was on a commission in Yorkshire, [24] and 23 May 1438, when Alexander Neville, knight was on a commission of oyer and terminer. [25]  He was one of the knights of the shire for Yorkshire in the Parliament of 1439-40. [26] On 11 May 1443, Sir William Normanville, Sir John Salvayn, Sir Alexander and William Neville, and three other Yorkshire squires were summoned to appear before the Privy Council concerning riots which had broken out in the north of England. [27]

In April 1445, Alexander Neville, esquire who must have been his son, received a grant of property in York and land in Skelton from [his brother] Robert son of Alexander Neville, knight, and Margaret [Duffield] his wife. [28] On 8 September 1447, Alexander Neville of Thornton on Swale, knight, quitclaimed to Richard Bedford and Margaret [Duffield] his wife lands and tenements in the city and suburbs of York. Margaret, widow of Robert Neville had remarried Richard Bedford, son of John Bedford of Kingston upon Hull, merchant. [29]

The will of Alexander Neville of Thornton Bridge, knight is dated Michaelmas day, 32 Henry VI [1453] and was proved on 25 June 1457. He desired to be buried in the church of St. Mary the Elder, in York. He made numerous bequests to religious houses and churches. Due to the complicated nature of his affairs, his executors declined and administration of his effects was instead granted to William Neville, esquire his son and heir, William Eure, clerk and Henry Eure, esquire. [30] The writ of diem clausit extremum for Alexander Neville, knight was issued to the escheators in the county of York and the City of York on 3 July 1457. [31]

The Durham inquisition post mortem of Sir Alexander Nevill, knight, taken at Durham on 23 March 1458 found that the said Alexander, on the day he died, held no lands or tenements in demesne service or in reversion of the Bishop, nor of any other in Durham and that he died on the eve of Corpus Christi last past [15 June 1457], and that William Neville the elder, esquire, is his son and next heir and is aged 32 years and more. [32]

On 31 August 1459, Richard Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, her son-in-law, administered the effects of Dame Katherine, relict of Sir Alexander Neville, knight. [33]

William Neville

William son of Sir Alexander Neville of Thornton Bridge was born before 1426, as he was found to be aged 32 years or more at the Durham inquisition post mortem of his father on 23 March 1458. He married Joan by whom he had three sons, William his son and heir; Ralph and Geoffrey and two daughters who were unmarried at the time of his death in before 17 March 1469. Joan his daughter married John Glasyn, mercer and alderman of York, M.P. for York in 1470-1, as his second wife. [34]

On 8 September 1447, William Neville, esquire, son and heir of Alexander Neville of Thornton on Swale, knight, enfeoffed Richard Bedford, son of John Bedford of Kingston on Hull, merchant and Margaret his wife, and her heirs, of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs of York which lately belonged to the said Margaret. [35]  Margaret was the widow of his brother Robert.

In 1465-7, William Neville, esquire and Joan his wife were members of the Guild of Corpus Christi in York. [36] On 10 July 1468, William Neville, esquire, granted property in Cundall to William Snawsell of York, goldsmith. [37]

William Neville, esquire, made his will on 2 January 1469, which was proved on 17 March 1469. He desired to be buried in the choir of the church of St. Mary the Elder, York, (where his father was interred). He directs his moveable goods and debts to be divided into three parts. Of these, one is to be spent in pious uses, a portion being the outlay of £13 6s. 5d. on the day of his interment. The second is to go to Joan his wife. The third to his two sons and two daughters, of whom Geoffrey, the younger, is to have an annual rent-charge for life of ten marks on the testator's lands, etc., at Kirkby-super-Moram; and Ralph, the elder of the two, to have a similar rent-charge on the same place. Either daughter is to have £40 towards her marriage. Joan his wife, William Neville his son and heir, Thomas Conyers, and John Gisburgh, clerk, are made executors. [38]

His widow Joan died in 1479. Administration of the effects of Joan Nevill of York was granted to John Glasyn alderman of York and Joan his wife on 20 July 1479. [39]

Sir William Neville

William son of William Neville and Joan his wife was probably born about 1440. He married firstly, by an agreement dated October 1457, Joan, daughter of Christopher Boynton of Sedbury. [40] William Neville married secondly, Alice, who was probably the widow of Thomas Beverley, the younger, merchant of York, who died shortly before 23 February 1472. [41]  He died shortly before 28 February 1484, leaving a son and heir Ralph, a son Thomas and two daughters, one of whom was called Joan. Alice survived him. An entry in the register of Archbishop Thomas Rotherham on 13 January 1485, gives a licence to Brian Stapleton of Carlton and Alice, widow of William Neville of Cothorp, knight, to be married in the manorial chapel at Carlton. [42] Whilst this is almost certainly Alice, the widow of Sir William Neville of Thornton Bridge, there does not appear to be any place called Cothorp among the family’s land holdings, so that is a bit of a mystery.

On 9 June 1469, William Neville, esquire, son and heir of William Neville, late of Thornton-on-Swale, esquire, confirmed property in Leeds and Cundall to Joan his mother for life. [43]  On 3 February 1481, William Neville of Thornton Bridge, esquire, and John Laney and Eleanor, his wife granted lands in Leeds and Milby to William Snawsell and John Glasyn and Joan, his wife. [44] On 3 February 1481, William Snawsell and Joan his wife granted land and property in Thornton Bridge to William Neville of Thornton Bridge. [45]

William Neville of Thornton Bridge was knighted in Scotland by the Duke of Gloucester on 24 July 1482. [46] On 10 October 1482, Robert Howden of Barton on Humber, co. Lincoln, merchant was pardoned for not appearing to answer a plea that he render £4 15s. 3d. to Thomas Beverley, the elder, executor of the will of Thomas Beverley, the younger, and William Neville and Alice his wife, co-executrix of the said will. [47]

The writ of diem clausit extremum, for William Neville, knight, was issued to the escheator in Yorkshire on 28 February 1484.  The will of William Neville of Thornton Bridge, esquire, is dated 6 June 1481 and was proved on 24 May 1484. He desired to be buried in his parish church of Brafferton. He mentions his wife Alice, his son and heir Ralph, his son Thomas, and two daughters (unnamed). [48]

Ralph Neville

Ralph son and heir of Sir William Neville was probably born about 1460. He married Anne, daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Warde of Givendale, by his wife Margaret Gascoigne. He died on 24 July 1522, leaving three daughters and co-heirs. Anne died before December 1521. [49] Ralph Neville died on 24 July 1522.

In 1488, Ralph Neville and Joan his sister were members of the guild of Corpus Christi in York. [50]  On 1 February 1492, Anne Warde of the parish of Ripon had licence to marry John Wandesford, esquire of Kirklington. [51] Evidently this marriage did not proceed or was annulled, because Anne later married Ralph Neville.

His inquisition post mortem found that Ralph Neville, esquire died on 24 July 1522, seized of the manors of Thornton Brigg, Leckby, Cundall, Kirkby on the Moor, Gipton and Leeds. [52] His three daughters were found to be his heirs:

-       Katherine, then aged 22 (born about 1500) wife of Sir Walter Strickland of Sizergh, Westmorland. After his death on 9 January 1528, she married secondly Henry Borough, esquire, and thirdly William Knyvet, esquire;

-       Joan, then aged 21 (born about 1501) wife of John Constable of Burton Constable and Halsham who died on 4 May 1542. She died after 1550; [53]

-       Clara, then aged 14 (born about 1508) wife of Sir Thomas Neville of Holt, Leicestershire (born about 1500) who died in London on 5 March 1571. She probably died about 1532. [54]

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[1] H. A. Doubleday & Howard de Walden, eds., The Complete Peerage, vol. 9 (1936), 499-503.

[2] Forty-Fifth Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1885), Appendix 1, 242.

[3] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/276/128, number 33.

[4] R. B. Dobson, ‘Neville, Alexander (c.1332–1392)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

[5] Thomas Duffus Hardy, ed., Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense, vol. 4, Rolls Series (1878), 340-44, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, vol. 6: 1343-1345 (1902), 367, Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/287/41, number 344, CP 25/1/287/41, number 346.

[6] G. Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Plea Rolls (London, 1905), 104.

[7] William Brown, ed., Yorkshire Deeds, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 39 (1909), 213.

[8] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/276/127, number 26.

[9] Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1871), Appendix 1, 278.

[10] William Paley Baildon, Notes on the Religious and Secular Houses of Yorkshire, vol. 1, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series 17 (1895), 148.

[11] Wrottesley, Pedigrees from the Plea Rolls, 104.

[12] Forty-Fifth Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1885), Appendix 1, 243.

[13] Brown, Yorkshire Deeds, 1, 198.

[14] Brown, Yorkshire Deeds, 1, 196.

[15] Exchequer: Augmentation Office: Ancient Deeds, Series B, E 326/3606.

[16] Brown, Yorkshire Deeds, 1, 202.

[17] Brown, Yorkshire Deeds, 1, 213.

[18] W. Paley Baildon, "Acaster Malbis and the Fairfax Family," Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 19 (1907), 29.

[19] J. Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, Vol. III, Surtees Society 45, 1864, 211n.

[20] Brown, Yorkshire Deeds, 1, 213n.

[21] Baildon, Y.A.J., 19, 27.

[22] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 25, Nos. 48, 49, 178.

[23] Lancashire Archives, Hornby Catholic Mission Papers (St Mary's Church), RCHY 3/6/12.

[24] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VI, vol. 2: 1429-1436 (1907), 607.

[25] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VI, vol. 3: 1436-1441 (1907), 201.

[26] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 17, Henry VI: 1437-1445 (1937), 141, 149.

[27] James H. Ramsay, Lancaster and York; a century of English history (A. D. 1399-1485), vol. 2 (Oxford, 1892), 53n,

[28] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/293/71, number 301.

[29] Joyce W. Percy, ed., York Memorandum Book, Surtees Society, 186 (1973), 135

[30] J. Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, Part II, Surtees Society 30, 1855, 207.

[31] Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. 19, Henry VI: 1452-1461 (1939), 168.

[32] Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office: Peake MSS, DE220/89.

[33] Raine, Test. Ebor. III, 207n.

[34] R. H. Skaife, ed., Register of the Guild of Corpus Christi in the City of York (1408-16th Century), with an Appendix of Illustrative Documents, Surtees Society 57, 1871, 49n.

[35] Percy, York Memorandum Book, 135.

[36] Skaife, Register of the Guild of Corpus Christi York, 66–67.

[37] Records of the Chichester-Constable family, DDCC/130/17.

[38] Raine, Test. Ebor. III, 263n.

[39] Ibid., 264n.

[40] W. Hylton Dyer Longstaffe, ed., Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties in 1530, by Thomas Tonge, Norroy King of Arms, Surtees Society 41, 1863, 42.

[41] Raine, Test. Ebor. III, 196.

[42] Eric E. Barker, ed., The Register of Thomas Rotherham Archbishop of York 1480-1500, vol. 1, Canterbury and York Society, 69 (1976), 206.

[43] Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office: Peake MSS, DE220/61.

[44] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/281/165, number 17.

[45] Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/281/165, number 18.

[46] William A. Shaw, The Knights of England, vol. 2 (1906), 18.

[47] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III: 1476-1485 (1901), 293.

[48] Raine, Test. Ebor. III, 263.

[49] William Paley Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons a History of a Yorkshire Manor and Family, vol. 1 (Bradford, 1912), 265.

[50] Skaife, Register of the Guild of Corpus Christi York, 123.

[51] Raine, Test. Ebor. III, 357.

[52] Inq. p.m. Exchequer, Series II, File 225, cited by: George F. Farnham & A. Hamilton Thompson, eds., "The Manor House and Chapel of Holt," Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society, vol. 13 (1924), 243.

[53] James Balfour Paul, ed., The Scots Peerage, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1906), 293.

[54] Bernard Elliot, "Thomas Nevill of Nevill Holt (1510-1571)," Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 58 (1983), 20-24.