# A History of Cawthorne/The Township of Cawthorne

CHAPTER VI.
THE TOWNSHIP OF CAWTHORNE.
The present Township of Cawthorne, which is given in the Ordnance Survey as containing 3,707-2-26 acres, is just the same in area as the township of the Domesday Book of eight hundred years ago, being "the Manor of Cawthorne."
Its comparative rateable value in early times may be seen from a Subsidy Roll of Edward III. (1350), in which the Township of Cawthorne is assessed at xlvii s., while Thurlstone stands as the highest rated township of the Wapentake: Thurlstone, lvi s.; Worsborough, l s.; Barnsley, xxxi s.; Darton, xxx s., Silkstone, xxvi s., Dodworth, xx s.; Barugh, xvii s.; High Hoyland, xvi s. At the close of the last century the relative proportions of the County Rate in the some townships were as follows: Cawthorne, Barnsley, Worsborough, Thurlstone, 1s.; Darton, Dodworth, Silkstone, Barugh, 6d.; High Hoyland, 4d.
In the historical Poll Tax of Richard II. (1379), the "gross injustice of which exaction, making the poorest man contribute as much as the wealthiest, set England on fire from sea to sea," and gathered the men of Kent round Wat Tyler, we see that the township of Cawthorne produced xxvi s. x d., at 4d. for every person, male and female, above fifteen years of age. Barnsley produced £1 13s. 8d.; Penistone, 5s. 2d.; Silkstone, 12s. 4d.; Dodworth, 18s. 4d. Darton, 9s. 4d.; Denby, 11s. 8d.; High Hoyland, 3s. 6d.; Kexborough, 6s. 2d.: West Bretton, 5s. 10d.; Clayton, 3s. 8d.; Cumberworth, 5s. 6d.; Monk Bretton, 14s. 2d. Being a tax levied on all equally, it gives the relative population of these several townships.
The full list of those who were thus taxed at Cawthorne is as follows:
Villata de Colthorne.
Johannes filius Roberti Constabularius juratus & Idonia uxor ejus iiijd.; Robertus de Barnebe et Alicia uxor ejus, Barker, vjd.; Willelmus del Herst iiijd.; Magota Ffoy 4d.; Johanna Platesmyth, 4d.; ​Johannes Skorer et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Willelmus Skorer et Alicia uxor ejus, 4d.; Johanna Haggeman, 4d.; Willelmus King et Alicia uxor ejus, 4d; Alic' de Hepworth, 4d.; Robertus Jouet et Cecilia uxor ejus, 4d.; Thos. Milner et Alicia uxor ejus, 4d.; Robertus Redil et Cesilia uxor ejus, 4d.; Adam filius ejus; Robertus Wilkynson et Agnes uxor ejus, Souter, 6d.; Johannes Ffamutlus (sic) ejus, 4d.; Alicia filia ejus, 4d.; Alicia soror ejus, 4d.; Willelmus de Micklethwaite et Nabul uxor ejus, Sutor, 6d.; Johanna de Micklethwaite, 4d.; Diot' ancilla Willelmi predicti 4d.; Johannes de Cranschagh et Alicia uxor ejus, Souter, 6d.; Johannes Adde et Elena uxor ejus, 4d.; Johannes filius ejus, 4d.; Johannes Taylour et Cecilia uxor ejus, 4d.; Robertus de Aylmeherst et Beatrix uxor ejus, 4d.; Magota filia ejus, 4d.; Rogerus Bartrem et Esabella uxor ejus, 4d.; Johannes de Hethele et Magota uxor ejus, 4d.; Johannes Dobson et Agnes uxor ejus, 4d.; Magota filia ejus, 4d.; Diot' soror ejus, 4d.; Robertus Chapman et Alicia uxor ejus, 4d.; Diot' del Daykins, 4d; Willelmus filius ejus, 4d.; Johannes de Chalesworth et Cecilia uxor ejus, 4d.; Magota ancilla ejus, 4d.; Willelmus de Moslay et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Thomas Bethebroke et Cecilia uxor ejus, 4d.; Radulphus Goldesmythe et Elena uxor ejus, 4d.; Johannes Tat et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Thomas Worme et Margaret uxor ejus, 4d.; Ricardus Hunter et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Beatrix Clercwyf, 4d.; Johannes Hunt et Emmot uxor ejus, 4d.; Adam Turbut et Magota uxor ejus. 4d.; Robertus Dobson et Agnes uxor ejus, 4d.; Johanna filia ejus, 4d.; Hugo Balking et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Robertus Marchand et Magota uxor ejus, 4d.; Magote Claret, 4d.; Thomas Turner et Margareta uxor ejus, 4d.; Isabella filia ejus, 4d.; Robertus Mokeson et Margareta uxor ejus, 4d.; Willelmus Taylour et Margareta uxor ejus, 4d.; Ricardus Worme et Agnes, 4d.; Diot' Letis, 4d.; Cesot soror ejus, 4d.; Willelmus de Thorneton et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Robertus Souter et Diot' uxor ejus, Souter, 6d.; Johannes filius ejus, 4d.; Thomas Frater ejus, 4d.; Johannes Ode et Margareta uxor ejus, 4d.; Willelmus Souter et Ibota uxor ejus, Skynner, 6d.; Willelmus Ibotson, 4d.; Willelmus Dey, 4d.; Elena ancilla ejus, 4d.; Alicia de Brokehouse, 4d.; Thomas Dey et Johanna uxor ejus, 4d.; Idonia Dey, 4d.; Avicia filia ejus, 4d.; Robertus Smyth et Agnes uxor ejus, Smyth, 12d.; Johannes Blomer, Smyth, 6d.; Johannes Aiche, 4d.; ​Elena White, 44. Summa xxvj s. x d. (The Poll Tax of Richard II.: Yorks. Archælog: Soc. Publications).
There are here given forty households with the mention of husband and wife, and about a dozen more may be safely added to these forty in estimating the total number of houses and population. The employments, which are given in italics, show the number of those who depended upon other occupations than those connected with agriculture. The "Barker," the "Skynner," with the four "Souters," (shoemakers) would point to the ancient tanyards here, and the two "Smyths," one of whom is the only person who pays 12d. for himself and his wife, tell us of the iron-forges, with the "Smyth" and the "Blomer" found here as surnames. In his Industrial Biography, Smiles gives an extract from a contract made, Dec. 26th, 1352, for supplying wood and iron for iron "blomes" at Kirskell near Otley, these "blomes" being probably the bloomeries or fires in which the iron was made. (pp. 30, 1.)
The names of Barnebe, Jouet, Taylour, Daykins, Mokeson, Brookehouse, are still found existing as names of families or places. Two hundred years later than the above Poll Tax we have a few Cawthorne names mentioned in "Musters taken of the Privat Men and Towne Soldiers within the Wapentacke of Staincrose at Barnsleye the iiijth of December, 1587, by Richard Wortleye and George Woodroff, Esquires." Cawthorne, Thurlstone, Barnsley, and Worsbrough are the only places in the Wapentake where there are four "Town Soldiers" required; their names at Cawthorne are P. Edmonde Haighe, F.; C. William Hawcrofte, F.; C. Richard Gawthorpe, F.; P. Richard Rawling, F. Armor. The "Private Men" here are P. William Champneye, F.; C. Thomas Greene, F.; P. Thomas Catlowe, F.; C. William Greene, F. The letter "P." means "Armed Picks;" "C." means "Calivers" (a kind of musket, from calibre); "F." shows that they were properly armed or "furnyshed." In this local militia are found many names of families which have had a prominent connection with the places they are mentioned under. At Thurgoland, we find "P. Thomas Cudworth F., savinge a better man," one of the family which resided at Eastfield for four hundred years; at Stainbrough we find John Cutler, one ​of a family which rose to great distinction: he himself is probably the John Cutler of Falthwaite, who on the 6th of April in that very year (1587) had married for his second wife Ann daughter of John Wordsworth of Brook-house, Penistone, widow of John Cudworth of Eastfield. Under Stainbrough is also "Richard Wadsworthe:" the Richard whose son William, of Falthwaite and Wraith House, married Marg. Cudworth in Jan., 1589, and from whom in direct succession in the sixth generation came the poet, William Wordsworth, and his brother Christopher, the latter being the father of the poet's distinguished nephews, the present Bishops of Lincoln and St. Andrews.
Under "Worsbroughe" in this Muster-roll is found Roger Elmhurste, of Elmhirst and Houndhill, who purchased the Manor of Silkstone, and whose ancestors had already been connected with Worsborough for two hundred years, as their direct descendants still continue to be. "William Wordsworthe" is the one "Privat Man" at Penistone, the son most probably of John Wordsworth of Waterhall: John Moxson, armed with a "Bill," is given for Hoylland Swayne, and William Catling as the Town Soldier there, though the words, "The man appears not," are added. In this name of Catling we have the origin of Catling Hall, now commonly called Cat-hill, afterwards the residence of the Sotwells. At Barnsley, we see Thomas Kesfurthe, being Thomas Keresforth of Keresforth-Hill; at Munckburton, George Woode, an ancestor of the present Lord Halifax, and Thos. Allot; at Dartor Nicholas Burditt, one of the great Burdett family of Birthwaite Hall.
In 1615, when the County of York was charged with the provision of 400 horses, we find the Cawthorne name of Thomas Barnby, Esq., set down for one, and that of Matthew Wentworth, Esq.
The following is an order from Richard Cudworth of Eastfield, as Chief Constable of this Wapentake, to the Constables and Sessors of Cawthorne, made from an exact copy of the order as retained by Richard Cudworth at the time:
"By vertue of a warrante to us directed under the hande and seale of Sir Thomas Danbye Knight and High SherifTe of the County of Yorke for the payment of £144 5s. 4d. charged upon our Weapentake of Stainecrosse, by vertue, towards providing two Ships for ​His Majestie's use, by vertue of which warrant wee have assessed upon the Towneshipp of Cawthorne the some of £7 15s. and have appointed John Shirtt Robt. Smith Thomas Pashley to be sessors for the sayd towneshipp how much every man in the said towneshipp must pay, and because ye clergye are to pay their proportion herein, you must give them notice that they may joyne with you in this assessment if soe they please, if they have any meanes that may fall within this assessment, with this discretion, that if there be any of abillytye amongst you by reason of gainefull lande" [this word ought to be 'trades'] "or great stockes of money or other personally estates who have little lande that in a land stocke would paye very litle or nothinge, you are to sess them to their abyllytye and applye theire assessments to the easinge of other that are indebted or charged with many children, and it is further required that you bringe your assessment faire written in two partes under what you have assessed upon every man within your sayd towne, and the same to deliver to me at Eastfield at or before the thyrteenth day of November instante fixed by this warrant; and, because the day is appointed for the payment of the monye unto the collectors, you are to appoint the mony to be in rediness in your constables handes whensoever it shall be demanded: fayle you not herein, as you will answer the contrarye: dated the tenth day of November 1637, by me Richard Cudworth."
In a summary of the assessment for the Wapentake, Worsborough is given as having to pay £12 10s., Cawthorne and Thurlstone £7 15s., Barnsley £6 10s., Penistone £3., Silkstone £3 14s., Dodworth £4., Darton £3 5s., Hoyland-Swaine £3 6s., Kexborough and Barugb £3 5s. Among these papers of Richard Cudworth is a list of those at Dodworth who followed the example of the memorable Buckinghamshire Squire, John Hampden, at this time, and "would not pay there shipp money," the first name there being that of Hen. Hobson, who refused his 5s. The name of Richard Elmhirst is given in this Chief Constable's Book as receiving from him a sum of £3 6s. 8d, Nov. 20, 1637, "for bullits and shot for His Majesties service." His Book gives all the Riding Assessments made at this time upon the Wapentake: for the "repaire" of several County Bridges; "for the House of Correction at Wakefield, due yearly at ​Easter onelye, £1 18s. 2d.; money due to be paid to the prisoners in Yorke Castle at evry assizes 6s. 7d.; to Captain ——— for his pension, 16s.; these are to be collected yearly; for the Pourehous about Christmas £8 1s. 3d.; lame souldiers money evry Sessions out of the Parishes as followeth £3 7s."
The following apportionment of an Assessment of £80 made on the West Riding in 1638 for Wakefield House of Correction shows the relative wealth of the different Divisions: Agbrig and Morley, Claro, and Staincliffe and Ewcrosse £15 8s. each; Skireacke (Shireoak), Barkeston Ash, and Osgoldcrosse and Staincrosse, £7 14s. each (whereof Staincross one third part only); Strafford and Tickhill, £10 16s.
In 1642, the Parish of Cawthorne is one of the nine neighbouring Parishes which support Sir Francis Wortley in the Royal cause against the Parliament. They are appointed to pay to the "said Sir Francis Wortley for the maintenance of his said garrison (which is to consist of one hundred and fiftie dragoons besides officers) the some of eighty-five pounds, fifteene shillings, fivepence farthing, by the weeke." In consideration of this payment, there is a Royal warrant "to the chief constables of the Wapentake of Staynecross and the pettye constables of these Parishes," giving them notice "to forbeare to demande or collecte of any of the inhabitants of the said severall Parishes any part of the assessment of thirtie thousand pounds lately granted of this country towards the maintenance of His Majestie's army."
This warrant is given in Hunter, Vol. II, p. 317, as signed by Edward Osborne, Wm. Wentworth, Francis Monckton, Edward Stanhope, and Robert Rockley.
This garrison of Sir Francis Wortley was established at Tankersley.
The landowners of Cawthorne were not unanimous, however, in the support of the Royal cause. Mr. Godfrey Bosvile of Gunthwaite, the grandfather of that Godfrey whose initials "G. B. 1690" are still to be seen with the Bosvile arms on one of the buildings of Gunthwaite, was an active adherent of the Parliament, holding a commission as colonel of an infantry regiment, being himself a member of ​the Long Parliament, returned for the borough of Warwick in 1640. John Shirt, of Cawthorne Lanes, was his steward. There is a Captain Shirt of Rawroyd at this time, also a Parliamentary officer, whose name frequently occurs in a "Diary of Captain Adam Eyre, of Hazlehead," published in the Surtees Society's Volume of Yorkshire Diaries. (Vol. 65: 1877.)
He calls it "Diurnall or Catalogue of all my Actions and Expences from the 1st of January, 1646 [7]."
"August 25, 1646: Went to Cawthorne to see Mr. Bosvile at Jo. Shirt's."
One entry speaks of calling on Capt. Shirt, "who told us hee had stated his accounts at London as leiftenant to my brother, and it was to he reported to the House, amongst others; and that he had entrusted Mr. Boswell (Bosvile) to speake for him there."
"April 18. (Easter Day.) This morne I went to Cawthron to Church, where I heard Mr. Broadley preach in the forenoon; and after sermon I gave Jo. Shirt a lettre and a book from Mr. Bosvile. Then I went to diner with Capt. Shirt; and, after, we went to Broadgates and I spent 4d., and rid to Silkstone where I heard Mr. Spoford preach. This morne was a snow all the country over."
"I called on Ralph Wordsworth of Waterhall and we went to Cawthron."
"William (Wordsworth) and I came and mett Ed. Michell at Mr. Broadley's house at Cawthron, and thence we went to the Alehouse with William Swift, and spent each of us 6d.; and thence to Jo. Shirt's."
"Thence to Cawthron to see Mr. Boswell at Jo. Shirt's who sent his man to me in the morne, to whom I gave 5s."
"To Cawthron and there spent 6d. Thence we went to Rawroyd and called on Capt. Shirt."
A Mr. Stanhope is mentioned in the Diary in connection with Bradford and "Ottley," where Capt. Eyre gives a particular of what debenture he is to take to London, "1st. My owne, attested by my leiftenant and cornett, and certifyed by Major Spencer."
"Thence I went to Cawthron and spoke to Matthew Lynley."
​In the "Freeholder Booke" of Staincross, in 1665, the names at Cawthorne are "Thomas Barnby, Esq.; William Greene, gent.; "Matthew Swallow, yeom.; John Spencer, gent."
Among the papers in the possession of the Vicar of Cawthorne is a "Survay of all the lands within the Constabularie of Cawthorne taken in the month of January, 1648, by Thomas Cawthorne," of Worsbrough,—the same Thomas Cawthorne, doubtless, whose name appears as a yeoman among the Freeholders of Worsbrough in 1665.
The Barnby Estate is given as 349 acres. Amongst the names of fields are "the Schoolhouse croft," "the Roydes against the Furnace," the "over and nether Pittlands" "Willeocke Houlmes," "Hudd croft"
Sir Thomas Wentworth's estate is given as 72 acres, and Mrs. Wentworth's 78 acres. In this are "Kilnehouse Croft"—the 'Kilnehouse-piece' of our present Cemetery and adjoining gardens,—2 acres 3 roods: Towne Ing; Shingle at the Bridge; Cock croft; Parson Close; Hudroyd; Morris Croft; Butts in West Field; Kirkcroft, &c.
The word "Butts" occurs several times in the Survey, carrying us back to the time of Edward IV., when every Englishman was obliged to have a bow of his own height, and Butts for the practice of archery were to be erected near every village, where the inhabitants were obliged to shoot up and down on every Feast-day under penalty of being fined a halfpenny. "Butt Croft" and "Butt Ing" are still the names of the two fields to the east of the Vicarage, in the latter of which used to be the Butt or Serpent well, whose waters have just been made use of again to supply the lower end of the village, before the tradition has quite died out, which makes a serpent periodically fly across to it from Cawthorne Park.
The Survey was made, of course, for the Township rating: lands are mentioned in it as "belonginge to Vickars farme and Joshua Lindley which Mr. Greene is to pay lay for." Norcroft, "Over" and "Neither," is given as belonging to John Mosley; part of over Norcroft with Hillhouse and Michell Farm, both "in William Shirte occupation," belong to Mr. Greene, with Bankes and Bilcliffe; Elmhirst to William Greene: Mr. Bosvile's lands include Dawalls, ​with great and little Hollin royde, William Pashley's farm (Pashley Green?), John Shirte's farme at Upper House, land in Lionell Hawksworth's and Robert Shirt's occupation, Dawwalls in Matthew Crossland's, Deakin Brook, Rawroyd in George Shirt's. Another part of Rawroyd with "Babeshough botombe," "Smithy royd," &c., is mentioned as "unsurvayed."
Broadgates is given as Thomas Pashley's. John Shirte is given as occupying 84 acres with a "Barkehouse close" in it. Mich. Hartley (a brother of Robert Hartley) has "land belongeing Rawleing House in John Shirte occupation." Mr. Oley has the Rouleyes; Joshua Butterworth and John Lindley have each part of Jowet-House lands: Thomas Smith is the owner of Dayne hill, with its "Barkehouse close;" Matthew Linley of the Roulands; Brookehouse land, in William Shirte occupation, belongs to Harison; Cliffe Hill, Brookehouse croft, But Inge, Brige Inge, &c., belong to Thomas Wainwright, who also occupies them. "Windmilne Hill" is "Littlewood land." Bower croft, the Towne Inge, &c., belong to Henry Thompson; the "shingle at gill royds" is given as two roods; Minister croft, one acre; George Dixon has six acres at "the milne called the rayles."
Robert Hartley's land is given in 1649 as 233 acres, and, though it is not stated whether as owner or tenant of Cannon Hall, it certainly gives part of this estate as his own, in the occupation of others.
In comparing the number of landowners at that time and the present, we see how greatly the number has diminished, and how large a proportion of the Parish now belongs to the owner of Cannon Hall through successive purchases: Dean Hill came by purchase to Mr. John Spencer from Dame Gertrude Gresley and Jane Grammar, with Clough Green and other smaller properties, in 1761, a Mr. Robert Smith, who married a sister of John Green of Elmhirst, owning it in 1734 (John Hobson's Diary); the Barnby estate, part in 1701 and the other moiety in 1755; the Rawroyd estate from Godfrey, Lord Macdonald, Sir Francis Burdett, and John Hall Esq. (the Bosvile trustees), in 1831, with Hadden and other land; the Banks estate from Mr. Fawkes of Farnley, in 1826; Flash House from the Rowleys not long after; the Jowett-House property in 1859; Upper House ​gradually from various part-owners between 1848 and 1870; what has lately been known as Mr. West's property, from Mr. Bramah in 1876.
In the full Survey of the Township there is a note at the end: "This booke was written by Mathew Lindley for Mr. Greene of Bancks, in the year of our Lord 1663," being copied, we may suppose, from the Assessment Survey of 1648. There is an analysis of the principal estates at the end: "All Mr. Barnby lands with Hugset, &c., 351 acres; Sir Thos. Wentworth's 159, besides two lands and a park; Mr. Greene lands, 362; Mr. Bosvile's 415, besides woodland, 84 acres; Belonginge the Cannon Hall 211, with 8 acres of wood."
In another handwriting—Mr. Greene's own—"Cannon Hall in everie assessment per acre made be dubble to me and above halfe as much more as may appeare by this survaye. The number of plaine land in the whole is 2,589 acres, 1 rood, 16 perches."
Another assessment list gives the acreage, the rental per annum, the rent per acre, and a column with a rate at a halfpenny in the pound on the rental. On the back of the paper, which came from Bretton Hall not many years ago, is an entry, "Reseved of my cosen Wintworth ye 9 of Aprill 1550 ye sum of fifty shilling which I promest to pay a year upon a Counte. I say riseved by me Rd. Wheteley." This seems to be the Richard Wheatley of Woolley whose pedigree in Hunter makes his father Richard to have married a daughter of Richard Wentworth of Bretton in Henry VII.'s time. A Richard Whetley was fined viijd. at Barnsley in 27 Henry VIII. for obstructing the way leading from Woolley to Wakefield.
Among the entries in this Survey are the following:
| ACRS. | PER ANNUM. | NAME. | RATES. | RATES. | PER ACRE | PER ACRE |
| | | | s. | d. | s. | d. |
| 349 | 200 | Thos. Barnby | 8 | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 72 | 106 | Tho. Wentworth | 4 | 2 |
| 78 | 40 | Mrs. Wentworth | 1 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| 38 | 22 | Robert Fawley | 0 | 11 | 10 | 0 |
The total acreage given in this account is 2,273: the rental or rateable value, £1,299. The amount of the third column is £2 14s. 8d., exactly a halfpenny in the pound on the total rent, where the rent is given, throughout all the fifty one owners' or tenants' names. The fourth column of figures gives the yearly rent per acre, varying from six shillings and eightpence to seventeen shillings and ​sixpence on some smaller holdings of from four to seven acres, but in most cases nine or ten shillings per acre. The asterisk shows that the rate per acre is not exactly what is given.
The record from which this is taken seems an older one than that of 1649, some few Christian names in it being different, and the rental of certain holdings lower. It also gives an account headed "for stocke of severall Townesmen in goods: Thomas Woffenden £20, Will. Shirt £30; John Shirtt £80; Robt. Shirtt £100; Nath. Bothamley £20; Jo. Crosland £20; Low. Bower £40; Tho. Smith £100; Nath. Linley, £100; Tho. Gawtherupp, £100; Jo. Satterfeild £800."
On the re-establishment of the Militia after the Restoration, we find the names of Josias Micklethwaite, Robert Smith, William Littlewood, Daniel Hinthman, the first and the last two as Musketeers, and Littlewood as a Pikeman, chargeable from Cawthorne. (Muster Roll of Sir Michael Wentworth's Regiment, 1680: History of Barnsley, p.36.)
For the next military record in connection with Cawthorne we must pass a hundred and twenty years, to the time of the Staincross Volunteers, of which there has already been mention made in connection with their commanding officer (page 31).
"Privates: Cawthorne;
"Turner, Thomas, Weaver:
"Hinchliffe, Jas., mason: Longley, Richd., servant: Shirt, Joseph, farmer: Askwith, James, miller: Barrowclough, Willm., labourer: Bollands, Richd., miner: Burkett, Wm., miner: Beaumont, Jonas, carpenter: Carr, Thos., labourer: Dixon, Thos., labourer: Dyson, Andrew, miner: English, John, farmer: Eastwood, Wm., labourer: Eyre, John, miner: Fish, John, miner: Firth, Josh., miner: Gelder, David, labourer: Gill, Joseph, servant: Greaves, John, servt.: Hawksworth, John, nailer: Hattersley, Richd., miner: Hoxley, Benjn., labourer: Hurst, Jas., servant: Ibberson, George, taylor: Jessop, Joseph, mason: Kitson, Wm., labourer: Longley, John, servant: Mallard, Thos., miner: Mosley, John, joiner: Mosley, Wm., joiner: Rhodes, Thos., joiner: Rusbey, Leonard, mason: ​Saddler, Joseph, miner: Stafford, David, do.: Scott, Benjn, do.: Turton, Jonas, servant: Tyas, John., blacksmith: Waters, John, carpenter: Willcock, John, woodcutter: Willcock, Thos., do.: Willcock, Richd., do.
In the first Subscription List of 1803 are the following local names:
G. W. Wentworth, £500: W. Spencer Stanhope, £300: W. Beaumont, £200: Saml. Thorp, £25: Joseph Beckett, £50: Francis Edmunds, £100: W. Elmhirst, £50: Henry Clarke, £21: John Perkins, Kexbrough, £25: Richard Perkins, Dodworth, £21. At Cawthorne: John Beatson, £25: Mrs. Howson, £5 5s.: Thos. Dransfield, £5 5s.: Judah Hinchliffe, £2 2s.: John Moxon, £2 2s.: John Stead, £1 10s. 6d.: Mr. Eyre, £5 5s.: Jno. Drury, £1 1s.: Jonathan Greaves, 10s. 6d.: Thos. Hinchliffe, £1 1s.: Thomas Shirt, £1 1s.: Eleanor Walton, £1 1s.: John Johnson, £5 5s.: John Marshall, 10s. 6d.: John Rhodes, £1 1s.: Joseph Shaw, £1 1s.: Jas. Wigglesworth, £1 1s.: Josiah Charlesworth, 5s.: Thos. West, £26 6s.: Jno. Lindley, £2 3s.: Joshua Armitage, £1 1s.
In a second Subscription List, 1807, W. Spencer Stanhope gives £131 5s.: Godfrey W. Wentworth and J. M. Beaumont the same: Saml. Thorpe, £10 10s: Mr. J. Beatson, £6 6s.: Mr. J. Rowley, £5 5s.: many other names in the earlier list are found again in this.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, and for more than a hundred years afterwards, the Spencers of Cannon Hall were among the largest iron manufacturers of the neighbourhood, at one time or other connected with the Barnby Furnaces, the Wortley Forges, Bank Furnace in the Parish of Thornhill, and the ironworks at Kirkstall near Leeds. The large woods around provided the necessary fuel at a time when coal had not begun to be used for smelting purposes. So great, indeed, was the consumption of wood in iron-smelting, that Parliamentary legislation had to place it under severe restrictions. It was not till the middle of the eighteenth century, when the total home manufacture of iron had dwindled down to 18,000 tons a year, that pit-coal began to be extensively used in smelting. This led to such an immense increase in the consumption of coal, that the out​put rose to 8 millions in 1790 and 10 millions in 1800. At the present time it is about 140 millions. A large extension of the canal system helped to develop the Yorkshire Coalfields towards the end of the last century, and the opening of the Barnsley Canal, in 1799, and its Branch to Cawthorne Basin gave an immense impetus to the Collieries at Barnby Furnace and Silkstone.
In the number of cinder-heaps scattered about on the North and on the East side of the Parish, and in the numerous "Smithy-fields', and "Cinder Hill," we have evidences of the manufacture of iron having been the staple trade of the Parish for many centuries. The manufacture of woollen cloth was also carried on at Cawthorne, as in most of the neighbouring villages. In the first year of Queen Mary, 1554, the family of Waterhouse of Halifax had granted to them for forty years at the yearly rent of £96 2s. "the ferme of subsidy and alnage of all saylable woollen clothes and peaces of cloth hereafter to be made within the County of York, and the moiety of all forfeitures of the same cloths and pieces of cloth put to sale not sealed with the seal ordained for the same."
The Waterhouse family assigned to Michael Wentworth, of Mendham Priory, Suffolk, and of Ottes, Essex, one of the Masters of the Queen's Household, whose grandson purchased Woolley in 1559 from Francis Woodrove, all the profits from a large number of places in this neighbourhood, including Cawthorne and Silkstone.
The Parish Registers very seldom mention the occupation of any one before 1744. In 1718, we have a Swift a "mason" and Bostwick a "woodcutter," and in 1727, the word "wire-mill" is found; but after that time the designation of "collier" is a frequent one, along with those of "wood-collier," "weaver," "clothier," and "tanner."
The production of coal in the Parish was probably at its greatest height soon after the beginning of the present century, when Mr. Samuel Thorp and his son Mr. Richard, of Banks Hall, were working the coal at Norcroft, and Mr. Daniel Wilson and his son Mr. Thomas Wilson, of Banks, were working at Barnby Furnace. It was at this time that the Woffendens' farm-house and farm-buildings at Upper ​Norcroft were converted into miners' houses, whilst Mr. Wilson made houses for his own workmen out of the farm buildings which are now "Collier Fold," being very desirous, let it be mentioned to his honour, that each cottage should have attached to it a good useful garden, as it still continues to have. The branch of the Aire and Calder Navigation Co.'s Canal at Barnby Basin was at this time the great shipping place for Mr. Jonas Clarke's Silkstone Coal, and for the arrival of lime, &c., for the whole district to the west.
Mr. Daniel Wilson succeeded the Low Moor Iron Co. in working the coal at Barnby Furnace after that company had had a colliery accident in which several lives were lost. The Low Moor Company may be said to have had some personal connection with Cawthorne through Mr. John Hardy, solicitor of Bradford, one of its first founders, in 1788, being agent for the Horsforth estate of the Mr. Walter Stanhope of that time. Mr. Hardy strongly advised Mr. Stanhope to invest in the company, but he declined as having "too many children to provide for." From Mr. Hardy's own happy adventure in it, his family have advanced to the highest position of wealth and social distinction, the present Right-Honorable Viscount Cranbrook being his grandson.
At the present time, the Barnby Furnace Colliery, now known as the Stanhope Silkstone, is the only one being worked in the Parish, the Parkgate seam being found at a depth of forty-seven yards, and the celebrated Silkstone seam, which is the only one being worked, at a depth of about seventy fathoms, having a thickness of about four feet six inches. The present lessee is Mr. G. A. Haworth: the output is about 400 tons a day. Mr. Stanhope works the same seam for private use by a small day-hole pit in Tivydale.
In the Census of 1881, the population of the present Parish is given as 1057, being 527 males and 530 females. There were 231 inhabited houses, 18 uninhabited, and 2 in course of being built. In that part of the Township which was included in the new Parish of Hoyland Swaine in 1869, there were 108 inhabitants, 63 males and 45 females, in 30 houses.
​In the Census of 1871, there were 1,115 inhabitants of Cawthorne—561 males, 554 females—in 242 houses; in the part included in Hoyland Swaine, 119 inhabitants—61 males, 58 females—in 29 houses.
The Census of Cawthorne previously to 1871 included the whole Township:
The area of the Township is given in the Rate Book as 3,418 acres, 1 rood, 29 perches; in the Ordnance Survey, 3,707 - 2 - 26 acres. The gross estimated rental in 1872 was £5,732; in 1875, £7,631. The gross value as assessed to the Property Tax under Schedule A. in 1872 was £5,699; in 1875, £6,119. The County Rate basis in 1872 was £5,558; in 1875, £6,960; the estimated gross rental as returned to the County Assessment Committee in 1873 was £7551; in 1881, £7,601, the County Rate basis being £7,152 the former year, and £7,080 in 1881.
In 1803, the money raised by the Parish Rates at 4s. 3d. in the pound was £721 2s. ½d. A rate of 10d. in the pound now raises £272.
There is an Ordnance bench-mark on the Church Tower (now inside the Church, on the south side) which is given as 360 feet 8 in. above the level of the sea. The bench-mark on the trough in Cliffehill lane is 294 ft. 8 in. Other bench-marks are at the footbridge on the north of Rawroyd, 288 feet; at the south-west corner of the Allotments, 261 feet; on a footpath to High Hoyland by Rawroyd, 351 feet. Cannon Hall is 375 feet. The following places may be mentioned for comparison: Dakin Brook, 350; Pool Hill, 775; Hoyland Swaine Heights, 900; Penistone (old) Station, 711; Champney Hill, 625; Denby Church, 833; High Hoyland Church, 710; Woolley Edge (Beacon Hill), 575; Darton Church, 208.
​Cawthorne Village is Latitude 53′34; Longitude 1′34 W. The Survey of the Township is on sheets 261, 262, and 273, 274 of the Ordnance Survey. The nearest place where the Rainfall has been regularly observed is Barnsley, which is four miles E.S.E. of Cawthorne. The following is the Rainfall there for the last three years with that of some other places selected for comparison. The number after the Rainfall is that of the days in the year upon which .01 of an inch of rain, or more, has fallen:
The observers' names are given in the order of the places they observe at: Dr. Sadler; Mr. Geo. Whitfield; Mr. Greenwood; Dr. Clarke; Mr. Boyd; Mr. Robson; Mr. J. King, junr.; Rev. Canon Cross; Mr. F. M. T. Jones (Lesketh How); Mr. J. Maitland; do.
The village of Cawthorne is very fairly provided with water since a regular supply was obtained in 1865 by laying down iron pipes from Margery Wood on the High Hoyland side of the valley. The beautiful Stone Cross where this supply now empties itself in Church Street—"Maypole hill"—is one of the interesting features of the village. It was given by the Misses Frances and Maria Stanhope, of Banks Hall, in 1866, and was designed by Mr. Shaw of Saddleworth as being in character with the ancient Norman Cross built into the exterior East wall of the North Chancel aisle. It bears the text, ​"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (St. John iv., 13, 14.) An unfailing supply of water, slightly sulphurous, was tapped in a borehole made near Jowett House in 1853, in a search for coal.
Cawthorne may very well be described as in many respects a picturesque village, and especially that part of it which lies scattered among the gardens of Tivydale, where the present neat cottages represent the original "squatters'" tenements built up and down upon the lord's waste, and paying him a merely nominal acknowledgment. The prettily-sheltered Lodge at the Tivydale entrance to the Park, from the designs of the late Rev. C. S. Stanhope, was built some sixty years ago, when the new road was made from Tivydale to Cannon Hall in place of the entrance by Cliffe-hill lane, by which old Mr. Stanhope is even yet remembered by some to have driven his coach-and-four.
Mr. Spencer's hounds have left their record behind them in the "Dog-Kennel Lane" and "Tivydale," the Kennels having been situate near where the road to Norcroft and Silkstone turns up from the cottage which used to be "Dog-Kennel Bar," until the abolition of Toll-bars on the Shepley Lane-Head Turnpike Trust on August 1st, 1875, terminated the object for which it was built. The Dog-Kennel-lane, which comes out into the above Norcroft road half way up the hill, is a part of an old packhorse bridle-road marked on the Ordnance Survey. The road comes from the South-West of the Parish at "Small Lanes," passes over Bilcliffe (Bentley) Hill in what is called "Gipsy Lane," comes down into Tivydale by this Dog-Kennel-Lane, then passes into Dark Lane by the picturesque little residence of our well-known Cawthorne artist, Mr. Abel Hold, and winds its way by Cliffe-hill Bridge to near Deane Hill, though the substitution of other and better roads has lead to this latter part of the old road being almost obliterated by long disuse. The Cliffe-hill lane, which joins it near the little stream, was the highway from Cawthorne to the North.
These "Lanes" have a peculiar interest as being undoubtedly the oldest vestiges of man in the Parish. They are most probably, with a few later deviations, the original tracks through the forests of pre​historic times. It is not impossible indeed, that the yew trees which still wrestle on with life near Hillhouse, with others of their kind scattered on the route, were road-marks to shew the way to the few travellers of near two thousand years ago. These sunken lanes, often depressed many feet below the level of the fields on either side show the gradual wearing down of tread and traffic: they are not 'cuttings' at all, but only 'wearings,' and the deep depressions of near the summit of Gipsy Lane and in Dark Lane are such as, to use the language of geology, "postulate time." (See Edinburgh Review, April 1882: pp.392, 3, 4.)
The new Turnpike road of 1826, going East and West from one end of the Parish to the other, made several small deviations from the previous main-road: it cut off an elbow by what used to be the open common between Raw Green and Clough Green, and another on the 'Barnby-lane,' as it was called, near the Quarry Well.
A great change was made in the aspect of the Western part of the Township by the Gadding Moor Enclosure Act of exactly eighty years ago—42 George III.—the award and Plans of which are in the care of the Vicar and Churchwardens of Silkstone.
The only antiquities discovered in the Parish, beyond those connected with the Church, are a large number of silver coins, chiefly if not altogether of the Reign of Henry III., discovered on Bilcliffe (Bentcliffe) Hill. As no silver coin greater than a penny was struck in England before Edward the Third's 'groats'—grosses, or 'great' pieces—we may safely pronounce these to have been current pennies of the thirteenth century. A few of them were first found at the roots of some trees during a Fall of Timber there in 1852. About two years after, a search was made and an earthen vessel discovered which contained so many silver coins, that they were actually sold for old silver at Barnsley for £26. A few of them have happily escaped, some being now in the possession of Mr. Stanhope at Cannon Hall, and some of Mr. Wemyss at Cawthorne. The matter was kept as quiet as well could be by those who found them, for fear of a claim being made to them as "treasure trove."
Layout 2