Thirteen Farms in the Manor of Harden

Clifford Whone (1940, p266) has calculated that at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538-40 there were "Thirteen farms and the (Harden) Grange, with three walk mills..." in the Manor of Harden.  The whole manor accumulated by the monks of Rievaulx between 1160 and 1540, was purchased by Walter Paslew of East Riddlesden Hall on 18th February 1540-1 (The Bradford Antiquary New Series, Vol 1 p.23). This purchase also contained "more than 400 acres (162ha) of ploughland and at least three times as much meadow, pasture, wood and moorland." 

16th Manor of Harden boundary and 14 messuages

The thirteen farms, plus the Grange, appear to be mentioned in the deeds for Paslew's purchase but I have been unable to find and read these documents. Whone himself was unsure of all the properties.  The list below was constructed from Whone's article.  Paslew's disposal of these farms between 1571-74 provides further clues as to the thirteen farms; the purchaser given in brackets.      

1. Currer Laithe (Arthur Currer)
2. Ellar Carr, Cullingworth, (William Wilson)
3. White Cotes (Laycock)
4. Lum Hirst (Illingworth)
5. Harden Grange (the present St Ives) (Martin Birkhead)
6. Cross Gates (Martin Birkhead)
7. Cowhouses, Cullingworth (James Robinson)
8. Ravenroyd (James Robinson
9. Marley Banks (James Robinson)
10. The Spring? (William Saville)
11. Cockcroft Fold? (William Saville)
12. Marley Hall (William Saville)
13. Hill End?
14. Jackfield Farm?

Whone names the first 11 in the course of describing how the Paslews came to dispose of their interests in the Manor between 1571 and 1574, as a consequence of Walter's grandson's (also Walter) ill-fated participation in the Rebellion of the North 1569.  On the death of Walter senior ~1545 Empsall has Harden and Marley being held in trust for Walter's wife and daughters until £40 each could be raised for their fortune. Whether or not they received their fortune is unknown to me but Walter's son Francis was in a position to begin disposing of the Harden and Marley assets, starting with the sale of Currer Laithe and Ellar Carr, followed shortly by Lum Hirst and White Cote etc. The Spring and Cockcroft Fold are put forward speculatively by Whone, the final two, Hill End and Jackfield Farm are my stabs in the dark, although, the original St Ives (renamed Harden Grange), Hill End, Wood End, The Wood, or Harden Hall could all be contenders.

Of the named farms, all can be located apart from Lum Hirst and I'm unsure of The Spring.  The most likely spot for the latter is Spring Farm to the west of Whone's Hadleton Broc or Mere Broc, the beck running through Deep Cliff.  The only 'hirst' so far spotted, on the maps at least, is Cop Hirst east of Marley next to the Aire on the 1852 OS 6" map.  Lum(b) it is suggested means pool or deep pool, perhaps a bend in the river (English Place Name Society, OED) whilst hirst is a wooded hill.  The present Cop Hirst is situated next to a wooded hill; a cop can mean mound or tumulus, which makes the present name hill-wooded-hill.   

So much for the location of the messuages but what of their boundaries and the distribution of the  medieval ploughland, meadow, pasture and woodland? Also where were the manorial corn mills,  maltings (there is a malthouse on the 1851 OS map at Ryecroft), furnaces, mines, bread ovens etc. ?

A note about sources:

This blog is based primarily on Clifford Whone's account of the Manor of Harden In The Bradford Antiquary New Series part 26-30, p266.  Whone use several sources to provide his account which are also drawn upon: 

• Pre-dissolution Charters; Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series Vol 39, 1907, Yorkshire Deeds, Brown, W.
• Ferrand Manuscripts.
• Ancient Monastic Properties In the Neighbourhood of Bradford, Thomas Thornton Empsall, The Bradford Antiquary New Series, Vol 1 p.23.
• Slag Heaps of Harden, Dr Francis Villy, The Bradford Antiquary New Series Part 16.
• J. H. Horsfall Turner, Ancient Bingley 1897.
• H Speight, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley 1898.