Syracuse, New York.
October
20th, 1909.
My
dear Mrs. Verrill:-
How I wish you might have been with me this summer
while I spent five days in the charming little English village which bears our
name. They call it in Yorkshire the
“Quean of Villages.” It deserves the
title! So quaint and
interesting, preserving all the characteristics of a typical old-time English
story-book town.
First I must tell you that when I was in Chester, the
people in the hotel on hearing my name at once said, “There is a Maltby in our
long-distance ‘phone book,” and I had them call them for me, just for fun, at Rhye, down on the west coast of England. Such astonished people as they were to know
that a Maltbie from America was on her way to Maltby in England. They were evidently plain people; the man,
who is a butcher was not there, but his wife, with
whom I spoke was as pleasant as could be but knew very little about the
family. They were the only people of the
name I heard of in England.
From Chester I went to York and from York back to Rotherham. In the
book shops there I found beautiful postcards of Maltby
and its surroundings. From there, while
I waited for the quaint old lumbering bus, which runs on certain days to my
dear little town, I took trams, first to huge and dirty Sheffield. It is like Pittsburge. Then to Masboro, a
pretty little suburb of Rotherham, Rotherham itself has an interesting history. All the country thereabouts has, from Chester
and York with their old walls and gates and cathedrals and towers to “Scrooby, ten miles or so the other side of Maltby where
Elder Brewster was born and the first Pilgrim church organized.
I left my friends in York and went to Maltby
alone. It was quite an adventure. If you could have seen that old stage (looked
like a “prairie schooner”) with seats along the sides and old ladies and
baskets and boxes and bundles all crowded in together. One had to go to an old inn yard in Rotherham to wait for the stage driver to “poot oot the horses.” I heard real Yorkshire dialect there, driving
out. There were five old ladies, one
small boy, the driver, piles of luggage and myself. If was so funny when we rattled up the queer
old-fashioned street, out of the inn yard where hung the old lamp and the
arms-everything seemed unreal-and far from the busy world.
The old ladies wore silk mantillas (I think that is it) and bonnets like this.
(We regret we can not here reproduce Miss Maltbie’s clever marginal illustration of the type of old
ladies.)
They all had volumes to say about Maltby, but had
never heard of a person of the name.
They wanted to know all about American.
When we stopped at other little villages along the seven-mile drive to
Maltby, out came from this inn or that, a pretty barmaid (just like Dickens) to
take your order for a “wee glass ma’am.”
The old ladies took something as a matter of course, but I went thirsty,
through I did have two or three glasses of English ale in Maltby. The small boy told me all about his home and
the chickens he was raising and about the queer piece of American money-a
cent-he owned. He and I sat on the box
seat and “Jawhnny,” the driver, told us about the
country places as we went along, in such a broad dialect, I had to listen with
all my mind as well as my ears to understand.
Fancy how entertained I was with it all and especially when “Jawhnny” informed me that the “American chilled ploo (plough) ware na goot-toorned te
ert opp taw mooch.”
Note-“Turned the earth up too much.” We believe that the English do not plough as
deep as we do int eh States, as the climate is not so
severe and it is not necessary.
You see the “chilled plough” is made here in Syracuse
by an old friend of my mother’s. I told
my Yorkshire friend I’d tell Mr. Chase he didn’t like the ploughs.
When we reached Maltby the old ladies vied with one
another in suggesting what I should do for a boarding place. Wanted me to stay with them, but I went to
the “White Swan Inn.” It has been there
five hundred years. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop,
the landlord and his wife, were so nice and did everything to make my stay
pleasant and interesting. Mr. Bishop is
an ex-English soldier, invalided home from the Boer War, but pretty well now.
A huge fire in the diningroom
fireplace cheered and warned me, for I was cold that August evening. It was all just a picture. Mrs. Bishop just took care of me. She has Irish blood and consequently the
delightful and winning ways that come with it.
Though they have a gas plant which lights the larger rooms down stairs,
I went to my room with its pretty fireplace by candle light-much nicer. It was a strange sensation and seemed almost
like getting home. You see I am doubly
Maltbie, because both my father and mother were Maltbies;
so if there is anything in the call of the blood I ought to have felt it
there-and I did.
If you have ever gone rapidly from place to place for
almost three months, seeing daily the most wonderful sights, historical and
artistic as well as Nature’s own marvelous pictures of peoples and countries,
you know how welcome is a halt. I cannot tell you how glad I was to be far away
from trams and trains and busy crowds and just rest and do nothing some of the
time there in peaceful little Maltby.
Sunday morning I went to the historic church and
listened to a sermon given to a small handful of people. But what I most enjoyed was wandering about
the church and churchyard by myself. The
sexton, of course, got out all the records in the little tin box Miss Martha
Maltby speaks of, and we could make out Latin records back of 1600. However, at that time most of the people were
simply spoken of as John de Maltby or Jane de Maltby, no surnames given. It cannot be proven who were
Maltby by name or who just so and so of Maltby. After the records began to be in English it
was easy to read but in the memory of the oldest inhabitant no Maltby has lived
there or been buried there. The church ws burned once and many records destroyed, and these old
parchment books are not being carefully preserved. In the city of York, duplicates would
possibly be found…. Miss Maltbie here tells of her trip, she visited ten
countries, and found them all “wonderfully interesting, but England was home.”
To return to Maltby.
Mr. and Mrs. Bishop owned five “blue ribbon” English carts and ponies
and they drove me miles (one day twenty-five) over those perfect pavement-like
English country roads to Old Cote and Scrooby, where
we lunched, then on to Bawtry, two miles from Scrooby. It was Johnathan Maltby of Bawtry whose
name I remember seeing in our large Genealogy.
It is an attractive town and so near to Scrooby where Elder Brewster lived and preached that no
doubt our ancestors knew those old Scrooby Pilgramites. They
were repairing the old Scrooby Manor, where Elder
Brewster was born, and the woman who lives there now gave me a piece of the old
oak beam. I treasure it, I assure you.
Back of this very old building (It was originally
some five hundred years ago, a Catholic monastery: think of the irony of fate
which made it the home of the Pilgrim church) is a little creek which flows
into the River Trent, and down that creek and river floated the Pilgrims and
thence across the English Channel to Leyden and so to
America. We had not time in Bawtry to look up church records for the Maltby name, but
the Bishops have a promised me they will go and do it some time. Then we went to Canisboro
and Tickhill-where are the old castles-and Stone,
another village. Another day I walked
over to Roche Abbey, over the stone and wooden stiles, along Maltby Crags,
through the beautiful Norwoods and back around by the
road. A five mile
tramp. Some people I met got the
“History of Roche Abbey” from the Rotherham safe for
me to read. It tells in that, that all
that land was held by the Earl of Merton, brother of William the Conqueror: he
also held much land in Lincolnshire and there, is a town of Maltby there. Do you suppose there is any connection in
these facts?
Maltby is on the direct road from London to
York. Dozens of automobiles fly through
and scores of cycles, motor and otherwise.
Most of them stop at the White Swan for rest or refreshment. Roche Abbey, which Lord Scarborough keeps
open on certain days, is an objective point for many parties from Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster. Several
wealthy people from these cities have summer homes in Maltby. You know, of course, that the stone for the
Houses of Parliament in London, was brought from one
of the many fine quarries at Maltby. Now
they are mining coal on Lord Scarborough’s estate and speculators plan to
remodel the cunning place. It is a
shame, but the “love of money is the root of all evil.”
Two railroads are near to Maltby now. One station two miles and another
a mile and a half. No passenger
trains yet, but there will be in time and our quaint little place will all be
changed.
You have no idea how strange to seemed
to see my name on the mile posts all over the country of Yorkshire. Just see the length of the letter-and still I
could tell you more.
If any of the Maltby family want to see our quaint
little Maltby town still unspoiled, let them hurry over to England, for in a
year or two many changes are going to take place there and much of the charm wil be gone.
I forgot to tell you – I went to the grammar school
and the children recited for me. The
first hour of the day is given to the study of the catechism. Isn’t that English?
Yours
most sincerely,
Marion Davenport Maltbie.
A DRIVE TO
MALTBY, YORKSHIRE
Rotherham, 17 June, 1910
….. Rotterham is indeed a dull place, but I bound that not
eight miles distant was the village of Maltby, and a
mile further on, Roche Abbey, so I have something besides Durham Palace about
which to write ….
We arrived in Rotherham
Sunday, at 1:30 P.M., and after dinner Neavar
suggested a drive, it being a beautiful day.
So he rented a horse and trap and we drove to Daltan
Village. Here we stopped at the
farmhouse and drank some fresh milk and ate some tea cakes. Then, returning to town by a different route,
I noticed a signboard which read, “7 miles to Maltby.” That settled it! We must go to Maltby: but it was too late to
go so far, so we set Thursday for our “excursion” into the past.
Yesterday being the appointed day (and a lovely June
day, too) we set out for Maltby with the same horse and trap; and what a fine
drive, up hill and down, past green meadows with buttercups and through tiny
old-fashioned villages. At last we came
to Maltby – the prettiest old village of all – the Parish church nestling down
in the valley, just like the picture postcard I sent you. I wanted to see the
church register and records but the clerk was not in the village, so I left,
disappointed in that respect. When you
come we shall go together, mother, and hunt it all up. We next went to Maltby Hall, where now
resides Lady Violet Smithe. The Smithes,
however, were not “in residence,” so I saw only the exterior of the Hall – a
charming place, in whose gardens I tried to picture Maltbys
strolling about.
But, as interested as I was in Maltby, we “tore
ourselves away,” to drive on a mile further to “Roche Abbey, A steep, winding
roadway leads down into a valley in which stand the ruins of Roche Abbey. This is the most beautiful spot in England. It simply beggars description. Such a vale, with rocky, shaded, fern covered
banks, and broad green pastures; such myriads of wild flowers, brackets,
springs, and waterfalls, shade and sunlight, and I the midst of it all, those
grand, gray ruins. Lucky
Abbot and monks who discovered such a secluded garden of Eden in which to build
their home. Near at hand are a
few dear old cottages and in one of these, you and I are going to spend a week,
when you come to me, mother.
Enclosed is a bit of ivy I plucked from the abbey
walls. Oh, that lovely ravine, with the
cattle and sheep grazing peacefully in the meadows and within a few yards, the
old abbey mill and stone quarry!
The drive back was a quiet one, as we could think of
nothing save the beauties we had seen …. I wonder why the Maltbys
ever left so lovely a place…..
Mrs. “Eldorado has resided
abroad for some years. In 1909 she
returned to London after having made an extended trip to South Africa and
through Northern Europe. When the above
letter was written she was touring England with her husband. We regret we have not space to print two exceedingly
interesting letters written by her about Durham – its cathedral, palace,
university and the town.
In “Highways and Byways in Yorkshire,” Arthur H. Norways ways of Maltby: “Deep below the road a valley runs,
closed at length by the shoulder of a hill, on which the red-roofed village of
Maltby stands shining pleasantly in the evening sun. It is a pretty spot. The crags are fantastically piled; a few
sheep go browsing in and out among them, and from the depths of the valley,
coming out of I know not what cool region, there blows a keen and stimulating
air, growing sharper as the sn drops lower in the
sky…..”
An extract from T. Allen’s “ A
New and Complete History of the Country of York,” London, 1831. Vol. 5, pp. 193-203:
Maltby is a small parish town, situated four miles
and a half from Tickhill, and seven and a half from Rotherham. In 1821,
the population of this town amounted to six hundred and seventy-nine persons.
Maltby, in common with the great majority of our
villages, first presents itself in the pages of Domesday. We there find, that
in the time of the “Confessor, Elsi had held four carucates in Maltebi and Helgebi, and that now Roger de Busli
has five carucates in demesne and thirteen villains,
and eighteen borderers, with eighteen ploughs.
The manor of Hooton-Levit
consisted of three carucates and six borates, before
the conquest; six quaranteens in length and as many
broad. Bugo
held it. (Query: Should this not be
Hugo?) He was superseded by the Norman,
who had here in demesne one carucate and there were
eight villains and three borderers, who had three carucates. There was a mill, valued a 28d. It is now the property of the Earl of
Scarborough.
The constitution of the church of Maltby was
peculiar. The patrons presented a
rector, but the rector changed his office into a sinecure, being allowed to
nominate a perpetual vicar for the performance of parochial duties. A vicarage was ordained under the
circumstances on 12 Ral. Feb., 1240, when there was assigned for the
support of the vicar, the altarage, tithe of hay and
of the mills and four marks per annum, to be paid by the rector.
It is valued in the Liber
Regis at L4, 13s, 4d: in the parliamentary returns at L30, and is in the
patronage of the Earl of Scarborough.
The rectory was very valuable. In
Pope Nicholas Taxation, it is estimated at L26, 13s, 4d. The presentation of the vicar came, at the
dissolution, to the crown.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Bartholomew,
comprises a nave, chancel and south aisle, with a tower and spire at the west
end. It is a small and mean building,
forming a remarkable contrast to the once magnificent church of the Cistertians, who had established themselves in its
vicinity.
Note- The church has been rebuilt and restored since
this article was written.
When Dodsworth visited the
church these arms were to be seen in the windows:
Clifford. Checkie, or and az.
A fess gu. Az. A fess between three hares seiant ar. Or, on a
chevron sa. Three crescents ar. Dodsworth also transcribed
two sepulchral inscriptions which no longer remain.* * Vide South Yorkshire. Vol. I.
Near this village is the pleasant seat of J. Cook,
Esq. A school was founded here by one of
the earls of Castleton, and is repaired by his heirs.
The foundation of the abbey of Sancta Maria de Rupe, or Roche abbey, was the most splendid act of piety of
the early lords of Maltby and Hooton. But, though they were accounted the founders,
because they gave the site, the monks must have done much for themselves, and had other great benefactors.
No branch of the great Benedictine family took such
deep root in England, or flourished as luxuriantly as the Cistertian. It is an undertermined
question, which was the first monastery of this order founded in England; but
it is no question whether the house of Rievaulx,
founded by Walter Espec, was not among the first, or whether it were not the
earliest Cistertian foundation north of the
Humber. The era of its foundation
corresponds with the presidency of Harding, and the reign of Henry I. The same feeling of dissatisfaction with the
laxity of the Benedictine rule manifested itself about the same period, in the
great abbey of St. Mary, without the walls of York. Some of the monks withdraw from that house
for the purpose of submitting themselves to more austere severities, and lived
for some time under the shade of a few yew trees which grew on the banks of the
Skell. This
was in 1132. These were the small
beginnings of the house of St. Mary de Fontibus, or
Fountains. The first settlers of Kirkstall came from Fountains. Both adopted the Cistertian
habit and rule. Many other houses of
this popular order were founded in the diocese of York during that century.
The circumstances which were the immediate occasion
of the early establishment of a company of Cistertian
monks at this place have not been preserved, neither is it known from what
house the original society were a colony.
From charters preserved by Dodsworth,
it appears that in the reign of Stephen, that is, not long after the settlement
of the Cistertians at Tievaulx,
a few religious had seated themselves near the spot where afterwards the abbey
arose, and like the original settlers at Fountains, who lived for a while under
the shade of the yew trees, they appear to have assembled in this place before
any buildings were erected to receive them.
The expression which occurs in both foundation deeds, “Monachi de Rupe,” monks of the
rock, can only be interpreted upon the presumption that these sons of an
austere devotion had placed themselves in the valley, where they were screened
from the bleak winds of the north by a range of limestone rock, and were
content to practice their devotions under the open canopy of heaven.* * Hunter, Vol. I.,
266.
A natural phenomena, probably heightened by art,
contributed to induce the monks to make choice of this spot. Among the accidental
forms which portions of the fractured limestone had assumed, there was
discovered something which bore the resemblance of our Saviour
upon the cross. This image was held in
considerable reverence during the whole period of the existence of this monastery
and devotees were accustomed to come in pilgrimage to “Our Saviour
of the Roche.”
On the arrival of these monks, they were welcomed by
the two lords of the soil on which they settled themselves, Richard de Busli, the Lord of Maltby, and Richard, the son of Turquis, called also Richard de Wickersley.
To be the founders of a house of religion was a
distinction of which ever princes were ambitious; and the two lords of Maltby
and Hooton doubtless rejoiced in the opportunity
which seemed to be afforded them of connecting their names forever with such a
foundation.
By the light which the early charters afford, we
discern that there was a friendly rivalry between the two families, who should
first take the monks into their protection, and give them for their absolute
use ground necessary for their holy purposes.
It was finally arranged in a manner which must have been highly
satisfactory to the monks. The two lords
were to convey to them a considerable portion of their territory, in which was
included the rock from which they took their designation.
The Lord of Maltby’s original donation is thus
described: The whole wood as the middle
way goes from Eibrichethorpe to Lowthwaite
and so as far as the water which divides Maltby and Hooton;
also two sarts which were Gamul’s
with a great culture adjacent, and common of pasture for a hundred sheep, six
score to the hundred, is sochogia de Maltby.
The Lord of Hooton gave the
whole land from the borders of the Eibrichethorpe as
far as the brow of the hill beyond the rivulet which runs from Fogswell, and so to a heap of stones which lies in the sart of Elsi, and so beyond the
road as far as the Wolfpit and so by the head of the
culture of Hartshow, to the borders of Slade Hooton. All land and
wood within these boundaries he gave, with common of pasture through all his
lands, and fifty carectas, perhaps loads of wood in
his wood of Wickersley.
The whole of the ground comprehended in these two
donations is described in Pope Urban’s confirmation
A. D. 1186, as locum ipsum in quo abbatial sita est.* * Hunter,
Vol. 267.
Neither of these deeds has a date. But the year 1147 was assigned as the date of
its foundation, by the uniform tradition of the house.
The architecture of the portions of the building
which remain may be referred to that era.
There is such an exact conformity with the style of Kirkstall, that the church
of Roche evidently belongs to the same age, and Mr. Hunter says that it may
almost be affirmed that it was built upon a design sketched by the same
architect. It is evident, therefore that
the monks, as soon as they received the grant of the soil, set themselves about
erecting their church and apartments for their own resident. Their church was built upon an extensive and
magnificent scale, and it connot be supposed that the
burden of its erection rested solely on the lords who gave the land, though
they would, without doubt, be forward in the pious design. It is indeed one of the great difficulties
attending our monastic antiquities, to account for the command of labor, which
must have been vested somewhere, directed for the preparation of so many noble
houses of religion as arose during the twelfth century, while England was
distracted by foreign and intestine war.
The following is a correct list of the abbots of this
house:
Durandus was the first abbot. His presidency extended from June, 1147 to
1159.
Dionysius, 1159 to 1171.
Roger de Tickhell, 1171 to
1179.
Hugh de Wadworth, 1179 to
1184. He appears to have been an active
superior as in his time a confirmation from the Pope was obtained.
Osmund had a much longer presidency that anyh of his predecessors, namely from 1184 to 1223. He had been the cellarer of Fountains
abbey. In his time King Richard I,
released the house from a debt of 1300 marks to the Jews, perhaps not very
honestly.
Reginald, 1223 to 1238.
Richard, 1238 to 1254.
Walter, 1254 to 1268.
Alan, Jordan, Philip.
Thomas confessed canonical obedience to the
archbishop, 1286.
Stephen professed canonical obedience 1287.
John, 1300; Robert, 1300; William,
1324.
Adam de Gykelkwyk, 1330 to
1349. In his time the Earl of Warren
gave the rectory of Hatfield for the increase of the number of monks.
Simon de Bankewell
professed canonical obedience, 1349.
John de Aston, 1358.
Robert, 1396.
John Wakefield, 1438.
In his time Maud, Countess of Cambridge, made her will at the monastery,
and directed that her remains should be interred there.
John Gray, 1465; William Tikel,
1479: Thomas Thurne, 1486; William Burton, 1487; John
Morpetti, 1491; John Heslington,
1503.
Henry Cundel, abbot at the
time of the dissolution. The date of the
surrender is June 23, 1539. Of the
seventeen monks who joined him in the surrender, eleven were alive in 1553.
The stock of the abbey at the period of the
dissolution consisted in three score oxen, kine and
young beasts, five cart horses, two mares, one foal, one stag, sixscore sheep and fourscore quarters of wheat and
malt. The plate was very moderate.
The revenues of the house are estimated by Cromwell’s
visitors at L170 per annum and the debts are said to be L20.
Of the fabric of the abbey only a gateway, placed at
the entrance to the precincts on the side towards Maltby, and some beautiful
fragments of the transepts of the church remain. The gateway is of later architecture than the
church, indeed so late, and standing at such a distance from the monastery,
that it might be taken for part of the novum hospitum mentioned in the account of the abbey property and
which was doubtless erected by the monks for the convenience of persons
resorting to the abbey, and especially of the pilgrims who came in veneration
of the image found in the rock. A large
mass of stonework at the distance westward from the principal portion which
remains of the church, is evidently the base of one
side of the great western entrance. This
admitted to the nave, flanked by side aisles, the whole of which has
disappeared. Advancing eastward, we
arrive at the columns which supported the tower that rose at the intersection
of the nave, choir and transepts. Much
of these remain. The eastern walls of
the transepts still exist, and enough of the inner work to
show that in each were two small chapels, to which the entrance was from
the open part of the transept, and the light admitted from windows looking
eastward. In this we perceived a close
resemblance in design to the church at Krikstall
[sic], as there is also the closest resemblance in some of the minute
decorations. The difference is, that at Kirkstall (spelled
both ways in author’s copy) there are three of these chapels in each
transept. We may observe at Roche a
remarkable peculiarity respecting the Northern transept. The north wall much have arisen almost in
contact with the perpendicular rock, and indeed the whole of the northern side
of the church must have been darkened by that rock, which rises as high as the
walls of the abbey themselves. Between
these side chapels, and extending considerably beyond them, was the principal
choir, with lights at the east end and on the north and south. And with this the church appears to have
terminated, as there is nothing to indicate that there was here any lady choir
or other building beyond.
On the north side of the choir may be discerned some
rich tabernacle work a part of which has been painted of a red color.*
* Hunter’s South Yorkshire, Vol. I.
This has the appearance of having been
canopies over seats or possibly over a tomb.
The ponds in which the monks were accustomed to keep
their fish, and the mill at which they ground their corn, are
still existing.
Close adjoining to the demesnes of Roche Abbey is Sandbeck, which was once a valuable appendage to the
monastery and where is now the seat of the noble family to whom the site of the
abbey and much other property in this neighborhood belongs.
This place is not mentioned in Domesday. The land was then either lying waste or it is
included in the survey of the manor of Maltby.
It first occurs in the 6th year of the reign of Henry III.. 1224, when it is mentioned as one of the places in which
lay the six fees and a falf which Alice, Countess of Eu, released to Robert and Idonea
de Vipont.
Arthur H. Norway in “Highways and
Byways in Yorkshire.” Writing of Roche Abbey says: “This path descends in to the valley of a
little river by whose bank, half buried in the greenery, stands the stately
gatehouse of Roche Abbey, set close beneath the precipice from which the monks,
seizing the most striking feature of their valley with that quick sense of picturesqueness which distinguished the
Cistercians, named themselves “monachi de rupe,’ Monks of the Rock. . . The warm glow of the afternoon falls into the
valley in a flood. The little stream
gleams with its reflection as it steals along beneath the trees. In an open glade a trifle
higher up a couple of red-roofed cottages stand shining in the sun, and
the fowls go to the fro clucking in the short grass. In the abounding stillness one might fancy
that all human life had ceased on the departure of those who planned and built
the lovely walls which are now a shattered ruin, waiting in some enchanted
slumber till their master’s hand shall set them up once more in their ancient
glory, and the sound of chanting roll again through the hollow and over the
short turf on the limestone crags above.
I sit down in the shadow of the bank and rest awhile in this, the
loveliest spot I shall see today.”