Information about Micklefield from W Wheater 1882
THE village of Micklefield is a quiet, rural spot, where well
stocked farmsteads and undulating tracts of excellently- managed lands present as good a picture of agricultural skill and prosperity as can be shewn in any part of the realms, No acts of national importance, no battle or military achievement of any kind, is connected with this secluded village; but the fact that it was the home of one whose humble piety and earnest life have made his name a household word among
the scattered members of the great Wesleyan Church, has given it a world- wide celebrity. Micklefield was the home of Samuel Hick, the "Village Blacksmith," and, where the name of Samuel Hick is spoken with reverence, there the name of Micklefield is mentioned with love.
Micklefield was a part of the barony of Sherburn, held by military tenure. In the 9th John, 1207, Ralph Wilgeby, of Steeton, gives ten marks to have seizin of his land, with chattels, which he holds of the archbishop, in Steeton and Micklefield; and in the reign of Henry III. William de Micklefield, son of Godfrey, gives, for charity's sake, and confirms to St. Mary of Sherburn, in aid of the sustenance of one chaplain there saying divine service, fourteen and a half acres of land in the territory of Micklefield, The pious donation of this man has preserved his name from oblivion, but his condition is unknown. It seems, however, to have been humble, that of a mere peasant. Archbishop Walter de Gray (1216-1255) gave the homage of Walter de Micklefield to Dominus Walter de Gray, his nephew, but it does not follow that the condition of the one was that of the other, or that they were at all connected, William's gift to the church of Sherburn is witnessed by Robert de Barkeston and Robert de la Launde, the latter being the hereditary tenant of some part of the manor. In 1216 the Prior of Pontefract
recovered, by assize and judgment, in the presence of the King, the rent of common pasture in 50 acres of moor, in Mykelfield, against William de la Launde, Hugh Serjeant, and William Swaze, which belong to the free tenements in Ledston and Ledsham; and in the 18th Edward I., 1289, Robert de la Launde was called upon to answer to the archbishop for one knight's fee, in Micklefield. In the same reign Alice de la Launde, the heiress of (Robert) de la Launde, carried to her husband, Sir James Bosseville, two parts of the manor of Micklefield, and in
1317
this Sir James did homage to the archbishop for two parts of a knight's fee, held of him in Micklefield, and for wards, marriage,
and relief. It appears by a deed dated at Newhall, Die Veneris prox post fest. Purificationis
Beatae Mariae Virginis, made from Sir
James Bosseville, of Micklefield, Knight, unto Robert, second son of Peter Bosseville, whereby he grants all his manor of Newhall, and all his lands and reversions in Darfield, Wombwell, Ardsley, Barnsley, and Griesburg, which said manor of Newhall the said
James had before granted unto John Owsthorpe, Prebendary of Howden, in the church of St. Peter, at York, for the term of his life, by fine acknowledged and enjoined at Westminster, 3rd Edward
III, 1329, before William Hearle, Henry Scroope, John Bourser, and John Travers, Justices. And the said deed is dated the same year. Their son, Sir William Bosseville, lived in the
2Ist Edward III, and in the 37th year of that King's reign Robert, son of William Hornby, and John Ypre, plaintiffs, commenced an action against John de Crosseby
and Elizabeth, his wife, respecting lands in Wilghitoft, and two parts of the manor of Micklefield-in-Elmete, which John and Arthur Bosseville hold for a term, of Alice that was the wife of
James Bosseville, Kt., of the inheritance of Elizabeth.
The other parts of the manor had passed over to other tenants. On the 13th September, 1290, in the meadow of the manor of Sherburn, and in the presence of Sir John Sampson and Sir John Meaux, John Reygate, the younger, did his homage and fealty to the Lord Archbishop of York, for his lands in Stiveton, Micklefield, and Milford; and on the 15th of the calends of August, 1300, he again did homage, acknowledging that he held one knight's fee of the Archbishop, "but by what service he will not give notice to his lord by his oath." Sir John was succeeded by Sir Robert de Reygate, who, on the 8th of the ides of February, 1317, did homage for the lands in Micklefield, &c., promising to do knight's service at the court of Sherburn, from three weeks to three weeks. It seems that the family of Reygate ended in an heiress, Isabel, the daughter of William Reygate, who married John Dyneley, and carried her father's estates to her husband. In the 13th Edward III. an action was commenced between John Dyneley, demandant, and Robert Hellewell, knight, and Eve, his wife, deforciants of the Manor of Micklefield, &c., with the appurtenances, when the right was adjudged to the same John and the heirs of the body of Isabel, his wife, the remainder to the right heirs of the said John. According to inquisition, taken 41st Edward
III, the jurors say that John Dyneley held the day that he died jointly with Isabel, his wife, yet living, one carucate of land and five marks rent in Micklefield of William Reygate, by fealty, and the service of sixpence by the year. The Dyneleys, of Manston, were a family whose name has been associated with Leeds and its neighbourhood for many centuries. In the 3d Richard
II. litigation arose between Robert Dyneley, plaintiff, and Thomas and Gilbert, his brothers, deforciants, of the Manor of Micklefield, but what was the issue does not appear. I believe the family of Gascoigne of Mickle- field, which flourished in the fifteenth century, sprang from a marriage with, and obtained the lands of, the Dyneleys. In 1392 Nicholas
Gascoigne held lands in Milford and Micklefield, which seem to have been those held by the Reygates and after them the Dyneleys.
The following note appears in the Test Ebol", Vol. III, p. 187. I touch it with respect, if with doubt. "The Gascoignes, of Micklefield, sprang from Henry Gascoigne and Margaret, his wife, a daughter of John Bolton, Alderman of York She died in 1471; he had died
before her in 1457, when administration of his effects was granted to Thomas Sutton, of Holme, in Spaldingmoor. On the 12th Dec., 1452, an oratory was granted for a year to Henry Gascoigne, of Hanwell, Esq., and Margaret, his wife, at Hanwell. They seem to have had two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne. The Boltons were an influential family in the city of York."
During this period other families held lands in Micklefield. There was the local family De Micklefield, of whom mention has already been made. This family appears to have raised itself from the retainers of the Archbishop to a position among the feudal nobility. Walter de Gray gave the homage of Walter de Micklefield to Dominus Walter de Gray, his nephew. On the 25th March, 1299, Ralph de Micklefield, of Bolton juxta Wilton did homage for Bolton, as did WiIliam de Mickle-
field, in 1309.
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