The Manor of Foggathorpe

At Domesday the manor of Fulcatorp, consisting of 3 carucates, was held by Gilbert Tison. All 3 carucates were given in frankalmoin by Tison, 2 carucates to St. Mary's Abbey, York, and 1 carucate to Selby Abbey. It is not clear which of these gifts carried the lordship of the manor.

The land held by St Mary's Abbey descended in the Meaux family, who were their immediate tenants. The land held by Selby Abbey was tenanted to the Gunby family.

By the time of Kirkby's Inquest, 1277-1307, the land in Folkethorp was held in three fees:

The Ros Fee, of 1½ carucates, held by Galfridus de Cokerington;
The Mortemer Fee, of 1 carucate, held by Roger of Spaldington;
The Mauley Fee, of 1½ carucates, representing the Fossard Fee, held by Alice of Pothow and Robert Northiby.

Burton's Monasticum, quoting the The Nomina Volarum (9 Edward II, 1316), informs us that the Lordship of Foggathorpe is held joinly between the Prior of Ellerton and Jacobus de Millington, and that in 1351 the Abbot of Selby had 1 carucate in Folkerthorpe, and was the chief Lord there.

From the sixteenth century we find the Ackroyd family holding an estate in Foggathorpe, and it could well be that they acquired this estate following the dissolution of the monasteries, when the Foggathorpe lands held by Selby Abbey and St. Mary's Abbey, York, came to the crown. The Ackroyd lands in Foggathorpe never use the word 'Manor' in any of the Ackroyd wills studied. In the White's 1840 Directory, the entry for Foggathorpe states: "The Ackroyds had an ancient moated mansion here, but it was taken down in 1743."

The only other pre-nineteenth century references to the manor of Foggathorpe I have found come from the will of Ramsden Barnard of Beverley, of the Barnard family of Cave Castle, in 1749, in which he leaves the Manor of Foggathorpe to his good friend, William Bethell of Bishop Burton; and a deed in the East Riding Archives, DDRI/13/4, dated 5th July 1766:

Parties: 1) William Bethell, Bishop Burton, esquire 2) Thomas Broadley, Hull, esquire Property: moiety of property as described in DDRI/13/1; as collateral security for peaceful possession by Thomas Broadley of the manor of Foggathorpe with messuage and closes called Firth Close, Great and Little Welt Closes, Blanshard Firth, Nigh and Farr Clemmitt Closes, Pear Tree Close, Ings Close and Farr and Little Thorne Closes; parcel (two acres) all in Foggathorpe Recites will of Ramsden Barnard, 16 Jan 1748, and subsequent transactions.

Although the manor of Foggathorpe is mentioned a few times in the nineteenth century, for example in deeds of the Sotheron-Estcourt Family Estates in the East Riding Archives, (DDSE(2)/3/116 - 1830; DDSE/6/8 - 1839), it is not clear who the lord of the manor is at this time.

The Manorial Documents Register has no references whatsoever of manorial documents relating to this manor, and trade directories of the 1800s which normally name the lord of the manor for each manor, never name any for Foggathorpe. It seems to be the case that this manor never functioned as a manor, and held no manor court.