Sheffield and its Environs 13th to the 17th century A descriptive catalogue of land charters and other documents forming the Brooke Taylor collection — Context and Discussion

k yeoman and his heirs for ever, of all that his messuage or tenement in Wigtwisle aforesaid, which then formerly was the tenement of Henry Morton, then deceased; and all his outhouses and buildings gardens orchards lands tenements meadows pastures woods underwoods rights of common profits and hereditaments in Wigtwisle aforesaid, with their appurtenances; to holdun to and to the use of the said William Ibotson his heirs and assigns for ever, of the chief lord etc, by services etc; warranty of title. =Witnesses=: Henry Ibotson, William Wodson (the tenant), John P.... =Vellum=: one skin 12 × 5½, round seal of red wax bears a dolphin, probably not armorial. =Notes=: there is a good signature of “John Ibotsone.”

=1633= May 13th, in the 9th year of Charles I. =Grant= (Engl) made between John Ibotson of Wigtwisle in the county of York clerk of the one part and Christopher Willson of Wigtwisle in the said county yeoman of the other part; whereby the said John Ibotson, for and in exchange with the said Christopher Willson granted etc unto the said Christopher Willson his heirs and assigns for ever, one way for passage with drift cart and carriage then or theretofore used and accustomed, unto and from a messuage or tenement at Wigtwisle aforesaid then in the occupation of William Odeson, through a close of him, the said Christopher Willson, called the Walls and thence into and from the nether croft, belonging to the said messuage or tenement; to hold the abovesaid way etc, and all the right interest and demand of him the said John Ibotson thereto unto and to the use the said Christopher Willson his heirs and assigns for ever; warranty of title etc; and the said Christopher Willson in lieu and exchange of the above etc, granted etc unto the said John Ibotson his heirs and assigns for ever, one like way etc henceforth and for ever thereafter to be used, unto and from the said messuage, then in the occupation of the said William Odeson, to and from the nether crofts, lee and nether hollin carr, belonging to the said messuage, by and “thorow” the fouldstead of the said Christopher Willson on the south side of his house at Wigtwisle aforesaid and from thence “thorow” the nether yeard and so to and from the three closes last above mentioned; to hold unto and to the use of him the said John Ibotson his heirs and assigns for ever; warranty of title etc. =Witnesses=: William Garlicke, William Odeson. =Vellum=: one skin 10½ × 9½, seal missing. =Notes=: both Christopher Willson and William Garlicke, the witness, were sons-in-law of John Ibotson, see Hunter’s F.M.G. vol II, page 652. The word Wigtwisle when used to describe the residence of Christopher Willson has been written on an erasure.

Reprint from _Transactions_ of The Hunter Archæological Society.

BY T. WALTER HALL, Hon. M.A. (SHEFFIELD), F.R.Hist.S.

Place-names, obvious in their meaning but suggesting a remote origin and a forgotten past, attract the historian, if not the philologist.

Hawksyard is one of these; its import is Hawksland but its history lies hidden in the records of past centuries; it excites our curiosity and quickens our imagination.

We instinctively recall scenes of English sport in bygone days; of kings and nobles, knights and ladies, riding across the unfenced country; over moorland and waste, through fen and ford, with hooded falcon and stooping hawk, enjoying what was for nearly a thousand years the national sport of England.

Such a scene was brought to mind by the perusal of two musty parchments with imposing seals and faded script, quarried from the lower _strata_ of time-worn muniments, in the office of Colonel Brooke Taylor of Bakewell.

The earlier of these deeds takes us back to the death of John of Gaunt and the resignation of Richard II in the closing year of the 14th century; the later one was sealed and delivered in the less tragic days of Queen Elizabeth.

They both relate to Hawksyard, situate in that part of The Moorlands of Staffordshire known in the middle ages as Highe Frith of Malbanc Forest; south of Buxton and east of the church at Newtown near Longnor.