The
Paley Family is one of the oldest in the Ancient Parish of Giggleswick with many
branches - hence Paley's Puddle in Settle, Paley Green and of course Paley's
Farm here, now The Old Vicarage. We know that the family was living in
Langcliffe by the early 16th.c as 2 Paley men joined the Craven muster in 1513,
to fight the Scots at Flodden. Also
JOHN Paley of Langcliffe was buried on Nov. 16th 1597 possibly being a
victim of the Plague. The house is the oldest connection with the family, as
Paleys owned the house until selling it to the sitting tenants in 1962. Having
been entailed until then there were disappointingly, no ancient deeds. When the
family moved away it became the Vicarage. In 1923 it reverted to a
private house when Langcliffe and Stainforth benefices were united.
In 1688 WILLIAM Paley of
Langcliffe signed an agreement with the then Churchwardens of Giggleswick to
charge Samuel Watson (Quaker) of Knight Stainforth for non-payment of Church
Gold and until the 19th century,
the Paleys along with other Yeoman families, did their share as Churchwardens
and members of the Select Vestry known as 'The Twenty Four', made up of
householders and property owners.
In 1968 Barbara Hutton, a
Vernacular Buildings authority, surveyed the house and thought that the
fireplace in the 1st floor west end was late mediaeval, possibly 1590. It would
have been a typical longhouse, originally one large hall with a hooded fireplace
open to the roof with 2 storeys at the west end and the east end being a shippon.
The door would be in the north wall. As the family prospered alterations were done to the house so
that by the Hearth Tax Roll of 1670 JOHN Paley had 3 chimneys. The great
rebuilding in Craven took place from the mid-1600s as after the Civil War
people, including the Paley family, felt more secure. JOHN (1632-1717) married
as his second wife, his neighbour Isabella LAWSON and the enlarged the house
adding a new wing to the north containing a beam marked J.L.P 1676.
JOHN'S son THOMAS (1675-1740)
married Mary, daughter of Ged WILKINSON of Halton West. Amongst other children
they had 4 sons and this generation saw the start of the family's increasing
affluence and position. In his will, proved 1740, THOMAS ....
‘being in a Tolerable State of Health and of sound and disposeing
mind and memory (praised be to God for the same) do make this my Last Will and
Testament First and principally I recommend my Soul to Almighty God most humbly
beseeching Him to receive it to find Grace and Mercy and give ye Angels charge
over it’.
He leaves...
‘unto his Dear and Loving Wife Mary in lieu of her Dower or Thirds
One Annuity or Yearly Payment of Ten Pounds’
also the ground rooms of his property in Settle and half the garden and
use of the well. Also to his wife Mary use of one widow bed, one chest which was
her Father's, six chairs, one little table and other necessaries to furnish a
room such as she shall think proper. After other family bequests - all messuages,
houses, land, tenements and hereditaments and all other real and personal estate
whatsoever to his son George. Mary lived until June 1758 and in her Will she
left all her possessions to be divided equally amongst her sons and daughters...
‘Except that share to
Isabel shall be paid and applied to and for the sole and seperate (sic) use of
the said Isabel an such manner as my Executor shall think and that the same or
any part thereof shall not be paid to or subject to the control of the said John
Brayshay her husband.'
So perhaps she did not like her son-in-law. Mary only makes her mark on the Will so that it can be assumed that she could not write.
The second son WILLIAM (1711-1799)
went into the church after Giggleswick School and Christ's College, Cambridge.
After being ordained Deacon he became a Canon of Peterborough Cathedral before
being appointed Head Master of Giggleswick School at a salary of £90 per year,
which post he held for 54 years (1744-99). He made many improvements to the
school and was described in the Giggleswick School Register as.
‘Cheerful and jocose, a
great wit, rather coarse in his language.'
There is still a house named
after him at Giggleswick School.
His son, also WILLIAM, was born
in Peterborough in 1743 when his father was a Canon, coming to Giggleswick with
him in 1744. When he was at school he did not appear to be particularly clever,
but because he was a wit and cheerful like his father he was a popular boy
especially enjoying fishing and the cockfights on Potation Day. When he was 15
years old he was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge, starting his journey
on 16th November 1758. Part of the journey from Giggleswick was on horseback and
he described it -
‘I was never a good
horseman, and when I followed my father on a pony of my own, on my first journey
to Cambridge, I fell off seven times. I was lighter than I am now, and my falls
were not likely to be serious. My father, on hearing a thump, would turn his
head half aside and say, “Take care of thy money, lad”’.
All of his life he would never
talk whilst riding. He was idle and made little progress but after being told he
was wasting his remarkable talents he settled down to serious work and in 1763
became a senior Wrangler, later fellow and tutor of Christ's College. This
WILLIAM went on to win many honours, being appointed Whitehall Preacher at the
Chapel Royal, later becoming Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle Cathedral. He
was a brilliant scholar and full of humour; several of his ecclesiastic works
are still in use.
Paley began to write at an early
age, the first production of his pen being a poem ‘In the manner of Ossian',
completed before he left Greenwich. At Appleby he compiled his 'Clergyman's
Companion in visiting the Sick' but it was only in 1785 that he published
the first of the series that made him famous,
'Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy', being the substance of
his Cambridge lectures in book form. 'Little did I think’ said Paley, 'that
I should ever make a thousand pounds by any book of mine.'
'The Horoe Paulinoe', his most original work, followed in 1790. In 1792,
at a time of general unrest, he issued a pamphlet entitled 'Reasons for
contentment, addressed to the labouring part of the British Public'. The two
great works which followed found an eager public waiting for them. Of his
'Evidences of Christianity' (1794) the first edition was exhausted in a single
day, and his 'Natural Theology' (1802), his last publication, had run through
twenty editions by 1820.
It is said that he often visited
his old home and the home of his fathers. This
is borne out by his detailed will which leaves his ‘capital messuage or
dwelling house with the garden orchard and all other appurtances belonging
thereto situated in the Township of Giggleswick aforesaid together with two
closes adjoining thereto called the Fellins’.
Also he ‘directs that the
Chambers’s Dictionary now in my library at Bishop Wearmouth remain in the
house at Giggleswick so long as the same shall be in possession and occupied by
my sisters or my children’
On his death he was Vicar of
Bishop Wearmouth; his will was proved as at less than £17,500. His eldest son,
another WILLIAM, became a Barrister in Carlisle and the rest of his children
went on to make 'good marriages'.
The branch of the family
probably more closely connected to the village sprang from Headmaster William's
brother GEORGE (1708-1765) who married Mary LAWSON whose family was already well
established in the village. This was the second time the two families had been
united by marriage and together they owned large amounts of land and property in
the area. Their sons took the
family name into the outside world; the second son RICHARD (1746-1808) married
Agnes PRESTON of Mearbeck and became a 'merchant and soap boiler' in Leeds,
adding a cast iron foundry near Wakefield to his interests and was one of the
founders of the Bowling Ironworks at Bradford, investing £700 in 1787.
The eldest, THOMAS LAWSON Paley
(1744-1808), stayed in Langcliffe and was farming here at the time of the
Enclosures. He married Ann GREEN of Arkholme and produced JOHN GREEN Paley (1774-1860)
who joined his uncle at Bradford in 1798. He remained at the Bowling Ironworks
for about 40 years, living in the Manager's house and amassed great wealth as
this was the time of the Napoleonic Wars and the Industrial Revolution. However
after the War there was a slump in iron prices causing John G. to enter into
contracts at low prices. When business improved he took the blame for the firm's
inability to benefit from the price increases and henceforth always kept good
stocks. At this time the three main proprietors were John Sturges, Thomas Mason
and John G. until in 1821 the partners decided to divide the business. This they
did by drawing lots for the various parts, Mason drew Bowling Hall so that John
G. continued to live on site in the Manager's house until his retirement, even
after taking complete control in 1823.
Thomas's eldest son GEORGE (1773-1809)
continued the farm and was also a Captain in the West Riding Militia raised in
1794 to repel a feared French invasion. His Father and also his Uncle at
Giggleswick each gave 10 guineas towards the troops’ expenses. There was a
Parade in Settle on 21st August that year which led to great patriotic fervour
and induced the local poet to write a long poem beginning:
"Ye Yorkshire Gents! Ye
Gallant Volunteers!
You stand distinguish'd
‑ you have no compeers!"
GEORGE died a year after his
Father so that his share passed to JOHN GREEN Paley who about 1840 owned most of
the land around Langcliffe, as shown on the Tithe Map of 1841. This is probably
due to the terms of the will, which allowed the eldest son to buy, in an agreed
way, the shares of the younger sons. In this case THOMAS was Vicar of Louth in
Lincolnshire and ROBERT was a Doctor in Halifax and presumably would not be
interested in the land. A poster dated 1842 advertises two grazing farms and
premises to be let, one of 411 acres and the other of 282 acres. This marked the
end of direct contact with the village as JOHN GREEN also owned an estate at
Harrogate to which he retired. In 1851 he gave land and built our church on it,
also endowing funds for the upkeep of the Church and Incumbent. In addition he
leased the old family home at a peppercorn rent to be used as the vicarage. His
grave is outside the East Window.
In 'On foot round Settle', written towards the end of the
last century the Rev Brown says
'the last of the family who
dwelt in the old home is still spoken of as "old Mrs Paley.”’ There
are those who can remember how on Sunday mornings William Wildman, of
Giggleswick, took his horse up to Langcliffe and the old lady rode pillion to
the Parish Church. This probably
refers to Ann (died 1840) widow of Thomas.
The male descendants from the
mid 19th Century went on to hold high and important military and religious
offices throughout the United Kingdom and the daughters married into the
aristocracy so that the family is listed in Burke's Landed Gentry. They are
always listed as "of LANGCLIFFE and Ampton, Suffolk.' JOHN GREEN Paley's
son the Rev GEORGE Barber Paley became Rector of Freckenham, Suffolk and his
second son JOHN married Baron Rayleigh's daughter in 1871 adding Ampton. He was
High Sheriff of Suffolk (1889-90) followed by his son GEORGE (1906).
Christian names in the family never varied!
Chris & Nancy Ellis
Sources: Giggleswick Church and School registers.
Burke's Landed Gentry.
Northallerton Archives.
Yorkshire Archives Bradford and Sheepscar.
Giggleswick School Brayshaw Library.
Borthwick Institute.
Brayshaw & Robinson, 'A
History of the Ancient Parish of Giggleswick' 1932
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