History of York

FROM THE WEBSITE
By the 16th Century, wills, tax returns, estate papers, tithe collections and court cases all augment the church records in providing insight into people's lives. This was a period of great upheaval. The Reformation led to the dissolution of the nunnery in 1539, the land being sold to William FAIRFAX of Steeton. The King had appointed Leonard BECKWITH, of Stillingfleet, as his receiver for the Court of Augmentations, dealing with the sale of monastic property in the north, a very lucrative post enabling Beckwith to buy Woolas and North Hall, Appleton, among many others. Woolas passed through many owners in the next 50 years, but by 1603 belonged to Henry SLINGSBY. In 1650 the BROCKET family sold their lands to Thomas FAIRFAX and moved to Hertfordshire. With these changes of landowners came changes in tenure and the old copyhold system was replaced by leases. The reverberations of the Civil War were felt in Appleton, and extensive records survive. Two of the manor landowners were on opposing sides, the SLINGSBYs being Royal-ists, the FAIRFAXs Parliamentarians, and the MOYSER family managed to have ongoing disputes with both, over property with the SLINGSBYs and over church seating arrangements with the FAIRFAXs! A well known temporary resident in Appleton was Andrew MARVELL, engaged as tutor to Moll FAIRFAX in 1651.