Simon the Miller of Farndale

c1264 to c1335

The wealthiest tenant in Farndale in 1301

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At Pickering before the Sheriff of York in 1323, on Friday after the translation of St Thomas last, Adam son of Simon the miller of Farndale, Richard the son of John the miller, and three unknown men came to the place ‘Petrenedle’ and there took two hinds and when they were proclaimed by the foresters they left one hind which the foresters carried the other way with them...(long list of other offenders)...... The King orders the Sheriff to take with him John de Rithre and to arrest the aforesaid men and deliver them to John de Kyltynton, Keeper of Pyckeryng Castle whom the King ordered to receive them and to keep them in prison until further orders. (Close Rolls 22 August 1323, 17 Edward II)

Pleas held at Pickering on Monday 13 Mar 1335 before Richard de Willoughby and John de Hambury. The Sheriff was ordered to summon those named to appear this day before the Justices to satisfy the Earl for their fines for poaching in the forest of which they were convicted before the Justices by the evidence of the foresters, venderers and other officers. They did not appear and the Sheriff stated that they could not be found and are not in his bailiwick and he had no way of attacking them. He was therefore ordered to seize them and keep them safely so that he could produce them before the Justices on Monday 15 Mar 1335. A long list of names follows including……Robert filium Simonis de Farndale, Rogerum de milne de Farndale, Robertum, filium Petri de Farndale …

Assuming this is the same person, Simon the miller of Farndale had two ungovernable sons, Adam and Robert who were both convicted of poaching offences in Pickering Forest in events twelve years apart. If Simon was 55 years old when Robert was fined, he might have been born in about 1264. It is possible that Simon was one of the sons of Nicholas de Farndale.

The Lay subsidy of 1301 was Edward I’s tax subsidy to fund his Scottish Wars. It listed the taxpaying inhabitants of Farndale.

The person who paid the highest tax was De Simone Molendinario. Molendinum is the Latin for mill. So it seems very likely that this was the same person. Simon would have been about 37 in 1301 if we are right about his year of birth. Simon paid the highest amount of tax at 7s 9d.

By piecing together these three lines of evidence about Simon the Miller of Farndale, we can make a reasonable guess at his story, and his place in the early family tree.

Millers were important members of fourteenth century society. Everyone ate bread, and grain had to be ground into flour. This could be done by hand, using a quern, but it was very time-consuming. Mills powered by water or wind allowed grinding at scale. The quality of the flour from a mill was also better, being more finely ground and containing less grit.

Mills were expensive to build. Watermills needed ponds, weirs and leats to provide enough water moving quickly enough to turn the millstone. The millstone itself had to be cut properly before it could be used. Generally the mill could only be built by the lord of the manor. For the lord of a manor a mill provided a source of income. His villein class had to pay to have their grain ground and they were not allowed to grind it themselves. Many did so secretly, however, using a domestic quern, which had to be well-hidden. If they were caught they would be fined and the quern confiscated or destroyed. This monopoly was resented by the peasants. During the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 some men forced their way into St Albans Abbey where confiscated millstones had been set into the parlour floor. The millstones were dug up and broken into pieces.

Windmills were invented towards the end of the twelfth century. They were used in flat areas where the water did not move fast enough to turn a wheel.

The most famous miller of the fourteenth century was the one in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. He is described in the Prologue as being a brute. He was tall, wide, and strong enough to break a door down with his head, and the winner of every wrestling contest he entered. He had a hairy wart on the end of his nose. He stole from his customers and overcharged them. His tale is lewd, and humorous.

"Now herkneth," quod the Millere, "alle and some! ("Now listen," said the Miller, "everyone!)

But first I make a protestacioun (But first I make a protestation)

That I am dronke; I knowe it by my soun (That I am drunk; I know it by my sound).

And therfore if that I mysspeke or seye, (And therefore if that I misspeak or say amiss)

Wyte it the ale of Southwerk, I you preye (Blame it on ale of Southwerk, I you pray).

For I wol telle a legende and a lyf (For I will tell a legend and a life)

Bothe of a carpenter and of his wyf, (Both of a carpenter and of his wife)

How that a clerk hath set the wrightes cappe." (How a clerk has set the carpenter's cap (fooled him)).

What sholde I moore seyn, but this Millere (What more should I say, but this Miller)

He nolde his wordes for no man forbere, (He would not refrain from speaking for any man)

But tolde his cherles tale in his manere (But told his churl's tale in his manner).

M'athynketh that I shal reherce it here (I regret that I must repeat it here).

And therfore every gentil wight I preye, (And therefore every respectable person I pray)

For Goddes love, demeth nat that I seye (For God's love, think not that I speak)

Of yvel entente, but for I moot reherce (Out of evil intention, but because I must repeat)

Hir tales alle, be they bettre or werse, (All their tales, be they better or worse)

Or elles falsen som of my mateere (Or else (I must) falsify some of my material).

(Geoffrey Chaucer, The Miller’s Prologue and Tale, c1380)

Not all millers were as uncouth as Chaucer’s miller, but he did represent a poor contemporary view of millers. Most of what is known about millers comes from court records, which include complaints about theft, dishonest weights and overcharging. Millers had the opportunity to defraud those who brought their grain for milling, but in any profession there were those who were honest and dishonest.

Millers either rented the mill from the lord of the manor or collected the tolls and payments for the lord if employed by him. Some mills were by bridges and the miller would also collect the tolls from those crossing the bridge.

Peasants had to pay a multure to have their grain ground. This was sometimes a sixteenth of the grain or flour. Freemen paid a smaller percentage. Despite the cost, freemen who did not have to use the mill took their grain there and paid to do so. Not only did the mill produce better quality flour, but it was also a more efficient use of their time than grinding by hand, even though it was considered inconvenient to take the grain to the mill.

The machinery of Watermills were made of wood and there is rarely much left for archaeologists to find.

The River Dove would have provided an optimal source of power for milling. There was a nineteenth century watermill at High Mill on Mill Lane south of Church Houses, Farndale, which is almost certainly the site of an earlier mill. The hamlet of Low mill was also the site of an earlier mill on the River Dove and is located where the fast flowing West Gill Beck flows down from the high ground to meet the River Dove. Both these mills were located centrally within the valley. There are also remains of a watermill at Low Elm House in neighbouring Bransdale.

There is an undated Yorkshire Deed from the time of Joan Stuteville, the Lady of Liddell, in or about 1230: Grant by Nicholas Devias, being in good health and lawful power (in mea bona sanitate et ligia potestafe) to Alice his wife, for life, of an annual rent of 10 li, which lady Joan de Stotevile gave him for his service, namely, 20s. from the land in Farndale, held of him by Adam de Ellerschae, and eleven marcs from his two water-mills in Famedale, and two and a half marcs from his water-mill in Brauncedale, payable half-yearly at Michaelmas and Easter. Paying yearly at Christmas one silver penny for all service, etc. Witnesses, Sir Richard Foliot, Sir Adam Newmarch [de Novo mercato), Sir Henry Biset, Sir Thomas de Hetun, William de Pligt Peter de Giptun, Clement de Nortun, Robert de Slucropt, Colin de Nortun and many others.

A survey of Farndale in 1570 described seventy one tenements in Farndale, 40 on the east side and 31 on the west, together with two mills and a few cottages paying altogether just over £54 in rent.

How does Simon the Miller of Farndale relate to the modern family?

It is not possible to be accurate about the early family tree, before the recording of births, marriages and deaths in parish records, but we do have a lot of medieval material including important clues on relationships between individuals. The matrix of the family before about 1550 is the most probable structure based on the available evidence.

If it is accurate, Simon the miller of Farndale, was related to the thirteenth century ancestors of the modern Farndale family, but he is not on the direct line of the modern Farndale family.

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