William Farndale and Margaret Atkinson of Campsall and Skelton

The couple who married at St Mary Magdalene Church in Campsall north of Doncaster, and who emigrated to Wilton near Kirkleatham, Margaret’s homeland, and were buried in Skelton.

‘I made a chapel in Bernysdale, That seemly is to se, It is of Mary Magdaleyne, And thereto wolde I be’ (The Gest of Robin Hood)

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The assumptions behind this narrative of William’s life are explained in the page about his parents, Nicholas and Agnes Farndale.

A Mobile Family

William Farndale was born in about 1538 in or near the intellectual centre of Campsall, near Doncaster, during the reign of Henry VIII, just after the dissolution of the monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace.

On 29 October 1564, William Farndale, aged about 25, married Margaret Atkinson in the Church of St Mary Magdalene at Campsall.

Margaret Atkinson’s family probably came from Wilton, near Kirkleatham. We don’t know why or how they met. They seem to have decided to move back to Margaret’s homeland in Cleveland after they married. When they did, they emigrated north with William’s parents, Nicholas and Agnes, and his sister Jean. They probably travelled north pretty soon after the wedding in 1564 or perhaps 1565 because by 1567 Jean had met and married Richard Fairley of Kirkleatham.

In 1566, soon after they arrived in Cleveland, William and Margaret had their first child, a daughter called Jane Farndale. In about 1570, they had a son, George Farndale. Then in 1573, Eln Farndale was born. Sadly their fourth child Isabell died on 2 April 1592 and was buried at Skelton. She might have died at birth, although this would have been much later in their marriage, but we don’t have her birth record, so she may have been born earlier.

Margaret Farndale nee Atkinson may have died in 1573 at Skelton aged 34, after 9 years of marriage. If this record is correct, then Isabel may not have been their child, or was born as a twin to Eln in 1573, which might explain Margaret’s early death.

Jane Farndale married Valentine Wraye on 11 February 1588 in Skelton.

William’s father died in 1572 and his mother died in 1586. The family seem to have moved the short distance to Moorsholm in the Parish of Skelton by then. Valentine was a yeoman farmer and a Skelton man, so that might explain why the family moved there. The family would have been living in Wilton for about twenty years by then, and perhaps when Nicholas and Agnes died, there was a decision to move across to the Skelton area.

Jane and Valentine had five children, Margaret (perhaps named after her grandmother), Robert, John, Katherine, Nicholas. Valentine got into a bit of trouble in 1611 when Valentine Wray of Skelton, yom'n, for uttering contemptuous words and threats against certain men - viz. Will. Gedge, Anth. Hutton and Nich. Harker, bound as witnesses in the matter of a certain felony committed by Chr. Hobson and Henry Robinson, late of lastingham, in contempt &c. Made submission, and paid fine of 20. Valentine was buried at Skelton on 25 November 1613.

George Farndale married a lass from Wilton, her mother’s home town and probably where the family had been living, called Margery Nelson, in 1595, but by then George Farndale was ‘of Skelton’. They had a family of five, William Farndale in 1599, Susan Farndale in 1601, George Farndale in 1602, Infanta Farndale who died at birth on 4 January 1603) and Richard Farndale in 1604.

Eln Farndale also married a lad from Wilton, called Pet Atkinson, his mother’s maiden name, in 1598. Eln and Pet probably related, perhaps even cousins.

William Farndale died on 24 January 1606, aged about 68. He was buried on 25 January 1606 at St John the Baptist Church in Skelton.

How do William and Margaret Farndale relate to the modern family?

We cannot be sure, but it is probable that William and Margaret Farndale are paternal and maternal ancestors of all modern Farndales. If we have pieced the jigsaw together correctly, then William’s father Nicholas Farndale was a descendant of Nicholaus and Alicia Farndale of Doncaster, brother of William Farndale the Vicar of Doncaster.

There are some branches of the family (including the Ampleforth Line) about which there is some doubt of the direct ancestry. However it seems most likely that William and Margaret are common ancestors of the whole family.

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Go Straight to Act 12 – Arrival in Cleveland

The webpage of William Farndale includes a chronology and e=research notes.