Ferrensby in the Past
Written evidence for the state of a village before the Norman Conquest is very
scarce because hardly anyone except the monks could read or write. After the
Conquest there was rapid growth in the monasteries resulting in more written
records.
The result is that most village histories begin with the Domesday Book but all but a
very few villages existed for several hundred years before that.
For this period we have to make assumptions based on the few cases where
definitive knowledge is available either from writings or excavation.
Celtic (i.e. ancient British) villages of the Iron Age culture existed from about 500 BC
into Roman times and the remains of some of these can be seen in Cornwall the best
being at Chysuaster.
While there is now no evidence for a Celtic village at Ferrensby it is just possible
because:



The headquarters of the Brigantes, the largest Celtic tribe in Britain was only
five miles away at Aldborough and the track from there to the ancient
settlement at Knaresborough must have passed through or very close to the
site of our village.
The vital water supply is present in the spring which comes through the bed
of fine sand in the middle of the village pond
A Roman founders stock of metal articles was found many years ago near
Ferrensby (and was melted down at the forge in Knaresborough)
If an Iron Age site did exist it would have contained huts as shown in the sketch and
they would have been surrounded by a stone of wood fence to keep wolves from the
sheep and cattle which would be brought in at night.
Figure 1 Section of Iron Age Hut
After the Romans left there were numerous invasions of Saxons in the South of
England and Angles in the North. By about 700 AD the last Romano British Kingdom
of Elmet in the Leeds-Sherburn area had been taken over and Anglo Saxon became
the national language.
For this period the chief sources of information are:




The Anglo Saxon chronicle written by Saxon monks mainly about kings and
their doings. These records are often biased, for instance, if a king taxed the
monasteries heavily to pay for his wars he got bad press.
The history of the English Church by the great scholar Bede (died 753)
Occasional deeds – usually grants of land from a king to the church
Study of place names
Invasions by Danish and Norse armies in the 9th and 10th centuries result in a very
confused picture – some villages e.g. Farnham, Flaxby, Staveley and Walkingham
retain their Anglian names. Arkendale whose Anglian name was Arkenden (denu =
valley in Anglo Saxon) changed to Arkendal (dahl being Old Norse for valley). Loftus
Hill derives from Old Norse, Ferrensby is derived from the Old Norse FÆREYINGR and
although we do not know its earlier name there is little doubt it was an Anglian
village and the houses would be as shown in the sketch of the Anglo Saxon styles.
The new name refers to the man of men from the Faroes Islands.
The sketches show the early type of house as used by the invaders in Germany and
the development which took place here.
Figure 2 Early Anglo Saxon Farmhouse
Anglo Saxon houses were almost always of wood and this also applies to their early
churches – one still exists at Greenstead in Essex.
The Danish invasions will have made little difference to Ferrensby except to its name
and the fact that the Danes did not have slaves.
Now we come to the Norman invasion with the rebellion in the North shortly after.
The result was the harrying of the North in which, according to Doomsday book,
Ferrensby and the neighbouring village were laid waste.
In the Doomsday survey on 1086 the following are the areas in CARUCATES (1
carucate = 120 acres) for the local villages:
BURGHSHIRE (CLARO) WAPENTAKE (Aldborough)
Vill
Land owned by the king:
Ferrensby
Scriven
Burton Leonard
Loftus Hill
Knaresborough
Farnham
6 carucates
6 carucates
6 carucates
4 carucates
6 carucates
3 carucates
Gospatric 3
This indicates the size of the villages. The carucate of 120 acres is taken as the area
which could be cultivated by 1 plough team.
In 1160AD Henry second has a document drawn up defining the boundaries of the
Forest of Knaresborough and the Liberty of the Forest. This also makes the first
mention of the castle. I have seen a comment that the Forest and Liberty existed
much earlier and this seems likely since Knaresborough and many of the villages in
the Liberty belonged to the king in 1086.
A Liberty is an area which has the same privileges and laws and the manor to which
it is attached.
To the Saxon and Danish population the conquest meant a serious loss of freedom.
Previously local affairs had been settled at meeting of the hundred at Claro Hill
where the approval of proposals was shown by clashing spears against shields. Claro
Hill was what geologists a drumlin and was left by the glaciers where the road going
east from Arkendale meets the great north road. It was removed to make the dual
carriageway.
The Villages in the Liberty were called BEREWICKS i.e. barley villages for supplying
the kings steward at Knaresborough with produce for the hunting parties. When
Kings or Dukes travelled in those days they went in large parties – they had to for
safety.
Ferrensby would have been rebuilt with wooden houses which would eventually
develop to the type shown in the sketch.
The main change was the use of tie beams to take the thrust of the roof so allowing
the roof to be supported on vertical walls.
The vertical timbers called studs were tenoned into horizontal cills resting on stone
bases which prevented damage form rising damp.
A longhouse (farm) would house both the humans and the animals and in the three
field system, which applied here, all the farms were grouped together in the village.
As shown in the sketch the byre would be 16 foot wide giving stall room for oxen
(four) which were used for ploughing etc This width called he ROD, POLE or PERCH
became the foundation for the English system of measurements but that is another
story.
Figure 3 Medieval Farmhouse
Besides the farms all the villages had a blacksmith, wheelwright, shoemaker,
carpenter etc. as difficulty of travel made local crafts essential.
The Ferrensby blacksmiths place stood on the village green and was removed
because it was considered to make the crossroads dangerous and the pound which
stood in front of the Grange was pulled down for some less likely reason.
The Pinder who put stray animals in the pound and the constable were elected at an
annual meeting and could not refuse to serve.
If you disregard the new houses built since the 1914-1918 war the appearance of
Ferrensby will have changed very little in the last three hundred years and the
number of the population has been fairly constant.
The use of timber for building became limited first by the demand for oak for ships
for the navy in Tudor times. This was the reason that half timbered houses were no
longer allowed and you will notice that later wooden framed houses have large
square panels instead of the older close studding.
Risk of fire was another strong reason for the change to brick construction which
became popular from the sixteenth century while stone was used where it was
locally available as in the dales.
So apart from minor changes like fashions in windows etc the main differences from
the recent past are in the supply of electricity, gas and water. The surrounding fields
changed with the enclosure Award of 1808 – this may be seen at the records
department in Northallerton but it is a little difficult to read as the capitals especially
are rather archaic. Many other medieval documents are at Northallerton but the
court rolls for the Manor of Knaresborough which include the Ferrensby cases are at
the Duchy of Lancaster archives in London. The manor passed from the King to the
Duchy in the middle ages. They still own the castle.
Rex Dobbyn
(Dated 19.10.1987)