Swarkeston, and Burton were regarded as the keys to the North. In
the winter of 1642–3, Col. Sir John Gell, the able commander of
the Derbyshire regiment, heard that the Royalists were fortifying
Swarkeston Bridge, so he marched thither, stormed the works and
dismantled the same, after driving away the enemy with a loss of seven
or eight killed and many wounded. The date of the “Battle of Swarsen
bridge” is given in the register of All Saints’, Derby, as 5th January,
1642–3. The towns of Nottingham and Burton, along with their bridges,
were taken and retaken several times during the war; but Derby was
never in the hands of the Royalists, and this immunity Sir John Gell
attributed to his having in his holding Swarkeston Bridge during the
whole of the troublous period.
At this bridge occurred also the climax of the latest invasion of
England, _i.e._, that by the “Young Pretender” in 1745. By the time
Charles Edward Stuart had reached Derby, he realised that his project
was hopeless. His army had increased scarcely at all since he left
Scotland, and his mountain warriors, who had marched all the way from
their native Grampians, found, when they got to the end of the Pennine
Chain, their way barred by the great plain of England. They never
crossed the Trent, and although their advance guard reached Swarkeston
Bridge, that was only a movement to kill time while the courageous
Highlanders braced themselves to endure the humiliation of a retreat.
The Prince had traversed half the length of England, only to find the
people were too prosperous and contented to wish to disturb the ruling
dynasty; and the King’s two armies, more powerful than his own, were
rapidly approaching the invader’s troops. So the 7,000 clansmen, with
their tartans and pipes, did not march over the bridge, and the people
of Swarkeston were thus deprived of a fine spectacle, doubtless much
to their relief. Since then the repose of the bridge has never been
disturbed by wars or rumours of wars.
The viaduct over the meadows is delightfully irregular, and its course
varies sympathetically with the neighbouring river. The general
direction is north and south, but the whole length may be said to form
a gentle arc. The surface rises and falls, and the parapet walls are
full of unexpected nooks—first a corner and next a curve, now an angle
and then a bend; here a concavity and there an inward bulge. In and out
and up and down the bridge winds gently, and at intervals, near the
arches, are dark, glistening pools, fringed with the sword-like leaves
and heavy-scented yellow blooms of the iris, while on the glossy
surface of the water are spread the delicate palette-like leaves and
golden ball flowers of the water-lily.
There are still remaining in the bridge fifteen old arches; two very
beautiful ones are near the northern end, and at the other extremity
is a fine group of six. In places, too, are stretches of very old
and weathered masonry, pathetically irregular, with parts of a bold
string course showing at intervals. The soffits of the old arches are
lined with ribs, which increase both their beauty and strength, and
there are some very interesting buttresses. It is a matter for regret
that the Derbyshire County Council found it necessary in 1899 to make
this romantic old bridge strong enough to carry steam-rollers. By the
lavish use of blue bricks to underpin a number of the old arches, the
utilitarian purpose was achieved, but much of the bridge’s peculiar
beauty has been sacrificed thereby; yet in spite of this mischance,
there is still enough charm left to make a visit to Swarkeston always a
pleasure.
DERBYSHIRE MONUMENTS TO THE FAMILY OF FOLJAMBE[32]
[32] Owing to the lamented death of the late Earl of Liverpool, the
importance that would otherwise have attached to this article has been
seriously diminished (see preface). The chief printed authorities for
the history of the Foljambes are Nichols’ _Collectanea Topographica
et Genealogica_ (1834), i. 91–111, 333–361, ii. 68–90; _Monumenta
Foljambeana_, by Lord Liverpool, in vols. xiv. and xv. of the
_Reliquary_, and Jeayes’ _Derbyshire Charters_ (1906), wherein there
are abstracts of 230 Foljambe deeds at Osberton. See also numerous
references in Cox’s _Derbyshire Churches_ (4 vols.) and _Three
Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_ (2 vols.).
By Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.
All that can be attempted in this article is to give an outline account
of the succession of the family of Foljambe during the six centuries
that they were numbered among the chief landowners of Derbyshire,
with more particular reference to their burial and tombs in the three
churches of Tideswell, Bakewell and Chesterfield.
The Foljambe family were connected with Tideswell and Wormhill from
very early times. One of them was enfeoffed as a forester of fee (that
is an hereditary forester) by William Peverel in the days of the
Conqueror. William Foljambe, who was probably his grandson, died in
1172. Thomas Foljambe, of Tideswell, is mentioned in 1208, and again
in 1214, when he was a knight. He had three sons, whose names appear
as witnesses to various charters between 1224 and 1244; John and Roger
are described as being of Tideswell, and Thomas of Little Hucklow. John
died in 1249.
Sir Thomas Foljambe, son of the above-mentioned John, was of Tideswell
and Wormhill; he was living throughout the reign of Henry III., and
for the first ten years of Edward I. He was also of some position
in Yorkshire, for in 1253–4 he was seized of a knight’s fee in the
Wapentake of Osgoldown; in 1282 he had the manor of Tideswell from
Richard Daniel. He died on the Saturday next after the feast of St.
Hilary in 1283. One of his brothers, Henry Foljambe, was bailiff of
Tideswell in 1288.
It matters but little what class of old records connected with North
Derbyshire is studied, the name of Foljambe is certain to occur in
important matters, and usually with some frequency. Some serious
attention has lately, for the first time, been given to the history
of the Peak Forest (_Victoria County History of Derby_, i., 397–425),
though the mass of documents relative to its administration yet awaits
thorough study. In these records members of the family are continuously
mentioned. Thus, at the Forest Pleas of 1251, the heaviest vert or
“greenhue” fine (damage to or illicit appropriation of timber) was
that of twenty marks imposed on Roger Foljambe for a variety of
transgressions; and his two pledges for future observance of the forest
assize were John Foljambe and Walter Coterell. At these Pleas, too,
Thomas Foljambe was returned by the jury as one of the foresters of fee
for the Campana division of the Peak Forest. The next Forest Pleas were
not held until 1285. The rolls of the successive bailiffs or stewards
of the forest since the last session were produced, from which it
appeared that Thomas Foljambe had been bailiff for the year 1277, and
again in 1281. In the latter year he was also constable of Peak Castle;
his total official receipts for that twelvemonth amounted to the then
great sum of £260.
Sir Thomas Foljambe was succeeded by his eldest son, another Sir Thomas
Foljambe, of Tideswell, who was a knight of the shire for the county
of Derby in 1297, and died in the following year. He was succeeded by
his son, yet another Sir Thomas Foljambe, of Tideswell; he represented
his county in Parliament in 1302, 1304–5, 1309, and from 1311 to 1314.
He was one of those Derbyshire knights who in 1301 were summoned to the
muster at Berwick-on-Tweed to do military service against the Scots.
He died in 1323, and was succeeded by a fourth Sir Thomas Foljambe,
who married the heiress of the family of Darley in the Dale, and so
acquired considerable estates in that neighbourhood, which passed to
his younger son, Sir Godfrey.
There is interesting information with regard to the Foljambes in the
rolls of the Forest Pleas of 1285, from which it appears that the
family at that date held two of the hereditary foresterships of the
Peak.
The Campana foresters of fee of that period were John Daniel; Thomas
le Archer; Thomas, son of Thomas Foljambe, a minor in the custody of
Thomas de Gretton; Nicholas Foljambe, who had been a minor in the
custody of Henry de Medue, but was then of full age; and Adam Gomfrey.
Of these foresters, Adam Gomfrey and Thomas Foljambe held jointly the
same bovate, which had formerly been divided between two brothers.
Also Thomas Foljambe and John le Wolfhunte held another bovate in the
same way, John holding his half by hereditary descent, whilst Thomas
Foljambe, senr., had acquired his half by marriage with Katherine,
daughter of Hugh de Mirhand. This sub-division of serjeanties became
burdensome to the district, as each forester of fee endeavoured to
have a servant maintained at the expense of the tenants; but the
jurors confirmed a decision of the Hundred Court of 1275 to the effect
that there could be only four such servants or officers, according to
ancient custom, for the Campana bailiwick.
The bovate of land held by Wolfhunte and Foljambe was a serjeanty
assigned for taking of wolves in the forest. On the jurors being asked
what were the duties pertaining to that service, the following was the
highly interesting reply:—
“Each year, in March and September, they ought to go through the midst
of the forest to set traps to take the wolves in the places where they
had been found by the hounds: and if the scent was not good because
of the upturned earth, then they should go at other times in the
summer (as on S^t. Barnabas Day, 11 June,) when the wolves had whelps
(catulos), to take and destroy them, but at no other times; and they
might take with them a sworn servant to carry the traps (_ingenia_);
they were to carry a bill-hook and spear, and hunting-knife at their
belt, but neither bows nor arrows: and they were to have with them an
unlawed mastiff trained to the work. All this they were to do at their
own charges, but they had no other duties to discharge in the forest.”
Wolves abounded in Derbyshire to the end of the thirteenth century.
They were troublesome in Duffield Forest as well as in the Peak. There
are two highly significant entries on the _Pipe Rolls_ of Henry II.
as to the devastation then caused by wolves in this county. In 1160–1
25s. was paid to the forest wolf-hunters as an extra fee. So great was
the value set on the skill and experience of the Peak wolf-trappers,
that Henry II. in 1167–8 paid 10s. for the travelling expenses of two
of them to cross the seas to take wolves in Normandy. The accounts of
Gervase de Bernake, bailiff of the Peak for 1255–6, make mention of a
colt strangled by a wolf in Edale, and of two sheep killed by wolves in
another part of the district.
Reverting to the descent of the eldest line of the Foljambes of
Tideswell, John Foljambe succeeded his father, the last named Sir
Thomas Foljambe, in 1323. This John Foljambe had a younger brother,
Thomas, who had two sons, John and Thomas, of Elton, both of whom
appear to have died childless. John Foljambe entailed the family
estates in 1350, and a second entail was made in 1372, whereby on the
extinction of the male descendants of the elder line, the estates of
Tideswell and Wormhill passed to the younger branch of the family.
The oldest known burial-place of the Derbyshire Foljambes was in the
chancel of the church of Tideswell. To be buried in such a place is a
sure proof of the importance of the family in that district, for such
a privilege would not have been granted by the Dean and Chapter of
Lichfield, as rectors, except to those of considerable distinction.
This privilege must have been granted at an early date, long before the
present beautiful fourteenth century chancel was erected. The family
settled in this parish soon after the Conquest, and John Foljambe, who
died in 1249, aged seventy-one, desired to be buried in the chancel
of the church at Tideswell with _his forefathers_. This burial-place
was used by the senior branch of the Foljambes until the time of its
extinction in the male line by the death of Roger Foljambe in 1448.
In the early part of the fourteenth century there were three Foljambe
brasses with effigies extant in this chancel, but they have long since
disappeared. They respectively commemorated (1) Sir Thomas Foljambe,
who died in 1283, aged seventy-six, and Margaret, his wife, daughter
of William de Gernon; (2) Sir Thomas Foljambe, who died in 1298, aged
sixty-eight, and Catherine, his wife, daughter of William Eyre; and (3)
Sir Thomas Foljambe, who died in 1323, aged sixty-seven, and Alice, his
wife, daughter and heiress of Gerard de Furnival.
Thomas Foljambe, son of Sir Thomas Foljambe III., married twice. By
Aveline, his first wife, he had a son, John, from whom the elder branch
at Tideswell were descended. By Alice, daughter and heiress of Darley,
of Darley, he had a son Godfrey, the founder of the Bakewell chantry.
This John Foljambe, who married Joan, daughter of Anker Frechville,
died on August 4th, 1358, and was buried at Tideswell. John, like his
half-brother Godfrey, was a chantry founder on a munificent scale.
He assigned two hundred acres in Tideswell, Wormhill and Litton for
the support of two chaplains, who were to say divine service at the
altar of Our Lady in the church of Tideswell. In conjunction with this
chantry a flourishing gild of brothers and sisters was established. The
chantry was refounded on an extensive scale in the reign of Richard
II.[33]
[33] For full particulars of this chantry see Cox’s _Churches of
Derbyshire_, ii., 286–291.
On the north side of the chancel, a floor-slab, bearing the matrix
of the despoiled brass of the effigy of a man in armour with an
inscription above his head, and another round the edge of the slab,
long remained. One of the younger branch of the Foljambes, about 1675,
desirous that the memory of this benefactor should not be forgotten,
placed a small brass tablet across the breast of the former figure,
which bore, in addition to a shield of the arms of Foljambe, the
following inscription:—
“Tumulus Johanis filii Domini
Thomæ Foljambe qui obiit quarto
die Augusti Ano Domini millesimo
Trecentessimo quinquegesimo octavo
Qui multa bona fecit circa
fabricationem hujus ecclesiæ.”
In 1875, the late Earl of Liverpool caused this brass effigy of his
ancestor to be restored. The inscription round the margin is simply a
more classical rendering of that given above, with the addition of the
date of its restoration. The old inscription has been transferred to
another stone at the head of the brass. The fine east window of this
chancel is due to the Earl’s munificence.
[Illustration: Tideswell Church: The Chancel.]
This is the only remaining assured instance of the once numerous
memorials to the great Foljambe family with which this church must
have at one time abounded. It was, however, Lord Liverpool’s opinion
that the two stone effigies, both of ladies, in the north transept
of the church—the one dating from the end of the thirteenth, and the
other from the latter half of the fourteenth century—represented
members of his family. In this he is supported by local tradition, but
the question can probably never be settled. In the south transept are
two effigies of later date to a knight and his lady on a table tomb.
These have been claimed to represent Sir Thurston de Bower and his
wife Margaret, who died about the close of the fourteenth century.
This monument was considerably restored and renovated in 1873, and a
marginal inscription added naming the effigies. It is, however, quite
possible that Lord Liverpool’s conjecture as to these effigies also
representing members of the Foljambe family is correct.[34]
[34] Lord Liverpool put these conjectures in print in a preface to
the fourth edition of Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher’s _Tideswell Church_,
published in 1906. He had intended elaborating his reasons in this
volume.
Thomas, the elder of the two sons of John Foljambe, the benefactor
to the church, died without issue in his father’s lifetime; John was
succeeded by his younger son, Roger, who is mentioned in various
charters of the reign of Richard II. His son and heir, James, died
in Roger’s lifetime, but left a son, Edward Foljambe, who was at
Tideswell, Wormhill, and Elton in 1416. He took part in the Battle of
Agincourt, and was knighted, and dying about 1446–7, left two sons.
These sons were: Roger, who succeeded him and died in 1448, leaving
three daughters; and Thomas, who died shortly before his brother,
without issue. Thereupon, the entailed estates of Tideswell, Wormhill,
etc., came to Thomas, son and heir of Thomas, younger son of Sir
Godfrey Foljambe, of Darley.
The Darley estates passed, as has been already mentioned, in the time
of Edward III. to Sir Godfrey Foljambe, the younger son of Sir Thomas,
of Tideswell. Sir Godfrey was a man of considerable repute; he acted
as seneschal to John of Gaunt, and was for some years Constable of the
Peak; he also represented Derbyshire in the Parliaments of 1339–40,
1363–4, and 1369–71. Sir Godfrey Foljambe, who held the old Gernon
manor in Bakewell parish and much other property, died in 1376, at the
age of 59. A remarkable monument of beautiful finish is to be seen in
Bakewell Church, against one of the nave piers, to his memory, and that
of his second wife, the co-founders of a chantry in this church.
Sir Godfrey and his wife are represented in half-length figures of
alabaster, carved in high relief, beneath a double-crocketed canopy.
The knight is represented in plate armour, and having on his head a
conical helmet or bascinet, with a camail of mail attached to its lower
edge. The lady wears the reticulated head-dress or cowl. Over the
knight are the arms of Foljambe—_sa._, a bend between six escallops,
_or_—the same being represented on his surcoat; over the lady are
represented the arms of Ireland—_gu._, six fleurs-de-lis, _arg._, 3, 2,
1. The monument is complete as it stands without any inscription, but
in 1803, Mr. Blore, the antiquary, placed here a slab of black marble
with the following inscription in gilt letters: —
“Godefridus Foljambe miles et Avena un: ej. quæ postea cepit in
virum Ricardum de Greene militem dno dnaque manerius de Hassop,
Okebroke, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, et Lokhowe, cantariam hanc
fundaverunt in honorem sanctæ Crucis a^o. rr. Edri tertii xxxix +
Godefrus ob: die Jovis pr: post fest: ascens. dni a^o: regis pdci 1^o
obiitq Avena die Sabbi pr: p: nativ: b: Mariæ Virg: a^o. rr. Ric. II
vi^o.”
This may be translated: —
“Sir Godfrey Foljambe, Knight, and Avena his wife (who afterwards
married Richard de Greene, Knight), Lord and Lady of the manors of
Hassop, Ockbrook, Elton, Stanton, Darley-over-hall, and Locko, founded
this chantry in honour of the Holy Cross, in the 39th year of the
reign of King Edward III. Godfrey died on the first Thursday after the
feast of the Ascension, in the 50th year of the aforesaid King, and
Avena died on the first Saturday after the feast of the nativity of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the 6th year of the reign of Richard II.”
At the bottom of this slab is the word “Watson,” which is in itself
sufficient to stamp this inscription as of modern date; for the old
monumental sculptors were never guilty of the offence of advertising
themselves on the inscribed slabs that they erected. It has been stated
that Mr. Blore obtained this inscription from a document in the British
Museum where the original epitaph was quoted. This, however, is an
impossibility, for a contemporary inscription could not possibly have
contained the blunders of this supposed transcript. The date of the
foundation of the chantry is wrong, and it was, moreover, founded by
Sir Godfrey Foljambe in conjunction with his first wife Anne, and not
with his second wife Avena. The family from which Anne, the first wife,
came is not known, but his second wife, Avena, was the daughter and
heiress of Sir Thomas Ireland, of Hartshorne, by Avena, daughter and
heiress of Sir Payn de Vilers, of Kinoulton and Newbold, Notts.
There has been much confusion as to the date of the founding of the
chantry of the Holy Cross in Bakewell church—Lysons gives the date
as 1365, whilst Glover assigns it to 1371; but the one has been
deceived by an inquisition taken on the death of one of the chaplains
or trustees of the chantry property, and the other by a confirmation
deed of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. The true date is 1344, as
is proved by a variety of original documents now extant at the Public
Record Office.[35] There was a gild of some importance in connection
with this well-endowed chantry. The ordinances to secure the regular
attendance of the chaplain of this foundation were rigorous. He was to
reside constantly in the chantry house which adjoined the churchyard.
This house was only pulled down in the year 1820. He was never to be
away from Bakewell for as much as three days without licence from
the Lord of Hassop for the time being, and if the lord was not in
residence, he was to obtain leave from the vicar of Bakewell. If the
chaplain was ever away without licence for so long a time as fifteen
days he was to be at once removed, and another chaplain was to be
presented by the Lord of Hassop for institution by the Dean and Chapter
of Lichfield.
[35] See Cox’s _Churches of Derbyshire_, ii., 16, 17.
The site of the chantry of the Holy Cross was at the east end of the
south aisle. This interesting mural monument is placed against one of
the piers between the south aisle and the nave. It is not quite certain
whether this is the original position, but it has certainly been there
for two and a half centuries; Ashmole, who visited the church in 1662,
gives a rough draft of the memorial, which he describes as “set upon
a pillar betweene the upper end of the south Isle and the body of the
Church.” There was daily mass at the altar of the Holy Cross, and
the chaplain was instructed, after the _confiteor_ in each mass, to
turn to the people and say in the mother tongue, “Pray for the soul
of Sir Godfrey Foljambe and Anne his wife, and his children, and for
the brethren of the Guild of the Holy Cross, and for all the faithful
departed.”
This is the only Foljambe monument at Bakewell, but the following
members of the family were probably buried in the parish church:—Alice
(Darley), widow of Sir Thomas Foljambe; Sir Godfrey Foljambe, of the
monument, and his two wives, Anne and Avena; three of the sons of
Sir Godfrey by his second wife, Avena, viz., Sir Godfrey Foljambe
II., Alvared, the fourth son, and Robert, the fifth son; Sir Godfrey
Foljambe III., grandson of Sir Godfrey of the monument, who died in
1389; and Margaret, daughter of Sir Simon Leche, and wife of the last
named Sir Godfrey.
[Illustration: Bakewell Church: Foljambe Monument.]
Meanwhile, a younger branch of the family, founded by Thomas Foljambe,
second son of the first Sir Godfrey, by Avena, his wife, settled at
Walton, near Chesterfield, through the marriage of this Thomas with
Margaret, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Loudham, of
Walton. Sir John Loudham gained the Walton estate, in the parish
of Chesterfield, by marriage with Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir
Robert Bretton.
Thomas, son and heir of Thomas Foljambe, of Walton, and Margaret
(Loudham), his wife, became heir male of the family in 1448, on the
death, as has been already stated, of Roger Foljambe, of Tideswell.
Though still landowners in that parish, the family ceased from that
time to be residents at Tideswell; for in 1451, this Thomas, then
aged forty, inherited further estates on the death of his uncle, and
thenceforth the Derbyshire home of the family was at Walton. The
Tideswell property was eventually sold by Sir Francis Foljambe, Bart.,
who died in 1640.