_Essheholt Priory._--Esholt Hall (now in the possession of W. R. C.
Stansfield, Esq.) is the same as the ancient priory of Essheholt, which was
under the abbot of Kirkstall.
This priory fell, of course, with the smaller houses, and was valued at
19l. 0s. 8d. Essheholt remained in the crown till the first year of Edward
VI., nine years after the dissolution, when it was granted to Henry
Thompson, Gent., one of the king's gens-d'armes at Boulogne. In this family
the priory of Esholt remained somewhat more than a century, when it was
transferred to the neighbouring and more distinguished house of Calverley
by the marriage of Frances, daughter and heiress of H. Thompson, Esq., with
Sir Walter Calverley. His son, Sir Walter Calverley, Bart., built, on the
site of the old priory, the house which now stands.
Over a door of one of the out-buildings is an inscription in ancient
letters, from which may be traced--"Aleisbet. Pudaci, p----," with a bird
sitting on the last letter p. (Elizabeth Pudsay, prioress).
The builder of the present house died in 1749; and, in 1755, his son of the
same name sold the manor-house and furniture to Robert Stansfield, Esq., of
Bradford; from whom the present owner is descended.[1]