10. NICHOLSON

Riley Tree,

RICHARD NICHOLSON and MARGARET (10)

 

RICHARD NICHOLSON. We know that Mary Nicholson, who married James Fawcett in 1731, was baptised in the Wensleydale village of Askrigg in 1698. She was the daughter of Richard Nicholson and his wife Margaret.

Richard’s earliest known child was born early in 1695, though we know of at least one other son whose baptism has not been found. There may have been other children whose baptisms have been lost. 1695 would give him a likely birth date in the later 1660s. The parish baptismal register has survived from 1701, with some incomplete Bishops Transcripts in the century before. This is too late to give us Richard’s own baptism.

By the 1670s, the Nicholsons were well established in Askrigg. Anthony, John and Thomas Nicholson were all having children baptised there, followed in the 1680s by James. It would appear that the Nicholsons had been established in Askrigg for some time before this. We have Nicholson wills going back to the mid-1500s

Their surname was often spelt Nichalson.

Richard became a yeoman.

 

We find the first mention of a Richard Nicholson in a will of 1687.[1]

16th December 1687.
Memorandum that John Duckett late of Worton in the Chaplrey of Askrigg of the Archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Chester deceased on or about the second day of February last past being indisposed and finding himself very ill in health did call for one Richard Nicholson his next neigour and whoe lived under the same roofe with him and desired him to send for one John Scarr wch he did and when he came she said John Duckett being then of perfect minde & soud disposing memory and haveing a minde then to side or dispose of estate he had did nuncupatively declare his last will and minde in these or the like words in effect following vizt I give to George Hutchinson his [then] youngest childe Mathew the sum of five pounds Item he gave unto Richard Nicholson the house where he lived for three years and to his daughter Jane one Coffer And all the rest of his personall estate he did give and except his brothers children came which said will or words or to the like effect were spoken and declared in the presence of the said Richard Nicholson and others then present. Richard Nicholson Jur

A noncupative will was one which was not drawn up in the usual legal form, but was nevertheless held to express the wishes of the deceased. The older Richard Nicholson made this declaration, which was witnessed by others, including Richard Nicholson junior, whom we take to be the older Richard Nicholson’s son.

The evidence points to Richard Nicholson senior being the son-in-law of John Duckett, and married to Duckett’s daughter Jane, and that these are Richard junior’s parents.

Askrigg was a chapelry in the large parish of Aysgarth in North Yorkshire. It lies in the centre of Wensleydale, on the northern bank of the River Ure. Nearby are the spectacular waterfalls of Millgill Force and Whitfield’s Force.

“A great part of this is mountainous and rugged land, and dairy-farming is the most flourishing department of agriculture. ‘Wensedale and the Soile about is very Hilly, and berith little Corne, but norisith many Bestes,’ said Leland[2], and an inhabitant described it later as ‘very mountainous with nothing to live on but the increase of cattle and sheep.’[3]

This description applies more particularly to that part of the valley above Bainbridge known for centuries as the Forest of Wensleydale.

Askrigg is situated on irregular ground overlooking low-lying meadows. The houses are of stone. The market place with its cross is at the west end of the town, with the church on its western side.

Notable occupations were clockmaking (from the late 17^th century) and knitting.

It had a free Grammar School from Elizabethan times.

Worton, where we find John Duckett, is a hamlet a mile SE of Askrigg. The inhabitants used Askrigg’s church of St Oswald.

 

MARGARET. We do not have a marriage for Richard Nicholson junior and the early baprismal register does not give the mother’s name. We know Margaret’s baptismal name only from her burial.

Their first known child was baptised in 1695. This makes it likely that Richard and Margaret were married in the early 1690s.

We have the following baptisms for children of Richard Nicholson. There may well have been other children, whose baptismal records have not survived.

Baptisms. St Oswald, Askrigg.
1694/5 Mar 4  Elizabeth daughter of Rich Nicolson

On 17 Jan 1698/9, Richard Nicholson, yeoman of Askrigg, was indicted at the County Sessions in Richmond.[4] He was accused of “riotously assembling with up to 40 other unknown persons at Hawes in the parish of Aysgarth between 11 and 12 o’clock.”
The offence took place 15 Nov 1698. Richard was one of twelve named defendants.
The cause of the riots is not stated. In the following century, Aysgarth was frequently the centre of food riots by agricultural worker. In this case, however, eleven of the twelve accused were yeomen, so the cause is likely to have been something different.

As so often with old court cases, we know the accusation, but not the outcome. Was Richard found guilty? If so, was he fined or imprisoned?

The bptisms at St Oswald’s continue.
1698 Apr 17  Mary daughter of Richard Nicholson
1702 Nov  John  son of Richard Nichalson of Buse.

In the same month we have:
Burial. St Oswald, Askrigg.
1702 Nov 22  Margaret wife of Richard Nichalson of Buse.
It would appear that Margaret died in childbirth.

Buse or Boose was the local name for a cow stall in a barn, but we have been unable to find a hamlet of that name in the vicinity of Askrigg.

The infant John was also buried, on 12 Apr 1704, aged one. The family were still living at Buse.

There are two further baptisms.
1704 Jun 11  Margaret daughter of Richard Nichalson of Baynbridge.
1707 Jul 31 ? son of Richard Nichalson of Baynbridge. The corner of the page with his name is missing.

This raises the question of whether Richard Nicholson, father of Mary, married again and moved from Buse to Baynbridge, or whether this is another Richard Nicholson. We believe the former to be correct. The fact that the next child is called Margaret may be a tribute to his dead wife.

We do not have a record of this secondmarriage.

Bainbridge is a hamlet also in the parish of Aysgarth, a mile SW of Askrigg, where the River Ure was crossed by a fine stone bridge with three arches.

We have found only one burial for Richard Nicholson. This is in 1722, for Richard Nichalson of Worton householder. But we have good reason to believe that this was Richard’s father
Instead, in 1708, we have the following:

Richard Nicholson Askrigg 1708 Admin 918/647 Admin 17th Nov 1708 Ann Nicholson of Askrigg widow and William Nicholson of Askrigg yeoman Ann Nicholson Admin of Richard Nicholson late of Askrigg.[5]

This fits with the fact that there were no more children for Richard Nicholson of Bainbridge.

It tells us that the name of Richard’s second wife was Ann.

The absence of further records for Richard Nicholson, other than the 1722 burial, leads us to believe that the Bainbridge Richard was the same as the Richard of Buse.

William Nicholson was a co-administrator. A William Nicholson was having children baptised around the same time as Richard, so this may be his brother.

Richard was probably in his forties when he died.

There is one further mention, In 1711, Thomas Nicholson, son of Richard Nicholson of Askrigg, deceased, was apprenticed to John Metcalf of Redmire, Whitesmith, for £6 10s.
We do not have Thomas’s baptism, but it may well have been in the missing register.
A whitesmith could be either someone who worked with tin, or someone who did the finer filing, polishing, etc, on articles made by a blacksmith.
Redmire is 7 miles east of Askrigg.

 

[1] Yorkshire Dales History. https://yorkshiredaleshistory.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/33-26-john-duckett-worton-1687.pdf
[2] Leland, John and Thomas Hearne, The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary. Leland’s manuscript 1535-1545, Hearne’s edition 1770.
[3][3] Horne, A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1. Parishes, Aysgarth.1914. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol1/pp200-214
[4] North Riding Quarter Sessions. QSB 1699 6/37. https://archives.northyorks.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=Q%2fSB%2f1699%2f6%2f37&pos=4
[5] https://yorkshiredaleshistory.wordpress.com/askrigg/