Robert Skayff was keeper of the cattle for the monastery of Fountains in 1481, and also in 1484.

William Skayff was also keeper of cattle at the same place in 1493.*

John Skaife married Margaret Hardcastle, April 12th, 1562, and had a son

Thomas Skaife, born in 1568; who, in 1601, purchased a lease of an estate at Braisty Woods, for the term of 999 years, from Sir William Ingilby, Knight, of Ripley, which is yet held by his descendants, and what is most singular, the owner for nine generations in succession has borne the name of Thomas.

son

Thomas Skaife, son of the above, by his wife Alice, had a

Thomas Skaife, born in 1616-7; he built the present house in 1656, and by his wife Ann, with other issue, had a son named

Thomas Skaife, born in 1651-2, who married Jane, daughter of John Lupton, of Braisty Woods, by whom he had a son named Thomas, who on his father's decease in 1703, succeeded to the estate.

Thomas Skaife, of Braisty Woods, gentleman, born in 1688, married in 1715, Ann, daughter of Laurence Allanson, of Littlethorpe, near Ripon, by whom with other issue he had

* In a survey of the possessions of Fountains Abbey, taken immediately after the dissolution, is the following entry relating to this family and this township-" Ther be ij Tenements parcel of the manor of Brymbem callyd Bangorhouses at lxxiiijs by yere; and Brasty wod at lxxiijs iiijd with all lands, medows, pastors, comons, and wasts thereunto belonging in the tenure of Robt. Skafe and Willm. Skafe, and rents by yere. vijli vj viijd."

two sons, Thomas and Allanson;* on his decease in 1766,

his son

Thomas Skaife, succeeded, who was born in 1716-7, he married Elizabeth Eaton, of Harewell Pastures, died in 1789, and was buried at Hartwith, when he was succeeded by his son Thomas Skaife, born in 1755, who married in 1778, Hannah, daughter and co-heir of William Hardisty, of Hardisty Hill, in the parish of Fewston, by whom, amongst other issue, he had two sons, Thomas and Joseph. He died at Littlethorpe, in 1836, when the estate came to his son, another

Thomas Skaife, of Braisty Woods, born in 1780, married in 1808, Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Brown, of Cracoe, in Craven; he died at Manchester, in 1855, and was buried at Hartwith, when the paternal estate came to the present

owner,

Thomas Skaïfe, of Braisty Woods, now residing at Ripon, of which city he is a common councillor.

Joseph, brother of the above Thomas, married Elizabeth,

* He was murdered and robbed on Sawley Moor, February 23rd, 1765, when returning from Ripon. The tradition is, that he had been collecting his rents at Littlethorpe, and was returning home or horseback, when he was waylaid, murdered, and robbed of all valuables, excepting his silver buckles. His horse returned to Braisty Woods without its rider, which alarmed his household, when a party went out in search, and his dead body was found, carried home, and buried at Hartwith, where an inscription on an altar tomb yet remains to his memory. The murderer was not discovered at the time. Some years after, the notorious Tom Lee of Grassington Wood End, was, with a young accomplice, arrested for another murder. The accomplice turned King's evidence, and it came out on the trial that the said accomplice assisted Lee in the murder of Allanson Skaife.

This, along with much information relating to the families of Skaife, and the neighbourhood generally was furnished by Mr. R. H. Skaife, of York.

daughter of Mr. Peter Davies, of York, by whom he had issue

Robert Hardisty Skaife, of the Mount, York, Gentleman.

Previous to the recent enclosure a great part of Hartwith Moor had been cultivated, but at such a remote period that the heath had again resumed its dominion, and clad the whole with a dark brown robe. The tradition is, that it was ploughed during the reign of king John, when the Pope having placed the kingdom under interdict and cursed the soil, the inhabitants deeming that the curse extended only to the enclosed lands, cultivated the commons to evade its effects. Baal hills or old smelting places were numerous on this moor, though no lead ore was ever raised in the township, the miners finding it easier to bring the ore to the fuel, than to convey the fuel to the ore. The moor, containing 862a. 1r. 12p. was enclosed five years ago; the award was signed January 9th, 1858, Ralph Lodge, of Bishopdale, in the parish of Aysgarth, sole commissioner or valuer. Amongst other allotments was one containing 3a. 1r. 16p. to the Churchwardens and Overseers of Hartwith, in trust as a place for exercise and recreation for the inhabitants of the said parish and neighbourhood, subject to a right of road through the same. This exercise ground lies by the sides of the road leading from the chapel to the Ripley and Pateley Bridge turnpike road.

The Mineral productions of Hartwith are gritstone in abundance, well adapted for building purposes, slates and flags; near the Chapel is a bed of rock composed entirely of fossil shells, some parts of it similar in appearance to the mountain limestone, to which it has some slight affinity; it

H

forms an excellent material for the making of roads.

Coal. but of a thin seam and indifferent quality has been obtained in Winsley. The state of cultivation will be seen from the following agricultural statistics taken in 1854.

Since the above were taken the moor has been enclosed, and the amount of cultivated land consequently increased, and that of common diminished. The soil is of great variety, and some of it near Brimham Lodge and the Stripe, of excellent quality, some on the contrary is cold, clayey, and poor. The annual value of the township as assessed to the poor rate, in 1857, was £4,900; as assessed to Income tax in 1858, £6,320; and as valued to the county rate in 1859, £5,737. The population in 1801, was 449; 1811, 480; 1821, 675; 1831, 943; 1841, 1851, 1162; and in

1861, 1227.

STONEBECK DOWN.

The upper part of Nidderdale is divided into three townships, Stonebeck-Down, Stonebeck-Up, and Fountains Earth, which before the formation of the district parish of Ramsgill, constituted the chapelry of Middlesmoor in the parish of Kirkby Malzeard. From Pateley Bridge upwards, the valley has generally a north-westerly direction, though to use a bold illustration, it is as crooked as a flash of forked lightning. The first of these townships that we enter on ascending the dale is Stonebeck-Down, which is bounded on the south by Foster Beck, where it falls into the Nidd, and further up by Merryfield Beck, which divide it from Bewerley; the river Nidd forms what may be called the north-eastern boundary in the centre of the valley; How Stean Beck divides it from Stonebeck-Up on the north, and a range of lofty heath-clad mountains, generally the summit of drainage between the valleys of the Nidd and Wharfe, divide it on the west from the parishes of Linton and Coniston in Craven.

A small portion of this township is entered in Domesday survey under the name of Hegrefeld, now Heathfield, as having, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, belonged to Gamel; then to Berenger de Todeni, who had here three carucates of land; a very small part of what the township