The townships of Dacre and Bewerley were for a long time in a kind of union, by mutual agreement, for the maintenance of their poor; this union was dissolved in 1851, after much litigation, commenced on the part of Bewerley, and terminated in favour of Dacre, after an assize trial at York of six days' duration.*

Harewell Hall is situate on an eminence overlooking the railway and the river Nidd, about a mile to the westward of Dacre Banks station; it is now used as a farm house, but at the time of its erection has been a building of considerable pretentions. It fronts to the southward, and consists of a centre and one projecting wing on the eastern side; this last appears to be the oldest part of the building; just below the apex of the gable is a large carved stone divided into three compartments, the central one charged with the star of the Ingilbies, of Ripley, between the initials W. I. accompanied by the date 1652; thus shewing that it was built by Sir William Ingilby in that year. The chimneys are pro

jecting masses, rising from the foundation at the rear of the building; the windows are of five lights each, with stone mullions between. It is not unlikely that this place was occupied by some branch of the Ingilby family soon after its erection; not long afterwards it was occupied by Sampson

*For further particulars of this trial see Appendix.

+The name Harewell i.e. the soldiers well, seems to point to some remarkable spring, which may have supplied the garrison of the adjacent fort of Castlestead with water.

Lupton, gent., member of a family of some consequence in Nidderdale at that time.*

Near this place the railway crosses the river Nidd, by a bridge of five arches, four of stone, on the sides, and an iron girder in the centre of 90 feet span. Almost close to the Dacre Banks station is a deep cutting through a hill of rock, the upper beds being very hard and compact, the lower of a coarse

*Braisty Wood was the original home of this family, of whom William Lupton and Sampson Lupton were living in 1593, from whom descended John Lupton, of Braisty Wood, whose wife's name was Mary; he died in 1689, and was buried at Pateley Bridge; she died in 1698. Their son, Sampson Lupton, Senr., of Harewell Hall, gentleman, was buried at Pateley, February 16th, 1697-8. By his will, dated February 11th, 1697-8, he bequeaths to William Skaife, of Low Laith, Farmer, his son-in-law, and James Horner, of Whitehouses, all his moiety of tenements and messuages, at Appletreewick, in trust, to be sold to pay the principal and interest owing to Sir John Ingilby, bart., remainder to Margaret, his wife, to raise portions for his five daughters; personal debts and funeral expenses to be paid out of his Braisty Wood estate, by the said William Skaife and James Horner, to whom he gives one moiety of his messuages, lands, grounds, pastures, &c., at Braisty alias Braistow Woods, to pay his debts, and to raise £100 for his son John Lupton, to discharge a sum in which he was bound for his brother Sampson Lupton-when paid, the moiety of Braisty Wood, &c., to his son John Lupton, for term of 99 years, or his life, remainder to his grandson William Lupton-remainder to his grandson Sampson Lupton. The other moiety of Braisty Woods, then belonging to his mother Mary Lupton, after her decease, to his wife Margaret, remainders to his grandsons Thomas and Sampson Lupton. To each of his five daughters £50, out of Braisty Woods, and £50 out of the Craven estate. Margaret, wife of the above, daughter of William Skaife, of Braisty Woods, died November 2nd, 1718, aged 74, and was buried at Ripon, where the following inscription yet remains to her memory. "Here lieth the body of Margaret Lupton, late wife of Mr. Sampson Lupton, of Braisty Woods, in Netherdale, who departed this life the 2nd of November, Anno Domini 1718, in the 74th year of her age, and lived to be mother and grandmother to above 150 children, and at the baptizing of the first grandchild, the child had ten grandfathers and grandmothers then present."

For these hitherto unpublished particulars of the family of Lupton, we are indebted to Mr. R. H. Skaife, of the Mount, York, who has also furnished us with much valuable matter relative to other places within this district, to whom we take this opportunity of tendering our grateful acknowledgments.

gritstone, between which is a parting of shale a few inches in thickness.

Low Hall, sometimes called Lacon Hall, from a former owner of that name, is situate about half-a-mile eastward of Dacre Banks, close to the railway. The front commands a pleasing prospect down the green and wooded valley to the eastward. The Hall itself is of a square form, surmounted by a triple roof; the windows are of seven lights, divided by a transom. Over the front door are the initials M. W. and the date 1635. On one of the buildings is E.L. 1711. It is now the property of the Ingilbies, of Ripley Castle.

Dacre Banks is a small, well-built, but scattered village, situate between the river Nidd on the north, and the steep ascent of Dacre Pasture on the south; the houses are placed at random, without any order or regularity in reference to each other, a common method of arrangement in all the old villages of Nidderdale, but which does not appear to extend lower down than this. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the spining of yarn and the manufacturing of linen cloth. Tow was spun by machinery at Dacre Banks Mill, in this village, at the factory now occupied by Messrs. Grange and Bell, the first of any place in England. This was owing to the ingenuity of a selftaught mechanic, of the name of Charles Gill, who was born at this village in the year 1774, and employed in the above-mentioned mill in 1793, soon after which period he invented the Tow Card, a machine which has been extensively used in the spining of that article; he was also inventor of another machine employed in tow spining, called the Porcupine or Porcipine. An eminent maker of manufacturing machinery took out a patent for a machine called a Porcipine, which was

found to be copied from that invented by Gill some years before, when the patent right was set aside. He was the inventor of many other machines used in different processes of manufacture, and had lucrative situations offered to him by manufacturers of machinery, but he always preferred remaining in his native valley, in which he died in the year 1851. Though his inventive talents did not acquire him great wealth or distinction, they yet, joined with industry, secured him a competence in his old age, and he had the pleasure of knowing that it was honourably won. One of his sons is now partner with Mr. J. Todd, in the Nidderdale Foundry.

The Church is a small building, in the early English style, consisting of nave and chancel, with a square tower, surmounted by a slender spire, built in 1837, at a cost of £750, which was raised by subscription, with the exception of £150, given by the Church Building Society. The Dean and Chapter of Ripon are patrons of the living, which is worth about £100 per annum. A neat parsonage was erected also by subscription, near the church, in 1838.

The district attached to this church is thus described in the reply of the Dean and Chapter of Ripon to the letter of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, enquiring into the state of Cathedral Churches, dated April 8th, 1853.

"Dacre. Comprising that township or hamlet in the parish of Ripon, population 695; and the hamlets or places called New York and Summer Bridge, in the adjoining township of Hartwith, in the parish of Kirkby Malzeard, population about 720, together 1415. The incumbent states that these latter hamlets are ecclesiastically in Dacre, it being the express wish of the bishop, that he should take them under his care, being

close by, and at a considerable distance from Hartwith church, and ought to have been legally so, but by an oversight, neglected to be carried into effect. The extent of the district is four or five miles by five or six. donation by the Dean and

Income, including a temporary
Chapter of £20, per annum,

£56 14s. 2d.; but from which must be deducted an annual payment of £5, on account of money borrowed.

residence.

A house of

In 1838, the Dean and Chapter gave £50, as a donation to the new chapel."

Dacre Banks school was founded in 1695, by William Hardcastle, who built the house, and bequeathed £100 to provide a salary for the master, and the money was paid in 1783, into the hands of Sir William Ingilby, Bart.; William Mountain, by will dated 28th December, 1778, left £100 to the school, which was received by the trustees of the same. It was intended to be free only to the descendants of the founder. The master now receives £20 per annum, from the Rev. H. D. Ingilby, of Ripley Castle, and a committee of eight gentlemen in the neighbourhood guarantee to him a certain salary; he also receives the children's weekly pence. The school is a plain building with square windows, and stone mullions, over the door is inscribed EX DONO. W.H. 1695. It is situate on the east side of Dacre Pasture, and has a play ground and garden attached.

The township contains 5381a. 3r. 34p. of land, including nearly every variety of soil.

The annual value of this township as assessed to the poor rate in 1857, was £3376. As assessed to Property tax in 1858, £4168; and to the county rate in 1859, £3798.