Origins THORNTON WATLASS yor Thornton Watlass Hall Dodsworth - Smith - Smith-Dodsworth 1600+ Remodelled 1727. Passed 1821 on death of Frederick Dodsworth, Canon of Windsor, to Sir Edward Smith = Dodsworth. Dodsworth family from 14 cent. VCH Yorkshire North Riding. ---------- Thornton Watlass Hall, the seat of Sir Charles Edward Smith Dodsworth, Bart., is an ancient gabled stone house of two stories, situated in a well wooded park, and contains many valuable pictures. The paternal ancestor of this family was John Smith, yeoman, of Ecclesfield, in the West Riding, who married the sister and heiress of John Silvester, of Newland Park. Silvester, originally a blacksmith's apprentice at Barnsley, became chief engineer at the Tower of London in the time of Charles II., and constructed a chain (then thought an impossibility) to be drawn across the Thames, to prevent the Dutch fleet sailing up the river to attack London, John Smith's grandson was created a baronet in 1783, and married the sister and heiress of Frederick Dodsworth, D.D., of Thornton Watlass, whose surname her children assumed. Thomas Dodsworth, of Dodsworth, West Riding, receiver to Henry, third Lord Fitzhugh, K.G., acquired the Thornton Watlass estate in 1415, by marriage with Agnes, daughter and heiress of Hugh Thoresby, Chief Captain of Richmondshire, and niece of Cardinal John Thoresby, Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England, who built the choir of York Cathedral. Of this family were Sir Edward Dodsworth, Commissary General to the Parliamentary Army, and Roger Dodsworth, the famous Yorkshire antiquary. The Thornton estate is said to have descended by blood from an unknown period before the Norman Conquest. The church of St. Mary is a handsome stone edifice, rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1868, at a cost of £1,800. It is in the Perpendicular style, and comprises chancel, nave with north aisle, transepts, porch, and massive west tower. This tower, like many others on the border, appears to have been used as a place of security in troublous times. It contains apartments for domestic purposes, and, like the tower of Bedale Church, was provided with a templum claocinµ, or, in more intelligible language, a w.c. The east window, of three lights, is a memorial of Timothy Hutton, Esq., and was the gift of James Pulleine, Esq. Another window commemorates the Rev. George Tufnell, late rector of the parish. The register dates from 1574. The living is a rectory, worth about £400, in the patronage of Sir F. A. Milbank, Bart., and held by the Rev. John D. Anderson, M.A., University College, Durham. A new school, with master's residence, was built by subscription in 1872. It is endowed with the interest of £100 left by one of the Dodsworth family; average attendance, 54. There is a reading room with billiard table in the village, chiefly supported by Sir Charles Dodsworth, who has also presented a library of upwards of 300 standard works. CHARITY - Julia, Lady Dodsworth, in 1885, left the sum of £200, the interest thereof to be applied, by the rector and churchwardens and the owner of Thornton Watlass Hall, for the relief of deserving poor persons resident in the townships of Thornton Watlass, Thirn, and Burrill-cum-Cowling. |
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