Roger Dodsworth 1585 - 1654
Roger Dodsworth , 4th child and 1st son. Newton Grange estate, the property of the Earl of Feversham, formerly belonged to the Sandwiths, whose mansion stood on the site now occupied by a farmhouse called West Newton Grange. Here, in the house of his grandfather, Ralph Sandwith, Esq., was born, in 1585, Roger Dodsworth, the eminent antiquary. "One cannot" says Gough, "approach tho borders of this county without paying respect to the memory of the indefatigable collector of antiquities, Roger Dodsworth, who undertook, and executed, a work, which, to the antiquaries of the present day, would have been the stone of Tydides." He was the principal compiler of the Monasticon Anglicanum, which was published under his and Dugdale's names. He left 120 volumes in his own handwriting, and 42 volumes of original MSS. which he had collected, all of which are preserved in the Bodleian library. He died at the age of 69, and was buried at Rufford, in Lancashire. His father, M. Dodsworth, Esq., was a cadet of the Thornton Watlass family. Antiquary. See: Dictionary of National Biography, 1908 ed. Lancashire Record Office Finch, Johnson & Lynn, Solicitors, Preston Catalogue Ref. DDL Creator(s): Finch, Johnson and Lynn, Preston, solicitors MAWDESLEY. FILE [no title] - ref. DDL 478 - date: 13 Jun. 1639 [from Scope and Content] Lease for 3 lives at 3/8 rent: for surrender and £4: Thomas Hesketh of Rufforth, esq., to Thomas Baccus of Mawdesley, husbandman -- a close in M., called the Great Meadowe, (1ac.) -- for lives of Dorothy, wife, and T.B., and Thomas and Ellen his children. Leased by Richard Hesketh of Becconsall, gent., decd., to Holcroft daughter of Robert Hesketh of Rufforth, esq., decd. and wife of Roger Dodsworth of the Graunge in Hutton, esq., Leased 16 Mar. 1618/9 by R. and H.D., to T.B. Witn. Robert Loyd, Henry Baccus, Thomas Porter, John Milner. Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654), a collaborator of Sir William Dugdale in the project to publish a Monasticon Anglicanum, was a tireless if disorganized collector and transcriber of medieval records. (Footnote 121) His Monasticon Boreale never saw the light of day, and remains with most of his other manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (Footnote 122) These volumes are an underexploited resource for medieval ecclesiastical and family history, especially for the north of England. [121] For his career, see N. Denholm-Young and H. H. E. Craster, 'Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654) and his circle', Bodleian Quarterly Record vii (1932-4) pp. 409-19 (= Yorkshire Archaeol. Journal xxxii (1936) pp. 5-32. [122] For a catalogue of the 160 volumes, see Summary Catalogue of Western MSS in Bodleian Library, ed. F. Madan et al., nos. 4143-5101. Note that two more volumes are in the possession of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Leeds. The notes for Monasticon Boreale are Bodl., MSS Dodsworth 7-9. "WEST NEWTON GRANGE, a hamlet in the township and parish of Oswaldkirk, wapentake of Rydale; 3 miles from Helmsley. Here was born, July 24, 1585, that indefatigable collector, and eminent antiquary, Roger Dodsworth, son of Matthew Dodsworth, registrar of York Cathedral, and chancellor to archbishop Matthews. He states himself to have been born in the house of Ralph Sandwith, esq. father of Eleanor, wife of M. Dodsworth, esq. his father. He died in August, 1654; and was buried at Rufford, Lancashire. Anthony Wood says, "he was a man of wonderful industry, but less judgement; always collecting, but never published any thing." And Mr Gough adds, "one cannot approach the borders of this county, without paying respect to the memory of the indefatigable collector of its antiquities, Roger Dodsworth, who undertook and executed a work, which, to the antiquaries of the present day, would have been the stone of Tydides." One hundred and twenty volumes of his own writing, besides original MSS. which he had obtained from several hands, making all together 162 vols. folio, now lodged in the Bodleian library, are lasting memorials what this county owes to him, as the volumes of the Monasticon, (Which, though published under his and Dugdale's names conjointly, were both collected and written totally by him) will immortalize that extensive industry which has laid the whole kingdom under obligation. The patronage of general Fairfax preserved this treasure, and bequeathed it to the library where it is now lodged. Fairfax allowed Dodsworth a yearly salary to preserve the inscriptions in churches. -Gen. Biog. Dict. -Drake." [Description(s) edited from Langdale's Yorkshire Dictionary (1822) and Baine's Directory of the County of York (1823)] DODSWORTH, ROGER (1585-1654), English antiquary, was born near Oswaldkirk, Yorkshire. He devoted himself early to antiquarian research, in which he was greatly assisted by the fact that his father, Matthew Dodsworth, was registrar of York cathedral, and could give him access to the records preserved there. He married the widow of Laurence Rawsthorne of Hutton Grange, where he subsequently resided tifi his death in August 1654. At various times in his life he was enabled to study the records in the library of Sir Robert Cotton, in Skipton Castle, and in the Tower of London. He collected a vast store of materials for a history of Yorkshire, a Monasticon Anglicanum, and an English baronage. The second of these was published with considerable additions by Sir William Dugdale (2 vols., 1655 and 1661). The MSS. were left to Thomas, third Lord Fairfax, who by his will bequeathed them (16o volumes in all) to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Portions have been printed by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (Dodsworths Yorkshire Notes, 1884) and the Chetham Society (copies of Lancashire postmortem inquisitions, 1875-1876).
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| Born: Newton Grange, Oswaldkirk, , , 1585 | Baptised: Oswaldkirk, , , 24th Apr 1585
| | Died: Aug 1654 | Buried: Rufford, , , England Aug 1654
| | Family: Dodsworth |
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