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 Abt 1475 - 1520 (~ 45 years)
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| Name |
Thomas Fairfax |
| Title |
Sir |
| Suffix |
Knight |
| Birth |
Abt 1475 |
Walton, Yorkshire, England  [1, 2, 3, 4] |
| Gender |
Male |
 Residence |
Gilling Castle, near Gilling East, North Yorkshire, England [4] |
- The castle was originally the home of the Etton family, who appeared there at the end of the 12th century. It was Thomas de Etton who built the fortified manor house in the 14th century – a large tower almost square, whose basement still forms the core of the present building.
In 1349 his father had settled the manor of Gilling on his wife's family, the Fairfaxes, in the event of the failure of the Ettons to produce a male heir. Thus, Thomas Fairfax was able to claim the property in 1489, and it was his great grandson, Sir William Fairfax, who succeeded in 1571, and undertook the rebuilding of the old 14th-century house. Building on top of the medieval walls and leaving the ground floor intact, he rebuilt the first and second floors, adding at the back (east) a staircase turret and an oriel window . The Great Chamber was also built at this time.
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| Military |
- In 1513, the younger Fairfax served with Henry VIII on his expedition to Artois .
He was knighted when the city of Tournai (now in Belgium ) surrendered to the king .[2]
Upon his father's death in 1505, the younger Thomas Fairfax inherited the Gilling estate.
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| Death |
1 Dec 1520 |
Walton, Yorkshire, England [1, 3, 4] |
| Person ID |
I35871 |
The Hennessee Family |
| Last Modified |
1 Aug 2015 |
| Father |
Sir Thomas Fairfax, Knight, b. ~ 1450, Walton, Yorkshire, England d. 31 Mar 1505, Walton, Yorkshire, England (Age ~ 55 years) |
| Mother |
Elizabeth Sherburne, b. ~1450, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England |
| Marriage |
1460 [2] |
| Family ID |
F13741 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Anne Gascoigne, b. ~ 1474, Gawthorpe, Bishop Wilton, East Riding, Yorkshire, England d. 1504, Gawthorpe, Harewood, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (Age ~ 30 years) |
| Marriage |
1495 |
(Yorkshire) England [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] |
| Children |
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| Family ID |
F13217 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
30 Apr 2023 |
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| Notes |
- In 1489 Thomas Fairfax of Walton (who presumably supported the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses, and whose home had been in close proximity to the site of the Battle of Towton which had settled the outcome of that war) claimed before the inquisition held at Malton on June 12th 1489 (4 Henry VII), where the order of succession to the Fairfax Estate was investigated and laid down. A second inquisition before the King's Commissioners found the facts true and Thomas Fairfax became the owner of the Gilling Estate. He then became the Fairfax of Walton and Gilling. This was all in consequence of the marriage between Elizabeth de Etton and Thomas Fairfax of Walton in 1349 and it could be argued that the rightful heirs had at last come home. In 1495 Thomas was created a Knight of the Bath, and so became Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The Estate, Gilling Castle go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fairfax_(Gilling) for more history and description.
Before we proceed further with the history of the Fairfaxes in Gilling we should pause and try to envisage what Sir Thomas had fought for and won. Gilling Castle was built by the de Ettons, and started in 1349. It was not the traditional Motte and Bailey Castle with Keep, walls and courtyard, moat and drawbridge like Helmsley. The castle stood on a hill or spur of a ridge 130ft above the alluvial plain. The hill was called Moat Hill. There is a vestige of a dry moat on the north side of the hill, and on the south side the track up the golf course may represent the relics of a ditch; but on the west of the site, the weakest side, there appears to be no ditch or defensive embankment. All possible evidence has now been destroyed due to the levelling of the ground for the playing fields of the present school. I am assured that nothing has ever been found.
As Bilson says, Gilling Castle is not a castle intended to withstand a prolonged siege. The building has more affinity with the Northumbrian Pele Castles. It is essentially a tower, raised as a defence against hit-and-run Scottish inroads. The size of this particular tower is by all standards of the time very large: by its outside measurements 79ft 6in from north to south, and 72ft 6in from east to west. This is larger than the keep of Rochester Castle and is quite the largest tower house in England. The external walls on the north, east and south sides are 8ft thick. That on the west side facing the courtyard has disappeared.
The site is well chosen being 130ft above the level of the plain and commanding the pass south to York and also the eastern end of the Coxwold-Gilling Gap. Possibly there were no woods covering the sides of the hill. There were entrance gates east and west. The eastern one still survives with slots for the portcullis; the western one also survives, but now inside the building. Bilson considers that it was built in the second half of the reign of Edward III, prompted by the Scottish raids which took place during the reign of Edward II when there was a disastrous encounter at Scots Corner above Byland Abbey. Most of the windows are now blocked up, but the shape of them can be traced in the stonework of the eastern side. The store houses would also be here; above would be the dining hall with the kitchen, bakehouse and buttery. The living rooms would also be in this area; above them were the sleeping quarters.
It is interesting to investigate the bounds of the estate. It was, of course, much more than the few carucates mentioned in Domesday Book as being owned by the Saxon thegns. It is estimated that the extent in the days of the first de Ettons would be about 600 acres plus wood pasture for pigs etc. In 1374 1000 acres of woodland were imparked for deer raising. The de Ettons had increased their holding with land at Grimston, Southholme and in Hovingham between Hovingham village and Cauklass Bank. In 1378 land was acquired in Yearsley. In 1505 the estate consisted of 30 dwellings with land attached 300 acres, 1000 acres of moor, 300 acres of wood, and a water mill. The site of all this land on the modern map has been investigated by E.H.W. in the Ampleforth Journal:
"The messuages were probably situated in the villages, the cottages plus the land appertaining to them. The 300 acres approximately equating to that bought by the Abbey in 1929. The avenue and Park about 150 acres, further acres in what is now Gilling Farm (where the mill was) and Low Warren Farms. The 300 acres of wood were probably Park Wood clothing Gilling Scar and the North Wood stretching from the Temple to Gilling Lodge. The 1000 acres of moor and pasture land by Yearsley would be where the O.S. places Gilling and Yearsley Moors, the Wilderness containing the Upper and Lower ponds and the rough grazings of Yearsley Moor Farm."
They also possessed property at Ryppon, Thorpe Arches, Folyfaite (now Follyfoot near Rudding Park), at Acaster Malbys and Copmanthorpe, at Caythorpe in the parish of Rudston (near Bridlington) and at Benton, Buckton and Harethorpe in the same neighbourhood. Another manor was held by them situate at Sheyrburn in Hertforthlyth (Sherburn on the slope of the Wolds), and finally the manor of Scalton by Ryvax (Scawton near Rievaulx), this comprising 8 messuages, 12 cottages with crofts, 300 acres of wood and 300 acres of pasture and the right of advowson to the church at Scawton.
This last-named manor was that left by Walter de Malbys to his kinsman Richard Fairfax alias Malbys, if he should not return from the Holy Land. As Richard died without issue the manor would probably pass to his elder brother William who paid the expenses of the pilgrimage.
Sir Thomas Fairfax
The first Sir Thomas Fairfax married Elizabeth Sherburne of Stoneyhurst, and had children as follows: his eldest son Thomas, four sons and five daughters. The sons were named Richard, Robert and John. A Richard and a William died before Sir Thomas. There appears little to report from Thomas's life. He died on March 31 1505 and was succeeded by his eldest son Thomas at the age of 29.daughter The second Sir Thomas in 1513 served under Henry VIII on his expedition to Flanders, and when Tournai surrendered to the King, Sir Thomas was one of those who received the honour of knighthood. He married Agnes (or Anne), the daughter of Sir William Gascoyne of Gawthorpe, York and Lady Margaret Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland. He left a large family of 6 sons and 6 daughters. Nicholas was his heir. William, the twin of Nicholas, settled at Bury St. Edmunds and was buried at Walsingham. His descendants became Church of England, as did Thomas the third son who became a priest in that church. The other brothers were Miles of Gilling born in 1506, Guy and Robert. Sir Thomas died in 1520 and was succeeded by his eldest son Nicholas at the age of 22. [10]
- Marriage and family
The younger Fairfax's wife was Agnes (or Anne) Gascoigne ,[1] daughter of Lady Margaret Percy , the daughter of Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland and through him, a descendant of Edward III .[2][4][5] Agnes's father was Sir William Gascoigne "the Younger" of York , son of another Sir William Gascoigne .
Fairfax had six sons and six daughters.
Upon his death, he left his estate to his son Nicholas,[2] an ancestor of William, Duke of Cambridge 's maternal ancestors, the Spencer family.[6]
William was Nicholas's twin. He settled at Bury St. Edmunds and is buried in Walsingham .[2] William is an ancestor of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge 's paternal ancestors .[7][8]
His third son, Thomas, became a priest in the Church of England .
His other sons were named Miles of Gilling , Guy and Robert.[2]
He and his wife are common ancestors of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge [4]
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