Yeddingham, and master of the grammar school of Beverley; author of "Essay on Grammar, as it may be applied to the English Language," "Translations from Terence," and other works; who died in 1772, in the 63rd year of his age, and was buried in St. Mary's Church, Beverley. They left several children, of whom the eldest representative is Charles Ward, Esq., of Chapel Street, London.

Jane, married

Dixon, Esq., of Beverley.

Hannah, married Wingfield, of Hull, and left issue. Mary, married John Farsyde, of Fylingdale, in Whitby Strand, who died in 1755, leaving a son, John, who succeeded, as heir of provesion, to Bilton Park.

V. George, of Bilton Park, married Clementina Kennedy, daughter of Sir John Kennedy, of Colzean, by his wife, Jean Douglass, of the family of Mains. Her brother ultimately succeeded as ninth Earl of Cassilis.* By her he left no issue, and died in 1755, and is buried at Knaresborough. By his will, he devised his estate to his nephew, John Farsyde.

VI. John Farsyde, son of John Farsyde, of Fylingdale, and Mary Watson above, was born at Whitby, in 1749. By royal license, dated 27th April, 1755, he assumed the name of Watson, and bore the arms of Watson and Farsyde, quarterly. A pedigree of the Farsydes will be found in various histories of the landed gentry. They claim to be cadets of the ancient Scottish family of Fawside, of that Ilk, of which, however, there appears to be no direct evidence. John Farsyde Watson died in 1810, leaving

VII. John Farsyde Watson, eldest son, who succeeded to Bilton Park, and by his wife, Hannah, daughter of the Rev. James Hartley, rector of Staveley, had two sons and one

*"See Douglas's Peerage of Scotland," by Wood, vol. i., p. 337.

daughter-John Farsyde Watson, who succeeded; George James, of Fylingdale; and Mary. He died in 1810.

VIII. John Farsyde Watson, born at Bilton, July 2nd, 1803. He was of Christ Church College, Cambridge. He married, in 1830, Miss Georgiana Watson White, and died in London, April 20th, 1831, leaving an only daughter.

IX. Georgiana Farsyde Watson, born April 18th, 1831; present owner and occupier of Bilton Hall.

The arms of the family are, quarterly, first and fourth, Watson. Argent, on a chevron engrailed azure, between three martlets sable, as many crescents or. Second and third, Farsyde. Gules a feu between three bezants or. This latter being the arms of the Fawside, of that Ilk.

Bilton Hall is a brick-built house, in the Tudor style of architecture, partly rebuilt and much enlarged in 1853. It stands, most pleasantly, on a hill, and commands a prospect of great extent and beauty. The woods on the north side slope grandly down to the river Nidd, in all the wildness and majesty of nature; whilst the ancient camp of Gateshill, marked by a few solitary firs, crowns the opposite height; and immediately in front rises the town of Knaresborough—singular and various -enclosed on each side by the woods of Scriven and Belmond; the whole forming a picture of exquisite beauty and variety.

"There along the dale

With woods o'erhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks,
Whence, on each hand, the gushing waters play
And down the rough cascade white dashing fall,
Or gleam in lengthened vista through the trees-
You silent steal: or sit beneath the shade
Of solemn oaks-that tuft the swelling mounts,
Thrown graceful round by nature's careless hand-
And pensive listen to the various voice

Of rural peace: the herds and flocks, the birds,
The hollow-whispering breeze, the plaint of rills,
That-purling down amid the twisted roots
Which creep around-their dewy murmurs shake
On the sooth'd ear."

Near the hall is a sulphur spring, the water of which rises into a stone basin, and is protected by a dome of masonry, bearing on its front, J. W., 1778. The water is beautifully transparent, and bubbles of gas, every two or three minutes, rise to the surface of the water; and the stream, as it flows down the hill, shows its petrific quality, by turning the leaves, sticks, and mosses, in its track, into stone.

This spring was noticed by Dr. Dean, in 1626; speaking of the sulphur springs, he says, "One of them that has the greatest stream of water is in Bilton Park." He also suggested, at that early date, that baths might be most easily constructed here. It is again mentioned, in 1734, by Dr. Short, in his "History of Mineral Waters." The generality of the modern writers on the waters of Harrogate have not even mentioned it, though its situation is the most romantically beautiful of any of them.

PANNAL.

PANNAL is a village and parish adjoining Harrogate on the south-west; and includes within its limits, Pannal, LowHarrogate, Rosset, Beckwith, and Beckwithshaw. It is bounded, on the east, by Harrogate; on the south, by the brook Crimple, which divides it from the townships of Follifoot and Rigton; westward, it touches Stainburn and Norwood; while on the north it is bounded by Haverah Park and Killinghall.

*

The name of Pannalt does not occur in Domesday survey, but Beckwith and Rosset are both mentioned. Among the lands of the king, we find

"In Roserte, Ulf had one carucate and a half to be taxed. Land to one plough.

Waste."‡

Again among the lands of Giselbert Tyson, we find

"II. Manors. In Rosert, Gamelbar and Ulf had two carucates to be taxed. Land to one plough. Waste."§

Beckwith was also parcel of the lands of Giselbert Tyson. "Manor. In Becvi, Gamelbar had three carucates to be taxed. Land to two ploughs. Waste."

At Broad-dub-now a running stream, though the name and situation show it to have been the site of a small lake-the townships of Pannal, Stainburn, Norwood, and Haverah Park, almost touch each other.

This name is probably derived from the Pan, or timber-built hall,

of its early owners.

"Bawdwen's Dom. Boc.," p. 37.

§ Ibid, p. 194.

Ibid, p. 194.

These lands were afterwards included in the Forest of Knaresborough, and always passed along with that fee; and subsequently came to be divided among many small proprietors.

In the inquisition, post mortem, held 8th Edward II., on the death of Henry de Percy, it was found that he died seized of four oxgangs of land in Pathenall.

The canons of Newburgh were owners of a tenement in Pannal, about the year 1448, the annual rent of which was twenty-four shillings.

In 1539, on the dissolution of their house, the brethren of St. Robert's of Knaresborough held divers tenements and farms in Pannal, of the annual value of £2 16s. 6d.

Some, if not the whole, of these last named possessions are now merged in the Pannal Hall estate,* belonging to the family of Bentley.

The old hall at Pannal was built by the family of Tankred, or Tancred, as was evident from their arms being cut upon a stone above the principal entrance. It was in the shape of the letter L, and in the Tudor style of architecture; but was entirely removed on the erection of the new one, in 1860.

Of the family of Tankred, during their ownership of the hall here, we have very slender information. By inquisition, post mortem, held July 31st, 37th Elizabeth, 1594, we learn that Francis Tankard, gentleman, deceased June 22nd, last past, was seized, at the time of his death, of a grange or capital messuage in Pannal, and divers lands there; and that William, his son and heir, was then of the age of thirty-three years.

In a deed, dated June 9th, 8th James I., from Thomas Hall and Robert Longe, to John Taylor, conveying divers cottages and premises in Pannal, recital is made of a grant from the crown of the same premises, which had late belonged to the brethren of St. Robert's, near Knaresborough. The said premises are said to be of the manor of East Greenwich, by fealty, under the yearly rent of 3s. 4d.