To understand the early distribution of Sykes in Yorkshire some knowledge of the geography, administration and political power in the region is necessary. The skeleton overview below barely scratches the surface, but should enable the unfamiliar reader to gain a picture of the medieval landscape at the time the Sykes named developed. This provides a context for the detailed narratives that follow. Further links will be added as the site develops.
County Boundaries – Administrative & Physical
Yorkshire, England’s largest county, is often referred to as “the broad acres”. Its landscape contains a variety of geographical contrasts, from rough uplands to fertile lowlands. It’s eastern boundary is the North Sea and its western edge (separating Yorkshire from Lancashire) is the Pennine summit ridge which effectively forms the centre line of England. The northern boundary is marked by the River Tees, separating Yorkshire from County Durham as it flows eastwards from the Pennines into the North Sea. Yorkshire’s southern boundary more or less follows the course of the of the River Don from its rising in the “Dark Peak” district of the Pennine hills in the west and then flows eastwards into the Humber estuary. In the western uplands this boundary separates Yorkshire from Cheshire and Derbyshire, as it meanders eastwards the landscape flattens across the arable plain of the Vale of York then through lowland marshes into the Humber estuary, separating Yorkshire from the shires of Nottingham and Lincoln. The landscapes of each area influence the type of settlements and local economy. The history of Sykes settlement and dispersion is intricately connected with these landscapes, so understanding their characteristics is essential to follow the Sykes story.
Landscape Characteristics
The Pennine hill range in the west rises to1500 feet above sea level over most of its length, with many sections above two thousand feet. Most of these uplands offer poor grazing, rocky outcrops and steep slopes which limit the opportunities for building settlements and growing arable crops. They are therefore sparsely populated in comparison to the fertile lowlands. However the valleys and foothills descending eastwards from this summit ridge supported small settlements, largely defined by the available resources, particularly water power, wood and coal. These river valleys cut a handful of strategic crossing points through the Pennines into Cheshire, Lancashire and the north-west. Many of these routes had prehistoric origins but had become well developed trade routes by the medieval period.
Beyond the foothills the central area of the county opened out into the Vale of York, characterised by fertile arable land with regular small settlements and market towns. This was the most densely populated part of the county prior to the industrial revolution and contained all of the largest urban settlements, market towns and seats of power such as the formidable castles at Wakefield, Pontefract, and York, the first two of which were critical to the Sykes story.
Eastwards, between the Vale of York and the North Sea are further upland expanses; the North York Moors are expanses of gritstone moorlands with similar characteristics to the Pennines. Here settlements were concentrated in the valley bottoms and coastal region, including the strategic castle of Scarborough. The “Wolds” to the south-east are rolling limestone hills separated by dry valleys, a kinder landscape managed more for arable and sheep than the rougher country of the west.
Many of the magnificent medieval abbeys such as Fountains, Rievaulx, Jervaulx and Bolton were founded in remote locations where the lowland plain met the uplands.
The southern boundary region is defined by water. Starting on the Pennine watershed where the River Don rises before flowing eastwards through the foothills to a marshy confluence with the Rivers Aire, Trent and Ouse, below the Vale of York. These marshes drain into the River Humber that then flows forty kilometres to the North sea. On the south side of this river complex lie respectively the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. The southern boundary region is peppered by settlements including important military and commercial sites such as Sheffield, Tickhill, Conisbrough, Doncaster and Hull, as well as many smaller market towns.
Access into Yorkshire was limited by these physical barriers. of hills, marshes, rivers and sea, with limited crossing points. These factors almost certainly contributed to the insularity and identity of Yorkshire people. Both the southern and western boundaries contained settlements that were significant in the distribution of early Sykes. The border counties, of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire all contain small pockets of Sykes settlements, often found close to the strategic crossing points.
Until the modern era there were but a handful of river crossings on the southern boundary, most famously that at Strafforth (street ford) where the Roman’s Great North Road (modern A1) was guarded by substantial fortifications. It is a formidable ancient boundary that in pre-Norse times marked the distinction between Brigantean tribes of the north and the Mercians of the south and was guarded by multiple hill forts, such as Wincobank on the north bank of the Don at Sheffield.
The southern boundary
The southern boundary roughly follows the broad valley of the River Don which runs eastwards from the Pennine uplands, across the foothills and lowlands to join the River Humber that flows out to the North Sea. This river route forms a boundary firstly with Derbyshire/Cheshire, then Nottinghamshire and finally Lincolnshire where the confluence of the rivers Don, Aire, Trent and Ouse create the low lying Humberhead marshlands. It is a boundary of formidable natural obstacles supplemented by man made fortifications at strategic crossing points. Again small numbers of Sykes settlements have been documented in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, most of which have tentative links back to Yorkshire.
There were early settlements all along this boundary region but the Humberhead marshes were not effectively drained until the seventeenth century, although recent research has demonstrated they were settled much earlier when a substantial cutting, possibly Roman or early medieval, diverted the course of the River Don from its natural junction with the Trent to an artificial junction with the Aire. The Don and Humber river complex is a modified natural barrier between the midlands and the north of England. It formed a prehistoric boundary between Celtic Brigantean tribes of the north and who established a line of hill forts along its length. It proved a barrier to the Romans and it served as a division between the Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia.
Being a river valley meant it had limited crossing points. These became scarcer has the river widened east of Sheffield. By the medieval period there were but a handful of safe crossing points between Sheffield and Hull. A branch of the Roman “Great North Road” crossed at Strafforth the “street ford” near Conisbrough where it was guarded by a motte and bailey castle. Under Norman rule the task of defending it was given to Earl Warrene of Arundel along with a lesser castle at Thorne close to the Humberhead marshes. Hamelin Plantagenet transformed Conisbrough into one of the greatest castles in the north. Beyond the marshes the Roman road Ermine Street ran north-south in an almost straight line between London, Lincoln and York which necessitated a ferry crossing between Winteringham and Brough. The marshes provided a major obstacle to north-south travel but fords and later bridges were established at Fishlake and Thorne, giving access to Snaith and the north, via the Aire Valley. Local knowledge would have been vital to navigate these ways which added significantly to their value for medieval lords.
The River Aire runs roughly north-westwards passing Pontefract, where it crosses the Great North Road, and continues into the Pennines beyond Bradford. Here it flows through the “Aire Gap” to where it rises above Skipton. West of Skipton lies the Forest of Bowland and the Lancashire border.
The County Political, Ecclesiastical & Administrative
Prior to the Norman Conquest Yorkshire’s administration was an amalgam of successive Saxon and Norse political structures which created three sub regions, the North, West and East (the Ridings) that all converged in the centre at the powerful regional capital of York, England’s second city after London and the ecclesiastical capital of the north. The Archbishopric of York was further subdivided into ecclesiastical parishes, based on mother churches, where matters such as baptism, marriage and burial were organised. Civil administration, particularly for the collection of national taxation, was administered through two parallel structures; Townships were very local organic settlements roughly the equivalent of a village; Wapentakes were geographical collections of townships originating from the Norse “weapon take”, where military divisions would congregate and allegiances sworn. They were generally significantly larger than the ecclesiastical parish and cut across several parishes. Wapentakes continued as administrative units of local government into the twentieth century.
Whilst the townships and wapentakes were the notional instruments of local government, in practice the local power most people were subject to was vested in the feudal ownership pattern of “manors” which were imposed following the Norman Conquest.
Lords and Manors
Post-conquest King William rewarded his aristocratic followers with huge land grants (known as knight’s fees or portions of a knight’s fee) in return for feudal obligations to protect the king and his kingdom. The beneficiaries did not own those lands granted by William, but held them by fealty, ie the obligation to serve their lord by providing various stipulated services, which could be financial, customary or military. In return these sub-lords could further “sub-infeud” to lesser gentry who themselves commanded feudal obligations from the local populous. This hierarchical structure of obligations were generally organised in a geographical area called a “manor”. Contrary to popular imagination manors took a variety of forms, sometimes the term denoted little more than a small nucleated township but others could be much greater. The manor of Wakefield, which figured large in the Sykes story, covered an area over 150 square miles and encompassed 57 townships. A local peasant in this type of manor probably had no personal relationship with his overlord, but would have contact with a local steward or under-lord.
At a basic level the exercise of power and authority over day to day living was organised through local manor courts where a jury of local freemen were vested with the duty of enforcing manorial customs. They oversaw everything from the letting of land, maintenance of highways hedges and mills, planning crop rotations, licensing ale brewing and almost anything else essential to everyday living, including resolving personal disputes. More serious crimes like theft and murder were heard firstly by the lord and if necessary by referral to the shire court1. Usually a locally elected constable or reeve (greave in West Yorkshire) would have been an accessible individual to help moderate local disputes, but on bigger issues the full force of feudal power would come into play. Wakefield Manor Court records show that ancient rights such as chevage or heriot were rigorously enforced2.
William and his administrators were politically astute enough to distribute the knight’s fees in a way that minimised the ability of any one of these great lords to build a regional powerbase. The “fees” were juxtaposed like pieces of a jigsaw, often with detached portions which ensured each lordship intertwined with its neighbours. However this did not prevent rival lordships waging local internal wars in the struggle to exercise regional supremacy so the ownership of whole or part manors could change hands. Yorkshire contained several lords who figured prominently in the national hierarchy, such as the Percy’s and Nevilles who played significant roles in military and political campaigns. South-West Yorkshire, where the Sykes name originated, was dominated by the Warren and De Lacy families, who exercised considerable influence over the economy and organisation of these townships. Both families held powerbases here for around four centuries from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. It is worth therefore considering them and their impact in a little more detail.
Both Warrene and De Lacy were Hastings veterans who were rewarded handsomely for their service. The became members of the king’s inner circle, and amongst the five wealthiest lords in England. Both held substantial land interests in other parts of the country, Warren were Earls of Arundel in Sussex with other territory throughout the south of England and De Lacy became had substantial holdings in Lincolnshire (including Bolingbroke) and Oxfordshire. The Yorkshire holdings of both families were strategically placed to help William govern the north. Warren’s held castles at Sandal (Wakefield) and Conisbrough, guarding the River Don crossing on Yorkshire’s southern boundary. De Lacy’s held the castle and “Honour” of Pontefract (effectively an Earldom) with lands stgretching from the Humber to Lancashire. Between them they commanded much of the access to Northern England and both were key military figures in the Scottish wars. We need to understand that between 1066 and 1400 these great landholdings were vested in individuals who fought, traded and engaged in economic activity that resulted in many changes of ownership, some temporary, some permanent. In times frequently marked by treachery and intrigue they were sometimes allies in support of the various monarchs, but more often they rivals, in conflict and not averse to conquering each other’s territories. In the early fourteenth century the rivalry resulted in them supporting different claims to the throne and alternatively taking control of each other’s holdings. By the mid-fourteenth century a combination of failed inheritances and political defeats meant the extensive estates of both De Lacy and Warren lordships had been re-possessed by the crown, although the titles were restored to their successors. By then De Lacy’s had already established themselves as Earls of Lincoln and Lancaster, the latter position became the Duchy of Lancaster, one of the most politically important offices of state.
Why does this impact upon family history? Because the consequences of these rivalries is often recorded in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls (few Pontefract records survive) where tenants mounted cross-border raids into rival territories , stole each other’s animals or crops, complained about the better conditions in neighbouring townships and were hunted down by the lord’s men if they absconded to live in the rival lord’s territory. Events in 1317 almost certainly played a significant part in the development and social standing of Sykes in Flockton (see section 9). Warrene’s Wakefield Manor Court Rolls contain many examples of both relatively trivial and high level conflicts, from which it is clear the local populous would have been well aware of and affected by the actions of their masters, not least because each manor enforced its right of “chevage“, restricting the movements of unfree tenants who in feudal law were bound to the manor in which they were born. These restrictions must have played a key role in the dispersion pattern of medieval families. Nowhere is this more evident than the thirteen new locations settled by Sykes in the fourteenth century.
Warrene held most of the strategic manors along Yorkshire’s southern border river crossing points, from Conisbrough to Hatfield and at key points elsewhere within Yorkshire, particularly Wakefield with its stronghold of Sandal Castle and its huge manor extending up the Calder valley to the Lancashire border. De Lacy held much of the interior north of Doncaster, including the strategically important Pontefract Castle on the great north road and a great swathe up Airedale which swept north west from here across the Pennines, taking in the hunting Forests of Trawden and Bowland, before connecting to his Honour of Clitheroe on the Lancashire side. From there De Lacy holdings continued like a great horseshoe down the eastern side of the Pennines via Rochdale into Cheshire, where they held the Barony of Halton and Hereditary Constable of Chester. De Lacy’s only manor along Yorkshire’s southern border region was at Snaith, on the northern edge of the Humber marshes. In 1243 De Lacy’s gained the Earldom of Lincoln, including the manors of Epworth and Isle of Axholme on the southern edges of the Humber marshes. This instantly created a new access route across the Humber levels to Snaith, from there by following the River Aire they could reach Pontefract, proceed to Rothwell (Leeds) and into the Yorkshire Dales and across Yorkshire to Citheroe. It has been claimed this whole 70 mile journey could be made through what were largely their own manors, which made it possible to travel from Lincoln to Clitheroe, via Pontefract without hindrance from Warrene.
Other large landowners …. Paynell, De Busli, Everingham
Maps – De Lacy & Warren holdings
- The evolution and structure of the English court system is complex, but well studied. See Briggs …… ↩︎
- Heriot – a death duty requiring the heir of a tenant giving the best beast or significant crop to the lord in order to gain entry to their ancestor’s holding. Chevage – obligation upon tenants to abide within the manor of their birth unless given specific permission to leave by the lord. ↩︎