NAPPA HALL AND THE METCALFES OF WENSLEYDALE

From Romantic Richmondshire – H Speights

• A famous family—Origin of the name of Metcalfe—
• First notice of the family in Wensleydale—
• Captain Metcalfe at the battle of Agincourt—
• Chancellor Thos. Metcalfe—
• Other distinguished members of the family—
• Sir Christopher Metcalfe enters York with 300 horsemen all of his kith and kin—His luxurious life—-
• Decline in the family fortunes—
• Supposed visit of Sir Walter Raleigh and King James I. to Nappa—
• The last Metcalfe at Nappa—
• Acquisition of the property by the Weddells—
• Description of the Hall—
• Relics of Mary, Queen of Scots—
• Did the. Queen of Scots, while a prisoner at Bolton Castle, pass two nights at Nappa Hall ?

We have now arrived at the historic house of Nappa, the chief seat of the Metcalfes in Wensleydale, and which, next to Bolton Castle, is the most important of the ancient homesteads in the dale. Aided by the Metcalfe Records—a most valuable privately-issued memorial of the family, based wholly upon original and trustworthy writings I am privileged to state much that is new and to correct many and grave errors which, oft repeated, have become almost crystallized into the history of this famous old house.

In the first place I will dismiss as a simple and convenient but ridiculous interpretation, the popularly-accepted story of the lion and the calf being anything to do with the origin or formation of the name of Metcalfe.

The earliest mention of the name of Metcalfe which has yet been discovered,–and this must be our guide—is contained in the Assize Roll of Yorkshire, 7th Edward I. (1278) from which the following extended abstract is made:

Ricardus de Staynbrigge de Dent occidit Adam Medecalf de eadem et statim fugit et malecreditur, ideo exegatur et utlagetur. Catella ejus xiiijs. vjd, unde idem vice comes respondebit. Primus inventor obiit.

A passage that has been often mistranslated and much distorted, but it is clear that this Adam Medecalf—I quote: the original spelling—lived at Dent and was slain, and at no great distance from Dent is an extensive mountain called the Calf, where the inference is natural that he lived. The prefix Mede, als. Med, is simply a contraction of Middle, and there is a tongue or division of the mountain known at this day as Calf Middletongue, which at a former era may have been called Middle or Mede Calf, and have given rise to the name of the man then living there. The name of Medcalf is still borne by some, though rarely, and in other counties than Yorkshire.

It is not known when the family first appeared in Wensleydale, but they were certainly there in the 13th century, although it is impossible at this distance of time and in the absence of authentic records to establish their relationship with the John Metcalfe, father of James Metcalfe, of Nappa, who lived in the time of Richard II.

After protracted research it must be stated that whatever pedigrees have been published containing a connected descent anterior to this period can only be regarded as conjectural. James Metcalfe, son of John and Alice Metcalfe, was born in the year 1389, as is shewn on the evidence of James himself, given on the taking of the inquisition for proof of age of Henry le Scrope son and heir of Richard le Scrope, of Bolton, Kt., taken at York Castle 25th January, 1439-40. But who was the father of John has never been properly proved, and after the most careful search it seems doubtful now whether it ever will be. In the Herald’s Visitation for the year 1530 appear the ” armes of John Metcalfe esquyer, beside Richemont, and auditoure to the kyng in those partyes” : Argent, three calves passant sable, in the fess point a crescent gules for difference. It is not known how he was related to the Nappa family, but in his will, proved at Richmond in 1541, he mentions his cousin Christopher Metcalfe, of Nappa, Esquire, and also his cousin Marmaduke Metcalfe.

James Metcalfe took part in the French campaign in 1415, and was a Captain at the battle of Agincourt. His home was then at Worton in Wensleydale, and there is no doubt that he went out at the instance of Sir Richard Scrope, of Bolton, who was indented to attend in his own person in France, and bring 15 men-at-arms and 45 archers ; a small retinue when compared with others, but representing at that day probably the whole available fighting force of Wensleydale.

Some years after the great battle Sir Richard was again in France, and died in 1420 during the siege of Rouen. He had in the interim between the battle of Agincourt and his return to France, enfeoffed!!! James Metcalfe in a portion of his estate called Nappa, where he afterwards resided, and was-the ancestor of the long and illustrious line of Metcalfes who emanated from that house. He was also the founder of the chantry in Askrigg church, previously mentioned.

Edmund Metcalfe, eldest son of James, was born about 1420, but died in his father’s lifetime. His younger brother, Thomas, succeeded to the estate at Nappa, where he permanently resided and married a daughter of William Hertlington, an ancient and arms-bearing family, seated at Hertlington in Craven.

Sir William Slingsby, in his additions to the Yorkshire Visitation of 1584 at the College of Arms, states he was a member of the Privy Council and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the 38th Henry VI. (1459-60). But to have attained to the Chancellorship at so early an age is probably a mistake, though he undoubtedly received the latter appointment in 1483, but whether for the first time is unknown. Many other responsible offices he held besides. In 1485-6 he received a grant of the office of Surveyor of the Castle and lordship of Middleham, and of all manors, lordships, &c., within the liberties of Richmond. This was an appointment of considerable importance, and was probably one of those referred to by Leland when he said that Thomas Metcalfe ” waxed rich ” ; its value to him being no doubt much greater than the mere amount of salary attached.

The estate or demesne of Nappa, which probably contained no more than some 400 acres, even with the additions stated by Leland to have been made by Thomas, descended together with whatever share he had in the Hertlington lands in right of his wife, to his eldest son, afterwards Sir James Metcalfe, Kt.

His most extensive landed possessions consisted of long beneficial leases of various portions of the lordship of Middleham, the Rolls of which shew that he held not only the Raydale lands and others adjacent, which were afterwards occupied by Sir James and his immediate lineal descendants for many generations, but leases of other lands and vaccaries of considerable rental and extent, which do not appear to have been renewed by Sir James, but which in almost every instance were subsequently occupied by persons of the name.

Chancellor Thomas Metcalfe’s younger brother, Miles, was also a personage of great note in his time. He resided at York and was a member of the Bar, and ultimately became Recorder of York and Justice of Assize at Lancaster. In 1477, 1478, 1482 and 1484 he represented the City of York in Parliament. He was also King’s Deputy at the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster, which assembled at Westminster, and the Duchy Records contain numerous references to him. He died extremely wealthy in 1485.

But to continue with the Nappa line. Sir James Metcalfe, of Nappa, the eldest of the three sons of the Chancellor, was born about 1460. In early life he served on the Scottish Border under Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whose chief residence during the latter part of the reign of Edward IV. Was, as before related, at Middleham Castle. He was a gentleman of high standing, and in point of wealth the possessor of numerous properties and offices which must have raised him to a position of considerable power and influence. He held the post of Coroner of the Marshalsea of the King’s Household ; likewise the offices of Master Forester, or Master of the Game, within the Forests of Wensleydale, Raydale, and Bishopdale, and Keeper of the Parks of Woodhall, near Nappa, and Wanless, in West Witton and Swinethwaite. He also served the office of High sheriff of Yorkshire in 1525, and was knighted by the king at Windsor in 1528.* In 1523 he contributed to the Lay Subsidy levied upon the inhabitants of Staincliffe and Ewecross.

The account is given in an extremely well-preserved paper book at the Record Office Exchequer Q.R. Lay Subsidies, Yorkshire W.R., 14th and 15th Henry VIII.* and shews that he was chief lord of Hertlington, and gives the names of his twelve tenants there ; that he had land in Skipton in the occupation of James Onslow, that Thomas Smythson was tenant of his land at Gargrave ; that he was chief lord of Hawkswick-cum-Halcotts (Oulcotes), and had land at Arncliffe of which Richard and Thomas Atkinson were his tenants. He was also returned as chief lord of Hanlith, and the names of a number of his tenants are given. He had also tenants occupying his lands in Burnsall-cum-Thorp, where, however, Roger Tempest is returned as a chief lord.

• In the Chapter House Books relating what horses were taken by the inhabitants off the field of Branxton, i.e., Flodden Field, in 1513, mention is made of “ James Medcalfe of Nappaye,” as having received’ three grey geldings, a baye gelding, and a black gelding,” which makes it highly probable that he took part in that great engagement.

• This book is quite the finest specimen of a Lay Subsidy of this or any other period for Yorkshire

Sir James in 1531 obtained from Sir John Daunce, a member of the Council, and John Hales, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, a lease of all lead and coal mines within the lordships of Richmond and Middleham, ” the which lordships and manors be parcell of the lands assigned for payment of the Captaine, officers, and soldiours at Berwick,” (except those in the New Forest and Arkengarthdale, which were already let to William Conyers, Esq.), for 21 years, rendering a ninth part of the lead and a ninth part of the coal obtained to the king as rent.*

Sir James also held the post of one of the King’s Commissioners for the army in the north, and in this capacity held periodical musters of men-at-arms, archers, and bill-men for the wapentake of Hang West on Middleham Moor. The last occasion on which he appears as Commissioner is in 1534, and this Roll is particularly interesting, as it gives complete lists of men-at-arms, arranged in order of parishes. It includes no fewer than 96 Metcalfes for the whole wapentake, the majority of them being described as archers, ” horsed and harnessed” ; of these 62 came from the parish of Bainbridge alone, which, however, included the whole valley of Raydale. His eldest son is returned among others for Nappa, as ” Christopher Metcalfe, Esq.”

Sir James married late in Life, when he was 52, a daughter of Thomas Pigot, Esq., of Clotherham, near Ripon, a lady then in her 20th year, and by her acquired a large territorial fortune. Be died at an advanced age in 1539, and on November 10th of that year an inquisition p.m. was taken at Topcliffe declaring the extent of his various lands and possessions.

Sir Christopher Metcalfe, who was born in 1513, succeeded his father, and following shortly the death of the latter, John, Lord Scrope, entered an action contesting the proprietary right of Christopher to the manor of Nappa. After considerable litigation, set forth in the Proceedings of the Star Chamber, Lord Scrope proved successful, but instead of insisting upon a verdict, putting him in possession of the Nappa estate, he was content to receive an equivalent, and apparently more than an equivalent, in the manor of Healey, which had been assigned to Christopher on a partition of the Pigot estates.’*

It was certainly hard upon Sir Christopher, who after an uninterrupted possession of Nappa by his family for nearly a century and a half, should have been obliged to buy over again the paternal estate through what was the obvious neglect of his ancestor, James Metcalfe, to procure the effectual barring of the entail. Had this been done when Nappa passed from Sir Richard Scrope, this costly and troublesome suit, with its attendant loss to the Metcalfes, could not have arisen.

• Patent Rolls, 35th Henry VIII., par. 13.
• See De Banco Rolls, 38th Henry VIII.

Still Sir Christopher remained a man of considerable wealth, and married a daughter of Henry, 1lth Baron Clifford, created Earl of Cumberland in 1525, and Knight of the Garter in 1532. The Earl died in 1541, and by his will, as stated in Burke’s Dormant and Extinct Peerage, left this daughter Elizabeth £1000 if she should marry an Earl or an Earl’s son ; if a Baron 1000 marks ; and if a Knight 800 marks. It appears 900 marks was considered due to Lady Elizabeth on her marriage to Sir Christopher, in the proportion of 800 marks for her marriage portion and 100 marks for her ” child’s part,” as is shewn in the Dodsworth MSS. at the Bodleian Library (vol. 74, page 114).* Barker in his ‘history of Wensleydale’ remarks that ” one of Mr. Camden’s editors states that crayfish were introduced into the Yore from the south by Sir Christopher Metcalfe, of assize display, but tradition avers that they were put there by the renowned Sir Walter Raleigh, whilst on a visit to Nappa, probably some years later.” But Camden, who was Sir Christopher’s contemporary and may be supposed to have known the facts, distinctly says

Hine citus defertur Urus cammaris fluvitialibus abundans ex quo C. Medcalfe nostra memoria id genus piscium ex Australi Angliae parte huc detulerit.

There is, of course, no reference to Sir Walter Raleigh in this passage, for what with his early life in Devonshire, his residence in Ireland, and his exploits abroad, it is not likely that he ever visited Wensleydale.

Sir Walter Raleighwas only 22 years old when Sir Christopher died in 1574, and from 1580, when Sir Christopher’s son died, until 1601, when Thomas came of age, Nappa was either unoccupied or occupied by Popish priests, and after that time and until two years before his execution Sir Walter was a prisoner in the Tower.

Leland referring to Nappa, in his Itinerary, says that it was in his day possible to find 300 men of known consanguinity to the Metcalfes, and it seems to have arisen out of this statement that Sir Christopher Metcalfe, on his appointment to the office of High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1555, was bent on furnishing very singular proof of this by attending the Judges at York with 300 horsemen all of his kith and kin. Both Camden and Fuller describe the interesting event, but do not say, as is frequently asserted without the smallest authority, that all the horses were white. It may, however, have been that the greater part of them were Yorkshire greys, a colour and class that was common and largely bred in the northern parts at that time. Mr. Longstaffe, moreover, is obviously in error by stating that ” Bishop Gibson has made a curious slip in translating Camden’s equites, knights instead of horsemen,” for in point of fact Bishop Gibson in his edition of Camden’s Britannia, published in I772, expressly translates the words trecentis equitibus, three hundred horse.”

Sir Christopher was a man fond of the gaieties of life and ostentation, and he seems to have maintained his house with almost princely dignity. With him began the decline in the family fortunes. At the time of his death in 1574, all had been squandered and lost, saving only the Nappa estate and some small possessions in the immediate neighbourhood. The inheritance of his mother was likewise dispersed with the single exception of the Clotherham estate and land adjoining. Whether he took much active interest in the Reformation, outside his own neighbourhood, is doubtful. A Romanist in the time of Queen Mary, he evidently found it convenient to conform to the Established religion on the accession of Elizabeth. His wife and children were Protestants, and no doubt to his and their influence is largely to be attributed the speedy decline of Papacy in Wensleydale.

See Foley’s Records of the English Province of the Society (if Jesus, (London, 1877).

Sir Christopher left four sons and two daughters, James being the eldest, who died in 1580, and he was succeeded by Thomas Metcalfe, who was bore in 1579, and knighted by King James I. in 1603.

Sir Thomas was then only 24 years old, and two years later was placed on the Commission of the Peace for the North Riding. But with a fallen estate and the troubles he had in Raydale, elsewhere related, he suffered greatly and was frequently in difficulties.

In 1617 he mortgaged the Nappa estate to Sir Thomas and Sir William Smyth, Knights, and John Coleby, Esq., to secure repayment of £1400. Clotherham was also mortgaged in I618.

For a time Nappa was tenanted by the family of Coleby, but Sir Thomas, being ” much befriended in the county of York,” eventually returned to Nappa, and there his days were ended in peace.

It is scarcely likely that King James I. would visit the fallen knight in his Wensleydale home, as is so often stated, without apparently the smallest authority. It is difficult to trace the origin of the statement, but from the bare fact of his supposed visit the story has gradually enlarged to one of quite picturesque proportions. We are even told that the king not merely visited Nappa, but that he, whilst out hunting, crossed the Yore on the back of one of Sir Thomas’s huntsmen !

• On page 204 I have referred to some memorials of Lady Raleigh at Marske Hall, which doubtless got there through the friendship that long subsisted between Elizabeth, wife of Sir Timothy Hutton, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh, who were sister maids of honour to Queen Elizabeth . Lady Raleigh’s ring, I understand, was presented by the late Mr, Timothy Hutton to Mrs. Pulleine (whose grandmother was a Hutton},, of Clifton Castle, and it is now held by her daughter, Lady Cowell,

See Foley’s Records of the English Province of the Society (if Jesus, (London, 1877).

A little investigation will shew how fallacious and improbable is this story. Of the visits and movements of no monarch do we possess a more complete record than of this Scottish king, after his accession to the throne of England.

Indeed, King James made but two ” progresses ” in England during his reign, the first in 1603 on his ascension of the English throne, and the second in 1627, on his return from a visit to Scotland. It is really absurd to suppose that on the first of these occasions he would go out of his way to visit a young Yorkshire squire who was only just of age and in possession of a small estate, nor on the second when he was in financial difficulties. Moreover both progresses are most fully chronicled, and every place at which the king stayed on his tours is carefully set down. On no occasion did he come within miles of Wensleydale, for on the first-mentioned tour he proceeded by way of Durham direct to York and Doncaster, and on the second from Doncaster to York and Aske Hall, near Richmond, to Bishop Auckland ; the return journey being by way of Carlisle to Appleby, thence to Hornby Castle and through Lancashire to Freston southwards.

• Mr. Whaley in his history of Askrigg, has unfortunately been misled too, and has added to the inconsistency of the story by remarking that it ” was probably on this very occasion ” Sir Thomas was knighted, whereas a reference to the Book of Knights, printed in 1885, explains that it was at Theobald’s on the 7th May, 1603, Sir Thomas was knighted.

Sir Thomas died in 1665 and was buried in the family vault in Askrigg Church.

By his wife Elizabeth, who was a daughter of Sir Henry Slingsby, of Striven, he had nine children. James, the eldest was born 1604, and during the greater part of his life practised as a chancery barrister.

James continued in sole possession of Nappa until 1657, when by an agreement with his brother Thomas the house was formed into two tenements, that portion occupied by James consisting of the hall house or great hall between the towers, the parlour and kitchen, being the two rooms on the ground door of the west tower ; the parlour chamber and the kitchen chamber being the two rooms over them, and the green chamber and wardrobe chamber being the two rooms above them.

In 1663 James paid in respect of his moiety of the house, hearth-tax for six hearths, and Thomas paid in respect of his moiety for five hearths. James was twice married and died in 1671, intestate, when Thomas got possession of the whole of Nappa and had it at’ his death in 1684.

Henry Metcalfe, their youngest brother, who was born about 1620, then succeeded to it, and by his will dated 19th September, 1697, he settled Nappa to the use of his wife Mary for her life, and after her decease to his eldest son Thomas, and the heirs male of his body. His other son, Henry, was godson of John Hatton, Esq., of Marske, and at the age of 18 a half-length portrait of him was painted in oils, which in 1756 was bequeathed by his brother Thomas to Mr. Hutton’s son John. This portrait is now in the possession of Mrs. Hutton, of Marske, and has been photographed by Mr. J. Raine, of Richmond.

• See Nichol’s Progresses of King James, vols, i. and iii.

Thomas Metcalfe, son of the above Henry, was the last scion of the main line of the old house of Nappa. He died in April, 1756, and was buried in the family vault in Askrigg Church. At his death, Richard Elcock (then Weddell) became entitled to Nappa for life under the will of his uncle, Thomas Weddell, and let it to a Mr. George Dinsdale, who occupied it till his death.

Thomas Metcalfe had, like many others, speculated in the disastrous South Sea Company, which broke in 1720, and in consideration of a loan made to him by his kinsman, Thomas Weddell, settled a reversion of Nappa upon himself and Thomas Weddell for their joint lives and the life of the survivor.

This Thomas Weddell was a son of Gilliam Weddell, Esq., of’ Earswick in Strenshall, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir William Robinson, of Newby, Kt., and his wife Frances, who was Thomas Metcalfe’s aunt. There have been many speculations as to how the Nappa property, so long a patrimony of the illustrious line of Metcalfe, passed to the family of Weddell, and afterwards to Earl de Grey, whose younger daughter and co-heiress, Lady Mary Vyner, of Newby Hall, Ripon, was until lately the owner. But the above facts explain it.

The house at Nappa was built about 1459, and consists of a hall facing south between two embattled towers, and approached through a porch, which was probably also embattled. The west tower is about 50 feet high, and the walls are four feet thick ; the east tower being 36 feet high, with walls three feet thick. At the south-east corner of the west tower a circular staircase in the thickness of the wall reaches to the top of the battlements, and by this staircase access was gained from the ground floor, which was the great parlour, to the three upper floors. The floors of the two upper chambers have been removed.’

The hall is approached from the great parlour by a door at its south-west corner. It measures inside 44 feet long and 23 feet wide, and the walls are three feet thick. The usual screen and lobby which probably stood some feet nearer the east tower are gone, and the hall is now divided by a wall reaching to the ceiling and supporting the gallery above, so that the hall is now 28and a half feet long, and the remainder, 14 and a half feet wide, is now a passage to the staircase in the north-west projection of the east tower. Leland tells us that originally there was ” but a cottage or. litle better house ontille Thomas (should be James Metcalfe) began ther to build,” and that it was called ” No Castel.” Part of this old ” cotage ” is supposed to be at the south-east corner.

We are told that Mary, Queen of Scots, passed two nights at Nappa Hall during the time of her imprisonment at Bolton Castle, and that she left a pair of hawking-gloves and an autograph letter addressed to one of the Metcalfes. The gloves are traditionally stated to have been presented by the Queen to Lord Scrope on her leaving Bolton Castle, and that they descended through the Crossfields or Stuarts to George Dinsdale, of Nappa, whose relative, J. M. Barwick, Esq., of Low Ball, Yeadon, now owns them.*

• With the usually accepted etymology of Nappa, which is poetically interpreted as ” the hill of flowers.” I cannot agree. The prefix ” Nap or Napp ” is I think to be found in the Scand. knab, cognate with the Celtic cnap, signifying a nab, projecting point, or obtruding hillock ; while the suffix “a “ is from the Scand, aa, Teut. a (pron.ah) meaning a stream or river ; thus Rotha, red river ; Laxa, salmon river ; Storaa, great river, &c,, while Nappa, sometimes Englished Nappay, is the nab or hillock by the river, an accurate definition of its situation. There is a Knapen Fell in Norway, Nappan and Knapagh in Ireland, Knapp in Sussex, and Napton-on-the-Hill in Warwickshire, all bearing physiographically this significance.

Mr. Whaley remarks that one of these chambers bears tokens which lead him to think that it may have been used as a domestic chapel. But this is not probable in a second or third floor facing south, although such a chamber in the outbuildings facing to the east might possibly have been used as such, yet never should we think of looking for it in any chamber in the west tower. The staircase in the east tower was formerly of stone, but it was obviously not circular, as has been stated, like the one in the west tower.

By the courtesy of Mr. Robert Vyner, the present owner of Nappa, I give a view of the bedstead in which the royal lady is said to have slept whilst at Nappa.

It does, however, seem strange that the Queen of Scots, a prisoner for her religion, should be allowed to visit Sir Christopher Metcalfe, who was a Protestant and an old man then in comparatively poor circumstances. Moreover, can it be possible that the visit took place after her attempted escape from Bolton Castle, and her traditional re-capture at the ” Queen’s Gap ” on Leyburn Shawl ?

She tells us complainingly in one of her letters that she was ” closely guarded,” and one cannot help thinking that Sir Francis Knollys and Lord Scrope, who were answerable for her safe custody by their lives, would hardly venture to allow her out of their charge for two nights.

It is unfortunate that no inventory is forthcoming of the personal estate of the last heir of the Nappa Metcalfes, who died a bachelor, as already stated, in 1756, otherwise this particular bedstead would surely have been mentioned. He had a great reverence for the place and its belongings, and leaves a very exact account of articles bequeathed to friends, down even to some shirt-buttons.

The testator’s ” very true and faithful friend, Mr. Fothergill, of Carend,” appears to have acted as steward for the estate, and shortly before George Dinsdale removed his furniture into the house, in April, 1757, we find him (Fothergill) removing several things and presenting Thomas Metcalfe’s walking-stick to Dr. Metcalfe, of Askrigg, as is recorded in Fothergill’s Diary. The bulk of the household effects and belongings of the testator went, however, to Richard Weddell, and these, it would appear, were removed from Nappa before George Dinsdale took possession. Fothergill, in his Diary, under date, March 23rd, 1757, says he wrote to Mr. Weddell and sent him particulars of his estate, but the particulars are not furnished.
The bedstead, however, was kept at Nappa until about 1880.

The bed is an interesting object characteristic of the period, and is now at Newby Hall. It was formerly very low and greatly decayed, but has been restored and made serviceable by raising the pillars. Originally the pillars were so low that there was little more than room for the occupant to crawl into the bed.

• Edward, son of George Dinsdale, married Mary, daughter of Francis Crossfie Id, grandson and heir of the Rev. Thos. Crossfield, rector of Spennithorne, inst. 1649.

John Dinsdale, another son of George Dinsdale, married Mary Stuart, of Simonstone, whose only son, George Dinsdale, died unmarried in 1847, Mr, Barwick (who, as stated, owns the gloves. along with a small bronze crucifix, part of a rosary, an altar-cloth, alms-bag, and wafer cover, being part of the ancient furniture of the altar at Bolton Castle) is a grandson of Julia, daughter of William Dinsdale, of Otley, youngest son of the above George Dinsdale, of Nappa, who was the first lessee of Nappa after the death of Thomas Metcalfe in 1756.

Upon a tombstone in Hardraw churchyard it is recorded that the Dinsdales have lived in the dale for 300 years

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