For anyone familiar with the village of Mosborough, the family name of Stones will be most readily associated with the Joseph Stone Village Centre, which opened in School Road, Mosborough in 2009[1]. The building, on the site of the former Mosborough Primary School, was redeveloped by the Joseph Stones Educational and Village Hall Charity[2] following the relocation of the School to New School Road in Mosborough.
Mosborough Primary School
Joseph Stone Educational and Village Center
The name commemorates Joseph Stones of Mosborough Hall who in 1680, endowed a school in the village under the terms of his will. This bequest continues to provide small grants for former pupils of the Mosborough Primary School through a separate registered charity, the Joseph Stone Educational Foundation[3].
Joseph Stones was baptised at the church of St James, Norton, Derbyshire, on 13 December 1639[4]. He was the second son of Nicholas Stones, “a most flourishing merchant”[5] of Hemsworth Hall[6] who had lead mines in Castleton[7] as well as tithe income and land holdings in Hemsworth, Norton, Hope, Castleton and Aston near Rotherham and a lead mill in Dronfield[8]. In 1649, he had leased 370 acres of woodland and two lead mills in Ecclesall for 28 years from John Bright, at £60 for the first year and £100 thereafter[9], and he was shipping lead to London from at least 1644 until 1675[10]. In 1661 he was listed as a lead merchant when he paid £2 10s as a voluntary contribution to King Charles IIs restoration[11] and he paid tax on his nine hearths at Hemsworth Hall in 1670[12]. and he paid tax on his nine hearths at Hemsworth Hall in 1670[13].
[1] Prior to the boundary changes of 1st April 1967, Mosborough fell within the administrative county of Derbyshire. It now forms part of the Metropolitan District of Sheffield, Local Government Act 1958, Sheffield Order 1967.
[2]The Star, 2 September 2009. The Centre was formally opened on 5 September, 2009.
[3] A Private Limited Company by guarantee without share capital, Company No. 05119395.
[6] “Mercator florentissumus”, Parish Register of St. James’ Church, Norton, at his burial 21 April 1676
[7] Hemsworth Hall in Norton, Derbyshire, was said to be the family home of the Stones. It was demolished in 1802 by Sir William Bagshawe. Armitage, H., Chantry Land, 1910.
[8] Sheffield City Archives, Article of Agreement regarding Odin lead mines, Castleton, 1663, Reference: Rot. The Odin Lead Mine, beneath Mam Tor in Castleton, is thought to be one of the oldest recorded lead mines in Derbyshire.
[10] Sheffield City Archives, Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, WWM/D/365
[11] The National Archives, King’s Remembrancer, Port Books, The Port of Hull, E190/318/12, In 1675 he shipped 399 fothers to London in his own name, E190/322/1
[12] D. Clay, ed., The Free and Voluntary Present 1661 Derbyshire (Derbyshire Family History Society 1992), p. 24. The John Stones, lead merchant, who paid £2 00s was probably his father and Joseph’s grandfather.
[13] Edwards, D.G., Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments, 1662-70 (Derbyshire Record Society, VII 1982)
In 1661, Thomas, the eldest son of Nicholas Stones, was the London agent for his father and two other Derbyshire merchants, John Storie of Norton, and his “Loving Cousin” Roger Coates of Chesterfield[14].
The name of Joseph Stones first appears in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington in 1662, when Thomas Cowper[15], gentleman, surrenders a house and a sizeable landholding extending to more than 60 acres in Mosborough[16]. It seems likely that this would be the Mosborough Hall estate, given the extent of the lands associated with it and the approximate date of parts of the new Hall, which are estimated to be mid C17[17]. Indeed, it is just possible that it was Joseph Stones himself who began the building of the new Hall when he acquired the estate. He paid tax on nine hearths in 1670[18].
Joseph married, in April 1664, Ruth Gill, the eldest daughter of the formidable Edward Gill of the Oaks, Norton and latterly of Carr House, Greasbrough; the recently elected Member of Parliament for the West Riding of Yorkshire. Gill had taken over ‘The Wash’ (Hall’s House) lead smelting mill at Totley[19] from his father in 1649, so the marriage would doubtless have been viewed as mutually advantageous[20]. A short time after the marriage, Joseph’s father, Nicholas, made provision by way of a deed of settlement for all his property and lands in Norton, including a house at Maggerhay, to be inherited by Joseph after the death of himself and his wife[21].
The English Civil War (1642 – 1651)
The English Civil War arose out of a conflict between the supporters of King Charles I
(“Royalists” or “Cavaliers”) and Parliament (“Roundheads”) regarding the respective powers of King and Parliament. The War ended with a Parliamentary victory in 1651.
There is no evidence to suggest that the Stones were active participants in the war, but it is unlikely to have escaped their notice. Locally, support for the Parliamentary side was strong, especially among the lead merchants. Joseph’s father-in-law, Edward Gill, had served as a Captain in the regiment of John Bright of Carbrook. He was present at the Battle of Marston Moor and assisted Lt.Col. Thomas Gell in securing the surrender of Welbeck Abbey, eventually becoming Governor of Sheffield Castle. His son, Philip, became a Colonel[22].
[14] Kiernan, D. Lawrence Oxley’s Accounts, 1672-81, in A Seventeenth Century Scarsdale Miscellany (Derbyshire Record Society 1993)
[15] In 1851, Thomas Cowper’s sister, Elizabeth, had married John Fairfax, Vicar of Barking, whose father Benjamin would become an ancestor of H.R.H. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
[16] Court Baron, 27 February 1662, Garratt, H.J.H., Eckington, The Court Rolls, Vol. 4, 2000
[17] Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Importance, Mosborough Hall Hotel, Building ID: 458682, English Heritage. A neighbouring service building, also known as The Old Hall, Building ID: 458684 has structural components of slightly earlier date.
[18] Edwards, D.G., Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments, 1662-70 (Derbyshire Record Society, VII 1982)
[19] It was claimed that the mill at Totley was the most “commodious” in Derbyshire and that it had the capacity to produce 300 fothers a year. D. Kiernan, The Derbyshire Lead Industry in the Sixteenth Century (Derbyshire Record Society, XIV, 1989), p. 155
[20] Copy of deed to limit a remainder. Sheffield City Archives, Oaks Deeds, OD/869.
[21] Settlement (lease and release), November 1664, Sheffield City Archives, Oakes Deeds 119/120
[22] Brighton, T., Royalists and Roundheads in Derbyshire, 1981
A rather more distant relative, Anthony Morewood of Hazelbarrow Hall, had served on the Derbyshire Parliamentary Committee, yet his daughter, Anne, had married Alexander, the son of Colonel Sir Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield and Royalist Commander. Such were the divisions that arose at this time, even within families.
But this was not just a political difference between Crown and Parliament. There was a sub-text to the Civil War that reflected a struggle for religious supremacy between Catholics and non-Catholics. Take for example, Rowland Eyre, the lead-mining partner of Nicholas Stones, whose family were noted for their Catholic and Royalist sympathies. Being on the losing side, the Royalists were punished financially. Rowland was classified a “delinquent”, and fined £30 6s 8d in lieu of sequestration of his estates.
Ultimately, the Civil War resulted in a period of Parliamentary government under Cromwell and the restoration of Charles II to the throne on 23rd of April, 1661. The Coronation took place alongside municipal and parliamentary elections in April/May of that year, and it is evident that the old rivalries continued unabated. Such was the degree of disquiet and nervousness within the government that a number of private letters were intercepted for scrutiny and analysis. The 147 letters and their contents are listed in the Calendar of State Papers, and among those recovered bearing the date 19 March 1661 were a number concerning members of the Stones family:
“137. Elizabeth Sheemild to her sister, Mary Burrows, Tinsley. Private affairs
138. The Same to her brother, Nicholas Stones. Private affairs.
142. Thos. Stones to John Storie, Norton, near Sheffield. Private affairs. The City election.
143. The Same to Roger Coates, Chesterfield. Private business. The City election.
144. The Same to his father, Nicholas Stones, Hemsworth, near Sheffield. Private affairs. A conference is reported between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians about Church government, but it came to no effect. There are more churches that have not the reading of the Common Prayer than that have it; but the bishops have sent readers to some, and will do so to all. It is feared they will be too forward in imposing in that way, if the Parliament back them. The City election. Private affairs.”
Clearly, Nicholas Stones and his eldest son, Thomas, were acutely aware of the political situation, but almost certainly ignorant of the interception of their mail. Religious sensitivities had been a fact of life for years. Nicholas, for example had been required to make a Declaration of Obedience to Charles II in June 1660, recognising the King as supreme head of the Church of England, presumably to enable him to serve the office of Churchwarden and Overseer of the Poor. The Act of Supremacy 1559 made the Oath, which was effectively a religious test to disadvantage Roman Catholics and non-conformists, a requirement of any person taking public or church office in England.
The restoration of the King, however, does not seem to have put an end to the subterfuge. An undated, anonymous list exists among the State Papers from around the same period (probably around 1662) of “Gentlemen in Derbyshire and how they stand affected”, along with “Persons fit to lend the Kinge money”. Of the 13 most eligible individuals in the county, 10 were lead merchants, and of the top four of these, “(Nicholas) Stone of Chest(er)feild” was considered to be worth £10,000 “in a p(er)sonall estate”.
Joseph Stones had been born into a family of considerable wealth.
Between 1665 and 1674, Joseph and Ruth had 5 children at Mosborough: Elizabeth (1665), Nicholas (1670), Thomas (1671), Ruth (1673) and Anna (1674) Tragically, Elizabeth and Ruth died in infancy. Ruth, is remembered by a stone tablet inside the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Eckington, as follows:
“Here lyeth the body of Ruth Stones, the daughter of Mr. Joseph Stones and Mrs. Ruth Stones, of Mosborough, who departed this life the 17th day April. Anno Domini, 1674”.
Joseph’s elder brother, Thomas, died in 1673 aged 44. So in 1676, on the death of his father, he inherited the bulk of the family estates including rents from lands in Aston, near Rotherham as well as other land upon trust with his brother Nicholas, to pay £5 yearly to the Vicar of Norton and £5 yearly to the Schoolmaster of Norton, applying the annual residue to the putting out of a poor boy from Norton as an apprentice[23]. Perhaps it was this charitable gesture by his father that provided Joseph with the inspiration to endow a school in Mosborough[24].
Just a year later, his father-in-law, Edward Gill, died, from whom he received a bequest of money and lands in Staveley[25]. The death of Joseph’s wife, Ruth, in 1678, at the age of just 38, must have been a devastating blow, leaving him alone to bring up their daughter Anna and two boys, aged 7 and 8. Her interment the Parish Church of St Peter and St. Paul, Eckington is recorded:
“Here lyeth interred the body of Mrs. Ruth Stones, the wife of Mr. Joseph Stones, of Mosborough, merchant, who departed this life the fourth day of July. Anno Domini, 1678, being the thirty-eighth year of her age.”
It appears that Joseph did not choose to remarry, but instead applied himself to expending his Mosborough Hall estate. Surrenders in the Eckington Manor Court Rolls suggest that in the ensuing years he acquired an additional 4 messuages[26] and 29 acres of arable, pasture and meadow land [27].
Sadly, this tragic decade ended with Joseph’s own death in 1680. His memorial inside the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Eckington, reads:
“Here lyeth the body of Joseph Stones of Mosborough, merchant, who was buried the 18th of December. Anno Dom., 1680. AEtatis aeuse 41”
His Will reveals that Joseph Stones was a man of substantial means. Legacies to his children, sisters and other relatives amount to a total of upwards of £4,500 (at a time when an average labouring family might expect to earn between £10 and £15 a year). He leaves his “best Diamond ringe” to his son Thomas, (which assumes he had more than one!), and lesser sums to his servants, including my relative, Richard Rotherham, to whom he gave fifty shillings.
[23] Will of Nicholas Stones of Hemsworth, lead merchant, 3 November 1676, Derbyshire County Record Office, D384/Z/Z/3
[24] Joseph’s father, Nicholas, was also a trustee of the Will of Leonard Gill of Norton, who in 1654 had bequeathed a house and garden in Maugerhay to be used as a school for poor children, Sheffield Archives, CA 770.
[25] Will and Probate of Edward Gill, 5 February 1677, Sheffield Archives, Oakes Deeds 190.
[26] A messuage is normally defined as a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use.
[27] Garrett, H.J.H., Eckington, The Court Rolls, Vol.IV, 2000.
In addition to his gift of seven pounds to the poor of the parish of Norton, he makes the following provisions:
‘A copyhold cottage, with a certain number of acres of land adjoining, to his executors upon special trust that they and their heirs shall every year and forever bestow and pay all the rents, issues and profits thereof upon such person and persons as shall be chosen schoolmaster by the heirs of me, the said Joseph Stones, for the teaching and instruction of fifteen poor children within the Bierlaw of Mosborough aforesaid or shall suffer or permit the said schoolmaster to live or dwell upon the same. And if my said Trustees shall let the same to any person or persons for one year (but no longer to let the same) they shall let the same at the full value thereof and pay the rents to the uses aforesaid.’[28]
[28] The Will of Joseph Stones of Mosborough, gentleman, Derbyshire County Record Office, D6564/3/8
It remains unclear as to how Joseph managed to accumulate such a fortune. Certainly, he had the benefit of the lion’s share of his father’s estate, which included “all the brewing lead and cisterne of lead” and other equipment at his house in Hemsworth. Occasional references to his father’s share in the Oden lead mine and other property in Hope and Castleton[29], a transaction of his executors regarding property in Castleton[30] and the involvement of his son Nicholas, in a lead mining dispute in 1705, suggest a continuing involvement in the trade throughout the latter part of the 17th Century[31]. His property acquisitions in Mosborough recorded in the Eckington Manor Court Rolls[32] may have rendered additional rental income, but there is little evidence of any disposals.
Joseph appoints his brother-in-law, John Morewood of Alfreton, his “cozen” Roger Lee of Little Sheffield, Joseph Morewood of Hemsworth and his younger brother, Nicholas of Bradway, as trustees and guardians of his two sons, Nicholas and Thomas. His daughter, Anna, went to stay with her aunt and uncle, John Gill, at Carr House, Greasbrough. There can be no doubt that the guardians were careful to secure a good education for the children, for in 1693, Thomas was admitted to study law at Grey’s Inn[33], one of the four Inns of Court overseeing the education of barristers in London.
[29] Sheffield City Archives, Rot, 8 July 1663; Derbyshire County Record Office, D7676/BagC/702, 1669.
[30] Mortgage. Sheffield City Archives, OD/517, 29 August 1682
[31] 1705, British Museum, Additional Manuscripts, 6677, ff 177-190
[32] Eckington, The Court Rolls, Garratt, H.J.H., 2000
[33] 28 June 1693, The Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1521-1889, Foster, J.,1889
Mosborough Free Endowed School
Mosbro Endowed School
Joseph Stone left a cottage & lands for educating 15 poor children residing in Mosborough. The cottage was used as the Schoolmaster’s house and schoolhouse. In 1793 land was acquired by the School’s Trustees, the rents and profits from which were to defray the salary of the Schoolmaster and defray the costs of maintaining the Schoolmaster’s house and schoolhouse. The Schoolmaster also educated other children for whom he was paid fees by the parents. The property consisted of a dwelling house, homestead, croft and garden, containing 3r 13p, the school and a playground of one rood, the great and little Beighton Hill Closes, 4a., which were divided by a turnpike road, let for £14 8s, an allotment in the Street Field, 3r 22p, let for £3 15s, an allotment on Mosborough Green awarded by the Enclosure Commissioners, 1804, containing 2a 1r 23p, let for £10 6s 7d.
In 1822 proceedings were instituted by the Reverend Frederick Ricketts and five others for the removal of the schoolmaster and appointment of new trustees. The Court of Chancery ordered on 6th June that the schoolmaster should be directed to give up the school premises and that the property be vested in Luke Staniforth, Thomas Hutton and five others. When the schoolmaster gave up possession of the buildings they were in bad condition and £131 was spent in building a new schoolroom and repairs. The cost of the legal proceedings was £151 8s 6d. In 1823 a new master was appointed with a salary of £8, the remainder of the rents being reserved to defray the expenses incurred.[34]
In 1791 and 1872, fresh regulations were made concerning the operation of the school, which was located on School Street, Mosborough until April 2001 when it moved to a new site approximately one quarter of a mile away. About 1823 a new schoolroom was built and other improvements made at a cost of about £150. Towards this amount the then Earl Fitzwilliam contributed £21, Sir George Sitwell, Bart., £21; and the Crown £21, besides other donors.
A new school was built in 1872 and a further classroom was added in 1887, partly financed by the sale of coal from beneath the land owned by the Trustees. The infants’ classroom was almost doubled in size in 1896 to cater for the growing numbers of children attending the school.
The Elementary Education Act of 1870 placed obligations upon local authorities for the first time regarding the adequacy and provision of local education. There were 68 children attending the school at the passing of the Act, and by 1896, this number had risen to more than 400, and the Trustees were obliged to make a public appeal to meet the costs of enlargement.
A substantial number of (mostly 19th Century) records relating to the school and the Joseph Stones Foundation Trust, including account books and lists of former pupils, are held at the Derbyshire County Record Office, Matlock.
The new school building can accommodate up to 385 children.
The presence of the Stones shield of arms over the southern entrance to the present Mosborough Hall Hotel building is of particular interest and illustrates the family’s growing aspirations. The Grant of Arms to Thomas Stones of Mosborough was made in 1693, enabling Thomas to rightly call himself a gentleman:
Grant of Arms by Sir Thomas St. George, Garter, and Sir John Dugdale, Norroy, Kings of Arms to Thomas Stones of Mosborough in the parish of Eckington, Derbyshire and his descendants. Viz. Vert on a bend, counter-embattled or between six doves argent three crosses humette sable. Crest on a wreath of the colours of a demi dragon pean holding a cross vert and gorged with a collar argent charged with three roses gules.[35]
[34] History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby, White, Francis & Co., 1857
Heraldic symbolism is notoriously difficult to interpret, given the very personal nature of its design and the potential for hidden meanings and innuendo. However, it is tempting to speculate that the embattled bend might be representative of the careful placing of stones, reflecting the family name, whilst the demi dragon could have been inspired by the griffin, adopted by Gray’s Inn as its symbol in 1590.
Mosborough Hall
The main Hall building, which is now a hotel, is faced with coarse squared stone and ashlar, with ashlar dressings. Mid C17 in origin, it was remodelled in C18 with mid C19 alterations, probably commissioned by Charles Rotherham[36]. The south front has a main block three storeys high with 3 ranges of 12-pane sash windows and an open balustrade with brackets to mask the roof. There are projecting left and right wings with coped parapets. The central south entrance is of French window style with a stone surround and broken pediment containing a shield bearing the arms of Joseph Stones of Mosborough[37]. At the rear of the right wing, there are two 2-light chamfered mullioned windows on each floor.
The interior features a C18 dogleg wooden stair with vase and stem and twist balusters with scroll brackets at the foot and ramped handrail; the stairwell having an enriched plaster ceiling. The principal south facing rooms have framed or moulded panelling, enriched cross beam ceilings and moulded stone fireplaces.
The outbuildings, which now form a hotel bar, are of slightly earlier construction with coped gables with kneelers and a central square headed doorway flanked by C17 mullioned stone cross windows. At the east end of the interior is a large moulded segmental arched fireplace with keystone, flanked by single segment-headed doorways.
Outside there is a late C18 summerhouse of coarse squared stone and partly rendered with ashlar dressings, together with an attached garden wall, which were probably associated with the Hall. Nearby are a pair of early C18 stone gate piers and flanking walls with ball finials.
It seems that Thomas inherited his father’s acquisitive tendencies, for in 1695, he purchased a significant estate of 4 messuages and cottages in Mosborough, together with 64 acres of land from the Wigfalls of Renishaw Hall[38]. This he followed with further purchases from John Wigfall, and William Anderton and a lease from George Sitwell in 1696.
[35]The General Armory of England, Scotland and Wales, Vol. 3, Burke, Sir B., 2009. The Arms bear many similarities to those granted to the Stones family of Cartmel, co. Lancashire and Westminster in 1777.
[36] Charles Rotherham purchased the Hall in 1844 and lived there until his death in 1871.
[37]The General Armory of England, etc, Granted 1695.
[38] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 7 May 1695. The Wigfalls had suffered decades of law suits, including inheritance disputes, in respect of the will of Henry Wigfall, John’s grandfather, which had placed a heavy financial burden upon the family’s estates.
In 1701, Thomas’s sister, Anna, died at the age of 27. In her will, she made bequests to Eckington and Mosborough Schools, her uncle, John Gill, and her aunt, Sarah Kayes, along with the residue to her brother, Thomas, whom she made executor[39]. Thomas’s brother, Nicholas, must have taken over the management of the family’s lead mining interests, for in 1705, he was involved in a dispute involving ownership of parts of the Hucklow Edge Old Vein, of which he had taken possession in pursuit of a debt.
Although Thomas must have appeared to be an exceedingly eligible bachelor, he remained unmarried until in 1708, when at the age of 37, he married Hannah, aged 35, daughter of the late John Knight of Firbeck and Langold. The Knights were a substantial landholding family enjoying estates in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, mostly acquired by Hannah’s grandfather, Lt.Col. Sir Raphe Knight, a career cavalry officer, formerly with the Parliamentary army[40].
Hannah brought with her a considerable marriage portion of £5,000 and a jointure comprising timber rights in the parish of Warsop, Nottinghamshire, but not without a little baggage, including an annulled marriage entered into when she was a minor[41]. Her portion was released in 1712, after the sale of land in Letwell by her father’s executors[42]. However, a family dispute with Hannah’s brother, Isaac, did arise over her Warsop timber rights, which had to be settled by a commission of enquiry[43].
Thomas and Hannah had four children at Mosborough: John (1708), Ann (1709), Elizabeth (1710) and Thomas (1726).
Thomas was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Derbyshire sometime around 1720. He appears in the records of the Chesterfield Quarter Sessions alongside that of George Sitwell in a case in which their decision on a removal order was appealed[44]. Indeed, he seems to have been considered eligible for appointment as Sheriff of the county, for he is included in a list of Derbyshire gentry who agreed between themselves in 1690 to limit their judicial expenses if so appointed[45].
Although the Stones family is widely known locally to have been associated with the foundation of the Mosborough School, their crucial role in the establishment of the Thomas Cam School in Eckington may be less well appreciated. Thomas Cam was a yeoman farmer with a small copyhold estate at Mosborough Moor Top. Interestingly, the estate acquired by his mother, Elizabeth Cam, in 1635 is described as “a messuage in Mosborough together with a third part of a bovate of hastler land”[46] This form of tenure is quite uncommon, Eckington manor being one of the few places it was thought to exist in Derbyshire. A bovate, or oxgang, is roughly equivalent to the amount of land tillable by one ox in a ploughing season (approximately 15 – 20 acres), and is a measure typically found in areas formerly occupied by
the Vikings. Hastilar land probably carried with it some obscure kind of service to the Lord, perhaps military in nature (hasta, hastula, hastile meaning spear).
Thomas Cam and his wife, Mary, had no children, so when Mary died in 1698, Thomas, unable to read or write, must have turned his mind to his own demise and ways in which he could improve the prospects of others. He almost certainly discussed his plan to endow a school in Eckington with Thomas Stones, because in his Will, dated 28th October 1703[47] he made the following provisions:
[39] Original Will of Anna Stones of Carhouse, Parish of Rotherham, 9 July 1701, Sheffield Archives, OD/686
[40] Said at his funeral to be “a lover of the Church of England”
[45]Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals, Cox, p. 59
[46] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 18 June 1635
[47] Lichfield Joint Record Office, Will of Thomas Cam (1705). He signed with his mark.
“whereas I have surrendered into the hands of the Lady of the Manner of Eckington aforesaid according to the custome of the said manner all my Copyhold or Customary Messuages Tenements Cottages Closes Lands Pastures Meadow Woods Underwoods Hereditaments Situate laying and being anywhere within the Manner of Eckington aforesaid with their and every of their appurtenances except the House I now do dwell in and the Housing adjoining to it which is standing on the north side of the fold and the moiety of half part of the said fold to the use of me during my life and after my decease to the use and behoof of Thomas Stones of Mosborough in the parish of Eckington aforesaid Gent and Samuel Gardiner Rector of Eckington aforesaid and their heirs for ever upon this special trust and confidence neverthelessin them reposed. That they the said Thomas Stones and Samuel Gardiner and their heirs together with the parson of Eckington aforesaid for the time being shall within the space of two years next after my decease with the Rents issues Profits thereof cause a Schoolhouse to be erected and built in some convenient place within the parish of Eckington aforesaid and shall maintain a Schoolmaster to teach the poorest children within the said parish of Eckington free and without paying anything for teaching and learning for ever and for no other use whatsoever the said Schoolmaster and poorest children to be nominated and chosen by the said Thomas Stones and Samuel Gardiner and their heirs together with the parson of Eckington aforesaid for the time being forever which they shall think most fit which said surrender I do hereby ratify and confirm. And my will and mind is that my said copyhold lands and tenements which I have surrendered aforesaid shall go and be to for the uses mentioned and expressed in the recited surrender. And I do hereby further declare and desire that the said Thomas Stones and Samuel Gardiner and their heirs together with the parson of Eckington aforesaid for the time being do make choice of virtuous learned men to be Schoolmasters in the said place. And my will and mind is that they shall pay to the Schoolmaster for the time being for his maintenance and pains all the yearly Rents arising out of my said land surrendered as aforesaid (except Forty Shillings a year) which said Forty Shillings my will an mind is shall be imployed and laid out in repairing the said Schoolhouse, and if it should happen at any time that there shall be any money spared in repairing thereof that the money so spared shall be laid out in buying school books for the use of the poorest children which shall be scholars. And further my will and mind and I do hereby impower and authorise the said Thomas Stones and Samuel Gardiner and their heirs together with the Parson of Eckington aforesaid for the time being to displace and put out any Schoolmaster which they shall find either negligent or unfit for the said place of a Schoolmaster and to make choice of any other in his Room and stead.”
Thomas Cam died on 23rd December 1704 and was interred at Eckington Church. Thomas Stones and Stephen Gardiner leased the farm and the adjoining land of some 20 acres to John and Leonard Booth and Matthew Turner for 21 years at an annual rental of £11 10s[48]. It is unclear when exactly the construction of the School began, but in 1715, George Sitwell made a rather unusual bequest. He gave a messuage and land in Eckington “for the purpose of erecting on the premises a schoolhouse for the benefit of the school and schoolmaster for the time being in Eckington”. It was unusual because he attached a condition to the gift:
“…no parson, vicar or other person having ecclesiastical promotion or any curate shall be elected to the school as schoolmaster without the consent of the said George Sitwell or his heirs, nor shall such remain as schoolmaster after such term as allowed by them. If any such person shall be nominated without their consent or remain in the post of schoolmaster longer than they allow, it shall be lawful for them to enter the premises and take the rents and profits to their own use just so long as the nomination shall continue.[49]”
Just why George Sitwell should have such an objection to the appointment of a cleric to the post of Schoolmaster has evaded the writer, and may be an interesting line of enquiry for further research. Three years later, Joseph Stones himself gave further impetus to the School’s development when he leased a tenement and 16 acres of land at Mosborough Moor Hole for 21 years to William Taylor, committing the annual rent of £7 to himself and Samuel Gardiner as trustees of the School[50].
Thomas’s daughters married into Huguenot immigrant families[51]. In 1727, his daughter, Anne, married Anthony Brassalay, a graduate of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Rector of Sedgebrook and East Allington, Lincolnshire, and said to be a “Viscount of the Kingdom of France”[52].
Shortly before his death, Thomas finally broke his family’s ties with Hemsworth and sold Hemsworth Hall in July 1730 to his cousin by marriage, Richard Bagshawe of the Oaks at Norton[53]. This could not have been an easy decision for Thomas. It was said to be for the “raising certain sums by the sale of the property”, perhaps to finance the purchase of expanding the Mosborough estate or to secure advantageous marriages for his sons.
In 1745, Thomas and Hannah’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Francis Cruso, a merchant in King’s Lynn, and a descendent of John Cruso who arrived from the Flanders region of Belgium[54]. They had two children, one dying young and the other a solicitor in Leek, Staffordshire.
Thomas died in 1735, at the age of 69. His Will refers to the previous provisions he has made for his wife’s security, along with that of their younger children. He states that they are to have “that part of the £2,000 still owing at his death ‘except that part of it lost by Mr. Gill which I hope he himself will remember to repay”. To his wife the bureau in the parlour chamber with
[48] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 17 April 1706
[49] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 12 May 1715
[50] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 1 May 1718
[51] Huguenots were French Protestants. Heavily oppressed by Louis XIV, many were forced to flee the country after the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685),
[52] Familiae Minorum Gentium, Vol. 2, Hunter, J., 1895. Arnaud de Brassalay (of the Chateau de Brassalay in Biron in the French Pyrenees) was appointed in 1538, lieutenant governor of Navarrenx (Huguenot fortress).
[53] Sheffield City Archives, Oaks Deeds OD/60-61. As well as being a relative, Bagshawe held a lead mill at North Lees, Hathersage, and extensive lead mining interests in Eyam and Castleton, suggesting that he could also have a been a business associate.
her jewels, silver, etc., and (by a Codicil) ‘her own worked bed and quilt’. 50s a year go to the School at Mosborough and £50 to the Minister at Eckington[55].
His estates passed to his eldest son, John, along with his obligations as a trustee of the Thomas Cam School[56] and a pew in the parish church of St. Peter and St Paul, Eckington. Having just secured an annuity of £100 for himself from the Earl of Malton[57], John died, unmarried, in November 1745 aged 39, leaving his mother, Hannah, and younger brother, Thomas, to continue as the occupants of Mosborough Hall.
In his Will, John leaves Mosborough Hall and his lands in Mosborough to his mother for life, and the remainder of his estates to his brother Thomas[58]. The premises were described in a surrender to the Eckington Manor Court in 1746 as being “6 messuages, 10 cottages, 90 acres of land, 20 acres meadow, 90 acres pasture and common for all cattle”[59].
The following January, Thomas Stones, now aged 20, married Catherine Mauleverer, (20) daughter of Timothy Mauleverer, Esq[60]., of Arncliffe Hall, Yorkshire, at Arncliffe. Hunter describes him as a Captain of the Derbyshire Militia.
[55] Sheffield City Archives, Will of Thomas Stones of Mosborough, 6 November 1731, Oaks Deeds OD/691
[56] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Courts Baron, 30 April 1735, and 27 April 1738
[57] Sheffield City Archives, Oaks Deeds, OD/194, 7 June 1745
[58] Sheffield City Archives, Oaks Deeds, OD/693, Will of John Stones of Mosborough
[59] Court Rolls of the Manor of Eckington, Court Baron, 11 December 1746
Legend had it that Captain Stones kept a fool, by the name of Nicobor, presumably a truncation of Nicholas Boare, about whom many stories have survived. The Transactions of the Folk-Lore Society, published in 1897, include the following:
Nicobor
“One day in wintertime, when there was a large quantity of snow on the ground, Nicker happened to be going along that narrow road leading from Gleadless to Norton, and walking in the middle of the road, where of course would be the best track, perhaps the only one. At the same time a gentleman was coming swiftly along on horseback in the opposite direction. He saw the man in front of him, but rode on, expecting of course he would give way, but not so. Nicker stuck to his track and the gentleman had to pull up very suddenly out of his way.
“What fool are you?” demanded the gentleman angrily.
George Foster relates another tale in his ‘Reminiscences of Mosborough’:
“During this period it was common for People of the village to say to anyone who acted foolishly, “thou art as soft as Nicker Bore was”.
It may be interesting to know how this saying originated, so I will relate it. During the latter end of last century Captain Stones, the owner and occupier of Mosbro’ Hall, kept a servant of deficient intellect named Nicker Bore, or perhaps more correctly Nicholas
Bore, as a jester, of whom several anecdotes are related, it is said that on one occasion the Captain said to him “Nicker, I am going to have company at the hall to-day, and amongst them will be a gentleman with a very big nose. Now you must be very careful not to make any remark about his nose or he will be greatly offended.” “Yes sir aw’ll be careful”
When the company were assembled, Nicker, going into the room, saw the gentleman with the big nose, and immediately remarked “Oh, what a big nose; but there’s no staying nowt.”
On another occasion when the Captain was just about setting off to Castleton where he often visited, he said to Nicker:—“Nicker, you’ve easy times of it when I’m at Castleton”. “Yes,” said Nicker, “and so has Jack”; meaning the spit by which the meat was cooked.
Once, Nicker being ordered to sweep the stairs, began with the bottom step and went upwards.”[62]
Probably more fiction than fact, these stories are hardly reliable historical evidence, but they do typify the sense of humour pervading the north Derbyshire area towards the end of the nineteenth century.
[61] Foster, G., Reminiscences of Mosborough, 1886
[62]Contributed by George Foster, Queen Street, Rotherham, and sent to the Society by Sir George R. Sitwell, Bart., 24 October 1895.
The Chinese have a proverb that says “wealth does not pass three generations”, and nothing demonstrates this so well as the fortunes of the Stones of Mosborough. Having succeeded to the family estates in 1745, Thomas embarks upon the first of a series of disposals, which appears in the record by 1761[62], the year in which his wife, Catherine, died, aged 35[63].
Over the following ten years, all of the lands purchased in Mosborough by his father and grandfather, Joseph and Thomas Stones, were sold, culminating in the following advertisement in the Derby Mercury of Friday 25th October 1771:
[62] Foster, G., Reminiscences of Mosborough, 1886
[63] “The Eyres sold Bradway to the Stones, whose descendants in their turn sold it to John Parker for £1,360 in 1761” Armitage, H., Chantrey Land, 1910.
[64] “Here lyeth the body of Catherine, the wife of Thomas Stone, jnr. of Mosborough, Esq., who departed this life October 21st 1761, aged 35 years. Sleep, etc.”, Memorial Inscription, St Peter and St. Paul Church, Eckington.
Having completed the sale, Thomas moved to Chesterfield and died there on 1st February 1797, aged 72[65], thus bringing to an end more than one hundred years of continuous occupation of Mosborough Hall by the Stones family and an important chapter in the history of Mosborough at its school[66].
Thomas was buried at Eckington on 3rd February 1797.
[65] His next heir as trustee of the Mosborough Free Endowed School was identified as John Cruso of Leek, Report of the Charity Commissioner’s Inquiry into the Charities and Education of the Poor, 1815 – 1839.
Thanks to John Rotherham
Photographs taken from the MHG facebook page and added by Linda Taylor.
The main Hall building, which is now a hotel, is faced with coarse squared stone and ashlar, with ashlar dressings. Mid C17 in origin, it was remodelled in C18 with mid C19 alterations, probably commissioned by Charles Rotherham[36]. The south front has a main block three storeys high with 3 ranges of 12-pane sash windows and an open balustrade with brackets to mask the roof. There are projecting left and right wings with coped parapets. The central south entrance is of French window style with a stone surround and broken pediment containing a shield bearing the arms of Joseph Stones of Mosborough[37]. At the rear of the right wing, there are two 2-light chamfered mullioned windows on each floor.
