The History of Houses in Ellerton & Aughton
With Aughton and Ellerton having such history, we have many houses which are rather old. Many older than America! Here is a run down of what we know so far about the history of some of the houses ............ (anything at all you know that we can add, please please get in touch).
HOLLY HOUSE, ELLERTON - Holly house was where the little shop was in Ellerton. Some will remember in the 1930's when Mrs Sleights ran the shop, she sold tobacco & sweets! One resident of Ellerton (who shall remain nameless but was 6 at the time) kicked over her beehive! Swarms of bees flew all over the people visiting the shop and he got a jolly good scalding from Mrs Sleights, the people in the shop & his family! You can still see where the door to the shop was. If you look to the left of house, the small "extension" was the shop and the long window was the entrance door.
WILLOW GARTH, ELLERTON - Willow Garth, like many properties in Ellerton & Aughton was owned in 1925 by Reginald William Lund who also owned Ellerton Hall. He sold it to Mary Ann Elizabeth Wetherell. The Weatherells play a large part in Ellerton's history, many remember them, with last Wetherell family moving to Selby in the 1990's. In 1959, Mary seems to have sold it to her grandsons, Joseph & George who then went on to sell it to their parents, George & Jessie Wetherell. Jessie lived there until 1973 when it was sold to John Leslie & Beatrice Brown. In 1988, they sold Willow Garth to Joseph & Pauline Stephenson.
PRIORY FARM, ELLERTON - In 1845, Priory Farm & the estate was being rented by William Anson of Selby "bar some old Cottages, blacksmiths & 2 plots of land" By 1863, William had purchased Priory Farm and was living there with his son George, who is shown as a tenant. In 1877, he sold the Farm to Joseph John Dunnington (who by this time seems to have dropped his double barrelled name). Reginald William Lund owned the Ellerton estate and sold Priory House Farm separately to Mary Ann Elizabeth Wetherell in 1925. By 1972, it was still in the hands of the Wetherells, with Joseph & George being shown as owning the farm, who then sold it to Leonard Charlesworth.
The Charlesworth family still live in the converted barn next door. Joseph and George sold Priory Farm House separately to Christopher Frederick George Thompson and his wife, Patricia Margaret. Priory Farmhouse still has some really twee features. You can see the old coach house which has the most beautiful "higgledy piggledy" exposed beam. There is a room which can only be accessed from the outside by ladder, which the gardener used to live in & a decorated stone plinth from the old Priory itself, has been lovingly restored into a garden wall by the current owner.
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SOUTH ROSS FARM - The only documents found on South Ross Farm are that the farm was owned by W & R Featherby in 1869. Thomas Bisset and John Bradley both farmed South Ross Farm in 1892, as shown on Bulmers Directory of Trades that year.
NORTH GRANGE FARM - In 1610, North Grange Farm was built by the Watson family and was kept in the family for nearly 400 years until 1990 when Cyril Watson finally retired and sold the Farm. Roman relics have been found in the grounds. In 1892, Robert Watson farmed land here, as shown in Bulmers Directory of trades for that year.
BLUE SLEIGHTS FARM - This farm building seems to be one of the oldest in the Villages. Perhaps early Tudor time. It is owned by the Wake family and the Parvins rented the house for a while.
PRIORY COTTAGE (Now known as Willow Grange) - Priory Cottage was originally known as Priory Farm Cottage (being a farm workers cottage attached to the estate). There were two farm workers houses in the village, the second being pulled down to make room for the school, which is now the Village Hall.
In early 1800 Robert Brown owned Priory Cottage. His grave can be seen in Ellerton Church yard - the first "tomb" you come across. On 6th April 1905 John Robert Wake, Benjamin Newham Wake & G. Wake (John & Benjamins father) bought the cottage, presumably to rent out. After Georges death on 22nd January 1906, John and Benjamin sold to George Talbot of Hemingborough, York. His will stated that he left the rent of his land, including the cottage to Mary his daughter "for all her life".
Mary Ann Elizabeth Wetherell, his daughter was a widow, who lived there with her sons George & Joseph, who both became farmers in the village. When Mary died in 1932, she left the cottage & land to her sons. It is shown that on 16th July 1941 George & Joseph gave in gift a parcel of the land to extend the Church graveyard, which by now was bursting at the seams.
The farm was sold & divided up on 6th April 1972 to Edward Robert Nutt & Willis Leonard Charlesworth, though the cottage was kept until July of that year when the Wetherells sold it to Melvyn Stuart & Stephaney Rickatson. They then sold it on that December to Martin James & Christine Margaret Davies.
In 2010, whist Archaeological Excavation works were being carried out for an extension, post- medieval pottery, glass and bricks were found along with a gunflint. The site of Willow Grange is thought to be part of the grounds of the Priory which stood in the village in the 1200's.
MILL HOUSE & THE OLD MILL
The Mill House was built around 1833 for the miller William Brown who had been resident in another property in the village. There is a reference dated 19 March 1800 to a ‘smock mill lately built by William Brown’. There are references to a windmill in the parish in the 18th century and it is likely that this was a wooden post mill. It is not known if the smock mill mentioned in 1800 was also of timber construction, or when the current brick tower mill was constructed. The enclosure map of 1810 has a mark for the windmill but there are no buildings alongside it.
The William Brown in 1800 was probably the father of John Brown, who was recorded as a miller in the parish in 1823, but John died that year, and his brother William became the miller. Note that until the 20th century the ownership and occupation of Mill house were in different hands.
Here is a link to the transfer of ownership/tenants of Mill House plus one or two other land transfers: Mill House transfers
OTHER VILLAGE RESIDENTS
Here is a link to a document containing names of people known to have lived in Ellerton or Aughton in the past - Village Residents