Seamer

The Ancient Parish of SEAMER

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"SEAMER, a parish in the wapentake and liberty of Pickering Lythe; 4 miles SSW. of Scarborough. This place is remarkable for a rebellion, which broke out, in the year 1549, in the third of Edward VI. the leaders were, Thomas Dale, the parish clerk, John Stevenson, and William Ombler; their absurd claims were, the restoration of the old religion, the abolition of monarchy, and the extinction of all the different ranks of society. These desperadoes were soon joined by others equally desperate, and, in a few days, their number amounted to upwards of 3000; after having greatly alarmed the country, and murdered several persons, a sudden stop was put to their proceedings, by the arrival of a proclamation from the King, offering pardon to the repentant, but denouncing punishment upon the contumacious; on which the greater number were wise enough to accept the proffered clemency, and to lay down their arms: but the leaders were apprehended and executed at York, on the 21st of September, 1549. The Percies were anciently lords of Seamer; it afterwards belonged to the Duke of Leeds, who sold it to William Joseph Denison, Esq. an eminent banker, in London. There is here an elegant church, dedicated to St. Martin (see Churches for photograph), which has the appearance of a Collegiate building; the living is a vicarage, in the patronage of W. J. Denison, Esq. and the Rev. Henry Foord is the incumbent. There is also a small, but neat Methodist chapel. A School, for boys and girls, with a dwelling house adjoining, was built and liberally endowed by the lord of the manor, in 1814. Population 596."

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"EAST AYTON, (and West Ayton), in the parishes of Seamer and Hutton Buscel, wapentake and liberty of Pickering Lythe; 1¼ miles ENE. of Hutton Buscel, 5 miles SW. of Scarborough, each pleasantly situated on the opposite banks of the river Derwent, over which is a bridge of four arches; which after winding in a confined current through the valley of Hackness, here displays a broader stream. In West Ayton stand the ruins of an ancient building (see History for photograph), once the fortified residence of the family of the Ewers, or Evers, who possessed large demesnes in this place. The village of East Ayton is celebrated for its charming valley. The lofty hills which embosom this valley rise almost perpendicular, clothed with pendant woods, under which the river Derwent meanders through the vale. These villages comprise the lordship of Gilbert, who from them assumed the name of Ayton, in the reign of Henry I. The heir of this family, in the reign of Edward II. inherited, in right of his mother, the estates of William Lord Vesci, who died without issue. From this family, it came by marriage with the heiress into the possession of Henry de Bromflete; and, by the same mode of inheritance, it became the property of the martial family of the Cliffords, of Skipton castle. Pop. 562. (see also Churches)"

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"IRTON, in the parish of Seamer, wapentake and liberty of Pickering Lythe; ½ mile NW. of Seamer, 4 miles SW. of Scarborough. Pop. 105."

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"THORN PARK, a single house in the township of East-Ayton, and parish of Seamer; 3½ miles NW. of Seamer, 5 miles from Scarborough."