STURDY [continued]
Christopher Sturdy listed as a recusant in 1667 was Fairfax tenant of 64 acres in 1694 and fourteen years later he, Sylvester and Philip Sturdy were paying a quarter of the total Scawton rents. There was a similar situation in 1719 and as Richard Sturdy had taken the farm previously held by Christopher he may have been his son but there is no way of confirming this or the parentage of any of the family as their Roman Catholic baptisms would have had to be done secretly and no records of them have survived.
The Sturdy tenancies were the same in 1732 but Richard seems to have had the largest farm in 1750, Philip had the only other family tenancy and John Sturdy was the only member of the family recorded as a tenant in 1790 and was probably the John who died in 1792 at the age of 83, making his date of birth 1709.
Sylvester Sturdy papist and husbandman died in 1742 and another Sylvester, possibly his grandson married Sarah Smith in 1765. John and David Sturdy, both Roman Catholics died at Hagget Mouth in 1781 and Elizabeth also a Roman Catholic died at Broxhill in 1785 at the age of 79. Sylvester and Sarah appear to have died in 1813 as he was listed among the needy of the parish in that year and as the record of her burial later in the year named her as Sylvester’s widow she was the last member of the family to live in Scawton ending a Sturdy presence that had lasted at least 225 years but the name reappeared in Scawton in 1915 when Reginald Sturdy, no relation, became tenant of Stocking House Farm which his son Leslie now owns and the family have lived in Scawton for ninety years.
OTHER FARMING FAMILIES
There were other farming families whose lengths of tenure were shorter than those of the foregoing, some of whose names are still recorded on modern Ordnance Survey maps and others who were in Scawton for over a hundred years.
Thomas Brignal of Thirsk married Isabella the daughter of John Hardwick in 1764 and shortly afterwards he became tenant of the farm previously held by his father-in-law which is now known as Pond Farm. He and Isabella had five children Ann [1766], John [1769], Elizabeth [1772], Thomas [1773] and William [1777] and after Thomas senior died in 1785 his widow became the tenant of the farm which her son John took after her death and was farming 129 acres in 1812. He married Dinah Dinnis from another Scawton family in 1800 and they had four children Ann [1801], Thomas [1803], William [1805] and Elizabeth [1813].
Dinah died in 1836 at the age of 56 and three years later John was tenant of 131 acres at Pond Farm where he died in 1849 being the last member of the family to live in Scawton and the name of Brignal is perpetuated by the name of Brignal Gill which is at the bottom end of the village towards Stinging Gill and Scawton Park.
BRADLEY
Thomas Bradley was paying annual rent of £23 for a farm in 1729 and was described as a yeoman when he died in 1732. The parish registers recorded two children Thomas born in 1719 who took over the farm after his father died and Elinor who as she married Thomas Shephard of Helmsley in 1734 must have been the eldest.
