In this article the main subject is a village, Aldcliffe, a small hamlet close to the city of Lancaster. Its story over two centuries, reveals much about religious rights and changing political times.
Aldcliffe: a quiet village in troubled times
Posted by Anita Davies
The village: Its location and history
Aldcliffe is a small hamlet located on the east bank of the River Lune lying one and a half miles south west of the city centre of Lancaster.
Today it is just a collection of houses, an outpost of the town, connected by a riverside walk, but it has a long history, stretching back before to a time before the Norman Conquest. Although there are no records of its existence in Roman times it is highly probable that with the connection of the river, and its very name ‘Aldcliffe’ meaning the ‘Old Settlement’, that it was well established before the Battle of Hastings and the arrival of the William the Conqueror.
The first definite mention of a place called ‘Aldeclif’ is in the Doomsday Book, where we learn that it was part of the Manor of Halton, and owned by Earl Tostig.
Tostig was the brother of Harold Godwineson and Earl of Northumbria. It was he who, with Harald Hardrada invaded England and forced the battle of Stamford Bridge in September 1066. The Doomsday Book, in 1087 values the manor of Aldeclif at 1 carucate – a measure which denotes the ploughland that one team of oxen could work in a season … about 100 acres.
What happens next has been chronicled and written about many times – The pope refused to grant a divorce, so Henry encouraged by Anne, her family and certain of his ministers decided on extreme action.
William the Conqueror gave the land to Roger of Poitou, who in turn passed it to the Priory of St Mary’s of Lancaster. After this the land was owned by religious houses who then leased it out to various tenants, a situation which continued up until the Reformation.
Documents from the period 1100 onwards give a picture of a quiet place, where the monastic owners were content to lease the land of Aldcliffe, which included a mill in the neighbouring hamlet of Stodday, to a series of local landowners. There may well have been some interruptions during the Black Death, the plague which came ashore on the south coast in 1348. Records tell us that 3,000 people died in Lancaster, but nothing remains to tell us how many died in Aldcliffe. However, after the plague had subsided, records show that life continued with everyday problems such as the supply of wood for building and fuel, and the constant threat of erosion by the river, being the main topics for consideration at the local courts.
Henry’s Reformation
The reign of Henry VIII, 1509 – 1547 was to bring about some of the most far reaching changes that the country had seen since the Norman Conquest.
Henry’s father, Henry VII had come to the throne in 1485 because he had fought and killed the previous monarch, Richard III. He spent his life establishing his dynasty as ruler of England, defeating usurpers, accruing wealth, making political matches between his children and strong European monarchs. Henry’s eldest son, Arthur had married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, two strong and wealthy rulers who had united Spain and were successfully carving out a large, overseas Empire to hand on to their heirs. After just six months of marriage, Arthur died, but, in 1509, the widow married Arthur’s younger brother, Henry, now, after his father’s death, King Henry VIII.
By all accounts this was a very happy marriage – at first, but by 1526, Henry VIII had given up hoping that Catherine could give him a male heir, the one thing he needed to cement the Tudor hold on the throne. Without a son to follow him, Henry could see a return to the anarchy of the Wars of the Roses, where the leading families of England fought and killed each other in a desperate attempt to gain the crown, the wars so successfully ended by his father. Catherine had, it is true, given Henry a living child – but this was a girl. Everyone knew that women were unfit to rule, and besides, by this time Henry had met and fallen for Anne Boleyn.
What happens next has been chronicled and written about many times – The pope refused to grant a divorce, so Henry encouraged by Anne, her family and certain of his ministers decided on extreme action.
The Daltons would have seen severe persecution and heard about the horrific deaths of those martyrs arrested by the state and executed up on the moors above Lancaster.
The Act of Supremacy in 1534 was to prove to Rome that the pope no longer had any influence in England and marked the beginning of the end for the Monasteries.
In a four year period, from 1536 until 1540, the Commissioners of Thomas Cromwell travelled the length and breadth of England assessing the wealth of the Catholic Church. Once Cromwell, a ruthless, yet brilliant administrator was in possession of the statistics he knew exactly how much wealth was available and where it was. All he had to do now was arrange for the king to harvest this enormous treasure.
There was now a massive change for the people of England. Their religion was in a state of flux and confusion – Henry VIII was the Supreme Head of the ‘new’ Church of England, but he seemed reluctant to make the changes so desired by the more extreme Protestants, in fact he seemed to expect things to remain the same and was capable of savage punishment for those who tried too hard – in 1540 for example, Henry ordered that three Protestants be burned at the stake for heresy while, at the same time, three Catholics were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at the same place. No wonder, therefore, that many people remained loyal to the Catholic faith, it must have seemed probable that the politics would quickly change again and they would be able to practice their faith openly once more.
Meanwhile, the commissioners of Cromwell carried on their relentless work of acquiring wealth for the king. The monasteries were closed, their treasures stripped and removed and huge amounts of land became available to be bought by those who had the means to buy.
The Daltons
One such was Robert Dalton, grandson of William Dalton of Bispham. In March 1557 he acquired the lands of the Abbey of Syon, paying the huge sum of £1667 17/4d for “all messuages, tenements and hereditaments in Aldcluiffe and Bulk”.
The Catholic Church in England was forced underground. It was impossible to hold Masses openly. These now had to be held in secret, in hidden locations, away from prying eyes.
He also acquired the considerable estate of Thurnham, partly through marriage to Anne Kytchen, daughter of John to whom the estate was sold after the Dissolution.
So now, the outright owner of the estate was Robert Dalton. The land was no longer leased through the monasteries, and he was able to do what he wanted with his own property.
Robert Dalton and his wife Elizabeth had two sons and ten daughters (one of whom died in infancy), and, despite the danger, the whole family adhered staunchly to the Catholic faith. Robert and Elizabeth remained at the family’s main residence of Thurnham Hall, while the nine remaining daughters; Margaret, Elizabeth, Anne, Jane, Ellen, Dorothy, Catherine, Eleanor and Penelope took up residence at Aldcliffe Hall.
Hidden faith at Aldcliffe
By 1588, when the Armada of Phillip II of Spain had been built and launched their threat against England, Catholic priests had become traitors. If found they were in danger of immediate arrest, trial and execution. Priests, by their very vows owed their allegiance to the Pope and Rome. So, the Catholic Church in England was forced underground. It was impossible to hold Masses openly. These now had to be held in secret, in hidden locations, away from prying eyes.
Aldcliffe Hall almost certainly became one such location and, throughout the reign of Elizabeth, the Daltons would have seen severe persecution and heard about the horrific deaths of those martyrs arrested by the state and executed up on the moors above Lancaster.
There are numerous records relating to Aldcliffe at this time, but there is no mention of any one being arrested in the village, nor indeed of any suspicion pointed towards the family. There may have been rumours, but they have not been recorded. Possibly this is because security was intense, possibly it was simply that the Hall was far enough away from the town, and protected by the terrain. The Hall was built just below the brow of a riser in the land – the hall would have been out of site to curious eyes coming from Lancaster, and the higher grown would have provided a good vantage point for warning of the approach of any visitors. The River Lune passes a mere half mile from the village, and even today there is a sunken lane which leads from the river right into the village. Those attempting to evade capture and arrest could easily have come up the river, then been ferried ashore. They could have reached the comparative safety of the hall without being spotted. It is possible that this provided the safety for the inhabitants, who would, without doubt, have welcomed and protected the Catholic priests who came to visit and to say Mass.
It is believed that some of Robert Dalton’s daughters joined a convent in Europe, but, by 1633, 8 of the sisters were still alive and were living at the Hall. They endured ongoing persecution because of their faith. In 1640, after Jane had left to get married, the remaining seven were convicted of recusancy and, in 1643, they had two thirds of the estate confiscated as punishment.