THE STERNDALES

One of the local families thought to be resident at Whitle in the 16th-17th centuries was the Sterndales. Here’s a summary of story of the family and their involvement at Crowdicote and (Over?) Whitle.

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Our first person of note is Ralph Sterndale (b circa 1547)(1). Ralph and his wife had 8 children who survived into adulthood (2). By the 1590s Hartington Court records detail him being a yeoman and was regularly one of the jurors of bondage there (3). Its possible there is yet more information on him to be gleaned from the records (4). Ralph died in 1611 and was buried in Hartington (5). There’s a reference to one Ellen Sterndale a ‘widow of Crowdicote who was buried in January 1618/19, and it seems likely she was his wife. Ralph is relevant to the story of Whitle as he is said to have held lands at “the far east of Crowdicote opposite Whitle, as well as having fields in Hartington” (6)

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Our story continues briefly with Ralph’s son, Ralph (d 1605). Ralph died unmarried an in his will he left over £13 in bequests, plus more than 25 sheep. Although badly damaged, it is possible to discern that in addition to this there was a long list of people who owed him monies. At this time the rural economy ran on the lending and borrowing of money, and the length of this list suggests that a) he was an important source of funds locally and b) the family was by no means poor.

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It is Ralph’s second son Richard who largely benefits from the death of his brother, eventually taking over most of his father’s lands. By 1609 he had married Parnell Ward daughter of John Ward. Through this he acquired more land, including Ward’s messuage in Whitle which Parnell had inherited (7). It seems that this messuage was on the opposite side of the River Dove to the Sterndale’s Crowdicote holdings.

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Although Richard’s father died in 1611, the Survey of Hartington in 1614 shows that he had made arrangements before his death, through the manor courts, to have his sons Richard and Robert take over his copyhold with Richard having the larger share. It also indicates that his brother Robert was using some of his lands which could explain why Robert’s name, rather than Richard’s, is on the fields in Senior’s Map of Hartington. The same map names a Lawrence Sterndale on the Crowdicote fields but his relationship to Richard is as yet unknown.

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Despite his father’s death, Richard and Parnell remained in Whitle for, at least the next six years before moving to Crowdicote sometime between 1617-20. The records show they had at least 4 children with 3 of them children were baptised at Sheen. But in 1620 their daughter Dorothy was buried at Hartington and then a few months later their daughter Ann was baptised there. Ann’s baptismal record clearly states that Richard and Parnell were from Crowdicote. It seems they moved to take over the messuage and lands their between 1617 and 1620 – possibly after the death of his mother? By 1620 Richard is referred to as a yeoman of Crowdicote and both he and Parnell are still living in Crowdicote until their deaths in 1656 and 1657 respectively.

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It is not yet clear what happens to the Whitle messuage between 1620 and the 1670s. One thing we may speculate on is that Richard’s brother, Robert, and his wife Grace are living in Sheen between 1622/23 -1625/26 and so they may have been sub-tenants of Richard. Their children were buried or baptised at Sheen during this time implying they may have been living in the parish.

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By July 1628 Robert Sterndale and his family have returned to Hartington. There is a reference to Ralph Sterndale’s daughter Ellen being buried at Sheen in May 1640 but it is not clear what their relationship was to Richard and Parnell or whether they were living in Whitle. Other than this, we have drawn a blank so far.

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Earlier research in Peeling Back the Layers, identified that Ralph Sterndale was holding a messuage at Whittle in the late 1670s and early 1680s. It was sold to Ralph Sterndale’s godson Ralph Ward8 and by 1687 Over Whitle, ‘lately held by Ralph Sterndale’, was in the hands of Ralph Sleigh of Broadmeadow. It had been sold and passed out of the Sterndale family (8).