| Description | The tithes on a substantial part of Spennithorne township and (?a small) part of Harmby township were merged in the freehold by a complicated agreement between the rector and some of the landowners, which required an act of Parliament. The rector exchanged his tithes for a freehold estate at Swineside in Melmerby, parish of Coverham. The passions aroused by the attempt to obtain the act are well described in the letters of the short-tempered rector and the Quaker Alexander Fothergill, who both went to London in April 1775 for the purpose.
William Chaytors papers listed here are followed by some of his sons and grandsons relating to the same subject. Note that there are two or three papers bearing on this subject among the papers of Thomas Smales.
William Chaytors correspondence with William IAnson 1774-5 also contains relevant papers. |