Stanley [Midgley] Hall, North of Wakefield, England.
The ownership of Stanley Hall Estate and Woodhall was as follows¹¹

1. John de Amyas may have held Stanley Hall in 1312. He is mentioned in the Wakefield Court Rolls of the early 1300's and is known to have held Stanley Mill. He may be the same John de Amyas who farmed in Wakefield and ran a dying mill there.¹⁸

2. Hercy  - Sir Hugh de Hercy of Grove, Notts. was granted the fee or manor of Stanley by Earl John Warenne about the year 1314 and thereafter granted it to his daughter Maud and her spouse, William de Midgley. [The Antiquarian Repository, vol. IV, (1784), p. 125.] This was probably a reward  to Hugh from  Earl Warenne for having enjoined the earl against the Scots in 1297 and may indicate his presence at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. In the following year Hugh was summoned twice against the Scots, once upon King Edward I's return from Ghent and the other ordering him to muster at York on 24th May of that year, suggesting that he may also have been present at the Battle of Falkirk where the Scots were convincingly defeated.

3. Midgley -called Midgley Hall from the early Middle Ages. This was held by Sir William de Midgley as indicated by this description from 1784:- 

 'The last John Earl Warren, Lord of the Manor of Wakefield, 7 E. 2. made many grants of manors, wastes, and vaccaries (Dairies) and let some by copy &c. which the Kings of England afterwards confirmed within this great lordship of Wakefield. And it appears (Says Dodsworth, No. 797. Harl. MS. in Brit. Mus.) by the perusal of diverse evidences and rolls of court, and other memorandums, That one Sir Hugh de Hercy, Knt. (who bore for his arms, gules on a chief argent a label of three points azure) held of the Earl Warren a certain manor or fee in Stanley, (by which it seems that there were two manors in that township) Wakefield and Osset,¹⁹ and granted the same manor or fee to William de Midgely and Maud his wife, and to the heirs of their bodies; and the same manor did consist of eleven shillings free rent, and services of diverse free tenants, and of eight messuages, and eight oxgangs of land, and a half, customary, and of the services of the same customary tenants, of our close of demeasne land called the Horsecroft in Stanley.

The said family of Midgley, in process of time gave name to the said manor, and the same is known by the name of the manor of Midgely in the Court Rolls at Wakefield, and the house is called by the name of Midgley, alias Stanley Hall. In Anno 24.E. 3. John de Northland and John de Wakefield held this manor of the Earl [Warenne] by fealty only, as at the court held at Wakefield, 22 December, Anno 24. E. 3. it appears. It was afterwards divided amongst many coheirs.....' [The Antiquarian Repository. vol. iv, (1784), pp. 125-126.]

Another record from the Wakefield Court Rolls provides us William's wife's name:-
Friday 24th August 1324 - Matilda de Miggeley's servant Richard was sued for seizing cattle. [WCR 1322-1331, p. 43.] Matilda is also variously rendered as Maud, Maude, Matild, Mathild &c.

Matilda is also recorded in the Court Rolls when she has a dispute with others over the taking of cattle and horses:-

16th November 1324 - Thomas Filcock (elsewhere Philcock) sued John de St. Swithun for taking 2 horses from 'Colyhall' in the town of Stanley to John Gargrave's house in Wakefield. John de St. Swithun said Thomas took the horses as the bailiff of Matilda de Miggeley, and asked for her assistance in the defence which was granted. Thomas Filcock also sued Richard, servant of Matilda de Miggeley in a similar matter and similar permission was granted.
John de St. Swithun said Thomas' father German Filcock, took 2 of his cows from his croft at Stanley, driving them to his own house in Wakefield. German said the cows were grazing in his enclosure. German agreed to return the cows. [WCR 1322-1331, p. 49.]

Friday, 21st December 1324 - Thomas Philcock sued Richard, servant of Matilda formerly wife of William de Miggelay, for seizing cattle. [WCR 1322-1331, p. 56.]

Court held at Wakefield Friday 24th June 1331:-
Thomas Filcock complained that in August 1325 William de Migeley distrained Thomas' father German in the town of Stanley by a horse worth 7s., said to be for rent then in arrears. German says he delivered the horse. Later Thomas Filcock the son removed the horse. Thomas denied the charge. [W. C. R., 1322-1331, pp. 188-189.]

Midgley Hall then passed to the Chaloners of Guisborough. The estate appears to encompass the "Pinder's Fields" famed in local ballads, where, "all on the Green," Robin Hood, Little John, and Scarlet, fought the Pinder of Wakefield. The Stanley estate seems have been granted by Edward III  to William de Miggeley [See William Midgley, knight].

Midgley Hall now Stanley Hall, Stanley

                                                                         See Stanley Hall 2006              See Fields below Stanley Hall  1  2 2006
The place is still called Pinder's Fields. These fields marked on the map of Wakefield North for 1890 are on the opposite side of the Wakefield-Stanley road to Stanley Hall Park⁷ The nearby Pinder's Fields Hospital lies on the south side.

Pinders's Fields in 1854, Newton is to the West, Wakefield                             to the south and Midgley [Stanley] Hall to the east

Pinder's Fields today                                                          Source:  Getmapping

The supposed meeting of Robin Hood, Little John and Will Scarlet with the Pinder of Wakefield occurred here and is celebrated in the post medieval narrative [Childs ballad 124] The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield. The first surviving copies of the narrative date from the middle 1600's, but prof. J.C. Holt believes that the main outlines of the story were well known at least a hundred years earlier. 'A ballett of Wakefylde and a grene' was recorded as early as 1557-8. The Jolly Pinder was known to all levels of Elizabethan society. Holt also expresses the opinion that the historical origins of George-a-Green are even more mysterious than those of Robin Hood himself. It appears like Maid Marian the Pinder appeared through the agency of the May Games, perhaps at Wakefield. During the time that the  ballad of Wakefield was recorded, Queen Elizabeth I's bowbearer, Thomas Pilkington, who died about 1566, resided at Stanley and Lower Bradley. See below.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

In 1202 a John Hood and Ragnild his wife, both appeared as parties in a land agreement at Stanley Bottom. This land was held a hundred years later by the Hood family. [Holt 1982.]
Nearby at Newton is recorded in the Wakefield Court Rolls,⁵ Robert Hood of Newton. Robert is mentioned as being the son of Adam Hood of Stanley. Adam, first mentioned in 1274* lived until at least until 1314^17,p50 Adam was a forester to the earl de Warrene⁶. Robert or his son, also named Robert died in 1341-1342.^17,p50

* The earliest surviving W.C.R.                                                                      
                                                                           Adam Hood===========?
                                                                            d>1314                 |
                                                                                                Robert I Hood==========?
                                                                                                 of Newton                 |
                                                                                                 d 1341-2          Robert II Hood

Robert Hood is recorded in the W.C.R. as having leased land at Stanley in 1315. As Holt [1985] states as a second case, "...the Hoods of Wakefield absorbed the tale of the outlaw into their family traditions or their neighbours and descendants came to associate the two".                                                                              
Before 1322 a Robert Hode or Hood lived in a house at Bichill [Wakefield Marketplace - now the bus station] with his wife Matilda, but according to Joseph Hunter he lost his house when he became an outlaw⁶ [this is unsupported speculation by Hunter].
What we might ourselves speculate is that this person became associated with the ballad character in the Geste, for there was also a  Robert  Hood of Newton,  a Robert Hode probably of Stanley and another in Sowerby :

                            .

                                                                                       A= Site of Midgley Hall, Stanley and surrounding fields

4. The third resident family at Midgley Hall were the Chaloners of Guisborough Sir Thomas Chaloner appears to have made his wealth by establishing the first alum works in England at Guisborough in 1614. A year later this prompted an alum works to be built at Whitby.⁹ Guisborough was originally lay within North Yorkshire. Guisborough is purported to be "Gisborne" and is referred to on early maps as Gisburgh. Guisborough is given the name form of Gisborne in the Bruce account. This name evolved from forms found in the Domesday Book such as Ghiges-, Gighes-, Ghigesburgh, -burch, and -borc.
A John Chaloner was also found to be resident at Stanley, alias Midgley Hall.¹⁰ John Chaloner's daughter Catharine/Katherine was heiress to the Chaloner estates, she married Thomas Savile of Wakefield, great gandson of Henry Savile and Elizabeth Thornhill, thus the property passed into this branch of the Savile family.
5. Robert Savile de Stanley who had a son Robert in the 1500's  In 1574 Edward Savile [d. 1590], son of John Savile of Stanley and Elizabeth Cockson of Wakefield and who married Katherine Alvery of Batley, is found to be resident at Stanley/Midgley Hall.
6. George Savile was granted Stanley Hall in the1590's, following a legal wrangle, Grace Hatfeild (sic) another claimant land owner, took up the occupation of the new hall in the Horsecroft. Sir George Savile of Thornhill married Lady Ann Wentworth in 1607.

In the next century, Mr.Jarvis Hatfeild [sic] is recorded as having to pay tax for 10 hearths in 1672. Thomas Savile esq. likewise was taxed for 15 hearths in Stanley township³. The Savile's of Thornhill were powerful landed gentry in West Yorkshire. Sir George Savile sold the estate to :-
6. Thomas Pilkington of Snapethorpe - 1603. In 1672 Sir Lyonell (sic) Pilkington of Stanley Hall was taxed for 14 hearths or chimneys in Stanley township, this would have represented a large residence or a number of residences on the estate³.
See Lady Day Hearth Tax for Stanley1672.

In 1759 the hall was burnt but restored. The Spencer-Stanhopes of Cannon Hall, Cawthorne later married into the Pilkingtons.
  7. Benjamin Heywood  Esq. purchased the newly built hall in 1802, he is mentioned as the occupier in1822⁴ Stanley Hall was auctioned in      1853.
  8. From 1854 Stanley Hall was the home of William Shaw [1804-59] who was a highly successful railway contractor during the 1830's and  40's. He constructed the Macclefield Canal, the Leeds and Selby Railway and railway tunnels such as those at Chevet ('Chute'), Woodhead, Morley and Woolley.¹⁶  William Shaw was the son of William Shaw (1776-1832) and Elizabeth White and a the nephew of Anne Midgley (b. 1777, ch. 15 Feb. 1777 Wakefield All Saints.) Anne's father was Robert Midgley (b. 1730) and her grandfather was Robert Midgley (b. 1690) See Felkirk page
  9. Let to tenants - 1862
 10. Purchased by West Riding County Council
  11. Used as a nurses hostel for Pinderfields Hospital nearby.

Other halls in the district were : 
*Hatfield Hall
*Woodhall
*Clark[e] Hall
*Methley Hall  to the N.E.

HATFIELD HALL
Hatfield Hall lies a little to the north of Stanley Hall

In the 1100's there was a William FitzRaven of Hatfield¹¹ a.k.a William FitzRaven of Wakefield and Willelm Filius Raven. He was William de Warrene's steward for the manor of Wakefield. 1148-1159. William was b. perhaps 1100, his daughter and heiress was Mabel FitzRaven born ~1132. Mabel married Otto de Tilli [Tilly] seneschal to Hamelyn Plantagenet  [half brother to King Henry II] of Conisbrough Castle. Otto and Mabel's daughter Dionysia e Tilli married Henry de Novo Mercato son of Adam de Newmarche of Womersley.

CLARK[E] HALL
Adjacent to and a little south of Midgley Hall. This was the residence of a local archaeologist, H.C. Haldane who had an interest in the legend of Robyn Hode.

A photograph of  H.C. Haldane holding  the purported 'Little John's' bow  outside Cannon Hall , Cawthorne.12 However this looks suspiciously like the one which now hangs in the Cawthorne Museum, not the one hanging below the Cawthorne Hall minstrel gallery in the early 1950's.

He also wrote 'Clarke Hall, its Builders & Owners'.¹³ Mr. H.C. Haldane purchased the property, of which he was a tenant, in 1913 and completely restored the hall. The family recently sold the hall to WRCC for use as a folk museum.
Mr. Haldane also came into the possession of a sword  from the Battle of Wakefield [1460] which he says was 'dug up a few years ago during the operation of cutting a main drain near the site of the Battle of Wakefield'.¹⁴  "The sword is of an unusual sort, not a knightly weapon, but single edged, possibly cut down from a larger blade. It has a curious guard with an extension of the cross guard protecting the back of the hand. Whilst this is a late medieval form, some concern may be felt that this particular type of sword has tended to be dated by the Wakefield example despite its rather doubtful provenance. The weapon is now in an anonymous private collection."¹⁵
Mr Haldane also excavated the site of St. Swithen's chantry, which lay a little to the east of Clark and Midgley Hall on a piece of land called St. Swithen's Close. The chantry was founded by John 8th* earl of Warrene [d. 1347], Lord of Lewes [Sussex], Conisbrough, Sandal, and the manor of Wakefield. It was ostensibly built for plague victims, [from 1349 the 'Great Pestilence' appeared] who could attend devotionals whilst others could attend their parish churches without the fear of  plague or 'cadaveric particles' being transmitted. Thus it is ironic that the 8th earl died in 1347, possibly from an early circulation of the Black Death. * Often referred to erroneously as John 7th earl.

Recently researched are the family of the Yorkshire branch of the Pilkingtons who resided at both Stanley Hall and Lower Bradley. The Pilkingtons were in residence at Stanley in the time of Arthur Pilkington [b. 1482, d > 29 June 1537] who married Alice Saville, daughter of Nicholas Saville of New Hall, Elland. Their eldest grandson, who also resided at Stanley and Lower Bradley, was Thomas Pilkington [d~1565] who acted as bow bearer for Queen Elizabeth I! If so, the bow that Haldane is holding may be an Elizabethan example.

Above : 1854 map of the site of St. Swithen's Chantry, well and Close with the     location of Stanley [Midgley] Hall and Clark Hall.   Right : The site of St. Swithen's and St. Swithen's Close today.

Image at right reproduced and modified from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.  Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of Ordnance Survey, © Crown copyright.

WOODHALL MANOR
Described as part of the manor of Stanley⁸. Later called Hatfeild [sic] Hall, after it passed from the Saville family and came into the possession of the Hatfeild family through marriage. The Hatfield family originated in Great Hatfield, Holderness. The former manor house at Woodhall now belongs to the Normanton Golf Club.

METHLEY HALL
Held by the Waterton family during the Hundred Years War when during the reign of Henry V, Robert Waterton played "host" to Charles of Orleans, a pawn in the wars between England and France. Robert was a constable of Pontefract Castle eight miles away. In Methley church there is a chapel housing effigies of Robert Waterton and his wife. It was Arthur Pilkingtn's son, Robert of Stanley and Lower [Nether] Bradley  [b~1514, d. 1541] who married Rosamund Waterton of nearby Walton, their eldest son being Thomas, Queen Elizabth I's bow bearer sometime between 1547, the beginning of the reign and Thomas' death {~1556].

WRENTHORPE  This place was called Potovens until the 1800's, now recognised in the name Potovens Road, a name originating from the fact that there was a strong pottery industry here just outside Wakefield in the mid 1500's and probably earlier. In 1297 the Wakefield Court Rolls mention a "Richard le Potmakere" of Alverthorpe, the hamlet nearby.

---

* cum refers to the O. E. word for 'next to' in English place names.
Links:
The Pinder of Wakefield
Robert Hood of Newton .
Wild Yorkshire- Stanley Marsh