SavileSevile, Seville, Shevile, Sayvell, Sayvile, Seyville,Savil, Saville, Savile.
of West Yorkshire

The name probably originated from Sevielle, Normandy in the 1100's i.e. after The Conquest.
However others suggest that the Saviles' arrived with The Conquest, many French-Norman families made this claim, some even had the monks falsify the 'evidence later. The Battle Abbey Roll does not mention the Savile's.

1. John I Savile b. ~1150 Savile Hall [now Savile Hall Farm], Dodworth near Barnsley had a son :

2. John II Savile b. ~1170 at Savile Hall, Dodworth d 1225, married Alice/Agnes de Aldwarre/Aldwarke. They had a son :

Saviles according to Jos. Hunter et. al.

Saviles according to W.P. Baildon⁵

3. [Sir] Henry Savile b. 1190 d. 1225, he married Agnes de Golcar, they had a son Thomas :

4. Thomas Savile b. 1200 at Newstead Yorkshire, married ______ de Tankersley This brought the Tankersley estates into the family. They had a son :

5. John Savile b.1250 at Savile Hall, Dodworth. He married Agnes de Rochdale they had a son :

6. John Savile b. 1280 of Tankersley, Elland [part of Wakefield Manor] and Thornhill [part of the honour of Pontefract]. He married Isobel de Lathorne. Isobel was the daughter of Robert Lathorne and Agnes de Golcar? Agnes' parents were John Glover and Albreda de Lizours. Albreda was the daughter of Eudo de Lizours b. 1131 Emley, d. aft. 1193. John and Isobel had a son :

3. [Sir] Henry Savile b. 1190, he held Golcar at his death in 1225, he married Agnes de Golcar, they had a daughter Avice de Savile the heiress of Golcar and by a second wife Sir Henry had a son, John b~1200 :

4a. Avice de Savile she married Hugh Pincerna [Botiler or Butler] of Skelbrooke. Hugh was the butler to Henry De Laci of Pontefract.

4b. [Sir] John de Savile b~1200 d 1250? he married Alice, they had a son :

5. John de Savile b~1225 d 1275. He had a son :

6. Peter de Savile, Lord of Golcar and lands at Skelbrooke, Kirk Smeaton and Thurlston. He married Maude but Peter became insane [lunatico] in 1282. He is the first ancestor of the House of Savile of any certainty. Peter and Maude had a son :

7. John de Savile b 1275-1280 married Margery Rishworth before 1306

7. John Savile b. 1310 of Barnsley, Tankersley, Elland and Thornhill, succeeded to the Eland Estates. He married Jane de Bosco [Alias Wood, daughter of Matthew de Bosco]. There is a John de Seville [Seyville] mentioned in the Wakefield Court Rolls at Stanley on the 29th November 1331, fined 4d for not attending and at the Wakefield Court on 23rd October 1332, fined 12d for not appearing.
There is also a Thomas de Seynille [Seynylle], John de Senille and the wife of Hugh Seynille mentioned in the W.C.R's for 1331-3¹. John and Jane had a son :

8. Sir John de Savile b. 1340 at Golcar. John was a Knight of the Shire and High Sheriff for Yorkshire in 1381, 1383, 1388 and 1401. See Yorkshire Sheriffs
At this time there lived John's sister Margaret de Savile, who was the prioress of Kirklees recorded in 1358, who was probably the prioress from 1350-1360. This was shortly after the Eland Feud. Also see The prioress of Kirklees John Savile married a maiden of Anglo-Danish descent, Margery Isobel [Isabel] de Eland of Eland. This passed the Eland and Tankersley estates into the Savile family. As the family prospered and expanded, branches of the Saviles were established at Bradley Hall, Copley, Hullen Edge, Rishworth, Shibden Hall and Stanley. Thus Sir John Savile of New Hall, Elland became the Lord of Elland when the male line died out following the Elland feud. They had two sons :

9a. Sir John Savile [b. 1355, d. 1405] who married Isabel de Radclyffe of Radcllyffe Tower, Lancashire.

9b. Henry Savile of Dodworth, Tankersley, Thornhill and Eland, d.1412. He gained Thornhill by his marriage to Elizabeth de Thornhill b.1300 at Thornhill., heiress of her father. The Thornhill family are traced back to the Anglo-Dane, Gamel. They had sons :

10a. Sir Thomas Savile of Copley . He married Margaret Pilkington, they had a son Sir John Savile Kt. who resided at Methley Hall near Pontefract.

10b. Henry Savile of Copley. b. 1440 at Hollenedge [Hullen Edge]. Henry Savile of Copley had a son :

11a. Sir John Savile sheriff of Yorkshire married Alice Gascoigne of Gawthorpe [Ightenhill, Lancashire]

11b. John Savile of Copley

11c. Thomas Savile of Hullenedge, this Thomas married Anne Stansfield, the Stansfields' were descended from the Norman Wyan Marmions who settled near Hebden Bridge.The Midgleys' were married into the Stansfields [Agnes de Midgley, possibly daughter of the Norman Thomas de Midgley [Miggeley], b. ca. 1175 the oldest known of this line.] Thomas and Anne had two children, Agnes de Savile b. 1496 New Hall, Thornhill and Nicholas Saville born 14?? d. 15?? Agnes married firstly, John Hanson b. ca.1490 at Woodhouses. They had six children, Thomas, John, Edward, Robert, Arthur and Elizabeth. Secondly Agnes Savile married John or Hugh de Lacy, there was no issue for the second marriage?

12a. John Savile married Jane Harrington of Brierley they had a son John [13a]

12b. Nicholas Saville b. 14?? d. 15?? married_____ they had two children, John Saville b. 1526 New Hall, Elland, d. 4th July 1545 and Janet Saville. Nicholas may have had another son, Thomas Savile of Clifton who married Elizabeth______ Thomas and Elizabeth had two children, Cecilia Savile and Cuthbert Savile. Cecilia married Robert Pilkington, Cuthbert had a son Thomas Saville.
John Saville b. 1526 married firstly Margery Wilkinson secondly Margaret Glenhill there was issue from the first marriage.
Nicholas Savile built New Hall Elland about 1490 which was a timber-framed hearth-passage hall with cross-wings. The building was faced with stone by John Foxcroft. In 1544 [31st May] Nicholas was granted with John Tasburgh property formerly belonging to the priory of Kirklees.
New Hall, Elland was built by Nicholas Savile and was a timber-framed hearth-passage hall with cross-wings. The building was faced with stone by John Foxcroft. The Savile's of Thornhill and Lupset (Bowlings) are recorded in the Herald's Visitations for the1100's to the 1500's, which displays the Arms of Savile.
"In connection with the various Leases of the tithes of Cawthorne mentioned above (p.124),
it may be added that Hunter speaks of having seen the draft of an Indenture between Joan
Savile of the New Hall in Elland, widow, late wife of Nicholas Savile, Esq., on the one part,
and Beatrix Barmby, gentlewoman, William Beaumont, of Cawthorne, and all the
inhabitants and farmers of the town of Cawthorne, whereby for a sum of money in the name
of a garsome Savile leases to them all their tithe corn of every grain in the town and fields of
Cawthorne and Barmby at a rent of £3-2-2, to be paid at Hague in the township of
Kexborough".⁴

On the 22nd of Sept., 1654, John Savile's [Sir John Savile Kt.] signature is found to the
approval of John Robucke as Register, elected by the inhabitants in the place of William
Swift deceased. This is evidently Sir John Savile, of Lupset, Knight, who was Sheriff of this
County I649-50⁴

13a. [Sir] John Savile sheriff of Yorkshire, married Elizabeth Paston of Paston, Norfolk. For Paston-Savile connections see Alice De Laci

14. Sir William Savile 3rd baronet, grandson of Savile of Dodworth and Babworth, resided in a fortified house at Thornhill during the civil war of the 1600's. The Babworths had married with the de Fixbys' who in turn had previously married into the Thornhills'. As a result the Saviles' took residence at New Hall, Thornhill.
Sir William's son was Sir John Savile who married firstly____________ and secondly _______________ this second marriage produced Sir George Savile Bt. d. 9th January 1784 and Barbara Savile.
Barbara Savile married Richard Lumley Sanderson, they had two sons. Sir George Savile bequeathed the estates to the second grandson.

15? Sir George Savile b.1583 Thornhill, d. 1622 Thornhill. Married Ann Wentworth, Later Lady Ann Saville on 14th September 1607. They probably had four children :
16? i) [Sir] George Savile b. 11th November 1633, [this date does not equate to his father's death date] d. 5th April 1665, London [Great Fire?]. George owned Stanley Hall until he sold it in 1603 to Thomas Pilkington. George was called Baron Savile of Elland or George Elland 4th Baronet, later, 1st Marqess of Halifax, later, Viscount Halifax.
ii) William Savile Lord of Brierley [Brearley]. He developed a coalmine. In 1632 the manor house was upgraded at Brierley. Brierley was one time the eastern part of Swein's estates.
iii) Richard Savile. Early 1600's of Emley Park.["Keeper of Emley Park", Emley].
iv) John Savile of Wath [upon Dearne] married Grace Charlesworth in 1568. John sometimes referred to as'Savile of Wath', their descendants are connected to the Saviles' of Thornhill.

17? Sir John Savile Kt. b. 1649 d.1650. Sheriff for Yorkshire, resided at Lupset.

From 1659 to 1664 New Hall at Elland was the residence of Dr. Henry Power. By 1700 his son perhaps, George Power held the estate.

"William Spencer married Christiana, daughter and at length sole heir of Benjamin Ashton, of Hathersage, in the County of Derby, who, when he died in 1725, "left Mr. Spencer £14,000 " in addition to the estates. It was just at this time that Mr. Spencer "bought Eastfeild [sic] of Mr. Savill, formerly of Mexburgh, [Mexborough] "grandchild to Madam Savill now living at Fawthwaite, aged near 100, one of the daughters and co-heirs ot Mr. Cudworth of Eastfeild, whose ancestors had enjoyed it for 400 years." (Yorkshire Diaries. Surtees Soc. Vol.65.)⁴

In 1943, New Hall, Elland was bought and restored, the oak panelling may have been taken to Slead Hall, Brighouse. The reputedly haunted hall was purchased in 1971 by one of "The Bachelors" a group of singers.

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See Heraldry for some families of West and South Yorkshire

References:
1. Yorkshire Court Rolls for 1331-1333.
2. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 28.
3. Bretton, Rowland, The Savile Family 1968. pp 45-55 offprint by the Halifax Antiquarian Society.
Chapel Books, Chapel Cottage, Llanishen, Chepstow NP166QT
E-mail: info@chapelbooks.co.uk
4. Pratt, C.T. History of Cawthorne, 1881.
5. Baildon, W. P. Notes on the Early Saville Pedigree and the Butlers of Skellbrook and Kirk Sandal. Yorks. Arch. J. vol. 29, (1929)