Viking and Anglo-Saxon England

The settlement of Bracken likely originated during Viking Age Britain, however it may date to an earlier period. At the time of the Earldom of York in 972 the Anglo-Scandinavian estate was recorded as "Bracenan"^[6] in a memorandum on the estates of the See of York by the Benedictine archbishop, St. Oswald of Worcester, which reads: " . . . þreo hida æt Bracenan he gebohte æt Eadgare cinge . . . " The estate was owned by the archbishopric in place of a thegn and measured to be 3 hides. It was noted to have been bought by a previous Archbishop of York, Oscytel, from King Edgar the Peaceful.^[7] This would have occurred between 959 and 971, immediately after Viking rule in the Danelaw had ended - when Eric Bloodaxe was driven out of Northumbria in 954.

Bracenan recorded in St. Oswald's memorandum on line 18

In the memorandum St. Oswald further stated:

I, Archbishop Oswald, declare that all these lands which Archbishop Oscetel obtained in Northumbria, and which my lord granted me for St. Peter's when he was at Nottingham, together with these other lands which are entered here besides, I had them all until [unintelligible] ascended. Then St. Peter was robbed of them. May God avenge it as He will.^[8]

This narrowly preceded the "manifold disturbances" or anti-monastic reaction, during the reign of King Edward the Martyr, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[9] During this time, many of King Edgar's former grants to monasteries were undone and the lands were distributed amongst the local nobility.

The era between the ensuing North Sea Empire and the Norman Invasion were tumultuous and account of the estate is obscured.

Norman England

In the years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, all manors in England were seized by William the Conqueror and the majority were subsequently granted to his nobles. In Northern England, William encountered great resistance to his rule, which he dealt with ruthlessly.

The winter of 1069–1070 saw the Harrying of the North and the razing of the historic county of Yorkshire. It is unknown if Bracken was among the areas directly affected by the scorched earth tactics employed by the King's men, however by the next written account it was under Norman control.

Sneculfcros Hundred recorded in the Domesday Book

The manor was listed as "Brachen"^[10] within the Domesday Book in 1086, where it is recorded in the Hundred of Sneculfcros as: "In Brachen. Erneiſ. vi. c𛰁." The land was surveyed to be 6 carucates, equivalent to approximately 720 acres.

Erneis is presumed to be Erneis de Buron, Lord of Hunsingore and High Sheriff of Yorkshire.^[11] He was a feudal baron who had fought at the Battle of Hastings, under the banner of Odo of Bayeux. He is named in both the Falaise Roll and in the Rolls of Battle Abbey.^[12] He had settled in England by 1068 and held a number of other manors in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as Tenant-in-chief before having them confiscated by King Henry I between 1102 and 1118.

By 1118 the majority of the former estates of Erneis de Buron had been granted to Geoffrey FitzPayne Trussebut, who later founded the Augustinian Warter Priory in 1132. After Geoffrey's death, his lands were initially seized for a period of time by King Stephen of Blois and many of his lands were granted to Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester around 1142.^[13] The lands were eventually returned to Geoffrey's grandson, William Trussebut the Younger, Lord of Warter and were afterwards known as the Trussebut Fee. His eldest son, Geoffrey, and second son, Robert, each held the manor successively - both dying without issue. The Trussebut Fee was then partitioned between their three sisters Rohese, Hilary and Agatha in 1194.^[14]

A Yorkshire charter of 1194 recorded the manor as a Knight's fee allotted to Agatha Trussebut.^[15] She was married to William d'Aubigny, Lord of Belvoir, one of the senior Sureties of the Magna Carta of King John I. When Agatha died in 1247, lordship of Bracken passed to her daughter, Isabel d'Aubigny, who had married Sir Robert de Ros, Lord of Helmsley, the great-grandson of William the Lion, King of Scots. De Ros, whose forebear had assumed the arms of Trussebut of Warter, further inherited the entirety of the Trussebut Fee through his marriage to Isabel.^[16] Due in part to his grandfather's membership in the Order, Sir Robert remained a principal benefactor to the Knights Templar throughout his life - allowing the Order to benefit from a number of his manors.

Late Middle Ages

A collection at Berkeley Castle Archives provides the descent of the manor in the 13th & 14th centuries, recounted below:

"The manor was acquired by Samson Foliot in 1271-2 except for a holding of a croft and 2 bovates of land which was sold separately to him. When forfeited by the Contrariant Henry Lord Tyeys it was granted to Geoffrey le Scrope in May 1322 (at first for life but then to him and his heirs in July), and probably remained in his hands until Feb. 1329 when he was granted an Exchequer annuity in its place. It then passed to Tyeys's sister Alice and was inherited by her son Gerard de Lisle on her death in 1347. In 1350 Gerard exonerated the sheriff of Yorkshire for profits of the manor taken by the sheriff since Alice's death, and he held it at his death in 1360. It was granted to his widow Elizabeth (d. 1362) in dower, with half of the manors of Kingston Lisle and Fawler, in exchange for those of Mundford, Fritwell and Lydiard Tregoze, which had originally been assigned to her. Warin was described as lord of Bracken in 1364."^[17]

A 1415 Knight's fee in Bracken was held by the widow of Roger Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton^[18] and an enfeoffment of 1439 records John, Lord de Scrope.^[19]

Tudor to Stuart period

Later in 1535 John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton was noted to have collected rental for Bracken.^[20] The manor was held by the Barons of Bolton until the death of Emanuel Scrope, 1st Earl of Sunderland and 11th Baron of Bolton, who had been raised to the Earldom of Sunderland in 1627. After his death in 1630, his eldest daughter Mary inherited Bracken. She later married Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton, at the time 6th Marquess of Winchester, in 1655. The manor passed in 1699 to their daughter Jane, who married John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater.

Georgian to Victorian era

Accounts of the Bridgewater Estate in 1748 note rent being taken in Bracken, presumably for John Egerton, Bishop of Durham.^[21] His daughter, Amelia Egerton, Lady Hume, inherited the manor following his death in 1787. In 1798 Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Baronet and Amelia had the estate of Bracken surveyed by Ralph Burton. It was found to contain 660 acres, 2 roods and 17 perches of demesne land.^[22]

The seventh edition of A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, describes the manor in the late 1850s as:

"BRACKEN, a township, in the chapelry of Kilnwick, union of Driffield, Bainton-Beacon division of the wapentake of Harthill; E. riding of York, 6¾ miles (S. W. by S.) from Driffield; containing 33 inhabitants. It is on the road from Beverley to Malton, and comprises about 600 acres. The village was formerly populous; and contained a chapel, the cemetery belonging to which remains undisturbed."^[2]

As part of the estate of John Egerton, Viscount Alford, the manor passed to his eldest son John Egerton-Cust, 2nd Earl Brownlow in 1863. It then passed to the second son Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow when he succeeded in the Earldom of Brownlow and Viscountcy of Alford on the death of his elder brother in 1867.

In 1894-95 the manor was recorded in The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales:

"Bracken, a hamlet and a township in Kilnwick parish, in the E.R. Yorkshire, 6 miles SW by S of Great Driffield. Acreage of township, 677; population, 25."^[23]

Present day

Lord Brownlow died without heirs in 1921 with the earldom and viscountcy becoming extinct. An indenture in 1923 recorded the transfer of the manor to the Rev. Dr. Robert Edleston, Baron de Montalbo.^[24] The Law of Property Act of 1925 abolished copyhold throughout the United Kingdom by converting existing tenures to freehold and effectively separating them from the lordship. In 1953 the lordship was inherited by Edleston's sister, Sarah Edleston. In 1969 it was vested in the Hanby Holmes family who held the title, demesne land and manorial rights until they were later passed by deed of conveyance to the current owners in 2023, just prior to the coronation of King Charles III.^[25]

Descent of the lordship

Order	Name	Title	Arms	Years held	Notes
I	Edgar the Peaceful	King of England		after 959
II	Oscytel	Archbishop of York		after 959-971
III	Edwald	Archbishop of York		971
IV	Saint Oswald of Worcester	Archbishop of York, canonised		971-972	Estate surrendered to an unknown noble
V	William of Normandy	King of England		1066-before 1086	Seized English lands
1st	Erneis de Buron	Lord of Hunsingore		before 1086-1106	Granted by the crown
2nd	Hugh de Buron	Lord of Hunsingore		1106-c1118
3rd	Geoffrey FitzPayne Trussebut	Lord of Warter		c1118-c1139
4th	Stephen of Blois	King of England		c1139-c1142	Manor reverted to the crown
5th	Ranulf de Gernon	4th Earl of Chester		c1142-1153	Granted by the crown
6th	William Trussebut the Younger	Lord of Warter		c1154-1175	Established inheritance of the manor
7th	Geoffrey Trussebut	Lord of Warter		1175-1190
8th	Robert Trussebut	Lord of Warter		1190-1193
9th	Agatha d'Aubigny née Trussebut & William d'Aubigny	Lord & Lady of Belvoir		1193-1247
10th	Isabel de Ros née d'Aubigny & Sir Robert de Ros	Lady of Belvoir & Lord of Helmsley		1247-1271
11th	Sir Samson Foliot	Lord of Chilton Foliot		1271-c1282
12th	Henry le Tyeys	1st Baron Tyeys		c1282-1307
13th	Henry le Tyeys	2nd Baron Tyeys		1307-1322	Lands forfeited, executed
14th	Sir Geoffrey le Scrope	Lord Chief Justice of England		1322-1329	Granted by the crown
15th	Alice de Lisle née le Tyeys & Sir Warin de Lisle	3rd Baroness Tyeys & Keeper of Windsor Castle		1329-1347
16th	Gerard & Elizabeth de Lisle	1st Baron & Baroness Lisle		1347-1362
17th	Warin de Lisle	2nd Baron Lisle		1362-1382
18th	Richard Scrope	1st Baron Scrope of Bolton		1382-1403
19th	Roger Scrope	2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton		1403
20th	Richard Scrope	3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton		1403-1420	Lands in the keeping of Queen Catherine of Valois until coming of age
21st	Henry Scrope	4th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1420-1459	Lands in the keeping of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury until coming of age
22nd	John Scrope	5th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1459-1498
23rd	Henry Scrope	6th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1498-1506
24th	Henry Scrope	7th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1506-1533
25th	John Scrope	8th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1533-1549
26th	Henry Scrope	9th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1549-1592
27th	Thomas Scrope	10th Baron Scrope of Bolton		1592-1609
28th	Emanuel Scrope	1st Earl of Sunderland		1609-1630
29th	Mary Paulet née Scrope & Charles Paulet	Marchioness of Winchester & 1st Duke of Bolton		1630-1699
30th	Jane Egerton née Paulet & John Egerton	3rd Countess & Earl of Bridgewater		1699-1716
31st	Henry Egerton	Bishop of Hereford		1716-1746
32nd	John Egerton	Bishop of Durham		1746-1787
33rd	Lady Amelia Hume née Egerton & Sir Abraham Hume, Bt.	2nd Hume Baronet of Wormleybury		1787-1838
34th	Sophia Cust née Hume & John Cust	Baroness & 1st Earl Brownlow		1838-1853
35th	John Egerton-Cust	2nd Earl Brownlow		1853-1867
36th	Adelbert Brownlow-Cust	3rd Earl Brownlow		1867-1921	Held by trust until 1923
37th	Robert Edleston	Baron de Montalbo		1923-1952	Held in estate until 1953
38th	Sarah Edleston	Lady of Buckden		1953-1956	Held by executors until 1969
39th	Richard & Olivia Hanby Holmes	Lord & Lady of Chesterton		1969-2023
40th	Charles & Nora Grierson	Lord & Lady of Bracken		2023–present