Tankersley, Yorkshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1750.

TANKERSLEY:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1750.

"TANKERSLEY, a parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 2 m. E. of Wortley, bet. Barnesley and Sheffield, had a Ch. in the Saxon times. 'Tis a Lp. of 800 acres, which anciently bel. to the Tankersleys; from whom it went by marriage to the Elands; from whose family it passed to the Savils, and from them to the Talbots Es. of Shrewsbury, who sold it to the Wentworths; from whom it descended to the late Ld. Malton, and is now the Marquis of Rockingham's. Here is a considerable park, in which, it is said, are the finest red deer in England. In this p. was once a hermitage, which was given to the Abby of Kirkstead, but after the Diss. came to Tho. Rokeby; from whom it came to the family of Wombwell, and was the seat of the late Smithson Green. This T. in the civil wars was seized for the Pt. but was taken for Cha. I. by Sir Will. Cavendish, afterwards D. of Newcastle."

---

"WORTLEY, in the parish of Tankersley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the banks of the Dun, near Wentworth, is a Lp. of above 5000 acres, of which great part is covered with wood, and bears the name of Wharncliffe, i.e. steep rocks, it being very rugged and stony. The ancient and honourable family of the Wortleys are denominated from hence, of whom Sir Thomas, who flourished here in the R. of Edw. IV. Rich. III. Henry VII. and Henry VIII. having a chace in Wharncliffe, built a lodge there; and it appears by an inscription cut on a stone there, that he was Kt. of the Body to all those 4 princes. In the R. of Eliz. there was a park inclosed near that called Wortley-Hall, but in the civil wars it was disparked. There were also a bloomery and a mill in the Lp. in the R. of James I. and Charles I. but the former was demolished afterwards, and a forge erected in its room, The present owner of this Lp. is the honourable Edw. Wortley Montague."

[Transcribed by Mel Lockie © from
Stephen Whatley's England's Gazetteer, 1750]