| Description | The earliest surviving documents date from 1436 when Thomas Westby of Firsby settled Ravenfield manor on his son William, with remainder to his other children and Firsby on his grandson Henry. The manors were held of the honour of Conisbrough. A Henry Westby 'franklin' was the highest-rated inhabitant of Conisbrough for the 1379 poll-tax and he was probably the founder of the family fortunes. In the 1360s he was parker at Conisbrough [Sheffield Archives WWM/D/53]. By the 1390s he was bailiff of the honour [Doncaster Archives DD Yar. C 1/25]
By the early 17th century the direct male line was all but extinct and the family was represented by two brothers Ralph and Thomas, both childless. In 1624 the brothers sold the estate to George Westby of Guilthwaite and his son Thomas, with the use of Ravenfield Hall reserved to Thomas senior for life.
Firsby, which had evidently gone out of the immediate family by purchase or inheritance was purchased in 1628 from Sir John Hewitt of Northamptonshire.
George Westby had come to Guilthwaite on his marriage to a co-heiress of the Burrows family of Guilthwaite. There was presumably some connection with the Ravenfield family, but George could trace his family line back no further than a Christopher Westby resident in Nottinghamshire in Elizabeth I's reign.
George, his son Thomas and Thomas' son, another George, gradually acquired land in the area by purchase and exchange to consolidate the estate and made advantageous marriages to wealthy outsiders.
By the 1730s financial problems were arising and the estate became heavily encumbered by mortgages. In 1750 Wardell Westby, with no prospect of a male heir sold Ravenfield to Elizabeth Parkin.
Having employed the architect John Carr to improve the Hall & rebuild the parish church she died unmarried in 1766, leaving her estate to a series of cousins. In 1794 William Parkin Bosvile inherited. He was succeeded by his brother Rev. Thomas Bosvile who died in 1824, leaving the property to a cousin Thomas James Birch (who shared descent from the Bolles of Lincolnshire), who took the name Bosvile. On his death in 1829 Thomas Bosvile Lee, descended from a Birch, succeeded and again took the name Bosvile (thus becoming Thomas Bosvile Bosvile). He lived at Ravenfield only intermittently, letting it to the Walker & Hoyle families for extended periods. His son Thomas Bolle Bosvile continued the trend, but seems to have taken up residence at the Hall in the 1890s.
The estate was sold in 1920 and the family subsequently lived at Gate Helmsley near York.
The collection has been structured to show the descent of the manor of Ravenfield; the Westbys' acquisition of property in & around Ravenfield in the 17th century; the mortgaging & sale of the estate in the 18th century; its administration in the 19th century and its sale from 1920. There is also a small amount of material relating to the Bosvile/Bolle/Birch interest in Lincolnshire and a number of other counties. |