Thornhill           of Thornhill and Fixby

The Thornhills may have descended from Gerneber an Anglo-Danish land-holder b. abt. 1025. Gerneber's son was Gamel b. ca. 1050. This Gamel appears often as a land holder of the Calder Valley in the Domesday Book. In fact Gamel [Gamal] was a Yorkshire magnate of the time of Earl Tostig [1055-1065]. Thornhill boasts a runic inscription known as the Thornhill Runes which attests to the pre-Christian culture of the Anglo-Danish settlers. Later in the 1300's this family held the neighbouring sub-manor of Thornhill to the sub-manor of Midgley. The Arms of Midgley and Thornhill are very similar in their early form only differing in their tinctures.⁷ These two contiguous families were tenants of the De Lacis of Pontefract.
 

Gamel had four sons, Leising or Leisingus [had a son, Henry de Eland], Ulf, b. abt. 1075, Orm [Lord of Welbure] andGamelbar, all of whom appear in the D.B. All these names are particularly Danish, which indicates their hold over the Anglian lands after the Danes settled to farming. Orm is known from an inscription on the Kirkdale sundial in North Yorkshire where his estate lay.
Leisingus managed the Eland estates for Ilbert de Laci of Pontefract. Leising held the Manor of Rochdale but resided at Eland Hall, Elland.
Ulf had a son Essulf  born ca.1100 who died after 1189. Essulf had five sons who were given the second name or surname, Thornhill. In 1100 a law was passed in England that every person must have a second name, here the topographical name derived from the place of birth, Thornhill and Tong was chosen by Essulf. The manor of Shelf, north-east of Halifax was granted to the Thornhill family. This occurred after the 2nd Earl Warrene's [d. 1138] tenure of the Wakefield Manor, for he had been previously granted the Shelf Manor.

The children of  Essulf :
1. Elias de Thornhill b. 1124 d. 1195
2. Jordan de Thornhill b.1124/5 d. 1195 married 1148 to Ethelrida b. 1125 d. 1174 they had 8 children.
3. Richard de Tong b. ca.1125
4. Thomas de Thornhill  b. aft. 1165 d. 1190 had  one child William who married Agnes______
    they had two children, Margery & Elizabeth
5. John de Thornhill b. before 1161/8 d. after 1185, married Maud_______ they had three children, William, Eustace and Amabil.

Children of Jordan de Thornhill and Ethelrida :
1. Helen de Thornhill
2. Juliana de Thornhill
3. Margery de Thornhill
4. Goditha de Thornhill
5. Elias de Thornhill married Astrid in 1174 one child Elias de Thornhill b. ca.1180.
6. Richard de Thornhill b. 1150, d.1208 married ca.1178 to Alice ______ b.1154, d.1204. They had three children.
7. William de Thornhill b. 1160
8. Jordan de Thornhill b. 1175 died after 1212 married Quenilda_________.

The de Thornhills alias descendants of Gerneber appear to have retained their lands from the Norman conquerors.perhaps this was done by intermarriage with Norman wives.

Children of Richard de Thornhill and Alice :
1. Sir John de Thornhill b. 1180 died 1249 of Thornhill Manor [built 1236], married ca. 1226 Olivia de la Mare b. ca. 1193 died ca. 1240 [This is the first indication of French-Norman marriage into the family]. They had four children.
2. Eve de Thornhill b. 1200 married before 1277 Robert de Lalander.
3. William de Thornhill b. 1200

The children of Sir John de Thornhill and Alice :
1.Sara de Thornhill
2. Sir Richard de Thornhill [Thornhill Lees] b.1228 at Thornhill, died 1287. This appears to be the same Sir Richard de Thornhill who is mentioned in the Wakefield Court Rolls for 1274. as wanted by the Earl de Warrene for hunting in the forest of Sowerbyshire, part of which, near Holmfirth was called the 'Greenwood'. He married firstly Margaret_______ and in abt. 1258 secondly Matilda de Fixby b. ca.1240 at Fixby. They had four children. At this point, this de Thornhill line aquired the Fixby Hall Estate. This was during Henry II's time [1216-1272].
3. John de Thornhill b. ca. 1230
4. Simon de Thornhill, b. ca. 1232 d. 1270.

Children of Sir Richard de Thornhill and Matilda de Fixby :
1. Sir John Thornhill b.1260 Thornhill, d.1322 according to http://www.bretton.org/documents/The%20Bretton%20-%20Wentworth%20Tree.doc  in Austria-Hungary, fighting the Islamic Turks of The Ottoman Empire. He was married in 1310 at Thornhill to Beatrice Taboner/ Talboner b. ca. 1270, she died after 1327 in Austria-Hungary at the beginning of Edward III's reign. In this year there was also a crusade planned by the Knights Hospitallers against the Cathars in Hungary. John was a Knight of Rhodes or a Hospitaller. They had six children.  Also at this time during Edward II's reign [1307-1327] the Thornhills married into the Babthorpes.
However, one suspects that John who died in 1322, did so shortly after the Battle of Boroughbridge for his last mention is in a Parliamentary writ for 25th March 1322, three days after the execution of earl Thomas of Lancaster at Pontefract when he was given commission to raise 500 footmen in parts of Yorkshire for a Scottish campaign. John appears earlier in the Wharncliffe Muniments where he was a witness to a deed for Nicholas de Wortley between 1295 and 1300 and is also mentioned in the C.P.R. a number of times in Edward II's reign as a commissioner of oyer and terminer [25th Sept 1318; 2nd Sept 1320] but not in Edward III's reign, thus flourishing in Edward II's reign. In 1317 he was granted a market and fair by Edward II and in 1321 held the wardship of Richard de Tonge also granted by the king. These appointments and grants all suggest that he was king Edward II's man throughout the rebellion of Thomas earl of Lancaster. His death in 1322 [15Ed.II] showed that he was seised of the manor of Foulridge in Whalley and it is possible that the chain-mailed effigy in Thornhill Parish Church is that of John.
There is a 'Richard de Thornhille'/Thornhill, possibly kindred to John, who was pardoned at Westminster Hall in 1313 for his part in the death of Piers Gaveston and at York in 1318 for being an adherent of earl Thomas of Lancaster. If this man was a relation of John de Thornhill's, then like a number of northern families at this time, they were divided over their loyalties between earl Thomas and Edward II.

2. Cecily Thornhill b. ca 1281 married firstly John de Methley and secondly in 1301, Henry de Methley.
"....an indenture dated at Caltorne [Cawthorne], the Feast of St. Martin 7 Edward I, there is an agreement for a Thomas le Hunt to take to wife a Beatrice, daughter of John de Methley of Thornhill, and the said John to give her fifty marks, while Thomas binds himself to make over all his lands at Calthorn [Cawthorne]and Barnby to Henry de Calthorn his chaplain, who is to re-enfeof jointly the said Thomas and Beatrice for them and their heirs".⁶

3. Theobolt Thornhill [Theobold] b. 1285, Thornhill. married __________. They had a child, Thomas Thornhill b. 1312, Thornhill d. 1339 who married Margaret Lacy of Normandy de Laci descent b. Cromwell, Nottinghamshire. They had a son Richard.
4. Brian Thornhill b. 1287, Thornhill.

Children of Sir John Thornhill and Beatrice Taboner [Talboner]:
1. Sir Brian Thornhill b. 1298, Thornhill, died Austria-Hungary 1369. A High Sheriff of Yorkshire August- October 1349. In 1327 he was accused of murder and became a fugitive. By 1335 he was a J.P. for the West Riding. Married Joan FitzWilliam [or Eland] b. 1310 of Sprotborough. They had five children.
2. Agnes  Thornhill b 1302 at Fixby.
3. Brian Thornhill b. 1308 at Thornhill
4. Richard Thornhill born 1311 at Thornhill. [Tony Ingham has meticulously gathered Thornhill genealogy back to Richard Thornhill who died by 1393-4 which can be imported into Gedcom compliant genealogy software.]
5. Cecily Thornhill born 1313 at Thornhill.
6. Thomas Thornhill  born 1317 at Thornhill.

The children of Sir Brian Thornhill and Joan FitzWilliam [or Eland] :
1. Simon Thornhill born 1336 died 1369 at Thornhill married Isabel Eland.They had one child,  Elizabeth Thornhill who married Sir Henry Savile of Dodworth, Tankersley, Elland and now, the Thornhill and Shelf  manors by marriage. This extinguished the Thornhills of Thornhill which now passed down the Savile line. Thornhill now became the seat of the emerging & powerful Savile family. During the 1300's the home of the Thornhill's was also at Brookfoot, Brighouse. Thus by Edward III's reign [1327-1377] The Thornhills' had been united with the de Fixbys', Babthorpes and the Saviles of Dodworth. The Saviles' were resident at Thornhill until New Hall, Thornhill was demolished in Charles I's time by the Parliamentarians. See Savile Line
2. Thomas born 1338 at Thornhill.
3. Elizabeth b. 1340 Thornhill married  ca. 1335 to Henry de Masters b. ca. 1315 Kirklington, died ca. 1349 Austria-Hungary.
4. John born 1342 at Thornhill.
5. Margaret b.1344 at Thornhill.

Thomas Thornhill son of Theobolt Thornhill :
Had a son Richard Thornhill b. 1310 Thornhill d. 1418 married Margaret Toothill b. ca. 1364 Toothill.
They had a child William Thornhill b. 1386 who died 30th January 1417or1418. He married Joan de Catton. They had a  son, Brian Thornhill b.1418 at Fixby, mentioned in 1444, died 1484. Thus it appears that another line of the Thornhills' continued at Fixby Hall north west of Huddersfield*.  Brian Thornhill married 1446 at Fixby to Barbara Hapton b. ca. 1422 at Swillington.
They had two children William Thornhill b.1444 Fixby died 1500 and Diones Thornhill b. 1446 at Fixby.
William married Elizabeth Mirfield b. ca,. 1448 at Mirfield. Their son, John Thornhill b. 1476 at Fixby, d. 31st March 1529 at Elland married Jenet Savile b. 1480 Hulmedge [Hutton Edge?] d. after 1567.John Thornhill and Janet Savile had seven children
 

The children of John Thornhill and Janet Savile :
1. John Thornhill b. 1502 Fixby, mentioned in the 1550's, d. 1567.Married Elizabeth Grice b. Coyhill, d. 10th March 1582, Elland. They had ten children
2. Richard Thornhill b. 1504 d. after 1567.
3. Bryan b. 1506 d. after 1567
4. Alice b.1508.
5. Ellen b. 1510
6. Angius b. 1510. Married Thomas Clayton b. ca. 1540, Clayton Lancashire, d. 1585.
7. Thomas b. 1514 Brighouse d. aft. 1567.

The children of John Thornhill of Fixby and Elizabeth Grice :
Their children appear to have been born at Fixby Hall which was built in the 1500's.
1. Bryan b. 1528 d. aft. 1567
2. John b. 1570 Fixby d. aft. 1567
3. Nicholas b. 1532 d. aft. 1567
4. Richard b. 1534 Fixby d. 27th February 1593-4 at Elland. Married 22nd October 1586 at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate,York, Elizabeth Ward.
5. William b. 1576 Fixby, d. after 1567.
6. Elizabeth b. 1538
7. Cecily b. 1540, d. aft. 1567.
8. Isabella b.1542 Fixby, married June 1560, Roger Rayner d. after 1567.
9. Ann b. 1544 Fixby d. aft. 1567.
10. Catherine b. 1548 d. aft. 1567.

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