John Crossley of Scaitcliffe, M.A., Todmorden, by Joseph Severn, 1851
The Crossley Coat of Arms
THE PEOPLE OF SCAITCLIFFE
The Crossley family is credited with a long connection to Todmorden, back to Saxon times, when there was an Adam del Croslegh and his wife Matilda living here in the middle of the 1300s. There was also a Roger de Crosselegh who was once fined for putting his hay in the Queen's enclosure in 1336. Unfortunately, the family did not register its pedigree with the heraldry society and the published pedigree is incomplete and inconsistent.
One of the earliest proven connections with Scaitcliffe comes in the will of Anthony Crossley in 1623. He is described as a yeoman of Scaitcliffe. He devised his goods to his wife Mary, his sons Luke and Samuel, and his daughters Susan Kershaw and Mary Crossley. He excludes two other sons, apart from a bequest of 1 shilling, on the grounds that they were married by then and already held part of his estate. His eldest son and heir was John who held lands at Scaitcliffe in 1626 by a grant (or deed of gift) from his father.
John served King Charles I in the Civil War and fought at Marston Moor on July 2nd. 1644. His sword was preserved in the Scaitcliffe armoury and museum. He married Dorothy daughter of Richard Lord of Godpleye in Honorsfield in 1615.
John's grandson was Anthony of Scaitcliffe, yeoman. Anthony rebuilt part of Scaitcliffe House in 1666. He married twice. Firstly to Ann the daughter of Mary Eastwood who died in 1697, and secondly to Grace Ramsden, widow of Broadhaugh in Spotland. Anthony and Ann appear in the Quarter Sessions records as having been prosecuted and convicted of a criminal offence. Anthony was also the subject of Maintenance Order for the support of an illegitimate child by Elizabeth Lee of Burnley on 3 separate occasions between 1674 and 1679. He died at Scaitcliffe in 1707 and was buried in St. Marys Churchyard. His will reads:
"I give Scaitcliffe to John Crossley, my eldest son, in whose possession it now is. I also give to him Hollinrake and other estates, and a corn mill at Scaitcliffe".
From the inventory attached to his will, it seems that Anthony worked in the wool trade. Amongst the items were:
20 kersey pieces £25
5 packs of fleece wool £80
1 pack of skin wool £5
Meal in the shed at Scaitcliffe £12
Sheep at Scaitcliffe £3
Anthony's son, John Crossley of Scaitcliffe, was appointed in 1715 as pole for providing a foot soldier and arms to serve in the Lancashire militia. He was a High Constable of The Salford Hundred in 1724. He married twice, firstly to Sarah daughter of William Sutcliffe of Higher Ashes in Stansfield Co. York. She died childless Feb 3rd. 1696. Secondly to Mary Halstead of Burnley Bridge End married 1700. She died May 5th. 1743 aged 63. John died on 5th . February 1745.
John's son and heir, Anthony Crossley of Scaitcliffe, was born April 11th.1702. In 1726, he went to London and served for 4 years as a private gentleman in the second troop of the Horse Guards. In 1738, he built the north part of the mansion of Scaitcliffe. In 1744 and following years he served as an officer in the Lancashire Militia during the Scotch Rebellion. He was High Constable of the Salford Hundred in 1757 and chief contributor to the rebuilding of Todmorden Church in 1770. He died at Scaitcliffe Feb. 20th. 1779 aged 77. He married Elizabeth daughter of James Gibson of Lower Ashes in Stansfield, a Gentleman, in 1735. She died Jan 14th. 1769.
Anthony's grandson, also Anthony, took over the seat in 1799 after the death of his father. He was born at Foster Mill in Yorkshire, his mother's home, April 11th 1762. He purchased the Todmorden Hall estate in 1795. His wife was Betty, daughter of Abraham Gibson of Briggroyd, Yorkshire. Their only child was Anne who went on to marry James Joseph Hague Taylor of Whitworth. Because he had no male heir, he sold Scaitcliffe in 1810 to his brother John with a view to the subsequent owners bearing the name of Crossley. Anthony died on June 1st 1810.
John Crossley of Scaitcliffe, brother to above Anthony, was born at Scaitcliffe May 23rd. 1778. He had a Lieutenant's Commission in the Lancashire Provincial Cavalry in 1797 and served in that capacity until the Peace of Amiens, May 27th. 1802. In that year he purchased Scaitcliffe from his brother Anthony. In 1803 he was appointed by the deputy lieutenant of the Middleton sub-division as a guide to the army in case of invasion. On Sept. 23rd. 1807 he had an Ensign's Commission from the right honourable William Wentworth Fitzwilliam and served in the Corps. of West Halifax Volunteers commanded by Colonel Moore.
He was appointed Captain in the Oldham Regiment of Local Militia 1809 and was appointed Treasurer of the Rochdale Canal Company June 24th. 1815. In 1816, having purchased and re-granted the tithes of the Township of Todmorden and Walsden from the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was presented with a dinner service in acknowledgement of his gratuitous services to the landowners of that Township, and in the same year was presented with a sword by the non-commissioned officers and men of his own Company in the Oldham Regiment. He was appointed Commissioner of Taxes in 1818, and a Magistrate for the County in 1819.
In 1827 he was appointed a deputy lieutenant for the county of Lancaster and in the same year was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He died Dec. 11th. 1830 aged 52 years. He married Sarah, only daughter and heir of John Lockwood of Ewood, Co. York May 20th 1800. She was born Feb. 8th. 1779, and died June 19th. 1857 aged 78.
The next owner of Scaitcliffe was John's son and heir, also John Crossley of Scaitcliffe. He was born March 20th. 1807. He was a MA of Christ's College Cambridge and of the Inner Temple and was a Barrister at Law and Justice of the Peace for the county of Lancaster and for the West Riding of the county of York. He died June 4th. 1864, and is buried at St. Peters Church in Walsden. It was during this John's time at Scaitcliffe that the house was pulled down and re-built. John married the only daughter of Thomas Ramsbottom of Centre Vale Mill in Todmorden on Sept. 27th. 1834.
They were childless and therefore John devised Scaitcliffe and his other estates in Lancashire and Yorkshire to his nephew, Croslegh Dampier, son of his sister Matilda. This was with the request that Croslegh Dampier would take the surname Crossley and the Arms of Crossley in addition to that of Dampier.
On 1st. August 1889 at the White Hart, Todmorden, the auctioneer Mr. J. Shoesmith offered the Scaitcliffe Estate for sale. The highest bid was £13,000 but this was not accepted and the property was withdrawn from the sale.