No. VIII. THE CATHOLIC REGISTERS OF KNARESBOROUGH, 1765-1840. CONTRIBUTED BY T. G. CUMMINS , G. F. ENGELBACH AND J. S. HANSOM . HISTORICALNOTES BY THE RT . REV. ABBOT CUMMINS , O.S.B. The recorded story of Knaresboroughmission begins in 1693 , when English Benedictines became chaplains to the Plumptons, whose ancient home from which they took their name lay two miles south of the town. The names and activities of the secular clergy who ministered in the district before that date have not been recorded , but amongst the dwindling flock were Knaresboroughs of Farnham and Byrnands of Knaresborough, Swales of Rudfarlington , Trappes of Knaresborough and later of Nidd Hall, Percys at Scotton, and some of the Slingsbys at Scriven and Inglebys at Ripley ; besides many of lesser social standing. In the neighbourhood werc Middeltons at Stockeld , Tancreds and Meynells at Aldborough, Gascoignes at Parlington . The Ven. Robert Bickerdyke martyred at York in 1586 , and Fr. Wilks , confessor in 1642 , were born here . Guy Fawkes ' mother, after her second marriage to Dionis Baynbridge, lived and died at Scotton. The Plumptons_who remained Catholic to the last were the chief supporters of the old Faith in Knaresborough . Eldred de Plumpton had held Plumpton and Rudfarlington under William de Percy at Spofforth shortly after the Conquest . Peterfought with the barons against King John. Sir William was beheaded withi his uncle , Archbishop Scrope, in 1405. Another fell at Marston Moor. On the death of Robert without issue in 1749 the estates were sold to the ancestor of Lord Harewood , the last of the Plumpton name being Dames Angela and Bernarda, Benedictine nuns at Cambrai , though the family is represented by the Palmes family of Naburn and Annes of
Burghwallis. On the closing of the chapel at Plumpton in 1755 the priest remained in the neighbourhood, living on Thistle Hill and later at Follifoot , in which village some land was purchased in 1775 and a house erected that served as a residence and chapel. It still exists and is known as The Priory. In 1797 the priest went to live for the first time in Knaresborough itself , a large house being purchased in Briggate where the mission was maintained until 1831 when , immediately after Catholic Emancipation, the existing site in Boudend was obtained, and a small house and roomy chapel were built in the nondescriptstyle of the period. Ample school accommodation has been provided in later years , the church improved and the residence enlarged . Celia Fiennes , in a diary written about 1700 , describes being taken by a Catholic hostess at Knaresboroughto visit a " Chapel with altar decked with flowers and the ground with rushes for ye devout that did frequent it. As Holy Rood chapel at St. Robert's Cave was in ruins at that date and its site forgotten, this can; only refer to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag near the Low Bridge it indicates an unexpected toleration of Catholic observance as well as some continued veneration of an old shrine. Both St. Robert's Cave and Our Lady of the Crag have come back recently into Catholic custody.
"