As Neville has said, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, (1335-1427/28), Knight of Kettleby, was a Justice of the King’s Bench, (1406, 1414, 1423), serving three monarchs. He attended Parliament in all three reigns representing interests in England, Gascony and Aquitaine.

William, Lord De Ros, (1369-1414), was 6/7th Baron of Hamlake (Helmsley) and claimant to the manor of Melton Ross. He was a favourite of Richard II but readily championed the cause of Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV). He was created a Knight of the Garter (1403) and also held the lofty office of Lord Treasurer (1403-4). From 1413 until his death he led investigations of the Lollards (political/religious thinkers regarded as heretics) in Notts, Derbys and Middlesex.

Now, to the spat. I’ll quote William Andrews, ‘Bygone Punishments,’ [The Project Gutenberg eBook].
“In the days of old two notable men held lands in the district, Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettleby and Sir William Ross of Melton, and between them was a deadly feud, the outcome, in 1411, of a slight and obscure question on manorial rights. It was alleged that John Rate, steward of Sir William Ross, had trespassed on lands at Wrawby belonging to Robert Tyrwhitt, digged and taken away turves for firing, felled trees, and cut down brushwood. The dispute was tried by Sir William Gascoigne, but it would appear that this did not altogether meet the requirements of Tyrwhitt. He assembled his men in large numbers and a fight took place with the retainers of Sir William Ross. An action of this kind could not be tolerated even in a lawless age, and the matter was brought before parliament. After long and careful consideration, it was decided that Tyrwhitt was in the wrong, and in the most abject manner he had to beg the pardon of Sir William Ross, but we are told it was merely “lip service.”

According to Cotton, (Robert Cotton, 1571-1631, noted librarian and record-keeper), Tyrwhitt had to make redress; ‘ right of common pasture in Wragby . . . 2 tunnes* of Gascoigne wyne, 2 fatt oxen and 12 fatte sheepes.’ Also ‘his knights, esquires and yeomen to confess fault and crave pardon. To pay Lord Rosse 500 marks in money.’ It was indicated that ‘Lord Rosse should refuse the money, grant him pardon and take his dinner only.’
(tunne=large cask, capacity of about 252 gallons!)

Returning to Andrews: “The hatred of the two families was transmitted from sire to son until the reign of James I., and then it broke out in open warfare. A battle was fought at Melton Ross between the followers of Tyrwhitt and those of the Earl of Rutland, the representative of the Ross family. In the struggle several servants were slain, and the king adopted stringent measures to prevent future bloodshed. He directed, so says tradition, that a gallows be erected at Melton Ross, and kept up for ever, and that if any more deaths should result from the old feud it should be regarded as murder, and those by whom the deadly deed was committed were to be executed on the gallows.
We hear nothing more of the feud after the gallows had been erected, the action of the king being the means of settling a strife which had lasted long and kept the district in turmoil.
The gallows is on the estate of the Earl of Yarborough, and it has been renewed by him, and according to popular belief he is obliged to prevent it falling into decay.”

Footnote to above: Robert Tyrwhitt’s son, Sir William Tyrwhitt (also of Kettleby) is said to have fought at Agincourt and received by royal grant (Henry V) the Bailiwick of three towns in France (Maunt, Moullant and Poissy). Founded hospitals at Wrawby and Glandford Brigg.

Regards,
Dave.

About two miles hence is Melton Ross, so called from its having been the residence of the Ross family ; in which lordship is a plot known by the name of Gallows Close; concerning which we have the following tradition.

During the time that family resided at Melton, the Tyrwhitts were also in prosperity at this place; and they carried on a kind of rivalry with each other, which was once borne to such a height by their vaslals (sic), that, having met on a hunting party, they proceeded to blows, and many were slain on both sides.

King James, being soon after down in Lincolnshire, was apprized (sic) of this circumstance; and it was by his order that a pair of gallows were erected on that spot where the fight happened. He also farther enacted, ” that, in future, any man, slain in actions of this sort, should be accounted murdered, and the perpetrator of the crime hanged.”

It is a fact beyond all controversy, that there has been gallows in that place; for, at the beginning of this century, one of the posts was still standing.

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This is me now….so there you have it. For those who knew of the gallows near Gallows Wood, that is the story. For those that didnt know about the gallows……….that is STILL the story. Feudal scrapping at its best.

There is still a gallows situated there but how ‘original’ it is, Im not sure.

From Bigby four miles brings us to Brigg, passing near Kettleby,
the home of the Tyrwhits, who kept up a blood feud with the
Ros family till the beginning of the seventeenth century — not
a very neighbourly proceeding — and as they only lived four
miles apart their combats and murders were perpetual.

interestingy
chris….

Aha! Just had a quick look at my 1824 OS map and it is marked as “Roman Catholic Burial Ground”. I’ll e-mail a scan if you feel it needs posting. A wild guess by me is that it might have a something to do with the blazing row the Tyrwhitt’s had with the Ross’s of Melton Ross that endured from the 15thC. to the Jacobean period. The Tyrwitt’s may have refused to be buried in the same graveyard as the Ross family and set up their own!?!

These families are a whole bag of dynamite if you want to develope the stories but I won’t blurt them out here as it will perhaps spoil your plans

regards,
Neville