William Craven

The most famous son of Appletreewick is William Craven, who was born in 1548 to a paupers family in a cottage opposite the High Hall, now the site of St. John’s Church. The vicar of Burnsall got him a job in London and the young boy in his teens got himself down to London on carriers carts and joined the firm of Merchant Tailors which he worked his way up in and eventually owned. He produced all the fabrics for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the first. He started a bank and invested in shipping and eventually became Lord Mayor of London in 1610. After that he returned to Appletreewick, restored the High Hall, created the road to Burnsall, built Burnsall bridge, built the beautiful Elizabethan Burnsall School, and restored the church. It is calculated that his estate in today’s terms when he died in 1618 was worth 8 billion pounds, and yet he set off from Appletreewick with nothing! He was knighted and his descendants became the Earls of Craven. His coat of arms and his portrait can be seen in St. John’s Church and in the Craven Arms.

The extensive, beautiful and romantic gardens of Parcevall Hall created by Sir William Milner are only a mile from the village and are well worth a visit together with their onsite tea room.

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He married Elizabeth Whitmore, probably about 1605; she was a daughter of William Whitmore (d.1593) of Apley Hall, Salop and Balmes Manor, Hackney, haberdasher and alderman of London. Her second brother was Sir George Whitmore (d.1654), Lord Mayor of London. They had five children: Elizabeth, Mary, William (Baron Craven of Hampstead Marshall, Berkshire and 1st Earl of Craven), John (Baron Craven of Ryton) and Thomas.[1] In 1622 his surviving daughter Elizabeth married Percy Herbert, 2nd Baron Powis. His (?will) was openly read in court on 29 July 1618.

The second son, John Craven, founder of the Craven scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge, was commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, 1626–8. Charles I created him Baron Craven of Ryton, Shropshire, 21 March 1643. He died in 1649, and left no issue by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of William, Lord