Jordan Thornhill

Possibly originally had last name "FitzEssulf".

He is sometimes known by the following names, Jordan de Sitlington or Jordan de Flockton, presumably gaining Thornhill later as Jordan de Thornhill. He seems to have married twice although the name of the first wife is unknown. He appears to have married again about 1148 to [some say] Ethelreda [?de Midgley+ a possible heiress of lands in Sowerbyshire.

Jordan was constable of Wakefield between 1174 and 1178 i.e. at Sandal Castle whilst his younger brother Thomas 'Pincerna' was the steward of the monks at St. John's, Pontefract. Jordan led to the line of Thornhills of Thornhill.

http://midgleywebpages.com/thornhill.html

Sir Jordan de Thornhill [Fitz-Essulf] of Sitlington and Flockton. Jordan was born  ~1123 at Sitlington and died after 25th January 1194.  He is sometimes known by the following  names, Jordan de Sitlington or Jordan de Flockton, presumably gaining Thornhill later as Jordan de Thornhill.  He seems to have married twice although the name of the first wife is unknown. He appears to have married again about 1148 to [some say]  Ethelreda [?de Midgley+ a possible heiress of lands in Sowerbyshire.15 Perhaps it was from her that the hamlet and sub-manor of Sitlington was named in the 1100's. According to to the V.C.H. for Lancashire it is an error to state [as found in Alfred S. Ellis,  Dodsworth's Yorkshire Notes (Agbrigg), Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, 1884, vol. VIII, p. 487 and the Pontefract Chartulary vol. I chart 23] that this Jordan de Thornhill married the daughter of a Richard FitzRoger of Lancashire.17 According to the V.C.H. the FitzRoger daughter [Quenilda] was married to one of Jordan Fitz-Essulf's sons Jordan de Thornhill not Jordan Fitz-Essulf. After examining related families, we have to agree with this. It appears after Jordan's death Quenilda*  married secondly, Roger Gernet of Halton, chief forester of Lancaster. * Also Quenilda daughter of Richard FitzRoger should not be confused with Quenilda de Kirkdale, daughter of Roger de Kirkdale [d. 1201] who passed the lands in Formby to Jordan and Quenilda before their marriage. [See VCH Kirkdale and Farrers note 2, pp. 564-5, Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey] 

Jordan is definitely not the same person as Jordan de Stansfield who married Towneley as suggested by the Stansfield genealogist, both men held lands at Stansfield at [very] different times. In the History of the Stansfields, which contains very few citations, Jordan de Stansfield is claimed to have married a daughter of 'Sir John Townley of Townley, co. Lancaster.' If correct, this is probably the alias of John de la Legh who married Cecilia de Towneley, sole heiress of Towneley about 1295. Thus it appears that the Stansfield genealogist has placed his 'Jordan son of Wyan Maryons' far too early [as he recognises in his History of the Stansfeld Family, p. 105.] Wyan is said to have come to England with the Conqueror as a follower of William de Warrene, later 1st earl Warrene & Surrey and lord of Wakefeield &c. In fact on p. 269 the Stansfield author presents the Latin text for the Worsthorne grant to Oliver de Stansfield by Henry de Lacy [7th April 1292] which mentions both Cecilia, John de la Legh and Cecilia's sister Agnes. Jordan Fitz-Essulf held lands in Ovenden, Skircoat, Rishworth, Norland, Barkisland etc. [Watson's Halifax p. 189; Baildon History,. p. 27.] and evidently Shelf, Rawtenstall, Hunsworth, Wadsworth, Sowerby and Stansfield.* The townships in which many of his western lands lay, partly surrounded the townships of Midgley [nr. Halifax] and Sowerby, around which lay the forest of Sowerby, both Stansfield and Skircoat being described as being within the forest. In 1169 his inheritance in Sowerbyshire [forest of Hardwick] was confirmed by Hamelin Plantagenet earl of Warrene & lord of Wakefield [Ibid.] However, there is no evidence that these were paternal inheritances, and as such it has been suggested by Baildon that these were instead inherited through Jordan's wife [2nd or 3rd]. At the same time of this confirmation Jordan granted a quarter of his lands in Sowerbyshire and lands in Stansfield and Rawtenstall to his younger brother Elias whilst (according to Watson) Warrene retained Sowerby. According to Watson, Skircoat as part of Sowerbyshire was later held by the Warrenes in 27 Hen. III [~1243] and at Kirkby's Inquest [1298]. Jordan was constable of Wakefield14 between 1174 and 1178 i.e. at Sandal Castle whilst his younger brother Thomas 'Pincerna' was the steward of the monks at St. John's, Pontefract. Jordan led to the line of Thornhills of Thornhill. As we will see he and his family are associated with a claimed 'miracle' which is commemorated in a stained-glass window in Canterbury Cathedral.

• Note: Stansfield [D.B. Stanesfelt] is not a village or hamlet, it is an area in West Yorkshire called a township which lay within an extinct administrative unit called Sowerbyshire. The present Stansfield Hall is located 400 metres N.E. of Todmorden railway station on Stansfield Hall Road. This is probably the site of the original manor house. The place-name Todmorden does not appear in records until 1246.

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Charles Travis Clay, "Family of Thornhill". Article in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Volume XXIX (1927), Part 113, page 286. Chart: https://archive.org/stream/YAJ0291929#page/307/