A NEW book has been published about a forgotten family of lords in Ryedale.

The Percehay Family of Ryton has been written by David Brewer, who was born at Great Habton and grew up in Ryton.

David left the area to pursue his career. On retirement he became involved in historical research, and this eventually resulted in him noticing that Ryton, today just a scatter of farmsteads, featured on every map of the area, even if now larger settlements did not.

David said: “I was surprised to see that the first map to show roads in the area, published in the 1695 edition of Camden’s Britannia, clearly shows the road from Malton to Pickering going via Ryton and its bridge, not via Howe bridge as it does today. So had Ryton been particularly important, and if so why, and why had the village effectively disappeared?”

It was his quest to answer these questions that led David to discover the Percehay family, who were Lords of the Manor of Ryton for more than 500 years.

David said: “Over the centuries the Percehays were Foresters of the Fee in Pickering Forest, on behalf of the king; justices of the peace; collectors of taxes; represented Yorkshire in Parliament; and they were one of the few families that served under Charles I , Cromwell and then Charles II. With such a high profile family as Lords of the Manor, it is not surprising that Ryton was a thriving township. The Lay Subsidy of 1301 shows that Ryton had the third highest number of tax payers in the whole of Ryedale, with only New Malton and Helmsley having more, and the Hearth Tax of 1673 shows that the Percehay manor house was one of the largest houses in Ryedale. The last Percehay died in 1711 at New Malton, and he left a silver chalice to St Michael’s church, which is still in use today on special occasions.”

The Perchays Family of Ryton is available tat Malton Library on Saturday, March 24, from 10am to noon, and he will give a short presentation at 10.30am. Copies will also be available from Malton Museum from Saturday, March 31.