Mansion House Farm, Lightwood in Norton, & The Urton als Steven family

The Urton als Steven family were prosperous farmers and scythe-smiths living at Lightwood in the parish of Norton. In his will dated 8 August 1572 Richard Urton als Steven de Norton nominated ‘John Bullock of London, gent., & James Bullock his brother along with John Urton als Steven my brother’ as the supervisors of his will. John Bullock of London was a successful lawyer and his brother James lived at Greenhill Hall.

Richard Urton als Steven had three brothers: Henry, John & Thomas. Henry was a yeoman living at Lightwood according to his burial record on 16 September 1591. In his will, dated 1 March 1590/91, he nominated John Bullock of Darley Abbey and John Parker of Norton Lees Hall as his supervisors. Two years later, John Urton als Steven died and by his will nominated the same John Bullock and John Parker ‘my worshipful friends’ as his supervisors. Clearly, the Urton als Stevens, as yeomen, saw themselves as belonging to the upper echelons of society in Norton.

The wealth of the brothers came from manufacturing scythes. Richard called himself a scythesmith in his 1574 will, whilst in 1591 his brother Henry left all his ‘smith ie gear belonging to one hearth’ to his eldest son, James, and ‘one smithie in the occupation of John Barnes’ to his youngest son, Francis. John Urton als Steven, who died in 1593, left ‘the bellows & smithy gear belonging to one hearth’ to his nephew John’s second son, Edward Urton als Steven. The youngest son, George Urton als Steven of Lightwood, left an inventory dated 7 May 1623 in which ‘Iron steele & sithes in his stock together with debts dewe unto the said George’ was valued at £50-00-00, out of a total of £93- 17-08.

Of the four brothers, John Urton als Steven appears to have been the most successful. In 1571 he purchased the Lightwood property from Richard Fenton of Doncaster, and in 1576 purchased further lands at Hemsworth nearby from Godfrey Foljambe. John Urton als Steven married Alice More, widow, on 26 February 1575/76. He had no children but appointed John Urton als Steven, son of his brother Thomas of Jordanthorpe [bur.15 April 1595], as his heir.

In 1576 an arranged marriage took place between John Urton als Steven ‘the younger’ and Gartrude More, the daughter of Alice More who had recently married John Urton als Steven ‘the elder’. In the pre-nuptial contract, John Urton als Steven the elder covenanted to convey his house, & lands in Lightwood, Herdings, Hymsworth & Helclough …in consideration of a marriage between John Urton als Steven the younger & Gartrude, daughter of John More, late of Eckington yeoman, deceased. On the death of John Urton als Steven his property would pass to the younger John Urton als Steven and his heirs. In the meantime, the younger John Urton als Steven, his wife and children were to have meat, drink and lodging in … the said mansion house at Lightwood. This is the first time that Mansion House Farm can be identified by name.

John Urton als Steven the younger and his wife Gatrude lived at Mansion House Farm with John Urton als Steven the elder, and inherited the property when he died in April 1593. They had 7 children, all of whom were born whilst John Urton als Steven the elder was alive: Anthony [bap.5 April 1577]; Ellen [bap 6 Sept. 1579]; Edward [bap. 20 Sept. 1581]; Ellen [bap. 13 Sept. 1584]; George [bap. 10 Feb 1587]; Katherine [bap.22 Oct. 1589]; Elizabeth [bap.22 Jan 1591].

John Urton als Steven the younger’s sons, Anthony and George, pre-deceased their father. The eldest son, Anthony, who lived at Herdings with his wife Margaret Bamford, was buried 26 December 1619, and the youngest son, George, who was buried 29 April 1623, lived with his wife Maria Hudson and his father at Lightwood. Their middle brother, Edward, who was married first to Katherine Bate and then to Diana Greaves, lived at Hemsworth, and was not buried until 15 January 1652/53.

When John Urton als Steven the younger was buried on 28 November 1630, Mansion House Farm was thus inherited by his eldest son Anthony’s eldest son, another John Urton als Steven. He was baptized on 18 August 1611 and when barely 16 years old married Anne, daughter of Richard Misterton of Misterton Farm, Woodseats, at Thribergh church by licence. The Thribergh register records the marriage of ‘ John Steven als Urton & Anne Misterton’ on 24 July 1627. In his will dated 11 April 1645 John Urton als Steven describes himself as of Hymsworth, gentleman, and a deed dated 5 January 1652¹ refers to ‘a capital messuage called Himsworth Hall lately occupied by John Urton als Steven’, but his headstone in Norton churchyard describes him as ‘ of Lightwood’.

John’s younger brother, Anthony, baptized 12 January 1617, was described as ‘gent. of Lightwood’ when he sold lands near Herdings in 1656². Anthony died in 1660 without heirs, but neither the Norton burial register nor his tombstone record where he lived. Ownership then passed to his younger brother, George [bap. 2 June 1619] who married Magdalena Burnley in 1669. A pre-nuptial agreement with her father, John Burnley, a hatter of Worsborough, mentions that a house at Lightwood – which formed part of the contract - was in the possession of Thomas Benton³. By 7 June 1682, George Urton als Steven mortgaged the house and lands to Andrew Clayton [d.1705], gentleman of Romiley in the parish of Clowne, for 1000 years for £800.⁴ Title deeds for the Urton als Steven property at Lightwood survive from 1543-1716.⁵

Mansion House Farm

Fig 1 Fig 2

Mansion House Farm, situated along Lightwood Lane in the parish of Norton, is a T-plan house built of coursed local sandstone with gritstone quoins, copings to the gables, and mullioned windows with hood-moulds [Fig.1]. It is believed to be early 17^th century with later 17^th century additions.⁶ The western cross-wing had 4-light mullioned windows on the ground floor, 3-light mullioned windows on the first floor, and 2-light attic windows. The adjoining side-range displays a massive stone lintel above the entrance doorway with a former 4-light mullioned window alongside.

The inventory attached to the will of John Urton als Steven dated 29 November 1631 is useful for its list of rooms and their contents. On the ground floor: dwelling house, new parlour, buttery, kitchen, nether parlour. The service rooms described - such as the milk house and boult house - were probably in an attached outbuilding. First floor rooms: great chamber, little chamber, chamber over the house, kitchen chamber, chamber over the nether parlour. The attic rooms are not described. It was a typical yeoman’s dwelling, with 5 good rooms on each floor.

Internally, the house retains a plank and muntin dividing wall on the ground floor [Figs 2 & 3] and directly above on the first floor, like that still remaining on the first floor at Bishops’ House, Norton Lees, in the mid-16^th century cross-wing there. In the former parlour this plank & muntin screen is overlaid with 17^th century wainscot panelling [Fig 4] which clearly had a fixed wooden bench, like that which formerly existed at Bishops’ House, attached to panelling dated 1627. Traces of cornice mouldings from a decorative plasterwork ceiling remain in this former parlour.

Fig 3 Fig 4

Upstairs, above the central doorway in the plank & muntin screen, is a plasterwork grotesque mask [Fig.5] – the only decorative plasterwork feature surviving in the house. Although heavily caked in limewash and paint, which obscures the detail, it is still recognizable as a plasterwork version of an engraving by Cornelis Floris c.1555 [Fig.6].

Fig.5 Fig.6

The engraved design was first copied locally in 1573 by embroiderers working for Bess of Hardwick at Sheffield Manor, where it features on the keystone to the arch above Lucrecia in an applique hanging now at Hardwick Hall [Fig.7]. Casts from the original plasterwork mould can or could be seen in houses dating from the early years of the 17^th century: Attercliffe Hall; Barlborough Old Hall; Cartledge Hall; Greenhill Hall [Fig.8]; and Hagg Farm Sheffield. However, by the time the mould was

used at Mansion House Farm and at Unthank Hall [Fig.9], where it also features, the fruit clusters and the pendant flowers at the top and sides of the mask had been lost. Both at Unthank Hall and

Fig.7 Fig.8 Fig.9

at Mansion House Farm the mask is set within a shield with raised border, and with curly leaf fronds either side at its base.

The date when the plasterwork mask was installed at Mansion House Farm can be deduced from the Urton als Steven family history. John Urton als Steven, who died in 1630, had lived there for over 50 years. His 1631 inventory refers to the ‘new parlour’, suggesting that he made significant improvements to the property in his old age. This was probably because his grandson and heir, John Urton als Steven [1611-45] came to live there with his wife, following their marriage in 1627. Not only was the parlour given wainscot panelling with a fixed bench, similar to that at Bishops’ House where the panelling is dated 1627, but also traces of plasterwork cornice survive in the parlour strongly suggesting that a decorative ceiling might have originally graced the room. These improvements may also have been motivated by a perceived increase in status: whereas John Urton als Steven [c.1550-1630], and his son, Anthony [1577-1619] had been classed as yeomen, John als Urton [1611-45] was described as a gentleman when he made his will in 1645.

Whilst 17^th century wainscot panelling survives in the former parlour at Mansion House Farm, a carved oak fireplace overmantel reputed to have come from that room was removed many years ago and relocated to the entrance hall at Oakes Park. The guidebook to Oakes Park [1976], describing T he Front Hall says: “Over the fireplace is an ornately carved overmantel that came from the old Gill House in Lightwood Lane, which is now a farmhouse.” A typescript about Mansion House Farm, shown me by Jo Maclellan [tenant] on 5 August 2018, states: “Part of the Gil l house at Lightwood known as ‘the Mansion House’ is now a farmhouse. There is a Tudor gable with one large oak panelled room, the intricate carved overmantel of which is now at the Oa kes”. Mrs Atkinson, who renovated Mansion House Farm in the early 1980s, told me [c.1983] that it had belonged to the Gill family. Evidently the ownership of the house passed from the Urton als Steven family to the Gill family sometime after 1682, when George Urton als Steven had been obliged to mortgage his lands to Andrew Clayton of Romiley.

Since the sale of Oakes Park in the 1980s the overmantel from Mansion House Farm has been lost. However, a photograph taken in 1985 [Fig. 10] shows it in situ.

Fig 10 Fig 11

At what date the overmantel was created for Mansion House Farm is unknown. However, some of its decorative details relate to a chair dated 1681, made for Ursula Gill of the Oakes [Fig 11]. The 5- ribbed pomegranate in the chair back, and the pendant 5-petalled flowers in both the chair back and cresting rail can also be seen in the frieze panels of the overmantel, where the pointed curved leaves are also carved in the back-posts of the chair. A strip of ornament partly hidden by the seat upholstery on the chair seems to be the same design as the carved rail below the frieze panels.

The four pilasters which divide the overmantel into three compartments are carved with stylized flower heads on long stems with multiple leaves. This is a feature found extensively in the fitted woodwork of the region from the early to mid-17^th century: Greenhill Hall [c.1610], Stainborough Hall [c.1615] Carbrook Hall [1623], Norton House [1623], Bramley Grange [1637], Bishops’ House [1655], and also in decorative plasterwork overmantels at Hallfield House, Bradfield and formerly Washford Bridge Old House [1676], Sheffield. The pilasters are also carved on the stiles of a chest [c.1655] from the region but now at Eltham Palace. The flower heads on the overmantel are double roses and double marigolds. These particular flowers form part of the local repertoire in carved woodwork and decorative plasterwork.

Fig 12 Fig 13

The leafy corbels which divide the two frieze panels are distinctive, having a pronounced projecting stud. Identical corbels can be seen on an overmantel in Edale [Fig 12], believed to have been the former headboard to a tester bed made in 1684⁷, which also shares the frieze rail design and the spandrel ornament of the Mansion House Farm overmantel. There is no doubt that these two overmantels are related, and the interplay with the 1681 chair is confirmed by the back-panel design of that chair being repeated in the Edale overmantel panels [Fig 13].

The panels set beneath arches in the Mansion House overmantel are all to the same design of flowering plants in pots. However, the central plant has a stylized pink as its flower head, repeated with less detail in the 1681 chair and Edale overmantel panels, whereas the other two plants have stylized broad-spreading tulip heads. This is a motif seen in other furniture from the region, such as chairs now at Hardwick Hall, the 1652 pulpit at Hope, and on the top rail of a settle at Norbury Manor. A tiny but significant motif in the Mansion House Farm overmantel is the trefoil carved between the spandrels of the arches. The trefoil features extensively on the 1681 chair and the 1684 Edale overmantel, suggesting that the Mansion House Farm overmantel was made in these years for a member of the Gill family.

Note: Ursula Drake married Henry Gill in 1675 at Greasborough. They lived at Hemsworth until they bought the Oakes from Joseph Morewood in 1680 [Oakes Park guidebook, 1976]. Need to see Sheffield Archives, Tibbitts Collection, for title deeds to Mansion House Farm [1543 – 1716] to see when the Gill family acquired it.

David Bostwick · 27 January 2026