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THE DE MAULEYS.
IOQ
John de Hotham, 1353, who married Ivetta, daughter of Sir Geoffry Scrope,
probably the latter, as shields bearing the Scrope arms are on each side of
it. But this shield was discontinued, according to the MS. family history
in the possession of Lord Hotham, when Hugh le de Spencer the younger,
the favourite of Edward II., who had married Alice, heiress of Sir John
Hotham, was hung at Hereford. His cousin and heir, Thomas Hotham of
Scorborough, considering the family arms thus disgraced, abandoned them,
with the advice of his great uncle, John, Bishop of Ely, the rebuilder of the
Choir of that Cathedral. Thomas Hotham assumed for his arms the present
coat, viz., barry of ten, argent and azure, on a canton of the first, a Cornish
chough sable, possibly with reference to the distinguished lineage of his
mother, who was the daughter of Robert Baron of Hilton (argent two bars
azure), by Margaret, sister and co-heir of Baron Thweng (argent between
three popinjays vert, a fesse gules).
According to the Hotham pedigree, the coat, Or a bend sable, was
originally the bearing of Nigel Fossard, a follower of the Conqueror, who,
at the distribution of the land amongst his followers, received the plot of
land called by the Celts Moel-graf (or Bere-hill, grave or i.e.
moat), the moat
at the barehill, or perhaps "the bare hill moated," in order to preserve
it from the invasions of troublesome and unscrupulous neighbours. In
Domesday Book Mulgrave is simply called the Grif. The manor had been
held by Sunen in the English days, and was tilled by three ploughs.
Nigel Fossard held it of the Earl of Morton. One of the family, William
Fossard, is mentioned by Richard of Hexham in his narrative of the Battle
of the Standard, fought near Northallerton, August 24th, 1138, amongst
" the chiefs of the English who fought against the Scotch." The ruins of
the Castle, which was probably originally the work of the Fossards, and
indicate a position of great strength, are very picturesque. It was probably
remodelled and partly rebuilt by the De Mauleys, and occupies the entire
width of a ridge extending to the cliffs, with deep valleys now clothed with
wood on each side. Leland speaks of it thus :
"Mongreve Castle stondeth upon
" a craggy hille, and on each side of it is an hille far higher than that
" whereon the Castelle stondeth."* The Fossards were a powerful stock.
They were lords of Doncaster, of Bramham, and of much land in the
East Riding.
There was a small Priory at Grosmont, near Whitby, founded about
1 200 by Johanna de Turnham, attached to the Abbey of Grosmont or
Grandimont in Normandy a branch of the Benedictine order and further
endowed by the Fossards and Mauleys.
The male line became extinct before the reign of Cceur de Lion, when
Joan, the daughter and heiress of William Fossard, married Robert de
* Abbeys and Castles of England. Timbs.