1000 Years of the Gascoyne Family
This information has been gathered over a period of twenty five years from various sources including family papers and collated together by Robert Barker and Duncan Gascoyne
Traditionally the name of Gascoigne is taken to have had its origins in Gascony, France. It is generally accepted that a descendant came to England about the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. By 1089 they had settled in or around Harewood in Yorkshire.
Through marriage to his wife Almodis, Roger de Poitou born in Normandy then had family ties with the Dukes of Aquitaine, Poitou and Gascony. Apart from his own large holdings he was also given vast areas of land in England from King William I in recognition of his support during the Norman Conquest. It is most likely that he brought some of his Gascoigne kinsmen with him as he is shown in the Domesday Book as holding land at Weeton, near Harewood and other places. It is from around here that we begin the story of the long and interesting history of our English Gascoigne ancestors.
From Gawthorpe and Harewood over the succeeding years, the Gascoigne Family have purchased or held estates in various areas of Yorkshire and Great Britain. After the death of Sir William Gascoigne in 1383 the senior branch of the family took over the estates of Gawthorpe, Harewood, Weardley and Weeton, until through the marriage of Margaret Gascoigne in 1567 they became part of the Wentworth Family estates. The Wentworth’s then sold these estates in 1657 to a Sir John Cutler and after his death his heirs then sold the Harewood estates in 1739 to the Lascelles Family, who built the present Harewood House and later demolished Gawthorpe Hall and other properties.
By 1383 the junior branch had already purchased the estate at Lasingcroft and settled there. In later years the estates of Barnbow, Parlington and Lotherton were added. In 1590 a descendant of this junior branch, George Gascoigne held an estate at Oldhurst, Huntingdonshire along with other vast estates around London and other parts of England. It was through his eldest son Sir Nicholas Gascoigne of Surrey who then owned Oldhurst that the later generations of Gascoignes eventually became yeoman farmers from the mid 1650’s until the late 1800’s in the Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire Fens*. Sir Nicholas died before his father and his son John inherited a part of George’s estate and continued the male line of the family which today remains unbroken.
It was the line through George’s second son John which led to Sir Crisp Gascoigne and then the Gascoyne Heiress who married the Earl of Salisbury and the Cecil Family of Hatfield. Now named Gascoigne-Cecil
It was in 1868 that two Gascoyne brothers, Henry Charles and Thomas William emigrated to America and on their return moved to Bradford in Yorkshire where their sister lived, which is an area only a few miles from Harewood where it all began. The present Gascoyne’s now live in Otley which is about six miles from Harewood. The Gascoigne Family in a sense has turned a full circle over 1000 years.
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Later generations of Gascoignes eventually became yeoman farmers from the mid 1650’s until the late 1800’s in the Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire Fens.
John Gascoyne's line splits with Duncan's with Johnathan Gascoyne b1778, John is a descendant of Henry b 1814, whereas Duncan's line is through Thomas b1819. There were no trips to America, John, Martha and their 10 children just moved a few miles north into Norfolk and continued the farming tradition.