Description
Property (also called High House) in Rawdon, Yorkshire, where the Exley family lived as tenants from the early 18th century. Part of the Walker/Dolton Estate.
Historical Context
Robert Exley and his wife Dorothy Jewell became tenants of High Royds after their marriage in 1731. For twenty years Robert, his son Thomas, and grandson Robert lived there as tenants of the Walkers.
The Exleys carried on the cloth-making trade at High Royds on a large scale, using the top storey of the house with an outside stone staircase — a feature common to cloth-making houses in the Rawdon area.
An Indenture of 23rd September 1760 records George Mounsey of London granting Robert Exley land for 1,000 years at a peppercorn rent.
Associated People
- Robert Exley of High Royds (b.1686) — first Exley tenant, farmer and cloth-maker
- Dorothy Jewell — Robert’s wife
- Thomas Exley of High Royds (1732-1807) — Robert’s son, continued at High Royds
- Robert Exley (1787-1867) — Thomas’s son, later moved to Croft House