Robert Aske and the Pilgrimage of Grace
The Aske Family history:
It is understood the Aske family owned the majority of the Aughton estate from 1365.
In 1365 Richard de Aske from North Yorkshire married Elizabeth, and inherited the castle and its estates at Aughton. Over the next hundred years the castle was replaced by a moated manor house, which stood where Aughton Hall still stands, adjacent to the church. Among Richard and Elizabeth’s descendants was a 16th century lawyer called Robert Aske (c. 1500 – 12 July 1537). Robert Aske, was a devout man,who objected to Henry's religious revolt, particularly the Dissolution of the Monasteries which included the Ellerton priory. He later became a leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against the Suppression of Religious Houses act 1535. Prior to his death, Robert Aske lived at Aughton Hall.
Credit to local historian Phil Thomas for his article written in 2008 - see links page.
The Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was the largest rebellion in Tudor England. People were demonstrating against the dissolution of the monasteries and the Reformation.
King Henry VIII had made the decision to break with Rome and reject Catholicism which would change the course of history. Resistance to these sweeping changes materialised, most notably in the form of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
When rebellion broke out in York against Henry VIII, Aske was not initially involved in the rebellion, but he soon took up the cause of the rebels and headed the Pilgrimage of Grace. By 10October 1536, Robert Aske had come to be regarded as their "chief captain".Most of Yorkshire, and parts of Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Westmorland were in revolt.
Nine thousand insurgents marched on York, where Aske arranged for the expelled monks and nuns to return to their houses; the King's tenants were driven out and religious observance resumed.
On 13 November 1536, Aske received an assurance of an audience and safe passage to the King. He travelled to London, met Henry VIII, and received promises of redress and safe passage. As he began his journey back north, fighting broke out again. This renewed fighting caused Henry to change his mind, and he had Aske arrested and brought to the Tower of London, where he was convicted of high treason.
Robert Aske was convicted of high treason and was taken back to York, where he was executed on 12 July 1537, on a scaffold erected outside Clifford’s Tower.
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Ellerton priory is only a mile from Aughton and in December 1538, the priory was finally dissolved when the Prior and his brother monks, were pensioned off and the lands of the Priory were granted to the Aske family.
With this newly acquired wealth the Aske family added the tower to Aughton church as a memorial to their brave, but shamed son. In order that no-one would mistake the meaning of the tower, a newt, locally called an Aske, is carved at its foot and an inscription engraved across the south side of the tower which faces London and the king.