Forest of Galtres

During the second quarter of the 17th century, Galtres was disafforested piecemeal, as a result of the Crown's desperate need for ready money. In 1625 a survey was drawn up in relation to the impending sale of the demesne of Sheriff Hutton, which incidentally revealed the ghostly presence of the former village of East Lilling within the park, recalled by the jurors: East Lilling it is called and retaineth the name of East Lilling township though at this day there do remain but only one house. But by tradition and by apparent ancient buildings and ancient ways for horse and cart visibly discerned and leading unto the place where the town stood within Sheriff Hutton park, it hath been a hamlet of some capacity, though now utterly demolished" The house known as Sheriff Hutton Park, south-east of the village, was built in 1621 for Sir Arthur Ingram, whose main seat was Temple Newsam; it was recased in more up-to-date style in 1732 for a member of the Thompson family. Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford held a new park enclosed within Galtres in 1633 and was attempting unsuccessfully to purchase it outright; Sir John Bourchier had lands in Galtres and was fined and even imprisoned for destroying the fences of Strafford's new park there. Sir Allen Apsley accepted Crown lands in Galtres in lieu of the debt owed him by Charles I. The Act of Dis-Afforestation of 1629 put an end to the Forest. When York Guildhall was reconstructed after wartime bomb damage, a single oak tree trunk from the Forest of Galtres was used for each oak pillar. ==Legacy==