Thomas Gargrave

[2][3] Through his mother's Levett family, Gargrave was related to such Yorkshire clans as the Wickersleys and their descendants, the Swyfts (Swifts), the Reresbys, the Barnbys, the Wentworths, the Bosviles, the Mirfins and others.

Gargrave served in Scotland in 1547 as treasurer to the English army during the war known as the Rough Wooing under Earl of Warwick.

[5] Gargrave's rise was meteoric, from humble steward to Knight of the Realm and one of the most powerful men in England, serving frequently on Yorkshire business and at Court.

[8] During the Northern Rebellion from November to December 1569 he was keeper of Pontefract Castle and guarded bridges over the River Aire with 100 soldiers.

He was a favourite of Her Majesty and her minister Burghley; he had a grant from Bess, of the Old Park, Wakefield, but he adopted the glorious old Priory of Nostell for a residence.

Subsequently, Sir Thomas Gargrave's oldest son was hanged at York for murder;[16] his half-brother Sir Richard Gargrave of Nostell Priory, once High Sheriff of Yorkshire, later wasted his estate, and was reduced to gambling for a cup of ale, plunging his family into penury.

"[18] Sir Thomas Gargrave is interred in the south choir of St Michael and Our Lady Church, within the grounds of Nostell Priory.

A monument on his tomb states: "Here lyeth Sir Thomas Gargrave, knight, who dyed the 28 of March, 1579, who served sundry times in the wars and as counsellor at Yorke xxxv yeare.