James Rowntree

James Rowntree (1716–1782) was an English landowner and farmer from Lanercost, Cumberland (now Cumbria), known for his ownership of several long-established farms in the Barony of Gilsland, including Rowntree Hill and Roanstrees. Rowntree was married twice and had fourteen children. He lived most of his life near Lanercost and was buried at Lanercost Priory.

Rowntree was baptised on 21 May 1718, recorded as the son of John “Rountry” of Galloberry.^[1] John Rowntree had married Jane Foster in 1704,^[1] and together they had five children: Christopher (baptised 1711), Jane (1713), John (1715, died in the 1720s), James, and another John (baptised 1724).^[1]

Rowntree inherited farmland from his father and grandfather, including two properties known as Roanstrees and Rowntree Hill.^[2]

• Roanstrees was a farm in the parish of Bewcastle, documented as early as 1665.^[3]

In 1754, Rowntree sold the property to John Routledge. Parish and land records suggest Roanstrees had been in the Rowntree family for several generations.

• Rowntree Hill was a farmstead situated on the banks of Craig Sike in the parish of Lanercost.

It was first mentioned in a 1603 survey of the Barony of Gilsland as “Roundtre Hill.” ^[4]

The farms lay within the manorial structure of the Gilsland barony, which was part of the Dacre and later Howard estates in northern Cumberland.^[5] The wider Barony of Gilsland, including Lanercost and Bewcastle, is well documented in manorial surveys maintained by Lancaster University’s Cumbrian Manorial Records project.^[6]

In the 1730s, Rowntree married Margaret Armstrong, daughter of Anthony Armstrong. The couple lived near Lanercost and had seven children together:

^[1]

Margaret died in December 1751. The following year, Rowntree married Hannah Foster, with whom he had another seven children:

^[7]

During their later years, the family resided at Palmer Hill, a property associated with the Rowntrees throughout the 18th century. Genealogical evidence of the Armstrong–Rowntree connection is also recorded in the Geneanet database for Lanercost families.^[8]

In his will, written in 1782, Rowntree described himself as “sound in body but not in mind,” a phrase often used at the time to indicate possible cognitive decline.^[1] He was buried at Lanercost on 18 May 1782, aged 66. His will records substantial assets, with cash and property holdings amounting to the equivalent of more than £40,000 in modern value. Parish records describe him at the time of his death as a “homeowner,” a term then used to denote a freeholder or landowner.

Hannah outlived her husband by over a decade, dying May the 1st, 1793 at the age of 67. She was buried at Lanercost Priory, where her headstone is viewable in the churchyard to this day, located in the plot number K13. James is also listed on the Gravestone as he does not possess his own.

Transcription: Here lieth the body of Hannah Rowntree relict of James Rowntree of Palmerhill who departed this life May the 1st 1793 aged 67 Years

Rowntree in Cumbria, is a book written about James and his extended family with details on early records

• Lanercost Priory
• Bewcastle
• Barony of Gilsland
• Freeholder
• Agriculture in the United Kingdom

• Brockington, Richard. The Dacre Inheritance (1569–1601). Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2012.
• Willis, T. W. (ed.) The Register of the Parish of Lanercost, Cumberland. Archive.org digital edition.
• Rowntree and Rountree Family History, 1521–1953. Privately printed genealogy.
• The Barony of Gilsland: Lord William Howard’s Survey, Taken in 1603. Forgotten Books reprint, 2018.