its early history relies on the records of a succession of lords of the manor, not all of whom were in permanent residence. the rolls of the manor court have been missing since the 18th century, leaving the records incomplete. in the 12th century, 'adam, son of peter', an early lord of the manor, granted grazing and iron ore mining rights to the monks of rievaulx abbey. through the middle ages the lords were the 'earls of ormande' (sic), possibly the irish earls of ormond, followed by the gascoigne family. in 1495, rosamund gascoigne, a daughter of one of the william gascoignes who held the title, married robert rawson, thought to be related to the rawson family of bradford, after whom one of the city's markets is named. their son, william, married a cousin, agnes gascoigne, and through the marriage the rawson family inherited the manor in 1570.