Walton Hall

Walton Hall, and a residence at Cawthorne, were home to the Anglo-Saxon chieftain Ailric, who is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was the King's Thane for South Yorkshire. When the Normans came to Yorkshire, Ailric was at Walton and was alerted by a man on horseback that they were coming in force. He amassed his retainers and on horseback they ambushed the mounted Norman knights of Ilbert de Laci, who were moving on the road from Tanshelf to Wakefield. The better armoured and armed knights of Ilbert de Laci resisted the attack. For two to three years Ailric maintained a guerrilla war out of his estates in the west of South Yorkshire, until de Laci was forced to come to an accommodation…