An article by Janet Senior. Archivist and author of The Markenfields of Markenfield Hall.

There were at least seven children [four sons and three daughters] from the marriage between the second Thomas Markenfield and Beatrice Soothill in the 14th century. One of their daughters was Elizabeth Markenfield born around 1403. In 1415 a contract was drawn up between the Calverley family of Calverley near Leeds and the Markenfield family.

It was for the marriage of Elizabeth Markenfield to Walter Calverley. So Elizabeth went to live at Calverley Hall. There were at least 13 children from this marriage. A daughter was born around 1434 and named Beatrice after her grandmother. In 1446 a contract was drawn up between the Calverley family and the Bolling family of Bolling Hall Bradford.

The marriage was between Beatrice Calverley and Tristram Bolling. Tristram was the son and heir of Robert Bolling. He fought, with his father under the flag of Lord Clifford of Skipton Castle, on the Lancastrian side at the Battle of Towton in 1461. The family was attainted by Edward IV and, though they were pardoned in 1463, their lands were forfeited. However in 1472 the lands were returned. The Duke of Gloucester, future Richard III, personally delivered the document.

The couple had only one child, a daughter Rosamund, born around 1470. In 1497 she married Richard Tempest nephew of Sir John Tempest of Bracewell. As heiress to her father, Rosamund and her new husband took up residence at Bolling Hall. After the death of her mother her father remarried and settled at Chellow Grange. When Tristram Bolling died all the Bolling possessions except for Chellow Grange became the property of the new Tempest family.

Richard Tempest fought at the Battle of Flodden in Sept 1513 and was knighted at Tournay Cathedral in Oct 1513. He took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, was captured and died in prison in 1537 leaving Rosamund a wealthy widow.
The Bolling possessions stayed in the Tempest family for generations. In 1643 another Richard Tempest, a Royalist, allowed the Earl of Newcastle to stay at Bolling Hall after the Battle of Adwalton Moor and during one of the sieges of Bradford. He had to sell the manor and Hall in 1649 to Henry Saville of Thornhill as he needed £1,746 to pay the fine imposed by Parilament on Royalist supporters. This Richard died in a debt in the Fleet Prison in 1653.

He was the last descendent of the Markenfields to live at Bolling Hall.

In 1645 the historian Roger Dodsworth visited Bolling Hall and noted there were 31 shields. Unfortunately he did not list them. The Hall has passed through many private hands since then until becoming a museum in 1915. Colonel Plumbe, the owner in 1823, moved to Copt Hawick Hall as he could not cope with the creeping industrialisation of the area. Some of the shields disappeared with him and there is no further record of them.

I wonder if a representation of the Markenfield coat of arms was amongst them.