Dawnay familyThe rise to wealth and importance of a great family is usually mysterious. Though the Dawnay family traces its ancestry back to the Crusades and earlier, it is only in the late 15th Century that the Dawnays became established at Cowick. It would seem likely that a John Dawnay was on the winning side at the Battle of Bosworth Field which set the Tudors firmly on the throne of England. Perhaps as a reward his father, Sir John Dawnay, was made Steward of the King's House at Cowick. At much the same time the family were enriched with varying grants of land, pensions, and titles in the area. Sir John Dawnay died in 1493 and his tomb in Snaith Church is the clear proof to all that a new and important family were now established in the neighbourhood. By judicious marriage their wealth, possessions and importance steadily increased. This survived the Civil Wars and Cromwell apparently unscathed and suddenly blossomed under Charles II and the Stuart Restoration. Sir John Dawnay, who had become head of the family in 1644, was created Viscount Downe (in the Peerage of Ireland) by Charles II in 1680. The reason for this unusual honour remains a mystery. ... more |
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