Queen Elizabeth the first came to the throne in 1558.
The average wages for an agricultural labourer were about 16 shillings a year (80p). They worked a full day with a 5 am start and 7 pm finish, with two hours off in the middle of the day for food and a nap.
Football was the common man’s favourite past- time and whole villages would join in but the authorities would attempt to ban this wherever they could as it was far too rowdy and the participants had a tendency to become a little out of control.
Nostradamus had pubished his prophecies a few years before and the “camera obscura”, the forerunner of the present day camera and telescope, had been invented.

Brandsby Cum Stearsby itself, is set in the Howardian Hills, a few short miles from Easingwold and Appleton le Street. Christopher’s exact date of birth is not known but his first marriage was in 1584 to a RACHEL BARTON which was followed ten years later by a second marriage to RACHEL MASTERMAN. It is most likely that the first Rachel died in childbirth, which tended to be the most common way for young women to meet their premature ends.

Christopher himself died in 1617, quite some time before his Queen did.

His legacy was with the production of ten children - Dorothy, Elizabeth, Rihcard, John, William, Ursula, Isabel, Margaret, Anna & Thomas.
Their years of birth are largely unknown except for two, Elizabeth (abt 1596) and Richard (abt 1598) and therefore their mother, at least, would have been Rachel Masterman.

Nothing further is known of the fate of any of the children except for RICHARD, who went on to marry a lady called Mary. By the time these two died, (1663 & 1667 respectively), we were firmly in the Stuart era and it is about the beginning of the reign of Charles I of England that Richard’s children were born – at least four boys.

CHRISTOPHER, named after his grandfather, was baptised in 1625. He went on to marry a young lady called Alice, probably around 1650. Their offspring consisted of four daughters of whom nothing further is known. Christopher died in 1687 which would have made him around about 65, which was a good age for the common man. The fortunes of this group of Hebdens is not known but the fact that at least one more of his brother’s would have been of a similar or greater age, would indicate that possibly they were not of the poorest of men.

Thomas was born in 1628 and their brother Richard was born 1603. The fourth brother, William, would have been born around this time too and his year of death was 1703, which would most likely have put him around 65 at date of death.

Whether the other brothers married and produced families is not known, except for THOMAS who, at some stage married and produced a son also called THOMAS.

This generation would most likely have been born some time around 1649, when Charles I was executed and the Parliamentarian years would have begun. It would have been a time of turmoil in which to bring seven children - Rachel, Thomas, Mary, James, Christopher, Isabel and William - with families set against each other and who knows how the previous Civil wars would have affected this family.

What the future held for these seven children is not known but it is thought that perhaps the above Christopher was the father of Christopher of Grantley who died in 1758.

The close proximity of Brandsby to Appleton le Street and the repetition of names could indicate a direct link between this group and that of Appleton Le Street. It is certainly something that could not be dismissed easily.