Slade Hooton
High town, Hill town or hoo in Saxon times meant house also and Slade presumably comes from the Norse 'slaed' meaning a valley. There is a hall and a farm and a few houses in the hamlet today.
Slade Hooton appeared in the Domesday Book as a manor called Hotone within the Soke of Laughton, with three carucates of land. Despite its small size of the hamlet, Slade Hooton was was divided into two manors in the Middle Ages. One manor came into the hands of the lords of Loversall (Ripers family) who gave their manor to Roche Abbey. At the Dissolution in 1538, this manor was granted to Richard Turke who sold it to Robert Saunderson, ancestor of the Earls of Scarborough.
In the 16th century William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton (d. 1542) owned the other manor. He gave Slade Hooton and other lands in the area to John Fitzwilliam of Kingsley (Hants). This grant was later challenged by the Earl's niece, wife of Sir James Foljambe and the case was settled in 1563 in favour of Godfrey Foljambe of Croxden.
In 1379 the Poll Tax Records indicate that John Mirfyne was a blacksmith in the area. Subsequently the Mirfin family farmed much of the surrounding land and became the main freeholders within the hamlet. Slade Hooton Hall was built in 1698 for John Mirfin. It was constructed of local limestone under a Cornish slate roof and is one of the earliest examples of a classically designed house in the region. The stable block and barn were added in 1702 and 1705. The present hall forms part of a complex of listed buildings including the hall, walls, gates, stable block and barn.
Slade Hooton Hall
North of the present hall are the remains of a moated Medieval settlement but there's little to see.
The 1838 West Riding Directory shows that the hamlet then had its own blacksmith, wheelwright and shopkeeper.