(pronounced to rhyme with 'maples'; sometimes spelled Craplace, Crapeless or similar)
Page expanded June 2018, based largely on information from Tony O'Grady, Nev Ramsden and especially Chris Dickinson.
This attaches to a somewhat speculative Sumpton line, so take the connection with a pinch of salt. Assuming that is all correct, then William Sumpton and his wife Elizabeth, nee Crakeplace, are 13 generations back from me to I've numbered this line accordingly.
Cumberland Families and Heraldry, by C Roy Hudleston and R S Boumphrey (CFH), mentions the family Crakeplace, of Crakeplace Hall. It says their arms are Argent (or Or) a crow Sable, coming from "Field", which may be An Armorial for Cumberland by F J Field. CFH says Field gives no authority for the tinctures in these arms, and there appears to be doubt over the metal of the field anyway. I'd think sable (black) is a pretty sound bet for the colour of a heraldic crow.
There are some documents in the Aglionby papers in Cumbria archives, of around 1370, which mention an Alan of Arkilby, son of Adam of Crakeplace. Alan's wife was Joan, daughter and heir of the late Roger of Cotesford (Joan's mother Juliana had remarried Adam of Aglionby who had by the date of the papers also died) References: D AY 1/66, 67, 73 and 78
Alan de Crakeplace is mentioned in documents of about 1410 in the Curwen papers in the Cumbria archives. References D Cu/4/7 and 10
Another Curwen paper, of 1435, is witnessed by Simon CRAKEPLACE. Reference D Cu/4/13
There was a John CRAKEPLACE, gentleman, recorded about 1500-1515
According to the Heralds' Visitation of Essex Janet CRAKEPLACE married John WOODHALL of Ulbeck (Ullock) in Cumberland. Their daughter-in-law was the sister of Archbishop Edmund Grindal who was born about 1519, so Janet would perhaps have been a generation earlier, born some time around the end of the 15th century.
CFH quotes Sandford (possibly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Sandford_(herald)?) as saying "Though very ancient gentry, I never heard them of any great remark."
We get into a genealogical sequence with Oswald CRAKEPLACE, who married Isabel WILLIAMSON in the parish church of Dean, Cumberland, on 10 May 1544. To be honest, I have her name reported from a transcript of the parish register as Isabell or Isabella WILKINSON but, because what is clearly supposed to be the same marriage appears in the Williamson of New Hall pedrigree in the Visitation of the Heralds to Cumberland, 1615, I'm going to assume that at some point between the bride speaking her name, the clerk writing it down, copying into the main register, transcribing the manuscript register into a printed book, reading the book and the details being passed to me second-hand there has been an easy mix-up between two similar-sounding versions of the William patronymic.
Oswald and Isabella probably lived at Crakeplace Hall in Dean parish. According to the listed building record, the surviving core of that house is mid-15th-century, so it may have been newly built for them.
They probably had the following children:
Christopher (who may have been at one time in Flimby, where there was at some point a resident branch of the family, but who lived and had children at Crakeplace Hall and built or extended it in 1612, dying in 1617/18)
Cuthbert (who looks to have moved to London)
Agnes (who married Thomas WILSON, 22 May 1572, Dean
Elizabeth (see below)
Dorothy (baptised, I think, 10 May 1556, Dean)
Oswald was buried 13 February 1558 in Dean
There is a page posted elsewhere online that gives Oswald a father John, but I didn't spot evidence on it and it thinks Oswald survived to 1588.
I have some information in correspondence about the families of Christopher and Cuthbert, but I won't try to put it in order never mind clutter this page with it, because they are not ancestral.
Oswald and Isabel's daughter Elizabeth CRAKEPLACE married William SUMPTON on 4 August 1582 at Dean in Cumberland.
CFH begins with Christopher, the eldest son in the above, and mentions his grandson and great-grandson continuing the family name at their eponymous Hall, but whose inheritance was then divided between several sisters.
If you are interested in this line I'll be very pleased indeed to hear from you. Email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com but delete everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my name and number @ service provider. Please do not delete the automatically-generated subject line, so that I know your email is not spam. You can add more to the subject if you like but if you delete what appears I may not read your mail.