Places     Maltby is a 7.5 miles east of Rotherham in Yorkshire, and Hellaby is a mile or two west of Maltby towards Rotherham. Stainton is a couple of miles north-east of Maltby, but an 1823 record, puts the settlement of Hellaby as part of the parish of Stainton.

Fretwell Genealogy     A nice personal Fretwell genealogy site, now at
http://www.fretwell.kangaweb.com.au/Genealogy/The%20Fretwell%20Connection/Maltby/maltbyorigins.htm ,
[old site still at
http://www.cobweb.uk.com/fretwell/Genealogy/The%20Fretwell%20%20Connection/maltbyorigins.htm ],
that seems to be be based on fairly careful research, records Fretwells in the Maltby area from 1510 onwards. (There's a useful map on that page.) John Fretwell, it seems, came from Nottinghamshire to acquire land in Hellaby by marriage:
    "John is thought to have been born around 1510 and to have originated from Sorcombe in the parish of Warsop (Notts) - from a reference to him as being John of Sokeholme. He married into the Hellaby family, thereby acquiring the property and the 'handle' John of Hellaby. The marriage is estimated as having taken place around 1535."
The wife's name is not stated. However, a Margaret Hellaby is mentioned on a related page http://www.fretwell.kangaweb.com.au/Genealogy/nf-h.htm [or http://www.cobweb.uk.com/fretwell/Genealogy/nf-h.htm ], as part of Generation 1, which would seem to make her this John's wife. The date "?-Aft 1537", would be OK for her marriage, not impossible for her death as only one child is recorded, but no good for her birth. (John's son Roger Fretwell married Margaret Bosvile, who could have become "Margaret of Hellaby" and may well have been born around then. But that would make her generation 2.)

The above is loosely confirmed by a site about the History of Stainton village, http://www.staintonvillage.net/History/Section08.htm (page down to the piece on "The Fretwell Family").
    "The family estate at Hellaby came to John Fretwell by marriage at some time during the reign of Henry VIII." [1509-47]

This is the only link between the Hellaby and Fretwell families I've found, and it's 157 years before the Hall was built. Of course, it does indicate Hellabies owned some kind of property there before 1535.

Below I try to trace only the line from this John to the Ralph Fretwell who built Hellaby Hall. This is also the line of heirs.

• John Fretwell
  b ~1510 ?
  d ????
  aka John of Hellaby
  m ?? Hellaby (first name unknown)
  |
  
• Roger of Hellaby
  b ????
  d 1574
  aka Roger of Edlington
  m Margaret Bosvile
  ch Ralph, Alice
  |
  
• Ralph Fretwell
  b 1558 or 9
  d ~1647 ?
  aka Ralph of Hellaby and Maltby
  m Margery Burroughs
  ch Edward(e), Alice
  m Dorothy Justis
  ch Roger, William, Dorothy, John
  m Ellinor Dawson
  |
  
• Edward Fretwell
  b ????
  d 1622 or 3
  aka Edward of Micklebring
  m Jenette Clark 25/1/1606 or 7
  ch Ralfe (Ralph), Richard, Edward(e), Marie (Mary), Elisabeth,
  Anne, John
  |
  
• Ralph of Hellaby
  b 1597 ?    (above web page says bapt 27/11/1697)
  d ~1681 ?
  m Margaret Spencer 17/5/1630
  ch Ralph, William, Hannah, Edward, James, Alice
  |
  
• Ralph Fretwell of Hellaby
  b 1631
  d before 1701
  m Mabel(le) Saunderson
  ch Dorothy, Marage (aka Marafe or Maria Rafe), Mabel
  This is the Ralph that made money in the Barbados sugar plantations
  (it seems other Fretwells were there before him)
  and built Hellaby Hall.
• (Above record ends - no descendants called Fretwell)

Just in case any of this Ralph's female descendants married a Hellaby, one would have to trace his daughters:

• Dorothy Fretwell
  m John Pyott of Strathay, Staffordshire
  
• Marage Fretwell
  d before age 12
  
• Mabel Fretwell
  m Samuel Swinfan MD of Birmingham, 18/11/1710
  

The above-mentioned Stainton village history page ( http://www.staintonvillage.net/History/Section08.htm ) says the "estate" was divided between Ralph's two surviving daughters. It confirms the marriages "into the Pyott family", and to "Samuel Swynfen M.D. of Lichfield, the godfather of Dr. Samuel Johnson". [In the context of a death, "estate" may just mean the collection of the deceased's assets, and the Hall could have been sold off.]

More on Ralph Fretwell    

According to an English hotels website,
http://www.venues-on-the-web.com/online/england.html
    "The history of Hellaby can be traced back over 1,000 years, as the estate is recorded in the Domesday Book. The present Hall was built in 1692 by a Ralph Fretwell, who made his money as the owner of sugar plantations in Barbados. This explains the Dutch Colonial facade of the building."
However, it seems he didn't actually own any plantations (the owners often didn't live there), though he may have managed them.

The 1669/70 will of Edward Harrison of St. James,
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep/harrisonwills/barbadoswills.htm
suggests a Ralph Fretwell occupied but didn't own part of Harrison's estate. I guess this does not exclude him owning other land or plantations. Mayo's 1717-21 map of Barbados listed the owners of 976 plantations:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~atgwgw/resources/mayolist.html
and the surname Fretwell does not feature in the list, though Harrison does.

In George Fox's autobiography
[e.g: http://www.strecorsoc.org/gfox/ch18.html   or
http://www.ccel.org/f/fox/autobiography/htm/xxii.htm or many other places]
it says that, during 1671-3 while he (George Fox) was in America, there was a meeting in Bridgetown Barbados, and
    "Colonel Lewis Morice came to this meeting, and with him a neighbour of his, a judge in the country, whose name was Ralph Fretwell, who was very well satisfied, and received the Truth."

In 1684 a Ralph Fretwell owned land in Pennsylvania:
http://www.angelfire.com/ut/humceltic/Hewesreport.html

A Ralph Fretwell, at some time before 1686, owned an island in Delaware County, Pennsylvania:
http://www.delcohistory.org/ashmead/ashmead_pg281.htm

[For what its worth, the village of Fritwell is in Oxfordshire, north of Oxford, between Banbury and Bicester, next to the M40.]