Cowlam Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

COWLAM:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Buckrose - Petty Sessional Division of Bainton Beacon - County Council Electoral Division of Sledmere - Poor Law Union and County Court District of Driffield - Rural Deanery of Buckrose - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

Cowlam, anciently called Colume and Coleham, is a parish and township containing 2,051 acres and 69 inhabitants. There are 1,999 acres of land under assessment, the rateable value of which is £1,188. The representatives of the late T. W. Rivis, Esq., are lords of the manor and owners of nearly the whole parish. Sir Tatton Sykes, Bart., Sledmere, and Mr. T. Holtby have small estates here. The soil is chalky, the subsoil chalk, and the chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and turnips. The parish is situated on the Wolds, at an elevation of nearly 700 feet above the sea-level. The prospect on a fine clear day is very extensive, embracing Driffield, Beverley Minster, Hull, and the hills of Lincolnshire. The light from Flamborough lighthouse, and the sea beyond, are also clearly visible. There was formerly a beacon here, but there is nothing left to mark the site where it stood. According to an ancient certificate, this beacon took its "lighte from Staxton and Bridlington, and gave lighte to Settrington. Some affirm that yt may be sene as farre as Hornsey in Holderness." On the hills are several tumuli and entrenchments. One of the former, called Kemp Howe, was opened some years ago. The whole parish is in one farm, occupied by Mr. T. Holtby.

The village, which consists of the church, the rectory, and a farm-house, was once of much larger dimensions, traces of the streets still remaining in a field near the church. It is distant 2½ miles east from Sledmere, and 6½ miles north-west of Driffield. The church of St. Mary stands in the stackyard of the farm. It is a neat building of stone in the Gothic style, rebuilt in 1852, on the site of a former one, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch, and a turret on the western gable containing one bell. The designs were supplied by Miss Sykes, of Sledmere, and the cost was defrayed by the Rev. Timothy Fysh Foord-Bowes, D.D., lord of the manor, patron, and rector. The east window, consisting of three lights and oriel, is a beautiful stained glass memorial of Juliet, wife of the Rev. T. F. Foord-Bowes. On the south wall of the chancel is a marble monument, by Chantry, to her memory; another to her husband bears the following inscription: - " Sacred to the memory of the Revend. Timothy Fysh Foord-Bowes, D.D. (son of the Rev. Barnard Foord, LL.D., Canon of York), rector of this parish, rector of Oake in Somersetshire, and of Barton-le-Clay in Bedfordshire, who died on the 27th Sept., 1861, aged 84 years. He was Chaplain to King George IV., Deputy Clerk of the Closet to King William IV., and Chaplain to Queen Victoria. He built this church." On the opposite wall are two marble tablets to the memory of Edward Topham, Esq., better known as Major Topham, the father of Mrs. Bowes; and the Rev. Barnard Foord, LL.D., curate of Wold Newton, rector of Thwing, and Canon of York. The west window, on which is depicted "the Presentation," was the gift of Miss Sykes. The font is very ancient, and probably belonged to the church that stood here in Norman times. On it are carved, in low relief, "the Fall," and "the Adoration of the Magi." The nave is furnished with open seats for 60 persons. The registers date from 1799. The living is a rectory, valued in the Liber Regis at £11 11s. 3d., and in the early part of this century it was returned as worth £30 per annum. Divine service was then performed in the church only once a year. Subsequently the living was endowed by the Rev. T. F. Foord-Bowes, and is now worth £144 nett. It is in the gift of the trustees of the late T. W. Rivis, Esq., and held by the Rev. James Oliver.

The rectory house is a commodious residence of brick, built about seven years ago at a cost of nearly £1,000.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)]

Directories

• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1892.

Scan, OCR and html by Colin Hinson. Checking and correction by Peter Nelson.