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Routh Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

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ROUTH:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (North Division) - County Council Electorial Division of Leven - Petty Sessional Division of North Holderness - Poor Law Union, and County Court District of Beverley - Rural Deanery of Hornsea - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This is a small low-lying parish situated about four miles north-east of Beverley. Its area, inclusive of carr lands, is 2,382 acres; the rateable value £1,972; and the population 169. The soil is a variable mixture of loam and clay, resting on clay, and the chief crops are wheat, oats, beans, and turnips. The remains of the primeval forest, which once covered the greater part of the East Riding, are abundantly met with during excavations in the parish. The trees are chiefly oak, and perfectly black. Oak leaves and acorns are also frequently found. In 1833 Mr. W. H. Catton, in digging a field called Corner Carr containing 17 acres, unearthed about 800 of these black trunks, and five years later at least 600 others were dug up, in another field of 14 acres, by Mr. Danby. Portions of them may be seen forming gate posts, rails, and palings, in different parts of the parish.

The manor anciently belonged to a family that took its name from the place, which has been variously written in different ages Rute, Buda, and Routh. Amandus de Buda was lord of Routh in the reign of Henry I., and took part with that king against his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy. Several of the family gave lands in Routh to the Abbey of Meaux. Sir William de Routh, Knight, joined the Crusaders under Richard, "Coeur de Lion," and was present at the battle of Ascalon in 1191. He returned to England and died at Routh in 1240. The mutilated effigy of a Crusader in the chancel of the church is probably the monument of the doughty knight. A circumstance is recorded in the Routh pedigree, compiled by General Plantagenet Harrison, which shows the lawlessness that prevailed in the upper ranks of life in the "good old days." John de Routh, second son of Sir Amandus de Routh, was attacked and murdered at a place called Abbotsflat, in the fields of Routh, at the hour of midnight, on the eve of the feast of St. Gregory the Pope, 1337. His assailants were Sir Richard de Roos, John de Ros, parson of the church of Routh; Robert, brother of the said Sir William de Roos, Thomas, son of Sir Peter de Middleton, Knight, and William de Middingley. Sir Richard struck him on the head with his sword, the parson gave him a blow on the head with a pole-axe, two others also smote him with their swords, and Thomas de Middleton finally dispatched him by shooting through the body with a barbed arrow. The direct line of the elder branch of the family terminated in a daughter, and sole heiress, married to Sir John Cutts, of Thaxstead, Essex, who, conjointly with his wife, sold the manor of Routh in 1,513.

In the reign of Elizabeth, the estate came into the possession of the Hildyard family. Henry Hildyard was one of the severest sufferers in the royal cause during the civil wars. By his will, dated January, 1674, he bequeathed this and several other manors to certain trustees for the purposes therein directed. Mr. Poulson, who saw a copy of the will, tells us that it seems to have been one great object of Henry Hildyard to disinherit, as far as he could do so, his eldest son Henry, of Kelsterne, Lincolnshire, who had embraced the Roman Catholic religion. The latter raised and commanded a troop of horse for James II. The manor and estate afterwards passed, probably by purchase, to the Ellerkers, of Bisby and Moor Town. Subsequently the estate descended to Col. the Hon. T. C. Onslow, second son of Thomas, Earl of Onslow, by Arabella, his first wife, daughter and co-heir of Eaton Mainwaring-Ellerker, Esq., of Bisby, and was sold about 40 years ago to Lord Londesborough, father of the present owner, William Henry Forester Denison, second Baron Londesborough, who is the sole owner of the parish.

The village is small, consisting of a few farmhouses and cottages on the road leading from Beverley to Hornsea and Bridlington, about four miles from the first-named place. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a low and plain ancient building in the Early English and Decorated styles of architecture. It consists of chancel, nave, porch, and a low embattled tower, containing one bell. The exterior is rough-cast with pebbles. The building was considerably altered in 1835, and the chancel was again restored in 1869. Here is the mutilated effigy ci the Crusader before referred to. Fixed on a slab in the floor is a fine funeral brass bearing the figures of a knight in armour and his lady, beneath arches of pinnacle work, in good preservation. The male figure is four feet three in length, the female three feet ten inches, and both figures have colars of SS. A portion of the inscription has been torn away, but there is reason to believe that the effigies are those of Sir John Routh, Chivaler, lord of Routh, and Agnes his wife, who died in 1431. The church will seat about 80. The register dates from the year 1653.

The living is an ancient rectory, and the patronage has descended with the manor from the earliest times. The gross value, according to the Diocesan calendar, is £525, including three acres of glebe and residence. The present rector, the Rev. George Clifford Pease, M.A., Magdalen College, Cambridge, has held the living since 1865.

The school is a small brick building, erected by Lord Londesborough in 1864. There are 18 names on the books, and an average attendance of 12.

[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.


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