Sherburn Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

SHERBURN:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of Buckrose - County Council Electoral Division of Sherburn - Poor Law Union and Connty Court District of Scarborough - Rural Deanery of Settrington - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish lies on the south bank of the river Derwent, which here forms the boundary between the North and East Ridings. Its area, by Ordnance measurement, is 4,739 acres; the rateable value is £4,905, and the population in 1881 was 726, and in 1891, 688. The soil is a variable mixture of sand, peat, and clay, and the chief crops are barley, oats, and turnips. Mary Dowager Viscountess Downe is the principal landowner and lady of the manor. There are about a dozen places in different parts of the country bearing the name of Sherburn or Sherborne; hence we may infer that the name was not only descriptive, but very generally understood by our forefathers. Sher is another form of shire, which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon sciran, to divide or share; Sherburn is, therefore, the dividing-burn, or stream forming the boundary of a share or division.

The village, which is of considerable extent, stands on the Malton and Scarborough road, 11 miles north-east of the former town, and about one mile south of Weaverthorpe station, on the York and Scarborough branch of the North-Eastern Railway. The church of St. Hilda is a low ancient edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, and western tower. The chancel arch is a very fine specimen of Norman work. It is semi-circular in form, with dogteeth mouldings, and rests on massive pillars with beautifully carved capitals. The font is circular, and probably of the same date as the chancel arch. The east window, of three lights, is filled with stained glass representing the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, and was erected by Mary Rivis, of Wykeham, and Wm. Rivis, of Sherburn, in 1859. In the south wall of the chancel there is another three-light window, bearing six well-executed scenes from the life of Christ, inserted by T. W. Rivis, Esq.,in memory of his sister, the above Mary Rivis, who died in 1873. Against the north wall is fixed a beautiful marble monument, to the memory of Matthew Rivis, Esq., who was agent 44 years to the Wykeham Abbey Estate, and died in 1846. The south porch is Norman, and above the door is an old sun-dial. There are two bells in the tower, one of which is cracked: formerly there were three bells; the third one was sent many years ago to Hull to be re-cast, but the charge was deemed too heavy by the churchwardens, and the bell was never redeemed. There were two chantries on the north side of the church, which were standing in the reign of James I., and a piscina and a doorway (now walled up) still remain. The registers date from the year 1653. Eight thousand persons have been buried in the churchyard since the time of Cromwell. When graves are dug on the north side of the church, fragments of coffins are frequently met with at a depth of six feet, which appear to be of a primitive make. They have been fabricated out of the trunks of trees, and secured with iron bands and locks. An old stone coffin does service for a step, and under it is another stone bearing an incised cross upon it. The living is a vicarage, valued in the King's Book at £6 Os. 2½d., now worth £120, including 17 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Sir Charles William Strickland, Bart., and held by the Rev. Richard Ellis, of St. Bees.

The Wesleyan Chapel was erected in 1813, and considerably enlarged in 1865, at a cost of about £600. There is accommodation for 300 worshippers. Adjoining the chapel is the vestry and boiler-house, built in 1884, at a cost of £175. The Sunday-school, which stands near the chapel, was erected in 1882, at a cost of £500, for the accommodation of 200 children. Sherburn is the head of a circuit. The superintendent minister's house, which is situated a short distance from the village, was erected in 1869, at an outlay of about £1,000. The Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1865, at a cost, exclusive of the site, of £240.

The National School is a low brick building, capable of accommodating 130 children. It is mixed, and attended, on an average, by 110.

A market is held in the village every alternate Monday, and a statute-fair yearly, in the second week of November, for the hiring of servants. The charities are few and small, being the interest of two bequests, amounting to £27 2s.

About two miles south-east of the village are the traces of an ancient camp, and on Sherburn Wold are several tumuli or ancient British burial mounds.

[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.