Stillingfleet Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

STILLINGFLEET:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of Ouse and Derwent - County Council Electora Division of Escrick - Poor Law Union and County Court District of York - Rural Deanery of Bulmer - Archdeaconry of Cleveland - Diocese of York.

This parish lies on the east bank of the Ouse, and includes the townships of Stillingileet-with-Moreby and Kelfield, and formerly included Acaster Selby, in the Ainsty Wapentake, on the opposite side of the river. Stillingfleet-with-Moreby contains 2,608 acres of land; its rateable value is £3,581, and the population in 1891 was 366. The surface is flat, the soil gravelly clay, and the subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, potatoes, and turnips. Stillingfleet and Moreby are two distinct manors. Lord Wenlock is lord of the former, and also principal landowner; and Thomas Henry Preston, Esq., is lord of Moreby and owner of the land.

The village of Stillingfleet is built on both banks of a small stream which flows into the Ouse about one mile further down. The nearest station is at Escrick, two miles north-east, on the York and Doncaster extension of the North-Eastern railway. Stillingfleet is about seven miles south of York. The church of St. Helen is a building of stone, dating from about the middle of the 12th century. In the following century it was enlarged by the addition of a north aisle and tower; the chapel on the south side of the nave, known as the Moreby chapel, was built about the year 1370, and the chapel of St. Anne, or north aisle of chancel, and the belfry stage of the tower are late Perpendicular work of the early part of the 16th century. The church was thoroughly restored in 1877, at a cost of about £3,000, raised by public subscription. The whole structure was re-roofed; the roofs of nave, chancel, and north aisle are high pitched, and covered with red tiles; and those of the Moreby chapel and chancel aisle are flat and covered with lead. The nave is separated from the aisle by an arcade of three Early English arches, and from the Moreby chapel by two later ones with curiously carved capitals. The chancel is also separated from its aisle by two arches with a label having dog-tooth ornament, and a low stone screen divides it from the nave. The altar is raised on four steps, and above it is a handsome reredos of carved stone. The east window is filled with stained glass, representing the Resurrection, with a "Majesty" in the tracery. This window is a memorial of the Rev. David Markham, formerly vicar of the parish, and his wife, and was presented by Clements Robert Markham, Esq., C.B., their son. The principal feature of the church is the south doorway, a beautiful Norman arch, having five mouldings of single and double chevrons, leaves, and beak-heads. This doorway retains its old door, in which is some remarkably curious ironwork, representing Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, &c. Many curious fragments were found in rebuilding the eastern walls, amongst them a beautiful Decorated window that had been at some time pulled down, and used up as mere walling stones. It was carefully put together, and now forms the east window of the north chapel. The expense of restoring the chancel, about £600, was defrayed by the Dean and Chapter of York; and Mr. Preston bore the cost of restoring the Moreby chapel. In the latter is the recumbent effigy of a crusader in chain mail, probably one of the Moreby family, and above this is a mural tablet with mutilated figures of John Acclom, of Moreby, who died in 1611, and Isabel, his wife. The nave is seated throughout with low open seats of pitchpine, and the chancel fittings and pulpit are of oak. There are three bells and a clock in the tower. The register dates from 1598.

The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of York, and held by the Rev. Alexander Grimston, M.A., of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. It is worth about £400, including 113 acres of glebe, with residence. The tithe rentcharge is £276.

In the churchyard is a tombstone recording the names of 11 persons who were drowned by the capsizing of a boat on December 26th, 1833. The party consisted of 14, all singers at the parish church, who, according to custom, were visiting the principal farmhouses of the parish, singing hymns and carols. They had been to Moreby and Acaster, and were proceeding in a boat to Kelfield in the dusk of the evening. Unfortunately the boat was caught by the towing line of a coal-laden vessel going up the river, and all the occupants were precipitated into the stream. Three men were saved, and of those who lost their lives, five were men of middle age, and six were girls between the ages of 15 and 17.

There is a good National school in the village, built in 1853, for the accommodation of 80 children, and attended on an average by about 60. It is supported chiefly by Lord Wenlock, Thomas Henry Preston, Esq., and the vicar.

MOREBY, is an estate and separate manor, lying about one-mile-and-a-half north of Stillingfieet, the property of Thomas Henry Preston, Esq. It was formerly held by a family who took their name from the place; the first of whom we have any notice of is Robert de Moreby, who, in 1218, married Margaret, widow of Sir John Grey, of Rotherfield. The estate descended in this family through four generations, and then passed by the marriage of Mary de Moreby, about the year 1370, to Sir William Acclom. It remained with this family upwards of two-and-a-half centuries, and in 1650, Elizabeth, the only daughter and heir of John Acelom, Esq., of Moreby, married Mark Milbanke, Esq., afterwards created a baronet. The Lawsons were the next owners of Moreby, and Marmaduke Lawson, dying childless, left this estate to his cousin William Preston, Esq., from whom it has descended to the present owner.

Moreby Hall, the seat of Thomas Henry Preston, Esq., J.P., D.L., is a handsome mansion of stone, built near the site of the former hall in 1827. It is in the Tudor style, and stands within a park of 200 acres, stretching along the bank of the Ouse. The estate is held of the Crown by the service of presenting a red rose to the sheriff when demanded.

Tithe, amounting to £80, belongs to the Dean and Chapter of York, and £40 to the vicar.

KELFIELD is a township in this parish containing 1,729 acres; rateable value, £2,909; population, 297. The soil is clayey and sandy, and is specially adapted to the cultivation of potatoes, mustard, and flax. Thomas Henry Preston, Esq., of Moreby Hall, who is the nominal lord of the manor; Lord Wenlock, of Escrick; and Mr. George Cordukes, of Kelfield House are the principal landowners. At the beginning of the present century, the manor and estate, containing 1,286 acres, belonged to Mary, widow of the Rev. Edward Stillingfleet, and only daughter of William Peirse, Esq., of Hutton Bonville. She died childless in 1804, and the estate was sold by public auction in 1812 to seven gentlemen for the sum of £58,000.

The village is situated on the east bank of the Ouse, which is here crossed by an iron bridge, connecting it with Cawood, in the West Riding. This bridge was erected in 1872, by a company of shareholders, at a cost of nearly £12,000, in lieu of the ferry previously belonging to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It is 295 feet in length, and consists of five arches - two of which open to allow the passage of vessels. It was taken over by the county in 1882 and declared toll-free.

Kelfield is distant nine miles south from York, six miles north-north-west from Selby, and one-and-a-half miles south from Stillingfleet. The Wesleyans have a chapel here, erected in 1815, and the Primitive Methodists have also one, built in 1852. There is a good school in the village attended by about 55 children. It is endowed with £12 a year - the interest of money left by Mrs. Mary Stillingfleet in 1802, and also with 26s. a year, left by the Rev. W. Turvey. The old Manor House remains; a considerable portion of the moat that once surrounded it still exists, and is partly filled with water. The house belongs to Edward Harper, Esq., and is occupied by a farmer. The old Hall, the residence of the former owners of the manor, was purchased by Henry Preston, Esq., and taken down in 1829.

The poor have half an acre of land, left by Elizabeth Scott in 1693, the rent thereof to be distributed in bread. They have also an annuity of 4s., left by Mr. Newstead. Matthew Johnson, yeoman, of this place, by will dated 11th May, 1849, left the sum of £60, to be invested by the vicar and churchwardens, and he directed that out of the interest 15s. should be given for a sermon, preached on Ascension Day; 6s. to the schoolmaster of Kelfield, for taking the children to church at Stillingfleet on that day, and the remainder to be divided amongst the children of this school who attended the church on the occasion.

Kelfield township is in Selby union. The rectorial tithe, amounting to £320, is paid to the Dean and Chapter of York, and the small tithe (£143) belongs to the vicar.

[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.