Welwick Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

WELWICK:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (South Division) - County Council Electoral Division of Patrington - Petty Sessional Division of South Holderness - Poor Law Union of Patrington - County Court District and Rural Deanery of Hedon - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish lies on the bank of the Humber, between Patrington and Skeffling. Its area, inclusive of the strand, is 3,515 acres, rateable value £4,121, and the population in 1891 was 313. The soil is mixed, the subsoil strong clay marl; and the chief crops are wheat, beans, oats, and barley. The land belongs to several proprietors, of whom the following are the most extensive : - The Rev. Jacob Clements, sub-dean of Lincoln; Mr. William Henry Fewson, Welwick; Mr. Robert Lambert, Weeton; Thomas Baron, Esq., Ulceby, Lincolnshire; John Todd, Esq., Swanland Hall, Brough; W. H. Harrison-Broadley, Esq., Welton, Brough; Messrs. Burnham; Mrs. Davis; Mr. Harper Lamplugh, Patrington; the exors. of J. E. Roberts; Arthur Baron, Esq.; Mrs. Benson; George and Michael S. Meadley, Sunk Island; Joseph Chadwick, Welwick; and J. W. Gatecliffe, Bingley.

Welwick is a place of considerable antiquity, and was of sufficient importance before the Norman Conquest to have its own church and priest. St. John of Beverley, Archbishop of York (A.D. 705-718), gave lands here for the support of the college which he founded in the church of Beverly, and the manor continued in the possession of the provost till the dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII., when it reverted to the Crown. In 1622, it was purchased by William Wright, Esq., of Ploughland, and subsequenty passed by the marriage of an heiress of this family to the Crathornes of Ness. The Crathornes held it till 1813, when it was purchased by Colonel Maister, who 10 years later, sold it to Jacob Clements, Esq., of London, and it is now in the possession of his descendant, the Rev. Jacob Clements, M.A.

KELK, is a small and distinct manor in this parish, belonging to Mrs. Roberts. Weeton is a hamlet containing nearly 1,000 acres of land, lying about one mile south-east of Welwick. It is mentioned in Domesday Book as Wideton, and its extent therein set down at two carucates of land to be taxed, and five oxgangs. It is a reputed manor, of which Mr. Robert Lambert is lord, and principal owner of the land. Plowland which seems to have taken its name from the quantity of land it contained, viz., a ploughland, hide, or carucate, supposed to have been about 120 acres. This place was long the property of the Wrights, who were also owners of Welwick, Welwick Thorpe, Pensthorpe, and Holmpton. Two members of this family, John and Christopher, were concerned in the gunpowder plot conspiracy, and slain in the flight. The property passed by marriage to the Crathornes, by one of whom it was sold to Mr. Taylor, and after the death of this gentleman's son, it was divided between the two sisters of the latter. One moiety, with the old mansion house, was subsequently purchased by Robert Burnham, Esq., of Burstwick, and is now the property of his grandsons. Thorpe Garth or Welwick Thorpe is a hamlet about half-a-mile north-west of Welwick. This estate was for a long period of years the property of a family named Thorpe, from whom it was purchased in 1607, by William Wright, of Plowland, and passed with other estates to the Crathornes. It now belongs to Messrs. Burnham and others.

The village of Welwick is pleasantly situated, two miles south-east of Patrington, which is the nearest railway station, one-and-a-half miles from the Humber, and 17 south-east from Hull. The church of St. Mary is a venerable Gothic edifice of stone and brick, but sorely in need of restoration. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles, a modern south porch of brick, and a low western tower, containing one bell. The nave is clerestoried, and divided from the aisles by four pointed arches, springing from octagonal pillars. The south aisle was re-roofed in 1886, at an expense of about £100. The chancel window is a stained glass memorial to Sarah Dinah Fewson, who died 16th December, 1877, erected by her mother. The chancel arch was formerly crossed by an oak screen, but this has been removed. The most interesting feature of the church is a handsome but dilapidated monument at the east end of the south aisle. It consists of a low arched recess, richly canopied, with a buttress on each side, terminating in an elegant niche, containing a mutilated female figure, and surmounted by a crocketed pediment and finial. The roof of the arch is delicately ribbed, and beneath is a kind of altar tomb, adorned with tracery and the evangelistic symbols, and bearing upon it the effigy of what some suppose to be a female, others a priest vested in cope and alb. Unfortunately there is neither inscription nor armorial bearings which might afford a clew to the name of the person commemorated. On the wall above the monument, but probably having no connection with it, are the arms of Edward the Confessor, the royal shield of the Plantagenets, and that of the Percys. There is a tradition that the monument belonged to one of the Albemarles, and was brought from Birstall Priory, previous to the destruction of that building by the sea, but of this there is no evidence. The only certainty about it is that it does not now occupy its original position, but has been brought hither, and put together by unskilful hands. In the wall near the monument is a piscina, showing that there was a chapel at the end of the aisle. In the floor of the north aisle is a brass, bearing the effigies of a man and woman, and the following inscription : - " Here lies interred ye bodies Willm. Wryght, of Plewland, Esq., & Ann, his wife, who, after they had lived lovingly together ye space of 50 yeares in the feare of God & love of Men, finished a faire Pilgrimage to a joyfull Paradice. Ann, ye 28 of Decr., in ye year of Grace 1618, & ye said Willm., ye 23 of August, A.DNI. 1621, whose soules God hath in His blessed keeping. Memoria justi vivet in Æternum."

The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £100, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held by the Rev. William Dyson, who is also rector of Holmpton.

There are chapels in the village belonging to the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists; the former was built in 1849, and the latter in 1848. The school, formerly the Friends' meeting house, is attended by children under the age of 10; those above that age attend Patrington and Holmpton. Mr. Thomas Bylith Baron, late of Welwick, by will, dated 1869, left the sum of £100 for the education of poor children of this parish. The interest, £4, is given to this school.

Charities - The poor have the interest of £40 10s., left by unknown donors; and Mr. Thomas Wright, of this place, left by will, dated 1838, £100, the interest thereof to be expended in the purchase of coals to be distributed at Christmas and Easter for ever.

[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.