Aughton Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

AUGHTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Harthill (Holme Beacon Division) - County Council Electoral Division of Bubwith - Petty Sessional Division of Holme Beacon - Poor Law Union and County Court District of Howden - Rural Deanery of Weighton - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish comprises the townships of Aughton and Laytham, and the parochial chapelry of East Cottingwith, containing a total area of 5,200 acres, including water. Aughton township lies on the east bank of the Derwent, and presents a generally level surface. The soil is a mixture of loam and clay, resting on clay, and the chief crops are wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and turnips. There are in the township 1,952 acres of land, of which 1,844 are under assessment. The rateable value is £1,713, and the population in 1891 was 114, a decrease of 23 since 1881, Joseph Bailey Newsome, Esq., of Staincliffe, Dewsbury, is lord of the manor and principal landowner; T. H. Preston, Esq., of Moreby Hall, owns several farms, and Francis Stephenson is the owner of the farm he occupies.

Aughton formerly belonged to the Askes, who had a castellated mansion here. Not a vestige of the building remains, but the moat and trenches may be traced, surrounding a mound about 70 yards square, not far from the bank of the river. Sir Robert Aske, lord of Aughton, was the ostensible leader in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and for which he was beheaded and hung in chains at York, in 1537. The families of De la Hays and Aughton had lands in the parish.

The village, long and straggling, is situated eight miles north-west of Howden, and two miles north of Bubwith station, on the Selby and Market Weighton branch of the North-Eastern railway. The church of All Saints is a fine old building of stone, chiefly in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave with north aisle, south porch, and a low embattled tower with pinnacles, containing two bells. It is now undergoing a thorough restoration, at an estimated cost of about £2,000. The chancel will be rebuilt and enlarged, and a vestry added at the west end of the north aisle. The nave and aisle will be re-roofed and covered with Broseley tiles, and the church re-seated with open benches of memel oak. The aisle is divided from the nave by four pointed arches, resting on circular columns. The arch between the chancel and nave is a pure Norman one, in four rims, springing from attached columns. The first rim is of two beads; the second is dogtooth, richly moulded; the third is a hollow and a bead, with birds' heads projecting about every six inches; and the fourth is an egg and tongue latel. On the chancel floor is a fine brass, bearing the effigies of a knight, in the plate armour of the 15th century, and his lady. Beneath is the following mutilated inscription :- " Hic jacent Ricardus Ask, Armig . . . . Margareta uxor ejus quondam filia dn . . . . obierut xiiqp die mensis Octobris anno In the tower is a vacant niche, and beneath it are seven shields, and the following enigmatical inscription in old church text :- " Christofer le second filz de Robert Ask chr oblier ne doy, Ao Di 1536." The literal translation of this old French is

Christopher, the second son of Robert Aske, chevalier, ought not to forget the year of our Lord 1536." Its explanation is a matter of conjecture.

The living is a discharged vicarage, with the chapelry of East Cottingwith annexed, worth £175 a year, in the gift of Joseph Bailey Newsome, Esq., and held by the Rev. Robert Simpson, of St. Bees. There are 60 acres of glebe - 14 acres belonging to the church repair fund - and a commodious residence, erected in 1839.

The National School in the village is attended by about 20 children. The Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1844, has not been used for religious or other purposes for several years, and now presents a shockingly dilapidated appearance.

EAST COTTINGWITH, is a parochial chapelry annexed to Aughton, but locally separated from it by the intervening parish of Ellerton Priory. Its estimated extent is 1,179 acres; rateable value, £1,793; and population in 1891, 233. The soil is strong clay in places and mixed clay and sand in others, and subsoil clay; the chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, and beans. The land belongs to several freeholders, of whom the following are the most extensive :- the exors. of John Blanchard; J. J. Dunning-Jefferson, Esq., Thicket Priory; H. B. Ratcliffe, 78, Manningham Lane, Bradford; Henry Rogerson; James Lund, Esq., Keighley; and Mrs. Ash, Coldby Hall, West Halton, Lincolnshire. The township is in the Pocklington union and county court district, and in the Melbourne division for the election of a member of the county council.

The village is situated on the east bank of the Derwent, three miles north from Aughton, nine miles south-west from Pocklington, and four-and-a-half miles north from Bubwith station, on the Selby and Market Weighton railway. The river is here crossed by a ferry, which connects the villages of East and West Cottingwith. A little above the ferry is the entrance to the Pocklington canal. The parochial chapel was rebuilt about the year 1780. It is a small plain edifice of brick, consisting of chancel, nave, and a low tower, surmounted by a cupola. The living is a curacy.

The Wesleyans have a small chapel in the village, and there is also a Friends' meeting-house, built about a century ago, and now rented and used by the School Board as a day school. The Board was formed in 1876, for the United District of East Cottingwith and Storwood, and consists of five members.

The poor have 18 acres of land in the township, allotted at the enclosure, and now let for £25 14s. 6d.; about six acres awarded as common right, on Swine bank, let for £10; and a rent-charge of sand pit, £4; total, £39 14s. 6d. Of this sum £3 is given to the school for the education of six free scholars, and the remainder is applied to the reduction of the rates.

LAYTHAM, or LATHAM, is a township in the parish of Aughton containing 1,434 acres, the rateable value is £963, and the population in 1891 was 49, a decrease of 17 since the previous census. The soil is chiefly clay, and a large portion of the land is laid down in grass. G. W. Lloyd, Esq., Caythorpe Hall, Grantham, who is lord of the manor, and the Rev. John Nottingham Fowler are the principal landowners.

At the time of the Domesday Survey there were 11 oxgangs of land in Ladon (Latham) belonging to the manor of Wressil. There is a field here called "Kirk Hill," which is said to have been the site of an ancient chapel.

The village is small, and stands about three miles east of Aughton. Service is held by the vicar every Sunday evening in a mission room.

[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.