Eastrington Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

EASTRINGTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of Howdenshire - County Council Electoral Division of Laxton - Poor Law Union and County Court District of Howden - Rural Deanery of Howden - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish comprises the townships of Eastrington, Bellasize, Portington-cum-Cavil, Gilberdike, and Wallingfen. Eastrington township contains 2,051 acres, valued for rating purposes at £6,048. The population in 1891 was 436 - an increase of 55 since 1881. The soil is loamy in the neighbourhood of the village, and clayey in the out-lying lands. Corn and potatoes are the chief crops. Captain Jefferson, Middlethorpe Hall, near York; Messrs. Liversidge, Selby; Rev. G. M. Athorpe; J. G. Hearfield; Mr. Craven; the exors. of T. B. Burland; and the vicar of the parish in right of his church, are the principal landowners. The North-Eastern Railway Co. has 3,507 yards of railway in the township, which are assessed at £3,486, and 92 yards rated at £91; and three miles 30 yards of the Hull and Barnsley railway, assessed at £350, lie within the township.

The village stands three-and-a-half miles east from Howden, and near two station, on the Hull and Selby branch of the North-eastern railway, and the other on the Hull and Barnsley line. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient building of stone, chiefly in the 15th century Gothic style, but some traces of an older edifice may be seen. The plan comprises chancel and nave, both with a clerestory, north and south aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles. The nave is three bays in length, and is divided from the chancel by a pointed arch. On the wall is a tablet, which informs us that "This chancel fell in Anno Domini 1632, and this is bilded the same yeare by Sir Michael Wharton, of Beverlie High Lodge." In the north wall is an arcade of oak, which was until recently covered with plaster; and on the south are three bays leading into the Athorpe or Owsthorpe chapel on that side. In the floor of this chapel are several memorial slabs, some of which once bore brasses, the indents being still visible.

The chapel on the north side of the chancel belonged to the Portington family, who resided in the parish for upwards of 400 years, and several of whom are buried here. On an altar tomb of alabaster, are the recumbent effigies of a man and woman, supposed to represent Judge Portington and his wife. The head of the lady has been broken off, that of the man is fairly perfect, and shows the hair worn in a pigtail. On the floor are other two alabaster stones to members of the same family. On one is engraved a knight with a shield, nearly effaced, and on the other are the figures of a knight and lady; both appear to be of early date. On another stone, around which are the remains of an earlier latin inscription, is inscribed "Here resteth the body of Michael Portington, late of Portington, Esq., who married Barbara, the second danghter of Jarvis Nevile, Esq., departed this life without issue, the 17th March, in the 32nd year of his age, Anno Dom., 1696." There are also monuments here to the Bell family. The chapel retains its ancient piscina, and three brackets for statues, and there are also a piscina and an aumbry in the Owsthorpe chapel before mentioned.

The tower is of three stages, and bears some shields on its western face. It opens into the nave through a Norman arch, which evidently belonged to a previous edifice. There was a church here at the time of the Norman Survey, and traces of this Saxon building may be seen in the present edifice. In the wall of the south aisle is some zig-zag work, apparently of Norman date, and in the porch are some carvings which are either Saxon or very early Norman work. These sculptures, seven in number, are on a stone, 4ft. in length by 18 inches in depth, and are apparently rude representations of the beasts mentioned in the Apocalypse..

The nave and aisles are seated with carved oak stalls of great age, and in the chancel is an oak chair bearing a brass plate inscribed as follows :- " This chair was made from old oak, supposed to have been in St. Michael's parish church, Eastrington, upwards of 500 years. St. Michael's Day, 1888." There are three very fine toned bells in the tower. The first, weighing half-a-ton, is dated 1718, and bears the legend "Populum voco, Deum laudate" (I call the people to praise God); the second weighs one ton, and is inscribed "1663, Soli Deo Gloria, Pax hominibus" (To God alone be glory, Peace to men); the third bell, one-and-a-half tons weight, is supposed to have been brought from St. Mary's abbey, York, or from Ripon, and is inscribed "Sum Rosa, Pulsata mundi Maria vocato," (which may be translated, I am the sweet Rose, Mary, my call is to the world). The registers date from the year 1563, and are almost perfect from the commencement down to the present time.

The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1882, by the Rev. George S. Dunbar. It is valued in the Liber Regis at £12 9s. 7d., and is now worth about £200 a year, derived chiefly from a tithe rent-charge of £82 10s., and 130 acres of glebe. The list of vicars is complete from A.D. 1220.

The churchyard was closed by an Order in Council, and a cemetery containing two acres adjoining it on the north side, was formed in 1878. It is under the control of a burial board of seven members.

The Wesleyan chapel is a plain brick building, erected in 1827, and there is also a Primitive Methodist chapel, which was built in 1871, at a cost of £331.

A school was founded in the village in 1727, by Joseph Hewsley, who endowed it with about 19 acres of land, and William Burton, of Beverley, whose will is dated 1721, bequeathed a field of four acres, the rent thereof to be paid to a schoolmaster or dame for teaching poor children. In 1876, a School Board of seven members was formed for the united district of Eastrington, Balkholme, and Portington and Cavil. The Board took over the parish school, and the following year rebuilt it for the accommodation of 110 children. It consists of two departments, mixed, and infants, which are under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, respectively. There is an average attendance of about 80 children. The endowments have been transferred to this school, and the income is applied to the payment of the fees of 30 poor children and to the purchase of prizes which are distributed yearly.

The poor have yearly rent-charges, amounting to £8, left by John Atkinson, in 1678, and William Herbert, his grandson, in 1716. This charity is distributed quarterly. There is also a rent-charge of 20s. a year, left by Richard Waterson, in or soon after 1771, which is given to the poor once a month.

BELLASIZE is a township containing 1,355 acres, and 126 inhabitants. It is valued for rating purposes at £3,742; of this sum £2,627 is assessed on the North-Eastern Railway Co. for 1,364 yards of the Hull and Doncaster line, and 1,392 yards of the Hull and Selby line, which lie within the township. The soil is chiefly warp and clay, resting on clay, and the general crops are wheat, oats, beans, and potatoes. Captain Jefferson is lord of the manor and principal landowner, and the following have also estates in the township :- Mr. Thomas Blossom Oliver, Miles Stapleton, Esq., Carlton Towers, Selby; R. P. Coulson, C. W. Empson, Esq., Robert Blythe, Wilton Terrace, Holderness Road, Hull; and the exors. of Mrs. Saltmarshe. The tithes amount to £23 per annum, and belong to William Gardham, of Green Hammerton, near York. There is no village, and the nearest railway station is at Staddlethorpe, two miles north-west. The township includes the hamlets of Bennetland and Greenoak, about half-a-mile north, and part of Newland. Greenoak Hall is the property of Mr. Thomas Blossom Oliver, and still retains traces of the moat that once surrounded it.

GILBERDIKE is a township and village in this parish, containing 984 acres of land and 293 inhabitants - a decrease of 38 since 1881. Its rateable value is £2,539, of which sum £1,027 is assessed on the North-Eastern Railway Co., for about 1,000 yards of the Hull and Selby line, which passes through the township. Captain M. D. Jefferson is lord of the manor, and the principal landowners are Thomas Shaw, of Ousethorpe; the trustees of Mrs. Norman; John Seaton West Kirkpatrick, Market Weighton; Rev. Mr. Daltry, Madeley, Salop; Rev. G. M. Athorpe, Dunnington Hall; Mrs. R. Simpson, and B. P. Coulson, Brauncewell Manor, Lincolnshire. The surface is flat, and the soil clayey. Wheat, oats, barley, and beans are the chief crops. The name of the township originated from a large dyke or fossatum, constructed by Sir Gilbert Haunsard, a former owner of the estate. This drain is new known as Hansardam.

The village stands on the high road leading from Hull to Howden, about six miles east of the latter town, two miles west of Newport, half a mile north-east from Staddletborpe station, on the Hull and Selby branch of the North-Eastern railway, and about half a mile south-west from Sandholme station, on the Hull and Barnsley railway. The township includes the hamlets of Sandholme, one mile north; Hive, one-and-a-half miles north; and Owsthorpe or Ousethorpe, two miles north-west from the village of Gilberdike. There are chapels belonging to the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.

There are two acres of land in Sandholme, left by an unknown donor, for the benefit of poor widows of the parish who have maintained themselves for the first 12 months of their widowhood without receiving parish relief.

PORTINGTON and CAVIL form a joint township in this parish, containing 1,236 acres and 108 inhabitants - an increase of 13 since 1881. The rateable value is £2,234, of which sum £866 is assessed on the North-Eastern Railway Co., for 872 yards of the Hull and Selby railway, and £23 on the Hull and Barnsley Railway Co. for 410 yards of their line. The soil is sand, loam, and clay, and the chief crops are wheat, turnips, potatoes, barley, and oats. Viscount Galway is lord of the manor and principal landowner; the other proprietors are Thomas Percival Brearley, Esq., Portington Grange; Messrs. Liversidge, Selby; and Thos. Bell, Esq., Leeds. The tithe rent-charge, amounting to £40, belongs to the vicar of Eastrington. Portington was formerly identified with a family of that name, which was resident here for upwards of 400 years. Sir John Portington was a justice of the King's bench in the first half of the 15th century. His son Thomas, held several ecclesiastical appointments, amongst them the provostry of Beverley, and in 1481 obtained the Archbishop of York's permission to have Divine service in the private chapel of Portington. The Manor House, their ancient residence, is now the property of Thomas Bell, Esq., Leeds. The moat that once protected it remains, 14½ feet deep and 21 feet wide, filled with water. On the south side of the house there is a double moat.

The hamlet of Portington is scattered, and stands three miles north-east from Howden. There is a Wesleyan chapel here, erected in 1866. Portington Hall is an ancient building of brick, the property of Messrs. Liversidge, but at present unoccupied.

CAVIL, is a hamlet, consisting of two farms, situated about two miles north-east from Howden. It formerly belonged to a knightly family of the same name, and in 1454 the great-great-granddaughter of Sir John Cavil, Knt., conveyed it in marriage to Robert Monckton, Esq., from whom Viscount Galway, the present owner, is lineally descended. Cavil Hall, long the residence of the Cavils and the Moncktons, was rebuilt about 140 years ago.

WALLINGFEN is a civil parish or township, formed in 1885. It comprises Newport, New Village, New Gilberdike, and certain detached portions of the district, containing in all 2,251 acres. The rateable value is £3,389, and the population in 1891 was 787, a decrease of 75 since 1881. The soil is clayey, and the subsoil sand and clay. The land belongs to many owners, of whom the principal are Charles George Milnes Gaskell, Esq., Thornes House, Wakefield (500 acres); Capt. Jefferson (130 acres), Philip Saltmarshe, Esq. (129 acres), James R. Smith, Holme-on-Spalding Moor (87 acres); T. S. Clarke, Esq., Knedlington Manor, Howden; Thomas Scruton, Newport House, and J. H. A. Jowett, Grove House, Bolton, Bradford. The Hull, Barnsley, and West Riding Junction Railway Co. have about one mile of railway and a station here.

The township is intersected by the great high road leading from the west to Hull, and by the Market Weighton canal; and at the point where the latter is crossed by the road, are clustered together the villages of Newport, New Village, and New Gilberdike, forming a little town, distant eight miles east from Howden. There is a station at Newport on the Hull and Barnsley railway, and two miles south-west is Staddlethorpe station, on the Hull and Selby branch of the North Eastern railway. The turnpike-road crosses the canal by a bridge, from which the place is sometimes called River Bridge. There are here some good beds of white clay from four to five feet thick, from which bricks, tiles, drain-pipes, flower-pots, &c., are extensively manufactured, and there are facilities for their conveyance either by rail or water.

There is a Wesleyan chapel at Newport, erected in 1814, and also a Catholic chapel, which was formally opened on the 5th of August, 1887. It is a temporary structure of corrugated iron, dedicated to St. Paulinus, and capable of seating 200. It is served by the priest from Howden, who says mass here at nine o'clock on the second and third Sundays of the month. The remains of an ancient preaching cross were discovered about three years ago, and in the garden of a house at the east end of the village is the pedestal of another cross, which was found here during the construction of the canal.

NEW VILLAGE, was formerly an extra-parochial place, containing 509 acres. It formed part of the wild uncultivated morass, called Wallingfen, and at the enclosure in 1780, it was not allotted to any parish, but was sold to defray the expense of the drainage and enclosure. C. G. M. Gaskell Esq., is sole owner of the land, and J. G. Weddall, Esq., is lord of the manor. A Wesleyan chapel is now in course of erection, at the sole expense of B. & W. Walmsley, builders, Leeds, and formerly of this place. It is a neat Gothic structure, of white brick, with stone dressings.

A Board school, for the united district of Newport, New Village, and New Gilberdike was erected in 1880, at a cost of £930. There are two departments, mixed and infants, attended by about 160 children. Attached is the master's house; Henry Megson, head master.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892)]

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• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1892.

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