Goxhill Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

GOXHILL:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (North Division) - Petty Sessional Division of North Holderness - County Council Electoral Division and Poor Law Union of Skirlaugh - County Court District of Beverley - Rural Deanery of Hornsea - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

Goxhill is a small parish and township containing 838 acres, lying between Hornsea and Hatfield Magna. The soil is chiefly of a stiff, strong nature, and rests on clay; wheat and beans are the principal crops. The rateable value is £827, and the population in 1891 was 83. Henry Constable, Esq., M.A., J.P., of Wassand Hall, Sigglesthorne, is lord of the manor and owner of the whole parish except 39 acres of glebe, and the land occupied by the Hull and Hornsea railway.

When the Norman Survey was taken, this place, which the commissioners spell Golse, was returned as a soke of Mappleton, containing three carucates and the third part of an oxgang. In documents a little subsequent to the above survey it is written Gousle, and was owned at an early period by a family that took its name from the place. Margery, daughter and co-heir of Ralph Gousle or Gousil, married Philip le Despenser, and soon afterwards the Lellays are returned as possessing lands in Gousle. Ralph Lelley was buried here in 1412. He was probably the last of the name that had the estate. The next owners were the Stokeses, from whom it passed by the marriage of Elizabeth, sole heiress of Robert Stokes, Esq., to Marmaduke Constable, Esq., of Wassand, whose descendant is the present owner.

The village is small and stands about three miles south-west of Hornsea. There is a station here on the Hull and Hornsea branch of the North-Eastern railway, and for the convenience of the few inhabitants a train stops on Tuesdays. The church, dedicated to St. Giles, is a small stucco-covered edifice of brick, consisting of chancel, nave, and square western tower containing one bell. It was rebuilt in 1840, by the late Charles Constable, Esq., and during the present year several improvements have been effected in the interior - the old face-to-face pews have been replaced by open benches, a new pulpit has been added and also a reading desk and lectern. The old church contained some remains of Norman architecture. The ancient piscina - a very beautiful piece of carving, with a trefoil head and a shield of arms supported by angels at the foot - is preserved in the east wall of the chancel. On the floor is a monumental slab of one of the Lellay family, supposed to date from the early part of the 16th century. It bears the effigy of a lady habited in a loose tunic, which falls in graceful folds to her feet. Her hands are joined in the attitude of prayer, and above her head is a three-arch canopy with pinnacles. On each side are small shields supported by angels. The figure is cut in deep bass relief, and around the outside is a border with evangelistic symbols at the four corners. On the border is inscribed "Orafe: pro : aia: Johanne : que* uxor: Radulphi: de: Lellan : que: hic: jacet : cujus : aie: deus : propietur : Amen" (Pray for the soul of Joan, who was wife of Ralph de Lellay, who here lies. On whose soul may God have mercy. - Amen). Several of the Constables of Wassand are interred here, and their names are recorded on a marble tablet on the north wall of the nave : - Marmaduke Constable obiit 1558, and Elizabeth (Stokes), his wife, 1560; Marmaduke Constable, 1568; Marmaduke Constable, 1607, buried in York Minster; Philip Constable (killed in a duel) 1618; Marmaduke Constable, 1680; and Frances his wife, daughter of Sir John Buck, of Filey, 1644; and Marmaduke Constable, 1690, to whom there is a memorial slab in the floor of the nave. There are 27 headstones in the churchyard, 12 of which record the deaths of 15 persons whose united ages amount to 1,153 years. The Rev. Christopher Forge, M.A., who died in 1873, and was interred here, was for 54 years curate and rector of the parish. A chantry was founded at the altar of St. Mary in this church by Master John de Goxhill, vicar of the church of Scarbro', but there are no remains of it now in existence.

The living is a discharged rectory, worth £220 per annum net, in the gift of H. S. Constable, Esq. and held since 1877 by the Rev. James Twamley, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, who resides at Hornsea.

* This word is totally effaced but was probably fuit.

[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.