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Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1868.

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GREAT DRIFFIELD:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868.

"GREAT DRIFFIELD, a parish, and market town, in the Bainton Beacon division of the wapentake of Harthill, in the East Riding of the county of York, 12 miles S.W. of Bridlington, 13 N. of Beverley, and 196 from London by the North-Eastern railway, on which it is a station. It is situated on the river Hull, under the Welds, and is the Saxon Driffelda. The parish contains the townships of Great and Little Driffield; the hamlets of Buckton Parva, Emswell, and Kellythorpe, and several small outlying places. The town is of considerable size, clean, and well lighted with gas. The corn exchange, a neat stone-fronted structure, is the principal public edifice. There is a county court. The Board of Guardians hold their meetings, and the magistrates their sittings here. A mechanics' institute, with a good library, has been in existence several years. The woollen and cotton manufactures, the various mills, foundries, and other establishments, give employment to great numbers of the people. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York, value with the perpetual curacy of Little Driffield annexed, £154, in the patronage of the Prebendaries of York Cathedral. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure, with a tower, clock, and three bells. It has an organ, a modern font, two piscinas, and a very old register. The charities are £1 per annum. The Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive and Reformed Methodists have each places of worship, and there are National schools for both sexes. In the neighbourhood there have been found some tumuli, and many remains of the early British, Anglo-Saxon, and Danish periods. In 1784 the remains of Alfred, King of Northumbria, who died in 705, were found here entire in a stone coffin. Viscount Downe is lord of the manor and owner of most of the soil. Thursday is market day, and there is a cattle market every alternate Wednesday. Fairs are held on Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the 26th August, and the 19th September, for horses, beasts, and sheep."


"EMSWELL WITH KELLEYTHORPE, a township in the parish of Great Driffield, Bainton Beacon division of the wapentake of Harthill, East Riding county York, 2 miles N.W. of Great Driffield."


"KELLEYTHORPE, a township in the parish of Great Driffield, wapentake of Harthill, East Riding county York, 2 miles S.W. of Great Driffield. It is joined to Emswell."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2013