Humbleton Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

HUMBLETON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (Middle Division) - Petty Sessional Division of Middle Holderness - County Council Electoral Division of Aldbrough - Poor Law Union of Skirlaugh - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York

Humbleton is an ancient parish of considerable extent, embracing the townships of Humbleton, Danthorpe, Elsternwick, Fitling, and Flinton, covering a total area of 6,296 acres. The surface is pleasantly diversified by gentle undulations, and is generally well wooded. The soil varies from light to strong, but is chiefly clayey, with some carr land. The subsoil is marl and clay. The crops most usually grown are wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas, and turnips. In the township of Humbleton there are 1,477 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £1,515. The population in 1891 was 152. Lord Hotham is lord of the manor, and owner of the greater part of the land. Mrs. Ada Shutt Worthington and George Dickinson, Esq., of Roos, have estates here.

The origin of the name is evident from the Domesday spelling, Humeltone, i.e., Humel's town. Humel was not an uncommon name amongst the Norsemen, and is still found, in the form of Humble, amongst their English descendants.

At the time of the Survey, Humeltone was one of the 11 hamlets within the soke of Kilnsea. After the Conquest, it was held by a family named de Scures, one of whom, in 1162, gave Humel's Town, with all its appurtenances and the church, to the monks of Thornton Abbey, in Lincolnshire. On the dissolution of monasteries, it reverted to the Crown, and remained in the royal possession till 1614, when it was granted by James I. to William Whitmore and Edmund Sawyer. It was re-granted the same year to William Thompson, gent., and Francis, his son, and from this family it passed to the Hothams.

The village is situated nine-and-a-half miles north-east of Hull, and five miles north-east by north from Hedon station, on the Hull and Withernsea branch of the North-Eastern railway. The church, dedicated originally to SS. Peter and Paul, though ascribed in later times to St. Peter only, is an ancient and noble building, displaying in its architecture all the three styles of Gothic. A Norman church previously occupied the site, and, during the recent restoration, a fragment of zigzag moulding, which had evidently belonged to that edifice, was discovered. The fabric consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and a western embattled tower, containing three bells. The porch is modern. The tower is three stages in height, well proportioned, and ascended by a curious nowell staircase at the south-east angle. The clerestory of the nave is embattled, and the aisles are finished with plain parapets. The chancel is spacious, and on the south side was formerly a chantry chapel, formed by a prolongation of the aisle. This is now converted into a vestry. The tower, nave, and aisles were thoroughly restored in 1888-9, at a cost of £1,400, of which sum Lord Hotham contributed nearly one-half. The aisles are separated from the nave by five arches, resting on octagonal piers. The interior is well lighted, but the windows exhibit some diversity in form and size. Those on each side of the clerestory are uniform, pointed, and of two lights each. In the south aisle there are six windows with depressed arched heads, filled with perpendicular tracery. The two easterumost ones consist of four lights each, whilst the others have only three. The east side of this aisle has a fine pointed window of four lights, with perpendicular traceried head; in the west end there is a square-headed one. There are five windows in the north aisle, four pointed and one square-headed. The east window of the chancel is square-headed and plain; there is a similar but smaller one on the south side, and a pointed one on the north. There are no very ancient monuments nor inscriptions. On a marble bracket in the north aisle is the half-length effigy of a man with a ruff and beard, in marble, representing William Thompson, of Scarborough, who purchased the manor and estate about the year 1614. This, and the marble tablet near it, recording the names of several members of the family buried here, were erected by his descendant, William Thompson, Esq., in the early part of the 18th century. There are several tablets in the chancel to the Shutt, Bell, and Weatherill families. In the vestry is an oil painting of the Transfiguration, a copy of Raphael, by Miss Anna Dixon, daughter of the then vicar, and presented by her to the church in 1816. It was formerly used as an altar-piece, and occupied the middle compartment of the east window. The registers date from 1581.

The living is a discharged vicarage, gross yearly value £280, with residence, derived from tithes and 94 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held by the Rev. Alfred Robinson, B.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The vicarial tithe of the township was commuted for a money payment of £12 19s., and the impropriate tithe amounts to £75.

There is a small Primitive Methodist chapel in the village, built in 1860.

Heron's Charity Endowed School is a superior building of brick, with teacher's residence adjoining, erected in 1878, at a cost of £1,100, for the accommodation of 90 children, and there are about 70 on the books. Francis Heron, by will dated 1718, devised all his houses and lands in Flinton and Sutton Ings to his wife for life, and after her death, he directed that the income should be applied to the education and apprenticing of poor children of the parish. Previous to 1830, the school was held in the south aisle of the church, a portion of which was partitioned off for the purpose. In that year a school was erected out of the funds of the charity, on a site given by Lord Hotham. The present and more suitable premises, built by Lord Hotham in 1878, were transferred to the trustees of the charity in exchange for the old school (and site) and £400. The charity consists of about 65 acres of land, yielding an annual income of about £80.

The Humbleton Hall estate formed part of the dower of the Countess Fitzwilliam, on her marriage, in 1718, with the then Lord Milton, and continued with that family till 1811, when it was purchased by Thomas Moxon, Esq., who shortly afterwards removed the old hall, and built the present one in another situation. It subsequently belonged to the Haires, and passed thence to Alfred Lee Smith, Esq., from whom it was purchased by Lord Hotham.

Humbleton House and estate, once the residence and property of the Shutts,. now belongs to Mrs. Ada Shutt Worthington; and Humbleton Grange, formerly Grange Head, probably the grange of the Monks of Thornton Abbey, belongs to George Dickinson, Esq., of Roos.

The present Manor House is a modern structure; the residence of the ancient lords of Humbleton, stood on the west side of the church, and was demolished in 1789.

DANTHORPE, is a small township containing 737 acres, of which 726 are under assessment, and are valued at £684. The population in 1891 was 62. The soil is loamy and clayey, and a considerable portion of it is laid down in grass.

In Domesday Book, Danetorp is returned as a soke to Witfornes. In the 16th century the manor of Danthorp was held by the Wrights, of Ploughland, and it passed from them, sometime in the reign of James I., to the Thorps. About the middle of the 18th century it was purchased by the Etheringtons, one of whom, Sir Henry, left it to his niece, the Countess of Coventry; from that family the hall and estate passed by sale to William Marsdin, Esq., from whom it was. purchased, in 1878, by William Henry Wilson-Todd, Esq., the present owner. The Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, own about 109 acres of land in the township, which was purchased by the College from William Thorp in 1531. The tithe payable to the vicar is £17 12s., and to Lord Hotham, £24.

The hamlet is situated one-and-three-quarter miles south-east from Humbleton, and five-and-a-half-miles north-east from Hedon.

ELSTERNWICK, is a township in this parish containing, according to the overseers' returns, 1,154 acres; the rateable value is £1,146, and the population in 1891 was 94. The soil is chiefly clayey, and rests on marl. James Watson, Esq., Hedon, is lord of the manor of Elsternwick, but a part of the township is in the manor of Burstwick. The principal landowners are Geo. Dickinson, Esq., Roos; C. R. F. Lutwidge, Esq., Tunbridge Wells; Messrs. Peter Norrison, Elsternwick; Ed. Stamford, Burton Pidsea; Samuel Hutchinson, Lelley; W. H. Wilson-Todd, Esq., Halnaby Hall; and Mr. Thomas A. King, Swine.

The name of the place has been variously written - Asteneuuic in Domesday Book, and Elstanwyk, Elstonwick, Elstronwick, and Elsternwick in later documents.

The village is small but pleasantly situated, two miles south from Humbleton, and four-and-a-half miles north-east from Hedon station, on the Hull and Withernsea branch of the North-Eastern railway. There is mention of a chapel here as early as 1324, in which year license was granted to the inhabitants to have, at their own costs, a chantry within their chapel of St. Lawrence, at Elstanwyk. The present chapel was consecrated and right of sepulture granted in the reign of Henry VIII. It is a neat edifice, of stone, in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, and western bell turret, containing one bell, cast at the expense of Stephen Frankys, in 1505. The fabric was thoroughly restored in 1875, at the joint expense of the late John Taylor Dickinson, Esq., of Elsternwick Hall, and his brother, George Dickinson, Esq., of Roos. The west window is a memorial of the former gentleman, who died in 1875; and the east window was inserted by Margaretta Dickinson in memory of Harriet Everatt, her mother, who died in 1873. The roofs are open, and the gables of both chancel and nave are adorned with crosses. There are several memorials to the family of Bell, formerly resident here.

The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel in the village, built in 1853. The Free School for infants was erected in 1818, and is endowed with 9 acres, 16 poles of land, and three cottages. There are 13 names on the books.

FITLING, township contains 1,529 acres, valued for rating purposes at £1,177, and had in 1891, 105 inhabitants. Lord Hotham is lord of the manor, and owner of most of the land. Mr. John S. Wright, of Meaux, owns a farm here.

The manor was granted at an early period to the Knights Hospitallers, to found a chantry for the repose of the soul of the Earl of Albemarle, and of all the lords of Burstwick. The Hildyards also appear as lords of the manor, which they probably held by subinfeudation under the Hospitallers. At the Dissolution the manor reverted to the Crown. It subsequently passed through various hands; and about the beginning of the 18th century, was purchased by the Starr family. Admiral Starr, who distinguished himself in several engagements with the French fleet about the middle of last century, was born here, and held the manor. The vicarial tithes amount to £23 18s. Sd., and the impropriate tithe to £3.

The village stands about one-and-a-half miles east of Humbleton, and six-anda-half miles north-east from Hedon. Fitling Hall, once the residence of the lords and owners of the place, is now a farmhouse.

FLINTON. - This township embraces an area of 1,398 acres, its rateable value is £1,314, and the population in 1891 was 87. The soil is chiefly clayey, resting on marl. The chief proprietors are Sir F. A. Talbot Clifford-Constable, Bart. (lord of the manor); Lord Hotham, the exors. of the late Mr. Wm. Wright, of Humbleton; Mr. Benjamin Crawforth, Flinton; and the trustees of Heron's Charity.

In Domesday survey, Flintone is returned as a soke to Chilnesse (Kilnsea). The Scures of Humbleton are the earliest recorded owners of the place, and by one of them, in 1162, 13 bovates of land here were given to the Abbot of Thornton. The Hildyards possessed it in late years, and it passed from that family after the death of the widow of the late Col. Hildyard.

The village is small but pleasantly situated on the road from Hull to Aldbrough, nine miles north-east from the former, three miles south-west from the latter, and one mile north-north-west from Humbleton. The Wesleyans have a small chapel here, built in 1855. The poor have 10s. per annum left in 1657, by Wm. Meadley, out of a farm here, and they also participate in Heron's Charity (see Humbleton). The vicarial tithe of the township amounts to £40, and the impropriate tithe belonging to Lord Hotham to £19 12s.

[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.