Roos Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

ROOS:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Holderness (Middle Division) - County Council Electoral Division of Withernsea - Petty Sessional Division of Middle Holderness - - Poor Law Union of Patrington - County Court District of Hedon - Rural Deanery of Hedon - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

The extent of this parish is returned at 2,416 acres, the rateable value is £3,393, and the number of inhabitants in 1891 was 492. The surface is generally level, and the soil and subsoil are clay. George Dickinson, Esq., is the principal landowner. Lord Hotham, of Dalton Holme; Mrs. Crust, of Beverley (who is also lady of the manor); Joseph Johnson, Withernsea; and Samuel Woodhouse, Esq., Roos, have estates in the parish; and there are also 335 acres of glebe.

Roos, or Ros, gave name to a family of warriors who figure most conspicuously in all the military movements of feudal ages. They formed alliances with the highest families in the land, and their escutcheon bore the most honoured distinctions in heraldry. Peter de Roos, who died in 1155, married Adelina, sister and co-heir of Walter L'Espec, lord of Hamlake (Helmsley), which thenceforth became the principal residence of the family. Robert de Roos, nicknamed Tursan, equivalent to Turncoat, was the favourite and companion in arms of the Lion-hearted Richard, and in 1196 accompanied that king to Normandy. In a passage of arms, between the followers of the King of France and those of the King of England, Hugh de Chaumont, a valiant and wealthy French knight and a very intimate friend of the King of France, was taken prisoner and delivered to the King of England. Richard handed him over to the custody of De Roos, who gave him into the charge of William de L'Espinay, his retainer, to keep him in the castle of Bonneville-sur-Touque. De L'Espinay kept negligent guard over his prisoner, who one night descended from the wall and escaped. Richard, enraged at this want of vigilance, imprisoned De Roos, and fined him 1,200 marks of silver as the price of his ransom. In the following reign Robert de Roos was one of the barons who wrung from the despot, John, the great charter of English liberty, and he was one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of its provisions. He married Isabel, daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland, and after her death he assumed the habit of the order of Knights Templars, and was buried in Temple Church, London. His grandson was one of the competitors for the crown of Scotland in 1291. He was the second Baron de Ros, or Roos. William, the fourth baron, led the second division at the celebrated battle of Crecy - one of the most glorious victories ever won by English arms. William, the seventh baron, was Lord Treasurer of England, in the reign of Henry Iv. Thomas, the 10th baron, fought with Margaret of Anjou for her weak-minded husband at the battle of Hexham, where he was captured, attainted, and beheaded in 1464. Subsequently the manor and barony of De Ros passed by the female side to the earls of Rutland, and afterwards in the same manner to the Cecils, with whom it remained till 1709, when it was purchased by Mark Kirby, Esq., of Hull, from whom it descended to his son-in-law, Richard Sykes, Esq., of Sledmere. In 1867 Mr. York, who had inherited the property of his uncle, the Rev. Christopher Sykes, of Roos, sold this estate (about 1,100 acres) to George Dickinson, Esq. The manorial rights were purchased by Mr. Crust, whose widow is now lady of the manor.

The village of Roos is pleasantly situated on an eminence 14 miles east from Hull, eight miles east from Hedon, and four miles from the stations of Ottringham and Withernsea, on the Hull and Withernsea branch of the North-Eastern railway. The church of All Saints is delightfully situated within the rectory grounds, through which it is approached by an avenue of yew trees and a flight of 15 stone steps. The edifice is built of rubble and freestone, and is chiefly in the Perpendicular style, with some portions belonging to the Early English and Decorated periods. It consists of chancel with a north chapel, nave, aisles, west porch, and an embattled western tower, containing three bells. In the chancel is a brass plate, bearing the following inscription : - " To the Glory of God, at his sole expense, the Rev. Charles Hotham, M.A., Rector of this parish, restored this church, A.D. 1842." This restoration included the rebuilding of the aisles, the repairing of the interior and refurnishing it in oak, and the erection of a porch at the west front of the tower. A new organ chamber was built on the north side of the chancel in 1881, at a cost of £200, and a new organ, by Reiter, of Hull, placed therein at a further expense of £260. The interior, with its high clerestory, beautiful stained-glass windows, fine arcades, and elegant oak furniture, presents a handsome appearance. There are two sedilia and a piscina in the chancel. The east window, of five lights, is a memorial of the Rev. Charles Hotham, late rector of the parish, erected by his widow, daughter of the late Rev. Christopher Sykes, lord of Roos; and in the north wall of the chancel there is a three-light window, filled with stained glass, in memory of Lawrence Stephenson, who died in 1889. There is another three-light stained-glass window in the north aisle, in memory of John E. Dickinson, Esq., who died in 1875, erected by his attached friend, Christopher Sykes, Esq., M.P. At the east end of this aisle is a small two-light window in memory of Alice Dickinson, who died in 1874, erected by her sister, Jane Dickinson. A tablet in the chancel records the memory of the Rev. Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., of Sledmere, who was rector of this parish 48 years, and died in 1783; also of Dame Decima, his wife, who died in 1793; also of Sir Christopher Sykes, Bart., LL.D., of Sledmere, and Dame Elizabeth, his wife. A window, formerly in the chancel, now in the organ chamber, has four shields, bearing the arms of the lord of the seigniory and three barons of Roos. The chantry chapel, now used as a vestry, appears to be of the same age as the chancel. Above it is a priest's chamber, with a window looking into the chancel, and approached by a spiral staircase within a turret, at the south-west angle. The pulpit, bearing the date of 1615, has been recently restored, at the expense of the Rev. Canon Machell. The registers date from 1571, and the portion from that year to 1678 has been transcribed by the above reverend gentleman, and published by Messrs. Brown & Sons, of Hull. It contains many curious entries, and shows that the art of writing was an exceptional accomplishment in the reign of James I., as the churchwardens repeatedly sign with their marks. The great plague which traversed this country in 1585-92 visited Roos in the spring of 1589, and 27 deaths are registered in the month of April.

The living is an ancient rectory, formerly in the patronage of Kirkham priory, now in the gift of Sir Tatton Sykes, Bart., and held by the Rev. Edward Milsom, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. It is valued in the Liber Regis at £19, and is now worth about £400 nett. The tithes were commuted in 1783; present value £167.

The Rectory is a spacious residence of white brick, built by the Rev. Christopher Sykes in 1820, and surrounded by large pleasure grounds and gardens.

There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels in the village. The former was built in 1808, and restored about 25 years ago; the latter was built in 1868, at a cost of £350, in lieu of one erected in 1836. The school, formerly in three separate departments, was re-modelled in 1866, and converted into a mixed one. A new main room, 50 feet by 20 feet, was built, and the old boys' school was converted into a class room; the infant school was added to the master's house, and the old girls' school is going to decay. There is accommodation for 125 boys and girls and 68 infants, and there are 77 children in average attendance. The school district includes the townships of Roos, Hilston, and Tunstall, and a voluntary rate of twopence in the pound is paid by each towards its support. Mr. Charles Silversides, the present master, has held the position since 1844.

The church lands comprise about 10 acres, left by unknown donors, the rents of which, after providing for the repair of four small cottages, in which four widows reside rent free, go to the church fund. Two small cottages, formerly used for the same purpose, have been converted into a reading room.

OWSTWICK is a township containing 1,330 acres of land, partly in this parish and partly in that of Garton. The rateable value is £1,014, and the population in 1891 was 89. The soil varies, but is generally a strong loam; the chief crops are wheat, oats, beans, and peas, with a fair average amount of pasture. Christopher Sykes, Esq., M.P., of Thorpe Hall, Brantingham, is the principal landowner. Among the lesser proprietors are Mr. John Lamplugh, Sherburn; Rev. Canon George Bateson Blenkin, Vicarage, Broston; Mr. Thomas Kirk, Owstwick; and Clare College, Cambridge.

In Domesday Survey Hostewick is included with Hilston, and is returned as a soke belonging to Kilnsea. In some later documents it is styled a manor, but it is doubtful whether any manorial rights or privileges exist at the present day. The tithe is assigned, £146 10s. to the Rector of Roos, and £16 15s. to the Vicar of Garton.

The hamlet consists of seven scattered farmhouses and about a dozen cottages, situated one-and-a-half miles north-west of Roos, and about thirteen east-north-east of Hull. Ryehill and Ottringham, six miles distant, are the nearest railway stations. There is a small Wesleyan Chapel here, converted out of a cottage; the Meeting House of the Friends, erected about the year 1670, has long been disused as such, and is now converted into a Church of England Sunday School. In the adjoining burial ground lie many members of the families of Storr, Stickney, Foster, and other members of the Society. The last interment was that of William Stickney, of Ridgmount, on the ninth day of July, 1848.

Owstwick Hall and estate (153½ acres), formerly known as Storr Hill, passed from the Storr family to T. H. Harrison, and from that gentleman to Daniel Brown, from whom it was purchased in 1883 by Mr. Thomas Kirk, the present owner.

[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.