Shipton-thorpe Parish information from Bulmers' 1892.

SHIPTON-THORPE:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1892.

Wapentake of Harthill (Holme Beacon Division) - Petty Sessional Division of Holme Beacon - Poor Law Union and County Court District of Pocklington - Rural Deanery of Weighton - Archdeaconry of the East Riding - Diocese of York.

This parish comprises the townships of Shipton and Thorpe-le-Street, which were formed into a distinct ecclesiastical parish in 1876. Prior to that year the former was a chapelry under Market Weighton, and the latter a township in the parish of Nunburnholme. The parish is intersected by the York, Market Weighton, and Beverley branch of the North-Eastern railway. The nearest station is Londesborough, which is situated within the township of Shipton, two miles west-by-north from Market Weighton. This township contains 1,474 acres of land; it is valued for rating purposes at £2,415, and had in 1891 a population of 423. The soil is a variable mixture of sand, gravel, and clay, and the chief crops are wheat, barley, and turnips. The principal landowners are the Earl of Londesborough, who is lord of the manor; the trustees of Mr. William Quarton; Anthony Berriman, Pocklington; John Henry Smith, Esq., Shipton; William Smith; Thomas Coates, Esq., Full Sutton; and the Misses Mary and Elizabeth Boyes, York.

The village is pleasantly situated on the high road, one-and-three-quarter miles north-west of Market Weighton. The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient stone building, dating from the Norman period. It consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and an embattled west tower, with pinnacles, containing two bells. The edifice was restored in 1883, at a cost of £876, raised by subscription. The architect was Mr. James Demaine of York. The floor was re-laid with wood blocks and encaustic tiles, the interior re-seated with benches of pitchpine, and a new roof fixed. On the old roof were found the dates 1631 and 1649, indicating repairs in those years. Several curiously carved corbels, taken out of the walls during the restoration, have been placed in various positions in the interior, and show the antiquity of the building; other stones found presented unmistakeable evidence in their burnt red appearance of having been at some time or other exposed to fire. The south porch has been rebuilt of stone. It encloses an early Norman door, enriched with beak-head ornaments somewhat rudely carved. The aisle extends the whole length of the nave and chancel, and is separated therefrom by pointed arches springing from circular pillars. The pulpit is carved pitchpine. The carved stone font was given by the architect, the communion chairs by Mr. John Myers and his sister, and the brass lectern by Mrs. Forge. There are 165 sittings. The registers date from the year 1675. The living is a vicarage, net value, £250, in the gift of the Archbishop of York, and held by the Rev. Thomas Charles Westmorland, M.A., St. Peter's College, Cambridge. The Vicarage House, which stands about a quarter of a mile from the church, was built in 1877, and cost, including the purchase of the site, £1,500.

There are chapels in the village for Wesleyans, dated 1833, and Primitive Methodists, dated 1867. The latter is a neat brick building, and superseded an older one, erected in 1834.

The National school was built in 1872, for the accommodation of 70 children, and has an average attendance of 56. It is endowed with two yearly rent-charges; one, £5 14s., was left by John Hutchinson, in 1714, and is payable out of land belonging to S. Ramsdale, Esq.; and the other, £2, was left in 1742, and is paid from the Rivis estate, in the parish of Sancton. There are 10 free scholars, who are elected every Good Friday. These scholars were formerly provided with caps from a rent-charge of 10s. per annum, left for the purpose by Thomas Meedson, but this charity has been lost.

Robert Ireland, a famous jumper, died here in 1815, and this place is also said to have given birth and name to Mother Shipton, whose prophecies are known throughout the length and breadth of the land.

THORPE-LE-STREET is a township, formerly in the parish of Nunburnholme, containing 720 acres of land, which belongs to Lord Herries, who is lord of the manor, Everingham Park; the Earl of Londesborough; and the Rev. Francis Orpen Morris, M.A., J.P., Nunburnholme Rectory. The rateable value is £774, and the number of inhabitants 38. The soil is a loamy gravel, and the chief crops are wheat, barley, and turnips. The hamlet consists of a few houses on the York and Hull road, about three-and-a-half miles west from Market Weighton.

[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.