Review of EYLHS events
Judith Spicksley
"Lincolnshire spinsters", Oriel Chambers, Hull
6 September 2008
This was one of those serendipity days that make local history such fun. 6th September was one of those typical end-of-summer Saturdays – cold, wet and overbooked. Options included a market fair in Beverley, the Sea Shanty Festival around Hull Marina, bus day at the Hull transport museum – and a talk on Lincolnshire spinsters in the Oriel Chambers. Like several people at the talk, I had booked to attend in the spring, and then spent the morning wondering if this was what I really wanted to do: Lincolnshire spinsters sounded as dull as the day, and the venue was not one I knew. How wrong – and pleasantly surprised – one can be. Not only was the talk most interesting, but the building in which it was held was a bonus. And outside one could see the old buses too!
Dr. Spicksley specialised in the social and economic role of spinsters and, for this talk, focused on those in Lincolnshire up to the 19th century. The talk gave colourful and fascinating insights into women’s lives, especially those who were unmarried. Spinster is the legal term for a woman who has never been married, but unmarried does not necessarily mean celibate; nor marginalised. Marriage (“for the procreation and education of children; to avoid fornication and for mutual support and comfort”) was important, as women were considered in danger of the fatal “green sickness” when deprived of sex. In the 17th century marriage declined because of economic difficulties and female preponderance within the population (war and migration denuded the male population: war deaths paralleled those of World War I). This led to “marriage overdrive” – single men were taxed, charities provided dowries for women under 40 and “old maids” became stock comedy figures. Marriages increased, the population grew and economics boomed.
But what was the reality for many spinsters? The very poor and very rich existed like all their class, single or married. A spinster cottager had rights to common land (pre-enclosure); with stock (cow, pig, hens) she had extra income. Fathers often left land / property / stock to their sons and cash to their daughters, thus some women became money-lenders.
After this fascinating talk Chris Mead gave us a tour of the Oriel Chambers, once busy solicitors’ chambers in the heart of Hull’s High Street, now the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation. Another excellent EYLHS day.
Jane Pietrusiak
Professor Donald Woodward
“Trinity House and the Hull Dolphin”
On Saturday 15th September 2007 Professor Donald Woodward, Honorary Archivist for the Hull Trinity House, provided a fascinating insight into the archives of the Corporation of Hull Trinity House. Donald has been a Hull resident from an early age and has been employed in archives after a career in Social and Economic History at the University of Hull. His communication with Hull Trinity House began in 1986 with his own research on labour markets in Northern England. Since 1991, he has been employed to retrospectively organise and catalogue the archives at Hull Trinity House as well as answer enquiries.
Donald provided a brief history of Hull Trinity House and how its origins lay with the Trinity Guild, which was established in 1369 to maintain Trinity Chapel (now Holy Trinity Church). By the 1450s, when the institution appeared moribund, it seems the Guild was altered to follow more closely London Trinity House’s example to house poor sailors and their wives, maintain lighthouses and ships in the River Humber (which it did until 1908) and a range of other activities. Membership is still open to anybody who has been master mariner of a British registered vessel for 3 years.
A synopsis of various sources regarding the historical organisation of Hull Trinity House was then given. These include accounts referring to navigation in the River Humber, charitable aid given to local people and information regarding expenses on commodities for domestic use such as food and coal. Further, the collections contain letters to and from important historical figures such as William Wilberforce, Andrew Marvell and Benjamin Franklin. Donald detailed interesting case studies compiled through his study of the school records of Trinity House pupils since 1787 and ships’ muster rolls which enable us to track the entire careers of specific ships during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Finally, Donald enlightened the audience as to the meaning of the ‘Hull Dolphin’ in the title of his talk. This practical piece of equipment, he explained, has been located on the River Humber near the mouth of the River Hull since the late sixteenth century. Its purpose was simple but effective – to provide a sturdy structure to which a vessel wanting to exit the shallow waters and muddy banks of the River Hull could fix a cable in order to pull itself out into the deeper waters of the River Humber.
Susan Capes
Cottingham 20 June 2007
Around 30 members assembled on Cottingham Green. With one eye on the weather and the other on our guide, Pat Elliot, we set off to explore Cottingham. Pat's theme for the walk was Hull merchants and their Cottingham houses. A copy of the 1892 OS map for the area to be explored, thoughtfully provided by Pat was a great help. Cottingham was seeing many changes from the late eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth. During this period wealthy Hull businessmen saw Cottingham as an ideal place to live and began to build palatial houses in the village and its outskirts. It soon became apparent to us that, sadly, many of these handsome Georgian houses have not survived. However, evidence of their existence can be found. Without Pat these signs could have been overlooked. How many busy shoppers, for example, are aware that the wall bordering their car park is all that remains of Kingtree House? This house built by Samuel Watson in the late 1750s was demolished in the 1960s. The list of lost houses is long; Cottingham House, Cottingham Hall, Cottingham Grange and Oakdene are a few examples.
Fortunately many are left particularly along Thwaite Street, Thwaite a clearing in a wood we were informed. Most of the houses along Thwaite Street had been acquired by the Hull University for student housing. Although not a popular act in the village it resulted in their survival. Most of them have recently returned into private hands. Holtby House, or Bainesse as it was originally called, was the home of the Holtby family after they moved from Rudston. Not a popular move with Winifred we were told.
The tour finished at Thwaite Hall, the home for many years of members of the Wilson family. Although the house was built by the Hull merchant John Hentig in 1803. The Wilsons also lived at Park House, which illustrates how the merchants moved about the village occupying each others houses. The Watson, Sykes, Thornton and Travis families along with many others participated in this housing roundabout. Following this excellent and informative tour many members took the opportunity to explore the gardens of Thwaite Hall a pleasant end to a superb walk
Mike Readhead
Northallerton, 6th June 2007
With the enthusiasm of a newcomer I booked every outing arranged by the Society this year and thoroughly enjoyed my first local trips and meetings. But Northallerton? A whole day in a town that wasn’t high on my list of must-sees, nor, apparently, of many others in the Society, judging by the limited number wanting to go?
On the actual day the weather was not propitious and the Beverley contingent clutched umbrellas and macs for warmth as well as insurance. But once on the coach life definitely brightened, especially when a comfort stop at the garden centre at Shiptonthorpe was announced. This set the tone of a good day out: coffee and cakes and other consumer delights.
Pat then issued information about Northallerton: history, shopping and maps. We arrived late morning and had some 2½ hours to explore independently before meeting our local guide in the church. Now this was lunchtime and Pat’s maps had listed several tempting eateries – pubs, cafés and restaurants – but it was also market day, so decisions had to be made. Most people ended up in Lewis & Cooper’s wonderful delicatessen, though the arcades and stalls were also appealing.
Refreshed, we gathered in the church and met our excellent guide, Mrs Allison, who showed us the highlights of Northallerton, starting with the church, continuing down the road at the site of the former castle and coming back to the houses along the old North Road opposite the church. We then continued to the Market Hall whose upper room the Victorians had turned into a spacious public meeting area and which housed several interesting trophies and mementoes and gave excellent overviews of the town and its market. By then enthusiasm was high (counterbalancing the temperature, which was low) and the majority of the group continued with our guide to the old theatre. So we both heard and saw Northallerton’s history in the best of ways, from a knowledgeable and friendly expert. There was just enough time after our tour to explore those last tempting corners – Barker’s store, Joe Cornish’s photography gallery, the arcade shops (where fine wrought iron cats could be bought …) – before returning home, some laden with swag, delighted with our day out.
For me, the best part of the day was linking an important northern town with one of the more interesting books I’ve read – Frank Morley’s “The Great North Road”, which uses the old Great North Road as a timeline through British history. Much of what he comments on is demonstrated by Northallerton: use of the road for transport and control, both military commercial, and for the spread (and occasionally suppression) of ideas. It still has a thriving market, larger church than one would expect for a small population, many coaching inns and meeting places and a variety of interesting buildings and people. All in all, a fascinating day.
Liz Grove
Visit to St James' Church, Warter 23rd May 2007
It was a lovely fine evening when a group of members gathered in the beautiful church of St James to hear Dr David Neave talk about the restored building and the Warter Priory estate.
Several years ago we enjoyed a visit to this church with the Society but we remembered the dark gloomy atmosphere as we shivered amongst the monuments. What a magnificent change for our second visit. It was well lit and warm and the interior was inviting. (As a bonus there were toilets and a nice modem kitchen). The whole atmosphere had changed. David began his talk with his obvious delight in the results of all the hard work done in recent years to bring about this wonderful restoration. In 1989 the church became redundant and as there were no prospective buyers the building was due to be demolished in 1996. Then the Yorkshire Wolds Buildings Preservation Trust stepped in and bought the church and churchyard (except for the part which is still used for burials). Their first job was to make the building watertight and to protect the windows. David said that churches are our heritage and must be preserved as meeting places for the future. In 2003 the Trust was granted half a million pounds from the lottery fund providing that the building is used as a heritage and cultural centre for the Wolds. Other donations increased the money available so that the builders, Quibells of Hull, could commence major building work and these were completed under budget as the builders had become so involved in the restoration they had formed an emotional attachment. Warter is an estate village where most of the land and property has been owned by a single owner but this ownership has passed to different families by inheritance, marriage and purchase. There has been a church from the 11 th century and an Augustinian Priory was founded in 1132. In the medieval period Warter was a thriving market centre and somewhat notorious for the `goings on' at the village fair including murders! The Priory was suppressed by Henry VIII and the lands and church were granted to the Earl of Rutland who applied to rebuild the church in 1586. The estate passed to the Stapleton family then the Penningtons (Muncaster) and the latter built Warter Priory House in the late 17th century. There were many additions and alterations up to the Victorian period. The 4th Lord Muncaster employed architects to design and build a new church (1861-63) but little if any of the old stone was used whereas the stone from the old priory church was used for buildings in the village by the 5th Lord Muncaster. In 1870 he was in Greece and was a member of a party captured by brigands. He was released to arrange a ransom but despite this being paid his fellows were murdered and his reputation suffered badly because he survived.
In 1878 the estate was sold to the Hull ship owner Charles Henry Wilson. He was a Liberal MP for Hull and became Lord Nunbumholme but sadly he only had the title for one year when he died in 1907. The family spent a great deal of money on fine memorials and stained glass for the church. One window in particular reflects the Wilsons' maritime history. A beautiful memorial of a lady lying on a pillow is dedicated to Isabel daughter of the 7th Duke of Roxburgh by her devoted husband the Hon Guy Wilson DSO . She died in childbirth in 1905 aged 26. The memorials were made by Sir George Frampton, who also carved Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Lady Nunburnholme was a well known figure who dominated village life. Their youngest child Gerald Valerian Wilson was found dead in Paris aged 23 in 1908 in mysterious circumstances.
The estate was sold to the Vestey family in 1929 and when Mr Vestey died in 1968 the estate was bought by Lord Normanby but he did not live at Warter and the house was sadly demolished in 1972. The estate was sold to the present owner Malcom Healey in 1998.
David took us for a tour of the outside of the building where we saw the magnificent roof restoration, the site of the Augustinian priory, the site of the Wilson mausoleum (demolished in 1966) and the elaborate tombs of the Nunbumholme family. Part of the churchyard is being left for wildlife but the gravestones are well preserved in particular one stone to the memory of John Oxtoby a Primitive Methodist preacher known as `Praying Johnny' who died in 1830 aged 63. We then followed David on a short walk to the War Memorial with its unusual carvings on the site of the markets to look at the famous thatched cottages built in the 1930s originally known as the Barracks, and Manor Farm and Ludhill House before walking down a lane to see the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel built in 1878 in front of the original 1820 chapel on the only half acre of land not owned by the estate. David pointed out various kinds of estate cottages, the school and the site of the abortive 19th century coalmine which the family had hoped would be productive.
Finally we returned to the church where David's wife Susan provided us with very welcome refreshments. A most enjoyable evening.
Pam Walgate
Living on the Margin - settlement development in the Lincolnshire Marsh - Illustrated Lecture by Helen Fenwick, Department of History, University of Hull, at Peter Harrison Room, Beverley, Saturday, 2.15pm, 12th May 2007
Pat Aldabella introduced Helen Fenwick, who is working towards completion of her PhD on this subject, to about 30 members and guests, including several new members.
Helen Fenwick told us that she would present highlights from her PhD thesis, and mentioned that our visit yesterday to Saltmarshe Hall was in fact to reclaimed land. She was inspired to undertake her PhD on settlement in the Lincolnshire Marsh partly through having read a survey of the Marsh published in 2001, and she has spent seven years on it, part time. Although a lot of work has been done on the geology and population patterns of East Yorkshire, less has been carried out south of the Humber in Lincolnshire. In her thesis Helen attempts to bring together all kinds of research and records, including but not limited to geology, paleoenvironmental surveys, aerial photographs, tithe and enclosure maps and the Domesday survey. She referred to maps of two villages dated 1595, and the Lindsay Survey (30 years after Domesday Book) provides information on population change and wealth. The Diocesan Return of 1563 to which she also referred, detailed the number of households in villages for the Church.
Helen has been concentrating on the reactions of people to changes in sea level over the centuries and how they interacted with the landscape. The area covered in her work stretches from Grimsby to Wainfleet, south of Skegness, up to the Humber estuary, over part of the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Fenlands. Archeological work started in the area in the 1930s, as it is and has been hard to gain access, particularly in very marshy areas. Helen identified three longitudinal zones - high chalkland, middle marsh never flooded by the sea, and outmarsh which was flat, with no cliff edge and was frequently flooded by the sea. Soil and stones from melted glaciers has been dropped on the landscape and makes it bumpy - many lakes formed in the hollows left behind after the Ice Age 10,000 years ago.
The settlers who lived in this area left behind place names - Romans and Vikings among others. Near Skegness a very large sea salt industry arose during Roman times. The roots of the word "salary" mean salt and this was paid as wages to Roman soldiers.
Climate change is nothing new. The sea rose and fell many times over the centuries from Neolithic times, and people reacted to this by living in areas made available when the sea level dropped, and retreating as the sea level rose.
Chris Mead gave a comprehensive vote of thanks, mentioning many of the points Helen Fenwick had raised in her Powerpoint presentation.
Jane Pietrusiak
Saltmarshe Hall, near Goole, Friday evening, 11th May 2007
Over 50 members and guests arrived under their own steam at the beautiful grounds and house of Saltmarshe Hall on a rainy and overcast evening to enjoy the extensive flower gardens, kitchen garden and ponds, and for a most interesting talk by Mrs Sally Bean on the history of the house. She and her husband live at the Hall, with views over the countryside from the house, and a short walk from the side of the River Ouse. We were served light refreshments in a room full of windows, previously used as a billiards room, as we listened to Sally Bean's talk.
The house, built in stages during the nineteenth century, is the third on the site. A brewery and other buildings were demolished when the Beans bought the house, and the stable block is now used for other purposes. The ice house is an unusual feature - a semi-circular windowless protrusion from the rear of the stable block. It was more usual for ice houses to be situated away from the house, partly underground, such as at Normanby Hall in Lincolnshire. There is also a game larder in the grounds.
Due to the unusually warm spring this year the gardens were in bloom with next month's flowers and Sally was concerned that the many parties of gardening enthusiasts which she welcomes for charity, including the National Gardens Scheme and the Red Cross, might be disappointed.
The Hall, some of the original plans for which, dated in the 1840s, were available us to inspect, is built on a square plan, with high-ceilinged square rooms around a central hallway. A fine cantilevered staircase bears ornate balusters and a glossy wooden handrail - perhaps using the skills of the many ships' carpenters in the Hull area. In constructing the house earth was banked up to conceal the cellars and to enable the front door, embellished with steps and columns, to be at ground level; the former kitchens at the rear have good light on the basement level and a courtyard with plants to look out on. The present kitchen on the ground floor was formerly a gun room. A ferry crossing used to be by the house and indeed the house is built on a mound to avoid possible flooding by the river.
Documents and plans of the Hall may be inspected at the East Ridng of Yorkshire Archives, The Treasure House, Beverley.
Pam Martin gave a vote of thanks to Sally Bean and her husband for her comprehensive talk and their hospitality during our visit.
Jane Pietrusiak
AGM, Saturday 31 March 2007
After the AGM on Saturday 31 March at the Library, King Street, Bridlington, Mike Sewell gave an illustrated talk entitled:
`Through the East Riding in the steps of Queen Henrietta Maria'.
Mike started by putting the topic of his talk into its historical setting with a short reminder of the ancestors of Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria, their marriage and religious problems, and the political situation of the times and why Henrietta Maria came to Bridlington
In February 1642, when Civil War looked inevitable Queen Henrietta Maria left England for the Netherlands, taking her jewels. Over the next year, by selling jewels she raised a large amount of money which financed several convoys of weapons and ammunition and a company of professional soldiers to fight for the King. She set sail from Holland on 2nd Feb 1643 escorted by Dutch Naval vessels hoping to make for Newcastle but was forced, after several days at sea in a storm, into Bridlington Bay. After remaining at anchor for two days, the ships entered the harbour and the Queen took shelter in a house nearby, most likely on the corner of the present Queen Street and Queen's Square.
During the night four Parliamentarian ships sailed into the bay and began bombarding the harbour and adjoining houses. Mike then related the events of that night as described by the Queen in a letter to Charles. She had to take shelter in a ditch which is assumed to be the Gypsey Race, a stream flowing from the Wolds out into Bridlington Harbour.
The Parliamentarian ships sailed away after being threatened by the Dutch Admiral and the arms and ammunitions were unloaded onto 500 carts. Queen Henrietta Maria stayed several days in Bridlington district and Mike showed slides of buildings in the area which she could possibly have seen. The main buildings that have survived from that time are some of the large houses and of course the churches.
The Queen and her entourage, soldiers and carts all set off for York across East Yorkshire, initially following the course of the Gypsey Race and stopping at Royalist houses along the way. Mike showed slides of the churches in the villages that she would have passed through. It is not known exactly at which houses she stayed over night but it is certain that she stayed at North Burton House on 5th March as this is documented.
She reached York safely on 8thMarch 1643.
Judith Bull