Whitton, North Lincolnshire - notes on the history of a village.
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48 AD In the Beginning....
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The
little village of Whitton by the River Humber must
have existed long before its first written appearance
in Domesday Book. After Claudius’ invasion of Britain in 43 AD , the Roman IXth Legion advanced north and reached the south bank of the Humber by 48 AD. Here the Romans halted to consolidate their rule in the south, before crossing the Humber northwards in 71 AD to complete the conquest. Could Whitton have originated at this time, first as a military camp and then later as a Roman villa on the Cliff Top with its temple a few yards to the east, where the Church now stands ? Perhaps Whitton was a landing stage on the south bank for the Roman fort of Petuaria Parisorum at Brough across the river. Roman coins of Claudius Gothicus (268-270 AD) and Constantine 1 (309-337AD) have been found in the fields. Nikolaus Pevsner tells us (The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, London, 1989, p.797) that the Church tower 're-uses massive blocks of Roman stone', but these blocks of millstone grit which are to be found in several local churches (e.g. neighbouring Winteringham) may have been sailed down the Ouse and the Humber from York where Roman buildings were being dismantled or may even have come from some sort of triumphal arch or structure (perhaps like the Arch of Constantine), which might have stood at the end of Ermine Street... |
| In
1998 researchers from Hull University discovered
major concentrations of Roman finds to the south of
Ings Lane, near to the 5 metre contour line.
Rectangular crop marks are clearly seen at certain
times of the year. Perhaps before the river was embanked, the Humber flooded the low lying land immediately to the east of Whitton and a Roman settlement stood on a forgotten ‘shore’ where now winter wheat grows.... |
 Roman enamelled pin found at Whitton |
| 410
AD By 410 the last remaining soldiers had left
Britain to defend Rome and Whitton ceased to be part
of the Roman Empire..... As the local administration
collapsed the inhabitants probably returned to the
countryside, and reverted to the self-sufficient
lifestyle of the pre-Roman era..... But soon there
were more visitors to Whitton, as from about ... 450 AD Anglo-Saxon settlers began to arrive in the Humber estuary. (right) (Evidence of Anglo-Saxon burial practices, including oak coffins with elaborate metal fittings has recently been discovered in a Chapel Lane garden.) The early inhabitants of Whitton will have fed themselves by growing familiar crops like wheat, oats, barley, rye, peas and beans, supplemented by, fishing, hunting and wild fowling. Wild animals for food could have been got from a variety of places in the village, including the marsh and shore below the settlement as well as the woodland, and the river and estuary waters of the Humber. Whitton's diet might even have included dolphin, porpoise and whale - bones of these have been dug up at nearby Flixborough. They could have been obtained directly by hunting in the river, or from beaching sites along the shore.
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Whatever the truth is, all is silence until......
| 1086 Domesday
Book 'Land of Henry de Ferreres. Manor - In
Witenai Siward Barn had twelve carucates of taxable
land. There is land for 8 ploughs. Saswalo, Henry's
man has 2 ploughs. Ten villagers and four
smallholders and thirty freemen have five ploughs.
There is 300 acres of meadow. Before 1066 it was worth £10, now £7. Exactions £3.' |
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Notes: The very high proportion of freemen may indicate that Whitton was a settlement of Danes amongst the people that they had conquered, and the 5 ploughs (= 40 oxen) shows that they were poorly provided with oxen, as 2 or 3 per person would have been more usual. |
| Henry de Ferreres was the Lord
of Longueville in Normandy; He had a castle at
Tutbury, Staffs and was a Domesday commissioner. He
had large holdings in Derby and also in 14 other
counties. He was an ancestor of the earls of Derby.
Saswalo seems to have held tenancies of Henry de
Ferreres at Hough, Hatton and Etwall (DBY),
Titchmarsh (NTH) as well as here at Whitton. A ferry is not mentioned at Whitton, although Domesday Book mentions ferries, on the Humber, at Winteringham, Barton and South Ferriby. The 'worth' of a manor was an estimate of the money its lord would receive annually from his peasants. |
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1086 Whitton a 'White Island' on the River Humber
The similarly named
villages in Cleveland and Suffolk could mean 'white farmstead'
or 'farmstead of a man called 'Hwita', but our Whitton -
Whitton on the Humber - Witenai 1086 (Domesday Book) probably
means 'White Island' from OE hwit-êg where 'êg' indicates 'island',
or 'dry ground in a marsh'.
Land relatively high by comparison with its neighbouring
terrain, or marshy, and surrounded on three sides by water
might now be referred to as a peninsular but in former times
the word 'island' also had that meaning
.......... and 'white' because of the
limestone, fossil filled, rock which must have been found
everywhere the inhabitants tried to cultivate their crops.
Note :
But Prof. Kenneth Cameron in 'The Place Names of
Lincolnshire ' Part 6 favoured the old English personal
name 'Hwita' as he believed Whitton was not chalky enough to
be 'white'.
| By
about 1115 (The Lindsey Survey) the village is
called Witena, and in... 1179 the place is referred to as Wihitene in the Charter Rolls. By the year .... 1276 Rotuli hundredorum gives Whiten. |
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1197-1215 Whitton
church seems to have been dedicated, some time between
these years, by Robert, Bishop of Bangor. According to a note
in the Welbeck Abbey chartulary (Harl. MS. 3640, fol 25d),
the Bishop consecrated three altars; the high altar in honour
of St. John Baptist, an altar in the body of the church (in
corpore ecclesie) in honour of the Blessed Mary the
Mother of God, and an altar in the north aisle in honour of
St. Mary Magdalene.
Source: A History of the County of Nottingham: Volume 2
(1910), pp. 129-38.
Notes: Robert de
Shrewsbury was Bishop of Bangor from 1197 to 1215. This is
the only reference to a north aisle.
1278 Bishop of
Lincoln's Visitation to Wyten
Wyten - Abbas de Welbeck habet in proprios usus. Robertus
vicarius sexagenarius ; institutus presbiter xij annis
elapsis.
Whitton - Owned by the Abbot of Welbeck (in
Nottinghamshire). Robert the vicar is about 60 years old
and was appointed parish priest 12 years ago.
Records of Richard Gravesend, Bishop of Lincoln 1278/9.
1332 Whitton's Lay Subsidy
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The
Lay Subsidy of 1332 gives us a first look at the
names of some actual Whitton people. It is a list of those people who had to pay a proportion of the value of their property in tax, in the time of King Edward III. From the late 1100s until 1334,
personal property taxes (levies based on moveable
goods, rather than land ) were determined and
collected by local assessors who kept detailed
accounts to present to the Exchequer. The lay subsidy
rolls of 1332 were enacted by Parliament on 9 Sep
1332 in order to fund "great and arduous affairs
in Ireland and elsewhere." Notes 'filius' means son, 'uxor' means wife and 'sutor' may mean that the man was a shoe maker. It is
interesting to see the surname 'Bygot' in the list as
this family name was still in Whitton at the time of
the 1642 Protestation Return. The name might be
derived from an oath.. |
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Villagers harrowing in
Lincolnshire in 1340 - from the Luttrell Psalter |
1342 French spies
in Whitton ? On March 20th 1342 King Edward III issued,
"An Order to the bailiffs of Whitene to make diligent
scrutiny of all those who come to Whitene for a
passage……..as the king has learned that there are
several spies upon his secrets in England, and others who
send letters to France and elsewhere to forewarn the King's
enemies."
Source: Calendar of Close Rolls 1341-43, p 485. This
Order was sent to all ports in the kingdom.
1349 The Black
Death By the middle of the 14th century Lincolnshire was
one of the richest and most populous parts of England, but a
series of bad harvests had caused famine and increased the
chances of plague. The Black Death of 1349 was the most
devastating of a long series of these scourges. Because we
have no records of burials in Whitton churchyard from that
time, we do not know how many Whitton people perished in the
Black Death, but it may have been from a third to a half of
the village.
This was the time that many villages in North Lincolnshire
disappeared completely - Haytheby just west of West
Halton, Sawcliffe, High Risby and Low Risby
north of Scunthorpe may have disappeared at this time.
| 1400
The third Church Bell 'The 3rd bell is thought
to have been brought from Welton on the other side of
the Humber and that tradition is confirmed by the
fact that there is still in that Church, a bell
precisely similar to this in the lettering: +MARIA
MATER DEI EST NOMEN MEUM+. This inscription at
Whitton presents the peculiarity of two crosses close
together where the beginning and end of the
inscription approach each other.' - Rev J.T.
Fowler, 1 Aug 1845 Notes :This bell is thought to date from about the year 1400 and may have been cast in York by John Potter. The latin means 'My name is Mary the mother of God'. The two other bells bear the inscriptions : 'Daniel Hedderly made me in 1742' and 'John Walker C.W. 1742' and are 24 inches and 25 3/4 inches in diameter respectively. Daniel Hedderly was born in Hanbury, Staffs was a bellfounder in Lincoln and died there in 1766. The three bells hang in a wooden frame from wooden headstocks on plain bearings. At the moment they are judged to be in a dangerous condition and only one bell is rung. Click to see the church bells |
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| The 'Passing-Bell Within living memory the 'Passing-Bell' was rung to announce the death of a Whitton parishioner. The number of times that the bell chimed would indicate to the village who had died - three chimes for a child, six for a woman and nine for a man, then, after a break of a few seconds, the bell would ring again and Whitton would know the age of the deceased from the number of chimes which followed..... |  |
1519 July. Report
of an inspection by the Diocese of Stow
- Vicarius ibidem est canonicus de Welbeck. Exhibet omnia.
Cimiterium non est bene clausum. Vicaria dimmitur laico.
Vicarius tamen residet et bene facit. Cancellus est
defectiuus.
Notes: The report is written in medieval latin, but seems to
say that the vicar was a canon from Welbeck Priory in Notts,
who had succeeded a lay member of the order; he lived in
Whitton and was doing a good job; that the churchyard was not
properly enclosed and that the chancel was substandard in
some way.
The Abbot and Convent of Welbeck were then proprietors of the
village, but were expelled from Welbeck in 1539 and perhaps
lost Whitton at the same time.
1546 "Whitton
Registers commence in 1546, but have been for a great many
years in such an unhappy condition that it would be well, if
anyone having the time and ability to copy them would do so,
before they get further perished. "- Parish Magazine
1887
The first few, readable, marriages from the Whitton register
are shown below - there were still members of the Waddingham
family in the village some 400 years later:
| 1546
..., Robert and Elzabeth SAWER 1562 BEALE, George and Johan HAMMILTON 1564 SOUTH, Henry and Margaret WADINGHAM 1566 GLEFEILD, John and Margaret MOORE 1567 STAYNTON, John and Elzabeth MOTE 1567 BEALE, George and Margery RIDLEY 1567 DAVYS, Stephen and Elzabeth FORMAN 1568 WESTOBYE, Robert and Elzabeth RAMSEY 1569 HARRYSON, Jonat and Johan ... 1570 PELTER, Henry and Mary ENGLE 1571 LUDDINGTON, Robert and Alyson LAINGLEY |
1572
WADDINGHAM, and Margaret W. 1572 FENWICKE, and Eme WRIGHT 1573 JOHNSTON, William and ... DANYELL 1574 COOKE, and Elzabeth SLATOR 1574 COOKE, William and Isable CROSBYE 1575 MANNERS, Anthonye and Margaret STAINFOURTH 1575 ROBINSON, Cycilye and Thomas ... 1575 THOMPSON, William and Janie BREWER 1576 JAMES, Robert and Alyson BIGOT 1576 RAMSEY, Thomas and Ellin BENSON |
The Registers are
supposed to contain the names of as many as 1,800 men and
women that have been buried in Whitton churchyard. How many
then since the foundation of the Church - 3000 or 4000 ? The
level of the churchyard above the surrounding land makes such
high numbers seem very plausible.
(The Registers are now held at Lincolnshire Archives Office).
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1558
The last Catholic priest of Whitton ? Stephen Thomson clericus died in December 1558 and his Probate Inventory, besides mentioning the usual 'fetherbedes', 'sylver spones' and 'puter pottes', lists a 'sallytt' and a 'halberd'. This priest had lived through the years of Henry VIII's Reformation and the reigns of his children, the boy king Edward VI, the Catholic leaning Mary and he dies only days into Queen Elizabeth's rule. Perhaps he was the last Catholic priest in Whitton and he had needed those items of self-defence during the turbulent times which he had seen..... |
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1578 10 Jan George Waude (also called Woade or Wade) is ordained priest of Whitton by the Bishop of Lincoln. In 1598 he was described as being not a graduate, or a preacher, but of good behaviour, married, resident in Whitton and 'hospitable'. In 1602 he says the number of villagers taking communion is one hundred and the following year the church is said to be 'in reasonable good case, both for repayre and decencie in the keapinge'. He died in 1607 and was succeeded by William Walshe.
1642 Protestation
Return for Whitton A list of males over 18 in the village,
who professed to be protestants, which seems to have been
everybody... 46 different surnames. 58 names in total.
An estimate of Whitton's population may be worked out by
doubling (to include women) and adding an estimated 40% to
account for those under 18 - which gives 162; not too
different from today's 180.
Taken on Saturday 5th
and Monday 7th March.
'None of our towne above the aige of eightene years have
refused.'
| Anderson,
John Bainton, Thomas Beale, George, sen. Beck, Robert Bell, George Bell, Peter Bell, William Bishopp, Henry Browne, Robert Browne, George Browne,Francis , Constable Bygott, Richard Bygott, Richard Bygott, Michael Bygott, John Bygott, William Bygot, George Easton, William Etherington, James |
Furley,
John Garthom, Richard Grant, Thomas Hailes, John Harland, Thomas,Churchwarden Harrison, Robert Hart, Robert Helroys, Gervas Esq * Herron, John Hood, George Lindley, Robert Maison, Stephen Martin, George Newbie, Richard Porte, George Post, Abraham Potton, William Ramsey, George Ramsey, William Ridley, George |
Robinson,
William Settles, Richard Sharpe, George Simpson, Christopher Snickler, Edward Snowden, William Storme, Anthony Thomas, Nicholas Thornton, George, jun, Churchwarden Thornton, George, sen. Tingle, Hugh, Minister Tingle, Simon Townsend, John Walker, John, Overseer Waller, William Welche, Timothy Whittington, George Williams, John Winter, John |
| * Perhaps a son of Sir Gervase Elwes or Helwys, (bap. 1561, hanged 1615), court official and convicted accessory to the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.(see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.) The surname is variously spelled Helwysse, Helvis, Helwys and Elwaies at this time. A Jane Elwyse was baptised in Whitton on 30th Jan 1618. |
1653 From the
Churchwardens' Accounts
"Collected in the parishe Church of Whitton
the 21st day of August 1653 for ye inhabitants of Marlborough,
ye some of xiiij s viij d and payd into ye hands of Matt Gere
chosen Constable. Jo Dugdaile Minister ibid"
Note : The 14/8d ( 73p) was collected for the people
of Marlborough, Wiltshire as a great fire had destroyed the
centre of that town on 28th April 1653.
1660 From Whitton's
Parish Register
" John, son of Thomas Norton baptised September 15th;
the said John was buried the same day."
1664 "Feb 28th burialle Sir Edmund Skerne, Knight"
Note: Perhaps this was the same Sir Edmund who lived
at Hayton near Market Weighton, across the river.
| 1667
A Whitton Trade Token. From the late 1640s to the
late 1670s, during the turbulent period of the
Commonwealth and the first part of the restored reign
of Charles II, there was a shortage of small change
in circulation. Traders produced trade tokens, which
were privately produced substitutes for official
coins. Seen here (right ) is the obverse of a half
penny one used in Whitton. It is 19.5mm in diameter. Obverse : Clockwise round the rim from the top IN . WHITTON . 1667 In the centre is an image of St George and the Dragon. Reverse: GEORGE . BEALE and, in the centre HIS HALF PENY The prosperous Beale family were in Whitton for well over 100 years -see 1546 and 1642, above. |
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George
Beale born 1624, married Elizabeth Thornton in
1644 and died in Whitton in 1684. In his will he left
£5 to the poor of the village as well as £5 to
Alkborough's poor and 20/- to the poor of West Halton.
His Probate Inventory values his goods at £587-14-6
( £60 thousand, today ) and shows that he owned many
sheep and cattle both in Whitton and Alkborough and
also, one sixteenth part of a boat, 'a vessell called
hopewell' worth £22. (see below) It is fascinating to speculate on the trade of George Beale in Whitton. Perhaps he was an innkeeper at the sign of the 'George and Dragon'. |
1676 The Compton
Census was an ecclesiastical census taken in 1676 and
named after Henry Compton, the Bishop of London. The adults (i.e.
people over the age of 16) of each parish were recorded as either
Conformists, Papists, or Non-conformists .
Whitton - 56 Conformists; 0 Papists; 3 Non-conformists, and
for interest :
West Halton - 138 Conformists; 0 Papists; 4 Non-conformists
Alkborough 161 - Conformists; 0 Papists; 0 Non-conformists
Historians regard this census as a valuable source for
estimating the population, but if one accepts their current
idea that the proportion of the population over 16 in the
parish was between 60% and 70%, a simple calculation gives
the total population of Whitton as a surprisingly low 91,
of West Halton 218 and of Alkborough 248.
Perhaps Whitton's low population was the result of a series
of epidemics, which can be inferred from parish register
entries. Between 1660 and 1679, there were 25 more deaths
than births recorded. There had been as many as 100
communicants in 1603.
1678 A manuscript in the Guildhall Library in London lists Whitton parish as contributing towards the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, which had been burnt down in 1666.
| 1679
The Plague in Whitton ? Four or five names per year, appear in the Whitton Burial Registers around this time, but in the five weeks between 21st November and 30th December 1679 there are thirteen deaths recorded - a very large number for such a small village. The years 1657-59, 1670 and 1678-80 were similarly morbid and in each of these periods about one sixth of Whitton's population died . This might have been the last gasp of bubonic plague which had brought death on a massive scale from 1348 to about 1679 and which then mysteriously disappeared, but other diseases prevalent in England at this period were smallpox, dysentery, measles, cholera and 'ague'. |
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| Neighbouring Winteringham had a large number of deaths in 1679/80 of which many were attributed to ague, the malarial like 'fen-fever'. |
1686 The Quakers in
Whitton Efforts were made by the Society of Friends to
ensure that members married within the Truth i.e. other
members.
12 Nov 1686. 'At the house of Thomas Markham in Brigge.... it
was ordered by the meeting that Thomas Wressle of
Winteringham and Robert Wilkinson of the same, goe and speak
to Margaret Hood of Whitton, Widdow and admonish her to keep
to the Truth and to keep clear of letting out her affections
towards marriage that soe Faith and Friends may not suffer by
such disorderly proclivities and bring in her answer to the
next monthly meeting.'
Happily, this reprimand was ineffective as the Whitton
Register two weeks later shows:
Nov 25 Thomas Walker & Margaritt Hood, married.
It would not be long before Methodism began to be the choice
of the dissenters of Whitton...
| 1687
'The Old Manor House in which old oak can
plainly be seen, is marked 'PEM 1687'. The Manor House is at present (1940) divided into two cottages, the one on the south side has had a piece built onto it . This was done by the present owner Mr Maurice Bray in 1921. The cottage which forms the north side of the house was bought at the Whitton Sale (1919) by Mr W Oxtoby' - (ks) Note: Perhaps this house of 1687, with its tumbled gable and metal tie plate, replaced an earlier village Manor House which stood on the Cliff to the west of the Church , see the entry for 1697 below. |
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1696 From Whitton's Parish Register ' William Pickergill, a stranger who was slain by a fall from the Cliff, buried October 18th' - Francis Turpin, Vicar 1688-1699.
1697 An extract from the journal of Abraham de la Pryme - the Curate of Broughton
29th May "From
thence ( Alkboro' ) I went to Whitten. The town is but a
little inconsiderate town, as most of these Lincolnshire
towns are. It is seated mighty advantageously, having the
Humber running close to it.
There is nothing worth seeing in the whole town.
The present lord of it, Mr Pleadwell, who lives in
London, got it by marrying the daughter of Sir John Morton
who was lord of it before.
About 20 years ago there was part of a great hall standing on
the west side of the Church in a close where the Mortons
lived, but now only part of the foundations appear.
The Church of this town is but mean and there is nothing
worth seeing in it .
When I first saw the town, it put into my mind a song that I
had heard of it , which ended at every verse thus:
'At Whitten's town end ,brave
boys |
Note : 'A line of tiles, possibly a floor, was reported exposed in the cliff side and was possibly associated with the Hall' - C.W. Phillips, Ordnance Survey Site Index 1929.
1709 The Glebe
terrier, an inventory of church property, highlighted the
continual problem of estuarine erosion. It begins : "The
Vicarage House consists of three bays, two whereof are
chamber'd with fir plank and timber, the third bay used as a
Barn, and no outhouses belonging to it. The Homestall
contains about one half rood of ground so near adjoining the
River of Humber that is to be feared that in less than an age
it will be swallowed by it, for the river has in the memory
of man swallowed up the ground upon which two or three
cottages did stand near adjoining to it. "
Note: A rood is a quarter of an acre.
1721 From the
Whitton Parish Register. Childbirth was a dangerous
business as Rev. William Holgate noted :
20 Feb;" baptised - George, son of George Cooper &
Mary and buried - Mary, wife of George Cooper : same day."
1723 Extract from Whitton Churchwarden's and Constables Accounts: 'Feb 28th. A bargain made with Robert Fairweather for to repair the church leads and windows - the steeple excepted - and for the present he is to have one pound and a shilling and to find glass, lead and powder that is wanting for the church. And for the futer (sic) to be paid ten shillings a year at every easter to keep it in repair in his lifetime and to be allowed six pence a Day for every day's work at the said Church. - Wittness our hands, Robert Langton, Thomas Hodson, Thomas Willson, Robt Potter, Thomas Walker'
1730 From the
Whitton Parish Register.
31 March; baptised - Easter Wade, daughter of
John and Mary Wade.
Note: Perhaps she had been born on Easter Day the 29th
March, two days before.
| 1756
Note in one of the Whitton Church Registers."
In the year one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six
our common was not stocked on May Day as usual which
fell on a Wednesday, but was kept till the Monday
following by reason of the very cold and wet season
" - William Metcalfe (Vicar of Whitton and
Alkborough 1742-1765 ). Note: Also in the Register as a baptism, is Jane, the daughter of William Metcalfe and his wife Hannah - on 4th Dec 1747. |
1773 WHITTON
ENCLOSURE ACT The English countryside was transformed
between 1760 and 1835 as the ridge and furrow, open-field
system of cultivation gave way to compact farms and enclosed
fields. Alkborough was the first in the area to be enclosed
in 1768 and Scunthorpe/Frodingham completed the area in 1834.
Most of Whitton was already the property of Thomas Goulton,
the Lord of the Manor, who was also lessee of the 'great
tithes' under the Bishop of Lincoln. The usual procedure for
land enclosure was the presentation of a petition to
Parliament by persons locally interested - in this case
Thomas Goulton. On this petition, a Bill was introduced,
which was referred to a Committee, usually a Select Committee,
after its Second Reading. If the Report of this Committee was
favourable, the Bill was subsequently passed and
Commissioners were sent to the parish concerned to arbitrate
between conflicting interests, and make an award.
'An Act for Dividing and Inclosing several Open Fields,
Lands and Grounds, in the Parish of Whitton' - was passed
in 1773. Two Enclosure Commissioners were named in the Act,
Edward Johnson of Hull and William Jepson of Lincoln.
James Goulton-Constable tells us in 1889 that -'Some
of the parish had already been enclosed. The old enclosed part consisted
of all the houses, yards and gardens in the village plus
Whitton Ashes and the Low Plantation, and a number of small
fields immediately to the east of the village. Some of these
fields , together with the Low Plantation had the name
“Whathams” '. (see Appendix 2.f, below) .
This old enclosing may have happened in Tudor or Stuart times
to increase the amount of sheep pasture available to the Lord
of the Manor.
The measurement of the then enclosed part of the Parish is
not given, but that of the yet to be enclosed is given as
about 1088 acres.
1775 Whitton is
transformed. Enclosure was completed in March 1775 and
the changes to the village that Messrs Johnson and Jepson had
drawn on their maps during the two years, are substantially
those features that we see in Whitton's landscape today.
A principal road 1.3 km long south to the West Halton parish
boundary was constructed. It was 60 feet wide and separated
the old Longlands field in the east from the western Lammer
field. This new road joined with the road north out of West
Halton which had been laid out in 1773 when West Halton was
enclosed . Edward Johnson was also a Commissioner at the West
Halton enclosure.
The other principal road of about 1km was constructed south-west
from the Whitton-West Halton road to the Alkborough parish
boundary from where, it continued across Alkborough's Sand
field along the road made in 1768 when that village was
enclosed. This second principal road of Whitton may have been
drawn from the Alkborough boundary to a pond next to the
Whitton-West Halton road perhaps for the convenience of the
new owner, Mr Goulton. The pond subsequently silted up but
has been redug in the last 40 years.
There were several new secondary roads ; Ings Lane, and the
roads to Marsh and Argons were made at this time. Drains were
dug to improve the drainage of this eastern area of the
parish and the Enclosure Award also mentions the construction
of 'sea' banks and sluices.
The familiar fields of Whitton came into existence at this
time, and the new owners had to fence or hedge them with
quickthorn by November of the year.
Land Awarded at Enclosure |
Acres Roods Perches |
Share of Cost |
| a) Special Allotments . | £ s. d |
|
| Vicar, in lieu of Glebe and rights of Common | 3 2 19 |
NIL |
| Vicar, in lieu of Tithes | 51 2 1 |
NIL |
| Bishop of Lincoln, in lieu of Tithes | 150 2 0 |
NIL |
| Surveyors of the Highways | 0 2 0 |
NIL |
| (b) General Allotments | ||
| 1. Thomas Goulton | 832 2 23 |
570. 18. 8 |
| 2. Heirs of John Westoby | 17 2 31 |
13. 14 2 |
| 3. John Wetherill | 3 0 3 |
1. 17. 5 |
| 4. Ann Brown, widow | 2 2 12 |
1. 15. 0 |
| 5. John Helm | 2 1 24 |
1. 15 3 |
| 6. Mary Borringham, widow | 2 1 10 |
1. 17. 4 |
| 7. Heirs of John Gawthorpe | 2 0 32 |
1 17.11 |
8. John Scarborough |
2 0 4 |
1 14. 7 |
Whitton was changed
for ever.
Although enclosure was necessary so that farming and food
supply could be revolutionised, it reduced the powers and
rights of the ordinary villagers of Whitton and had
unfavourable social effects. Land reallocation under the
enclosure act was supposed to compensate those losing their
rights to common land but, in practice they lacked the
capital to utilise the land, and the smallholders could not
live adequately from their new plots and had to become
agricultural labourers ; further, landless labourers received
no compensation.
However both the power and the wealth of Thomas Goulton (1745-1826)
of Walcot Hall, and his successors, were greatly increased.
Note : The
last remnant of ridge and furrow in Whitton can be seen in a
pasture about 400 metres down, and to the south of, Ings Lane.
The field name 'Argons' may be the old word 'argins' or 'argines'
which means an embankment. (O.E.D Vol 1 ) cf. 'Agger' a mound
or rampart formed by the earth excavated from a ditch.
The Whitton Enclosure Award can be inspected at the Lincolnshire Archives .
| 1775 Appearance of hamlet of Bishopthorpe. 'It was under the sanction of the Enclosure Commissioners that the Bishop of Lincoln gave to Thomas Goulton the old homestead belonging to the Rectory with the decayed dwelling house, barns, stables situated in the village on the south side of the church yard, in exchange for two acres of land in the Ings, on condition that Thomas Goulton build a new dwelling house, barns and stables on some part of the land allocated to the Bishop of Lincoln in the Ings. Thomas Goulton therefore, in fulfillment of this condition, built the homestead known to this day as Bishopthorpe'.(James Goulton-Constable) |
|
1781 Whitton
Parish v Judith Coulson Overseer of the Poor and
Churchwarden, Richard Langton issued a bond 'to Thos. Coulson,
yeoman late of Welton, Co.Yorks, butcher to indemnify the
Parish for the relief of ( his daughter, 31 year old
) Judith Coulson and the children she may bear'. The
following year a warrant was issued for the apprehension of
Henry Britten, the putative father of the bastard child of
Judith Coulson.
Notes : The 'bond' was an agreement binding on Thos.
Coulson and meant that he, rather than Whitton parish, would
support Judith's children.
Judith Coulson was baptised at Welton across the river on 3rd
Jan 1750...
1790 17th
August Dissenters' Certificates Thomas Cousins and
Sarah Sharp applied to the Bishop of Lincoln for their
own houses in Whitton to be registered as places of religious
worship 'for the use of His Majesty's subjects dissenting
from the Church of England, now commonly called Methodists'.
The applications, which were granted, were signed by Thomas
Cousins, Sarah Cousins, John Walker, Ann Walker, George
Epworth and Sarah Sharp.
Notes: These
villagers continued to attend services in the church and a
schism, with the Established Church, had yet to appear; see
the 1799 church seating plan, q.v.
This was at a time when the founder of Methodism, John Wesley,
was still alive; he was to die on 2nd March 1791.
|
1797/8
The old church is rebuilt An extraordinary drawing of old Whitton Church in 1794 by John Claude Nattes (c1765 - 1822), the draughtsman and water-colourist. Only the top third of the tower is recognisable - and that without its familiar pitched roof. The nave appears to have a south aisle and porch attached. The roof has a ladder resting on it near to gaps in the slates. The last of four pinnacles totters precariously on the top of the tower. See the criticisms of the new church and its benefactor Thomas Goulton by the Venerable Stonehouse under 1850, below. |
| "1797
is spoken of as being the year when the old Church
was rebuilt - before this, in all probability the
tower had battlements or pinnacles. The two stone
pinnacles on the top of the Churchyard wall by the
gate belonged to the old Church. They were found
under the chancel during the alterations in 1889."
(ks) Notes: But the later date '1798' can be seen carved into a stone of the outside south wall, above the vestry door. The pinnacles are small pyramidal spires, apparently 'crocketed', that is having knobs of stylised foliage supposedly like a shepherd's crook. (right ) The church tower and pinnacles by the gate. |
 |
1799 Saturday 3rd
August. On that day it was found necessary to have a meeting
to allocate pews 'by Lot' in the new smaller church, amongst
the various social classes which then existed in the village.
The seating plan produced that day gives the surnames of the
farmers, freeholders and cottagers with their pew numbers.
Pews were also allotted to men servants (front row), female
servants (back row right) and widows and single Housekeepers
(back row left.). Perhaps the men servants had been causing
trouble in church.
Click to see the 1799 Seating Plan for Whitton Church
| 1804
The 'Plum' The poet Henry Kirke White while
staying at Winteringham vicarage, walked to Whitton
and noted the petrifying spring which bubbles from a
gladed dell close by the Humber and which is called
by the villagers, the 'Plum'. He wrote of the spring,
in his dog Latin, 'Muschum, conchas et fragiliones
ramos arborum in lapidem transmutans' which seems
to mean 'Moss, shells and twigs are turned to stone '
. This feature is not shown on the 1775 Enclosure Map and may have been dug soon after this date as a source of gravel and building materials to replace the existing gravel pit of that time, which was at the south end of the village near to what is now the entrance to Mill Field Lane. Radiated fossils called astroites or car-stones are searched for in the 'Plum' and on the Cliff above and local people used to call them 'kestles and postles' (which sounded like 'Christ and His Apostles' to Abraham De La Pryme ). More recently the search is called 'starring and fossiling'. |
|
| The
tops of the trees in the 'Plum' can be seen in the
photo accompanying the note for 1858. Notes: Kirke White (1785-1806) is supposed to have penned the lines which start ' Oft in danger, oft in woe' after crossing the Humber in a ferry from Whitton. The word 'Plum' may have originated from one of two dialect uses of the word. It can mean 'a deep pool in a river' or alternatively 'soft easily worked rock'. (O.E.D Vol 7) |
|
1814 18th
October. Burial of ' Hannah the daughter of John and
Elizabeth Gell who accidentally starved to death by wandering
from her parents into the fields, aged 2 ' - Rev. John Wilson.
Note: This is 'starved' in the local dialect meaning
of 'cold' .
1818 19th June Independent
Methodists . On this day application was made to the
Bishop of Lincoln for a Dissenters' Certificate to enable the
'house or appartments of John Westoby' to be used by 'His
Majesty's subjects dissenting from the Church of England
commonly called Independents' as a place of religious worship. The
application was signed by 'The Minester (sic) Mr
Plumstead, Joseph Dinsdale, John Westoby, William Smith and
Edward Cambell'.
Note: The Independents seem to have been founded by a
Warrington chairmaker called Peter Phillips around 1806 and a
Quaker plainness of speech and dress was apparently evident
in their manner.
The Governance of
Whitton The affairs of the village were under the control
of the Vestry that is, in theory, all the village ratepayers
meeting once a year in the Church vestry at Easter to review
the accounts and elect parish officials, but in fact the work
was done by just a few unpaid volunteers who were answerable
to the Justices of the Peace and the Chief Constable. There
should have been six men chosen - two Overseers,
Churchwardens and Constables but in practice, over very many
years, Whitton was run by less than this, as one or more
served in two capacities. For example in the year....
1819 March 30th. 'John Spilman and John Langton gave
up their accounts and their :
| Imbursements wherein | £179-04-0 |
| Disbursements wherein | £177-14-7 |
Into Purse |
£1-09-5 |
'At the same time
Joseph Sharp and Thomas England chosen Overseers of the Poor
of the parish of Whitton and John Spilman chosen Constable
and Churchwarden for the ensuing year by us whose names are
under writen
Tho Butters Thos Walker John Westoby John Laming'
Notes: The 'imbursements' were monies raised by levies on the occupiers of property. The cash was spent on Whitton's widows, orphans and aged. These accounts continue until 1834 when The Poor Law Amendment Act replaced the parish Overseers with a national system for dealing with poverty and its relief, based around the Union workhouse at ( in Whitton's case), the Workhouse on Union Road (now St Peter's Road) in Brigg. The site later became Glanford Hospital and was demolished in the 1980s.
| 1824 Whitton from an engraving of
1824, surveyed between 1819 and 1822. The Windmill is clearly seen just to the left of centre in Mill Field Close. Willwick Hill Plantation is below it, its shape very similar to that of today. A row of trees, (scotch firs ?) greets the traveller at the top of the hill as he crosses into Alkborough parish,bottom left. Bishopthorpe cottages on the West Halton road have yet to appear. The pier and the road to it are not yet built. Ings Lane and the road to the Marsh are seen in 1824, but a thoroughfare north of Ings Lane and parallel to it exists now only as a footpath - see the photos of Whitton from the air.. The population in 1821 was 212 (in 49 houses) , which is more than today's figure of about 180 |
|
1824 18th June. Burial of Thomas Wade, son of Wm. and Elizabeth Wade who was accidentally killed by a cart wheel running over his neck. He was seven.
1826 Thomas Goulton (1745-1826), owner of most of Whitton (and Walcot) died and the estates passed to his nephew, Marmaduke Constable. Marmaduke was the son of Thomas Goulton's sister Sarah and the Rev. Thomas Constable of Sigglesthorne and Wassand, E. Riding Yorkshire.
1831 The census
recorded 245 people - 134 males and 111 females in 54 houses.
However the Land Tax Assessment for 1831, lists only 41 tax
paying properties - perhaps 13 families were either sharing
houses or lived in properties valued at under 20s. per year
and officially exempted from paying tax.
Four of the villagers, the widow Elizabeth Langton, Driffield
Legard, John Everatt (at Bishopthorpe ) and John Spilman
together farmed, as tenants, a total of 70% of the taxable
value of Whitton.
1837 The violent
end of Alice Dinsdale of Whitton
Wednesday 7th June at 6am and Whitton shopkeeper Alice
Dinsdale was waiting on board the Hull to Gainboro' Union
steam packet for it to leave on the short journey from the
Humber Dock Basin at Hull to Whitton . She had just two
minutes to live.
As the boat cast off there was a rumbling and its boiler blew
up with a tremendous explosion, throwing large bits of metal
80 ft into the air and raining corpses onto, and through, the
roofs of Minerva Terrace alongside the dock. In that instant
23 passengers and crew died - some bodies were never found -
but Alice Dinsdale's was retrieved and was interred in
Whitton churchyard the following day . A
piece of doggerel on her gravestone reads :
'Stop my friend and view my stone, Consider well where I
have gone.
Prepare yourselves make no delay, For in a moment I was call'd
away.'
Note: Alice Hobson was born in Frodingham in 1795 and was
married in Winterton, in 1818, to Whitton farmer Joseph
Dinsdale . ( See list in 1842, below) .
1842 Whitton, an
extract from White's 'Gazetteer and Directory of
Lincolnshire'
Whitton, a village and ferry on the Humber, about 3 miles
below Trent falls, and 9 miles W. of Barton, has in its
parish 217 souls and 1240a. 1r. 15p. of land. Marmaduke
Constable, Esq., owns nearly all the soil, and is
impropriator and lord of the manor, which is parcel of the
Duchy of Lancaster. The church (St. John The Baptist,)
was rebuilt many years ago, when its fine Norman doorway was
destroyed, but the ancient font is still preserved. The
vicarage valued in K.B. £6. 10s. was augmented with £200 of
Q.A.B. in 1767, and has long been united with that of
Aukborough. At the enclosure, about 70 years ago, land
was allotted in lieu of tithes. Opposite Whitton, there,
is in the Humber, a bed of silt, called Whitton sands, more
than a mile broad, and two miles in length, which is left
bare at low water, and upon which steamers and other vessels
are often left aground until the return of the tide, and in
stormy weather sometimes wrecked. The ferry boat here
takes passengers to and from the steam packets, or carries
them across the river to Brough, or Weighton Lock. In
the gravel pit here, a very remarkable dip of the strata is
exposed, exhibiting, among the boulder stones, ammonites,
gryphites, and other fossils and shells, similar to those in
the debris on the shore, where many conglomerate masses have
fallen from the cliff; near the summit of which a petrifying
steam comes from an incrusted rock. The Ferry House is
at Brough, on the Yorkshire side of the Humber.
| GREEN
John stonemason GREEN Robert stonemason LAMMING William coal merchant WILSON Rev. John DINSDALE Joseph farmer EVERRATT John farmer, Bishopthorpe LANGTON William farmer |
MILLSON
William farmer LEGARD Driffil farmer SPILMAN John farmer, also miller WILSON Thomas KENDAL William shopkeeper WALKER William shopkeeper |
 |
Whitton
Main Street in Victorian times. The man with the wheel barrow is standing outside the gate of Spilman's stackyard. It is thought that he is Amos Bullivant (1861-1935) who was the Whitton roadmender for over 30 years and a Primitive Methodist preacher for more than 40 years. |
 Two miles east of Whitton village, the Ness on a fine summer's day with Brough, Yorkshire in the background |
1849
March 23 Whitton Ness 'The Humber here a
little below the confluence of the Ouse and the Trent,
which has for some time being nearly choked with the
detritus from these two rivers, is again navigable
for steamers and sailing vessels, the large sandbank
having shifted elsewhere. Passengers may now embark
and disembark at Whitton instead of that inconvenient
and bleak spot, the Ness. Our correspondent says he
has sometimes had to stand shivering for two or three
hours waiting for the packets. Carey the ferryman, it
is hoped, will now meet with that support he deserves
for his past, badly paid services to accommodate the
public. He has been constant at the Ness, though
nearly two miles from the ferry, exposing himself to
all weathers to put passengers on board the packets
and take them off'. - Stamford Mercury 23rd
March 1849 page 2, column 2. Note: It is believed that the ferryman at this time was 31 year old Carey Barley, who had been born at Roxby. |
1850 'The
church was rebuilt about 40 years ago............... but not
in such good taste as Alkboro'.
The church consists now of only a small nave, and the old
tower has been slated like a pigeon house. Here again we meet
with the old abomination of selling the lead and substituting
a flat plaster ceiling for the old wood roof, which leaves
the Archdeacon little cause to thank Mr. Goulton for his
munificence. The Vicarage House is very pleasantly situated
near the Humber, at least it appears so as you pass in the
steam packet on a fine day. What sort of residence it is on a
dark night "when stormy winds do blow" is not very
difficult to conjecture. The house is in good repair but it
is difficult to maintain the foreshore in front of it. The
Vicar informs me the Humber has made great inroads lately but
he cannot prevent it because the Lord of the Manor claims the
foreshore. There is an allotment of land to the vicarage,
rich warp below the hill adjoining the Humber, subject to the
encroachment of the daily tides and now 3 acres of this glebe
have been swept away.'- Venerable W.B Stonehouse 'A Stow
Visitation'
Notes : The 'Vicarage House' is now called 'Prospect
House'; The Vicar was John Wilson; 'Warp' is land reclaimed
from the river ; The 'allotment' could be the field called 'Bonding'
which is below Ashes plantation and just over the parish
boundary into Alkborough .
 |
This is the only known
photograph of the church criticised by the Venerable
W.B Stonehouse in 'A Stow Visitation', above.
It shows an ivy covered tower and the small nave
erected by Thomas Goulton in 1797/8 to replace the
one illustrated in Nattes' drawing (q.v.) and
explains why it was necessary for parishioners to
have a meeting to allocate pews in their reduced
church. This 'miserable structure' was torn down in
1893 (q.v.) and replaced by the present
chancel with a vestry at the S.E. corner. All but one
of the scotch firs have disappeared..... Photo: courtesy of Stephen Ingram |
| The photograph was taken by William T. Watson (1835-1899) of Anlaby Road, Hull, probably in 1872. |
1851 A Religious
Census in Whitton Alongside the usual decennial Census of
1851 the Government authorised a survey of Religious Worship.
Census enumerators asked representatives of the three places
of worship that they found in Whitton to fill in a
questionnaire on Sunday 30th March. Here are their answers:
| ST.
JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH rebuilt before 1800 by
Thomas Goulton Esq. of Walcot Hall. Endowed with land
£86-7s, other permanent endowment £1-5s, fees 10s,
Easter offerings £15 Average attendance during previous 12 months. In morning : General Congregation 50, Sunday scholars 20. In afternoon : General Congregation 50, Sunday scholars 20. 'Teacher of the Sunday School confined; few of the Sunday scholars attending Divine Service in consequence' Signed John Wilson, Minister |
| WESLYAN
CHAPEL Not a separate or entire building. Not
used exclusively as a place of worship. Free sittings
40. On 30 March, In evening General Congregation and
Sunday scholars 30. Ave attendance during previous 12 months: In evening: General Congregation and Sunday scholars 30. Signed Henry Naylor, Local Preacher |
| PRIMITIVE
METHODIST CHAPEL Not a separate or entire
building. Not used exclusively as a place of worship.
Free sittings 30. On 30 March, In morning General Congregation 40. In evening General Congregation 62 Signed Henry Richardson, Leader |
Notes:
If the figures are to be believed, 162 of Whitton's 190
inhabitants attended Church or Chapel on Sunday afternoon/evening
. The Weslyans met in the White House at the time. It is not
clear where the Primitive Methodists met before the
construction of the tin chapel in 1905.
John Wilson ( 1777-1867 )
Henry Naylor ( 1831- ? )
Henry Morley Richardson ( 1797-1868 )
| 1854 When Whitton was a Port The Sloop 'Walcot' was built in 1854 by John Wray, (1796-1884) Shipbuilder of Burton Stather for £380. Length of keel 54' 6" , breadth of beam 14' 9", height 6' 6" from bottom of keel to top of skin. She operated from the Whitton landing place called the Stone Heaps, and later from the Pier Photo - Collection of TMS 'Miss Wells, the Postmistress says that her father's spade was used to cut the first sod of the pier' (ks) Note: If true, this would have been William Wells (1838-1923) who was actually a shoe maker and Whitton's first sub-postmaster .... |
|
1856 Whitton, an
extract from White's 'Gazetteer and Directory of
Lincolnshire'
WHITTON, a village and ferry at the northern
termination of the Cliff range of hills, 0n the south shore
of the river Humber, about 3 miles below Trent-falls, and 9
miles west of Barton, has in its parish 190 souls, and 1240
Acres l Rood 15 perches of land. The wife of the Rev. W. H. E.
Bentinck, archdeacon of Westminster, owns nearly all the soil,
and is impropriator and lady of the manor, which is parcel of
the Duchy of Lancaster. The Church (St. John the Baptist) was
rebuilt many years ago, when its fine Norman doorway was
destroyed, but the ancient font is still preserved. The
vicarage, valued in K.B. at £6 1O s. was augmented with £200
of Q.A.B. in 1767, and has been long united with that of
Alkborough. At the enclosure, about 90 years ago, land was
allotted in lieu of tithes. Opposite Whitton, there is, in
the Humber, a bed of silt, called Whitton Sands,
more than a mile broad, and two miles in length, which is
left bare at low water, and upon which steamers and other
vessels are often left aground till the return of the tide.
The ferry-boat here takes passengers to and from the
steam packets or carries them across the river to Brough, or
Weighton Lock. In the gravel pit here, a very remarkable dip
of the strata is exposed, exhibiting, among the boulder
stones, ammonites, gryphites, and other fossils and shells,
similar to those in the debris on the shore, where many
conglomerate masses have fallen from the cliff; near the
summit of which a petrifying steam oozes from an incrusted
rock.
Notes.
The wife of the Rev. W. H. E. Bentinck was Frances
Constable . She married William Harry Edward Bentinck 19 July
1814 and died 13 March 1862 .
Q.A.B is Queen's Anne's Bounty - a money supplement to 'poor
clergy', with incomes less than £50 p.a., from fund
established by Act of Parliament of 1704.
Brough is 2.4 miles NE and Weighton Lock is 1.7 miles NW of
Whitton.
Ammonites are fossils consisting of whorled chambered shells
once thought to be coiled petrified snakes and called in
consequence 'snake stones'. The name comes from their
resemblance to the horn of Jupiter which was called 'Ammon'.
Gryphites are fossil oyster shells of the genus gryphæa.
| 1856
A Pub in Whitton The first mention of a public
house in Whitton seems to be in the 1849 edition of 'White's
Lincolnshire' when a pub 'The Ferry Boat ',
with Robert Arnold (1791-1872) as licensee, makes an
appearance. It appears in the 1861 census, but has
gone by the 1881 census. When the farm buildings, (cowsheds,
gig-house, granary etc.) immediately to the south of
the pub were built in 1871, it was called, the 'Steam
Packet Inn' with John James Barley (1849-1880)
as tenant. The pub was, in what is now a private dwelling house with tumbled gable roof called 'Village Farm' at the corner of Main Street and Post Office Lane. It must have been popular with the boat men and visitors waiting for the ferry so why it disappeared is obscure. An elderly resident once told the writer many years ago that there had been 'some trouble over it'. That was all that could be remembered. There was a branch of the Church of England Temperance Society in the village in the 1880s. Nowadays the nearest pub is the 'Butcher's Arms' in West Halton. |
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