BURTON CONSTABLE
Burton Constable, seat of the Constable
family, lords of Holderness since the 16th century, (fn. 62) lies over 5 km. ENE. of Swine village and
c. 7 km. south-west from the coast at Aldbrough.
Apart from the Hall (fn. 63) and its outbuildings, there
are only a few scattered houses. The common,
Anglian name Burton, meaning settlement, was
qualified in 1086 with the prefix 'Santri', the
significance of which is unknown; in 1190 the
name of its previous tenant, Erneburga, was
used to differentiate it and from the mid 13th
century that of her descendants, the Constables. (fn. 64) Burton Constable, containing 1,277 a.
(517 ha.), (fn. 65) was combined with West Newton
hamlet, in Aldbrough parish, as West Newton
township, which had 2,068 a. (837 ha.). (fn. 66) In 1935
West Newton with Burton Constable civil
parish, formerly West Newton township, and
that of Marton were united as Burton Constable
civil parish. The combined area, of 3,015 a.
(1,220 ha.), (fn. 67) was reduced slightly by a transfer
to Ellerby in 1952. (fn. 68) In 1984 some 10 ha. (25 a.)
more were transferred to Ellerby, and in 1991
Burton Constable's area was 1,205 ha. (2,978
a.). (fn. 69) In 1377 Burton Constable and West Newton together had 105 poll-tax payers, (fn. 70) and 16
houses there were assessed for hearth tax in
1672. (fn. 71) The two hamlets had 172 inhabitants in
1801, 239 in 1851, but only 147 in 1901 and
141 in 1931. Burton Constable itself contributed
124 to the 1851 total, that number including
the family and their visitors at the Hall and the
staff of c. 40. (fn. 72) The combined population of the
civil parishes united in 1935 had been 214 in
1931. The new civil parish evidently had 263
inhabitants in 1951, before the loss of c. 40
people to Ellerby in 1952. Thereafter the population declined, from 200 in 1961 to 128 in
1981, but it had recovered by 1991, when there
were usually 159 residents and 165 were
enumerated. (fn. 73)
BURTON CONSTABLE hamlet. By the later
18th century there were, apart from the Hall,
only half a dozen scattered houses in the township. They included Smithy Briggs Farm, since
rebuilt, the later Brickyard House, and a keeper's lodge in Norwood. Another house standing
close to the western boundary and near the way
to Thirtleby was then called Burton lodge; it
had been demolished by the mid 19th century,
possibly being replaced by Lodge Farm, which
had by then been built across the boundary in
Ellerby. (fn. 74)
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES
In 1086
the archbishop of York had 5 carucates at 'Santriburtone', later BURTON CONSTABLE,
and 3 carucates in the adjoining West Newton. (fn. 75)
Later the counts of Aumale held 6 carucates in
both places as military tenants of the archbishop
until their holding passed to the Crown with the
honor of Aumale by the death of Aveline de
Forz, countess of Aumale, in 1274. (fn. 76) Burton
Constable manor and its member at West Newton were held of the Crown as ¾ knight's fee
in 1336, (fn. 77) and Burton Constable alone was
reckoned 1/3 knight's fee in the 16th century. (fn. 78)
A knight occupying land at 'Santriburtone' in
1086 (fn. 79) was evidently succeeded by Erneburga of
Burton, who married the count of Aumale's constable Ulbert (fl. earlier 12th century). Her son
Robert Constable had land at 'Erneburgh Burton' before 1190, (fn. 80) and in the 13th century the
Constable family was recorded as holding all 6
carucates of the count of Aumale's estate, (fn. 81) comprising 3 carucates in each of the two settlements, (fn. 82) then called Burton Constable and
Newton Constable. (fn. 83) In 1231 William Constable
and William de Forz, count of Aumale, were in
dispute about hunting over the estate. (fn. 84) Robert
Constable was named as lord of Burton Constable in 1316, (fn. 85) and at his death by 1336 the
demesne there and at West Newton comprised
1 carucate and almost 100 a.; 3 carucates and 1
bovate and other land were then held by bond
tenants, cottars, and a free tenant. (fn. 86) Robert's son
John Constable (d. 1349) bought 1 carucate and
rent at Burton Constable, (fn. 87) and more land there
had been purchased by the mid 15th century. (fn. 88)
By the 16th century the estate evidently also
included land held of the archbishop. (fn. 89) The
manor continued to descend, with Halsham, in
the Constables, viscounts Dunbar in the 17th
and early 18th century, and their heirs, the Tunstalls, Sheldons, Cliffords, and Chichesters, all
of whom substituted or added the name Con
stable. (fn. 90) In 1827 the whole of Burton Constable
hamlet was occupied by Sir Thomas Constable,
Bt., and his tenants. (fn. 91) In 1992 the ChichesterConstable family, in association with the
National Heritage Memorial Fund and Leeds
City Council, set up the Burton Constable
Foundation, and endowed it with the Hall,
stable block, and other outbuildings, and 320 a.
of parkland. The rest of the Burton Constable
estate in Burton Constable and neighbouring
villages belonged to Mr. John ChichesterConstable, who had c. 688 ha. (1,700 a.) in 1995,
and his daughter, Rodrica Straker, who then
owned 485. 6 ha. (1,200 a.). (fn. 92)
Figure 8:
Burton Constable Hall, Block Plan.
The chief house at Burton Constable, mentioned from 1294, (fn. 93) succeeded Halsham as the
family's main residence, apparently in the late
15th century. (fn. 94) The site may have been moated,
a curving ditch running around the north and
east of the house until its reduction in the mid
18th century to a fishpond, which remained in
1995. (fn. 95) The early structural history of the house
is obscure. A length of ashlar wall at the centre
of the north elevation forms one side of a nearlysquare room, which was later heightened in
brick to become a tower. It has a turret staircase
at its south-west corner, and both tower and
turret have a possibly 15th-century, brick corbel
table below the parapet. The two-storeyed range
which abuts the tower on the east appears to be
structurally contemporary; that to the south is
late 16th-century but replaces an older building
from which a disused fireplace survives on the
south face of the tower. Those northern and
western ranges, together with a southern one,
formed a three-sided, courtyard house which
was probably still being built in 1578 (fn. 96) but seems
to have been substantially complete by the end
of the century. Its principal elevations looked
inwards towards the court, which was closed on
the east by a wall with a turreted gatehouse. (fn. 97) By
the early 17th century that was an old-fashioned
plan, and a new range was begun along the west
side of the house to screen the back of the main
range and provide an up-to-date elevation
towards the park. It was to be linked to the old
building by short ranges separated by one or
more small, open courts. The new work, which
evidently included a gallery, (fn. 98) was left unfinished, (fn. 99) perhaps because of the death of Sir
Henry Constable in 1607. (fn. 1) It seems probable
that at the same time as the new work was going
on the old, main range was being remodelled,
and the great hall and parts of the east front date
from the late 16th or early 17th century. The
two-storeyed hall occupied less than half the
elevation, which was more than 130 ft. long. The
great bay window was at the centre, on the axis
of the gatehouse, and the entrance near the south
end, through a relatively modest, Classical doorway with strapwork ornament. (fn. 2) Within there
was a stone hall screen with similar strapwork
ornament. (fn. 3) A tower matching the earlier one to
the north occupied the corner between the main
range and the south wing, which contained the
kitchen and service rooms. With its red-brick
"çades, prominent quoins, and large mullioned
and transomed windows, some of them bayed,
the house had much of its present appearance
by the late 17th century. (fn. 4)
A few rooms have reset, early 17th-century
panelling, but little structural work seems to
have been carried out that century, and only in
the early 18th was the gallery panelled. That
work appears to have been part of a phase of
improvement which included the refitting of the
hall, the creation of a cabinet room on the
ground floor of the north tower, and the panelling of some adjacent rooms. Externally, two
new sash windows and a doorway, all with pediments, were made on the north front. A small
addition on the south side of the south wing
contains a ground-floor room with an elaborately-moulded cove and above it a room with
panelling, overmantel, and rich plasterwork in
the style of the 1740s; the rooms suggest the use
of the east end of that wing as a self-contained
suite - perhaps for the young William Constable
or his sister Winefred, who lived at Burton
Constable until her death in 1774. (fn. 5) When William inherited in 1747, he is said to have considered demolishing the house and rebuilding in
a more fashionable style; (fn. 6) instead he remodelled
it. Dated rainwater heads around the eastern
court imply an extensive renovation between
1757 and 1760, and it may have been then that
a parapet with windows was substituted for attic
dormers on the hall range. Probably in the late
1750s, the large, central, hall bay was removed
and replaced by a feature incorporating a doorway, (fn. 7) the whole being surmounted, a few years
later, by an elaborately-carved achievement of
the arms of William Constable, viscount Dunbar
(d. 1718). (fn. 8) Inside, the hall was refitted in a partly
Jacobean-revival style to designs by Timothy
Lightoler of York (fn. 9) between 1765 and 1769. (fn. 10)
Before his death in 1769, Lightoler also designed
the dining room, the State Drawing Room, and
the staircase hall. (fn. 11) In 1772-3 a new service
court was formed against the south side of the
house from designs by 'Capability' Brown. (fn. 12)
The northern end of the west range had never
been built, and it was not until c. 1770 that
Constable completed that elevation; the major
interior, now the ballroom, is of 1775 and
by James Wyatt. Thomas Atkinson of York designed an adjacent room in 1774, formerly used
for billiards but now the chapel, and in 1783
the Blue Drawing Room at the centre of the
west front. (fn. 13)
Alterations in the 19th century were largely
concerned with the remodelling and redecoration of the interior and its gradual elaboration
with pictures and furniture by Sir Thomas
Constable, Bt. (d. 1870), and his wives. The
gallery was restored soon after 1830, (fn. 14) and it is
now difficult to distinguish the plasterwork of
the 17th century, the later 18th-century remodelling, and the 19th-century restoration. The
Chinese Room, originally furnished by Thomas
Chippendale in 1784, similarly had its decoration enhanced in the style of the Royal Pavilion
c. 1840. (fn. 15) The billiard room was converted to a
chapel with a semicircular sanctuary in 1830 and
refitted in 1844, (fn. 16) and a theatre made from firstfloor rooms at the south end of the house was
used in the 1840s and 1850s. (fn. 17) Outside, the sash
windows which had been installed during the
later 18th-century alterations to the west front
were replaced by stone mullions and transoms. (fn. 18)
The house was restored again c. 1910 and by
John Chichester-Constable after 1963. (fn. 19)
Cuthbert and William Constable assembled
an extensive library in the house which was used
by, among others, George Poulson for his
History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of
Holderness; William was also a collector of scientific apparatus and exhibits, and a later owner,
Sir Thomas Constable, Bt. (d. 1823), was an
eminent topographer and botanist. By 1994
most of the remaining collections had been given
to Leeds City Art Galleries, which were responsible for their preservation and display in the
house. (fn. 20)
(Sir) Simon Constable was granted free
warren at Burton Constable and West Newton
in 1285, and Burton Constable park was recorded from 1367. (fn. 21) The medieval park lay to
the west of the house, on the boundary with
Ellerby, where a 36-a. close was later called Old
park. (fn. 22) Surviving ridge and furrow testify to the
enlargement of the park at the expense of the
tillage, and in the 1570s and 1580s Sir John
Constable and his son (Sir) Henry also added
parts of a pasture in Sproatley. (fn. 23) In 1578 there
was 385 a. of parkland stocked with red and
fallow deer. (fn. 24) That park is presumably to be
identified with six closes totalling c. 380 a. in
1621. The enlargement of the park brought it
closer to the house across a shallow, north-south
valley, which by 1621 had been dammed to form
ponds, the southernmost of which was a long
rectangle enclosing a narrow island. Around the
house were brick-walled courts, bounded on the
north and east by the irregular ditch. (fn. 25) The eastern court was entered through a turreted gatehouse, and by the late 17th century there was a
further court with ashlar gate piers. (fn. 26) About
½ km. south-east of the house, and outside the
park, a late 16th-or early 17th-century, octagonal, brick tower may have combined a viewing
point with a high-level water tank. (fn. 27)
Burton Constable 1621
Although the main approach to the house was
through the eastern forecourts, it could also be
reached by a tree-lined track from Thirtleby.
Formal avenues leading south, east, and west
from the house and north to Norwood had been
made by the early 18th century, perhaps as part
of a recent landscaping scheme, which also
involved the creation of a water garden and a
small formal garden, respectively north and west
of the house. (fn. 28)
It was probably in the garden to the west of
the house that William Constable with Thomas
Knowlton and Thomas Kyle c. 1758 established
a botanical garden with greenhouse and hot
walls. (fn. 29) In 1763 Constable added at the northern
end of the ponds a menagerie, comprising a
walled enclosure with small pavilions or houses
along its north side and in the southern corners. (fn. 30) The general landscaping of the grounds
was apparently undertaken from the 1760s, following the commissioning of designs from
'Capability' Brown, Thomas White, and Constable's architect, Timothy Lightoler. (fn. 31) The
plan adopted owed as much to White as to
Brown, but it was the latter who superintended
the work and visited Burton Constable until
1782. (fn. 32) Apart from the serpentizing of the
ponds, the changes involved the enlargement of
the grounds east and north of the house, the
felling of the eastern avenue, and much planting
of clumps and feature trees around the house.
Closer to the house, the gatehouse, walls, and
formal gardens were replaced by lawns protected
by a ha-ha. In 1774 William Constable had
713 a. in hand, all or most of it occupied as
grounds. The Hall and the land within the ha-ha
comprised nearly 10 a.; the park, excluding
the lakes, was of 152 a., and 148 a. more lay in
adjacent closes later added to the park; the Lawn
and Stable Lawn accounted for another 124 a.,
and two woods together had a similar acreage.
There was simultaneously much building within
the park, mostly designed by Lightoler.
Extensive stables and farm buildings around
yards had been built on the site of old farm
buildings to the south-east of the house by 1768,
and the former stables north-east of the house
were demolished. (fn. 33) At about the same time, a
new kitchen garden was built behind the menagerie replacing that then cleared away from the
west of the house. (fn. 34) A bridge designed by
Brown (fn. 35) was built to disguise the dam between
the upper and lower lakes, which were being
made in 1775, (fn. 36) and about that date a pavilion
overlooking the upper lake was added in the
menagerie enclosure. (fn. 37) The bridge became a
feature of the southern drive to the house which
was completed in 1778 (fn. 38) and c. 1785 given a
Gothick gatehouse, designed by James Wyatt,
at the entrance to the park from Sproatley. (fn. 39) To
the south-west of the house, a 'dry house', or
greenhouse, (fn. 40) which existed c. 1780, was refaced
as an orangery in 1788-9 to designs by Thomas
Atkinson. (fn. 41)
Burton Constable c. 1755
Burton Constable c. 1780
Norwood was felled at the end of the 18th
century, and a private course for horse-racing
and steeplechasing had been laid out there by
1838, when the Holderness Hunt meeting was
transferred from Beverley to Burton Constable;
the meeting remained there until c. 1850. (fn. 42) Early
in the 19th century, the main farm buildings
were converted into additional stables and others
were replaced by a covered riding school. (fn. 43) The
west lawn was then dug up to make formal gardens with topiary and artificial-stone statuary,
and a large statue of a stag was placed at the
end of a vista from the house c. 1860. (fn. 44) On the
other side of the house, part of the old east
avenue was planted with trees and the clumps
on the Lawn were multiplied and enlarged,
while to the north-west Norwood avenue was
infilled as another plantation. (fn. 45) New buildings
included a second lodge, later New Lodge, in a
neo-Jacobean style by James Blake which was
put up across the boundary in Sproatley in the
1860s. (fn. 46) Roughly contemporary were a neoTudor castellated house, called Tower, or
Engine, House, which was built onto the early,
octagonal tower south-east of the Hall, (fn. 47) and a
gas works near the stables. (fn. 48) The deer herd, c.
600 strong in 1840, was given up, apparently in
the late 19th century, and the deershed in the
park was demolished. (fn. 49) A beagle pack was however maintained at Skirlaugh into the mid 20th
century. (fn. 50) A large caravan park was created
beside the lake in 1968, (fn. 51) and by 1995 a
clubhouse had been built there. The grounds
were then grazed by cattle, sheep, and horses
associated with a riding school in the stables,
but the walled kitchen garden was disused and
many of its buildings had been demolished.
By 1190 Robert Constable had given Thornton abbey (Lincs.) a rent at Burton Constable. (fn. 52)
Burton Constable in 1852
The rectorial tithes of Burton Constable were
sold by William Thornton to Cuthbert Constable in 1738, (fn. 53) and were evidently later
merged.
ECONOMIC HISTORY
COMMON LANDS AND INCLOSURE
In 1086 there were five
ploughlands at Burton Constable but only one
plough was then worked, on the demesne. (fn. 54) The
open fields of Burton Constable included East
field in 1447, and there was evidently also a
western field or fields. (fn. 55) They had probably been
converted to grassland by the 1560s, when evidence from tithe disputes suggests a prevalence
of grassland and of pastoral farming there. (fn. 56) By
1621 the former East field was almost certainly
represented by the 173-a. Mill field, East close,
of 85 a., the 10-a. Paddock, and closes called
Pailer field and Brick field, each of c. 50 a. Ridge
and furrow could be seen throughout the east of
the township in the 1940s, (fn. 57) and was evident still
in the 1990s east of the Hall and on the southern
boundary near Tower House. Ridge and furrow
north-west of the Hall and elsewhere in the west
of the township. (fn. 58) suggests that the western field
or fields had included the almost 400 a. which
in 1621 lay in Plumpton field, Backhouse field,
the Frith, the Brooms, and the Leys. Most of
the western closes had apparently by then been
emparked. (fn. 59)
In 1447 North, West, and White carrs provided grazing, and North and White carrs also
meadow land. (fn. 60) Rough grazing may also have
been enjoyed on the moor, later the Moors, but
that area had evidently been inclosed by 1621,
and in 1636 inhabitants of West Newton were
presented for taking the lord's furze there. (fn. 61)
WOODLAND
A wood recorded from 1294 (fn. 62)
comprised 49 a. of woodland and 11 a. of pasture, all inclosed by a ditch, in 1336, when 7 a.
of the underwood was cropped each year. (fn. 63) It
was probably that wood which was called North
wood, or Norwood, from the 15th century, when
the lord's fisheries were also mentioned there; (fn. 64)
other woodland, then named Westwood, was presumably that later called Yaud, or Old, wood. (fn. 65)
The 94 a. of inclosed woodland recorded in 1578
was evidently Norwood, which in the 17th and
18th centuries comprised c. 105 a.; Yaud wood
was not mentioned in 1578 but in the later
period was of 20-25 a. (fn. 66) Much of the business
of Burton Constable court from the 16th century
was concerned with preventing passage through
Norwood and unlicensed wood- and nutgathering, and in 1611 the taking of eggs, young
pheasants, bittern, and heron there was
expressly forbidden. (fn. 67) Edward Constable sold
over 700 ash trees in Norwood in the late 1790s,
and there was then little woodland until new
plantations were made in the 1820s. (fn. 68) By 1852
the area of woodland in the township had been
more or less restored by the planting of Moor
covert and belts of woodland, notably along the
road and around the northern and western
boundaries. (fn. 69) The woodlands of Burton Constable accounted for most of the 300 a. bearing
trees there and in West Newton in 1905, and
they were little changed thereafter. (fn. 70)
RECENT AGRICULTURE
In 1987 the 1,890 ha. (4,670 a.) returned under Burton Constable
civil parish evidently included much land elsewhere, while apparently excluding at least part
of the Hall's grounds. (fn. 71) Of the area given,
1,558 ha. (3,850 a.) were arable land and 320 ha.
(791 a.) grassland; there were then more than
4,000 pigs and 2,000 poultry, and c. 400 sheep
and the same number of cattle. The arable land
included 75.4 ha. (186 a.) of field vegetables. (fn. 72)
In 1774 seven tenants held 530 a. of Burton
Constable: one farm was of 224 a., another of
112 a., two of 50-99 a., one of 34 a., and there
were two holdings of c. 10 a. each. (fn. 73) In the 19th
century and earlier 20th most of the land was
evidently managed by a bailiff as part of the
Burton Constable Hall estate; there were also
two farms, of 125 a. and 159 a., in 1851 and later
up to five small farms. (fn. 74) A firm of nurserymen,
also working at Coniston, rented c. 12 a. of gardens and hot-houses at the Hall from about 1880
until c. 1950. (fn. 75) A cowkeeper also worked at
Burton Constable. (fn. 76) There were 15 holdings
returned under Burton Constable civil parish in
1987, of which four were of 200-499 ha. (494-
1,233 a.), one of 100-199 ha. (247-492 a.), four
of 50-99 ha. (124-245 a.), and six of 10-49 ha.
(25-121 a.). (fn. 77)
INDUSTRY
Brick field was named in 1621, (fn. 78)
bricks for the building works at the Hall were
burnt locally in the 18th century, presumably in
or near Brick Garth close, (fn. 79) and there was a yard
on the southern boundary in the mid 19th
century. (fn. 80)
MILL
A windmill was recorded at Burton
Constable in 1294, (fn. 81) and from the 17th to the
mid 19th century a mill stood close to the eastern
boundary. It was evidently demolished soon
after 1828, but Mill clump and other placenames mark its site. (fn. 82)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Court records for
Burton Constable manor include rolls for
1433-8, 1546-58, and 1593-1636, (fn. 83) a call roll of
c. 1730, (fn. 84) and presentments from 1704 to 1789. (fn. 85)
In the 15th century the manor comprised, besides Burton Constable, lands at West Marton,
at Etherdwick, Tansterne, and West Newton, all
in Aldbrough parish, at Owstwick in Roos, at
Grimston in Garton, at Wassand in Sigglesthorne, and in Hilston and Sproatley parishes,
but the court was mostly concerned with the
agriculture and drainage of Burton Constable
and West Newton. Officers elected included four
manorial reeves, two wood-reeves, two millreeves, two 'gripp-', or dike-, reeves, an aletaster, and a constable for the hamlet. In the mid
16th century the court, which had view of frankpledge, also appointed a bylawman for Burton
Constable. There were two meetings a year in
the 18th century, when the courts were held at
Marton and West Newton.
Burton Constable hamlet joined Skirlaugh
poor-law union in 1837. (fn. 86) As part of West
Newton with Burton Constable civil parish, it
remained in Skirlaugh rural district until 1935.
With the rest of the enlarged civil parish of
Burton Constable, it was then taken into the new
Holderness rural district and at reorganization
in 1974 was incorporated in the Holderness district of Humberside. (fn. 87) In 1996 Burton Constable
parish became part of a new East Riding unitary area. (fn. 88)
CHURCH
A 'chantry chaplain of Burton' was
mentioned in the 1430s and a 'parish priest of
Burton Constable' later in the century, and at
its dissolution Swine priory was paying a wage
to a curate there. (fn. 89) There was also said to have
been a chapel of Burton Constable, endowed
with tithes in that township, presumably by the
priory as rector. (fn. 90) Although there may have been
a chantry associated with the chapel in the Hall,
most of this evidence probably relates to nearby
Marton chapel. (fn. 91)
ROMAN CATHOLICISM
The Constables of
Burton Constable were probably the most
influential of the Roman Catholic families in
Swine parish. (fn. 92) Their tenants and servants presumably worshipped in the family's chapel at
the Hall until the later 17th century, when a
mission was established nearby at Marton for
most of them. (fn. 93) The chapel at the Hall was very
likely one of the two Roman Catholic chapels,
each with its own priest, recorded in Swine
parish in 1743; it was still used occasionally in
1994. (fn. 94)
EDUCATION
Children from Burton Constable
have gone to school at Marton, Ellerby, and
Sproatley. (fn. 95)
CHARITY FOR THE POOR
Little is known
of the administration of a charity for the poor
of Burton Constable which was created by
deed of 1770 and endowed with 12 a. A Scheme
obtained in 1982 allowed the charity to be run
as a relief in need trust for inhabitants of Burton
Constable civil parish with a smaller charity
benefiting Sproatley. (fn. 96) In 1985-6 the annual
income of the two charities was almost £800,
but no grants were made and there was a final
balance of nearly £4,000. (fn. 97)