CONISTON
Coniston hamlet lies 2 km. south-east of Swine
village. The name was 'Coningesbi' in 1086, and
it is uncertain whether it was an Anglian name
later Scandinavianized, or the reverse; it may
mean 'king's farm'. (fn. 98) Coniston, which comprised 602 a. (244 ha.), (fn. 99) was united with
Thirtleby civil parish in 1935 as the new civil
parish of Coniston, with an area of 1,358 a. (550
ha.). (fn. 1) In 1984 some 8 ha. (20 a.) of Coniston
civil parish was transferred to Bilton, and in
1991 Coniston's area was 540 ha. (1,334 a.). (fn. 2)
There were 56 poll-tax payers at Coniston in
1377, (fn. 3) and 13 houses there were assessed for
hearth tax and 2 discharged in 1672. (fn. 4) Coniston's
population was c. 110 in the 19th and early 20th
century, 116 being recorded in 1931, when
Coniston and Thirtleby together had 171 inhabitants. The population of the new civil parish
increased to 269 in 1951, and 248 of the usual
252 inhabitants were present in 1991. (fn. 5)
CONISTON hamlet was built along a street
which continued westwards to Swine and southeastwards to Thirtleby and from which side
lanes led to Skirlaugh and Ganstead. A stream
flowing southwards through the settlement was
formerly fed by a small mere on the north side
of the hamlet. (fn. 6) Drainage improvements carried
out after the inclosure of Coniston in 1790 also
included the draining of another, small mere in
the northern field. (fn. 7) The side lanes of Coniston
were later incorporated into the main HullBridlington road, and in the mid 20th century
many bungalows and other houses were built
alongside the stretch to Ganstead. The main
road ran through Coniston hamlet until soon
after 1970, when an eastern by-pass was made. (fn. 8)
The older buildings include one or two 19thcentury farmhouses and the newer houses 16
built by Holderness rural district council. (fn. 9)
North End Farm was built in the later 19th
century. (fn. 10)
There were one or two licensed houses at
Coniston in the later 18th century and in the
1820s one called the Blue Bell. (fn. 11) By 1840 that or
another house was called the Stag and Hounds;
renamed the Blacksmith's Arms c. 1860, (fn. 12) it still
traded in 1994. Two acres awarded in 1790 as
a gravel pit for road repairs had by 1852 been
divided into allotment gardens, which were used
until c. 1970. (fn. 13) A village hall was built in or
shortly before 1951. (fn. 14)
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES
In 1066
Morkar held 4 carucates at Coniston as soke of
Mappleton manor; by 1086 the estate had passed
to Drew de Bevrère. (fn. 15) It was later part of the
Aumale fee.
Richard of Ottringham (fl. c. 1140) held land
at Coniston of the count of Aumale. (fn. 16) It descended, as at Ottringham, to the Lasceles
family. (fn. 17) In the mid 13th century J(ohn) de
Lasceles and William de Lasceles, probably
John's son (d. c. 1230) or grandson (fl. 1248), (fn. 18)
each held 2 carucates at Coniston, (fn. 19) and William
de Lasceles, either the grandson or his son, (fn. 20) was
tenant of an indeterminate estate there, wholly
occupied by undertenants, in the 1280s. He (d.
by 1294) was succeeded by his son John. (fn. 21)
Pagan Blussell (Blassell) evidently held nearly
3 carucates at Coniston, practically all of which
he gave to Thornton abbey (Lincs.) before 1190;
the lordship and the small demesne estate
remaining descended to Hugh Blassell (fl.
1280s). (fn. 22) As CONISTON manor, the abbey's
estate passed to the Crown at the Dissolution. (fn. 23)
Some land at Coniston formerly belonging to
the abbey was granted as concealed land to John
and William Marsh in 1576. (fn. 24) The manor, which
extended into Sutton and Drypool and then
included at Coniston houses and lands let for c.
£7 a year and court profits of a few shillings,
was granted in 1614 to William Whitmore and
Edmund Sawyer in fee farm. (fn. 25)
It was presumably the same manor which
Elizabeth Egleston and others sold to Richard
Allanson (Allatson) in 1705 (fn. 26) and which had
descended to his daughter Elizabeth Fysh by
1721. (fn. 27) It passed to her son Tristram Fysh (d.
by 1742) and then to his sister Catherine Coppinger, who was succeeded by her son Fysh
Coppinger. In 1765 he sold the manor to Robert
Wilberforce (d. 1768). (fn. 28) Besides rents, the
manor then comprised the manor house and
another house, 2 carucates and 2 bovates, and c.
40 a. at Coniston and Ellerby. (fn. 29) At inclosure in
1790, the lord of the manor was Robert's son
William Wilberforce, the philanthropist, who
was awarded 304 a. and 73 a. more with Jane
Tennyson; his allotments included 13 a. for
glebe land, and his mother Elizabeth (d. 1798)
also received 104 a. and rents for tithes. (fn. 30) From
Wilberforce (d. 1833) the estate, which comprised nearly 500 a. in three farms in 1865, (fn. 31)
descended to W. B. Wilberforce (d. 1913) (fn. 32) and
then presumably to his son William. In 1920 the
Wilberforce trustees sold the estate, comprising
a 494-a. farm and several houses, to William
England (d. 1932), who left his estate at Coniston and Swine to his son James. (fn. 33) House plots
and some of the buildings were sold in the
1930s, (fn. 34) and in 1944 the farm, remaining buildings, and 487 a., mostly at Coniston, were
bought by J. A. Foxton (d. 1954). (fn. 35) In 1974 the
farm was vested in B. P. Foxton, who had earlier
bought the 88-a. Hill Top farm. (fn. 36) In 1994
Manor farm and the other land at Coniston were
conveyed to Foxton Farmers Ltd. (fn. 37)
Coniston and Thirtleby 1852
Other tenants of the Aumale fee at Coniston
included the Suttons, who held 1 carucate in the
late 13th century, (fn. 38) and in the 14th century the
Helpstons. (fn. 39) Swine priory had land at Coniston
worth £2 a year in 1535. (fn. 40)
A manor of Coniston sold by Alexander Rishworth and his wife Beatrice to Richard Rogers
in 1571 (fn. 41) may have been elsewhere, and no more
is known of it.
The rectorial tithes of Coniston, together with
'Leconby farm', another part of Swine rectory,
possibly at Coniston, were bought in 1681 by
Thomas Johnson. (fn. 42) Compositions were then
paid for hay tithes. (fn. 43) Some tithes at Coniston
were sold in 1773. (fn. 44) At inclosure in 1790, the
rectorial estate there belonged, like the manor,
to the Wilberforces; William Wilberforce was
then awarded 13 a. for glebe land and his mother
Elizabeth 104 a. and rents totalling £4 17s. 7d.
for tithes. (fn. 45)
ECONOMIC HISTORY
COMMON LANDS AND INCLOSURE
In 1609 the commonable
lands of Coniston included North and South
fields and a stinted pasture. (fn. 46) The township was
inclosed in 1790 under an Act of 1789. (fn. 47) By then
the tillage had evidently been reduced by the
making of closes in the village. (fn. 48) Some 570 a.
was dealt with. South field then contained 264
a., North field 135 a., and North field, Furlongs,
and Whin close 169 a. Whin close, possibly the
common pasture recorded earlier, and Furlongs
were in the north-east of the township. Besides
the 481 a. awarded to William Wilberforce, lord
of the manor, Elizabeth Wilberforce, and Jane
Tennyson, (fn. 49) Robert Burton received 86 a., and
there were two small allotments.
LATER AGRICULTURE
In 1987 the area returned under Coniston civil parish was 1,175 ha.
(2,903 a.), which evidently included land elsewhere. Arable land accounted for 907 ha. (2,241
a.), grassland for 250 ha. (618 a.), and woodland
for 5.4 ha. (13 a.); there were then almost 18,000
poultry, some 4,000 pigs, and more than 800
cattle. (fn. 50)
Coniston lay in two to five farms in the 19th
and earlier 20th century, only one of which was
of 150 a. or more. (fn. 51) The augmented area returned under the civil parish in 1987 was divided
into 11 holdings: one exceeded 200 ha. (494 a.),
another was of 100-199 ha. (247-492 a.), two of
10-49 ha. (25-121 a.), and seven of under 10
ha. (fn. 52) A gardener worked at Coniston in 1851; a
firm of nurserymen, also active at Burton
Constable, had c. 25 a. there in 1892, and in
1905 a Coniston blacksmith specialized in heating apparatuses for greenhouses. (fn. 53) In 1987 vegetables were grown on 3.9 ha. (10 a.) of the area
returned under Coniston civil parish. (fn. 54) There
was a cowkeeper at Coniston c. 1930. (fn. 55)
NON-AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT has
included the digging of a little sand and gravel, (fn. 56)
and in 1994 Coniston had a garage and a building and joinery concern.
MILL
A maltster of Coniston was recorded
in 1690, and a windmill stood in the township's
South field in the 18th century. (fn. 57)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Poorhouses were
maintained at Coniston. (fn. 58) Permanent relief was
given to two people and three were relieved
occasionally in 1802-3, and between 1812 and
1815 the township had 4-6 on permanent and
4-7 on occasional relief. (fn. 59) Coniston joined Skirlaugh poor-law union in 1837, (fn. 60) and the township, later civil parish, remained in Skirlaugh
rural district until 1935. As part of the enlarged
civil parish of Coniston, it was then included in
the new Holderness rural district and at reorganization in 1974 in the Holderness district of
Humberside. (fn. 61) In 1996 Coniston parish became
part of a new East Riding unitary area. (fn. 62)
NONCONFORMITY
Most of the houses registered for protestant worship at 'Coniston' in
1793, 1795, 1808, and 1809 were probably at
other Conistons. (fn. 63) The schoolroom was said to
have been used in the early 1800s by an Independent congregation, established after mission
ary work from Fish Street chapel, Hull. (fn. 64) In
1829 the Wesleyan Methodists provided a
chapel just over the boundary in Swine township
by converting two cottages rented from the
Wilberforces; the chapel was almost certainly
closed on the opening in the 1890s of Swine
chapel, (fn. 65) and it has been demolished. The
Primitive Methodists built a chapel at Coniston
in 1872, (fn. 66) and extended it with a schooolroom
in 1893. (fn. 67) Later the Methodist chapel, (fn. 68) it was
closed in 1991 and was disused in 1995. (fn. 69)
EDUCATION
About 1790 William Wilberforce began a school at Coniston, providing the
schoolroom, a master's house, and £10 a year,
for which 10 children were taught free. In 1833
the school was attended by 20 boys and girls, all
then paid for by their parents. (fn. 70) It was evidently
closed soon afterwards, and in 1871 children
from Coniston attended Swine school. (fn. 71) A
dame's school for infants was recorded in 1872. (fn. 72)