OSGODBY
The village of Osgodby lies 2½ miles north-west of
Hemingbrough. The township nowhere reaches to
the Ouse and it consists mostly of slightly elevated
ground, exceeding 25 ft. above sea-level. In the
south it includes a little of the flat land bordering
the river, and a stream forms the township boundary
there. Osgodby was a Scandinavian settlement. The
area of the township was 1,559 a. (fn. 30) The open fields
lay around the village, with common meadows
further south; much of the land north of the village
was occupied by early inclosures, including a park
around the manor-house, but in the far north an
extensive common adjoined similar land in Riccall
and South Duffield. The open fields, meadows, and
commons were inclosed in 1819. (fn. 31)
The village stands at the junction of roads leading
to Barlby, Cliffe, South Duffield, and Skipwith, and
the turnpike road from Selby to Market Weighton
crosses the north of the township. The Barlby and
Cliffe roads have been improved in the 20th century
as part of the Selby-Hull trunk road, and a bypass
south of the village was built in the 1920s. (fn. 32) The
Selby-Hull railway line, opened in 1840, (fn. 33) and the
line from Selby to Market Weighton, opened in
1848 and closed in 1965, both cross the south of the
township. (fn. 34)
The older part of the village includes no noteworthy houses. There has been much new building
in the 20th century, including eight council houses
in the village centre. There are a few private houses
on the South Duffield road near Osgodby Hall, (fn. 35)
and many more on the bypass and both along and
behind the Barlby road. A single alehouse in
Osgodby was licensed in the 1750s and 1760s, but
none later in the century. (fn. 36) The Half Moon was
recorded in 1823 (fn. 37) but thereafter only a beerhouse
until 1879, when the Wadkin Arms was in existence. (fn. 38) It was still the only public house in 1973.
There is no poll-tax return for Osgodby. In 1672
25 households were included in the hearth-tax
return, all of them chargeable. Fifteen had one
hearth each, 6 had 2, and 4 had 3 to five. (fn. 39) In 1801
the population was 146; it reached a maximum of
225 in 1861 and 1881, but had fallen to 190 in
1901. (fn. 40) It rose to 294 in 1931 before Osgodby was
united with Barlby civil parish. (fn. 41)
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
In 1086 2
carucates and 7½ bovates in Osgodby belonged to
the count of Mortain and were held from him by
Niel Fossard, who had succeeded William Malet. Of
that total 3 bovates had been held before the Conquest by Norman and Tochi. The whole estate was
soke of the bishop of Durham's manor of Howden. (fn. 42)
The bishop's overlordship was still mentioned in
1504. (fn. 43) From the Fossards the mesne lordship
descended to Joan of Turnham and her husband
Robert by 1204, (fn. 44) and to Isabel de Mauley and her
husband Peter by 1223. (fn. 45)
In 1204 the manor of OSGODBY was held in
demesne by Jordan de Hameldon, otherwise known
as Jordan of Osgodby. (fn. 46) By 1223 it had passed to
Jordan's daughter Denise, who married Sampson de
la Pomeray, (fn. 47) and it subsequently passed to Adam
of Osgodby. (fn. 48) In 1284-5 Robert of Osgodby held the
manor (fn. 49) and he was followed by his son, another
Robert. Its ownership was subsequently in dispute
and a settlement was reached only in 1460, in
favour of Thomas Babthorpe. The Babthorpes
claimed that Robert of Osgodby the younger had
two daughters, Emme, who married John Rabace,
and Cecily, who married Hugh Turnyll, and that
Hugh's son Ralph conveyed the manor to William
Kettering. From Kettering it passed to the Babthorpes, apparently about 1440. The rival claim of
the Hagthorpe family was that the manor passed to
them by the marriage of Robert of Osgodby's sister
to Thomas Hagthorpe. (fn. 50)
The Babthorpes retained Osgodby until 1622,
when Sir William Babthorpe sold it to Sir Guy
Palmes. (fn. 51) In 1668 William Palmes sold it to Sir
Jeremiah Smith (d. 1675), (fn. 52) and in 1704 his grandson Jeremiah conveyed it to John Burdett. (fn. 53) On
Richard Burdett's death in 1744 the manor passed
to his daughter Elizabeth, who married first George
Ridley and secondly, in 1778, T. F. Pritchard, who
assumed the surname Burdett. (fn. 54) In 1785 T. F.
Burdett sold the manor to George Dawson. (fn. 55) It was
conveyed by G. P. Dawson to Riley Briggs in 1861,
together with 1,125 a. (fn. 56)
Briggs died in 1913 and in 1919 his devisees sold
the manor, with Osgodby Hall and 338 a., to A. G.
Hopper. (fn. 57) The manor and hall, with 84 a. of land,
were sold to Sir Charles H. Wilson (d. 1930) in
1927, (fn. 58) to L. S. Charlton in 1936, and to E. A.
Whittaker in 1949, and, without most of the land, to
M. S. Moorse in 1957 and to Mr. Oliver Adamson in
1969. (fn. 59) The sale to Hopper in 1919 included the
254-acre Home farm, most of which was sold to
J. W. Johnson in 1924, to F. B. Lax in 1928, to
J. W. Proctor in 1936, and to R. H. Simpson in
1945. (fn. 60) The Simpsons already had other property in
the township, including the 161-acre White House
farm, later called Osgodby Grange, which T. H.
Simpson bought from Riley Briggs's devisees in
1920. (fn. 61)
The manor-house at Osgodby apparently contained a chapel in the 15th century. (fn. 62) In 1672 the
largest house in the village, with five hearths, was
occupied by Sir Jeremiah Smith, (fn. 63) who may thus
already have been the tenant of the manor-house.
There is a tradition that the Babthorpes' house was
rebuilt c. 1700 and it is possible that it was an 18thcentury house that passed to G. P. Dawson in 1844.
Dawson employed Edmund Sharpe to enlarge and
remodel the house in a Tudor style, providing a
porch and entrance hall on the east and adding a
tower in 1854. (fn. 64) His successor Riley Briggs made
further alterations later in the century, notably by
replacing many fire-places and refitting the entrance
hall. After a fire c. 1956 the tower and central part
of the house were demolished and the roof-line
simplified.
The outline of the former park, with its drives,
ponds, and planting, could still be traced in 1973,
and the modern garden is in part bounded by a later19th-century iron fence and incorporates an 18thcentury dovecot and an icehouse. South-west of the
house are the walls of an extensive early-19thcentury kitchen garden and farmery. Large Victorian gate-piers from the former main entrance to
the park have been re-erected at a new house east of
the hall. Home Farm bears the date 1863 and the
initials of Riley Briggs.
Drax priory, (fn. 65) Selby abbey, (fn. 66) and Thicket priory (fn. 67)
all had small estates in Osgodby. The Knights
Templars of Temple Hirst were given land there in
the 13th century (fn. 68) and it was attached to the manor
of Temple Hirst until the 20th century. (fn. 69)
The rectorial tithes of Osgodby descended like
those of Barlby, most of them with Hemingbrough
manor but those of pigs and poultry with Babthorpe
manor. (fn. 70) The former were worth £35 and the latter,
together with similar tithes in Barlby and Cliffe
with Lund, £3 in 1650. (fn. 71) The former tithes were
sold to George Dawson in 1812, (fn. 72) and they were
commuted in 1841 for rent-charges of £71 18s. 6d.
payable to G. P. Dawson. For the tithes of pigs and
poultry £3 were awarded to C. T. Heathcote in
1841. (fn. 73)
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
The larger of the two
estates at Osgodby in 1086, containing 2 carucates
and 4½ bovates, was said to have land for 2 ploughs.
There were then, however, one plough on the
demesne, 2 held by 9 villeins, and 2 more held by 6
sokemen, 4 villeins, and 2 bordars. The estate had
decreased in value from £2 before the Conquest to
£1 in 1086. The smaller estate, of 3 bovates, had
one plough in demesne. There was 20 a. of meadow
and pasturable woodland ½ league in length and
breadth. The estate had fallen in value from 12s. to
5s. (fn. 74) The continued existence of waste and woodland
in the 13th century is shown by references to common pasture for 200 sheep, common in the turbary,
and pasture for pigs in the woodland. Much assarting was also taking place. Besides references to
open-field land there was mention of an assart in
Scouilacris, one under Stonihag, another belonging
to William de Norais, and one called Swynhale; in
addition 6 a. inclosed with a dike lay in an assart
called Thinnewode. There was also meadow in the
Outfield. (fn. 75)
A Wednesday market and a fair on 7-9 September
were granted to Robert of Osgodby in 1302, (fn. 76) but
are not mentioned later.
Old inclosures eventually covered much of the
township. In 1819 they included 53 a. in Maw,
Little Moor, Great Moor, and Gill Ruddings, and
28 a. in Little and Great Hall parks. (fn. 77) The latter
were perhaps remnants of a medieval deer park;
lands called Long flats within the park had been
mentioned in 1591. (fn. 78) When the remaining open
fields, meadows, and commons were inclosed in
1819, (fn. 79) under an Act of 1811, (fn. 80) they amounted to
only 475 a. Allotments were made from the common, totalling 164 a., West field (46 a.), Mill field
(30 a.), New Moors field (19 a.), Far field (17 a.),
Teathill field (16 a.), and jointly from those fields
and from the ings (177 a.). There were 7 allotments
of under 10 a., 5 of 10-49 a., and one of 316 a. made
to George Dawson, lord of the manor, which included 190 a. for rectorial tithes.
In 1841 there were 1,324 a. of arable land and 200
a. of meadow and pasture in the township. (fn. 81) A larger
proportion of grassland was recorded in the 20th
century, however, together with several large
plantations. (fn. 82) The improvement of the estate by
G. P. Dawson and Riley Briggs, successively lords
of the manor, in the later 19th century apparently
included the making of a new park, the construction
of a large decoy lake, and the planting of woodland. (fn. 83)
The park had been converted to farmland by 1973.
There have usually been 10-15 farmers in the 19th
and 20th centuries. Five of them had 100 a. or more
in 1851 (fn. 84) and 3 or 4 of them had 150 a. or more in
the 1920s. (fn. 85) Since the 1930s there have also been
several smallholders, working land acquired by the
East Riding county council for the purpose. (fn. 86)
A windmill was worked at Osgodby throughout
the 19th century (fn. 87) and a miller was last mentioned in
1905. (fn. 88) Part of the tower still stood in 1973, near the
Cliffe road south-east of the village.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
There are surviving
call rolls and other court papers for Osgodby manor
for a few years between 1824 and 1856. (fn. 89) The township had several poorhouses, still standing in 1841
on an island site at the junction of the Skipwith and
South Duffield roads. (fn. 90)
Osgodby joined Selby poor-law union in 1837; (fn. 91)
it became part of Riccall rural district in 1894,
Derwent rural district in 1935, (fn. 92) and the Selby
district of North Yorkshire in 1974.
NONCONFORMITY.
The Babthorpe family were
prominent Roman Catholics in the late 16th and
early 17th centuries. (fn. 93) A house in Osgodby was
registered for dissenting worship in 1819. (fn. 94) The
Wesleyans had a meeting-place in 1851 (fn. 95) and the
Primitive Methodists another which had closed by
1914, (fn. 96) but there has never been a purpose-built
chapel in the township.
EDUCATION.
Osgodby children have always
attended school at Barlby.
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
The poor of
Osgodby benefited from an unknown donor's gift at
South Duffield. (fn. 97)