WHITBY
Streanæshalc, Streneshalc, Streoneshalch, Streoneshalh, Streunes-Alae in Lindissi (vii-viii cent.);
Prestebi (xi cent.); Hwitebi, Witebi (xii cent.);
Whitebi (xiii cent.); Qwiteby (xiv cent.).
The parish comprised in 1831 the townships of
Aislaby, (fn. 1) Hawsker cum Stainsacre, Newholm cum
Dunsley, Ruswarp, Ugglebarnby and Whitby and
the chapelry of Eskdaleside. (fn. 2) Of these Aislaby became
a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1865, Ruswarp in
1870 and Hawsker cum Stainsacre in 1878. A new
township was separated from that of Hawsker cum
Stainsacre in 1894 (fn. 3) and named Helredale (fn. 4) ; it forms
part of the Whitby Urban District. The parish of
Aislaby includes the hamlet of Briggswath, that of
Eskdaleside cum Ugglebarnby includes Grosmont,
Iburndale, Little Beck and Sleights, that of Ruswarp
Boghall, Ewe Cote, Fishburn Park, High Stakesby and
West Cliff, that of Whitby Burtree Cragg and Haggerlythe. The entire area is 14,844 acres, including
228 acres of foreshore. The crops are wheat, barley
and oats. An Inclosure Act was passed for the moors,
commons and wastes of the manors of Eskdaleside and
Ugglebarnby in 1760, (fn. 5) another for Dunsley Moor
in 1793. (fn. 6) Jet has been worked from Saxon times. (fn. 7)
The local sandstone is excellent, and has been used
in the great breakwaters at Whitby and for London
Bridge, the Admiralty Pier at Dover and the facing
of the old Houses of Parliament. (fn. 8) The Whitby
Stone Company was formed in 1834 to work quarries
of basalt, grit, ironstone and cement stone. The
Brick and Tile Company, founded in 1838, had
works near the railway between Ruswarp and Sleights.
Alum (fn. 9) was worked from the 17th to the 19th
century. (fn. 10) The fact that Whitby Abbey in about
1200 agreed to send 2,000 herrings yearly to Thornton Dale (fn. 11) suggests that the salting of herring was an
early industry, and the 11th-century fish-tithe (fn. 12) is significant. Sir William Todd, kt., of York, bequeathed
a mease and salt-house in Whitby in March 1502–3. (fn. 13)
Saltwick, about a mile east of the abbey, where the
coast begins to turn south, is mentioned in 1519, (fn. 14)
but no trace of the salt industry here has been found.
Salters settled in Whitby in the 17th century near
the place still known as Salt Pans. (fn. 15) Their industry,
however, shortly afterwards passed to Tyneside. (fn. 16)
The monoliths which exist in the parish possibly
mark ancient British interments. (fn. 17) North of the
lane from Whitby Lathes to Stainsacre a stone 1 ft.
square and 4 ft. high stood in Robin Hood (fn. 18) Closes
in 1816, while south of the lane, in Little John
Closes, (fn. 19) was a second pillar 2½ ft. high. (fn. 20) The
stones, with which are associated legends of Robin
Hood, now stand by the fences of the same fields. (fn. 21)
The Saxon history of the town begins with the
introduction of Christianity into Northumbria. King
Edwin (fn. 22) and his kinswoman Hilda, then a child,
were baptized in 627. Edwin's successor Oswy had
vowed to grant lands for monastic purposes if he
should defeat the pagan Penda, and it was possibly
in connexion with his victory at Winwaed (655) (fn. 23)
that Hilda obtained possession of her lands at Whitby
and built the monastery. (fn. 24) Here King Edwin's
headless body, which had lain since 633 at Hatfield,
was brought for burial, (fn. 25) and here the famous synod
of 'Streoneshalch' was held in 664. (fn. 26)
Streoneshalch was laid waste by Danes in successive
inroads (867–70) under Ingwar and Ubba, and was
said to have remained desolate for more than 200
years (fn. 27) ; but the existence of 'Prestebi' at the Domesday Survey may point to the revival of religious life
in Danish times.
The Danish town of Whitby (fn. 28) was presumably of
some importance, as close to it was apparently held
the Danish Thing, (fn. 29) and nearly all the places in the
district in 1086 bore Danish names. Whitby was
geldable before the Conquest at the large sum of
£112. (fn. 30)
Between the Conquest and 1078 a new monastery
was built by Reinfrid of Jarrow, after whose death the
monks, attacked by pirates and others, retired for a
time to Hackness under their prior Serlo. (fn. 31) At about
the same date a party of monks under Stephen left
Whitby for York, and there established St. Mary's
Abbey (about 1087). (fn. 32)
In the time of King Stephen King Eystein of
Norway, invading England, burned the town of
Whitby. (fn. 33) In 1179–80 eleven Whitby hamlets were
fined for concealing the wreck of a Norwegian ship. (fn. 34)
The Bastard of Orleans, (fn. 35) the seneschal of France,
other French dignitaries, 200 mariners and nine ships
were captured here in 1451. (fn. 36) French pirates in 1526
brought in a prize, the Jesus of Dantzig, and sold it to
the inhabitants; the abbot and burgesses, summoned
before the Star Chamber, pleaded, as an excuse for
buying, the scarcity of corn in the district. (fn. 37) In
February 1643–4 Whitby, strongly garrisoned for the
king by Newcastle, surrendered to Fairfax; a Parliamentary garrison of 200 horse was placed in Sir Hugh
Cholmley's 'great house and fort on the
High-Clift.' (fn. 38) The inhabitants, 'in
their great distress,' petitioned in 1649
for protection from pirates, (fn. 39) and in
1793 the mariners of Whitby rose
against the press-gang. (fn. 40) Shortly before
the Dissolution the inhabitants, in a
dispute with the abbot, stated that from
time immemorial, on the eves of Midsummer, St. Peter and St. Thomas, a
bonfire was made in Whitby and
neighbouring towns, and the mariners
and fishermen went in procession with
half a burning tar barrel borne before
them on a staff, carrying what weapons
they pleased, and that they used to sing
through the streets, resort to every
bonfire and there drink and make
merry; but on the last St. Peter's Eve
the abbot's servants, it was supposed at
his command, had fallen on them and
shamefully beaten them. The abbot
pretended ignorance and offered to give
them ale on St. Thomas's Eve, but as
they climbed the narrow approach to
the abbey they were again set upon,
driven into the town and badly hurt. (fn. 41)
The old town of Whitby is placed
on both the right and left banks of the
River Esk at its mouth, the houses
being built one above another on the
steeply sloping banks of the stream.
The estuary itself forms the harbour,
and is protected by two stone jetties.
The two sides of the river are connected by a modern swing bridge. (fn. 42)
The streets of the old town are narrow,
winding and picturesque, and the mass
of irregular red-tiled roofs renders the view from the
cliffs one of great beauty and interest. The buildings
stop short of the crest on the east side of the stream,
but on the west they extend over the top and for
some way along the sea front, forming the modern
portion of the town, known as the West Cliff. The
opposite or East Cliff is crowned by the lofty ruins of
the abbey church, with the parish church of St. Mary
at a rather lower level and approached by a long
flight of stone steps. The third important building
on this side is the Abbey House, which lies a short
distance to the south. Above the bridge the Esk
widens into a broad basin filled at flood, but, with
the exception of the river channel, a mud bank at
ebb. Adjoining it on the west is the town station
of the North Eastern railway, which is connected by
a short branch with the other station on the high
level of the West Cliff. The latter is approached
from the south by a lofty viaduct over the Esk valley
a short distance above the town.

Kiln Yard, Church Street, Whitby
The charter granted by Abbot Richard between
1177 and 1189 (fn. 43) mentioned four principal ways into
the town of Whitby. These may be supposed to be
identical with the four principal streets of the old
town, namely, Church Street, Haggersgate, Flowergate, and Baxtergate, the three last meeting formerly
on the west bank of the river. Here Flowergate and
Baxtergate now meet, but a block of buildings occupies what was the south end of Haggersgate. Church
Street on the east bank extends from the Church
Stairs until it meets Green Lane from the east at
Spital Bridge, where the leper hospital of St. Michael
was established in 1109. (fn. 44) Gallows Close lies near
to Spital Bridge. The whole extent of Church Street,
or Kirkgate, (fn. 45) was divided into Highgate, Crossgate,
and Southgate. Crossgate, probably named from the
market cross, (fn. 46) and Southgate are both mentioned in
1426. (fn. 47) The present Church Street contains several
houses of 17th-century date, as well as modern buildings of Elizabethan character. On the eastern side is
the Seamen's Hospital, founded in 1676.
From the north part of Church Street the abbey
and parish church are reached, the latter lying
between the abbey ruins and the sea. Between the
churchyard and the entrance to the abbey precincts is
the Abbey Plain with an old stone cross. Grass
fields extend eastward along the cliff. In the crowded
churchyard (fn. 48) there is a new cross with Saxon ornament
known as Caedmon's, erected in 1898. There was a
cross in this graveyard in 1474, and in 1483 the
'great cross' of the graveyard is mentioned, this
pointing, Canon Atkinson thought, to two crosses,
the second possibly that now standing on the 'miscalled Abbey Plain.' (fn. 49)
At the junction of Stakesby Road and Love Lane,
a short distance to the west of the town, is the stone
base of a wayside cross.
A hospital of St. John the Baptist in Whitby is
referred to in the 14th and 15th centuries. (fn. 50) Gilds
of the Holy Trinity, Holy Cross and St. Christopher
are mentioned in 1396, 1399 and 1429 respectively. (fn. 51)
Whitby Abbey
The remains of the abbey
of Whitby consist of the ruins
of the church only. Situated on
the summit of the lofty east cliff, they must always
have formed a conspicuous landmark, and even in its
present shattered condition the church is visible from
far out to sea. At the Dissolution the church, apart
from being stripped of its lead, was suffered to remain
intact probably for this very reason. In 1711, when
Buck's view was published, the building was still almost
entire, but since that date the destruction has been
very rapid. The greater part of the nave must have
fallen soon afterwards, and the central tower collapsed
early in the last century, carrying with it a considerable portion of the south quire wall. Even in its
present condition, however, it remains one of the
finest examples of 13th-century work in the county.
The church consisted of an aisled quire 104 ft. by
62¼ ft., transepts (44¼ ft. total width), each arm
having an eastern aisle and projecting 36 ft. beyond
the quire, aisled nave 138¾ ft. long by about 62 ft. wide
and a central tower about 30 ft. square. The total
length was 286¾ ft. All the measurements are internal.
A complete rebuilding of the church was begun about
1220, to which date the quire may be assigned.
The north transept followed about twenty years later,
and the first three bays of the nave are of the same
date. The remainder of the nave, however, was not
undertaken until the 14th century, the west front
being the latest portion. The windows at this end
are probably of the early 15th century, and at the
same date a mullion and transom were inserted in
the central lancet at the east end.
The walls of the quire are largely intact except for
the western bays on the south side and the south aisle.
The east wall is pierced by three tiers of lancet
windows, three in each tier, the central light being
somewhat the wider. In the two lower the windows
are of equal height, but in the gable they are
graduated, the lower angles being filled externally by
blind arches of similar type, making five in all. The
lancets of the lower stages are divided externally by
shafts banded at intervals and finished with moulded
capitals and gablets, below the main gable stringcourse. The arrangement inside is somewhat similar,
but the shafts here spring from moulded corbels above
the first tier, and the spandrels between the window
heads at this level are enriched with sunk and moulded
circular panels inclosing quatrefoils and sexfoils. The
windows themselves are richly moulded, both inside
and out, and have jamb shafts on each side with capitals
and bases and a line of dog-tooth ornament between
them. The centre window of the middle tier was
divided up by a mullion and transom in the 15th
century; the embattled transom still remains with
portions of tracery in the head. The quire had a
wooden roof and the windows in the gable are quite
plain internally. At the base of the gable outside
are two trefoil-headed niches. Opposite the arcade
walls are square buttresses with the angles chamfered
off, which are finished with gables inclosing trefoiled
niches. The return walls above the level of the aisles
have similar buttresses, and each pair supports a massive
octagonal pinnacle, shafted at the angles and flanking
the main gable. In the east wall are two square
aumbries, one at either end. The side walls of the
quire are divided into seven bays of equal size, except
the westernmost, which is narrower to correspond to
the width of the transept aisle. The wall on the north
rises to its full height, but on the south only the three
eastern bays are entire; the fourth, however, rises to the
base of the clearstory, while the fifth and sixth piers
are yet standing. The piers of the main arcades are
composed of eight engaged shafts, of which those
facing the cardinal points are larger and are in alternate
piers brought to a point or keeled on the outer face.
They have moulded bases and bell-shaped capitals,
and support pointed arches of three deeply moulded
orders. Resting on a foliated corbel in each spandrel
are three engaged shafts, banded between the stories
and stopped at the top of the wall with a moulded
capital to support the roof truss. The triforium
consists of round-headed moulded arches the full
width of the bays, each inclosing two sub-arches,
with an enriched trefoil or quatrefoil panel in the
spandrel. Each of these arches was again subdivided
into two others acutely pointed, but in every case only
the heads remain. The jambs of each arch were pro-
vided with detached shafts, making three orders, but
of these only the capitals and bases remain. The
main triforium arches are enriched with a single line
of dog-toothing, and in the western bay, owing to
its decreased width, the arch was pointed. The clearstory was lighted by one lancet window in the centre
of each bay, the head forming the central bay of a
wall arcade of five moulded arches springing from
engaged shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
Externally these windows have moulded hoods, and
the main bays are marked by flat pilaster buttresses
with gabled heads. Portions of the corbel table
below the parapet are also apparent.
The north aisle is conterminous with the quire, and
is roofed with a quadripartite stone vault with moulded
ribs springing from vaulting shafts against the outer wall
with moulded capitals and standing on corbels level with
the window sills. The vault of the fourth bay has
fallen in but the rest is intact. Each bay has a lancet
window with detached jamb shafts and dog-tooth
ornament. At the east end is an aumbry, and in the
abutment of the arcade is a trefoil-headed piscina.
The wall is supported externally by square buttresses,
with the angles chamfered off, and apparently carried
up above the parapet. The outer wall of the south
aisle is destroyed, but a jamb of the eastern lancet
window and the springers of the aisle vault remain.
The central tower is now only represented by the
north-east pier, which is broken off just below the
springing line of the arch. It consists of clustered
and engaged shafts with larger keeled shafts towards
the cardinal points. Numerous prints and engravings
of the central tower before its fall are extant, and
show that it rose one stage above the roof ridge.
Each face was divided by flat buttresses into three
divisions, each containing a two-light window with
geometrical tracery.
The north transept is of slightly later date than
the quire, the junction of the two periods being visible
just to the north of the central tower pier and also to
the south of the southernmost window of the chapel
aisle. Here the moulding of the internal string-course
changes its section, and the alteration of profile is
masked by a carved boss. The transept projects three
bays from the crossing and two bays beyond the quire
aisle. The general character of the work is marked
by a much freer use of foliage carving, the hollows
between the jamb shafts of the windows being ornamented with flowers and dog-tooth ornament. The
piers of the eastern arcade are similar in character to
those of the quire, and the triforium arcade is similarly
treated. The southern arch at this level is pointed
and the other two have lost their sub-arches. The
clearstory is in a ruinous state, only the wall between
the windows now standing. The chapel aisle retains
much of its vaulting, and on the piers are traces of the
mortises for screen work. The north bay has a coupled
lancet in the east wall and a single lancet at the north
end, below which is a large aumbry. The second bay
is lighted by a single lancet window. The first column
of the arcade has the inscription, 'Johannes de Brvmtō
qvondam fa[m]ulvs [Dei in hoc monasterio extructo
in honorem Dei et Virginis Beate] Marie.' (fn. 52) The
north transept end is entire to its full height and
contains three tiers of three lancet windows, each
divided as at the east end by shafts. The windows
of the topmost tier are here of equal height and are
inclosed under a single round-headed internal arch.
The jamb shafts of these windows have foliage capitals
of almost 'decorated' character, and the archivolts of
the lower ones are also enriched with foliage. Below
the sills of the lowest tier runs an internal wall arcade
with moulded trefoiled heads and circles and quatrefoils on the spandrels above. The arcade rests on
shafts with foliage capitals and is continued along the
west transept wall and the north wall of the eastern
aisle. In the gable is a small rose window of ten
radiating lights, set in a triangle with segmental
sides. The north end is supported externally by
semi-octagonal buttresses with tiers of trefoil-headed
panels and crowned by lofty octagonal pinnacles. In
the north-west angle is a small vice. The west wall
of the transept is pierced by two pairs of coupled
lancet windows enriched like those in the north end.
The wall above is much ruined. The south transept
is almost entirely destroyed, but it seems to have
followed the lines of the northern arm. The lower
portion of the second pier of the eastern arcade is
still standing, but has much the appearance of a reconstruction.
The nave is also much ruined, and only portions of
the north aisle wall and the west end remain standing.
The first three bays of the north aisle are of the
same date and character as the transept. Each bay is
lighted by a lancet window, and between them are the
springers of a stone vault. There is here, however,
no wall arcade. The remaining five bays on this
side are 14th-century work, the first two retaining
the pointed windows of four lights with excellent
tracery of the 'Kentish' type in the heads. The
arches are richly moulded and the jambs have each
two shafts with foliage capitals. Triple vaulting
shafts with similar capitals support the springers of a
stone vault. In the next bay only the east jamb of
the window remains, but below it is a pointed doorway with a moulded and trefoiled head formerly
opening into a shallow north porch, of which only a
fragment of the east wall remains. There are traces,
however, of a vaulted roof. The remainder of the
north wall is completely ruined. The nave arcades
of eight bays have entirely gone except for the western
responds and a reconstructed pier on the north side,
the fourth from the tower. It bears the inscription,
'L. Smelt arm. erexit a.d. 1790.'
The west front is 14th-century work and the great
west door had originally a central pier dividing two
trefoil-headed openings. The tympanum above is
enriched with blind tracery and the arch is flanked
internally by two smaller pointed wall arches with
similar tracery. Of the west window above only the
north jamb remains standing, but it was a 15thcentury work of many lights, and traces of a transom
remain. Along the sill of this window ran a wall
passage with a pierced and traceried parapet on the
inside finished with a coping. It was approached by
a vice in the north-west angle. The west window of
the north aisle is also 15th-century work. It is
pointed and had formerly three lights, and much
of the tracery remains in the head. Above it is a
lozenge-shaped window filled with four quatrefoils
and formerly lighting the space above the aisle vault.
Externally the buttresses of the west front have been
richly ornamented with arcading and niches, but here
the work is very much weathered.
The area of the church is encumbered with fallen
masonry, and no trace of the south nave aisle is visible.
The nave was, however, standing to its full height early
in the 18th century, and Buck's view shows a row of
clearstory windows on the south side. The axis of
the eastern arm of the church is deflected considerably
to the north from that of the nave. In the absence
of excavation, nothing can be said of the domestic
buildings, except that they lay on the south side of
the nave. The modern porter's lodge probably stands
on the site of an old gate-house, and on a green
outside it is the stone cross of the 14th or 15th
century already referred to. There still exists a fluted
shaft standing on six steps. The head has gone, but
the moulded capital is yet in position.
The Abbey House, the former residence of the
Cholmley family, is a building of three periods. It
was apparently at first an open quadrangle on plan
facing north, but the east side has now gone. The
south and west wings date from the latter part of the
16th or early in the 17th century, but were considerably altered at the end of the following century when
the large and now roofless building was added on the
north side closing in the quadrangle. This building,
which formed the main front, is approached through
a spacious fore-court surrounded by a coped stone
wall pierced by two gateways with handsome piers.
Those to the north gate were formerly crowned by
heraldic supporters, of which one only now remains.
The north wing is a two-storied building of brick
faced with ashlar. In the centre is a narrow projecting façade or portico with a square-headed door
flanked by Ionic half-columns, with Corinthian halfcolumns above, supporting a small voluted pediment.
On either side the wall is pierced by five windows
to each story, each with a moulded architrave and
horizontal cornice. At the west end the character
is changed, the windows here—four to the first
floor and two below—having each a small pediment
above them. The wing has rusticated angles and is
roofless and gutted, the windows being all now
blocked. The south and west sides of the quadrangle
formed part of the 16th-century house, and in
several places the original mullioned and transomed
windows remain partially blocked. Many of the
windows towards the courtyard appear to have been
altered about 1660 to conform to the style of the
north wing. This part of the house has been very
extensively restored in recent times, and an entirely
modern block in the Tudor style has been added at
the east end of the south wing There is ample
evidence of the existence of an east wing, now
destroyed, which abutted against the east end of the
north wing. To the west of the forecourt is a large
courtyard with a row of early 17th-century buildings
along its north side. These are of one story only
with attics, and have two or three-light stone-mullioned
windows with moulded dripstones over and doors
with depressed pointed heads. When the house was
rebuilt (1583–93) by Francis Cholmley and his
wife, this lady 'would have the sides, even to the
ground, all of wood, saying "that would serve well
enough for their times"; knowing she should not
bring a child.' Moreover, 'Upon the porch, at the
entrance of the hall door, she had set the first letter of
her name before his; for where it should have been
F. J. she had made it J. F.' (fn. 53) Sir Hugh Cholmley
stayed at the Gate House from 1633 to 1636
until the Abbey House was 'repaired and habitable.'
The latter, he relates,
was very ruinous and all unhandsome, the wall being only of
timber and plaster, and ill contrived within; and besides the
repairs, or rather the reedifying of the house, I built the stable
and barn. I heightened the outwalls of the court double to
what they were, and made all the wall round about the
paddock; so that the place hath been improved very much,
both for beauty and profit, by me more than all my ancestors;
for there was not a tree about the house but was set in my
time, and almost by my own hand. (fn. 54)
The north side of the mansion-house was built
by Sir Hugh's son Sir Hugh, after his return from
Tangier in 1672. (fn. 55) A hundred years later a storm
demolished the roof of the new part, and it was never
repaired, the family using the south wing in their
occasional residences. (fn. 56) The house is still owned by
the lord of the manor, but occupied by the Co-operative Holidays Association.
From the top of Church Street the East Cliff and
Pier are reached by Henrietta Street, (fn. 57) a picturesque
slum, and the crazy Spa Ladder. The position of
the East Pier athwart the tide produces during rough
weather some of the finest effects to be seen on the
east coast. The north-west corner of the East Cliff
used to be called Haglyth or Haggerlyth. (fn. 58)
Grape Lane (mentioned under a similar name in
1395) (fn. 59) curves round from Church Street to the east
end of the town bridge. The house now belonging to Whitby Cottage Hospital and inscribed [D MS
1688], was the residence of John Walker when
Captain Cook lived with him as apprentice. (fn. 60) The
square formed round the town hall, or tollbooth, by
the adjoining market-place connects Sandgate with
Church Street. (fn. 61) Sandgate was so called in 1519,
and already contained the tollbooth, which belonged
to Whitby Abbey. (fn. 62) As the tollbooth was said in
1540 (fn. 63) to be in Crossgate, it must have been where
the town hall now stands. (fn. 64) The tollbooth built
by Sir Hugh Cholmley in 1640 (fn. 65) was rebuilt by
Nathaniel Cholmley in 1788. (fn. 66) It is a rectangular
building of two stories. The ground floor is open
with rusticated piers at the angles and two columns
of the Doric order to each side. In the centre is a
circular stone stair leading to the room above, which
is lighted by three windows on each side and a threelight window at either end. On the west wall is
an inscription recording the erection of the building
by Nathaniel Cholmley, 1788, with his arms in
the pediment above. The building is crowned by
a picturesque wooden lantern or cupola with a vane.
Facing the town hall on the west of the square is the
market hall. Several houses round the market-place
are of some age. Ellerby Lane, said in 1816 to have
been anciently called Anningson's Lane, (fn. 67) and Brewster
Lane (mentioned in 1426) (fn. 68) connect Church Street
with Sandgate. The New Way, already so named
in the early 18th century, (fn. 69) leads from Church Street
to the harbour a little north of Fish Pier. Where
Church Street ends at the church stairs Tatehill Buildings stood in 1816, when they were said to have been
named in comparatively recent times from a family
called Tate. (fn. 70) Tatehill Pier now stands at this point.
The western town contained the mediaeval
market-place, which still stood in 1609 (fn. 71) at the old
meeting-place of the three ways, where the noted
Golden Lion Inn stood in the 18th century, (fn. 72) and
Golden Lion Bank now stands.
On the west side of the river few of the houses are
of any great age, but at the west end of Baxtergate
is Bagdale Hall, (fn. 73) a stone-built T-shaped Elizabethan
house, two stories high with attics. It has mullioned
windows, but has been drastically restored.
From Bagdale Hall Bagdale Lane leads west to
Chubb Hill Road, which ascends north to Flowergate
Cross. Downdinner Hill (mentioned in 1709) (fn. 74) leads
south. Wayngate in Bagdale is mentioned in 1432. (fn. 75)
Skate Lane (Scate Lane, 1595) (fn. 76) formerly led from
Bagdale to the top of Flowergate.
On the New Quay, which leads north from the
town station to the bridge, is the Angel Inn. On
the ceiling of its commercial room a red rose is painted
on a circular board with the motto 'Under the rose
be it spoken.'
The first mention found of Whitby Bridge is in
1351, when the king gave permission for tolls to be
taken for three years for its repair from merchandise
passing over. (fn. 77) During the 15th century there were
several bequests to the bridge. (fn. 78) James Conyers in
1541 bequeathed the shops he had built on it to the
bridge for ever. (fn. 79) This bridge was probably near
St. Ninian's Chapel, in Baxtergate, south of the present bridge. (fn. 80) In 1609 a surveyor was paid 'for
trial of the fit ground for the placing of the new
bridge.' (fn. 81) In 1628 it was stated that time out of
mind the bridge had been a drawbridge, with bridgemasters who employed men to raise planks to let
vessels pass and collect toll. (fn. 82) In 1766 this bridge
was rebuilt, at a cost of £3,000, with stone pillars
instead of wooden props (fn. 83) ; it was replaced by a
swivel bridge in 1833–5, (fn. 84) and again in 1908–9 by an
electric drawbridge under the control of the Urban
District Council instead of the county. (fn. 85)
In March 1306–7 the Abbot and convent of
Whitby received a grant of quayage for three years. (fn. 86)
The quay was broken down by the sea by 1341,
when the bailiffs of Whitby received a grant of
quayage for seven years, (fn. 87) and similar grants were
made in the 15th century. (fn. 88) John Ledum in February
1530–1 bequeathed money to the pier 'if it go
furthwardes,' (fn. 89) and Leland remarked that a new
quay and port were in process of construction. (fn. 90)
There were complaints in 1544 of the decay of the
harbour. (fn. 91) There was more than one pier in 1632,
when a collection was made throughout England, at
the instance of Sir Hugh Cholmley, and the part of
the pier at the west end of the harbour erected. (fn. 92)
Sir Hugh's son Sir Hugh set up a pier on a new
plan, possibly on the west of the harbour, starting at
Scotch Head. (fn. 93) Acts of Parliament for the repair of
the piers were passed in 1702, 1734–5 and 1780–1. (fn. 94)
In 1778 the piers were the West Pier with the projection at its commencement known as the Scotch
Head, the Burgess (now Tate Hill) Pier on the
opposite bank a little south of the Scotch Head, and
the East Pier descending from Haggerlythe. (fn. 95) About
ten years later the Fish Pier was built on the east
side, stretching at the land end from Brewster Lane
to the New Way (fn. 96) ; in that space stood the Fish
House. (fn. 97) Under the Whitby Urban District Council
Act of 1905 the East and West Piers were extended 500 ft. in 1911–12. The lighthouse on the
West Pier, designed by Francis Pickernell, (fn. 98) was
erected in 1831. (fn. 99) It is a fluted Doric column 75 ft.
high, including the rusticated base and octagonal light
room. Two lighthouses were erected on the East
Cliff in 1858, one of which was pulled down in 1892;
the other, the High Lighthouse, has a fog syren
known as the Stainsacre Bull. The wharves are
principally above the bridge. The two chief wharves
in 1816 were near Boulby Bank and between Boulby
Bank and the bridge respectively. (fn. 100) The latter,
Sander's Wharf, was made the recognized place of
landing and lading in 1823. (fn. 101) The Custom House
is mentioned in 1638. (fn. 102)
The history of the shipping begins in 1301, when
the town was called upon to furnish one vessel against
the Scots. (fn. 103) In 1544 Whitby possessed four vessels
between 30 and 50 tons burden. (fn. 104) In this year, on
the demand for ships of war, the burgesses stated that
they would provide good ships if the harbour were
mended, that they possessed only six demihakes, sixty
bows and sixty sheaves of arrows, seven balingers and
fisher boats of 30 and 40 tons, and that their chief
mariners were on the king's service in the south. (fn. 105)
Three war-ships (two of 110 and one of 170 tons)
were certified in 1626–7 to have been built here, (fn. 106)
and at the close of the 18th century Whitby ships
enjoyed great repute. There were then always twelve
or thirteen large ships on the stocks, half belonging to
the inhabitants, half orders for other ports, many
being, since the opening of the new and wider bridge
in 1767, of 400 tons burden, and others going up to
600 tons. (fn. 107) Two hundred and fifty-one ships then
belonged to Whitby, and were engaged in the coal
trade, transport service to America, and the whale
fishery. (fn. 108)
The first mention found of the Whitby fisheries is
in the beginning of the 13th century, when the abbot
and convent agreed, in consideration of exemption
from tithes from their demesnes, to pay yearly to the
master of the hospital of St. Leonard (St. Peter),
York, at Thornton in Pickering Lythe, 2,000 herrings. (fn. 109) These were paid to the Archbishop of York
at Bishopthorpe in 1778 and 1816. The exemption
did not include fish-tithes, for which composition
money is paid. (fn. 110) In 1901 there were 122 fishermen
and 333 persons employed in the construction of ships
and boats. (fn. 111)
The whale fishery, of which Whitby was the centre,
commenced in 1753. (fn. 112) The town owed much to
the two Scoresbys. William Scoresby the elder
(1760–1829) (fn. 113) was the son of a small farmer at
Cropton. (fn. 114) Besides making thirty voyages to the
Arctic regions, at a net profit of about £90,000, he
reached 81° 30' north latitude in 1806 in the Resolution, launched at Whitby in 1803. This was for
some decades the most northerly point attained by
any vessel. (fn. 115) He resigned his command in favour of
his son William in 1810. (fn. 116) Between 1767 and 1816,
2,761 whales were brought to Whitby. (fn. 117) In 1816
there were four oil-houses by the Esk, a small distance above the town. (fn. 118) Whale fishing had ceased to
be profitable by 1830 (fn. 119) and ended at Whitby in
1837. (fn. 120)
Sail-making began about 1756. (fn. 121) There were
four canvas factories (sail lofts) in 1778, with about
700 spinners and a good number of weavers. (fn. 122)
Spinning was carried on in private houses until
factories were specially built for this part of the
process from 1807 onwards.
Whitby possessed in 1086 a mill of the value of
10s. (fn. 123) The abbey received from the founder before
1096 a grant of 'Agge Milne' (? Rigg Mill in
Sneaton, q.v.), Cock (Kocche) Mill, (fn. 124) Ruswarp Mill,
the 'New' Mill and Fyling Mill. (fn. 125) In 1540 the
windmill on the east cliff near the monastery was
mentioned (fn. 126) ; in the grant by John York to Richard
Cholmley two water-mills and two windmills were
conveyed. (fn. 127) The Union Mill, 'a conspicuous object
on the west side of Whitby' in 1816, (fn. 128) has lately
been taken down to the ground floor. (fn. 129) Wren's Mill,
pulled down in 1862, stood between Whitby Town
and West Cliff stations. (fn. 130)
At the foot of the West Cliff there was a mineral
well which was destroyed by the sea before 1734. (fn. 131)
A chalybeate spring and brick baths at the foot of the
East Cliff, where the Spa Ladder now stands, met with
the same fate. (fn. 132) The present Victoria Spa at Bagdale
is a chalybeate spring. The excellent sea bathing at
Whitby is mentioned in 1773. (fn. 133)
A diligence commenced in 1788 to run twice a
week from the 'Turk's Head' and 'White Horse
and Griffin' at Whitby to York and another to Scarborough began in 1793. The mail-coach started in
1795 and ran three times a week. A Sunderland
coach commenced in 1796. All the coaches ran
from the Angel Inn. (fn. 134) The railway from Pickering
was constructed in 1833–6. (fn. 135)
Whitby has a long list of distinguished inhabitants.
'The Lady Hilda,' as she is still called, has always
been the dominating personality in Whitby history.
The ammonite fossils found in large quantities in the
cliffs were long thought to be snakes turned into
stone by St. Hilda's prayers. (fn. 136) Three ammonite shells
appear on a late 18th-century representation of the
abbey shield, (fn. 137) in place of the better known three
coiled snakes. (fn. 138) Caedmon almost approaches St. Hilda
as a Whitby celebrity.
General Peregrine Lascelles was born at a house in
Staithside, Whitby, in 1685. (fn. 139) His monument in
the parish church states that he served his country in
the battles of Almanara, Saragossa and Villa-viciosa
and in the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, and that he
died in 1772.
Lionel Charlton (c. 1722–88), author of History
of Whitby (1779), became a teacher and land surveyor
at Whitby about 1748, and kept his excellent school
in the tollbooth. (fn. 140) On his tomb in the churchyard he
is described as 'Lionel Charlton, philomath.'
Robert Edmund Scoresby-Jackson (1835–67),
biographer and medical writer, was a native of
Whitby. (fn. 141) Mary Linskill the novelist, daughter of a
Whitby constable, was born at a house in Blackburn's
Yard, and died at her house in Stakesby Vale in 1891 (fn. 142) ;
a monument has been erected over her grave.
The first printing press here was established by
Charles Plummer in 1770 at the west end of the
bridge. (fn. 143) The Whitby Gazette started in 1854. (fn. 144)
A Quaker school was founded by Francis Salkeld in
1703. (fn. 145) There existed in 1816 a public school for
boys, erected in 1810, and a Lancasterian school for
girls. (fn. 146) The former, the Mount School, enlarged in
1888 and 1896, is now a council school.
Roman Catholicism was never crushed in this
district. Catholic missionaries used to land secretly
at Whitby during the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 147)
In 1678 the priest Nicholas Postgate was arrested at
Sleights (fn. 148) and hanged. His rosary is still preserved
in the priest's house at Whitby; other relics are at
Egton Bridge, and it is stated that the informer was
drowned with the reward in his pocket. (fn. 149) Late in
the 18th century a room for worship was taken by
the Roman Catholics in Baxtergate, (fn. 150) and in 1805
the chapel in Bagdale was opened. (fn. 151) The present
Roman Catholic church of St. Hilda, Bagdale, was
opened in 1867.
George Fox came to Whitby in 1651, 1663, 1666
and 1669. In 1659 the Quakers purchased land
for a cemetery in Bagdale. (fn. 152) In 1676 they opened
a meeting-house in Church Street, (fn. 153) where they
still assemble.
Presbyterians began to meet in 1695, and in
1715 built their chapel at the lower end of
Flowergate (fn. 154) ; the present church was erected at
the higher end in 1877–8. John Wesley preached
on the hill near the parish church in 1772, and
the bells were rung in vain to drown his voice.
He came again in 1774 and 1788. (fn. 155) The
Wesleyans built a meeting-house in Henrietta
Street in 1764 (fn. 156) ; their chapel in Church Street,
reached by forty steps, was built in 1788, the
Mission chapel, Flowergate, in 1857, Brunswick
Wesleyan church in 1891, the Primitive Methodist
chapel in Cleveland Terrace in 1866, that in
Church Street in 1903. The Congregational
chapel, built in Silver Street in 1770, has been
superseded by the church on West Cliff (1868).
The Congregational mission hall in Grape Lane
was opened in 1898. The Unitarians occupy
the old Presbyterian chapel in Flowergate, already
mentioned. The Salvation Army uses the town
hall.
Newholm, a mile and a half west of Whitby,
is a pretty village in the valley of Newholm Beck
with a green, a mill mentioned in 1540, (fn. 157) and a
Wesleyan Methodist chapel, erected in 1832. By
the sea, between Newholm Beck and Raithwaite
Gill, is Raithwaite Hall, a modern building in a
fine situation, the residence of Mr. Walter Herbert
Septimus Pyman. At the end of Dunsley Lane,
which ascends from the cliff, is Dunsley Hall, a
modern building, the residence of Mr. Frederick
Haigh Pyman. The village of Dunsley is grouped
irregularly on a hill. Only the foundation of the
mediaeval chapel remains in the centre of a large
green. The walls hardly rise in any part above the
ground level, but sufficient is left to indicate a building consisting of an aisleless nave 22 ft. 10 in. by 17 ft.
and a quire 19 ft. by 12 ft. 2 in. There are traces
of an external plinth to the east wall. William de
Percy, grandson of the founder of Whitby Abbey,
established Mulgrave hermitage in his wood here in
honour of St. James the Apostle, in performance of
his vow and in atonement of various sins. (fn. 158)
A lane leads out of Whitby from St. Hilda's Terrace
and runs due west to Love Lane with the Wishing
Chair, thence to Ewe Cote hamlet with the old hall, (fn. 159)
and on to Newholm. Near the Wishing Chair, at
the junction of three roads, is High Stakesby (where
the abbey had a grange), (fn. 160) composed of the manorhouse, an old farm-house and a few cottages. On
the opposite side of the road stands a house with
Gothic towers and battlements called Sneaton Castle,
built by Colonel James Wilson in the early 19th
century, (fn. 161) and now used as a large preparatory school
for boys.

Newholm Mill, Whitby (now dismantled)
Low Stakesby, in Stakesby Vale, where Mr. John
Henry Harrowing, J.P., lives, is close to Whitby. The
road south from High Stakesby leads to Ruswarp, on
the Esk. Ruswarp Hall stands at the northern end
of the village, and is an interesting example of domestic
work of the period of the Restoration. A plain oblong
on plan, it is built of red brick with stone dressings,
and is two stories high, with attics in the roof. The
main entrance, in the centre of the front facing the
road, has a well-moulded stone architrave supporting
an entablature with a broken voluted pediment above.
The two-light windows to this front are placed symmetrically, there being seven in the width. They
have alternately straight and curved cleft pediments
above them with stone mullions and transoms. The
rear elevation is similar, but with fewer openings and
a large three-light window in the centre lighting the
staircase. St. Bartholomew's Church is on the opposite
side of the road, and near the iron bridge (built in
1873) is the station. The large corn-mill, formerly
standing a little further up the stream, was erected by
Nathaniel Cholmley in 1752, (fn. 162) but was destroyed by
fire in September 1911. A mill here was granted to
the abbey by the founder (fn. 163) before 1096. The abbey
possessed three mills at Stakesby in 1396, one a fullingmill, another the New Mill, (fn. 164) and the third perhaps
that of Ruswarp. (fn. 165) 'Walkemylne' in Ruswarp Carrs
is mentioned in 1540. (fn. 166)
At Carr End, a mile up the river, is the hamlet of
Briggswath, where a Wesleyan chapel was built in
1820. It takes its name from the bridge over the Esk
to Sleights (fn. 167) railway station. This, though modern,
is on the site of one of the mediaeval bridges over
the Esk, five of which still stood in the middle of
the 19th century. (fn. 168) Reginald de Rosels, lord of Aislaby
c. 1190–1211, (fn. 169) granted the ford here to Whitby
Abbey, with passage through the land near his mill,
and permission to make a bridge over the Esk where
the water was common between them; Reginald and
his heirs were to have Aislaby mill-pool on the abbey
lands. (fn. 170) Woodlands, north of the stream, the residence of the ladies of the manor of Eskdaleside, was
originally built in 1470. The north wing was pulled
down in 1904 and rebuilt of the old material. The
new south wing, built in the 18th century, is higher
than the rest of the house. On the other bank the
village street of Sleights runs south from the bridge,
passing Esk Hall. A house called Eskdale Hall is mentioned as abbey property in 1540. (fn. 171) The parsonage
and Sleights Hall are further on to the east. In 1347
Robert de Vesci and Alice his wife, lessees, were sued
by the Abbot of Whitby for destroying a hall, a
chamber and out-buildings at Sleights and cutting and
selling the timber. (fn. 172) At the junction of the roads
from the village and from Iburndale are St. John's
Church, the church-house, National school and pinfold, and the steep Blue Bank, from which Whitby
Abbey is visible.
On the right bank of the Esk, some distance above
the village of Sleights, stands the ancient chapel of
St. John, Eskdaleside. It is now quite a ruin
(39 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft. 7 in.), but an engraving in
Grose's Antiquities (fn. 173) shows that it was then (1774)
intact and covered with a thatched roof. Three
blocked openings and a door are shown in the
south wall and another window in the west gable,
but they are quite featureless. The west wall still
stands to some height and part also of the north, but
the east and south sides are ruined to the ground
level. The base of the south door remains with a
roll moulding to the outer angle of each jamb. The
walls, some 2½ ft. thick, were faced with ashlar and a
chamfered plinth-course is carried round externally.
On the hill-side above the chapel is a substantial
stone-built farm-house, dated 1697, with rusticated
window openings.
In Newton Hall Wood is the great stone cave
known as the Hermitage, possibly the dwelling of
the hermits of Eskdaleside which was granted to
Whitby Abbey by the founder. (fn. 174) Somewhere in
this district dwelt St. Godric the hermit, who
died in 1172. (fn. 175) Near the Hermitage are Newton
Hall and Newton House, stated in 1816 to have
been built by 'the late Jonas Brown'; an obelisk
near the house commemorates his achievement of
turning wild moors into pleasure grounds. (fn. 176) Little
Beck divides Sleights from Ugglebarnby, the Little
Clock Mill of which was said in 1595 to have been
in the possession of the Elringtons; they also held
'Tincker Garth,' (fn. 177) probably in the neighbourhood
of the modern Tinkler Hall. Dean Hall (fn. 178) lies south
of the village.
Aislaby, north of Sleights, is on a moor about
600 ft. above the ordnance datum, ascending abruptly
from the Esk Valley. Aislaby Hall, a stone building
with grey slates at the east end of the village, is the
residence of Mrs. De Wend. The disused 18thcentury chapel is in the middle of the village. At
the end of the pretty street, composed of old redtiled stone cottages, is the new church of St. Margaret. The 12th-century mill by the Esk (fn. 179) stood
until the 19th century. (fn. 180) The road which ran past
it from Briggswath can be traced in the flagged pathway from Sleights to the railway station south of the
Esk and in the ancient causeway north of the Esk
up Strait Lane to Aislaby village. (fn. 181)
Ancient causeways are to be found in several of
these villages. A Monk's Causeway, much grassed
over, leads from the abbey by the side of the high
road from Whitby to Scarborough nearly as far as
Robin Hood's Bay. On this road about 1½ miles
south-east of the abbey is Whitby Lathes, a hamlet
of three houses. The manor-house is a moated farm
to the east of the road. At the cross-roads to the
south a lane to the east runs through High Hawsker,
while the road to the west is the village street of
Low Hawsker. Hawsker Old Hall, opposite Low
Hawsker windmill, is a typical farm-house of the
district; in its grounds where the old chapel probably
stood (fn. 182) is a pre-Conquest cross-shaft of which the
head is wanting. The shaft (16 in. by 13 in. at the
base) tapers slightly towards the top and is 6½ ft.
high. It is set in a rough socket formed of two large
stones, and each face is ornamented with interlaced
knotwork, now much weathered. On the east and
west sides are traces of figure subjects, the carving on
the east apparently representing a cock. The Wesleyan chapel, which was built in 1831, stands opposite
the mill.
North-west of Hawsker is Stainsacre, from which a
lane leads north-west along a beck through Cock Mill
Wood (Kocche Mill, xi cent.), Golden Grove, and Glen
Esk. Larpool Hall is in Glen Esk.

Whitby Abbey. Azure three coiled serpents or.
Borough
Henry I in or before 1128 granted
to the abbey burgage in Whitby. (fn. 183)
Richard de Waterville (abbot 1177
to 1189) (fn. 184) granted the town in free burgage to the
burgesses, who were to have four ways of entrance
to the borough and freedom from all customs. If
any quarrel arose among the burgesses, the injured
party was to request the wrong-doer three times
at his own house to do him right, and after three
refusals he was to seek justice of the vill. Pleas
were to be held thrice a year. (fn. 185) This charter was
confirmed by King John, (fn. 186) but was very displeasing
to the succeeding abbots. In 1199 the abbot gave
100 marks that the burgesses should not use their
new liberties until the case had been tried. (fn. 187) The
burgesses on their side gave 80 marks for a confirmation. (fn. 188) In 1201 the king refused to confirm the charter as
injurious to the dignity of the
church of Whitby. (fn. 189) Still the
struggle went on until in 1200
John Abbot of Whitby gave
a further 100 marks that the
dispute might be tried before
the king. (fn. 190) An agreement of
1351 shows that the abbot
ultimately prevailed against
the burgesses, who conceded
the claims of the abbey to all
franchises in the vill, including the merchant court and the grand court of
common pleas, held thrice yearly, to which all the
inhabitants must come, the sheriff's tourn twice
yearly, amendment of the assize of bread and measures, infangentheof, fair and market; they also
agreed that widows were not to marry without the
abbot's consent, that the abbot was to appoint all
officers, and that the community was to make no
ordinances which might put outsiders or inhabitants
outside the common course of the law. (fn. 191) The abbey
also had tallage and 'burmells' or 'burghmales.' (fn. 192)
The quarrel (fn. 193) as to privileges was afterwards renewed, but the Earl of Northumberland, as descendant of the founder, intervened in 1386 and decided
the matter in favour of the abbot. (fn. 194)
The burgesses seem to have had little independence
under the abbey, but it is noteworthy that while
grants of quayage were made to the abbot and good
men, grants of pontage were made to the bailiff and
good men. (fn. 195)
After the Dissolution the inhabitants made a great
effort to obtain self-government, stating in 1629–30
that 'of late years, by reason that the inhabitants of
the said town have not a settled and constant government and power to make ordinances and wholesome
laws within themselves for the well-ordering of their
town and river, the same is . . . likely in short
time to come to utter ruin.' (fn. 196) They petitioned for
liberty to have a recorder and town clerk, their own
justices of the peace and all officers necessary for the
government of the town, court leet and baron, the
government of the harbour and river with the waterbailiwick, their ancient fairs and markets, all new
cattle fairs, and a gaol in their town. (fn. 197) The king
ordered Letters Patent to be drawn up granting
these requests with some modifications, (fn. 198) but nothing
further was heard of the matter. As things remained
in 1635 the owners of the liberty had the government of port and town, receiving harbour dues and
selecting the twenty-four burgesses, who had as of
old (fn. 199) the privilege of buying and retailing goods
brought in by the sea, while the other inhabitants
might not buy more than served for their own
provision. The burgesses also paid two-thirds of all
ordinary charges levied by the constables, the body of
the town paying the rest, (fn. 200) and by the late 17th
century they controlled all assessments—land tax,
highway cess, pier cess (on shipowners), (fn. 201) constable's
cess, church cess, chapel cess and poor cess; but by
1801 their privileges had disappeared. (fn. 202) Burgage
tenure, however, continued. (fn. 203) By an Act of 1837 (fn. 204)
the government of the town was entrusted to a board
of Improvement Commissioners, elected by the ratepayers. A Local Board was formed in 1872, and
remained the governing authority till an Urban
District Council was formed under the Local Government Act of 1894.
The townships of Whitby, Ruswarp and Hawskercum-Stainsacre were formed into a Parliamentary
borough under the Reform Act of 1832, (fn. 205) returning
one member until disfranchised under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885. (fn. 206)
Henry I in or before 1128 granted to the abbey a
fair at the feast of St. Hilda (fn. 207) (her Translation,
25 August). (fn. 208) After the Reformation the Whitby
fair was said to be held on the three days following St. Bartholomew's Day, and came to be called
'Bartlemytide Fair.' (fn. 209) The second fair, which came
in by custom, was close to St. Hilda's winter feast
(17 November), that is, at Martinmas. (fn. 210) Neither is
now held, though there is a hiring fair in November.
The market rights belonged to the abbey from
the Conqueror's days, (fn. 211) and descended with the
liberty, being confirmed by an Act of Parliament of
1872 passed for the erection of the covered market. (fn. 212)
They cover all markets except the wholesale fish
market on the quay, but there is actually only one
market, sold by the lord of the manor in 1906 to the
Urban District Council. It is held inside and outside the market hall, which consists of two stories, the
upper part used for produce of a general character,
the lower by the butchers. In the square outside
vegetables and occasionally fish are sold. (fn. 213) The market
has been held on Saturday since Henry VI forbade it
to be held on Sunday. (fn. 214)
Forest
In Whitby and Sneaton in 1086 there
was pasturable wood 7 leagues (leugae)
long by 3 wide (fn. 215) ; in Aislaby 1 square
league (nearly the whole manor) was pasturable
wood, (fn. 216) which in Hackness, Suffield and Everley was
2 leagues by 1. (fn. 217) Alan de Percy granted to the abbey
all woods and pastures in their lands of his grant, (fn. 218) and
William II forbade any of his ministers to enter the
same (fn. 219) ; but the Abbot William granted to Henry I
all stags, hinds and boars, and the king afforested the
lands to himself and heirs. (fn. 220) Richard I, however, in
1190 granted the abbey freedom from wastes, assarts
and regards, (fn. 221) and King John in March 1203–4
restored these forests. (fn. 222) Henry III gave the abbey
permission to have separate verderers, elected in the
county court. (fn. 223)
Horngarth
The abbot's monopoly of common within the 'acredike' of
various vills in the liberty was one of
the matters of dispute with the burgesses in the 14th
century. (fn. 224) Canon Atkinson connected the acredike
with the horngarth, a foreign service, implying wardship and marriage, (fn. 225) reserved by the abbot in the
12th century grants of Dunsley, (fn. 226) Ugglebarnby (fn. 227)
and Everley, (fn. 228) and also due from Sneaton and from
lands in Newholm, Ruswarp, Stainsacre, Stakesby
and Fylingdales. (fn. 229) About 1315, in consequence of
the men of Sneaton taking too much wood for the
purpose of making the horngarth and selling the
residue, it was agreed that the wood should be
delivered by the abbot's servants. (fn. 230) It was then made
on Ascension Eve, (fn. 231) and appears to have been a hedging duty. (fn. 232) The ceremony which commemorated
it was called bond dike in the 17th century. (fn. 233) A
document of doubtful authority of the 16th or
17th century records the manner of its performance:
Thomas Cockrill, being bailiff to the abbot, did meet by
sunrise the Conyers, the Strangways, the Eldringtons and
Allatsons, (fn. 234) who were bound to this service, in the Strye Head
hard by Little Beck, and the said Cockrill did see every one
cut down with a knife, he appointing the wood, so much as
should serve. From thence they came not the nearest way,
but bringing them upon their back, went a good way before
they came into the way. So coming to the water at the town
end they made the hedge which should stand three tides, and
then the officer did blow out upon they. (fn. 235)
Further light was thrown on this custom in 1613 by
two former stewards of the liberty. One stated that
there were 9 yards of hedging called bond dike made
at 9 o'clock of the forenoon every Ascension Eve at
Whitby by inhabitants of the place; the second
deposed that the inhabitants of Ugglebarnby on
St. Ellen's Day yearly at 8 o'clock in the morning
made a hedge called the horn hedge at Whitby within
the full sea mark, to last for three tides. (fn. 236) The
owner of Sneaton Manor paid quit-rents twice
yearly. (fn. 237) Again, in 1753, a 'learned clergyman'
witnessed the ceremony, and related that 'the tenant
of the last of the name of Allatson, who had a piece of
land in Fylingdales . . . brought 5 stakes, 8 yethers,
and 6 strut-stowers; and, whilst Mr. Cholmley's
bailiff, on an antique bugle-horn, blew Out on you!
Out on you! Out on you! made a slight hedge of
them a little way into the shallows of the river.' (fn. 238)
In 1779, as now, the hedge was 'vulgarly' called
'the Penny Hedge,' (fn. 239) and it was probably so known
two centuries earlier. (fn. 240) The Herberts of Whitby
purchased the Allatsons' lands in Fylingdales in
1755, (fn. 241) and now perform the service for Harton
House Farm, the hedge being made by Mr. Isaac
Hutton of Straggleton near Newholm. The wood
was formerly obtained from South House Farm,
Fylingdales. (fn. 242) The hedge is made on the east side
of the Esk, above Whitby Bridge.
Manors
In the time of the Confessor
WHITBY and its berewick Sneaton,
where 15 carucates of land were at geld,
belonged to Siward Earl of Northumbria. In 1086
it was held by William de Percy of Hugh Earl of
Chester (fn. 243) as one manor with soke in Fylingdales,
Hawsker, 'Prestebi,' Ugglebarnby, 'Sourebi,' (fn. 244)
'Brecca' ('Breche'), (fn. 245) Baldby, (fn. 246) 'Florun' ('Flore'), (fn. 247)
Stakesby and Newholm; in all 28 carucates and
6 oxgangs of land were at geld, all waste except the
Abbot of York's (that is, St. Hilda's) (fn. 248) lands. (fn. 249) Earl
Hugh and William de Percy joined in enfeoffing
Whitby Abbey. (fn. 250)

Cholmley. Gules two steel helms in the chief and a sheaf or in the foot.
The manor passed with the liberty to the Cholmleys, (fn. 251) who held it until the 19th century. Sir Richard
son of Sir Henry Cholmley (fn. 252)
vindicated his claim to the
liberty in the reign of James I.
His son and successor Sir
Hugh, created a baronet in
1641, (fn. 253) was author of the
Memoirs, and distinguished
himself in many ways, fighting at first on the side of the
Parliament, but in 1644 for
the king. His estate was discharged on his payment of a
fine in February 1649–50. (fn. 254)
Sir Hugh died in 1657, leaving sons William and Hugh.
William died in 1663, his infant son Hugh in 1665, when the uncle Sir Hugh
(born at Fyling Hall in 1632) succeeded. (fn. 255) He
superintended the building of a mole to protect
Tangier from the sea, taking with him Whitby people,
who had much experience in this kind of work, and
a village near Tangier received the name of Whitby.
After his return he completed the Abbey House. (fn. 256) He
received a confirmation of all charters (fn. 257) in 1673 (fn. 258)
and died in January, 1688–9, when the baronetcy
became extinct. His heir was his daughter Mary,
whose husband, her 'cousin' Nathaniel Cholmley,
had died in 1687. (fn. 259) Their eldest son Hugh (fn. 260) succeeded, and in 1724 was Sheriff of Yorkshire. (fn. 261) He
married Katharine, daughter and ultimately heir of
Sir John Wentworth, bart., (fn. 262) and when Sir Butler
Wentworth died childless in 1741 (fn. 263) obtained the
Wentworth estates and removed to Howsham, where
the Cholmleys thenceforth lived. He had twelve
children and died in 1755. (fn. 264) Nathaniel, the eldest
son, received a visit from the Duke of York at
Whitby (fn. 265) and died in 1791, leaving four daughters.
Of these, Katharine had married in 1774 Henry
Hopkins Fane of Barmbrough, Mary married Abraham
Grimes of Coton House, Warwickshire, (fn. 266) and Anne
Elizabeth in 1787 married Constantine John Phipps,
Lord Mulgrave, and died in the following year. (fn. 267)
Katharine received Whitby, her husband assuming
the name Cholmley, and died in 1809; she left sons
Charles and George, who succeeded in turn, (fn. 268) and
both died childless, the latter in 1857. Robert
son of Abraham Grimes and Mary held the manor
till his death, when Sir George Strickland, bart., of
Boynton, whose mother was
Henrietta Cholmley, the third
daughter of Nathaniel, succeeded to Whitby. (fn. 269) He
changed his name with royal
licence to Cholmley in 1865,
and died in 1874. His son Sir
Charles William Strickland (fn. 270)
was succeeded in the title in
1909 by his son Sir Walter
William Strickland, ninth
baronet, (fn. 271) but Whitby passed
by Sir Charles's will to his
daughter the Hon. Mrs.
Tatton Willoughby.

Strickland of Boynton, baronet. Gules a cheveron or between three crosses formy argent and a quarter ermine charged with a hart's head razed sable.

Brus. Argent a lion azure.

Thweng. Argent a fesse gules between three popinjays vert.
AISLABY (Asvlvesby, Asuluebi, xi cent.; Ascilbi, Assillaby, xiii cent.; Aselby, xiiixv cent.; Haselby, xiii-xvii cent.; Aslaghby, xvi
cent.), where 3 carucates of land were at geld, was
held before the Conquest (fn. 272) as one manor by Ughtred;
in 1086 it was held by Richard Surdeval of the
Count of Mortain. (fn. 273) The count forfeited his fees,
and his son was finally attainted in 1106. (fn. 274) A considerable part of their lands was in the hands of the
Brus family early in the reign of Henry I. (fn. 275) Aislaby
was among the possessions of the third Peter de Brus
on his death in 1272. (fn. 276) From Peter de Brus the overlordship descended to Lucy de Thweng and her heirs. (fn. 277)
Arnald de Percy (of Kildale, q.v.) appears as
mesne lord in 1301–2, (fn. 278) possibly because the undertenant held elsewhere of him. (fn. 279)

Darcy. Azure crusilly and three cinqfoils argent.

Dacre. Gules three scallops or.
The Surdevals were soon replaced as under-tenants
by the Rosels, possibly early in the 12th century. (fn. 280)
Reginald de Rosels, lord of Newton under Roseberry
(q.v.) 1190–1211, was lord of Aislaby, (fn. 281) and his
descendants held the manor until 1320–1, (fn. 282) when
John son of William de Rosels conveyed it to
Nicholas de Meynell for life with remainder in fee
to Nicholas his son by Lucy de Thweng. (fn. 283) The
manor then descended with that of Yarm (q.v.), and
was settled in 1353 on Elizabeth daughter of Nicholas
(called in one place Hugh) Meynell and her husband
John Darcy and their heirs with reversion to the
Crown. (fn. 284) The Darcys and their descendants, the
Strangways of Harlsey, (fn. 285) held Aislaby (fn. 286) until in
1540–1 Sir James Strangways, kt., conveyed it with
Whorlton and other places to William Lord Dacre, (fn. 287)
with successive remainders to his sons Thomas, Leonard,
Edward and Francis in tail-male. (fn. 288) Thus when
Leonard, then the head of the family, and his brother
Francis were attainted for their part in the Rising
of the North (1569) the Crown had merely an interest in their lands for their lives. Francis died in
February 1632–3, leaving a son Randolph, on whose
death childless in 1634 the estates devolved on Lord
William Howard of Naworth and Elizabeth (Dacre)
his wife and Thomas Earl of Arundel, son of Ann
Dacre, the other co-heir. (fn. 289) Meanwhile the Crown
had made various grants of its interest, (fn. 290) and in 1633
Sir Hugh Cholmley of Whitby purchased the manor.
Within half a year of his purchase he was ousted by
the co-heirs, but after waiting twenty years he purchased it again. (fn. 291)
The manor then descended with Whitby Liberty
until 1685 at least. (fn. 292) In 1745–6 George Ridley
and his wife Elizabeth conveyed it to Henry
Paramor and Thomas Cordley on a ninety-nine
years' lease terminable at their deaths. (fn. 293) In 1786 it
was in the hands of Elizabeth Burdett and Robert
Burdett, (fn. 294) who sold it to Mark Noble 'of Whitby,'
already resident at Aislaby Hall. (fn. 295) His son Mark
died in 1832, (fn. 296) leaving daughters Rebecca and Elizabeth (afterwards Mrs. Hatt) and sons Mark and
Robert. Robert was lord of the manor in 1859, (fn. 297)
and in 1890 it belonged to Mrs. Hatt and Mrs.
Burnett, who was a daughter-in-law of Robert. (fn. 298)
In 1905 it was sold by the representatives of Robert
Noble and Mrs. Hatt to Mr. F. H. Pyman of
Dunsley, the present owner. (fn. 299)
DUNSLEY (Dunesle, Duneslay, xi cent.; Denslee,
xiii cent.; Dounslay, xiv cent.) was called a manor in
the 13th century in the Mauley claim, (fn. 300) and seems to
have been held as such by the Percys until 1326, but
it was held as a member of Stakesby from 1394, (fn. 301)
and is now annexed manorially to Stakesby. From
the 16th to the 19th century, however, the old abbey
lands descended separately from the manor of Stakesby
under the name of the manor of Dunsley.
Before the Conquest Torolf held 3 carucates of
land here which were terra regis in 1086, when
Berengar de Toni held a fourth carucate. (fn. 302) William
de Percy speedily became enfeoffed of these lands,
and included them in his second donation to Whitby
Abbey. (fn. 303) The abbey seems to have made a life grant
to Richard de Percy, younger son of the founder,
called 'of Dunsley,' (fn. 304) and the Abbot Benedict (c.
1139–48) (fn. 305) granted this place to Richard's son William
in fee for the sole payment of 2 marks yearly, besides
horngarth. (fn. 306) William's son Richard (fn. 307) granted the
abbey 1 carucate of his lands here in about 1214–
20. (fn. 308) A William de Percy seems to have succeeded
between 1223 and 1244, and to have been followed by
a Richard de Percy. (fn. 309) In 1281 William de Percy held
all the vill except the carucate granted to the abbey, (fn. 310)
and he was witness to a charter in 1305. (fn. 311) Simon
son of William de Percy of Dunsley granted lands in
Eskdale and other places to the abbey in 1308. (fn. 312) He,
his son Peter, Robert Man of Sneaton and his wife
Margaret de Percy (probably daughter of Simon),
his nearest heirs, granted all right in the lordship to
the abbey. (fn. 313) The manor then probably merged in
that of Stakesby, the court of which its tenants now
attend. No manor is admitted, and at the time of
the inclosure award the Cholmleys as lords of Stakesby
received the lord's share of Dunsley. (fn. 314)
The demesnes, however, which passed with the
manor until the Dissolution, (fn. 315) afterwards descended
separately and were called 'the manor.' In 1545
Henry VIII granted all the abbey's possessions here
in fee simple to William Ramsden of Longley and
Edward Hoppey, jun., of Halifax, clothier, who in the
same year received licence to alienate the same to
Sir Nicholas Fairfax, kt., (fn. 316) of
Gilling (q.v.). Most of these
lands were settled in fee on
Cuthbert, third son of Sir
Nicholas, 'of Acaster,' in
1588. (fn. 317) He died in 1606
seised of four-sixths of the
manor and various tenements
here, leaving a son and heir
Nicholas, (fn. 318) who died in 1609
seised of three-sixths and the
reversion of one-sixth on the
death of Henry son of George
Fairfax without male issue. (fn. 319)
This was possibly the Henry
called of Dunsley who in 1599 refused to allow the
tax on recusants to be levied on his goods, but drove
his cattle into the fold and armed 'with stave and
caliver,' assisted by about a score of men with staves,
defended them, while the various recusants of the
district (fn. 320) wounded the officers and seized their warrants. (fn. 321) Henry was stated in 1614 to have been a
recusant for fourteen years. (fn. 322) Cuthbert's heir Nicholas,
of Sand Hutton Grange, (fn. 323) left a son and heir Hungate
who died seised of four-sixths of the manor in 1637
and was succeeded by his brother and heir Thomas, (fn. 324)
living at Dunsley in 1665. (fn. 325) Isaac, his eldest son, (fn. 326)
conveyed the manor in 1686 to John Earl of Mulgrave. (fn. 327) Other parts of the estate, now apparently
united by Isaac, had been meanwhile in the hands of
various members of the Fairfax family and of others.
Edward brother of Cuthbert (fn. 328) held one-sixth, and
in 1588 conveyed it to trustees for Cuthbert and his
heirs. (fn. 329) In the same year Cuthbert's elder brother
Henry (fn. 330) died seised of one-sixth which he held of
Cuthbert; his heir was his elder brother Sir William
Fairfax of Gilling. (fn. 331)

Fairfax. Argent three gimel bars sable with a lion gules over all.
In 1599 Cuthbert's successor Nicholas conveyed
one-sixth to John Blanchard, (fn. 332) who died seised of a
quarter in 1618, leaving a son and heir John. (fn. 333)
Another member of the Fairfax family, William,
died seised of a sixth in 1620, leaving a son and
heir Thomas. (fn. 334) Richard Etherington of the Inner
Temple, London, Thomas Fairfax of Dunsley,
Thomas Fairfax of Oswaldkirk, and John Blanchard
were said to be joint lords during the Commonwealth, though it was suggested that Henry VIII, from
whom they drew their title, was never possessed of
the manor. (fn. 335)
From 1686 to at least 1829 this estate continued
to be called a manor and descended with Mulgrave. (fn. 336)
ESKDALESIDE (Eschedale, xi-xiii cent.; Esshedale, xiv-xvi cent.; Eskedaleside alias Eskedale Hall,
xvi cent.; Eastdaleside, xvii cent.; Eskdale alias
Eshcale alias Sleights, xviii–xix cent.; Ashdaleside,
xviii cent.; the capital messuage called Eskhouse
xviii cent.) is not mentioned in Domesday Book, but
was in the possession of the first William de Percy, (fn. 337)
of whom the Everleys probably held it. (fn. 338) About the
middle of the 13th century Geoffrey de Everley
quitclaimed all his right in the manor to Whitby
Abbey, (fn. 339) and in the early half of the 14th century
William de Everley, jun., of Ugglebarnby quitclaimed
all right in Eskdale and Iburne to the abbey, (fn. 340) which
retained them until the Dissolution. (fn. 341) In March
1545–6 the manor was granted to Sir Richard
Cholmley with one of the manors of Ugglebarnby
(q.v.), with which it seems to have always subsequently descended (though not always specifically
mentioned). The Cholmleys probably conveyed it
with their manor of Ugglebarnby to the owners of
the second manor of Ugglebarnby, in which it is now
merged. (fn. 342)
The manorial court is mentioned in 1394 and
1396. (fn. 343) It is now held alternately at the Station
Hotel (formerly the Fox Inn, Sleights) and at the
Plough Inn, Ugglebarnby.
Richard Burdett (of the family of Burdett of
Osgodby), who died in 1744, was seised of a capital
messuage called Eskhouse near the river and an estate
in Sleights. His widow lived there until her marriage
with James Wilson. (fn. 344) Richard's daughter and coheir Tabitha married Robert Bower of Welham and
Sleights, who died in 1777. (fn. 345)
HAWSKER (Ghinipe, Gnipe, (fn. 346) xi cent.; Houkesgart, Hokesgart, Hauchesgard, xii cent.; Houkegarth,
Aukesgarth, (fn. 347) xiii cent.; Hakisgarth, Haukeswer,
xiv cent.; Hauskarth, Hastkar, xvi cent.; Hausegarth,
xvii cent.; Hawscar, xviii cent.) was in the soke
of Whitby in 1086. (fn. 348) Early in the 12th century
it was sold by Tancred, the Fleming, who had also
obtained possession of Fyling (fn. 349) (whether by grant of
the Earl of Chester or of the first William de Percy
is not known) to William de Percy, (fn. 350) nephew of the
founder and first Abbot of Whitby. (fn. 351) Alan son of the
founder confirmed the grant, (fn. 352) William de Newholm
and his son Aschetin de Hawsker witnessing Alan's
charter. (fn. 353)
The Abbot William subenfeoffed this Aschetin in
Hawsker and Normanby in exchange for Newholm. (fn. 354)
Aschetin had two sons, possibly William and Roger. (fn. 355)
Roger de Hawsker had sons Reginald, Adam and
William. (fn. 356) Between 1223 and 1244 a Thomas de
Hawsker with his wife Julia and son Thomas granted
land to the abbey in exchange for what Aschetin had
given in Hawsker. (fn. 357) Thomas de Hawsker in 1251–2
remitted to the abbot all hunting rights in Whitby
Forest, with tenements in Normanby, in exchange for
all the latter's possessions, including a capital messuage,
in Hawsker. (fn. 358) The second Thomas had a son
Nicholas who granted the manor in fee-tail to Stephen
Belbarbe, with remainder to the abbey. (fn. 359) Stephen
was assessed for 6s. 2d. subsidy here in 1301–2, (fn. 360) but
by 1299 seems to have disposed of the manorial
rights. In that year Sir Henry de Percy, (fn. 361) possibly
as mesne lord, granted the manor, worth £5 yearly,
to Whitby Abbey. (fn. 362) Nicholas de Hawsker and his
son Adam remitted to the abbey in 1308 all right in
the manor, (fn. 363) and Stephen Belbarbe did the same. (fn. 364)
The abbey retained the manor until the Dissolution. (fn. 365)
It afterwards passed with the liberty (q.v.) as a separate
manor and has still a separate court.
LARPOOL (Leirpel, Lairpelle, Layerpelle, xi-xv
cent.) was granted to the abbey by the founder and
his son, (fn. 366) continued to be held by the abbey in
demesne, (fn. 367) and passed as a manor with the liberty
(q.v.) after the Dissolution. It is now represented
only by Larpool Hall in the township of Hawskercum-Stainsacre, and no manor is known.
LATHGARTH GRANGE (fn. 368) is referred to as the
manor of Lathgarth in 1396, (fn. 369) but no manor is now
known.
NEWHOLM (Neueham, xi–xv cent.; Newham,
xii-xvi cent.), where Lesing held 2 carucates 2 oxgangs at geld as two manors before the Conquest, was
land of the king in 1086. (fn. 370) It was also in the soke
of Whitby, (fn. 371) and the overlordship was granted by the
founder to Whitby Abbey. (fn. 372)
William de Newholm was presumably the undertenant of the Percys here, his son Aschetin granting
the manor to the Abbot William (who died c. 1125) (fn. 373)
in exchange for Hawsker. (fn. 374) It was one of the manors
claimed by Peter de Mauley, (fn. 375) but retained by the
abbey, and by 1394 had become absorbed in the
manor of Stakesby. (fn. 376)
The vill of STAINSACRE (Neðherby, Netherby,
Steinsecher, xii cent.; Steynsekerr, xiii cent.; Staynseker, xiv cent.; Staneseycarre, xvi cent.; Staneskarre,
xvii cent.) was granted to the Abbot and convent of
Whitby by the founder, (fn. 377) and Richard son of Quinild
de Stainsacre (with the assent of his wife Hawise),
Maud his daughter, and William son of Richard son
of Fulk de Stainsacre, granted to the abbey all their
rights in this territory. (fn. 378) It was a member of the
manor of Whitby Lathes in 1394–6, (fn. 379) but passed with
the liberty as a manor after the Dissolution. No
manor is now known.
The soke of 2 carucates 6 oxgangs of land in
STAKESBY (Staxebi, Stachesby, xi cent.; Stoxbie,
Stokesbie, xvii cent.; Staxby, xvi-xviii cent.) was
appurtenant to the manor of Whitby in 1086, when
2 oxgangs of land there were held by the Count of
Mortain. (fn. 380) The vill was granted by the founder to
Whitby Abbey. (fn. 381) William de Percy is said to have
afterwards taken away the manors of Stakesby and
Everley, (fn. 382) and given them to his esquire Ralph de
Everley, who kept them for many years. (fn. 383) Stakesby
was among the manors claimed by Peter de Mauley
in 1281, (fn. 384) and afterwards descended with the liberty (fn. 385)
(q.v.). The court is always held at the manor-house
here for the tenants of Stakesby, Ruswarp and Newholm-cum-Dunsley.

Conyers. Azure a sleeve or with the difference of a crescent or charged with another gules.
Gregory Conyers stated in 1540 that his ancestors
had held his dwelling-place (Bagdale Hall in Stakesby)
time out of mind. (fn. 386) It was
held of the lord of Whitby as
a free burgage. (fn. 387) Christopher
Conyers of Hornby in 1426
bequeathed half his lands in
Whitby to his son Thomas in
fee. (fn. 388) In 1527 the abbot
granted the office of bailiff of
the liberty to James Conyers
for life, with remainder to
his nephew (fn. 389) Gregory Conyers
and Gregory's son and heir
George. (fn. 390) The abbot complained in 1536 to Cromwell
of the 'malicious' conduct of
James as bailiff, (fn. 391) and in 1538
of the insatiableness of Gregory. (fn. 392) Gregory made his
will in 1540, (fn. 393) bequeathing the ceiling and carved work
of the hall to his eldest son as heirlooms, and died the
same year seised of the capital messuage called Bagdale
Hall and a horse-mill, leaving a son and heir George, (fn. 394)
who 'being of great birth' expelled the king's patentee
from the bailiwick of the liberty. (fn. 395) George was succeeded in 1570 by his son Nicholas, (fn. 396) who in 1595
sold Bagdale Hall to Nicholas Bushell of Whitby,
merchant. (fn. 397) The purchaser was probably the son of
Robert Bushell, who died in 1585. (fn. 398) He sold
Bagdale Hall in 1631 to Isaac Newton of Ruswarp, (fn. 399)
who married his daughter Hester. (fn. 400) They had a son
Isaac living at Bagdale Hall in 1665. (fn. 401)
The soke of UGGLEBARNBY (Ulgesberdesebi,
Oggelbergesby, xi cent.; Hugelbardebi, Uglebardebi,
xii cent.), where 3 carucates of land were at geld,
was appurtenant to the manor of Whitby in 1086. (fn. 402)
The place was granted to the abbey by the founder
and his son Alan, (fn. 403) and confirmed before 1135 by
Alan's son William. (fn. 404) Two manors of Ugglebarnby
seem to have then developed. The first was retained
by the abbey until the Dissolution, (fn. 405) when it was in the
occupation of Thomas Elrington, (fn. 406) and was granted with
the manor of Eskdaleside in 1545–6 to Sir Richard
Cholmley of Whitby. (fn. 407) The Cholmleys were said to
hold a manor here until 1616, (fn. 408) but had probably conveyed it before then to the tenant of the other manor.
The second manor was granted with Everley (fn. 409) by
Richard, Abbot of Whitby (1177–89), to William de
Everley in fee. (fn. 410) William de Everley, son of Sir
William de Everley, kt., was lord about 1268. (fn. 411) In
1270 Robert, Abbot of Whitby, granted to Alan de
Everley estover in the wood of Iburne for building
Alan's manor here. (fn. 412) John de Everley, aged sixty,
was witness in the great Whitby lawsuit in 1283. (fn. 413)
William de Everley was lord in 1311 (fn. 414) and 1316. (fn. 415)
In 1334 it was stated at the forest eyre that William
de Everley, jun., was the representative of William
de Everley of Ugglebarnby, deceased. (fn. 416) In 1361 the
manor was settled on John de Wandesford, jun., (fn. 417) and
Joan his wife and the heirs of Joan. (fn. 418) No further
mention of this estate is found until Gregory Conyers
between 1518 and 1529 complained that John
Elryngton refused to carry out an agreement with
him concerning the manor of Ugglebarnby Hall. (fn. 419) In
1545–6 Thomas Elrington conveyed to John Swinburne, jun., the remainder of a moiety of the manor
held by Christopher and William Elrington for their
lives, with successive remainders to John Swinburne,
jun., in tail-male, John son and heir of Christopher
Swinburne in tail-male, and the heirs of John
Swinburne, deceased, father of John, jun. (fn. 420) John
Swinburne of Chopwell, Durham, was attainted in
1570 for his share in the Rebellion of the North. (fn. 421)

Swinburne of Chopwell. Argent a chief gules with three cinqfoils counter coloured and a border gobony argent and azure.

Bolles of Scampton, baronet. Azure three cups or with a boar's head argent in each of the bowls.
In 1604 John Swinburne, brother of Roger Swinburne, deceased, showed his title to the manor, which
was restored to his possession. (fn. 422) In the same year he
and Ralph Elrington of Ugglebarnby (fn. 423) sold it to
George Bolles. (fn. 424) Sir George Bolles, Lord Mayor of
London 1617–18, obtained Scampton in Lincolnshire
by marriage with Joan Hart. He was succeeded in
1621 by his son John, created a baronet in 1628
and succeeded in March 1647–8 by his son Robert,
one of the jury at the trial of the regicides. (fn. 425) Sir
Robert Bolles was succeeded in March 1663–4 (fn. 426) by
his son Sir John, lord of Ugglebarnby, Eskdaleside,
Newton and Sneaton. (fn. 427) Sir John at his death in
March 1685–6 left an only son John, who, dying
unmarried in 1714, was succeeded by his sister Sarah
of Shrewsbury, (fn. 428) who died in 1746, leaving co-heirs
Sir Cyril Wych, bart., John Washer, and Mary
Turton. (fn. 429) Sir Cyril Wych, who was of an old diplomatic family, was English Resident at the Hans Towns,
and in 1729 was created a baronet. (fn. 430) In 1752 he
mortgaged his share to John Matthews of Stokesley,
and arranged for the absolute sale; when the manors
were divided in the same year this share consisted of
the manors of Ugglebarnby and Eskdaleside. (fn. 431) In 1790
John Matthews, bankrupt, (fn. 432) conveyed the manor to
Henry Walker Yeoman (fn. 433) of Woodlands, son of John
Yeoman of Whitby by Rachel daughter of Henry
Walker of Whitby, brother of Captain Cook's patron. (fn. 434)
He died in 1801 and was succeeded by his son
Henry Walker Yeoman (d. 1875) father of the Ven.
Henry Walker Yeoman, Archdeacon of Cleveland,
who died unmarried in 1897. The second son,
Thomas Laurence, died unmarried in 1901, when
the heirs of the third son, the Rev. Constantine
Bernard Yeoman, vicar of Manfield, succeeded. These
were his five daughters, Margaret Constance Yeoman
now deceased, Sophia Bruce, Eva Dorothy, Charlotte
and Mary, (fn. 435) and Margaret Winsome, daughter of his
deceased daughter Emily Harriot by Mr. W. H. A.
Wharton of Skelton. (fn. 436)
The manor of WHITBY LATHES seems to be
first mentioned in 1394, when a court was held
there. (fn. 437) It was retained by the abbey until the
Dissolution, (fn. 438) and afterwards passed with the liberty
(q.v.). The court is always held at the Manor
House, a farm.
Churches
The church of ST. MARY, originally a 12th-century building, has
been much altered and added to, and
the interior is cumbered with square pews and
numerous galleries, which give an excellent idea of
the arrangement prevailing in the 'Churchwarden'
period. The church was originally an aisleless building with a western tower, to which transepts were
subsequently added. The chief modern additions are
a large annexe to the north of the nave and the two
porches.
The quire, 38 ft. by 17 ft. 11 in., dates from the
middle of the 12th century, and is lighted by three
round-headed, deeply splayed windows in the east
end, that in the centre being a modern restoration.
A roll moulding is carried up the jambs and round
the heads internally. The side walls were originally of three bays each, with a window of similar
character to those already described. Of these the
first and third on the north and the easternmost on
the south still remain, the central light on this side
being blocked. Two windows and a door in the
south wall are 15th-century insertions. Two aumbries
or lockers appear in the north wall and a third with
a small piscina opposite them. The 12th-century
chancel arch, recessed in three orders on its western
face, springs from responds, the shafts of which have
capitals rudely carved with the volute ornament.
The southern abutment is pierced by a squint from
the south transept. Externally the quire is finished
on the north and south with a plain corbel table and
a late embattled parapet.
The nave, 97 ft. 6 in. by 26 ft. 2 in., of five bays,
is of similar date to the quire (c. 1140). Two only
of the original windows remain in the south wall, one
blocked and the other considerably lengthened, and
three flat pilaster buttresses of the same date remain
on the outside. With the exception of the two
western bays, the north wall was entirely removed in
1818, when the large aisle was built on that side,
extending out as far as the transept end. The roof
is supported by clustered columns of a nondescript
character on the line of the destroyed wall. About
the same period four large square-headed windows
were inserted in the south wall, the south porch
added and a small north porch built to the west of
the new annexe. The ceilings of this part of the
church are boarded and pierced with several skylight
openings. The original entrance to the nave appears
to have been in the centre bay on the south side,
where there are traces of the former existence of a
gabled stone pediment.
The transept, 93 ft. 9 in. from north to south by
26 ft. 5 in. wide, was added to the church in the
first half of the 13th century. The northern arm
still retains three tall lancets of this date in the end
wall; they have, however, been lengthened and
otherwise tampered with. The west wall was taken
down when the northern annexe was added in 1818.
The southern arm is of similar character, but has
been more seriously altered. The windows here are
all of modern date, but an ancient trefoil-headed
piscina remains in the south wall.
The western tower, though three stages high, has a
somewhat squat appearance. The outer corners are
supported by flat buttresses with attached shafts at
the angles, and the building appears to be a little
later in date than the nave. In the west wall are
remains of a large doorway, now blocked and almost
obliterated. The tower arch opening into the nave
is recessed in three orders, the side shafts having
capitals with voluted angles and square abaci of about
1180. The belfry stage is lighted by a window opening
of late date in each face, and the tower is finished with
a 15th-century embattled parapet.
The ring of eight bells consists of six inscribed,
'Whitby 1762 Lester and Pack of London fecit,' and
two small bells added in 1897.
The nave and transept are fitted with large
galleries, mainly of early 19th-century date, and
approached by staircases internal and external and
openings cut in the old walls. On the ground floor
is a curious 'three-decker' pulpit of the same date
and numerous square pews. The latter are of various
dates, many being of the early 18th century, while
to the north of the chancel arch is a large pew with
moulded rail and strapwork of Jacobean character.
Immediately in front of the chancel arch is a small
gallery, erected about 1700 and supported on four
twisted Corinthian columns. The front is ornamented
with carved cherubim, fruit and foliage. The large
iron-bound parish chest in the vestibule dates from
about 1700.
The church contains few ancient monuments, the
only one of importance being a tablet on the north
wall of the quire to Sir Richard Cholmley (d. 1631).
Numerous later memorials to this family exist elsewhere in the quire and north transept. The indent
of an elaborate canopied brass remains in the quire
floor.
The plate belonging to the church includes a
paten (London, 1710), the gift of Mr. James
Yeoman in 1742; a cup and flagon (both London,
1743), inscribed, 'Whitby Church Yorkshire 1743';
two almsdishes (London, 1759), bought in 1759,
and a modern cup and paten.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries 1608 to 1676, except the years 1649 to
1669 (fn. 439) ; (ii) all entries 1653 to 1660; (iii) all entries
1676 to 1704 (baptisms to 1703); (iv) all entries
1705 to 1729 (baptisms from 1704); (v) 1730 to
1739; (vi) 1740 to 1755; (vii) marriages 1754 to
1763; (viii) baptisms and burials 1755 to 1768;
(ix) marriages 1763 to 1779; (x) baptisms 1768 to
1782 and burials 1768 to 1781; (xi) marriages
1779 to 1795; (xii) baptisms 1783 to 1799, burials
1782 to 1799; (xiii) marriages 1795 to 1812;
(xiv) baptisms and burials 1799 to 1812; (xv)
marriages 1812. (fn. 440)
There are four modern churches in the town, the
earliest being ST. NINIAN in Baxtergate, which
was opened in 1778. It is a plain rectangular brick
building with galleries on three sides and a semicircular apse. It was restored in 1881–90, and has
a modern open oak rood screen and a small bellcote.
This church is not orientated.
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, further down
Baxtergate, was built in 1848–9 and consecrated in
1850, and consists of a nave of five bays with aisles
and two shallow projections in the form of transepts
opposite the second bay from the east. The style is
13th-century Gothic, and the arcades are lofty with
tall coupled lancet windows to the aisles. At the
east end is a chancel arch, but the chancel itself has
never been completed. Behind the altar is a carved
stone reredos with a mosaic of the Last Supper. It
is a chapel of ease to the parish church.
The church of ST. MICHAEL, Church Street,
was consecrated in 1856,
and is a stone building consisting of nave with aisles,
chancel and western bellcote
containing one bell. The
style is Gothic of the 13th
century, and the east window
is a triple lancet. There
are also three lancets at the
west end with a circular
light in the gable over. It
is a chapel of ease.
ST. HILDA'S Church,
on the west cliff, was built
in 1885 from the designs of
Mr. R. J. Johnson at a cost
of £18,500. It is a large,
lofty and handsome example
of modern work in the
'Decorated' style, consisting of chancel with side
chapels, nave with aisles and
narthex, and a central tower
not yet completed. The
quire has a fine seven-light
east window, the west window being of six lights and
filled with a Jesse tree in stained glass. The nave is
five bays long, with a narthex of three bays across the
west end, containing a dark marble carved font in the
style of the 15th century. The fittings of the church
are carried out with great magnificence and include a
carved and painted reredos, a carved oak rood screen
under the western tower arch, a carved stone pulpit
with an oak sounding-board and a bishop's seat, of
the same material, to the north of the altar, with an
ornate canopy reaching nearly to the roof. The
quire roof is of wagon form with carved angels to the
cornice, and on the south side are three stone sedilia
and a piscina. This also is a chapel of ease.
The church of Aislaby, built in 1732 to replace
a mediaeval chapel, is now disused. It is a plain
rectangular stone building. It has been superseded
by the new church of ST. MARGARET, built in
1897 of stone and consisting of nave and chancel.
The modern church of ST. JOHN EVANGELIST, Eskdaleside, has taken the place of one erected
in 1762 on the abandonment of Eskdaleside Chapel. (fn. 441)
It is a stone building in the Early English style,
standing in an extensive churchyard, and consists of
a quire and nave of four bays with a north aisle and
porch. The tower, three stages high, stands to the
north of the quire.
The modern church of ALL SAINTS serves the
hamlets of High and Low Hawsker. It stands at
the cross roads, a short distance to the north of the
latter village. It is a stone-faced building in the
Gothic style of the 13th century and consists of an
aisleless nave of three bays, a quire with a three-light
east window and an organ chamber on the north
side. The central tower, crowned by a gabled slate
roof, rests upon two arches, the soffits of which are
cinquefoiled with poor effect. The chancel is fitted
with a pitch pine rood screen.

Ugglebarnby Church from the South-west
The modern church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW,
Ruswarp, is a stone-faced building in the late 13thcentury Gothic style. It consists of a nave of five
bays, an apsidal quire with a tower on the south side
and a south porch. The apse is, externally, semicircular, but within it forms a half octagon, and the
tower is capped by a stone spire of some height.
The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Archbishop
of York, to whom the rectorial tithe belongs.
The church of ALL SAINTS, Ugglebarnby, is a
modern stone-faced building in the 13th-century
Gothic style with a tiled roof. It consists of an
aisleless nave of four bays, a quire of two, and a
tower to the north-west of the former. It stands on
or near the site of an ancient chapel, and built into
the walls of the quire and vestry are a few fragments of cheveron ornament, shafts and small capitals
from the earlier structure and dating from the 12th
century.
The Roman Catholic church of ST. HILDA in
Baxtergate stands north and south, and is a heavy
building in the 13th-century Gothic style, consisting
of nave of five bays with aisles, quire with side
chapels and an octagonal spirelet at the south end of
the east aisle. At the entrance to the chancel is a
timber gable supporting the rood, and the pointed
barrel roof is painted. The church was built in
1867.
Advowsons
There is no mention in the
Domesday Survey of a church at
Whitby, but it has been suggested (fn. 442)
that one of the three churches entered under Hackness (q.v.) was in this parish.
The abbey church of Whitby was dedicated in
honour of SS. Peter and Hilda, the parish church to
St. Mary. The latter was granted with its six
chapels to Whitby Abbey in the second donation of
William de Percy (1096–7). (fn. 443) These were retained by the abbey until the Dissolution. (fn. 444)
The reversion (on the expiration of a lease) of the
rectory and church, with its chapels of Aislaby,
Dunsley, Eskdaleside, Hawsker, Ugglebarnby and
Fylingdales, was granted in exchange in March
1544–5 to Robert Holgate, Archbishop of York, and
his successors. (fn. 445) Philip and Mary renewed the
grant in 1555–6, (fn. 446) and the patronage has descended
to the present archbishop. The 'vicar' was mentioned in 1468–9. (fn. 447) The living was a perpetual
curacy until 1866, when it was declared a rectory. (fn. 448)
The lay rectory has descended with the advowson. (fn. 449)
Peter de Lincoln of Whitby received licence in
1323 to grant £4 15s. rent in Whitby to a chaplain
to celebrate divine service daily in the parish church
in honour of St. Mary. (fn. 450) There was an altar of the
Holy Trinity in the church. (fn. 451) John Ledum, burgess
of Whitby, bequeathed in 1530 £2 'to the church
hallowing if it go forwards,' 13s. 4d. to the church
work, and wax for lights before the Sacrament, the
Rood, Our Lady of Pity and St. Katharine. (fn. 452)
In 1483 Margaret Tod granted three burgages
in Scarborough to William Tod for the payment of
20 marks for the ornamentation of a chapel in
Whitby to be established in honour of the Archangel Gabriel (fn. 453) ; this may be one of the disused
chapels mentioned below.
The chapel of St. Ninian in Scotland (fn. 454) mentioned in 1395–6 (fn. 455) may have been the chapel at the
Baxtergate end of the first Whitby bridge; this was
rented from its proprietor in the 18th century by the
burgesses, who imposed a chapel cess on the inhabitants. (fn. 456) The premises, used as a chapel until 1778, (fn. 457)
were afterwards conveyed to Christopher Richardson,
whose wine cellars they constituted in 1816. Workmen discovered at this spot in 1815 'a very solid foundation of some ancient building of hewn stone, and
also found some neatly carved stones.' (fn. 458) From the
fact that the receipt of St. Ninian's box in 1460–1
was seven times as great as that of St. Mary's, (fn. 459)
Canon Atkinson thought that St. Ninian's was certainly
this bridge chapel. (fn. 460) The site of this chapel is now
occupied by Falkinbridge's wine shop in Baxtergate.
There was, however, another old chapel, not identified, in Whitby, conveyed in 1595 with Bagdale Hall
by Nicholas Conyers to Nicholas Bushell; it was
situated on the west side of Highgate, (fn. 461) that is, on
the south side of the present market-place. (fn. 462) It has
been formed into tenements, in the stairs and partitions of which its old oak pews may be traced. (fn. 463)
The present chapel of St. Ninian in Baxtergate, on
the opposite side of the road to Falkinbridge's wine
stores, was erected by thirty subscribers and opened in
1778; the subscribers were proprietors and patrons
and received each a free pew. (fn. 464) It is a chapel of
ease, still proprietary, to the parish church. The
hospital at Spital Bridge had its own chaplain with
cure of souls in its Whitby lands and at Billery. (fn. 465)
The six chapels appurtenant to the parish church
at the close of the 11th century were those of
Aislaby, Dunsley, Hawsker, Ugglebarnby, Fyling
and Sneaton, (fn. 466) of which the two last-named soon
became independent. (fn. 467)
The abbey granted the chapel of Aislaby to
Reginald de Rosels, (fn. 468) and between 1190 and 1211 (fn. 469)
Reginald quitclaimed to the abbey all right in the
chapelry, restoring the charter by which it was
granted to him and the key of the chapel. (fn. 470) William
de Rosels towards the close of the 13th century
made a further quitclaim, and bound himself and
his heirs to pay all tithes of hay, mills, fishery, &c.,
while the abbey undertook responsibility for the performance of all services in the chapel. (fn. 471) The abbey
retained the chapel until the Dissolution (fn. 472) (when
the priest's house in Aislaby is mentioned). (fn. 473) It
passed with the mother church to the Archbishop
of York, but, becoming ruinous 'in Sir Hugh
Cholmley's time,' i.e., 1632–57, it was rebuilt by
subscription in 1732, (fn. 474) and the advowson has ever
since been a matter of dispute. The subscribers
were John Burdett, James and Thomas Yeoman,
Mark Noble and others. Mrs. Noble, wife of
Mark, endowed the new chapel with £10 for the
maintenance of a curate. (fn. 475) By virtue of this endowment Mark Noble obtained from the archbishop a
grant of the patronage of the chapel, (fn. 476) but bitter
litigation ensued, especially after the representatives
of the Nobles' claim (Mark Noble handed over the
living to his sister, Mrs. Boulby) parted with Aislaby
Hall, for it was asserted that patronage of the chapel
went with ownership of the Hall. (fn. 477) The Boulbys
were, however, returned as patrons until 1875 (fn. 478) ;
in 1878 the Rev. T. Walker was said to hold the
advowson, (fn. 479) which was stated in 1888 to be in
dispute, (fn. 480) and in 1889–90 to be in the possession of
Mr. R. Harrowing, (fn. 481) the owner of Aislaby Hall.
It afterwards became the subject of a Chancery action,
but in 1913 it was bought by the Misses Yeoman of
Woodlands and was given by them to the see of
York. (fn. 482) The rectorial tithe belongs to the archbishop. The living was erected into a vicarage in
1865, (fn. 483) when the ecclesiastical parish of Aislaby
St. Margaret was formed. Before that time nobody
was interred there, and christenings and churchings
were charged double fees, half due to the parish
church. (fn. 484) There is no evidence to prove that the
chapel had been dedicated in the honour of St. Margaret. The suggestion was first made (1779) by
Charlton on the strength of a piece of land near
Aislaby called in his time 'St. Margrett's Launde
alias Thorncrossebutts,' which, he continues, 'an old
deed says, "was formerly given and used to maintain
a light in the church or chapel of Aislaby, called
St. Margrett's light."' (fn. 485)
In the latter half of the 12th century Dunsley
Chapel is mentioned in connexion with the establishment of Mulgrave hermitage (fn. 486) ; it received a
bequest from John Ledum in 1530 (fn. 487) and was conveyed with the parish church to the archbishop. (fn. 488)
It afterwards fell into ruins and the materials were
used for repairing roads; it possessed a grave-yard
(grave-stones and bones being visible in the early
19th century (fn. 489) ), now open to the common. Service
is held in the National school near by.
The chapel of Eskdaleside, not included in the
six granted by the founder, was presumably not in
existence, but Pope Honorius III (1216–27) confirmed it with the others to the abbey. (fn. 490) The
ruins of this old chapel of St. John have already
been described (fn. 491) ; on the hill above the new church
of Sleights was built to replace it in 1762 by
Robert Bower, his wife Tabitha and her sister
Gertrude Burdett; the old chapel was closed and
the new one opened in 1767. (fn. 492) It was separated
from the parish church except for church rates; the
advowson became the property of the Bowers, (fn. 493) was
in the hands of the heirs of J. Ness in 1816, (fn. 494) and
now belongs to the Rev. H. P. D. Walker. The living
is a vicarage with Ugglebarnby annexed. The new
church of St. John the Evangelist was consecrated
20 September 1895.
A chapel at Hawsker was among the original six
granted to the abbey by the founder, and its site is
probably marked by the Anglo-Saxon churchyard
cross-shaft in the grounds of the Hall. (fn. 495) It must
have been in decay when (1140–50) (fn. 496) Aschetin de
Hawsker received permission from the abbey to build
a chapel here in honour of All Saints. (fn. 497) Reginald de
Hawsker, son of Roger (Sir Adam de Hawsker witnessing the grant), endowed it with lands for lights and
for the celebration of mass on Saturdays and on the
feast days of the Virgin Mary on her altar there. (fn. 498)
There is nothing to show whether or not this chapel,
standing in the 16th century, (fn. 499) was on the site of
the first one. The abbey always presented to the
cure, (fn. 500) and the patronage has descended with that of
Whitby Church (fn. 501) (q.v.). The present church of All
Saints was consecrated in 1877, and when Hawsker
was formed into a parish in the succeeding year a
vicarage was instituted.
The chapel of Ugglebarnby was granted to the
abbey by the founder and passed at the Dissolution
to the archbishop, (fn. 502) who remained the patron until
the church of All Saints was built in 1872, since
when the Rev. H. P. D. Walker has been the patron.
The living was formerly a perpetual curacy. (fn. 503)
Charities
Distributive Charities.—In 1719
Mrs. Margery Boyes by her will
devised a house in Whitby known as
Barwick House for two poor widows. The house is
supposed to be a tenement in Ellerby Lane, now let
as a warehouse at £3 10s. a year, which is applied
towards the payment of rent for two poor widows.
The same donor gave £6 per annum to put four
poor children to trades, £3 4s. per annum to put
eight poor children to school, 12d. a week to twelve
poor widows, making together £11 16s. a year.
This amount is paid out of land and hereditaments
in Fylingdales by the devisees of the late Col. Sibthorpe.
The annual sum of £3 4s. was by an order, dated
3 January 1905, made under the Board of Education
Act, 1899, directed to be set aside under the title of
'The Boyes Educational Foundation,' and is paid to
the elementary schools.
Mrs. Susanna Atty, by will proved 1806,
bequeathed a legacy for widows, now represented by
£504 consols, and in 1832 Mrs. Joanna Barker, by
will, bequeathed for the benefit of spinsters of the
townships of Whitby, Ruswarp, Hawsker and Aislaby
a sum now represented by £332 11s. 7d. consols.
By a scheme, dated 18 November 1904, the income
of Atty's charity, amounting to £12 12s., is divided
quarterly amongst six poor widows of the age of fifty
years, being natives and inhabitants of the ancient
parish of Whitby, and the income of Barker's charity,
amounting to £8 6s., is divided half-yearly amongst
four spinsters of the age of forty-five years, natives
and inhabitants of the above-named townships. The
sums of stock are held by the official trustees.
The charities founded by Alice Galilee consist of
(a) £277 17s. 3d. consols arising from the sale of a
messuage given by deed dated 1 November 1847,
producing £6 18s. 8d. a year; (b) £303 consols, by
deed dated 19 June 1852, producing £7 11s. 4d. a
year; and (c) £213 3s. 11d. consols, by deed dated
20 October 1856, producing £5 6s. 4d. a year The
sums of stock are held by the official trustees. Under
the provisions of a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 17 February 1893 the yearly income of
the charities is applicable in the supply of clothes, linen,
bedding, fuel, tools, medical or other aid in sickness,
food or other articles in kind for the benefit of the
poor, and in the proportions indicated in the abovementioned deeds respectively, viz., as to (a) sixsevenths by the rector of Whitby and the ministers of
each of the chapels in Baxtergate, the Wesleyan chapel
in Church Street, the Primitive Methodist chapel and
the chapel in Flowergate, and the remaining oneseventh part by the vicar of Fylingdales; as to (b)
four-sevenths in the township of Whitby, and in
Ugglebarnby, Sleights, and Egton, and three-sevenths
by the ministers of Silver Street Chapel, Cliff Lane
Chapel, and Brunswick Lane Chapel; as to (c) fiveeighths in the township of Whitby and in Sleights,
Egton and Aislaby, and three-eighths by the ministers
of the three last-mentioned chapels.
In 1854 John Robinson by will, proved at York,
bequeathed a legacy, which was invested in
£721 1s. 10d. consols, the income to be applied in
the purchase of coals to be distributed yearly between
1 November and 1 March at two different times
amongst poor aged or infirm inhabitants of both
sexes within the town of Whitby without distinction
of religious creed. The stock is held by the official
trustees, and the dividends, amounting to £18 a year,
are distributed by the ministers and churchwardens
in coals.
John Robertson by will, proved in 1869, left onetwelfth part of his residuary estate for gifts of
2s. 6d. each to four persons of respectable character,
with preference to ropemakers and their widows,
on Christmas Eve. The trust fund consists of
£1,115 3s. 9d. consols, producing £27 17s. 4d. a
year. In 1905 meat and grocery tickets to the value
of 2s. 6d. each were distributed among 216 recipients.
In 1884 George Trattles Knaggs by will left
£4,000 consols, the dividends to be applied in twelve
equal portions among twelve respectable persons in
Whitby or within half a mile thereof, being either
decayed masters of ships, or decayed master tradesmen,
or their widows, during the lives of the beneficiaries,
so long as in the judgement of the trustees they
should be proper objects of the trust. The income
of £100 a year is divided equally among twelve
annuitants. The several sums of stock are held by
the official trustees.
Charities for seamen or seamen's widows.—In 1722
William Pearson gave two houses, and in 1770 a
William Pearson gave two tenements. These houses
are situated, two in Loggerhead Yard, Baxtergate, let
at 5s. a week each, and two tenements made into one
in the New Gate Ghaut let at 1s. 6d. a week. In
1747 by deed, dated 20 April, confirmed by deed of
23 April 1748, Adam Boulby settled a house situate
in Cliff Street, divided into two little tenements one
above the other, for the occupation of two poor
seamen or seamen's widows. The lower tenement is
let as a warehouse at £1 10s. a year, the upper
tenement being unoccupied.
In 1770 Adam Boulby gave six tenements in
Flowergate, which are let at 10s. a year each.
In 1831 Isabella Chilton gave six tenements situate
between Flowergate and Cliff Lane to trustees for
the benefit of seamen's widows, the nomination being
vested in the churchwardens and overseers of Whitby.
These are all occupied at small rents, amounting
together to £3 9s. a year. The tenements are in a
poor state of repair, and there are no funds except
the rents available for the upkeep of the property.
The Seamen's Hospital Almshouses consist of
fifty tenements occupied by merchant seamen and
their families. In 1906 the trust funds amounted to
£924 7s. 6d. consols, producing an annual dividend
of £23 2s., which with £3 received as rent was
applied in repairs, &c., and coals distributed to
inmates. (fn. 504)
In 1789 Benjamin Hunter gave £100 to the
churchwardens and overseers, the interest to be
annually expended in clothing four poor fatherless
boys, sons of seamen, when put apprentices, being
thirteen years old. The fund is secured by a mortgage
in the Whitby Waterworks at 3 per cent., the income
being applied in accordance with the trusts.
In 1808 William Rymer bequeathed £100, the
interest thereof to be annually distributed in coals
among superannuated seamen, or their widows, not
exceeding one bushel to each. The legacy was
invested in £105 consols, which is held by the
official trustees.
In 1868 Joseph Hunter, by will proved at York,
bequeathed a legacy, represented by £531 9s. 3d.
consols with the official trustees, for providing
annuities for widows of masters and mates of ships
belonging to the port of Whitby, being resident
within the ancient borough limits. In 1905 annuities
of £1 each were paid to fourteen recipients.
See also charity of George Trattles Knaggs above.
The public dispensary, founded in 1786, is now
carried on in a building on the east side of Church
Street, held under a deed, dated 2 August 1854, for
the residue of a term of 1,000 years. It is supported
in part by voluntary subscriptions, and is endowed
with the following sums of stock, with the official
trustees, arising from the investment of legacies and
donations, and of surplus income, namely, £3,000
consols, including a legacy of £100 by will of
William Reynolds, 1825, £340 17s. 3d. Jubilee Fund
of 1888, and £1,561 4s. 11d. by will of William
Stonehouse, 1892; £160 2½ per cent. annuities;
£50 India 3 per cent. stock; and £700 North
Eastern Railway 3 per cent. stock, including a legacy
of £66 by will of Miss Eleanor Pearson, 1903, and
£100 by will of Miss Emily H. Pearson. An
annual income of £101 10s. is derived from these
sources.
Educational Charities.—The public school for boys
and girls in Ruswarp, founded by deed, 1822, is
endowed with a sum of £200 consols, with the
official trustees, bequeathed in 1825 by will of
William Reynolds. The charities are regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners, dated 30 May
1893, as varied by a scheme of 11 November 1898.
The dividends are applicable in prizes to children
attending elementary schools.
See also under Margery Boyes's charity above.
Nonconformist Charities—The Old Chapel in
Flowergate Street. In 1732 Leonard Wilde, by his
will, bequeathed one-third of his personal estate for
the poor members of this chapel and the residue of
such estate for the minister of the same chapel. The
sum of £130 arising under the bequest for the poor
was in 1812 applied towards rebuilding the chapel,
and the residue left for the support of the minister
was laid out in the purchase of a small farm at Stepney,
near Upgang, in Ruswarp. The farm with land at
the foot of the cliff at Whitby was in 1900, with the
sanction of the Charity Commissioners, sold for
£5,000 and the net proceeds invested with the
official trustees in £1,881 North Eastern Railway
3 per cent. debenture stock and £1,500 Great
Northern Railway (Leeds, Bradford and Halifax
Railway 6 per cent.) stock, producing together an
income of £146 8s. 8d. a year, which is paid to the
minister for the time being. The minister receives
a portion of Alice Galilee's charity for distribution
among the poor (see above).
The Wesleyan chapel in Brunswick Lane, founded
in 1814, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners of 1868. The minister receives a
portion of Alice Galilee's charity for distribution
amongst the poor (see above).
The Wesleyan chapel in Church Street, founded
by deed poll 1789, is regulated by a scheme of the
Charity Commissioners, 1877. An annual payment of
£2 is received from the trustees of the Brunswick Lane
Chapel in respect of a legacy of £86 5s. 9d. left by
will of Mrs. Hannah Swales, 1819; and a further
payment of £2 a year in respect of the same legacy
is made to the poor of the Wesleyan Methodist
Society.
The Society of Friends have a meeting-house and
trust property near Church Street acquired by deeds
of lease and release of 21 and 22 July 1800. In
1869 a portion of the trust property was sold for
£300, which sum was invested in £325 4s. 1d.
consols with the official trustees, by whom the annual
dividends, amounting to £8 2s. 4d., are remitted for
the purposes of the trust.
Miss Emily Matilda Sanders by will, proved
15 March 1905, bequeathed £250 to be invested
and the income applied for the benefit of deserving
and aged poor residing in the town of Whitby in the
month of January in every year, the charity to be
entitled 'The Quaker Sanders Charity.' The legacy
was invested in £256 7s. 1d. India 3 per cent. stock,
which was subsequently transferred to the official
trustees, by whom the annual dividends, amounting
to £7 13s. 9d., are remitted to the administrator
named in the will.
Township of Aislaby.—For the charity of Mrs.
Tabitha Bower see under the township of Sleights
below. In 1907 the sum of £8 15s. (one-fourth
part of the dividends) was distributed among eighteen
persons in sums varying from 5s. to £1 each. In
1874 Henry Swinton Walker by will, proved at York
27 April, bequeathed £200 to be invested and the
income applied for the benefit of the National school.
The legacy was invested in £225 19s. 8d. consols,
producing an annual income of £5 12s. 10d.
The Wesleyan chapel at Briggswath with trust
property consisting of the chapel, school and three
cottages, was founded by deeds of 7 October 1820
and 14 September 1868, and is regulated by a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners of 9 May 1890, whereby
the trust premises were settled upon the trusts of
the Skircoat model deed, dated 3 July 1832 (duly
enrolled).
Township of Ruswarp.—The poor of this township are entitled to the following rent-charges,
namely, £2 a year and £1 a year issuing out of
Ashes Farm, originating under the wills of Robert
Bushell and Henry Lemon, both dated in 1695,
and 12s. a year out of a farm at Stokesley, being a
donation by Gregory Marley. In 1906 the sum of
£3 was distributed in sums of 5s. to each of twelve
poor people. The sum of 12s. a year in respect of
the last-mentioned charity appears to have been lost
sight of.
Township of Sleights or Eskdaleside with Ugglebarnby.—By deed, dated 14 October 1769, Robert
Bower and Tabitha his wife charged a certain close
called Farr Croft with an annuity of £4 6s., whereof
£2 was to be applied in or about the ornamentation
of the inside of the chapel at Sleights, £1 to the
parish clerk, and £1 6s. a year for the poor in bread.
By the same deed the said close was settled upon
the minister for the time being of the said chapel.
The charity is regulated by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners of 1 December 1796.
By deed, dated 8 October 1784, Mrs. Tabitha
Bower, widow, gave £1,400 stock, one-fourth part
of the dividends to be paid to the poor not receiving
alms of each of the respective townships of Aislaby,
Eskdaleside, and Ugglebarnby in Whitby, and Holy
Trinity, Micklegate, York. The trust fund is now
£1,400 consols with the official trustees; two-fourths
of the dividends, amounting to £17 10s., were in
1906 distributed among forty-five poor persons of
the townships of Eskdaleside and Ugglebarnby in
sums varying from 4s. to 1s. 9d.
In 1781 William Coates by deed, dated 19 May,
assigned to trustees £350 Reduced 3 per cent. stock,
the interest to be applied in augmentation of the
salary of the minister of Eskdaleside Chapel. Trustees
were appointed by order of the County Court of
Yorkshire held at Whitby, dated 14 February 1855,
and the stock transferred to the official trustees. In
1891 the sum of £106 17s. stock was sold out and
the proceeds applied in the purchase of 2 acres of grass
land abutting on the churchyard, of the yearly value
of £5. The trust fund now consists of £243 3s.
consols, producing £6 1s. 4d. a year. An annuity of
£5 devised by the will of this donor, formerly distributed amongst the poor, has been discontinued as
being void in mortmain.
In 1785 Richard Chapman by will directed £100
to be invested and the income to be distributed
as follows: 20s. yearly to the parish clerk, the
remainder to be divided into three equal parts, onethird whereof for the poor of Sleights, one-third for
the poor of Ugglebarnby, and the remaining third
for the poor of Sneaton. The trust fund is represented by £99 17s. 6d. consols, with the official
trustees, producing £2 9s. a year.
In 1851 Mrs. Anne Boyes bequeathed £100, the
income to be applied in the distribution of fuel
among the poor of Eskdaleside and Ugglebarnby.
The legacy is represented by £112 0s. 11d. consols
with the official trustees, the dividends of which,
amounting to £2 16s., are distributed in coal. See
also Mrs. Boyes's charity for the National school,
below.
In 1856 the Rev. John Carter gave £50, the
income to be distributed in January every year
among six poor men residing in Sleights or Ugglebarnby. The trust fund consists of £52 18s. 3d.
consols with the official trustees.
The National school, founded in 1834, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners,
1871. The official trustees hold in trust for the
same £224 1s. 10d. consols arising from the will of
Mrs. Anne Boyes above mentioned; £101 5s. 3d.
consols given by Miss Anne Wilson, 1837, for the
Sunday school held therein; and £101 5s. 3d. consols
bequeathed by will of Mrs. Dorothy Wilson, proved
1868. The school is also entitled to the dividends
on £212 4s. consols, known as Walker's Foundation,
bequeathed by will of Henry Swinton Walker, proved
in 1874.
The official trustees also hold a sum of £6 7s. 6d.
consols, known as the Sleights Diamond Jubilee
Sick and Accident Fund (1897). For the charity
of Alice Galilee see under Whitby.