SNEATON
Sneton (xi–xvii cent.).
Sneaton Church from the South-west
The parish is coterminous with the township of
Sneaton, the area of which, including the hamlet of
Sneaton Thorpe, is 4,848 acres. An Inclosure Act
was passed in 1802. (fn. 1) The subsoil is Inferior Oolite,
the soils various, the chief crops wheat, oats and
pasture. Stone is worked, and there are saw-mills.
The River Esk, the northern boundary which
separates the parish from Whitby, is joined by Buskey
Beck, the western boundary, and by Shawm Rigg's
Beck, which is part of the eastern boundary. Rigg
Mill Beck forms the eastern boundary as far as its
source at Soulsgrave Slack on Sneaton Low Moor.
Rigg Mill, a picturesque ruin beside a waterfall in a
wood, is possibly the 'Agge Milne' of the 11th
century. (fn. 2) Close to the western boundary are Windmill Hill Plantation and Pokeham Brow. South-west is
Sneaton High Moor (reaching 966 ft. above the ordnance
datum) with Foster Howes
and Robbed Howe (fn. 3) on the
Pickering Lythe boundary.
Below these is York Cross.
The church of St. Hilda is
in the middle of the village.
The public elementary school
was erected in 1825. The
village, which stands very
high, overlooking Whitby and
the sea, consists of whitewashed red-tiled cottages
placed irregularly on each side
of two roads which descend
to meet a third road; at the
junction are two old farms
facing each other, one being
the manor-house. Mr. John
Falkingham Wilson lives at
Sneaton Hall.
The parish was not taxed in
1428 because there were not ten
inhabitants having domiciles. (fn. 4)
Manor
In 1086 SNEATON, where 5 carucates of land were at geld, (fn. 5) was a berewick
of Whitby (q.v.); it was granted by the
founder to Whitby Abbey. (fn. 6) The abbots continued
to be overlords, (fn. 7) and the Cholmleys, their successors
in the ownership of Whitby manor and liberty,
received a quit-rent at the close of the 18th century. (fn. 8)
The Arundels were the under-tenants. To John
de Arundel, whose father preceded him in these parts, (fn. 9)
Benedict Abbot of Whitby (1139–48) (fn. 10) confirmed
the chapel. (fn. 11) John, therefore, presumably held the
manor. Reginald de Arundel of Sneaton appears in
the next generation, (fn. 12) and was perhaps a younger
brother of the William de Arundel who held a knight's
fee of William de Percy in Yorkshire in 1166. (fn. 13) This
knight's fee must have been in Foston-on-the-Wolds,
which belonged to William de Arundel in the time of
King John. (fn. 14) The elder branch evidently enfeoffed the
younger in Sneaton, as the former were afterwards
mesne lords. William de Arundel left a brother and
heir Roger, a justice, (fn. 15) whose heirs were the descendants
of his sisters Maud and Agnes and possibly of another
sister Cecily. Maud had daughters Euphemia and
Alice, the former being mother of William le Constable
of Flamborough. Agnes married a Hotham or Holme
and was mother of Thomas de Hotham or Holme. (fn. 16)
In 1221 William Constable, John de Belvoir (Beauver),
Thomas de Hotham, Nicholas de Ainsty and Thomas
de Birkin, co-heirs of Roger de Arundel, made fine
for his lands. (fn. 17)
William Constable and John de Belvoir quitclaimed
their share of services from the Sneaton under-tenant
to Richard de Percy. (fn. 18) In 1279–81 Thomas de
Hotham's grandson (fn. 19) John sued the under-tenant for
services.' (fn. 20) The Birkins also retained their share, (fn. 21) but
these mesne tenancies are not again mentioned.
A John de Arundel, who was perhaps the eldest
son of the Reginald mentioned above, (fn. 22) and so
possibly nephew of the mesne lord, was tenant of
the manor in the reign of Richard I and left a
daughter and heir Joan. (fn. 23) Joan seems to have first
married Robert Engeram (fn. 24) ; she ultimately married
Roger de Nevill, (fn. 25) by whom she had a son and heir
John. (fn. 26) John's sons William and John died childless
and his daughter Joan succeeded. Joan married first
William de Upsall and secondly William son of William
de Percy of Kildale. (fn. 27) Her son by her second marriage, Alexander de Percy, (fn. 28) came of age in 1302. (fn. 29)
He was lord of Ormesby (fn. 30) (q.v.), with which Sneaton
descended until in 1602 Strangways Bradshaw conveyed it to George Bolles, sen., Joan his wife and
others. (fn. 31) It descended with Ugglebarnby (fn. 32) from 1604
until 1752, (fn. 33) when in the partition of the Bolles estates
it was assigned to William Wilson, Elizabeth his wife
and their daughters Catherine and Elizabeth. (fn. 34) In
1802 the lord of the manor was Jonathan Myles, who
was resident here in 1806. (fn. 35) It was purchased in
1820 by Col. James Wilson, M.P. of Sneaton, and
passed to his daughter Mary wife of Joseph Barker
Richardson (who died in 1875). (fn. 36) In 1907 his son
Col. James Wilson Richardson, sold it to Mr. Edward
Brooksbank of Healaugh Manor, Tadcaster, (fn. 37) the
present owner.
In January 1306–7 a controversy arose between
the Abbot and convent of Whitby and Sir Alexander
de Percy, kt., as to the services which he owed them
for this manor. Alexander agreed to do the same
services as his predecessors, viz., he was to pay 1 mark
for the manor and half a mark for the meadow called
the Newenge; he was to do suit at the abbot's three
weeks court at Whitby, and the service of finding
thirty men to reap the land of the abbot in the field
of Larpool and one man for the custody of their baskets
for one day in autumn every year at the repast of
the abbot and convent once in the day, notice being
given the evening before at the manor; finally he
was to perform the service of making the horngarth, (fn. 38)
which proved military tenure. (fn. 39)
Church
The church of ST. HILDA was completely rebuilt in 1823 by James Wilson
of Sneaton Castle. The present structure
is a poor example of the style which passed for Gothic
in the early 19th century. It consists of a nave of
four bays, a shallow chancel, south porch and western
tower. The windows are 'perpendicular' in character, the eastern having three lights, and the chancel
arch is fitted with pierced and traceried wood framing.
The tower at the west end has an octagonal lantern
capped by a short pyramidal spire, and contains three
bells only accessible by ladder. On the south porch and
also within the church are carvings of the Wilson arms.
The font, a survival from the old building, is a
massive square bowl of early 12th-century date, with
attached shafts at the angles. The faces are ornamented
with cheverons and volutes rudely incised in the stone.
There is some reason to suppose that the latter form
of ornament, of which there are several instances in
the neighbourhood of Whitby, is a representation of
St. Hilda's serpents.
The plate consists of a cup and cover, the latter
dated 1572 and bearing the London mark for 1570,
a flagon (1694) inscribed, 'Ex dono Chr Wright
1695,' and a plated paten mentioned in an inventory
of 1764. In addition to these there are a flagon
and paten of pewter, the former evidently of the
same period as the silver flagon.
The registers previous to 1812 are as follows:
(i) all entries 1581 to 1670; (ii) all 1675 to 1708;
(iii) all 1709 to 1742; (iv) all 1743 to 1812.
Advowson
The chapel of St. Hilda was one
of the chapels of Whitby granted to
the abbey by the founder. (fn. 40) It was
held in the 12th century by the Arundels, (fn. 41) and
descended with the manor until 1290, when William
son of William de Percy of Kildale and Joan his
wife and her heirs gave the advowson to Whitby
Abbey with a messuage and 10 acres of land in
Sneaton, the abbot promising to find a chaplain to
celebrate mass in the chapel for them and their heirs. (fn. 42)
Alexander de Percy quitclaimed all right in 1310. (fn. 43)
Doubt arose as to the right of patronage after the
Dissolution. Henry Strangways presented in 1579
for that turn, (fn. 44) but the advowson has since been
retained by the Crown. (fn. 45) The living is a rectory.
The first rector was presented in 1148, (fn. 46) when it was
enacted that burials were to be made in Whitby parish
churchyard, except in the case of the lord of the vill
and the rector, who might be buried in the abbey
church. (fn. 47)
Charities
In 1699 the Rev. Christopher
Wright, rector of the parish, by his
will left the sum of 10s. to be paid
yearly on St. Thomas's Day out of his houses in
Church Street, Whitby (now numbered 177 and 178),
to be distributed to the poor of Sneaton.
The poor are also entitled to one-third of the
income of Richard Chapman's charity (see township of
Sleights). In 1906 9s. 11d. was received and applied
with the 10s. rent-charge in doles to four poor women.
In 1884 George Trattle Knaggs by will proved
at York 11 July gave to the rector and churchwardens
£20 upon trust to be invested, and the income
applied, subject to the repairs of the monument
therein mentioned, towards repairs and lighting of
the parish church. The sum of £20 has been
deposited in the savings bank.