Outlying townships: Storkhill and Sandholme

STORKHILL AND SANDHOLME

The township of Storkhill and Sandholme lies on the west bank of the river Hull about 2 km. north-east of Beverley. The chief road to Beverley from Holderness passes through the township, crossing the river by what was the only bridge between Kingston upon Hull and North Frodingham until the 20th century. The name Stork is thought to mean 'stream or island frequented by storks' and may be Anglian. (fn. 1) The suffix was added in the 18th century from the higher ground on which the hamlet had stood. (fn. 2) Stork was among the 'water towns' of Beverley. (fn. 3) Separated from Stork by the main road was a strip of land comprising Sandholme. (fn. 4) The name, meaning 'sandy water-meadow', was not recorded until the 14th century. (fn. 5) By the 15th century the name Hull Bridge was used for houses standing near the river crossing and that may have been the most populous part of the township. (fn. 6) Since the 18th century, however, the name has more usually been given to a hamlet at the east end of the bridge, in Tickton township. (fn. 7) Storkhill and Sandholme, which by the early 19th century comprised a parish for local government purposes, contained 319 a. in 1852. (fn. 8) In 1935 it was combined with Eske, Tickton and Hull Bridge, and Weel civil parishes as Tickton civil parish. (fn. 9)

The whole township lies at less than 7 m. above sea level; much is covered with boulder clay but in the north and east the ground is alluvial. (fn. 10) There is evidently also some gravel near the site of Stork hamlet. (fn. 11) The slightly higher ground around the hamlet may have been used as open-field land, the alluvium being mostly occupied by common meadows, pastures, and carrs. The commonable lands may have been inclosed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The low-lying grounds in Storkhill and Sandholme were for long poorly drained, largely because of the insufficiency of the river Hull as an outfall. (fn. 12) Much water was carried into the river by South Bullock dike, which still forms the western and northern boundaries of the township. (fn. 13) That drain also served neighbouring townships and it was perhaps to relieve it that Stork dike, (fn. 14) falling into the river further south, was made. One of the sluices was repaired in 1690. (fn. 15) By 1749 Stork dike had been given a larger sluice but that in South Bullock dike was then said to be too small. (fn. 16) Under an Act of 1798 (fn. 17) the carrs on the west side of the Hull valley were removed from the jurisdiction of the Court of Sewers for the East Parts of the East Riding and the Beverley and Barmston Drainage Board was created. A new main drain was made c. 1802 and by the award of 1811 as many as 285 a. in Storkhill and Sandholme were rated to the drainage. (fn. 18) Regular flooding, however, was eliminated only after further improvements to the level under an Act of 1880. (fn. 19) The work of the Beverley and Barmston Drainage Board was taken over in 1941 by the River Hull Catchment Board, (fn. 20) the responsibilities of which had passed to the Yorkshire Water Authority by 1987. Drainage works have included the maintenance of flood banks alongside the river, but flooding from the river occurred as recently as 1977. (fn. 21)

The road from Beverley to Holderness existed by the mid 13th century, when there was already a bridge over the river Hull. (fn. 22) Stork hamlet probably stood just north of the main road, near the modern Storkhill Farm, where there were several garths in the 18th century. (fn. 23) A few other houses in Storkhill have stood beside the road at least since the 19th century. Most of the buildings in the township stand in Sandholme, extending for 1 km. along the south side of the old main road. The hamlet comprised at most half a dozen houses near the bridge until the mid 20th century, when c. 45 more, including many closely built bungalows, were added. (fn. 24) Infilling was still proceeding in 1984. Small roadside commons were recorded from the 17th century. (fn. 25) There was a beerhouse in the township c. 1850, (fn. 26) and the New Inn was mentioned in 1865. (fn. 27) Smith Place at Hull Bridge was mentioned from the early 15th century and was garrisoned by royalist troops during the siege of Hull in 1642. (fn. 28) It comprised a cottage and closes called Smith garths in 1653. (fn. 29)

Five households at Hull Bridge, Stork, and Sandholme were liable to hearth tax in 1672. (fn. 30) From 30 in 1811 the population of Storkhill and Sandholme rose to 70 in 1861, the greatest intercensal increase being 27 in 1831-41. It fell to 42 in 1901 but again reached 70 in 1931. (fn. 31)

MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.

In 1086 the whole of Stork, comprising 1 carucate, was held by St. John's college as a berewick of the archbishop of York's manor of Beverley. (fn. 32) Most of the estate later passed to the archbishop, who retained it until 1542, and afterwards formed part of the manor of Beverley Water Towns, passing to C. A. Pelham in 1775. (fn. 33) Most of the land in the hamlets was copyhold, 257 a. in Storkhill and 25 a. in Sandholme in 1805, (fn. 34) and still 165 a. in the early 20th century. (fn. 35) Besides land outside the manor, (fn. 36) the lords had 16 a. freehold until they were sold by the Pelhams in 1805-6. (fn. 37)

Part of Stork evidently remained with St. John's college and c. 1400 the provostry included houses, 2 bovates, and nearly 40 a. in Hull Bridge, Sandholme, Stork, and Mantholme. (fn. 38) After the suppression of the college in 1548 its estate was included in the Crown manor of Beverley Chapter. The Chapter fee in the township included 3 bovates and closes in 1622. (fn. 39) Tenants of the provost included the Popple, or Stork, family. Thomas Popple, son of John of Stork, held a bovate in the 1350s and the heirs of Thomas of Stork 2 bovates c. 1400. (fn. 40) Later held as part of the Chapter manor, the estate passed to the Courtneys. (fn. 41)

The provost's fee included a close of c. 30 a. called Mantholme. It was held by John Humbercolt and later by Robert Tirwhit, the tenant in the early 15th century. (fn. 42) It evidently later ceased to be part of the provost's fee. Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland (d. 1499), held it in chief and settled it on his son Ralph (d. 1498) and daughter-in-law Edith. Together with her second husband Sir Thomas Darcy, later Lord Darcy, Edith surrendered her life estate in the so-called manor of MANTHOLME in 1501 to Sir Reginald Bray and others, presumably acting for the Crown. (fn. 43) A pasture called Mantholme was held in the early 17th century by Edward Rone (fn. 44) and from the mid century Great or High Mantholme belonged to the Wartons. (fn. 45) It descended with the Water Towns manor, and the 31 a. were sold in 1809 by the Pelhams to the Revd. John Courtney, (fn. 46) who already owned much of the township.

The largest modern estate in the township was built up by William Taylor, who bought land and pasture gates from Daniel Hoare in 1710 and Mary Popple in 1714. (fn. 47) The estate, comprising copyhold of the Water Towns manor, descended like Molescroft to John Taylor (d. 1731), whose daughters (fn. 48) Margaret, wife of the Revd. Henry Goodricke, and Catherine, wife of Thomas Dawson, sold their half shares respectively to Ralph Featherston and his wife Ann in 1752. (fn. 49) Ralph died in 1764 (fn. 50) and by 1765 the whole estate had passed to his nephew John Courtney. (fn. 51) By the earlier 19th century the Courtney estate included Perrot House, which may previously have belonged to the Barnards. (fn. 52) The house was rebuilt in the 19th century and called Storkhill Farm by 1852. (fn. 53) John Courtney (d. 1806) (fn. 54) was succeeded by his son the Revd. John Courtney, who had nearly 260 a. after buying land from the Pelhams. (fn. 55) Courtney died in the 1840s; he was evidently succeeded by his widow (fn. 56) and she in 1853 by their daughter Sophia, who married James Brabazon. Sophia (d. 1862) and James (d. 1900) were succeeded in the estate, then of 237 a. and still mostly Water Towns copyhold, (fn. 57) by their daughter Beatrice Brabazon, (fn. 58) who sold 13 a. in 1912. (fn. 59) It was evidently foreclosed upon between 1942 and 1951, when the 216-a. Storkhill farm was sold to G. W. Hunsley. (fn. 60) The farm was bought in 1962 by Thomas Hamling & Co. Ltd., which sold the house and 4 a. in 1985 but still owned the rest of the farm in 1987. (fn. 61)

After the suppression of St. John's college, to which they had belonged, (fn. 62) the tithes of the township were evidently granted by the Crown to Sir Michael Stanhope but forfeited at his attainder in 1552. They were later let to Michael Warton (fn. 63) and in 1591 were granted in fee to Edmund Downing and Roger Rante. (fn. 64) The grant was evidently ineffective for in 1613 the tithes were granted to Francis Morrice and Francis Phillips and sold by them in 1615 to Sir William Cope, Bt., from whom Michael Warton bought them in 1627. (fn. 65) In 1650 the tithes of Stork, Sandholme, Hull Bridge, and Tickton belonged to Michael's father Sir Michael Warton and were worth together £23 a year. (fn. 66) At the partition of the Warton estates in 1775 the tithes of the demesne estate passed to C. A. Pelham; they were later sold with the land and were eventually merged. (fn. 67) The rest of the tithes fell to the share of Michael Newton. (fn. 68) In 1813, after Newton's death, the tithes from 244 a. were sold to John Lockwood. (fn. 69) Most of them were sold the same year to the landowners and all were presumably later merged. (fn. 70)

Several religious foundations held estates in the township in the Middle Ages. St. Mary's chantry, Thearne, was endowed with a house called Stork and 6 a. there c. 1400 (fn. 71) and in 1535 had rent of 4s. a year from Stork. (fn. 72) After its suppression a toft and ½ bovate there were let by the Crown (fn. 73) and in 1609 were granted in fee to Francis Morrice and Francis Phillips. (fn. 74) The seven parsons of St. John's college had an estate at Hull Bridge, possibly including a bovate of land, worth £2 10s. a year in 1535. (fn. 75) Corpus Christi chantry in the collegiate church and the associated guild had 2 houses and 1 a. of land in Sandholme which, after their suppression, were granted by the Crown in fee to Edward Pease and William Winlove in 1549. (fn. 76) Other possessions in the township were among the concealed lands granted by the Crown to Beverley corporation in 1585. (fn. 77) By 1329 Robert Wansford had given rent of 4d. from Sandholme to the fabric of St. Mary's church, Beverley. (fn. 78) Land called Little Mantholme belonged to Mount Grace priory (Yorks. N.R.) at the Dissolution. (fn. 79) A close of that name belonged, like land in Molescroft, to the Ash and Grayburn families c. 1710 and later in the century descended from Ralph Featherston to the Courtneys. (fn. 80)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

Rents from tenants at Stork, Sandholme, and Hull Bridge contributed modestly to the value of the manor of Beverley. In 1340, for example, bond tenants' rents produced nearly £1 and their works almost 6s. and the rents of free tenants 1s. (fn. 81) In 1542-3 eight customary tenants owed rents of £1 8s. for 6 bovates and other property and 2s. for 12 hens, later called 'lake hens'; the bovates were held by 4 tenants with 1 or 2 each. Court profits were then some 12s. (fn. 82) At about the same date the tenants there rented 40 a. of demesne pasture at Sandholme for nearly £3 10s. a year. (fn. 83) In 1622 one customary holding comprised 4 bovates, pasture gates, and closes, and another 2 bovates and closes; the remaining seven included no open-field land. A further 3 bovates and other property were then held of Beverley Chapter manor. (fn. 84)

It is unlikely that the individual hamlets had separate commonable lands. A late reference to 'lands' suggests that open field occupied the slightly higher ground to the north of Stork hamlet. (fn. 85) Stork field was named c. 1400. (fn. 86) The tillage evidently included ley ground (fn. 87) and strips of meadow and pasture in the field were also mentioned c. 1400; 'swathes' there were let to the neighbouring township of Tickton in 1622. Other meadow ground lay in Ox carr in the north-east corner of the township. (fn. 88) A common pasture serving the whole township was overstocked in the mid 17th century. (fn. 89) It was probably Cow or Stork (fn. 90) carr, which occupied much of the western part of the township; gates there were recorded, perhaps anachronistically, into the 19th century. (fn. 91) Rights were also enjoyed in the adjoining pasture of Swine Moor, in Beverley. It was confirmed in 1399 that tenants of the township might keep up to 50 beasts a year there, (fn. 92) and they had some 40 gates in the pasture, including horse gates, from the 17th century. (fn. 93) A little grazing was presumably also provided by the small pieces of waste in Stork and Sandholme, which were mentioned from the 17th century. (fn. 94) Common rights may have been extinguished gradually by the consolidation of holdings. An 8-a. close called Little field was held in severalty in 1591 (fn. 95) and by 1680 half of Stork field was held by one man. (fn. 96) Sandholme leys was earlier described as a close and c. 1715 Ox carr was also in closes. (fn. 97)

There were usually two or three farmers in Storkhill and Sandholme in the 19th and earlier 20th century but Storkhill farm was the only sizeable holding. (fn. 98) Two cowkeepers were recorded from the 1890s and one of the farms was devoted to poultry in the 1930s, when the township was approximately equally divided between arable and grassland. (fn. 99) Market gardening has been pursued since the mid 19th century and in 1984 there were glasshouses in Storkhill and a nursery in Sandholme. In 1912 the county council bought 13 a. for a smallholding, (fn. 100) which was sold for river bank improvement in 1983. (fn. 101)

The river and carrs were evidently rich in eels in the Middle Ages, when rents at Stork, Hull Bridge, and Mantholme were paid in hundreds of stick-eels. (fn. 102) Most of the fishing and fowling belonged to Beverley, and later to the Water Towns, manor (fn. 103) and was let with the holdings. (fn. 104) Goods left by a Hull Bridge grassman or cottager in 1689 included two 'carr boats'. (fn. 105)

A landing place at Hull bridge was used by Beverley in the Middle Ages and later. Hides were forestalled there in the 15th century, (fn. 106) fish was unloaded and cured there in the 16th and 17th, (fn. 107) and a ship of Hull bridge was also recorded in the 16th century. (fn. 108) In the 17th century tolls were taken by the corporation on both river and road traffic at Hull bridge by virtue of a lease of the Beverley tolls from the prince of Wales in 1625. (fn. 109) A riverside site belonged to a Hull merchant in 1674, (fn. 110) and granaries and warehouses there were used until the mid 18th century. Tolls were payable at Hull bridge under the Beverley Beck Acts of 1727 and 1745 (fn. 111) and trade was evidently diverted to the Tickton side of the river in an attempt to avoid payment. (fn. 112)

Non-agricultural employment from the mid 19th century has included work in the oil mill on the east bank of the river. (fn. 113) A motor garage, which was opened c. 1935, was sold to an agricultural machinery firm in 1971. (fn. 114) Part of the premises was occupied by agricultural and motor engineers and a plastics firm in 1987, when there were one or two other small businesses in Sandholme.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

A constable to serve Stork, Hull Bridge, and Sandholme was appointed by Beverley corporation in the late 16th century. (fn. 115) Officers were later appointed at the Beverley Water Towns and Beverley Chapter manorial courts. Those regularly appointed at the Water Towns court in the 17th and 18th centuries were a constable and one or two pennygraves, and in the 17th century also an overseer of the poor, a surveyor of highways, and a bylawman. (fn. 116) The Chapter court appointed a constable for Stork in the 17th century. (fn. 117)

Accounts and assessments of the overseers of the poor for the township survive for 1824-37. (fn. 118) Storkhill joined Beverley poor-law union in 1836 (fn. 119) and Storkhill and Sandholme remained in Beverley rural district (fn. 120) until 1974, when it became part of the Beverley district of Humberside.

CHURCH.

The township, part of St. John's parish, Beverley, may have been served in the Middle Ages by the prebendary of St. Andrew in the collegiate church, who enjoyed the tithes there. (fn. 121) Baptisms, marriages, and burials usually took place in the minster. (fn. 122) From the 19th century some burials were at Tickton. (fn. 123)

A chapel at Hull bridge, dedicated to St. James, was part of the prebend of a Beverley canon, John le Gras (fl. before 1279), who founded a chantry there and endowed it with rent in Beverley. (fn. 124) It was probably to that chapel, called of Tickton, that £2 was bequeathed in 1414. (fn. 125) In 1535 rents totalling £5 4s. 4d. were received, of which £2 came from Hull Bridge and 12s. from Sandholme, and in 1548 the chantry was worth £4 11s. 10d. net. (fn. 126) In 1558, after the suppression of the chantry, part of the endowment in Hull Bridge was granted by the Crown to Sir George Howard. (fn. 127) The chapel itself, then described as the wasted or demolished 'chapel or chantry house', together with closes in Sandholme and Hull Bridge, passed by exchange from Thomas Crathorne to William Johnson in 1653 and by sale from Thomas Raysin and his wife to William Barnard in 1666. (fn. 128) Barnard may have used part of the former possessions of the chantry as the site of his house, in 1672 the largest in the township with five hearths. (fn. 129) He married Mary Perrot and it was presumably that house which was later called Perrot or Stork House, standing on the site of the modern Storkhill Farm. (fn. 130) The estate descended in the Barnard family through Edward (d. 1714) and his son Ramsden (d. 1749 or later), (fn. 131) before apparently passing to the Courtneys. (fn. 132)