Middle division: Ganstead

GANSTEAD

The hamlet of Ganstead is less than 1 km. north of Hull, to which it is virtually joined by ribbon development, and c. 2 km. south-east of Swine village. The name, possibly meaning 'Gagni's place or landing-place', is an Anglo-Scandinavian hybrid. (fn. 1) Of 809 a. (327 ha.), (fn. 2) Ganstead civil parish was added to all of Wyton, almost all of Bilton, and a little of Preston civil parishes to form a new civil parish of Bilton in 1935. (fn. 3) Ganstead's poll-tax payers in 1377 may have been recorded under Bilton. (fn. 4) In 1672 Ganstead had 11 houses assessed for hearth tax and one was discharged. (fn. 5) From 58 in 1801, the population fluctuated upwards to stand at 101 in 1911 and 105 in 1931. (fn. 6)

GANSTEAD hamlet in the mid 19th century comprised little more than six houses served by a lane which became part of the main HullBridlington road. (fn. 7) Many bungalows were strung along the main road and provided with sewerage by the district council in the mid 20th century, (fn. 8) and much of the road was replaced by a straighter diversion in 1986. (fn. 9) The few buildings dating from before the present century include a single-storeyed cottage with a lobby entrance, of the early 18th century, and Ganstead Grange with its two lodges. (fn. 10) There was a beerhouse at Ganstead in the 1750s, (fn. 11) and allotment gardens may have been provided in the 1890s. (fn. 12) The course of Ganstead Park Golf Club was laid out on part of Old Hall farm and a clubhouse built in 1975, and in the late 1980s the course was enlarged to 18 holes and c. 36 ha. (90 a.). (fn. 13)

MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.

In 1066 Fran and Halfdan held GANSTEAD manor; the 4-carucate estate had passed to Drew de Bevrère by 1086, when his undertenant Albert held it, (fn. 14) and it was later part of the Aumale fee, which passed to the Crown, as heir to the counts of Aumale, and thereafter to its grantees. (fn. 15)

Ganstead was held of the counts of Aumale and their successors by the Suttons. Richard of Sutton's tenancy was recorded in the mid 12th century, and in 1196 Alan de Scruteville released 2½ carucates there to Richard's nephew, Amand of Sutton. (fn. 16) Amand was succeeded by his son Saer (fl. 1208) (fn. 17) and he probably by his son Saer (d. perhaps in 1270) and certainly by the last Saer's son Saer (d. by 1290), who was mesne lord of all 4 carucates. (fn. 18) Ganstead descended to Saer's son, John Sutton, Lord Sutton (d. by 1338), of whom it was held as 1/20 knight's fee, (fn. 19) and from him, with Sutton on Hull, to the family's heirs. (fn. 20)

The Suttons' tenants at Ganstead were the Twyers. The estate which William de la Twyer bought there in the mid 13th century (fn. 21) was presumably the manor, which Peter de la Twyer (d. by 1304) held; it then included 2¼ carucates of demesne land. Peter was succeeded by his son William, (fn. 22) who was named as joint lord of neighbouring Wyton in 1316, presumably for Ganstead. (fn. 23) William (d. by 1334) left a son William, (fn. 24) but in 1347 the tenant was evidently Robert de la Twyer, who was then granted free warren at Ganstead. (fn. 25) William Twyer of Ganstead, esquire, recorded in 1432, presumably had the manor. (fn. 26) From Peter Twyer (d. by 1500) (fn. 27) it descended to Joan, daughter of a Peter or Robert Twyer, and her husband, William St. Quintin (d. 1529). The St. Quintins' son or grandson John (fn. 28) (d. 1572) left the manor house and its closes to his son-in-law Matthew St. Quintin and grandson Gabriel and the rest of the estate to his daughters Margery Monkton, Jane or Joan Dolman, and Margaret Noddall. (fn. 29) The manor was partitioned in 1583. (fn. 30) Margery's share descended to her son William Monkton, (fn. 31) who sold it in lots in the 1590s. (fn. 32) The Dolmans' estate descended to William Dolman, who sold it in 1599 or 1600 to his brother-in-law Robert Constable (d. 1637). (fn. 33)

In 1606 Gabriel St. Quintin sold his share of the manor, possibly by then increased to a moiety, to Thomas Beverley, who conveyed it to his son John in 1607. (fn. 34) John sold the estate, as Ganstead manor, to Edward Richardson and others in 1624. (fn. 35) Richardson died in 1631, and his son William (fn. 36) sold the manor to Henry Barnard in 1652. (fn. 37) Henry was succeeded by Sir Edward Barnard (d. 1688) (fn. 38) and he in turn by his son Edward (d. by 1718) and Edward's heirs, who held undivided shares. Besides the manor, the estate then comprised a 70-a. farm. Edward Barnard's daughter Margaret married Lovelace Gilby, (fn. 39) and by the mid 18th century Ganstead manor was divided between the heirs of their daughter Margaret. The manor was reunited by purchases made in 1752, 1763, and 1764 by Jonathan Midgley (d. 1778). (fn. 40) His widow Mary sold the manor to Jonathan's sister Margaret Gilby in 1778. Mrs. Gilby (d. 1790) devised it for life to her sister Mary Midgley (d. c. 1810), with remainder to Jonathan's daughters Anna and Mary. (fn. 41) Anna died in 1795, (fn. 42) and Mary, who married William Beverley, evidently inherited her share. (fn. 43) In 1826 the Beverleys' son R. M. Beverley sold the manor and the farm to James Walker, (fn. 44) who in 1829, just before his death, settled them on his son James. (fn. 45) In 1847 James Walker sold the estate to J. F. Butter (d. 1866), and in 1867 Sarah Dooby bought it, then of 117 a., from Butter's trustees. (fn. 46) W. J. Atkinson bought the manor and farm in 1877, (fn. 47) and his trustees held the estate until 1965, when the 125-a. Manor farm was sold to Foxton Farmers Ltd., the owner in 1995. (fn. 48)

The manor house stood on the west side of the Hull-Bridlington road until its demolition before 1752. A farmhouse had by then been built near the southern boundary on land inclosed in 1602; (fn. 49) it was called White House in 1889 and later Manor Farm. (fn. 50) Possible earlier chief houses are discussed below.

The Monktons' share of the manor may have included Turmer Hall, which stands near the southern township boundary: in 1595 one of their sales was made to Robert Taylor of Turmer Hall, perhaps the tenant. (fn. 51) Turmer Hall evidently belonged to Richard Atkinson in 1609, (fn. 52) was sold with land in Bilton by Gervase Bosville to Robert Gunby in 1682, (fn. 53) and later passed to William Burton (fn. 54) (d. 1752) and then in turn to his sons William (d. 1764) and Robert (d. 1802). (fn. 55) Henry Burton and others, evidently Robert Burton's devisees, sold Turmer Hall and another farmhouse with 387 a. in Ganstead and 30 a. in Coniston to William Todd, a Hull merchant, in 1832. (fn. 56) Todd (d. by 1838) left a life estate to his son W. G. Todd, with remainder to the latter's daughter Helen, (fn. 57) who as Helen Pechell had succeeded by 1889. In 1914 Mrs. Pechell sold the 159-a. Ganstead farm to J. R. Woods, who bought Turmer Hall and 263 a. from the Pechells in 1923. (fn. 58) Woods died in 1930 and his widow Eliza probably by 1949, when the trustees sold Turmer Hall with 193 a. to J. A. Foxton (d. 1954). In 1964 Foxton's widow Edith and the other executors vested the farm in B. P. Foxton, who still had it in 1995. (fn. 59)

The east range of the present Turmer Hall probably dates from the 17th century but the building was enlarged and remodelled with additional, parallel ranges and Tudor-style "çades by W. G. Todd in 1840. (fn. 60)

By the 17th century much of the manorial estate belonged to John Herron, and his daughter Elizabeth Robinson had houses called Hall Garth and Twyers house and c. 300 a. at Ganstead in 1699. (fn. 61) Part of her estate passed to Stephen Oates (d. 1743), who devised Hall Garth and over 170 a. to his great-nephew Robert Bee. Marmaduke Brown bought Bee's estate in 1750, (fn. 62) and it evidently descended c. 1785 to Marmaduke Brown the younger and c. 1795 to Thomas Brown, who bought c. 45 a. more in 1803. From Thomas (d. by 1831), the estate passed to another Thomas Brown (fn. 63) (d. 1841) and then to that Thomas's sisters Mary and Elizabeth, who married respectively Haddon Trigg and C. S. Parker, both Hull merchants. (fn. 64) The 220-a. estate was sold in lots in 1875. Charles Wells, a Hull shipowner and coal merchant, bought Old Hall and 150 a. (fn. 65) In 1909 the mortgagees sold the farm to T. H. Perry (d. 1940), a Hull dairy farmer, who was succeeded by Annie E. Newlove and Emmie Butler as joint tenants. In 1948 Mrs. Newlove sold her interest to Mrs. Butler, from whom Longdales Development Co. Ltd. bought the farm in 1971. (fn. 66) Some of the land was later used for a golf course and all still belonged the company in 1994. (fn. 67)

Ganstead manor house, named as Ganstead Hall in 1573, (fn. 68) presumably stood where Ganstead Old Hall did until its demolition in the late 1980s; an earlier chief house may have stood nearby on a formerly-moated site, part of which survived on the west side of the new road in 1995. (fn. 69) Ganstead Hall evidently lost its association with the manor after that estate's fragmentation in the late 16th century. (fn. 70) Ganstead Old Hall, known as Hall Garth in the 18th century, (fn. 71) was used as a farmhouse by the mid 19th century. It was apparently the Parkers who c. 1847 built near Old Hall a large cottage ornée called Ganstead Grange and laid out an ornamental park to the south. Two lodges had been added by 1889. (fn. 72) That house and 27 a. were bought by Septimus Marsdin, a Hull shipowner, in 1875 and by W. H. Richardson, a Hull glass merchant, in 1878. In 1995 the owner was Mr. K. North, a Hull timber merchant. (fn. 73)

By 1711 Elizabeth Robinson had sold the rest of her estate, comprising Twyers house and 128 a., to William Hydes, a Hull merchant. Hydes's daughter Mary and her husband Richard Burton conveyed it to William Burton in 1746, and it presumably later descended with the Turmer Hall estate. (fn. 74)

A bovate at Ganstead, given to Meaux abbey by Richard of Sutton c. 1150, was later returned to his heir Amand of Sutton. (fn. 75) St. Sepulchre's hospital, Hedon, had land at Ganstead by 1208, (fn. 76) and in 1535 its estate there and at Coniston was valued at £2 a year. (fn. 77) The hospital passed to the Constables, who had a house at Coniston and a bovate at Ganstead in 1609. (fn. 78) Before their suppression, the Knights Hospitaller also had an estate at Ganstead; the Crown granted it to the restored order in 1558, (fn. 79) and it may later have passed to Philip Herbert (d. 1639). (fn. 80) Swine priory's estate at the Dissolution included land at Ganstead, (fn. 81) some of which was bought by the Constables. (fn. 82) Ann Watson's charity of Sutton on Hull had 42 a. at Ganstead until 1952, when Hull corporation bought the estate. (fn. 83)

The rectorial tithes and dues of Ganstead were bought by Joseph Micklethwaite in 1681. (fn. 84) He sold those of Turmer Hall in 1682, and they were evidently later merged in that estate. (fn. 85) Micklethwaite's title to the rest of the tithes descended with Swine manor to Cropley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, who in 1848 was awarded a rent charge of £15 9s. for the few unmerged tithes there. (fn. 86)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

COMMON LANDS AND LNCLOSURE. In 1602 the seven proprietors of Ganstead inclosed all or most of the commonable lands. The tillage and some grassland then lay in East, West, and South fields, which had evidently already been reduced by the making of closes. Other areas dealt with were the common meadows, called South and West ings, and the stinted Town's pasture, all occupying the low land in the west of the township. Adjoining West ings was Lord's pasture, which by 1607 lay in three closes. (fn. 87) Some stinted pasture may have remained in an area called Cogham. (fn. 88) Much of Ganstead was evidently under grass by the late 17th century, (fn. 89) and ridge and furrow, presumably of East field, remained in the grounds of Ganstead Grange in 1994. (fn. 90)

MEDIEVAL HOLDINGS. In 1086 three ploughs were at work on the four ploughlands at Ganstead, one on the lord's holding and two operated by 7 villeins and 4 bordars. The holdings presumably also included shares in the 20 a. of meadow land then recorded for Ganstead. (fn. 91)

MODERN AGRICULTURE. There were 3-5 farmers at Ganstead in the 19th century and earlier 20th; the one or two larger farms included Turmer Hall, of 700 a. in 1851. (fn. 92) Market gardening and dairying have been pursued at Ganstead. (fn. 93)

MILLS. A ruinous windmill recorded at Ganstead in 1334 (fn. 94) had evidently been rebuilt by the early 17th century. (fn. 95) It probably stood in the north-east of the township in New Mill close, which was recorded in 1602, together with the more southerly Mill close. (fn. 96) The modern post mill occupying the north-eastern site ceased to grind in or soon after 1905 and was demolished in 1909. (fn. 97)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

A call roll and a brief note of proceedings in Ganstead manor court, both of 1811, survive; the court had leet jurisdiction and appointed the constable and a pinder. (fn. 98)

At Ganstead 2 people were relieved permanently and 3 occasionally in 1802-2013;3, and 10/12 were on permanent and 5-6 on occasional relief between 1812 and 1815. (fn. 99) Ganstead joined Skirlaugh poor-law union in 1837, (fn. 100) and the township, later civil parish, remained in Skirlaugh rural district until 1935. As part of Bilton civil parish, it was then included in the new Holderness rural district and at reorganization in 1974 was taken into the Holderness district of Humberside. (fn. 101) In 1996 Bilton parish became part of a new East Riding unitary area. (fn. 102)

CHURCH.

St. George's chapel, Ganstead, had been built by 1226, possibly to house the Sutton family's chantry, which in that year and again in 1236 Swine priory agreed to supply with a chaplain, clerk, and all other necessities for daily services there. (fn. 103) No later evidence of services in Ganstead chapel has been found, but the ruined building was mentioned as late as 1764. (fn. 104)

ROMAN CATHOLICISM.

In the 1660s the half dozen papists at Ganstead included members of the Constable family. (fn. 105)

EDUCATION.

Children from Ganstead attended Bilton and Swine schools in 1871. (fn. 106)