centre is an elegant white marble urn, inscribed to Sir William Constable, who lies in one of the catacombs, along with several of his family. The urn stands on a pedestal of veined marble, and is surrounded by an iron railing. There are 78 shields of arms, of the family and connexions, ranged round the entablature, and a sky light of stained glass throws a chastened light over the whole of the interior. This beautiful fabric was commenced in 1790 and finished in 1800, at a cost of £10,000. The Constables continued to use the old family vault, beneath the above-mentioned chapel, as their place of interment, until 1802, when, on the 23rd of August, the bones of the ancestors of the family were collected and transferred to one of the repositories in this edifice.

On forming the foundations of the Mausoleum, a tumulus was opened, in which several urns were found, containing a great number of copper coins. The urns and some of the coins were taken to Burton Constable. At the same time there was a considerable number of skeletons found, with the urns placed at their heads.

There are no remains of the old mansion house of the Constables. It stood about seventy yards north of the church, the site may be ascertained from the uneven state of the ground. The field is still called Mass Garth.

In ancient times this manor was divided, and known as East and West Halsham, but this distinctive appellation is now lost. About 14 miles to the eastward of the church may yet be seen the moats entire which once surrounded the old mansion of East Halsham. The manor of East Halsham was not in the Constable family for some time after they became possessed of West Halsham. It belonged to the Abbey of Meaux, to which it was given by Stephen de Halsham.

Near the church is a School and Hospital, founded by Sir John Constable, by will dated 1579, and confirmed by letters patent in 1584, as a free school for eight poor children, and a refuge for eight poor men and two poor women. The endowment consists of an annual rent charge of £80., out of land in Burstwick, Keyingham, and Paull parishes, belonging to Sir T. A. C. Constable. This annuity is divided yearly, as follows:- £20. to the schoolmaster, £3. to each of the eight scholars, £4. to each of the eight almsmen, and £2. each to the two almswomen, all of whom are appointed by Sir T. A. C. Constable. The hospital is an ancient building, the rooms of which intended for the almspeople, being very small, are not often occupied by them; but the hall and rooms above it are occupied by the schoolmaster.

HOLLYM. The manor of Hollym, or Holym, passed, by purchase, to the family of Sykes, in 1698, and the Rev. Christopher Sykes, of Roos, is its

present lord. The parish consists of the townships of Hollym and Withernsea; its area is 3,740 acres, of which 2,530 acres constitute the first-named township. The amount of assessed property is £3,826., and the population of the entire parish in 1851 was 516 souls. The number of persons in Hollym at that date was 407. The principal landowners are the Rev. C. Barker, Colonel Thompson, Rev. S. W. Hall, Admiral Mitford, and Miss Broadley.

The Chapel of Hollym, within the parish of Withernsea, as it is anciently called, was formerly a Rectory, in the patronage of the monks of Albemarle, and afterwards of the monks of Kirkstall, by grant from Albemarle. Torre mentions that on the 11th of April, 1409, a license was granted to the people of Hollym, being parishioners of Withernsea, by reason of the distance from their parish church, and other hazards of ways and inundations, to have Divine service celebrated in the Chapel of Hollym, and to bury their dead in the chapel yard for the future. Thus it appears that Hollym did not become parochial until the date of this license; and that its chapel was dependent upon Withernsea. The advowson of Hollym with Withernsea was given to the Corporation of Beverley, by Sir Charles Hotham, in 1710, and it was purchased of them by the Rev. Robert Barker, and his son, the Rev. Charles Barker, is the present Patron and Incumbent. The living is a Discharged Vicarage, valued at £9. 19s. 2d., now worth £420. per ann.

The Church (St. Nicholas) was pulled down and rebuilt in 1814, partly by subscription, and partly by a rate; but the money raised being insufficient, the sum of £100. was borrowed of a Mr. E. Coates; to repay which, the Church Close, containing 3A. OR. 16P., situate at Withernsea, was devised to him. According to tradition, this piece of land was originally given to provide a salary for winding up the church clock. The edifice, which is built of brick, is small and plain, and consists of a nave, chancel, and west tower, containing two bells. The interior is ceiled, and neatly pewed, and there is a gallery at the west end. The Vicarage House is a mean thatched residence, in the occupation of a farmer.

The Village, which is small and scattered, is situated about three miles N.E. from Patrington. Hollym House, the residence of the Rev. C. Barker, is a good substantial brick building, erected by the Rev. Peter Atkinson, Vicar of Hollym, who formerly purchased an estate here.

A Wesleyan Chapel was erected here in 1824.

Rysom Garth is an ancient manor and estate of 543 acres (free from tithe and land tax), which was formerly in the possession of the family of Rysom. It is now the residence and property of William Sherwood, Esq. The man

sion is of brick, large and commodious, and is pleasantly situated about 24 miles S. from Hollym, and it commands most extensive prospects.

Charities. The town stock consists of £47., ancient benefactions; £21. given by the late Mr. G. C. Pape, in 1805; and £13. contributed by the parishioners. The interest is divided amongst the poor widows of the parish. There are three cottages, purchased for the poor with ancient benefactions, and also an annual payment of 10s. to the poor, issuing out of a farm in the parish.

The School is endowed with the interest of £300., left by will, in 1813, by Mr. George Cook Pape. The legacy duty has reduced this sum to £270. WITHERNSEA. This township lies on the sea side, and, according to the Parliamentary return of 1851, comprises 1,210 acres, including the sea coast; but in the census return of 1841, the area of Withernsea is stated to be 850 acres. Sir T. A. C. Constable, Bart., is Lord of the Manor. Rateable value, £931.; amount of assessed property, £1,163.; population in 1851, 109 souls.

The ocean encroaches very much upon this place; and, according to some, nearly two yards are lost through it every year. As we have shewn in the account of Hollym, Withernsea, or Whithornsea, was anciently an independent parish. The church was at first a Rectory, in the patronage of the Abbot and Convent of Albemarle, or their Cell of Burstall; and by the said Abbot of Albemarle granted to the Abbot and Convent of Kirkstall, unto whom it was appropriated, and a Vicarage therein endowed. Torre informs us that on the 8th of November, 1444, a commission was issued to examine the parishioners of Withornsea, whose churchyard being so nigh the sea, that by the violence of its waves beating upon it, in a certain tempest was destroyed, that they might make choice of another foundation whereon to build them a new church. Accordingly, on the 8th of December they certified that the place called Priest's Hill, within the lordship of Withornsea, was a convenient site upon which to erect a new church; whereupon the Archbishop then decreed that the parish church should be built on the said place, which being done, on the 28th of July, 1488, a commission was directed to William Bishop of Dromer, to consecrate the same, then newly built. This church was unroofed during a dreadful storm in 1609, and has been a neglected ruin ever since, the township having become too poor for the support of such a costly structure. It was dedicated in honour of St. Mary. The shell of the fabric exhibits a nave, side aisles, a capacious chancel, and west tower. It is situated some few fields distant from the sea. In 1832 these beautiful and picturesque ruins were 4174 yards from the

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sea; the middle of high road was 278 yards; and Intak farm house east end was 312 yards from the sea. It is now in contemplation to restore this ancient church, if funds can be obtained. The church of Withernsea and that which was washed down by the sea in 1816, in the adjoining village of Owthorne, were long known to sailors navigating this coast by the name of "the Sister Churches," from their contiguity and resemblance to each other, which gave rise to the popular tradition that they were built by two sisters.*

The Village is now small, but in a a few years it is expected it will have swelled into a respectable town. Since the opening of the Hull and Holderness Railway in 1854 (See page 159), Withernsea is fast becoming a place of importance, new houses of a superior description have been built, and many others are in course of erection; indeed the plan of a new town has been made, and is being carried out; and at no very distant period we may expect to see the late insignificant hamlet of Withernsea transformed into a fashionable bathing place; as a more healthy locality can scarcely be found for the invalid or the pleasure seeker. The sands are very extensive, and the bathing machines belong to the Railway Company, and are fitted up in a superior manner. The sea must have swallowed up an immense tract of country upon this part of the coast. The site of ancient Withernsea is covered with the sea, far from the present cliffs; the houses of the old town would undoubtedly stand about the situation of the old church, which, as we have seen, was destroyed by a tempest.

In the month of December, 1839, the spring tides laid bare, to a great extent, the bed of a morass or submerged forest, which lies about threequarters ebb on the sea shore, off Withernsea and Owthorne; and exposed to view the organic remains of a distant and unknown era. It extends along the shore for some hundred yards, and probably a considerable way below low water mark into the sea. The most prominent portion now visible is to the north of the ancient site of Owthorne Church. Whether the ground upon which this forest once stood has experienced the change which has taken place, through the agency of a convulsion of nature, or from the more gradual encroachment of the sea, does not appear from any documentary tes

* The traditional story runs thus:--The manors of Owthorne and Withernsea, in a remote ago, belonged to two sisters, who determined on building a church for their tenantry and dependents; and as the two manors were contiguous, it was concluded that one church would be sufficient for both. The site of Owthorne Church was accordingly fixed upon, and the building rose to a certain height, when the sisters differed as to whether it should be fortified with a tower, or ornamented with a spire. To allay the strife, some good monk suggested that each sister should build a church within her own manor, at a very moderate distance from each, which was done.

timony-but the latter cause is the most probable. The remains consist of trees of various kinds, with their branches, bark, &c., more or less flattened with the weight of the superincumbent earth by which they had been covered; acorns, hazel nuts, leaves, and roots of reeds, &c., all embedded amongst decomposed vegetable matter. Adjoining these are beds of the shells of the river or fresh water muscle, in a very decomposed state. They lay embedded in clay, which appears to have been the bottom of a fresh water lake. The morass likewise contains bones of various animals; and amongst others a large stag's horn, and an elephant's tooth, which weighs seven pounds, have been dug up here when the water was low. This sub-marine forest is not the least of the attractions of Withernsea.

In 1785 a canoe was discovered in the clay, about fifty yards S.E. of Owthorne Church, perfectly entire. Two or three tides preceding the above discovery were extremely high, and set very hard upon the shore. For many years previously the shore was a fine sand, which was totally removed by the action of these violent tides, and a blue clay appeared, upon which were prints of birds' feet, particularly swans, which are supposed to have been imprinted on the clay centuries before.

Sandley Mere was formerly a lake; it is now a reedy flat, protected from the sea only by a broad beach of sand and pebbles, thrown up by the tide. The sea now flows over a part of the bed of Sandley Mere, and covers with sand much of its clay and peat. (See Owthorne Township, at a subsequent page.)

The Railway Company have erected a splendid and most extensive Hotel, facing the German Ocean, at a cost of £10,530. This splendid establishment, which is equal to anything of the kind in the kingdom, and comprises a large and handsome coffee room, drawing, billiard, and private sitting rooms, up to forty bed rooms; also, bath rooms, a smoke room, &c., was opened for business on Thursday, the 12th of April in the present year, by a ball, which was attended by nearly all the gentry of Holderness. The pleasure grounds are laid out and planted with considerable taste, and contain bowling greens, a labyrinth, and a spacious music saloon. The railway approaches close to the Hotel.

HOLMPTON. The name of this place is clearly derived from Holme, an enclosed meadow, and ton, a town or village; and early records point it out as being the Holme town. The manor was held by the Abbot of Thornton in the reign of Edward III. After the dissolution it passed through many hands, and it was purchased of a Mr. Lacy by its present lord, the Rev. Wm. Potchett, Vicar of Grantham, in Lincolnshire; and who, together with Messrs. William Sherwood, H. L. Maw, H. Torre, and R. Feaster, are the