The Living of Kilnsea is a Discharged Vicarage, in the patronage of G. L. Thompson, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. G. Inman. It is rated at £6. 8s. 64d., and now returned at £82. per ann. The remains of the Church (St. Helen), which stood near the brink of the cliff, and for a long time formed a conspicuous object on the coast, gave way some years ago, and were swallowed up by the sea. Divine service was held in the church until the year 1823; in 1826 it was dismantled, and presented an interesting appearance in its fallen state; and on August 1st, in the latter year, the nave and chancel, with the greater part of the lofty tower, fell down into the watery abyss. The fallen walls having opposed a strong bulwark to the fury of the waves, a fragment of the tower, remained for several years longer. "The church had long braved the storms and waves which assailed it," writes Poulson, "for it was built of stern materials, in a hardy age; but at length the sea-fowls rested within its hoary aisles, and the swallow found her nest beside the altar of the living God. The huge and massive walls, built by faithful men, not for their own brief age only, but for after times, at length gave way to a resistless element, and the old grey tower of unknown strength, the seamen's landmark, was the last portion of the holy fane which fell, and buried in the ocean, amidst the tempest's roar, the work of Norman hands."

The edifice consisted of a nave with aisles, a chancel, and west tower. Divine service is now performed in a large room, the inhabitants, according to a recent writer, thinking it useless to erect another church, as the village itself may be swept away in the course of a century, as many others have been in this neighbourhood. In 1766, the chancel of this church was distant from the cliff ninety-five yards; in 1833, the remains of the west end of the church was only four yards from the cliff. It is estimated that from 1767 to May, 1828, when part of the steeple fell, that the loss annually here was nearly three yards.

The records of the Trinity House, Hull, shew that in 1734, that Corporation gave £10. for repairing Kilnsea Church steeple, for the benefit of navigation, as it was a very useful sea mark. On the shore in this locality are various skerries, or ridges of land, covered with cobbles, or, as the natives term them, boulder stones, which are gathered when the tide falls, and sold for paving and repairing roads. Most of the ancient churches in Holderness are built with these stones.

The Village, which is very small, stands about 8 miles S.E. from Patrington, and 24 E.S.E. from Hull. The land here is about a mile in breadth at its widest part, and tapers into a narrow neck, about two miles in length, which opposes a low barrier to the union of the German Ocean and the

Humber. The road which connects it with the Spurn is often inundated at high tides, and in stormy weather, and consequently impassable. The whole shore here appears to be in motion; parishes are contracted, churches are washed away, and fears are entertained that the waters of the ocean and the Humber may one day join, and the Spurn become an island.

A beautiful stone cross, which formerly stood in this place, was removed, in 1818, to Burton Constable, to preserve it from the danger of being destroyed by the sea, and was subsequently removed to Hedon.

Many Roman antiquities have been found in this parish from time to time, amongst which is a little figure, in brass, of Mercury. A leaden Papal seal, or bulla, about the size of a half-crown, though thicker, was found here a few years ago. The name of Pope Martin IV. is stamped upon it, and it doubtless had once been affixed to some document from Rome.

Spurn Head, or Spurn* Point, formerly called Kilnsea Common, is a low peninsula of gravel and sand, accumulated by the sea and the wind, and laid in its peculiar forms by the united action of currents from the sea and Humber. It forms the head of that narrow neck of land above mentioned, and is approached from Kilnsea, from which it is distant about four miles, by a road formed upon a ridge of sand. The Spurn is identified by some writers with the Ocellum Promontorium of Ptolemy, but others dispute this, and place the Ocellum at Flamborough, and ground their arguments on the fact that at the latter place there is a promontory, whilst at Spurn there is not one; but it would be difficult indeed to show that there was not a promontory in this direction in the days of the Roman geographer. This wild and romantic spot is almost a barren island, a little more than a mile in circuit, and having on it only two lighthouses; a public house, formerly a four-gun battery; and some cottages for a few veteran seamen, who are pensioned by the Trinity House, Hull, and have the management of the life boats, stationed here for the assistance of distressed mariners, who are frequently exposed to great hardships in navigating this part of the coast.

When Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, afterwards King Henry IV., landed at Ravenspurne (See vol. i., p. 146), he found that a hermit or priest had begun to erect a chapel or oratory at the Spurn, to whom he afterwards granted "sea wrecks and waifs, and all other profits and advantages accruing upon the shore, for two leagues round the place, for ever." A succeeding hermit, Richard Reedbarrow, was the first person who projected a tower as a signal by day, and to contain a light by night, for the direction of mariners; consequently to this humane and benevolent individual must be attributed the erection of the first lighthouse on this part of the coast.* To assist the hermit in completing this laudable work, a duty of 1s. was levied on every ship of 120 tons and upwards, and 8d. on every vessel of 100 tons, and 4d. on every vessel of a less burthen, coming from the sea into the Humber; which rates were to be received by the Mayor of Hull for ten years from the date of the patent in 1428. In 1676 a patent was granted by Charles II., to Justinian Angell, of London, merchant, enabling him to continue, renew, and maintain certain lights that he had erected here, at the request of certain masters of ships, who, in their petition to his Majesty, represented that a very broad and long sand had been thrown up, near the mouth of the Humber, upon which they had great losses. In 1766 an Act was passed for taking down and rebuilding the lighthouses, which then belonged to John Angell, Esq., of Stockwell, and Leonard Thompson, Esq., of Sheriff Hutton; and that celebrated engineer, John Smeaton, the builder of the present Eddystone Lighthouse, was appointed to erect the new towers, one 90 and the other 50 feet high, both to have enclosed lanterns for fire lights. The foundation for the high light was completed in February, 1773, and in December following the low light was covered in; but it was destroyed by a great storm in 1776, and suffered the same fate in 1786, after being rebuilt by Mr. Smeaton. It was again demolished by the fury of the waves, in the years 1787, 1816, and 1830, and a new and handsome lighthouse was recently erected. The high light erected by Smeaton still exists, and is a noble circular building, comprising several stories. The upper part of the building has lately undergone very extensive alterations; and the Lund light has been introduced into it. These lights are still the property of the Angell and Thompson families.

The sea having made a great breach through the bank which separates the sea from the Humber, by which the lighthouses were endangered, the Government, in 1851, voted a sum of £10,000., and a further sum of £6,000. was voted last year for the repair of the breach.

* The first lighthouse, the Pharos, near Alexandria, was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 280 years before Christ. It was some 300 or 400 feet high. The second was the Tower of Cordonar, situate at the mouth of the Garonne, in the Bay of Biscay, belonging to modern history, is 197 feet high. The third was the original lighthouse on the Eddystone rock, on the southern coast of England, built by Winstanley in 1696.

+ Angell's lighthouse was a strong octagon building of brick, and its light, from being a naked coal fire, unprotected from the wind, was subject to burn with very deficient and unequal lustre.

Off Spurn Point there are some rocks called Stony Binks, beyond which a Floating Light was stationed in 1820, by the Corporation of the Trinity House.

OTTRINGHAM. The manor of Ottringham was anciently in the family of De Laschelles, or Lascells, and afterwards passed through several hands. In 1790 Richard Watt purchased it and other lands in Ottringham, together with the advowson of the church, of the trustees of Francis Boynton, Esq., of Hutton Hill; and his grandsons, Francis and William Watt, Esquires, are the present Lords of the Manor, and principal landowners. Amongst the other large owners are John Collins, Esq., T. T. B. Hildyard, Esq., and Messrs. Daniel Gibson and Rd. Webster. Area of the parish, 4,320 acres; population, 633; rateable value, £5,137.; assessed property, £8,231. The parish includes a great part of the fertile and now well-drained marshes which extend southward to the Humber, where several drains discharge their waters at Stone Creek.

Wm. de Ottringham and Richard, his brother, gave the church of this place to the Priory of Bridlington; but it belonged afterwards to the College at Beverley. The Living, which is a Perpetual Curacy, was augmented in 1778 and 1810 with £400. of Queen Anne's Bounty; and in 1816, with a Parliamentary grant of £1,200. It is now worth £83. per ann. Patrons, Francis and William Watt, Esquires; Incumbent, Rev. Miles Mackereth. Tithes commuted for land, at the enclosure, in 1760.

The Church, (St. Wilfrid) is a venerable edifice, chiefly in the Decorated style, and consists of a nave and aisles, with a chantry on the south side, a chancel, and west tower. The latter appendage contains three bells, and is surmounted by a light and elegant octagonal spire, which finishes with a vane and a crown; the whole height being 102 feet. On the south side is a small stone porch, and the nave, which has a clerestory, is finished by a neat block cornice and plain parapet, having crocketed pinnacles at the angles, and one on the apex of the east end. The nave and aisles are divided by four pointed arches on each side, resting on quatrefoil and circular piers, with plain capitals. The roof is open, and there are piscinas in the chancel and the chantry chapel. The chancel is lower than its arch, and is evidently the oldest part of the building; and the whole edifice is principally built of hewn stone.* The chantry was founded by Rd. de Ottringham. The upper

• Stephen Brignal, who was married in Ottringham church, in 1787, to Mrs. Mary Trisby, being both of this place, paid the Minister, Clerk, and ringers, all in farthings; the Minister received 252, as his fee; the Clerk, 72; and the ringers, 250; the remainder, which were many, were thrown among the populace. - Poulson's Holderness.

part of the spire was repaired in 1810; and in 1843 the church was roofed, &c., at a cost of £620.

The Village is very neat and compact, and is situated on the road between Hedon and Patrington, about 6 miles E.S.E. of Hedon, and 114 E. by S. of Hull. There was formerly a stone cross, placed on a few steps in the street, but its base, being all that was left of it, was removed about forty years ago. (See page 327.) A little south of the church are the remains of the Manor House (now divided into tenements), with the moat with which it was surrounded. A small Wesleyan Chapel was erected here in 1815. The School is endowed with the interest of £100., bequeathed by Mrs. Mary Fox, by will dated 1792. In connexion with the school is a small Parochial Library, established in 1838.

G

area of Owthorne township is

OWTHORNE. This parish, which lies on the coast, and adjoins Withernsea, is called Seathorne in some ancient documents. It comprises the townships of Owthorne, South Frodingham, Rimswell, and Waxholme. The latter township is in the Middle Division of Holderness. The whole parish, according to the Parliamentary return (including sea coast), contains 4,430 acres, and a population of 462. Amount of assessed property, £5,422. The 1,278 acres; population of the same in 1851, 163; rateable value, £1,060. Principal proprietors of the soil of Owthorne, R. E. Davis, Thomas Prickett, Joseph R. Pease, Hubert de Burgh, and J. K. Watson, Esquires.

The Church, which was known as one of the Sister Churches, anciently belonged to the Priory of Burstall, and afterwards to the Convent of Kirkstall. The edifice was dedicated to St. Peter, and comprised a nave and aisles, chancel, south porch, and tower, with a chapel on the south side. A few years before the sea engulphed it, "it was an interesting spectacle," writes Poulson, "standing like a solitary beacon on the verge of the cliff, perpetually undermined by the billows of the ocean, and offering a powerless resistance to their encroachments. The churchyard and its slumbering inmates removed from time to time down the cliff by the force of the tempest; whitened bones projecting from the cliff, and gradually drawn away by the successful lashing of the waves; and after a fearful storm, old persons, tottering on the very verge of life, have been seen slowly moving forth and recognising on the shore the remains of those, whom in early life they had known and revered." The sea began to waste the foundations of the churchyard in 1786; the east end of the chancel being then exactly twelve yards from the cliff, which was about seven yards high; in 1796, the church was dismantled; and on the night of the 16th Feb., 1816, after a storm of unusual violence, a large por