John Bigland, the well known author of Letters on History, A Topographical and Historical Description of Yorkshire, and several other useful works, was, according to a memoir written by himself, born at Skirlaugh, though Mr. Poulson states that he (Bigland) was a native of Aldbrough. The trustees of Langdale's charity pay to the schoolmaster ten guineas a year for the education of ten poor children, and there is about the same sum, from the same source, expended in apprenticing poor boys. The Hamlet Thirtleby, or Thirkleby, Township. -Area, 750 acres; population, 69 souls; ratcable value, £843.; assessed property, £1,072. The principal proprietors are the Rev. H. Torr, Mr. Edward Walker, Mr. T. Stephenson, and Mr. S. C. Walker. Thirtleby is included in the manor of Woodhall. stands about 7 miles N.E. of Hull, and 2 E. by S. of Swine. priate tithes, the property of Lord Downe, were commuted, in 1812, for a rent charge of £68. 18s. 6d. The impro Wyton Township. - In 1394 the estate of Wyton was carried in marriage to the Brighams, of Brigham, in the East Riding. In the 35th of Henry VIII. (1542), Thomas Brigham, Esq., held the manor of Wyton. In 1767 the manor and estate of the late Wm. Brigham, Esq., consisting of about 400 acres of enclosed lands, were sold by public auction. The family of Raines possessed considerable property, held the manor, and lived here for more than two centuries and a half. This family formerly had estates in several of the neighbouring townships. The principal landowners at Wyton are Wm. Raines, Esq. (Lord of the Manor), Mrs. Clubley, and Geo. Alder, Esq. The township comprises about 630 acres according to local estimation, but 788 acres according to the Parliamentary returns of the census of 1851. Rateable value, £1,058; population, 91 souls. Lord Viscount Downe is the lay impropriator, and the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £201.10s. 6d. The Hamlet of Wyton, anciently called Widetune, is pleasantly situated, and neatly built, on the road from Hull to Sproatley, about 5 miles N.E. from the former town, and 4 miles N. of Hedon. Wyton Hall was rebuilt by Captain Raines (grandfather of the present owner), about the year 1785. In 1807 the late Mr. Raines sold it, together with about 200 acres of land, to Mr. Meadley, of Aldbrough, from whose trustees it passed to Mr. Craven; but the estate was re-purchased a few years ago, by William Raines, Esq., his son, who now resides there. The house is of brick, covered with compo, large, and three stories in height, with two good fronts. The principal front is graced with a handsome portico, supported by four fine pillars. The latter appendage has recently been erected. The interior is very good, and the rooms are large and commodious. The situation of the hall is well wooded and pleasant. TUNSTALL. This parish lies along the sea cliff, and at the time of the Domesday Survey must have been considerable, as it is stated in that record to contain two carucates. It has suffered materially from the devastations of the sea, upwards of 100 acres have been swallowed up within the last 60 years. In 1786 the distance from the sea to Tunstall Church, was 924 yards; in 1833, the distance was only 763 yards. The manor now consists of 1,293 acres, and is co-extensive with the parish. It belongs chiefly to Col. Grimston (Lord of the Manor), and Messrs. E. Lorrimer and J. Snaith, and a few others. Amount of assessed property, £1,463.; population, 159. The Living is a Discharged Vicarage, rated at £20., and now worth but £52. per annum. It was augmented with £600. of Queen Anne's Bounty. The Succentor of York Cathedral is the patron, but under the Cathedral Act the Archbishop will be the patron after the termination of the existing interest of Dr. Howard, the present Succentor. The Rev. Isaac Dixon is the present Vicar. The tithes were commuted at the enclosure in 1777. The Church (All Saints) is a Gothic structure, comprising a nave, side aisles, chancel, square embattled tower, and a modern brick porch. It stands on elevated ground, and is very much exposed to the beating winds from every quarter of the compass. There is a fine window in the west face of the tower, and the clerestory of the nave has three depressed arched windows of three lights. The nave is divided from the aisles by three pointed arches, resting on octangular pillars. There is a gallery at the west end. The font is of granite, octangular, and has had small pillars round its centre shaft. There are two bells in the tower. The Village is small, and is situated near the German Ocean, about 14 miles E. by N. of Hull, and 8 miles E.N.E. from Hedon. The beach affords excellent materials for the repairs of the Holderness roads. WAGHEN OF WAWNE. -The name of this place signifies a highway. The parish consists of the townships of Wawne and Meaux, containing together 5,085 acres, and a population of 347 souls. The amount of assessed property is £4,740. The township of Wawne contains 3,695 acres, and the number of its inhabitants is 258. The manor was granted to the monks of Meaux in 1294, and is now the property of Joseph Smyth Windham, Esq. There is another manor in Wawne called the Rectory Manor, but no manorial rights are exercised. The soil is chiefly a loamy sand, with a little carr. The Church was given to the Abbey of Meaux by William le Gros. The Living is a Discharged Vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Chancellor of the Cathedral of York, valued at £7.0s. 10d., augmented in 1810 with £200. of Queen Anne's Bounty, and now returned at £200. per ann. Vicar, Rev. Geo. Dixon. At the enclosure, in 1804, the tithes were commuted for a fixed rent on the old, and an allotment of 306 acres of the new enclosures. The Fabric (St. Peter) is ancient, and consists of a nave and aisles, chancel, and a neat tower at the west end of the north aisle. At the west end of the nave is a fine pointed Perpendicular window of five lights, and there are some square-headed windows in other parts of the edifice. The whole structure is embattled. The nave and aisles are divided by pointed arches resting on circular columns. The chancel arch is pointed and plain, and beneath it is an old screen. The chancel is open to the roof, and the sedilia and piscina are in the usual places. The roof of the nave is panelled, and displays several carved bosses. The church was repaired and repewed a few years ago. There are four bells and a clock in the tower. The Village, which is small and scattered, is pleasantly situated on the east side of the river Hull, over which there is a ferry. It is about 6 miles N. of Hull, and 5 S.E. by S. of Beverley, and there is a good deal of wood about it. On removing an old wall near an ancient farm house called Kenley, some years ago, a silver crucifix, a hawk's bell, a dagger, and some other curious relics were found. The Poor have the rent of eight acres of land in Cottingham, purchased in 1699 with £50. left by Sir Joseph Aske. Meaux Township. -Meaux was so named by its Norman possessors, after the city of Meaux in Normandy, from whence they came. The estimated extent of this township is 1542 acres, but the Parliamentary returns gives the area at 1300 acres. The rateable value is £1,704., and the principal landowners are Robert Wise Richardson, Esq., the Crown, and Lord Londesborough. Sir T. A. C. Constable is Lord of the Manor. The Hamlet is scattered, and stands about 7 miles N. of Hull. A small Dissenting Chapel was erected here in 1823, and is now used by the Independents and Methodists. Meaux Grange, the residence of R. W. Richardson, Esq., is a neat house, in front of which is a fine tessclated pavement, removed from the site of the Abbey Church in 1833. The once splendid and richly-endowed Cistercian Abbey of Melsa, or Meaux, was founded in the year 1150, by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle and Lord of Holderness, who having vowed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, and being, in consequence of increasing corpulency, unfit to perform such a journey, built this monastery in commutation of his vow, and endowed it with possessions sufficiently ample to maintain the establishment. Having resolved to found a monastery, he consulted a monk of Fountains Abbey, named Adam, celebrated equally for his piety and architectural skill, and the site which the monk selected, was an eminence in the beautiful but sequestered hamlet of Meaux. The choice did not please the Earl, for it was a favourite situation, which he intended to convert into a park, as it was surrounded by woods and pools of water, and had but recently come into his possession by exchange. He desired the monk to reconsider the matter, and he did so, but his former resolution was confirmed. Striking his staff into the ground, and looking on the scene before him, which, through a broad avenue of lofty trees, terminated in a noble view of the Humber, he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "Hic locus, nempe vocitetur aula regis......etiam vincaque cœli portaque vitæ, gens hic creatur Christicolarum." (This place shall in future be called the door of life, the vineyard of heaven, and shall for ever be consecrated to religion and the service of God.) Under the direction of Adam a magnificent edifice was erected in the wood, adorned with stately pinnacles and towers, and enriched with tesselated pavements. It was dedicated to God in honour of the Blessed Virgin; monks were brought hither from the Abbey of Fountains, and Adam, the architect of the building, became the first Abbot of the new community. The Abbey of Meaux rose rapidly into importance under the fostering protection of its noble founder, and the monks were also indebted to many of the neighbouring barons and gentry for extensive grants of lands, particularly in Yorkshire. Of these grants, together with the privileges, &c., the histories and registers of the Abbey contain full records, the most perfect of which are to be found in an original chartulary, beautifully written, upon vellum, about the close of the 14th century, and now preserved in the British Museum. This chartulary was one of the volumes in the library of Sir Thomas Cotton, and did not entirely escape the effects of the fire which threatened the total destruction of that invaluable collection. There is a valuable history of the monastery, entitled "Liber Melse," of which there is a copy in the library of the late W. H. Smyth, Esq., of Heath, Yorkshire. The former work contains a list of 132 places where the monks of Melsa had possessions. In Waghen alone the Abbot of Meaux had 193 tenants, who paid various sums, from £3. 6s. 8d. down to 2d., yearly, the whole amounting to £66.8s. 4td. We have shewn in the history of Kingston-upon-Hull that the site of that town was the property of the monks of Meaux, and that it was exchanged for lands in other places, with King Edward I. The Cistercians, an order modified from the austere principles of St. Benedict, were established in England at an early period, and though they professed the utmost simplicity, the religious of the order soon became exceedingly wealthy. (See page 382.) The monks of Melsa possessed many privileges; they were quit of all pleas of murder, free from all tithes and royal exactions, exempt from suit and secular service, and endowed with all the same laws, customs, and immunities, which were enjoyed by the church of St. Peter at York. In the ancient records of the Abbey are upwards of 80 Pope's Bulls, 61 charters of the Archbishop and Chapter of York, and several charters granted by the Kings of England. The Abbey church was very rich in relics, and the library was extensive. 'Holderness," writes Poulson, "may well mourn over the loss of the key of many of her antiquities." The number of monks at Melsa varied at different periods, from 36 to 50; but it does not appear that there were more than the Abbot and 24 monks pensioned at the dissolution, when the revenues of the Abbey were valued at £299., according to Dugdale, and at £115. per annum, according to Speed. The following list of Abbots of Meaux will be found pretty correct:-Adam, the first Abbot, resigned in 1160; Philip, occurs in 1182; Thomas; Hugh, occurs in 1210; Geoffrey de Sawtry, in 1220; Richard de Ottringham, 1221; Michael de Brunne, 1246; Wm. de Driffield, 1251; Rd. de Thornton, 1269; Rt. de Skyren, 1270; Rd. de Bacton, 1280; Roger de Driffield, 1286; Adam de Skyren, 1310; Hugh de Lowen; William de Dringhoe, 1349; John de Reyseley, 1356; Rt. de Beverley, 1356; Wm. de Dringhoe, 1367; Wm. de Ursingham, 1372; Thomas de Burton, 1396; John de Holland, 1423; Philip Davill, 1445; John de Sutton, 1458; Wm. Feryff; Ralph Sloame, 1471; John Clapham, 1488; and Rd. Stopes, the last Abbot, well knowing that "in the King's favour was life," surrendered the Abbey on the 11th December, 1540." The Abbey is considered to have been a splendid pile, the pride and ornament of this part of Holderness; and such was the spirit of the time of its dissolution, that, we are told, it took only as many days to destroy it, as it had taken years to erect it. The Monasticon states that in the 3rd of Edward VI. (1550), the site was granted to John, Earl of Warwick; but in the 3rd of Elizabeth, the Queen granted the site of the Abbey, and much of the property belonging to it, to Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her favourite. The site, and lands adjoining, are now the property of R. W. Richardson, Esq., of Meaux Grange, having descended to him from his uncle Rt. Wise, Esq., whose father purchased them of the Earl Fitzwilliam. The circuit of the Abbey was 60 acres, of the orchard 20 acres, of the garden 5 acres, total 85 acres. The deep moats around it are distinctly traceable. A small arched gateway, and a few fragments of the outer walls, are all that now remain standing of this once splendid monastery. The ground occupied by the church can yet be traced; near it is a subterranean passage, which has been explored to a considerable extent, and is partly filled with water. The site of the Abbey is now rich grazing land, with an abundance of fine old wood. Many antique relics have been discovered here from time to time. Beneath the brick pavement of the floor of the Abbey, which had not been previously |