History, Gazatteer, and Directory, of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire

HISTORY, GAZATTEER, AND DIRECTORY, OF THE EAST AND NORTH RIDINGS OF YORKSHIRE, COMPRISING, UNDER A LUCID ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS, A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE RIDINGS, AND OF THE SEES OF YORK AND RIPON; WITH SEPARATE HISTORICAL, STATISTICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE BOROUGHS, TOWNS, PARISHES, CHAPELRIES, TOWNSHIPS< VILLAGES, HAMLETS, MANORS, LIBERTIES, AND WAPENTAKES; Shewing their Extent and Population; the rise and progress oF their Trade and Commerce; their Agricultural and Mineral productions; their Markets and Fairs; he Lords of the Manors and Owners of the soil and Tithes; their Eminent Men; their Churches, Chapels, Charities, and Public Institutions; the Names and Addresses oF their principal Inhabitants; the Seats of Nobility and Gentry ; MAGISTRATES AND PUBLIC OFFICERS; And a Variety of other COMMERCIAL, AGRICULTURAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION --- BY WILLIAM WHITE, Author of similar Works for Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Norfolk, the Northern Counties, and the West Riding of Yorkshire --- Illustrated by an entirely New Map --- PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY ROBERT LEADER, INDEPENDENT OFFICE, SHEFFIELD; AND SOLD BY W.WHITE, 210 BROOK-HILL, SHEFFIELD; BY BAINES & NEWSOME MERCURY OFFICE, LEEDS; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS Price to Subscribers, 10s 6d in Cloth; or 12s in Calf Binding, with the Map neatly coloured. The Three Volumes, comprising the whole of Yorkshire, with Maps, price £1 10s in Calf. 1840 1840 White’s Directory Copyright ©2020 Malton & Norton Heritage Centre 1 MALTON (NEW) is a neat and well built market town, and ancient borough, which has sent members to parliament since the reign of Edward 1., but has not a municipal corporation, though it was formerly governed by two bailiffs. It is pleasantly seated on the western side of the navigable river Derwent , 18 miles N.E. of York, 22 miles S.W. of Scarborough, and 214 miles N. by W. of London. It comprises the two parishes of St. Leonard and St. Michael, which contain together only 100 acres of land, and increased their population from 3047 souls in 1801, to 4,173, in 1831, but he Parliamentary Reform and Boundary Acts, of 1832, have added the suburban parishes of Old Malton and Norton to the Borough. Old Malton, on the north side of the town, has 4020 acres, and increased its population from 741 souls, in 1801, to 1204, in 1831. Norton Parish, which is described at page 349, comprises 2510 acres of land, all in the East Riding, being on the opposite side of the river Derwent, and increased its population from 615 souls, in 1801, to 1425 in 1831, thus swelling the total population of the borough in that year to 6802 souls, though in 1801 they only amounted to 4403. Malton is a polling place at elections of the parliamentary representatives of the North Riding, and is the head of a large Union, under the new Poor Law, and of the Malton Division recently separated from the Wapentakes of Bulmer and Rydale, as noticed at pages 399 and 423. The market is held every Saturday, and is well supplied with corn, cattle, and provisions, being numerously attended by the families and farmers from the surrounding country to a great extent. Formerly here were two market days, one on Tuesday being held in the Low street. The present market place is spacious, and is lined with well-stocked shops, as also are the streets leading to it; and on the west side of the town is the cattle market, an open space of three acres, on which Earl Fitzwilliam has lately erected slaughter- houses. Five large cattle fairs are held here annually, viz. during the week before Palm- Sunday, on the Saturday before Whit-Sunday, the Saturday before July 15th, on October 11th and 12th, and on the Saturday before Martinmas-day. The first is famous for the exhibition of horses, and is much attended by south country dealers, especially on the Monday and Saturday, and during the week races are sometimes held. The town stands on a gentle eminence, on the western banks of the river Derwent, which winds through a beautiful and fertile vale, and is here crossed by a handsome stone bridge, of three arches, which connects the town with its neat and populous suburb of Norton in the East Riding. Under the authority of an act, passed in the reign of Queen Anne, the Derwent was made navigable for small craft, from the river Ouse to Yeddingham bridge, nine miles above Malton, (see page 32) and the navigation is the property of Earl Fitzwilliam, the lord of the manor, and owner of most of the lands and buildings in Old and New Malton. Here are several commodious inns, especially the New Talbot Hotel, which has a fine terrace and hanging gardens, forming a delightful promenade, and commanding beautiful views of the vale of Derwent. The town and suburbs have been much improved during the last twenty years, by the erection of new houses; and gas works were constructed in 1832, by Messrs. John and Jas. Malam, who sold them, in 1836, to a company of proprietors, for £4000, raised in £10 shares. Malton is the site of one of the most ancient Brigantian fortified towns in this part of Britain. The early importance of this station is shown by the number of ancient roads which point to it. The Romans planted here one of the numeri, or cohorts of the Legie, sexta victrix called DERVENTIONENSIS, and changed only the termination of its British name to Camulodunum. This name, by abbreviation, became the Saxon Meldun, pronounced Maiden; and Maiden Greve Balk is at this day one of the boundaries of Malton. The river Derwent here, and at this point alone, touches the foot of the Wolds of the East Riding; a considerable breadth of marshy ground, formerly impassable, intervenes between the river and he Wolds in every other part of its course, so at this point the river was most readily passed by a broad but shallow ford. No fewer than six Roman roads may be traced by military and other remains to this station. Numerous Roman coins, both silver and copper, of various Emperors, for a long period have been, and are yet found here; and on the opposite side of the river, entrenchments for the defence of this once important pass are also visible. Fragments of, and entire urns, some containing Roman coins and fine red ashes, and also 1840 White’s Directory Copyright ©2020 Malton & Norton Heritage Centre 2 many pieces of their pottery, with figures in relief, on paterae pocula, are found here. The Camulodunum of the roman Britons became a royal villa to King Edwin in the Saxon era, and here the life of that monarch was preserved from the assassin, by his faithful Lilla. The great Earl Siward, who defeated Macbeth, was one of the lords of Malton; and after the Norman Conquest, the baronial family of Vesci, built here a castle and a priory for Gilbertine canons, of both which there are remains this day. The Castle was one of those short-lived structures which Henry II. Demolished; but during its existence, the town was burnt down by Archbishop Thurstan, when he laid siege to it to dislodge the Scotch, and the name of New Malton commenced on the re-building of the town. On the site of the castle, Ralph, Lord Eure, built a noble castellated mansion, which he finished at the conclusion of the 16th century; and it is remarkable, that its duration was as short as that of the castle, for his lordship’s two grand-daughters not agreeing respecting the property here, the mansion was pulled down, and the materials divided between them, by Henry Marwood, Esq., the High Sheriff of the County of York, in 1674; the lodge and gateway, however, were left as a monument of the folly and vindictiveness of family feuds, or to show what the mansion had been. Mary, the youngest of these daughters, was married to William Palmer, Esq., of Linley, in this county, who, in right of his wife, possessed the manor of Old and New Malton, which he, with others, conveyed to Sir Thomas Wentworth. On the 20th of May, 1728, the Hon. Thomas Wentworth, Knight f the Bath, obtained the title Lord Malton, and six years afterwards was created Marquis of Rockingham. His lordship dying on the 14th December, 1760, was succeeded in his title and estates by his only son, Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham, who dying without issue, on the 1st of July, 1782, his titles became extinct, but his nephew, Earl Fitzwilliam, succeeded to the Manor of Malton, and his other principal estates. The Earl’s land agent occupies the Lodge, and the gorunds on which stood the ancient hall, noticed above. Malton was a corporate borough, and governed by tow bailiffs, until the reign of Charles II., when a writ of quo warranto, to which the inhabitants pleaded prescription, deprived the burgesses of its privileges, for judgement was given in favour of the Crown, and a new charter has never been applied for. Since that time, the Court Leet, and Court Baron of New Malton, appoint a nominal borough Bailiff and two Constables, and exercise the usual jurisdiction of those courts. Malton sent members to parliament so early as the reign of Edward I.; and at that period the Prior of Malton was elected a representative, who, on his return from parliament, was arrested for debt, but, pleading a privilege of exemption in going and returning from parliamentary duty, he was liberated; this is perhaps the earliest claim of the privilege by a member of parliament.

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