THE EFFECT OF ENCLOSURE ON FOUR WOLDS VILLAGES: WEAVERTHORPE, HELPERTHORPE, EAST AND WEST LUTTON. Jennifer Lawler Master of Arts 2001 I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Edward Royle for his guidance, advice and support throughout this work. I would also like to thank the staff of Beverley Archives, Beverley Library, the Borthwick Institute, Hull Central Library, Brynmor Jones Library Archives at Hull University, J. B. Morrell Library University of York, York City Library and York Minster Library for their help in seeking out the research for this work TABLE OF CONTENTS Page MAPS 3 TABLES 4 ABBREVIATIONS 6 GLOSSARY 7 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 9 Chapter 2 PRE-ENCLOSURE Land-ownership. 23 East Riding. 24 Sir Christopher Sykes and the Sledmere Estate. 26 Finance. 28 Ownership of Weaverthorpe and Helperthorpe parishes. 29 Weaverthorpe’s Ownership. 30 Helperthorpe Ownership. 31 Luttons Ambo Ownership. 33 Major Landowners. 35 Minor Landowners. 36 The church. 38 Population and structure of the villages. 40 Pre-enclosure housing. 43 Pre-enclosure agriculture. 44 Wolds agriculture. 47 Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe and East and West Lutton. 54 Who actually sought the enclosure in Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe and Luttons Ambo? 58 Summary 61 Chapter 3 PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE. 63 The Timing of Enclosure. 64 Weaverthorpe ownership in 1801. 67 Helperthorpe ownership. 67 Weaverthorpe land tax. 68 Helperthorpe land tax. 69 Luttons Ambo ownership. 70 Who were the residents of these villages at the time of 72 enclosure? Old Enclosure. 73 The Enclosure Process. 75 The Commissioners. 77 Division of Land: Roads. 79 Assessment of allotments and value of township. 83 Assessment of land-value. 85 1 Allotment of Land. 87 Allotments. 89 Fair Allotment of Land? 97 Conclusions. 99 Chapter 4 POST-ENCLOSURE Introduction. 101 Land-ownership in the East Riding. 102 Wolds Ownership. 106 Ownership of Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe, and Luttons Ambo. 106 Large Land-owners. 110 Small owners. 112 The Church. 115 The effects of enclosure on the population. 119 East Riding population. 120 Wolds population. 121 Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe and Luttons Ambo population. 122 Employment. 130 The Poor. 134 Agriculture. 137 East Riding Agriculture. 138 Wolds Agriculture. 141 Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe and East and West Lutton. 145 How much of the agricultural growth was only achievable. 151 through enclosure? Was there any alternative? Chapter 5. CONCLUSION. 153 APPENDIX 158 BIBLIOGRAPHY 162 2 MAPS Page Map 1.1 The East Riding of Yorkshire 8 Map 3.2 Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe, and Luttons Ambo enclosure roads 81 Map 3.3 Weaverthorpe 1801 enclosure allotments 92 Map 3.4 Helperthorpe 1801 enclosure allotments 93 Map 3.5 Weaverthorpe village-centre 1801 enclosure allotments 94 Map 3.6 Helperthorpe village-centre 1801 enclosure allotments 95 Map 4.7 Weaverthorpe in 1855 146 Map 4.8 Helperthorpe in 1855 147 Map 4.9 East and West Lutton in 1855 148 3 TABLES Page Table 1.1 Increase in population in Weaverthorpe and Helperthorpe 1801-1851 10 Table 2.1 Great Landowners in East Yorkshire. 26 Table 2.2 Weaverthorpe Land Tax Returns in 1787 31 Table 2.3 Helperthorpe Ownership in 1787 32 Table 2.4 Ownership of oxgangs and dwellings in Helperthorpe in 1784 33 Table 2.5 Luttons Ambo Land Tax in 1783 and 1787 34 Table 2.6 Occupations in wills and inventories 41 Table 2.7 Occupations given in parish records 1791-1800 43 Table 2.8 Acreage of Helperthorpe Manor in 1784 55 Table 2.9 Items in yeoman Thomas Thompson’s will 58 Table 2.10 Dates of enclosure of neighbouring villages 60 Table 3.1 Percentage of area affected by parliamentary enclosure 64 Table 3.2 Average annual number of enclosures from 1730 to 1844 65 Table 3.3 Ownership Claims in Weaverthorpe and Helperthorpe, 1801 68 Table 3.4 Land tax paid in Weaverthorpe 1801 69 Table 3.5 Land Tax paid in Helperthorpe 1801 70 Table 3.6 Land tax paid in Luttons Ambo, 1801 72 Table 3.7 Early enclosure in Weaverthorpe and Helperthorpe 75 Table 3.8 Distribution of land in Weaverthorpe and Helperthorpe before 77 enclosure Table 3.9 Value (in shillings) of lands at enclosure in Weaverthorpe 84 and Helperthorpe Table 3.10 Assessment of acreage (before deductions in Weaverthorpe and 85 Helperthorpe Table 3.11 Net value of assessment after deductions 87 Table 3.12 The enclosure awards measured in acres, roods and perches 91 4 Table 3.13 The number of proprietors and acreage allotted to them 96 Table 3.14 The percentage of land held in each village by various groups 97 Table 3.15 The increase in value (in shillings) in new allotments from the old 99 Table 4.1 Great Landowners of East Yorkshire 1830 and acreage awarded after parliamentary enclosure 104 Table 4.2 Enclosure allotments of Weaverthorpe,Helperthorpe and Luttons Ambo large landowners 107 Table 4.3 Land tax in Weaverthorpe in 1805 and 1832 108 Table 4.4 Helperthorpe Land Tax in 1803 and 1832 109 Table 4.5 Luttons Ambo Land Tax in 1805 and 1832 110 Table 4.6 Number of male and females in the villages between 1801 and 1851 123 Table 4.7 Age of population in 1841 124 Table 4.8 Household size in 1841 and 1851 124 Table 4.9 Number in households in 1841 125 Table 4.10 Number and type of households in 1841 and 1851 126 Table 4.11 Post-enclosure migration 127 Table 4.12 Household heads who migrated between 1841 and 1851 128 Table 4.13 Ages at death in 1812, 1832 and 1842 128 Table 4.14 Occupations from 1841 census 133 Table 4.15 Arable acreage in 1801 crop returns and 1840s tithe survey 143 Table 4.16 Dean and Chapter acreage 1853 149 5 ABBREVIATIONS Great Landowners B. English, The Great Landowners of East Yorkshire 1530-1910, (Harvester Wheatsheaf 1990). The Open Fields A.Harris, The Open Fields of East Yorkshire , (East Yorkshire Local History Society 1959). Rural Landscape A.Harris, The Rural Landscape of the East Riding of Yorkshire 1700 - 1850, (Oxford 1961). De La Prynne J. Crowther, Description of East Yorkshire: De La Pryme to Head, (East Yorkshire Local History Society 1992). HUL DDSY Sykes family papers in Brynmor Jones Library, Hull University. Bp V Ret Archbishop Visitation Returns. CCDC Dean and Chapter Records QSF Quarter Sessions Records 6 GLOSSARY ( from The New English Dictionary of English , 1998, unless otherwise stated) average 1.The pasturage of cornfields, after harvest, stubble: a stubble-field 2.Land that is ‘fed’ in common by the par ish as soon as the corn is carried - the stubble and pasture left in cornfields after the harvest is carried 1 commons (waste) land owned by the lord of the manor and the village population had commons rights 2 furlong length of a furrow in a common field (formerly regarded as a square of ten acres) front (frontage) a strip or extent of land abutting a street garth a small enclosure usually under grass 3 ley piece of land put down to grass, clover, etc., for a single season or limited number of years, in contrast to permanent pasture messuage dwelling-house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use oxgang an indeterminate measure of land in open-field village varying in size formerly to have been a holding of composite character in which were included shares of all the major classes of land in the township 4 sheepwalk a tract of land on which sheep were pastured stinted commons grazing was reserved for ‘gate -holde rs’ with rights to pasture a given number of animals - to prevent over-stocking and over-grazing 5 warren area set aside for the raising of rabbits, often with protected boundaries and purpose-built accomodation for rabbits and their custodians 6 1 Wright, Joseph, Dialect Dictionary Vol. 1., Frownde Henry, (London 1898), p. 98. 2 Muir, R., The Countryside Encyclopaedia , (Macmillan 1988). 3 Ibid. 4Harris, A., The Open Fields of East Yorkshire, (East Yorkshire Local History Society 1959). 5 Muir, R., op. cit. 6 Ibid. 7 Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION The subject of this thesis is the impact of enclosure on the East Riding Wolds villages of Helperthorpe, Weaverthorpe and Luttons Ambo, the latter comprising the twin townships of East and West Lutton. Yorkshire was divided into three administrative areas, thirds or ridings, North, West and East, until re-organisation in 1974: the East 1 Riding was the smallest with about three-quarters of a million acres and had Beverley as its administrative centre. The shape of a square with an extended south-east corner, the East Riding was bounded on the east by the North Sea, the south by the river Humber, the west by the rivers Derwent and Ouse and the north by the river Derwent. The Riding was sub-divided into six wapentakes: Howden, Dickering, Harthill, 2 Buckrose, Holderness and Ouse and Derwent. Before the thirteenth century Beverley was the largest market, the only large port on the river Hull and important exporter of wool but was overtaken by the growth of Kingston-upon-Hull, the only city in the East 3 Riding. Market and other large towns include Driffield, Pocklington, Howden, Market Weighton, Hornsea and the spa town of Bridlington. Geographically the area is dominated by the Wolds, a sickle-shaped swathe of upland curving outwards from near Filey, running south of Malton to near Market Weighton, measuring thirteen miles in breadth and thirty-seven miles in length with 307,840 acres of hills and deep 4 valleys. To the south-east of the Wolds lies the Holderness plain with several rivers including the Hull; to the south-west the Vale of York with the rivers Ouse, Derwent and Foulness; and to the north the Vale of Pickering and the river Derwent.